Boom.
As the words faded, the wind went wild, howling like vengeful ghosts, as if it wanted to tear the world apart.
The once calm harbor waters surged under the pressure of Linlin's unleashed Conqueror's Haki. Waves rose violently, tossing pirate ships from side to side.
They swayed like leaves in a storm.
Terrifying streaks of black and red lightning crawled across the entire harbor, a scene like the end of the world that made every onlooker's heart quake.
"Linlin!"
"Calm down! We will definitely find the kids!" Streusen was trembling so hard his legs were almost giving out, but he still forced himself to speak, trying to soothe Linlin in her berserk state.
Linlin turned her head toward him. Her gorgeous face was darkened in shadow, and the scarlet, murder-filled gleam in her eyes made Streusen's skin erupt in goosebumps.
In this rampaging state, it was as if she could not hear his voice at all.
She just spoke on instinct.
"Have you seen my children?"
"N… no…" Streusen's face was white as paper as he stammered out a reply. Under the crushing pressure of her Conqueror's Haki, his heart was filled with nothing but fear.
The next second.
Hum.
A low buzz rang out as Linlin raised her giant palm. It turned pitch black instantly, Armament Haki hardening it like steel.
In this state she could no longer tell friend from foe.
The wind shrieked.
Boom.
With a deafening crash, wooden planks exploded. The deck beneath her palm was smashed into a gigantic handprint. Streusen tumbled across the floor, barely dodging the blow with his life.
Cold sweat poured down his cheeks.
No, this will not do. Linlin has completely lost control. The only way she will return to her senses is if we find the children.
Until we do, she will destroy anything and anyone that stands in her way.
Streusen scrambled to his feet and, without another word, leapt up onto the rail.
He jumped from that ship to the next.
In a few light, quick steps he was already off the ship and on the harbor, his face twisted with anxiety as he muttered to himself, "I need to get someone to stop her, now. If no one holds her back, she will keep destroying everything."
He glanced back.
The rampaging Linlin had already slapped several ships moored along the harbor into splinters. Screams and wails overlapped in a constant chorus.
Bodies floated on the sea.
Even more were reduced to blood mist and pulp in a single slap.
Seeing this, Streusen felt his heart sink straight to the bottom.
I have to find someone to stop her.
Once he made up his mind, he turned and sprinted toward Beehive Island's Skull Castle.
On the way.
The streets were full of brawling pirates. Many had chosen to fish in troubled waters, trying to grab easy spoils while the island was in chaos.
On a wide avenue.
"Ape Demon" Kaido swung his kanabo down and sent a group of looters flying, cursing angrily, "Damn vermin, you dare make trouble on the Rocks Pirates' turf?"
The savage aura rolling off him made the nearby pirates feel like they had fallen into an ice cellar. None of them dared to breathe too loudly.
Kaido swept his beastlike gaze across them and growled, "Anyone who causes trouble on this island will end up like them."
Suddenly.
"Kaido!"
"Great, you are here!"
Streusen sprinted up to him, panting heavily. "Kaido, Linlin has gone berserk. You have to stop her. If no one stops her, she will not only destroy the harbor, she might destroy half of Beehive Island."
"Linlin…" Kaido's eyes darkened, a complicated light flashing within.
But he still knew which mattered more.
He spoke without hesitation. "I will go stop her."
He knew Linlin all too well. Once that woman snapped, she no longer recognized anyone. In the past, it had taken Whitebeard, Shiki, and even Rocks himself stepping in to suppress her rampages and force her back to her senses.
He had seen those scenes with his own eyes. Linlin would destroy everything in sight, like a living natural disaster. It was terrifying beyond words.
Kaido hefted his kanabo and then looked sideways at Streusen. "Streusen, go to my place. Bring all seven kanabo from my room."
"Got it, I will head there now." Streusen knew that Kaido was now an extremely rare Mythical Zoan user.
Recently, he had even heard that Kaido had specifically commissioned a smith from Wano to forge several high-quality kanabo that suited his Devil Fruit.
Kaido strode toward the harbor with his usual heavy, confident steps.
His face, chiseled like a beast's, was lit with excitement. In his tiger-like eyes, fighting spirit burned.
Linlin…
Back then I was just your toy, something you could toss around as you pleased.
But that was then.
Now I, Kaido, am a Mythical Zoan Eight-Armed Demon Ape user.
Today, I am going to have a proper fight with you.
These past days.
Kaido had defeated pirate after pirate, each with their own fearsome bounty, all of them trying to stir up trouble on the island. His name had begun to spread quietly.
Yet none of them had forced him to fight seriously.
His hands were itching.
At the harbor.
It was nothing but ruins. The ground was torn and cratered, and several pirate ships were sinking rapidly beneath the waves.
"Who can stop this monster?!"
"Linlin is too much of a monster. Even cannons cannot hurt her at all!"
"…"
One pirate stared in despair at the broken blade in his hand. He had just brought it down with all his strength on Linlin, and not only had it failed to injure her, the weapon that had followed him for years had shattered on the spot.
Before he could even react.
Darkness fell over him like a descending sky. Linlin's palm slammed down, embedding him into the ground. Stones exploded outward, and the flying debris had enough force to rival bullets.
It caused more casualties all around.
The harbor had always been a place where people gathered. Now that Beehive Island was in turmoil, many pirates did not want to be dragged into the whirlpool and were trying to flee by sea.
Instead, they had run straight into Charlotte Linlin, this walking slaughter goddess.
What greater despair was there than that?
When Kaido finally arrived, what he saw was a living hell.
He could not care less about that. Those people had nothing to do with him. Even if tens of thousands died, it would not stir the slightest ripple in his heart.
Kaido stared intently at Linlin, who was spreading destruction in all directions.
He shouted without the slightest politeness, "Linlin!"
"I have dreamed of beating you. Ever since I followed Big Bro Ares, I have gotten stronger. I am no longer the Kaido you used to toss around."
The rampaging Linlin seemed deaf to his roar.
She continued to rampage wildly, muttering over and over, "Have you seen my children?"
"Have you seen my children?"
Once.
The nun had been her only family. After she began having children, those children became her family.
She might not have taken care of them personally most of the time.
But in Linlin's heart, they still had weight. Still meant something.
They were the result of years of effort, the fruit of her obsession with building the "Charlotte" family, the result of her tireless work giving birth.
"Crazy hag…"
Kaido spat the insult and strode forward with his kanabo over his shoulder.
The rock-hard muscles of his arms bulged like inflated spheres, veins wriggling across them like snakes. He raised his kanabo high and bellowed, "Linlin!"
"Wake the hell up!"
His roar echoed across the harbor like a tiger's, and at the same time his massive kanabo came crashing down, cold light gleaming along its spikes.
Thunder Bagua.
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