"Big Mom… that woman, was she defeated?"

"Now, how's the battle going?"

"Not sure."

Big Mom was sent flying, and even the sharp-eyed Akainu and the others saw blood spraying through the air as Big Mom was blown away.

They just didn't know if she was coughing up blood or if those were actual wounds.

Either way, the amount of blood was shocking.

"This might not be what we were hoping for."

Ryokugyu pointed toward the shattered ice filled with smoke.

At that moment, Elior walked out.

Sengoku, holding a telescope, immediately shifted his focus to Elior.

"Doesn't look hurt!"

Sengoku said gravely. He added, "Big Mom seems to have been defeated! That thunder and lightning crushed her directly—and it wasn't ordinary lightning either."

Akainu spoke with lingering fear: "That lightning was terrifying. I suspected he might be a Devil Fruit user with a lightning ability, but as we all know, nobody can have two Devil Fruits. I have no idea what his freezing ability is either."

After all, Akainu had already experienced Elior's lightning firsthand—and he was still haunted by it.

Even though nearly two months had passed since he had suffered those serious injuries, Akainu still felt a dull pain.

And now… had Big Mom been defeated by Elior?

Elior walked out of the thick smoke—

…not a scratch on him.

This was the last thing Akainu and the others wanted to see.

What they hoped to see was that Elior had defeated Big Mom but was also badly injured himself.

But now? No injuries at all?

Not even exhausted?

It looked like only his clothes were torn.

How was that even possible?

Someone muttered with a sigh:

"Every Yonko is a monster among monsters… but if we're talking about the craziest of them all right now, Elior takes the crown, no question."

Elior standing there completely unharmed left Tsuru and the others horrified.

On the other side, the Red-Haired Pirates were equally shaken.

Yasopp said in disbelief: "Did that guy really defeat Big Mom?"

Beckman: "Hard to say. But if they keep fighting, the outcome looks obvious. Elior is too strong. Unless Big Mom pulls some underhanded trick—and Elior actually falls for it—in a straight-up fight, Elior comes out on top."

Even Shanks himself looked grim.

"He's too strong."

Beckman added, "That guy's planning to seize Big Mom's entire territory after this. Whole Cake Island, the entire Totland Kingdom… those are some of the most important islands in the New World."

"Maybe" Shanks said thoughtfully.

But they all knew what Elior wanted.

He didn't come here to ally with Big Mom peacefully. If he could have negotiated straight away, there wouldn't have been a war.

But negotiating with Big Mom? Impossible.

You can't reason with that woman in just a few words.

And was Elior truly after an alliance?

No. The alliance was just a cover. What Elior really wanted was to absorb the entire Big Mom Pirates and make them his own.

And after them… the Red-Haired Pirates were destined to become another stepping stone.

Meanwhile, the fighting between the crews had stopped temporarily. Big Mom's pirates were frozen in shock.

Their "Mama" had been blasted away again—and this time, terrifyingly, she wasn't getting back up immediately.

She still hadn't climbed out of the massive crater where she had crashed.

Elior walked straight toward that crater.

No one from Big Mom's crew tried to stop him.

In fact, who even dared to stop him?

On the edge of the crater, Elior finally saw her. Big Mom was standing there, trembling. She must have only just gotten back on her feet.

Her clothes were soaked in blood.

"Finally broke through your defenses?"

Among the Yonko, Big Mom's natural defense was the toughest.

Kaido's durability came from his Mythical Zoan powers. Big Mom was simply born this way.

But now she was bleeding—externally and internally.

Standing there trembling… this was probably the first time in her life.

Elior had just unleashed nearly 900 million volts of lightning—his strongest attack yet.

He hadn't even used his trump card.

Because this fight wasn't about killing Big Mom. It was about intimidating her.

And the point had been made.

"Elior…"

Big Mom glared up at him from the crater, furious at being looked down on.

But the searing pain ripping through her body told her the truth.

She had lost.

Elior was far too powerful.

Prometheus and Zeus had both reverted to their normal forms, too terrified to fight anymore.

Elior's overwhelming power told them clearly: resist again, and they'd be destroyed completely.

"What… what's he planning to do?"

Dragging his battered body, Katakuri tried to approach. If Elior went for the kill, Katakuri would risk his life to protect his mother.

He knew she was badly injured.

Her life was in danger.

"Big Mom… how about our two pirate crews form an alliance?"

Elior looked down at her and finally stated his purpose for coming to Whole Cake Island.

On the sidelines, Katakuri and the others were stunned into silence.

Then came the shock.

"Alliance?"

"No way!"

"Impossible…"

"An alliance between two Yonko? That's insane!"

The Elior Pirates weren't surprised at all. They had long known about Elior's plan, so Bullet and the others stayed perfectly calm.

As for the Marines, the Red-Haired Pirates, and the civilians on Whole Cake Island… they had no idea what to make of it.

All they could see was the tension between the two forces.

What would happen next?