Nothing Human Can Block

Cracker's supplementary explanation was very detailed, but the more Mousse listened, the more puzzled he became. "Wait, Brother Cracker, you said it could directly inflict damage? Doesn't that require advanced Armament Haki?"

"It does require advanced Armament Haki, but the principle is the same! It's just harder to achieve when attacking than when defending, so the requirements are higher. After all, the desire to survive is definitely stronger than the determination to kill," Cracker explained briefly, then stared at the scroll with drool practically dripping from his mouth.

"Just what kind of treasure is that scroll of yours? Could it be one of the Supreme Grade Swords? No, that can't be right. With your strength, you probably couldn't even lift a Supreme Grade Sword! How could you possibly unleash such power?"

"This is a divine artifact Mama specially made for me~" Mousse rarely showed such pride, because Big Head's power had far exceeded even his own expectations.

According to Cracker, unless someone was a monster who defied common sense like his own mother, no matter how strong they were, they could not take it head-on with their body. The power of the scroll's slash had already surpassed the limit of what Armament Haki could defend against!

Cracker's use of Armament Haki was not yet particularly refined, but his outstanding talent, diligent training since childhood, and recent surge of confidence from his idea for Compressed Biscuits meant that the strength of his Haki was already far from weak.

Whether Armament Haki defended against physical attacks through hardening or by dispersing damage, its effectiveness depended solely on that strength. That was why Big Mom, rather than Garp, had the strongest defense. On top of that, Biscuit Soldiers were unbelievably hard, countless times tougher than the flesh and blood of normal humans.

Even the very strongest fighters, with nothing but Armament Haki protecting their mortal bodies, could not possibly be this durable. Yet such a Biscuit Soldier had been chopped cleanly in two by Big Head in a single strike. That meant—

"Even if a top-tier powerhouse's strength is beyond anything I can imagine, and they really can block your scroll with Armament Haki alone, they'll definitely have to expend a huge amount of Haki to do it. But you barely consume anything when using this thing, right? You can slash more than a dozen times without any difficulty, can't you? You could drain all their Haki in no time. Who could still beat you then?"

Cracker was not an arrogant person. He had even made his judgment from the most cautious standpoint, yet the result was still exhilarating. However, Mousse had calmed down by then and immediately spotted an obvious flaw.

"Brother Cracker, are you so used to head-on fights that you forgot about dodging, the most common way to avoid damage? If it hits, they might really be unable to block it. But most strong fighters wouldn't take an attack head-on in the first place, would they? Roger and Whitebeard both rely on dodging! If you can't hit them, what good is all that killing power?"

The moment Mousse spoke, Cracker realized it too. He immediately nodded, agreeing that his little brother was right. He had to nod. Otherwise, if Mousse guessed that he had simply failed to think of it because he was not very smart, wouldn't that be even more embarrassing?

Now that they had thought of it, they needed another test. Biscuit Soldiers might already be terrifyingly fast in the eyes of ordinary people, but Mousse's hypothetical enemies were now the strongest monsters in the world.

Their speed did not even compare to a beginner's Soru. Compared to those absolute top-tier powerhouses, the gap was even wider. How much reference value could they really provide?

Cracker suggested that Mousse leave the Mirror World and bring Fourth Brother Oven in to help. Although Overheat's boost to movement speed was limited by explosive power and was not quite so outrageous, Oven had still surpassed Second Brother Katakuri to become the fastest in Totto Land.

If Charlotte Oven served as a sparring partner, the test would certainly be far more meaningful than using Biscuit Soldiers.

However, Mousse frowned and shook his head. "I still can't make Big Head become weightless when it touches other people the way it does when I control it myself. Even if I turn it into a club so it won't slash and instead deals blunt damage with less terrifying consequences, its hardness and weight are still there. Even Brother Oven as he is now might suffer serious injuries from one hit. If that delayed something important, the loss would outweigh the gain."

So Mousse had Cracker create another Biscuit Soldier to test the club's power first and assess the risk.

The result was that its power when rolled up and used to smash someone was still terrifying. The Biscuit Soldier was knocked flying, which should have dispersed quite a bit of the force, yet its thick, sturdy shield was still completely shattered.

After seeing that, Mousse completely gave up on looking for Fourth Brother. Even though Oven had trained in the Rokushiki technique Tekkai and his Armament Haki had improved rapidly, he still could not compare to those absurdly hard biscuits that surpassed ordinary steel.

Those biscuits had been smashed into that state. If it struck Oven, getting injured would be the least of it. He might be beaten to death on the spot.

But if they continued using Biscuit Soldiers as sparring partners, they would be far too different from the real powerhouses who darted through the air at incredible speeds. No matter how clever Mousse was, it would be difficult to estimate the actual combat results from that.

"Ugh, Brother Cracker, it would be great if your Biscuit Soldiers could use Soru," Mousse sighed unconsciously, both disappointed and troubled.

Cracker could neither laugh nor cry when he heard that. He bent down, pointed at Mousse, and said, "You really dare to dream. Never mind that I can't even use it myself yet—even if I could, Biscuit Soldiers aren't Homies. How could they be that smart? I can only give them the simplest commands, like attack, defend, chase, retreat, and so on. Learn Body Techniques? That's completely impossible."

Mousse had expected that answer, so he was not particularly disappointed. Instead, his eyes lit up as though he had suddenly thought of something. With a hint of curiosity, he asked Cracker, "You give them commands rather than controlling them directly like I control books? Then you really can make many Biscuit Soldiers fight at once? What's the most you've tried? How many? Have you tried a hundred?"

But Cracker spread his hands and gave an unexpected answer.

"I can control them directly too! But if I want them to make precise, proper movements, I can only control one at a time. At that point, I might as well fight myself and use it as armor! Biscuit Soldiers may be hard, and they aren't weaker than me physically, but they have no Haki and can't use Body Techniques. It's hard to say whether their strength even reaches half of mine."

That was only natural. Controlling a Devil Fruit ability might not be difficult, but controlling multiple targets with the same ease as moving one's own limbs required the ability to divide one's attention.

That was not something one could train merely by drawing a circle with one hand and a square with the other. Without the talent, no amount of effort would help.

Even Mousse, who could now be considered exceptionally intelligent, could only control dozens of books flying all over the sky at once because those movements were too simple.

If he had to deliberately make every book trace complicated paths, controlling even ten would be difficult. Combat was even more complex, and there was also the issue of different fields of vision. Forget controlling multiple units at once—even controlling two would be remarkable.

Mousse could normally divide his attention four ways without making mistakes. That already put him on the level of Liu Muzhi, the famous minister of China's late Eastern Jin era. Even he did not dare guarantee that he could always manage it. Cracker had never been particularly clever, so what was strange about him being unable to do it?