The Sight He Shouldn't Have Seen

If someone, bored out of their mind, suddenly wondered what it felt like to hit a home run in baseball, Aleus could not yet offer an answer from the batter's perspective. However, he could take another approach and explain, from the baseball's point of view, what it felt like to be blasted away by terrifying brute force.

Yeah, it hurt like hell!

That was the answer.

The answer was that simple.

As the thing being hit, pain was the most natural and clearest sensation during that not-so-long period of time. Even though Aleus had not been directly struck by Big Mom's Emperor Sword · Baha Baha no Mi, the Moonlight Sword in his hand had taken the first blow.

This light sword, condensed from high-density Spirit Pressure, was quite reliable in terms of durability.

Even after taking Big Mom's strike, it had not been cut apart. Its pale blue-white radiance remained as bright as ever.

However, while the Moonlight Sword could withstand Big Mom's slash without breaking, Aleus could not yet endure that unimaginable impact head-on. The force transmitted through the Moonlight Sword brutally snapped Aleus's right arm. Even Steel Skin's resilience could not bear that blow.

With a crack, the bones in his right forearm broke, and his entire body felt as though it were being violently battered in a massive typhoon.

The pain was vividly transmitted through his sensory nerves.

"She's practically a humanoid monster!"

Aleus, who had been sent flying far away, voiced a sentiment shared by countless powerhouses of the New World.

Compared to a monster like Big Mom, who could break a giant's ribs with a slap at the age of five and had been born with every cheat imaginable, Aleus was almost embarrassed to say he had cheats of his own. His required effort afterward—constantly gathering souls to satisfy the Hogyoku's needs—before it could give him corresponding feedback.

His pitch-black wings beat desperately, continuously working to dissipate the terrifying impact. After flying an immense distance, Aleus finally neutralized the force acting upon him and fluttered his wings, continuing through the sky under his own power.

"What a monster. She got here fast!!"

Before the last note of his brief remark had faded, a huge shadow was cast down from above Aleus. A pitch-black cloud floated high in the sky, wearing an evil grin straight out of a standard villain's playbook. Standing atop that dark cloud was a massive, beastlike figure holding a giant sword.

Aleus's Neural Scan had remained active the entire time, locked onto Big Mom's movements.

Unfortunately, while he could see Big Mom approaching, he had no more time to think or prepare. As he beat his wings to steady himself, he reconnected his broken right arm and hastily swung his sword again, meeting the humanoid monster as she leaped boldly down from the dark cloud.

Her pink dress fluttered wildly under the impact of the airflow.

This absolutely—

Was a scene that would let Dr. Newton, who had crawled out of his coffin countless times, finally close his eyes in satisfaction, crawl back inside, and rest in peace.

Except—

At this very moment, Aleus desperately wished the doctor would angrily flip open his coffin lid and crawl out of his grave again.

Every man had probably, to some extent, looked forward to that wonderful sight of a sudden gust of wind lifting the light hems of girls' skirts... Aleus was naturally no exception. The hormones of youth had once given him many foolish fantasies, and hoping to see girls' skirts blown up by the wind was merely one insignificant example.

But—

But damn it!

He had never imagined that this tiny fantasy of his would come true in such a horrifying way. He, he, he... In that instant, he caught a glimpse beneath Big Mom's skirt. Blegh!!! No, he could not think about it, could not think about it...

His mind suffered a catastrophic, world-destroying blow.

The once-calm waters of his mind immediately erupted into a tsunami.

"...This is fucking mental contamination!!!"

Aleus let out an unprecedentedly unrestrained roar.

The Moonlight Sword swung skyward at astonishing speed, once again striking the giant sword Napoleon. Yet its sharp blade aura still could not do anything against the giant sword reinforced by Big Mom's top-tier Armament Haki. With the added force of her descent, Big Mom's strike surpassed even the previous Emperor Sword · Baha Baha no Mi in sheer power.

Clearly, this battle-hardened Pirate Emperor had keenly realized that flames could not threaten Aleus, while pure physical strength was far more destructive.

The instant the Moonlight Sword came into contact with the giant sword Napoleon—

A crisp series of fractures, like beans popping in a pan, crackled into Big Mom's ears. She clearly saw Aleus's right arm twist into a grotesque corkscrew shape, with jagged, bloodstained white bone fragments piercing through his skin and protruding outside.

The hand gripping the Moonlight Sword loosened, and the pale blue-white light sword fell. The remaining sword aura surged forward, directly breaking through Steel Skin's defenses and severing Aleus's right arm, grinding it apart and reducing it to crimson dust that scattered cleanly into the wind.

Their second frontal clash—

Aleus, suffering from severe mental contamination, was utterly defeated.

His body plummeted toward the ground below at lightning speed. This time, Aleus did not try to neutralize the force of his fall. Instead, he cooperatively beat his wings, making himself fall even faster. In the blink of an eye—

Just two breaths later, the tiny humanoid meteor hit the ground.

Though he was not large, Driven by such astonishing speed, he still possessed unimaginable destructive power. All of Saiboy Island trembled because of Aleus's fall. Gray dust billowed into the sky, obscuring everyone's field of vision and making it impossible to see the condition of the humanoid meteor that had crashed down.

"Ah~~~!!!"

Aleus lay at the bottom of the crater in the shape of a character with its right half severed across the middle, letting out a long sigh as though he had seen through the vanity of the mortal world.

How could such, such an accident have happened?

This utterly unforeseen accident dealt him a heavy blow, leaving him dizzy and disoriented. Even now, he could not sort out his thoughts. His formerly soaring fighting spirit had drooped like that of a defeated rooster. It was simply too depressing—so depressing that he wanted to roar aloud, yet did not know whom he could curse.

Humiliation, indignation, fury... all kinds of tangled emotions spread and intertwined within his chest.

Then they transformed into surging rage.

It was all Big Mom's fault. She was already a sixty-year-old old woman—couldn't she dress a little more appropriately for her age? A pink dress could only display its proper charm on a cute sixteen-year-old girl, not to mention... Damn it!

He could not think about it!

Aleus ground his teeth in hatred.

Black spirit light flickered from the blood-soaked wound on his right shoulder, and a brand-new arm regenerated. He raised his right hand over his face, desperately trying to wipe away the horrifying images in his mind—the ones that made him restless and anxious, that filled him with the urge to destroy this world.

Then—

With a flap of his wings.

Aleus shot into the sky once more, carving a long tunnel through the lingering smoke and dust.

"Hollow Bullet."

Aleus extended his palm.

Dense crimson spheres of Spirit Pressure shot into the sky—not one or two, but dozens, hundreds—sweeping toward Big Mom, who stood atop the dark clouds like a storm. This was Aleus's counterattack, filled with nameless rage.

Being sent flying twice in a row had truly left Aleus, who had intended to use Big Mom as a whetstone, unable to save face. It was absolutely not because he had seen something indescribable with terrifying mental contamination properties and developed an intense desire for revenge.

Yes.

Absolutely not!

"Mamama!! Your body may be fragile, but your vitality really isn't bad!"

Having knocked Aleus away twice in succession and heard the pleasant sound of bones breaking, Big Mom's mood improved somewhat after her fury at having her marriage proposal rejected. Seeing that Aleus had regenerated his right arm, a trace of surprise appeared in her eyes.

She had witnessed the powerful vitality and astonishing recovery abilities of Zoan Devil Fruit users many times.

But—

This was the first time she had seen recovery on the level of regenerating a severed arm.

Was this a special ability of a Mythical Zoan Devil Fruit user? Like that irritating Phoenix under Whitebeard's command—but shouldn't that have been the power of souls? Or was it some special power possessing both regenerative and soul-related properties?

After all, it was a Mythical Zoan.

Its records were even scarcer than those of Logia Devil Fruits.

It would not have been strange for it to possess abilities no one had ever heard of.

As she pondered the details of Aleus's abilities, she lightly stomped her foot. Thundercloud Zeus beneath her immediately opened its pitch-black mouth wide, and at that same instant, a brilliant, dazzling radiance lit up within its open jaws.

This was—

Thunder and lightning.

In eras and regions where civilization had yet to develop, thunder and lightning were often regarded as the furious roar of gods, or weapons used to deliver divine punishment.

And in this New World, it would not have been wrong to compare Big Mom, who could manipulate the weather at will and turn changing weather into her weapons, to a temperamental evil god. After all, Pirate Emperor was only a title that had emerged in modern times. Perhaps long ago, terrifying beings like Big Mom had been the gods people spoke of.

The descending thunder and lightning precisely shattered more than a hundred incoming Hollow Bullets.

Big Mom did not even blink at this.

This kind of attack—

There had actually been no need to defend against it. With such power alone, it could not possibly harm Big Mom's Iron Balloon-like, extraordinarily tough body.

She only had Zeus attack in place of defending because she was wary of Aleus's unknown Mythical Zoan Devil Fruit abilities. This time, unlike before, she did not simply slap away the Hollow Bullets flying toward her as though playing billiards.

"As expected... completely useless, huh! That really kills one's fighting spirit." His attack had been ineffective, and Aleus let out a soft sigh. Yet he did not look as disappointed as his words suggested. In that brief opening, he condensed another Moonlight Sword in his hand, then passed it from his left hand to his right.

The previous Moonlight Sword had vanished after leaving his grasp and going too long without a supply of Spirit Pressure.

"Bzzz~~~"

The Moonlight Sword gave a faint hum.

The sadness, irritation, and anger in Aleus's eyes all faded away. Only a trace of seriousness remained visible in his emerald-green eyes.

Then, a dark green streak flashed before Big Mom.

The pale blue-green light sword separated from the massive sword Napoleon after only a single clash. His exquisite swordsmanship slipped lightly around that invincible monstrous strength like a long snake coated in oil. At the same time, emerald spirit light gathered at the tip of his left index finger.

"Cero!"

The emerald beam slammed heavily into Big Mom's shoulder—it had originally been aimed at her head, but Big Mom suddenly jerked her head aside, while Thundercloud Zeus beneath her rose seventy or eighty centimeters with incredible speed, causing Aleus's targeted attack to miss.

She took a Cero head-on at close range.

That enormous, beast-like body swayed slightly.

And that was all it did.

There was not even the slightest scrape on that muscular, exposed shoulder, unshielded by any fabric. The toughness of her Iron Balloon body was truly a headache.

"Even that doesn't work?"

Aleus frowned.

One of the Four Emperors, was truly not someone to be trifled with.

Suppressing the turmoil in his heart, his active Neural Scan detected Big Mom's massive sword swinging toward him once again before his eyes and ears could. Aleus immediately beat his wings, pushing his speed to the limit, and narrowly evaded the descending blade once more.

In terms of physical toughness and strength, Aleus truly could not compare to someone as monstrously powerful as Big Mom.

But speed—

Speed alone, Aleus was confident he would not lose to Big Mom. Relying on his smaller build—a little runt of just 205 centimeters—as well as the high-speed movement technique known as "Sound Step," he could even gain a slight edge while darting and weaving through such a confined space.

Nor was he merely dodging. Even as he avoided Big Mom's blade, he did not forget to use the Moonlight Sword to probe for openings against this troublesome Iron Balloon.

"Clang, clang, clang!!!"

High in the air, the shrill sounds of collision echoed endlessly through the sky, like an outrageously busy blacksmith's shop.

The battle temporarily fell into a stalemate.

Big Mom's broad, powerful strikes could not hit Aleus, who circled around her like a slippery loach. Meanwhile, after more than a hundred attempts, Aleus confirmed that the Moonlight Sword at its current level could not break through Big Mom's physical defenses. None of his attacks had achieved even the slightest result.

"Green-eyed brat, stop buzzing around like a fly! It's annoying!!!"

Finally, Big Mom, whose mood had only just improved somewhat, was once again enraged by Aleus's tactics.

She raised the giant sword in her hand—Napoleon—high overhead.

Then, she swung it down.

"Ikoku!" she shouted.

This was Elbaf Spear: Ikoku.

A technique originating from the Giant Race, it used a weapon to unleash a devastating shockwave. But in Big Mom's hands, what it released was not a shockwave, but an even more lethal flying slash—an unimaginably massive, colossal blade aura.

The sky

was completely filled by that majestic sword aura.