Bang! A fist punched out.
What happened next shocked everyone so badly their eyes nearly popped out.
Under Zesi's fist, the air shattered like a mirror struck by a blow.
Cracks spread in every direction, as though Zesi's punch had shattered space itself.
Everyone who saw it was horrified and incredulous.
But something even more shocking happened.
Under that punch, the entire space seemed to tremble, and then the dozens of Biscuit Soldiers charging at Zesi shattered simultaneously.
They turned into dustlike particles and drifted away.
In the original story, when Whitebeard punched out, he shattered the air while also sending a shock wave surging forward.
But Zesi used the Tremor-Tremor Fruit differently from Whitebeard.
Whitebeard pursued ferocious, sweeping attacks, unleashing an immense tremor in a single strike.
Zesi, however, pursued speed and frequency.
He produced ultrahigh-frequency vibrations in an instant, using countless repeated tremors to generate power comparable to Whitebeard's.
A single tremor from Zesi was not particularly powerful.
But when he vibrated a million times in an instant, the resulting power was absolutely no weaker than Whitebeard's attacks, and was even stronger.
Because Zesi's vibrations took a different form, their attacks naturally produced somewhat different effects.
Whitebeard used powerful impacts, so his punches produced a mighty shock wave.
Zesi used high-frequency strikes, so his attacks did not reach as far.
But because his attack delivered a million strikes in an instant, the hundreds of invisible shock waves produced instantaneously could pulverize everything beneath his fist.
At close and medium range, Zesi's Quake Annihilation Hammer actually had several times the destructive power of Whitebeard's attacks.
"Th-this ability, this way of attacking... this is the Tremor-Tremor Fruit! You're Natural Disaster!" Cracker said incredulously.
"What? He's Natural Disaster?"
"Pirate King Roger's right-hand man, Natural Disaster Zesi? What's he doing here?!"
"Wenlai Zesi... I see! He's Natural Disaster Zesi!"
"Now we're in trouble. Are we going to have to face that madman Roger again?!"
"Mama's still furious because Roger stole a rubbing of the Poneglyph from her last time and became the Pirate King before her!"
"We don't stand much of a chance against those monsters in the Roger Pirates!"
The Charlotte Family members' expressions all changed dramatically as they cried out, their faces utterly grave.
"Natural Disaster?" Feiluo asked in confusion.
He did not know much about the pirates on the seas.
Even those he knew were only pirate captains.
Although Zesi's epithet was famous, he was not a captain, and he had Roger and Dark King Rayleigh above him, so the newspapers rarely reported on a mere crew member.
Feiluo's understanding of the seas came entirely from those newspapers, so naturally, he rarely heard the name Natural Disaster.
"That's right. Natural Disaster, the man said to carry natural disasters wherever he goes, someone whose very name strikes terror throughout the seas. Pirate King Roger's right-hand man, our Brunei Family's greatest masterpiece, the strongest power that can give our Brunei Family a foothold in the New World."
At that moment, a voice spoke from behind Feiluo.
"Father!" Feiluo called when he saw the newcomer.
The newcomer was Wenlai Kate, Zesi and Feiluo's father.
After Zesi set sail, Kate had often asked around for news of him.
Later, he had also seen Zesi on a World Government bounty poster.
It was precisely because the World Government had placed a bounty on Zesi that Kate had kept his affairs so secret over the years.
But he had continued gathering information about Zesi all these years, and every time news of Zesi arrived, he was immensely excited.
Although Zesi was deeply dissatisfied with the epithet Natural Disaster, it was tremendously intimidating to everyone else.
Natural Disaster, the man who carried calamity with him-this represented his strength and his intimidating power.
Kate understood that to survive in the New World, one had to make others afraid, and Natural Disaster was a name that inspired fear and terror.
He was among the very strongest people in the New World.
Only with him could their Brunei Family truly secure a place in the New World, and that was also why Kate insisted on handing the Brunei Family over to Zesi.
Although Feiluo was capable too, only Zesi could take the Brunei Family to greater heights.
"So what if you're Natural Disaster? Your attacks are powerful, but so what if you can pulverize my Biscuit Soldiers? As long as I want to, no matter how many times you smash them, no matter how thoroughly you pulverize them, I can restore them instantly. Let's see who lasts until the end," Cracker said.
As he spoke, biscuit powder swirled through the air, and the Biscuit Soldiers re-formed.
"Hahaha! Unless you unleash a tsunami and flood this place. But this is your Brunei Family's home. Surely you wouldn't unleash a tsunami and drown your own family!" Cracker said with a loud laugh.
As he spoke, biscuits closed in on Zesi from every direction!
Hearing Cracker's words, Kate and Feiluo's expressions also changed, anxiety appearing on their faces.
"See who lasts until the end? You're underestimating me far too much. I have no intention of dragging this out with you!"
As Zesi spoke, he raised his fist, and the Tremor-Tremor Fruit's glowing sphere enveloped it again.
"Air-Shattering Hammer!" Zesi threw a straight punch at Cracker.
In an instant, the air before Zesi's fist shattered layer by layer, and a shock wave surged out, instantly punching through every Biscuit Soldier blocking its path.
Before Cracker could even react, the shock wave had already struck the Biscuit Soldier housing him.
How could that Biscuit Soldier possibly withstand such an impact?
The shock wave struck Cracker head-on.
Cracker barely managed to bring both hands up in front of his chest to block.
Bang! The terrifying impact blasted Cracker out of the Biscuit Soldier and sent him flying backward.
It was not a single impact, but one after another.
Under the relentless impacts, Cracker's hands were knocked apart, and the blows struck his body directly.
Cracker spat blood as he endured the impacts, his body flying backward without pause.
Along the way, every building he struck was instantly demolished, and he only stopped when he crashed into the clock tower in the center of town.
"The gap... is actually... this huge!" he said incredulously, then lost consciousness.
"Cracker!" the Charlotte Family members all cried out at once.
Wave-Stepping Flash! At that moment, Zesi instantly appeared before the Charlotte Family members and punched Charlotte Counter in the abdomen.
The blow made him foam at the mouth, and his eyes rolled back as he lost consciousness.
Then Zesi's body flashed from place to place again.
In the blink of an eye, all the remaining Charlotte Family members lay on the ground.