"Air-Shattering Hammer!"
At the same time Big Mom slashed out with her sword, Zesi threw a punch!
The two shock waves collided in an instant.
The violent collision shook all of Whole Cake Island.
An enormous fissure split the ground from their clash.
"Zeus!"
"Here, Mama!"
The white cloud Homie Zeus immediately turned into a black thundercloud crackling with lightning.
Big Mom grabbed the thundercloud and poured in the powerful energy of the Soul-Soul Fruit, instantly making its lightning bigger and stronger.
Thick bolts of lightning raged within the thundercloud.
"Thunderbolt!" Big Mom roared, and a pillar of lightning burst from the thundercloud toward Zesi.
"Air-Defense Hammer!" Zesi hammered out a punch, instantly cracking the air beneath his fist.
Unlike his other Tremor-Tremor Fruit attacks, this time the cracks in the air beneath Zesi's fist were incredibly numerous and densely packed.
When the pillar of lightning struck those densely packed cracks, it could not advance another inch.
Unlike his other attacks, Defense-Control Hammer was one of Zesi's few defensive moves.
The Tremor-Tremor Fruit had little defensive capability, though it also had the strongest defensive capability, because its defense was offense.
Air-Quaking Hammer applied vibrations across an area.
Break-Open Hammer concentrated vibrations on a single point.
Air-Defense Hammer formed shock waves from vibrations, condensing them into layer upon layer of barriers.
"Hmph!" Zesi glanced at the lightning continually battering the Air-Defense Hammer's barriers, then exerted more force, sending even stronger vibrations surging from his hand.
The shock waves actually penetrated the lightning and destroyed it from within, directly shattering the formless lightning.
"Wave-Stepping Flash!"
Zesi stepped forward, flashed in front of Big Mom, and threw a punch.
Big Mom answered with a punch at the same time.
This time, their fists collided head-on.
In an instant, the ground beneath them cracked, shattered, and heaved upward before sinking deep down.
Then the two fought fiercely.
The earth kept splitting apart under their battle.
One enormous crater after another appeared beneath their fists and attacks.
"Is this the strength of the great pirates on the sea? Do monsters like this really exist in this world?" Feiluo said in disbelief.
He had heard before how powerful some great pirates were.
How one person could destroy an army, a country, or even an island.
But he had never believed it, thinking those were merely legends and exaggerations.
How could such monsters exist in the world?
How could a person possess such terrifying power?
But now he finally experienced the truly terrifying strength of a great pirate.
The ground kept shaking and splitting apart.
The entire atmosphere churned from their battle, as though the end had come and the world was about to be destroyed.
If they kept fighting like this, the destruction of the entire island was by no means impossible.
"How is this possible? Natural Disaster Zesi can actually fight Mama to this extent?"
"His strength probably isn't far behind Mama's anymore!"
"He's only a crew member. How could he be this strong?"
"Are all the Roger Pirates' crew members monsters?"
"I'd heard Zesi was terrifyingly strong, but I never imagined he'd reached this level."
"This is trouble. If they keep fighting like this, all of Whole Cake Island might be destroyed!"
"We have to find a way to stop Zesi from attacking, perorin!"
As Perospero spoke, he waved his lollipop cane, producing a great quantity of liquid candy that swept toward Feiluo, who was already stunned by the sight of Zesi and Big Mom's battle.
"Watch out!" Just then, Katakuri suddenly cried out.
Naturally, he was not shouting to Feiluo.
Perospero was startled when Katakuri spoke, unsure why he had suddenly issued a warning.
But at that very moment, a streak of light struck his liquid candy.
The streak instantly pierced the liquid candy, then shot through a whole swath of buildings.
"I have to remind you, if you want to lay a hand on my people, you'd best wait until I'm dead. Otherwise, a big hole might appear in your chest the next moment, Perospero."
Zesi spoke to Perospero while driving Big Mom back.
Cold sweat poured from Perospero's forehead.
Through his Observation Haki, Perospero had "seen" that what had just passed was not light at all, but a coin.
More importantly, that coin was so terrifyingly powerful in Zesi's hands that it had instantly shot through his liquid candy.
His liquid candy was extremely sticky; ordinary attacks were hardly effective against it, much less capable of easily piercing it.
And the coin was extraordinarily fast.
Even his Observation Haki had difficulty detecting it.
And at that speed, even if he detected it, his body would have no way to dodge.
"Zesi, you still have the attention to spare to look around while fighting me? You really aren't taking me seriously."
At that moment, Big Mom flew into a rage, radiating incredibly terrifying Haki as a black aura enveloped her.
"Heh, Big Mom, the warm-up's about over. Time to get serious!" Zesi said with a smile, the corner of his mouth lifting.
The same pitch-black Haki spilled from his body.
"A warm-up?"
Had that battle just been a warm-up?
Feiluo felt his entire understanding of the world shatter once again.
"Zesi!" Big Mom unleashed a Haki-laden slash.
"Big Mom!" Zesi answered with a punch that shattered the heavens and split the earth.
Their powers collided, and the ground heaved.
A fissure over a thousand meters long tore open, extending all the way to Whole Cake Chateau.
Even Whole Cake Chateau, the sturdiest structure on the island, developed numerous cracks.
The island shook incessantly, as though it might be destroyed at any moment.