Whether the mecha was truly practical or what level of combat power it could reach was beside the point for now. With the appearance of the Germa combined mecha, the chunibyo souls of some of the young people present had already awakened.
Some people were destined to be pirates from the day they were born. More than half of the officers of the Big Mom Pirates were like this. Their mother was Charlotte Linlin, which meant their identities were fixed from the start.
But there were also many who only chose to go out to sea after having lived for some time. Their reasons varied: the position of Pirate King, the treasures of the sea, the fulfillment of personal desires, and so on.
Naturally, this included those hot-blooded individuals who were drawn to pirates and believed being a pirate was simply about pursuing freedom. This group often had the strongest chunibyo tendencies.
A transforming mecha capable of combination met this criterion in every way. The mecha, more than twice the size of Charlotte Linlin herself, left some people utterly transfixed, and even some members of the Big Mom Pirates were no exception.
The mecha’s next action was a bit awkward. Sections of its body opened up, and Yonji and the others exited from within, quickly climbing to the position of the main control room and entering through an opened safety passage.
This was something Judge had developed through science, not some ancient beast soul or mystical power like the Gaorangers or anything of the sort. Entering the transfer chamber was about the same as getting into a tank.
Judge had already exerted himself greatly just to achieve compression of this mecha; spatial teleportation was simply beyond him.
Aside from Reiju and Judge, who formed the torso, everyone else had to climb on the outside.
Despite this small interlude, it did nothing to detract from the mecha’s coolness. Once all the operators were in position, it began to move under their control.
“Sparking Blast!”
The lion-formed right arm spewed a large amount of flames in all directions. The mecha’s abilities still originated from Judge’s research into the Lineage Factor. Overall, they were similar to the abilities of the siblings themselves, simply amplified and synchronized.
Sparking Red’s power unleashed explosive flames around it, quickly igniting a large surrounding area. Some of the biscuit soldiers created by Cracker were no exception.
His biscuits were absurdly hard, but at their core they were still biscuits: able to be softened by water and ignited by high-temperature flames.
Other participants of the tea party began to flee in all directions, while members of the Big Mom Pirates launched a siege against the giant mecha.
“Cream Monster!”
Charlotte Opera, Big Mom’s fifth son, the user of the Cream-Cream Fruit.
In daily life, he was like a swamp monster, his body covered in semi-fluid cream, making it impossible to tell what his true appearance actually looked like.
The cream released by the Cream-Cream Fruit could “sugarize” any part of the human body it touched and also carried enough heat to scorch enemies. However, when facing a lifeless mecha, Opera’s ability was greatly weakened.
The cream monster punched the giant mecha, but failed to have any effect at all, and was instead smashed to pieces by a single blow from the mecha.
“Let’s just burn this thing down. Turn into barbecue in there!”
Charlotte Basskarte ignited fireballs in his hands and hurled them one after another at the giant mecha before him. The cream created by Opera was also set alight, and the combination of their abilities produced an effect similar to incendiary bombs.
Inside the mecha, Judge calmly pressed a button. As the machinery within began to operate, the mecha started venting air outward. The cream clinging to its surface was blown away in all directions, instead igniting quite a few nearby buildings.
“Opera, Basskarte, you two stop getting in the way and go deal with those intruders!”
Seeing that their abilities were completely ineffective, Smoothie immediately scolded them and ordered them away. While the mecha drew everyone’s attention, Bege quietly released a large number of ink soldiers drawn by Kanjuro.
These ink-formed soldiers weren’t very strong, but they caused even more chaos. Some of them even carried explosives, acting as suicide infantry.
On top of that, with the signals in the area cut off by the Horned Den Den Mushi that Bege had set up in advance, communication was reduced to shouting.
The chaotic situation made it difficult for voices to carry, indirectly triggering even greater turmoil.
“Stop staring at that robot! This is a rare opportunity, prepare to act!!”
The consciousness within Bege’s body was seething with rage. Aside from the Straw Hats, even Law kept glancing at the mecha from time to time, and his own subordinates were no exception. It gave Bege a persistent headache.
“Once those ink men have done their job, it’ll be our turn. We’ve only got three rockets, timing is everything if we want them to be effective. Don’t be careless!”
As he spoke, Bege also began using his ability to clear out the ink soldiers, and “accidentally” blew up quite a few Homie soldiers along the way.
At the same time, the mecha was met by an opponent of comparable size. Smoothie’s body rapidly expanded, and soon even the weapon in her hand grew with her, entering giant mode as well.
In this state, she was a genuine “watered-down” giant.
She can grow larger because the liquid she squeezes out with her Devil Fruit on a daily basis is stored inside her body, allowing her to grow large when needed.
The size increase is due to water, but her strength is not water. In this state, she is essentially a fusion of a Giant and the Longleg Tribe.
“Juicy Slash!”
Smoothie swung the greatsword in her hands at the mecha giant before her, but Judge blocked it with the mecha’s right arm. The toughness of the mecha exceeded Smoothie’s expectations.
“So hard.”
“Hahahaha, of course it is! This is a composite of memory metal and Divine Steel. Aren’t you closely connected with the Beasts Pirates? Then you should know just how absurd the toughness and hardness of Divine Steel is!”
If you want high defensive power, both hardness and toughness are essential. Being hard alone has no real meaning. It just makes the material prone to becoming brittle.
Divine Steel, in the outside world, is considered a near-perfect material; it’s just difficult to shape for those who don’t know the proper techniques to use it.
Smoothie didn’t believe Judge’s words. She lifted her leg and kicked at the joint in the mecha’s waist. Seeing her move, the mecha giant also raised its leg and kicked back.
The lower body’s Winch Green ability gave the mecha exceptional stability, and it could also erupt with tremendous power at critical moments. At the very least, Smoothie’s kick couldn’t do anything to it. At the same time, changes occurred at the mecha’s back.
“Pink Stream!”
The pair of wings on the mecha’s back weren’t meant for flying. There was no way those wings alone could lift such a bulky body. Their true nature was a weapons launch platform.
A poison weapon infused with Reiju’s power blasted onto Smoothie, forcing her back several steps.
Seeing the signs of poisoning on her arm, Smoothie immediately activated her ability, squeezing the toxins out of her body along with a portion of liquid.
The power of the Wring-Wring Fruit allowed her to ignore poison, though her body size shrank considerably. Just as she was about to continue fighting, Big Mom formed a new idea.
“Move aside, Smoothie. You’re too slow.”
“Mama, I can—”
“No, I don’t want to waste time anymore. I’ll do it myself.”
“Yes.”
Under Charlotte Linlin’s command, Smoothie had no choice but to withdraw from the battlefield.
“Mamamama~ Very nice. To think you could fight Smoothie to this extent, I’m even more interested in your technology now.”
Charlotte Linlin slowly approached the mecha giant. Judge didn’t retreat, instead choosing to strike first. Electricity gathered in the left arm, and a spherical-shaped lightning quickly formed in the mecha’s hand before being hurled toward Charlotte Linlin.
“Zeus!”
“At your command, Mama.”
With just the call of its name, Charlotte Linlin had already conveyed her intent. In an instant, Zeus darkened, transforming from a goofy white cloud into a black thundercloud crackling with lightning.
It swallowed Judge’s lightning sphere in one gulp, then showed a satisfied smile, as if expressing how pleased it was. Zeus then opened its mouth and returned an even stronger bolt of lightning to Judge, bathing the mecha in electricity in an instant.
Relying on the mecha’s power system, Judge absorbed a fair amount of the lightning. But at that moment, Charlotte Linlin had already arrived before him and swung a simple punch at the mecha.
Yet this very simple punch sent the mecha, which had just looked so imposing, stumbling back several steps. The second punch that followed immediately triggered warning alarms inside the cockpit.
Charlotte Linlin is most famous for her iron-balloon-like defense. Her training method differed from Kaido. She never really focused on training her physique, or rather, she hardly trained at all.
Eating, fighting, and having children—step by step, she reached the pinnacle.
For Charlotte Linlin, punching was merely the most basic form of attack. Even when Bege entered Big Father mode and turned into a massive castle, he could withstand several of her punches. A body made of Divine Steel and Wapometal was, by any measure, far sturdier than a brick castle.
“At this level, it might be pretty good if it could be mass-produced.”
Seeing that Germa’s mecha had taken two punches without falling apart, Tesoro gave it high praise. Even an ordinary punch depends on who’s throwing it.
Without this mecha, Charlotte Linlin could probably knock all of them down with a single punch. There wouldn’t even be a chance for a second one.
“Impossible. If something like this could really be mass-produced, the first ones who wouldn’t be able to sit still would be the World Government.”
At present, this mecha seems capable of dealing with ordinary Sweet Commanders. There weren’t many people across the entire sea who could reach that level. If this could be mass-produced, the Marines would practically disband most of their forces outright.
A mecha like this would be enough to resolve the majority of conflicts.
“If I’m not mistaken, forging even this single unit with the Divine Steel they have was already pushing it. They probably don’t have much material left.”
As for where the Arceus Steel ultimately went, the Beasts Pirates were still able to track it down. After a rough estimate, Kojiro reached a new conclusion.
At this moment, Charlotte Linlin also seemed to have had her fill of playing around.
“Mama-Mash!”
Charlotte Linlin’s hat transformed into a machete. It was the Homie Napoleon that she had personally created, usually worn atop her head as a hat, but now revealing its true form.
A pair of ferocious eyes appeared on the blade, with Haki swirling around it.
“Spear of Elbaph!”
Giants’ techniques often had remarkable effects against foes of massive size. Just as Charlotte Linlin was about to use Ikoku to shatter Germa’s mecha, the environment of Whole Cake Island suddenly darkened.
Almost at the same time, the Straw Hats exited from within Bege, intending to seize this opportunity to act. However, before they could do anything, a new situation arose.
A strange fluctuation suddenly enveloped the entirety of Whole Cake Island. Charlotte Linlin’s attack hadn’t even been launched yet when the enemy before her abruptly vanished. Just as she was about to fly into a rage, she realized that everyone around her had disappeared as well.
All the guests were gone, leaving only a few of her children at her side. From the surroundings, this still seemed to be Whole Cake Island, yet everything about it felt eerie.
“What is this place?”
It wasn’t just Charlotte Linlin. Most of the things from Whole Cake Island had ended up here, though not everything had remained on the island itself. Zeraora and the others found themselves on a strange stretch of land.
The moment he sensed something wrong, Zeraora’s first instinct was to grab one child in each hand, while also using the braid-like special appendage behind him to wrap around Wanda, his sister-in-law.
There were quite a few people present, but he only had two hands. Even among companions, there were degrees of closeness, and he instinctively chose to protect his family first. The good news was that their group hadn’t been scattered.
“Bepo, Carrot, Kojiro, Tesoro, is everyone here?”
“I’m fine.”
“I’m here.”
At Zeraora’s call, the group responded one after another and instinctively formed a circle, watching their surroundings warily.
Tesoro and Kojiro immediately completed their transformations, stingers and blades ready for combat.
“What is this place? Weren’t we just on Whole Cake Island?”
“No idea. I’ve never heard of any ability that allows for mass teleportation.”
This time, Tesoro couldn’t answer Kojiro’s question. What was happening here had already crossed into the blind spot of his knowledge.
“Then what now, do we try to look for an exit?”
Kojiro took out a Den Den Mushi and Rotom. As expected, both were in a no-signal state.
Just as Kojiro suggested searching for an exit, several illusory figures suddenly appeared before them, standing in place and staring at Kojiro and the others.
After a few seconds of hesitation, those shadows began to approach, gradually picking up speed.
Faced with this eerie sight, Zeraora hurled a bolt of lightning at them, but they were completely unaffected and continued to draw closer.
“Dad, did you miss?”
“No. These things seem to… be immune to lightning. Everyone, stay alert!”
“They’re not immune to lightning, you’re using the wrong type.”
Just as Zeraora was about to try a different approach, a familiar voice rang out by his ear again, followed by Meowna’s startled cry.
“Legless Uncle Darkrai!”
“That prefix is unnecessary.”
Darkrai does have legs, and they’re unusually long. Most of the time, Darkrai doesn’t reveal them, instead choosing to move by floating.
You can read ahead upto 75 chapters on my patreon and I’ve also activated (date to date) subscription model on my patreon.
Become a Patron!