Chapter 193: War with the Charlotte Family (8)
Esdeath 's slender arm suddenly exerted force, and Katakuri immediately felt the difference in power compared to before.
"!" Katakuri was pushed back by Esdeath 's sudden increased strength, his legs digging into the ground, leaving a furrow more than ten meters long on the grass.
"Suddenly... your strength has increased…" Katakuri, somewhat confused, still asked in a calm tone, "Is this an increase in strength during the fight? Or is it because of the captain's encouragement?"
Esdeath ignored Katakuri's words, lost in her own world. Her expression turned into one of a girl in love, a faint blush coloring her cheeks as her left hand gently rested on her full chest. "Eric ~ I've received your power…!"
"…" Katakuri silently watched Esdeath 's solo performance without saying a word.
Taking advantage of the situation to launch a sneak attack? The proud Katakuri would never do that.
However, there were times when he grew impatient, and he didn't want to keep waiting. "Hey, are you going to fight or not?"
"!" Interrupted from her daydream, Esdeath 's face turned cold. "Interrupting my fantasies is a serious crime! You'll entertain me with the final struggles of your dying moments…"
Esdeath charged at Katakuri, sonic booms erupting before her, the shockwaves blowing the rocks on her path into the air.
"Peerless Sweet Donut!"
The ground beside Katakuri erupted with rice cakes, forming two large donuts. From the center of the rings, two huge arms stretched out, taking the same position as Katakuri's own arms.
"Powerful Rice Cake!" Katakuri swung his right arm forward, and the massive, reinforced arm of rice cake flew toward Esdeath .
"Gray Horn Giant Pillar!" While running, Esdeath casually flicked her left hand upwards, creating an ice pillar from the ground to clash with the powerful rice cake arm.
The ice pillar, not strong enough with Haki, was smashed by the powerful rice cake, and the scattered ice flew toward Katakuri.
His eyes glowed red, and he saw the future—
He transformed the hit area into rice beforehand, dodging all the ice spike attacks.
Clang—
Esdeath also blocked the giant arm of the rice cake with her famous sword.
"Your strength can't block my attack!"
Katakuri raised his other left fist, ready to strike at Esdeath again—
"Freeze!"
Esdeath froze the giant arm in front of her. The ice quickly spread up the Peerless Sweet Donut.
Clang—
The entire frozen arm fell to the ground.
"One of your powerful arms is useless now," Esdeath smiled. "Let me freeze you into an ice sculpture!"
"Is that so—"
From the ground, eight more rice cake rings rose up.
"Nine-Headed Rice Cake!"
Esdeath : "…"
"Let's see if you can block these punches!" Katakuri's two hands were surrounded by white light, and he pushed his right hand forward.
From the nine donuts, the giant fists formed from the powerful rice cake arms shot out toward Esdeath .
"!" Esdeath 's left hand hit the ground. "Ice Wall!"
Ice walls rose from beneath Esdeath 's feet, thickening as they moved forward.
Boom boom boom boom!
Katakuri controlled the nine fists with both hands, continuously striking the ice walls, breaking through more and more, and the ice defense was growing thinner.
Shattered ice crystals flew everywhere, and thick ice mist enveloped Esdeath 's side.
"Ha—Hail Fury Leap Attack! Ice Crystal Spikes!"
Unable to secure victory with her continuous defense, Esdeath understood the futility of it and gave up on creating more ice walls for defense, instead launching a counterattack.
A massive ice ball formed in the air and hurled toward Katakuri.
On the ground, from Esdeath 's feet to Katakuri, a path of ice spikes formed.
The ice wall in front of Esdeath finally shattered completely, revealing Katakuri's massive rice cake fist right in front of her.
Red light once again appeared in Katakuri's eyes. He was certain. "I will win this fight."
Esdeath held her sword with her right hand, her left hand blocking the back of the sword, but she was struck back by the giant rice cake hand.
Meanwhile, Katakuri turned the ground into rice, creating a rice ball larger than the ice blocks Esdeath created, and the two balls collided in the air.
On the ground, a rice spike path formed, colliding with the ice spike wall. The rice spikes and ice spikes exploded in unison, creating a scene where each was intertwined with the other.
"Just as expected from Lord Katakuri,"
"Heh…" Esdeath sneered. "Imitating my moves?"
"Both in strength and ability, you can't match me. Your future has no chance of victory."
"...Hehehe"
"Hahahahaha!" Esdeath began to laugh, her strong killing intent exploding from her eyes, causing the enemies around her to shrink back. "Only fighting strong opponents brings the joy of battle. The defeated, only death awaits."
Katakuri stared at Esdeath , who had entered her 'deathless' mode.
"Dead men speak no words, and the defeated remain silent. Everything is settled by strength!"
"True," Katakuri agreed. "I've said too much, now it's just a matter of victory or defeat, and life or death."
Esdeath 's blood surged, her fighting spirit rising as her mind became extremely clear.
She faintly saw many "things."
After Eric won the battle, he didn't immediately finish off Perospero. Instead, he started bullying the surrounding chess soldiers and moved closer to Kurumi.
He kept a close eye on his comrades' situations, deciding to flash to their side the moment something went wrong. As for whether he would make Esdeath angry, at most she would beat him up—would he just watch his wife get killed by others?
When Esdeath was knocked flying by the powerful rice cake, Eric was sweating nervously.
"Eh?" Eric was surprised when he checked Esdeath 's panel data.
Previously:
[Name: Esdeath ]
[Physique: Seven Stars]
[Martial Arts: Six Stars]
[Swordsmanship: Six and a Half Stars]
[Armament Haki: Five Stars]
[Observation Haki: Five and a Half Stars]
[Conqueror's Haki: Four Stars]
[Devil Fruit: Eight Stars]
Now, the stats for Haki and abilities rapidly increased to:
[Armament Haki: Six Stars]
[Observation Haki: Seven Stars]
[Conqueror's Haki: Five and a Half Stars]
[Devil Fruit: Eight and a Half Stars]
'Sis, are you on some kind of stimulant?'
…
The temporary boost in power, combined with Esdeath 's strong fighting will, successfully enhanced the Devil Fruit abilities.
Esdeath didn't draw from the stored energy used to create the Ice Knights, but the temperature in the area suddenly dropped, and snowflakes began to fall.
'...' Katakuri felt the atmosphere around Esdeath change.
'It seems my ability can now do what it couldn't before…' Esdeath 's dangerous smile made Katakuri feel uneasy.
Red light flashed, and with the power of Observation Haki, Katakuri saw a few seconds into the future—he would be frozen by Esdeath 's "Absolute Zero"!
'I must dodge this move!'
"Absolute Zero!" Esdeath launched her Absolute Zero shockwave, sending it flying toward Katakuri.
(END CHAPTER)
Get 30% off on my Patreon and enjoy early access to new chapters.
You can also purchase the next 100 chapters of the novel directly from my Patreon page.
Hurry up! The promotion ends on May 2, 2026.
Read 40 Chapters In Advance: patreon.com/Johanssen10