"So this is Ren's Bankai..."
"Ma-ma, ma-ma! It really is grand and imposing!"
Watching the black figure below holding the long Zanbato, Big Mom was smiling, though it was clearly forced.
But soon, that smile became more genuine, filled with predatory intent.
"Such immense power... it's truly desirable."
"With his lineage, any child born would far surpass Katakuri in strength."
Seeing his mother's eager state, Perospero couldn't help but nod in agreement.
"You're right, Mama."
He didn't deny Katakuri's perfection and strength, but the offspring born from the union of Mama and this Great King would be even more exceptional.
The only issue currently facing the Big Mom Pirates was how to get this Great King to agree to sleep with Mama.
No, to guarantee the success rate, once probably wouldn't be enough; they needed at least a month!
"Once this battle is over, I'll go investigate why my future father is so unwilling to sleep with Mama."
Big Mom smiled knowingly: "I'll leave that to you then, Perospero. Don't let me down."
"Don't worry, Mama. I definitely won't disappoint you," Perospero said with confidence.
Jack, hearing the conversation between mother and son, showed disdain on his face beneath his mask.
However, considering Big Mom was a bit stronger than him, he didn't say anything and let it slide this time.
He looked toward the battlefield below, his expression growing solemn.
"As expected of Great King Enma. Such immense Spiritual Pressure makes one tremble even from this distance."
"He really is as powerful as a monster!"
Kaido nodded heavily, feeling that powerful Spiritual Pressure like sharp blades pressing against his skin.
An unprecedented sense of crisis emerged from his heart, striking him to his very soul.
The Spiritual Pressure Ren released now was like a vast ocean, and his own strength within it was like a small boat that could be capsized by a single wave at any time.
"I wonder how powerful his ability has become after Bankai!"
"This battle will end soon. Though it will be brief, we can use it to see the truth."
Upon hearing this, the other three on the platform fixed their eyes on the battlefield below, concentrating intensely so as not to miss a single movement of the black figure.
Ren was naturally aware of their gaze, but he didn't care. His eyes were fixed on the Sage of the Six Paths and his brother, who were already prepared to attack.
The Sage of the Six Paths held a strange and massive weapon, his face showing a look of firm resolve.
In Otsutsuki Hamura's hand, a golden light sword reached for the heavens, radiating a dangerous aura.
That brilliant light scattered in all directions, dyeing the nearby land completely gold.
Ren narrowed his eyes as memories surfaced, immediately recognizing the weapons in their hands.
'The Sword of Nunoboko... Golden Wheel Rebirth Explosion...'
This was likely the strongest attack the two could muster at the moment.
For Ren, it wasn't enough to make him nervous.
"As I said before, my ability is severing."
"Even after Bankai, my ability hasn't fundamentally changed. It's just that the things I can cut have increased, and cutting them has become easier..."
A normal Soul Reaper's Bankai usually shows a leap in evolution compared to their Shikai, just as Suì-Fēng's two-hit kill grows into a one-hit kill, or Kyōraku Shunsui's children's games become adult games...
But his Bankai did not have such a massive evolution.
However, Ren wasn't too disappointed. Even if the growth of the ability wasn't obvious, a Bankai was still a Bankai, providing a significant boost to his combat power.
Ren remained expressionless, watching the powerful attacks in the brothers' hands.
"Hagoromo, Hamura, I can feel that your current strength is formidable. You could probably easily destroy the planet beneath our feet."
"But no matter how great the power, how fast the speed, or how absolute the rules, they are all nothing before me."
As the Sage of the Six Paths looked at the Soul Reaper's calm demeanor, a faint sense of danger enveloped his heart.
His aged face grew more solemn, and he instantly raised his vigilance to the maximum, his Rinnegan staring fixedly at the opponent's every move.
"Are you implying that our power is insufficient before you?"
"Soul Reaper, I admit you are strong, but you underestimate us two brothers far too much."
Otsutsuki Hamura shouted, the golden light sword in his hand becoming even more magnificent as he swung it down at the Soul Reaper below.
"I am merely stating a fact."
"Let me show you my true ability."
Ren lifted his head, the golden radiance dispelling the darkness on his face and reflecting a golden hue.
The light sword covered the entire sky, its dazzling brilliance filling his entire field of vision.
Just as Hamura swung his sword, the Sage of the Six Paths coordinated perfectly with his brother, flickering in front of the Soul Reaper and bringing his weapon down fiercely.
Yet even as both attacks arrived nearly simultaneously, the Soul Reaper before them didn't move an inch, not even blinking.
He simply watched the attacks about to strike him with a gaze so calm it was indifferent, as if their attacks were merely a gentle spring breeze.
'Let me see what kind of ability you have!'
The Sage of the Six Paths' attack became even more ferocious. Just as it was about to hit the Soul Reaper, the pitch-black figure suddenly vanished.
The weapon in his hand stopped abruptly, and his Rinnegan widened in shock as he looked forward.
"He's gone... how is that possible!"
His Rinnegan had excellent vision; no matter how fast the speed or how small the movement, he should have seen it clearly without missing a detail.
Yet the opponent had vanished from right under his nose in an instant. Was it spatial transfer? Or something else?
Seeing his brother stop, Otsutsuki Hamura also immediately halted his attack. His confused gaze shifted toward his brother, and his eyes suddenly widened in shock.
The Soul Reaper's figure was now behind his brother.
"Brother, behind you!"
Before Hamura's words could even leave his mouth, the Sage of the Six Paths had already reacted, quickly spinning around while swinging his weapon in a horizontal arc.
What met his eyes was the Soul Reaper's dispassionate expression.
That weapon, which contained his very will, shattered abruptly in his hand, crumbling into a pile of debris.
'What...'
Shock flowed through the Sage's Rinnegan, and as his gaze moved back to the Soul Reaper, he found that the world before him had split in two, dividing into upper and lower halves.
No, it wasn't the world; he himself had been sliced in two.
A sword mark extended from his cheek down through his body, and his entire being burst open, split into left and right halves.
The left half of his body fell, while the right half wobbled in the air before failing to hold on and plummeting toward the ground.
The Sage of the Six Paths suddenly realized that it wasn't because his will was weak that the Sword of Nunoboko shattered, but because his will itself had been severed, causing the weapon to perish.
As he fell, a look of deep confusion appeared on the remaining half of his face.
A voice as light as the wind drifted through the air.
"When... did..."
"In a gap of time that you are unaware of."
Ren's calm voice rang out clearly, answering the Sage's final question.
But by then, the light in those Rinnegan had vanished. He obviously could no longer hear it.
This ancestor of Ninshu, the supreme being who had existed in the ninja world for a thousand years, had his consciousness completely extinguished at this moment.
The thick chakra that formed his body turned into a shimmering crystal mist, dissipating into the ninja world he had spent his life protecting.
"Brother!"
Otsutsuki Hamura roared, his blue Tenseigan erupting with unprecedented brightness, overflowing with killing intent and pure hatred.
The light sword in his hand slashed fiercely at the Soul Reaper in front of him.
He didn't know what the Soul Reaper had done to his brother, but he could no longer feel his brother's will within the chakra.
The scene before him and the shift in the chakra within his body told him clearly that his twin brother, his companion of a thousand years, had just had his consciousness extinguished.
It wasn't the death of the body like a thousand years ago, but true death!
"Soul Reaper!"
Hamura's lethal strike arrived in an instant, carrying terrifying destructive power.
Ren looked at the light sword that was only a fraction of a second away from his head. His face, bathed in golden light, showed no panic. His eyes were clear as he slightly tilted his Zanbato.
"Severing Time."
With a single thought from Ren, the entire world fell silent!
The chakra light sword radiating brilliant luster froze in mid-air.
The two halves of the Sage's remains were frozen in the air, and even the chakra dissipating from the remains stood still.
The dust kicked up on the ground, the birds startled in the night sky, Big Mom's group of four on the platform, the explosive battle between Naruto and Sasuke...
Everything seemed to have been hit by a pause button, stopping in place without awareness.
Under Ren's thought, the entire world abruptly ceased its movement, turning into shades of gray and white.
Ren lightly turned his body, stepping through the air. He tapped his Zanbato against the chakra light sword and walked toward Otsutsuki Hamura as if taking a leisurely stroll.
The hideous expression on Hamura's aged face was clearly visible, with hatred and ruthlessness preserved in his features.
"Hamura, you're confused, aren't you? Why your brother was killed by me in an instant."
"Even with those Tenseigan of infinite power, you clearly saw nothing, yet your brother met a violent death in the very next moment."
Ren spoke words that no one could hear, raising his Zanbato high and letting it fall gently onto Hamura's head.
"What I did was very simple: I merely severed the connection between this moment and the next, entering the gap in time."
"Time, space, causality, destiny... to me, they are nothing more than fish on a chopping block."
Holding his Bankai, Ren didn't apply any strength at all; the weight of the Zanbato itself was enough to smoothly slice into Hamura's body.
Like cutting through tofu, it slid from the top of Hamura's head all the way down to his feet.
Slowly pulling back his sword, Ren walked past the figure that had already been split in two, heading toward the distant platform.
"Now, time resumes."
At Ren's command, the grayscale of the world quickly receded, returning to its original colors in the blink of an eye.
The expression on Hamura's face instantly became animated, but as he looked forward, the Soul Reaper was already gone.
Feeling a tearing sensation in his consciousness, he suddenly realized the truth and turned to look behind him.
The Soul Reaper's black back entered his vision, and then his entire world split in two.
The Golden Wheel Rebirth Explosion in his hand shattered, turning into disordered chakra that dissipated into the world.
The luster in those Tenseigan, now forcibly separated, quickly faded away.
"So... that's it..."
A nearly whispered sob rang out before blending into the wind.
The two halves of the body fell downward. Without the owner's will to maintain them, they gradually broke apart and dissipated, just like the Sage of the Six Paths had moments before.
On the platform, whether it was Big Mom or Kaido, their eyes narrowed at the scene that had unfolded in an instant.
"What... what just happened?"
"I didn't see anything at all!"
Big Mom watched Ren as he walked through the air toward them, her eyes flickering. Besides shock, there was a hint of confusion on her face.
Kaido's expression was grave, the confusion in his heart growing like wild weeds.
He hadn't seen it clearly either.
He had only seen Ren's figure flicker, first appearing behind the Sage. Even though Ren seemingly did nothing, the Sage was split into two.
Then Ren suddenly appeared behind Hamura, and Hamura's body was split in two as well, just like his brother's.
"Just what... is Great King Enma's ability?"
Although they knew from the start that the two brothers wouldn't be a match for the Great King Enma.
But they were, after all, opponents who had been entangled with the two of them for so long. Even if they couldn't win, they should have been able to put up a fight.
They had hoped to use them to see the extent of Ren's abilities.
But the reality was...
This battle couldn't even be called a struggle; it wasn't even a fight.
It was simply Ren walking past, and the two were cut into pieces.
Not just the two brothers, but even they, who were watching from the sidelines, hadn't been able to react.
They couldn't even understand what had happened!
The gap between them was actually this astronomical!
This Great King Enma they had chosen to serve was so incomprehensibly powerful!
It was truly despair-inducing!
That black figure was stepping through the air, walking toward them.
"Linlin, Kaido, come with me to see how the other battlefields are faring."
The heavy voice echoed on the platform.
Big Mom and the others were still looking in the previous direction. Before they could react, the voice sounded from close by, and the black figure in their sight suddenly vanished.
The four of them widened their eyes in shock, their hearts jolting as they quickly turned toward the source of the voice.
Ren's figure had appeared behind them in an instant, without anyone noticing.
'It happened again! He's so fast it's impossible to react!'
'I couldn't even see a shadow when he moved at high speed. It's as if he just suddenly appeared from one place to another!'
'Is it teleportation... or some other ability?'
Not hearing a response for a moment, Ren tilted his head slightly, a hint of confusion flashing across his face.
"Where is your reply?"
The four of them immediately snapped out of it, suppressing the shock in their hearts. Compared to before, their expressions were now much more restrained.
The usual confident smile was gone from Big Mom's face, her voice carrying a sense of calm.
"Very well. I'll have Gaia open the way and send us there."
[Reviews - Power St0nes - Comments are highly appreciated to keep me going.....(+50 chapters) patre0n.c0m/talecrafter]