Chapter 71: Snack: Goodbye, Mama, Tonight I'm Setting Sail!
"Burururu! Burururu!"
Inside Charlotte Snack's breast pocket, the Den Den Mushi rang impatiently.
Snack knew—that was Big Mom's Den Den Mushi. Only her Den Den Mushi was important enough for Snack to carry around.
Normally, Snack, who never wanted to anger his Mama, would have answered the call immediately.
But now...
"Did he escape?"
He ignored the Den Den Mushi, his grip tight on the great sword in his hand.
"No."
Although on the surface, Rat's sudden disappearance indeed looked like an escape.
But at this moment, Snack knew.
"That man wouldn't run away."
He recalled what the opponent had said before disappearing.
"In such a short time, he already realized my ability..."
Snack still found it incredible.
His 'Mark-Mark Fruit' ability was incredibly powerful, especially against opponents he met for the first time. With the ability to mark targets through sight and perform long-range slashes, most people would be at a loss.
Especially since Snack had developed this Devil Fruit deeply, already possessing two marking points.
During battle, he would use one marking point for defense, the 'guardian point'.
And one marking point for offense, the 'slash point'.
Theoretically, as long as his ability wasn't discovered, most people would die without realizing what hit them.
Especially the ability to transfer damage, which made people believe his defensive power was astonishing.
This was also the source of his self-proclaimed title 'Strongest of the Generals'.
But the truth was...
Snack knew his ability had weaknesses.
"I can feel that he has already erased the marking point on himself. Is he perhaps already looking for my 'guardian point' now?"
At this thought, Snack's heart was filled with alarm.
Once the 'guardian point' was erased, he would face the desperate situation of being unable to use his ability again for ten minutes.
At that time, facing Rat's omnipresent slashes, he would undoubtedly die.
This made him wish he could immediately confirm the safety of his 'guardian point'.
But he didn't dare.
He feared the opponent was still hidden nearby; if he actively went to check on the 'guardian point', it would be like inviting a wolf into his house.
"My guardian point is very hidden, near that furnace to the south. He can't possibly find it in such a short time."
"Just one more minute, one more minute and I can change the guardian point's location. Then I'll be safe..."
He muttered to himself, gripping his great sword tightly. His whole body's muscles were tensed to the extreme, observing any rustle or movement in the surroundings.
Even the faint sunlight sprinkling from above felt irritatingly blinding to him.
Fortunately, the sunlight was soon partially obscured by a distant shadow, which brought him some relief.
"Hm?"
At this thought, Snack suddenly realized something was wrong.
He was on the top floor of the castle, the tallest building in the entire Karamelo Kingdom, and he had just sliced off the entire top part of the structure.
There was nothing to block it, so how could the sunlight disappear?
What was that distant shadow that obscured the sun?
He instinctively looked up.
Then he saw an incredible sight.
In the distance, beyond the castle's perimeter,
A giant hand was growing forth.
"Giant Race!?"
That giant hand instantly made Snack think of this word—as a member of the Big Mom Pirates, he had naturally seen members of the Giant Race.
That single palm, nearly several meters in size, was undoubtedly the arm of a Giant Race member.
But the key was, that hand was radiating a sharp, blade-like glow.
"It's Rat's ability... but how can it be so huge!?" Snack's surprised thought had barely formed when, the next moment, he realized...
It wasn't just one hand.
"Whoosh!"
Petals danced in the air as countless gigantic arms grew out from various parts of the entire castle.
Each of them possessed a massive size far exceeding that of humans. Just by appearing and moving, they crushed all the surrounding Homies.
And this still wasn't all—if it were just Giant Race-sized blade-arms, Snack believed he might still be able to handle it.
But what truly shocked Snack was what happened next.
"Buzz!" "Buzz!" "Buzz!"
The countless gigantic arms grew out, and then began to continuously overlap.
Blades overlapped with blades, arms merged with arms.
They grew larger and larger, more and more colossal—until finally, formed by at least a thousand Giant Race arms...
It was a true behemoth!
That impossibly huge arm absolutely surpassed the ancient Giant Race of legend, almost completely covering the sky above the entire castle, casting a terrifying shadow.
At the same time, Rat, standing in a different dimension, watched this scene from outside the spatial rift.
On his body, a layer of 'leather armor' that had begun to spread from his hands already covered him, like a full suit of armor.
And his figure had clearly transformed into a complete giant.
Yes.
Just as Rat had thought before—Chopper's 'Rumble Ball' possessed the ability to control and adjust the transformation wavelength of Zoan Type Ability Users.
With the help of this special medicine and training, Chopper could undergo nearly ten different strengthened transformations.
And logically—for the 'Giant Warrior's Hand', which was also an Ability User and could "eat" things, the Rumble Ball had the same effect.
Even...
"Taking a large amount of Rumble Balls not only allows Zoan Type Ability Users to transform but also greatly enhances their Zoan Type strength. The drawback is loss of control and the Ability User falling into an extremely painful, weakened state."
"But..."
Rat looked at the 'leather' covering his body and said casually, "'Giant Warrior's Hand' is just a pair of gloves. Weakness? Loss of control?"
As everyone knows, gloves feel no pain.
This was the origin of his move at this moment, named:
**[Air Slash: Ten Thousand Handed Giant Blade]!**
"So that's the idea he was going for?"
Outside the dimensional space, Snack, seeing the colossal object in the sky, gritted his teeth.
In his mind, he recalled a past conversation.
"Snack, your ability is strong, but not invincible."
That was the evaluation from his elder brother, Charlotte Katakuri, the strongest in the entire Charlotte Family besides Big Mom.
"Just I alone can think of at least three ways to defeat you."
Back then, Katakuri had said, "First, find your marking point. That naturally goes without saying."
"Second, even if your marking point isn't found, if an opponent with sufficiently tenacious vitality can exhaust your stamina, you will naturally be defeated when you can no longer maintain your ability."
"If it's these two types of opponents, it means their strength is on par with yours. Although you might lose, you would still have a chance to escape."
Snack still remembered that he wasn't angry then; he even asked with interest, "What about the third type, Big Brother Katakuri?"
"The third type..."
Upon hearing this, Katakuri looked at him.
Snack still remembered his elder brother's gaze—it was a warning gaze.
"Top-tier Haki users, or truly powerful Ability Users—your ability is meaningless before them. The former's strong Haki can reduce the effectiveness of Devil Fruit Abilities, while the latter won't even bother to search for your marking points."
"They just need to destroy everything."
"What? Big Brother Katakuri, are you saying you or Mama?"
"No, Snack. Not just me or Mama. What I'm talking about is the *truly* powerful ones on this sea—"
Recalling this, Snack looked at the colossal object in the sky.
It was crashing down!
"Rumble!"
The mere gale it generated completely destroyed the castle's city walls.
"Clang!"
The sound of its whistling slashes was like ear-piercing thunder.
Trees were severed, cloud layers split in two, and even the birds in the sky cried out mournfully.
Thus, Snack finally understood what Katakuri had meant.
With this scope and intensity of attack, his marking points were meaningless—because even after transferring, he would still be within the attack's range.
There was no escape.
Therefore, at this moment, Snack tremblingly raised his hand and took out the Den Den Mushi from his pocket.
And when the Den Den Mushi connected, a gloomy female voice came from the other end.
"Too slow—Snack, you're only answering the Den Den Mushi now? My 'Rainbow Honeycake' is..."
That was Big Mom's voice.
But for the first time, Snack didn't wait for his Mama to finish speaking.
"Mama..."
He just stared at the colossal object falling from the sky, his voice trembling: "Twelve Star Generals... Rat..."
"This guy... he's a *true monster*."
"Huh? What are you say—"
"Rumble!"
The next instant, the Den Den Mushi, Snack's body, and the entire castle...
...were all obliterated into dust by that colossal slash falling from the sky.
At the same time, in the New World.
Totto Land, Whole Cake Island.
"Click."
"Smash!"
The sound of the Den Den Mushi hanging up and the sound of it being crushed rang out almost simultaneously.
"Mamama..."
Inside a lovely little room adorned with pink lace, a colossal woman wearing a three-cornered hat let out a peculiar laugh.
But it was clear—from her furious expression, that laugh was not sincere.
"Mama? Mama?"
Under such pressure, the three top-tier Homies by her side and atop her head—the thundercloud 'Zeus', the sun 'Prometheus', and the bicorne hat 'Napoleon'—all looked tense.
"Snack is..."
"Ah, it seems he's dead."
Charlotte Linlin said this: "Rat... that new member of the Twelve Star Generals, mamamama—he's really utterly reckless, isn't he?"
"Boom!"
As soon as her words fell, a powerful Haki and terrifying aura suddenly erupted.
The air trembled, the surrounding decorations silently shattered, and her hair moved without wind.
That was the aura naturally unleashed by a monster standing at the pinnacle of the world, in a fit of rage.
"How dare he kill my son, and more importantly... steal my 'Rainbow Honeycake'!?"
Her teeth gnashed loudly: "A bunch of nobodies who popped out of nowhere, do they really think they can do something like this and get away with it unscathed?"
She clearly valued the 'Rainbow Honeycake' far more than her own son, but the three Homies beside her didn't find it strange at all.
Because that was Charlotte Linlin's personality.
"Go investigate all information about *that* organization. And also—"
But what truly terrified the three Homies was that they noticed, as Big Mom spoke, saliva was already dripping from her mouth.
"Splat!"
The saliva landed on the floor, the strong stomach acid it contained corroding the surface and causing smoke to rise.
"Mama? Mama?"
Then, the three Homies exchanged glances, almost trembling with fright.
Because they realized Big Mom's current state: "Craving Sickness?"
"Rainbow Honeycake!"
"Quick! Quick, inform Perospero! See how much Rainbow Honeycake we still have in storage! Mama, don't hit! It's me!"
(end of chapter)