Chapter 97

Tomorrow is the Tea Party, tonight's actions are also crucial; the Charlotte Family has made thorough preparations.

First they split the group, then pick them off one by one; starting with Kaido, the most troublesome guy, Big Mom decides to act personally, first subduing Kaido.

The rest will be handled by their children; the most important thing is to control that kid who has curse abilities.

The plan to deal with this kid is of utmost importance; there must be no mistake or slip.

"Lingling wants to catch up with me, no problem, I'll go and catch up with her." Kaido grinned and said.

"If they're split up, I'm not worried at all about Luode's safety; after all, Whitebeard is right by his side."

"If Big Mom alone comes looking for me and we fight, with my current strength I could crush that old lady."

"Rooms have been arranged for everyone; please follow me!" Katakuri said.

Following Big Mom's children, Luode and the others were quickly brought to a white castle.

As for Kaido himself, he was taken to another room to personally meet Big Mom.

"Mr. Luode, you are Mom's honored guest; please stay here!" Katakuri said.

"We three share a room, Whitebeard stands at my door; all right, when Kaido the boss returns, you just prepare a separate room for him." Luode said.

"How can that be? You are all Mom's honored guests, each given a luxurious room, and moreover Mr. Whitebeard is a former Emperor." Katakuri said.

Whitebeard's current state is strange; standing beside him, Katakuri feels a sense of alarm, very uncomfortable.

We must quickly deal with this old guy; all Devil Fruit users fear most seawater and Seastone; if drenched in lots of seawater or bound by Seastone, their abilities should be nullified.

This is their plan to deal with Whitebeard; Whitebeard's combat power is indeed extremely strong.

Even if all his brothers and sisters plus himself gang up on him, they still aren't enough to take down this old man.

So the best method is to outsmart him: lure Whitebeard into a specially prepared room with a pre-installed mechanism; once he enters, it triggers and floods the whole person with seawater.

Next up is that kid named Luode; knock him out as fast as possible.

After a Devil Fruit user loses consciousness, their abilities unless awakened will fail; some transformations will also be lost.

"Is that so? I insist on doing this anyway." Luode chuckled and said.

"Gee, we just arrived at Cake Island, our backsides aren't even warm, we haven't even had a meal, and you want to fight already? Your intentions are too obvious! Basically all of Big Mom's children with a bit of combat strength, the ministers of each major island, and the Sweet Commanders are standing beside me, looking grim."

"I thought Big Mom could at least hold out tonight and strike during tomorrow's Tea Party!"

"First they used the pretext of catching up to deceive Kaido; Big Mom plans to personally hold him off, then let her brood of children deal with me."

"Where does this gang get the confidence to take on Whitebeard, or do they think they've got me figured out?"

Mr. Luode, in the whole world nobody can resist Mother's orders, so I still ask you to give it some thought and follow our advice." Another sweet‑top general, Charlotte Klika, stepped up to Luode and said.

Not bad, not bad! Looks like you went to a lot of trouble preparing for me—all three sweet‑top generals are here." Luode shrugged helplessly and said.

You bastard, what do you mean? We're the four sweet‑top generals, you bastard brat." A man beside them, thoroughly dissatisfied, spoke.

Oh, sorry, sorry, I misspoke—you seem not to have been defeated yet." Luode made an apologetic gesture and said.

Hmph! You bastard! Damn it!

As the few were talking, the mirror behind Whitebeard suddenly shot out a pair of large hands, seized Whitebeard, and fastened a seastone chain around him.

Hehehe! Got it, brother." A woman who looked like a witch crawled out of the mirror, giggling as she spoke.

You're Luode, right? Mother highly values your ability—you can control corpses of Four Emperors‑level beings, and your power would be very useful on him, so if you don't want to get hurt, you'd better do as I say." Katakuri said.

The plan went off more smoothly than expected. Aimed at Whitebeard, one of the Four Emperors, they made two preparations: first, lure him into a specific room and ready a large volume of seawater to trap him; if that failed, they had a backup. In the room, several huge mirrors were set up in front of Luode's door.

These mirrors were intended for Whitebeard; his sister Bré had already hidden inside them, seized a seastone chain, and successfully locked Whitebeard down.

Even the immensely powerful Whitebeard must obey an iron rule for ability users: once bound by a seastone chain, he effectively loses his fighting power.

Whitebeard is a user of the Tremor‑Tremor Fruit, and his revival is also thanks to this kid's ability; either way, they can subdue him.

After all, they were dealing with two Four Emperors‑level beings; Mother didn't want complications, so she chose to launch a surprise attack as soon as the enemies arrived.

Don't waste words with him, Brother Katakuri—hurry up and take him down, then we'll go support Mother!" A woman with wine‑red hair, dressed fashionably, spoke.

Hmph! What makes you so confident you can restrain us? What makes you think a seastone chain can limit Whitebeard?" Luode let out a cold laugh and said.

Katakuri's eyes suddenly widened, as if sensing something. He lashed out, pulling his brothers and sisters backward.

Everyone run! Don't look back!" Sweat drenched Katakuri's forehead as he turned and shouted.

He saw a truly terrifying vision of the future.

Let me tell you something: ability users do indeed fear seawater and are weakened by it, but there's something you probably don't know. Dead people aren't afraid—they have no life force left, so the sea doesn't loathe them; they're just like a plank or a piece of pumice floating in the water, indistinguishable. Likewise, seastone no longer works on Whitebeard." Luode said.

Even I and Kaido, after training in the power of the Azeroth world, have seen a slight change in the Devil Fruit's weakness.

At least the seas of Azeroth have no effect on Devil Fruit users—a fact Luode has tested; and after learning to harness rage and fel power, Kaido has gained some resistance to seawater.

Luode is the same—he can't be said to be completely immune to the influence of the pirate world's seawater, but he doesn't lose all combat ability like other ability users.

And Whitebeard, after being transformed into a death knight, is now a completely dead person.

The mighty deathly power within him also makes the sea regard him as merely a corpse, and corpses are not loathed by the sea.

At that moment, the chains that had bound Whitebeard began to freeze, then shattered on the ground, while Whitebeard himself drew his runic greatsword.

How… how could this be? This guy isn't someone you revived with Devil Fruit power, is he? Why isn't it working? Seastone should nullify Devil Fruit abilities." Someone said.

Who told you this is a Devil Fruit ability? Whitebeard, knock them all out first—don't kill them yet." Luode said.

Whitebeard nodded, his body erupting with a bloody‑red energy that turned into countless invisible giant hands, reaching for Big Mom's children.

The Bloody Death Knight's skill Blood Magic Grasp pulls all enemies within a certain radius toward the user and forces them to attack the user.

This move is similar to Death Grasp in effect, except Death Grasp works only on a single target and is a talent all death knights master, whereas Blood Magic Grasp is exclusive to Bloody Death Knights.

As a signature tank, the Bloody Death Knight boasts numerous minions and also has a taunt ability to draw aggro.

Damn it! Why? Why are we being forced to attack this guy?" The children of Charlotte Lingling shouted.

Because he's the MT, and when raiding there's a hard rule: you must attack the tank first.

Agony, Curse of Weakness, Shadow Embrace, Weakness, Sacrifice." As Luode spoke, he flung a series of warlock spells.

At the same time, Sylvanas drew her bow, imbued it with icy power, and shot at the crowd of Charlotte's children.

On the other side, Yamato became much more violent, brandishing his/her spiked club and taking out one opponent with each swing.

As for the strongest dessert generals, they were surrounded by Bai Hu Zi alone.

On the other side, Cake Island, Da Ma's palace, Xialuote Lingling also took out her own Emperor Sword Napoleon, as well as the thundercloud Zeus and the great fireball Prometheus.

"Hmph! You damn brat, do you really think you're that good? Do you think your body is stronger than mine, or your overbearing spirit is stronger than mine?"

"I'll teach you, Linglin, you know nothing about rage and demonic energy." Kaido gave a cold snort and said.

(End of chapter)