Cudius straightened his waist as he took a few more steps forward. His orembling arms steadied, and his aura grew increasingly fierd unyielding.

  Linlie her massive stature several times rger than Cudius, mao stand as well, albeit with visible difficulty. Yet, for reasons she couldn't prehend, when she looked at Cudius, she felt as though she was staring at a giant t dozens of times higher than herself.

  Each step Cudius took filled her heart with dread, and her body began to tremble involuntarily.

  Yes, Charlotte Linlin—Big Mom, the infamous pirate who had rampaged across the seas—was afraid. She was terrified of Cudius.

  Her pride wouldn't allow her to fully succumb to this fear. A top-tier fighter like Linlin uood all too well that once fear gripped her heart, it was over. She would be utterly defeated.

  Suppressing the invisible pressure and terror that bore down on her, Linlin bit her tongue fiercely, the sharp pain dragging her mind back to crity. She forced her willpower to domihe fear that threateo overtake her.

  She the out a defiant roar, unwilling to cede:

  "CLAUDIUS!!!"

  With the shout, Linlin charged at him. Despite her injuries, she summoned every ounce of ce, pnting her enormous feet into the ground as she rushed forward. Raising her remaining arm, noed in a potent yer of Armament Haki, she unleashed a punch with all the power she could muster, aiming squarely at Cudius.

  Cudius roared ba excitement, meeting her fury head-on:

  "Have you made peace with your death, Charlotte Linlin?!"

  As if to match her resolve, the steady rhythm of Cudius's "King Engine" reignited, its previous chaotic pulse now densed into a single, deep, and resona. It seemed to eot just in the air but in the very souls of those who heard it.

  He lunged forward, his arm swelling grotesquely rge as his Nitrogen-Nitrogen fruit powers activated, extending his reach. His enormous fist bypassed Linlin's strike entirely and smmed directly into her head.

  A siing thud reverberated through the battlefield.

  Linlin's pupils rolled back as her wisted unnaturally. A fountain of blood erupted from her mouth before her t figure crashed to the ground. Cudius had driven her head-first into the dirt, creating a crater beh her massive frame.

  "Ughhhh…" Linlin groaned weakly, her voice full of fusion and disorientation. Her massive body then colpsed in a heap, drool, and blood dripping from the ers of her mouth as she lost sciousness.

  For a brief moment, the battlefield was silent.

  Then, from the tre of the crater, a bloodied arm reached out. The hand was mangled, with exposed finger bones visible through the shredded flesh. Yet, it gripped the edge of the crater firmly.

  Moments ter, Cudius, equally battered and drenched in blood, dragged himself out of the pit. He looked like a man who had walked through hell but somehow came out alive.

  "It's my victory!" Cudius decred with a grim smile, his voice hoarse. He braced himself against the ground, breathing heavily, as exhaustion threateo overwhelm him.

  But before he could catch his breath, Kaido emerged.

  Despite having just tanked Borsalino's devastating kick, Kaido barely faltered. A thin trail of blood dripped from the er of his mouth as he leveraged the impact to propel himself toward Cudius with startling speed.

  Now, in his human form, Kaido wielded his massive spiked kanabo. He didn't waste time with threats or boasts, swinging the mace directly at Cudius's head with murderous i.

  "YHNESS!!!" Borsalino shouted, panic fshing across his fabsp;

  Big Mom had already beeed by Cudius. At this point, their mission was essentially plete. As long as they could leave the battlefield with Linlin, they had achieved a resounding success.

  But if Cudius were to fall to Kaido's surprise attao matter how victorious their mission seemed, the sequences would be disastrous.

  "CLAUDIUS!" Gion screamed in arm, her voice filled with urgenbsp;

  Cudius, though pletely drained from his battle with Linlin, was keenly aware of the danger bearing down on him. But his body couldn't move fast enough to dodge. His energy ent, leaving him vulnerable.

  "Damn it, Kaido, you sneaky bastard!" Cudius cursed, his voice tinged with frustration and helplessness.

  He uood, though. In the life-ah chaos of battle, no one would hold back, and he wouldn't have hesitated to take advantage of a weakened oppo either.

  But knowing that didn't stop him from swearing. "Shit… is this how I die?" Cudius thought bitterly, fully expeg Kaido's kanabo to crush him.

  "Thunder Bagua!!!" Kaido roared, his voice filled with murderous resolve.

  Kaido had watched Cudius's battle with Linlin closely. The man's power was terrifying, undeniably so. Even though Cudius couldn't maintain that peak state for long, Kaido could tell that his oppo had undergone a breakthrough. If Cudius survived this fight, his strength would undoubtedly reach even more monstrous levels.

  And Kaido had no iion of letting that happen.

  The fact that Cudius was a Celestial Drago nothing to a monster like Kaido. Titles and status carried in the face of absolute power.

  As Kaido's mace closed in, the air itself seemed to distort from the sheer force. But before the on could nd, anure suddenly appeared behind Cudius, massive and imposing.

  The newer moved with blinding speed, intercepting Kaido's strike.

  A palm, wide and calloused, met the mace head-on. The collisioed a deafening shockwave, but the palm absorbed the full force of Kaido's Thunder Bagua, rendering it useless. The recoil eve Kaido's on flying out of his grasp.

  "Yhness Cudius," came the quiet, calm voice of Bartholomew Kuma.

  The t figure of Kuma had arrived, seemingly out of nowhere. Having disappeared at the start of the battle, the enigmatic warrior retur the perfeent.

  Kaido, though momentarily stunned, quickly tried to retaliate. But Kuma wasted no time. He pced his paw-like hand against Kaido's chest and activated his ability.

  A brief distortion rippled through the air, and Kaido's massive frame suddenly vanished, disappearing from the battlefield entirely.

  "Did…" Did you just kill him?" Cudius asked in disbelief, his voice tinged with shobsp;

  Kuma's expression remained serious as he replied, "No. At most, I've bought us three to five minutes. With his strength, Kaido will break free aurn soon."

  Indeed, Kuma's Devil Fruit powers were incredibly versatile and formidable, but they had their limits. Against someone as powerful as Kaido, the effects wouldn't st long.

  Borsalino appeared o Cudius, gently supp him. "Yhness, we've achieved our mission objective. Let's retreat now before Kaido es back. It'll be troublesome if we linger."

  Cudius knew Borsalino aring his dignity with those words. The "trouble" wasn't Kaido himself but the fact that Cudius was now a liability.

  If something happeo him, the entire operation would be sidered a failure, regardless of their earlier success.

  Nodding, Cudius made the call. Kaido could wait for another day.

  "Signal the retreat. Everyone, fall back! Take Charlotte Linlin with us. The mission is plete!" Cudius anded firmly.

  As the anding officer of the operation, his orders were absolute. Borsalino immediately fired a fre into the sky, signalling their forces to withdraw.

  He then turo Kuma. "Charlotte Linlin is yours. you handle her?"

  "No problem," Kuma replied calmly.