No matter how one looked at it, the situation on Cake Island was disastrous for the Donquixote Pirates. The disparity in their numbers was simply too vast.
Doflamingo had also noticed Monet and the others in peril, but he was currently pinned down by Big Mom, unable to break away.
"Mamamama! Boy, you're finished!" Big Mom brandished Napoleon, with a weakened Prometheus draped over her head and a shrunken Zeus under her feet. If one weren't paying close attention, it would be hard to tell that she was the one who had been in a wretched state from the very beginning.
"Fuffuffuffu... Is that so? Then let's wait and see," Doflamingo laughed wildly, showing no concern for his subordinates whatsoever.
"Boy, today I'll make sure you never leave this place alive!"
With that, Big Mom raised Napoleon and charged at Doflamingo.
Doflamingo took a deep breath, exhaling his frustration. Though his boasts were impressive, he was still under immense pressure.
Zzzt... Zzzzzz!
Dazzling lightning converged in Doflamingo's hand, crackling with a deafening electrical roar. In an instant, it solidified into a longsword.
"Divine Departure! Big Mom, get back!" Doflamingo roared.
Simultaneously, he poured his Conqueror's and Armament Haki, infusing them all into the thunder sword in his hand. With a light swing, he sent the attack hurtling toward the advancing Big Mom.
Big Mom's expression turned grave. She had already held Doflamingo in high regard, but she never expected him to be capable of infusing his Conqueror's Haki—or that his mastery of it would be so advanced.
Since it had come to this, Big Mom stopped holding back. She wreathed Napoleon in her own Conqueror's and Armament Haki and swung with all her might.
"Emperor's Blade!"
A universe seemed to separate the two. Before their blades even met, the force of the collision erupted.
A violent aura blasted from the sky, slamming into the ground below. Sand and stone were sent flying as the very heavens and earth seemed to change color. The various combatants fighting the Donquixote officers paused their battles, staring in absolute shock at the cataclysmic shift in the environment.
Monet and Law, however, were unfazed, not nearly as astonished as the others.
Gulp.
Morgans swallowed hard, his excitement only growing.
"Hahaha! Is this the power of the strongest people on the seas? What terrifying aura! They split the very sky apart! I'm so lucky! I didn't miss this big news!" Morgans danced with joy, the ecstatic grin on his face impossible to hide.
"Maniac," Stussy muttered under her breath, not understanding Morgans's obsession.
"Hey, Umit! Who do you think will win?"
"What does it matter who wins or loses? What matters is that an Emperor has just appeared on the sea!"
When Morgans overheard the conversation between Umit and Du Feld, his eyes lit up, and he burst into a wide, cackling laugh.
"Hahaha! The title of 'Emperor'... it fits perfectly! Whitebeard, Kaido, Big Mom, and the newly risen Doflamingo... they are just like Four Emperors."
Morgans's laughter subsided, his eyes gleaming with insight as he watched Doflamingo, still locked in the struggle for dominance.
"Doflamingo... whether you can truly become an Emperor all depends on whether you can survive this clash with Big Mom. But... I believe you won't lose. Am I right?" Morgans mused to himself.
As if hearing Morgans's words from the heavens above, Doflamingo's divine might surged, and in his struggle against Big Mom, he actually began to gain the upper hand.
"Not good!" Katakuri, watching from the sidelines, felt his heart drop as he saw Big Mom being pushed back. His deepest, most unsettling fear was finally coming true.
"Mama's craving sickness is acting up!" Katakuri quickly relayed to his siblings.
"How can that be?"
Hearing Katakuri's words, all of Big Mom's children present paled with panic. They knew exactly how terrifying Mama was when her sickness took hold; nothing could stop her until she ate what she craved.
"Brulee, take the others and prepare Mama's dessert, now! I'll handle things here," Katakuri ordered methodically.
"Got it, Katakuri-niisan!" Receiving the order, Brulee immediately led a group of her sisters and the staff to prepare the sweets.
"Cake... cake... Where's my cake?!"
Doflamingo, still clashing with Big Mom, suddenly felt her power waver. She was muttering to herself, looking anything but sane.
Doflamingo, who was well aware of Big Mom's affliction, immediately understood: her old sickness had flared up. He hadn't anticipated this, but it was undoubtedly to his advantage. It would save him a great deal of effort.
"Big Mom, get down!"
Doflamingo retracted his sword and instantly reappeared above Big Mom's head, driving a "Sky-Piercing Pain Leg" directly onto her iron-like skin.
DOOOM!
Big Mom's mountain-sized body plummeted from the sky, smashing into the ground of Cake Island and carving out a crater several meters deep.
"Mama!"
Big Mom's children cried out, staring in terror at the pit where she had fallen.
From the sky, Doflamingo's assault continued, relentlessly targeting Big Mom on the ground. He had no intention of letting her off. Even if he couldn't kill her, he would beat her senseless.
Doflamingo clasped his hands together, taking aim at Big Mom in the crater.
"Super Railgun!"
A powerful cannon blast of pure energy shot down from the heavens, aimed directly at the fallen Yonko.
"Peerless Donuts! Strength Mochi!"
At this critical moment, Katakuri finally made his move. Mama absolutely could not be defeated. She was the core of the Big Mom Pirates; without her, they would be lambs to the slaughter. If they fell into the hands of a powerful foe like Doflamingo, their fate would be worse than death.
Up in the sky, Doflamingo couldn't help but give Katakuri a second look as he successfully blocked the Super Railgun. To be honest, Katakuri's potential was exceptionally high, but it had been suppressed by Big Mom for so long that it had never been fully developed.
"You want to block me? Then try blocking this!" Doflamingo decided to get serious.
"Thunder Calamity: Ten Thousand Thunder Prison!"
Doflamingo casually flung a bolt of lightning into the dark thunderclouds above. Stimulated by his power, the clouds began to churn and build.
RUMBLE...
Thunder echoed continuously. Anyone who didn't know better would have assumed a torrential downpour was imminent. But no one on Cake Island thought that. They knew Doflamingo's next attack was coming.
"Go!"
A blinding flash of lightning tore through the sky, blooming over Cake Island. Katakuri, standing directly in its path, was already prepared to defend. But there were always unlucky ones caught in the crossfire.
Doflamingo's voltage was no longer capped at two hundred million volts as it had been. Now, even a casual bolt of lightning from his hand surpassed that limit. Those who couldn't withstand the strike were instantly vaporized, reduced to ashes without a single bone remaining.
"Mochi House!"
As expected of the beloved older brother, Katakuri, seeing his family being incinerated, immediately created a house of mochi for everyone to take shelter in.
Lightning flashed relentlessly from the sky, striking the Mochi House again and again.
"Katakuri! Let's see how many of those you can block!" Doflamingo taunted from above, sounding every bit the magnificent villain.
"Katakuri-niisan, are you okay?" His sheltered siblings watched him nervously, praying he could withstand the onslaught.
"Katakuri, I'll help you! Candy Wall!"
Perospero activated his ability, adding another layer of defense over the Mochi House.
But was scorching lightning so easily blocked? Even covered in Armament Haki, Doflamingo's furious, sustained bombardment never ceased. Even someone as powerful as Katakuri was finding it difficult to hold on.
We can't just keep defending like this! Katakuri and the others thought. We have to break out of this prison!
"Cake... my cake! I want to eat cake!"
Big Mom's voice suddenly echoed from the bottom of the deep crater, and a trace of joy flickered across the grim faces of Katakuri and his siblings.
Doflamingo, of course, noticed their relieved expressions. He sighed inwardly, Still just a bunch of children who can't leave their mother's embrace. Pathetic.