Big Mom let out a furious roar, and her overwhelming Conqueror's Haki instantly spread in all directions.
She gripped the sharp thorns wrapped around her arms tightly, seemingly unconcerned about how many wounds they were piercing into her own body.
On the contrary, Big Mom's fighting spirit and anger only grew wildly along with this pain.
At this moment, even Sommers, twisted and arrogant as he was, could sense that something was wrong.
But fleeing out of fear was not in his nature.
Rather, just seeing Big Mom so enraged by the suffering of those giant children was enough to send Sommers into a stupor from sheer excitement.
He hugged his own shoulders, a blush spreading across his face, and began writhing like a maggot.
"Yes! That's it! Get angry! Hahahaha!"
An endless rush of pleasure washed over Sommers's brain, causing the old pervert to overlook a very important matter.
—Never underestimate a legendary pirate.
"Napoleon, Zeus, Prometheus, Gaia, Artemis."
Big Mom spoke in an extremely cold tone, rattling off the names of the five strongest Homies she had created in one breath.
"Yes, Mama!"
All five great Homies responded to their creator's call.
Napoleon transformed from an ordinary longsword into a massive serrated scimitar. Zeus turned from white into a pitch-black thundercloud, with streaks of lightning faintly visible across its body.
Prometheus, meanwhile, detached itself from atop Big Mom's head, morphing into a blazing fireball that radiated intense heat.
As for Gaia and Artemis, the two [Great Homies] created last, they were a half-beat slower than their three seniors, but still manifested their true forms upon receiving their master's command.
As the incarnation of 'rock', Gaia's complete form was a massive stone giant rivaling a typical giant in size. With a casual swing of its arm, which had transformed into a sledgehammer, it slammed into the ground. Ripples of gravity immediately weighed down on Sommers, wiping the smile off the old man's face.
Artemis, who appeared the least often, had a true form that was pathetically small… just a mirror half the height of a person, at most becoming slightly more humanoid.
But judging by the sudden silence in the surrounding area and the abnormal refractions appearing faintly in the sky, it was clear that Sommers was now completely isolated within Artemis's mirror space.
"I will make you suffer a thousand times, ten thousand times more than they did."
When Big Mom spoke these words, there was little anger left in her voice… it was instead the calm of stating an inevitable fact.
This was the reaction of rage pushed to its absolute limit.
"Hah... then come and get me, if you can!"
Even realizing he would likely die here, Sommers continued to taunt Big Mom lewdly and even launched an attack himself.
Thorn Serpent Cannon!
The massive thorns around Sommers morphed into a three-headed venomous serpent, its jaws opening to spit out several thorn-covered projectiles.
But by now, his attacks were hardly effective.
Crack—
That was the sound of shattering glass.
The projectiles struck and broke the mirrors, but instead of revealing Big Mom, more mirrors appeared in their place.
Unwilling to give up, Sommers commanded the serpent cannon to fire indiscriminately around him.
But soon, the rising temperature and crushing pressure made Sommers sense danger.
The moisture in his body was rapidly evaporating… he ripped off his coat, which had been keeping him warm.
He tried to move, but gravity held him fast.
Sommers swallowed hard, but the dry air made even that simple action difficult.
"Damn it! Come on! Kill me!"
At this point, Sommers finally felt a hint of something akin to fear.
Krakaka—
The ceiling above was pried open like a lid, and Big Mom stood expressionless atop a thundercloud, looking down at Sommers.
"I told you. I will make you suffer enough."
"Don't think you can die so easily."
"I'm going to torment you thoroughly."
Around her, Prometheus had already transformed into a sea of flames, incinerating all the thorns that had been wrapped around Big Mom. The sudden spike in temperature within this unique mirror space was also its doing.
Boom!
A bolt of lightning suddenly struck down. Bound by gravity, Sommers couldn't even dodge and took the hit directly where he stood.
"Gah!"
Unexpectedly, the lightning wasn't as powerful as imagined. It merely tore through Sommers's skin, charring him black and causing his limbs to tremble uncontrollably, but it didn't kill him.
Sommers's relief lasted less than two seconds before realization dawned.
It wasn't that Big Mom's lightning was weak… she genuinely intended to keep him in a state of unbearable suffering, tormenting him endlessly.
Damn it!
The electric shocks and searing heat left Sommers dazed. He tried to find a way to temporarily escape.
But no matter how he commanded his thorns to move, Big Mom would appear like a ghost in some location, slice them all with her flame-wreathed scimitar in one swift motion, and then vanish again.
Psychological and physical torment were inflicted upon Sommers simultaneously. At this moment, his only hope was that the other God's Knights would quickly defeat their enemies and come to his aid.
Unfortunately…
That hope was destined to be dashed.
"Roar!" x5
Five distinct, colossal bestial roars echoed, accompanied by five unremarkable pitch-black energy spheres.
Upon seeing the Tailed Beast Bombs, the experienced Jiraiya immediately shouted a warning to their allies.
"Take cover!"
Hearing this, the members of the Red Hair Pirates, Garp, and Gion, who were fighting the revived demon giants and the God's Knights, paused momentarily before decisively retreating to create distance.
They didn't know why, but they trusted that Jiraiya wouldn't steer them wrong.
On the God's Knights' side, because Sommers, who had witnessed the Conqueror's Bomb, was trapped in the mirror space, Gunko and Shamrock were occupied by powerful opponents and struggling themselves, and Killingham had died long ago at Naruto's hands, their reaction was a beat slower.
That slight delay cost them their last chance to dodge.
Boom!
The five Tailed Beast Bombs exploded violently upon impact, sending the demon giants and the ground itself flying.
In that single strike, over two-thirds of the demon giants were obliterated.
Most had more than half their bodies destroyed and lay motionless, waiting for their inconsistent immortality to slowly take effect.
The God's Knights, however, fared worse.
Gunko managed to deflect some of the blast's force with her arrows, but the other knights weren't as fortunate.
The purple-haired knight who had tried to pin down Naruto, and Maffey, were both left crippled by the explosion.
Maffey, in particular, was reduced to half a head and an upper torso, looking even worse than Akainu lying in a tank on Egghead.
But they were, after all, genuine God's Knights, and the immortality granted by Imu was extremely potent. Within just a few seconds, flesh rapidly regenerated in their hollow chest cavities.
—Of course, only flesh… clothes and such were beyond recovery.
Seeing this, Fu reverted to human form and reached out to cover Toneri's eyes, who was standing by to support.
"You can't look this!"
Little did she know, Toneri's eyes were the Tenseigan, far superior to the Byakugan. How could a hand possibly block them?
"They can't die?"
Gaara frowned, speaking in the 'group chat space' exclusive to the Jinchuriki.
Naruto, who had already flown to the surface world, didn't need to guess what they were facing and immediately provided the answer.
"Gaara, tell the others that their immortality can only be severed with sufficiently powerful [Conqueror's Haki]."
Hearing this, Gaara exited his Jinchuriki State, reverting to human form and landing among their allies.
"Naruto says those guys' immortality can only be dealt with using something called 'Conqueror's Haki'. Who among you knows it?"
The combatants paused, then all turned their gazes to two old men.
Rayleigh and Garp exchanged a look. The former rivals smiled at each other.