The two IBMs returned to Kaizer's body at dawn, dissolving into black particles.
They didn't bring news of a suitable island for a base.
Instead, they carried images of countless Marine warships — at least five vessels forming a fan-shaped encirclement. The "Justice" cloaks on their main masts flickered in the morning mist.
Kaizer's eyes snapped open. He burst out of the cabin.
"Marines!" he shouted to Linlin, who was sorting through her "family" on the deck. "At least five warships closing in!"
Linlin had just stuffed a fish-man child into a wooden candy barrel. She looked up, confusion flashing across her massive face before turning into excitement.
"Mamama! Toys delivered right to our door!"
"They're not toys!" Kaizer grabbed her finger — an action he would never have dared two weeks ago. "These are regular forces! I saw Vice Admirals' cloaks — more than one!"
Linlin's smile faded slightly. She sealed the barrel and stood up, gazing at the distant sea.
The mist was clearing. The fleet's silhouettes grew sharper.
At the bow of the lead warship stood a tall man in a Justice coat, a long blade at his waist.
"Onigumo," Linlin narrowed her eyes. "And… Burnt Mountain. Mamama! The Marines really think highly of me!"
She kicked debris off the deck. "Everyone who can move, prepare for battle! Those who can't — hide in the hold!"
The children screamed and scattered. A few long-armed craftsmen shakily picked up harpoons, but their hands trembled too much to grip them properly.
Kaizer quickly assessed the situation. The five warships were completing their encirclement, cannons already angled.
This stolen merchant ship wouldn't survive a single volley.
"Linlin," he said grimly, "the ship is too small. We can't outrun them. We need to strike first and break their formation."
"Exactly what I was thinking!" Linlin grinned. Purple light from her Soul-Soul Fruit gathered in her palm. "I'll rip out their souls and turn them into dancing toys!"
She leaped from the deck. Her massive body landed lightly on the sea surface — an advanced application of Moon Step. Coated in Conqueror's Haki, her feet allowed her to tread on air for short distances.
"Zeus! Prometheus!"
The thundercloud and sun Homies burst from her sack, rapidly expanding.
Zeus became a massive thundercloud several meters wide. Prometheus blazed with roaring flames.
"Mamama! Come on!"
She charged toward the nearest warship.
On the Marine side, Vice Admiral Onigumo drew his blade.
"Open fire! Free shooting!"
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Dozens of cannons roared at once. Shells streaked through the sky trailing white smoke.
Linlin didn't dodge. Prometheus transformed into a flaming barrier and detonated the shells prematurely.
The fiery explosions lit up her face, which burned with狂热 battle lust.
"Promised Land—!"
The shockwave tore across the sea. The lead warship rocked violently, sending most of the Marines on deck flying.
But more warships closed in.
Vice Admiral Burnt Mountain charged from the flank, his sword coated in Armament Haki, aiming straight for Linlin's back. Linlin didn't even turn. She countered with a backhand punch.
Clang!
The metallic clash rang out. Burnt Mountain was blasted back several steps, blood bursting from his palms.
"Two of you think you can capture me?" Linlin laughed. "Mamama! Bring twice as many!"
As she spoke, two more warships flanked them. On deck stood a third Vice Admiral — Doberman — along with a hundred elite soldiers holding specially made Seastone nets.
"Target: Charlotte Linlin! Priority capture! Kill or ignore everyone else on the ship!"
The order spread through the fleet via Den Den Mushi.
Kaizer's heart sank. He saw at least three warships adjusting their cannons — not toward Linlin on the water, but directly at the merchant ship.
"They're going to sink the ship," he muttered.
On deck, the children who hadn't reached the hold huddled together. A young giant wet himself in fear. A long-armed girl sobbed quietly.
The sound of shells being loaded was clearly audible.
Cannon muzzles began to glow with fire.
Linlin was tied down by Onigumo and Burnt Mountain. Doberman and his Seastone net team were closing in from the other side.
She noticed the danger to the ship and tried to return, but Onigumo's slash forced her to defend.
"Kaizer!" Linlin shouted his full name for the first time. "Take them —"
Before she could finish, the first ranging shot whistled in, exploding ten meters off the port side and sending up a towering water column.
The second and third followed, landing closer each time.
Adjustment complete.
All cannons lit up with blinding fire at once.
Kaizer's mind raced. Run? Too late. Block them?
His demi-human bloodline could regenerate, but taking direct cannon fire would still kill him — and while he could revive, what about the children?
IBM could carry at most two people each. With two IBMs, four at most.
There were twelve children here.
The system interface flashed coldly in his mind:
[Lethal threat detected]
[Option 1: Prioritize self-preservation. Consume vitality to strengthen IBMs and evacuate some targets.]
[Option 2: Protect all targets. Estimated death rate: 99.7%]
[Recommended: Option 1]
Kaizer stared at the crying children.
Then he smiled.
"To hell with the options."
He sprinted to the railing and leaped — not away from the ship.
Straight toward the incoming shells.
"Kaizer—!!!" Linlin's roar echoed from afar.
The next second, cannon fire swallowed his vision.
BOOM——!!!
The first shell struck his chest. Kaizer felt his body tear apart, bones shattering, organs turning to bloody mist.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Three more shells hit the remains. His consciousness fractured in agony. The last thing he saw was flying chunks of flesh, the burning deck, and Linlin's twisted, furious face.
Then darkness fell.
[Death confirmed]
[Demi-human Bloodline activated: Revival protocol initiated]
[Respawn location: Within 10-meter radius of last intact position]
[Estimated revival time: 3 minutes 47 seconds]
Linlin saw everything.
She saw Kaizer leap, saw him swallowed by the shells, saw his body explode into a bloody mist like fireworks.
She froze.
Onigumo's slash carved a deep gash across her arm, exposing bone — but Linlin didn't react.
She only stared at the slowly dissipating smoke.
The ship began to tilt. Children on deck screamed as they slid toward the burning breach.
A fish-man child nearly fell into the sea but was desperately pulled back by a long-armed craftsman.
"Lin… Mo?"
Linlin whispered.
Then her eyes turned blood-red.
Not the chaotic red of her hunger pangs — something deeper, darker, and far more terrifying.
Purple soul energy erupted from her body, forming visible shockwaves.
Zeus and Prometheus trembled — they had never felt their master's anger so pure.
"You…"
Linlin raised her head, staring at the three warships that had fired.
"…killed him."
Her voice was soft, but each word struck like a hammer.
"Mamama… You killed him!!!"
The full power of the Soul-Soul Fruit unleashed. The sea within a hundred meters began to boil around her.
Fish in the water floated belly-up as their souls were forcibly ripped out, turning into purple orbs that flew toward Linlin.
Not just fish.
Marines on the warships felt dizzy as their life force drained away.
Weaker soldiers collapsed, foaming at the mouth.
"Monster…" Burnt Mountain gritted his teeth. "Full barrage! Don't let her—"
He never finished.
Linlin vanished.
Not disappeared — she moved too fast.
She appeared on the first warship's deck. Her fist, coated in soul energy and Armament Haki, smashed into the main cannon.
BOOM—!
The cannon and its turret were flattened into scrap metal. The shockwave blasted every soldier within twenty meters off their feet.
"Die! Die! Die!"
Like a madwoman, she tore the warship apart with her bare hands. Masts snapped, cabins were ripped open, gun barrels twisted like pretzels.
Marines tried to fight back. Bullets left only white marks on her skin. Blades bounced off her Haki.
"Trap her!" Doberman roared. "Seastone nets!"
Dozens of large nets embedded with Seastone fragments flew toward her from all sides.
Linlin didn't dodge.
She grabbed the nearest net and yanked hard — flinging both net and soldiers toward another warship.
The thrown men slammed into the hull with sickening cracks of breaking bones.
"Promised Land—! Promised Land—! Promised Land—!"
Three full-power shockwaves in succession. Massive holes exploded in the hulls of three warships. Seawater rushed in.
Onigumo finally realized the danger. "Retreat! All units retreat!"
"Trying to run?!" Linlin leaped into the air. Zeus transformed into a thundercloud to carry her. "Prometheus!"
The sun Homie swelled to its limit, becoming a twenty-meter-wide fireball.
"Heavenly Fire—!!!"
The fireball hurtled toward the flagship.
Onigumo's pupils shrank. He swung his blade with all his strength, launching a flying slash to intercept — but the slash evaporated the moment it touched the fireball.
Burnt Mountain and Doberman joined in. Only their combined slashes barely split the fireball in two.
The explosion's aftershock still engulfed the flagship. The deck caught fire, sails burned, and the warship began to sink.
"Withdraw!" Onigumo snarled. "Abandon the flagship! Everyone evacuate!"
The Marines routed.
Linlin didn't pursue. She landed on the sinking merchant ship's wreckage and stared at the bloodstain on the deck — the spot where Kaizer had been blown apart.
The blood was already drying, mixed with wood splinters and shrapnel.
She crouched down, dipped a massive finger into the blood, and held it up to her eyes.
"Mamama…" she laughed softly, her voice emotionless. "He's dead… Just like that…"
The children crawled out from the hold, watching her in terror. The giant toddler who had wet himself whimpered quietly.
Linlin turned to them.
"He died," she said. "For you worthless brats."
The children were too scared to speak.
Linlin stood up and looked around. Three warships were sinking. The other two fled with their wounded Vice Admirals.
Corpses and debris floated across the sea.
She had won.
But she felt no joy in victory.
"Boring," she muttered, turning to leave.
At that moment.
The bloodstain on the deck began to writhe.
It wasn't an illusion — the blood moved like something alive, gathering and rising. Black particles materialized from the air, wrapping around the mass.
The cracking sound of growing bones followed, then the faint rustle of weaving muscle fibers.
Linlin whipped her head around.
Her eyes widened as the bloody mass slowly took human shape — first a skeleton, then organs, muscles, and finally skin. In just two minutes, a complete person stood on the deck.
Kaizer knelt in the pool of blood, breathing heavily. His new skin was deathly pale, but his chest, limbs, and head were fully intact.
He looked up at Linlin.
"…The ship sank?"
Linlin said nothing.
She strode over, crouched down, and brought her massive face inches from his, her nose nearly touching his forehead.
"You didn't die," she said.
"I did die," Kaizer panted. "Then I came back."
"Mamama…" Linlin stared at him for a full ten seconds before exploding into thunderous laughter. "Mamama! Hahaha! You didn't die! You're alive!"
She suddenly grabbed him, lifting him up to eye level.
"You really didn't die!" Her eyes shone with a strange light. "The cannons blew you to pieces! I saw it with my own eyes! And now you're back!"
Kaizer felt dizzy from being shaken. "Can you… put me down first…"
Linlin didn't. Instead, she pulled him into her chest — the embrace nearly crushed his newly formed ribs again.
"You're mine!" she declared loudly, voice overflowing with狂喜. "You're my family! My immortal! No one can take you away! Not the Marines! Not the World Government! No one!"
Kaizer's face was buried against her chest, nearly suffocating.
"Linlin… breathing…"
She loosened her grip slightly but still held his shoulders. Her expression suddenly turned deadly serious.
"Kaizer," she said. "You died for me."
"It was only temporary—"
"You died for me," Linlin repeated. "You jumped into the cannon fire to save those kids."
She glanced at the children huddled in the corner. They trembled.
"From today onward," Linlin announced, "they are your children too. You saved them, so they belong to you."
Kaizer was stunned.
Linlin set him down and turned to face the sea. The surviving children, long-armed craftsmen, and fish-men all watched her.
"Listen up!" she shouted. "Kaizer is my family! He saved you, so you are his family too! If anyone disrespects him, I'll rip out their soul and turn it into a chamber pot! Mamama!"
No one dared speak.
Linlin nodded in satisfaction, then looked back at Kaizer.
"But," she bent down, her huge face close again, "if you ever die in front of me again, I'll lock you in a candy prison for a hundred years."
Her expression was completely serious.
Kaizer looked into her blood-red eyes and nodded.
"Understood."
Linlin grinned, showing her sharp white teeth. She stood up and looked at the sinking wreckage.
"The ship is gone. The treasure is gone too," she grumbled. "Doesn't matter. We'll just steal more."
She suddenly remembered something and turned to him.
"Where's that black monster of yours? Call it out."
Kaizer obeyed. The two IBMs materialized behind him — this time, Linlin could see them without needing killing intent.
"Mamama! They're still here!" Linlin said excitedly. "Send them to find a new ship! A bigger one! Big enough for everyone!"
The IBMs dissolved into black particles and flew off into the distance.
Linlin sat down on the wreckage and patted the spot beside her.
Kaizer sat.
They were silent for a while.
"Kaizer," Linlin suddenly asked. "When you died… did it hurt?"
"…Yes."
"Mamama! Then don't die next time!" She laughed, but the laughter quickly faded. "But if you really have to die… tell me before you do."
"Why?"
Linlin gazed at the sea, unusually quiet for a few seconds.
"Because," she said, "I want to remember how you died. Then make the people who killed you suffer ten thousand times worse."
Kaizer turned to look at her.
Linlin's profile looked especially huge in the setting sun — and especially… lonely.
He thought of the original story's mad Emperor Big Mom — the monster who would destroy nations for sweets, the mother feared by all her children.
But right now, she was only thirty years old. She had just lost her captain and was building her own family. She could fly into rage over a companion's death, burst with joy at his revival, and declare these children his because of his "sacrifice."
She could still… change.
"Linlin," Kaizer said.
"Hm?"
"When we find a new ship, I'll make you a new dessert. A wedding cake from my homeland — nine layers tall, each layer with a different flavor."
Linlin's eyes lit up.
"Really?"
"Really."
"Mamama! Then what are we waiting for!" She jumped up and hoisted Kaizer onto her shoulder. "IBM! Hurry and find a ship! I want to eat wedding cake!"
Kaizer was carried on her shoulder, watching the sunset sink into the sea.
The system interface expanded in his mind.
[Mission Updated: Assist Linlin in establishing the first base (In progress)]
[Special Event: Death and Revival]
[Effect: Charlotte Linlin Favorability significantly increased. Loyalty locked.]
[Current Relationship: Family (Cannot be betrayed)]
[Long-term Mission: Father the first child with Charlotte Linlin (Countdown: 1 year, 10 months, 3 days)]
[Notification: Current favorability meets breeding conditions. Recommend advancing as soon as possible.]
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