OP: My Aircraft Carrier Evolves#210+211: Defeating the Sweet Commanders! A Golden Emperor's Thrashing and the Seizure of the Gold-Gold Fruit!

"Golden Burst!"

Tesoro launched himself into the air, power gathering in his fist.

He soared across the battlefield, his target locked.

He brought his fist down on Reiju.

Tesoro recognized Reiju. He knew her connection to Jin was anything but ordinary, and his strategy was simple: capture her, fast. It was a two-pronged attack—curry favor with Big Mom and secure a bargaining chip to force Jin's hand over Uta.

"Hm?"

A blast of wind, a surge of imminent danger.

Reiju sensed it. Her right palm slammed against Snack's longsword, her body leaning back as she threw herself into a desperate, undignified roll.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Tesoro’s punch struck the earth where she had been. The ground buckled, unleashing a shockwave of heat and glittering gold shrapnel.

Snack grunted, raising a Haki-coated arm to defend himself.

The butterfly-wing cloak of Reiju's Raid Suit flared, shielding her from the blast.

As the dust began to settle, she saw that Tesoro was already on her.

"Golden Right!"

His right arm, his entire fist, transmuted into solid gold, wreathed in Armament Haki. He lunged at her.

Reiju’s form was a graceful blur as she dodged.

"Slowing Ray!"

A beam of light shot from her finger, striking Tesoro and immediately dulling his speed.

But before she could follow up, Snack's greatsword came slashing down.

"ROOM!!!"

Law, who had been clearing out fodder, was about to intervene when his body suddenly froze, bound by an invisible force.

"Fuffuffuffu... Law. Long time no see."

Doflamingo strode toward him.

He had spotted Law earlier but had held back, waiting—just like Tesoro—for the perfect moment to strike.

"DOFLAMINGO!"

Law's pupils contracted. He never imagined he would run into his most hated enemy here.

"What are you doing here?" Law growled, his body rigid with tension.

"Fuffuffu, come now. We're family, aren't we?" Doflamingo purred, a mocking smile on his face. "I've kept the Heart seat open for you all this time. I never thought you'd throw in your lot with the Winter Blossom Kingdom. Come back, Law. Come back to the Donquixote Family."

"Family?" Law's eyes were cold steel. "You don't have a family. Everyone is just a tool to you—a puppet. I will never go back to that place."

"Fuffuffu," Doflamingo chuckled, his fingertips twitching. "I'm afraid that's not up to you—"

But before he could finish—

Law's Haki flared, shattering the invisible hold of the Parasite String. He lunged, slamming a fist into Doflamingo's face and sending him sprawling.

————————————————————

Jin weaved through the attacks of Katakuri and the others.

The assault was relentless, coming from all sides. Everywhere he looked, there was an enemy.

It was a death by a thousand cuts. These weren't ants he was facing; they were the elite of the Big Mom Pirates.

His shirt was in tatters, his body peppered with the marks of cheap shots—bullet grazes and shallow cuts. But there were also seven or eight deeper wounds, most of them left by Big Mom herself. Katakuri's attacks, however, were just as threatening. He was clearly stronger than before.

"Flowing Mochi!" Katakuri roared, his black hair whipping around him as the very ground turned to mochi, surging into the air and coiling toward the sky.

Smoothie and Cracker, in perfect sync, unleashed their own attacks, blade waves of immense power. The other assassins followed suit.

Jin's Observation Haki screamed, and he moved, dodging through the storm of attacks. But it was an all-out assault; he couldn't evade everything.

He took the hits, his body absorbing the damage, his focus locked on a single target.

There was only one way out—cut off the head of the snake.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

He dropped from the sky like a meteor. His fist, a warhead of pure Haki, slammed into the churning mass of mochi.

It was a full-power blow.

The impact was apocalyptic.

The ground buckled and split, a tidal wave of force ripping through the earth, blasting Katakuri deep into the crater.

"Gwah...!"

Katakuri emerged from the rubble, his head split open and bleeding, his clothes shredded, his skin stained crimson.

Jin rose, his eyes still calm, but his movements were now feral, like a beast uncaged. He left an afterimage in his place as he shot toward Cracker.

He brought his leg down in a devastating axe kick, aimed at the giant biscuit soldier.

Cracker’s eyes widened in shock. He stacked layer after layer of biscuit armor—a thousand deep, all hardened with Haki.

CRACK!

An overwhelming force smashed into the biscuit giant. The armor shattered, layer after layer disintegrating, blasted apart into a shower of crumbs.

Cracker, his face a mask of terror, shot out from the wreckage, his sword thrusting forward.

Jin charged, ducking under the sword thrust and driving a knee into Cracker's stomach.

Blood erupted from Cracker's nose and mouth.

Jin used the momentum to launch himself into the air, spinning and bringing his heel down in a final, crushing blow.

Cracker screamed as the sound of snapping bone echoed through the air. He was sent flying, crashing through a dozen of his own men.

Dust and debris filled the air.

A blade wave tore through the smoke, and Jin felt a searing pain as it sliced across his back, leaving a long, white gash.

Smoothie, now grown to the size of a giant, had joined the fray.

A dark-red blade of light erupted from her sword, a crimson ribbon in the chaotic battlefield.

Smoothie, proving her worth as a Sweet Commander, was not to be underestimated.

But Jin was unfazed. He spun and met the attack head-on, his own punch shattering the blade wave and sending a concussive blast of Haki back at her.

Smoothie was sent flying, the impact like a thunderclap, blood trickling from her nose and mouth.

In an instant, all three Sweet Commanders were down, grievously wounded, unable to get back up.

"A monster..." someone whispered, the words filled with a chilling awe.

The other family members were frozen in terror.

Jin's chest heaved as he caught his breath. His stamina was draining, but he stood tall, his gaze sweeping across the battlefield, an emperor surveying his domain.

Those who had been charging forward froze, their faces turning pale as his eyes passed over them. They scrambled backward.

Without the three Sweet Commanders to lead the charge and pin him down, their sneak attacks were useless.

No one dared to move...

The battlefield fell silent...

Then, a distant explosion.

Jin's head snapped in that direction, his brow furrowing.

Law vs. Doflamingo.

Reiju vs. Tesoro and Snack.

'Why are Doflamingo and Tesoro getting involved?'

Doflamingo, he could understand. They had a history.

But Tesoro? What was his angle?

The current Law was no match for Doflamingo. And Reiju, her stamina already depleted, was barely holding on against the combined assault of Tesoro and Snack.

It was only a matter of time before they both fell.

Jin took a deep breath, calming the raging fire in his blood.

"Are you done yet?" he sent, using the badge to contact Robin and Maya. They had already finished making the rubbing of the Poneglyph.

His objective on Whole Cake Island was complete.

It was time to leave.

After all this, he doubted Big Mom would be inviting them to stay for dinner.

BOOM!

Under the relentless assault of Tesoro and Snack, Reiju was on the defensive, sent tumbling to the ground again and again.

Her poison was useless against Tesoro's gold, and she was taking heavy damage.

"Golden Cage!"

Tesoro's arms turned to gold. He slammed his hands on the ground, unleashing his awakened ability—the power to turn anything he touched to gold.

The ground turned to a flowing, liquid gold, erupting around Reiju and forming a cage.

"Hahaha! Just give up quietly, Vinsmoke Reiju!" Tesoro laughed.

Suddenly, a shadow fell over him.

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"..." Tesoro's smile froze.

"Hm??"

A wave of intense danger washed over him, a chill that shot from the soles of his feet up his spine and into his brain. The hair on his arms stood on end.

"Hey, busybody," a low voice growled from behind him. "What do you think you're doing to my woman?"

A hand reached out, grabbed Tesoro's head, and slammed it toward the ground.

"Golden Body!"

Tesoro reacted instantly, his entire body turning to gold. He pressed his hands to the ground, unleashing his assimilation ability, trying to turn the man behind him to gold as well.

But the pressure on his head didn't lessen. It was like a mountain, an irresistible force.

A powerful Haki was resisting the assimilation.

CRASH!

Tesoro's head slammed into the golden ground, embedding itself in the metal.

But his golden arms held him up.

He struggled to lift his head, the dent in his golden forehead slowly smoothing out.

"It's useless," he rasped. "My golden body can't be hurt..."

"Hehehe... you want to save your woman? How about a deal? That singer of yours, Uta... how much to send her to Gran Tesoro? A billion? Five billion? You agree, and I'll let Reiju go. She's already turned to gold by now, hasn't she? Hahaha... under the influence of my awakened ability, she'll never be human again without my permission!"

"So," Jin said, a slow understanding dawning on him, "your target was Uta."

"That's right," Tesoro said, his voice filled with a mad passion. "A voice like hers... it's too perfect. Only the perfect Gran Tesoro is a worthy stage for her. It would be the perfect combination!"

Jin let out a soft chuckle. "You're going after her? You've got guts. Do you even know who she is?"

"Who?"

"She's the daughter of one of the Four Emperors—the Red-Haired Pirates!"

Tesoro's eyes widened in disbelief.

"And another thing," Jin said, his voice turning cold. "Were you just threatening me, Golden Boy?"

"Hm?"

Before Tesoro could react, Jin slammed his head into the ground again.

"You said your golden body can't be broken?"

He lifted him up and slammed him down again.

"I'd like to test that."

He slammed Tesoro's head into the golden ground. Again. And again. The impacts rang out like the tolling of a giant bell.

The golden ground began to crater.

Tesoro's face began to dent. At first, he could use his Haki to harden the gold, but as his Haki was depleted, and with the constant, jarring impacts, his brain felt like it was being rattled in his skull. His thoughts, his very consciousness, were being battered.

He struggled, trying to break free, but a powerful force was pressing down on him, a barrier that pinned him to the ground, making him easier to control.

Again and again, the blows rained down.

Tesoro's golden face was becoming flatter and flatter.

Finally, with a loud crack, the gold on his face began to fracture. The force of the impacts was too great. It was starting to break apart.

And not just his face. The golden ground was also reverting to its normal state. The effect of his awakened ability was fading.

With one final, massive impact, the golden ground shattered, and Tesoro's entire head was driven into the earth.

"GAAAAAH!" he screamed, the pain in his head like a hammer blow.

When Jin pulled him out, he was no longer golden, just a bloody, broken man.

"Your face isn't as hard as you said it was, Tesoro," Jin sneered.

A monster!

This monster!

Terror seized Tesoro. "I... I was wrong," he choked out, his face a bloody mess.

"I was wrong, King Jin! Let me go! I can pay! I have a lot of money..."

"Tesoro," Jin said, his voice flat, "do you really think money can buy everything?"

"Can't it?" Tesoro shot back.

"When I was a kid, I loved to sing. But my family was poor, so my friends shunned me. Later we got even poorer. My mother hated my singing, so I ran away. I stole money to eat!!"

"With that stolen money, I made friends."

"One day, I lost big at a casino and got sold to slave traders. The guys I thought were my friends bolted immediately. I got beaten half to death but managed to escape."

"I hate all nobles and rich people."

"I'm going to become the richest man alive and make them all kneel before me. The look of despair on guests' faces when they lose everything at my casino—that's the greatest show in the world."

"One day, I'll make even the Celestial Dragons bow to this power. People without money achieve nothing. They're only fit to be ruled."

"There's nothing money can't buy. Without money, you can't do anything."

"..."

"And now," Jin said, his voice devoid of emotion, "what's the difference between you and the rich people you used to hate? You don't hate the rich. You just hate that you weren't one of them."

Tesoro grit his teeth against the pain. "So what? How much do you want? I have plenty!"

"Have you ever considered," Jin said, "that once you're dead... all your money, all your possessions... will be mine? Your money is now my money. Thank you for building Gran Tesoro for me. I'll keep the name, in memory of you."

"Huh??"

Tesoro froze, his eyes wide with shock and disbelief.

A flicker in Jin's eyes—a fragment of a moment yet to come.

Observation Haki. Future Sight.

He slammed Tesoro's head toward the ground.

Suddenly, the ground beneath them changed. Countless threads shot up, weaving together into a raging white wave.

"Billow White Thread!"

The awakened ability of the Paramecia String-String Fruit.

But this time, it wasn't an attack. The white threads coiled around Tesoro, trying to pull him away.

Tesoro's Gold-Gold Fruit had come from Doflamingo's auction house. By the time he found out who had stolen it, the fruit had already been eaten. And since Tesoro was already a powerful fighter, Doflamingo had put his grudge aside and become his business partner.

Having already lost so much, Doflamingo wasn't about to let Jin kill Tesoro.

Tesoro, sensing the rescue, used the last of his strength to turn his body to gold.

In the same instant, Doflamingo appeared behind Jin, his hands spread wide.

"16 Holy Assassin's Bullets: God Execution!"

Having already been beaten once, Doflamingo knew how terrifying Jin was. He was going all out from the start.

Sixteen massive white threads, coated in a high density of Armament Haki, shot up from the ground, lancing toward Jin at incredible speed.

Blood sprayed through the air.

The Haki-coated threads found their mark.

"Gwah...!"

Tesoro coughed up a mouthful of blood, his golden body pierced through with sixteen bloody holes.

Doflamingo was speechless. He couldn't understand. It had all happened in a flash. How was it possible?

He didn't know that Jin had seen it coming. He was prepared.

A flicker of lightning.

"Offwhite!"

Doflamingo immediately retreated, several massive threads rising from the ground to form a shield in front of him.

But Jin was already where he was retreating to. A lightning kick, a blinding flash of thunder.

A thunderclap exploded against Doflamingo's stomach. He was sent flying backward like a shrimp, coughing up blood.

Jin landed, kicked the rescuing Snack away, and, under the cover of the lightning flash, opened his Munch-Munch Space and swallowed the critically injured Tesoro.