"Hmm?"
Loki froze for a moment, then instinctively swung the iron club in his hand, smashing apart the brilliant blade-light rushing toward him.
"Wait! What do you mean by that!"
He looked at Roa, who was blocked behind five figures, and spoke unhappily. "Wasn't this supposed to be a one-on-one fight? What do you mean by bringing so many people?"
"They're part of my ability,"
Roa said with a grin. "If you want to fight me, get past them first."
Loki should have felt fortunate that Roa hadn't brought along all the wraiths stored on Beehive Island. Otherwise, he would have learned what it meant to fight an entire army alone—the army's members had all carried bounties of at least fifty or sixty million before becoming wraiths.
"Whatever!"
Loki grinned excitedly. "I'm going to smash you flat anyway!"
The small giant, more than ten meters tall, charged forward on his own legs. He raised his enormous spiked club and brought it down viciously.
The giant guards leading the way watched with cold indifference. Loki wasn't well-liked, but the people from the Rocks Pirates were even more hated. They might as well let Loki teach this brat a good lesson.
Facing the charging Loki, one of the five people standing in front of Roa—former Marine Vice Admiral Jensen—shot into the air. Armament Haki suddenly coated the blade in his hand, and he met the attack with a fierce slash.
Clang!
A surging shockwave spread out, and Jensen was sent flying.
"That's absurd!"
Roa couldn't help clicking his tongue.
What monstrous strength!
Although Jensen had completely become a wraith and lost his mind, relying on instinct for all his techniques, his strength had fallen far below its peak. Even so, the difference during a direct clash wasn't all that great.
Yet Loki had still sent him flying with a single swing in a head-on collision.
However, Loki was ultimately still only a child. His strength was nowhere near invincible, and he staggered backward as well.
"This guy!"
He realized that Jensen was no ordinary opponent. There were no beasts in the Underworld capable of matching this man!
Could the other few be the same?
As he was thinking this, the other four charged over like zombies. Their movements were utterly uncoordinated, with everything left to instinct.
Among the four, the former vice admiral's body began to change. He transformed into a lynx—the Zoan Cat-Cat Fruit, Lynx Form!
Whoosh!
The speeding lynx blurred instantly.
"What?"
Loki froze.
The next moment, pain shot through his right leg.
It was Soru! The lynx had used Soru to skim past his ankle, leaving several deep wounds behind.
"Very good, very good."
Roa nodded repeatedly in satisfaction.
Loki had formidable frontal combat power, but the giant race's common weakness—poor agility—was present in him as well. That was excellent. It meant victory would be easy.
"Damn you!"
Loki raised his iron club and turned, smashing it directly toward the lynx behind him. At the same time, three captains leaped into the air, each swinging a weapon at Loki's back.
Loki could only turn around hastily and sweep his club across. "Stop getting in the way!"
Clang!
The iron club collided with another pitch-black blade!
Jensen had already returned, stepping through the air.
He was sent flying again.
But Loki staggered backward again as well.
At the same time, the three captains stepped on Loki's iron club and leaped into the air, pouncing straight at his face.
Loki instinctively raised his hand to grab them.
But a sudden burst of pain came from his shoulder.
The lynx had leaped onto his shoulder and was fiercely tearing into the back of his neck.
"Waaaah!"
Loki cried out in pain. In the instant his hand trembled, the three captains had already pounced in front of him, and three blades stabbed into his face without hesitation.
"Graaah!"
His cry of pain grew even more intense.
Roa clicked his tongue. "That looks painful!"
"What?"
The giant guards were stunned. Had several unknown nobodies really injured Loki this badly? Or should they say that even though he was a brat, he was still a brat of the Rocks Pirates?
"Go to hell!"
The giant race truly had thick skin and tough flesh, to say nothing of Loki's exceptionally gifted Ancient Giant Tribe bloodline. He endured the pain and slapped his own face.
The grating sound of bones cracking rang out. The three Marine captains, unable to dodge in time, had their bodies twisted and deformed outright.
"Those Marine wraiths were so hard to collect."
Roa felt somewhat regretful. "But forget it. They bought us enough time. It's over."
"Gaaahhh!"
Loki's scream grew even louder.
Even with the bones in their bodies smashed to pieces, the three captains continued pushing their blades forward, lengthening the wounds. At the same time, the lynx leaped onto Loki's right hand and bit down hard on his wrist. Amid Loki's screams, his spiked club slipped from his grasp.
Then—
Whoosh!
A black shadow shot toward Loki's chest.
The pitch-black blade instantly pierced through Loki's chest.
"Gaaah!"
The giant prince staggered backward in agony before falling heavily onto the ground.
"Stop!"
No matter how much they disliked Loki, the giant guards couldn't just stand by. They hurried forward to stop them.
They couldn't really let Prince Loki be killed, could they?
However—
They stared in terror at Roa's calm expression. Was this human child an even more terrifying monster than Loki?
"Come back."
Roa spoke.
Jensen pulled out his blade and shot into the air, landing in front of Roa again. A large cat leaped to his side the next moment.
At the same time, blood began gushing from Loki's chest.
"A doctor! Hurry and find a doctor!"
The guards scrambled to stop Loki's bleeding.
"That should be enough, Captain?"
Roa took deep breaths as he absorbed the faint black aura drifting from Loki's body. "It's not good to kill people while visiting someone, right?"
That must have hurt, right?
Why is this guy's black aura so faint?
Rocks asked in surprise, "Aren't your puppets mindless? They can cooperate like that?"
Of course, he could tell that even the strongest puppet couldn't suppress Loki in a frontal battle. It wouldn't be too difficult to win through agility, but it certainly wouldn't have been as easy as it had just been.
"Not usually."
Roa grinned. "But don't you have me? They're my wraiths, so of course I can control them."
Rocks nodded in understanding.
Whitebeard let out another cold snort.
So this brat had controlled those three Marines and sent them to their deaths just to deliver a decisive strike.
"Then let's go meet Harald."
Rocks didn't even glance at Loki. He raised his foot and headed toward the castle.
Roa and Whitebeard naturally followed.
"Wait! What's your name!"
The roar of a defeated loser came from behind them.
Roa didn't look back. He merely waved his hand, ordering the two wraiths to return to the ship and stand by.
It wasn't until they reached the castle gates that Roa truly realized how enormous it was.
The gates alone were more than a hundred meters tall, while the entire castle was probably over a thousand meters high.
They entered through the gates and followed the incredibly broad stone road forward. Soon, they arrived at a palace that should have been called a plaza by ordinary people.
"Sorry, Rocks. My son has caused you trouble."
The colossal figure seated on the throne slowly spoke.
Absurdly huge!
Roa could only look up at him.
He was bald, with a stern face that somewhat resembled Kratos.
Like Loki, he had a pair of horns growing from his head. He also possessed Ancient Giant Tribe bloodline, so he was probably more than sixty meters tall.
His black beard resembled Whitebeard's. Both formed a crescent moon, but unlike Whitebeard, this man also had a thick beard on his chin.
This man was Elbaf's king, Harald—the odd one among the battle-crazed giants, who advocated foreign trade.
"To avoid wasting time on pointless words,"
Rocks glanced back slightly. "Roa, show him your ability."
Roa understood instantly. First force, then courtesy.
Black fur grew from the surface of his skin, and a pair of black wings spread from his back.
In the blink of an eye, Roa had transformed into an upright tiger.
"Then please bear witness!"
Whoosh!
Without any warning, the curtains decorating the hall, the wooden furniture, and everything else that could burn burst into flames at once.
"This is..."
Harald froze.
"What do you think,"
Rocks rubbed Roa's fluffy head, "how long will this brat need to set all of Elbaf on fire?"
"Rocks!"
Harald's pupils contracted, and he immediately roared in fury. "Are you threatening me?"
The Adam Tree that supported Elbaf was too large and too old. Many areas had already decayed and died, so it was especially vulnerable to fire.
Once a fire broke out, the slightest mistake could allow it to grow beyond control. At that point, the only option would be to cut off the corresponding branches.
That was why Rocks had said that Roa's ability could shine in the Giant Kingdom.
"I'm only warning you,"
Rocks said coldly. "Only then can we have a proper discussion!"
"You!"
Sweat had already appeared on the giant king's forehead. "What exactly do you want to discuss?"
Before Roa and Whitebeard could hear what the two of them wanted to discuss, Rocks drove them out.
"Haa~"
Roa yawned.
He was a little bored.
In that case, he might as well go look at the murals.
Since he was already here, he naturally had to see the famous sights.
Before you continue