Crocodile and Jax were both sent flying by the shock wave. When everything settled, the Goddess of the Heavens lowered her slender hand, leaving a huge handprint in the ground. It looked grim and terrifying.
"Captain!"
The pirates raised their hands to shield their faces. When the dust cleared, they all anxiously looked toward the center of the battle.
The pirates in the other red-tree groves were now watching the Goddess of the Heavens approach through the sky from a distance. The sight was simply too overwhelming.
"A member of the Giant Race?"
Jax rose from the ruins and looked up, his eyes cold. His opponent was ten times his size. At five meters tall, he already counted as a giant, but compared to this golden woman, he was like a child next to an adult.
Even ordinary members of the Giant Race weren't this tall!
"Foolish woman, do you know who I am?"
Jax's face turned fierce. He could feel the pressure bearing down on him.
On a distant rooftop, Chaos sat in a chair, sipping coffee. He raised his left hand and pressed down lightly.
The Goddess of the Heavens raised her right hand again and brought it down, tearing through the air.
"You're asking for death!"
Jax flew into a rage. His five-meter frame suddenly swelled, tearing his shirt as scales appeared all over his body. In the blink of an eye, he transformed into a humanoid Triceratops. Ten defined abs stretched across his broad chest, and his thick tail slammed into the ground, sending cracks spreading across the earth for more than thirty meters in every direction.
This time, he didn't dodge. He coated his Dragon Claw in Armament Haki and, with a furious roar, slammed it into the golden palm.
The two were vastly different in size, but the aura Jax gave off was ferocious.
"The captain's using his ability!"
"Zoan: Ancient Zoan - Triceratops Form!"
"That golden woman's just big. It's not like the captain hasn't killed members of the Giant Race before. He's even killed Sea Kings bigger than her!"
The pirates had complete faith in Jax. Fifty meters looked huge, but compared to a Sea King, it was practically an ant.
Rumble!!!
The ground exploded. Dragon Claw and palm collided, and a shock wave spread in every direction. Huge cracks radiated outward, and slabs of earth rose around them.
Jax gritted his teeth, his feet buried deep in the ground. That palm strike had clearly been no joke.
"Get lost!"
Jax clenched his left Dragon Claw, coated it in Armament Haki, and slammed it into the golden palm. The force actually sent the Goddess of the Heavens stumbling backward.
Soil and rocks burst apart as Jax launched himself into the air, appearing in front of the Goddess of the Heavens. His right claw shot forward like a missile, striking at point-blank range.
A deafening metallic clang rang out. The slender, fifty-meter-tall Goddess of the Heavens was sent flying, her body thrown backward more than thirty meters. When she straightened up, a fist-shaped dent marred her breathtaking face.
"Th-this is the pirate with a bounty of 330 million?"
"He's... he's so strong."
All the pirates were stunned by Jax's power.
He'd punched someone that huge and sent her flying in a single blow.
But what happened next stunned them even more.
The Goddess of the Heavens' sunken face healed in the blink of an eye, leaving her as beautiful and sacred as ever.
Then she raised her slender hand. The enormous golden halo standing behind her flew above her head with a thunderous clamor of clashing weapons, swiftly transforming into row upon row of densely packed ten-meter-long swords, spears, and other weapons.
Jax's expression changed as he landed. Before he could react, the slender hand pointed downward. The earth seemed to collapse as countless enormous weapons roared down like a golden meteor shower.
"Get out of here!"
"Move back!"
The pirates who had been watching hurriedly fled, their faces paling.
Even Crocodile, his face covered in blood, retreated in alarm.
But he didn't leave. He stayed at a safe distance to keep watching.
Boom! Boom!!!
The whole area was bombarded like a missile strike. Rocks and dirt erupted everywhere, and red trees snapped, raising clouds of smoke. Jax raced along the ground as enormous weapons embedded themselves behind him, leaving craters more than ten meters wide.
"Savage Dragon Charge!"
Jax sprang up again from the rolling smoke. This time, he aimed for the Goddess of the Heavens' slender foot.
"Die!"
He concentrated all his strength in his fist and slammed it into her enormous knee. With a resounding crack, her lower leg snapped off and flew away.
"Run!"
A large group of pirates stood where the lower leg was falling. They were terrified as it blocked out the sunlight above them.
The golden leg crashed down and rolled, reducing an entire street of buildings to ruins. Blood splattered among the wreckage, and more than ten bodies lay scattered there.
"You're not a real person."
Jax's expression darkened. If this woman were a member of the Giant Race, a severed leg would be bleeding. But when he looked at the broken end, he could clearly see gold.
In other words, the fifty-meter-tall woman was only a puppet.
Someone was controlling her.
In response to Jax's question, the Goddess of the Heavens raised her right palm and slapped him.
Whoosh—
She moved too fast to leave even an afterimage.
Jax was swatted away like a volleyball. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth, and pain contorted his face. Red trees snapped and fell as he tumbled across the ground, eventually carving out a huge trench before coming to rest in the ruins at its end, coughing up blood.
"Gold! It's all gold!"
"That's not flesh and blood!"
"Could it be a puppet?"
"I'm taking that leg!"
"Anyone who tries to stop me is dead!"
The pirates near the golden leg were all red-eyed with greed.
That single golden leg was worth at least five billion berries.
And it was clearly refined Golden Material, with not a trace of impurity. Its smooth surface and deep color meant that five billion berries was probably only a starting price.
But before the pirates could start fighting, the golden leg shot into the air and reattached itself to the Goddess of the Heavens.
At once, nearly every greedy gaze turned toward her.
She was a mountain of gold!
And she was right within reach.
Even the Marines stationed at Numbers 60 through 69 had been drawn over. A Vice Admiral was leading them.
Clang-clang-clang.
The weapons that had plunged into the ground earlier flew into the air. Half of them formed several golden chains, while the rest remained as they were and shot toward Jax like arrows.
Jax quickly escaped the crater. Aside from coughing up blood and looking somewhat battered, he hadn't suffered any serious injuries.
His aura hadn't weakened, and neither had anything else.
Now the strength of a Zoan—especially an Ancient Zoan—was on full display.
The Lion King Gappa, Zebra Killer, and Camel Tepieru who had fought Chaos in Demon Valley Town were on a completely different level.
Explosions continued to rock the entire area. Jax dodged at high speed, punching away the weapons that flew at him and doing everything he could to keep the golden chains from binding him.
"Vice Admiral, that's the captain of the Flying Pirates' 20th Fleet, Dragon Horn Jax. His bounty is 330 million!"
The Marines arrived from a distance, all staring in shock at the fifty-meter-tall Goddess of the Heavens in the sky. They could see her from the base, but witnessing her from this close was a completely different experience.
Perfect, sacred, beyond compare!
"The Flying Pirates? And he's a fleet captain!"
The Vice Admiral frowned instinctively. The Flying Pirates were a colossal force...
Start: Deep Deduction (Primordial Lord of Heaven, Lord of the Numinous Treasure, Supreme Lord of Heaven) (Cold because he sees through everything) 100 Qidian coins.
Before you continue