Opening Bro

"Go!"

Oak did not refuse his little brother Kaido's suggestion. He grabbed Kaido, spread his wings, and flew toward the other side. He also wanted to test the strength of the Giant Tribe warriors of this era and see how they differed from those of the next era!

But halfway through, he suddenly realized that because of the Giant Tribe's long lifespan, which was three times that of ordinary humans, the giants of this era and the next era seemed to be the same group of people!

At least, that was true for those who had joined the Navy.

But since he was already here, he could not be bothered to fly back. He casually tossed Kaido onto a warship, then flew toward another one himself.

Boom~

The moment he landed on the deck, a massive double-bladed axe came chopping down at his head.

"You've exposed an opening, little human brat!"

With a clang, the axe struck Oak squarely on the head. Yet it did not deal any damage at all. Instead, the giant wielding it was forced a step back by the recoil.

Oak looked up.

"Well, if it isn't Opening Bro!"

His eyes lit up. No wonder that voice, tone, and line had sounded so familiar. The giant before him was the very Opening Bro from the original story—the one who had ambushed Whitebeard during the Summit War, repeatedly shouting, "Whitebeard, you've exposed an opening!" Only for Whitebeard to grab him in return and nearly punch his brains out with one hand.

But then Oak looked up at Opening Bro, who was nearly ten times his normal size.

With a body that huge, and with your voice arriving before you do, who exactly was the one exposing an opening first?

"How is that possible?"

Opening Bro staggered back more than ten steps before stopping. Looking down at the double-bladed axe in his hands, he found that not only had he failed to harm the little human, but the axe blade itself was covered in cracks from the rebound and was on the verge of shattering. He stared at Oak as though he were a monster.

"Hello, Opening Bro!"

While he was still stunned, Oak flashed up above his head.

"You've really exposed an opening!"

After greeting him, Oak threw a punch downward.

Crack, crack, crack~

The overwhelming force of the punch shattered Opening Bro's helmet on the spot, then sent him crashing down.

Boom~

Opening Bro's landing shook the entire deck.

Oak withdrew his fist and looked at the fallen Opening Bro. The Giant Tribe's physique truly was impressive. Even after taking a punch from him, the giant had not passed out and was still trying to stand. But Oak kicked him in the temple, sending him flying into the sea below.

Watching Opening Bro float on the sea after falling in, with Navy soldiers already going to retrieve him and no danger to his life, Oak clapped his hands and turned his attention to the other warships.

By then, the other members of the crew had rushed over as well. But aside from the giant being entangled by Kaido, the remaining giants did not engage them. Instead, they all charged in the same direction.

"Charlotte Linlin!!"

Every giant charged toward Linlin, their eyes bloodshot as though they wanted to fight her to the death.

That was hardly surprising. When Linlin's Hunger Pangs had erupted at the age of five, she had destroyed an entire Giant Tribe village and severely wounded Elbaf's oldest elder, Yorle, leading to his death. Ever since, she had been hated and despised by the entire Giant Tribe.

Now that enemies had met, their eyes were red with rage. Of course they would fight to the death.

Linlin had been monstrously gifted since childhood. At five years old, she could destroy a giant village. Now that she was an adult, she was only more terrifying. Even against eighteen Giant Tribe warriors working together, she remained completely at ease.

"Prometheus~"

"Zeus~"

She grabbed Prometheus in one hand and Zeus in the other.

"We're here, Mama!"

The two Homies transformed respectively into a fireball and a pitch-black thundercloud.

Then, a pillar of flame and a bolt of lightning shot into the sky and crashed down among the giants, instantly blasting every giant nearby away.

"Napoleon~"

She summoned Emperor Sword again. After landing atop Zeus, she unleashed a fierce strike.

"Elbaf Spear: Ikoku Sovereignty."

Napoleon slashed out a massive sword-energy shockwave of astonishing speed and vast range. Some giants who had only just fallen into the sea and surfaced were struck by her slash and immediately lost consciousness.

Before passing out, deep unwillingness and humiliation filled their eyes.

Being defeated by their enemy with the technique they excelled at most—nothing could have been more humiliating.

"Retreat!"

On the Navy's rearmost flagship, Kong watched the giant warriors they had deployed also about to be completely defeated and decisively gave the order to retreat.

"Retreat now?"

Tsuru looked utterly incredulous upon hearing his command.

"Weren't we here today to encircle and wipe out the Rocks Pirates?"

What was the point of watching their side suffer heavy losses and doing nothing?

Tsuru stared at her superior in astonishment, unable to understand what exactly was going on today.

"Who said we came to encircle and wipe out the Rocks Pirates?"

However, Kong merely glanced at her indifferently and pointed across the way.

"Look at their lineup. With just the two of us and these hundred or so warships, who exactly is encircling whom?"

Tsuru looked up at the other side, following his finger. One after another, she saw Newgate, Shiki, Ochoku, John, Charlotte Linlin, Extreme Fierce, and a long list of powerful figures renowned across the seas.

There was also Gloriosa, the former captain of the Kuja Pirates who had only recently joined them, as well as that bastard Oak who had flirted with her before.

And most importantly, Rocks, who had once single-handedly killed a Navy Headquarters admiral.

Then she looked at herself and Admiral Kong. A deep sense of powerlessness rose in her heart.

She felt that even if the entire Navy Headquarters were moved here, she did not know whether they could defeat the other side, much less with only the two of them.

But in the end, she still pointed at those Giant Tribe warriors and asked unwillingly,

"What about them?"

Kong clearly had already considered that.

"We don't need to worry about that. Rocks won't kill them. Someone will come and take them back afterward."

"Execute the order immediately!"

Kong gave the command sternly.

"If we wait any longer, we won't be able to retreat!"

Looking at the giants who were about to all fall, urgency appeared in Kong's eyes. Their current position was just outside the Rocks Pirates' attack range. Once the other side defeated all the giants and freed up their hands to close in, not a single one of them would escape today.

So if they wanted to retreat, they had to move fast.

Thus, moments later, this rearmost group of warships swiftly turned around and sped toward the distant horizon.