Pirates: Invincible from the Start

Laughing, Kuta raised his right hand, palm up, to meet the enormous hand bearing down on him. He looked like an ant facing an elephant's descending foot—except instead of retreating, he meant to defeat the elephant. It seemed hopelessly arrogant.

But Kuta was no ant, and the giant hand was no elephant.

His body looked tiny beside that hand, but their presence told the opposite story.

"Well, Crocodile! Don't tell me this is your last trump card!"

Kuta's gaze traveled down the giant arm toward the sand beneath it. He paid no mind to the hand above his head.

Boom!

The giant hand struck Kuta's much smaller one with an earthshaking crash.

The shockwave faded.

What everyone expected—Kuta being driven into the sand—never happened.

He stood firmly where he was.

He did not even look up. As far as his relaxed posture was concerned, he might have been holding up an oversized ball of cotton rather than a hand that blotted out the sky.

"Don't underestimate me, brat."

Rumble!

The arm

rose higher. Another giant hand emerged from the sandy pit in front of Kuta.

This one did not strike at him. It planted itself on the left edge of the pit and pushed down hard.

With a rumble, an enormous head rose from the sand.

As soon as it appeared, an overwhelming presence surged with it. This was not Conqueror's Haki, but the pressure of the giant's sheer strength.

The head turned toward Kuta and opened its eyes.

Whoooosh!

Two whirlwinds sprang up before its face, sweeping a skyful of yellow sand toward Kuta.

"Well, that's interesting."

Kuta looked up through the sand and stared into the giant's eyes.

Those were not human eyes.

They were filled with indifference, ruthlessness, and arrogance.

Yes, arrogance.

*Don't tell me he's started