Loki Takes on the Rocks Pirates Alone, Part 3

The battle had taken on a rather different look.

Loki hammered the ground with his giant iron club, as if he were giving the land a massage.

John sometimes sat atop the club drinking, and sometimes simply lay down on it and snored. There was no sign at all that he was fighting Loki.

Was the iron club Loki's weapon, or his bed?

But anyone with a discerning eye could see that John was simply catching the instant each of Loki's attacks landed and ran out of force.

On top of that, he was a Paramecia-type Magnet-Magnet Fruit user. The fruit gave its eater the ability to control magnetism and metal.

That way, John only had to shift where the club landed slightly, and Loki could forget about ever touching him.

"Huff... huff..."

After attacking for a while, Loki grew tired. He leaned on his club, panting heavily, his eyes glaring at John beneath his bandages, but he seemed at a loss.

"What's wrong? Is this all the prince of Elbaf can do? Then let me put it plainly: you couldn't even be an apprentice in the Rocks Pirates."

John stood there swaying, the drink in his hand seemingly never running out, liquor dribbling down his chin.

It was an extremely relaxed pose, full of openings, but Loki knew his attacks couldn't hit this annoying bastard.

"Who wants to be an apprentice?!" Loki said, his voice filled with displeasure. "I'm the sun god who's going to end the world!"

At those words, the whole place suddenly fell silent.

The pirates looked at one another, their mouths falling open instinctively, every one of them dumbfounded.

The next second, laughter erupted across the crowd.

"Pfft... hahahahaha!!"

"Does this guy know what he's saying?"

"The sun god? Well, I'm the moon god!"

"End the world? Yeah, sure, sure. When I was three, I wanted to take down the World Government too!"

"Haha! That's about as much bullshit!"

There was no helping it. There was far too much to make fun of in what Loki had said, and combined with his appearance, he really did look like an immature brat talking big.

And in fact... he really was talking big!

Listening to the laughter coming from all around him, Loki breathed out softly, and his heart inexplicably grew calm.

There's no choice. I was going to save this move for challenging Rocks...

Over the years, whenever Rocks came to Elbaf, Loki would ask Rocks to take him along, and Rocks had always refused.

Although Loki had challenged Rocks to a contest, Rocks had quickly knocked him down.

Of course, it would have been a miracle if he had won.

But now Loki understood: if he couldn't even get past one of Rocks's mere subordinates, how could he talk about facing Rocks himself?

After Kaya read Loki's thoughts, he didn't know what to say either...

Bang!

Loki suddenly dropped his iron club. The huge weapon slammed into the ground, causing quite a tremor.

"Giving up?" John looked up at him.

"Don't joke around. I've never thought I'd lose to the likes of you!" Loki said slowly.

Then he raised a hand and pulled back his black leather glove, revealing a silver chain fastened around his wrist.

John's gaze sharpened as he sensed something.

The next second, with a clatter, a great mass of light shone on John's face, brighter than the sun.

"That's..."

John narrowed his eyes and saw it clearly.

A huge pinkish-purple bow had appeared out of nowhere in Loki's hand. As Loki pulled his fingers back, energy gathered around him and formed a large arrow!

John had no time to think. He hurried backward to dodge the incoming arrow.

Boom!

The enormous arrow struck the earth with a thunderous crash, kicking up a violent cloud of dust and sending rubble tumbling. It was as if an earthquake had shaken the ground for an instant!

That was only the beginning. Explosions followed in rapid succession.

Loki fired arrow after arrow, tracking John, but before he could hit his main target, the pirates around them suffered.

"AAAAAH! What is that?!"

"Quick! Run!"

"Damn it! That guy's gone crazy again!"

"Help..."

Countless pirates were caught in the attack and died gruesome deaths on the spot. Now no one could laugh.

But Loki was frustrated. That bastard John was as nimble as a flea, and even when Loki fired as fast as he could, he still had trouble hitting him.

"Haah! Heilig Pfeil!"

Loki drew in more Reishi from the space around him, increasing the power of his attacks through sheer quantity.

The arrows Loki was firing now were actually Heilig Pfeil, a Quincy's basic ability-essentially a normal attack.

Loki used the moves according to the information automatically loaded into his brain, such as this one.

"Rain of Light!"

Countless arrows flew out together, dense as raindrops, covering a considerable area.

He didn't fire them down from the sky, but at an oblique angle, causing that area and even the far rear to come under attack.

Hum!

Newgate punched into the air, and the atmosphere cracked inch by inch.

All the stray arrows that flew over were halted in midair, then shattered completely.

"Trying to hit us too?" Newgate snorted.

"What is that? A giant's fighting ability?" Shiki watched in some surprise.

"Is John only capable of running all over the place while taking hits?" Kyo's eyes gleamed.

"This is probably..." Ochoku stopped himself.

"Don't worry! None of that matters!" An inexplicable hint of excitement appeared on Rocks's face. "Keep showing me your power!"

Kaya chuckled softly. Was Rocks saying that to Loki, or to him?

Unfortunately, Loki had only shown the basic powers of a Quincy so far. As for the truly advanced abilities, it depended on whether Loki was willing to bring them out now.

Unlike Shiki, Ochoku, and the others, one fellow was not watching from the best spot. Mingling with the crowd, he was surprised by the power Loki was using.

"Hey, hey! Was that giant brat chosen by him too? Isn't he being a little too flashy?!"

That person was none other than Keel Bastar.

Keel hadn't expected that he'd come merely to join in the fun, only to see such an interesting sight.

He could be sure that Loki had received Kaya's power just like him. He just wasn't sure whether Loki counted as a member of the Knights.

Hum... hummm...

Suddenly, a strange fluctuation spread across the entire area.

Keel raised an eyebrow, feeling the pistols hidden inside his clothes begin to tremble, as if pulled by some force.

Although he could hold on to them, not every pirate could do the same. Weapons flew from their hands one after another.

"Run! John's getting serious!"

A pirate cried out, and the others, no longer caring that their weapons were being drawn into the sky, ran outward in a panic.

By now the battlefield had expanded further, becoming much more open than it had been at the start.

Guns and swords, and even some iron implements—these heavy metal objects floated in midair, black currents flickering between them as they formed a dark shadow.

"Punk Vise!"

John spread his hands, his long hair flying wildly.

This move used the Magnet-Magnet Fruit's power to draw the surrounding metal objects to him.

The movement was so obvious that Loki naturally saw it.

"Die!"

Loki drew his bow and fired. Another Heilig Pfeil pierced the air, shooting toward John.

But unexpectedly, John didn't dodge this time.

"Punk Gibson!"

John clenched his fist, and the metal objects attached themselves to one of his arms, forming a giant mechanical arm.

He then threw a punch, smashing the arrow head-on. As the dispersing Reishi swept past his face, he revealed a cruel, cold smile.

"Don't let my looks fool you. I'm a member of the Rocks Pirates, after all!"