Loki Takes on the Rocks Pirates Alone 5

Boom!

A pillar of red light appeared, stretching from earth to sky, with a gigantic, glittering five-pointed star at its peak.

Soon, the massive pillar of energy dissipated.

Loki slowly rose from the ground, one hand pressed over his face, hiding his expression.

"You hit hard, old man."

The injuries John had just inflicted on him were gone! Whether from the blunt impact or the cannon fire, his skin was smooth, without the slightest trace of damage.

At last, he lowered his hand from his face, and the bandages covering his eyes fell away, revealing his demonic pupils.

Many of the onlookers were utterly shocked.

What was with those eyes? What had happened to Loki's injuries? After taking such a huge anchor to the face, he looked completely unharmed apart from his shredded bandages.

Whoosh! A red light flared.

Wings spread from Loki's back. Neither too large nor too small for his body, they had clearly visible markings on every feather.

A red, five-pointed star halo had appeared directly above the pair of curved horns on his head.

He stretched his limbs and stood upright.

John looked up at Loki's new appearance and was about to comment, but he suddenly swallowed the words on the tip of his tongue.

Why... wasn't he already taller than Loki? Why did he still have to look up at him?

It was because Loki had grown!

"Did that guy get bigger?"

"I don't think so?"

"He did. I've been watching him the whole time."

"Come to think of it, he was a Devil Fruit User too? If it's a Zoan, that explains it."

"That's right! Zoan users have powerful self-healing abilities, and the most obvious manifestation is their physical strength!"

"I see! Now I get it!"

After all that analysis, the spectating pirates thought they had figured out the truth about Loki.

It had to be said, their reasoning was quite sound.

Loki had wings, so a Zoan made sense, didn't it? That would also explain how his wounds healed on their own.

In truth, though, Loki felt nothing but contempt as he listened to their discussion.

Devil Fruit? Bunch of bumpkins!

"You have to eat the right Devil Fruit. You can only eat one in your lifetime, so it's a choice you have to make." John didn't realize how serious the situation was and even adopted the manner of a senior as he lectured him.

"Oh? Like your Devil Fruit ability, for example?" Loki tightened his grip on his greatsword.

"Wealth is a pirate's greatest pursuit, and magnetism helps me plunder treasure!" John charged forward, ramming his steel body into Loki.

But the next instant, his body came to an abrupt halt.

Loki had extended one hand and pushed his palm forward. That was all.

And then John couldn't move!

"What?!" John was shocked. Loki could stop his charge with one hand?

The next second, a dark shadow descended from above.

Slash-

The longsword in Loki's hand cut into John's robot! But it failed to sever it completely. Thanks to the robot's jumbled construction, more than half the blade became wedged inside.

"Good chance!" John used three of the robot's claws to hold down Loki's longsword, then pulled sideways with all three at once, trying to snap it in half.

The power Loki had inherited from his Ancient Giant Tribe bloodline came into play. He held the robot firmly in place and yanked the longsword free!

He was about to continue his attack when he suddenly noticed something. He raised the sword close to his eyes and examined it, finding a tiny, inconspicuous nick in the edge.

Meanwhile, the robot he had cut halfway through reassembled itself under John's control.

"Pretty tough... aaagh!"

John's scream was loud and piercing. The sudden cry sent a shiver through the other pirates.

What was wrong? What had happened?

The people outside couldn't see. All they saw was the giant robot inexplicably stop moving, as if it had frozen.

Inside the robot, John's forehead was covered in cold sweat. He pressed both hands tightly against his abdomen, feeling the heat of blood against his fingertips.

He was filled with disbelief. The pain wasn't enough to kill him, but he doubted what was happening.

Who would believe a wound had appeared on his body out of nowhere?

But it had actually fucking happened!

Frightened, he looked left and right, seriously suspecting that an assassin had infiltrated the robot and was preparing to kill him.

But the thought soon made him laugh in irritation. The metal machinery around him was packed tightly together, without the slightest gap, pressed right against his body.

Forget a person-even a mosquito couldn't fly in.

John quickly calmed down. After years of roaming the seas, he knew one thing well.

When something unbelievable suddenly happened, the first person you should suspect was the enemy you were fighting.

Even if you didn't know what they had done!

"Hey, what did you do? Why am I hurt?" John's voice came from inside the robot, calm but carrying a hint of killing intent.

His words caused an uproar among the pirates.

Had John just been injured? But who had done it? They hadn't noticed anything happen at all!

Unable to make sense of it, they turned to look at Loki.

An inexplicable silence fell over the scene. Even the figures from the Rocks Pirates standing in the distance watched quietly, none of them speaking out of turn.

Heh!

Loki curled his lip in a sneer and raised his sword, its sharp edge reflecting the sunlight.

"See that? You just damaged my sword, didn't you?"

Everyone squinted at it and finally noticed the tiny nick in Loki's greatsword. Honestly, if Loki hadn't pointed it out, no one would have noticed.

But so what? In a fight, especially one with such fierce clashes of metal, how could a sword not suffer any wear?

"My name is Loki, and my Schrift is M!"

"The Miracle!"

"A miracle is the manifestation of incredible imagination. A sword forged from gathered hopes, if damaged, is equivalent to despair!"

"And that despair will be returned to you in equal measure. That is the punishment for destroying hope!"

"I am The Miracle! The Miracle is me!"

Loki raised his greatsword high and shouted, his voice reaching everyone's ears.

But the result wasn't very apparent...

"What's that guy talking about?"

"Nope, I don't understand a word."

"I get the feeling it doesn't make any sense."

"Wait! I think I get it?"

"Impossible!!"

Most pirates had never been very bright, so asking them to understand Loki's words was a bit too much.

Fortunately, that didn't include John.

"What? You've got to be kidding me!"

John's voice was thick with disbelief, as if the sky were falling.

"Because I damaged your sword, your sword will hurt me? Are you fucking telling me a joke?!"

Now everyone understood.

A blade that reflected damage?

Everyone looked at one another, unable to laugh or cry, feeling only how absurd it was.

"Hmph! Believe it or not!" Loki walked toward John with his sword. "You only need to know that you will become rust on my blade!"

John looked at Loki's sword once more.

Its hilt was thin and short, clearly meant for one hand. The guard was V-shaped, the blade was black, and its edges were white. It was a double-edged sword.

It didn't look special at all. It was quite ordinary.

But Loki's words lingered in his ears, refusing to fade, and it felt as if a cold wind were blowing against the back of his head.

"Wait... wait a moment!"

John hurriedly called out to Loki, then continued, as if stalling for time or sounding him out.

"That's your ability? But why would you tell me? If you hadn't said anything, it would've been hard for anyone to figure it out!"

That caught the attention of everyone present once again.

But to their surprise, Loki merely scoffed and said, "Don't be ridiculous. It's only for the sake of fairness!"

"When you fight me, I have an advantage you can't imagine, which means this fight is unfair by its very nature."

"By telling you my ability, I'm evening out that imbalance. In other words, I'm making up for the overwhelming gap between us."

"That's why I did it!"

Silence! Deathly silence!

Everyone was dumbfounded, their heads buzzing.

If Loki had given just about any other reason, they would have believed him with their intelligence. But something about this sounded terribly wrong...

Absolute power! And the arrogance it gave rise to!