Loki Takes on the Rocks Pirates Alone 6

After a brief exchange, the battle resumed, different once again from before.

This time, Loki's attacks were as fierce as ever.

John, however, was acting strangely.

He fought cautiously, as if his hands and feet were tied.

Even so...

"I'd have a headache dealing with that too!" Kyo took off his glasses, as if to get a clearer look.

"Tch, just don't touch Loki's sword. Can't he kill him before his own sword breaks?" Shiki said with a curl of his lip.

"Idiot! Do you think his opponent's a baby? Or as stupid as you?"

"Bakayaro! Shut your damn mouth!"

"..."

The two started arguing again. Everyone else was used to it, though Kaya found them a little noisy.

"Now I'm even more curious about you, Kaya." Rocks wore a peculiar smile. "You made Loki this powerful."

"What, do you want this power too? That would be boring, Rocks." Kaya smiled as well.

"I wasn't interested in the first place." Rocks promptly shook his head. "Haki is what matters!"

"You mean to say a pirate's battle is a battle of Haki? Sorry, I'm a Quincy."

"Uh, actually, Devil Fruits are pretty important too."

That was right. Despite possessing some of the best Haki on the seas, Rocks had no aversion to Devil Fruits whatsoever.

He had yet to eat one only because he was still searching for the Devil Fruit he sought.

Devil Fruits could boost a person's strength out of nowhere, so aside from the few who opposed using them, most people were happy to eat one.

Even if the taste left much to be desired.

After all, no matter how strong your Haki was, could it turn you into a dragon? Could it give you all sorts of abilities?

Off the top of his head, the wheelchair Fruits on the seas, including the ones Kaido and Kizaru ate, were typical examples.

The power of Haki alone had its limits. The true top-tier powerhouses in history had to have both maxed-out Haki and a maxed-out Fruit.

Joy Boy, for example.

Countless thoughts ran through Kaya's mind, but his conversation with Rocks had quietly stirred up a storm in the hearts of the others nearby.

There was no harm in saying it. Kaya had never intended to hide it in the first place, and what could others do if they knew?

Kaya had given Loki his power?

Rocks was joking, right?

How was that possible?

Could that rumor actually be true?

Shiki and the others' minds raced, and they soon recalled their first meeting with Kaya.

That day, they had initially only heard that something strange had happened on the island.

Supposedly, there was a Devil Fruit on the island that could grant power to people over a wide area, and it had caused chaos.

If Rocks hadn't brought people there early, things might have spiraled out of control.

But in fact, there had been no Devil Fruit, only Kaya... Viewed that way, wasn't Kaya the cause of it all?

The looks in the eyes of Shiki, Kyo, and the others changed completely.

They didn't know why, but Kaya really was hiding a huge secret.

Ochoku stared subtly at Kaya's back, his eyes shifting as some unknown thought crossed his mind. In the end, he pretended not to care about anything.

"So that's how it is?" Newgate gave Kaya another look, surprise in his eyes.

"Are you interested too, Newgate?" Kaya wore his usual smile.

"...Don't be so familiar." Newgate looked away, his voice sounding indifferent.

"Should I call you Whitebeard, then?"

Kaya made the offhand remark, and several people beside him burst out laughing. Newgate's face darkened at once.

Newgate did not yet have the famous name "Whitebeard," but his distinctive crescent mustache was already a defining feature of his appearance.

Calling someone by a feature of their appearance made it hard to tell whether it was meant as respect or ridicule.

"All right, enough fooling around." Rocks put a stop to their joking. "Is that kid Loki's ability really as bizarre as he said?"

"No," Kaya answered.

The others breathed a sigh of relief.

But Kaya continued, "To be precise, it's even stronger than that!"

What? Could he exaggerate any more?

There were twenty-six Schrifts in all.

Anyone with a decent grasp of English could probably guess which twenty-six they were, so there was no need to elaborate.

At their core, these abilities were the Quincy's own powers, which Yhwach helped them awaken by engraving their souls.

But after Kaya transmigrated, these Schrifts had come with Yhwach's template.

In other words, he could grant templates to others!

As long as he transmitted the corresponding Schrift into a person's body through blood, that person would not only be transformed into a Quincy but also gain the power of the Schrift.

Kaya was rather casual about it, however. He only had to find someone suitable and automatically load the corresponding Schrift.

He had only given them to two people so far, and for the time being, he had no clear ideas about the other Schrifts.

In any case... he would let the fight finish first.

"This is fucking outrageous!"

On the battlefield, John was reaching his limit.

If he kept getting beaten down by Loki like this, how could he show his face on Hachinosu afterward?

Pirates were practical. They might call you boss today, but if you lost to an enemy, your subordinates could cut off your head that very night and offer it to someone else!

"Extreme Magnetism: Dragon-Elephant Might's Radiant Sword!"

John roared as all the metal stripped itself from his body and condensed further.

The giant robot from moments ago became a greatsword dozens of meters long, tempered by John's extreme magnetic force.

Its broad, thick edge fell under its own weight. Rather than a slash, it was more like a crushing blow.

Loki looked up and instinctively raised his sword to block.

The next instant, the excessively heavy greatsword of mixed metals crushed Loki beneath it!

John had only just caught his breath when three or four wounds appeared on his body out of nowhere.

The wounds were sizable, and the pain made him cry out.

"Ahhh! Damn it! I didn't expect to get hurt like this, that damned bastard!"

Even as John cursed, he breathed a sigh of relief.

Although the damage had still rebounded onto him, he had at least taken Loki down. Once a Devil Fruit User was defeated, his ability would stop working as well.

Even so, he still wanted to curse.

The robot had been the one hurting Loki, not John. If the damage had to rebound, it should have gone to the robot. What did it have to do with him?

This was even more absurd than Loki's ability, like someone killing you with a knife and then saying the knife had killed you, not him...

Boom!

At the sound, cold sweat beaded on John's forehead.

A huge figure pushed aside the greatsword weighing him down and stood straight up from the ground.

"Bastard, that hurt!" Loki wiped his face and looked down at John from above, a sense of pressure bearing down on him.

By now, even the blindest pirate could see that Loki was noticeably bigger than he had been at the start.

Most importantly, he was still uninjured!

John could no longer make sense of it.

Just what kind of Devil Fruit User was Loki? He could keep growing bigger in battle, and his injuries healed almost as fast as John could inflict them.

At that thought, John couldn't help regretting his decision. He had been enjoying the show, so why had he stepped forward?

Just then, a powerful aura swept over him. John looked up, and his eyes widened in shock.

Loki's hat had changed into a protective mask that exposed only his eyes and part of his mouth, with a wreath of olive branches around his forehead.

Black markings appeared on his shoulders and extended down his arms, while his trousers bore markings in reversed colors: white patterns on a black background.

The pair of angel wings on his back had grown larger.

In his right hand was a holy sword with a light-shaped hilt, while a holy sun shield with protruding spikes was attached to his left.

At that moment, he looked every bit a god of war.

"Vollständig: Power of God!"