"That's... Haki??"
Brogy stared in disbelief at the two massive arms that had seized their weapons.
They also used Haki, but compared to this kid's, it was like a completely different power! Leaving aside the sheer intensity of his Haki, how did this guy manage to give his Haki a physical form and use it as an actual limb?
"Brogy! Be careful! There's something wrong with this guy!" Dorry roared. Though he appeared to be just a boy, the power he possessed was anything but ordinary!
"I know! That's why we can't let him go to Elbaf!" Brogy yelled back.
Their synchronization was perfect. Unable to pull their weapons free from Roa's Haki-infused grip, they opted to smash their two oversized shields at him instead.
Roa chuckled, casually pushing his hands forward. The air around his palms warped instantly, and a surge of Haki-turned-shockwaves exploded out, colliding with the two massive shields.
BOOM!
Amidst the earth-shattering roar, the two giants' enormous bodies were violently sent flying.
"Whaaa!"
The two colossal figures tumbled across the ground, sending up a massive cloud of dust.
"Such powerful Haki!" Brogy got to his feet, a little disheveled, and looked down at his shield, which had fought alongside him for decades. It was now pulverized.
What a high-level mastery of Armament Haki!
"Unbelievable! A boy so young!" Dorry's shield was also shattered. He simply gripped his longsword tighter with both hands.
He's a master! This absurdly young human boy was an unimaginably terrifying super-expert! No wonder he dared to set his sights on Elbaf. No wonder they went to see Harald!
"That's not enough," Roa said, crossing his arms and tilting his head as he stood on the snail's back. "That's not enough to prove anything, is it?"
"Brogy!" Dorry stared intently at Roa. "Let's use that move!"
"Right!" Brogy nodded firmly.
In the next second, the two took their stances. With their longsword and battle-ax raised high, their two pairs of angry eyes locked onto Roa.
As he watched them, Roa's right hand rested on the hilt of his sword. At the same time, he said with a hint of nostalgia, "It's a shame Big Brother Kaido isn't here. It would have been a lot of fun."
What could be more fun than Hakoku versus Hakai?
"Hakoku!"
Before Roa could finish, the two giants swung their weapons down. Two forces instantly merged, forming a massive spiral that hurtled toward Roa.
"That's... a combined move from the Boss and Kaido?" Dylan said, surprised. While the details were different, the essence was the same.
"Then bring it on." Roa grinned. In the past, he and Kaido would use their combined techniques against various powerful foes, but now it was his turn to face a combined technique from others!
The Crimson Blade instantly unsheathed, and an ominous crimson lightning crackled from it. Roa simply swung the sword. The move had no name and wasn't even strictly a slash. It was just a blast of his two-colored Haki, sent forth like a cannon shot. It was a swordsmanship technique he'd learned from Rocks!
The next moment, the two powers collided.
As the two shockwaves crashed, a ferocious sea of energy exploded. The surrounding giant trees were uprooted like weeds, and the ground was slammed by a giant hammer, instantly blasting a huge crater at the center of the impact. Then, massive cracks spread out like a spiderweb. In an instant, the entire island groaned in protest.
"...What?!" Enel, nearly blown away once more, stared at Roa's back in utter disbelief. He didn't use an ability like the wind from before; this power came purely from a physical strike?!
As Enel marveled, Roa was also surprised. They actually blocked his attack. These two old veterans were truly something! And this was them in a weakened state from their constant bickering over seventy years. If they were to recover to their prime, the combined destructive power of the two would be close to a peak-level standard. No wonder they could contend with the Five Elders in the original story.
"Truly impressive," Roa said, his praise genuine. "There aren't many people on the seas who can do that."
He hadn't even been serious, but there were probably no more than twenty people in the world who could block that strike—oh, with the exception of the God's Knights, who could withstand it with their immortality. While his Conqueror's Haki could suppress their regeneration, it couldn't kill them completely.
"This is like a joke!" Amidst the dust, cold sweat beaded on Brogy's forehead. "He looks only fifteen or sixteen years old, right? In Giant years, that's not even fifty!"
"Indeed, have we been away from the seas for too long? Can the young people of this era really be this strong?" Dorry's face was equally solemn.
The two giants could no longer smile. If their enemy had just wanted to fight, these heroic giants would have roared with laughter and met the challenge head-on, even if it meant dying in battle, as a warrior's death was a glorious end. But Roa had plainly stated his goal: Elbaf! If they didn't stop him here, their long-absent homeland would be attacked!
"Brogy!" Dorry clenched his sword, roaring.
"I understand, Dorry!" Brogy yelled back.
The two giants charged forward again.
"This is far enough." Roa raised his right hand. "There's no need to continue this entanglement."
The next instant.
WOOSH!
A scorching flame ignited out of thin air on both giants, quickly turning into a massive vortex of fire that consumed them.
"Uwaaah!"
They both cried out at once. The two giants weren't particularly skilled in Haki. In a head-on fight, their overwhelming strength was all they needed. But when faced with special abilities, they were powerless.
Roa's left hand gently pushed down.
Rumble!
The sky instantly filled with dark clouds, and a rain of lightning crashed down, engulfing Dorry and Brogy.
"WAAAAAAH!"
Their screams were drowned out by the thunder.
The dazzling lightning illuminated Enel's face. The boy's eyes were wide, and his mouth hung open.
"This... this... this—"
"Ze hahahaha! Do you get it now, Enel?" Teach clapped the young man's shoulder, laughing loudly. "Your little bit of lightning isn't even a tickle to the Boss."
Enel didn't reply, his eyes still filled with absolute shock. No wonder the descendant of the God clan who once ruled Birka would follow Roa. The power this guy wielded was that of a true god!
Wind, fire, and thunder! It didn't seem so shameful to follow a guy like this, after all.
The lightning continued to strike for over a minute. When the storm finally ceased, the ground had been blasted into a massive crater over a hundred meters deep. At the bottom of the pit, the two giants lay completely defeated and unconscious.
Relying purely on physical strength is far from enough in this world. Otherwise, why would the two of you get taken down by the third child? Big Brother Kaido's famous line—that Haki is a power that surpasses all others—was a bit biased but not entirely without merit. Without powerful enough Haki, how could you deal with certain absurd Devil Fruit abilities?
"Truly incredible, Boss." Though he had seen his boss's absurd displays of power countless times, Dylan couldn't help but exclaim, "You took down the legendary heroes of the Giant race without even taking a single step."
"Haha, that was maybe a third of my strength," Roa laughed. "Take them with us."
"Yes!"
So, the two giants were carried onto the snail's back. The grand fleet then set sail once more, this time heading for Reverse Mountain.
As Roa's fleet sailed back to the New World, things were happening on the Sky Islands.
For the first time in centuries, the clouds of war had descended upon the skies. King flapped his wings, looking down at the island below. On the white island, the brief chaos had already subsided. In its place, voices began to ring out.
"Is it a god? The gods have finally returned!"
"The legend is true! There really was a tribe called the 'gods' long ago!"
"Long live! Long live the great god!"
King was unfazed. He was already used to it. His tribe, the Lunarians, truly held an extraordinary reputation in these skies. With just a single appearance, many islands would immediately surrender. Even if the local "gods" wanted to fight, once they were defeated, the people would accept their conquerors without any resistance.
"This island is secure now." Just then, a knight on a skymark flew up to King.
Looking at the young man with wings, the former "God" of Angel Island, Gan Fall, had a complicated expression. He and his soldiers had been suddenly attacked and defeated with overwhelming power. After choosing to surrender for the sake of Angel Island, Gan Fall was told by the "god" named King that he was actually a subordinate of the monster who had destroyed God's Island, sent to conquer the skies!
"Well, the Great White Sea is now conquered. All that's left is the White Sea below," King said, looking down.
"Before that, Lord King," Gan Fall said, "there's a guy on this island who wants to fight you."
"Hm?" King looked at Gan Fall in surprise. "Are you supposed to be spectators? If there's someone still resisting, deal with him."
"The problem is," Gan Fall's old face flushed, "he's a very strong young man. We couldn't handle him."
"Oh?" King raised an eyebrow.
Shortly after, on the shore of the island, King was facing off against a powerfully built young man. The young man looked about the same age as King. His hairstyle was unique to the Sky Islands—two vertical braids that looked like antennae.
"Hahaha! Are you a legendary god?" The young man sized up King, a strange grin on his face. "So you really exist, hahaha! How lucky! I actually get to fight a legendary god one day!"
King was expressionless. He simply beckoned to the young man. He didn't have much time to waste. He had to finish conquering the skies as soon as possible and then meet up with the Boss. When the Boss arrived in Elbaf, there would certainly be a huge conflict with the giants, and he couldn't miss it!
"Hahaha! Then I won't hold back!" The young man laughed and charged forward, landing a punch on King's chest.
Then...
"Urgh!" The young man's expression changed. "So hard!"
"Just as the legend says," he said in surprise, stepping back. "You have an unbreakable body?"
"My turn," King said calmly, raising his fist.
"I punched you, so you should punch me back!" the young man said, taking a deep breath and laughing. "Come on! My ability allows me to absorb damage to get stronger. Come on, god—"
BANG!
The punch landed squarely on the young man's face, instantly deforming it. The sound of bones cracking echoed as the young man's eyes rolled back in his head, and his body flew off like a cannonball.
"Not worth the effort," King said, his expression unchanged. He made a calm assessment. "But his power is pretty good. Have him join the army."
"Yes," Gan Fall nodded.
Even if he was just a subordinate of that monster, this descendant of the god who once ruled Birka was still an unimaginably powerful super-expert!
A short while later, the snail fleet passed by an island shaped like a cactus, though no one lived there yet, so the cactus spines hadn't grown.
Roa was fishing on the platform on the back of the snail when he received a call from King.
"Oh! Fast progress, King. You just finished conquering the Great White Sea a few days ago, and now you've already taken over a small part of the White Sea?" Roa praised. The progress was faster than he had expected.
"A few islands chose to surrender once they realized what we were doing," King said concisely. "Besides, there aren't many countries in the sky to begin with."
"Also, Boss," King continued, "I ran into a guy who has a very interesting ability. He gets stronger by taking damage. After I defeated him, he said he'd follow me no matter what."
"Oh?" Roa raised an eyebrow.
Urouge, is that right? He was indeed from the Sky Islands, and his habit of decorating himself with wings showed that he was a Sky Islander from the White Sea or the Great White Sea.
"Then take him in," Roa said casually. "Give him the Haki training methods and have him and Electric Blue hold down the fort on the Sky Islands."
Urouge wasn't weak by any means; he had defeated one of Big Mom's top commanders in the original story. But to call him strong would also be an overstatement. At the very least, Roa didn't think he was qualified to be an intern for him. He could use Bege like a storage ring. Holding down the fort on the Sky Islands would be just right for him.
"Yes, Boss!"
Ending the call with King, Roa casually set the Transponder Snail aside. Without turning his head, he said, "How long are you going to pretend? Are you still planning to ambush me?"
Behind him, on the wide platform, the two giants lay side by side. They had been motionless, but upon hearing Roa's voice, their eyes snapped open, and they both sat up. They instinctively tried to lunge at Roa.
But two solid black Haki arms appeared simultaneously, forcing them back down.
As they struggled, Roa's voice came again, "Are you sure? If you keep making a fuss, when we get to Elbaf, I'll unleash my full power. Lightning and fire, all aimed at the Treasure Tree Adam. The result will be beautiful."
The two giants froze instantly.
The Treasure Tree Adam that supported the Giant race was too immense and had lived for too long. Many parts of it were already rotting, and a single spark could cause a massive fire! If they let this guy run wild in Elbaf, their entire country would be destroyed!
"What exactly do you want?" Dorry, wrapped like a mummy in bandages, breathed heavily, gritting his teeth as he stared at Roa's back.
"I told you, I'm just here to make a business deal," Roa said slowly. "There's no need to be so hostile. Just help me persuade Harald, and everything will be fine."
"…!"
The two giants gritted their teeth.