"Whoa—!?"
Caught in the massive explosion's aftermath, Samuel tumbled across the ground.
Ivankov, in giant-face mode, also got knocked over by the blast, ending up with a faceful of snow carried by the shockwave.
"Pfft! Wh-what just happened!?"
Not understanding the situation, Ivankov waited in shock for the blast to subside.
Samuel clung to a nearby tree to weather it out, feeling annoyed by the ringing in his ears as he helped Ivankov up.
"That wasn't a normal cannonball. An invisible shell? But we don't have anyone who can make things invisible on our ship."
"...Maybe it wasn't that the shell was made invisible, but that the shell itself was invisible to begin with?"
Judging from Lonz and Saul's reactions just before, Ivankov's assessment seemed correct.
If there was an ability that could cause an explosion that massive, they only knew one person.
"Could it be David...?"
"Most likely. But he was knocked out by Sengoku. Did someone wake him up?"
"Ah, that sounds likely."
In a situation this bad, they couldn't afford to let anyone sleep peacefully.
If so, that massive explosion was probably David's doing.
"That explosion was way bigger than the earlier shells. How'd he do it... Any ideas?"
"How would I know? I didn't even know he could cause explosions that big in the first place."
The thought of him causing an explosion like that at Little Garden sent chills down Samuel's spine. Though come to think of it, David's companions had been right nearby back then, so it wouldn't have been possible anyway.
Either way, Samuel wished he'd mentioned earlier that he could create explosions big enough to blow away giants.
The kicked-up snow gradually settled, and visibility improved.
He could see the two fallen giants and the exposed earth where the explosion had blown away the snow.
"Did we... take them down?"
"Don't let your guard down, Jaguar Boy. You know how tough those two are."
They were two who hadn't budged no matter how much they'd attacked. Best not to think they'd fall so easily.
The title of vice admiral wasn't light.
"...Ah, that was a surprise..."
"Ugh... even I feel that from an explosion that big..."
"You've gotta be kidding... they took that bombardment and they're still getting up..."
"But it's a chance. Give me a little time."
After confirming Saul and Lonz were slowly rising, Ivankov disappeared somewhere.
Though told to buy time, Samuel didn't have the power to face two giants. What am I supposed to do... he muttered quietly while looking around, then spotted someone stuck headfirst in the snow.
The unnatural sight caught his attention. He rubbed his eyes and looked again.
"...David!?"
He immediately rushed over, grabbed the legs, and pulled to rescue him from the snow.
David popped out with a squelch, his face blue from oxygen deprivation, but gave a thumbs up and said "Mission... accomplished..." before collapsing limply.
"David—!?"
Samuel yelled while holding the weakly collapsed David, blood trickling from his nose.
That must have been the problem—Saul and Lonz turned their attention toward Samuel.
"...So it was you just now!"
"You've got some nerve, you bastard!!"
""Whoooa!?""
Samuel and David simultaneously broke into a run, dodging the thrown boulder. Both slid headfirst across the snow, smacked their heads into a rock, and stood up with massive bumps on their heads.
"What do we do about them!?"
"What do you mean what! My desperate attack didn't even knock them down—what am I supposed to do!?"
"I don't know, but isn't there some good attack method!? My claws can only make scratches!"
The size difference was too great—Samuel's claws barely did any damage. There was probably some bleeding, but their own exhaustion was more severe.
But having David do the same thing again wouldn't work either. Now that they'd seen it once, the second time would be handled with ease.
They had to find some other way.
"I wonder how those guys fought Feiyun..."
"There was a considerable size difference there too, but vice admirals can probably do all sorts of things."
He'd love to know, but it wasn't certain they could pull it off.
David grabbed the gun hanging at his waist and fired several shots at Saul, thinking it was just a drop in the bucket.
The hit areas exploded, but bullet-sized impacts didn't seem very effective.
"How are you doing that?"
"My breath explodes. So instead of bullets, I just blow breath into it like this..."
He blew into the gun barrel and pulled the trigger toward Saul again.
The impact point exploded, creating a small wound.
"...I see. So earlier you loaded that into something bigger."
"Yeah, instead of cannonballs."
The strength of an ability was proportional to the user's strength.
Since his own strength wasn't that great, even a powerful ability didn't produce tremendous force.
Still, the earlier massive explosion seemed effective—Saul and Lonz's movements were unsteady.
"By the way, where's Ivankov?"
"Who knows. Said to buy some time and went somewhere."
He didn't know how long to buy time, but he'd been told to buy time, so that's what he was doing. There must be some secret plan.
Thinking that, as they prepared to draw attention, they saw another giant standing up in their view.
Ivankov was riding on its shoulder.
"Feiyun!"
"...Oh man, I really don't have the stamina left to fight that thing..."
"After taking that much damage and still standing up, quite tough..."
Feiyun's body had bruises, lacerations, and burns from bombardment all over. The pain must have remained, yet she still stood.
Thanks to Ivankov's ability, even knowing that standing here would bring terrible aftereffects later.
Because she couldn't just stay down alone like this.
"Big Girl. I hate to say it, but know that if you fall again, you won't be getting back up. Emporio Tension Hormone is a powerful drug that only fools the body. It doesn't make the pain or exhaustion disappear."
"...Yes. I won't lose again!"
Ivankov descended from Feiyun's shoulder and took a detour at a distance, heading toward where Samuel and the others should be.
Feiyun grew giant again, challenging Saul and Lonz to a rematch with a body about ten times the size of a giant.
This time, she wouldn't face two vice admirals alone.
Four against two.
☆
When they were at Little Garden, there was one technique Dorry and Broggy had shown them once as an example.
The Giant's technique—Elbaf's Spear.
The technique said to pierce everything relied on a giant's physique and muscle strength, but if you had the monstrous power to match it, even humans could use it—not impossible.
Spear tip back, like drawing a bowstring.
Wrapping it in even stronger Haki, taking time to aim.
"Kuro!"
"Yeah! Here goes—Dark Water!!"
Sengoku's body, who'd been fighting Dragon, was dragged by Kuro, floating slightly in the air as he was pulled straight in.
There wouldn't be a second chance. If this strike didn't take him down, even Dragon would struggle to hold on any longer.
"Behold the Giant's Spear—Ikoku!!"
Taking it head-on, even Sengoku couldn't escape death.
Perhaps sensing this, he twisted in midair to dodge. With Moonwalk technique, movement was easy even without ground beneath his feet.
But—
"Panicked, did you?"
That only mattered if you could win the Observation Haki reading contest against Kanata.
The slash flew straight, splitting the ice field, gouging Sengoku's side and forcing massive blood loss.
"Ugh—!!"
But he wasn't the type to give up from that.
Despite taking major damage in midair, his momentum didn't stop as he was pulled toward Kuro. Using that momentum, he unleashed a shockwave from his palm like a hammer blow to finish off Kanata.
Kanata took one breath, readied her spear—and sliced the attack vertically.
"I'll take that heart."
Using the momentum from swinging upward, she spun once, then from below again—this time hurling it toward Sengoku's heart.
The spear, dyed black with Haki, flew to pierce Sengoku's heart. Sengoku hastily released his transformation, limiting it to grazing his left arm.
Immediately after—
"Don't forget about me either."
Dragon caught up behind Sengoku as he was pulled in, snatching Kanata's thrown spear from the air.
Simultaneously, Kanata leaped toward Sengoku, forming a pincer attack.
No escape.
This was the last and greatest chance.
"This ends it—!!"
"Go down—!!"
Receiving intense impacts from both front and back, Sengoku finally lost consciousness.
☆
Thunder roared.
With each movement, each spear swing, red lightning followed.
The power was greater than when they'd fought before, faster. From the changed appearance, Zephyr wondered if he was a Devil Fruit user.
"Were you holding back until now!?"
"Holding back? Perish the thought! I always fight at full power, neigh!"
If that wasn't a lie, this power-up had conditions. A power-up that let him properly fight Zephyr was like a nightmare, but the consumption rate was more intense.
"Always at full power" probably wasn't entirely wrong.
His pumped muscles boasted strength that didn't yield even against Zephyr's blows, and the following lightning made fighting even more difficult.
"Hup!"
"Ha!"
Both breathing shortly, their exchanges intensified, and the unpleasant smell of Zen's lightning burning Zephyr's flesh began to fill the air.
Pain alone would be manageable, but if numbness stopped his movements, he'd be beaten to a pulp in that instant—easy to imagine.
"A lightning ability user—how troublesome!"
"Unfortunately, I'm not an ability user!"
"What!?"
He thought it might be the Rumble-Rumble Fruit user, one of the strongest Logia types, proclaimed invincible, but the man himself said otherwise.
"This is a power all of our race can use. It's different from a Devil Fruit ability!"
Zephyr was surprised but simultaneously convinced.
If he were a Rumble-Rumble Fruit user, there were attacks he could've avoided by turning his body to lightning, and the scale was too different.
The lightning user Zephyr had once fought could control it on a scale orders of magnitude beyond Zen's. Though that was from when he was less experienced, the opponent had been strong enough that Zephyr couldn't win.
"Every member of your race can use such power—that's a threat in itself."
"From infants to the elderly, we're all a warrior race with fighting power. Don't underestimate us."
The Mink Tribe itself was already a rare race rarely encountered. Zephyr's surprise was understandable.
"I ain't underestimating. But to think the 'Witch' had connections to such a rare race."
"Various things happened."
Neither gave an inch, continuously clashing spear against fist.
Nearby where they fought fiercely—Sengoku finally fell.
But Zephyr didn't waver.
"You don't even falter when your comrade falls?"
"He and I go back a fair ways. There were times we fought while stepping over fallen comrades."
Even men he acknowledged as worthy of watching his back would fall someday.
That's the resolve they carried, being in the Navy. They might burn with righteous fury, but they wouldn't falter.
However—
"...Bad odds, this."
Though Kanata and Dragon were battered, Zephyr was considerably exhausted too. Kuro was an unknown ability user to Zephyr and showed no signs of injury.
The fishman Tiger he'd been fighting was now lurking beneath the surface, watching for openings.
Including the fact that half of the four warships had sunk, overall it was a very disadvantageous situation for Zephyr.
He knocked Zen away and took some distance.
In that stalemate, Kanata spoke.
"Take Sengoku and go home, Zephyr."
"...What?"
"I said take him home. I'll fight if you pursue, but does dying in battle with those injuries have meaning?"
Sengoku's side was gouged out—without quick treatment, it would be too late.
For the pursued Kanata, that should be more convenient, but she casually tossed Sengoku back, telling them to hurry up and take him.
Apparently no mercy even for the wounded.
"I'm tired too. Get your Marines to retreat as well."
"...What if I say I'll fight to the death here?"
"Then I'll cleanly take your head. But I value order. I'm not keen on pirates increasing because you all died."
Certainly, more pirates would be convenient for Kanata's group in various ways.
But even so, having the force that deterred the great pirates moving in the New World weaken was undesirable.
"If you pursue me, I'll fight again. Next time I'll take you down one-on-one."
"...I see. But I won't be pursuing you for a while. If this didn't work, I've got to go after the 'Golden Lion.'"
"That's fortunate. Looks like I won't see your face for a while."
Kanata laughed, showing composure.
Zephyr hesitated for a while, but eventually judging he couldn't break through with further fighting, used a Baby Den Den Mushi to order retreat.
"I'll definitely capture you... The 'Golden Lion' is currently holed up in Water Seven. If you don't intend to get involved, stay away."
Saying only that, Zephyr returned toward the warships.
That was probably his way of warning her. An indirect way of saying: don't die until the day I capture you.
Kanata sighed once and shrugged. Watching this, Dragon also exhaled as if exasperated.
"...You were bluffing, but that's your limit, right?"
"You noticed? Actually, I'm at my limit just standing."
If they'd kept fighting, who knows who would've died. She'd casually said she'd take his head, but in that condition, losing was entirely possible.
Kanata had exhausted her Haki, Dragon was considerably fatigued, and Kuro would be taken out in one punch in a proper fight.
Even with Sengoku down, the situation hadn't improved advantageously at all.
If someone on their side was going to die, she judged it better to let them take Sengoku home.
The ice beneath their feet cracked, and Tiger's face emerged from the surface.
"Is it over?"
"Yeah, let's return to the ship. I'm too tired even to walk. Dragon, lend me your shoulder."
"Hmm? Ah."
Dragon easily lifted Kanata into a princess carry.
"...I said lend me your shoulder."
"With our size difference, lending my shoulder would be hard on me. This way is easier for you too, right?"
"That's true, but... No, never mind. Do as you like."
Perhaps realizing words were futile, Kanata resigned herself to being carried by Dragon. Her cheeks were noticeably red, apparently embarrassed.
Zen released his Sulong form and also headed back to the ship while wobbling.
Watching the warships disappear beyond the horizon, they crossed the ice field to reach the ship.
Tiger carried Kuro, Dragon carried Kanata, and they each jumped up onto the ship.
The crew all looked battered, everyone exhausted, but not a single person had died.
From Dragon's arms, seeing everyone's safe faces, Kanata raised her fist.
"This fight—we won!"
Immediately after, despite their exhaustion, everyone raised a great cheer.
***
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