"What? The warships are under attack?"
At the outskirts of Elbaf's Underworld, hearing news from the coast, the Vice Admiral in charge of guarding Harald frowned slightly.
"How many enemies are there?"
"O-One!"
"Is the enemy from that Giant Warrior Pirates crew from decades ago?"
"No, it is a child!"
The Den Den Mushi made a crying Marine expression.
"Vice Admiral Hornitz is currently fighting that giant child, but... but it seems Vice Admiral Hornitz cannot defeat that child!"
For a moment, not only the Marines at the warships fell silent, but even the Marines responsible for guarding Giant King Harald at the perimeter fell silent too.
"Hornitz, how did he become a Vice Admiral?"
"Through seniority?"
"Do not talk nonsense. Vice Admiral Hornitz specializes in Observation Haki. Though his Armament Haki is weak, it is still at entry level."
To become a Marine Headquarters Vice Admiral, the minimum requirement was mastering two-color Haki. Was entry-level Armament Haki not still Haki?
Hornitz felt incredibly frustrated.
Last time at Sphinx, he encountered Rocks, who only defended without counterattacking, making his Observation Haki completely useless.
Now he encountered a freak whose defenses his Armament could not penetrate at all.
What good was predicting the opponent's attack trajectory?
She completely ignored him, charging straight at the warships.
"I want food!"
The sun had already set. If not for Silas and the giants' sudden attack, this should be the Marines' dinner time.
Dinner and everything was prepared on the warships.
So when Linlin smelled the food aroma from the warships, she was even more certain that these bad people had stolen their food!
"You are all bad people! I am going to beat the bad people!"
Only six years old, Linlin struggled somewhat to climb onto the Marine warship. Her height, similar to a giant child's, made many Marines look at her like they were seeing a monster.
"Fire the cannons!"
A Marine shouted loudly, "Quickly fire cannons at this monster!"
"Do not blame me!"
Originally, they just planned to capture the child before them.
Now seeing Linlin almost climbing onto the warship, the group of Marines could not care about much else and launched cannon fire at Linlin.
But Linlin, whose stomach was already empty from hunger, did not think much about it.
She just waved her hand.
The cannonballs flying toward her were immediately swatted away.
"No way, what kind of monster is this?"
"Does she know Armament Haki?"
"Quickly request backup! Oh no, Vice Admiral Hornitz has been smashed into the deck."
Hiding not far away, Carmel saw the chaos caused by Charlotte Linlin and immediately showed an excited expression.
"That is right, Linlin! Keep it up!"
She had already sensed considerable fear from the Marine soldiers.
Awaken!
Using the soul mark she had placed on Linlin, some Marine soldiers who felt fear toward Linlin suddenly felt their bodies lighten.
Something had flowed away from them.
One year, two months, or half a year, depending on the strength of their fear, the amount of souls, and the lifespan, she could extract varied.
But dozens of elite Marine soldiers combined...
"Barely enough!"
"Bestow!"
Carmel quickly ran toward the coast while pouring all the souls she had painstakingly collected into the sea beneath the Marine warships.
Then the Marine soldiers discovered in horror that the sea beneath their ships seemed to have come alive!
"Drown them, Scylla!"
This was the legendary sea monster that specialized in devouring sailors. After Carmel bestowed it with a soul, the small section of sea where the Marine warships were docked became the sea monster Scylla's domain.
Facing death, Carmel harvested another large amount of souls and lifespan.
"Huff huff!"
But just these two simple transformations had Carmel panting. Seeing Charlotte Linlin still stuffing food in her mouth even as the ship was being flooded, Carmel shouted, "Linlin, time to go!"
At the same time, she gathered all the collected souls together.
Casting them into the air.
"Boreas!"
Bestowing a soul upon a breeze, Carmel had this wind pull up Linlin, who was sinking into the water, carrying both herself and Linlin to escape quickly.
The chaos Linlin caused attracted many Marines' attention, and the sea she had bestowed with souls devoured all three Marine warships, leaving only a large group of Marine officers struggling to climb ashore.
But after all, these were anthropomorphic creations bestowed with only part of the Marines' souls. Though they could destroy ships, killing Marines who were at minimum field-grade officers was still too difficult.
After Carmel had Boreas carry her and Linlin to safety, she again ordered the soul-bestowed wind to head to Silas's battlefield.
"Boreas, go help Silas!"
Where Silas was currently fighting, only Giant King Harald on this island was qualified to intervene, but Harald himself was currently a critically ill patient.
So the only thing Carmel could provide was her soul creations.
Elbaf's perimeter.
Where the Giant King was imprisoned.
The assault launched by several powerful giants finally drew the attention of the Marine Vice Admirals stationed here.
"So their target really is the Giant King?"
"We cannot spare any more people for support. Have Barin return quickly!"
"Let Hornitz handle his own situation!"
Twenty minutes had passed since the giants launched their assault.
Many giants had already begun retreating.
Only at this place where the Giant King was held did the giants' offensive become increasingly fierce.
But even so, there were still three Marine Vice Admirals around the Giant King.
Not yielding an inch.
"It has been a long time already. We cannot delay anymore!"
"We have to go now!"
"Rocks, you and Newgate block one Vice Admiral. Uncle Kashi and Uncle Oimo, you each block one Vice Admiral. After I rescue His Majesty Harald, I will come support you as quickly as possible!"
The Marine Vice Admirals guarding Giant King Harald were all strong among Vice Admirals. Ripley had no confidence in defeating any of them.
Let alone Rocks and Newgate.
Kashi and Oimo had once been Giant Warrior Pirates crew members with some strength, but they could not be considered truly powerful giants.
Having each block one Vice Admiral was risking their lives.
Helplessly, they did not have much time left. The giants responsible for holding back the Marines' main forces had suffered heavy casualties. Even if they fought with everything they had, with their main forces depleted, defeating the Marines was simply impossible.
Just then, the Giant King, who should have been critically wounded and near death, suddenly opened his eyes.
"Come!"
He called out low, immediately drawing the attention of the three Marine Vice Admirals.
They could not miss this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
Under the Mini-Mini Fruit's ability, the miniaturized Ripley and others hesitated no more.
Three tall and two short, five figures appeared simultaneously.
Launching their attack.