The instinct to fear the strong is hardwired into every living creature. It's the very reason humans learned to avoid danger and survive.
And now, facing this crimson-furred mammoth, even a single glance from the beast was enough to make the tiger's fur stand on end as its body trembled uncontrollably.
Credos Vito felt it too. His muscles shivered beneath his skin, but it wasn't fear. It was something else. Something closer to... excitement.
"ROOOOOAAARR!!"
The crimson mammoth bellowed, its cry sharp and high-pitched. It whipped its trunk forward, sweeping through the jungle like a typhoon. Trees snapped like they were made of soggy twigs, reduced to mulch in its wake.
The tiger, usually fearless, was frozen stiff. It couldn't even remember how to run.
"Oh, hell no!"
Vito couldn't just stand by and watch. Both arms wrapped in Armament Haki, he charged toward the oncoming trunk.
[Inch Force: Air Strike]
Mimicking Luffy's Lion Bazooka, he slightly wound up before thrusting both hands forward with explosive force.
Crack!
His body was sent flying like a cannonball, but the mammoth's trunk was also knocked off course, its path forcibly diverted.
After all, Vito was strong enough to go head-to-head with a rhino in raw power. It was only the difference in size that made it a draw the last time.
The rhino had once been a nearly unbeatable foe for him. But that didn't mean it always would be. Vito was only ten. His body still had room to grow. And with time, the strength he could unleash would be monstrous.
A future Emperor in the making, without a doubt.
"Don't just stand there, RUN!"
He glared at the tiger, which was still rooted in place, stunned. The big cat hesitated, its expression almost comically human, before finally bursting into tears and sprinting away.
The mammoth didn't chase. It simply watched the tiger go.
Vito, now certain his companion was safe, tightened his stance. His arms gleamed black with Haki as he readied himself.
"ROOOAR!!"
The mammoth raised its trunk and brought it crashing down like a thunderous whip.
[Stomping Step: Burst Speed]
BOOM!
The ground exploded beneath Vito's feet, leaving only a scorched footprint and a wisp of smoke.
He charged.
The mammoth's trunk twisted like a serpent, unexpectedly changing trajectory mid-swing and lunging toward him from above.
"What the, ?!"
He hadn't expected such flexibility, but small size had its advantages. Vito was far more agile.
He vaulted, landing on the mammoth's trunk, and sprinted up its length.
The mammoth blinked in surprise, but it was too late. Its massive frame was sluggish, and its greatest weapon, its prehensile trunk, was now ineffective.
Without it, the threat level was lower than the rhino's.
[Inch Force: Hornblade]
As Vito closed in on the mammoth's skull, he leapt high and brought his elbow down like a hammer.
Elbow strikes, brutal in any martial art. Banned in sport, lethal in war. The kind of move Bajiquan would call a "Heart-Piercing Elbow."
Wrapped in Haki, his strike crashed into the mammoth's head.
THUD!
The sound was deep and dull. But for a creature this size? It was barely a scratch.
WHOOOOOSH!
The trunk lashed through the air again. But Vito stayed relentless, hammering his elbow down like a piston.
A single strike meant nothing. But enough strikes? They could break a mountain.
The mammoth flinched, its trunk shifting from overhead strikes to wild sweeps, trying to knock off the persistent fly on its head.
But Vito had found its blind spot, the crown of the skull. It couldn't see him there.
Without visual tracking, its swings grew increasingly wild and inaccurate.
Vito moved like a metronome, dodging left and right, hammering down with every breath.
Blood spattered. His elbow strikes opened a wound.
It was shallow, barely a puncture, but it drove the mammoth mad.
It stomped through the jungle, uprooting trees, smashing boulders. Its massive head thrashed, but Vito hung on, gripping its fur with one hand as he drove his elbow back into the wound.
"ROOOAAAARRR!!"
The beast screamed. It was bleeding, enraged, and Vito just kept adding salt to the wound.
"Huff... huff…"
He paused, breathing hard. That burst had drained him, his Haki was spent.
His Devil Fruit gave him near-limitless stamina, but not endless Haki.
Like Luffy's Gear Fourth, Haki depletion was a separate resource altogether.
Just because he could keep moving didn't mean he could keep fighting at full strength.
"RRRRRROOOOOARR!!"
The mammoth screamed.
Vito's heart seized.
His body tensed.
Something bad's coming...
The mammoth's trunk suddenly inhaled, hard.
A vortex of suction yanked Vito straight off its head!
"What the hell kind of move is this?!"
If it caught him, it would be over.
Vito gritted his teeth, forced his arms to blacken once more with Haki, and aimed for the trunk.
[Inch Force: Air Strike]
His palms fired forward just as the mammoth's trunk darkened too, jet black, gleaming like steel.
His eyes widened in horror.
It's using Armament Haki?! ANIMAL Armament Haki?!
His attack landed, but it bounced off the Haki-coated trunk like a pebble against steel.
The mammoth caught him.
He struggled, but the trunk coiled tighter.
He forced more Haki into his arms, trying to stop the crushing pressure.
The mammoth lifted him up to eye level, its pupils bloodshot with rage and pain.
SMASH!
Vito's body slammed into the ground.
Then again.
And again.
Over and over, like a ragdoll. Like a chunk of iron being pounded on an anvil.
CRACK…
His Haki gave out.
The bones in his torso began to splinter.
Still, the trunk tightened.
He could feel his ribs breaking.
His lungs spasming.
His body trembling like it was about to burst apart.
And the mammoth?
It was just getting started.
//----------------------------------------------------//
//--- Add to Collection!
//--- 150 P.S = 1 Extra Chapter