Clearly, Luffy hadn't sought out the giants purely for fun.
All this time, he had relied on the special boosts brought by his Devil Fruit and Pokémon abilities in battle. That was how he had been able to clash with the world's top powerhouses again and again, even crushing them head-on.
But Luffy also wanted to know this:
If he were like those top-tier monsters, without any of those mysterious powers enhancing him, just how far could he go on his own?
The reason he had started thinking like this was, in truth, entirely because of Red's influence.
After all, Red had explained to the Straw Hats more than once that the Pirate King was a true monster who did not rely on any external power at all.
He had never eaten a Devil Fruit, yet with nothing but flesh, blood, and Haki, he had forced all the heroes of the sea into submission.
And Joy Boy, the legendary figure from eight hundred years ago, had supposedly suppressed those immortal Five Elders through the power of Haki alone.
Luffy wasn't the type to reject the powers he possessed. Whether it was his Devil Fruit, Pokémon power, or even the Mega Evolution he could only access with Red's help...
As long as it could make him stronger, he welcomed it all.
But at the same time, he also wanted to measure himself against those legendary figures whose names would live on in history.
Since he couldn't drag them back from the underworld and revive them, the only thing he could do was retrace the roads they had once walked and see whose footprint was bigger.
As the child of destiny, Luffy's talent and instincts naturally went without saying.
In just a few days, he had already grasped the technique of coating himself in Conqueror's Haki. As for Armament Haki and Observation Haki, he could also wield their special powers with ease.
But the obvious truth was...
Once Fruit abilities and Pokémon-ization were stripped away, Luffy's physical strength was still nowhere near what a Yonko ought to be.
That much was clear from the fact that Hajrudin had managed to stand back up after being blasted away by a single punch from him...
His training in raw bodily strength was still far from enough!
And because of that, if he wasn't fighting seriously, then even as a Yonko, he could still end up getting chased around by some nobody who popped out of nowhere.
If it were any other Yonko, something like that would absolutely never happen.
"Hiss~ That hurts!!!"
Along with the sound of shattered rock rolling down, Hajrudin clumsily stood back up from the ground. A trace of fear flashed through his eyes as he looked at Luffy in the distance, grinning at him.
"So this is the power of a Yonko!?"
Hajrudin's heart trembled.
He wasn't the type who couldn't accept defeat.
But he had always ruled the seas through sheer strength, and now he had been completely overwhelmed in the very area he took the most pride in. For the first time, Hajrudin gained a clear understanding of just how terrifying the world's top monsters really were.
What he could never have imagined, however...
Was that the power currently shocking him was merely Luffy's weakest form.
"Hey, big guy! How about it? You still able to fight!?"
Standing atop a protruding rock, Luffy crossed his arms and stretched his body, flashing Hajrudin an inviting grin.
It was as though, from beginning to end, he had never once taken this battle seriously.
"Of course I can!"
Now back on his feet, Hajrudin didn't disappoint him. He slammed his fists together, erupting with a fierce shockwave.
Pitch-black Armament Haki instantly surged out from his body like a rising tide, quickly wrapping itself around both fists.
Those gauntlets forged from steel were now like black flames had been lit over them, giving off a fearsome, chilling gleam.
To stand out in Elbaf, a nation full of berserkers from top to bottom, and win the title of Best Rookie, Hajrudin was obviously no weakling who could be casually knocked down.
And when Luffy saw the fighting spirit rising off Hajrudin's body, he became even more delighted.
"Heh~ Then that really is... even better!!!"
Whoosh!!!
In the next second, his figure abruptly transformed into a streak of black light.
The Six Powers movement technique, Shave, was used by Luffy with such force that it almost felt like he was shattering space itself, instantly appearing right in front of Hajrudin.
And in order to have a true head-on clash with Hajrudin, Luffy didn't even take advantage of his speed to ambush him.
Hajrudin was visibly startled by Luffy's speed, freezing for a moment. But seeing Luffy's fist already swinging toward him—
Even though that fist looked as tiny as an ant compared to his body, Hajrudin, having already witnessed its power, didn't dare show the slightest carelessness.
"Hero... Elbaf!!!"
He immediately crossed both hands and clenched them into an even larger fist, then smashed it down toward Luffy's body with terrifying force.
Boom!!!
Another massive shockwave exploded outward.
And under the wash of that impact, Hajrudin—this time prepared—performed much better. He only staggered backward over a thousand meters, rather than being knocked flat like before.
Seeing this, Luffy's eyes lit up immediately.
"As expected of the giant race! Choosing this side really was the right call!!!"
...
...
At the same time.
On the New Giant Warrior Pirates' ship.
Seeing Hajrudin get blasted away by a Yonko, four giant warriors instantly drew their weapons and leaped down from the ship, intending to help their captain.
But right then, the sudden appearance of two figures stopped them in their tracks.
"Gentlemen, your opponents aren't Luffy!"
Bzzzzzzzz...
As a buzzing sound rang out, Usopp, standing atop a rhinoceros beetle, slowly descended and blocked the giants' path.
And Chopper, who had somehow shifted into his Martial Artist Form, was now floating in midair by stepping on the air itself, appearing beside Usopp.
Just like Luffy.
Aside from their long-standing admiration for giants, both Usopp and Chopper also wanted to use giant warriors as "qualified punching bags" to temper their own strength.
Chopper wanted to learn the giants' combat techniques.
As for Usopp...
He simply wanted to find two giants to help his subordinates grind some levels!
"Damn it! It's Usopp, King of the Insect Tribe!"
"And that other one... he's a face I've never seen before. A new member of the Straw Hat Pirates!?"
Looking at Chopper's form—which had never appeared on any bounty poster—the giants immediately exclaimed.
And the moment Chopper heard their conversation, he flew into a rage from embarrassment.
"Damn it! I'm not some newbie!"
As soon as his words fell, his body shot out like lightning, and he drove his hoof straight at the forehead of the giant who said he didn't recognize him.
"Ata~!"
Along with Chopper's rather stylish shout, the giant who had been struck by the sudden attack was sent flying backward on the spot, crashing heavily to the ground.
"What!?"
The remaining three giants, who had not expected this at all, froze on the spot.
Before they could recover, Chopper had already moved in front of another giant and repeated the same trick, sending him flying with a single kick.
At this point, Chopper had already reached Level 62.
In terms of basic stats alone, he was already enough to rival a Marine elite vice admiral, not to mention the massive combat boost granted by his Martial Artist Form.
Even as giants, Hajrudin's crewmates would be considered overperforming if they could match an ordinary Marine vice admiral.
So how could this bunch possibly be Chopper's opponents?
And after seeing Chopper make his move, Usopp smiled lightly as well.
"In that case, I guess that settles the teams!"
As he spoke, he suddenly turned his head back and shouted:
"Come out, my warriors!"
"Chiu~" "Awooo~!" "Bzzz..." "Roar!"
Four mighty cries suddenly rang out around Usopp.
Several of his top commanders, already transformed into their Four Sacred Beast forms, burst out from his body and charged straight toward the other two giant warriors.
Compared to Luffy and Chopper, Usopp's goal this time was much simpler.
He just wanted to find suitable opponents for his top commanders and let them grind some levels properly.
Though with the talent of their own race and the boost from their Mythical Zoan Fruit abilities, these four insect warriors already possessed combat power no weaker than a Marine vice admiral...
Their actual Pokémon levels weren't that high at all, not even reaching Level 50.
If not for the fact that the little guys themselves had such absurdly solid foundations, they wouldn't even qualify to help Usopp in battle.
It couldn't be helped.
There were simply too many people in the Straw Hat Grand Fleet waiting for Red's favor.
Even if Usopp was one of the Straw Hat Pirates themselves, that only meant he personally had more opportunities to enter the Pokémon world.
Those insect troops who had already undergone Pokémon-ization couldn't enter the Pokémon world together with him.
So Usopp could only rely on his usual outings at sea, hunting down any unlucky bastards he happened to dislike, to help his little guys level up.
But now that the Straw Hat Pirates' fame had spread across the world, who in the entire New World would still dare provoke them?
There were already very few people left who would dare offend the Straw Hat crew.
And today's battlefield once again made Usopp feel that there was an opening to exploit!
He was going to command his precious little darlings to defeat these two giants as quickly as possible, absorb all the battle experience they could, and then rush off to other battlefields!!!
...
...
"Seriously~ Weren't we supposed to come out here to relax this time?!"
"How did every single one of them... suddenly learn to assign themselves extra homework?!"
In the sky.
Watching his companions' actions, Red shook his head helplessly.
He truly hadn't expected this...
They had supposedly come here to slice melons and stomp vegetables, yet his crewmates had all, without discussing it, found ways to train themselves instead.
Among the crowd, Zoro waved the Sandai Kitetsu, now stained black, as he swept past swordsman after swordsman.
And each time he danced through the battlefield, he would use the smallest, most precise amount of force possible to cut apart his enemies' blades!
As Sandai Kitetsu continuously shattered other swords—even famous blades—the blood-black hue on its body became ever more intense.
Elsewhere.
Sanji had somehow produced a spotless white dining napkin and tied it over his eyes as a blindfold.
Then he simply stood amidst the crowd, dodging all kinds of incoming attacks through Observation Haki and his senses alone!
Nami had abandoned her usual archmage-like fighting style. Wielding a staff that crackled with lightning, she started playing the role of a melee mage within the crowd.
Though she wasn't particularly skilled at close combat, with her basic stats now as high as Level 58, nobody with a bounty below one hundred million could even begin to threaten her.
Robin had also found the only Logia user present—Caribou—and was using the powers of the Hana Hana no Mi to create one flower clone after another. Then, relying on her powerful mental strength, she forcibly coated the flower clones' fists in Armament Haki and battled Caribou head-on.
Jinbe was using Water-type moves to train his long-range precision, while Franky abandoned the destructive power of his weapons to hone his hand-to-hand combat instead...
Brook and Uta, meanwhile, hadn't changed much. One still played the melody of the soul, while the other sang her songs of the mind, combining their abilities into joint techniques.
Only this time, the two had made no prior arrangement at all. They were both simply performing and singing as freely as they pleased!
And yet, through the tacit understanding between them, entirely new effects were bursting out from their music.
At times, their songs transformed into fire, lightning, and other elements to assault their enemies. At others, they directly seized souls and controlled the foe...
Different songs produced different effects.
At this moment, it was as though the Straw Hat Pirates had silently agreed beforehand; one after another, they all joined the battle in the forms they were least skilled in.
But because of that, the battlefield temporarily fell into a strangely even stalemate.
If some outsider who didn't know the truth were to see it, they might really think that a mighty Yonko crew had been held back by a pirate alliance made up of dozens of pirates with bounties over a hundred million.
...
...
"Hehehehe..."
"What Yonko crew!? This is all they amount to!!!"
Inside the hidden operations room.
Watching the Straw Hat crew's performance through concealed cameras placed all over the island, Festa lowered the telescope in his hand, a deeply scornful sneer curling across his lips.
Then, as usual, he didn't forget to take a jab at the man he hated most:
"Hmph! Look at this, Roger!"
"This is the Great Age of Pirates you created!"
"Look what you've done! You let little brats of this caliber obtain fame known across the world!"
"That's why I say..."
"This era is boring to the extreme!!!"
"Just wait! The new era I create is about to arrive!"
"When the time comes, amid endless war, you will surely see what the world truly looks like at its most real!"
"That is... if you can see it at all."
Festa gave a wicked grin, then picked up a microphone and spoke directly into it:
"The time is just about right!"
"You may begin your move now!"
"Demon Heir—Douglas Bullet."
"And..."
The corners of Festa's mouth curled upward as he continued:
"The Lone Red—Patrick Redfield."
Swish—
Somewhere unknown on the island, two sharp gazes suddenly flashed open.
After exchanging a glance, the owners of those eyes both revealed cruel smiles at the same time.
"The game... is finally about to begin."
(End of Chapter)