Though Urouge's words sounded terribly cowardly, his footsteps did not pause in the slightest. Before long, he arrived opposite Brogy.
And with Dorry's defeat as a precedent, Brogy no longer dared to show even the slightest contempt toward Urouge.
What he had not expected, however, was that after Urouge came before him, he would press his palms together and respectfully offer him a monk's salute.
"Please instruct me."
"Huh?"
Brogy, who held a giant axe in hand, was slightly stunned. But he quickly reacted and gave Urouge a faint nod in return.
At the same time, he could not help muttering inwardly.
The Straw Hat Pirates really did have quite the diversity of species.
The last one had been an expressionless man with a cold face, as if the whole world owed him money. And now here came some strange, overly polite monk.
Those wings on his back… was he from Sky Island?
Since he had been sent into battle, there had to be something extraordinary about him.
He could not end up like Dorry, easily defeated by a bunch of brats!
Brogy's thoughts raced wildly, while the wrist gripping his battle-axe continued to swell, his muscles bulging.
As a faint breeze swept through this underworld land of Elbaf, the battle officially began!
To avoid repeating Dorry's mistake, Brogy opened with his big move right away.
"Solar Battle-Axe!!!"
Boom!!!
A blazing slash shot out from Brogy's axe blade like a ferocious beast, roaring and charging toward Urouge.
Wherever it passed, the earth split open and sand and stones flew everywhere.
Yet in the face of such a majestic strike, Urouge neither dodged nor retreated. His body seemed rooted to the ground like a boulder.
"Tekkai!!!"
Yes!
At this moment, at such a critical moment, Urouge used the most famous defensive technique in the pirate world—Six Powers: Tekkai!
A layer of pitch-black Armament Haki suddenly surged forth, covering Urouge's entire body in an inky black sheen. Immediately afterward, his muscles seemed to lock in place, giving off a metallic reflective luster.
And even after all that, he was not finished.
Seeing Brogy's slash about to reach him, Urouge shouted again in a low voice:
"Harden!!!"
Whoosh—
A dim energy glow surfaced over his body. Like the Armament Haki before it, it raised Urouge's defensive power to another level.
At this moment, Urouge could be said to have pushed his defense to the absolute limit.
And at that very instant, Brogy's heavy axe slash arrived before him.
Splurt!!!
A scene no one had expected occurred!
The berserk slash suddenly swept across Urouge's body, instantly tearing through that black, hardened skin.
Fresh blood sprayed out like a curtain of rain.
Urouge, too, was blasted away by that strike, smashing heavily into the dense giant forest behind him.
In an instant, the entire field fell silent.
Even Brogy, who had swung the attack himself, stared blankly at the distant cloud of smoke, unable to believe that his own strike had been so powerful.
On the earth beneath his feet, an obvious scar of destruction remained, stretching all the way into the dust cloud in the distance.
"W-what is going on?!"
Only after a long while did one of the giants speak in shock, unable to understand what had happened.
X Drake's overwhelming power at the very beginning had made them hold sufficient awe toward the Straw Hat Pirates.
But they truly had not expected the second person from the other side to perform so poorly right after stepping up.
Just as the giants were full of doubt, a blood-covered figure staggered out from the dust cloud.
It was none other than the heavily injured Urouge.
At this moment, there was a crimson wound running across the front of his body, extending from his shoulder all the way down to his waist, as if he had almost been split in two.
Because the wound was stained with dirt, it looked especially horrifying.
Urouge staggered back in front of Brogy. Yet he completely ignored his injuries and instead grinned.
Only, with his current smile paired with his miserable, blood-soaked appearance, no matter how one looked at it, it felt eerie.
"As expected of one of the captains of the Giant Warrior Pirates who once dominated the seas a hundred years ago. If I hadn't had enough defensive methods, that strike would have been enough to take my life!"
This was a lie!
In truth, he still had two or three more moves capable of raising his defense that he had not used.
But for him, defense that was too strong was not necessarily a good thing.
After all, his Devil Fruit ability…
Converted the severity of the injuries he received into additional power!
"You… still refuse to admit defeat?!"
Although Brogy likewise did not believe the Straw Hat Pirates would send out a weakling who could not even withstand one of his blows, looking at Urouge's current miserable state, he was genuinely afraid that if he swung his axe again, he would kill him outright.
But very soon, Brogy's worries vanished.
Because at that moment, Urouge suddenly tore apart his tattered monk robes.
At the same time, his body began to swell for some unknown reason.
Holy white light enveloped him, just like X Drake earlier.
"This is…"
Brogy's eyes narrowed. He knew that his opponent was about to reveal his true strength!
But what he never could have expected was…
Under the veil of white light, Urouge's body grew larger and larger.
In the blink of an eye, he had actually reached the same height as Brogy himself.
No… wait a second…
Brogy's eyes widened in astonishment.
X Drake was one thing. He was a dinosaur-fruit user, after all.
And dinosaurs themselves had the traits of prehistoric giant beasts.
But how could a monk like you grow bigger too?!
Just who is the giant here, you or me?!
Brogy could not comprehend it. But he saw that when the white radiance scattered across the sky, a combat monk with perfectly proportioned muscles appeared before him.
If the Urouge from before, who had stood nearly four meters tall, had been a burly man like Lu Zhishen, then the Urouge now…
Was a Lee Sin magnified ten times over!
And all of this was thanks to Urouge's Devil Fruit ability and the effects brought by his Fighting-type Pokémon-ization!
Urouge's Devil Fruit ability could convert the damage he received into his own power, granting him an even stronger physique.
That was why he had deliberately chosen to take Brogy's attack head-on just now, pushing himself to the brink of death.
And naturally, the effect was extraordinarily good.
By relying on the damage from being near death, Urouge directly obtained an enormous body comparable to that of a giant.
At the same time, he activated Pokémon-ization at the very instant his Devil Fruit ability took effect.
Compared to X Drake, Urouge was slightly inferior. His comprehension was average, and his talent was not especially astonishing either. As a result, even now, he had only comprehended one attribute of Pokémon-ization: Fighting type.
Fortunately, Fighting-type Pokémon-ization matched his Devil Fruit ability extremely well.
That was why, amid the competition between so many Grand Fleet captains, he had managed to win this chance to show his face.
Compared to the Normal type, which completely enhanced the physical body, the Fighting type also brought a considerable boost to the body, but it was far less pure than the Normal type.
However!
One of the characteristics of the Fighting type was that it made Pokémon more suited to combat!
And there were many different types of combat.
So each time Urouge underwent Fighting-type Pokémon-ization, he could choose a suitable development path, allowing his body's evolution to lean more toward that direction.
The benefit of entering Pokémon-ization at the exact instant his Devil Fruit ability activated was that…
He could freely control the power surging from his Devil Fruit ability and combine it with the process of Pokémon-ization, purposefully making himself stronger!
For example, Urouge called his current form:
"Great Warrior Monk · Swift Form!"
Looking at the injuries on Urouge's body that had already disappeared after Pokémon-ization, a flash of understanding suddenly passed through Brogy's eyes.
"So this is your true combat form, is it?!"
"That's right!"
Urouge raised one leg, bringing his knee close to his chest. His now relatively slender arms were also held in front of him as he assumed a standard fighting stance.
"Interesting!"
"Gababababa… I knew a strong fighter from the Straw Hats wouldn't be defeated so easily!"
"In that case, let me see just how powerful you truly are!!!"
Brogy swung his giant axe and took on an inviting battle stance.
Urouge's lips also curled upward. "Then I shall respectfully oblige!"
In the next instant, the entire ground let out a mournful, trembling roar. Beneath Urouge's feet, an enormous pit suddenly appeared.
Of course…
For ordinary humans, it would be considered a deep pit. But for giants, it was merely a slightly deeper footprint.
What Brogy never could have expected was…
Despite being just as enormous as he was, Urouge's body moved like lightning, instantly transforming into a pitch-black afterimage.
The white wings behind him traced two beautiful arcs through the air.
By the time Brogy's Observation Haki locked onto Urouge's figure again, he had already appeared behind Brogy.
Six Powers: Shave!
Brogy's eyes widened.
Due to the traits of their race, giants possessed longer lifespans, greater strength, and larger bodies…
But agility had always been what giants were least skilled at.
Perhaps this had something to do with the evolutionary path of the giant race.
Because for giants, a single step was already equivalent to a short sprint by an ordinary human…
So compared to other living beings in the pirate world, giants were not exactly slow.
They merely compressed the distance other creatures would need a thousand steps to cover into a single stride.
In addition, giants rarely fought opponents who were also giants. The fighting style of almost all giants revolved around winning through strength. Almost no one pursued speed to the extreme.
And yet…
By relying on the unique characteristics of Pokémon-ization, Urouge had forcibly transformed himself into an agility-type giant warrior.
Appearing behind Brogy, Urouge did not give him even the slightest time to react. He immediately raised his leg and kicked!
"Low Kick!!!"
Whoosh—!!!
A leg whip nearly ten meters long howled wildly, stirring up a violent gale that blasted everything around them away.
The mere prelude to the attack already carried enough power to destroy the entire surrounding area.
Boom!!!!!!!
An earth-shattering sound suddenly erupted, as if two tall buildings had collapsed toward each other and crashed together. The momentum was tremendous.
Fighting-type move: Low Kick.
Its effect was to strike the opponent's legs with a powerful kick and make them fall. The heavier the opponent, the greater the move's power.
In ordinary battles, this move was almost not very useful. Its power was far inferior to other Fighting-type moves.
If one had an opportunity to use Low Kick, one could usually use another, stronger move to achieve a better result.
But if the one facing this move was a giant, then the effect became completely different!
Bang!!!
Under a strange and terrifying force, Brogy's entire ankle suddenly produced a clearly audible cracking sound.
In the next moment, his body seemed to suddenly lose weight, smashing heavily onto the ground while his eyes were still blank.
Everything had happened too abruptly. Even the pain had not had time to catch up.
More importantly, within the fallen Brogy's field of vision, a black figure suddenly appeared, blocking out all the light from the sky.
Those wings that should have been pure white were now, with the light gone, transformed into pitch-black shadows, like the wings of a fallen angel from hell.
A divine demon descended from the heavens.
"Flying Press!!!"
Rumble!!!
There was nothing else to say. A Fighting-type move with a base power of 100, unleashed by Urouge with all his strength, gathered the force of his entire body as he stomped viciously onto Brogy's abdomen. The blow directly hammered the inexplicably fallen giant until his body curled violently, breaking an unknown number of ribs.
But that was not the end.
Using the recoil from the impact, Urouge actually completed a one-hundred-eighty-degree spin during his brief moment in the air, then once again extended his fist toward Brogy's head.
"Dynamic Punch!!!"
Boom!!!
His fist smashed down. The condensed fist wind instantly exploded like an ignited bomb, erupting with terrifying force and driving Brogy's entire head into the earth.
"Brogy!!!"
Only at this moment did the strong fighters on the giant side finally react to what had happened.
What was going on?!
In just ten short seconds, Brogy had already suffered three heavy blows in a row.
And while they were still thinking, an even more inhumane assault had already descended upon Brogy's body.
"Mach Punch!!!"
Boom!
Landing smoothly on the ground, Urouge did not pause in the slightest. Relying on his body's flexibility and agility, he arrived in front of Brogy once more. His fist, condensed with ferocious power, pierced through the air, unleashing a piercing sonic boom before landing on Brogy's body again.
After that, Urouge acted as though he truly had some deep, irreconcilable blood feud with Brogy. He suddenly grabbed Brogy by the collar, lifted the nearly unconscious giant straight up, and delivered a textbook back throw!
"Storm Throw!!!"
"Hammer Arm!!!"
"Sky Uppercut!!!"
"Close Combat!!!"
"…"
"…"
One devastating Fighting-type move after another rained down upon Brogy, directly battering his body into a miserable state.
Only at this moment did the giants finally react. Elder Jarul and Dorry ran over in panic, shouting loudly:
"We surrender!!! We surrender!!!"
"Stop!!! Don't hit him anymore!!!"
(End of Chapter)