Too fast!
Everything had happened far too fast!
From the moment Urouge transformed into his Great Warrior Monk form, to Brogy being beaten beyond recognition and left on the verge of death...
Had three minutes even passed in total?
Jarul had originally thought this would be another bitter, drawn-out battle. Never in his wildest dreams had he expected Brogy's defeat to come so abruptly.
What they had not expected even more was...
Urouge, who had looked like a gentle and kindly monk just moments ago, had actually struck with such ruthlessness.
Looking at his old friend, now barely clinging to life, Dorry felt his throat tighten. The fury in his heart spilled out uncontrollably.
Too much!
He had never imagined that the Straw Hat Pirates would disregard their bond to such an extent and beat Brogy into this state.
Judging from the few attacks Urouge had just used, there probably weren't many bones left intact in Brogy's entire body!
It was too miserable!
Even for the Giant Tribe, whose racial constitution was extraordinarily powerful, injuries of this level would take several years to recover from.
And even after recovering, whether Brogy would still be able to fight was another question entirely.
Though this was indeed a serious battle concerning the future allegiance of Elbaf, striking so viciously after Brogy had already lost the ability to fight truly went against the friendship between them and the Straw Hat Pirates.
However, before Dorry could voice his opinion on the matter, Hajrudin, who was standing beside him, spoke first to explain:
"Don't blame Urouge, Boss Dorry. He had no choice either."
As he spoke, Hajrudin took out the Super Potions he had prepared in advance and poured five bottles into Brogy one after another.
Under the unreasonable restorative power of the Super Potions, the injuries on Brogy's body began healing at a visible rate.
In just half a minute, the unconscious Brogy had already awakened, and his condition was astonishingly good.
"Hm!? Why are you all gathered around me?"
Perhaps because Urouge's earlier assault had been too ferocious, Brogy's memories seemed to have become slightly muddled.
But as the younger giants helped him up, his consciousness gradually returned to normal.
"I... lost, didn't I?"
Brogy shook his head with a bitter smile. Recalling the scene of himself being pressed to the ground and thoroughly battered, his body immediately felt a strange phantom pain again.
But very quickly, he turned his gaze toward Urouge, who was still on the battlefield.
At this moment, Urouge had already returned to his normal state. Bare-chested, he was looking over with a smiling expression.
A hint of thought flashed through Brogy's eyes. He stood up and walked toward Urouge.
First, he picked up the giant battle-axe that had fallen to the side, then arrived before Urouge.
Before Brogy could speak, Urouge said first:
"My apologies. My ability has a very short duration, so I could only use that method to ensure absolute victory."
"So that's how it was~"
Brogy nodded in understanding, then burst into a hearty laugh.
"You really did beat me up good!"
"But being able to fight someone as strong as you is truly an honor!"
"Hahaha, you flatter me!" Urouge replied politely. "Once you join us, we can spar often."
"Gabababababa! Don't underestimate Elbaf!" Brogy laughed boldly. "Winning against those monsters won't be easy."
"What a coincidence~" The corner of Urouge's mouth lifted. "We have plenty of monsters on our side too. I've been worrying about how to catch up to them."
"Looks like the inside of the Straw Hat Pirates will be very interesting."
Smack~
One large fist and one small fist collided in midair, captured by the hovering drone cameras around them and transmitted to every corner of the world.
...
...
"Damn it!"
"That fellow should be Urouge, the one who first followed the Straw Hats into Mary Geoise back then, shouldn't he?"
"To think he has already grown to this level!"
"That strength is already comparable to the vice commander of the God's Knights, isn't it~?"
"..."
"..."
Inside the ruined large conference room, four of the Five Elders sat upon what had once been long benches.
Because Laboon's heaven-shaking cannon shot had caused Pangaea Castle to suffer no small amount of tremors, the once luxurious meeting room now had quite a few defects. And because Red and the others had killed far too many people in Pangaea Castle and Mary Geoise last time, the World Government had been in a state of severe manpower shortage ever since.
At the very least...
They currently had no time to spare for cleaning work outside the areas where Lord Imu moved about.
As for making those lofty Celestial Dragons clean?
Don't joke around!
Wouldn't that only make things even messier?
So in the end, even this conference room used by the Five Elders for meetings had been neglected.
There was no helping it. They had truly been too busy recently!
If the Straw Hat Pirates had not suddenly started some global broadcast with Elbaf, they might still be busy in their respective fields right now.
The current World Government had far too many holes!
But this broadcast had not brought them a relaxing holiday where they could spend a day watching television. Instead, it made their already aching hearts feel even more blocked.
What should they do?
The Straw Hat Pirates' strength continued to grow. The World Government's ruling territory kept shrinking. The trump cards in their hands had also been used up one after another by the Straw Hats...
If this continued, could their World Government truly be defeated?
Although with Lord Imu present, the Five Elders had never worried that the World Government would truly fail...
So long as they still held the national treasure of the Celestial Dragons in their hands, this world would forever fear them...
This feeling of being strangled at every turn was truly difficult for them, who had stood above all others for hundreds of years, to accept.
"If there really is no other way, then we can only choose the final step."
The bald Five Elder's eyes were deep. Holding Shodai Kitetsu, he spoke in an icy, emotionless tone.
The other three Five Elders did not express any stance.
But at a time like this, silence had already made their thoughts clear.
And while the Five Elders were feeling vexed, the screen once again showed two figures, one large and one small.
They were clearly the third pair of fighters in this arena battle.
This time, the Giant Tribe had sent out the weakest of their nine fighters—the former Marine Vice Admiral, Jaguar D. Saul!
Although Saul was indeed only the bottom-ranked existence within the giants' lineup this time, as a former Marine Vice Admiral and a giant, he could easily lift a medium-sized Marine warship and use it as a projectile weapon.
That showed his strength was still enough for him to be considered a powerhouse in his own right.
It was just that on today's battlefield, his power...
Especially when Morgans displayed Saul's identity on the screen through the live broadcast, it immediately attracted the curiosity of a large number of viewers.
After all, thanks to the Straw Hat Pirates' explanations, the people of the world now knew at least something about the Void Century, the Celestial Dragons, the Clan of D, and other pieces of history.
But when they saw the D in Saul's name, combined with his identity as a former Marine Vice Admiral, their minds immediately filled in an exciting drama of undercover agents and counter-undercover agents.
As for the Straw Hat side, they likewise sent out a challenger no one had expected—Wet-Haired Caribou!
A filthy figure covered in mud, with tangled hair clumped together, slowly walked out from behind Moria and arrived opposite Saul.
"Kehehehehe..."
"So you're my opponent?!"
"Yes."
Saul responded with solemn seriousness.
Although he had no particular opinion on whether Elbaf should join the Straw Hat Pirates or not—in fact, it would be more accurate to say that he hoped Elbaf could establish an even closer relationship with the Straw Hat Pirates...
Because in that case, he would be able to meet Robin many more times.
That little girl from back then had now become a famous and influential figure known throughout the world. Saul's heart was filled with emotion.
But after all, Elbaf had taken him in, saved him, and helped him through nearly twenty years of life. Since Elder Jarul said Elbaf needed help, he naturally stepped forward without hesitation.
It was just that after watching the previous two battles, even Saul, who had a certain degree of confidence in his own strength, could not help feeling somewhat intimidated at this moment.
The fellows under the Straw Hat Pirates were simply too powerful!
Yet at the same time, that filled him with incomparable relief.
When he thought that these powerful people were actually Robin's subordinates, he could guess that Robin's current life must be very happy.
And so, carrying a tangle of complicated emotions, the battle between Saul and Caribou officially began.
With Dorry and Brogy serving as warnings from the previous two matches, Saul could be said to be extremely careful and cautious.
Looking at Caribou across from him, although he clearly possessed outstanding close-combat ability, the first thing he did was thrust both hands into the ground.
"Haa~ah~!!!"
Accompanied by a strained shout, the ground, which had already been left broken and battered by the previous battles, was instantly flipped up in a large slab. It smashed violently toward Caribou.
"You don't even dare get close?"
Seeing Saul actually use this method to probe him, Caribou immediately let out a sinister laugh.
"But what a pity. An attack like this has no effect on me at all!"
Bang!!!
The huge rock fell and struck Caribou squarely between the brows. The whistling slab of hard stone directly shattered most of his body, scattering it across the ground.
Countless fragments of rubble followed closely behind, riddling the remaining half of Caribou's body with holes like a sieve.
In the blink of an eye, only a pair of legs that could still barely be recognized as human remained standing in place.
What was strange, however, was that although his body had been smashed into countless pieces, there was not the slightest trace of blood around Caribou's remains.
"Hm!?"
Seeing Caribou beaten into such a state right from the start, both Saul and the others watching the battle all revealed puzzled expressions.
But immediately afterward, they realized it.
"He's a Logia-type ability user!?"
They were all warriors tempered by countless battles. Whether Saul or the other giants, they had long since passed the age where they would be shocked by such a scene.
Sure enough.
Once all the rubble had fallen and the dust on the ground gradually dispersed, Caribou's voice suddenly came from within that chaotic area.
"That's why I already told you... an attack of this level is useless against me!"
On the rubble-covered ground, strange pools of thick liquid rapidly gathered toward Caribou's remains and climbed up onto his body.
A moment later, Caribou, sticking out his long tongue and looking abnormal no matter how one looked at him, appeared on the battlefield once more.
"Kehehehehe... Is that all you've got?"
"You giant are way too weak, aren't you!?"
"If that's all you can do, and you still dare come out here and embarrass yourself, I'd say you should go back and be remade, or just settle down and farm!"
Facing Saul's attack, Caribou began mocking him mercilessly.
Although after joining the Straw Hat camp, his true nature had been forcibly suppressed and had no room to manifest, the evil in his personality was innate...
Even if he did not actively commit evil, that hateful personality of his was not going to improve much.
But as they listened to his merciless mockery, the expressions of the various captains on the Straw Hat side became strange. Not a sound could be heard.
Only after a long while did Law blankly raise a finger and point at Caribou, who was still continuously unleashing verbal attacks on Saul, and softly say:
"Hey, hey~ Don't tell me... no one told him about the relationship between Saul and Lady Robin, right? No way. No way~!?"
"Pffft~!!!"
After hearing Law's question, a long-armed man wearing small round glasses in the crowd suddenly let out a snort of laughter he could no longer hold back.
"What do you think!?"
Apoo, who should originally have been the ninth fighter, grinned and burst into loud mockery.
"This idiot is killing me!"
"He probably still thinks Moria values his strength, and that's why he made an exception and let him serve as the ninth fighter, right!?"
"Hehehehehe~ I already used an Impact Dial to record everything he said just now. If this gets into Lady Robin's hands, then with Lady Robin's dark-bellied personality, Caribou's second half of life is basically over!"
"Why go to all that trouble?"
At this moment, Bege, who was biting a cigar nearby, also spoke.
"Isn't there playback for the live broadcast!? Later, if Lady Robin goes to act on someone's side, just cut out this segment and play it on loop. That scene will definitely be delightful."
In truth, according to the ranking of combat power, the spot as the bottom-ranked member of the Straw Hat lineup should never have fallen to Caribou, who had not even mastered Pokémon-ization and had barely ever been favored by Lord Red enough to enter the game world to level up.
It was just that after Hajrudin's side sent over the information on Elbaf's defending fighters, whether it was Apoo, who ranked ninth in strength, or Bege, whose strength was around Apoo's level but whose ability was not suited for one-on-one combat, both had voluntarily stepped back and expressed that they did not want to participate in this battle.
What a joke!
They were not newcomers who had only just joined the Straw Hat camp.
To avoid situations where the flood washed over the Dragon King's temple and family failed to recognize family, there was actually a special intelligence form within the upper ranks of the Straw Hat Pirates.
It was a form only captain-level figures were qualified to view and fill out.
Its contents marked down the people, objects, regions, and nations that each person cared about and cherished, in order to avoid creating conflicts within the Grand Fleet in the future.
Although only captains could fill out this form, its coverage was not limited to captains alone. Even their respective crew members could hand the things they cared about to their captain and have them entered.
It was precisely because of this that the contents of this intelligence file were extremely massive and complicated.
Fortunately, all the captains' Personal Terminals now had intelligent AI, which could effectively help them determine whether an area contained one of their own when they were taking action.
As for Red and the others of the Straw Hat Pirates, they naturally added the things they cherished to this form as well.
So as long as someone paid attention, they could easily discover...
Among the list of people cherished by the Straw Hat Pirates, there was one name that was identical to one of the people on the list of Elbaf defenders sent by Hajrudin.
And with a simple comparison, they could immediately discover that they were the same person!
So after learning that their opponent might be Saul, Apoo and Bege both chose to refuse to participate in the battle.
And so, this slot kept being pushed further back until it finally landed on Caribou.
Logically speaking, before Caribou went onto the battlefield, someone should have kindly reminded him that the person opposite him was extremely important to Lady Robin.
Even if he was going to fight, he absolutely could not treat Saul the same way they had treated Dorry and Brogy earlier.
However...
Caribou was simply too detestable!
In the entire Straw Hat Grand Fleet, he and Barto could be said to be tied as the most unbearable existences.
It was just that Barto was powerful, and they respected the strong, so they did not dare say much.
But if it was Caribou...
Hehehe?
Guess what happened!?
This fellow actually thought this was an excellent opportunity to make a name for himself!
Before going on stage, he had already begun muttering things like he would beat the crap out of his opponent.
Regarding this, the many captains of the Straw Hat Grand Fleet only wanted to say:
"What else can we do?"
"We can only wish him luck~"
(End of Chapter)