"Saul's been poisoned too!"
The moment they heard Saul's sudden cry of pain, the giants' gazes immediately fell on the back of the hand he was clutching.
Shanks, the first to notice something was wrong, instantly saw the abnormality on Saul's hand. It was exactly the same as what had appeared on Dorry's wrist earlier.
"How? When did that happen!?"
Dorry, standing nearby, let out a voice of disbelief as well. They had been watching this battle from beginning to end, yet none of them had seen Caribou make any move or find any chance to poison Saul.
"It was that mud!" Benn Beckman, famed for his intelligence, immediately realized something. A sharp gleam flashed through his eyes.
"Caribou controlled the mud and carried the poisonous element to a weak point in Saul's defense, poisoning him that way…"
"The Swamp-Swamp Fruit can actually be used in such a miraculous way?"
Benn Beckman could not help sighing in amazement.
Shanks followed up at once, "That poison is the same as Drake's earlier, right? It's a Poison-type Pokémon move?"
Unlike ordinary giants, both Shanks and Beckman could now be considered among the first batch of players in Pokémon World. So although their understanding of Pokémon-related information might not match the Straw Hat Pirates', they could definitely be considered the most knowledgeable people outside the Straw Hats themselves.
Naturally, they could tell that whether it was Drake and Urouge earlier or Caribou now on the battlefield, all of them were using Pokémon moves and abilities.
"How exactly did they do it!?"
"With this many people…"
Shanks cast his gaze toward the Straw Hat camp in the distance.
By this point, the fact that the Straw Hat Pirates possessed a method to let people control Pokémon power was no longer any kind of secret.
Yet even as an Emperor of the Sea, and despite knowing many of this world's hidden truths, he still could not understand what kind of power Luffy and the others had obtained.
Meanwhile, the battle on the field did not end just because Saul had been poisoned.
Just like Dorry earlier, after a brief period of adapting to the pain, Saul's consciousness returned once more.
And now that he knew this poison could be cleared away fairly easily, the pressure in his heart was not all that great.
Saul endured the agony brought by the toxic poison and turned to look at Caribou behind him.
"You really can't underestimate them at all… the Straw Hat Pirates…"
Although unbearable pain racked his body, the corners of Saul's mouth could not stop rising.
The thought that Robin was now staying with such a powerful pirate crew filled his heart with incomparable relief.
You finally found companions who can protect you, Robin.
With that feeling in his heart, Saul even felt as though the pain brought by the poison had lessened somewhat.
And in order to prove to Robin that he was doing well now too, he naturally would not give up on this battle so easily.
Boom!
Pitch-black Armament Haki coated him once again. Saul swung his enormous fist and continued smashing fiercely toward Caribou.
"Kehahahaha… You still refuse to give up even after it's come to this!?"
"An idiot like you actually dreams of beating me? Have you dreamed so much that you can't tell reality apart anymore!?"
Simple trash talk. Ultimate enjoyment.
Caribou did not let go of a single chance to mock his opponent.
And he had discovered something—every time he insulted Saul, the smiles on the faces of several captains in the Straw Hat formation grew even brighter!
As expected!
Although they were restricted by the Straw Hat Pirates' rules and regulations, everyone here was a great pirate who ran wild across the seas. They were originally born from chaotic evil. How could they possibly transform into the lawful evil camp just like that?
Just a few insults against the enemy were already enough to make you all feel this thrilled?
Then next, let me show you what true evil really is!!!
"Mud-Slap!!!"
Caribou, whose talent was not exactly outstanding, once again used the original version of a Pokémon move.
Ground-type move—Mud-Slap.
With a power of 20, its effect was to fling a large clump of mud at the opponent's face, obstructing the enemy's vision and disrupting their offensive rhythm.
This move could be said to be extremely marginal.
Whether it was its pitifully low power or its barely noticeable effect, both made it difficult for strong fighters to value it.
And yet for Caribou, this move was even more perfectly suited to him than Dig!!!
After all, the mud created by the move Mud-Slap required the consumption of Ground-type energy.
But for Caribou, as a Swamp-Swamp Fruit user, he could create endless mud anytime and anywhere!
Ordinary swamp mud was heavy and inflexible, making it difficult to apply in frontal combat.
But under the influence of Mud-Slap, those masses of mud transformed into mud cannonballs one after another, accurately shooting toward the enemy's head.
One could only say that there was no absolutely useless move—only a suitable user that had yet to be found!
Gurgle, gurgle…
Accompanied by an unpleasant squelching sound of writhing mud, an enormous mud cannonball suddenly appeared above Caribou's head, held up by him as though he were lifting a Spirit Bomb.
Then, without Caribou making any obvious throwing motion, that huge clump of mud directly left his hands and smashed toward Saul.
Pfft!!!
Without the slightest surprise, the enormous mass of mud directly wrapped around Saul's head, making his steps stagger.
However…
Mud was still mud, after all. A move with only 20 power could not even break through Saul's defense.
Aside from a slight pause, Saul quickly returned to normal.
Seeing this, Caribou gave another cold snort.
"Hmph! You won't shed a tear until you see the coffin, huh!?"
"I really don't know why Elbaf sent trash like you onto the field!"
"Fine! I'm already tired of playing! Next, prepare to welcome your defeat!!!"
As he spoke, Caribou split open his unnerving mouth, and his hands suddenly touched the ground, turning into a mass of sludge that merged with the earth.
Surging earth power continuously flowed into his body under the influence of Ground-type energy. At the same time, a small mechanical turret slowly rose from his back.
This was already the weakest firearm weapon inside his swamp space.
The reason it was called weak was because it was an experimental product made by the strategic team when they were creating a custom weapon for him. It did not contain many internal energy devices.
Even so, in Caribou's eyes, it was more than enough to deal with a mere Saul!!!
"Mud Shot · Machine Gun!!!"
Gurgle~ Gurgle~
A large amount of swamp mud suddenly poured out of Caribou's body and continuously flowed into the machine gun on his back.
One important reason why Ground-type moves had weaker power intensity than other types was that, with the same amount of Pokémon energy…
The energy of other types could directly condense into elemental power to attack the enemy.
Ground-type energy, however, first had to use that energy to materialize mud or rock as matter, then use it to attack the enemy.
It was precisely this process that caused Ground-type moves to require far more Pokémon energy to reach the same level of power.
But now, the process of condensing mud—the part that originally consumed the most energy—had already been replaced by Caribou's own swamp mud.
In other words, the Pokémon energy he needed to consume when releasing mud-type Pokémon moves was far lower than that of other people!
Most importantly…
His swamp space gave him infinite storage capacity.
If one did not consider maximum attack power, he was now completely a humanoid mud cannon turret!!!
In an instant, the Ground Gem inside the machine gun suddenly erupted with surging Ground-type energy.
Endless mud shot out from the machine gun's muzzle and, empowered by the effect of the move, all fired toward Saul's feet.
Although Saul sensed something, his vision had already been blocked by mud, so he had no way to notice the situation beneath his feet.
Nor did he know that, in the blink of an eye, a large stretch of swamp mud had already been spread across the ground in front of him.
As Saul ran forward, he stepped onto the mud. Although he quickly steadied himself and did not fall to the ground, it still slowed his assault considerably.
And this was Caribou's true goal!
The enemy had already entered a badly poisoned state. His next task was to delay for as much time as possible.
Once enough time passed, if the other side did not want to die, they would definitely surrender.
As far as he was concerned, his combat ability might only be average, but if it came to survival ability, while he did not dare say he ranked among the very best in the Straw Hat Pirates, he felt he could at least enter the top five!!!
Large amounts of mud soon covered the entire battlefield, causing every step Saul took to become extraordinarily long and difficult, each footfall leaving behind an enormous footprint.
Just as Saul was about to reach Caribou, Caribou directly used Dig and escaped along the ground to a distant location once more, then continued using the same move to create mud roadblocks and hinder Saul's advance.
The battle situation seemed to have fallen into a stalemate.
…
…
"We lost again, huh~"
Watching Saul's battered appearance on the field, Jarul's brow, pierced by that sword, could not help furrowing.
Although he had never expected Saul's strength to create some kind of miracle…
From Drake to Caribou now, after three challengers in a row, aside from absolute numerical suppression, Jarul actually could not think of any way to defeat them when both sides were evenly matched!
The gap… was too large!
Or rather, the members of the Straw Hat Pirates seemed to be invincible among those of the same level.
Even though the pirate world did not have a numerical power system.
"Surrender! There's already no hope of winning!"
Seeing that the signs of poisoning had gradually spread over nearly half of Saul's arm, Jarul understood that even if Saul, who had once been a Marine Vice Admiral, might not possess any weaker willpower than an heroic warrior of Elbaf, continuing any further would be meaningless.
"Mm."
Dorry, who had also experienced the pain of that toxic poison, nodded. Without any other thoughts, he strode forward, took in a deep breath, and shouted:
"Stop fighting, Saul!"
"This battle is the Straw Hats' victory!"
Thud, thud…
Saul, who was still running through the mud, gradually stopped when he heard Dorry's shout.
Caribou, who was still spraying mud, subconsciously raised his head and looked forward as well.
Beneath the rain of mud filling the sky, a gigantic mud man suddenly revealed a row of bright white teeth, then let out a self-mocking chuckle.
"As expected, I didn't even get a chance to throw a second punch…"
"So this is the power of the Straw Hat Grand Fleet?"
There was not too much dejection, nor was there much resentment over his defeat. He had already done everything he could, but the gap in strength and methods was not something effort alone could make up for.
And with that, the Straw Hat side once again won the third round of the arena battle in perfect fashion.
The methods they displayed also left audiences around the world greatly shocked.
…
…
"No way, right? They won that easily again!?"
"Although I guessed the Straw Hats would win, the giants haven't even had the slightest power to fight back up until now. Don't tell me the title of 'world's strongest nation' was bought by the giants!?"
"Bought? Heh! I hope you'll still have the courage to say that after seeing real giants in person. Watching through a screen really made you all think you're something special, huh? Do you seriously think giants over twenty meters tall are some kind of joke?"
"No way, no way. Surely nobody watched one livestream and actually started imagining themselves as a professional fighter, right? You really think you could do it if you went up there!?"
"..."
"..."
The one-sided battle caused both the Straw Hat fans and giant fans, who should have been fighting fiercely, to lose interest in continuing their argument.
But as the saying went, when there were difficulties, one had to charge forward. And when there were none, one had to create difficulties and charge anyway.
A lull was absolutely impossible.
With the existence of the bullet-comment system, as long as there was even the tiniest hint that could spark conflict, someone would inevitably latch onto it and expand it into an even more vigorous argument.
One could only say that no world lacked unscrupulous fun-seekers, and no world lacked brainless idiots who blindly followed the crowd.
Of course, the small number of people who had the conditions to enjoy bullet comments had already changed battlefields and immersed themselves in the joyful war of words.
But more people were still looking forward to the competitors in the next match.
Although the giants' side had been dragging their feet the whole time and had been beaten by the Straw Hats without any ability to fight back, the abilities displayed by the Straw Hat side were more interesting one after another, filling their expectations to the brim.
At this point, quite a few people no longer cared who would win this arena battle. They only wanted to see what strange powerhouse the Straw Hats would send out next, so they could broaden their horizons.
And as though responding to the audience's voices, a brand-new pair of fighters soon walked out from both sides.
As for why it was said that they seemed to be responding to the audience's voices?
That was because these two fighters actually both came from the Straw Hat Pirates!
That's right!
This time, the giants' side sent out the captain of the New Giant Warrior Pirates, who possessed both Elbaf bloodline and the identity of a Straw Hat Pirates member—Hajrudin!
And on the Straw Hats' side, they sent out someone with an extremely large fanbase, a man known as the Pirate Prince—Cavendish!!!
…
…
"I really… don't want to fight you."
Looking at Cavendish, who stood elegantly across from him, Hajrudin immediately revealed a bitter smile.
As one of their own, he naturally knew Cavendish's fighting style and strength.
One could say that Cavendish… was the exact type he was worst at dealing with!
(End of Chapter)