Normally speaking, even if Cavendish's strength was slightly above Hajrudin's, there was no way he should have used Air Cutter, a move with only 60 power, to clash head-on against Hyper Beam, a move with 150 power.
And yet…
Cavendish's Ability, Skill Link, was enough to turn any ordinary move into a devastating Pokémon technique.
In the Pokémon games, Skill Link's effect was to make all multi-hit Pokémon moves strike the maximum number of times.
It could be called a rather mediocre Ability.
But in the real world, even Pokémon moves that involved continuous attacks had their effects altered due to the nature of reality. Naturally, the effect of Skill Link would also be different.
After the machine's modified enhancement, Skill Link no longer boosted only certain specific moves. Instead, it strengthened the attack power of any move used continuously.
As long as Cavendish could keep using the same move repeatedly without exceeding a certain interval between attacks, that move's power would continue to rise!
The only drawback was that as the move's power increased, the energy Cavendish needed to consume would also rise with it.
But compared to the effect this Ability brought, what did a little extra consumption matter!?
Boom!!!
One blade of air after another crashed endlessly into Hajrudin's Hyper Beam, yet it was like stones sinking into the sea, unable to stir even the slightest ripple.
But as Cavendish continued unleashing Air Cutter without pause, those blades, which had originally been only the size of a bowl's mouth, began to expand at high speed.
In the blink of an eye, the blades released from Cavendish's wings had transformed into several-meter-long slashes.
Although in terms of size, they were still far smaller than the Hyper Beam Hajrudin had unleashed, the endless blades of air nevertheless slowed the Hyper Beam's advance and drained away a tremendous amount of its energy.
Until…
Several enormous slashes, as if they could split heaven and earth apart, sliced sharply through the void and collided with that pitch-black, raging pillar of light.
BOOOOM—!!!
It was as though a miniature sun had exploded on the surface of the planet. An endless storm of energy erupted outward, like the roar of gods and demons sweeping across the land and sky, blowing all the way toward the seas surrounding Elbaf.
At that moment, the world seemed to fall silent.
Blazing firelight filled the entire sky, as though it meant to burn through the ceiling of the Underworld. At the same time, it successfully concealed Cavendish's figure.
"Did… did the giant win?!"
The audience watching the battle through the livestream stared at the largest explosion since the fight had begun and asked anxiously.
Even the giants at the scene were all staring in shock at the terrifying sea of fire that engulfed the entire sky.
Who could have imagined…
After training under the Straw Hat Pirates, Hajrudin would become this powerful!?
An attack of this level could easily destroy a city, right!?
No!
Perhaps it could even pierce straight through an island!
Just what kind of medicine had the Straw Hat Pirates fed Hajrudin, for this kid to gain such terrifying strength after only one year at sea!?
The giants familiar with Hajrudin were utterly stunned.
But what they did not know was…
Because of Cavendish's fighting style, Hajrudin's true strength had never been given a proper chance to show itself!
BOOOOM!!!!
At that moment, Hajrudin suddenly smashed his fist into the ground. A terrifying force, unleashed in an instant that no one had anticipated, directly pierced through the entire Underworld. With Hajrudin's fist as the center, dreadful web-like cracks exploded outward in every direction.
The ground, already battered and broken from the previous battles, completely shattered at that moment, sending dust and smoke surging into the sky.
But from within the dust cloud, Hajrudin roared unwillingly:
"I lost!"
"What!?"
The giants who had still been waiting for Cavendish to fall all revealed shocked and confused expressions.
They could not understand why Hajrudin had suddenly chosen to surrender.
What was going on? Victory was clearly right in front of him!
Could it be… that this guy wanted to be a double agent? An infiltrator?
On one hand, he fought for Elbaf because of his origins. On the other, he did not want Elbaf to win because of him.
So this is your choice, huh!?
Many giants began secretly guessing in their hearts, even staging little inner dramas for Hajrudin on their own.
However, only a small number of people present could sense it…
The battle had not ended, and Hajrudin… had indeed already been facing defeat!
Because they had all noticed…
The instant Hajrudin finished releasing his attack, his body seemed as if it had been hit by the Slow-Slow Fruit's power. He became extremely stiff and could barely move.
For fighters of their level, even a delay of a split second could affect the direction of a battle.
Let alone Hajrudin's current condition.
Clearly, after gaining Huge Power and focusing even more on physical moves, he still had not trained Hyper Beam to the point where he could ignore its recoil stiffness.
And this was also the reason Hajrudin's mood had suddenly sunk.
Strange!
It was far too strange!
Red-Haired Shanks and Beckman were no strangers to Pokémon moves, so they naturally guessed why Hajrudin had suddenly fallen into that state.
But after personally watching moves from the game world combine with the power system of the pirate world and burst forth with entirely new vitality, that strange sense of dissonance left the two of them momentarily unable to tell which side was reality and which side was illusion.
At the same time, Shanks and Beckman could not help thinking to themselves:
If they could also obtain a power like this, just how strong would they become!?
With their relationship with Luffy, asking for a small bit of Pokémon power should not be refused, right!?
Just as Shanks and the others were letting their thoughts wander, a pitch-black shadow slowly emerged from behind Hajrudin.
The moment it appeared, the shadow held nothing back. It directly swung the dark rapier in its hand and slashed toward Hajrudin's body.
Only this time, it was completely different from the small, trifling blows before. The blade in Shadow Kamaitachi's hand suddenly condensed a large amount of Ghost-type energy, which then transformed into a black, gloomy slash that fiercely cut toward Hajrudin's back!
Splurt!!!
Blood scattered across the ground like a torrential downpour.
With Hajrudin's massive body, even a single drop of his blood was enough to destroy an ordinary small house.
And Shadow Kamaitachi's strike was entirely different from those toothpick-like slashes from before. Even though Hajrudin had long since prepared by leaving enough Armament Haki to cover his entire body…
Before Shadow Kamaitachi's rapier, that Armament Haki was like nothing at all. It failed to provide even the slightest defensive effect.
Seizing the opportunity, Shadow Kamaitachi unleashed his true strength at that moment. Taking advantage of Hajrudin's stiffness from Hyper Beam, while his body was rigid and unable to move, he erupted with a terrifying baptism of slashes.
In the blink of an eye, Hajrudin, who had only just seemed to hold the upper hand, had already become a blood-soaked giant covered in terrifying wounds.
"What's going on!?"
At the sight of this scene, the giants in the giant formation were all suddenly startled.
But they could only watch as Shadow Kamaitachi seemed to go mad, continuously inflicting damage on Hajrudin.
As more and more blood and wounds appeared, a crazed expression also emerged on Shadow Kamaitachi's face. Holding the dark western rapier, he condensed endless Ghost sword intent and suddenly arrived before Hajrudin's temple, as if he was about to deal a killing blow!
"Not good!"
Shanks, who had been observing the battle with Observation Haki the entire time, suddenly changed expression, as though he had seen some terrible image through his Observation Haki's future sight.
But just as he prepared to act and stop Shadow Kamaitachi's attack, his body suddenly froze in place, as if someone had pressed the pause button.
From within the flames in the sky came a faint, leisurely sigh:
"That's enough. The battle… is already over."
Hiss…
Shadow Kamaitachi's body trembled continuously, as if he was struggling violently.
But in the end, he still withdrew his attack with extreme displeasure. His feet hovered in midair as he floated there, no longer continuing to attack Hajrudin.
Whoosh!!!
High above, a sudden, terrifying gale erupted from the center of the flames, blowing away all the fire that had dyed the sky a blazing red.
Amid the lingering sparks stood Cavendish, his elegant figure as holy as an angel!
The scattered flames were like blooming roses, lingering around Cavendish's body.
"Waaah!!! Lord Cavendish!!!!"
"So handsome!!! This is the Prince Charming I wanted!!!"
"Lord Cavendish, I want to bear your children!!!"
"..."
"..."
The handsome silhouette of Holy Light Cavendish instantly captured the hearts of countless young girls in front of the screens, causing his fan club to undergo yet another round of brand-new expansion.
But in the sky, Cavendish merely flicked the cape behind him. A gentle and handsome smile spread across his face as he looked down at the blood-covered Hajrudin and said:
"Do you still want to keep fighting, Hajrudin?"
"..."
Hajrudin unwillingly clenched his fist. But in the end, he could only lower his massive head and sigh.
"I admit defeat!"
Whoosh—
White light bloomed once again over Hajrudin's body, returning him to his normal state.
And once he returned to normal, he immediately took a bottle of Super Potion from his pocket without hesitation and gulped it down, rapidly recovering from his injuries through the rule-level medicinal power of the Super Potion.
This was too much!
Why did they have to send this guy to fight him!?
As his body recovered, Hajrudin's face immediately filled with resentment as he looked toward Moria in the Straw Hat formation.
In truth, with his Huge Power Ability, there were almost no members of the entire Straw Hat Grand Fleet he feared!
Even those like Drake, who had joined under the Straw Hats much earlier than he had, had never been worth his concern!
Because after Pokémon-ization, his strength was truly terrifying!
But of all people…
His opponent had to be Cavendish!
In terms of the strongest combat power they could bring out, there was still a considerable gap between Cavendish and him.
But if the two of them were made to fight, he had not even the slightest possibility of victory!
At most, other people would clash with him head-on through normal offensive methods.
With the powerful body he had after evolution, he was confident he could use his surging Armament Haki to withstand a large number of attacks.
Even Holy Light Cavendish would have no way to deal with him.
But unfortunately, his opponent possessed a genuine ghostly shadow that ignored normal physical attacks, an existence equivalent to being completely invincible.
And this ghostly shadow also knew a move that was especially effective against him—Phantom Force.
Phantom Force, a Ghost-type move.
In the game, its effect was to vanish for one turn to charge up, then release a 90-power attack on the enemy while ignoring any protective defenses.
After arriving in the pirate world, the effect of this move became gathering a large amount of Ghost-type energy to damage the enemy, while also ignoring defensive abilities outside the enemy's body.
Clearly, Armament Haki had been judged by Ghost-type energy as something that could be ignored. Therefore, Shadow Kamaitachi's slashes directly passed through Hajrudin's Armament Haki and inflicted visible damage on his physical body.
Although Hajrudin had not truly lost his ability to fight, there was indeed no longer any need for the battle to continue.
Cavendish's main body had flown high into the sky, where Hajrudin could not hit him.
The ghostly shadow that ignored attacks from the material world was also impossible for him to hit!
But one of those two could serve as an unlimited aerial turret in the sky, continuously launching Air Cutter at him, while the other appeared and disappeared unpredictably, dealing massive damage to his body.
Even if the battle continued, even if Hajrudin could still endure for a full day and night…
His defeat was already set in stone.
Perhaps everyone had already gotten used to it, or perhaps they had long since prepared themselves for it, but Hajrudin's defeat did not surprise anyone.
He calmly returned to the giant formation. After receiving a calm nod from Elder Jarul and the others, no one said anything more about his loss.
Everyone's attention quickly shifted to the candidate for the next battle.
At this point, almost everyone on the giant side who had not yet taken the field was a true world-class powerhouse!
Jarul, the former captain of the Giant Warrior Pirates, who had once made the names of the Giant Warrior Pirates and Elbaf's warriors renowned across the world!
Red-Haired Shanks, one of the former Emperors of the Sea, along with his vice-captain, Benn Beckman!
The Pirate King Roger's Left Hand, the current son-in-law of the giant race, an unrivaled powerhouse capable of impregnating a nearly twenty-meter-tall giantess despite being an ordinary human—Gaban!
And the giant race's Pandora's box, the disgrace of the giants who should have been imprisoned—Loki!
After thinking it over repeatedly, Jarul finally sighed and said:
"In that case, let Loki take the field for the next match!"
After all, this was the giant race's own affair. If they could avoid sending a human to fight, they would avoid it as much as possible.
And although he himself still possessed the strength for one more battle, Jarul did not believe he could truly gain any advantage against the Straw Hat Pirates.
Therefore, Loki was already the final line of defense belonging to the giants in his mind!
"Loki!?"
Jarul's decision made all the giants present tense up.
Although they all knew there was a high possibility Loki would take the field, when they truly saw that Loki was about to fight, they could not help feeling their hearts catch in their throats.
And their gazes, as if by tacit agreement, fell upon the very rear of the giant formation…
Onto a giant whose entire body was bound by massive chains, whose eyes and mouth were sealed, yet who still wore an evil smile on his face.
(End of Chapter)