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Martial Island, deep within the enormous forest.
“There’s nothing here.”
After landing, Roy looked up at the steadily ticking countdown timer, then glanced at the empty forest around him. The situation felt strange.
Yes.
Like most people, Roy knew that this third assessment, just like the first, couldn’t possibly be as simple as the rules claimed.
After all, this was the final assessment.
If the final victor was a Marine, he or she would become a Marine Admiral Candidate and gain fame across the Four Seas.
To prevent any unexpected accidents after entering the island, Roy raised his guard to the maximum. However, it could be said that Fleet Admiral Sengoku never failed to disappoint.
After entering the forest, Roy realized that there really seemed to be…nothing here.
[Rabbit-Rabbit Fruit: Snow Rabbit Model LV3… Greatly enhances hearing and jumping ability]
[Dog-Dog Fruit: Dachshund Form LV3… Greatly enhances sense of smell]
[Bird-Bird Fruit: Falcon Form LV3 — Greatly enhances eyesight]
Just as he said before, after receiving the Revolutionary Army’s down payment of 100,000,000,000, Roy’s finances gradually improved. Naturally, he was no longer stingy when it came to strengthening Devil Fruits.
He upgraded several of his main combat Devil Fruits, such as the Munch-Munch Fruit, Slice-Slice Fruit, Great Buddha Fruit, and Ryu Ryu no Mi (Dragon-Dragon Fruit), Model: Wind God Winged Dragon to LV4…
Roy also selectively enhanced a few ordinary Zoan Fruits that didn’t cost much to deal with special situations and increase the variety of his abilities.
For example, the “Five Senses Enhancement” Devil Fruit allowed him to perceive almost every tiny change in his surroundings.
However, the problem was…
Smell, sight, sound…
Every fact he learned told him that there was nothing special about this forest.
Speaking of which…
“The goal of this assessment is strange, too.”
Roy frowned.
“If they want the nine of us to slaughter each other until only one remains, then the objective should’ve been something like: Defeat all other participants within three hours.”
“Logically speaking, everyone would just hide and wait out the time. Wouldn’t that mean everyone wins?”
And just as Roy thought that…
Boooooom!
…A deafening explosion echoed from somewhere in the forest. It was accompanied by a massive slash and an intense wave of Haki that shot into the sky.
Almost at the same time…
Booom!
Another violent tremor came from a closer location.
Roy: “…
Well then.
It seems not everyone was that rational.
“Fine. If they’re fighting, that means I’ll be closer to my goal.” Roy muttered softly.
Although he had decided to relax a bit during this evaluation, his goal hadn’t changed.
He wasn’t aiming to be an Admiral Candidate. As long as he placed in the top five and became an officer in the Marine Detention Unit, he would be satisfied.
But just as he was thinking…
“Elbaf Combat Technique!”
A thunderous roar exploded from behind him, followed by a violent tearing wind and a howling gale.
“Soru!”
Roy vanished from where he stood. At the same time, an enormous blade smashed down, cleaving the ground where he had been standing into pieces.
BOOOOM!
The earth overturned, and, true to the name of the technique, the land collapsed and cracked apart, splitting into massive fissures.
THUD! THUD!
Heavy footsteps accompanied the sound, a gigantic figure in a Marine uniform stepped out from the depths of the forest.
“Hahahaha! You dodged it, huh?”
The giant let out a thunderous roar.
“Vice Admiral Hamo.”
Roy naturally recognized the giant vice admiral. He rubbed his ears and said,
“Of course I dodged it! You shouted the name of your move so loudly that it would have been hard not to dodge an ambush like that.”
The Snow Rabbit Fruit had enhanced hearing, so he almost felt like he’d gone deaf.
“Hahahahahaha!”
Hamo continued laughing boldly.
“That can’t be helped! Sneak attacking without a word stains a warrior’s honor. The gods of Elbaf would never bless such a shameful battle!”
He hoisted the gigantic blade, which was so massive it was almost absurd, onto his shoulder.
“Roy Amos, I’ve heard about what happened yesterday. Defeating Bastille in one strike, you’re an incredible warrior.”
After hearing that, Roy helplessly shook his head.
“Then why are you coming after me?”
Hearing this, Hamo laughed even louder.
“To test my strength against the heroes of the Four Seas and battle all kinds of powerful warriors—that’s exactly why I joined the Marines!”
“Come! A rare and worthy opponent… Fight!”
He roared and swung his massive sword once again.
“Someone from the Giant Tribe…”
Seeing this, Roy shook his head, realizing that this battle was unavoidable.
But…
“Fine.”
His eyes sharpened. The next moment, Hamo discovered something that made him freeze in surprise.
Facing the massive blade swinging down, Roy didn’t dodge at all.
Barehanded, he leapt straight up to meet the greatsword head-on.
“No Armament Haki coating? No shockwave? And he’s not even wearing those gloves!?” Hamo’s brows furrowed instinctively.
“What is he trying to do?”
He acknowledged Roy’s strength, but from what he was seeing now, Roy was planning to confront him purely with physical strength?
“You brat…don’t tell me you’re looking down on the Giant Tribe!”
Hamo roared, and the speed of his falling blade increased even further. But in the blink of an eye, Hamo’s expression stiffened.
He had discovered something unbelievable.
The giant blade in his hands was suddenly clamped between two enormous mountains.
Yet his own eyes clearly told him that those “mountains” weren’t mountains at all.
They were Roy’s hands!
CRACK!
The sword groaned under the pressure, and Hamo felt an overwhelming force emanating from the other side of the blade.
“You…”
He gritted his teeth and tried to speak, but before he could finish, he saw Roy twist his hands suddenly.
BANG!
The blade flipped violently, and in that instant, an enormous force hurled Hamo’s massive body away!
Booom!
He crashed through dozens of gigantic trees, his body swallowed by a cloud of dust.
Back in Marineford, among the crowd watching the live broadcast of the forest battle, the commentator let out a stunned scream.
“Unbelievable! What just happened!?”
“Even though we can’t hear their conversation, there’s no doubt about it. Lieutenant Commander Roy just sent Vice Admiral Hamo flying, and it looks like he didn’t use his Shockwave Fist or Haki at all!”
“He seems to have thrown a giant away with pure strength!”
Hamo, who had just been blasted into the ground, felt that same shock.
“I… Devarro Hamo… actually lost to a human in a pure strength contest…”
Struggling to his feet, he picked up his giant blade and stared grimly at the figure standing calmly in the distance.
“Is he really… human?”
True fear rose in his heart at that moment.
His feeling was crystal clear, Roy had completely crushed him with his raw muscular power.
And the truth was indeed so…
[Human-Human Fruit: Model Daibutsu LV4]
[Human-Human Fruit: Giant Humanoid Form LV4]
[Muscle-Muscle Fruit LV4]
[Human-Human Fruit LV5].
“If we disregard vitality and recovery ability and only consider pure muscle strength, the Giant-type Devil Fruit is stronger than the Dragon-Dragon Fruit, Model: Wind God Winged Dragon. Then this set will be my ‘Strength Enhancement’ combination.”
Roy clenched his fists, feeling the explosive, surging power of his muscles roar through his body. His gaze locked onto Vice Admiral Hamo in the distance.
“Vice Admiral, how does it feel?” He grinned.
“Hahahahaha!” Vice Admiral Hamo stood up as well while speaking. “Truly incredible, Lieutenant Commander Roy, just as the rumors said, your body is a monster!”
“But…”
He grinned back.
“I am a warrior of the Giant Tribe.”
As he spoke, he slowly raised his giant blade into an odd stance. The enormous sword, almost as large as his body, was held horizontally at his side.
BANG!
Haki erupted and formed a swirling vortex around the edge of his blade.
At the same time…
Crack. Crack.
The veins across his body bulged and burst.
Yes!
A giant warrior does not fear monsters.
On the contrary, they take pride in hunting them.
The strongest of these warriors, those capable of hunting truly powerful monsters, are honored as “heroes.”
Their signature trait is their ability to unleash ancient combat techniques passed down through generations in Elbaf.
These legendary moves are named after…
“Spear of Elbaf”
These techniques symbolize strength and glory. Hamo was strong, but his power had not yet reached that level.
However…
“With the help of this greatsword…” As he spoke, Hamo’s grip on the weapon tightened further. “I can barely use one of them.”
As mentioned before, his sword was abnormally massive—even for a giant, it was far too huge.
That was exactly the reason.
In the Giant Tribe, bigger meant stronger!
He swung his sword.
At that very instant…
“Hm!?”
Roy’s gaze suddenly sharpened.
“So there’s something like this, too…”
A sharp glint flashed through his eyes.
The next moment, Hamo unleashed his slash.
“Spear of Elbaf – Ikoku Sovereignty!”
In that instant, the surging power erupting from the giant blade transformed into an enormous tsunami!
Booom!
The ancient trees towering in the forest were shredded like fragile seedlings, and a massive trench was carved into the earth in the blink of an eye.
“It’s here! Elbaf’s secret, inherited combat technique!”
“When used by a powerful giant warrior, it can destroy an entire island nation in a single strike!”
“This is the strength of a Marine Headquarters Vice Admiral! Even Roy, the Marine Supernova, will definitely have to dodge… eh!?”
The commentator’s dramatic narration was abruptly cut off.
At that moment…
BANG!
…that terrifying slash had already struck Roy.
A huge cloud of dust exploded upward as smoke, splinters, and shattered rock mixed with Haki and scattered in all directions.
“He… he didn’t dodge! Is the battle over!?”
The commentator’s shocked scream rang out, along with voices from the Marine Detention Unit formation not far behind him.
“Boss!”
“Did Roy get drunk last night or something!? How the hell did he not dodge that!?”
But at that moment…
“Hah…hah…”
Inside the forest, within the rising dust cloud…
Vice Admiral Hamo maintained his sword-swinging stance. His massive chest heaved violently, and sweat poured down his bulging muscles.
“Did I win?”
He breathed heavily, his eyes locked on the spot where Roy had been standing.
He knew he had given it his all.
That strike, Ikoku Sovereignty, was a secret technique of the Giant Tribe, spoken of in the same breath as “Might of the Nation” (Hakoku Sovereignty).
He could barely use it once, relying on his enormous sword.
He was confident that even the Heroes of the Giant Tribe would find it troublesome under such a blow.
At that moment, time seemed to freeze.
Until…
Fwoosh.
The sea wind swept through the thick dust, outlining a vague silhouette within the smoke.
The silhouette was still standing.
“Elbaf’s combat techniques are truly incredible.” Roy’s voice rang out.
With that, the dust began to clear. His Marine uniform was torn and tattered. He crossed his arms in front of him to guard his body.
But around him…
BZZZ!
…a golden ripple burst forth, surrounding his entire body.
[Shockwave Fist · Diamond Body]
“However, it looks like you can only use that move once.”
“What a pity.”
As those words fell, Roy’s figure vanished.
The next moment, he appeared directly above Vice Admiral Hamo’s head. Shimmering waves of light were already flickering in his hand.
“It’s over.”
The exhausted Hamo knew with absolute clarity… After using Ikoku Sovereignty, he couldn’t dodge this blow.
But he didn’t care.
As a warrior, he did not consider defeat in a hard-fought battle to be shameful.
However…
“Hm!?”
In the next instant, Vice Admiral Hamo’s eyes widened in disbelief.
He saw a change in Roy.
He could see Roy’s muscles tightening and exerting force, the subtle shifts in his body, and the movement patterns of those muscles.
He knew them all too well!
“You…”
But he had no time to say anything more.
In the next moment, Roy’s fist slammed into him.
BANG!
An intense shockwave suddenly erupted inside the forest.
(End of Chapter)
You can read ahead up to 15 chapters on my Patreon: https://www.p*treon.com/darkshadow6395