Chapter 237: Paramecia Devil Fruit Awakening
In the giant colosseum, a dozen or so giants were engaged in a fierce battle with heavy weapons. The clash of their massive blades created rolling sound waves in the air, shaking the trees near the colosseum and causing a shower of green leaves to fall.
Hajrudin sat with his arms crossed, his back straight, seriously watching the intense battle before him.
Just then, a series of heavy footsteps came from behind him. Immediately after, a tall figure with a longsword on his back strode over the steps and sat down beside him.
Hajrudin turned to look at his friend. "You're not training?" he asked in a deep voice. "Slacking off is not a good thing!"
Road glanced at him with a blank expression and replied disdainfully, "How could I possibly relax? If I get challenged by a new pirate and get beaten, where would the face of the Elbaf giants go?! I just saw you were back and came over to see you, that's all! You know, in the past two years, we've rarely had a chance to sit down and talk like this."
Hajrudin was taken aback, then subconsciously scratched his thick black hair. "Is that so?"
Just then, Gerd's voice sounded, answering his question. "Not only that, but after Loki was captured by Red-Hair, you've become more and more desperate! You often drop off an island and then set off again in the blink of an eye! In this period of time, we've seen you only a handful of times."
Gerd slowly walked over, stood beside the two with one hand on her hip, the other holding her giant single-bladed battle-axe, and looked directly at Hajrudin's face. "Are you troubled by what happened to Loki?"
To this, Road gave Hajrudin a tentative look. "I heard," he said thoughtfully, "that Loki was locked up by Red-Hair with Seastone somewhere in the underworld. If you want to know something, why don't you make a trip back to Elbaf and ask him?"
In the years since they had joined Louis's crew, they had also learned many things they hadn't known before. For example, the magic circle deep within the Elbaf royal palace was almost identical to the teleportation circle of the God's Knights. This also made them gradually realize that what had happened deep in the palace back then was not so simple. There was a certain... something... to the deaths of King Harald and the one hundred Ancient Giant warriors. The matter with Loki was probably not so simple.
Hajrudin heard this, was silent for a moment, and then shook his head. "He hasn't been locked up for long," he replied in a deep voice. "For the next five years, I will not deliberately go looking for him."
"Why?" Road was stunned for a moment, then asked subconsciously.
Hearing his question, Hajrudin gave him an "are you an idiot" look. "Don't you think... I've never gone to look for him before. For me to go looking for him right after he gets locked up... doesn't that look like a petty person taking advantage of the situation?"
Hajrudin felt that if Loki were to think of him as that kind of person, it would be more unbearable than being killed!
Hearing this, Road said no more.
Soon, Goldberg brought over the cooked food and called for his partners, who were in the middle of battle, to come and replenish their strength.
Hajrudin quickly finished half a pot of food, then slowly stood up, once again transforming into his dragon form and coiling in the sky above the colosseum.
Road looked up at Hajrudin, who was about to fly away, and shouted, "Hey, Hajrudin! Remember not to bring back any of those islands with the magic circles inscribed on them!"
Road's words made the transformed Hajrudin's face show a hint of speechlessness. "How could I possibly make such a big mistake?!"
In fact, after realizing that the patterns left in the depths of the royal palace were related to the God's Knights, Hajrudin had become extremely sensitive to anything similar. Before moving an island, he would check it several times over.
Then, Hajrudin, hovering in mid-air, grabbed the smoke clouds with his four limbs, changed direction, and prepared to continue his unfinished great work. Just then, a wave of Haki and a strange fluctuation that he found quite familiar came from the sky.
Hajrudin instantly stopped his movements, looked up at the crown of the Adam tree, where Avant Heim was located. "That's—the Captain's Haki— Is he up there? What's happening?"
His gaze fell on the distance. His eyesight was so good that he could even see dark figures rushing toward the treetop. They were Artemis, Asmodai, Dong Yi, Daz Bonez, and the others.
"What happened?" Goldberg and Gerd, who had also sensed something unusual, looked up and muttered to themselves.
"Get on!" As his words fell, Hajrudin extended the flame cloud from his claws downward, letting it fall before his companions. "Let's go and see!!"
Gerd and the others heard him and did not hesitate, boarding the flame cloud one after another. Soon, Hajrudin carried the group of giants as he soared up, heading straight for the sky.
Inside Avant Heim.
Louis slowly opened his eyes, and the white world once again entered his vision.
Nearby, Uta, who had not left his side during this time, was the first to notice the change in him. A bright, brilliant smile appeared on her face. "Did it go smoothly?"
"Yes. The process was much smoother than I imagined." Louis stood up from his throne and walked down the steps, step by step.
Louis had eaten the Paramecia-type Life-Life Fruit when he was very young and had reached the verge of awakening a long time ago. But it was this final step that had held him back for several years. It wasn't until now that he had successfully completed the awakening of his Devil Fruit ability.
Besides the improvement in his physique and Haki that came with age, his Devil Fruit ability had also seen a significant boost.
"A Devil Fruit Awakening—" A hint of curiosity flashed in Uta's amethyst-like eyes. "What does it feel like?" she asked excitedly.
Louis heard her and paused for a moment. By the time he started walking again, Uta was utterly astonished.
With every step he took, his figure gradually shrank. In just a moment, he had shrunk proportionally to about three meters, and was still getting smaller at a rate visible to the naked eye. By the time Louis had walked in front of Uta, his height had already shrunk to two meters, yet the perfect proportions of his body had not changed in the slightest.
This scene had caught Uta completely off guard. It took her a good while to react. She tentatively stepped forward, reached out her pale, slender hands to pinch his face, and then felt him all over.
SLAP. Louis, somewhat speechlessly, slapped away her hand, which was preparing to explore further. "Please be mindful of the occasion, Miss Uta."
To this, Louis indicated that he knew his looks and charm were astonishing, but in this public place, she had better restrain herself a little.
Uta heard him and gave an awkward laugh. "Ahaha—"
Then, recalling the feel of his hand, which was almost identical to before, she subconsciously asked, "How did you do that?"
To this, Louis thought for a moment and then replied with a serious expression, "Because I felt I could do it, so I did it."
In fact, this was thanks to one of the newbie gift packages that he had never been able to use due to a lack of chakra: the Expansion Jutsu. Louis, who had long since thoroughly studied the theoretical knowledge of the jutsu, after his awakening, had used his sublimated life energy, combined with a large amount of his own "I think, therefore it is" power, to achieve this effect.
After a moment, feeling that his strength and agility were not the least bit sluggish, and were exactly the same as in his original form, Louis nodded with satisfaction. Then, with a thought, he made the abundant life energy in his body boil. The next moment, his body grew taller at a visible rate.
After returning to his original size, the expansion of his body did not stop, but became even more astonishing. Soon, his head was almost touching the ceiling of this space. The wings on his back were incomparably huge and were flashing with a dazzling light.
Louis looked down, clenched his hand, and felt the surging power in his body. "This is the limit of this space, not my limit," he thought.
...
One after another, figures poured into the interior of Avant Heim, much to the bewilderment of the giant dog. The group entered and quickly used their Observation Haki to search for any trace of Louis. Soon, they walked along the giant corridor and quickly arrived at this huge space.
However, as soon as they entered, the group was stunned by the scene that met their eyes.
In the wide, white space before them, Louis, with flawless white wings on his back and a head of loose, pale-golden hair, stood quietly. But at this moment, his size was a little different from the image they had in their memories.
After a long silence, Road looked as if he couldn't believe it. He looked down at the others and stammered, "Did... did any of you secretly prepare this statue for the captain?"
Just then, Louis, under everyone's gaze, sat down out of thin air. As he moved, the Island Cloud at his feet churned, forming a flawless white throne. The next second, the giant-sized Louis sat steadily on the throne, his eyes falling on the group who were gradually accepting reality.
"So you were all drawn here."
At the front of the crowd, Artemis, who had gradually calmed down, stepped forward and asked with a puzzled face, "Louis, what's with this form?"
On the other side, Hajrudin looked up at Louis, who was much taller than him even while sitting down, and fell into thought. Beside him, Goldberg's mouth hung open, his eyes filled with disbelief.
Gerd looked at Louis's current size, which was even larger than a giant's, and subconsciously remarked, "Although I don't know what's going on, the captain in this form is almost the same height as Loki..."
Facing the series of questions from the group, Louis explained concisely to everyone, "This is... a Devil Fruit Awakening."
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