"Saul, your Giant Titan Soldier Corps hasn't improved one bit in eight hundred years."
"Eternal life… but it's also the shackle that's bound your growth."
"If that's all you've got—"
Bzzz—!
As Ghidorah's words fell, golden light suddenly flared across the cloud-covered sea. From his maw burst a beam — golden lightning intertwined — tearing forward.
The curly-bearded, ram-horn-helmeted giant saw this and didn't hesitate. He hefted a round shield forged of special metal, and with a thunderous crack, leapt from the deck of the massive warship.
The warship's draft sank over twenty meters under the immense force, before buoyancy lifted it again. Riding that surge, Saul vaulted upward, shield braced before him, leaping straight toward Ghidorah's blast.
As Saul took to the air, another giant followed suit, both hands gripping his massive weapon. Like a titan splitting the heavens, he swung toward the other side — where Rodan waited.
Two giants. Two colossal beasts.
In this tempest-wracked, lightning-splintered sea, they were like living natural disasters, churning the currents into chaos.
The violent collisions shook heaven and earth.
"Hahaha… weak. Pathetically weak!"
Dodging Great's strike, Rodan banked in mid-air, circling back, mocking the giant who had already fallen back to the deck.
A thousand years ago, these things weren't his match. Now? Still no progress at all.
It made him lose interest.
With a sudden roll of his body, Rodan became a streak of flame diving straight at the warship below.
"You damned flame bug!"
Great landed back on the deck, swung his huge, black, spiked club behind him, muscles bulging as he roared — whuumm! — swinging straight into Rodan's descent.
BOOM!
Like a baseball bat connecting with a ball, the strike hit dead-on, unleashing a shockwave that blasted the air itself into a roaring gale.
And yet—
"Heh… that actually stung a little."
Rodan, in the heart of that blow, was completely unharmed. His black skin — traced with crimson magma-like lines — merely splattered molten sparks.
It wasn't blood.
It was magma.
Rodan grinned viciously, twisted in mid-air, and with a resounding crack, spread his vast wings.
A scorching, bone-dry heatwave swept outward, warping the very air, crashing over the giant head-on.
Against that heat that could bake the atmosphere itself, Great had no choice but to pull back his club, instinctively raising his arms to shield his face.
But in that instant, his skin flushed red, blistering as if roasted alive; cracks split open, revealing raw flesh beneath. His blood hissed into white steam the moment it touched the air.
Great, feeling no pain — as befitted a Giant Titan Soldier — swung his fist at Rodan, now right before him.
But the sheer mass difference was undeniable. Even at full force, his blow could not move the great beast.
BOOM!
A massive impact drove both the giant and the warship deep beneath the waves, kicking up walls of water tens of meters high, rippling outwards with radiation-tinged force.
"A thousand years ago, you couldn't win one-on-one. And now, you still haven't learned your lesson."
"You lot… just breathing is a waste of air."
BOOM—BOOM—BOOM!
As his words fell, red-hot flame surged from Rodan's beak. The firestorm swept the entire deck, its thousand-degree heat vaporizing the giant beneath him in an instant.
When the flames receded, only scorched decking and a charred black giant skeleton remained — a metal frame that even the heat couldn't melt.
BOOM!
Splash—crash…
Suddenly, another great impact struck, sending waves rolling the massive ship.
BOOM!
"Looks like you were faster than me!"
Ghidorah landed heavily on the deck, glancing at the blackened skeleton with a mocking grin.
"I just got bored, that's all. These things are still as fragile as ever," Rodan scoffed.
"Don't sell them too short. If the entire corps came at once… even I—"
"—might not come out unscathed."
Ghidorah's voice was low, but then his massive claw stomped hard on the right-wing deck of Pluton.
With a sound like an evil dragon's growl, he spoke coldly:
"I know there's someone down there. If you're itching to sink to the bottom of the sea, I can make that happen."
From his understanding of Pluton, there had to be crew inside the right-wing section, or it wouldn't have come here under its own power.
He waited.
When no one moved, his patience thinned. With a grinding crunch, his talons began tearing at the armored deck.
Even Pluton's reinforced hull couldn't withstand him for long — cracks began to open.
"No—don't! We'll come out!"
The instant the plating tore open, a man's voice echoed over the loudspeaker.
"One minute. In one minute, I want every last one of you standing before me. Otherwise… I'll feed you to the Sea Kings."
Ghidorah's three pairs of golden eyes fixed on the hatch to the ship's interior, his tone glacial.
Whether out of fear or sense, it didn't even take a full minute. The hatch swung open, and more than a hundred people filed out in an orderly line.
Every one of them wore the uniform of the World Government military — unsurprising.
At their head stood a middle-aged man in a Justice-emblazoned officer's cloak, eyes wide with fear as he stared at Ghidorah.
"Good. Congratulations on making the right choice."
"Now, I don't care if you've contacted the World Government. I have only one demand—"
"—and that is to sail this warship to the entrance of the New World."
"Can you do that?"
Ghidorah's triple gaze bore down on the tiny humans, his voice a cold threat.
Truthfully, even if he killed them, he could drag the ship there himself.
But drag it? Him? A being of his stature? As if he'd stoop to something so undignified — like a dog pulling a sled.
Of course not.
Even Rodan wouldn't lower himself to such a thing — more likely, he'd burn the ship to slag.
"I'd love to refuse… but I know if I do, the soldiers behind me will die with me."
"And if I accept, death still awaits me."
The middle-aged man looked up at Ghidorah, fear in his voice but resolve in his words.
"So… I have only one condition."
"A condition?"
"Do you know who you're speaking to?"
Ghidorah almost laughed. From the man's eyes he saw genuine terror — and yet, despite that, he dared to set terms. Interesting.
"Speak."
"We'll take the warship to the New World entrance. You take in these soldiers… and I will commit seppuku in atonement."
"…Fine. I accept. Let's go."
Ghidorah gave a slow, amused reply.
An interesting man indeed.
Then he simply lowered himself to the deck, resting his heads.
If the enemy had already struck the forward outpost, they must know about Sabo's value.
That being the case, they wouldn't allow his organization to remain unscathed. So—strike first.
Once he returned, preparations had to begin immediately.
Especially concerning that brat Luffy… he'd have to send someone to seize him.
If the other side locked down that Devil Fruit, it would be of no benefit to him at all.
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