Little Garden was shrouded in dust. The sheer pressure of the wind forced the Straw Hats to squint and retreat even farther, grabbing onto whatever they could find just to keep from being blown away.
To be fair, as a rookie crew that had made it all the way from the East Blue to the Grand Line, the Straw Hats had a bit of pride. They'd beaten plenty of tough enemies and survived several close calls by the skin of their teeth. They'd never arrogantly claim to be invincible or big shots, but...
''We're at least pretty decent, right?''
Most of them had probably thought something like that at one point or another.
Now, though, the scene playing out before them made one thing painfully clear: their understanding of these seas was still far too shallow.
Where Monkey's staff had landed, the ground had shattered like a massive sheet of glass, leaving a gigantic, seemingly bottomless crater in the middle of Little Garden. Red and black lightning still crackled around the edge of the abyss, tearing apart the surrounding earth.
"You've got to be kidding me..." Nami covered her mouth, staring with wide eyes. "A single attack actually changed the entire landscape?!"
"He's so strong... No, wait, did he just throw Master Dorry and Master Brogy with his bare hands?! Was that some kind of martial art?!" Usopp's voice trembled in the howling wind.
To most of them, the power to rewrite the terrain with one strike was completely incomprehensible.
Naturally, there were a few exceptions.
"Just like that guy..." Having personally watched Inoshi sink dozens of pirate ships with a single blow, Zoro tightened his grip on his hilt.
"Yohohoho! As expected of Lord Shinryu's colleague! He really is frighteningly strong," Brook murmured in awe, remembering how Shinryu had manipulated the weather itself.
"That strike was just like Grandpa's..." Luffy, who had never paid much mind to the Twelve Zodiacs before, muttered under his breath, clenching his fists. "Monkey Uncle... you're really strong."
But right then...
Monkey pulled his arm back. The mountain-sized staff shrank back down instantly, returning to his hand with a soft hum. The staff vibrated playfully in his grip as if laughing, while the golden cloud beneath his feet bounced happily through the air, bobbing as it carried him along.
"Phew... I've been meaning to ask this for a while." Sanji slowly blew out a cloud of smoke. Watching the display, he finally got how that kingdom in his memories, a place that used to feel like an inescapable hell, had been wiped out so easily.
But there was still one thing he couldn't figure out.
"That staff and that cloud... aren't they clearly alive?"
"Is it a Devil Fruit power?" Nami forced herself to calm down and guessed. "Wasn't it like that back at the feast too?"
She recalled how he'd turned rocks into tables and chairs. But then her eyes darted anxiously toward the cloud of dust in the distance.
"More importantly, what about Dorry and Brogy? Shouldn't we go check on them...?" She was genuinely worried about the giants. They hadn't known each other long, but they were already friends.
"Don't waste your breath worrying, Nami," Zoro said, shaking his head. "Look at him." He gestured up toward the figure floating above the clouds. "The fight's only just starting."
Nami looked back up at Monkey. Sure enough, he casually twirled the staff over his shoulders with a quick flourish, looking down at the massive destruction below with a satisfied grin.
''Not bad. My control is still a bit shaky, but with Ruyi Jingu Bang, I can channel a pretty decent amount of Conqueror's Haki Infusion.''
Feeling the Ruyi Jingu Bang humming playfully in his palm, Monkey smiled. Just as Nami had guessed, both the staff and the golden cloud were products of Devil Fruit powers, and both were very much alive.
[ Paramecia: Weapon-Weapon Fruit LV5 - Allows any part of the body to transform into any non-living weapon or weapon-like object, provided the user understands the weapon's principles. After Awakening, weapons can be freely created within the surrounding area.]
[ Paramecia: Soul-Soul Fruit LV5 - Allows the user to place a portion of their soul into any non-living object, turning it into a living being and creating a special "High-Level Homie."]
These two Devil Fruit abilities were precisely what gave Monkey his two trusty treasures:
[ Homie Weapon: "Iron Staff" · Ruyi Jingu Bang]
[ Homie Weapon: "Vehicle" · Flying Nimbus]
High-level Homies possessed special traits, much like Big Mom's Thundercloud Zeus and her bicorne hat, Napoleon. Zeus could manipulate lightning, while Napoleon boasted monstrous destructive power and could freely alter his size.
Monkey's two Homies worked on the exact same principle.
Flying Nimbus's special ability allowed it to transform into a "rocket," granting it absurd speed and maneuverability. Meanwhile, Ruyi Jingu Bang could freely shift its size and weight, and had one additional perk Monkey had just put to use: it helped channel Conqueror's Haki Infusion.
Ever since his fight with Saint Pierre, Roy had been practicing Conqueror's Haki Infusion. To be blunt, progress had been mediocre. He'd grasped the basics; even without using 'Distorting the Future', he could infuse Conqueror's Haki to a degree. But the output was weak, leaking Haki like crazy, and maintaining it in the middle of a chaotic fight was a nightmare.
That was hardly surprising. Advanced Conqueror's Haki was an absolute peak technique. Unless you had a coach like Kaido threatening to smash your head in every time you messed up, mastering it in under a month was practically impossible.
But as Monkey, he'd found a workaround. Homies were literal extensions of his soul. The Conqueror's Haki he unleashed could be fed into and stabilized by Ruyi Jingu Bang itself.
The result was what everyone had just seen. Even if his own technique was still beginner-level, channeling it through Ruyi Jingu Bang amplified it into a terrifying force.
''When Ruyi Jingu Bang channels Conqueror's Haki Infusion, it accumulates the experience. Once I reclaim the soul fragment inside it, all that practical knowledge returns to me intact. As long as I keep picking high-intensity fights, my mastery over Conqueror's Haki Infusion is gonna skyrocket.''
Monkey understood this perfectly. And as luck would have it, he was right in the middle of one!
"Gahahahaha!"
"Gyahahahaha!"
Boisterous laughter echoed through the clearing. As the dust settled, two massive forms emerged from the haze: Dorry and Brogy, their giant round shields locked together in front of them.
[ Sun Shield]
It was the ultimate defensive move that had held firm against the monstrous form of Saint Topman Warcury himself. Yet even behind that legendary guard, both giants were visibly bleeding. Even they hadn't come away unscathed.
"We blocked it clean..."
"...and still took damage!"
Neither giant showed pain or confusion. If anything, their grins only grew wilder.
"That raw power, paired with Ryuo and Conqueror's Haki Infusion... It's been a long time, Dorry!" Brogy chuckled, tightening his grip on his shield.
"Gahahahaha! Yeah, Brogy! If our opponent is someone of this caliber, then..." Dorry laughed heartily, bracing his own shield.
A true warrior answered every challenge head-on, and Dorry and Brogy were warriors to the bone. They didn't need any more proof of Monkey's strength, that one blow was enough. He was overwhelmingly, incomprehensibly strong.
And if their opponent was someone like this...
"Then our duel is officially on pause!"
"For the God of Elbaf! For the glory of victory!"
With a pair of thunderous roars, the two giants vanished.
'BOOM!'
They materialized right beside Monkey, axe crashing down and sword thrusting forward in tandem once again.
This was their answer to his strike. They had no clue how he'd bypassed their Sun Shield, but it didn't matter. They were warriors. Questions and doubts would be answered by the battle itself, all that mattered was swinging their weapons!
"Master Brogy! Master Dorry! You already tried that!" Usopp clutched his head in panic. "An attack like that won't work on him!"
Monkey frowned slightly. Not because Dorry and Brogy had coated their giant axe and sword in jet-black Armament Haki, warriors of their caliber were obviously expected to know Armament, but because of the strange aura clinging to their strikes.
Something felt unusual about it.
But he didn't care. He grinned wide.
"Now that's more like it!"
Laughing out loud, Monkey swung his iron staff right into the path of the incoming weapons!
(End of Chapter)
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