Chapter 495: 495. Alliance & Giants
The Straw Hat Pirates arrive at the 1st island and it's not Punk Hazard. They don't get any distress calls, so they keep moving to the island pointed out by Log Pose. Luffy wanted to follow the needle that danced around, so now they arrived on the most dangerous 1st island, Raijin Island.
This island has thunder striking everywhere all the time. But people actually live here even though it's dangerous. Well, this place is a lot safer now with the structures built all over the island to absorb the lightning.
Enel loves this island, so he asks Buggy to conquer it. Ruff also asked him because they could use the lightning here for energy. Buggy didn't have any problem with that, instead, he was anticipating the result, so he agreed.
Clown Pirates built many tall infrastructures to absorb the lightning and turn it into energy that they can use. Of course, they work together with the locals so there wasn't any big problem. Now this island has developed a lot and it's much safer without lightning striking the ground all the time.
The Straw Hats are impressed by this island's infrastructure, especially Franky. He can see that everything here is planned and built very well. It makes him want to meet the people who built these amazing infrastructures that seem like they won't break even if they get struck by lightning for hundreds of years.
Nami is also interested in the weather manipulation technology. Although the system used here is basic, the way they executed it was exceptional. It even looks to be better than the methods she learned in Weatheria.
The Straw Hats are exploring Raijin Island without knowing that they've been found by Law who is waiting on another island. Law leaves the island quickly and moves to Raijin Island with his crewmates to meet the Straw Hat Pirates.
Long story short, both pirate crews agree to form an alliance. Luffy just accepts Law's offer without much consideration. He is just happy with the idea of getting new friends and proving his crew's power in the New World by facing a Warlord.
"So, where are they now? Where will we fight the Donquixote Family? Also, have you researched them?"
Leo is asking some important questions at once to make sure this alliance will work.
"Of course, we've gathered some information about them. Their current base is an island owned by the previous World Government that was used as a research facility, Punk Hazard. It was left after a failed experiment destroyed the lab."
Unlike in the series, Punk Hazard isn't split into hot and cold areas now. There wasn't a fight between Akainu and Aokiji because Akainu died years ago in Buggy's hands. The Fleet Admiral selection was also easy because Kizaru wasn't interested in that position, so Aokiji was the only choice.
That's why there was no need to use Punk Hazard as a battleground to select the Fleet Admiral. However, the failed experiment that destroyed the island was still a problem. Until Doflamingo recruited Caesar who was expelled from Vegapunk's team.
Doflamingo made Punk Hazard his base before the defeat of Celestial Dragons last year. That's why he gets it so easily through the 5 elders as a former Celestial Dragon who knows a lot of their secrets. Punk Hazard was full of toxic gas before, but Caesar cleaned them, that's one of Doffy's reasons for recruiting him.
Another reason is Caesar's knowledge to make artificial devil fruits. That's right, they are still producing SMILE now. But they can't spread it freely like in the series because of Buggy's group's interference.
Well, Doffy also didn't plan to spread it because they were made to strengthen his force. He feeds his men with SMILE to give them power. Just like Kaido, he doesn't care about the success rate and side effects on his men as long as his force gets stronger.
Though that was the reason why his Donquixote Family could survive for this long. If Doffy dared to spread SMILE to civilians, then Buggy would destroy him without a second thought. Caesar also doesn't experiment on kids now without Big Mom requesting giantification on humans, so Buggy doesn't destroy them.
But because they focus on developing SMILE and using it on themselves, their force grows very rapidly despite a lot of them failing to get any abilities and just getting the side effects of laughing all the time. Well, many still succeed, so it isn't a loss for the Donquixote Family.
Buggy doesn't care about them because they are pirates and they know the risk before eating SMILE, unlike the innocents of Wano in the series. Another reason Buggy lets them grow is because it's more satisfying if he destroys them after they grow and they'll be good stepping stones for Leo.
Buggy hears about the 2 rookie crews alliance, but he doesn't care much about it now. He has something else to think about currently. Some young Giants come to test their strength by challenging their crew.
It's none other than the New Giant Warrior Pirates led by Hajruddin. Unlike how it was in the series, they actually have 10 members, not 5. These young Giants want to test their strength by being pirates and challenging strong people.
But they already have a target since they left Elbaf which is none other than the strongest pirate crew, Clown Pirates. They also know that a Giant from Elbaf is a member of Clown Pirates, so they want to test their strength against this Giant too which is none other than Magnus.
"So you want to fight us? Is that it?"
"Correct, we Elbaf warriors are challenging you."
"Sigh, what's in it for us?"
"Huh?"
"What benefit can we get by fighting you? We are pirates, we don't fight if it doesn't benefit us. So what can we get from this fight?"
".... Then, if you win, we will be your subordinates. We won't ask for anything because we just want to test our strength. How about that?"
"Being my subordinates? Sigh, sorry, but I don't need more subordinates right now. I have too many already."
"Then what should we do so you will accept?"
"Hmm, what about this? If we win, you will do what we ask. It will be reasonable, so how about it?"
Hajruddin looks at his crewmates and they all nod. "Alright, let's go with that."
"Great, that's what I want to hear. So about the fight, I want to propose something. Instead of just fighting together like a war, what if we make it to look like a tournament? We will send our members to fight one by one. The winner of each fight can choose to fight the next person or withdraw. You have 10 people, so we will also choose 10 people. It's a fair method that will really test our best power, how is that?"
"We don't mind fighting a lot of you, but this sounds like a good idea. A fair fight is the best fight for warriors."
Buggy grins and looks at Magnus who sighs and nods. It's clear that Buggy doesn't want to send 10 people for this. After all, they only need 1 person to face all 10 members of the New Giant Warrior Pirates. Magnus alone is enough to wipe out his fellow Giants here.
"Alright, let's start the tournament."
Buggy says it will be a tournament, but it will never actually be a tournament at all. He will let Magnus fight and wipe them out alone to show the gap between their power. Crushing these young Giants' spirits sounds very interesting, after all.
Well, if their spirits really break just with this much, then they won't make it in the pirate world anyway. So really, Buggy is helping them by crushing them. They can go back to Elbaf now if this is too much, it will save their lives before they die somewhere because of overconfidence.
The battle starts with Magnus facing the only female Giant in the crew who's also their doctor. He takes it easy and dodged her attacks without much trouble. Then he swung his axe and placed the blade right beside her neck.
"My win."
"Just placing your weapon on my neck won't defeat me."
She is stubborn and doesn't admit her defeat. She pushes the axe away, making Magnus sigh as he dodges her attacks again. He knows how stubborn Elbaf Warriors are, but he tried to be nice to his juniors just now.
"Well, if that's what you want."
After saying that, Magnus punches the female Giant's head from above. The punch is really powerful as it slams her head to the floor. One punch and she is knocked out. The other Giants are surprised, but they don't chicken out and get excited instead.
"Sigh, alright, next."
One by one, the Giants are fighting Magnus who keeps defeating them. He could've just beat them with 1 or 2 moves, but he plays along with their attacks. He even gives them some pointers while facing their attacks as if they are actually training, not fighting.
"Your techniques are lousy. Just because you have great physical power as a Giant doesn't mean you can neglect your skills. You will get defeated easily by people with great skills if you stay like this."
Magnus schools a Giant who tries to hit him with a big sword desperately.
"Train your skills again."
*BAM*
Magnus punches the Giant's lower jaw and knocks him out instantly. With this Giant's defeat, Magnus has defeated 9 Giants of the New Giant Warrior Pirates. This means there is only 1 opponent left, their Captain, Hajruddin.
"Let's get this done, Little Haj."
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