Uchiha Puppet Master, Starting from One Piece

Chapter 233 The Mighty Loki

Faced with Loki's attack, even the strongest felt a real, unreserved, and soul-shaking sense of oppression.

It's not the kind of mental pressure like Conqueror's Haki, but a more fundamental, physical fear of predators from the depths of biological instinct. It's like when a rabbit in the grass sees the shadow of a falcon flying over it in the sky, its limbs stiffen uncontrollably, its heart pounds wildly as if it's about to explode, and its blood turns ice cold in an instant.

That kind of fear has nothing to do with courage, will, or awareness.

That's a death warning etched into our DNA by evolution.

Loki's attack didn't hit Shanks.

That single strike severed this small patch of land.

The tip drew an arc from the starting point, leaving a visible, black, constantly writhing crack in the air. It wasn't just cutting through the air; it cut through space itself.

The edge of the crack shimmered with an eerie, dark purple light that didn't belong to natural light, as if someone had sliced ​​through butter with a red-hot knife. But what was sliced ​​through was the surface of the world; what was revealed was something deeper beneath.

Something more fundamental.

This space wasn't opened up by a Devil Fruit ability, but rather torn apart by brute force.

The moment the crack appeared, the atmosphere within a radius of hundreds of meters seemed to be suddenly gripped by an invisible giant hand and then squeezed outward.

The air was no longer air; it had become a viscous, heavy substance, like liquid metal, radiating outwards in all directions from the location of the crack.

Standing next to Bai Yu, Violet felt her eardrums being compressed inwards in an instant, and the air stored in her lungs felt as if it were being sucked out from the outside with tremendous force. Each breath required five or six times the normal strength to expand her chest.

The slash that the tree branch unleashed after being entangled with Conqueror's Haki and Armament Haki was surprisingly powerful.

The tree branch itself began to disintegrate during the chopping process.

It is not a disintegration caused by external forces, but rather a self-disintegration that begins at the molecular level because it cannot withstand the forces exerted upon it that exceed the limits of physics.

Countless fine, spiderweb-like cracks first appeared on the surface of the bark. These cracks spread rapidly to every corner of the branch at a speed imperceptible to the naked eye. Then, the bark peeled off piece by piece like a dried-up riverbed, and before it could even touch the ground, it was cut into particles finer than dust by the remaining sword energy.

The exposed wood, after the bark peeled off, turned a deep, almost blackish crimson under the influence of Conqueror's Haki and Armament Haki, like ancient wood that had been soaked in blood countless times. Every fiber of the wood was vibrating at an incredible frequency, which was the material manifestation of Conqueror's Haki.

The xylem is also disintegrating.

Starting from the tip of the branch, layer upon layer of wood fibers were flung out by the powerful centrifugal force, turning into countless tiny, burning fragments in the air. As these fragments fell, they continued to disintegrate and burn, eventually turning into a cloud of dark red smoke with a pungent, burnt smell, which dissipated in the turbulent airflow left by Loki's slash.

The moment the strike was completed, the several-meter-long branch in Loki's hand had completely disappeared.

Even with the aid of Armament Haki, this special, magical piece of wood, which could be used to build ships, still turned into dust and debris during the slash. It was as if Loki used a one-time-use blade that was destined to self-destruct before the slash was completed to perform this Iai Slash.

But the lethality of that strike has nothing to do with the material of the blade.

The blade exists only to provide a physical guide for the direction and angle of the slash; what truly causes damage is the domineering aura and sword energy wrapped around it.

After the powder from the tree branch dissipated, the slash released from the tip of the branch did not disappear. Instead, it transformed into a visible, jet-black crescent-shaped sword aura with edges flashing with dark red lightning, advancing forward at a speed many times faster than sound.

Wherever the sword energy passed, a straight, bottomless trench was cut into the ground. The soil on both sides of the trench was instantly vitrified by the high temperature brought by the sword energy, turning into a smooth, black mirror that reflected an eerie light.

All the trees, rocks, and anything else that blocked the path of the sword energy were silently sliced ​​in two the moment they came into contact with the dark crescent moon. The cut surface was as smooth as a polished mirror, and could even reflect the shape of the clouds in the sky.

The target of that sword energy was—

There is no goal.

Or rather, its target is everything in front of Loki.

This Iai Slash was never intended to target any one person from the beginning; Loki never planned to hit anyone with this strike.

What was displayed by that branch destined for self-destruction was not some nonsense like swordsmanship.

Rather, it was his power as a giant prince that transcended racial boundaries, a power that came from a casual strike.

At the same time, he was announcing something.

"That's his strength; anyone facing him needs to go all out."

The moment Shanks saw Loki assume the Iai stance, his expression changed.

It wasn't fear, nor tension, but a more complex expression that rarely appeared on his face during battle.

Surprise, and mixed in with that surprise was something akin to nostalgia.

He had seen this starting stance before.

That happened many years ago.

That year, he was still an undercover agent in the Knights of God, having just stood Im up; it was also the time when he and Jabba held off the possessed Harald.

He remembered that the figure's right hand gripped the sword hilt, his left hand rested on the scabbard, his body slightly lowered, his center of gravity on his back foot, and the twisting angle of his waist was so precise that it revealed the orientation of every muscle fiber.

That was the most perfect Iaijutsu starting stance he had ever seen.

That giant was Loki's father, the former king of Elbaf.

Loki struck the same pose as his father had back then, even though Harald may not have taught Loki.

But Loki has something more to offer.

Compared to Harald, Loki possessed something that Harald deliberately suppressed and concealed—a primal, violent, and untamed quality inherent in the giant race's fighting instincts.

Loki didn't suppress those things.

Loki released them all.

So when Loki swung his sword, Shanks didn't choose to take the hit head-on.

Using foresight to evade powerful attacks is the best choice. Before Loki's true power ceiling is determined, there is no need to reveal all of your trump cards in the first encounter.

He made his judgment before the black sword energy was fully formed, and leaped backward and upward, tapping his feet three times on the trunk of a giant tree. Each tap used the recoil to propel his body higher into the air.

The black crescent moon swept past Shanks' feet.

This is not luck; it is something that can only be achieved after mastering Observation Haki to its highest level. It is a judgment that is faster than instinct, honed through countless life-and-death battles.

However, the power of Conqueror's Haki still affected Shanks, forcing him to flip in mid-air to gain momentum.

Shanks flipped in mid-air and landed on a branch of an even taller tree, his right hand gripping Griffin, the tip of the blade pointing to the ground, his breathing still steady.

His own light fell on the path of the black sword energy that had destroyed everything, and then looked along the end of the glassy, ​​pitch-black ravine. After destroying several kilometers of straight distance, the sword energy finally slowly weakened and dissipated in the air. The last remaining energy struck a small mountain in the distance, instantly evaporating the mountaintop.

The cut surface is as smooth as a mirror.

"Ha, no matter how you look at it, it's truly terrifying."

Shanks let out a short, almost inaudible laugh, not one that was funny, but rather one that felt uneasy.

"This isn't human power. As expected of you, Loki."

He said in a low voice.

At the same time, Bai Yu watched the entire process of the black sword energy appearing and disappearing, and analyzed it simultaneously.

Loki's power could be used to give him a good show with the Rinnegan.

Bai Yu's gaze shifted from the glassy, ​​still-smoking ravine to Loki.

Luo Ji's position remained unchanged; he didn't even change his posture much, his feet still firmly planted on the ground that his palm had pressed down on.

He withdrew his right hand from where it had been clenching against Shanks, letting it hang at his side. His five enormous fingers slowly and rhythmically opened and closed in the air, as if repeatedly confirming the feel of the fist movement that Shanks had interrupted with his Conqueror's Haki.

His gaze followed Shanks as he flipped through the air, then shifted away from Shanks, sweeping over Jabba in the distance, over Mihawk who remained motionless, and finally back to Shiraha.

Then Loki did something that no one expected.

He smiled.

The smile that appeared on the face of a 60-meter-tall giant looked rather strange.

"Shanks".

Loki's voice came from above, his tone suddenly becoming as if the slash had never happened.

His gaze shifted from Shanks and returned to Bai Yu.

The image of Bai Yu was reflected in those enormous eyes. In the eyes of that sixty-meter-tall giant, Bai Yu was probably not even as long as one of his fingers. But the way Loki looked at Bai Yu was completely different from the way he looked at Shanks, Mihawk, and Jabba.

When Loki looks at Shanks, his gaze is one of equality, respect, and acknowledgment that Shanks is a worthy opponent.

When Loki looked at Mihawk, his gaze was scrutinizing and assessing.

When Loki looked at Jabba, his eyes were wary, cautious, and filled with a sense of utmost carelessness.

But when Loki looked at Bai Yu, there was something strange, almost confused, in his eyes.

"Although you haven't made a move, I don't know why I feel that you are a great threat."

However, Loki couldn't finish speaking because Jabba moved.

The old man rushed out from about fifty meters to Loki's left, at a speed that was not what one would expect from an elderly person, or even what one would expect from a normal human being.

Jabba's dash doesn't have the eerie feeling of disappearing for several frames like Shanks's; instead, it's a purer, more physical acceleration driven entirely by muscle strength and explosive power.

The moment his left foot pushed off the ground, the ground he stepped on exploded into a crater several meters in diameter. Gravel and dirt flew in all directions like cannonballs, some of the gravel even flying hundreds of meters away, hitting tree trunks in the distance with a dull thud.

That recoil force was enough to send a fully grown sea king flying, but Jabba's body simply moved lightly and smoothly...

It was propelled forward as if launched by a slingshot.

His body left a blurry afterimage in the air, with a thin, almost transparent white mist trailing behind it. This was the visual effect of the cone-shaped shock wave generated by his speed breaking the sound barrier being amplified by the humidity of the air.

Jabba drew his weapon during the charge.

This was the first time Bai Yu had seen Jabba's weapon in its complete form.

Instead, they were two short-handled battle axes.

When Jabba pulled the two battle axes from the leather belts crossed on his back, they emitted a crisp, metallic hum, like the satisfied groan of a long-dormant weapon being awakened.

The axe blade shimmered with a deep, almost black, dark gold luster, a result of the permanent alteration of the metal's molecular structure after being imbued with Armament Haki for an extended period.

Bai Yu noticed a detail.

The moment Jabba gripped the battle axe, there was no gap between his hand and the handle. When he held the battle axe, the relationship between his hand and the axe was more like the hand itself being part of the axe, and the axe itself being an extension of the hand. The boundary between the two was blurred to the point of almost non-existence.

That's a level that can only be reached after fighting with the same pair of weapons day after day for decades, etching the weight and shape of the weapons into muscle memory, and merging the soul of the weapons with one's own soul.

Jabba's sprint route was not a straight line.

He suddenly changed direction when he was about thirty meters away from Loki, his body bending to the left and forward at an angle that was almost impossible in physics. The magnitude and speed of the change in angle reminded Bai Yu of the ricochet phenomenon that occurs when a bullet hits a tilted steel plate, where the trajectory changes instantaneously, violently, and unpredictably at the point of impact.

Jabba's first change of direction brought him to the outside of Loki's left knee. The second change of direction allowed him to move from the outside of Loki's left knee to behind it. The third change of direction completed a 180-degree turn behind Loki's left knee, launching him towards the popliteal fossa of Loki's left leg. The soft indentation behind the knee is one of the most vulnerable parts of a human leg joint. Although the proportions are different for giants, the location of the weak point is similar.

Jabba's right-hand battle axe drew an arc in the air, its blade aimed at the tendons and ligaments in Loki's left knee that maintain knee joint stability.

His tactical logic in choosing this target was very clear.

Standing sixty meters tall, Loki would be an unstoppable force for any human swordsman to inflict fatal damage on a Titan with just one or two attacks. Titans have a surface area dozens of times that of humans, vital organs are located much deeper, and their bones are far thicker and denser than those of humans. Even the sharpest sword, combined with Loki's powerful Armament Haki, would require multiple, high-intensity, repeated attacks on the same spot to sever a Titan's cervical vertebrae or pierce its heart in a single strike. Such an attack is virtually impossible in actual combat because Titans don't stand still and wait to be attacked.

Therefore, the most effective strategy against giants, especially when humans are at a significant numerical disadvantage, is to attack their joints.

Knees, elbows, wrists, and ankles—these locations don't require cutting the entire joint; destroying just a few key ligaments and tendons is enough to render the joint unable to move normally.

A giant whose knees cannot bend properly will have his mobility reduced by more than 70 percent. The remaining 30 percent is only enough for him to stand still or move slowly. A giant who loses his mobility, no matter how strong his attack power is, is just a huge, slow-moving target.

Jabba's tactics are classic, textbook examples, and one of the most effective methods for multiple humans to work together to hunt large targets.

But Loki reacted as soon as Jabba began his first change of direction.

Transform!