"Hey!" Dorry shouted, his booming voice making the air tremble. Resting his massive sword on his shoulder, he grinned and said, "Kid, since you know who we are and still dare to challenge us, I have to admit, you've got guts."
"But taking on both of us at once... isn't that a little too arrogant?"
Though he admired the demonic body Ares had forged for himself, Dorry did not believe for a second that this man could handle both him and Brogy together.
A gleam flashed in Brogy's eyes as excitement rose on his face. "Dorry, why don't you let me have this one?"
The volcano had erupted, and he and Dorry had been ready to resume their duel, only for this unexpected intruder to interrupt it.
Besides, it was rare for someone this strong to show up on Little Garden. Naturally, Brogy wanted to test himself against him.
At once, Dorry shot him a glare. "What do you mean, let you have him? He looks strong. We don't meet opponents like this every day. I'm fighting him first!"
Brogy glared right back. "He's mine!"
"He's mine!" Dorry barked.
The two giants leaned closer and closer until they were practically butting heads like two enraged bulls locking horns.
"You can come one at a time if you want, but I'm afraid I might beat you to death that way. So come at me together."
The sheer arrogance of those words made both Dorry and Brogy turn toward Ares, anger rising in their eyes.
As the captains of the Giant Warrior Pirates, and with all the natural advantages of the giant race, they had never been looked down on like this.
Ares rolled his thick neck. The bulging muscles made it look almost as large as his head.
At the same time, the muscles at the back of his neck and along his trapezius swelled visibly, making him look even more monstrous.
His bones cracked sharply as he moved.
Ares' gaze burned hot as he grinned. "Remember my name. Because the man who defeats you is Ares!"
He lunged forward like a starving tiger.
Every step blasted a crater into the ground and sent cracks racing through the earth. Though his body looked tiny compared to Dorry and Brogy, it radiated the terrifying aura of a savage beast.
He threw a punch.
The air exploded.
"Good brat!" Dorry's eyes widened. He quickly raised his shield.
Boom!
A fist the size of a cart smashed into it and shattered it to pieces on the spot, forcing Dorry to stagger backward several steps as the earth thundered beneath him.
Throwing aside the ruined shield, Dorry stared at Ares in shock. "What incredible strength. This guy's stronger than most giants in raw power!"
Brogy's eyes lit up as he laughed. "Gabababababa! That's a good thing. If he weren't strong, he wouldn't even qualify as our opponent!"
Then he called out, "Hey, do you have a weapon?"
"My body is my weapon."
That was Ares' answer.
He had not gone all out with that first blow. It had only been a warm-up, a way to force them to take him seriously.
Hearing that, Dorry burst out laughing as well. "Gyagyagyagyagya! Aren't you afraid we'll split your body in two with a single slash?"
That only made Ares laugh harder.
"Hahaha! If you can split my body apart, then by all means, try!"
"If I even so much as frown, then my name isn't Ares!"
A glint of approval flashed in Dorry's eyes as he laughed. "Now that's what I call a man. Since you've got no weapon, then we won't use ours either."
With that, he hurled his sword into the distance. The massive blade shot out like a spear and embedded itself into the side of a volcano, trembling with a deep metallic hum.
Beside him, Brogy followed suit, throwing his giant axe so that it landed right next to Dorry's sword.
Their actions surprised Ares for a moment, but only made him even more excited. His blood heated and accelerated through his veins.
"So you're giving up your weapons to fight me bare-handed? That's a terrible decision."
Dorry threw his head back and laughed. "Gyagyagyagyagya! Enough bragging. Take this punch!"
His massive arm swung out.
The force of even a casual blow from a twenty-meter giant was enough to destroy almost anything.
The pressure from that fist alone made breathing difficult.
A savage, overbearing grin spread across Ares' face. "Good. This is exactly the kind of fight I like!"
As he spoke, the muscles in his arm cracked and shifted. He swung his right arm with a roar, his bronze-like muscles bursting with terrifying force and making the air shudder.
It shot forward like a battering ram to meet Dorry's fist.
Dorry did not use Haki.
Neither did Ares.
This was simply a contest of pure physical power.
His flesh against giant strength.
Bang!
The solid impact made Ares look even more excited, more crazed, as though some bloodthirsty spell had been cast on him.
He grew even more violent.
The monstrous strength that passed through his fist slammed into Dorry's, shocking the giant instantly. Dorry's body tilted back and he dropped hard onto the ground with a massive thud.
Brogy was dumbstruck. His eyes nearly popped out of his skull. "What?! Dorry lost in a contest of strength to that little runt?!"
He had fought Dorry for decades, far more times than most people battled in a lifetime.
The two had always been evenly matched, so he knew Dorry's strength inside and out. Yet this kid called Ares had actually overpowered him?
Brogy immediately roared, "Dorry, did you go easy on him? Since when does giant strength lose to a shrimp like this?!"
Dorry got back up and shot back, "Brogy, I didn't hold back! This guy's strength is monstrous!"
He stared at Ares with a grave expression. "I was careless just now. This time I won't hold back!"
"Hakoku!"
Dorry blasted out a punch.
The air around his fist shook violently, condensing into an incredibly terrifying shockwave that shot forward like an invisible cannon, blowing straight through the atmosphere.
The moment Dorry made his move, Ares' eyes gleamed brightly.
His heart was practically singing.
"This is exactly what I wanted. I've been waiting for you to use giant techniques!"
At the same time, the instant Dorry moved to attack, Ares' mind reacted with incredible speed. Before the giant's punch was fully thrown, Ares had already begun gathering force.
The muscles all over his body swelled larger, nearly expanding by an entire size. They looked like enormous pythons coiling around his frame, slick and resilient, gleaming under the sunlight like molten gold.
It was as though he had put on a sacred golden suit of armor.
He looked like a true God of War.
The muscles in his arm bulged with pulsing veins, blood clanking through them like iron chains as it poured boundless power into his fist.
To counter Dorry's strike, he used the move he had stolen from Big Mom.
"Ikoku!"
His punch burst forth like a dragon, like a world-shaking spear piercing straight through the air.
The joints of his fist jutted out as a terrifying shockwave erupted from it. Once power reached a certain level, even the air seemed to cave in.
A visible shockwave burst into existence.
Boom!
The two terrifying shockwaves collided, and the aftermath ripped through the earth in a straight line, opening a dreadful canyon between Ares and Dorry.
The fissure spread wider and wider to both sides, forcing the distance between them apart.
But in the end, the force within Ares' shockwave was still stronger.
After breaking through Dorry's Hakoku, it slammed directly into his body.
The muscles on Dorry's chest caved inward, and the giant was blasted backward, blood spraying from his mouth like a rainstorm and splattering a huge stretch of earth.
Brogy was left staring in utter disbelief.
"That was... that was a giant technique?!"
"This brat knows the secret techniques of the giants?!"