Cracks emerged on the walls inside the hospital. Amidst the shimmering light, scorching particles carried icy killing intent.
"Flash bastard! Don't you hurt my mom!" Bonney's young voice shouted.
Kizaru did not answer. His sharp Ama no Murakumo sword thrust forward with a roar.
Just as the dazzling laser was about to pierce through Bonney and her mother, a spear of scorching, molten gold, wrapped in thunder, abruptly intervened, colliding with Kizaru's laser sword, producing a crisp sound.
Clang!!!
The lightning slash cut through the laser. The molten gold spear swept horizontally, slicing Kizaru into fragments that scattered on the floor.
The stirred-up shockwave caused Ginny to stumble, falling in the hospital corridor. Her head hit the wall, knocking her unconscious. Bonney slipped from her arms.
"Yahaha! Isn't it a bit rude to throw your weight around in a god's territory, monkey!!!" Enel, his long earlobes swaying, his whole body erupting with cyan lightning, raised his head and arrogantly looked down at the pieces of Kizaru on the ground.
"How terrifying~" The pieces of Kizaru on the floor rolled their eyes, Enel's figure reflected in his pupils. "The God of Lightning, Enel, with a bounty of 660 million Berry. Let me ask, how did you discover me?"
"Hmph, this god could smell the stench of you lackeys from over twenty nautical miles away!" Enel pinched his nose with his free hand, stuck out his tongue, and made a disgusted face.
"Observation Haki over that distance? How careless of me~"
Kizaru's body began to gradually decompose into light particles, bypassing Enel and lunging towards Bonney behind him. "But for the military budget, we're giving it our all just the same!!!"
"Ridiculous! Trading others' lives for your own gain… you Marines aren't much different from us pirates, are you?" Enel's figure flickered and phased out, his outline dissolving as he stirred up a lightning surge within the corridor.
Nearly matching the speed of light, his figure once again appeared behind Kizaru. The spear in his hand, imbued with Armament Haki.
Thrust!
Pale, golden, and purplish-black light overlapped and converged, stabbing straight at Kizaru, pinning him to the ground.
Unfortunately, at the wound created by the thrust, faint golden light particles still spilled out.
Seeing this, Enel flipped back through the air and retreated to Bonney's side. "Get out of here quickly. Stop being a nuisance."
"No! This guy hurt my dad and mom. I definitely have to..." Angry, Bonney picked up rubble from the ground and viciously threw it at Kizaru.
But the stones passed through the light particles reassembling in the sky and fell to the ground with a clatter.
"Sigh, what a pain. This is exactly why I hate babysitting kids!"
Enel clicked his tongue impatiently, muttering complaints that he must have been out of his mind to accept the damn captain's assignment for childcare.
As he spoke, he raised his hand, clenched his fist, and knocked it on Bonney's little head.
"Don't be so arrogant, kid. That guy over there is a monster that would give even me, a god, a tough fight. What can you possibly do in your current pathetic, powerless state?"
"I... I..." Bonney's eyes reddened from the scolding, tears welling up in them.
Ignoring Bonney's feelings, Enel raised a small spark of electricity on his fingertip and jabbed it into Ginny's body, giving her a heart defibrillation to forcibly wake her from unconsciousness.
"Woman, take your daughter and leave quickly!"
"Uh... huh? Understood!"
After a brief moment of confusion, Ginny's gaze swept the area. Assessing the situation, she decisively picked up Bonney again and fled.
Bonney, held in her mother's arms, bit her lip and stared at Enel's back. Suddenly, she heard Enel's voice echo in her ear.
"Kid, everyone has their own moment to shine. Wait quietly. Your era will surely come!"
"Hmm! I got it, Big Brother Bili Bili!" Bonney nodded firmly, burying her tear-streaked face in her mother's chest.
Watching Ginny and her daughter leave, a small pink slug crawled up onto Enel's shoulder.
"Eh~, Big Brother Enel, so cool!"
The voice emanating from it was not the gentle tone of the Katsuyu Sage, but Sakura's voice, full of teasing. "Remember to make a big noise later. I'm worried the giants down below won't hear it."
"Shut up!"
Enel, annoyed, scooped up the slug and stuffed it into his pocket. He raised his lightning spear to meet Kizaru's swinging slash.
Boom—!!!
Light and thunder raged, turbulently rushing across the sky of the Upperworld.
The tremendous sound and the aftermath of the battle traveled down to the Underworld below, finally causing the many giants who had been waiting there for their moment to appear for so long to open their eyes.
Puff!
The leading ancient giant, Thormud, shot two plumes of white mist from his nostrils, his eyes filled with fighting spirit.
"Everyone!" His gaze swept over the dozens of ancient giants before him, as well as nearly a hundred ordinary giants. He spoke, "This is our first battle since joining under that lady's command. Under the witness of the God of Elbaf, we must not betray their trust!"
"Ooh!" xn
The giants shouldered swords, spears, axes, and halberds proportionate to their size and filed out of their village.
Thump, thump, thump, thump...
The Marine soldiers who had charged into the island suddenly noticed the snow on the surrounding vegetation falling to the ground. The earth also began to vibrate rhythmically.
One observant soldier cleared a patch of ground in the snow and pressed his ear to the ground to listen.
Suddenly realizing something, his face turned pale. He scrambled to his feet and shouted to everyone, "Take cover! A stampede!!!"
The surrounding officers smiled at this soldier, who seemed 'eager to distinguish himself'.
'What nonsense? How could there be a stampede in this frozen, snowy place?'
However, these officers leading the troops soon regretted it. Before them, hundreds of massive figures burst through the wind and snow, arriving in front of them.
Charging at the forefront was the ancient giant, over fifty meters tall.
It was like a twenty-plus-story office building suddenly grew legs and came running straight at you.
A normal person's first thought would probably be: Does this fall under traffic laws or building codes?
"No, this isn't the time to worry about that! Retreat, retreat immediately!"
The senior Marine officers, snapping out of their shock, shouted loudly, directing the soldiers still able to move to evade the giants' charge.
At the edge of the coast, Zephyr and Tsuru, locked in fierce combat, sensed the situation inside the island through their scattered Observation Haki. Their expressions grew even more grim.
"These are... the secrets the World Government hid beneath Punk Hazard?" Tsuru recalled Sengoku's briefing before they left.
The higher-ups had originally hoped that, if the Marines had any capacity left after dealing with the Buccaneer remnant, they could help clean up some loose ends.
But looking at the current situation, spare capacity was out of the question. Even self-preservation was likely becoming a luxury.
"Thinking back now, Haruno Sakura's move on Punk Hazard was too unnatural. She was after these frozen relics in the government facility from the very beginning!" Zephyr sighed.
It was just a pity they realized it too late. Otherwise, they would have stopped her at all costs back then.
During their brief exchange, the giants charged onto the battlefield. For the Wing tribe, this was a powerful reinforcement. For the Marines, it was a nightmare.
With a mere swing of their massive axes and swords, the giants could send a large group of soldiers flying. Their thick skin and armor rendered the Marines' firearms and weapons completely ineffective.
"There are still too many enemies. They're in the way." Thormud stood on the ground, gazing into the distance, gripping his iron hammer.
"Brother, let's use that!" One of the ancient giants came to Thormud's side and suggested.
"Good! After a hundred years, let's show those World Government bastards our power again!"
Dozens of ancient giants stood in pairs. Their raised weapons congealed with burning fighting spirit. The air itself seemed distorted under this tremendous and shocking force.
The next instant, a deafening unison roar resounded throughout the entire island.
"Elbaf Spear - Hakoku Sovereignty!" xn