As the first brother to follow Kaito and the man who had always served as Kaito's right-hand man, Mangu's prestige within the War Pirates was undoubtedly far greater than that of the others.
Even Robin was still inferior to Mangu in this regard.
After all, when it came to combat power, Mangu ranked first.
"Ka ba ba ba... I'll go up and take a look!"
Brogy, who was sitting on the side of the high platform, laughed and grabbed the giant ax beside him. He stood up and strode into the arena.
As a warlike member of the giant race, Brogy obviously wasn't going to sit back and watch after Dorry had already taken the field.
"Now that we've seen some of their strength, I wonder who will come out on top between Mangu and a giant like Brogy."
"Brogy and Dorry aren't ordinary giants. They're the former captains of the Giant Pirates who once shook the world. Their strength is extraordinary even among the giant race."
"If Mangu hadn't obtained the Muscle-Muscle Fruit, it would probably be dangerous for him to face a giant like Brogy. But now, I'll bet ten million Berries that Mangu wins!"
On the high platform, Sandy and the others immediately became excited when they saw Brogy challenge Mangu. They all looked forward to the upcoming battle.
The two sides stood facing each other.
In terms of size, Mangu could certainly be called a small giant, but compared with Brogy, a genuine giant, there was still an obvious difference.
However, when it came to presence and the sense of oppression they gave off, Mangu was not inferior to Brogy in the slightest.
Although Mangu remained silent, his imposing aura was enough to make people feel pressured.
Soon, after both sides had taken their positions, Luo announced the beginning of the battle.
"Drink!!"
Brogy immediately launched an offensive.
He strode forward, and every step he took caused the earth beneath his feet to tremble. With the tremendous strength of the giant race behind his movement, he raised his giant ax and fiercely slashed down at Mangu.
His bulging muscles glistened with a metallic sheen.
Facing the enormous ax that came crashing down amid howling air currents, Mangu did not retreat.
Instead, he directly swung his mace upward to meet it head-on.
Bang!!!
The giant ax and mace collided violently.
The tremendous force instantly triggered a powerful shock wave that swept across the surrounding ground.
The earth beneath Mangu's feet collapsed, forming a crater nearly ten meters in diameter.
Yet despite the astonishing collision, Mangu's mace forcibly knocked Brogy's giant ax backward and even sent the giant staggering several steps.
The spectators immediately gasped.
The outcome of that clash was obvious.
In terms of raw strength, Mangu had the upper hand.
Mangu sprang out of the crater.
After knocking Brogy backward, he immediately leaped toward the giant's abdomen and swung his mace once again.
Brogy hurriedly stabilized himself.
At the same time, he raised the shield on his left arm to block the incoming attack.
Bang!!!
Another deafening roar erupted.
The tremendous force of Mangu's mace shook the shield violently, leaving an afterimage in the air.
Brogy's feet sank into the ground under the impact, and his enormous body was forced backward as he slid across the earth.
Mangu stomped through the air.
Using Moonwalk to pursue him, he advanced relentlessly and repeatedly swung his mace at Brogy.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Relying on his Observation Haki to predict the attacks, Brogy repeatedly defended with his shield.
Yet with every collision, the thunderous roars continued, and Brogy was constantly driven backward.
Mangu's attacks were extremely simple.
He merely swung his mace again and again.
But when that simple attack was combined with his overwhelming strength, Brogy didn't even have an opportunity to counterattack.
He was completely suppressed.
If not for the fact that Brogy's shield and giant ax had been created by Kaito through the Munch-Munch Fruit and were as durable as top-grade weapons, they would probably have already been shattered under Mangu's repeated blows.
Even so, after enduring dozens of strikes from Mangu, Brogy's left arm began to crack from the tremendous force transmitted through his shield.
"Hakoku!"
The pain in his left arm stimulated Brogy.
He immediately understood that if the battle continued like this, he would eventually lose.
His rich combat experience allowed him to abandon a direct contest of strength.
Instead, he took advantage of the next exchange to create some distance between them.
Then he roared and unleashed his strongest attack.
Boom!!
Even when performed by only one person, Brogy's Hakoku was still astonishingly powerful.
A violent spiral-shaped shock wave erupted from his giant ax and surged toward Mangu.
"Muscle Liberation 50%—Skull-Splitting Strike from Hell!"
The muscles covering Mangu's body, glowing with a metallic sheen, twisted like rippling waves.
Facing the incoming shock wave, Mangu's expression became serious.
He still didn't dodge.
Instead, he swung his mace with tremendous force, as though he were hitting a baseball.
Bang!!!
The mace collided with the shock wave, producing an enormous roar and a violent shock wave that swept across the battlefield.
The strength of muscles comes from their contraction.
There are approximately 639 muscles in the human body, composed of roughly six billion muscle fibers.
In theory, even an ordinary person who could completely mobilize the strength of every muscle in their body could unleash an enormous force of around twenty-five tons.
But Mangu was now using the Muscle-Muscle Fruit to accomplish something that existed only in theory.
Even after releasing only fifty percent of his muscular strength, the power Mangu could unleash was terrifying.
When the mace collided with the shock wave, Brogy's Hakoku rapidly twisted around the mace.
Then, under the overwhelming force of Mangu's strike, the spiral-shaped shock wave was immediately dispersed.
But the attack didn't end there.
The mace itself, which had nearly completed its swing, suddenly released another powerful shock wave.
It blasted directly toward Brogy.
Big Brother Mangu has learned the techniques I taught him very well.
Seeing Mangu unleash a shock wave from his mace on the high platform, Kaito couldn't help but smile inwardly.
As his number-one subordinate, Kaito naturally wasn't going to treat Mangu poorly.
Just like he had done with Robin, he had also developed some techniques specifically for Mangu.
For example, he had taught Mangu the techniques of the Dragon-Subduing Legs and even modified them to better suit Mangu's fighting style.
The shock wave Mangu had just unleashed came from those techniques.
Brogy's expression changed drastically when he saw the incoming attack.
The shock wave was no weaker than his own Hakoku.
He hurriedly raised his shield again to defend.
Boom!!!
The shock wave slammed violently into the shield.
The astonishing impact was too much for Brogy to withstand.
His entire enormous body was blasted into the air and sent flying backward before crashing into the ground in the distance.
The earth trembled.
Countless clouds of dust rose into the air.
Brogy smashed into the ground, creating a huge crater.
His left arm was twisted unnaturally.
Although he had raised his shield in time to defend against the attack, he had still failed to withstand the full power of Mangu's shock wave.
His left arm had been broken.
The injury was not fatal, but after staggering back to his feet, Brogy reluctantly chose to admit defeat.
There was no other way.
That single exchange had been enough for him to understand the gap between himself and Mangu.
Brogy was not afraid of continuing to fight even if it meant suffering more injuries.
But this wasn't a battle to the death.
There was no reason to stubbornly hold on when the outcome had already become clear.
"That's enough. I admit defeat."
Brogy steadied himself and looked toward Mangu.
Mangu lowered his mace without saying anything.
The entire arena fell briefly silent.
Then the spectators erupted into an uproar.
The outcome of the battle had once again demonstrated just how terrifying Mangu's strength was.
Even a legendary giant like Brogy had been completely suppressed in a direct contest of power.
And this was only with Mangu releasing fifty percent of his muscular potential.
On the high platform, Kaito looked at Mangu with satisfaction.
The result was exactly what he had expected.
Mangu's Muscle-Muscle Fruit was an ability with terrifying potential, and after combining it with the techniques Kaito had developed for him, his fighting style had become extremely straightforward and powerful.
There was no need for complicated tricks.
Overwhelming strength alone was enough to crush most opponents.
As the medical team quickly moved onto the battlefield to treat Brogy, the competition for the fourth and final seat among the Four Heavenly Kings continued.
And Mangu, standing in the center of the arena with his mace in hand, had already shown everyone why he was Kaito's most trusted right-hand man.
-------------------------
For advanced chapters, visit patreon.com/Varnok