...
Seeing that the weapon ambushing him was an ancient-looking, rather large warhammer, Loki froze for a moment. Then a surge of rage at being toyed with shot straight to his head!
He had originally thought some reckless fool had sneaked into the treasury amid the chaos to steal something—but this?
"Bastard! Who the hell dares throw a hammer at me?! Tired of living, huh?!"
Loki roared furiously, shouldering his own warhammer and charging into the treasury with aggressive strides.
He was burning with anxiety—his father was rampaging out of control outside, his clansmen were suffering heavy casualties, and he carried a grave responsibility. He had no time to play hide-and-seek with some sneaky rat!
However, when he burst into the dimly lit interior of the treasury and scanned around, he found it completely empty except for the massive treasure chest on the central stone platform and some scattered ancient vessels and dust on the floor!
"Hm?"
Loki's alarm bells rang loudly.
Something was wrong! Hammers don't fly on their own!
He whipped around, looking back toward where he had entered.
Sure enough! The warhammer that had ambushed him now lay quietly not far from where he had just been standing.
But what was even stranger was that the hammer… was faintly trembling, as if it were alive.
At the joint between the handle and the head, an extremely faint glow flashed and vanished.
Before Loki could fully process it, another change occurred!
The wriggling hammer suddenly erupted without warning!
This wasn't someone throwing it—it had "jumped" up on its own, carrying tremendous force and moving far faster and more fiercely than the previous strike, smashing straight toward Loki's head!
"Boom!!!"
Loki reacted extremely quickly. In the instant the hammer descended, he made a frantic but effective leap to the side.
But the spot where he had stood—the floor paved with hard giant stone—was not so fortunate.
Where the hammer struck, the ground shattered as if hit by a meteor, instantly collapsing and caving in. Shards flew everywhere, dust billowed, forming a deep crater several meters wide!
The entire ancient castle seemed to tremble from the impact!
"Holy crap!"
Loki landed steadily, staring at the shocking crater in shock and fury: "Are you kidding me?! How is this crappy hammer so heavy?! Is the castle so old the floor's brittle? Or has Dad been so busy running around outside that there's no money left to maintain the damn castle?!"
He instinctively blamed the unbelievable destructive power on external factors, unwilling to accept that the hammer itself was the problem.
Far away, Harald—who was locked in combat with Scopper Gaban and Shanks—seemed to sense something. His vacant eyes "glanced" toward the treasury!
In the depths of those pitch-black pupils, an extremely faint glimmer—belonging to his true self—struggled and flickered for an instant before being immediately drowned again by cold darkness.
The corner of his mouth twitched ever so slightly, as if he wanted to say something but was choked by invisible chains around his throat.
At that moment, one of his legs had been forcibly dislocated by Scopper Gaban and Shanks working together…
The "Power of Immortality" was slowly regenerating it, but the speed was noticeably slowed by the sustained high-intensity combat and Conqueror's Haki, limiting his movement.
Scopper Gaban's combat experience was extremely rich. While nimbly dodging Harald's frenzied but inaccurate attacks, he spoke gravely to Shanks:
"Did you see that? The wounds cause intense pain. Even though he can heal, the speed has slowed! What we need to do now is keep up constant attacks!
Don't give him a moment to breathe—prevent him from mounting any effective offense! And I've noticed: attacks infused with Conqueror's Haki cause the most obvious damage and hinder his recovery the most! That's probably the weakness of this 'Power of Immortality'!"
Shanks' heart jolted at the words.
Scopper Gaban had figured out the key so quickly?
While coordinating attacks with Scopper Gaban to suppress Harald, he couldn't help asking: "Mr. Scopper, how do you know about this weakness of the God's Knights?"
Scopper Gaban grinned, a smile tinged with reminiscence and mockery: "Heh heh, because those guys used to come looking for 'trouble' with us all the time… Probably not long after the God Valley battle ended, that Saint Garling seemed to have learned about your existence.
Every few days he'd send his God's Knights to ambush us at sea, trying to 'bring you back.'"
As he spoke, Scopper Gaban swung his battle axe to block one of Harald's incoming sword strikes and continued: "But well, those bastards all got beaten so badly by our Roger Pirates that they ran away crying and pissing themselves! After enough beatings, we naturally picked up on some patterns.
The power on those guys is very eerie, but it's not invincible—especially against top-tier Conqueror's Haki. It seems to have a natural counter."
Shanks suddenly understood. He vaguely remembered hearing Saint Sommers complain about something during his time in the Holy Land…
So that was referring to the Roger Pirates intercepting the God's Knights!
The two continued their seamless cooperation to pin down the one-legged Harald while anxiously thinking—beyond physical suppression, was there any other way to "awaken" or "save" him?
Shanks looked at Harald's eyes—completely swallowed by darkness—and the grotesque contract mark on his wrist. His heart sank deeper.
This kind of "corruption" and control originating from the highest level of the World Government seemed truly something only the legendary "Elbaph secret treasure" in Loki's hands could possibly resist or end.
Outside the light screen, upon hearing Scopper Gaban's "glorious battle record," the members of the God's Knights—especially Saint Sommers—turned extremely ugly, as if they had swallowed a fly.
Beaten so badly by a bunch of pirates that they "ran away crying and pissing themselves"?
This was simply an utter disgrace!
Even though it was a "future" event, having it publicly stated still left them utterly humiliated.
"Hahahaha! Hear that? Scopper says you guys suck!"
Roger stood with hands on hips, laughing triumphantly and unabashedly sweeping his gaze over the God's Knights: "What? Not convinced? Come on, come on—whoever isn't convinced, step up right now. I'll 'spar' with you real good!"
Faced with Roger's brazen provocation, the God's Knights members burned with rage, yet not a single one dared step forward.
The memory of Saint Garling being one-shotted was still vivid. Roger's unfathomable Conqueror's Haki and swordsmanship made them painfully aware of the massive gap in strength.
Stepping up now would be nothing but self-humiliation.
They could only grit their teeth in frustration, faces ashen, and turn their heads away.
The light screen refocused on the even stranger "battle" inside the treasury.
Loki panted heavily, eyes wide as he stared at the bizarre hammer that had gone "quiet" again, now lying beside the crater.
It seemed almost alive, occasionally giving a faint tremor. The hammerhead pointed toward Loki, as if "locking onto" him.
"What the hell are you?!"
Loki was both shocked and furious, but mostly impatient: "I don't have time to play games with you right now! Get the hell out of my way!"
However, the strange hammer seemed provoked by Loki's attitude—or perhaps it was simply carrying out some "guardian" directive.
It vibrated with a "buzz" once more, then suddenly sprang from the ground, spinning and charging toward Loki with even fiercer momentum!
"Again?!"
Loki was thoroughly enraged.
He was never one with a good temper to begin with. Being pestered repeatedly by a mere hammer—while his father was fighting for his life outside—left him with zero patience.
"Fine! You wanna play?! I'll play with you!" Loki roared. This time, he didn't dodge!
He gripped his warhammer with both hands, pouring his raging fury and Conqueror's Haki madly into it!
In an instant, it was coated in a pitch-black sheen.
Loki met the incoming "Iron Thunder" head-on, swinging his black-coated hammer with all his strength!
He aimed precisely at the center of "Iron Thunder's" hammerhead!
"Clang!!!!!"
This collision rang louder and sharper than any before—like two massive bronze bells smashing together!
A violent shockwave exploded outward from the point of impact, sending the already sparse items in the treasury flying chaotically. Even the wooden chest holding the secret treasure trembled slightly.
Loki felt as if he had struck an immovable ancient mountain!
What shocked him even more was…
"Crack… shatter!"
The reinforced steel handle of his hammer—infused with Haki—shattered like fragile glass the moment it contacted "Iron Thunder," fracturing inch by inch from the point of impact!
Finally, with a "bang," it exploded completely, leaving only scattered fragments embedded in his palm.
"My hammer!!!"
Loki stared at his now-empty hands and let out a heartbroken wail.
Though not a divine weapon, this hammer had been with him a long time and felt just right in his grip!
And now it was… shattered?!
But before he could even mourn his beloved hammer, an even more jaw-dropping scene unfolded!
The incredibly hard "Iron Thunder"—the one that had just shattered his hammer—seemed to have exhausted some kind of energy after that fierce clash, or perhaps suffered significant recoil.
It fell to the ground with a "clang," the faint glow flowing over its surface rapidly dimming until it extinguished.
Then, under Loki's and every viewer inside and outside the light screen's incredulous gazes…
The ancient-styled, astonishingly powerful warhammer began to rapidly deform and shrink!
The handle contracted, the head softened and reshaped…
In just two or three seconds, where was the warhammer?
In its place stood… a fluffy, somewhat adorably dumb-looking… squirrel?!
This squirrel was several times larger than an ordinary one—about the size of a small dog.
Most peculiar of all, right in the center of its head sat a mini version of the previous "Iron Thunder" hammerhead—identical in shape!
As if the hammer were part of its body, or its natural "horn" or "decoration."
[Keep the updates coming, toss some gifts~ I'm starving already]