...
On the light screen, after Loki swallowed the secret treasure fruit, he was enveloped by a restless, ominous black shadow. Only his burning vertical pupils and terrifying claws were visible; the true form of his Devil Fruit power remained unrevealed.
This deliberate omission ignited endless curiosity in everyone.
All eyes instinctively turned toward the only person present who might know the truth—the Giant King… Harald.
Harald felt the weight of those gazes. His massive head lowered slightly, avoiding everyone's eyes.
His silence was not feigned mystery but carried a trace of helpless honesty.
"I… don't actually know exactly what fruit that is."
Harald's voice was low but exceptionally clear in the quiet: "It is a treasure passed down through generations in Elbaph…"
"Even a king… has things he does not understand!"
Harald's explanation was perfectly reasonable.
Some ancient inheritances were indeed secrets transmitted only orally by designated guardians across generations; even monarchs might not know all the details.
"Mam-ma-ma-ma~"
Big Mom Charlotte Linlin let out her signature laugh, breaking the brief silence.
"Since it's a treasure guarded by Elbaph for generations, it definitely isn't ordinary! Looking at those claws and the black shadow, it's definitely an Animal-type…"
"And very likely some kind of Mythical Zoan! Ordinary Ancient types wouldn't live up to the name of a secret treasure!"
She made her judgment based on her own knowledge.
Hearing Big Mom's words immediately sparked heated discussion among the pirates.
"It kinda looks like the outline of Kaido-sama's dragon form! Just too much black shadow to see clearly!"
"Those claws are so sharp—I think it's more like a wolf or bear Mythical type!"
"The size seems to have gotten way bigger?!"
"No matter what it is, it's definitely ridiculously strong!"
Everyone chattered away, guessing at the true nature of Loki's ability from the few visible features. Though opinions differed, "Mythical Zoan" and "extremely powerful" became the consensus.
Little Loki himself watched with surging emotions—furious and grieving over his father's fate, yet filled with irrepressible excitement and yearning for the violent power his future self possessed.
That outline within the black shadow radiated raw, primal strength, deeply captivating the boy who thirsted to become stronger.
Rocks did not join the discussion. He simply watched quietly as the black-shadow-clad Loki on the light screen sped toward the battlefield. A faint, unreadable light flickered in the depths of his eyes.
It was as if, through Loki's transformation, he saw something deeper—something far more ancient.
The light screen shifted.
"Iron Thunder," now fully in squirrel form, chittered excitedly.
The next second—Loki moved!
There was no earth-shaking takeoff. The black shadow simply tilted slightly forward!
His entire body—along with Iron Thunder the squirrel on his shoulder—shot forward like an arrow loosed from a bow, or a streak of black lightning tearing through space. In an instant, he vanished from the treasury entrance!
His speed was so great that only a faint, dissipating black afterimage remained in his wake!
The castle's complex, winding corridors, broken obstacles, even the corpses of clansmen lying in pools of blood—none slowed him in the slightest.
The black shadow seemed to possess a terrain-ignoring glide. In just a few flickers, he crossed the vast distance and reached the edge of the bloody battlefield.
But Loki was still one step too late.
When he halted, the black shadow slightly receding to reveal those burning vertical pupils, the sight that met him caused those pupils to tremble violently.
At the corridor's end, in what had become near-total carnage—a meat grinder of ruins—Harald stood motionless.
His armor was shattered in many places, exposing slowly writhing, healing grotesque wounds beneath. His severed leg had fully regenerated.
In his hand he held a bloodstained giant axe—picked up from some fallen guard. His eyes were vacant, his aura ice-cold, as if he had just finished an insignificant cleanup.
And around him… mountains of giant guard remains.
Severed limbs, shattered weapons, blood-soaked stone bricks… almost no intact corpse remained.
The thick stench of blood and death had solidified into something tangible. The warriors who had roared their final defiance moments ago were now all silent.
In a corner, the gravely wounded Elder Jorul was shielded behind Scopper Gaban, while Shanks stood sword-ready in front.
The three were still alive. Though their breathing remained strong, both Scopper Gaban and Shanks bore several cuts and scrapes.
They stared at the suddenly appearing Loki, eyes filled with shock and… instinctive wariness.
The aura Loki now exuded was violent and utterly unfamiliar.
"You… ate it, didn't you? Loki…"
Harald's vacant gaze turned toward Loki. His voice carried no fluctuation—like a mechanical repeat.
Before the words finished—he moved!
His regenerated right leg stomped down hard. The ground exploded. His massive frame launched like a cannonball. The giant axe in his hand tore through the air with a shrill whistle, slashing straight down at Loki's head!
This strike held nothing back—full of the killing instinct and berserk power granted to an "Immortal Knight"!
Yet facing this mountain-cleaving blow, the black-shadowed Loki simply—almost casually—raised his right claw, grotesque and terrifying.
"Bang!!!"
A dull, earth-shaking impact!
The expected fierce clash never came.
Harald's colossal body was lifted like a broken doll by an overwhelming, irresistible force and smashed violently into a thick stone pillar that would take several men to encircle!
"Boom!!!"
The pillar shattered instantly!
Half of Harald's body embedded deep into the fractured stone pile. His left shoulder, arm, and ribs…
were twisted and caved in horrifically—clearly suffering catastrophic damage from the collision!
Yet the "Power of Immortality" stubbornly persisted.
Broken bones grated sickeningly as they attempted to reset.
Collapsed muscle writhed like living things, trying to fill the wounds.
Harald struggled, still trying to rise from the rubble.
But Loki gave him no chance.
The black shadow flickered—Loki appeared before the wreckage.
He swung both arms, fists coated in Haki raining down like a storm!
"Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!!!"
Each blow landed heavy as mountains, precisely targeting the parts of Harald trying to regenerate.
Bone-crunching sounds, muffled impacts of flesh, and unconscious gurgles from Harald's throat mixed together.
That supposedly "undying" recovery ability appeared utterly pale and powerless under Loki's overwhelming violent assault!
Regeneration speed could not keep up with destruction speed!
Shanks, Scopper Gaban, and Elder Jorul were completely stunned.
The terrifying puppet they had fought with all their strength—sacrificing so many clansmen—yet could barely suppress… was now being pummeled like a sandbag by Loki, utterly helpless!
The frenzied beating continued for who-knows-how-long.
Only when Harald was nearly hammered into the ground—body broken beyond recognition, regeneration glow faint to the point of nearly extinguishing—did Loki finally stop.
His massive arm extended like a vice, clamping tightly around the only relatively intact part remaining of Harald's shattered head.
The once-colossal Harald now appeared almost… small before the demon-god-like Loki.
At that moment, the black shadow around Loki receded like a tide, revealing his original giant form…
And on his shoulder rested none other than "Iron Thunder," now back in hammer form—gleaming with a dim silver light.
Clearly, during the battle, squirrel-form Iron Thunder had reverted and become Loki's exclusive weapon.
Loki gripped Iron Thunder's handle tightly with both hands and raised it high.
Black-red Conqueror's Haki erupted from him like boiling magma, coiling around the hammerhead and sparking streaks of fierce red-black lightning!
Destructive power gathered at the head; the very air seemed to wail.
This hammer strike would surely reduce Harald's remaining body—and that eerie contract mark—to utter dust!
However, at the critical instant just before the hammer fell…
Harald's always-vacant, pitch-black eyes suddenly flared violently!
Chaotic black light clashed madly with an extremely faint glimmer of Harald's own clarity—struggling!
Finally, that faint clarity struggled to gain the upper hand. Though still dim, it truly existed deep in his pupils.
Harald lifted his ruined face. Looking at Loki raising Iron Thunder high, the corner of his mouth twitched with extreme difficulty—as if trying to smile, but only pulling at broken muscle.
"…As expected… Loki…"
His voice rasped like a broken bellows, intermittent yet filled with a relieved satisfaction: "You too… carry… the blood of a 'Conqueror'…"
This sudden moment of clarity and those words struck Loki like lightning!
The raised Iron Thunder froze in mid-air. The coiling Haki lightning flickered chaotically for an instant.
"Hey! Dad!!"
Loki's voice distorted with emotion—tears and wild joy mixed: "You're awake?! You've regained consciousness?! Tell me quick! How do I save you?! How can we break that damn contract?!!"
Loki clutched at this last lifeline, asking urgently. Hope reignited in his eyes.
Harald looked at his son's expression and slowly shook his head.
The motion was small yet filled with endless exhaustion and despairing denial.
"Only now… Loki…"
Harald's voice grew even softer, as if it might fade at any moment: "Don't be… deceived… look around…"
His gaze laboriously swept over the surrounding hell of flesh and blood, over the mountain of clansmen corpses, over the gravely wounded Elder Jorul.
...