"Mr. Uma!"
"Lord Uma!"
Seeing that pitch-black soul drill directly into Uma's body, the expressions of Brogy and the others instantly changed, and they subconsciously cried out in alarm.
Loki's massive dragon body trembled violently, and his dragon claws immediately clenched tight again.
VMMM!
The power of the Nidhogg Fruit activated, and invisible soul bindings swept around Uma's body, attempting to forcibly peel Teach's soul out from within.
But—
"..."
In just a split second, Loki's expression was full of gloom.
He could perceive that when his ability grabbed at Teach's soul within Uma's body, it could no longer distinguish between the two souls — Teach had already begun parasitizing.
"Is it his fruit awakening ability..."
As someone who had been parasitized by Teach, although he had played the suppressed party during the previous parasitism, Loki unavoidably gained some knowledge about Teach's abilities.
So he immediately deduced that what Teach used this time was his fruit awakening's unique effect — Eternal Parasitism.
"What exactly is going on with this guy's soul?"
His gloomy gaze looked to the side — there, those three soul fragments previously destroyed by his and Uma's power flickered like candles in the wind.
This was exactly what puzzled Loki.
"Three complete souls... there's no mistake."
As the master of the Kingdom of the Dead, he could perceive the essence of these three souls — they all belonged to Teach and had a similar aura.
But as souls, they themselves were each complete and independent entities.
This simply exceeded Loki's cognition.
At the same time—
"Just like that time..."
Loki still remembered the situation when he encountered Teach not long ago.
Just as most Giants in Elbaf knew — an intruder had appeared in the Underworld at that time. And that intruder was Teach.
At the time, he occupied the body of an unknown pirate and rushed from Dressrosa to Elbaf. Because he announced his identity as the son of Rocks and the descendant of the Davy clan, Loki didn't put his guard up. This allowed Teach to find the opportunity to use his fruit ability.
But the problem lay exactly here.
When attacked, Loki's instinct as a powerful warrior allowed him to make an excellent response in the first instant.
He withstood Teach's attack, didn't fall unconscious, and even engaged in a soul confrontation.
And at that time, Loki had already perceived it — Teach's soul was unusually powerful.
From the ultimate outcome of his body being occupied, it could also be seen... the will and soul he took pride in were completely suppressed by Teach. He couldn't even control his body to call for help or warn the Giants of Elbaf.
Now, he finally seemed to see the reason.
Teach's soul was never that of an ordinary human, but had the weight of four normal humans, counting his own — there were three other special souls within his body.
No wonder Loki had lost to him in the battle of souls.
Although the Giant race is inherently extremely powerful in terms of physique and strength, their souls are no different from normal humans.
"But how could a human have four completely different souls..."
Harboring such doubts, Loki raised a claw and clenched it, pulling those three souls to his side to observe carefully — he knew he had to figure out the secret of Teach's soul now to have any chance of helping Uma.
Then Loki was stunned.
Because when he used the power of the Kingdom of the Dead to slowly reconstruct those three originally shattered souls, he saw that the reconstructed appearances were not Teach's image, but the silhouettes of three females.
One of them was a middle-aged woman with short hair.
And the other two were two young girls.
"Those are..."
Loki, who had once fused souls with Teach, instinctively recognized those three people — especially the middle-aged woman, whom he had even heard people talk about.
"Loki, if Star Lord appears and you overthrow the Abyss... if you are still alive, then as my last crew member, please go to the Lulusia Kingdom and take a look for me."
Those were the words Rocks had said with a smile during their last meeting, when he entrusted the responsibility to him.
"Alice... Verdandi, Skuld..."
Loki realized their identities.
They were Teach's mother and his two younger sisters — Rocks' wife and daughters.
In this instant, Loki almost crushed his own dragon teeth from gritting them so hard.
Even though he had always considered himself a monster, he had never seen a monster like Teach.
"He actually fused the souls of his own mother and sisters into his own soul?"
He couldn't imagine what kind of monster could do such a thing.
And exactly at this moment—
Rumble!
Within the Kingdom of the Dead, the earth trembled.
Loki could see — in the distance, that massive Treasure Tree Adam that had stood here for hundreds of years... its branches were falling.
From the canopy at the top of the tree, massive rubble and leaves fell continuously.
The entire heaven and earth seemed to let out a mournful cry.
"Loki!"
"Prince Loki!"
The three Giants arrived beside Loki and Ida.
They first glanced anxiously at Uma, who had fallen into silence and whose condition was still unknown, while simultaneously looking at Loki. "Elbaf is completely collapsing, we—"
"You and my mother immediately return to the Sun Realm and help Hajrudin oversee the evacuation... I will try my best to control the intensity of Elbaf's natural disasters so they don't descend immediately!"
Loki displayed the decisiveness as Lord of the Underworld he had honed over these years.
He instantly transformed back into human form. Those snake eyes, now completely revealed, looked at the three Giants and his mother. "I must stay here and wait for the final result!"
The current situation was obvious.
After Uma had Gaban and the Giant Heroic Spirits sever Elbaf's final roots and used the Source Energy of Lineage Factor within to save Loki, Treasure Tree Adam naturally couldn't hold on.
It was completely collapsing and would wither entirely very soon.
At that time, Elbaf and the Giants remaining on the tree would die without a doubt — the entire island would sink into the sea.
Loki believed in his younger brother. Although the latter probably didn't know the full picture yet, with the help of the Crown of Wisdom, he would definitely make the right choice. He would evacuate all the Giants of Elbaf in the first instance.
That was why he told the three Giants to take Ida back to the Sun Realm to help, and to evacuate together along the way.
As Uranus, Loki possessed the ability to control natural disasters. He couldn't stop Elbaf from sinking, but he could control the intensity of its disasters — this could buy the Giants time to retreat.
"..."
The expressions of the three Giants changed drastically.
Although they had long guessed this fact in their hearts, upon truly hearing "Elbaf is about to sink," even they found it hard to contain the heaviness.
Elbaf was the kingdom of the Giant race — if it was gone, where could the Giants go?
"What about you?"
It was Ida who responded first. "And Mr. Uma..."
Compared to the three Giants, she actually appeared firmer and calmer — after all, being an overseas Giant herself, she had once experienced this feeling of displacement.
So compared to Elbaf, she was more concerned about Loki himself and Uma right now.
"I will stay here to protect Uma's body."
Loki glanced at Uma, then directly stated his decision.
"His soul is engaging in a duel with Teach. His body is very fragile right now."
"If Uma ultimately wins the soul duel, I will bring him back to the Sun Realm immediately to help."
Loki gently raised his hand.
The next moment—
BOOM!
Lightning, thrown who knows where during the previous battle, flew directly into his hand.
From the handle of Lightning, a fluffy tail even extended, continuously rubbing against Loki as if cheering.
"You've worked hard, Lightning — because of me, you suffered as well..."
Loki first apologized to his own weapon.
The master of the Nidhogg Fruit can rely on the ability to control souls and devour Source Energy of Lineage Factor to manipulate Lightning; they are the master chosen by Lightning itself.
But because his body had been controlled by Teach, Lightning's soul had also been suppressed and forced to obey only Teach's commands.
Until now — with Loki regaining his body, Lightning had finally regained its freedom.
"If Uma ultimately loses, then..."
"Lightning and I will completely obliterate this monster here."
Loki stroked his weapon and spoke in a deep voice.
His words carried the firmness and decisiveness unique to a warrior.
His hand slowly touched his waist — hidden there was an object similar to a Transponder Snail.
That was the Transponder Snail he used to communicate with his good friend 'Duke Ponpon'.
Loki knew Duke Ponpon's true identity, so correspondingly, Teach — who had fused souls with him — naturally knew as well.
Loki was certain that if Teach occupied Uma's body, then given that he temporarily couldn't do anything to Loki, he would highly likely go find Duke Ponpon — she, like Loki, was an extremely special existence.
So no matter what, he would not allow a dangerous and inhumane monster like Teach to walk out of here.
Teach knew too many secrets and was a threat far greater than natural disasters.
Whether out of the agreement with Rocks, seeking revenge for Elbaf, seeking revenge for Uma, or the responsibility borne towards the world — Loki would stay here and fight the other party to the death.
"..."
Hearing Loki's firm words, Ida was stunned.
She looked deeply at her adoptive son.
Then this female Giant without the title of Queen smiled. "I am very happy, Loki."
"I did not fail Harald's expectations... you have already grown into an outstanding King."
She walked to Loki's side and hugged him — even though compared to Loki's ancient Giant physique, her body appeared very petite.
"Your younger brother and I will both wait for you to return."
She whispered, not stopping her son's choice.
Afterward, she finally turned her head. "Dorry, Brogy, Saul — I order you in the name of the mother of Prince Regent Hajrudin and the King of the Underworld Loki... we immediately return to the Sun Realm and help those who need help!"
"...Yes!" ×3
Looking at this valiant and heroic female Giant, and at Loki with his firm expression, the three Giants wanted to say more but ultimately didn't utter a word.
They merely nodded, and then left the Kingdom of the Dead together with Ida.
Before long, only two people remained.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
The earth was cracking and crumbling, and massive tree remains and boulders continuously plummeted from the sky above.
But the cracking earth, just as it was about to split open, would be swept up by fierce winds and lightning and forcibly pressed together, and the falling boulders and tree trunks were destroyed by lightning during their descent.
"..."
Loki, silently manipulating the surrounding natural disasters to protect Uma, hoisted Lightning onto his shoulder and sat cross-legged in front of Uma.
"Hey, Zodiac... although it's our first meeting, you are that Star Lord's subordinate."
He let out a breath, his gaze on Uma.
"Rocks said that Star Lord is a guy most skilled at creating miracles."
"Mm, I admit that your ability to let me wake up again is a miracle in itself — but it's not enough."
He gripped the handle of the hammer tightly and spoke deeply.
"Let me witness it — a true miracle."
"Zehahaha! There are no more miracles — give up, Uma!"
Just as Loki was expecting this in his heart, deep within Uma's soul, Teach was letting out maniacal laughter. "If that guy Loki could make up his mind to kill you, I might admit defeat — but that so-called Cursed Prince is a very weak guy."
"He won't be able to harden his heart to kill you, his benefactor!"
Amidst Teach's maniacal laughter—
"Indeed, as far as I know, Loki is a pretty good guy."
Uma's response remained very calm.
"However... give up?"
"I don't even understand what you're talking about... weren't you the one who threw yourself into the net?"
As soon as these words came out, Teach's laughter abruptly ceased.
"You say..."
His voice instantly became indifferent. "Threw myself into the net?"
"You really don't understand the situation."
"My soul has already entered your body. You have already lost."
He sneered.
"I get it — you think that because you and Loki's attacks just now wiped out the three pieces of nourishment on me, my soul would become weak?"
"Stop joking — they were a part of my power. Originally, I planned to use their souls to extract the power Joy Boy left behind. Although it's a pity to lose them now, it's irrelevant."
His voice carried distinct flaunting and arrogance.
"I will definitely win against you — I am Davy."
"My ancestor was the first cursed one — the contract he signed with the Abyss changed the souls of our clan."
"The blood of Davy never withers, the will of Davy is never obliterated... in a battle of souls, no one can defeat me!"
(End of Chapter)
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