CHAPTER 624: CHAPTER 143: THE GLORY OF ELBAF—THE ULTIMATE COMBINATION ATTACK!

"Get up!!"

Darren laughed like a madman. Muscles coiled, then detonated. His limbs fired like rockets, blasting the giants’ weapons aside.

Strength: 0.07!

It moved.

At last, the Strength stat that had refused to budge began to rise.

Wind screamed around him as his grin sharpened and his muscles swelled like stone.

Just as he’d guessed.

Strength, Speed—like Physique—could be pushed upward with the right "teacher." And when it came to raw power, who on these seas could teach better than the Giant Race?

"Who needs your recognition, runt?!" Brogy’s eyes went bloodshot. He flung his shield aside, seized his axe in both hands, and roared. Cables of muscle writhed down his arms like knotted dragons.

Darren’s skin flushed red. Veins snaked thick under his flesh as he poured everything into his frame—then swung his axe to meet the giant’s.

"Hahaha! Stuck on this island for decades—you’ve no idea how the world’s changed!" Darren charged in, face lit with savage joy. "Walk off this rock and you’ll see how many across the seas would claw each other to earn my recognition—even if it cost them an arm!"

BOOM!

The impact between a towering Brogy and a "small" human hit like a meteor. Shockwaves tore outward, flattening forest in every direction. Ancient beasts stampeded, their bellows shaking the sky.

"You’re just a little runt!" Brogy thundered. "I could crush you like an ant!"

But his gut told him otherwise. This power matched—and might already be overtaking—his own.

"Hurry up and help me!" he bellowed.

Dorry snapped from his daze, tossed his shield, and came thundering in with both hands on his longsword.

On Ancient Island, a ridiculous, magnificent sight unfolded.

Two mountains in human shape hammered a lone figure, each blow turning earth and trees into storm-tossed waves. The small man never tried to slip away. He never even feinted. He met them head-on, grinning, as if the only thing that mattered was the collision.

Boom!

Strength: 0.08!

Boom!

Strength: 0.12!

Boom!

Strength: 0.14!

With every bone-jarring clash, Darren felt muscle, bone, even the throb of his heart tightening, hardening, driving deeper. His pulse kicked faster, heavier—like an engine spooling into the red. Something older than language seemed to be waking in him, an ancient strength taking form under the giants’ relentless pounding—as if a primordial beast were stirring to life inside his frame.

One minute.

Five.

Ten.

Half an hour.

---

"Hahahaha! That’s more like it!"

Darren pinwheeled through the smoke and grit, hit, and tore a deep furrow through the soil. Mud and dust smeared him head to toe. He dragged a breath, lifted his chin, and glared at the two giants, also heaving, steam wisping from their backs as sweat flashed away in the heat. He wiped the blood at the corner of his mouth.

They hadn’t used Haki. He’d kept his Demon Form sealed away. Even relying only on the Indestructible Body, their strikes hadn’t cracked him—but the weight of them had rung him like a bell, copper in his mouth and pressure deep in his chest.

"Why don’t you dodge? Or hit back?!" Brogy roared, breath pouring like a waterfall.

Even he couldn’t ignore it anymore. This guy had speed they couldn’t even track—yet he refused to evade or take the openings. He just crashed into them, again and again, like a fool.

If they didn’t know better, they’d swear they were fighting a brother of Elbaf.

"Dodging is for cowards!" Darren shouted back, arms thrown wide, smile wolfish. "An Elbaf warrior never dodges!"

"A real man meets his foe head-on!"

"In Elbaf’s name, I’ll use no Haki, take no step back, show no retreat—fight till I fall!"

Dorry and Brogy went still. A fierce light flared in their eyes.

"Gababababa!"

"Gegyagyagya!"

"Good!"

"You carry a warrior’s honor!"

Admiration hit them like a spear. He understood them—down to the marrow.

Yes. This was Elbaf.

Color rushed hot into their faces; weapon hands trembled.

If he weren’t human, we’d haul him to our fire this instant and swear brotherhood.

"In that case..."

They traded a glance. Decades of killing each other and standing shoulder-to-shoulder made words unnecessary.

"Young Darren—we acknowledge you!"

"For Elbaf’s glory, we’ll unleash our strongest technique!"

"Steel yourself..."

Their voices dipped with warning.

"Once we loose this, even we can’t rein it in."

"Its power... not even we can measure it."

"Are you ready?"

Ready...?

Darren flicked his gaze at the number only he could see.

Strength: 89.219!

Just a little more.

So close to breaking ninety.

"That..."

He drew a deep breath, stepped forward, and let the confidence roll off him.

"Of course I’m ready!!!"

To be continued...