"Hah... too far... hah... even if we keep running... hah... we won't make it in time," Crocus gasped, panting like a dog.
His whole body was drenched in sweat. He had jumped into the sea, swum over, then sprinted all the way across the island without a single chance to stop and catch his breath.
But mountains looked closer than they were.
Little Garden might be called a "little" garden, but in truth, the island was anything but small. It preserved an entire prehistoric ecosystem.
And the moment they landed on the island, they ran into native creatures lurking near the coast. Naturally, those beasts attacked them on sight.
Crocus and Dr. Kureha had no choice but to kill their way through and rush forward with all their strength. Yet after covering barely a third of the island, they were already on the verge of collapse.
Dr. Kureha was nearly a hundred years old, and even she was starting to run out of steam. She bent over with both hands on her knees, sweat the size of beans dripping to the ground. Her heart hammered wildly in her chest. She did not even remember the last time she had exerted herself this hard. Her face had turned deathly pale as she panted and finally proposed,
"Hah... hah... hah... Crocus, we won't make it in time. We need to find those two giants and have them carry us to Tengetsu Ares!"
Crocus sucked in a huge breath of air and wiped away the sweat on his forehead and brows before it could run into his eyes.
"Yeah. Then let's find those two giants first!"
Once they made their decision, Crocus and Dr. Kureha hurried toward Brogy and Dorry's location.
On the way there, Dr. Kureha, exhausted to the bone, kept complaining under her breath even as she ran.
"If that brat Tengetsu Ares doesn't pay me triple afterward, I am not letting this go so easily. This is killing me!"
"If I'd known, I never would have let myself be tempted by his conditions and left Drum Island."
Back in Drum Kingdom, people always begged her to come treat them, pampered her, and served her the best food and drink.
But...
Tengetsu Ares held the secret of eternal life, and whatever he knew was clearly far superior to the medicine she had created. The truth was, she really did not want to see him die.
If he had to die, then he could die after getting the Pure Gold first.
As long as a creature had a mind of its own, resisting the temptation of immortality was nearly impossible. That went double for a woman who still cared deeply about youth and beauty.
At that moment, on the other side, Dorry had already drawn his sword and started digging a grave for Tengetsu Ares on the spot.
As he dug, he muttered, "Brogy, why do you think that kid was so hell-bent on getting himself killed?"
"How can someone be that arrogant, that confident?"
Brogy curled his lip.
"The sea is full of all kinds of strange people. Back when we first sailed out, we saw every sort under the sun. Isn't Tengetsu Ares just one more oddball among them?"
Dorry and Brogy were both a little thick-headed in their own way. Otherwise, they would never have kept dueling on Little Garden for decades.
Soon enough, Crocus and Dr. Kureha finally arrived and truly felt just how massive the two giants were.
Looking up at them was like staring at an eighteen-story building. Ordinary humans were no bigger than ants in front of them.
"Hey! Hey! Dorry! Brogy!" Crocus shouted at the top of his lungs, cupping his hands around his mouth.
But neither giant noticed.
The two of them had already dug out a large pit.
Dr. Kureha felt numb all over.
"Your voice is too small. There's no way they can hear you..."
Crocus was miserable too, frantic with worry.
"What am I supposed to do? Normal giants are one thing, but these two are more than twenty meters tall!"
He shouted himself hoarse, but Dorry and Brogy still did not hear him. Their own movements were louder than Crocus's voice could ever be.
Dr. Kureha suddenly grabbed him.
"Stop yelling. They can't hear us. They're heading to where Tengetsu Ares landed. Hurry, climb onto their shoes."
"Got it."
Crocus and Dr. Kureha scrambled up onto Dorry's shoe and clutched onto the coarse hairs near the edge.
Then, along with Dorry and Brogy, they headed toward the place where Tengetsu Ares had been blasted away.
They had not gone far when both giants abruptly stopped.
In the distant sky, streaks of black-red lightning were flashing.
The two exchanged a look, both shocked, then spoke at the same time.
"That's Conqueror's Haki!"
"Great. Then that means Tengetsu Ares isn't dead yet!" Dorry's face lit up in relief.
Brogy looked full of regret.
"Quick, let's go check on him. If we'd known he was still alive, why the hell were we digging a grave? We should've gone to save him sooner!"
The two giants immediately broke into a full sprint toward the other side of the island.
That did not treat Crocus and Dr. Kureha kindly in the slightest.
For the two of them clinging to Dorry's shoe, it felt like being strapped to the side of a speeding carriage. They were shaken so badly they could hardly tell up from down.
Dr. Kureha even threw up the alcohol she had drunk earlier.
"I have never suffered like this in my life. At least..." she said weakly, "Tengetsu Ares seems to still be alive. If he dies, I won't even get my payment, and I'll have to drag myself all the way back to Drum Island."
Dorry and Brogy quickly reached the far side of the island.
There, at the edge of the island, Tengetsu Ares stood upright like a blood-red statue.
His whole body was covered in blood, mangled with countless wounds. Many places were a blur of torn flesh.
"Still alive after that? That really is a miracle," Brogy clicked his tongue in amazement. Tengetsu Ares had taken their combined attack with his body alone, without using any force or Armament Haki to defend himself.
Dorry's expression darkened. He was far less optimistic.
"At this point, being alive isn't much different from dying. With injuries this severe, who knows if he can hold on..."
At the place where Tengetsu Ares stood, the ground beneath him had long turned into a massive pool of blood. The sand and rocks had all been dyed crimson.
No one knew how much blood he had lost.
Even so, Dorry could not help but admire him.
"That kid is almost dead, yet he can still release Conqueror's Haki that strong. When he fought us earlier, he wasn't even going all out!"
At that point, Crocus and Dr. Kureha, after finally regaining their bearings from the violent shaking, jumped down from Dorry's shoe and rushed straight to Tengetsu Ares.
The moment they saw the horrifying state he was in, the hairs all over their bodies stood on end.
Crocus hurriedly opened his medical kit.
"How badly does this lunatic want to die? He actually tried to take a combined attack from two giants head-on..."
"He's a complete madman!"
Dr. Kureha snorted.
"If he weren't crazy, would he be training in such a brutal, savage way?"
Just thinking about Tengetsu Ares's training methods made her scalp tingle.
That kind of training simply was not... human.