Chapter 305: Heroic Spirits and God
"The 'Bad Beast' Alomir?"
"The 'Giant Hammer' Homos?"
"The 'Mud King' Mansurila?"
The appearance of Gaban and Jorul was merely the beginning.
Soon, the three Giants had already noticed — the armor and weapons worn by those Giants appearing here belonged to various eras of Elbaf's history.
As the history professor of the Walrus School, Saul's abundant repository of knowledge even allowed him to name most of those iconic warriors.
They were all powerful warriors renowned in the long history of Elbaf, sung about in nursery rhymes.
Or rather — they were their Heroic Spirits.
"Zehahahaha!"
The maniacal laughter of the pitch-black dragon soaring overhead echoed above that emerging army of the dead.
"Do you see it, Uma?"
"This is the power hidden by this country — the bargaining chip prepared by Joy Boy and Davy Jones to oppose the World!"
[Kingdom of the Dead · Hall of Valor]
"..."
Beneath Uma's mask, even Roy was genuinely surprised.
With the existence of the Fruit Encyclopedia, he was naturally somewhat prepared for the Fruit Awakening that Teach had activated.
However, according to the Fruit Encyclopedia, although the army of the dead summoned by the Nidhogg Fruit's awakening was terrifying, it should theoretically require a very long time to accumulate a sufficient number of powerful souls.
And in Roy's original estimation, the souls Loki had accumulated definitely wouldn't be too many — after all, this Prince was said to have not taken a single step out of the Underworld in twenty years.
But now, the facts told him his thinking was wrong.
"Since the founding of Elbaf, the Heroic Spirits of all the great warriors who fell here flow within the roots of Treasure Tree Adam, waiting for that final battle."
Teach laughed loudly.
"Their existence was prepared for this guy!"
He pointed at himself — but what he said clearly referred to Loki.
"And now... this country, this power, and this army — all belong to me!"
Undoubtedly, what he spoke of was exactly Elbaf's most deeply hidden secret.
But Roy couldn't understand.
The souls of all the warriors who fell here throughout Elbaf's history were collected by Elbaf itself, waiting for a certain time, waiting for the user of the Nidhogg Fruit to summon them?
But...
"How was that done?"
To Roy, who now almost completely understood the principles of Devil Fruit abilities, it seemed unimaginable.
"Making souls return to the Treasure Tree — given sufficient Source Energy of Lineage Factor, that is indeed not impossible."
"But first, it inevitably requires a massive amount of wishes — at least it requires the vast majority of people in Elbaf to believe that after warriors die, their souls will not disappear, but will return to... Hm!?"
A sudden flash of inspiration struck.
He thought of a term.
"The God of Elbaf!?"
That was the name he had repeatedly heard mentioned by Giants since he met Dorry, Brogy, and Vice Admiral 'Giant Sword' Hamo.
The God of War in legends — the deity Elbaf believed in.
No one knew the source of the legends about Him, but all Giant warriors believed: fair and square, fierce battles fought to the death would please the God of Elbaf.
They firmly believed that even after death, the souls of powerful warriors would return to the divine kingdom of the God of Elbaf, enjoying eternal battles.
Before this, Roy had found it very strange — logically speaking, even if Elbaf developed a deity belief, it should be the Sun God. Where did this God of Elbaf come from?
But now, Roy understood.
"The God of Elbaf is Elbaf itself."
"Faith is the wish."
Just like the miracle triggered by Reiju — people's intense wishes stir the operation of Source Energy of Lineage Factor.
And in this world, what wish could be more intense than faith in a deity?
Therefore, when all warriors firmly believed that after death, their souls would return to the God of Elbaf...
Their souls would truly flow within the roots of Elbaf.
"This is Joy Boy and Davy Jones' true plan."
"They didn't intend for the consumer of the Nidhogg Fruit to create an army... they had already prepared that army long ago, just waiting for that destined person to awaken them."
Just as Teach said — an army formed by the convergence of Elbaf's warriors' souls from past generations. Given sufficient Source Energy of Lineage Factor, that was indeed a power absolutely sufficient to overturn the world.
But what a pity.
Now, this power was not obtained by the destined Joy Boy and his comrades as they had intended.
Instead, this mighty power was stolen by the despicable man before him.
"Tear them to pieces."
Teach's cold words fell.
And at that exact moment, those countless converging Heroic Spirits finally solidified their bodies.
The next instant—
The earth trembled under the movements of countless Giants.
All those Heroic Spirits from ages past looked at that minuscule figure before them.
"A human?"
"An intruder?"
"Doesn't look very strong!"
"Say less. Anyway — he actually ordered us to kill those three kin over there?"
"Aren't those Dorry and Brogy?"
They clearly still retained the memories and consciousness from their lives, even communicating with each other.
"I see... someone discovered the anomaly in Jotun Snow Mountain and Loki, and after coming here, got dragged into this domain as well?"
Especially Gaban — holding his twin axes, he murmured softly.
Clearly, he had similarly entered Jotun Snow Mountain to investigate not long ago, fought with Teach, and ultimately died in this Kingdom of the Dead.
This wasn't strange.
After all, even aged as he was, Gaban was still the right hand of the Pirate King.
If it weren't for power that exceeded normal scales and surpassed cognition, it would be very difficult to kill a powerhouse like him in a short time.
But the bizarre thing was — although Gaban remembered everything, he still instinctively raised his axes and looked at that figure before him.
"That mask... are you The Zodiac?"
He spoke in a low voice. "Truly unexpected to meet you in this way."
"I'm sorry — it seems I have to obey his orders. If you can stop me, please go all out."
As the words fell—
Zzt!
Conqueror's Haki surged and exploded from within that army — and it was far from just one or two bursts.
Among the legendary warriors of the Giant race, those possessing Conqueror's Haki were clearly not a minority.
The next instant—
BOOM!
The torrent of war charged towards Uma.
(End of Chapter)
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