Chapter 208: The "Loyal" Denjiro!
The very earth trembled violently, sending rhythmic, seismic shockwaves through the ruined streets of the capital.
The two colossal giants, towering like ancient mountains of muscle and steel, didn't seem to notice the tiny, fragile "ants" standing frozen at their massive feet right away.
Instead, they completely ignored their surroundings, starting a booming, incredibly loud bickering match with each other that threatened to shatter the eardrums of anyone nearby.
"Wahahaha!"
The thunderous, rumbling laughter erupted from the heavily bearded giant, Dorry, carrying the sheer physical force of a gale-force wind.
"Brogy, this is entirely all your fault!"
He pointed a finger the size of a galleon at his lifelong rival, his booming voice echoing across the devastated landscape.
"If you hadn't overslept like a lazy walrus, we wouldn't have arrived this unbelievably late to the battlefield!"
Dorry slammed his massive fist into his palm, creating a shockwave that kicked up a massive cloud of dust and debris.
"The supreme Lord Suzaku has already taken absolute control of Wano Country, and we didn't even get to lift a single finger to help!"
"Gahahaha!"
The incredibly broad, helmeted giant, Brogy, immediately roared back in loud protest, his voice matching the devastating volume of his counterpart.
"What do you mean, that's my fault too?!"
Brogy stamped his massive foot on the ground, cracking the bedrock deep beneath the soil.
"Dorry, you old fool, you were sleeping exactly like a dead pig yourself! I had to kick you awake!"
He crossed his massive, tree-trunk-like arms over his chest, a competitive, fiery glint sparking in his colossal eyes.
"Besides, the great Lord Suzaku didn't blame us for our tardiness, did he?"
Brogy leaned forward, casting a shadow that completely enveloped the nearby city blocks.
"What, are you still not convinced by my logic? Do you want to fight right here and now?!"
Seeing the two legendary Captains of Elbaf suddenly about to have yet another one of their highly destructive, "friendly" sparring matches, panic ensued.
The slightly smaller, yet still terrifyingly massive giants, Kashi and Oimo, hurriedly stepped forward from behind them to frantically mediate the escalating situation.
"Captain Dorry, please, say a bit less!" Kashi pleaded, waving his massive hands in a desperate attempt to cool the boiling tempers.
"And the same goes for you, Captain Brogy! Please calm down!"
Oimo nodded vigorously, cold sweat forming on his massive forehead as he looked around at the newly conquered territory.
"We all foolishly dozed off at sea before arriving here!"
He gestured wildly toward the center of the capital.
"Now that we finally have a genuine chance to actually help Lord Suzaku secure this nation, we absolutely cannot mess it up again by destroying the city ourselves!"
The two proud Captains of the legendary Giant Soldier Pirates paused their aggressive posturing.
They exchanged highly competitive glances, puffing out their massive chests.
They gave simultaneous, incredibly loud "hmphs" that sounded like twin cannons firing in unison.
Only then did the colossal warriors seem to finally remember their actual business in this specific sector of the capital.
They slowly turned their massive, millstone-sized eyes downward, their gazes piercing through the settling dust.
They looked directly toward the two tiny, incredibly small, and almost completely negligible figures standing perfectly still at their massive feet.
Pinned suddenly by those four mountain-like stares, Denjiro felt his entire world shrink.
His scalp instantly went entirely numb, a terrifying, icy chill shooting violently from his tailbone straight to the very top of his skull!
The sheer, suffocating psychological pressure of being targeted by the legendary warriors of Elbaf was absolutely paralyzing.
He knew with absolute, terrifying certainty that he could not possibly fight his way through these walking natural disasters.
Go all out!
He made the desperate, highly calculated decision in a fraction of a single instant.
Twin, finely crafted blades flashed brilliantly from their ornate sheaths, the sharp screech of drawn steel cutting through the heavy tension.
A fierce, incredibly dense wave of black Armament Haki instantly burst forth from his trembling body, wrapping tightly around his swords.
"Oden Two-Sword Style: Peach Garden Cross!"
Denjiro swung his arms with absolutely everything he had, his muscles bulging and tearing under the immense, desperate strain.
The dual, black-Haki-wrapped swords drew two blindingly dazzling, cross-shaped meteors of pure, concentrated destructive energy in the air.
Carrying a sharp, highly lethal force that could theoretically tear through the thickest steel plating, the massive slashes flew fiercely toward the giants' exposed ankles!
At that exact, identical moment, he turned his head slightly and roared at the top of his lungs.
He delivered what sounded like the most incredibly "loyal," self-sacrificing cry of his entire, agonizing life toward the terrified woman behind him.
"Princess Hiyori, run! I will hold these monsters back!"
His voice was thick with apparent devotion and unwavering samurai resolve.
Yet, before the heroic echo of his loud words had even begun to fade into the wind, the sinister reality of his true nature was revealed.
The very instant the dazzling cross-slash flew out from his blades, Denjiro made an extreme, violent change of physical direction.
He didn't even bother to glance back to check whether his desperate, full-power attack had actually worked against the giants' incredibly tough skin.
His entire body instantly shot off like a blurred, desperate afterimage, kicking up a massive spray of dirt and crushed stone.
He sprinted in the exact, complete opposite direction from where the stunned Kozuki Hiyori was standing.
He had completely, ruthlessly abandoned her to the towering monsters without a second thought.
Without Kozuki Hiyori dragging him down as a fragile "burden," his physical speed instantly reached its absolute, terrifying peak!
'Hmph, I've loudly shouted out Kozuki Hiyori's true identity to the entire street!' Denjiro sprinted frantically through the ruined alleyways, his heart pounding violently against his ribs while quickly calculating his sinister survival plan in his heart.
'Those stupid, slow-witted giants' attention will definitely, absolutely lock onto that highly valuable woman!'
He leaped over a pile of flaming rubble, his eyes wide with a manic, desperate need to survive at all costs.
'Damn it all! Without the sacred Kozuki Family banner to legitimize my cause, my own rallying power in this country is far too weak!'
He gritted his teeth, the bitter taste of utter, humiliating failure flooding his dry mouth.
'Even if I successfully escape this hellish capital tonight, gathering the loyal samurai again will absolutely never go as smoothly as it did today…'
Thinking of his ruined twenty-year plan, his destroyed ambitions, and his complete loss of control, he couldn't help but curse viciously under his breath.
"Accursed, filthy Suzaku Pirates! You completely ruined my grand, perfect plan!"
His face twisted into a mask of pure, unadulterated hatred as he ran.
"Utterly detestable invaders!"
Yet, the very moment his venomous curse left his panting mouth, the ambient temperature of the alleyway violently plummeted to absolute zero.
A cold, incredibly mocking woman's voice suddenly sounded directly right beside his left ear.
The sheer, terrifying proximity of the voice made every single hair on his trembling body stand completely on end!
"Oh? Is that so?"
The voice dripped with an aristocratic, sadistic amusement that froze the blood in Denjiro's veins.
"A pathetic, cowardly guy who ruthlessly abandons his own precious comrades and runs desperately for his life actually dares to curse us behind our backs?"
Denjiro braked sharply, his wooden sandals violently skidding and gouging deep trenches into the stone pavement.
He stared straight ahead in absolute, mind-numbing horror, his breathing completely stopping in his chest.
There, standing perfectly still amidst the swirling, freezing mist, was a stunningly beautiful, terrifyingly imposing woman.
She was dressed in an immaculate, pristine white military uniform that hugged her perfect, dangerous curves.
Her long, beautiful ice-blue hair drifted elegantly around her shoulders without a single breeze to guide it.
She had somehow, impossibly, appeared directly on his meticulously planned escape route.
She stood there with her arms casually folded across her chest, watching his pathetic, terrified display with an amused, highly sadistic half-smile.
It was the Empire's Strongest, the Ice Queen herself—Esdeath!
"Wh…what?!" Denjiro's voice trembled uncontrollably, his vocal cords constricting from the sheer, unnatural cold radiating from her body.
He took a desperate step backward, his hands shaking violently as he gripped his swords.
"How… how in the world could you possibly be so fast?"
His mind completely short-circuited as he tried to comprehend the terrifying reality standing before him.
"Those hundreds of elite samurai I sent… couldn't they even stop you for a few minutes?!"
Hearing his pathetic, utterly desperate question, Esdeath let out a clear, highly melodic, yet profoundly scornful laugh.
It was exactly as though she had just heard the absolute funniest, most ridiculous joke in the entire world.
"Stop me? What an incredibly, adorably naive little creature you are."
Her piercing blue gaze was exactly that of a highly experienced, sadistic cat casually toying with a terrified, broken rabbit caught firmly in a steel trap.
Her eyes were entirely filled with a dark, terrifying delight.
"It seems you have a highly fatal, incredibly profound misunderstanding of two things, samurai."
She took a slow, deliberate step forward, the ground beneath her pristine white boots instantly freezing solid with a sharp crackle.
"A misunderstanding of both the pathetic, weak rabble you proudly gathered..."
She tilted her head slightly, her smile widening into something genuinely predatory.
"...and of this General's absolute, overwhelming strength."
She slowly, casually lifted a single, slender finger toward his trembling chest.
A tiny, blindingly bright point of biting, absolute cold instantly formed directly at its delicate tip, warping the very air around it.
"Now, surrender nicely, drop your toys, and prepare to receive my highly delightful, extremely painful 'interrogation'!"
Before the final echo of her terrifying words even finished ringing in the freezing air, an extreme, apocalyptic current of cold violently exploded forward!
Denjiro didn't even have a single fraction of a millisecond to react, dodge, or raise his swords in a futile defense.
He only heard a rapid, terrifying series of crisp, loud "crack-crack" sounds echoing in his ears.
Instantly, his entire world went completely, agonizingly numb.
His muscular limbs, highly trained over decades of brutal combat, were instantly locked tight in incredibly dense, crystal-clear ice.
His whole body was completely, entirely frozen solid in a highly ridiculous, deeply humiliating running posture.
He was permanently fixed in place like an ugly ice sculpture, with absolutely only his head remaining unfrozen and barely able to turn.
Shortly after the terrifying display of overwhelming power, the heavy, rhythmic sound of marching boots approached from the rear.
Several burly, heavily armed Mink Tribe warriors, their fur still reeking heavily of fresh, coppery blood, arrived on the scene.
Without a single word, as if they were casually carrying a freshly chopped log of firewood, they hoisted his heavy, frozen body up onto their shoulders.
They turned around and began walking steadily back the way he had so desperately fled.
Just then, as he was helplessly carried like a trophy, Denjiro's eyes widened and his pupils suddenly contracted into tiny, terrified pinpricks.
As he was carried past the casually smiling Esdeath, his restricted vision finally took in the wide, open ground he had just so desperately fled from.
Corpses.
Absolutely nothing but a terrifying, endless sea of mutilated corpses.
They were scattered violently everywhere, blanketing the streets in a horrific, macabre carpet of death and absolute despair.
In the incredibly short, fleeting span of time between his cowardly escape and his humiliating capture...
The hundreds of elite, highly trained samurai he had passionately roused with grand promises of "glory" and "righteousness" had been completely, utterly annihilated.
There was absolutely not a single one left standing.
Severed, broken limbs were strewn across the bloody cobblestones.
Shattered, useless swords and rapidly congealing, dark red blood mingled heavily into a terrifying, apocalyptic picture of utter, absolute misery.
And the most terrifying part of the entire, horrifying scene?
The Mink Tribe warriors casually walking through the massacre hadn't even broken a single, visible drop of sweat.
...
The Flower Capital.
The grand, highly expansive old residence of the former Shogun, Kurozumi Orochi.
Once the absolute, undisputed height of extreme luxury, decadence, and supreme political power in the entirety of Wano Country, it now had a terrifying new master.
Inside the massive, intricately designed palace walls, hundreds of beautiful paper lanterns blazed incredibly bright.
The light was intense enough to perfectly reflect off the newly polished, highly maintained wooden surfaces of the grand halls.
Every single support beam had been thoroughly, meticulously wiped clean of Orochi's lingering, foul stench.
Every single wooden floorboard gleamed beautifully like a crystal-clear mirror, perfectly reflecting the intimidating, powerful figures currently moving about the room.
Each and every one of them gave off a terrifyingly powerful, world-shaking aura that completely suppressed the very air in the palace.
When Denjiro, his limbs still heavily, painfully sealed in the unyielding crystal ice, was roughly carried in exactly like a piece of cheap cargo...
Followed closely by a completely dazed, entirely terrified Kozuki Hiyori, whose beautiful eyes were wide with profound shock...
They finally appeared together in the center of the massive, highly intimidating main hall.
The very first thing their terrified eyes saw was the young, incredibly handsome man seated casually in the central chair at the far end of the room.
Suzaku.
He sat not on some highly ostentatious, golden throne befitting a conquering emperor, but merely a large, comfortable wooden armchair.
Yet, despite the completely casual, relaxed posture, the sheer, undeniable weight of the entire, massive hall seemed to instantly tilt heavily toward him.
His dark, profound gaze was completely, utterly calm.
It was entirely devoid of a typical, arrogant victor's gloating pride, or a highly righteous judge's strict, overbearing majesty.
He looked down at them exactly as though he were merely looking at two completely ordinary, highly expected trophies that had just been conveniently delivered to his doorstep.
Standing faithfully at his right side was the breathtakingly ravishing, otherworldly woman dressed in a pure-white, highly elegant gown.
Albedo.
Seeing Denjiro's highly unyielding, deeply furious face staring disrespectfully at her beloved master, a terrifying, demonic fire instantly blazed within her.
Her beautiful, golden eyes narrowed, burning with a profound, incredibly icy rage that threatened to destroy the very room.
"You vile, disgusting insect!"
Albedo's voice was deceptively soft, yet it carried a biting, soul-freezing cold and an absolute, undisguised loathing that cut deeper than any physical blade.
"Who in this pathetic, miserable world gave you the absolute, highly arrogant courage to dare defy the supreme, flawless Lord Suzaku?"
She took a single, intimidating step forward, her pure-white wings twitching with suppressed, highly violent murderous intent.
"You are nothing more than filthy, diseased rats squirming blindly in a dark, stinking gutter, yet you actually dare try to eclipse the radiant sun?"
Her voice rose slightly, echoing through the grand hall like a divine, absolute judgment.
"Were it not for the supreme Lord Suzaku's infinite, unparalleled foresight, easily seeing right through all your pitiful, highly transparent schemes from the very beginning..."
She glared at Denjiro, her disgust palpable in the heavy air.
"...you filthy, highly ungrateful vermin would have actually, almost defiled his absolute purity with your pathetic presence!"
Her incredibly harsh, highly fanatical words were exactly like a heavy, physical slap directly across Denjiro's frozen face.
Completely unable to move his painfully frozen, immobilized body, he poured absolutely every single ounce of his remaining, desperate strength directly into his burning throat.
He glared fiercely at Suzaku and roared with the absolute fury of a dying, cornered beast.
"Spare me your highly sickening, utterly disgusting hypocrisy!"
Denjiro's eyes were bloodshot, the veins in his neck bulging as he screamed his final, desperate defiance against the overwhelming power standing before him.
"Wano Country absolutely, rightfully belongs to the sacred Kozuki Family! It is our undeniable birthright!"
He strained against the ice, his voice cracking from the sheer, unadulterated hatred pouring from his soul.
"You are nothing but filthy, thieving invaders who violently trample upon our absolute justice and ruthlessly usurp the entire nation!"
He took a desperate, highly ragged breath, delivering his ultimate, venomous curse.
"Your highly arrogant, terrifying reign will absolutely end in complete, utter ruin!"
He shouted himself completely hoarse, his throat tearing and bleeding, using his pathetic, useless words exactly as if that were his absolute last, and only remaining weapon in this world.
[Akarin Note:
Your Support Keeps This Story Alive!
If you're enjoying this novel, your support means the world to me. Simple actions like leaving a review, power stone, comment, or sharing the story let me know you're out there. It's the greatest motivation for me to keep updating until the very end and ensures this project continues.
For those who wish to support me more directly, you can join my Patreon at [patreon.com/AkarinTL]. As a thank-you, you'll receive access to 50 advanced chapters.
I hope I am still worthy of your support. My life truly depends on this... haha, I know I'm so shameless.]