Whoosh—!
A group of giant children suddenly materialized out of thin air.
"Huh? Where are we?" one of them asked, blinking in confusion.
"Are we… outside?"
They turned in circles, bewildered. One moment they'd been trapped in a dark cell, and the next their entire world had changed.
"Buri!"
Ayla recognized her son instantly. Her voice cracked with relief.
Buri's eyes widened the moment he spotted her. A grin split his face, and he sprinted toward her as fast as his oversized legs could carry him.
"Mom!"
All around them, the other children recognized their families among the ranks and ran into waiting arms, their heavy footsteps shaking the ground in a chorus of frantic reunions.
The soldiers of the Giant Army stood frozen. They had prepared for a brutal rescue operation—no one had imagined the abducted children would simply appear right in front of them.
Ayla pulled Buri into a crushing embrace, then leaned back, still half in disbelief.
"Buri… how did you all get here so suddenly?"
Buri's eyes lit up.
"Kael did it! I'm telling you, Mom—Kael is insanely strong!"
The other children jumped in at once, all trying to explain the miracle at the same time. With their limited vocabulary, it became a storm of gestures and sound effects.
"It went whoosh!"
"Then swish!"
"And then clang!"
Even through the chaos, the adults understood the core of it: Kael had used some kind of advanced space-time magic—something close to teleportation—to send the children back to safety.
The Giant King finally understood why Kael had insisted they wait at the bridge.
"Where is Kael?" the King asked, scanning the crowd.
"Did he not return with you?"
The children shook their heads.
Buri added,
"Kael said he had to stay behind to deal with the bad guy who took us."
A wave of heavy respect rolled through the army. Kael hadn't just secured the children's safety—he had stayed behind alone to eliminate the threat at its source. That kind of resolve was the mark of a true hero.
"Women and children, return to the capital immediately!" the Giant King commanded, drawing his massive battle-axe.
Then he turned to his soldiers, his voice rising into a thunderous roar.
"Men—follow me! We march on the Troll Capital and bring our hero home!"
"Ooooooooooh!"
The giants raised their weapons, their battle cries echoing off the mountains. For months they had lived under a suffocating weight of fear and helplessness. Now that their children were safe, it was time to make the trolls pay for their insolence.
The Giant Army surged across the Great Wooden Bridge, charging toward the Troll Kingdom. Along the border, troll guards saw the incoming tide of vengeful giants and scrambled to mount a defense.
"Kill them all!"
"Charge—!"
The Troll Royal City
"Impossible!" Leader Hurel hissed, his voice warped by disbelief.
"Space magic requires perfect synchronization. You can't teleport people that far—especially children of that size! You must have hidden them in a pocket dimension!"
The distance between the two capitals was enormous. To him, a long-range mass transfer like that was pure fantasy.
"Believe what you want," Kael replied coolly.
Internally, though, Kael felt a sharp stab of fatigue. That one maneuver had drained nearly a tenth of his total magic power. His reserves were deep—but space-time techniques at that scale were absolute gluttons.
"Capture him!" the Troll King bellowed, jabbing a trembling finger at Kael.
Dozens of trolls surged forward, swinging heavy ironwood clubs.
Kael exhaled once, slow and controlled.
"Hmm… against these big guys, I think it's time to let the old man take the stage."
"Full-Body Take Over: Edward Newgate!!"
Magic surged.
Kael's body transformed violently—his height and mass expanding, his frame swelling into a mountain of muscle. His ninja attire morphed into a billowing white captain's coat, and his youthful features hardened into those of a seasoned, legendary veteran. A thick crescent mustache formed beneath his nose.
Murakumogiri—one of the twelve Supreme Grade blades—appeared in his grasp.
Even in Whitebeard's form, Kael was still smaller than most trolls… but he no longer had to crane his neck to meet their gaze. He stood like a pillar—immovable, unshakable.
"A transformation?!" the trolls gasped.
These primitive brutes had never seen anything like a Take Over soul-merge.
A troll reached him first, raising its massive club and bringing it down toward Kael's skull with both hands.
Kael didn't flinch. He simply raised one open palm.
Bang—!
The club slammed into Kael's hand and stopped dead.
"HNNNGH!" The troll's face turned a bruised purple as it poured everything into the strike, trying to force the blow through.
Kael didn't budge an inch.
His fingers tightened.
Crrrack!
The ironwood club—famous for being as hard as reinforced steel—shattered in Kael's grip like brittle tofu.
"What—?!" The surrounding trolls recoiled, horror flashing across their ugly faces.
Buzz—!
Kael clenched his fist. A translucent sphere of vibrating energy wrapped around it, humming like restrained thunder. He stepped forward—cracking the ground beneath his heel—and punched the air toward the lead troll.
Crack! Crack!
The air in front of his fist splintered like glass. A violent seismic shockwave erupted forward.
The troll didn't even get a full scream out. Blood sprayed from its nose and mouth as the internal vibration pulped its organs. Its eyes rolled back, and its massive body collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut.
Rumble—!
And the shockwave didn't stop. It tore outward, knocking back everything in its path. The ground buckled and split; the palace walls groaned—then cracked wide, sending giant blocks of stone crashing down.
"Aaaah!"
"Run! The palace is collapsing!"
Panic swallowed the trolls as they scattered in every direction.
"What… what kind of monster is this?" Leader Hurel stammered, his heartbeat hammering in his ears. He turned to flee, realizing the gap between them was hopeless.
But Kael had already marked him.
Kael gripped Murakumogiri with both hands, drawing the blade back in a wide arc.
Buzz—!
A pale vibration halo coated the edge of the legendary naginata. With one clean, decisive swing, Kael unleashed a flying slash infused with the Tremor-Tremor power.
BOOM!
The seismic blade tore through the palace floor, erasing everything in its path.
Leader Hurel never had a chance.
The shockwave caught him mid-stride and split him apart instantly.
Kael walked up to the remains, looking down to confirm the kill.
"…Is he really dead?" Kael muttered, frowning.
"This guy was supposed to be the one running this dark guild operation out here? Why was he so weak?"
Kael let out a slow breath, disappointment settling in. For someone who had orchestrated the abduction of an entire generation of giants, Leader Hurel had gone down in a single exchange.
It was almost anticlimactic.