"Boy, where did you learn that move?!" Brogy demanded, his eyes wide.
Ares' leg muscles swelled as he leaped more than twenty meters into the air. Like a starving tiger pouncing on prey, he swung his massive fist, carrying with it a roaring gale and violent shockwaves.
"From battle, of course!"
"Great Ape King Fist!"
The punch came howling in, forcing Brogy to raise his own fist to block. He immediately ended up following in Dorry's footsteps, blasted flying by a single blow from Ares.
When the giant crashed to the ground, it was like a mountain collapsing. The earth shook violently, and the thunderous rumbling went on without end.
Watching Ares send both giants flying one punch at a time, Crocus, standing atop Laboon's head, could not help widening his eyes in shock.
"No wonder he's the War God with a bounty of 3.5 billion beri..."
"That title really suits him!"
"He's insanely fierce!"
Beside him, Dr. Kureha took a swig of liquor and smacked her lips.
"That boy kept hammering his own body nonstop with that iron club all along the way. I really can't imagine how long he's kept up that kind of training to build such terrifying muscular strength..."
"Even giants, famous across the world for their physique and raw power, aren't his match. That body of his is a monster!"
Having only been with Ares for a short time, they were already starting to understand that he was an extremist in every sense of the word.
When it came to training, what he did was practically self-destruction. An ordinary person would not last even a single strike, yet Ares kept going, and his recovery ability was absurdly monstrous.
Dr. Kureha could not help sighing in amazement.
"If not for Ares' unbelievable recovery ability, that suicidal training method of his would have crippled him long ago."
It could only be said that if Ares had continued training in that extreme, twisted way with no change, then he might have eventually surpassed the future Douglas Bullet in sheer physical might, but his upper limit would definitely have been restricted.
The Mythical Zoan Fish-Fish Fruit, Azure Dragon form, gave Ares a far higher ceiling. Whether it was the amplification of physical power from transformation, or the monstrous regenerative ability that allowed him to endure such cruel and violent training, both ensured that his strength still had not reached its limit.
Of course...
The most important factor was persistence.
Whether it was Rocks, Whitebeard, Golden Lion, Garp, or Zephyr, none of them devoted as much time to training as Ares did. And on top of that, his method of training was something no ordinary person could endure.
Right now, Ares was simply waiting for the day when constant accumulation would finally become a qualitative transformation.
On Laboon's head, Olvia's beautiful eyes trembled. Her pretty face was full of the shock of an ordinary onlooker witnessing something unbelievable.
Drawing on the knowledge she had learned, she explained:
"Ordinary giants are around twelve meters tall. Giants over twenty meters like these two are extremely rare even among giants, and their strength is far more terrifying than that of normal giants."
"And yet they still aren't Ares' match..."
Crocus, who constantly read newspapers and knew a great deal about current events, added:
"That guy Ares rose through Rocks' crew at an incredible pace. He caused one huge incident after another, and his bounty just kept skyrocketing..."
"Even Rocks himself didn't rise this fast."
In just a few short years, Ares had gone from an unknown pirate to a world-famous great pirate whose name shook the seas: the War God.
Just hearing his name was enough to make civilians across the world anxious and fearful. He was already at the point where his reputation could nearly stop a child from crying.
Climbing back to his feet, Brogy looked at Ares with a strange gaze, his heart filled with confusion.
"So who's the giant here? Him or us?"
"How is it that his physical strength is actually greater than mine and Dorry's? He's a complete freak!"
At that moment, Dorry walked over to stand beside Brogy.
"Hey, Brogy, what's going on with this brat's strength?"
"How would I know? This kid's power is outrageous!" Brogy grumbled.
Across the seas, they had never met anyone who could suppress them in a contest of strength.
And they themselves were among the strongest even within the giant race. Otherwise, the other giants would never have acknowledged the two of them as their chiefs.
When they had gone out to sea...
Ares slowly stepped forward, his burning gaze locked onto the pair.
His voice was like that of a beast roaring in excitement.
"If you acknowledge my strength, then come at me together!"
Hearing those provocative words, Dorry and Brogy exchanged a glance. Each could see the fire burning in the other's huge eyes.
That look conveyed only one thing:
Fight!
The two moved at the same time. Decades of duels and comradeship had made their coordination in battle flawless.
As they strode forward in a run, the ground quaked violently.
Because of the difference in height, their fists came slanting downward from both sides like mountains collapsing. Their massive arms plunged a huge stretch of ground into shadow, and the punches whistled through the air with the overwhelming explosive strength of giant bodies.
The rushing air was like storm-tossed waves, kicking up violent gusts.
The wind screamed.
Ares' tiger-like eyes narrowed. In an instant, he unleashed both fists at once, deliberately suppressing his own power until it matched Dorry and Brogy's.
Boom! Boom!
The deep, solid sounds of impact rang out.
The sensation of those punches made the blood in Ares' body accelerate and heat up.
He grew even more exhilarated.
"Good!" Ares' eyes shone brilliantly.
His fists moved like dragons as he fought like a tyrannosaur, swinging his arms and releasing the power hidden within his muscles.
Boom boom boom!
Two fists against four arms.
Ares stood there like Mount Tai itself, unmoving, though the earth beneath his feet could no longer withstand such violent force and began splitting apart with enormous cracks.
After dozens of direct clashes, his heart felt incomparably satisfied.
"The chiefs of the giant race really are different. This kind of strength is enough to make up for a huge gap in Haki..."
For an ordinary person, even with Iron Body and Armament Haki, it would still be impossible to withstand giant strength.
When Chopper, empowered by the Rumble Ball, entered a state similar to a Zoan awakening, the massive strength granted by that enormous body had allowed him, a pirate once worth only fifty beri, to directly take down CP9. That was the absolute advantage of raw power.
The battle became more and more intense.
At first, it was just fists. Then kicks joined in. Soon, all four limbs had become weapons.
Ares' rich battle experience, combat awareness, and powerful physique allowed him to remain unfazed even against the combined assault of Brogy and Dorry, despite holding back his strength.
If he had not wanted to force the two giants to display all of their battle techniques and giant secret arts, Ares could have simply relied on his overwhelming physique, tanked their attacks, and ended the battle quickly.
But he did not do that.
It was rare for him to enjoy a pure hand-to-hand fight this satisfying. How could he allow it to end so quickly?
Unless he squeezed Brogy and Dorry dry, he had no intention of stopping.
After hundreds of collisions, both Brogy and Dorry had realized something terrifying.
This guy's body...
was harder than steel.
Even giants like them were gradually beginning to feel pain and numbness after so many impacts.
Yet Ares showed no stiffness at all.
His punches only grew faster. His storm-like barrage was already starting to wear Brogy and Dorry down physically.
Feeling the numbness in his arms, Brogy's heart shook.
"My arms are numb. My strength is weaker than it was at the start. But this kid... he's maintained the same level of power the whole time. Every single punch is perfectly controlled without the slightest deviation..."
"His control over his own strength has already reached an almost perfect level!"