"Eh...?"
The crew of the Chris Pirates all looked dumbfounded at the hulking figure before them—this big guy, who spoke in short, stilted sentences, didn't seem right. What the hell was he? A clown? But no, that couldn't be it—just look at that physique, that massive battle axe. If he swung it once, at least five or six people would be cleaved in half.
"Hey~ hey~ big guy, what do you think you're doing to my crew?"
A teasing voice drifted down from the treetops.
Everyone looked up.
"Captain!!" the Chris Pirates shouted, their voices full of excitement.
"You must be the captain of the Mountain Pirates, right?" Standing on a thick tree branch, Aeridar pointed straight at the tallest man in the clearing.
The towering man with a golden ring on his ear instantly felt a chill run down his spine. Something about the man on the tree screamed danger. A deeply ingrained, primal danger. He hadn't felt anything this intense since that Vice Admiral from the Navy Headquarters had come after him.
The giant of a man glared up at Aeridar with his wide, bull-like eyes and rumbled in a deep, gravelly voice, "I... am... the cap...tain... of the Moun...tain... Pirates. Diego... Backan. Who... are... you?"
Diego Backan—nicknamed Mountain Axe. Born in the West Blue. Second captain of the Mountain Pirates after the first died at the hands of the Marines. A blood-soaked marauder who destroyed three Marine branch bases in the West Blue. His bounty: 60 million Berries.
BOOM.
Aeridar leapt down from the tree and landed with a solid thud in front of Backan. At 1.9 meters tall, Aeridar only came up to Balu's chest. It looked like a child facing off against a grown man. But there wasn't even a flicker of fear in Aeridar's eyes. He stared up, locking eyes with the giant.
"I'm the captain of the Chris Pirates—Chris T. Aeridar."
"What... do you... want...?" Backan's voice thundered like a cannon blast, making Aeridar wince as his ears rang.
"Damn, loud enough to bust my eardrums." Aeridar rubbed his ear, then casually pointed at the bundle slung over Backan's back. "I want that."
Backan's eyes went wide. Pure fury lit up his face as he snarled, "You... little... runt... I'll... rip you... to pieces!"
Almost simultaneously, his colossal battle axe came swinging down at Aeridar.
Big didn't mean dumb—and Backan was no idiot. He hadn't gotten to be captain by being a fool. Sure, he was impulsive, but not brainless. That iron box in the bundle had Marines chasing him down like rabid dogs—whatever was inside was clearly priceless. His crew had nearly been wiped out just to keep it. To Backan, that box was sacred—bought with blood. No way in hell was he handing it over.
The axe hadn't even reached Aeridar yet, but the sheer force behind the swing sent razor-sharp wind gusts slashing outward. The air itself screamed.
Aeridar, standing only a few paces away, didn't even flinch as the massive weapon came crashing toward him.
"Damn, swing first, talk later?!" Aeridar rolled his eyes and let out a sharp yelp.
CLANG!!
The clash rang out like the earth had cracked. Steel screamed against steel. A shockwave exploded from the impact point, centered on Aeridar and Backan. The ground cratered beneath them. A visible wave of force blasted outward, sending the surrounding pirates flying like rag dolls, limbs flailing as they cried out in pain.
Dust and smoke engulfed the area.
"What the hell?!"
"Mon...Monster!"
"Run for it—AARRGH—!"
"What insane brute strength...!"
Aeridar's right hand, shrouded in pitch-black Armament Haki, had caught the curved blade of the battle axe mid-swing. He stared up in disbelief at the hulking monster before him.
This guy... was strong. The raw power behind that axe was monstrous. If Aeridar hadn't neutralized the force with a concentrated Haki shockwave, he might've been sent flying.
In the world of One Piece, being three meters tall wasn't rare—hell, giants were a thing. But among the well-known big-name pirates with such builds—Donquixote Doflamingo, Jinbei, even Blackbeard—none of them could match this guy in pure muscle mass (not raw power, but sheer build). And unlike Marshall D. Teach, who had a bulky upper body but skinny legs, Backan was proportional—like a scaled-up bodybuilder.
"What...?" Backan's eyes were as wide as saucers. He looked down at the man who had just stopped his axe cold—barehanded.
Impossible.
He couldn't believe it.
No one had ever done that.
Aeridar tilted his head with a cocky grin and snorted, "Tch. Captain Backan... the world is a big place. Don't overestimate your strength."
He could admit it—this guy had strength. Way more than him, maybe five or six times more in raw power alone. But strength wasn't everything. In this world, power was only part of the equation. Brute force alone didn't scare Aeridar. Even without tapping into his Devil Fruit, he could still kill a brute like this using nothing more than Armament Haki and three of the Rokushiki techniques he'd mastered.
"You're lying... That's impossible!"
"Oi, Captain Backan! Stop screwing around!!"
"Did he... just stop the Captain's axe... with his bare hand?!"
"What... what kind of power is this?!"
As the dust cleared, the Mountain Pirates stood in stunned silence. They'd never seen anyone catch Captain Balu's full-powered axe swing barehanded.
Yesterday, they'd raided a Marine ship—its commanding officer was a branch Captain, wielding a massive blade. That guy had bragged about his strength, claimed he could meet force with force. He got cleaved in two, blade and all, in one swing.
There was a reason Backan was called Mountain Axe. His axe strikes were like landslides. Since the day he set out to sea, no one had taken a direct hit from his axe and walked away. Most died on the spot. The rest were crippled.
"How... how is this possible...?"
Backan stood there, frozen, mouth agape, mind in chaos. This wasn't right. He wasn't used to this—wasn't used to people surviving his attacks.
But then... he grinned.
"Good... Very... good! So this is... the Grand... Line... Finally... I can... go all... out!!"
He tried to pull his axe back for another swing.
"What?!" he gasped.
The axe wouldn't budge.
Aeridar was still gripping the blade, unmoving. He shot Backan a look, eyes cold as ice.
"You done yet, muscle-brain?"
CLANG.
Aeridar's left hand, also coated in black Haki, clenched into a fist and slammed down on the axe head with explosive force. It sounded like a sledgehammer crashing into a steel wall. A wave of invisible pressure rippled outward.
Under that horrifying force, the battle axe trembled violently.
Screeee—CLANG—CRACK!
Blood burst from Backan's palms. The impact split the skin between his thumbs and index fingers wide open.
Cracks spiderwebbed across the axe blade—clear, sharp lines zigzagging across the steel surface. Within moments, it looked like shattered glass.
Then—BOOM—the entire battle axe exploded into jagged chunks of metal, crashing to the ground with a cacophony of clangs, gouging little craters into the dirt.
Even the fragments were heavy—proof that this wasn't some decorative toy. This was a real weapon—solid steel.
And now?
Nothing but scrap.
-------
Want to read ahead of schedule? Head over to my patreon ——— patreon(.)com/JuanFiction [remove the parentheses ( )]