The wind howling across Elbaf's eastern ridge seemed to die all at once.
In its place came a silence so complete that the shifting snow sounded loud against the fractured stone.
Seven of Elbaf's eleven elite warriors lay scattered across the ridge. Hajrudin, Stansen, Bjorn, Sig, Thormann, Gantonio, and D.D. Tee remained alive, but none could return to the fight. Some were unconscious. Others could only watch from the ground, their bodies refusing to answer them after Mihawk's precisely placed blows.
Four warriors remained standing.
Rhodes.
Raideen.
Kiba.
Blyue.
Their breath rose in heavy white clouds. Their hands tightened around weapons built for a race that towered over ordinary humans like living mountains. Dracule Mihawk stood at the centre of their formation, so small by comparison that one of Blyue's boots could have hidden him completely from view.
None of the four mistook him for harmless.
They had watched him defeat seven elite giants without taking a life. He had broken formations, weapons, and balance while leaving every throat untouched.
That restraint frightened them more than a massacre would have.
The final four lowered their stances together.
This was not a formation designed to capture an enemy. The Iron Wall had attempted to close every route through coordinated pressure.
The Funeral of Jotun existed to destroy the battlefield itself.
Rhodes raised his massive double-headed axe.
"Funeral of Jotun!"
His roar rolled over the ridge.
Then the final four moved.
Rhodes attacked first.
He brought the axe down with both hands, not aiming directly at Mihawk but at the granite beneath him. The enormous blade struck the ridge with enough force to split the plateau from end to end.
BOOM!
A deep fracture raced through the stone. Jagged slabs erupted upward around Mihawk, forming an uneven forest of broken rock that obscured his view and restricted the path beneath his feet.
Kiba's chains entered the dust.
The hooked blades at their ends swept low across the fractured ground. Rather than attempting to catch Mihawk immediately, Kiba wrapped the chains around the rising stone pillars and pulled them inward. The broken terrain became part of the trap, closing around the human swordsman from several directions.
Blyue charged through the centre.
His fortress shield covered almost his entire body, its broad surface reinforced with iron and Armament Haki. He drove forward like an avalanche, crushing smaller stone slabs beneath his boots as he rushed toward Mihawk.
The attack left only one apparent escape.
Raideen had already prepared for it.
He stood upon a high outcropping overlooking the battlefield, one immense spear drawn behind his shoulder. His entire body twisted into the throw, every muscle in his arm and back tightening around the weapon.
He waited until Blyue's shield filled the front of Mihawk's vision.
Then he released.
The spear tore through the air with a thunderous crack.
It crossed the ridge like lightning, aimed at the precise point where Mihawk would be forced to move to escape the shield rush.
The technique was not four separate attacks.
It was one mechanism.
Rhodes destroyed the stable terrain. Kiba narrowed the remaining footing. Blyue forced movement through overwhelming mass. Raideen killed the only route left open.
The execution was worthy of Elbaf's oldest warriors.
Mihawk watched the formation close.
His golden eyes did not follow the weapons individually. He watched the ground.
The entire technique depended upon the broken ridge remaining stable enough to support four giants shifting thousands of tonnes of combined weight through exact positions.
Rhodes had created the formation's greatest weapon.
He had also created its weakness.
Mihawk drew Yoru back.
The blade moved in one controlled sweep.
A vast flying slash tore across the plateau.
It spread wide enough to pass beneath the positions of all four giants, yet its edge remained compressed into a precise line. Instead of striking their bodies, the slash entered the fracture Rhodes had opened and travelled deep through the ridge.
Stone groaned beneath them.
Then the entire shelf shifted.
A geometric section of the plateau dropped several feet and tilted toward the northern cliff.
Blyue's shield rush veered immediately. His front foot struck ground that was no longer where his weight expected it to be, forcing his enormous body sideways.
Rhodes attempted to pull his axe free, but the changing angle dragged the embedded blade toward him. Blyue's shoulder slammed into the axe shaft, knocking both warriors off balance.
Kiba's chains snapped tight.
The hooks he had wrapped around the broken stone were suddenly pulled in different directions as the ridge tilted. The chains crossed around Rhodes's and Blyue's legs, tangling all three giants together.
The Funeral of Jotun collapsed beneath its own weight.
Only Raideen's spear remained unaffected.
The weapon flashed through the dust, still travelling along the path its thrower had chosen before the ground shifted.
Mihawk turned his head.
The spearhead passed beside his face with a roar and clipped the lower edge of his black coat. A narrow piece of fabric tore free and vanished into the wind.
The spear continued onward and buried itself deep in the mountain wall behind him.
Mihawk remained still for half a heartbeat.
His eyes lifted toward Raideen.
The giant had maintained his aim through the confusion, predicting where Mihawk would stand even as the formation beneath them failed. The strike had not touched flesh, but it had reached his coat.
A small achievement.
Against Mihawk, it was worthy of recognition.
"Well aimed."
Raideen heard the quiet judgment despite the distance between them.
Then Mihawk disappeared.
Blyue was still attempting to lift his shield when the human swordsman crossed its surface. Mihawk ran along the towering face in several light steps, no larger against the shield than a black insect moving across a fortress wall.
Yoru turned in his hands.
The blade struck Blyue at the joint beneath his raised arm.
The giant's shoulder went numb.
Mihawk stepped from the falling shield onto Rhodes's axe shaft. Before Rhodes could release the weapon, Yoru's crossguard struck a precise point beneath his jaw.
Rhodes's eyes lost focus.
Mihawk changed direction again, moving across Kiba's tightening chain. The blade touched the nerve above the giant's wrist, forcing his fingers open before the chain could close around Mihawk.
Raideen reached for another weapon.
Mihawk crossed the distance first.
One continuous movement carried Yoru into a point beneath Raideen's ribs. The strike interrupted his breath and sent a numb shock through his spine without breaking bone.
Four impacts echoed across the ridge.
THUD.
THUD.
THUD.
THUD.
The final giants fell.
Their enormous bodies struck the tilted stone hard enough to shake loose snow from the surrounding trees. Weapons dropped from unresponsive hands, chains settling across the ground with heavy metallic crashes.
All eleven warriors of Elbaf's elite vanguard now lay upon the eastern ridge.
Even the giants who remained conscious could not force their bodies to rise. Mihawk had struck pressure points and nerve clusters with enough precision to disable them without leaving permanent damage.
The surviving warriors stared toward the grey sky.
Elder Jarul stood near the edge of the battlefield, his long beard twisting in the cold wind. His eyes travelled across the fallen warriors one by one.
Eleven of Elbaf's finest.
Defeated by one human.
Spared by that same human.
Shame pressed against his chest. He had ordered the vanguard to confront Mihawk after allowing fear and incomplete evidence to guide the council's judgment. Giovanni remained imprisoned while two separate threats crossed Elbaf freely.
Still, Jarul's fingers closed around his axe.
Mihawk had invaded their land and struck down its defenders. The old giant could not watch him cross the ridge without resistance while he still possessed the strength to stand.
Jarul stepped forward.
His ancient knees protested beneath his weight, but he raised the weapon in both hands.
"As an elder of Warland," he said, his voice roughened by age and humiliation, "I cannot allow an armed intruder to pass while I remain able to fight."
Mihawk stood with his back to him.
Yoru rested loosely at his side.
"Stop."
Jarul's next step halted.
Mihawk did not turn around.
"My quarrel is not with Elbaf."
His golden gaze remained fixed toward the centre of the island, where the vast trunk of Yggdrasil climbed beyond the clouds.
"I crossed this kingdom for Giovanni."
Jarul tightened his grip.
"You entered our land without permission."
"And your warriors attempted to stop me."
Mihawk's voice remained calm.
"They still live."
The truth cut through Jarul's anger.
Mihawk finally glanced back over one shoulder.
"Do not throw away a century of experience for a battle that does not concern you."
Jarul's pride demanded that he advance.
His instincts warned him not to.
The elder lifted his axe another inch.
Mihawk released his killing intent.
There was no roar and no uncontrolled burst of power.
The ridge simply became cold.
Jarul's breath stopped.
For one terrible instant, the old giant saw Yoru cutting through him before his arms could begin their swing. He saw the blade continue beyond his body, divide the ridge, and descend toward the sea. The vision did not come from prophecy. It came from the absolute certainty carried by the swordsman's presence.
Every survival instinct Jarul had developed across more than a century screamed the same answer.
If Mihawk had wanted them dead, there would have been no battle.
Only bodies.
Jarul's axe slowly lowered.
The killing intent passed.
He drew a shaking breath and looked over the eleven warriors Mihawk had deliberately spared.
Mihawk turned away.
He faced the enormous trunk of Yggdrasil and allowed his presence to rise without concealment.
A sharp, glacial pressure spread from his body.
It swept across the eastern ridge, passed over the snow-covered forests, and cut through the mountains like the invisible edge of a blade. Warriors and beasts across Elbaf lifted their heads as the unmistakable presence moved toward the centre of the island.
The pressure reached Yggdrasil.
Then it travelled down.
Through the upper village.
Through the roots.
Through layers of ancient stone.
Until its freezing edge touched the deepest chambers of the Underworld.
---
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