Seeing that my theory would actually work, for the next few days, I focused entirely on fusing my armament and observation haki; I wanted it to get to the point where I could fuse the two within seconds instead of it being hours. However, I might've gotten a little bit ahead of myself since, first off, I needed to learn how to fully fuse the two together. My earlier attack, luckily, worked, but at the cost of my haki separating from each other after the fish was crushed, and while partial fusing the two again wasn't anywhere near as difficult as the first time, it still took me nearly two hours, which when you think about it was significantly fast compared to the thirty hours it initially took, though, of course, I wasn't satisfied with that since that wasn't my goal.
I created this theory with the sole purpose of using it in a battle, and what opponent would let me concentrate for the next two hours to prepare for merely one attack?
Anyway, while I improved, I wasn't anywhere finished, yet this technique was proving to be quite challenging, as it should give how strong it held the potential to be; however, while I was focusing on some random fish in the water in the future, I saw Mael crash into the fortress, prompting me to open my eyes as I looked in the direction where he will come from, only to see Scar far off in the distance.
After nearly thirty seconds, Scar tossed an unconscious Mael towards Pandemonium, causing him to be flung right past my line of sight before he crashed into the fortress wall.
"Heh, so you won?" Asked Diddy with a feral smirk as he glanced at Scar, who weakly nodded before falling out of the sky and landing on the ground beside him.
"I-If you could call this a win, I'm barely able to stay conscious as it is." Replied Scar with a wry expression as he glanced at Diddy, his every blink lasting longer and longer.
"Hmph, expected as much; you're practically my disciple. I would've paralyzed you if you lost to Mael." Declared Diddy with a grunt while eyeing Scar, whose face constantly twitched at his words.
"D-Don't you think that's a bit overkill?" Asked Scar as he glanced at Diddy, who raised an eyebrow before curling his finger, causing the sunlight to reflect off his nail.
"Do you want me to paralyze you right now?" "N–No; I-I'll stay quiet." Remarked Diddy and Scar, respectively, as the former narrowed his eyes while the latter repeatedly shook his head before shutting his mouth.
Scoffing at Scar, I focused back on my training while he ended up falling asleep a few minutes later; Bullet and Freyja were still fighting each other off in the distance on a makeshift island he must've created, though from the looks of things, they seemed to be on equal footing with each other.
'Hmm, no, Freyja's got a slight edge; still, it could go either way.' Mused Diddy as he glanced between Freyja and Bullet before shaking his head and shifting his focus to Elbaf, where practically an entire war was happening.
As for Elbaf, the Giants were putting up a valiant effort against my crew; Chala, Grand, and Sebas were taking the brunt of the force while Trenza, Reiju, and Janet dealt with the remaining Giants, which were still a lot, so it's not like they were having it easy.
'Huh, that giant looks just like Oars Jr., except a little bit bigger.' Thought Diddy with a raised eyebrow as he glanced at Sebas's opponent, who was giving him a lot of trouble, only to shrug his shoulders.
Anyway, I shook my head and continued to focus on my technique; my crew was handling it, not to mention they had help from a lot of the other crew members, so they weren't alone, and at this point, I might as well send in the biggest one of us all.
"Pandemonium, you can go and join the fun if you want." Said Diddy lightly as he leaped off his hammock before sitting on Nimbus, his words causing Pandy and Mony's eyes to shine in excitement.
"Roarr!" "Hisss!" Stated Mony and Pandy, respectively, as they quickly beached themselves before walking towards the battle on the other side of the island.
With Pandemonium's massive size, it wouldn't take them but a minute or so until they arrived at the battle, and with them joining, it would give my crew the edge since Pandemonium was nicknamed the Giant Killer.
'Now, time to train in peace.' Thought Diddy with a faint smile as he ignored the two fights going on and closed his eyes, continuing to improve the technique that would further increase his strength.
___
___
Landing on the ground in the middle of Giant's city, which was called Asgard, which reminded me of Norse mythology, I approached Janet, who was taking pictures of all the remaining Giants, imprisoning them within her picture world or whatever she called it.
"How many more Giants?" Asked Diddy as he eyed Janet, who sighed before glancing at him.
"There are roughly 9,000 Giants within my Picture World, and I've still got a few hundred more to capture, so there will probably be around 10,000 Giants in total." Replied Janet lightly as she walked towards another group of unconscious Giants in the distance, prompting Diddy to nod.
"You know, you could've helped us; we were having it pretty rough." Added Janet in slight annoyance as she turned and eyed Diddy, only for her face to aggressively twitch when he was nowhere to be seen.
Approaching Sebas, who looked a little worse for wear, I saw him mentally holding down the titan-giant he was fighting, preventing him from standing up.
"Who is he?" Asked Diddy curiously as he approached the titan before tapping his head.
"He is an Ancient Giant, the same species as Oars Jr., though his name is Prince Loki." Replied Sebas lightly as he winced in pain while further pushing his hand downwards, forcing Loki deeper into the ground.
"Oh, cool. He seems pretty strong; he will be a great addition to the raid on Marineford." Remarked Diddy with a nod as he flicked his finger toward Loki, releasing a burst of armament haki that smashed into his head, knocking him unconscious.
"Since there are still several more towns to deal with, I'll return once you all are done; I've got some training to return to." Said Diddy lightly as he glanced at Sebas before leaping into the air, causing his face to twitch before he simply sighed.
"Haa, what kind of training could make someone like Captain eager to return to?" Muttered Sebas curiously as he raised his head and looked at Diddy flying through the air, only to shake his head.
"I suppose I shall go assist Janet." Added Sebas softly as he dusted off his injured body before floating toward Janet into the distance.
___
___
It took another two days for the crew to finish imprisoning the Giants; the only ones left behind were the children, partially because Trenza refused to have them serve as cannon fodder and also because they would just slow things down for every other giant.
"So these are all the Giants on Elbaf?" "Yep, all 13,356; not a lot, not a small amount either." Said Diddy and Janet, respectively, as she held a photo that contained numerous giants attempting to escape her prison.
"Alright, let's make this quick; I don't feel like wasting my time on them." Muttered Diddy as he tossed the photo onto the ground before stepping on it, causing him to be sucked into the photo.
Appearing in the air above the thousands of giants, I surged my conqueror's haki, causing all eyes to immediately shift to me; however, before any of them could attack, my powerful haki washed through them, causing nearly every giant to drop to their knees as they found it difficult to stay conscious. As for the ones that managed to remain standing, like Loki, Dorry, and Brogy, they did try to attack me, but with three punches that weren't even close to hitting them, I sent them flying backward before they hit the wall in the distance.
"Alright, listen up, you Giants! I'll be raiding Marineford, and I need some cannon fodder; if it's not obvious already, you all are the cannon fodder." Said Diddy loudly as he stared at the thousands of Giants that all shot him a vicious glare, something he noticed but didn't bother with.
"Hmph, we will never aid you in your battle against the Marines! Not after what you did to our home!" Yelled Gungnir furiously as he glared at Diddy, his words causing the other Giants to all shout in agreement.
Seeing all the shouting Giants, I titled my head in confusion, though in the end, I just unholstered Naga-sa before slamming it atop a giant's head, crushing it like a grape, silencing everyone as they furiously stared at me.
"I think you all are confused… I'm not asking you or telling you. I'm forcing you to. If you don't, I'll just kill you along with destroying Elbaf." Remarked Diddy lightly as he glanced at the numerous Giants, who all widened their eyes.
"Y-You wouldn't." Muttered Dorry hesitantly as he stared at Diddy with a terrified expression.
Raising an eyebrow, I turned around and walked out of the picture, though halfway through, I heard Brogy stop me.
"WAIT! W-We'll comply." Said Brogy with an ugly expression, his words shocking everyone except Dorry since they were the only ones who had seen what Diddy was truly capable of.
"Hehe, good." Said Diddy with a ferocious grin.