[Boom!]
At that moment Utgard decided to use the Hakoku Sovereignty. This surprised everyone, as they thought it would be used later.
When all the light and noise dissipated, only thick smoke could be seen covering the entire place.
A strong gust of wind quickly dispersed the smoke, and Saul reappeared before everyone.
At this moment, his upper golden armor had disappeared, and the lower part of his armor was full of cracks.
His chest was blackened, and his dark arms were crossed over his face. His entire body emanated a hot red glow and light wisps of smoke.
Behind Saul, the sea had split in two as far as the eye could see.
[Bang!]
Saul, breathing heavily, fell to one knee on the ground, as the Busoshoku Haki in his skin began to fade.
"It seems that I have won, kid." Utgard took a deep breath, and then a satisfied smile appeared on his tired face, not caring in the least about the giant axe that was beginning to crumble in his hand.
"Did I lose?"
"You are wrong, this battle has just begun." At this time, Sauro slowly raised his head. Then an earth-yellow halo began to emerge from his body, and his figure grew larger and larger.
When he stood up completely, he was two heads taller than before, and his skin had become like bronze.
The hybrid form of the Human-Human Fruit, Model: Antaeus!
"So, without your weapon, what will you do now, Elder Utgard?"
It was evident that although the Hakoku Sovereignty could severely injure an opponent of a similar level, it was not enough to defeat or kill them instantly, unless it was used by two powerful giant warriors together.
The following duel was a bit boring.
Saul and Utgard fought each other with bare hands, without any technical content, and at most some fighting skills.
However, all the spectators knew that the outcome of this duel had already been decided.
In this type of attrition combat, it was clear that Utgard could not hold out as long as Saul.
Such a boring battle made Sengoku, Garp, Newgate, Kaido and others no longer pay attention. Although the virtual screen was still open, they had already started to do their own things.
They were waiting for the third duel.
Similarly, Imu, after organizing his thoughts on the World Tournament, sent the proposals to the Five Elders and continued with his daily affairs.
...
Six days later.
Saul finally defeated Utgard.
In the distance, Farbauti and the giant elders approached with a group of giant warriors.
Saul had no interest in talking to them. With his tired body, he used Geppo to quickly ascend towards the flying warship in the sky.
"Elder Jarul, you take Elder Utgard back for treatment first. I will fight the third battle myself." King Farbauti ordered, gripping his spear with an unfazed expression. The elders looked at each other and nodded.
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
After they walked away, King Farbauti shouted at the official ship of the World Government in the distance: "Come, let me see who you will send to fight this time!"
"Mama-hahaha!"
"It's finally my turn! And my opponent is the king of the giants, perfect!"
A voluptuous woman, wearing a pink captain's hat, came flying in a cloud of lightning, accompanied by a ball of fire that shone like a small sun.
"Charlotte Linlin!" Farbauti frowned immediately, and his gloomy expression did not hide his distaste for her at all.
At the same time, the spectators of the duel, such as Sengoku, Kaido, and Sakazuki, were shocked to see that the World Government had sent that woman.
"How dare you appear before me?"
Linlin, with a mocking smile, looked at Farbauti and laughed out loud. "Mama-hahaha, what am I afraid of? We agreed that if you lose this time, you have to give me a few giants!"
"Keep dreaming!" Farbauti, furious, caused black rays to emanate from his spear while a wave of dark red Haoshoku Haki unfolded like a tsunami towards Linlin.
"Hmph!" Linlin let out a snort and released her own Haoshoku Haki.
The next moment, in the center of the fragmented Winter Island, two different colored but equally powerful and turbulent auras collided with each other.
"Napoleon!"
"The Spear of Elbaf!"
Charlotte Linlin and King Farbauti shouted almost at the same time, clashing a huge sword against a gigantic spear.
At that instant, wind and thunder raged without bounds, and a shower of sparks exploded. The sound transformed into a shock wave that spread in all directions.
But the most shocking scene was the sky split by the crash.
The next moment, Big Mom was thrown backward, retreating hundreds of meters on her lightning cloud.
..
Ten days later.
Although it was somewhat forced and she ended up in a rather disheveled state, Big Mom won the third battle against Elbaf.
Charlotte Linlin relied on her monster-level terrifying talent to beat King Farbauti to exhaustion.
The defeat of King Farbauti made the Kingdom of Elbaf join the World Government unconditionally.
Meanwhile Surtur and Utgard followed Saul in a flying warship to the Moon. Both of them were assigned to the Giant God Warriors.
...
After three battles against Elbaf, the Propaganda Department finally published the latest edition of the World Economy News.
Due to the large amount of information, the newspaper was especially thick this time.
...
Sabaody Archipelago
Being the closest island to the Red Line, it was one of the first places to receive the newspaper.
When the first resident opened the newspaper the headline caught his attention.
"The World Tournament is coming soon!"
This is the front page headline.
The resident was perplexed, not understanding exactly what it was about. But as he read the first page, his surprise increased, and his mouth slowly opened.
Gather the world's strongest fighters next year and determine the top hundred?
After reading, he quickly turned to the next page.
"The first prize is 10 billion berries! Even the last place will get 50 million berries?"
"Are there Devil Fruits too?"
"But what is a Dimensional Gate Pass?"
In the following pages an explanation about the Dimensional Gate was found, and the term Other World officially appeared.
...
The matter of the Dimensional Gates and the other worlds has, as expected, caused a great stir throughout the world.
However, the World Tournament and Elbaf's accession to the World Government have also attracted a lot of attention.
This is the purpose of the World Government.
Through several important news items, they intended to reduce the interest generated by the Dimensional Gates and the other worlds, to avoid excessive and extreme reactions.
The Five Elders knew very well how alluring the idea of another world was, and that it would inevitably stir the thoughts of the kings and nobles of the affiliated nations.
However, since the introduction of the Dimensional Gates and the other worlds in the newspapers was somewhat vague and lacked photos and videos as evidence, many people were hesitant, thinking that it might just be a trick by the World Government to attract fighters from the world. They believed that the supposed other world was probably just some unknown islands with peculiar things.
But when the Propaganda Department released a ten-minute video with previously recorded footage from the Kabane World and the Demon Slayer World, the kings and nobles of the affiliated nations couldn't sit still, immediately calling the World Government to inquire about the other world.
However, the World Government was already prepared, and announced that affiliated nations would not be able to send people to the other world, at least for the time being.
Those outside the World Government who wanted to pass through the Dimensional Gates could only obtain a pass by participating in next year's World Tournament.
This sparked discontent and criticism from many affiliated nations.
Faced with the benefits of two worlds, not feeling envy or greed was difficult to achieve.
Because of this, one king even demanded an extraordinary Levely to discuss the management of the Dimensional Gates and the other worlds.
However, just when some kings were thinking of supporting this proposal, they received news that the king had accidentally drowned in the port of his own nation.
Immediately, those kings and nobles calmed down, finally remembering the style of the World Government.
But that couldn't stop the undercurrents.
Kings, nobles, warlords, mobsters, pirates, all the different powers were set in motion with a clear objective: the Red Earth Continent.
The world never lacks intelligent people.
If the Dimensional Gates really existed, they would surely be in the Red Earth Continent, so they secretly sent some of their best and strongest men to infiltrate and locate the Dimensional Gates.
...
East Blue, Kingdom of Dunbell.
Although the life of its citizens was quite good thanks to the breeding and sale of various valuable fish that were abundant in its surrounding waters, they could easily pay the heavenly tribute and feed themselves adequately.
The crucial thing was that all kings throughout the ages had been fairly decent. Although they could not be considered benevolent rulers, at least they did not impose excessive taxes on their subjects.
But all this had changed.
It all started two months ago, when the king suddenly enacted a law requiring that all marine products be delivered in full first, and then distributed equally according to the population of each household.
At the same time, the profits from the sale of these marine products were no longer divided proportionally among the citizens, but they were paid a fixed salary according to the size of each family.
Citizens were completely furious. More than a million people left their homes to gather in front of the great gates and high walls of the capital in protest and opposition.
But in the face of the king's army, which was well prepared with firearms and even artillery, they were completely defenseless, not to mention that the impatient king had also ordered their expulsion and suppression.
During that incident eleven people died and hundreds more were injured.
The citizens understood that the king seems to have changed, and this kingdom has also changed.
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