A Clash of Titans

Ah yes. Elbaf, the home of giants. Julia still felt she was standing among dwarfs. She had came here seeking powerful warriors after hearing rumors of the strength of the king, but upon seeing the populace she was losing hope that this "Redbeard" she had heard about would even be a close match, or if she would just squash him like everything else she had ever fought. She strolled through the village, various giants staring in utter dismay at her size. Ah, so this was the castle. It looked big enough for her, and Julia had never seen anything man-made close to her size. She cracked her neck. "I have come to challenge the so called strongest giant." She bellowed at the top of her voice into the castle. She wouldn't be surprised if that reverberated through the whole island.

One of his many servants, rushed into his quarters alarming him of the female demon's entrance. Tamotsu and the King sat side by side enjoying the sun's radiating heat. "Sounds like one of your bitches has come back for you." Tamotsu snickered, teasing Redbeard at the fact that most women who call his name are seek his head. It wasn't uncommon for women of different shapes and size to return to Elbaf to complain about his lack of interest. But unfortunately, this time was different. The one who demanded him was not a woman he had seduced but a new challenger. "I'm sorry to tell you, but this one is different. She's not here for that head, but she might walk out with it." Redbeard joked, putting on some close and headed outside.

Walking outside the castle, Redbeard found himself in awe of the titan's size. Only one other had ever towered over him and that man had disappeared ages ago. "Dear lord, what's cooking good looking?"

She sized him up. 'Ah...' She thought. 'Someone close to my size. Still smaller though.' She decided she wasn't disappointed. She turned around and started walking away. "Follow me." She said. "Unless you want to be defeated here infront of all your subjects that is. And in case it isn't obvious I've come to challenge you and see for myself if the rumors of your strength are true. Don't disappoint me too much."

Despite her size, Redbeard could tell she was still quite young. Despite wandering the globe for probably multiple decades, he could sense she was just abandoning her youth. "I usually don't take orders, but you are definitely not someone I'd like to piss off." he said, with a huge smile on his face. He followed the demon titan, winking at one of his servants before his departure. "I'll be back soon, I'm just gonna go have some fun." he spat, with his voice echoing throughout the land.

After about 15 minutes, they arrived in a barren area away from civilization. "Mmmm... Here seems good." Said Muu, observing the landscape. "No one to get in the way." She did some stretches and got out her newly made hammer. "Prepare yourself. Mjolnir." With little to warning she swung her hammer directly at Redbeard's head, breaking the sound barrier with the raw force behind the blow."

"Why would I ever think a demon giant would possess some form of chivalry." he thought to himself, dodging the attack by ducking down. While the speed of the hammer was indeed fearsome, through the use of Kenbenshoku Haki to alarm him of the attack, and the size advantage she had on him, Redbeard was able to effortlessly avoid it. "I don't usually hit girls." he thought, making a fist in order to prepare for a punch. "But she challenged me and I can't disappoint." But instead of coming in close and attempting to deal serious punch, Redbeard used his fist to release a powerful wave of transparent energy aiming at the Muu's largest opening, her stomach. If successful, the blow could deal significant damage or at least knock the wind out of her.

Muu didn't know about haki, but she felt something coming from his fist, perhaps by the wind or by her own knowledge of wind attacks. She wasn't the sort of person who dodged, so she decided to meet attack with attack. "Andvaranut." she said as she twirled her hammer before bringing it so a sudden stop as she launched her wind attack directly at the haki blast. They collided and made a burst with enough force to break the earth. "Impressive. I thought the Andvaranut would cut through it. But try this. Draupnir." Almost abruptly a barrage of 12 or so discs similar to the Andvaranut manifested flying at Redbeard, with what seemed like just a flick of the arm from Muu.

With a barrage of lethal discs coming his way, the urge to use *that ability* became quite tempting. But, since his opponent appeared to be oblivious to the use of haki, he restrained himself for the time being. Instead,from his bent over position, he sprang upwards, leading him to take to the skies, far above the attacks or MuuMuu for that matter. "Her skills with a weapons are quite masterful, it'll be hard to get in close." While airborne, Redbeard collided his fist, activating a style he has been utilizing for several decades. With it, he removes his brain's restraints that prevents him from accessing complete usage of his muscles. Rather than the usual twenty, Redbeard increased his usage to thirty percent.

After remaining airborne for a few seconds, Redbeard began to descend toward the ground with his fist arched backwards. Coming down at incredible speeds and with his increase in strength, the force would be tremendous. But his target was not his opponent, but the ground itself. Upon contact, a massive shockwave was released with dust and gust creating somewhat of a smokescreen and the battleground began to crack and crumble, which would hopefully cause MuuMuu to lose her footing. With blast of gust surrounding Redbeard and spreading throughout the battlefield, his current position should be unknown.

At the resulting Shockwave, Muu braced herself, digging her feet into the ground and tightening her muscles. 'He sure can jump...' she thought to herself. "Gleipnir" she said as she swirled a shield of wind into being. The dust blew over, the Geipnir served to keep it away and diffuse some of the dust, but she still had no idea where Redbeard was hiding. "Humph... You call that an impact? Eldhrimnir." She smashed the ground with all her strength with the hammer, going as far as to use both arms. The hammer moved with the force and heat of a meteor, and the resulting impact made an actual burning crater, blowing away the dust cloud with a burst of heat.

Before MuuMuu even raised her hammer, Redbeard took advantage of the fact he was able to navigate through the mist. Utilizing his enhance sensory prowess, he managed to appear behind his target without being traced. As she came down with her attack, Redbeard formulated his own. Resembling his initial strike, Redbeard focused his strength into his fist and prepared to strike her back. As the her attack generated a burst of heat, Redbeard grounded his feet and endured the pain. Following through with his attack, Redbeard sent a piercing wave of gust and haki with incredible force, targeting her lower spine. Due to her being in the midst of completing her own attack, and the speed of his own, success was very high. But despite his well developed plan, Redbeard would not come out unscathed as first degree burn marks were scattered along his body.

"Behind me!" She exclaimed as she realized what he was doing, she tried to turn around, but wasn't fast enough and was stuck in position by her own attack, WHACK the blow hit her square in the spine. It hurt. It was a nasty blow right in the spine. She clenched her teeth and endured it. This was an opening, Rebeard's plan had one flaw. He had gotten too close. "...Rati..." she said as she released a drill of air directly at Redbeard. At this distance it would be hard to dodge. 'Let's see how strong you really are.' she thought to herself.

Barbarossa was both precise and cautious about his movements. The strike to her lower spine was not simply a spur in the moment but well thought strike to intentionally harm her lumbar spine. By targeting such an area, even with outstanding endurance and durability of MuuMuu, she'd be at risk of permanent spinal damage and possible paralysis in her lower half. While she may not notice it now due to the adrenaline of the fight, sudden and excessive movement may lead to the worst case scenario.

But despite his attack landing, he was not out of the woods. As he suspected, his opponent continued to charge on and release yet another powerful attack. With the swing of her hammer she released a powerful drill-like shot straight for his core. And with the range between the two, his options were indeed limited. There was a simple way out of this, but Redbeard's pride and newfound respect for MuuMuu's endurance and will prevented him from doing it. But he was not just going to tank the powerful gust of wind. In an instant, the Red Titan mummbled. "Busoshoku: Kakuchō" and a black wall emerged in front of him to block the attack. While the power of the gust was indeed powerful, this wall held the strength of Redbeard's own will as a defense. As it struggled to break through, Redbeard thought himself, "Man, I forgot how hard it was to fight without..."

She observed the wall. Whatever it was made of, it was pretty strong stuff. She normally used Rati to get rid of mountains. But it wasn't unbreakable, it just needed some more push. "Draupnir." She released barrage after barrage into the Rati, attempting to break the wall with sheer strength. But she paused when she heard Redbeard make a curious remark. "Without using what?"

As maintaining the wall would not be the best source of his energy, Redbeard placed his dominant hand on a blade that was holstered on his waist. The blade was not of significant grade or even a notorious weapon of Redbeard, but the emperor had been honing his skills with a blade in order to one day properly wield the heaven's weapon. Taking a breath, he thought to himself, "Slice not crush..." coating the blade in an dark aura to strengthen its durability. Once more he had increased his muscle restraint, giving him access to fifty percent. At that moment, the wall disappeared and Redbeard withdrew the blade unleashing a powerful projectile of compressed air and haki, slicing through the series of wind attacks along with the ground below, with it's being his opponent.

The blade had shattered into pieces despite his attempt to control his power and maintain the blade's stability. He was still somewhat of a novice with as a swordsman, but his sheer power would allow him to at least avoid the situation and send his own attack towards his target.

The blow was powerful, but Muu didn't dodge. She always took every blow from her opponents straight on and crushed them with sheer strength, and this was no different. She readied her hammer with both arms, and swung directly at the attack. Strength met strength. You could hear from a distance the sound of every muscle in her body working to it's maximum.

The two attacks collided, generating a massive fissure that separated the two fighters. The sheer force of the attacks would cause the hole to sink hundreds of meters downward. Dropping his shattered weapon, Redbeard stood tall as he was amazed by the woman's capabilities. "Damn, it's been a while since I met a woman with such tenacity. To push me to use Kakuchō really takes alot. Though, your injury may be more severe than you know. Are you willing to risk a life time of battles for just one victory..?"

"Oh great. A lecture and a fight. Listen shorty, I put everything into every fight, no matter the consequences. That's how it's always been, and always will be. No matter the consequences. Whereas, you on the other hand, you haven't used everything yet, have you?" She said. She closed her eyes, crouched down and looked inside herself. She hadn't even got a proper hit in yet. There it was, right where it always was. Anger. She channeled her anger and released it. She shot towards Redbeard with all the speed she could muster and swung from above down at Redbeard at full strength, determined to get a hit in.

As expected, words were of no use. She was determined to prove herself no matter the cause. As a warrior of Elbaf, Redbeard respected such determination and resolve. But, she is years away from reaching her peak and to see her end her whole fighting carrier for the sake of one irrelevant battle that could happen again decades from now, Redbeard did not respect. As she bolted at him with incredible speed and tenacity, the King remained completely still as if he were prepared to tank the match. With the swing of her hammer, she completely annihilated Redbeard's torso. At first glance it appeared the battle was over, but actually the truth became clear. Using the powers of his devil fruit, Redbeard slipped through the attack and remained unscathed. "This is for you own good.", he mumbled, before releasing a powerful shock. While the voltage was low, with the constant current that would hopefully envelop her massive body would hopefully render her unconscious.

As the blow tore through his body she was instantly shocked. 'What the-' was her only thought before a blast of electricity coursed through her veins. She was use to the occasional lightning strike, it was hard not to get struck considering her stature. But this, this was on a whole other level, she had never felt so much electricity flow through her before. She tried to hide back a scream but couldn't, and the sound echoed throughout Elbaf. She panted desperately, sinking to her knees trying desperately not to give into the pain and pass unconscious. She fell on her hands, and vomited still panting, the process of this electrocution lasted much too long before she finally fell to unconscious.

After the female titan finally towered down, Redbeard released a massive sigh. "Dear lord, I guess I'm responsible for taking her back to the medical center." he thought, carrying her back to the mainland.

Muu woke up in a stretcher. She hadn't had something this close to a actual bed in around 30 years. She was a little surprised that the giants had managed to get something together, but not really. She sorted through her memories. Ah. She had lost. The thought hit hard. She heard Redbeard's voice coming from the other room and pretended to be asleep.

"Don't act like I didn't she see you get up." Redbeard snickered, walking into the room to see the relatively young giant somewhat agonize over her defeat. "I wouldn't suggest being on your feet to often so I doubt you'll listen. So just make sure you stretch often...okay?"

She turned away from Redbeard. "Mmm... I think I'm going to go train for another... 30 years? Yeah... That sounds good. Tell me, what were those things you used?" She asked.

It took Redbeard a moment to realize what she was referring to, "Oh yeah, you did seem oblivious to Haki during the battle. Probably would have made the battle quite fearsome if you possessed it." he responded, intentionally leaving out his Devil Fruit.

"So I can learn it to huh... In the battle I didn't get a single hit in on you, and I have the feeling you were holding a lot back... I'm going to learn this 'Haki' come back, and wipe the floor with you." She said, still not looking at him.

"While I don't doubt next time we meet you'll be much stronger...Beating me.....is out of the question." Despite his rather kind action, Redbeard was still very confident borderline arrogant towards his combat prowess. "But, let's leave smack talk out the battlefield, how bout I take you out for a goodtime before you go."

"With you? Don't cramp my style old man." A few days later, Muu left without saying anything.