"What!? Loki!? You've got to be kidding me!"
After hearing the Straw Hats' condition, panic instantly appeared across the giants' faces, as if they had remembered something deeply unpleasant.
After all, not long ago, they had only barely managed to suppress Loki again after mobilizing all of Elbaf's strength, stopping him from escaping.
Every giant had taken part in that battle. They had also seen with their own eyes how, while resisting unconsciously, Loki had driven a longsword into Jarul's head, nearly killing the last glory of Elbaf.
All that could be said was…
Were it not for that curse, and were it not for Loki's habit of constantly talking about destroying the world, they actually would have looked forward to the giant race producing a powerful warrior like him.
Although they were reluctant to admit it, every giant could feel it: the Elbaf of today was declining, gradually drifting away from the title of "the world's strongest nation."
"No, Elder Jarul! If Loki uses this chance to escape, the trouble will be enormous!"
A giant immediately voiced his doubts, unwilling to let Loki, whom they had finally suppressed with so much difficulty, escape again.
Many other giants echoed him in agreement.
Yet in the face of everyone's resistance, Jarul fell into thought.
From his earlier conversation with Hajrudin, he could hear the subtle intention in Hajrudin's words—the hope that Elbaf would align itself with the Straw Hat Pirates.
Although Hajrudin had now become an official member under the Straw Hats, that child had still grown up under Jarul's own watch…
Even if his talent in battle could not be counted among Elbaf's very best, at least in terms of intellect, perhaps because he had inherited his father Harald's genes, he was relatively less brainless and impulsive than the other giants.
"Hajrudin also took part in the battle to imprison Loki, so he should know very clearly just how terrifying Loki's strength really is…"
"And yet, even so, he still wants Loki to fight in Elbaf's place as the defending champion…"
"Clearly, none of the participants in this battle are official members of the Straw Hat Pirates. They are all powerful figures under their fleet. Even so, does Hajrudin still believe the Straw Hat side will win an absolute victory?"
"Have the current Straw Hat Pirates already become this terrifying?"
Jarul filtered out the giants' complaints and rapidly thought through the matter in his heart.
In the end, he chose to trust Hajrudin.
That child would never do anything that harmed Elbaf.
"Enough!"
Jarul suddenly cut off the giants' grumbling. Then he lowered his gaze and asked the assembled giants in a deep voice:
"According to Hajrudin, all the people sent by the Straw Hat Pirates are elite warriors under their command."
"Just among former Warlords of the Sea, there are two: Moonlight Moria, the initiator of this incident, and the Pirate Empress Hancock, a member of the Straw Hat Grand Fleet who came with him."
""
The giant race had been suffering from a lack of successors for more than just a day or two.
More than a hundred years ago, under the succession arranged by Jarul and Jorul, Dorry and Brogy had led the young Giant Warrior Pirates out to sea, venturing all across the world to witness its vastness.
Originally, in Jarul and Jorul's eyes, with Dorry and Brogy's talents, they had been qualified to reach the very summit of the world.
But for reasons unknown, the two of them had ultimately stopped in the first half of the Grand Line, and that pause had lasted more than a hundred years.
Although their strength had not declined during their uninterrupted battles, and had even improved somewhat, the first half of the Grand Line was still, in the end, a paradise for pirates. Over there, the two of them were practically invincible. They did not even have the chance to fight stronger opponents, causing them to waste a full century.
However, Jarul had no intention of blaming them.
After all, that was exactly what it meant to be a warrior of Elbaf!
Doing what one wanted, unbound and unrestricted, free and unfettered—that was what truly living meant!
The only pity was that the two of them should originally have had the chance to surpass him and Jorul, becoming top-tier powerhouses in the world. Even the so-called Emperors of the Sea or Marine Admirals would not have been their opponents.
But now, faced with the Straw Hat Pirates' challenge, Jarul simply could not feel at ease with only those two.
The outcome of the arena battle itself did not matter.
But this battle was going to be broadcast to the entire world.
If Elbaf lost too miserably, would that not cause tremendous damage to Elbaf's glory?
If the glory of Elbaf, which had been proclaimed for over a thousand years, became synonymous with being a clown overnight, then Jarul would rather lead all the giants into a bloody battle to the death against the Straw Hats.
Thinking about it that way, allowing Loki to participate did not seem entirely unacceptable.
Sure enough, when Jarul voiced the thoughts in his heart, all the giants once again fell silent.
Have them fight the Straw Hat Pirates?
It was not that they were afraid.
Mainly, there was no need for that.
It was not as if negotiations were impossible. Why insist on turning things into a bloodbath?
In the end, under that silent atmosphere, no one continued saying that Loki absolutely could not be released.
…
…
Time slowly passed.
Under Moria's sweeping publicity campaign, almost the entire world learned that the Straw Hat Pirates were about to engage in an arena showdown with Elbaf, the so-called world's strongest nation, to decide whether Elbaf would submit to the Straw Hats.
In this era where Pokémon World dominated everything under heaven, news about the real world no longer attracted as much attention as it once had.
But Elbaf was still a nation that existed in many people's imaginations. The vast majority of people in the world even thought giants were beings from stories, doubting whether giants truly existed at all.
Just as they doubted the existence of Sky Island.
And now, the Straw Hats were actually going to broadcast an arena duel against giants to the whole world. This was a once-in-a-thousand-years opportunity. If someone missed it, could they still call themselves human!?
For a time, even the number of online players in Pokémon World was affected by this livestream event. Everyone was looking forward to the broadcast's arrival.
…
…
Meanwhile, in the Straw Hat Grand Fleet captains' group chat.
Buggy: "Hey, weren't you saying this was the Moonlight Pirates challenging Elbaf's strongest warriors? How did it suddenly turn into a livestreamed arena battle!?"
Moria: "Kishishishishi~ Do you have a problem with that!? This was approved by Lord Red, you know!"
Barto: "Bastard! Fight an arena battle if you want, but why use the Straw Hat Pirates' name!? If you lose, won't that make all the great lords of the Straw Hat Pirates lose face together with you!?"
Moria: "Who said I'm going to lose!? Though I heard there's one very formidable powerhouse on Elbaf's side, so he really can't be underestimated."
"And Hajrudin will also join Elbaf's camp as a member of the giant race."
"On the Moonlight Pirates' side, if I count my zombie subordinates, I should be able to pull together four or five high-end combatants…"
"Now that I mention it, the odds of winning really don't seem that high~"
Barto was furious. "You damned bastard! So who gave you permission to sully the Straw Hats' great name!? You bastard!!!"
"No way! In any case, you never said only members of the Moonlight Pirates could take part in the arena battle. As long as someone belongs under the Straw Hats, they can participate."
"When the time comes, I absolutely have to join! I'll never sit by and watch an idiot like you damage the Straw Hats' reputation!!!"
As the Straw Hat Pirates' loyal fanboy, Bartolomeo barely hesitated before forcefully demanding to join the battle to subdue Elbaf.
But little did he know, this scene was exactly what Moria wanted to see!
"Carina really was right! To defend the Straw Hats' reputation, these guys really can't hold themselves back."
Sitting in the captain's cabin of Pluton, Moria looked at Barto's reply, and the corners of his mouth immediately curled upward into a crescent-like arc.
But in the group chat, his replies looked extremely reluctant.
Moria: "This is a mission Lord Red entrusted to me. How can you just join because you say so?"
"However, I really don't have one hundred percent confidence. If you can come, it will indeed increase our chances of victory by quite a lot!"
Barto: "Hmph! You bastard. After this matter is over, I'll definitely teach you a proper lesson! I'll make you understand that the Straw Hats' great name is not a prop for you to use in your little show!"
Law: "Idiot Barto. Can't you tell Moria is doing this on purpose!?"
At that moment, Law, who had been lurking all along, finally could not bear to keep watching and opened his mouth to remind him.
Because Barto was extremely snobbish and had a deeply delinquent personality, even within the Straw Hat Grand Fleet, very few people could get along with him.
At the same time, however, he did show some restraint toward powerful people.
Because Law's Devil Fruit ability happened to counter him, Law could barely be considered one of the people in the Straw Hat Grand Fleet who could actually talk to Barto.
After going back and forth like that, the two of them could be considered to have developed a strange sort of friendship.
That was why Law had specially reminded Barto to check the group chat last time.
It was just that even he had not expected such a simple matter to develop into this.
Although no matter how one looked at it, this would bring absolute benefits to the Straw Hat Grand Fleet. After this battle, they could openly search Elbaf for like-minded giant warriors and invite them to join their own pirate crews.
But the feeling of being led around by the nose by Moria was truly unpleasant.
That was why, despite the fact that quite a few people in the captains' group could speak on this matter, all of them had chosen to lurk. They wanted to leave Moria hanging until the final moment before saying they were willing to join the arena battle, letting him stew in anxiety for a while.
They had simply not expected Barto, that single-celled organism, to think nothing through and charge straight out, falling perfectly into Moria's trap.
Now that things had become like this, continuing to lurk no longer had much meaning.
However, although lurking was no longer an option, they could use this chance to properly curse Moria out.
That big, dark, fat bastard, just to keep them from watching the show, had actually dragged every single one of them into the water!?
Red's favoritism toward Moria had granted him the Ancient Weapon · Pluton, causing his reputation to skyrocket, even far surpassing the fame he once had as a Warlord of the Sea…
This matter had long made the other members of the Straw Hat Grand Fleet unbearably envious, jealous, and resentful.
It was just that they did not dare object to Red's decision, so they had never dared say anything.
Until this moment, when they finally seized an opportunity.
For a time, one captain after another who had originally been lurking all popped up and began speaking wildly in the group chat.
At first, they were still scolding Moria on the grounds that he had deceived Barto.
But as they kept going, everyone's reasons for cursing Moria began to grow increasingly absurd, to the point that it was basically nitpicking.
Someone said Moria looked too much like an onion, to the point that every time they ate onions, they felt disgusted.
Someone said he had misled the youth, raising such an adorable little girl like Perona into something so gloomy and underworld-like.
Someone said that since one of his subordinates was a bastard who frequently peeped into women's bathhouses, it showed that the upper beam was crooked, causing the lower beam to slant.
Even many people who feared Moria took this opportunity to pop up, daring to join the ranks of those insulting Moria.
…
…
"Damn it! Damn it! I'll remember every last one of you!!!"
Inside Pluton's captain's cabin, Moria's eyes were bloodshot as he looked at the avatars and names flashing across his Personal Terminal, gnashing his teeth as he spat those words.
Although he was already doing his best not to look at the group chat's contents, even one or two words that flashed past in the corner of his eye were enough to make him feel incomparably furious.
Fortunately, Moria had already anticipated this.
After fuming for quite a while, he forced himself to calm down, then quietly pressed the screen-recording button on his Personal Terminal.
"Curse me! Curse me all you want! Once this incident is over, I'll go door to door and find every one of you, then properly discuss with you what the greatest truth really is."
Moria slammed the table hard and stood up directly. No longer looking at the group chat, he began contacting his subordinates to prepare the relevant matters.
No matter what, those fellows who had dared insult him could also be considered to have all agreed to join this arena battle.
If the Moonlight Pirates alone were to challenge all of Elbaf, then even with the power of Pluton, Moria would not dare make an absolute guarantee.
But if the strength of the Straw Hat Grand Fleet was added…
It was not that he was being overly confident. The fact was, even if they completely erased Elbaf from the world map, it would not be difficult for them.
The world's strongest nation!?
That was already in the past!
The name of this era was Straw Hat!
The Straw Hat Grand Fleet was by no means a simple pirate alliance!
Under the leadership of the Straw Hat Pirates, the resources and power gathered by the Straw Hat Grand Fleet were enough to shock the entire world!
Mere Elbaf?
Heh!
Nothing but remnants of the old era!
…
…
"Captain, the Straw Hat Pirates really are going to make a move on Elbaf?"
In the New World, upon a rare, peaceful stretch of sea, aboard a pirate ship that was not particularly large…
Wearing casual sunglasses, Benn Beckman held a newspaper and handed it to Red-Haired Shanks, who had originally been sunbathing on the deck.
That was right. This inconspicuous vessel was, in fact, the pirate ship of one of the few powerful figures on the sea today who could still be counted among the top ranks—the former Emperor of the Sea, Red-Haired Shanks.
And aboard it was naturally the Red Hair Pirates, who had already lost their title as an Emperor crew.
"Hm?!"
Hearing Benn Beckman's words, the resting redhead was suddenly stunned.
Some time ago, they had accidentally been swept into a strange place by the New World's natural environment. Although, with their powerful strength, that incident had not caused them much harm, it had still delayed them by several days.
As a result, they did not know much about the recent commotion Moria had stirred up.
Taking the newspaper, Shanks' expression turned slightly serious and solemn.
Elbaf was a friend of the Red Hair Pirates, and the Straw Hat Pirates had an indescribable, tangled relationship with Shanks.
Both sides were connected to him on good terms. He did not want the Straw Hat Pirates and Elbaf to go to war and cause unnecessary bloodshed.
(End of Chapter)