"My name's Ripley. I'm forty-seven years old this year. I used to be a warrior, but now I run a meat stall."
"I'm Gaban. Looks like you're five years older than me. I'm forty-two this year. Hahaha... I guess you could say I'm a warrior too!"
"I can tell," Ripley said with a smile. "You carry two battle axes around, and you've got the aura of a strong fighter. You must be pretty powerful, right?"
"I'm alright, I'm alright," Gaban replied proudly. "I'm not bragging or anything, but there aren't many people on this sea who can beat me!"
"So... were you serious when you proposed to me earlier?"
"Of course I was serious!" Gaban answered immediately. "That was a sincere request from the bottom of my heart. Don't tell me you're already married?"
"No, that's not it. I was just shocked. A human suddenly proposing to a giant like me... honestly, I didn't know how to react."
"Why can't a human propose to a giant?" Gaban declared confidently. "I've always had a dream of marrying a beautiful giant woman! That's one of the reasons I set sail in the first place. And now that I've met you, my heart won't stop pounding. It's telling me that you're my destined partner!"
"Hahahaha!" Ripley burst into laughter. "You've definitely said things like that to plenty of pretty girls before, haven't you?"
"Absolutely not!"
Inside the tavern, Valthior sat nearby holding a mug of alcohol while watching the two of them chat happily together.
Honestly, he felt completely detached from reality at this point.
He genuinely could not keep up with the flow of their conversation or understand how their brains worked.
"Well," Ripley said after a while, "since you're this interesting, maybe giving you a chance wouldn't be impossible."
"Really!?" Gaban's eyes lit up instantly.
"Really. But if you want to marry me, you'd have to settle down in Elbaf. I have a lot of family and friends here, so I'm not interested in marrying far away and leaving home."
"No problem at all!" Gaban replied without hesitation. "I'm basically alone anyway. I don't really have family or relatives, so I can absolutely settle down in Elbaf! I love Elbaf!"
Valthior: ???
The hell do you mean you're alone!?
Are the Roger Pirates not your family!?
Are we not even human beings to you anymore!?
As Valthior watched the two of them rapidly move from introductions to discussing marriage, then somehow transition into talking about where they would buy a house and how many children they wanted after marriage, he finally couldn't take it anymore.
"Wait, wait, wait!" Valthior raised a hand and grabbed Gaban's shoulder to interrupt him. "Did you forget why we came here in the first place? Don't tell me you're planning to leave the crew early?"
Gaban froze for a moment after being interrupted.
Only then did he finally snap out of the passionate atmosphere from earlier.
Scratching his head awkwardly, he looked at Ripley apologetically.
"Sorry... I forgot to mention it earlier. I still need to sail with my companions for a while longer. We've got something important we need to accomplish first. But don't worry! We work fast. At most, it'll only take a year or two before I come back."
"A year or two isn't that long," Ripley replied casually with a smile and a wave of her hand. "Honestly, I was starting to think things were moving a little too fast too. We can just start as friends first. You can write letters to me or call me with a Den Den Mushi, right?"
"Of course!" Gaban said immediately. "Come on, let's exchange Den Den Mushi frequencies! Give me your address too. I promise I'll write to you every single day!"
Valthior desperately wanted to complain.
You think this is moving too fast!?
This wasn't even a matter of being fast or slow anymore!
This whole thing was completely insane!
Still, in order to avoid ruining Gaban's happiness, Valthior ultimately forced himself to swallow all the complaints stuck in his throat.
"You two are good friends, right?" Ripley finally turned to look at Valthior. "You seem younger... though you're handsome too, you don't really have that mature man charm he has."
Valthior's face twitched twice.
Sorry about that. I'm only in my twenties, so naturally I don't have the 'mature man' aura yet!
Taking a deep breath, he looked at Ripley and introduced himself politely.
"My name's Valthior. I'm this idiot's crewmate. Nice to meet you, Ripley."
With Valthior joining the conversation, they finally managed to drag the topic away from marriage and future children. Instead, they started chatting about ordinary things and sharing interesting stories from the sea.
It was during this conversation that Valthior and Gaban learned Harald, King of the Giants, had already returned to Elbaf yesterday, bringing Marine Admirals Sengoku and Zephyr along with him.
Elbaf had even hosted a grand banquet for the Marines last night, so the two Admirals were probably still sleeping off their hangovers right now.
The moment they heard both Sengoku and Zephyr were currently in Elbaf, Valthior and Gaban's expressions became noticeably heavier.
Then suddenly, Ripley frowned slightly while looking at Gaban, as though she had just remembered something.
"Wait... it's you. I knew your name sounded familiar." Her eyes widened in surprise. "You're Scopper Gaban of the Roger Pirates, aren't you? 'Mountain Eater' Gaban, the guy with the seven hundred million Berries bounty!?"
Crap!
Valthior's heart skipped a beat.
From their earlier conversation, it was obvious Harald held tremendous prestige in Elbaf, and Ripley clearly respected him deeply as king.
Now that she had recognized them...
Gaban's expression stiffened slightly, but in the end, he still nodded honestly.
"That's right, it's me. But don't misunderstand—we don't have any hostile intentions toward Elbaf."
"Hahahaha!" Ripley laughed loudly. "You don't seriously think I'd report you to the king, do you? Relax. Elbaf doesn't reject pirates. Honestly, most of us used to be pirates ourselves anyway."
Then she added with admiration:
"Besides, I heard you once fought against King Harald himself. That's incredible."
"You know we fought Harald, and you still don't mind?" Gaban asked in surprise.
"What's there to mind?" Ripley replied without hesitation. "King Harald serves the World Government as a warrior of Elbaf. Crossing blades with powerful figures on the sea is the highest honor for a warrior. Since you were worthy opponents capable of fighting His Majesty, then as long as you don't bear ill will toward Elbaf, you'll naturally be treated with a warrior's respect here as well."
Hearing that, Valthior quietly let out a sigh of relief.
Elbaf really was a reasonable and honorable place.
The glory of warriors...
What a dazzling belief.
Once that misunderstanding was cleared up, the conversation naturally shifted toward the topic they had originally come here for.
"To be honest," Valthior explained, "the Roger Pirates came to Elbaf this time for cultural exchange. We learned that the Sun God Nika plays an important role in Elbaf's traditional culture and legends. During our travels over the past few years, we've also discovered several Poneglyphs that recorded related information. That's why we came to Elbaf—to see whether there are any Poneglyphs here as well."
After a brief pause, he added carefully:
"Is discussing this topic considered taboo in Elbaf? If it is, please let us know in advance so we don't accidentally offend anyone."
"Poneglyphs?" Ripley blinked in surprise. "I heard rumors that your crew is searching for them to revive the Ancient Weapons..."
"That's slander!" Gaban immediately interrupted. "Honestly, we already know quite a lot about the Three Ancient Weapons, but none of us have any interest in reviving or using them. We just want to know what really happened during the Void Century."
"Oh, that?" Ripley replied casually. "I actually know a little about it. From what I heard, there was a massive war back then, and the world environment changed drastically afterward. The Treasure Tree Adam rose higher, sea levels rose too, and there was even a giant tsunami that nearly flooded Elbaf."
Valthior: ???
Gaban: ???
"How do you know all that!?" Valthior asked in shock.
"When I was little, my great-grandmother told me," Ripley answered calmly.
Valthior and Gaban exchanged speechless looks.
Right...
Giants lived incredibly long lives. They were practically a long-lived race, with lifespans at least three times longer than humans.
If they avoided sickness and accidents, living past three hundred years was completely normal. Some even reached four or five hundred years old.
After all, even Chopper's foster mother, a regular human, had lived to around one hundred forty while still smoking, drinking, and staying energetic.
Looking at it that way...
Those so-called ancient secrets from eight hundred years ago might feel unimaginably distant to humans.
But for giants?
Wasn't that basically just their grandparents' generation?
At worst, their great-grandparents' era.
...
Read Advanced Chapters on : www.patreon.com/c/ReadJin
~ Every 100 PS = Bonus Chapter!
~ Push the Story forward with your [Power Stones]