Elbaf — Aurust Castle.
This was the royal residence of Harald.
For generations, every Giant King had lived here, and the castle itself symbolized the royal family's rule over Elbaf.
Inside the castle, Sengoku and Zephyr were currently touring the halls, examining portraits of past Giant Kings along with various antiques from Elbaf's history.
Of course, Elbaf's "antiques" mostly consisted of gigantic old weapons, armor, and similar war relics.
"The alcohol here is way too strong," Zephyr muttered bitterly while rubbing his temples from time to time. "Even after a whole day, my head still hurts..."
"It's already been a day and you still haven't recovered?" Sengoku replied calmly. "I'm perfectly fine."
"You're a Mythical Zoan user, bastard!" Zephyr shot back irritably.
Sengoku immediately countered, "That has nothing to do with it. You're the one who kept trying to outdrink Harald, so of course you ended up wasted."
The moment Harald's name came up, Zephyr stopped arguing and instead looked around curiously.
"Speaking of Harald, where is he? I haven't seen him all day."
Standing behind him, Borsalino shook his head.
"We haven't seen King Harald either."
Sakazuki then looked toward Sengoku and asked seriously,
"Admiral Sengoku, what exactly is our mission this time? Was it simply escorting King Harald back to Elbaf? If that's all, shouldn't we be returning to Marine Headquarters soon?"
Hearing the question, Sengoku frowned slightly.
"The orders from Mary Geoise were somewhat vague," he explained. "We were told to escort Harald safely back to Elbaf and remain here for a period of time afterward. He's currently carrying out a classified mission related to the Holy Knights. Once he completes it, we'll return to headquarters together."
"So basically," Borsalino asked hopefully, "we don't have to do anything right now except wait?"
Even though he had only recently joined Marine Headquarters, his lazy personality was already showing itself clearly.
To some extent, one of the reasons he joined the Marines in the first place was simply because he wanted a stable nine-to-five job.
Justice itself was always something vague and unclear to him.
Borsalino considered himself nothing more than an ordinary salaryman.
...
Meanwhile, deep within the castle—
Black smoke continuously poured from Harald's body, corroding the floor beneath him as strange marks spread across the ground.
Gradually, a massive pentagram formation emerged.
Once the ritual was complete, Harald's expression became extremely complicated.
But things had already reached this point.
He no longer had a choice.
Slowly closing his eyes, Harald connected his consciousness through the ritual and reported the situation to Imu.
"Imu-sama, the pentagram formation has been completed. What should I do next?"
Soon, Imu's voice echoed within his mind.
"Excellent, Harald. You have not disappointed Mu's expectations."
Then came the next order.
"You are now to mobilize all of Elbaf and establish a massive warrior army capable of rivaling the Marines themselves. Elbaf will contribute to the world through military strength."
The moment that command reached him, Harald completely froze.
He immediately responded:
"Imu-sama, please wait. The path I've pursued all these years has been to lead Elbaf away from war. Although many warriors in the country still wish to fight, they join the Marines and serve the World Government individually. As for the rest of the citizens—"
"Everything will be decided by Mu."
Imu interrupted him coldly before he could finish.
"You need only obey orders. Effective immediately, Elbaf will restore its policy of universal military service. I want you to mobilize everything..."
Harald's face darkened instantly.
He wanted to resist.
But black smoke began rising from his body once more as that terrifying dark power started eroding his consciousness and willpower.
"Damn it... those bastards are trying to take Elbaf away..." Harald suddenly dropped to one knee, desperately using his own willpower to resist Imu's control.
And in truth, if someone's personal will was strong enough, it really was possible to resist Imu's influence to a certain degree.
Gunko herself had once briefly regained her own consciousness and memories while under possession.
Yet Imu's dark power surged like a raging flood, endlessly crashing against Harald's will and tormenting the Giant King with unbearable pain.
But at that moment—
The castle suddenly shook violently.
No... it wasn't just the castle.
The entire Treasure Tree Adam trembled as though some terrifying force was trying to rip this colossal tree, rooted deep within the New World, straight out of the earth.
"Jihahahahaha! Harald! An old friend came all this way to visit you. Aren't you coming out to welcome me!?"
A wild and domineering voice echoed from high above the skies, spreading throughout all of Elbaf.
Harald, who had been resisting Imu with all his strength, suddenly looked shocked.
"Shiki!?"
Normally, losing focus at a moment like this should have allowed Imu to instantly seize full control over his consciousness.
But the problem was—
Even Imu had been caught off guard by this sudden development.
"Shiki? Golden Lion Shiki?" Imu immediately understood what was happening.
Meanwhile, it seemed Shiki had become irritated after receiving no response.
The whole of Elbaf shook once more. The Treasure Tree Adam swayed lightly, while Shiki's cold voice rang out again through the sky.
"Don't mistake me for some soft-hearted fool like Rocks! I know you're hiding in Elbaf, Harald! If you still refuse to come out, I'll send the entire country you treasure flying into the heavens!"
Back when the Rocks Pirates had come to recruit Harald as an ally, Shiki had once proposed directly threatening him.
Isn't this country the thing you treasure most? If you refuse to join us, then I'll destroy it.
But Rocks had shared a deep relationship with Harald and immediately rejected that idea.
Now, however, Rocks was dead.
And Shiki had always been the kind of man who would stop at nothing to achieve his goals. Using someone's loved ones or treasured possessions as leverage placed absolutely no burden on his conscience.
Before coming here, he had already made up his mind.
He intended to use all of Elbaf as a bargaining chip to force Harald into helping him destroy the Roger Pirates.
And if Harald eventually yielded?
Then Shiki planned to slowly tame him afterward and bring this monstrously powerful Giant King under his command.
"Shiki..." Rage flashed through Harald's eyes. He was clearly furious at being threatened this way.
This time, however, Imu actually reacted rationally.
After a brief silence, Imu issued a new order.
"Elbaf belongs to Mu. Anyone who dares covet Mu's power has already committed a capital crime."
Then came the cold command:
"Kill him, Harald!!!"
This time, Harald did not resist the order.
A tremendous surge of power flooded into his body, while the invasive force eroding his consciousness suddenly retreated.
It seemed Imu had temporarily stopped monitoring him directly.
Slowly, Harald rose from the ground and drew his massive greatsword before walking toward the outside of the castle.
At the same time, a pair of black demonic wings rapidly sprouted from his back.
Clearly, Imu still hadn't let him go completely.
Meanwhile, Sengoku and Zephyr, who had still been inside the castle moments earlier, immediately rushed outside as well.
"I thought this assignment was supposed to be easy," Zephyr grumbled with visible dissatisfaction. "Who would've expected Shiki to show up here? Was this the real reason Mary Geoise sent us to Elbaf? If they had intelligence about this, why didn't they warn us earlier?"
Sengoku's expression darkened.
The more he thought about this mission, the more everything about it felt wrong.
...
At the same time, back at the inn in West Village—
Roger and the others were also staring toward the distant sky.
Even though they couldn't clearly see anything from where they stood, everyone knew one thing.
Shiki was there.
"So he finally caught up to us..." Roger muttered with a slight frown.
"What's he trying to do by looking for Harald?" Rayleigh asked thoughtfully.
Valthior immediately began analyzing the situation.
"We already know Shiki has been investigating our movements lately. And now we've appeared in Elbaf... then he arrives too. That means there's a high chance he came specifically for us."
He paused briefly before continuing.
"Judging from the balance of power, his fleet vastly outnumbers us, but in terms of top-tier fighters, we're actually slightly stronger than him. So if he's seeking Harald out now, then he's probably planning to threaten Elbaf and force Harald into helping him deal with the Roger Pirates."
"Harald isn't the kind of man who'd simply submit because someone threatened him," Roger said firmly.
The Giant King had only cooperated with the World Government because he needed something from them.
Not because he had been threatened.
If Shiki really thought intimidation alone would work, Harald might not necessarily give in.
"But..." Rayleigh hesitated slightly, "Shiki really can destroy Elbaf if he wants to."
Before they could continue discussing things—
A beam of golden light suddenly shot upward from outside the castle.
An instant later, Sengoku's figure appeared high in the sky as he roared angrily:
"Shiki! King Harald is a member of the World Government, and Elbaf is soon to become affiliated with the World Government as well! This is not a place where you can run wild!"
The moment Shiki saw Sengoku suddenly appear, he was completely stunned.
He had received intelligence saying Roger was in Elbaf.
He had also heard Harald had returned home.
But nobody told him Marine Admirals were here too!
However, before Shiki could think further—
A massive figure covered in black smoke suddenly burst out from the castle below, roaring furiously:
"DIE!!!"
It was Harald.
A terrifying slash shot skyward straight toward Shiki.
And the instant they saw him—
The expressions of everyone in the Roger Pirates changed drastically.
"That bastard entered the same state Rocks did!?"
Before Harald appeared, Roger's crew had simply intended to watch the chaos unfold and see how Shiki, the Marines, and Harald would handle the situation.
But now?
Everything had changed instantly.
Either they needed to escape immediately—
Or they had to find a way to deal with whatever had happened to Harald.
Hell, at this point...
They might even have to join forces with the very Shiki who came here to hunt them down.
...
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