Blue Oni, Red Oni, Shadows Surge

On an island in the Grand Line named Little Garden.

This was an island of dense tropical jungle, with towering trees and the roars of beasts, giving it an air of constant danger.

"Hmm, I'll go out with Luffy for a bit and relax."

Seeing everyone enthusiastically preparing to 'go out,' Vivi also perked up and decided to 'take a breather.'

"Isn't that too dangerous...?"

Facing Nami's concern, Vivi pointed to her mount, 'Speedy,' beside her. "It's okay, he'll protect me."

Hey, hey, hey, your duck is already so scared it can't even make a sound...

However, this land-bound duck eventually carried Vivi and Luffy off for an adventure together. Meanwhile, Sanji, seeing Zoro preparing to leave, added a comment:

"Bring back some food while you're at it."

For 'experts' like them, beasts like lions and tigers were just standard 'ingredients.'

"Alright, I'll bring back some prey you can't handle."

Hearing Zoro's casual remark, Sanji raised an eyebrow and jumped off the Golden Merry.

"Are you saying you can bring back bigger prey than me?"

"Hmm, looks like you have some self-awareness..."

"What are you implying, you damn moss-head!"

"Huh? What did you say, curly-browed perverted cook!"

Crack, crack, crack,

With his leg propped on his sword, the two of them walked away, bickering and constantly challenging each other.

"Alright, let's have a competition..."

"Who's afraid of who?!"

In the blink of an eye, only Nami and Usopp, who were weeping uncontrollably, remained on the Golden Merry.

"Why is everyone like this..."

"Nami, I understand you."

Facing Usopp's comfort, Nami just shifted slightly to the side.

"Hey, hey, hey, am I that unreliable?!"

"Never mind, at least there's Roman..."

However, when the two turned their heads, Roman, who was steering the ship, was already looking up at the sky, his eyes vacant, in a dazed state.

"It's over, it's over, I want to go home."

"Hey, hey, hey, how can a man of the sea be so afraid..."

"Sorry, I'm not really a man of the sea," Nami waved her hand helplessly. "Also, your legs are shaking so fast I can see afterimages..."

Splash—!

Just as the two best friends were roasting each other, the jungle next to the Golden Merry suddenly 'parted' to the sides, revealing a person wearing a helmet, with a large beard, looking quite comical... a human face?

Of course, the fact that this human face was larger than the Golden Merry itself really ruined the atmosphere:

"A... a Giant!?"

"We're... we're going to be eaten..."

Nami and Usopp, left guarding the ship, were stunned speechless, their eyes rolling back:

They started playing dead.

"Pfft hahahaha, it's been a while since we had guests!"

With a voice like thunder, the Giant, who stood as tall as a dozen-story building, burst into laughter.

"Do you have any sake? You two little ones—"

"If you have sake, I'll trade you meat for it."

"Pfft hahaha,"

Even when sitting down, the bearded Giant, still as imposing as a skyscraper, enthusiastically offered the 'chunk of meat' the size of a house in his hand to Nami and Usopp. But:

They couldn't eat it~~

'Hey, Nami, do you see those human bones over there?'

'Ah, I see them.'

Right next to the two of them... no, the three of them, were piles of human skeletons. If Roman hadn't been 'AFK,' he would surely have exclaimed:

So many Brooks.

"This... Giant sir,"

Seeing that the other party didn't intend to treat him as an 'after-dinner dessert' for the moment, Nami boldly asked.

"How long will it take for this island to be filled with 'records'?"

"One year!"

Faced with the Giant's serious answer, Nami and Usopp instantly shed tears of despair.

As for Roman next to them? He was naturally still in offline mode. — Because on the Golden Merry, a 'Roman' transformed from a new White Knight was inspecting the gains from this period.

"Gahahaha,"

On the other side of the island, facing an invitation from another Giant with a beard reaching his waist, Luffy unceremoniously gnawed on a house-sized piece of meat.

"This tastes good, Giant uncle."

"Gahahaha, I accept this bento too. — Although it's a bit too little."

"This is food carefully prepared by my companions. If you dare to say it's not tasty, I'll beat you!"

"Gahahaha, it's delicious~~~!"

Watching Luffy and the long-bearded Giant truly 'chatting and laughing,' Vivi, covered in a cold sweat, was amazed.

"...They... got familiar so quickly?"

"Giant uncle, why are you here alone?" Luffy asked casually while gnawing on the house-sized piece of meat. "Don't you have a village?"

"I do," the long-bearded Giant sitting on the ground patted his knee.

"It's a place called 'Elbaf,' somewhere on the Grand Line."

"But our village has a rule,"

"If we have a conflict with someone and neither side backs down, we resolve the conflict with a duel. The great God of Elbaf will protect the victor."

Simple, crude, — but very effective.

All conflicts in the world can ultimately be settled by violence. Whether this violence is with fists, swords, or guns...

If you can't eliminate the conflict, eliminate the people causing the conflict!

"I also had a dispute with someone, and this island is our dueling ground."

"But it's been a hundred years," the long-bearded Giant laughed up to the sky, "and we still haven't decided a winner, Gahahaha~~~!!"

"Pfft hahaha," on the other side, the bearded Giant that Nami and Usopp encountered was also laughing up to the sky.

"That was a formidable opponent. We fought a total of 73,465 times. It was evenly matched!"

"Truly formidable..."

Although Nami couldn't understand the Giants' 'meaningless' behavior of fighting for 100 years, Usopp's eyes sparkled as if he had met his idol.

"That's right, I want to become a man like that!"

"What? You want to become a Giant?"

"..."

While they were talking, Roman's body had already started mechanically devouring the house-sized piece of meat in front of him! And his 'consciousness'—

"Sigh, how can I possibly win?"

On the Golden Merry, the 'White Knight' version of Roman rubbed his temples. Various draft plans were spread out in front of him, all things he had formulated to deal with the upcoming situation. But:

A clever cook cannot cook without ingredients, A famous general does not fight empty-handed.

With the Straw Hat Pirates' current strength, facing Great Pirates with bounties over 100 million, what other possibility is there besides being instantly killed? None, right...

"Although Luffy defeated Crocodile by exploiting his 'fear of water,' is that really reliable?"

Crocodile... that is, Crocodile, has the ability to instantly drain all the water from someone's body, and can even assimilate buildings into sand in an instant. How much water... or what kind of timing would be needed to make him fall for it?

"Forget it, I can't figure it out."

"With Devil Fruits, you shouldn't try to apply science."

Let's see if I can 'copy' Luffy's miracle and defeat the crocodile with water... or even blood!

"Speaking of which, Luffy and the others seem to have slacked off during this time..."

Roman stroked his chin. He had been training hard day and night, while they were just fooling around every day — No, as the saying goes, 'It's not as good as sharing joy with others,' how can I, Roman, 'train' and become stronger alone? It's time for you guys next, Mwahahahaha!!

Feel my pain!

In the nearby jungle, two figures hidden in the bushes, after witnessing Roman's 'evil' smile on the Golden Merry, immediately crawled backward cautiously.

"Miss Valentine, did you see it?"

The man in the brown trench coat and sunglasses was covered in cold sweat, as if he had seen some primordial beast!

"Mr.5, that's right, it's that devil!"

The fashionably dressed woman, far from her usual exaggerated laughter, didn't even care how messy her current prone position made her.

"It's definitely not wrong!"

The lookout on that ship was the 'kind citizen' they had both encountered a few days ago outside Whiskey Peak Town! Not only were they beaten up by the other party, but they were also bled and experimented on, nearly making the two Baroque Works executives think they were going to die there.

"It seems this guy is also one of the 'Straw Hat Pirates.' We were careless! I didn't expect them to have a puppet captain, how despicable..."

Luffy was, as usual, caught in the crossfire.

"What should we do? We're no match for this devil..."

"Let's go find Mr.3 and Miss. Goldenweek first."

Mr.5, with his rockstar appearance, thought for a moment, but ultimately couldn't swallow his pride! After all, unlike the two of them with bounties of only 10 million, Mr.3 and Miss. Goldenweek were both 'experts' with bounties over 30 million.

They had even hunted a 'Great Pirate' with a 45 million bounty, and he believed they could definitely help them get revenge.