Roa sauntered out of the castle.
He had to find someone to show him the way first.
Just as he was thinking this, a dark shadow loomed over him.
"Hey, brat! That last round doesn't count! Let's start over!"
Roa raised his head.
Wrapped in several bandages, with nearly his entire face tightly covered, Loki loomed over him menacingly.
Roa's eyes shifted, and he immediately put on a solemn expression. "That won't do. Pirates have principles. I can't bully an injured man!"
Loki froze.
Could this guy actually be a decent person?
Roa had seemed like the sort who treated people as puppets and wouldn't care in the slightest if they died. He hadn't seemed like a good person at all.
Loki pounded his chest. "Don't look down on me, brat! Cough, cough, cough... I'm perfectly fine... cough, cough... Nothing's wrong... cough, cough... absolutely nothing!"
Roa watched Loki cough violently every time he struck his chest, yet continue to stubbornly deny anything was wrong. He couldn't help clicking his tongue. The wounds were still bleeding.
What a stubborn idiot.
Even for an Ancient Giant, getting stabbed in the lung couldn't feel good, right?
"Ultimately, you just want to join the Rocks Pirates, don't you?"
Roa's adorable little face was filled with a smile.
"So what if I do?"
Loki's voice softened.
"So what?"
Roa planted his hands on his hips and said arrogantly, "Ha, you really don't understand anything! The person standing before you is Mr. Roa, the youngest officer of the Rocks Pirates, the seven-year-old child with the highest bounty in the world, and a member of the Rocks Pirates since the age of five."
"Oh!"
Loki's mouth fell open. "You brat, could it be that you're actually really strong?"
"Could that possibly be fake?"
Roa gave him a meaningful look. "Do you know why the captain rejected you?"
Loki shook his head blankly.
Rocks had said he didn't like brats, but the boy standing before him was an even bigger brat.
"That's right. You don't even know why you were rejected, so how could you avoid being rejected?"
Roa looked as though he were patiently enlightening a teachable child.
"Is... is that so?"
Loki scratched his head, feeling that the boy's words were rather convoluted.
The future cunning and sinister Cursed Prince had spent so many years among wild beasts that his brain wasn't particularly sharp.
"But it doesn't matter."
Roa folded his arms and said earnestly, "I'll teach you how to join the Rocks Pirates!"
"You mean it?"
Loki was delighted.
"Of course!"
Roa leaped straight up and landed on Loki's shoulder. "But before that, you have to take me to see the murals of the Hale Divine Canon."
"The murals? You're interested in that sort of thing?"
Loki instinctively started walking, but stopped at once. He asked suspiciously, "You're not trying to trick me, are you?"
"How could I?"
Roa smiled. "Just look at how handsome you are. Who could possibly trick you?"
"True enough! The murals, right? Let's go!"
And so, the boys' journey began.
Loki truly had the physique of a monster. Even after being repeatedly stabbed by Shamrock's canine sword in the future and still managing to survive, a stab to the lung from Roa seemed like child's play to him. Blood streamed down his chest as he carried Roa and raced through the village.
The village was called West Village, and it belonged to the warriors.
The giants of the Giant Soldier Pirates basically all came from this village. Aunt Linlin had also lived here for a year back in the day.
Loki wasn't very popular here. Although he was the future heir to the kingdom, most of the giants who saw him immediately turned their heads away. Only a few greeted him.
Tch. Even the giants have bullying.
Fortunately, the strong people of this world were generally thick-skinned. Loki didn't care in the slightest about the atmosphere.
Without even raising his head, he simply carried Roa and dashed onward at full speed.
A helmeted giant child tried to stop them midway and say something, but the headlong Loki slammed into him and sent him flying.
I thought he was a speed bump.
"Go complain to your kingly dad!"
Roa glanced back at the giant child as he awkwardly crawled to his feet.
Oh, that kid's father should be Harald too.
Hajrudin.
Loki's half-brother on his father's side. The difference between them was indeed enormous.
Before long, Loki had already dashed out of the village and was sprinting along an extremely thick branch.
Soon, the two of them passed through the dense leaves and drew near the trunk of the Adam Tree.
They could already see it. On the distant trunk stood a gigantic mural.
It was the prophetic mural left behind during the Void Century.
"Whoa-ho-ho! This is incredible!"
Roa stood on Loki's shoulder and approached the mural.
Even though he had known the mural's contents long ago, he was still genuinely shaken when he saw it with his own eyes.
"Is it really that amazing?"
Loki, however, said indifferently, "When all's said and done, it's just a painting."
"No, it isn't."
The corners of Roa's mouth rose high. "It's the predetermined past, and the future that I'll change."
"Huh?"
Loki was bewildered. "The future you'll change?"
What did that mean?
What the mural recorded was the truth of the world.
The mural was divided into three parts, dividing the world from ancient times to the present into three eras. They corresponded to the three chapters of the Hale Divine Canon passed down by the giant race.
In the first world, humanity violated the taboo of the sun. Amid the slaves' prayers, the first Sun God was born—probably the one worshiped by the giant race. His enemies were the Earth God and the Serpent of Blazing Fire.
In the middle world, the Forest God descended and brought forth demons, perhaps referring to the birth of Devil Fruits. The second Sun God, Joy Boy, ignited the flames of war, but someone slew the Sun God and ascended to the divine throne. The Sea God therefore flew into a rage, perhaps referring to the rising sea level.
The third world was the world of the future. The third Sun God brought the dawn and opened a brand-new era. There was no need to say more—it naturally referred to Luffy.
Although it was all rather cryptic—the Earth God and the Serpent of Blazing Fire, the Forest God and the Sea God, the Half-Moon People and the Full-Moon People—he had no idea what any of it referred to.
Still, when combined with the mural itself, it revealed a great deal of information.
The first world seemed to have possessed the most prosperous civilization, with skyscrapers standing everywhere.
In the second world, a dragon occupied the top of the great tree. Could this dragon be Imu? Was that why the Celestial Dragons called themselves Celestial Dragons?
In the third world, Luffy's final opponent was a demon holding the sun. Who was this person? Blackbeard?
It was truly fascinating.
He had crossed over too early. This world was still filled with countless mysteries.
"If you're interested in this place..."
Loki suddenly spoke. "How about I take you to see another place?"
"Oh?"
A while later, Loki brought Roa outside a massive building.
"Whoa!"
Roa exclaimed, nearly forgetting that this place existed too.
Before them stood a huge building perfectly fused with Adam's branches. There was even a canopy at the top.
The body of the building was actually a gigantic robot. Although it had been remodeled into a building, its outline remained clearly visible.
"They say it's a robot from three thousand years ago!"
Loki chuckled. "Super cool, right?"
"It really is. It's awesome."
Who didn't like giant robots?
This guy was probably the partner of the first Sun God, right?
Come to think of it, every generation of Sun God had a mechanical partner by his side.
Joy Boy had Emmett, and Luffy had Franky.
"All right! I've shown you everything you wanted to see!"
Loki got down to business. "You should tell me how I can join the Rocks Pirates now, right?"
"Don't rush."
Roa stretched lazily. "You have to provide good after-sales service, don't you? Take me back first, then we'll talk."
"You!"
Loki shouted and took off running back.
Before you continue