Warrior's Glory

"By the way, human, I'm Brogy! What's your name?" Brogy's voice sounded like someone beating a drum right beside your ear.

"Rodney. You can call me Rodney. Nice to meet you."

"Gabababa, human, did you and your crew come to this island to store magnetic energy?" Brogy asked.

Brogy, one of the captains of the Giant Warrior Pirates a hundred years ago, was known as the "Red Ogre." He was best friends with the Blue Ogre, Dorry, but they had started arguing over a little girl's question about who had hunted the larger prey. In the end, they decided to settle it with a duel, beginning a century-long battle that ended in a draw every time.

They had fought for a hundred years over such a trivial matter. It was... well, how should one put it? A bit of a waste of life. However, the Giant race lived three times as long as humans, so a hundred years was only a third of their lives. They could afford to spend it. They were close friends. Although they were always trying to defeat each other and fought for glory, that did not hinder their friendship.

Rodney shook his head. "I just came out to hunt. I brought an Eternal Pose."

"I see. You're lucky. If you had a Log Pose, you'd have to stay here for a year before it finished storing magnetic energy," Brogy said.

Little Garden was a particularly troublesome place. If one landed there with a Log Pose, it took a year to store enough magnetic energy. That posed no threat to Rodney, but for pirates without enough strength, it was a nightmare.

Volcanoes erupted frequently, as regularly as three meals a day. Top predators such as Tyrannosaurus Rexes roamed the island, and sometimes there was terrifying heat as well. An ordinary person simply could not survive here for a year.

Moreover, Brogy and Dorry used the central volcano's eruptions as signals and fought several times a day. If some unlucky person was caught up in their battles, death came easily.

"What's that...?" Rodney suddenly spotted another giant sitting at the place where he had just landed. The barrel in his hands was half a person tall, yet it looked like an ordinary wineglass in a normal person's hands. With one gulp, he emptied the entire barrel.

When Brogy saw the giant, he said, "Dorry?"

"Brogy? Gahahaha, did you come here to drink too?" The bearded giant was none other than Dorry, the Blue Ogre who had battled Brogy for a hundred years.

They usually used the central volcano's eruptions as signals to fight. At other times, they did not start fights for no reason.

"That's right! I came at Rodney's invitation! I heard there was fine wine here!"

Rodney, who was beside him, greeted Dorry. "Yo!"

"Hahaha, then come join us. Wine is only fun to drink with friends." Dorry laughed as he drained another barrel.

Crocus saw Rodney and said with a smile, "I ran into Dorry while gathering firewood. When I heard he was from the Giant Warrior Pirates, I invited him over."

He was older and still knew about the Giant Warrior Pirates, though by that time, the crew had already declined.

Brogy sat down, butchered the Thunder Dragon's leader, stripped a nearby tree bare, and turned the branches into skewers for roasting meat. He threaded the meat onto them and set them over a fire fueled directly by tree trunks.

He took the barrel Dorry handed him, lifted the lid, and gulped it down.

"Refreshing! It's been ages since I had such strong liquor!" Brogy roared with laughter.

Sitting together with Dorry, he chatted with him. "That's right, that's right. I don't know how long it's been since I last drank with a friend."

"Come, to friendship!" Giants were simple and sincere by nature. If you treated one with goodwill, he would do the same and regard you as a friend.

"Cheers!"

Crocus and Rodney both raised their wine cups. They were not giants, after all, and drinking from barrels was far too troublesome.

The Thunder Dragon meat was soon roasted as well. They drank deeply and ate heartily. Dorry asked, "Crocus, you said you know what happened to the Giant Warrior Pirates. How are my comrades doing now?"

"They disbanded."

"D-Disbanded?! Impossible! Even if we left, Yul and Jarl would have supported the crew and continued sailing," Dorry said.

"They had already disbanded by the time I went out to sea several decades ago. I heard it from another giant," Crocus said.

"How could that be? Jarl and the others should have been able to keep going."

The Giant Warrior Pirates had four captains: Brogy, Dorry, Jarl, and Yul. Brogy and Dorry had remained here, fighting for a hundred years because of their wager, and had never left. Even so, they had believed that the other two captains could support the crew in their absence.

Crocus said, "Many years ago, the Giant Warrior Pirates were captured by the Marines after losing two powerful captains. Just as they were about to be executed, they were saved by Nun Carmel. After that, the Giant Warrior Pirates vanished from the seas, and even giants became rare."

"What?! I can't believe it... How could this have happened?" Brogy smacked his head, filled with remorse.

Dorry said gratefully, "Thank goodness for that nun."

Rodney spoke up at that moment. "You'd better not thank that woman."

Dorry and Brogy looked at him. Crocus asked in surprise, "You saw it again?"

"Yeah. It was a conspiracy." Rodney said, "It was a show staged by Nun Carmel and the Marines. Their goal was to let Carmel enter Elbaf, erase the hatred between Elbaf and the Marines, and then supply the Marines with giant soldiers."

That was the show Nun Carmel and the Marines had put on together.

"What? There was something like that?" Crocus had not known there was such a hidden truth and was extremely surprised.

"Those despicable Marines!"

"How dare they deceive our people!" Compared with the nun they had never even met, they were more willing to believe their friend.

Rodney turned his head and asked Crocus, "Have you heard of someone called 'Yama-uba' in the underworld?"

"Yama-uba?" Crocus thought for a moment. "I've heard she's a human trafficker."

"That's right. She's known as the 'Holy Mother' in Elbaf, but in reality, she's nothing more than a human trafficker. She sells the children she adopts from all over the place to CP. Besides that, she also adopted one of the Four Emperors, BIG MOM." He did not mention that Nun Carmel was a Soul-Soul Fruit user. There would be no good coming from saying too much.

Why couldn't he control his mouth? He always ended up spoiling things.

A moment of spoilers brought momentary pleasure; constant spoilers brought constant pleasure!

Besides, no one here followed the story of the pirates anyway.

"BIG MOM? That monster?" Crocus remembered the woman from the Rocks Pirates, whom he and Garp had once joined forces against. Among the monsters gathered in the Rocks Pirates, she had been one of the strongest. Now she was one of the Four Emperors, on the same level as that kid Shanks.

"Did she traffic children from our Giant race?"

"Not exactly. However, the Marines now have a giant army, along with several other benefits," Rodney said.

Suddenly, Dorry stood up. "Let's continue our battle, Brogy!"

Brogy stood as well. "That's right! Let's keep fighting. Only the living can return. I'm going to revive the Giant Warrior Pirates!"

"Come on!"

The two of them finished speaking, then hefted their greatswords and axes and began fighting. The storm stirred up by their battle made it impossible to keep one's eyes open. Crocus stood firmly on the ground, protecting his wine.

Rodney turned his back to the storm, his feet planted as though they had been glued to the ground.

"Damn, why did they suddenly start fighting?" Rodney could not even turn his head. So this is what giants are like? The shock waves from their battle alone release this much energy. It's truly terrifying.

BIG MOM was even more terrifying, though. When she was five, she had beaten Yul, one of the captains of the Giant Warrior Pirates, into a critically wounded state, and he eventually died because he could not recover. Although her Food Craving Syndrome had been a factor, it still showed how frightening that monster's physique was.

"This is what giants are like. But monsters abound on the sea, Rodney. You still have a long road ahead of you!" Crocus calmly savored his wine as he spoke.

"It's not that I care whether they fight or not. No matter how long they fight, it will end in a draw. Unless outside forces bring it to an end, they'll spend their entire lives like this. I feel like they're wasting their lives."

Brogy and Dorry truly were evenly matched. Even the quality of their clothes and weapons was similar, so there was no possibility of an accident occurring.

Unless someone interfered, or one of them had an accident—slipped, for instance—and caused the other side to gain an opening.

"That's just how giants are. Fighting is their glory. The reason they started fighting no longer matters."

That was right. It no longer mattered. They would fight to the death over it!

For the glory of warriors!