The Clown Was Me All Along?

"Cheating! You're cheating!"

Because Mongge had reminded him, Hajrudin lost the match. The old giant Yoruru was so furious his face and neck flushed red, and he nearly jumped in himself to fight Mongge.

"Puhahaha! I only told Rocks not to hold back. Giving it your all is a way of respecting your opponent, isn't it?"

Mongge laughed with delight. He admitted that without his reminder, it would have been much harder for Rocks to win the battle.

But this was Rocks's own ability to begin with. It was only a matter of time before Rocks discovered it.

Mongge had no doubt about that.

"I'm sorry, Lord Yoruru. I lost!"

The young giant pouted, gritted his teeth, and looked as though he was about to cry.

"Don't be discouraged, Hajrudin."

Aruru patted Hajrudin on the shoulder and comforted him. "You're still young. Once you're an adult, you'll become countless times stronger than you are now."

"Yeah!"

Hajrudin nodded firmly.

"So, how about it?"

Rocks walked up to Mongge. "Can you teach me the Six Powers now?"

Over the two months they'd spent together, Rocks had learned a lot from Mongge.

Among those things was knowledge of the "Six Powers."

"Soru," which let you move at high speed by repeatedly stamping the ground in rapid succession.

"Iron Body," which accelerated the flow of blood and made your body as hard as steel.

"Kami-e," which gave you complete control over your body.

"Geppo," which let you walk through the air.

And the kicking technique "Tempest Kick," which compressed air into a slash, as well as "Finger Pistol," which focused all your strength into your fingertips to attack enemies like bullets.

Even Mongge had to admit that the person who developed the Six Powers was a genius. Learning the Six Powers meant you'd pushed your physical abilities to their limits, giving you the potential to master Haki.

"I won't go back on my promise. Lipri, you should join us too. Although it's difficult for giants to learn all the Six Powers, further developing your body will make it easier for you to master Haki."

That was right. Although Lipri was much stronger than Rocks, she had only recently come of age and still hadn't mastered Haki.

In fact, most giants couldn't learn Haki.

Their enormous size gave them incredible strength, but it also made it harder to develop their potential. Take Armament Haki, for instance: just covering one arm required an astonishing amount of Haki.

"After comforting Hajrudin, Aruru came over, stroking his fluffy beard. 'A promise is a promise. Since your little crewmate won, we'll keep our word. As long as King Harald agrees, we'll use the Adam Wood stored in our warehouse to build you a ship.'"

Mongge's original pirate ship, the Black Pearl, was nearly sixty meters long and forty meters wide. It had more than enough room for dozens of people to live aboard.

But if Lipri joined them, the Black Pearl would be a little too small.

Lipri alone was twenty meters tall. On an ordinary pirate ship, she'd take up every last inch of the deck just by lying down.

So they'd need to build a new ship, at least a hundred meters long.

Mongge thought of the cargo ships he'd seen in his previous life.

They could easily stretch for hundreds of meters and carry hundreds of thousands of tons.

The problem was this:

The Giant Tribe could help him build a ship over a hundred meters long, but whether he could sail it was another matter. Controlling the sails wasn't as simple as casually turning the helm.

Their pirate crew was still far too small.

Mongge glanced at Charlotte Linlin. Although she'd become one of the Four Emperors in the future, right now she was just a five-year-old girl who couldn't tear herself away from delicious food.

The bonfire party had started at sunset and carried on until the moon rose. Several hours had passed, and Charlotte Linlin had spent the whole time eating sweets.

"Delicious!"

A blissful smile spread across Charlotte Linlin's face.

"Grandpa Mongge, do you want some?"

When she noticed Mongge looking over, Charlotte Linlin held out a piece of cake with her grubby hand.

"Well, I won't say no."

Mongge chuckled. Charlotte Linlin was still at her most innocent and guileless age. She was completely different from the cruel, heartless emperor of the sea she'd become in the future.

[Charlotte Linlin's favorability -10.]

[Current favorability: 30 (Friendly)

Charlotte Linlin: Even though the old man ate my cake, he's probably a good person, right?]

The smile on Mongge's face instantly stiffened.

It was just one piece of cake. Had she only been offering out of politeness?

So I was the clown all along?

Mongge sighed. Charlotte Linlin wasn't as vicious as she would be in the future, but being possessive over food was no good.

"Linlin, do you know what ice cream is?"

"Ice cream?"

"That's right. It's like cake, something you only eat in summer."

Mongge crushed a cookie and pressed it into a cone shape. The power of his Mythical Zoan soon caused a big lump of crushed ice to form inside the cone.

With cake and crushed ice combined, he'd made a simple ice cream.

June in Elbaf was unbearably hot.

And unlike in Mongge's memories, in this era not every household had air conditioning.

In such conditions,

ice cream became incredibly appealing.

"Linlin, do you want some?"

"Yes!"

The chubby little girl nodded like a bobblehead.

"I've got plenty more. You have to share them with everyone and eat together."

Mongge made a whole batch of ice cream the same way.

The giants had just finished dinner, so they could have some dessert.

"So cold!"

A giant girl took an ice cream from Linlin and cautiously licked it. A blissful expression immediately spread across her face.

"It's just like 'Samura' in summer!"

"Haha, I just whipped it up. If you like it, I can make more next time."

Mongge said with a smile.

He'd seen the same blissful expression on Charlotte Linlin's face after she tasted the ice cream.

"So good!"

"Grandpa Mongge, I want more!"

"No. Eating too much ice cream in a short time will give you a headache."

Giving Charlotte Linlin what she wanted might have earned him more favorability, but Mongge knew perfectly well that spoiling a child was harmful.

He didn't want Charlotte Linlin to go down the same path as her counterpart in another world.

Sometimes you had to say no.

With Mongge's strength, it would be all too easy to restrain five-year-old Charlotte Linlin.

The night passed quickly.

Ever since his cells had become more active, Mongge had been sleeping more soundly.

He woke up feeling refreshed.

At the same time, the old giant Aruru brought him some news.

"Come with me to Orlst Castle, Mongge."

"The king wants to see you."