Setting Sail for the Land of Giants!

On an uncharted sea, an old sailboat struggled against the wind.

By angling the sails against the wind, the difference in pressure on either side propelled the boat forward even when sailing into the wind.

Mongge deliberately adjusted the angle, though, making the boat's progress painfully slow. Sometimes it even drifted backward—and whenever it did, Rocks had the hardest time of all.

"You old bastard! You'll get what's coming to you!!!"

At the bottom of the sailboat, Rocks panted like a bull. On either side of him were oars Mongge had specially extended, so Rocks could propel the boat by rowing.

The official excuse was that it would build his strength.

"All right, that's enough for today."

Hearing Mongge, Rocks' expression relaxed. He almost collapsed on the spot.

A month had passed since Mongge was attacked by the Blood Skull Pirates. During that time, he had sailed past two islands and two countries marked on his Log Pose.

Unfortunately, both countries were Non-Government Affiliated Nations, so he couldn't claim a bounty for Farrell's head.

That was 170 million Beli!

After parting ways with his old crew, Mongge had less than five million Beli in his pocket. It would have been enough if he'd planned to retire quietly.

But it was nowhere near enough to start over.

Of course, Rocks—the rookie pirate with no criminal record—would have to collect the bounty. If Mongge tried, the Navy would surround him with a fleet in no time.

"Captain, does this kind of training really work?"

Rocks sprawled on the floor, staring lifelessly at the ceiling of the boat's hull. This was a far cry from his vision of sailing the seas as he pleased.

"Of course it works!"

Mongge raised an eyebrow and said bluntly, "With your current strength, you couldn't beat even a Navy officer. Your physical conditioning is too poor. Techniques require a foundation of equal strength and stamina!"

"Then when can I learn that move you used?"

Rocks tried to lift his aching arm. Mongge knew exactly what he meant, but how could an ordinary man use the Giant Tribe's signature technique without eating a Devil Fruit?

"Maybe after you learn Haki."

Rocks could only be called an "ordinary person" for now—not ordinary by this world's standards, exactly, but he still hadn't reached the level where ordinary people would call him a "monster."

Still, though Rocks wasn't a "monster" yet, his progress was practically monstrous.

A month ago, he could barely move the extended oars.

Now, he could row for half an hour straight before getting tired.

A true conqueror. Terrifying!

In fact, if Rocks hadn't gone on to provoke the Celestial Dragons and wage war against the Navy, the Celestial Dragons, and the Roger Pirates all at once, the Pirate King might not have been Roger.

At this rate, Mongge figured Rocks would learn the Six Powers before long.

Haki was on the horizon, too.

And what if he awakened Conqueror's Haki?

Sheesh...

Just thinking about it made Mongge feel a mountain of pressure.

He was old, after all, and had exhausted his potential. Even if the system helped him recover his prime, he would still fall short of the Four Emperors of the future.

Unless he fully mastered Conqueror's Haki—at the very least, learning Conqueror's Haki coating.

In this world, there were three kinds of Haki.

Observation Haki enhanced perception. At its peak, it could allow a person to see into the future.

Armament Haki boosted offense and defense. At its peak, it could be projected to attack from a distance, or even used to destroy an enemy from within.

Then there was Conqueror's Haki, which could overwhelm underlings and mentally suppress the weak.

The true mark of someone who had mastered Conqueror's Haki was the ability to affect physical objects with it—to let their spirit interfere with reality. It was proof of a conqueror.

Haki was a latent ability innate to everyone in this world. Anyone could train to develop Observation Haki and Armament Haki, but only a tiny fraction of people possessed the highest level of Observation Haki or Conqueror's Haki.

Before the system appeared, Mongge hadn't had the talent for Conqueror's Haki.

So now, he'd changed his mind about the system.

His system had a few problems, but if it hadn't glitched, he might not have gained the talent for Conqueror's Haki so easily.

Since he already had the talent for Conqueror's Haki, surely the highest level of Observation Haki couldn't be far behind?

Mongge thought to himself, feeling rather pleased.

"Captain, how much farther is Elbaf?"

After a short rest, Rocks got up and stood with one hand on his hip. He scooped water from a barrel and asked as he drank.

He'd always planned to become a captain and strike out on his own, but after seeing Mongge's strength, he'd come up with a new plan.

The old geezer doesn't have many years left. I'll stick by him and learn everything he knows, then kick him out and send him off to retire.

Born in a small place, Rocks knew all too well that talent alone wasn't enough in this world. You needed a good teacher to show you how to make the most of it. That way, you could avoid a lot of detours.

Take this past month, for example. Mongge's training had nearly killed him, but Rocks could clearly feel the difference.

He could beat several versions of himself from a month ago!

"Not far."

Mongge glanced at the Eternal Pose in his hand and answered without looking up.

He'd spent many years sailing the seas.

He hadn't gotten much else.

But he'd collected a huge number of Eternal Poses, including one for the Land of Giants, Elbaf.

As for why he was going to Elbaf...

"My old friend, you've worked hard all these years."

Mongge gently stroked the deck of the Black Pearl. He'd come up with the name on a whim, never imagining the ship would stay with him for so long.

The weather in this world was far more brutal than in the other one. Sailboats built here simply couldn't last a hundred years like the ships there.

Forget fifty years. If a ship's keel wasn't sturdy, a single storm could tear the whole thing apart.

But the Black Pearl had stayed with him for forty-five years.

It was the seventh year of his adventures at sea before he'd finally saved enough money to build her. Her keel had come from a piece of Adam Wood he'd found by chance—the toughest wood in the world, bar none.

But forty-five years was a long time in this world, and even Adam Wood couldn't escape damage.

The Black Pearl had fulfilled her mission!

She could no longer accompany him on new adventures, so Mongge was going to Elbaf to build a new ship.

As a Great Pirate, he wouldn't settle for a ship made of ordinary timber.

If he was going to build one, it would be the best!

Was there any better shipbuilding material in the world than Adam Wood?

There was an Adam Tree on Elbaf!

That was one reason Mongge was heading to Elbaf.

As for the second...

"At this point in time, one of the future Four Emperors, Charlotte Linlin, should already be in Elbaf, right?"

Mongge thought with anticipation.