Harald

After Annus introduced himself, the two giant guards became noticeably more courteous.

As a member of the Rocks Pirates, Annus had visited Elbaf with Rocks many times and was considered a familiar human guest.

Moreover, that refined, handsome face of his was quite rare even among humans.

Although King Harald and Rocks had fallen out two years ago, King Harald had specifically instructed them never to stop Annus if he came to visit.

One reason was naturally that, aside from Harald himself, no one in all of Elbaf had the strength to stop Annus. Trying to stop him blindly would only lead to injury.

As for the second reason...

Naturally, it was because Annus and Harald actually had quite a good relationship. They could be called "friends."

Unlike Rocks, who had invited Harald many times, Annus's friendship with Harald had begun when Harald discovered that Annus had secretly been teaching Loki.

Because Harald devoted himself day and night to ending the giants' violent past and integrating them into the world, he had almost no time to teach his sons.

As a king, Harald was great.

But as a father, Harald had failed to shoulder the responsibility he should have.

He had not even known at first that his wife had thrown their son off a cliff.

Thus, after discovering Annus's patience and kindness toward Loki, Harald's attitude toward Annus took a complete one-hundred-eighty-degree turn.

Through their repeated conversations and interactions, Harald also unexpectedly discovered that Annus possessed ideas far ahead of his time.

Deeply shaken, Harald had even privately asked Annus several times to formally become Elbaf's royal adviser.

But Annus had refused Harald's request.

After Rocks and Harald fell out, Annus never returned to Elbaf.

After the two giant guards entered the castle to report his arrival, Harald soon hurried out personally to greet him.

"Barahahaha! Annus! It's been a long time!"

From afar, the towering, mountain-like figure of the giant king was visible. He was a broad-shouldered ancient giant, with two inward-curving black horns growing from his gleaming bald head and two curved tattoos on his left cheek.

A few years ago, this giant king had still been a valiant ruler with long hair. But after hearing of some custom in some unknown country, he had chosen to shave his head to demonstrate his determination to pursue peace.

"Harald, it's been a long time."

Faced with his old friend's enthusiasm, even the usually aloof Annus gave a slight nod and revealed a faint smile.

When old friends met, there was naturally no shortage of reminiscing.

Annus was warmly welcomed into Aurust Castle by Harald and entertained in a reception hall specially reserved for distinguished guests. Giant maidservants brought forth one giant delicacy after another.

"Annus! I put into practice the idea you told me about two years ago—working with World Education Publishing House and spreading friendly giant fairy tales and fables!

The results have been quite good! These sorts of fairy tales are now being circulated throughout various countries and have sold tens of millions of copies, greatly improving the violent image giants have in the eyes of humans..."

For a long time, giants had been associated with violence and savagery throughout the world.

But ever since Annus gave Harald this idea, that entrenched impression had gradually begun to change.

The new generation of children no longer blindly believed giants were terrifying, savage, violent beings. Instead, they believed that giants also included friendly ones who would help humans.

In particular, the famous fable, "The Princess Who Didn't Eat Cilantro and the Seven Giants," had spread widely across many countries.

The story was mainly about a human princess who disliked cilantro. After being framed by the evil Cilantro Queen, she fled to the giant kingdom of Elbaf, received help from seven friendly giants in succession, and ultimately defeated the Cilantro Queen.

"That is only natural. Education has always been something worth taking seriously.

As long as children are given the impression from a young age that giants are friendly, they will naturally speak up for giants after growing up.

This kind of subtle influence is extremely frightening."

In the original timeline, Kaido had made excellent use of this point by teaching altered history to the children of Wano Country.

As a result, those children mistook heroes for villains and villains for heroes for quite a long time.

This was merely a small tactic used by those rulers to exploit children's innocence.

Once those children grew up, they would naturally believe that the distorted history was the correct one, deceived for their entire lives by that fabricated false history.

This was probably what the World Government was doing as well.

Annus had merely taught Harald to imitate the methods of those cunning humans.

The giant race might be the strongest in the world in terms of force, but when it came to cunning and schemes, they could not catch up to humans even if they rode a horse.

"By the way, Harald, there's something I must tell you.

A few hours ago, Rocks came to find me. He wanted to join forces with me to deal with you."

After their casual chat, Annus began discussing business.

The private relationship between Annus and Harald was extremely secret.

Even the officers of the Rocks Pirates, including Rocks himself, only knew that Harald and Annus were on good terms and often spoke together.

As for just how good their relationship was, they knew nothing at all.

"What? Deal with me?" Harald's expression shifted slightly.

Ever since the battle that had caused their falling-out two years ago, he had not seen Rocks again, nor had he seen Annus.

Harald still felt somewhat guilty about betraying Rocks for Elbaf's peaceful future.

Now that he suddenly heard Annus say Rocks intended to cooperate with Annus against him, his first reaction was surprise.

Then came anger.

"Hmph! That bastard Rocks! All he does is lead those scoundrels around causing trouble across the world! He doesn't understand the value of peace at all!"

As soon as the words left his mouth, Harald realized something and gave Annus an awkward smile.

"Uh... of course, Annus, you aren't among those villains..."

"It's fine. After all, in the eyes of the outside world, I'm probably the pirate on Hachinosu second only to Rocks in ferocity."

Annus waved his hand dismissively.

Harald chuckled and scratched his gleaming bald head. "But Rocks wanting to ally with you to deal with me... what a miscalculation!"

Perhaps even Rocks himself would never have imagined how highly Annus stood in Harald's heart.

It could be said that if Rocks was a good friend Harald could fall out with over conflicting ideals, then Annus was a mentor who supported those ideals and could offer support and guidance on the path to peace.