In Elbaf, New World, Gaban, the left-hand man of Pirate King Roger and the man once hailed as the "Mountain Eater," fell silent for a long while after putting down the Den Den Mushi.
Clearly, he had not expected such a huge incident to occur in the first half of the Grand Line. Oak, the monster apprentice from the former Rocks Pirates, had returned to the sea and clashed with Rayleigh and Shanks. Not only had he killed Rayleigh, he had nearly wiped out Shanks's Red-Hair Pirates as well.
Looking at the newspaper in front of him, he spoke in a low voice after a moment.
"I'm going out to sea for a while!"
He was speaking to the person above his head. Beneath his feet was a smooth expanse of fair skin—the palm of his wife, Ripley.
His wife, Ripley, was a member of the Giant Tribe, standing over twenty meters tall, while he was an ordinary human, barely one or two meters in height. The fact that the two of them could become a couple was truly strange and... quite bizarre!
Ripley had just arrived and had also heard what happened. When she heard that Gaban intended to go out to sea, worry immediately appeared on her face.
"What are you going out to sea for?"
"To avenge your companion?"
"Oak isn't someone to mess with. You've already seen his strength!"
Ripley thought Gaban intended to seek revenge against Oak, so she hurriedly tried to stop him.
She had seen Oak before, too. That had been several decades ago, when he had come to Elbaf with Rocks. He had been an extremely ruthless man who was very difficult to deal with.
She did not want Gaban to provoke him. Judging by the strength Oak had displayed in the