Seagulls swept past the masts, squawking.
Ruluka Island's port had taken on a peculiar bustle that afternoon.
Soldiers in pale purple uniforms scurried like worker ants, carrying sealed crates from the warehouses to the docked warship.
The Marines at the port watched these local guards with peculiar expressions.
The locals dared not approach and watched from a distance. With their limited experience of the world, the sight of a seven-meter-tall "giant beauty" drew gasps of amazement.
"So-"
An enormous cherry-pink armored boot landed on the wooden dock with a dull thud.
The girl, over seven meters tall, tilted her head, her naturally curly pink-and-white hair swaying gently in the sea breeze.
Her seemingly innocent eyes were now looking down at the trembling middle-aged man before her.
"You're this island's 'administrator'?"
The middle-aged man named Phillip pushed up his square-framed glasses and struggled to force a smile.
His brown hair was slicked back, and his pale purple uniform was a cut above those worn by the "guards," complete with a gaudy sash.
He was the mayor's son, a brute dressed as a gentleman. Usually arrogant and domineering, he had now become meek and submissive.
"Y-yes, Rear Admiral Atlas. Welcome to Ruluka Island. We've prepared..."
"...Who asked you about that?"
Atlas was here in her capacity as a "rear admiral of the Marine Science Unit."
She interrupted him in the tone someone might use with an idiot, then pointed toward the other side of the dock, where a ridiculous-looking mech stood.
The three-meter-tall humanoid iron shell resembled a crude mech from an old comic.
Most absurd of all was the thick cable trailing from its back, connected to a pedal-powered generator twenty meters away.
The thing ran on "human-generated" electricity.
Beside the mech, a young man with center-parted brown hair lay prostrate,