Luffy jumped off the giant wolf's back, dusted off his pants,
"I need to help him find his keys."
Hajrudin was stunned, frozen in place as if struck by lightning.
What did you just say?
I need to find my keys.
Do you know what you're saying?!
Hajrudin strode up to Luffy, his voice booming like a roar.
" Loki is a patricide! A sinner of all Elbaf! You want to release him?"
"If I don't let him out, I won't get any information about Shanks."
"You did this all for a piece of news?!" Hajrudin's hands were trembling, whether from anger or anxiety, it was hard to tell.
Luffy looked up at him calmly. "I want to see Shanks."
Hajrudin looked at him as if he were a completely incomprehensible being.
He opened his mouth, but ultimately said nothing. He just gritted his teeth, turned around, and roared at the members of the New Giant Warrior Pirates beside him:
Stop him!
Several giants stepped forward at the same time, forming a wall around each other.
Luffy didn't hesitate.
He pushed off with his feet, his rubber legs slamming into the ground with a crisp "snap," and he soared over the giants' heads like a cannonball.
The giants reached out to grab, but they only grasped air.
I'm sorry, Hajrudin!
Luffy's voice came from afar.
"I'll be back as soon as I find news of Shanks!"
Zoro and Nami exchanged a glance.
"Mr. Hajrudin, I'm sorry," Nami said, bowing her head, and pulled Zoro past the giants.
Hajrudin watched the three figures disappear into the distance, then stomped his foot in anger. "Chase them!"
Meanwhile, in another corner of Elbaf.
The World Government's stronghold was hidden behind a huge rock, and from the outside it looked no different from the surrounding wasteland.
However, the interior of the rock had been converted into a temporary command post, with communication waves and projected images flashing incessantly in the darkness.
Saint Warcury stood at the very front, his enormous body almost touching the top of the rock.
His voice was deep and cold:
" The Holy Knights, split up and proceed."
Several figures silently straightened up in the darkness.
" Saint Killingham, go to the Giant School. Use your Nightmare-Nightmare Fruit to control the Giant Tribe children."
Those little brats are the Giant Tribe' most vulnerable and crucial weakness; if we hold them in our hands, the Giant Tribe won't dare to act rashly.
A tall, slender figure nodded slightly and vanished into the shadows in an instant.
" Shamrock, Gunko."
Saint Warcury turned to the other two,
"Go to the Underworld."
Find Loki.
"If we can win over that prince who was abandoned by the Giant Tribe, our chances of winning will be much greater."
Shamrock turned and left without a word, with Gunko following behind him.
Their footsteps were extremely light, like two leaves falling on the water, and they were quickly swallowed by the darkness.
·······
The Giants' School was located on a high slope south of the tribe.
This building is carved from a single block of white rock, with two totem poles standing in front of the door. The carvings on them have been eroded by wind and rain and are now mottled and blurred.
It was afternoon, and sunlight streamed in through the window, slicing the classroom floor into long strips of light and shadow.
The children sat around a wooden table drawing.
Every child here is taller than an adult human, but the expressions on their faces are no different from those of children all over the world—biting their pen caps while worrying about what color to use.
"Everyone, draw what you're most afraid of."
A sturdy, Giant Tribe female teacher walked around the classroom with her hands behind her back, her voice gentle.
"After we finish drawing them, let's throw them away together, so we won't be afraid anymore."
The classroom was quiet, with only the soft scratching of paintbrushes on paper.
A little girl drew a fish with many eyes.
A little boy drew a giant without a face.
Another child was holding up a piece of drawing paper with a dark, indistinct shape on it, like smoke or countless hands twisted together.
"Well done, all of them--" The female teacher stopped abruptly halfway through her sentence.
The temperature in the classroom dropped.
A gust of wind blew through the classroom, scattering the drawing papers on the floor.
Then, the drawings began to twist.
The pattern on the paper began to swell, deform, and emit bluish-black smoke.
Countless eyes emerged from the paper, countless claws reached out from within it, and the outlines of monsters seemed to be pulled out of the flat canvas by something, standing one after another in the classroom.
"Teacher...?"
One of the children was so frightened that he fell to the ground.
The monsters turned their heads, their empty eye sockets all fixed on the children in the classroom.
"Run!" the female teacher roared, uttering the last word as she grabbed the two youngest children and rushed toward the door.
But there were too many monsters.
New monsters emerge from every sheet of paper, like an endless tide.
The children were surrounded by the monster, their screams and cries blending together.
In the shadows outside the school, a tall, slender figure slowly raised his hand.
Unseen energy surged from his palms and spread to every corner of the school.
The children, who had been shrouded in the monster, suddenly fell silent. Their pupils began to lose focus, and their feet moved uncontrollably toward the classroom door.
They lined up, one after another, and walked towards the outskirts of the village.
Like a group of puppets held on invisible strings.
Meanwhile, deep within the Underworld...
Shamrock and Gunko stood in front of Loki, only a few steps apart, yet it felt as if an invisible layer of ice separated them.
Loki was tied to a tree, blood still seeping from the wound on his chest, but a lazy smile played on his lips.
" The Holy Knights, I've heard of them."
Loki's voice was hoarse, filled with undisguised contempt.
"A lackey of the World Government, huh? What business do you have with me?"
Shamrock looked up, revealing a face that resembled Shanks'.
" The World Government hopes you will join us."
Loki stared at his face for a few seconds, then suddenly burst out laughing.
"You look a lot like that Red Hair."
He said his tone was like he was appraising a piece of meat.
What is your relationship with him?
"Hmph! He's nothing but a good-for-nothing obsessed with the lower realms!"
Shamrock remained expressionless.
Now tell me your decision!
"A decision!? A decision about what!?"
Loki raised his head, his disdainful laughter echoing across the fields.
"I am the Sun God, the strongest warrior of Elbaf."
Do you think I'd be a dog for you insects crawling in the dark?
Gunko's face darkened completely.
"Ridiculous."
Her voice was as cold as ice shards piercing your ears.
"A mere mortal dares to presume to call himself a god."
Gunko unleashed his Arrow-Arrow Fruit power, with bandage-like arrowheads wrapping around his limbs. His movements were inhumanly fast, and his fist had already slammed into Loki's abdomen.
The Seastone chains restricted Loki's abilities, but his body itself possessed the strength of a giant.
Ke Gunko's punches grew heavier with each blow, each strike accompanied by a sharp whistling sound as it tore through the air.
Every punch landed squarely, and Loki was pinned firmly to the tree trunk, with no chance to retaliate.