The furious Harald couldn't hear the Giant Pirate's pleas for mercy at all. One large hand choked the pirate's neck while the other clenched into a fist once more, ready to strike down.
The Giant Pirate, his face covered in blood, cried out, "I understand! I really understand now, King Harald! I was wrong, I never should have come to rob humans..."
Harald shook his head, his eyes filled with disappointment.
"No, you don't understand... none of you understand!!"
His fist fell again, smashing the Giant Pirate's face until it collapsed, tendons snapped and bones shattered. Even the sound of screaming vanished.
There was only the roar of Harald's fists striking and his painful, sobbing bellows.
"You don't understand at all...! It's because of scum like you with your massive bodies that the Giant Race has such a terrifying history!"
"It's all your fault! That's why we're untrusted! That's why our desire to peacefully integrate into the world has never been believed!!"
Harald continued to swing his fists relentlessly.
Hot tears streamed down from his fierce, tiger-like eyes.
"To join the World Government, I even cruelly rejected my best friend's plea for help!"
"To avoid disappointing the World Government, I didn't go to help him! I left him to die!"
"But you stupid fools... keep sending our Elbaf into the abyss over and over again!!"
Harald roared toward the sky in grief, tears falling like rain.
"There's no turning back!! I will never forgive the sins of the Giant Race!!"
Elbaf.
The Underworld at the base of the Treasure Tree Adam.
"Waaaahhhhhh!!"
On the coast, a young Giant Race child with a pair of horns on his head and bandages wrapped over his eyes was facing the sea, crying his heart out.
In his massive palms, he held a newspaper soaked with tears.
On the newspaper, a grey-and-white photograph stamped with the word 'DEAD' occupied more than half the page.
In the photo, a man with a lightning-shaped tattoo near his left eye was grinning widely.
That disdainful, domineering, and arrogant expression seemed to reach through the paper, allowing one to hear his wild laughter that mocked everything.
[The most brutal pirate in history, Rocks D. Xebec, with a bounty of five billion berries, has died in battle at God Valley!]
Looking at this tear-soaked obituary photo,
Rocky cried heart-wrenchingly.
"Rocks...!!"
"How could you die? How could you possibly die? I don't believe this is real!"
"I was still waiting for you to come back here and take me to be a pirate!"
[Flashback] Four years ago.
"Why are you here again? I said I wouldn't take you on my ship! How many times do I have to say it, kid! Do you think I'd take a Little Brat as a crewmate?"
"Even if I allowed it, your old man wouldn't agree!"
In front of Ida's Tavern.
Rocks, who had just finished a fight with Harald and still had many bandages on his body, lay on the grass with his hands behind his head.
He looked sideways at Rocky, who was pleading with a face full of hope for Rocks to take him out to sea, and rejected him with a look of pure annoyance.
"This is so frustrating! The person I want to recruit ignores me, but instead, you, a Little Brat who can't even wipe his own nose, come to bother me every day! What a pain!"
Hearing Rocks' heartless rejection once again,
Rocky looked heartbroken. "Why? I really want to go out to sea and be a pirate with you. I promise I won't be a burden. I'm very strong; all the monsters in the Underworld have been beaten into submission by me."
Rocks twitched his lips and said gloomily, "Kid, why are you so obsessed with following me? If you want to be a pirate, you can just go be one when you grow up. No one's going to stop a man from heading out to sea."
"Because I think you are Nika!" Rocky gestured with his hands, his tone excited.
Even though his eyes were bandaged,
Rocks felt as if he could see the boy's shining eyes.
"Nika?"
"That's right! Nika is the Warrior of Liberation! He will destroy the world with a great laugh! Just like you, Rocks."
Rocks burst into laughter upon hearing this.
"Destruction? Wahahaha! I'm going to become the King of the World! I'm not interested in doing something like destroying the world! Besides, if someone really had the power to destroy the world, it would definitely be your old man Harald, not me."
"Eh? Why?" Rocky's eyes widened.
Rocks stood up from the ground with a smile and said to him:
"Listen closely, Rocky! Somewhere in this world, there is a super-destroyer legion called the Great Hammer Warband that is currently slumbering."
"And the only one who can mobilize them is your old man!"
"Meanwhile, I have the ability to gather villains from all over the world!"
"If I were to join forces with your father Harald, who do you think could stop us?"
Rocky listened with an expression of worship and strange excitement. "Wow! So cool! But... why doesn't Dad join forces with you?"
"Because of... love!"
"Rocks! It's time to go! Back to Hachinosu." In the distance, from atop the Saber of Xebec, Whitebeard, Golden Lion, and Carlo were shouting toward them.
"I'm coming, I'm coming."
Rocks jumped onto the ship with a smile.
Watching the pirate ship quickly ascend into the sky, Rocky chased after it, waving his hands and shouting from below:
"Rocks! I won't give up! Even if it takes a hundred or two hundred times, I'll apply to join your crew again!"
"Wahahaha, what a stubborn Little Brat. Then you'd better wait patiently; maybe there really will be a day when you can move me!"
"Ugh, Rocks..." Rocky, who was immersed in past memories, was startled awake by the sound of waves nearby.
Peering through the gaps in the bandages over his eyes,
He saw a massive vessel sailing in from the distance, docking in front of Ida's Tavern.
That was the ship of the Giant King Harald.
"Dad is back!"
Rocky suppressed his grief, wiped away his tears, and ran over quickly.
In front of Ida's Tavern, a travel-worn Harald stepped off the ship.
On his face, the previous grief and rage were gone.
There was only the calm of having reached a certain decision.
He even wore a smile of relief.
"Dad!"
"Dad!"
Two giant children, one older and one younger, ran from the distance and threw themselves before him, looking up at him with faces full of admiration.
"Hjalding, Rocky, my children."
Harald crouched down with relief, reaching out his large hands to pat his two sons' heads. He then turned his head to look at his wife Ida, who had come out of the tavern, and the Elbaf elder, Yaruru.
He grinned and said, "Ida, Lord Yaruru, I've decided... I'm going to give it my all. For the sake of Elbaf, I can no longer remain silent. Otherwise, if this continues, Elbaf's reputation will only grow worse and worse."
He pressed his hands on his two sons' shoulders and smiled gently. "Hjalding, Rocky, you are both my precious children. I hope you two brothers can work together to inherit my legacy and jointly uphold the future of Elbaf!"
Though the young Hjalding and Rocky didn't understand Harald's meaning, they realized that their father, the King revered by countless Elbaf giants, might be leaving again.
Hjalding was somewhat reluctant and couldn't help but ask, "Dad, you... where are you going this time?"
Harald looked out at the vast sea beyond Elbaf, his eyes firm. "I am going to... integrate into the world!"