On the deck of the Oro Jackson—
Valthior was currently studying the Poneglyph rubbing that Sunbell had just handed to him.
Not far away, Gaban and Rayleigh were wringing the seawater out of their clothes. At that moment, Roger finally emerged from the sea and swiftly climbed onto the deck.
"You're the slowest, as expected. Swimming really is your weak point," Rayleigh said with a smirk.
On this ship—excluding Sunbell, the Fish-Man—Rayleigh was undoubtedly the king of swimming, practically unmatched in the water.
"Damn it, I'm the one with the worst injuries!" Roger snapped. A deep wound on his shoulder, cut down to the bone, had been soaked so long in seawater that it had turned pale.
"Too bad we don't have a ship doctor," Gaban chuckled, teasing him.
Leaning against the mast, Roger took a few deep breaths, gradually steadying himself. Then, for no apparent reason, he suddenly burst into loud laughter.
Not just him—Gaban and Rayleigh exchanged glances, then both started laughing uncontrollably as well.
Valthior, who had been reading the Poneglyph, frowned and looked at them in confusion.
"What's so funny?"
"The Whole Cake Island trip… that was the biggest crisis our crew has faced since we formed," Roger said with a wild grin.
"Honestly, we were this close to being wiped out."
"Yeah. If you had really turned on us, Valthior, we'd be done for," Gaban added casually.
Valthior clicked his tongue.
"So you doubted me?"
"Hahahaha! If we didn't trust you, would we really bet our lives like that?" Rayleigh replied with a laugh.
Hearing that, Valthior couldn't help but smile too.
"Well then, thanks for the trust."
"No need to thank us. You're our Valthior, after all. After all these years, there's no way we'd doubt you," Roger said, patting his shoulder. Then he asked, "So, what does it say?"
"It mentions something… that's quite interesting to me," Valthior replied.
He didn't drag it out. With a glance, he signaled Rayleigh, who immediately grabbed paper and pen from Doringo, ready to take notes.
Once he was prepared, Valthior began translating:
"The Giants of Elbaf are our comrades. They possess shocking power. The Galleila Band followed in our footsteps and, as a decisive force, determined the outcome of that war.
It turns out they, like the Lunarians, call me 'The Sun God Nika, who smiles while destroying the world.'
With their help, we built that unprecedented giant ship—Noah. Poseidon will bring this ship back to Fish-Man Island.
Perhaps in the near future, the promise between her and me will finally be fulfilled."
The first half of the Poneglyph spoke of a hopeful future.
But the latter half took a sharp turn.
"The war born from betrayal continued to spread. I had no choice but to seek help from former comrades. The Galleila Band agreed to my request and was willing to contribute their strength once more.
But not long after, we lost contact. When I inquired with Elbaf, they said the Galleila had gone missing. The last message seemed to mention that they had been captured.
Elbaf appears to possess some kind of mysterious power—one capable of opposing that unfathomable darkness.
It is said to be a primordial death, releasing souls into their Valhalla.
I intend to go to Elbaf to seek assistance—and to investigate the fate of the Galleila Band.
We failed.
I am going to die.
The straw hat I intended to give to Oars was taken by that man, Imu.
The Galleila Band disappeared at the Red Line.
Crescent moon. Comet. Six fingers."
After finishing, Valthior fell into thought.
If not for this Poneglyph, he might not have remembered—deep within Imu's palace at Mary Geoise, there was a massive straw hat frozen in ice.
That straw hat looked very similar to the one Roger often wore—except it clearly wasn't made for a normal human.
It was meant for a giant.
And this Poneglyph specifically mentioned it—the straw hat Joy Boy intended to give to Oars?
That "Oars" clearly couldn't be the same "Continent-Puller Oars" he had discussed before with Clover. Judging from the timeline, it was probably Oars' ancestor.
That massive straw hat was frozen in Mary Geoise. And now Joy Boy had also mentioned the Galleila Band, saying they ultimately disappeared at the Red Line?
Did that mean his earlier assumptions were all wrong? That the Galleila Band had nothing to do with the "Land of Ice", and instead had always been under Imu's control—sealed away somewhere deep within Mary Geoise?
Perhaps it was precisely because Imu had witnessed the strength of the Galleila Band that he now desired Harald and the warriors of Elbaf so much?
Unable to subdue the original Band, was he trying to create a new "Galleila Band"?
"What does 'primordial death' mean?" Roger asked, interrupting Valthior's thoughts.
"Elbaf has a way to counter Imu's dark power?" Rayleigh muttered, thinking it through.
Hearing that, Valthior recalled what had happened in the original storyline—Harald's death.
Loki had eaten the mysterious Devil Fruit passed down through Elbaf's generations. With a single strike, he shattered Harald, who didn't resist, breaking his immortality and even causing a severe backlash to Imu.
If nothing unexpected had changed, then this so-called "primordial death" was likely tied to that Devil Fruit's power.
According to the Poneglyph, this power allowed warriors who died before it to have their souls return to Valhalla.
Of course, that was probably more symbolic—a mythologized description rooted in giant culture, not a literal explanation.
But one thing was certain: this power could break Imu's control, free bound souls, and grant them a true, permanent death.
Death is not scary; death is a cool summer night, allowing people to... Oh, screw that.
Valthior shook his head, forcefully pushing those strange, brainwashing thoughts aside.
"In giant culture, there are actually quite a few legends about abilities like this," Spencer said uncertainly.
"Like the World Serpent Jörmungandr, or the goddess of death, or the Great Wolf Fenrir… they all seem connected to death and heroic souls."
In fact, Valthior had his own guess about the power Loki possessed.
He believed it was most likely the power of "Great Wolf Fenrir."
In myth, Fenrir was bound by chains, unable to escape. But when the final battle came, he broke free, devoured and killed Odin, and triggered Ragnarok.
That story was strikingly similar to Loki's situation—chained beneath the World Tree, later killing the King of Giants, and now seemingly destined to take part in a "Ragnarok"-like battle.
Still, Valthior didn't dwell on that topic. Instead, he shifted the conversation to the Final Island.
"We're still missing three Poneglyphs. We know one Road Poneglyph is on Zunesha's back—we can summon it anytime using the horn we got from the Kozuki family in Wano. But the other two are still missing, with no leads at all. So what's the plan?"
He looked at Roger and the others.
"Do we go straight to Zunesha, gather the coordinates for the Final Island, and head there… or do we keep searching for the remaining two Poneglyphs first?"
"Don't you have any curiosity about Elbaf? That's a place said to have the power to counter Imu. Aren't we going there?" Gaban said eagerly.
It was obvious—he really wanted to go to Elbaf.
Rayleigh shot him a disdainful look.
"You want to go to Elbaf for that reason? I'm almost embarrassed to expose what you're really thinking. Shameless."
"Hey, you bastard—just answer me this, is there something worth going there for or not!?" Gaban snapped.
"We just fought the King of the Giants and nearly killed him," Roger said, unusually serious.
"With Harald's current mindset, all he cares about is the World Government. If we go to Elbaf now, it's definitely not going to end well for us."
It could be said plainly—the relationship between the Roger Pirates and the giants had already dropped to rock bottom.
And Harald was no pushover. Elbaf itself had plenty of powerful warriors. Going there now would basically be walking straight into another war.
More importantly, such a battle wouldn't benefit the Roger Pirates at all. If they got tied down in Elbaf, the World Government might very well descend again—recreating the situation from Whole Cake Island.
And next time, escaping wouldn't be nearly as easy.
"As for Valthior's suggestion," Roger continued, looking at everyone,
"we've already found so many Poneglyphs. Being short by just two feels off. Why don't we gather them all first before heading to the Final Island? It'll feel more rewarding that way."
Valthior had no objections.
Rayleigh didn't mind either, and the rest of the crew supported Roger's idea.
But then Gaban suddenly had another thought and spoke up:
"Think about it—Joy Boy left the Poneglyphs with people he trusted. Like the Kozuki clan, the Mink Tribe on Zunesha, and Fish-Man Island. And this one also says Elbaf was his ally. So have you considered this… maybe the two Poneglyphs we can't find are actually in Elbaf?"
The moment he said that, everyone fell silent.
Valthior looked at him in surprise.
"Huh… you might actually be onto something, Gaban-senpai."
"I have to admit, he's right," Rayleigh said seriously this time, without any teasing.
"If we follow that line of reasoning, Elbaf very likely has Poneglyphs. The last two might really be there."
"So let me get this straight…" Roger said, hesitating slightly.
"We beat up the King of the Giants—and now we're going to head straight to his homeland to go exploring? Don't you think that's a bit… harsh on Harald?"
Valthior instinctively wanted to reply with something blunt—but in the end, he held it in.
...
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