"Hey, Smoker! There's someone up ahead!"
Ace pointed forward and shouted.
Smoker immediately grabbed the binoculars hanging from his motorcycle, narrowed his eyes toward the distant ship, then lowered them with a cold snort.
"He's a pirate. Just go straight through."
After a brief pause, undisguised disgust entered his voice.
"Besides, that bastard wiped out practically every contestant who came after you. He's obviously strong, and he keeps running around calling himself Whitebeard's son. Whether he lives or dies is none of my damn business."
With that, Smoker cranked the throttle harder. The engine let out a furious roar as his smoke motorcycle surged forward.
Ace opened his mouth, but in the end, he didn't argue.
He had naturally heard about the bastard going around claiming to be Whitebeard's son while causing trouble across the seas, and the whole thing pissed him off just as much.
So Ace could only sigh, adjust his own course, and follow Smoker straight ahead.
…
"According to Number One, it should be somewhere around these waters. We're heading toward Sphinx Island, and we're still a decent distance outside the Marines' deployment zone."
Buckingham Stussy leaned on her cane near the bow and addressed her son, Edward Weevil.
"I have to admit, Number One's idea isn't bad. Listen carefully, Weevil. You've already beaten practically everyone in the tournament and made a name for yourself. Now all you have to do is officially defeat Fire Fist Ace, let the Marines in the distance witness it, and then—"
"But, Mama!"
Weevil tried to interrupt.
Buckingham immediately cut him off.
"Let me finish, Weevil! Once you beat him, you can publicly declare yourself the rightful heir to Whitebeard's legacy. Then we find the Tremor-Tremor Fruit your father lost, and you'll become the next Emperor!"
She jabbed her cane against the deck.
"Do you understand me, Weevil?!"
"But Mama…"
"What are you hesitating for?"
Buckingham's expression darkened.
"You've always listened to your mother before. What's gotten into you now?"
"Mama…"
Weevil slowly raised one trembling finger.
"Behind you."
"What?"
Buckingham spun around.
Two figures shot past their ship at tremendous speed.
Then—
"Big Brother Cain! Big Sister En-chan! Don't leave me behind!"
Thor's enormous figure came charging after them.
A vast shadow instantly swallowed Buckingham's tiny ship.
Before the Ancient Giant's desperate cry had even finished echoing over the water, the towering waves created by his frantic paddling slammed into the vessel and overturned it without mercy.
Thor never even looked back.
He simply kept paddling furiously after Ace and Smoker.
"MAMA!"
The instant Buckingham fell into the sea, Weevil dove after her without hesitation and swam desperately toward his mother.
…
Some time later, Katakuri arrived in the area with a fleet.
The salty sea wind snapped against the sails, but the sight ahead only made the pressure in his chest feel heavier.
He knew exactly what Thor was.
A hybrid created through experimentation using the bloodline of Oars's descendants and the Ancient Giant race—the most complete artificial recreation of Ancient Giant blood Caesar had managed to produce.
By the standards of the Charlotte family, Thor had no blood relation to them whatsoever.
In that sense, he was more like one of Big Mom's subordinate pirate crews. They might call Linlin "Mama," but some distance would always remain.
And yet Big Mom had still willingly accepted Thor as her son.
She had even punished one of her actual blood-related children for failing to protect him, taking ten years from Snack's lifespan.
Katakuri understood the logic behind it.
At the end of the day, Snack had been punished because someone had ruined one of Big Mom's lifelong dreams.
He knew that.
But understanding it didn't make Katakuri any more certain how he was supposed to feel about this so-called giant little brother.
His emotions toward Thor were complicated.
Part of him already felt the same instinctive responsibility he carried toward all his younger brothers and sisters. He wanted to protect Thor simply because Mama had accepted him as family.
At the same time, Katakuri had never even met him properly. There was no blood connection, and Thor was an unstable experimental creation who might lose control without warning and hurt the rest of the family.
Affection and distrust pulled against each other inside him.
Katakuri had no idea what expression he was supposed to wear when he finally brought this "little brother" home.
Soon, however, his fleet reached the boundary between Totto Land's waters and the open sea.
Marine warships were already clearly visible in every direction.
Worse still, Admiral Kizaru himself was leading the fleet blocking their path.
Katakuri's brow tightened.
But orders were orders.
Mama wanted Thor brought back.
And whatever doubts Katakuri had, Thor was still supposed to be his younger brother.
For the moment, that feeling outweighed the suspicion.
Just as Katakuri prepared to demand information about Thor's whereabouts, his Den Den Mushi rang.
It was Cain.
"I don't completely understand everything that happened, but if you're looking for the giant, he's with my grandpa right now."
Cain paused.
"He's safe. Even if the World Government wants to take him, they'll have to think very carefully about whether they want to test the weight of Grandpa's fists."
Then he added,
"At least, that's what Ace told me."
Katakuri fell silent.
Some of the complicated tension inside him finally eased.
He thanked Cain, then reported the situation to Big Mom.
After all, neither Katakuri nor the Marines could openly start a battle without authorization from their respective higher-ups.
Unexpectedly, Big Mom gave him a strangely simple order.
Come back.
Simply knowing where Thor was had apparently been enough.
So Katakuri withdrew.
And just like that, a confrontation that could easily have exploded into something much larger quietly fizzled out.
…
Meanwhile, aboard Garp's dog-headed warship heading toward Sphinx Island—
"I didn't expect you to come along too."
Smoker looked toward the white-haired old man beside him.
The old man was currently eating one of Garp's doughnuts with an expression of complete resignation.
Only he knew how miserable it had been getting here while Kizaru carried him through the air at high speed.
Still, he smiled.
"Well, we obviously couldn't follow the orders from those people above and hand Thor over to them."
The man was Sengoku.
Since retiring as Fleet Admiral, he had stopped dyeing his hair black, allowing its natural white color to show.
"You know as well as I do how obsessed governments and military organizations around the world are with gigantification weapons."
He looked toward the sea.
"If we handed Thor over, who knows what kind of weapons research they'd use him for, or how many lives would eventually get dragged into the consequences."
Sengoku sighed.
"So leaving him with Garp is probably the safest choice."
Smoker nodded.
"Between the old man's status as the Hero of the Marines and the fact that he's never exactly hidden his opposition to the Celestial Dragons, he should be able to protect one giant."
He glanced toward the horizon.
"And we're already in the New World, far away from Mary Geoise."
"Besides, officially speaking, Thor is still—"
"Cain's little brother."
Sengoku finished the sentence for him.
"Exactly. Leaving him with Garp makes sense."
He shook his head once, then nodded again.
"The World Government would have a very hard time taking him away by force."
Sengoku had actually contacted Cain earlier for exactly that reason.
Without Cain stepping in to calm Totto Land down and stop Big Mom's pursuing forces from clashing with Kizaru, there was every chance the two sides would already be fighting.
Nobody could guarantee that tempers would stay under control, so asking Cain to intervene had been the safest option.
Fortunately, judging from the reports afterward, it had worked.
Sengoku then turned toward the cake ship being towed behind the warship.
Thor sat aboard it, staring intently at Cain's wanted poster with an unexpectedly calm expression.
Garp was standing in the middle of one enormous open palm, gesturing animatedly as he talked.
Sengoku couldn't help chuckling.
"Thor's mind is practically a blank sheet of paper, yet he remembers his own name and recognized Cain immediately."
"That really is interesting."
He smiled.
"And we owe Cain quite a bit this time. Without him, I doubt Thor would've calmed down this quickly."
Smoker took a drag from his cigar and exhaled slowly.
"He's definitely the product of some kind of experiment."
His gaze traveled upward over Thor's enormous body.
"An Ancient Giant, huh? Seeing one this close really puts the size into perspective."
Sengoku laughed.
"Don't let his appearance fool you. By Ancient Giant standards, he's only in his adolescent stage."
"He developed extremely well too. He's already quite a bit larger than Little Oars Jr. was during the Summit War."
Standing nearby, Ace rubbed his forehead.
The man who had been scheduled for execution during that very war was standing right next to them.
Did Sengoku really have to casually bring up Little Oars Jr. like that?
"You call this adolescence?"
Ace stared at Thor.
"That's ridiculous no matter how you look at it."
Then his expression slowly changed.
"…Wait."
A memory from the previous year flashed through his mind.
The incident involving Little Oars Jr.
If that was the case, then Thor was…
Oars's younger brother.
Ace abruptly turned toward the giant.
Garp was standing casually in Thor's palm, waving around a photograph of himself and Cain.
It was the famous picture where Cain was wearing Garp's dog-head hat.
"Listen carefully, Thor."
Garp shoved the photo closer to the giant's face.
"If you're Cain's little brother, then there's no need to make this complicated."
He pointed proudly at himself.
"I'm Cain's grandpa."
"So you can call me Grandpa too."
Garp grinned.
"How about it? Want to become my grandson?"
"Grandpa…?"
Thor tilted his head and scratched it.
"Grandson?"
He clearly had no idea what either word meant.
But when he looked again at Cain in the photograph, Thor thought for a moment and gave a slow, confused nod.
Ace immediately exploded.
"Hey, you stupid old man! Stop making up relatives!"
He pointed accusingly at Garp.
"If that's how your logic works, then every single one of Big Mom's kids is your grandson or granddaughter too!"
Ace threw both hands into the air.
"At that point, why even bother being the Hero of the Marines? Just go become the Pirate King!"
Even Sengoku nodded thoughtfully.
The insult still lacked some of the polish he himself could have brought to it, but he had to admit—
Ace had struck right at the heart of the problem.
"Tch. Fine, then."
Garp sounded almost sulky.
After thinking about it, he supposed he already had more than enough grandchildren.
He looked back at Thor, who continued mumbling about protecting Cain, and quickly changed direction.
"Still, his mind's basically blank right now, and he isn't a pirate."
Garp slapped one of Thor's enormous muscles and gave the giant a long, appraising look.
What a ridiculous body.
Strong enough to make most people despair just by looking at it.
But Thor had only just been born.
He had no real discipline, no training, and practically no life experience.
That wouldn't do.
Letting such excellent raw talent go to waste would be criminal.
A body like this belonged in the Marines, where it could be properly trained!
Garp's grin immediately returned.
"Well, if you're not going to be my grandson…"
He threw both arms wide.
"Thor! How about becoming a Marine instead?!"
Smoker and Ace stared at him.
Then, at exactly the same time, both men sighed and covered their foreheads.
So that had been the old bastard's real goal all along.
He was trying to spread justice again.