"Ah! They're already waiting for us at the harbor!"
Uta stood on tiptoe with both hands resting on the railing. From here, she could clearly see rows of towering figures gathered along the docks, each one as imposing as a small mountain.
Cain nodded slightly as his gaze passed over the unfamiliar faces.
There really weren't many people he recognized.
Dorry and Brogy were still on Little Garden, fighting the same endless duel day after day, while Hajrudin and his companions were currently working as mercenaries under Buggy's Delivery.
Compared with the reception the Straw Hats would receive in the original timeline, there were far fewer familiar faces here.
Even so, the sheer number of giants gathered at the port made it obvious just how seriously Elbaf was taking their arrival.
The moment the Going Merry docked, Uta openly waved toward the shore.
"Hello, everyone! Nice to meet you! I'm Uta!"
"Red-Hair's daughter, huh? We've heard your songs!"
The giants looked down at the tiny figure on deck and answered with booming laughter.
"Elbaf welcomes you! Wahahaha!"
Cain tilted his head back toward the giants surrounding the ship and sighed.
"Yeah, looking up at everyone like this really does murder your neck."
He slipped an arm around Uta before raising his voice toward the shore.
"I'm Kad Cain—Uta's future husband!"
Then he turned and smiled at her.
Uta answered with a playful wink.
The giants exchanged glances.
The grand welcoming ritual they had spent so long preparing suddenly stalled.
Kad?
Not Charlotte?
So…
were they still supposed to unleash all that carefully prepared "wrath" on him or not?
Fortunately, someone stepped in before the atmosphere became completely awkward.
Naturally, it was Gaban.
Cain and Uta had arrived with friendly intentions. A little fighting was one thing, but there was no reason to turn the whole situation into a genuine life-or-death feud.
Sitting comfortably in the palm of his son's hand, Gaban waved toward them.
"Been a long time, Uta!"
He laughed.
"You really have grown up."
"Grandpa Gaban!"
Uta's eyes lit up.
"I didn't know you lived on Elbaf!"
"Of course. My home's here."
Gaban patted Colon's finger and introduced him with a grin.
"This is my son, Colon. Don't let the fact that he's almost twenty fool you—he's still just a little brat."
"Dad!"
Colon complained and poked Gaban in the head with one finger.
Gaban ignored him completely and hopped down onto the Going Merry.
"Come on, Colon. Say hello to your big sister."
Colon looked thoroughly embarrassed.
"…Big Sister."
Before the reunion could continue, an elderly voice rolled across the harbor.
"So you're Cain."
Jarul stepped out from among the gathered giants, and his presence immediately seemed to press across the entire port like a mountain.
"Red-Hair told us that your connection to that woman is not particularly deep."
His gaze remained firmly fixed on Cain.
"But even if only the slightest connection remains, Elbaf cannot simply allow you to set foot on our land."
"Still, Red-Hair asked us repeatedly to make an exception."
"So we agreed to prepare a special reception specifically for you."
Jarul's voice thundered like distant drums.
"If you want to enter Elbaf, prove with your strength that you deserve that exception."
Gaban froze.
'Wasn't this supposed to be gradual?'
Why was the old man announcing the entire thing right at the entrance?
At this point he might as well shout, Cain, we're about to beat you up.
With no better option, Gaban pulled Cain closer and whispered so softly that his voice was almost inaudible.
"You need to understand that that woman is a complete taboo in Elbaf."
"Shanks and I had to work pretty damn hard just to get you this opportunity."
"So take it seriously."
Fortunately, everyone involved understood the situation well enough that nobody openly voiced the more personal motives hidden behind the ceremony.
Jarul's explanation preserved Elbaf's long-standing rules while also giving Shanks the respect he was owed.
Cain's right to enter would simply be decided through battle.
By now, Cain finally understood what was happening.
"So that's what Shanks meant when he told me to look forward to the surprise because it would blow me away."
Cain sighed.
"That bastard really set me up."
He looked toward the giants, all of whom were already cracking their knuckles or gripping their weapons in anticipation.
"So if I prove myself, I'm allowed into Elbaf?"
"Correct."
Jarul looked down at him.
"If you pass, then you are a friend of Elbaf."
"This was once one of our oldest traditions."
"Although the custom itself was abandoned long ago, the prohibition concerning that woman was established before we stopped observing it."
Gaban patted Cain's shoulder and smiled meaningfully.
"So we use an abandoned tradition to challenge a ban created while that tradition was still in effect."
"Fair enough, isn't it?"
"When you put it that way…"
Cain nodded.
He wasn't particularly angry that Shanks had arranged this without telling him.
Truthfully, it wasn't much of a trap.
Cain was the one who had gotten himself tangled up with Big Mom in the first place, and he had already known how deeply the Giants despised her.
When you entered someone else's homeland, you followed their rules.
That much was obvious.
"Fine."
Cain looked toward Jarul.
"I accept the trial."
…
And so, the battle the giants had been eagerly waiting for finally began.
Unfortunately—
it only lasted for one sound.
BOOM.
"You've got to be kidding me!"
Gaban planted his feet against the violent gale generated by Cain's Conqueror's Haki, one hand desperately holding his sunglasses in place.
"This brat's Conqueror's Haki is completely ridiculous! He's barely any different from Shanks now!"
He swore loudly.
"Where the hell did that bastard Rayleigh find a freak like this for a disciple?"
Then realization struck him.
"Oh. Right. He's Garp's freak grandson."
"That explains everything! That entire family is full of monsters!"
With that single release of Haki, most of the giants who had gathered fully armed for the trial collapsed in unison.
Only Jarul and Gaban remained standing.
Even Cain himself looked surprised.
He glanced down at his hand.
He hadn't expected his Conqueror's Haki to grow this much.
Thinking about it more carefully, though, the reason wasn't difficult to understand.
Something inside him had finally broken free.
Ever since obtaining his Devil Fruit, Cain's fighting style had always carried Kaido's shadow.
Even after developing his own path, somewhere deep in his mind Kaido still stood ahead of him like an enormous mountain that could never truly be ignored.
Now Cain had defeated that mountain with his own hands.
Kaido was no longer an obstacle looming in front of him.
He was simply another step Cain had already climbed.
With that mental barrier gone, it was only natural that Cain's Conqueror's Haki would rise with him.
Cain scratched his cheek and cautiously looked toward the only two men still standing.
"So…"
"Does that count?"
"No."
Gaban pushed his sunglasses back up his nose.
His teeth were already grinding.
"You're Rayleigh's disciple."
"You really think I'm going to let you walk away without beating you up properly?"
Cain nearly choked.
There it was.
The bastard had finally admitted the real reason out loud.
Cain sighed in resignation.
"Fine. We'll keep going."
Then another thought occurred to him.
"But can I ask something first?"
"Am I allowed to borrow Bella's power?"
"Bella?"
Jarul frowned.
"That Homie?"
Then he waved one huge hand dismissively.
"Use whatever you want."
"It's not like the Giant Tribe has never used Homies. Goldberg's shield is one too."
"If you've got one, use it!"
Cain's lips slowly curved upward.
"You said it."
Bella immediately transformed into a ribbon and wrapped lightly around Cain's shoulders.
Gaban was still muttering dismissively to himself.
"It's just a Homie. How much difference can one little Homie make?"
"In the end, Haki transcends all—"
Then he stopped.
Cain's Haki started expanding.
And expanding.
And expanding.
Its presence swept farther across Elbaf until it seemed to blanket the entire country.
Fortunately, Cain deliberately restrained the oppressive force. Most people merely sensed that someone was releasing an enormous amount of Conqueror's Haki.
The actual pressure remained focused primarily on Jarul and Gaban.
Even Jarul's mouth fell open.
He was clearly shocked, but stubbornly tried to maintain his dignity.
"…Hmph. So your Haki is strong."
"But when it comes to sheer size, we Giants—"
He never finished.
Bella activated the hundredfold amplification.
Cain's body surged upward.
Jarul stood roughly twenty meters tall and was imposing even by the standards of the Giant Tribe.
But when Cain became a towering figure nearly a hundred meters tall, the entire harbor fell silent.
Gaban craned his neck toward the colossal figure looming above him.
Then he hurriedly waved one hand.
"Don't panic."
"This is obviously just some Devil Fruit trick."
"I've got plenty of experience dealing with oversized opponents."
He paused.
"Admittedly, most of that experience wasn't actually from fighting them."
Then something clicked.
"Wait."
Gaban's expression slowly changed.
"The reports about Cain's ability never said anything about making himself bigger."
"And if I'm remembering correctly, his fruit is related to Kaido's…"
He had only just realized what that meant when Cain transformed again.
A gigantic pink dragon appeared above Elbaf.
Under Bella's hundredfold amplification, the dragon's body stretched for well over ten thousand meters, coiling through the sky until it seemed to encircle the entire coastline.
Even the giants now looked tiny beneath him.
Everyone slowly raised their heads.
Gaban stared upward at the enormous shadow blotting out the sky.
At last, he completely lost his composure.
"DAMN YOU, SHANKS!"
"YOU SET ME UP!!"