Chapter 281: Reunion
In front of the altar in the City of Gold, Nico Robin's eyes were blurred by tears, a mix of sorrow and overwhelming joy washing over her. She looked up at Hajrudin, who even sitting down towered over ordinary giants, waiting for the answer she longed to hear.
"Robin..." Chopper, still in his Heavy Point form, was drawn by Robin's trembling, his eyes filled with worry and confusion.
Nearby, Zoro listened to their conversation. The ferocity and battle lust in his eyes faded slightly, but he remained alert, still in his strongest stance. Although Robin had joined their crew under suspicious circumstances, he had long since accepted her as one of his nakama. He sensed the tension in the air dissipating.
Meeting Robin's hopeful gaze, Hajrudin lowered his head, casting the three Straw Hats in his massive shadow. "That's right. He's a giant, too. He comes from the same Giant Kingdom in the South Blue as my mother, and they had deep ties. So, when he arrived in Elbaf, he sought me out immediately."
"You should know his name... It's Saul."
"Saul..." Hearing the name confirmed, Robin could no longer control her emotions. Tears streamed down her face. "That's wonderful... So you survived the disaster at Ohara, too—"
She wept with joy, tears tracing paths down her smiling cheeks and splashing onto the ground.
Zoro frowned slightly, the Wado Ichimonji held loosely in his teeth. "Robin, I hate to interrupt, but... are you sure this monster—who's terrifying in both size and strength—isn't lying to you?"
Chopper, whose fur was standing on end, chimed in worriedly, "Zoro's being blunt, but Robin, you can't just trust people so easily!"
Before Robin could respond, Hajrudin's form began to shrink, rapidly returning to his normal giant size.
Chopper stared, dumbfounded. "Such a huge human!"
"He's one of Louis's giants?" Zoro's eyes sharpened. He recognized him now. Although he hadn't entered the Grand Line for years, he'd seen plenty about Kuina's crew in the newspapers, including all the main officers. This giant was one of the top five monsters in the Archangel Pirates, even among that crew of freaks.
He sheathed his swords. "If I remember right, you're the 'Giant God Soldier' of the Archangel Pirates—Hajrudin. You're Kuina's crewmate, right?"
Hajrudin nodded. "That's right. We officers are all close. We know about your promise with her."
Zoro smirked confidently. "The one who becomes the World's Greatest Swordsman... will definitely be me!"
Hajrudin looked at Robin, who was slowly regaining her composure. He pulled out the Den Den Mushi he used as an earpiece and dialed a number.
Purupurupuru... Purupurupuru...
As it rang, Hajrudin bent down and offered the snail to Robin.
"Nico Robin," he said, his voice deep, "Saul often tells us stories about you."
In truth, Hajrudin thought, it was more than just stories. Saul was deeply worried about her. He wanted to go find her countless times, but we always stopped him, reminding him he was missing a leg and officially dead in the eyes of the World Government. Hajrudin wasn't reckless like Loki; he knew that if Saul reappeared, the World Government would notice. If they turned their attention to Elbaf, the scholars' sacrifice could be in vain, and Elbaf itself might be endangered. In the end, Saul could only ask the giants going out to sea to keep an eye out for news of her.
"This is..." Robin used her Devil Fruit power, sprouting arms to take the Den Den Mushi, already guessing who was on the other end.
Just then, the call connected. A voice came through that made fresh tears well up in Robin's eyes.
"Hello? Hajrudin?"
"Did you call because... you have news about Robin?"
"..."
It was the same voice she remembered from her childhood. Nearly twenty years had barely left a trace on the giant.
A smile bloomed on Robin's face. "Saul... It's so good... You're alive..."
On the other end, in the school on Elbaf, Saul froze. His voice began to tremble. "Is that... you? Robin!"
"It's me..." Robin's eyes overflowed again.
The next second, Saul's signature, strange laugh echoed from the snail: "Dereshishishishi—!"
Hearing that laugh, unchanged after twenty years, Robin couldn't hold back her tears. She wiped her eyes, laughing through her sobs. "Dereshishishishi—!"
For a moment, the two strange laughs echoed through the ruins of Shandora.
Zoro couldn't help but smile. "Looks like he wasn't lying."
Nearby, Chopper, though not fully understanding, was overcome by the emotional scene and burst into tears. "Waaah! Robin found her family! It's so touching!!" Snot and tears streaming down his face, he grabbed Zoro's shirt and started wiping his nose.
Zoro instantly became furious, his eyes bulging, his teeth sharpening like a shark's. "Hey, hey, Chopper! Don't use my clothes as a tissue!"
"S-sorry! But I don't have any clothes!" Chopper sobbed weakly, not stopping.
"You damn fuzzball! I'll beat you senseless!" Zoro roared.
Hajrudin sat cross-legged, a faint smile on his face. Saul... you finally found Nico Robin.
Above, on the altar, Louis sat on a step, the Seven Star Sword resting across his lap. He was using his Observation Haki to search for Baal. He didn't find it, but he did sense several other human life signs approaching Shandora.
The rest of the Straw Hats? Louis glanced down at Robin's group thoughtfully.
A moment later, voices echoed from nearby.
"Robin-chwaaan!!"
"Robin!"
"Chopper! Mosshead! Are you guys here?"
Hajrudin looked up. "Are those your companions, too?"
Hearing one of the nicknames, Zoro's face instantly darkened. "...Yeah," he grunted. "Including that damn love-cook."
"GOLD! GOLD! IT'S ALL GOLD!" A woman's ecstatic shriek pierced the air, startling flocks of birds.
Hajrudin raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure you're not here for the gold?"
Zoro didn't answer directly, just gave Hajrudin an interested look. "Sounds like you are."
"That's right," Hajrudin admitted freely.
Chopper, remembering Nami's love for treasure, had a bad feeling. He gulped. "What... what would happen if we were here for the gold?"
Hajrudin reached back and drew his house-sized, double-bladed battle-axe. The menacing glint of the steel reflected onto their faces. His silence spoke volumes. We'd settle it like pirates.
"Hey~! So this is where you were!" Just then, a pair of stretching arms shot out from down the street, grabbing onto a building near Zoro.
Zoro and Chopper's eyes widened in horror.
The next second, a series of terrified screams and angry curses filled the air. Chopper bolted. Several figures flew past where they had been standing, screaming as they hurtled toward the altar.
"AAAAAHHH!!"
"WE'RE GONNA DIE!!"
"DAMN IT, LUFFY! I'LL KILL YOU!!"
Just as they were about to crash, dozens of arms sprouted from the altar steps, weaving together into a net that caught them.
"We're saved..." Usopp gasped, his legs trembling.
Nami scrambled over to Robin, burying her face in her side. "Thank goodness for you, Robin! You're so reliable!"
"Robin-chwaaaan!!" Sanji, recovering first, tried to dive into Robin's arms like Nami, but she deftly sidestepped him with a smile.
Zoro watched this, a mocking smirk on his face. "Heh."
Sanji bristled, ready to fight Zoro, but a loud, cheerful laugh drew everyone's attention.
"Shishishishi—! That was fun!"
"..."
The crewmates who had just been thrown fell silent. Then, their eyes turned bloodshot, radiating pure, murderous rage.
"LUFFYYYY!!"
Hearing the furious roar, Luffy stiffly turned his head. "Haha... everyone's okay..." Seeing their angry faces, he broke out in a cold sweat, waving his hands weakly.
The next second, he was swallowed by a cloud of dust and fists. Nami quickly snatched the straw hat off his head to protect it from the beatdown.
Atop the altar, Louis watched, his expression unreadable.
Hajrudin's eye twitched. "Is that really how a captain should be treated? He has absolutely no dignity..." In the Archangel Pirates, even Ulti, who seemed the least respectful, only occasionally called the captain an idiot. If anyone tried this with their crew, Yelena would flay them alive and hang them from the Tree's branches to dry.
The beating finally stopped. Luffy, covered in lumps and bruises, staggered to his feet, mumbling apologies. His crewmates just glared. They knew his apologies were temporary.
Then, they noticed Hajrudin sitting at the end of the street and froze.
Usopp's face turned green, his legs shaking again. "Hey, hey! What's with the super huge guy?!"
Nami instinctively backed away, covering her mouth to stifle a scream.
Sanji looked at the giant, who was easily over twenty meters tall, his eyes wide with shock. Then he glanced at Zoro's calm expression, realized something, and composed himself, lighting a cigarette.
"Whoa! Are you a giant?" Luffy, already fully recovered, ran right up to Hajrudin, his eyes sparkling.
Hajrudin looked down at the tiny human, hesitant. "Yes... why?"
"This is the first time I've met a real giant!" Luffy stretched his arm to grab his hat back from Nami, plopped it on his head, and grinned at Hajrudin. "My name is Monkey D. Luffy! I'm gonna be King of the Pirates! What's your name?"
"Hajrudin." Hajrudin watched Luffy's stretching arm, his pupils contracting slightly.
Luffy adjusted his hat, his smile brilliant. "Hajrudin! Join my crew!"
"I refuse." Hajrudin frowned, rejecting him instantly. "I already belong to a pirate crew."
Up on the altar, Louis raised an eyebrow. He hadn't expected Luffy to try and poach Hajrudin right off the bat. Is this karma for all the times I've recruited from other crews?
Louis paused, thinking. Then he looked off to the side, a hint of reminiscence in his eyes.
Seeing Luffy talking to the giant, the other Straw Hats interested in giants gradually gathered around.
Usopp stroked his chin. "This giant Hajrudin... he seems even bigger than that Fish-Man who was helping plant orange trees back in Nami's hometown!"
"Yeah, yeah!" Luffy nodded enthusiastically.
Nami's expression shifted as she also compared Hajrudin to the giant Fish-Man who had come with Jinbe.
Just then, Chopper trotted over, spreading his hooves wide. "Luffy! Usopp! You missed it! Hajrudin was sixty meters tall just now!"
"What?!" The two stared, their jaws dropping. "S-sixty meters?!"
Luffy tilted his head. "Wait... how tall is sixty meters?"
"..."
Hajrudin looked at the humans, his expression fluctuating.
Robin walked forward and used her power to return the Den Den Mushi to Hajrudin. She looked up at him, a grateful smile on her face. "Thank you for letting me speak with him again."
Hajrudin carefully took the snail between two fingers and put it back in his ear. He shifted back into his dragon-man form, scales shimmering, antlers sprouting, tail extending. Even sitting, he was like a small mountain. He looked down at them, his dragon eyes narrowed. "In that case, it's time for you to leave. The gold here has been claimed by the Archangel Pirates."
"Many of you have connections to us. I don't want to fight you," Hajrudin said, his gaze fixed on Luffy, his tone serious.
The Straw Hats sobered up. Luffy, however, just grinned his carefree grin. "Shishishi! Is that so? We're not interested in the gold anyway! We won't fight you for it!"
He tipped his hat. "Hajrudin, do you know where the Golden Bell is? We promised the Chestnut-Head Ossan on Jaya that we'd ring the bell in Shandora! To prove to the world that his ancestor, Noland, wasn't a liar!"
"The Golden Bell?" Hajrudin paused. He'd heard of it, but didn't know its location. He slowly turned his head, looking up toward the top of the altar. The captain probably knows.
But then he froze.
The spot where Louis had been sitting was empty.
Hajrudin's movement made the Straw Hats curious, and they followed his gaze.
Luffy looked confused. "Huh? Was someone sitting up there just now?"
Below, Zoro, Sanji, and Robin noticed the footprints on the altar steps and the signs of recent human presence at the top. Their faces changed.
Everything pointed to the fact that someone had been sitting there the entire time, watching them silently. And judging by Hajrudin's reaction, that person hadn't been hiding; they had all simply... overlooked that direction.
The realization sent chills down their spines.
"Why... it was right there in plain sight... how did we not notice?"
Louis spread his wings, soaring through the clouds high above the White Sea, landing softly on an endless expanse of white cloud.
In the distance, smoke rose from a town. White toga-like robes fluttered on clotheslines, dancing in the high-altitude wind.
"Twelve years... I'm back," Louis murmured, looking at the familiar scene. He folded his wings and began walking along the path made of processed cloud.
As he walked, he noticed something strange. Baal... seems bigger. It had always been large, comparable to many islands in the Blue Sea, which was why his initial Haki scan hadn't revealed anything unusual. But now, walking on it, seeing it with his own eyes... something was different.
He continued toward the town. He passed fields where fruits and grains were ripening. He saw men and women with feathered arms working the land.
The Skypieans looked up, saw the tall figure with flawless white wings, and recognized him.
"Oh, it's just Louis," a middle-aged woman muttered, then went back to her work.
...Minutes later, she shot upright. "Wait! Louis?! Louis is back?!" She looked around frantically, but he was already gone.
As Louis neared the town, he heard screams and roars. He changed direction, following the sound into a patch of forest transplanted from the Calm Belt. Beyond it was a training area scarred by battle and fire.
Ferocious, primal beasts—"coaches" from the Calm Belt—were attacking, their claws and teeth coated in Armament Haki.
A group of Lunarian kids, none older than ten, scrambled frantically, trying to survive. Each swipe sent two or more children flying hundreds of meters, crashing into specially placed boulders and shattering them. As they staggered up, dizzy, the coaches would pounce again, grabbing them in their jaws and chewing on them like chew toys.
"Ah, nostalgia," Louis mused. He'd only trained here once, but the memory was vivid. This was the training ground for infants. Back then, a tiny Louis, unable to control his strength, had accidentally torn all the coaches to shreds on his first day, forcing the entire population of Baal to have an unexpected feast. He'd "graduated" the next day, been sent to the adolescent training ground, beat up all his "classmates," and by age five, had made the 18-year-old Artemis cry for days (she still had trauma). After that, his sparring partners had become exasperated adults. By the time he left Baal at age ten, he was already one of the strongest, with few who could match him.
He looked at the current group of kids, his eyes narrowing. "There are more of them than before... but what's with their skin color?"
He saw the usual white-haired, brown-skinned, black-winged children. But there were also many others whose skin tone was closer to a normal human's, while their hair and wing color remained unchanged.
What's going on with these kids?
Just then, Amit—his body slightly stooped, his white hair losing its luster, wearing only a beast hide loincloth—walked up behind Louis, leaning on his bone spear.
"You're back... Artus."
Louis turned, frowning at the sight of the old muscle man. His once towering nine-meter frame had shrunk. His rock-hard muscles were withered. His black wings and hair were dull. His once fierce, wild face was now deeply lined, and his eyes, once predatory, were now calm, almost cloudy.