Next Bonus, 100!!
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Jin followed Hajrudin and Jarul into the village's forbidden ground—Aurust Castle.
It was a vast and magnificent structure, built upon a great tree perched on the cliff's edge at the western village's border. This was once the home of King Harald.
After the "great war" between Loki and the king, the castle had fallen into ruin, its treasury looted. The skeletons of giants still littered the ground—the remains of the warriors who had died here eleven years ago. Massive claw marks scarred the walls.
"Elder Jarul!"
"Hajrudin!"
"Yes."
The guards stationed here, who protected the key to Loki's prison, greeted them.
"What??"
"Take the key? To challenge Loki?"
"Hey, are you sure about this?" one of the guards asked, his voice filled with dread.
"That 'Cursed Prince'!"
"He murdered his own father, all to get his hands on the legendary Devil Fruit of Elbaf's royal family."
"He is the shame of Elbaf!"
"We were lucky that Shanks and his crew managed to capture him. He almost escaped at first. It took the combined strength of every giant on the island to finally subdue him."
"If you set him free..."
"If the 'Cursed Prince' Loki escapes..."
"The world will be destroyed!"
Another elder of the giant tribe rushed over, vehemently protesting. The giants erupted into a heated argument.
The reason for their fear was Loki himself. His history was a dark one.
Sixty years ago, Loki was born in the royal city of Elbaf.
At his birth, his own mother, Queen Estrid, was so terrified by his eyes that she cast him into the Underworld.
Yet as an infant, he survived, climbing the World Tree—the Treasure Tree Adam—and crawling his way back from the bottom of a ten-thousand-meter abyss.
That same year, during the Winter Solstice festival, a young Charlotte Linlin, in the throes of her eating disorder, caused an incident. The hero-elder "Waterfall Beard" Jorul—Jarul's close friend—was killed.
Around the same time, Elbaf began to suffer from a series of rare natural disasters—fires, storms, blizzards... The abnormal weather devastated their agriculture and fishing industries, leading to a famine the likes of which Elbaf had never seen.
Queen Estrid once again declared that Loki was the source of the curse. A few months later, she died under mysterious circumstances, her final words blaming "Loki's Curse" for her fate.
The people of Elbaf believed it.
From then on, Loki was blindfolded—the ministers claiming he had a congenital eye disease—and he was deprived of all love.
He was entrusted to the care of his late mother's brother, who abused him relentlessly as he grew.
He murdered the Horse of Fortune. He battled the beasts of the Underworld with his bare hands, taming them to his will.
At the age of ten, he unleashed those beasts to ravage the giant villages. He committed arson and countless other crimes.
At fifteen, while his father was away on an expedition, he once again unleashed the beasts of the Underworld. He beat the weak, mocked their suffering, and struck down his own half-brother, Hajrudin, when he tried to intervene.
Afterward, seeing the injured Hajrudin surrounded by his concerned comrades, Loki had only sneered in jealousy.
And then, eleven years ago, he murdered Harald for the legendary Devil Fruit.
It was said that in that battle, no fewer than a hundred giant warriors with the blood of the ancient giants were killed by Loki's hand.
Elder Jarul was the only survivor, and he was gravely wounded.
They had barely managed to capture him.
And now they were going to set him free?
It was madness.
But Jarul, having lived a long life, was wise. "I have great faith in King Jin," he said, his voice cutting through the noise.
He was taking a gamble.
First, Jin was the king of a nation affiliated with the World Government. His friendship was a rare and valuable thing for Elbaf. And putting aside the fact that Jarul himself had been a supporter of Harald's reforms, the grain and other goods Jin's trade brought were vital to their survival. He couldn't let this opportunity pass.
Second, Jin's repeated victories against their warriors had been... embarrassing. Their average giant was no match for him. So when Jin had proposed to challenge Loki, Jarul was simply seizing the opportunity. To show him the true strength of the giants.
Only an equal can earn respect.
Jarul's authority won out.
He presented Jin with a massive key. It was enormous, weighing over a dozen tons.
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Outside the castle, Hajrudin spoke. "King Jin, we've prepared an expedition to guide you to the Underworld..."
"That won't be necessary."
"Eh?" The giants all looked at him.
"The Underworld, the mortal realm, and the heavens are all on the same tree," Jin said, glancing at a dark chasm near the castle, an abyss that seemed to lead to the very center of the world. "So all I have to do is jump."
"No!" Jarul and Hajrudin cried out in shock.
"You mustn't!" Jarul said.
"It's a ten-thousand-meter drop to the Underworld!" Hajrudin added. "You'll be killed! Only Loki has ever survived that fall!"
"So it's the faster way, then?" Jin just smiled. He hefted the key, and with a single bound, he was at the edge of the chasm. Before the horrified giants could even shout, he leaped into the abyss.
WHOOSH...
He plunged through the clouds, the wind roaring in his ears.
The weight of the key accelerated his descent. The farther he fell, the colder it became.
It was a dark, frozen, desolate place.
At the roots of the Treasure Tree Adam, Loki sensed something. He looked up. His eyes were covered by a white cloth, but his Observation Haki picked it up.
Something was falling from the sky like a meteor, moving at an incredible speed, letting out a strange, whistling sound.
What is that?
The Underworld was home to many great beasts known as "Mountain Lords."
A giant boar was resting in the mountains. A sudden sense of danger jolted it awake. It looked around, but saw no enemies. Still, a primal fear made its skin crawl.
A faint sound... from the sky?
The boar looked up.
A small point of light was growing larger... and larger...
CRASH!
The sound was like a meteor strike, a violent roar that echoed through the frozen forest.
The earth shook. The permafrost, frozen for tens of thousands of years, shattered. The mountains themselves cracked.
The thirty-meter-tall boar collapsed, half its head gone, as if it had been hit by a cannonball.
Beside it, a deep crater had been gouged out of the frozen earth.
An arc of electricity flashed.
Jin emerged from the crater.
He looked around. The mountains were colossal, but one stood above them all, its peak shrouded in clouds.
"The Treasure Tree Adam."
He got his bearings, then grabbed the boar's carcass. Using his Kilo-Kilo Fruit, he lightened its weight.
He picked up the key and headed for the roots of the tree.
The forest was immense, filled with ancient, thousand-year-old conifers. Along the way, several Mountain Lords, drawn by the scent of blood, approached, but Jin drove them off with a blast of Conqueror's Haki.
It wasn't long before he reached the roots of the tree.
He didn't have to look for him.
Loki's voice was already booming through the forest.
"You who fell from the heavens! Have you come for me?"
Jin followed the voice. There, amidst the massive roots, he saw him—a giant, bound by countless thick, Seastone chains.
The giant let out a booming laugh. "Hahaha! Tell me your name!"
Jin dropped the boar and the key. "Jin. King of the Winter Blossom Kingdom."
"So," the giant rumbled, "you're the human king who defeated ten of our warriors in an arm-wrestling match."
"I am," Jin replied. "And you are Loki, the Cursed Prince."
"Cursed??" the giant roared. "You are wrong!"
"I am the Sun God Who Will End the World! Loki!"
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