A/N: Please check out my new Classroom of the Elite fanfic of you are interested. It's fun, funny and all that stuff. Thank you.
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The morning sun over Elbaf did not merely rise; it shattered across the horizon like molten gold, casting colossal, miles-long shadows through the branches of the world-tree.
In the western courtyard of the medical longhouse, the aftermath of the previous night's feast looked like the battlefield of a bygone era. Massive, boulder-sized bones of the mountain boar lay scattered across the stone tiles, completely stripped of meat. Sitting cross-legged on a giant-sized pine log that served as a casual bench, Norwell D. Giovanni let out a long, slow breath.
He could feel the familiar, roaring warmth of his vitality returning. The sheer, absurd volume of giant-cooked meat had acted like fuel to a dying furnace. While his left arm remained securely bound in Gerd's pristine, oversized splint, and his ribs still gave a sharp, agonizing twang whenever he breathed too deeply, the hollow, empty void in his spirit. The exhaustion from against Gecko Moria and the Wano forces was finally filling back up.
Beside him, the Supreme Grade blade Ace rested against the log, its dark, multi-layered steel catching the morning light.
A few yards away, Kozuki Toki sat gracefully on a woven mat, her eyes soft as she adjusted a clean, smaller cloth around young Hiyori's injured shoulder. The little girl was giggling, completely distracted by a family of tiny, harmless woodland rodents that were scurrying near her feet. For the first time in weeks, the ambient tension of being hunted across the New World seemed to dissipate, replaced by the crisp, pine-scented air of the land of warriors.
STOMP. STOMP. STOMP.
The peaceful morning shattered as the stone courtyard vibrated rhythmically. The vibrations weren't the chaotic, frantic thuds of rampaging beasts; they were the measured, deliberate, and immensely heavy footsteps of trained warriors.
Giovanni didn't move. He didn't reach for his sword. He merely tilted his head back, his eyes narrowing slightly as two massive silhouettes stepped through the towering stone archway of the courtyard.
The giant leading the pair was young, but already possessed the broad, heavily muscled frame of a legendary vanguard. He wore a traditional Nordic iron helmet, a dark leather tunic, and heavy metal gauntlets clasped over his thick forearms. His expression was a volatile mix of intense pride, fierce ambition, and burning curiosity. Beside him walked a slightly wider giant with a jovial yet rugged face, carrying a massive timber-framing mallet slung over his shoulder.
"So..." the giant rumbled, his voice dropping into the courtyard like a localized earthquake. He stopped ten yards away, looming over Giovanni like a living mountain. "You're the pint-sized human who managed to survive a direct clash with the King of the Beasts, Kaido."
Giovanni casually leaned his back against the log, resting his right elbow on his knee. He didn't look intimidated in the slightest. In fact, a slow, mocking smirk played across his lips.
"And you are?" Giovanni asked, his tone dripping with an effortless, casual arrogance that completely ignored the physical size difference. "Usually, people introduce themselves before they start barking about my resume."
The second giant let out a boisterous laugh, slapping his companion on the back with enough force to crack stone. "Bwahaha! See, Hajrudin? I told you! Gerd wasn't lying when she said this human carried the tongue of a king! He doesn't even blink looking up at us!"
The giant, Hajrudin, frowned slightly, his sharp eyes locking onto Giovanni's bandaged torso. "I am Hajrudin. A warrior of Elbaf. And this is my brother-in-arms, Stansen. Gerd returned to the village square last night to gather more medical herbs, and she could not stop speaking of the terrifying spirit you possessed. She claimed your body was entirely broken, yet your will refused to unravel. For a human... that is a rare praise."
"Gerd's a great doctor," Giovanni chuckled, his eyes briefly flickering toward the longhouse doors before settling back on the two young giants. "But if you two oversized rookies came all the way out here just to stare at my bandages and repeat rumors, you're wasting your breath. I'm trying to digest my breakfast."
Stansen crossed his massive arms, a grin splitting his rugged face. "Oho! 'Oversized rookies?' You've got guts, kid. Most humans who wash up on our shores are either crying for their mothers or praying to our gods for mercy."
"I don't pray to gods," Giovanni said flatly, his eyes flashing with a brief, chilling glint of his sovereign spirit. "And the only time I look down is when I'm checking to see if I stepped on something. If you want to talk, sit down. Looking up at you two is giving my neck a cramp."
Hajrudin stared at Giovanni for a long, silent moment. The young giant was unaccustomed to such blatant, casual disrespect from a creature that barely reached his ankle. Yet, looking closely at the blonde youth, Hajrudin didn't see the false bravado of a fool. He saw the cold, calculated posture of an apex predator.
With a heavy grunt, Hajrudin dropped down, sitting cross-legged directly onto the stone tiles, his massive knees framing the courtyard. Stansen followed suit, dropping his massive mallet to the side with a loud clack.
"Gerd said you are a pirate from the outer seas," Hajrudin stated, his tone turning dead serious. "A high-ranking member of the Red-Haired Pirates. Tell me, human... what is the state of the sea out there? Is it true that the Grand Line is filled with warriors who can shatter islands?"
Giovanni reached over with his right hand, picking up a stray, polished piece of wood and casually tossing it in the air. "The Grand Line? That's just the entrance exam, big guy. Out here in the New World, the sea doesn't care about your traditions or your size. It's an absolute, lawless meat grinder. If you don't have the strength to back up your words, the waves will swallow your ship before you can even drop anchor."
Toki looked up from her sewing, watching quietly. She noted how Giovanni naturally took control of the conversation, shifting from a relaxed survivor to a seasoned veteran of the seas.
"I've sailed with the best of them," Giovanni continued, his voice echoing with a rare hint of nostalgia. "I've seen men who could tilt the axis of the entire ocean with a single swing of a sword. I've clashed with the remnants of the old era, and I've traded blows with the monsters ruling the current one. Out there, the sky splits when real kings meet."
Hajrudin's chest heaved, his eyes suddenly burning with an intense, unquenchable fire. He slammed a massive fist into his open palm, the concussive force blowing a gust of wind across the courtyard.
"That is exactly what I have been waiting to hear!" Hajrudin roared passionately, his voice echoing off the mountain ridges. "The world thinks the era of the giants has faded! They think we are nothing but isolated brutes hiding behind our mountains! But I will change that! I will sail out into that lawless sea, gather the strongest warriors of our race, and recreate the Legendary Giant Warrior Pirates! We will bring glory back to Elbaf and make the entire world tremble beneath our boots!"
Stansen grinned proudly beside him, nodding along to his captain's grand declaration.
Giovanni, however, did not cheer. He didn't even look impressed. Instead, he let out a sharp, mocking scoff, tossing the piece of wood away.
"Recreate the Giant Warrior Pirates?" Giovanni said, his voice dropping into a cold, clinical register that instantly cut through Hajrudin's passion. "Don't make me laugh, Hajrudin. If you sail out into the New World with that romantic, naive mindset, you and your crew won't last a single month."
Hajrudin's expression instantly darkened, a dangerous ripple of giant anger radiating from his massive frame. "What did you say, human?! Are you questioning the honor and strength of Elbaf's warriors?!"
"I'm questioning your brains, not your honor," Giovanni shot back, standing up smoothly from the log, his hand resting casually on his hip. "Listen to me, and listen good. The New World doesn't give a damn about your giant heritage or your legendary history. Size is a massive target out there. If you think your massive bodies make you invincible, you're dead wrong."
He stepped closer to the giant's massive knee, his eyes locking onto Hajrudin's fierce glare.
"I've watched men a quarter of your size use Advanced Haki to slice through solid bedrock like it was soft cheese," Giovanni said, his voice carrying the brutal weight of reality. "I've seen the monsters of the Sea destroy entire fleets with a single breath. If you go out there relying purely on your physical strength and a romanticized dream of 'glory,' a guy with real sovereign willpower will crush your spirit before you can even draw your weapon. The sea is a place of absolute absolute power. If your Haki isn't strong enough to command the sky, your size just means you'll make a bigger splash when you sink."
Hajrudin fell silent, his teeth grinding together. He wanted to roar, to strike down the arrogant human for insulting his dream. But the absolute clarity and cold truth in Giovanni's words struck a deep chord within his warrior heart. He looked at the shattered state of Giovanni's body. Injuries sustained from fighting the very monsters he spoke of and realized this human knew the cost of the sea far better than he did.
Before the heavy silence could escalate, the heavy wooden doors of the medical longhouse creaked open.
"Alright, that's enough heavy talk for the morning!" Ida's loud, authoritative voice boomed across the courtyard. The elderly foster mother marched out, her hands resting firmly on her apron. Behind her, Gerd stepped into the sunlight, carrying a fresh basket of clean linens. The young blonde giantess instantly caught sight of Hajrudin and Stansen sitting with Giovanni, her cheeks flushing a faint, embarrassed pink.
"Hajrudin! Stansen!" Gerd scolded, her voice a mix of panic and frustration. "What are you two doing here?! I told you he was supposed to be resting! Did you come here to pick a fight with my patient?!"
"We were just talking, Gerd," Stansen said quickly, holding his hands up defensively as he stood up. "The little guy's got a sharp tongue, that's all."
Ida walked up to Giovanni, her expression turning formal and grave. "Giovanni, Toki, Hiyori. The time has come. Elder Jarul has requested your presence in the great tribal hall. Your temporary rest is over; the elders must decide the terms of your presence on our sacred soil."
Giovanni nodded, his expression smoothing out into a calm, unbothered mask. He reached down with his right hand, smoothly hooking the scabbard of Ace back onto his sash. "Lead the way, old matron. Let's see what the old guard of Elbaf has to say."
The journey through the central village of Elbaf was a breathtaking display of gargantuan architecture. The paths were paved with massive stone flags that could serve as city squares for human kingdoms. The homes were constructed from the trunks of ancient, primordial pine trees, their roofs reinforced with giant shields and the bones of colossal sea kings.
As they walked, Gerd intentionally slowed her massive strides, keeping her position right alongside Giovanni. She cast a few hesitant, downward glances at him, her fingers nervously twisting the edge of her medical apron.
"Um... Giovanni?" she whispered softly, her melodic voice vibrating near his ear. "I'm... I'm sorry if Hajrudin and Stansen bothered you. They are just incredibly passionate about the old tales. They didn't mean any harm."
Giovanni looked up at her, a wicked, confident grin breaking across his face. "Bother me? Sweetheart, it takes a lot more than two loud-mouthed rookies to bother me. Besides, I should thank you. If you hadn't bragged about me to the village, I wouldn't have had the entertainment."
Gerd's face instantly burned a bright, crimson red, her eyes widening in sheer panic. "I-I didn't brag! I was just... I was just explaining the medical severity of your condition to the guard vanguard! It was a purely professional summary!"
"Sure it was," Giovanni chuckled, his eyes shining with amusement as he watched the massive, beautiful doctor completely lose her professional composure over his teasing. "Keep telling yourself that, Doc."
Toki smiled softly from behind them, quietly carrying Hiyori, while Ida led them toward the massive, mountain-like structure at the center of the settlement: The Great Hall of Jarul.
The interior of the great hall was shrouded in the ancient, heavy scent of burning ash, mead, and old iron. Massive braziers lined the stone walls, their roaring orange flames casting long, flickering shadows across rows of colossal wooden pillars.
At the far end of the hall, seated upon a massive throne carved from the dark stone of the mountain itself, sat Elder Jarul.
The legendary former co-captain of the Giant Warrior Pirates was a living monument to history. His massive, snow-white beard flowed down past his waist, intricately braided with iron rings. He wore a heavy, battle-scarred bear-skin mantle over his shoulders, his weathered, wrinkled face etched with the lines of a thousand brutal campaigns. He held a colossal wooden staff topped with a carved eagle, his single remaining eye piercing through the gloom of the hall like a beacon.
As Giovanni's group stepped into the center of the hall, the ambient noise of the surrounding giant guards ceased completely. The atmosphere became suffocatingly heavy.
Jarul leaned forward, his single eye locking directly onto Giovanni. The ancient giant did not speak immediately; instead, he closed his eyes, his nose inhaling the air of the hall. A subtle, incredibly dense ripple of old, refined spiritual awareness radiated from the elder.
"I can smell it on you, young human," Jarul's voice rumbled, sounding like the deep, grinding shifting of tectonic plates. "The scent of blood, the scent of the deep sea... and the unmistakable, heavy ring of a King's spirit. You carry the aura of those who refuse to bow to the heavens."
Giovanni stood perfectly straight in the center of the hall, his right hand resting casually near the hilt of Ace. He did not flinch beneath the elder's suffocating presence.
"I've been told that before, Elder," Giovanni replied, his voice calm, clear, and perfectly steady.
Jarul opened his eye, his gaze shifting briefly to the Wano noblewoman, Toki, and the child, before returning to the blonde youth. His expression remained entirely stoic, unyielding, and deeply traditional.
"Elbaf is a land of honor, governed by the sacred laws of the gods and the warrior code," Jarul stated, his voice carrying a chilling, absolute finality. "We recognize your strength, Norwell D. Giovanni. We recognize that you fought bravely to protect the defenseless. But do not mistake our hospitality last night for an invitation."
The elder struck his massive staff against the stone floor, a loud THUD echoing through the rafters.
"The sea outside our borders is loud, chaotic, and filled with the petty greeds of humanity," Jarul warned, his voice hardening. "Elbaf holds no love for reckless human pirates. You bring storms in your wake, and storms bring nothing but ruin to our sacred soil. You are permitted to stay within the confines of the western coast until your physical wounds are healed by Gerd's hand. But hear my words well, boy: do not draw your steel, do not bring your wars to our shores, and do not test the patience of the giants. If you bring chaos to Elbaf... the mountains themselves will crush you."
Giovanni met the ancient giant's gaze, his golden eyes flashing with an independent, unyielding defiance that refused to be suppressed by the weight of Elbaf's history.
"I came here to heal, not to start a war, Elder," Giovanni said, a cold, sharp smile playing on his face. "But if the storm decides to follow me here... I suggest your mountains get ready to move."
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