"That's a Giant? So big, way bigger than the Giants I imagined."
When Ginny said this aboard Nereus's ship, she was still glancing at Kuma beside her.
It was said that the Buccaneer tribe also carried Giant blood. Although she had already seen what Kuma looked like at nineteen, she was even more curious whether he would grow even taller in the future.
"The shortest adult Giant is still twelve meters tall—twenty meters is the norm.
That Giant is called Harald, a descendant of the Ancient Giants and the current king of Elbaf, so he looks even bigger."
Nanamo was studying a design sketch drawn by Hermes, which is the 34th revision of the new design of her support team's outfits.
For some reason, though, Nanamo suddenly felt the very first version had looked better.
Seeing their curiosity about Giants, she casually explained some things about them.
"It's said that the Devil Oars was an Ancient Giant with a purer bloodline, which is why he was even larger.
Horns growing on the head are also a trait of that race. In fact, their bloodline has spread to many other races, which is why some people have horns.
Giants are covered fairly late in the general knowledge course, you'll learn it yourselves before long."
"So that's how it is… By the way, Kuma, do you think you'll grow horns someday?"
"Probably not."
Kuma touched the top of his head, as if imagining what he would look like if horns really did grow there.
"Logically speaking, Giants shouldn't be appearing here…"
There was more than one Giant Kingdom on the seas. Elbaf was merely the most militarily powerful among them, but no matter which Giant Kingdom it was, none existed in these waters.
And this wasn't just any Giant, it was Harald, the Giant King himself.
"Dad, you said you were looking for someone to provide accompaniment… You're not talking about a Giant, are you?"
"Of course not. Giants aren't that rare. But the person we're looking for this time, you've definitely never seen them. Once you do, you'll understand."
Finding a single ship in the vast sea was no easy task, but Nereus and his group weren't searching aimlessly.
"Boss! Found it, this should be the sea current you were talking about!"
Because its rudder was destroyed and its sails torn apart, Brook's ship had been unable to control its course at all, drifting with the currents inside the Florian Triangle for years.
This meant that in the upper seas, there was a ring-shaped sea current that kept it trapped there.
Relying on their racial talents, they quickly found similar sea currents, and with their ship's performance, accelerated through them, searching for their target.
However, there was more than one such current in these waters, tangled together in a complex web. It took some time before they finally drew close to their objective.
"Yohohoho… yohohoho…"
A song drifted out from the thick fog, but against this backdrop, it sounded more like the wailing of a ghost.
Soon, a tattered pirate ship drifted along the sea current toward them. Its shredded pirate flag fluttered in the breeze, making the skull upon it wear an eerie grin.
"Do you think… there really are ghosts in this world?"
The unknown bred a mysterious fear. Everyone still by Nereus's side was elite among elites; storming Marine Headquarters wouldn't even make them frown.
Yet this gloomy atmosphere made them deeply uncomfortable.
"It—It moved! There's a skeleton on that ship that's moving!! H-He's even drinking coffee!!"
Someone aboard rubbed his eyes, as if doubting what he'd just seen. The skeleton wasn't just moving, it was drinking something, and it even waved at him.
At the same time, Brook aboard the other ship rubbed his own eye sockets as well.
"Yohohoho, I must be seeing things. It looked like there was a Merfolk on that ship just now. But I don't even have eyes, how could I be seeing things? Yohohoho…"
Brook laughed to himself, even telling jokes just for his own ears.
"We once promised to go to Fishman Island together… but now, I'm the only one left…"
Being alone for too long was bound to cause problems. Although it wasn't an ordinary little room, Brook had still been imprisoned by these seas, to the point that even the passage of time had become uncertain.
Counting from the deaths of his companions and the complete annihilation of the Rumbar Pirates, Brook had been trapped in this region for fourteen years.
Through various means he could still entertain himself, but with his skeletal appearance and a ship like a ghost vessel, any pirate ship that encountered him would flee in panic.
At least he used to meet people from time to time. In the past few months, however, Brook hadn't encountered a single living soul.
Because of Harald, most of the pirate ships in this stretch of dense fog had already been sunk.
The glimpse of a Merfolk seemed to stir something in Brook's memory. He took out his violin and began playing a familiar tune on the deck.
As the music sounded, Brook seemed to see his former companions once more, singing and dancing on the deck, and he unconsciously joined in.
Clap, clap, clap, clap~
A round of applause sounded beside his ears. Brook instinctively bent down in a bow, then suddenly froze.
That applause… didn't seem to be a hallucination in his mind.
"A nice tune. No wonder Dad said you're a one-of-a-kind accompanist. I've really never seen a living skeleton before."
Nanamo flew over while lying atop Hermes's back. She wasn't afraid of ghosts or anything like that. On the contrary, she found this living skeleton rather novel.
"I'm very glad to receive your praise, but may I ask, young lady, who is your father?"
Although Brook sometimes blurted out pe*verted remarks like "May I see your panties?", he would never say such things to a little girl.
Having once served as a member of a certain kingdom's royal guard, he still possessed a degree of etiquette. It was just that drifting in this foggy sea for so long had made him a bit eccentric.
Besides, Brook couldn't quite understand why her father would know about this side of him. Even if he were famous as a pirate, it shouldn't have been for his music.
"Nereus."
"Nereus… there does seem to have been such a rookie before. He caused quite a stir back then. I remember the Marines having a real headache over him…"
Brook began to recall the name, vaguely feeling that he'd seen similar reports in the newspapers, though he wasn't completely sure.
"Hey, hey, hey! You skeleton, show some respect when you talk about Lord Nereus! Who do you think you are, calling him a rookie?!"
Hermes felt as if it had just heard something astonishing. Over all these years, it had seen people who didn't recognize Nereus, and people who were scared out of their wits by him, but it had never encountered anyone who called Nereus a rookie.
And for some reason, an instinctive warning arose in Hermes's heart: it would be best to keep some distance from this skeleton. He seemed a bit dangerous.
TN: Hey guys, I will be releasing extra chapters for every 20 power stones. (5-7 chapters.)
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