Chapter 552: The Honest Giant, the Apostle's Speculation!
With the speed of the Ark of Eternity, Ryuunosuke and the others reached the target sea area in no time.
Far out on the horizon, an enormous ship drifted across the water like a moving island.
A giant ship.
Simple, crude, and built with the kind of logic only giants could love.
Honestly, it was a miracle they had made it this far safely while piloting something like that.
A vessel like this would be doomed the moment it ran into even slightly extreme weather.
Fortunately, this was the New World. If it were the Grand Line, these giants would have been fed to the Sea Kings a long time ago.
"Captain," Najenda stepped up quickly, keeping her voice low. "Should we head straight into the battle first, or deal with the giants before anything else?"
After the battle with the Aragami, most of the crew were still resting. That was why Najenda came to ask in person.
"We go to the giants first," Ryuunosuke said without hesitation.
"Najenda, take the Night Raid members and go assist Meliodas."
"Try not to kill Keshia and Krul Busurud."
"There are things we need to learn from them."
"As for the giants, I'll handle this."
"Understood, Captain." Najenda nodded, then turned with a small smile. "Gaino, give us an auxiliary ship."
"Understood." Gaino answered lazily.
A small vessel surfaced on the sea to the side as if it had always been there.
Najenda immediately led the Night Raid members away.
Ryuunosuke and the others continued toward the giant ship.
"Gaino," Ryuunosuke said, eyes narrowing as he judged the distance and the size difference. "Make the ship bigger. Big enough to accommodate those guys."
"There might be negotiations soon. We need a place that actually fits."
"Mm." Gaino nodded. "Understood, Captain."
With four Eternal Hearts fused into the Ark of Eternity, its power had already become terrifying.
Changing its size was nothing.
The ship expanded rapidly, its structure stretching like living metal and ancient wood obeying a single will.
Soon, the giant ship came fully into view.
On the giants' deck, the leader at the front stared at the Ark of Eternity with a blank, stunned expression.
"This is… the Dragon Hunter Pirates?" Big muttered, his voice heavy.
They were giants, after all.
Yet standing in front of the Ark of Eternity, Big suddenly felt… small.
Even worse, the chilling pressure rolling off the Ark made his skin prickle.
It was not the kind of presence you could ignore.
"Chief…" a giant walked up beside Big, his face honest to the point of being almost innocent. "This… maybe we should hold off for now?"
"These people look really dangerous!"
Giants were straightforward and honest by nature.
A bit simple, sure, but not stupid.
On their journey here, they had gathered a lot of information about the Dragon Hunter Pirates.
Not just the major events they had heard before, but also the most recent movements.
And then there was the newest piece of news.
The Dragon Hunter Pirates had annihilated the Aragami.
They had seen the footage.
Those wild gods included many massive beings, things that were huge even by a giant's standards.
And every one of them had been killed.
That kind of combat power was far beyond what their clan could suppress.
Big swallowed, then nodded.
"I don't think there's anything wrong with that," he said.
"Let's talk first."
"Okay, I understand!" The honest giant straightened up, then marched to the bow with the seriousness of someone delivering a sacred proclamation.
He took a deep breath and roared across the sea.
"Dragon Hunter Pirates! We want to talk!"
"Should we board your ship, or will you board ours?"
"I am Moncas, a warrior of the Giant race!"
"On behalf of our chief, I request a conversation!"
The sound rolled over the waves and slammed into the Ark like a drumbeat.
On the Ark of Eternity, the crew had still been discussing how to approach negotiations when Moncas's voice arrived.
"Captain, could this be a trap?" Chrollo began.
"It's fine." Ryuunosuke cut him off calmly. "I'll go first."
"By the way, where's Kaido?"
"Kaido?" Chrollo blinked, thrown off.
"That guy has been sleeping since the fight ended," Chrollo said. "Maybe he drank too much?"
"Captain, what does Kaido have to do with this?"
"Nothing." Ryuunosuke replied, already moving.
"You all stay on the ship."
"I'll go see what these giants want."
With that, he leaped up and flew toward the giant ship.
"Stop!"
"Don't move!"
The moment Ryuunosuke came close, the giants instantly shifted into a defensive stance, weapons raised, eyes sharp.
"You must be the captain of the Dragon Hunter Pirates!"
"Captain Ryuunosuke!"
Their voices overlapped, tense and wary.
They understood exactly who he was.
If the captain attacked, they might not even have time to react.
So they reacted first.
They prepared for battle.
Ryuunosuke landed on the deck and looked around without any hostility.
"I'm not here to fight," he said evenly. "So you don't need to be so tense."
"You came here because Charlotte Linlin devoured Adam, right?"
"Since I came to talk, then we settle this with words."
He sat down right there on the deck as if it were his own ship, calm and unhurried.
The giants hesitated.
Their posture did not look like a group eager for a battle either.
Big stepped forward and got straight to the point, so straight that it almost felt like an ambush.
"Captain Ryuunosuke, is Charlotte Linlin on your ship right now?"
"Since we're all here, and you say there's no need to fight…"
"Hand her over to us."
No warm up.
No polite dance.
Just the demand.
For a moment, even Ryuunosuke did not know what expression to wear.
"I will not hand Charlotte Linlin to you," Ryuunosuke said clearly.
"Also, the energy of Adam, the one she devoured, has already dissipated."
"So there's no reason for me to give you anyone."
"What I want to ask is this."
"When did Adam come into being?"
"And when did your clan begin protecting Adam?"
Big frowned as if he heard something he did not understand.
"Dissipated?" he repeated. "What does that mean?"
"And Adam has always been on Morbig Island."
"We've been here for a long time."
That answer came immediately, without hesitation.
It really was easier to talk to people like this.
No guessing. No hidden traps.
They just said what they believed.
"So you don't even know why you're protecting Adam?" Ryuunosuke asked again, gaze steady.
Big's expression hardened, as if Ryuunosuke had questioned something sacred.
"Because he is the god of our world!"
"He is also the god of our Giant race!"
"Our existence was created by God himself!"
Hearing that, Ryuunosuke's eyes narrowed.
He understood something.
To the giants, protecting Adam was not a mission.
It was faith.
A sacred duty.
As for the claim that their race was created by a god, it was not impossible.
With Adam's level of existence, creating a powerful race like this would be easy.
"Apostle…" Ryuunosuke thought silently.
Those two words surfaced in his mind like a blade rising from the sea.
Among the apostles under the banner of a so called god, there was a model like this.
The Fourteenth Apostle, the Angel of Power.
If nothing unexpected had happened, the giant race might have been created using that blueprint.
Of course, it was still speculation.
But it fit too well.
Ryuunosuke lifted his head and looked at Big again.
The chief's honesty was almost terrifying.
If Ryuunosuke wanted answers, he had to ask directly, because Big would answer directly.
"So," Ryuunosuke said calmly, "do you have any other questions for me now?"
<><><><><>
[Check Out My Patreon For +40 Advance Chapters On All My Fanfics!]
[[email protected]/FanficLord03]
[Join Our Discord Community For Updates & Events]
[https://discord.gg/MntqcdpRZ9]