The date was December 29, 1510 of the Sea Circle Calendar.
After several days of sailing, the ship finally arrived at Little Garden, the Island of Ancient Times.
The journey took so long because even the black market didn't have an Eternal Pose for Little Garden. The four of them had been forced to first head to Cactus Island (Whiskey Peak), one of the seven main Grand Line routes, and then navigate from there.
"Look, look… that's what's in the book, right? An extinct pterosaur?!"
As the ship neared the ancient island, Nami suddenly tugged on El's arm and pointed excitedly at the sky.
There, circling lazily above the canopy, a massive pterosaur glided on the wind, searching the ground below for prey.
"The Grand Line really is amazing," Carina sighed, standing at El's other side. "An island full of creatures that should already be extinct…"
El raised his hands and lightly patted Nami and Carina on the head.
"Once we dock, Nami, you stay on the ship and protect Carina and Kuina. I'll head onto the island to get what I need and come back as soon as I can. And even if you're curious, don't wander around. This place is crawling with poisonous insects that are long extinct and basically incurable if they bite you."
The three girls nodded quickly.
When the ship docked, El untied the thick rope fixed to the stern and hauled up the enormous wine bottle that had been dragged underwater behind them.
Holding it one-handed, as if he were carrying a small hill, El stepped off the ship and walked slowly toward the depths of the island's forest.
Watching his back disappear into the greenery, Nami let out a soft sigh.
"It's really convenient, being able to read memories. This is our first time on the Grand Line, but Nii-san already knows there are two giants here and about the giants' 'Spear of Elbaf'."
"Yeah," Kuina agreed, nodding. "Just knowing he's with us makes me feel safe."
Only Carina glanced at the two of them with a faintly pitying look.
…Two simple little idiots.
Counting this one, they'd only visited three islands so far on the Grand Line.
On the black market town and Cactus Island, they had followed closely behind El almost the whole time. The only island they had been separated from him on was Drum Island.
Drum Island wasn't even on this particular route. El had only left them for a short while. In that little time, there was no way he could have read the memories of everyone on Drum Island.
Yet he'd come back with:
One of the top Paramecia-type Devil Fruits,
A complete method for making nutritional supplements, and
Then, after a quick stop in the black market town to buy wine and medicine, he'd brought them straight here—to an island so obscure that even the black market didn't carry an Eternal Pose for it.
Even if someone whose memories he read happened to know about Elbaf, there's no way a random person would also know that two giants were dueling on this uncharted ancient island.
And even if they somehow knew that, who on the outside would know about the giants' special techniques, like the Spear of Elbaf?
Yet Nii-san knew all of it.
And when they landed on Drum Island, he had taken them directly to Dr. Kureha before using his memory-reading ability on anyone else.
To Nami and Kuina, none of this seemed strange at all.
To Carina, whose mind had always been sharper than most adults', it was a mountain of question marks.
Just like when El first met her and Nami—he had already read their memories, yet said things that didn't match his actions. That had triggered Carina's suspicion back then.
If she didn't trust El, she might have started viewing him with real caution.
But now… she truly didn't care.
She might not be able to read emotions like he could, but she wasn't blind.
Their Nii-san had given them two of the most precious types of Devil Fruit—Logia and top-tier Paramecia—without hesitation. There was no way someone like that meant them harm.
He definitely has some secrets he can't talk about.
Watching the spot where El had disappeared into the forest, Carina thought to herself, eyes gentler than she realized.
Whatever that secret was, it didn't matter.
The more their bond deepened, the less El hid from them. Aside from never revealing his identity as a transmigrator and keeping his mind-reading active at all times, he was completely open with the three girls.
If Carina could see that much, it only made El more certain that, someday, he'd be able to hand her real responsibility—and real pressure.
…
Deep in the forest, El moved straight toward the aura that belonged to the "Red Demon" Brogy.
With his Observation Haki covering the entire ancient island, Brogy had already been within his awareness from the first moment El set foot on Little Garden.
Right now, the 21-meter-tall giant was sprawled across a grassy field, dozing as he waited for the volcano at the center of the island to erupt so he could resume his duel with his rival, the "Blue Demon" Dorry.
If he got hungry in the meantime, he simply got up, hunted, ate, and lay back down.
This had been his daily routine for nearly ninety years.
And the reason for that ridiculously long duel?
It was even more absurd than most people could accept.
Long ago, the two of them had hunted a Sea King together. A little girl asked which one had caught the bigger prey, and the pair got into an argument about whose trophy was larger.
In the end, they decided to settle it with a duel on Little Garden: whoever survived would be the winner and return home.
The Giant Warrior Pirates, once world-famous, disbanded because their two captains could not stop fighting. The rest of their crew returned to Elbaf, waiting for news that would not come for a century.
For that reason alone, you could tell that giants were simple-minded to an almost frightening degree.
Those they acknowledge become comrades.
Those they despise become enemies.
There isn't much in between.
But El wasn't here to become their friend.
These two giants were pure, straightforward warriors. They gave off no "stench" that disgusted him when he read their hearts.
Even so, El's faction could still change at any time.
In the future, he fully intended to stride into the peak era of the Grand Line as someone who stood above the world.
Even if he didn't actively seek to rule it, he would still need his own position—his own weight on the scales, like the Red-Haired Pirates.
Shanks never set out to conquer the world, yet the sea still shaped itself around him as one of the Four Emperors.
On the path to the summit, accidents are inevitable.
To minimize the sort of "accidents" that could tie his hands later, El had decided not to form bonds with any forces beyond the three girls at his side.
That way, he'd have no need to hold back for anyone.
…
Soon, El arrived at Brogy's resting place.
In the clearing, the titan of a warrior lay snoring on his back, the sound like distant thunder rolling over the trees.
El set the massive wine bottle upright in an open spot.
He leaped up, landed lightly on the bottle's shoulder, and unscrewed the giant cap.
In an instant, a rich, almost intoxicating aroma of alcohol flooded the air.
As El jumped back down and slipped into hiding among the trees—
Pop.
The invisible fragrance drifted toward Brogy's nose.
The scent might as well have been a spear—it stabbed straight through his snot bubble, popping it instantly. His eyes snapped open, gleaming with excitement.
"Wine… That's fine wine!"
Brogy turned toward the source of the smell and grinned. He rolled over onto all fours and charged like a starving hound, his mountain-like body slamming into the ground and shaking the whole forest.
The earth trembled violently under his charge.
Fortunately, Life Return instinctively adjusted El's footing, anchoring him to the ground. His center of gravity shifted automatically, so his body didn't sway at all despite the shaking.
Watching the giant grab the bottle in both hands and start chugging, El couldn't help shaking his head.
"So he really is kind of an idiot…"
With a giant like this, whether to befriend him or exploit him suddenly felt more complicated—even for someone as cold-blooded as El could be when necessary.
After spending nearly a century on this island, if a mysterious bottle of wine suddenly appeared next to him, any normal person would at least be suspicious.
But Brogy didn't think that far.
All he knew was that he'd found booze—good booze.
Giants as a race love meat and alcohol. After nearly a hundred years on Little Garden, he hadn't tasted proper liquor in ages.
For Brogy, that first whiff of wine was probably what a shipwrecked Sanji would feel after two years on Kamabakka Kingdom, suddenly spotting not just any woman—but a stunning peerless beauty.
No tricks. No poison from his perspective. El just popped the lid and let Brogy drink his fill.
Brogy only stopped because he was reluctant to drain the bottle in one go.
"Gahahaha… Boom!"
After gulping down a huge amount of wine, Brogy let out a thunderous laugh and then toppled backwards, crashing to the ground with a look of pure contentment.
Some of the wine sloshed out as he fell, but most remained. El hurried over with the giant cap and sealed the opening again.
Looking at Brogy, who had already slipped into a deep sleep, El sighed.
"As expected of a giant… I poured enough sleeping drugs into that wine to drop several elephants, and he still drank half the bottle before keeling over."
He walked around to the back of Brogy's head, placed his hand on the giant's unwashed hair, and activated his ability.
At that moment—
For the first time, El felt his Haki flow out of him like water from a fully opened tap.
The active aspect of his mind-reading power—reading memories—always required a small amount of Haki to function.
The deeper and longer the memory, the more Haki was consumed.
To read over a century of Brogy's memories, including his training in the Spear of Elbaf, El had already steeled himself to pay a heavy price.
That was why he hadn't tried to sneak up on Brogy while he was merely napping.
Instead, he'd chosen to knock the giant out cold with doctored fine wine.
Fortunately for El, Brogy had already spent ninety years dueling and living on Little Garden.
It took only half of El's total Haki to locate the memories he needed: the training methods for the Spear of Elbaf, and the countless times Brogy had used those techniques in battle.
Once he finished digesting that part of the giant's memories, El would fully possess:
The training regimen of the Spear of Elbaf, and
The accumulated battle experience of Brogy himself when wielding it.
With his own talent and physique, it wouldn't be long before El mastered—
The Spear of Elbaf.
PS :
Spear of Elbaf :
The collective name for the giants' ultimate battle techniques.
Includes the combined move Hakoku Sovereignty, powerful enough to kill Sea Kings.
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