Sabaody Archipelago, Grove 41.
After dealing with Saint Pedro, the White Wolf Pirates and the Elbaf giants regrouped.
However, the crew's condition was far from good.
Facing bizarre fruit abilities and opponents with far superior physiques, Rocks and Newgate had given their all only to meet defeat in the end.
Very frustrating.
But this was reality.
You cannot always encounter opponents who are just slightly stronger than you, strong enough to push you to breakthrough and become stronger and then defeat them.
Rocks lay on the deck contemplating life.
After his hearing damage, everything around him felt so peaceful.
As it should be!
"Newgate, stop grinning like an idiot over there!"
"Ah, sorry, Big Brother Rocks. I just think losing does not feel so bad."
Newgate was an orphan.
All his life, he had lived independently. Even when bullied at the orphanage, no one would stand up for him.
So this was the first time.
Though he had lost, the person who bullied him was defeated by Silas.
This is family!
Newgate thought silently.
Not connected by interests, but by purer emotions binding them together.
When he was bullied, Big Brother Rocks would stand up for him.
Captain Silas would stand up for him.
Previously, this was something Newgate would not dare imagine.
So even losing, Newgate was not as upset as expected.
"Tch!"
Rocks pillowed his head with his hands.
Though he did not know what Newgate was saying, after mastering Observation Haki, he could roughly grasp Newgate's meaning.
Foolish!
Entrusting your safety to others. What kind of strong person was that?
Holy Knights had immortal bodies.
Rocks had known this from the start, but he had thought that even without breaking enemies' immortality, just restraining them would be his victory.
But he could not even accomplish something so simple.
Moreover, opponents he could not defeat despite giving his all were instantly killed by Silas without any resistance.
"This cannot continue."
He was not Newgate, lacking ambition, just wanting a group of family.
He was not Ripley either.
Originally boarding because of Silas, her greatest wish was just surpassing Giant King Harald.
He wanted to surpass Silas!
Rocks steeled his resolve.
Meanwhile, Silas was analyzing Holy Knights abilities with Harald.
After all, they had a ready sample here.
"Damn pirates, just kill me if you dare!"
Saint Pedro regretted having an immortal body for the first time.
Silas was treating him purely as a specimen.
Since he would not die anyway, severing limbs, cutting off his head.
As long as he would not die, anything went, even throwing him into seawater.
He was a Devil Fruit user!
Forget Silas freezing his body. Even without freezing, ordinary Devil Fruit users lost combat ability touching seawater.
He was no exception.
But he had an immortal body. Even thrown in water, he could not drown.
The process was not pleasant, though.
"I see, so this is immortality?"
"Currently I have not found a way to completely break immortal bodies. Armament attachment only slows their recovery speed. Compared to directly killing them, freezing is simpler."
"What about Conqueror's Haki?"
"Maximum-level Conqueror's Haki should work."
Silas gripped Saint Pedro's hair, using his blade to cut wounds while testing healing effects, chatting with Harald.
"Compared to Armament restriction, Conqueror's Haki is certainly a permanent solution, but unfortunately, even my Conqueror's cannot completely kill these idiot Celestial Dragons."
"If even you cannot do it, I cannot think of anyone who could."
Harald shook his head.
Silas's Conqueror's Haki was already world-class. If his Conqueror's Haki could not break these Celestial Dragons' immortality, probably no one in this era could.
"Our era is truly weak!"
Silas could not help mocking himself. In the past hundred years, pirates who could be called sea overlords could be counted on one hand.
Among these pirates, even the strongest might not have reached his current level.
Let alone the future.
Silas knew that in the God Valley battle twenty years later, several pirates could match him.
Compared to the future, only he and Harald were presentable among current pirates.
Maybe Rona would join them soon.
"When we meet Rona Von Braun later, you will not fight her, will you?"
"I will not attack her."
Harald glanced at his severed leg, replaced by Adam Tree branches.
He shook his head.
"I do not resent her. Winners and losers. She was just following orders then."
In fact, Marines had legitimate reasons to arrest him. Given what he had done in his youth, Marines attacking Elbaf was justified.
Reviewing history, giants were indeed crime-ridden.
So Rona arresting him as a former pirate in her Marine capacity, and Harald had no complaints. Moreover, Rona had held back. Otherwise, none of his guard would have escaped.
Harald as a pirate fighting Rona the Marine.
Win or lose, nothing to complain about.
Instead, after his guard escaped and warned village giants, many ordinary giants could hide and survive.
As a king, he owed Rona gratitude.
"Haha, seeing you so composed now. You could not imagine this decades ago, Giant Butcher!"
Seeing Harald's demeanor, Silas laughed heartily. Half the giant race's infamy came from the Giant Warrior Pirates, the other half from Harald.
Harald from forty years ago was not the current pacifist.
"That is all in the past."
"I remember when I first set sail, villagers warned me, 'No matter what, run when you see giants!'"
Silas smiled.
"In the end, I actually befriended giants."
"I never expected such a day either..."
Harald looked at the distant sky, suddenly standing.
"I sense Crimson Snake Admiral's presence. We should support her."
"We have really stirred up a hornet's nest this time."
Silas shrugged, signaling Dean.
"I am entrusting Rocks and the others to you."
Though knowing Rocks was in poor spirits, Silas had no time for counseling now. Every strong person grew through failure.
If he could not bear even one defeat, how could he become the future sea overlord who challenged Celestial Dragons?
This was a weak era.
But following immediately was a new dawn.
"Let us raise the waves of a new era!"