“Wow—"

  "Those footprints are huge!"

  "They're even bigger than those of adult giants..."

  Under El's lead, the group disembarked and approached several "giant pits." Each massive footprint, varying ih, left everyone in awe.

  "Wait, there are human footprints here as well..."

  El quickly noticed something unusual: numerous dense human footprints. "Quite a few people have been here, but it seems like it was a long time ago."

  He furrowed his brow slightly, and in an instant, his advanced Observation Haki, now hoo an impressive degree, spread out, c the entire isnd. Soon, he sensed a powerful presence, and his expression rexed slightly. It seemed their efforts hadn't been in vain.

  "Huh?"

  "Someone's been here?"

  Linlin, Gerd, and Hajrudin were all surprised. Even Streusen was a bit stuhe isnd, he edge of the Calm Belt, was extremely remote. He himself had only e here a few years ago to escape pirates pursuing him.

  "There are signs of battle..."

  As they ventured further, El and the group discovered craters, impact marks from ons, and deformed bullet shells and ments. "Judging by the damage, this must have happewo or three years ago."

  "It seems likely that the Wover discovered the A Giants living here ahe Navy."

  "The Wover? The Navy?"

  "Why would the Wover want to capture A Giants?"

  Upon hearing El's expnation, Linlin, Gerd, and the others were filled with fusion and surprise. Even Streusen was baffled. Why would the Wover bother sending people to capture A Giants, especially if they were just living quietly and not causing trouble?

  "I've heard that the Wover has long coveted the power of the giants. They've beely dug experiments to create giant soldiers, attempting to transform humans into giants or even A Giants..."

  El remained unsurprised and spoke calmly. "So, they've been capturing rare species like these for secret experiments."

  "And, of course, our Lunarian tribe is among those targeted."

  "What!?"

  "Those Wover scum…"

  "That's terrible!"

  Everyone’s eyes widened in shock at El’s words. Gerd and Hajrudin, both giants, were particurly ed, their anger evident as they ched their teeth.

  "Boom... Boom..."

  At that moment, the ground began to shake.

  A massive figure charged toward them from the forest—a hulking, green-skinned form swinging an enormous bone club, r as it rushed forward. "You despicable humans, die!"

  "Boom!!"

  The massive bone club was stopped by El, who calmly caught it with one hand.

  "What?"

  The green-skinned, horned creature, t at least teers tall—around the height of a normal giant—stared in disbelief. He hadn't expected this winged figure, smaller than himself, to possess such strength, effortlessly blog his attack. After all, he could easily smash even the fearsome Sea Kings with a single blow.

  "Thud..."

  With a slight flick of his wrist, El sent the giant flying, crashing onto the ground and raising a cloud of dust.

  "Hmm?"

  "Is this..."

  "A young A Giant?"

  Linlin, Gerd, and Streusen all examihe figure curiously. The green-skinned, horned humanoid wasn't as rge as they had expected, even smaller than some adult giant warriors. Yet, despite his ferocious appeara was clear from his youthful face that he was still just a child.

  "Hey, charging at us without even a greeting isn't very polite!"

  El spoke calmly as he approached the massive figure lying on the ground. " you tell me what happened here?"

  As he spoke, he pced his right hand on the giant’s head and quickly probed his memories.

  As El had suspected, this young A Giant was her than Little Oars Jr., the future captain uhe Whitebeard Pirates. He was a desdant of the legendary Oars, the Devil who had rampaged through the North Blue over 400 years ago, infamous for relog entire tries and isnds at will.

  In Little Oars' memories, he had lived here peacefully with his parents until about two or three years ago when a group of armed gover agents and a rge naval force arrived by warship. They had attempted to capture his parents. After a fierce battle, due to the Navy’s use of heavy artillery and powerful tranquilizers, his parents—who were not skilled fighters and relied mostly on brute strength—were eventually overwhelmed, captured, and taken away by the Wover. Little Oars, however, had been hidden in a cave by his parents, thus managing to avoid capture.

  "The desdant of Oars, huh?"

  El withdrew his hand and smiled. "Don’t worry, we’re not the Navy. We mean you no harm..."

  Judging by the Wover’s track record and their relentless pursuit of giantification experiments over the turies, it was highly likely that Little Oars' parents had been taken as test subjects. Most likely, they had already met a grim fate.

  "Really?"

  Little Oars looked up, sing the smaller figures before him, still wary but beginning to trust them.

  "Of course! Gerd and I are giants..." Hajrudin stepped forward, hands on his hips. "We're basically your kin, fellow giants!"

  "Is that so?"

  Hearing this, Little Oars instinctively rexed and sat up, scratg his head sheepishly. "My name is Little Oars... Sorry, I thought you were with those awful Navy people!"

  "My name is Kukulkan El, a desdant of both the Lunarian and Giant tribes. Like you, my parents were killed by the Wover and the Navy when I was young..."

  El poio Linlin, Gerd, and Hajrudin. "These are my panions."

  "Huh? You were attacked by the Navy too?"

  "Yes, we're the same..."

  Bleam