Chapter 230: God of the Forest
In the grand hall of the castle.
Hajrudin watched Road, who was sitting primly on the sofa, subconsciously avoiding his gaze, and spoke in an indescribable tone. "Couldn't you have come back to Terra sooner?"
In the contest for the First Legion, Hajrudin, being the only giant present, had unsurprisingly lost to the Lunarian and Buccaneer warriors. In the end, the title was won by the Lunarians, led by Asmodai and Artemis, with a landslide victory. The Buccaneer warriors, led by Dong Yi, came in second. But seeing that they hadn't gotten first place, the Buccaneers had refused the title of second and instead casually chose sixth.
As for the other pirate captains and the gladiators and army of Dressrosa, they hadn't achieved any impressive results. Even with the support of the golden chains, they had only barely managed to suppress their opponents.
Hajrudin's words made Road shrink his head, not daring to speak. And nearby, the faces of Gerd and Goldberg became strange. The simple and honest smile that was always on Goldberg's face disappeared, and he sat on the other side with a grim expression, radiating a terrifying resentment.
Gerd put one hand on her hip, and with the other, she grabbed Road's ear, pulling him up from the sofa.
"It's all Road's fault!" she said, annoyed, amidst his piercing screams.
"What did Road do?" Hajrudin was stunned, gradually realizing that things might not be as simple as he had thought. "Did Road do something in Elbaf?"
"Originally, we could have brought back a dozen new comrades to participate in this war! But this guy, Road, while we were moving supplies and the timber for building a ship, actually went to the underworld to dig up a root of the Treasure Tree Adam and was caught on the spot by the patrolling fire department!"
Hearing this, the others who had been watching the giants were stunned. And Hajrudin's expression also changed subtly, the way he looked at Road gradually becoming strange.
Then, Gerd explained that after Road was discovered by the patrolling giants, because of his sacrilegious act, they had beaten him up on the spot. Afterward, he was taken to the giant hero Jarl and was beaten up again. When Gerd and the others discovered Road was missing, they had hurriedly looked for him, and after hearing the news and rushing to the village, they had also beaten him up.
Even after Gerd had apologized to Jarl and the other giants and made a guarantee, it was of no use. In the end, it was only after Goldberg said that they had to return to Terra to participate in the war that the giants had reluctantly released Road and let him go back with the other two.
"..."
After hearing about Road's actions, Hajrudin could barely restrain his fists, and his expression also became subtle. After calming himself down, he asked, somewhat puzzled, "Why did you go to such a dangerous place to dig up a tree root?"
To this, Road stammered, "I suddenly remembered that Yelena had said Lord Captain could use plant seeds to grow a forest. So I was thinking if we could also plant a giant tree like the one in Elbaf here on Terra. But Adam doesn't have seeds, so—"
Hearing this, Hajrudin, who had been planning to beat Road up on the spot, was instantly stunned and fell into thought. It was a good while before he came back to his senses and said with a frown, "The Treasure Tree Adam... can it be grown from its roots?"
"I don't know, but we also asked Lord Jarl for that section of the root," Goldberg replied, hitting Road again.
Then, Hajrudin's gaze fell on Louis and the others not far away, who were in the middle of a discussion. As if noticing the undisguised gazes of the giants, Louis turned his head and met their eyes.
"The Treasure Tree Adam? It would be nice to plant one on Terra. As for whether it can be grown from a root, we'll have to try and see."
Soon, Hajrudin, carrying Louis and the others, walked out of the giant gate and went straight to a large camp located in the wilderness. Tents constructed from sails stood on the ground, with a huge bonfire burning in the center. Around the tents, sections of giant wood, as massive as mountain ranges, lay on the ground, looking incomparably shocking under the moonlight.
"Is this—" Uta, who had followed along with Louis, looked at the giant wood, a hint of shock in her eyes. "This wood is already so huge. What must the main body look like—"
To this, Gerd smiled and explained, "These are just its tiny branches. Many of its other branches are so large that we giants can build villages and towns on them. The Treasure Tree Adam in Elbaf is so large that it blocks the sunlight from the continent, causing the lowest level, the underworld, to become an extremely cold region."
"Is that so—" Uta heard this and fell into thought, trying her best to imagine the scene.
Soon, she gradually realized something was wrong. She subconsciously looked at Road, a look of confusion in her eyes. "Since the Treasure Tree Adam is so huge, and you also cut down its branches, why does it seem like such a serious matter that Road dug up a single root?"
To Uta's question, Hajrudin, while looking ahead, answered in a deep voice, "We don't know the specific reason, but just like arson, it is an explicitly forbidden act. Although, compared to the crime of arson, the punishment is not as severe."
Goldberg, carrying his Homie shield and a giant kanabō, walked beside them and added, "Because the distance between the Adams is too great, even we giants have to use the 'Rainbow' and the 'Mist Ship' when traveling."
Immediately after, Road raised his head and continued, "The Rainbow is drawn with a special ore from Elbaf, Sunstone. It has no resistance. You can move a ship with just a light push of an oar. And the Mist Ship is a giant sailing ship carried by an Island Cloud, relying on the cloud's buoyancy to move forward."
"An Island Cloud?" Louis heard this and fell into thought. If the Treasure Tree Adam was successfully planted and such a huge tree also stood on Terra, then he could also infuse many Island Clouds with life force and create Mist Ships. But the Sunstone was another matter. It was a special mineral of Elbaf; Terra could not replicate it. But after his Life-Life Fruit awakened, he could create a batch of self-aware, automated vehicles and use them like buses on Terra.
Soon, Yelena also thoughtfully proposed a similar view. "In that case, then Louis should be able to replicate the Mist Ship here, right?"
"Indeed, I can," Louis gave an affirmative answer.
"In that case, then we can also live on the Adam tree here," Gerd heard, and the corners of her mouth turned up slightly as she became filled with longing.
Just then, a huge commotion came from the tents. Immediately after, one after another, figures over ten meters tall walked out and gathered around. First, they greeted Gerd, Goldberg, and the others. Then, they turned their gazes to the palms of Hajrudin's hands, staring at Louis's figure.
Louis saw this and stood up. He looked around at the giants, memorizing their faces.
On the other side, Yelena was attracted by a few giants who had horns on their heads and looked particularly tall.
"They are the warriors of the Ancient Giant race, but they are not pure-blooded," Gerd explained at the right time.
Yelena heard this and nodded. As she looked at their horns, she also raised a hand to touch the ones on her own head. At this moment, her belief that the "Oni race" was, like the Buccaneers, a new race formed from the descendants of giants and humans, grew even stronger. There were no shortage of heroes in the world who broke racial barriers with love, leading to the creation of many mixed-blood races. Perhaps at some point in history, a human and an Ancient Giant had joined, had a mixed-blood child, and these mixed-bloods had then joined again, eventually forming a new race.
She had heard Louis mention that the Buccaneer race, the Tontatta tribe, the Longarm-Longleg tribe, and the Fish-Giants were all such existences. Yelena remembered that Hajrudin and the others had said that there was such a person in Elbaf now. "Yamakaji."
Soon, the group of giants was also recognized by Louis and officially joined his crew, under the leadership and command of Hajrudin. And the giants had no objections. They had known about this before they agreed to join. And after Hajrudin's various deeds had spread to Elbaf, people's opinion of this half-blood prince had greatly improved, and they had recognized his strength.
Soon, Louis and the others, surrounded by a group of giants, came before what Road had called "a small section" of a tree root. When they saw the giant root, which was several times thicker than Garp's giant warship, a subtle change came over their expressions.
Uta, after a brief silence, turned to look at Road, who had subconsciously lowered his head. "To dig up a root of this size... is it really okay?" she asked.
Before the other giants could answer, Road hurriedly explained, "Although it looks as massive as a mountain, it really is just one of Adam's thousands of insignificant root hairs! It's no big deal! The ratio of it to Adam is even smaller than a person to one of his hairs!"
Road, who had been beaten up multiple times because of this root, had already developed a psychological shadow and was afraid of being beaten up again.
"Is that so?" Uta stared at the sweat on his head, a little skeptical.
Louis, after sizing up the root and feeling the life force it contained, said in a deep voice, "Find a suitable place and move the things here. This root is in very good condition. It might be able to be planted on Terra."
Louis's words made the group of giants freeze for a moment, and then they hurriedly took action.
Hajrudin set Louis and the others down, then stepped forward to be the first to move the timber that was to be used for building ships into the town. And Gerd and the others, leading a few giant warriors, moved the things from the camp, clearing a space here.
Louis summoned Gaea, controlling it to pull the Adam root underground and open up a path that would allow it to reach a water source. Immediately after, with a thought, he summoned the "Healing Formula" that was stored high in the sky to descend. The life force, which had increased rather than decreased during the war, turned into a rain of light that fell and merged directly into the root.
The next moment, an abundant life force enveloped the root, and it radiated a dazzling golden light that was clearly visible to everyone, even those far away in the town.
"It worked—" Louis slowly opened his eyes, feeling the green sprouts that had emerged from the root.
But soon, he sensed a familiar aura within his Observation Haki range. He then turned to look at Yelena, who was concentrating on observing the sprouting Adam.
"Hanafuda is on the outskirts of Terra."
Yelena was taken aback, then quickly looked away from the Adam tree and turned to walk in the direction of the castle. "I'll go and send off little Ulti and Page One."
After leaving these words, Yelena quickly disappeared.
As the golden rain fell, the golden sun high in the sky slowly shrank. At the same time, the green sprout of the Adam tree expanded at a rate visible to the naked eye. In the blink of an eye, it had transformed from a dozen-meter-high sprout to a hundred-meter-high sapling, and was still growing rapidly as if it were an inflating balloon.
Several thousand meters away, Hajrudin and the others looked up at the Adam tree, which had already surpassed a thousand meters, and fell into silence. And the group of giants who had just joined saw this and their jaws instantly dropped.
"Hey, hey! Is this for real!"
"Adam... was actually catalyzed!!"
In the distant town, the somewhat numb people looked at another mythical scene and appeared very calm. Many people stopped their work, and either with their own eyes or with cameras, recorded all this. And some fanatical citizens, after seeing this, quickly took out a pen and paper and, with much embellishment, described this scene, weaving it into history and making it a myth.
Gradually, the growth of the new Adam slowed, and it completely stopped growing when it was only three thousand meters tall. And in the sky, the volume of the sun-like "Healing Formula" had already shrunk to about one-third of what it was before the war.
Louis, after discovering that catalyzing the Adam was a bottomless pit, had no choice but to temporarily stop this action. He had to reserve a considerable portion of his life force to deal with emergencies. Otherwise, he would only be able to use his own life force to heal others.
In the depths of the New World, in a dilapidated town.
The area was littered with the marks of lightning strikes and flames, and the surroundings were full of corpses and weapons.
A giant, whose height far surpassed that of an ordinary giant, with a pair of horns on his head and the upper half of his face wrapped in bandages, sat on a sturdy house, talking with great interest to a giant Den Den Mushi.
"Oh oh! You're saying that the group that was originally planning to arrest me was defeated by Hajrudin's captain?"
As the giant's voice fell, the giant Den Den Mushi quickly replied, "That's right! That Archangel and Kaido were the victors of this war! However, Charlotte Linlin, who had some connection with you giants, was killed by that group!"
"Big Mom?" The giant looked as if he were sneering. "If that woman is dead, she's dead!"
But soon, his tone changed, and he asked tentatively, "That girl Lola from Big Mom's crew... what happened to her?"
"Lola? Is there such a person in Big Mom's crew?" The person on the other side of the Den Den Mushi was clearly a little suspicious. "I'll go and look for you!"
With that, the giant Den Den Mushi was suddenly hung up.
In the dilapidated pirate town, only the giant among giants was left. He reached out with two fingers and slowly picked up a colorful bounty poster from the ground, the corners of his mouth turning up slightly.
"He's taking good care of Hajrudin!"
"God of the Forest—..."
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