"Alright, let's leave behind Charlotte Linlin's little secret."
Before everyone could fully recover from the previous shocking revelation, Kai smoothly changed topics and dropped another bombshell.
"About fifty years after the Giant Warrior Pirates disbanded, your comrades Oimo and Kashii set sail again searching for you, only to be deceived by the Marines into becoming Enies Lobby guards, where they remain to this day."
"What?!"
"Damn Marines! How dare they!"
Dorry and Brogy instantly erupted in fury, their massive bodies rising with such force that the ground shook beneath everyone's feet.
Kai continued grimly. "The Marines lied, claiming you had been captured. To secure your freedom, Oimo and Kashii agreed to work for the World Government for one hundred years."
"Despicable!"
Brogy's fists clenched with audible cracks, his eyes blazing with righteous anger.
Oimo and Kashii were their closest comrades in the Giant Warrior Pirates, brothers who had fought countless battles alongside them. Hearing they had fallen into such hardship—and because of them—Dorry and Brogy felt their hearts burning with guilt and rage. They could no longer remain still.
"We must rescue them!" Dorry looked at Brogy, his tone absolutely decisive.
"Need you even ask!" Brogy responded without hesitation.
Their century-long duel no longer mattered. Rescuing their comrades was paramount—the only thing that truly mattered.
"Need help? Enies Lobby isn't easy to breach." Kai smiled knowingly.
His words showed no regard for Enies Lobby, the World Government's judicial facility and symbol of absolute justice.
Unsurprisingly, both Dorry and Brogy shook their heads with stubborn pride.
"Can't drag friends into our personal battles."
"We'll rescue our comrades with our own strength!"
"After all..." The two giants exchanged meaningful glances, pride and confidence reigniting in their eyes as they laughed heartily. "We're the captains of the Giant Warrior Pirates!"
Seeing their unshakeable determination, Kai didn't insist.
Honestly, with Dorry and Brogy's combined strength, taking Enies Lobby shouldn't pose a real problem. Combined with Oimo and Kashii's power once freed, they should be able to handle any opposition.
After all, Enies Lobby was essentially just a courthouse responsible for judging criminals. It didn't even have authority to imprison them, so naturally it wouldn't have powerful combatants permanently stationed there.
Still, just to be safe, Kai pulled out a Den Den Mushi and handed it over.
"If you encounter serious trouble, use this to contact me immediately."
"Thank you."
Dorry carefully accepted the tiny Den Den Mushi with his massive fingers, solemnly placing it in his chest pocket.
"We're friends. No need to thank me for helping friends."
Kai laughed heartily with genuine warmth.
"Exactly! Gegyagyagya!"
"That's right! Gegegegege!"
Both giants laughed freely, their booming voices echoing across the island.
With this, Dorry and Brogy's friendship was firmly secured.
Using these two legendary captains as a bridge, Kai was confident he could gradually win favor from more giants, potentially even all of Elbaf itself.
Only one potential complication remained: Shanks.
Despite having a relatively small crew, Shanks wielded incredible influence throughout the pirate world, and his roots in Elbaf ran deep. Having married a giantess, he was practically half an Elbaf citizen. If he opposed Kai's alliance with the giants, that would pose a significant problem.
What made this especially troublesome was that Kai had just recently fought the Red Hair Pirates. His reputation among the giants of Elbaf was undoubtedly poor because of it.
Well, if it came to that, they'd settle things with a fight.
After a night of enthusiastic feasting, morning arrived with clear skies.
Yamato, who had been desperately eager to fight giants, finally got her chance.
Fighting giants meant experiencing one thing above all—overwhelming power.
"Hakoku!"
Dorry and Brogy combined forces again, their greatsword and battle axe thunderously colliding. A massive shockwave roared toward Yamato like an unleashed beast of destruction.
Facing this mountain-splitting, sea-cleaving attack, Yamato showed no fear. Only blazing battle intent filled her eyes.
"If Kai can do it, so can I!"
"Thunder Bagua!"
Yamato gripped her kanabo with both hands as dazzling lightning wrapped around the weapon in crackling arcs.
The next second, she charged straight at the devastating shockwave without dodging.
Kanabo and the Shockwave collided violently with an explosive sound that shook the air.
Yamato gritted her teeth, resisting with everything she had. After several seconds of desperate struggle, she couldn't withstand the massive combined impact.
She was blasted away, crashing hard into distant rocks and raising thick clouds of dust.
"Yamato!"
Everyone gasped in alarm, then stared at Kai in shock.
If Yamato couldn't block this devastating move head-on, how had Kai managed to counter it while holding back against these two giants?
Kai shook his head with bemused understanding.
She hadn't even transformed first. Trying to counter Hakoku in base form was far too reckless.
Don't be fooled by how easily he'd handled it—the technique wasn't weak. His combat power was just extraordinarily high.
Hakoku was a genuinely terrifying technique that perfectly unleashed two giants' combined strength as one devastating attack.
In the original story's early arcs, this move's debut instantly took down an island-eating giant goldfish. Its destructive power was undeniable.
On the battlefield, dust slowly settled.
"Such a powerful attack! Worthy of Elbaf warriors!"
Just then, Yamato's excited voice rang out from the rubble.
Accompanied by rolling stones, her slightly disheveled figure stood up, casually dusting herself off with undiminished fighting spirit.
"Hehe, guess I need to get serious too!"
Yamato grinned with pure battle joy.
Fine white fur rapidly emerged across her body, spreading over her skin. Her hybrid form—White Wolf Yamato!
The next second, Yamato vanished from sight.
"Namuji Glacier!"
Her kanabo, wrapped in bone-chilling frost, transformed into white lightning and struck viciously at Dorry.
He hurriedly raised his shield to block.
Bang!
The kanabo hammered the shield, the explosive force actually making Dorry's massive arm sink downward visibly.
Yamato, tiny compared to a giant, briefly matched Dorry's strength mid-air.
"Not done yet!" Yamato smiled brilliantly.
The freezing air coating her kanabo explosively released like a surging cold wave, instantly sweeping from the shield toward Dorry's entire body!
"Trouble!"
Dorry's heart sank in alarm, but his massive body couldn't dodge in time.
The bone-chilling cold rapidly spread across him. In the blink of an eye, a massive giant ice sculpture stood on the battlefield, frost glittering in the sunlight!
"Sun Axe!"
Almost simultaneously, Brogy's thunderous roar came as his giant axe, wrapped in wind and crackling energy, cleaved toward Yamato's exposed back.
"Bring it on!"
She showed delight rather than fear. Cold air sprayed from her feet, instantly condensing a solid ice platform beneath her.
Her left foot stomped powerfully, using the recoil to turn mid-air and face the incoming axe head-on.
"Glacial Slash!"
Using her downward momentum, her kanabo traced a freezing arc mid-air, violently colliding with the axe.
Bang!
To everyone's shock, the mountain-sized Brogy was struck hard and sent flying backward.
Yamato VS Dorry and Brogy.
Yamato's complete victory!
"They're a bit weak."
Yamato returned to Kai's side, tone carrying undisguisable disappointment.
The earlier battle... only the giants' combined Hakoku technique gave her any real trouble. After that, she'd essentially taken down each giant separately with ease—far from the prolonged, exciting fight she'd imagined.
Kai explained patiently. "That's natural. Don't be fooled by their century of fighting here with full effort. Training in isolation like this brings very limited progress."
To rapidly improve strength, fighting opponents with different styles was the key.
Any warrior who'd made a fearsome name for themselves had something worth learning, regardless of their fighting type.
Luffy demonstrated this principle well. He learned from Blueno and developed Gear Second, or borrowed Bellamy's spring-leg technique for high-speed movement—all examples of adapting enemy techniques.
Since Dorry and Brogy only fought each other for so long, what they could learn from one another was extremely limited.
That's why over a hundred years, their strength not only failed to advance but actually stagnated or even regressed slightly.
Once they returned to Elbaf and learned new techniques from other warriors, their strength would naturally surge forward.
After all, they didn't become captains of the Giant Warrior Pirates by accident—their natural talent spoke for itself.
After Dorry and Brogy fully recovered from being frozen, Kai's group formally said their goodbyes.
The two giants still needed to prepare a seaworthy vessel before heading to Enies Lobby, so both groups had to part ways here.
"Goodbye, big guys!"
"See you later!"
Rayquaza slowly departed from Little Garden's shores, everyone on deck enthusiastically waving farewell to the two giants standing on shore.
Just then, Dorry suddenly remembered something important and shouted a warning to the departing ship. "Wait! Be careful in the western seas! There's a monster goldfish called the Island Eater that attacks all passing ships!"
Before he'd even finished speaking, the sea below the ship suddenly turned pitch black. A massive shadow rapidly rose from the deep, causing the surrounding waters to surge violently!
The next moment, accompanied by towering spray, the shadow burst from the water.
The Island Eater.
An absurdly large goldfish rivaling Laboon in sheer size.
Just its opened mouth towered higher than Rayquaza's tallest mast!
"Tch, all brawn and no brains."
Kai and the others stood casually at the rail, faces completely calm, even somewhat amused by the threat.
This size of sea beast could only intimidate inexperienced pirate crews.
After witnessing those hundreds-of-meters-long super-giant Sea Kings at Fish-Man Island, the Island Eater actually seemed somewhat cute by comparison.
"Who wants to stretch their legs?"
Kai leisurely turned toward his companions gathered behind him.
Yamato pursed her lips disinterestedly. This level of opponent couldn't arouse her fighting spirit after battling giants.
"Let us handle it."
Zoro, Sanji, and Ace simultaneously stepped forward eagerly, ready to prove themselves.
Now was the perfect time to show Kai their growth during this voyage.
Sanji acted first, leaping gracefully into the air toward the goldfish's massive head.
His airborne body began spinning at high speed. At maximum velocity, he raised his right foot and crashed down on the goldfish's head.
"Party Table Kick Course!"
The impact landed with devastating force.
"ROAR!"
The goldfish released a pained shriek, its massive head taking the full blow. Its consciousness instantly blurred, eyes rolling white.
"Eh!"
Dorry and Brogy on shore couldn't help exclaiming in amazement.
Even the ship's younger crewmen possessed such formidable strength?
Almost simultaneously, Zoro's figure appeared beside the goldfish's flank.
"Three Sword Style: Dragon Twister!"
His three swords struck in perfect coordination as his body spun like a top at high speed. Sharp blades instantly carved countless wounds on the goldfish's tough skin, blood spattering across the water. Bone became visible through the deep gashes, making the goldfish wail in agony.
The azure seawater rapidly stained crimson.
"Can't let you two steal all the glory!"
Ace on deck grinned competitively, his arms suddenly raising as scorching flames wrapped around them in burning spirals.
"Fire Fist!"
Ace shouted, his arms powerfully throwing forward. Two thick flame spears shot like meteors, precisely targeting the island-eating goldfish's gaping maw.
In an eyeblink, the flame spears disappeared deep into the goldfish's throat.
Then Ace dashingly snapped his fingers.
BOOM!
A deafening explosion erupted from within the goldfish's body.
Scorching flames violently expanded inside its mouth!
"ROAR!!!"
The goldfish released an extremely pitiful wail, its mouth already blazing with roaring flames and billowing black smoke.
Under the three fighters' combined assault, even this massive island-eating monster couldn't withstand the damage.
Its huge body violently convulsed several times before completely losing consciousness, collapsing on the sea surface like a floating mountain.
The air faintly carried a special charred aroma of flames roasting fish meat.
Kai, Yamato, and Bonney simultaneously sniffed the air, their eyes brightening with interest.
"Hm? This aroma seems quite good." Kai stroked his chin thoughtfully.
Yamato swallowed unconsciously. "Smells delicious!"
"Then let's try some." Kai decided with a grin.
"Yes yes!" Bonney raised both hands in enthusiastic agreement.
Without hesitation, Kai had Sanji retrieve a large chunk from the Island Eater's tastiest part—the cheek meat.
This meat, located behind the gill cover, was relatively small in volume but extraordinarily firm and tender due to the constant chewing motions during the creature's lifetime.
"Excellent quality indeed."
"Not only firm but wonderfully tender too."
Kai's group feasted well on the unexpected bounty. This was probably the Island Eater's only positive contribution that day.
After sailing several more days across open waters, an island covered in pristine white snow gradually emerged on the horizon.
Drum Island.
One of Kai's most important objectives in the Grand Line.
"The island has a nation called the Drum Kingdom, once a world-famous medical powerhouse."
Kuma gazed at the distant snow-covered island, his voice low and measured as he explained. "I once wanted to bring Bonney here for treatment. But about a year ago, Drum Kingdom's King Wapol implemented tyrannical policies to hunt down and expel doctors, driving almost all the kingdom's excellent physicians from the country."
"The once-great medical powerhouse lost its reputation entirely."
"According to reports, the only capable doctors remaining in the entire nation are Wapol's exclusive personal physicians. Ordinary citizens who need treatment have no choice but to beg for that tyrant's 'mercy.'"
Kuma slowly shook his head in disgust.
Because of Bonney's Sapphire Scale disease, he had visited renowned doctors worldwide and researched countless medical texts, learning much about Drum Kingdom's tragic decline in the process.