Chapter 171: Elbaf Enters Industry, Preparing to Depart
"I announce that, effective today, Kai is the new king of Elbaf."
Once it was clear there were no more challengers, Jarul and the other elders delivered the decision cleanly, ending the trial ahead of schedule.
"Now, a word from King Kai."
Kai walked to the center of the coliseum, swept his gaze across the countless eyes fixed on him, cleared his throat, and skipped any empty pleasantries. He announced Elbaf's factory introduction plan on the spot.
He noted that faced with a rapidly changing world and an era of development, Elbaf must "embrace the world with a broader mind and take the initiative with a more active stance."
Thanks to years of groundwork laid by Harald, most giants had no objections to Kai's reforms. Even so, a small faction of traditionalists clung to the old raiding mindset, convinced that taking was easier than making.
For them, Kai rolled out a timely "outward" strategy.
"Elbaf will re-form the Giant Warrior Pirates and join the Beast Pirates as an allied, semi-autonomous unit. Captains Dorry and Brogy will command together."
"Long live King Kai!"
The announcement instantly won fervent support from the warlike camp.
With that, Kai unified the voices within Elbaf and brought the giant nation firmly under his leadership.
So long as he delivered on his blueprint, the giants would become one of the strongest and most loyal forces under his banner.
With the important business done, it was time for Elbaf's favorite tradition—and the whole pirate world's, too.
"Now, it is party time!"
Kai threw up an arm.
"OOOH!"
A tidal cheer exploded through the coliseum, the roar punching up into the clouds.
Who could turn down a raucous, all-out feast?
After a grueling battle, it was time to celebrate.
While the giants bustled to prepare, Kai pulled Principal Kiba aside and had him add more live-combat training for the children.
As king, it took only a word.
"Amazing, Kai!"
"You really became king of the giants!"
The crew crowded around, grinning and offering congratulations.
This was the World's Strongest Nation.
After a few jokes, Kai slipped to a quieter corner of the arena and pulled out a Den Den Mushi.
"Yo, Kai. What do you want with me?"
Huh. Kaido was sober for once.
Kai blinked, then said evenly, "Kaido, it looks like, whoops, I might have taken all of Elbaf."
On the other end, Kaido paused. "What do you mean?"
Kai's smile widened. He said clearly into the snail's receiver, "It means that, as of now, you may address me as King Kai."
Silence for a few seconds, then Kaido's laughter thundered so hard it shook the air.
"Worororo! Nicely done, Kai! The thing Linlin dreamed about all her life, and you did it in half a month!"
Kaido laid into the mockery. "I want to see her face right now—sour with disappointment and green with jealousy!"
Only two "sibling" rivals like Kaido and Charlotte Linlin could react to world-shaking news by dunking on each other first.
Once his laughter ebbed, Kai gave a brief outline of Elbaf's initial development plan. Before he could try to sell it—
Kaido cut him off. "Do whatever you want with that small stuff. Talk it over with King."
He hung up without a fuss. Trust, expressed in the Kaido way.
Back on the line, Kai glanced at the sleeping Den Den Mushi and shrugged.
So Kaido was still Kaido.
He dialed again, this time reaching the more reliable King.
King listened with obvious seriousness. "You're sure that, in the early phase, we only need to ship standard mechanical components to Elbaf?"
"Absolutely," Kai said.
Elbaf had an owl who could enlarge inorganic objects—Biblo with the Iku Iku no Mi, the Grow-Grow Fruit. If the power didn't require constant upkeep and wasn't range-limited, Elbaf could break conservation and flood the market with "zero-cost" industrial goods.
Imagine a gram of gold ballooned to a ton, ten tons, even a hundred tons.
With costs near zero, who could compete with Elbaf?
Still, even without "breaking the game," Elbaf had natural advantages: immense resources, especially rich, high-quality iron ore.
Proof was everywhere—nearly every giant warrior carried a fine iron weapon.
Kai's plan was to leverage those resources and focus Elbaf on shipbuilding.
Giants were naturally gifted shipwrights with unique techniques.
The famous Galley-La Company in Water Seven might even trace its roots to the giants' legendary builders, the One Hammer Brigade—their names sounded almost identical when spoken aloud.
Also, the giants' time-honored brewing craft was no slouch.
On these seas, fine liquor traded like gold.
In the days that followed, Kai remained in Elbaf, taking the helm to oversee state affairs and advance his reforms.
Soon, towering blast furnaces rose like iron beasts across Elbaf's land. Thick chimneys belched rolling black smoke day and night.
As ladle after ladle of molten steel cooled and set in molds, machine shops sprang up on a tide of raw materials and rushed into production.
This ancient nation of warriors thundered into the fast lane of industrial development. The sight left Hajrudin, freshly returned from his voyage, slack-jawed, like he had walked through the wrong door.
"What—what is going on? Where did all these factories come from? And all these humans."
He had only been gone six months.
It looked like three years—no, thirty.
Elbaf had always moved at a measured pace. Even at the height of his father King Harald's reign, development had never been this rapid.
More surprising were the humans in the harbors and streets. The usual fear and wariness he expected to see around giants was nowhere to be found.
He even saw human craftsmen and a giant warrior sitting on a curbstone together, taking a break and talking about their families, completely at ease.
This was not the Elbaf he knew.
Puzzled, Hajrudin took his crew to their usual tavern, only to find it closed in broad daylight.
A little sign hung from the door handle: "If urgent, find me at Westham Brewery."
"Huh? Mado? Since when is there a brewery in Westham?"
Hajrudin scratched his head helplessly.
Just then, a familiar, steady voice sounded beside him.
"Hajrudin, you're back?"
"Teacher Sigvald?"
Hajrudin turned, delight flashing in his eyes at the sight of a familiar face. But then he took in Sigvald's gear and frowned. "Teacher, what are you wearing?"
Beneath his helmet and greatsword, Sigvald wore a full suit of finely crafted armor that gleamed with a cold metallic sheen.
In Elbaf's formerly backward iron industry, this would have been an unimaginable luxury.
"Oh, this?"
Sigvald tapped the plates at his chest. They rang with a crisp clang. A satisfied, faintly proud smile curved his lips. "While you were at sea, Elbaf changed from the ground up."
He gave Hajrudin and the crew a concise overview of what had happened.
The steelworks were the most visible transformation.
With blast furnaces built and running, Elbaf had left the iron-poor past behind.
"Now we can forge warriors' armor and weapons with ease. We've even started building ironclads."
He pointed toward a sprawling new zone at the harbor. "King Kai says these sturdy ships are hot commodities in the human world."
Following his finger, Hajrudin saw giant shipwrights assembling keels and steel plates like model builders.
Human shipwrights nearby handled precise parts and fine adjustments.
Thanks to the giants' natural size and strength, ships that were tens of meters long—leviathans by human standards—looked like carefully upscaled models in giant hands.
With talent like this on board, work that took months or years in human yards would be done in a fraction of the time here.
"Wait—King Kai? When did Elbaf get a king?"
Hajrudin, stunned, blurted it out.
He was supposed to be the one to become Giant King. Who was this "Kai" to claim the throne?
He had never heard of such a warrior in Elbaf.
"Oh, King Kai is human," Sigvald said evenly, and sketched the story.
Hajrudin's crew gaped, exclaiming in disbelief.
"Beat all of Elbaf's warriors in a single day and night?"
"That's… insane!"
Unlike his wide-eyed crew, Hajrudin's face hardened with unhidden frustration. It felt like someone had stolen his dream.
"Damn it. I am the one who will be king of the giants."
He clenched a fist, bitterness in his voice.
He met his teacher's eyes squarely. "Tell me where Kai is. Unless he defeats me, I won't accept him as king."
Sigvald studied his special student and felt no irritation—only a spark of approval.
A warrior of Elbaf should have the courage and conviction to challenge the strong without fear.
"King Kai is residing at Aurust Castle."
Hajrudin nodded and turned to his crew. "I'm going to challenge Kai. Are you with me?"
A female warrior with a great axe and an owl on her shoulder—Gerd—grinned first. "Captain, do you even have to ask? We're with you."
"Damn right."
"Hajrudin, don't think you can hog the glory."
The New Giant Warrior Pirates burst into laughter.
"Good." Deeply moved, Hajrudin nodded hard. "Then let's go."
Aurust Castle
This ancient stronghold perched on the cliffs at Westham's edge had once been King Harald's residence.
After Loki's battle with Harald, it was abandoned.
Because Aurust Castle sat at the crossroads of Elbaf's main roadway, the Treeway, Kai chose it as a temporary administrative center and residence.
In an office so large even a giant would call it spacious, Kai was bent over stacks of documents.
He signed his name across parchment and sighed with weary relief. "At last, everything is more or less on track."
Luckily, Elbaf's population wasn't too large, and internal affairs were relatively straightforward. Otherwise, a full year might not have been enough to sort the threads.
Acting as his secretary, Robin brought hot tea and a gentle word at the perfect moment. She smiled. "It's busy, but Elbaf's daily changes and growth are plain to see. All this effort is worth it."
"Sweet talk isn't enough. How about something more… substantial?"
Kai finished the last document, set down his pen, and gave Robin an appreciative once-over.
She wore a fitted women's suit today, the tight pencil skirt tracing elegant lines. Her long legs, sheathed in black stockings, drew the eye.
"What kind of substantial?" Robin blinked with playful innocence.
"This kind."
Kai laughed, reached, and drew her onto his lap.
He leaned in to savor the soft floral scent in her hair and—purely for scientific purposes—to investigate "office conduct guidelines," when the heavy door slammed open with a bang.
"Kai! Face me!"
A voice brimming with fighting spirit rang out.
Kai's smile froze. Was it so hard to relax for one minute?
Robin's lips twitched upward. She slid smoothly off his lap, smoothed her skirt, and leaned to his ear, whispering in a voice only they could hear, warm with mischief. "This time, it's not that I didn't want to."
"Who are you?"
Kai suppressed his irritation at being interrupted, eyes ice-cold as he looked over the five giants filing in.
"We are the New Giant Warrior Pirates!" Hajrudin introduced boldly. "I am Captain Hajrudin! These are my crewmates: Stansen, Road, Goldberg, and Gerd."
He then issued his challenge for the title of Giant King.
"Ordinarily, with your current strength, I wouldn't bother accepting a challenge like this in person."
Kai rose from the broad chair, straightening his collar and cuffs with unhurried dignity. "But right now, my mood is very, very bad. So, as you wish."
Robin covered a laugh.
"Uh… right here?" Hajrudin blinked.
At least pick a proper venue?
"No need."
Kai shook his head, impatience in his tone. He swept a chill look over the five giants. "All at once. I'm in a hurry."
"Wait!"
Hajrudin flung out an arm and stopped his comrades. His voice was steady. "This is my fight alone—my dream. Do not interfere."
"Captain!"
Worry creased their faces, but they knew Hajrudin's resolve. They backed away a few steps.
"Done discussing?"
"Done."
"Then we begin?"
"Begin!"
The last syllable was still leaving his lips when Hajrudin's pupils shrank tight.
Kai blurred.
In the next instant, he was right in Hajrudin's face.
So fast.
There was no time to react.
As the thought flashed, a black fist shot out like a fired cannon shell and stamped his forehead with irresistible force.
Thud!
The dullest of thuds rolled through the office.
Hajrudin's brow compressed with a smooth dent.
His body locked up. His eyes rolled white. Then the giant toppled backward and sank into the sleep of babes.
One hit. KO.
To avoid damaging the freshly repaired castle, Kai kept his power measured.
Hajrudin was knocked out cleanly, with not a single wall harmed.
"Hajrudin!"
"Captain!"
The New Giant Warrior Pirates rushed in, catching their fallen captain with alarm.
Ship doctor Gerd bent to check his injuries carefully. After a long moment, she exhaled with relief.
He was alive. The skull was intact. He was just out cold.
Kai flicked his hand, as if brushing off dust. "Take him to a doctor. With a giant's constitution, he'll be bouncing around in a few days."
He could have woken in a few hours. But barging in with no sense of timing?
He could reflect for a few days in bed.
"Yes, King Kai!"
Any hint of defiance had drained away. The crew answered with deep respect and carefully hoisted their captain.
"Come on, Robin."
Kai turned and beckoned to his smiling secretary.
"Once we finish Elbaf's final arrangements, it will be time to set sail again."
They had stayed in Elbaf long enough. It was time to return to the sea.