Harald pondered Hitler 's words.
He recalled a conversation he had years ago with the Giant Race Elder Jarul .
At that time, Elder Jarul had subtly warned him that in the eyes of the World Government, the Giant Race was a race of villains.
He had only thought Jarul was referring to their
Past raids on allied nations, never imagining that the true root cause was the legendary Void Century.
"Was the Giant Race an enemy of the World Government from the very beginning?"
Harald frowned; this was truly the first time he had heard of it.
At the bar, Rocks' gaze was similar, his view of Hitler having changed significantly.
Seeing that Harald had taken his words to heart, Hitler didn't linger, turning and leaping back to the large dining table.
His reason for intentionally interjecting into Rocks and Harald's conversation wasn't merely to show off.
More importantly, it was to forge a friendship with Elbaf.
Not just with Harald, but also with the two Elbaf princes, future kings of Elbaf, who were crouching behind the bar.
Given Oda's usual approach...
Fish-Man Island, as if forced into action, produced a Poseidon, Shirahoshi, to assist Luffy in becoming the new Joy Boy.
Elbaf, being such an important arc, had no reason not to produce a prince or princess to mirror Shirahoshi's role and become another major Ally to Luffy.
And according to the information Hitler possessed, one of Elbaf's two great princes, Hajrudin, would become a member of the Straw Hat Grand Fleet in the future.
While his strength was decent, he looked like nothing more than a Giant Race member with strong talent.
In contrast, the young prince Loki, "Who Hitler only met after coming to Elbaf with Rocks, and who had fully inherited Harald's ancient Giant Race bloodline, seemed to fit this conjecture more.
The Rocks Pirates would sooner or later fall apart.
Not only because Hitler knew the outcome of the God Valley incident in advance.
But also because the entire Rocks Pirates crew was too disorganized, not at all like a team that could succeed.
Hitler naturally had to prepare for the future after the Pirate Crew disbanded... The banquet ended.
Even as the party broke up, Rocks still hadn't managed to successfully invite Harald.
However, the reason Harald gave this time was
Different from before.
It was no longer for the sake of so-called peace; he simply felt that Rocks couldn't succeed.
To challenge a vast organization that had ruled the world for over 700 years with merely a dozen pirates, and a dozen disloyal pirate at that, was no laughing matter.
"Rocks, if you truly want to invite me, then do as Hitler said initially."
"Establish a sufficiently large nation, build a sufficiently powerful army!"
"Otherwise, with the few people you have now, there's no way I can risk the lives of my nation's people with you!"
Although Rocks was still displeased, Harald's reason this time was indeed more convincing.
However, he was already quite old; trying to switch to kingdom-building now was almost impossible, so he could only continue on his current path.
And so, the Rocks Pirates returned empty-handed once again.
Of course, the frozen giants they had painstakingly moved earlier were not moved back; instead, they remained in Elbaf.
This was both entrusting Harald with their safekeeping and allowing them to return to their homeland.
Time flew by quickly, and another year passed in the blink of an eye.
It was now 37 years before Luffy set sail, the year 1483 of the Sea Calendar.
Overcast skies, wind, and rain.
A bizarre incident occurred on Hachinosu Island.
"Have you searched everywhere?!"
"Chief Marlon and his guards on duty last night were killed..."
"Chief Marlon couldn't hold out?!"
"! Who could be Dare to Do that ?!!"
A large group of pirates surrounded a cluster of corpses; among them was Chief Marlon, one of the core members of the Rocks Pirates and the unifier of the entire West Blue underworld.
Soon, this news was conveyed to the Skull Mountain in the center of the island, to the Core Rocks Pirates who had just awakened from their Sleep..
"What did you say?!"
Rocks and Whitebeard were simultaneously shocked.
"Our Shakky was kidnapped?!"
A massive search operation erupted on Hachinosu Island.
However, even after digging Six feet deep, no one found any clues.
Gloriosa wept sorrowfully, the other members of the Rocks Pirates all had grim expressions, and the many pirates of Hachinosu Island were, needless to say, even more so.
The fear that Shakky might have been killed, the anger and sorrow of losing Shakky—countless complex emotions enveloped the entire Hachinosu Island.
Soon.
News of Shakky's Missing swept across the entire new world like a hurricane.
"What is that bastard Rocks doing?!!"
An enraged Roger tore up the newspaper, and black and red Conqueror Haki lightning erupted from him.
"I'm going to beat him to death!!!!"
Rayleigh, also reading the newspaper, trembled with rage.
"Shakky..."
Similar anger and grief were not only happening within the Roger Pirates.
Shakky's influence spanned almost the entire world.
Not only were the pirates suffering, but people all over the world were plunged into immense grief, unable to focus on their work.
The entire world's economic activity stagnated for several weeks because of this.
However, if a person couldn't be found, they simply couldn't be found.
Everyone could guess that Shakky's disappearance must have been due to a betrayal within the Rocks Pirates.
Not only betrayal, but also contact with outsiders.
Only then could Marlon and his subordinates be killed, and Shakky kidnapped and taken away, without anyone knowing.
Rocks wanted to conduct an internal investigation.
But to put it bluntly, every single member of the Rocks Pirates was a suspect, including himself.
Outside Pirate Crews were even more confused about the situation, so they directly regarded the entire Rocks Pirates as enemies.
After all, Shakky was kidnapped on Rocks' territory, so the responsibility naturally fell on the Rocks Pirates.
And so, a seemingly endless great war began.
Countless pirates from all over the world, with the goal of destroying the Rocks Pirates, would directly open fire and launch attacks whenever they encountered them at sea or reached the waters near Hachinosu Island.
Their strength might not be great, but their fury made even Rocks feel helpless.
In this situation, only ruthless slaughter could bring these confused pirates back to their senses.
Thus, war and slaughter became the main theme of the new year.
The Rocks Pirates fought and killed for almost an entire year.
Almost all pirates with any strength in the New World seas actively came forward to be slaughtered clean.
Ultimately, Rocks finally re-established his position as the world's strongest Pirate Crew through slaughter.
And it was at this time that brand new news reached Hachinosu Island.
Shakky was still alive!
And she was on an island called God Valley!!!
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