Somewhere in the Grand Line, aboard the flagship of the Hungry Wolf Pirates.
A pirate approached a man sleeping on the deck and respectfully whispered, "Vice Captain Yasuo, we'll be arriving at Little Garden soon."
This vice captain of the Hungry Wolf Pirates, named Yasuo, was a young man with long black hair. He wore simple clothes and had the most utterly ordinary, background-character face imaginable. Judging by the way he clutched a black longsword even in his sleep, he was clearly a one-sword-style swordsman.
It took Yasuo a long moment to slowly open his eyes after hearing the pirate's words. The instant he did, the pirate felt two piercing glints of cold light flash past, sending chills straight down his spine and cold sweat pouring from his back.
"Mm, got it." Yasuo nodded. Then, without any visible movement, his entire figure whooshed and vanished from the deck. A few seconds later, he had silently appeared inside the captain's quarters.
In the captain's room, Haska was seated in a chair, intently studying several portraits. His blood-red longspear stood propped to the side, radiating waves of murderous aura.
He examined the portraits while running his long tongue along a dagger. The sharp blade sliced open cuts on Haska's tongue, blood flowing freely. Yet this guy didn't seem to feel any pain—instead, his face was enraptured, his eyes gleaming with extreme, bloodthirsty excitement.
The way he looked now was exactly like a ravenous wolf picking its prey. No wonder, aside from Vice Captain Yasuo, none of the other crew members dared approach him carelessly.
"Captain, we're almost there…" Yasuo said coolly to the burly man with the red mohawk. After a brief hesitation, he continued, "Captain, is that Mr. 3 really trustworthy? If we kill these guys, will he actually use Baroque Works' channels to get us safely back to the East Blue?"
At that, Haska stopped his perverse licking of the dagger. Those eerily penetrating eyes flashed with dangerous light.
"I don't know if that bastard is trustworthy or not, but there's one thing I do know…"
As he spoke, Haska viciously stabbed the dagger into one of the portraits on the table. The portrait depicted a handsome young man wearing glasses—his calm, composed eyes rendered with stunning realism. It was none other than the sorcerer Sherlock.
"…This piece of trash who killed my little brother—I'm going to tear him apart limb by limb with my own hands!"
Blood Wolf: Haska's full name—Kohler Haska.
Aboard Little Garden, the Straw Hat crew remained blissfully unaware of the danger closing in.
Two humans and one duck strolled leisurely through the primeval forest, looking for all the world like they were on a simple countryside hike.
Several swift blades cleaved through the undergrowth for them. All manner of bizarre fruits and vegetables were automatically harvested by specialized tools, streaming in from every direction to be stored inside the Mirror Space. Ferocious prehistoric beasts were detected by the Reflection Mirror from far away; a few devastating gunshots later, every threat was nipped in the bud.
The Mirror-Mirror Fruit's ability to manipulate mirrors once again demonstrated unparalleled efficiency under Sherlock's deft control.
Princess Vivi's expression turned a little awkward as she watched the sorcerer focused on controlling the mirrors. She had come intending to help, but now she hadn't lifted a finger—and on top of that, Sherlock had to split his attention to look after her.
After several days at sea, Vivi had discovered that this newest member of the Straw Hat Pirates—the bespectacled man—was not only quickly bonding with the crew but had earned their deep trust. Even the captured Miss. Valentine now obeyed Sherlock without question, hardly daring to breathe loudly in his presence. Vivi was secretly amazed.
"Nami once said that Mr. Glasses used to be a fabulously wealthy merchant back in the East Blue. Elegant, young, and loaded—he must have had girls swooning over him… So why would someone who's practically won at life become a pirate?"
Utterly baffled, Vivi tilted her little head and fell into thought, her eyes gradually losing focus.
"Gyahahahahaha! What a lively bunch!" A giant with a long beard caught the straw-hatted kid sliding down a dinosaur's neck, scooped him up, and let out a bizarre, booming laugh.
"Whoa, you're huge!" Luffy pressed down his straw hat, stared at the giant uncle in front of him, and asked in shock, "Are you human?"
"Gyahahahahaha! I am the mightiest warrior of Elbaf! Dorry!" The giant named Dorry brandished his massive sword, then grinned at Luffy. "It's been ages since this island had visitors. Come be my guest at home!"
The idiot captain happily accepted.
"Do you guys have any booze?" another giant asked the tiny ship, eyes gleaming with anticipation.
"EHHHH?!" x3
Faced with the colossal monster, Nami instinctively clung tightly to Miss. Valentine beside her. The long-nosed coward, already in tears, stammered, "W-We… have a little…"
"Really? Awesome!" The giant who received a positive answer broke into a simple, honest grin.
Suddenly, the giant let out a thunderous roar, nearly sending the timid trio into shock.
When the giant turned, he saw a suicidal tyrannosaurus chomping on his butt. Furious, he flipped around, cleaved the beast's head clean off with a single axe swing, then passionately raised his battleaxe high and bellowed to the heavens:
"I, Brogy, am the mightiest warrior of Elbaf!!! Gabbababababa…"
The tremendous roar echoed across the world, making the very air tremble.
Miss. Valentine stared in trembling silence at the enormous face—big enough that four of her could fit in one nostril—and at the tyrannosaurus head with its eyes still wide in death. She was utterly speechless.
"No way… Sure, giants live on this island, but why did I have to run into them?!"
Glancing down, she discovered the other two had collapsed on the deck, eyes squeezed shut as if dead. Their twitching faces made it clear: these two were playing possum.
"You idiots, this isn't a bear—playing dead does jack shit!!" Miss. Valentine yelled in exasperation.
A certain three-sword-style swordsman dragged an enormous triceratops through the jungle, wandering aimlessly. He looked left and right, scratched his head:
"Huh, I feel like I've been here before…"
Just as Zoro wondered which way to go, a volcano in the distance erupted with a thunderous BOOM, sending a thick plume of smoke skyrocketing. Even from far away, it was clearly visible.
"Alright, I'll head in the opposite direction of the volcano!" Steadying himself, the green-haired swordsman strode resolutely… straight toward the erupting volcano.
Heh, the mouth says one thing, but the body's honest.
As the central volcano erupted, the main event on Little Garden was about to begin.
Watching Brogy's retreating figure, Nami frowned. "Honestly, what kind of deep grudge do those two giants have to fight for a whole hundred years?"
"Yeah, it's ridiculous," Miss. Valentine agreed, setting down her roasted meat and nodding. "Even if giants live three times longer than humans, a century is way too long. What's the point of wasting time like that?"
Hearing his newly acknowledged "idol" badmouthed, Usopp—who aspired to become a brave warrior of the sea—bristled instantly. He puffed out his long nose and declared scornfully, "You two dumb women, this is a true man's battle—this is a man's…"
"This is a man's romance!" Sherlock bit into a fruit and said to Vivi beside him.
Even though he already knew about Little Garden from the Whiskey Peak intel, watching the giants' duel in person still set his blood racing.
"A man's romance?" As a sixteen-year-old girl in the bloom of youth, Vivi couldn't grasp Sherlock's meaning. She furrowed her delicate brows and looked toward the giants' battlefield.
At that moment, Vivi and Sherlock stood atop a massive boulder—the perfect vantage point with an unobstructed view of the clash.
The two giants' fight had no finesse; every move was wide, reckless, and aimed to kill. The ferocity was such that the slightest mistake would mean instant death.
Like two rampaging lawnmowers, the giants demolished the surrounding primeval jungle. The deafening clash of sword and axe reverberated even from this distance, rattling the eardrums.
Honestly, for the past hundred years, the dinosaurs on this island had lived hellish lives…
"Quack…" Unable to handle the intensity, the duck with the fragile psyche promptly fainted from shock.
"Is that what you mean by brutal slaughter?" Princess Vivi grimaced in distaste. With her country in the midst of civil war, she now loathed anything related to war or fighting.
"It's honor!"
Sherlock tossed away the fruit pit, pushed up his glasses, and explained coolly, "No profit, no ulterior motives—just a hundred-year battle for the unbreakable banner of honor in their hearts. Isn't that romantic?"
At that, Sherlock suddenly smiled. "Come to think of it, Usopp would be fascinated by this. After all, his dream is to become a brave warrior of the sea…"
"Huh? Dream…" Vivi blinked her beautiful big eyes, a question suddenly rising in her heart.
She had heard from Nami that every member of the Straw Hat crew had a grand dream.
Captain Luffy's dream was to become the Pirate King.
Swordsman Zoro's dream was to become the world's greatest swordsman.
Cook Sanji's dream was to find the All Blue… Transparent Fruit (what?).
Navigator Nami's dream was to draw a map of the entire world.
So the question was: what was Mr. Glasses' dream?
Unable to contain her curiosity, Vivi blurted it out.
"Hm? My dream?" Sherlock looked oddly at Princess Vivi, whose eyes now blazed with curiosity. She nodded eagerly, brimming with anticipation.
A gentle breeze blew past. The girl's water-blue hair swayed in the wind, glinting softly under the sunlight. Her fair cheeks flushed with excitement like blooming peach blossoms; her tender lips curved slightly upward. Her big, dark eyes sparkled with childlike wonder.
Momentarily free of her burdens, this was the expression a sixteen-year-old girl in her prime should have.
Sherlock looked down with a soft smile and said quietly, "My dream is to have the power to protect the things I want to protect."
"Eh?" Princess Vivi blinked cutely, her long eyelashes fluttering like little fans.
"Then what do you want to protect?" Vivi pressed.
Sherlock's eyes narrowed slightly, a flicker passing through them. He opened his mouth but said nothing.
A moment later, he pulled a strange-looking fruit from the Mirror Space and handed it to Vivi.
"Try this—it's pretty tasty." A handsome arc formed at the corner of Sherlock's mouth.
Vivi accepted the fruit in confusion and asked again, "So the things you want to protec—"
"This fruit really is tasty—go on, give it a try!" Sherlock emphasized loudly, his smile growing even brighter.
"…"
"…"
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