By the time Mother Carmel arrived at the blazing Warrior Village, Linlin had already devoured every last piece of semla and was lying on the ground, fast asleep.
“I’m sorry, Sister, but this girl is an evil god. We can no longer allow her to remain in Elbaph,” Elder Jarul declared.
“How… How could this happen?”
Mother Carmel was shocked.
She quickly learned from the surrounding Giants what had happened not long before.
Linlin’s hunger pangs had erupted, sending her rampaging through the Warrior Village.
Adult Giant warriors had been knocked down with a single punch, and even Elder Jorul had nearly been killed.
Fortunately, Prince Thor had arrived at the critical moment.
Only by joining forces had Princes Thor and Loki barely managed to contend with the monster.
Then, thanks to Hajrudin’s sudden inspiration, everyone brought out the semla hidden in their homes, finally calming the berserk Linlin down.
“Linlin is really that strong?”
Mother Carmel was stunned.
She immediately realized Linlin’s potential—and her value.
This child could fetch an excellent price.
“Sister, if you continue sheltering this girl, I’m afraid both you and the children around you may eventually be killed by her.”
Whether Elder Jarul was merely exaggerating the danger or somehow predicting the future was impossible to say.
But Mother Carmel obviously had no intention of abandoning such an immensely promising treasure who could be sold for an enormous sum.
“I understand, Elder Jarul. I’ll take Linlin and the children of the House of Lambs and leave Elbaph. I will never abandon a single child under my care.”
“Mother Carmel! How noble!”
“A saint! The merciful Mother Carmel!”
“We’ll help you build a new House of Lambs!”
With her superb acting skills, Mother Carmel’s image in the eyes of the Giants became even more saintly and noble.
Quite a few Giants even shed enormous, pearl-like tears.
They truly hated to see Mother Carmel leave Elbaph.
However, the words of Elders Jarul and Jorul carried even greater authority.
If this girl really was an evil god, then allowing her to remain in Elbaph would only bring further disaster upon the kingdom.
Jarul and Jorul exchanged a glance.
Perhaps this was the best possible outcome.
Not long after Mother Carmel took the children away from Elbaph and established a new House of Lambs in the outside world, a Giant who had gone to visit Mother Carmel and the children returned to Elbaph in terror.
He brought horrifying news.
From that day onward, the name Charlotte Linlin became taboo in Elbaph.
Elders Jarul and Jorul had been right.
That girl really was an evil god!
No Giant ever again suspected that Elbaph’s disasters had been caused by the curse of the two princes.
All of it had been brought by the evil god.
“So in the end, I didn’t really change anything.”
Three-year-old Thor stood at the edge of Elbaph’s Sun World, gazing out at the sea.
He had tried very hard to solve the problem of Linlin’s hunger pangs.
Unfortunately, at one year old, he hadn’t been able to speak, nor could he read or write the language of the One Piece world.
He had been completely stuck from both directions.
The average lifespan of Elbaph’s Giants was around three hundred years, so their development was roughly three times slower than that of ordinary humans.
It wasn’t until Thor turned three that he could finally manage to speak properly.
At last, he no longer had to communicate with meaningless baby noises.
“Hey, Thor! Let’s go play in the Underworld!”
A fifteen-meter-tall child approached with a kanabo resting on his shoulder.
A weapon meant for an adult Giant looked almost like a toy in his hands.
It was Thor’s brother, Loki.
A brat who loved causing trouble.
“No. I’m going to study reading and writing.”
“Huh? What the hell is the point of studying?!”
Loki slammed his kanabo into the ground in displeasure.
The earth shook violently.
Even though he was only three years old, ordinary adult Giants were already no match for him.
Across all of Elbaph, aside from King Harald, the only person capable of serving as Loki’s opponent was his twin brother, Thor.
So Loki was extremely annoyed that Thor insisted on wasting his time studying.
“I’m going to become the king of Elbaph someday. Of course I need to know how to read and write.”
“Fine, fine. If you want that stupid throne so badly, you can have it. I couldn’t care less.”
Utterly disappointed, Loki headed off to the Underworld alone to play with the beasts.
The Mountain Lords, creatures several times larger than ordinary Giants, had all been beaten into submission beneath Loki’s kanabo and obediently become his underlings.
Thor watched Loki leap straight off the edge of the Sun World and plunge toward the Underworld.
He couldn’t even be bothered to worry.
Their own mother had thrown both brothers from the Heaven World into the Underworld immediately after they were born, and even that hadn’t killed them.
At this point, there was even less reason to be concerned.
“Whatever. Time to head back.”
Thor returned alone to the Warrior Village.
As usual, he went to Elder Jarul and Elder Jorul to study.
Believe it or not, the two most educated Giants in all of Elbaph were actually the former captains of the Giant Warrior Pirates.
Then again, both were now nearing the ripe old age of three hundred and fifty.
In their youth, they had spent countless years adventuring and raiding across the outside world.
After accumulating knowledge and experience over such a long life, they were practically living encyclopedias of the One Piece world.
“Bo-jajaja! Just you again, Thor? Did that brat Loki run off to the Underworld to play?”
Elder Jarul let out his strange laugh.
Thor removed the horned helmet from his head.
“Grandpa Jarul, Loki isn’t interested in studying. Also, do I really have to wear this helmet? It’s really uncomfortable.”
Thor’s horns were currently growing, and wearing the horned helmet over them felt cramped and irritating.
“Ay-yayaya! But this is an Elbaph tradition. Just like a warrior’s weapon, you mustn’t take it off whenever you feel like it.”
“Elbaph tradition again…”
Elbaph had countless traditions.
The Giants had long since grown accustomed to them.
Thor, however, found them incredibly annoying.
He had no particular fondness for Elbaph’s traditions.
“Little Thor, you’re like your father Harald. You want to change Elbaph’s traditions too,” Jarul said with some emotion.
King Harald had devoted himself to changing the Giants’ reputation for violence and savagery.
He advocated peace and sought to establish ties between Elbaph and the nations of the world.
At first, the Giants had shown little interest in Harald’s ideas.
But during the year when Elbaph had been struck by natural disasters, human nations had provided food aid.
That experience caused the Giants to gradually begin accepting Harald’s policies.
Even the Giant Warrior Pirates, once regarded as the pride of the Giants, were now close to being swept into the dustbin of history.
“It’s different. Father and I aren’t the same.”
On this matter alone, Thor had his own convictions.
“Elbaph must become the strongest nation in the world. Only strength can guarantee Elbaph’s continued existence.”
“I don’t believe wagging our tails at the World Government like obedient dogs will bring Elbaph a better future.”
“Well said!”
Elder Jorul, who had just arrived, burst into laughter when he heard Thor’s words.
“The World Government has always regarded our race as a ‘scourge.’ Harald is still too young. He doesn’t understand how treacherous the World Government truly is.”
The Void Century had ended roughly eight hundred years ago.
And for the Giants, the past eight hundred years amounted to only two or three generations.
The history of the past was far from completely blank to them.
Harald’s desire to change Elbaph came from a good place, and both Jarul and Jorul agreed with his intentions.
But expecting the World Government to truly accept Elbaph was unrealistic.
The very reason the Giant race had survived to this day was precisely because of the violence and savagery for which they were feared.