Thor had ambitions to accomplish something big.
If he had been reincarnated into the world of One Piece as an ordinary person with neither a system nor any particular talent, he would have been perfectly content to live quietly and coast through life.
But Thor was a prince of the Giants.
He might not have a system or any other cheat, but his talent and base stats were completely maxed out.
With a starting point like that, how could he not do something big?
First, he set himself a modest little goal.
Find the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, eat it, and become Thor, the God of Thunder in the truest sense.
Of course, accomplishing that modest goal would have to wait until he was old enough to go out to sea.
Even though he was a prince of the Giants and already stood seventeen meters tall at the age of five, size alone didn’t determine strength in the world of One Piece.
And that wasn’t even mentioning the Sea Kings that could easily reach thousands of meters in length.
Going out to sea was still dangerous.
In the blink of an eye, another two years passed.
Seven-year-old Thor hadn’t grown much taller.
In those two years, he had gained only a single meter in height.
Even so, he was already three times taller than an ordinary Giant child and was approaching the height of an average adult Giant.
At seven years old, Thor could finally begin formally training Haki.
“Bojajaja!”
Elder Jarul let out his peculiar laugh.
“Normally, we wouldn’t teach you Haki until you turned fifteen.”
“But you’re exceptionally gifted, little Thor. Someday, you’ll definitely become the strongest warrior in Elbaph.”
Hearing Jarul call him exceptionally gifted inevitably reminded Thor of Linlin.
That monster had nearly killed Elder Jorul when she was only five years old.
That was what a true natural-born freak of talent looked like in the world of One Piece.
“Grandpa Jarul, please teach me how to train Haki.”
“Bojajaja! Fine, but let me make one thing clear first. Jorul and I are only particularly skilled in Armament Haki. If you want to learn Observation Haki, you’ll have to ask your father Harald.”
Very few Giants in Elbaph knew how to use Haki.
Even fewer knew Observation Haki.
It wasn’t difficult to understand why Giant warriors rarely bothered training it.
Giants possessed enormous bodies.
Against most enemy attacks, they either didn’t need to dodge at all—or were simply too large to dodge even if they wanted to.
Their massive size was both an advantage and a disadvantage.
That was why, when it came to Haki training, Observation Haki was far less important to the Giants than Armament Haki.
For Elbaph’s warriors, the usual solution was simple.
Grab a weapon and smash the enemy.
“That’s fine. Learning Armament Haki is enough for now.”
As for the sensory abilities of Observation Haki, Thor could compensate for that in the future by eating the Rumble-Rumble Fruit.
The Rumble-Rumble Fruit naturally enhanced Observation Haki.
“Gakakaka! Then follow us.”
Seeing how readily Thor accepted the arrangement, Jarul and Jorul led him to the place where the Giant warriors fought.
Valhalla.
Valhalla was located in the central region of the Treasure Tree Adam.
It was an enormous arena.
Even by Giant standards, the place was immense.
In Norse mythology, Valhalla was the Hall of the Slain, a place of glory for warriors.
The Giants of Elbaph worshiped strength.
In Elbaph, battle was regarded as something even more important than life itself.
Giants proved their qualifications as warriors by climbing sheer cliffs with their bare hands and fighting fair duels.
Valhalla was exactly that kind of sacred place.
At least, it used to be.
After Harald began reforming Elbaph, Giant warriors were forbidden from sailing out to sea and becoming pirates.
With fewer opportunities to put their strength to use, the warriors of the Giant race gradually stopped frequenting Valhalla.
The once-lively arena had become quiet.
When Jarul and Jorul brought Thor into Valhalla, he looked around and saw only a handful of Giant warriors scattered across the enormous arena.
And down in the arena itself, an adult Giant was training a Giant child in combat.
Thor happened to know both of them.
“Master Raideen! Big bro Hajrudin!”
Thor shouted loudly from above the arena.
The training below immediately stopped.
Raideen and Hajrudin looked up and were both surprised to see Jarul and Jorul bringing Thor here.
Raideen had once been a member of the Giant Warrior Pirates.
He was also the teacher of both Hajrudin and Thor.
After all, Jarul and Jorul were already advanced in age.
They could hardly be expected to constantly engage in strenuous physical training that might injure them.
So the two elders mostly taught Thor theory and traditional combat techniques.
Raideen was responsible for practical combat training.
That said, Raideen mainly taught Hajrudin.
As for Thor, that freakishly talented child…
Aside from Loki, who could fight him evenly, only King Harald in all of Elbaph was really capable of teaching him through direct combat.
Normally, when Thor practiced Elbaph’s combat techniques, he either trained alone or sparred with Loki in the Underworld.
So seeing Thor appear in Valhalla left Raideen and Hajrudin thoroughly confused.
Wait.
Surely Elders Jarul and Jorul hadn’t brought Thor here to make trouble for them?
“Gakakaka!”
“Bojajaja!”
After bringing Thor into Valhalla, the two Giant elders burst into laughter at the same time.
Then they spoke together.
“From now on, you’ll duel all of the warriors by yourself.”
“They’ll all come at you together, little Thor. You’ll fight alone. Understand?”
“I understand.”
Thor immediately grasped what the two elders meant.
If quality wasn’t enough, then quantity would make up the difference.
If one Giant warrior couldn’t match Thor, then bring ten.
Dozens.
A hundred.
Valhalla was a place where warriors gathered to compete and duel.
No rule said every fight had to be one-on-one.
The best way to train Haki was to fight opponents stronger than yourself and force a breakthrough while pushed to the very edge of death.
Unfortunately, there were far too few Giants in all of Elbaph who were actually stronger than Thor.
So they would compensate with numbers.
No matter how monstrous Thor’s natural talent was, his stamina still had limits.
If enough opponents attacked together, taking turns wearing him down, they could drain every ounce of his strength and force out every last bit of potential hidden within his body.
At the command of Jarul and Jorul, two highly respected heroes of the Giant race, the Giant warriors who had been sitting around the arena yawning immediately lit up with excitement.
Two of them grabbed their weapons and jumped directly into the arena.
Another Giant warrior ran back toward the Warrior Village to call more fighters over.
The handful of them currently present were nowhere near enough to deal with Prince Thor.
“Don’t hold back. Use everything you’ve got!”
Thor leaped directly into the arena.
He was completely unarmed and hadn’t brought Mjölnir with him.
That thing could kill someone with a casual swing.
Barehanded combat would be enough.
Even so, none of the Giant warriors dared underestimate him.
The hunters who ventured into the Underworld had seen it with their own eyes, and word had already spread throughout Elbaph.
Prince Thor could lift Mountain Lords several times larger than himself and casually toss the most ferocious beasts of the Underworld around like toys.
He possessed monstrous strength from birth.
“Come at me!”
At Thor’s command, Valhalla—the sacred ground of Elbaph—became lively once again for the first time in years.