Chapter 510: Deducing the Connection
Ryuunosuke could only force a smile when he heard Najenda's question.
He knew exactly what had happened to his body just now.
He also had absolutely no idea how to explain it.
"I just… had a breakthrough."
He touched the bridge of his nose, looking a little embarrassed. For the moment, that was the only excuse he could come up with.
"As expected of the captain," Najenda said with a straight face. "You can even reach new realms while eating."
"Since there are no new crew members, I will return to my work."
She turned and left after speaking.
Watching her go, Ryuunosuke felt a stab of guilt.
He had not done anything at all this time.
"A breakthrough, my ass… Giants, huh?"
He exhaled softly, then called out.
"Gaino."
"Captain?"
The projection of the Eternal Ark's spirit appeared in front of him, tilting his head in confusion.
"What is it?"
"Do you know where the giants are?" Ryuunosuke asked. "Is it recorded in the data Nojiko entered?"
"There is," Gaino replied at once. "Elbaf, the village of giant warriors. The giants there are all brave, battle hardened fighters."
He pulled up a map in front of Ryuunosuke and began to explain as he pointed.
"What is it, Captain? Are you planning to form a legion of giants?"
Ryuunosuke listened patiently, but there was nothing in Gaino's introduction he did not already know.
When Gaino finished, they still had not found the answer he wanted.
"Najenda, come back here a moment."
Ryuunosuke rubbed his temples.
Being a hands off captain for too long clearly had its drawbacks.
There were now far too many things he was not fully up to date on.
Almost all internal and external affairs of the Dragon Hunter Pirates, large and small, were handled by Najenda.
So whenever he suddenly wanted to check some detail, he often discovered that he himself did not know the latest situation very well.
Thinking of that, he called Najenda back again.
She had only just left, but immediately turned around and returned to the cabin when she heard him.
"Captain?"
"Is there something else?"
Ryuunosuke pointed at the map Gaino had pulled up.
"Najenda, have any of our people been active in Elbaf recently?"
If members of the Dragon Hunter Pirates had been boasting of their captain's strength in some giant territory, then knowing how the giant race worshipped power, it would not be strange for them to suddenly acknowledge Ryuunosuke as well.
"Elbaf?" Najenda frowned, then shook her head. "No."
"However, I do have some information related to the giants. I do not know if it is what you need."
As she spoke, she immediately pulled out her small notebook.
Ryuunosuke could not help looking at it with a complicated expression.
He had wanted to complain about that thing for a long time.
Najenda was always writing in that little book.
She had been filling it for years now and still had not run out of pages.
He seriously suspected it was some kind of spatial artifact.
Could this notebook be an Imperial Arm in disguise?
Najenda flipped through it rapidly and quickly found the entry she wanted.
"Captain, among the Four Emperors' pirate crews, only one did not head for Laugh Tale with us," she said.
"That crew is the Big Mom Pirates."
"They instead sailed under Captain Charlotte Linlin to a place recorded as the land of giants, Morbig."
"As for other areas, there are scattered traces of giant activity, but those records are fragmented and do not seem important enough to investigate in depth."
She delivered the summary she had compiled without hesitation.
"Charlotte Linlin…"
Ryuunosuke's eyes narrowed slightly.
"Could it really be her?"
Given her personality and what she had been doing lately, it was entirely possible.
With Kaido traveling alongside her for a time and both of them owing him favors, Ryuunosuke found himself leaning toward that conclusion.
"I get it."
He nodded, satisfied.
"Alright, Najenda, you can go back for now."
In truth, among all the Dragon Hunter Pirates, the one he was most satisfied with was still Najenda.
Even if he vanished for a short while, or even a long time, the crew and their sprawling enterprises would continue to operate in an orderly fashion.
But if Najenda stopped managing things for even a few days, the entire organization would probably plunge into chaos.
It was thanks to her that the Dragon Hunter Pirates' influence had grown so quickly without falling apart under its own weight.
After Najenda left, Gaino appeared again.
"Captain, this is the area where Morbig is located," Gaino reported, expanding a region of the map.
"At my current speed, it would take around five days to reach it from our present position. At the normal speed of a fast ship on the sea, it would be about nine days."
"As for information about the giants there, there is not much circulating yet."
"The only giant widely known on the seas right now is San Juan Wolf of the Blackbeard Pirates."
"However, his data alone cannot represent all of Morbig."
Ryuunosuke listened, expression thoughtful.
He had seen the records for San Juan Wolf.
A height of one hundred and eighty meters was not just a number. It was a walking natural disaster.
If Morbig was a land of giants that made even that look ordinary, then the scale of that place was truly terrifying.
"I see."
He tapped his fingers lightly on the table.
"Right, instead of guessing…"
"Why not just call and ask them directly?"
He snapped his fingers, and a Den Den Mushi appeared in his palm.
With the number of Den Den Mushi he had accumulated, he now needed a separate cabin just to house them all.
Whenever he needed one, he simply had Gaino transfer the right snail over.
"Beru beru beru…"
The Den Den Mushi rang a few times.
"Captain Ryuunosuke?"
A familiar voice came through at once.
It was Katakuri of the Big Mom Pirates.
"What nightmare did you have that made you call me at this time?" Katakuri asked, sounding puzzled.
After all, he knew what they were doing right now.
Even if they were borrowing the name of the Dragon Hunter Pirates, it was not supposed to cause any negative impact on Ryuunosuke's crew.
They had made use of that name here, but any ripple effect from that would take some time to spread through the seas.
Given what the Dragon Hunter Pirates were currently busy with, it was hard for him to imagine that Ryuunosuke had called just to chat.
"Katakuri, you are in Morbig right now, correct?"
Ryuunosuke went straight to the point.
Katakuri's expression froze on the other end of the line.
So he really did call specifically because of this.
"Yes, Captain Ryuunosuke," Katakuri replied. "Is there something here that you need us to do?"
"Do you want us to greet the giants on behalf of the Dragon Hunter Pirates?"
Although his tone was steady, there was a faint tightness in his chest.
For some reason, Katakuri could not shake a guilty feeling.
"Greet them?"
"There is no need for that," Ryuunosuke said calmly. "I just want to confirm something."
"While you were there, did you mention my name, or the name of the Dragon Hunter Pirates?"
On the other end of the Den Den Mushi, Katakuri's heart nearly stopped.
How did Ryuunosuke know?
There was absolutely no way the information had leaked from their side.
It had not even been that long since they arrived.
And this whole thing did not seem important enough to report to him beforehand.
But Ryuunosuke still knew.
"Yes," Katakuri admitted after a brief silence.
"Did our actions offend you, Captain Ryuunosuke?"
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