Author's Note:
Looking for some system novels? Be sure to check out my other stories:
I Was ¥1.8 Million in Debt When the Legacy System Chose Me — a grounded rags-to-riches journey featuring business, romance, self-improvement and empire-building.
The System Turned Football's Worst Prospect Into a Monster — a football journey filled with training, rivalries, career progression and the rise of a rejected prospect.
Please add both to your library, give them some powerstones and give them a read. Thank you for the support!
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Days before
Deep within the damp, lightless depths of Elbaf's eastern cavern networks, the air did not carry the clean, crisp frost of the northern peaks. Instead, it smelled of stagnant water, cedar shavings, and the unmistakable, artificial scent of freshly painted pine.
Inside this subterranean void sat a colossal, bizarre creation. A massive, blocky diorama cage built to resemble a miniature human village. It was a mock kingdom constructed from meticulously carved toy blocks, complete with fake wooden trees, tiny painted houses, and a ceiling made of mirrors meant to mimic the sky.
To the architect of this absurd dollhouse, it was a masterpiece. To the man currently sitting cross-legged on the roof of one of the miniature block-houses, it was an insufferable, tedious waste of his time.
Dracule Mihawk sat in absolute stillness. He was completely awake, his legendary black coat draped over his broad shoulders, his sharp, brimmed hat tilted slightly forward to cast a shadow over his face. Propped beside him was the massive, cross-shaped hilt of Yoru.
He was thoroughly, profoundly annoyed.
Suddenly, a massive, scraping sound echoed through the cavern as the "sky" above began to peel back. The mirrored ceiling of the diorama cage was lifted, letting in the dim, natural light of the cavern.
Looking down into the cage was a towering, grotesque figure. It was Road, the giant scribe and future navigator of the New Giant Warrior Pirates, though he currently bore no resemblance to a proud warrior of Elbaf. He wore an elaborate, theatrical costume consisting of a heavy, horned deer skull mask, flowing ceremonial robes, and a staff draped in feathers and beads. He looked down into the toy box, his massive face twisted into a sneer of pure, delusional arrogance.
"Gyahahaha!" Road's booming, eccentric laughter rattled the wooden walls of the miniature houses. "Still awake, little insect? I must say, your stubbornness is quite amusing! You sit there in your little black coat, looking so dignified, yet you are nothing more than a plaything in my glorious domain!"
Mihawk did not move. He did not even look up at the giant's massive skull mask. He merely shifted his gaze, his voice cutting through the rumbling laughter like a cold razor blade.
"I will ask you one final time, giant," Mihawk said, his tone deceptively calm, yet carrying a chilling, lethal weight. "Where is the swordsman named Norwell D. Giovanni?"
Road scoffed, waving his massive hand dismissively, completely ignoring the cold question. "Giovanni? Why should a god care about the names of mortal ants? You humans are all the same, obsessed with your little rivalries and your petty names! You stand in the presence of greatness, swordsman! I am the creator of this world! The master of your fate! The divine Sun God of this cavern!"
Road leaned closer to the open top of the cage, his hot, sour breath blowing a gale of wind through the miniature streets, knocking over several toy trees.
"Bow to me!" Road demanded, his voice rising into a theatrical, manic screech. "Grovel before my divine authority, and perhaps I will grant you a bowl of water! Kneel, insect! Kneel before the Sun God!"
Mihawk slowly closed his eyes. He let out a soft, almost imperceptible sigh. A sigh of pure, unadulterated boredom.
"How tragic," Mihawk murmured, his eyes snapping open. The yellow within his pupils flared with a terrifying, predatory light. "To possess such a massive frame, yet have a mind so utterly microscopic."
With a movement so fluid and instantaneous it defied human perception, Mihawk stood up. His right hand wrapped around the wrapped hilt of Yoru.
There was no battle cry. There was no grand declaration of intent. There was only the sound of leather sliding against leather as the future greatest blade in the world was drawn from its sheath.
Shiiing.
The air in the cavern instantly turned freezing cold. The ambient spiritual pressure radiating from the steel was so dense that the wooden toy blocks beneath Mihawk's boots began to splinter and crack under the sheer weight of his presence.
Mihawk took a single, precise step forward. He lifted Yoru high above his head, holding the massive blade with both hands.
"A toy box," Mihawk whispered, his voice echoing in the sudden, terrified silence of the cavern, "is no place for a swordsman."
He swung.
An effortless, vertical slash.
A colossal, blazing arc of emerald light erupted from the tip of the black blade. It was not a chaotic explosion of energy; it was a line of absolute, mathematically perfect destruction.
The flying slash tore through the miniature wooden village, instantly vaporizing the toy blocks into fine dust. It continued upward, splitting Road's massive deer skull mask perfectly down the center before slicing through the giant's chest armor and throwing him backward with a sickening spray of blood.
But the slash didn't stop there.
The green light surged upward, striking the solid ironwood and stone roof of the eastern cavern. With a deafening, cataclysmic roar, the entire mountain-facing cavern split in two. The colossal stone ceiling cracked open, letting in a blinding torrent of real, northern sunlight as the entire artificial "Land of Gods" collapsed into a smoking pile of pulverized stone and timber rubble.
CRASH!
As the dust settled, revealing the blue sky of Elbaf above the ruined mountain, Mihawk smoothly slid Yoru back into the cross-shaped sheath on his back. He didn't look back at the groaning, bleeding form of Road, who lay unconscious amidst the wreckage of his shattered delusions.
Mihawk stepped over the smoking debris, his boots clicking softly against the real stone of Elbaf. He looked toward the west, where the distant, towering branches of Yggdrasil dominated the horizon.
"Now," Mihawk said quietly to himself, his cape billowing in the fresh mountain wind. "Let us see where you are hiding, Giovanni."
With systematic, unhurried steps, the Swordsman began his march toward the central villages. Any giant patrol that spotted the dark, imposing human and tried to block his path was met with the same terrifying, effortless efficiency. Mihawk did not seek to slaughter them, but if they refused to answer his questions or dared to draw their weapons, a single, casual flick of his wrist was enough to send them flying through the ancient trees, leaving a trail of broken iron shields and shattered pride in his wake.
---
The present
In the western coastal district of Elbaf, the morning sun had barely managed to burn through the thick, silver sea fog.
Inside the western medical longhouse, the atmosphere was peaceful, almost domestic. Giovanni sat on a low wooden bench, slowly wrapping a clean strip of linen around his left forearm. He could feel his body humming with a renewed, vibrant strength. The lessons Gaban had dropped upon him in the interior valley had settled deep into his core. His physical recovery was sitting comfortably at eighty percent, and the chaotic, volatile nature of his Haki was slowly beginning to align with a new, colder focus.
Beside him stood Toki, her expression soft but watchful as she handed him a cup of warm, herbal tea Gerd had prepared.
"You look stronger today, Giovanni," Toki said quietly, her voice a soothing balm in the quiet room. "The restlessness in your spirit seems... quieter."
"The old man in the woods had some annoying, yet practical things to say," Giovanni replied, taking a slow sip of the tea. "I'm realizing that running around like a rabid dog only gets you so far. To survive what's coming, I need to be the one holding the leash."
Before Toki could respond, the heavy wooden doors of the longhouse burst open.
Ida stepped into the room, her giant frame imposing.
"Giovanni," Ida said, her voice sharp as glass. "We have a problem."
Almost simultaneously, the low, ominous rumble of a war horn echoed from the cliffs outside. It was a deep, vibrating tone that rattled the glass jars of medicine on Gerd's shelves. The specific horn call used by the Elbaf military to signal the cornering of a dangerous, high-threat criminal.
Gerd rushed out from the back apothecary wing, her face pale, her blue eyes wide with alarm. "That's the horn of the tribal council! Why are they sounding it in the western sector? The vanguards are supposed to be patrolling the southern borders!"
"They aren't patrolling anymore," Toki said, her teeth grinding together as she walked over to the window, pulling the heavy furs aside to look down at the clearing below. "They're here."
Giovanni stood up, his hand naturally dropping to the hilt of Ace. He walked to the window, his eyes narrowing as he took in the scene outside.
The clearing surrounding the western longhouse was completely flooded with heavily armed giant warriors. Dozens of them, clad in massive iron plate armor, carrying towering shields and broad battleaxes, had formed a suffocating, impenetrable ring around the building. At the front of the vanguard stood several high-ranking officers of the tribal council, their expressions grim and unyielding under their steel helmets.
"Norwell D. Giovanni!" a booming, thunderous voice roared from the clearing, vibrating the very foundations of the timber longhouse. "By order of the Elbaf High Council, you are surrounded! Step out of the longhouse with your hands empty, or we will reduce this structure to kindling!"
"What is the meaning of this?!" Gerd cried out, her voice cracking with emotion as she ran toward the front door. "Giovanni hasn't done anything! He's been recovering here!"
"It's a misunderstanding," Toki hissed, her daggers partially drawn from their sheaths, their steel blades catching the dim light of the room. "The reports coming from the borders are completely mangled. A few hours ago, panicked messengers arrived at the central village. They claimed a 'human swordsman' was systematically slaughtering giant patrols in the east and the south. Because they don't know about the others, and because Giovanni is the only high-profile human swordsman currently guesting on this island, the council assumed it was him."
"That's ridiculous!" Gerd shouted, her giant form shaking with indignation. "He was with me! He was in Gaban's valley! He couldn't possibly be in two places at once, let alone the eastern and southern borders! Those fools are acting on blind panic!"
"They don't care about logic right now, Gerd," Giovanni said calmly, his voice a striking contrast to the panic in the room. He walked toward the main entrance, his posture completely relaxed, his eyes scanning the massive vanguard outside through the cracks in the timber.
"We have to fight our way out," Toki said fiercely, stepping in front of Giovanni, her daggers fully drawn. Her eyes burned with the protective instinct of a mother who had already lost one home to the tyranny of powerful men. "I won't let them take you. I won't let them drag us back into the dark. If we run to the coast, we can reach the ship—"
"No," Giovanni said, his voice dropping into a low, absolute command that made Toki freeze in her tracks.
He placed a hand gently on her shoulder, his touch surprisingly warm, yet firm enough to convey his unshakeable intent.
"Look at them, Toki," Giovanni said softly, gesturing toward the army outside. "There are over 30 fully armored vanguards out there, and more are coming. My body is at eighty percent. If we start a war with the entire giant race right here, we lose. More importantly... you and Hiyori lose."
Toki's breath hitched in her throat.
"Elbaf is the only place on this sea where the World Government and the Marines won't dare to touch you," Giovanni explained, his eyes locking onto hers with a rare, profound sincerity. "It is your only safe sanctuary. If we shed giant blood in this clearing, that sanctuary is gone forever. You'll be running for the rest of your lives. I won't let that happen. I won't let you lose your peace because of a stupid misunderstanding."
"But Giovanni..." Hiyori stepped forward, her hands clutching her robes, tears welling in her eyes. "If they take you... they might execute you! The law of Elbaf is unforgiving!"
"Let them try," Giovanni chuckled, a cold, sovereign confidence radiating from his frame. "I'm not as easy to kill as they think. And besides, I have a few friends on this island who won't let them make a stupid mistake."
Before anyone could stop him, Giovanni stepped past Toki and pushed the massive wooden doors of the longhouse wide open.
The cold northern wind rushed into the room, tossing his blonde hair across his forehead. He stepped out onto the wide stone porch, his hands raised casually at his sides, completely empty. Ace remained secured to his hip, its hilt visible but untouched.
A collective, low rumble went through the vanguard of giant warriors as they raised their massive shields, their eyes locking onto the legendary rookie.
"Stand down!" Gerd screamed, marching out onto the porch right behind him, her towering giantess frame shielding him from the archers positioned on the surrounding roofs. Her voice boomed with a desperate, courageous authority. "You are making a horrible mistake! Norwell D. Giovanni has been under my care in this very longhouse! He was in Gaban's valley yesterday! He has not touched a single giant patrol! I swear it on the honor of my medical oath!"
"Silence, Gerd!" the lead vanguard commander rumbled, his iron-plated helmet gleaming in the gray light. "Your compassion has blinded you to the nature of these human vermin! The reports are clear! A human swordsman has left our brothers bleeding in the dirt across the eastern borders, and a shadow-demon is murdering our woodcutters in the south! We will not take any risks! Giovanni must answer to the High Council!"
Toki stepped out onto the porch as well, her twin daggers held in a low, lethal guard. "If you take a single step closer to him, I'll carve the armor right off your chests! He is innocent!"
"Toki. Gerd. Stand down," Giovanni commanded, his voice slicing through the tense standoff like a physical barrier.
He looked back at them, a small, reassuring smile gracing his lips. His eyes carried an absolute, calm certainty. The very stillness of the sovereign Gaban had spoken of.
"Keep your heads cool," Giovanni said to them, his voice quiet but carrying perfectly in the silent clearing. "Don't do anything stupid while I'm gone. Take care of Hiyori. I'll be back before the tea gets cold."
He turned back to the vanguard, his posture relaxed, his hands still raised.
"I'll come quietly," Giovanni called out to the commander, his voice dripping with a casual, mocking elegance that made the giants grind their teeth. "Lead the way, boys. Let's go see what your high council has to say."
The commander stared at him for a long, tense moment, surprised by the human's absolute lack of fear.
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