The Thousand Sunny did not merely sail into the territory of Elbaf; it felt as though it were being pulled by the gravity of a different world. The transition was abrupt. One moment, they were navigating the eerie, stagnant mists of the Calm Belt's edge; the next, the ship caught a warm, soaring upward current that smelled of ancient, sun-drenched pine, fermented mead, and the ozone of a thousand-year storm.
Nami gripped the railing, her eyes wide as she looked at the Log Pose. The needle wasn't just shaking; it was pointing almost vertically toward the heavens. "Brace yourselves, everyone! This current... it's not just water. It's a thermal ley line! We're entering the high-pressure zone of the Warland!"
The Shadow of the World Tree
As the mist finally dissolved, the Straw Hats went silent. Even Luffy, who had been bouncing on the figurehead in anticipation of meat, stood still.
Rising from the center of the horizon was Yggdrasil, the colossal World Tree. It was not a tree in any biological sense known to the blue sea; it was a vertical continent. Its trunk was so wide that its curvature was nearly invisible to the naked eye, appearing as a rugged, bark-covered mountain range that ascended until it pierced through the highest layers of the atmosphere.
Clouds—massive, cumulonimbus formations that would usually dominate a horizon—clung to its lower branches like tiny puffs of cotton. The island of Elbaf sat nestled within the roots of this titan, a land of jagged fjords, towering mountains, and forests where a single leaf was the size of a galley ship. The sheer scale of the island made the Thousand Sunny look like a bathtub toy lost in a god's reflecting pool.
"It's... it's even bigger than the stories," Usopp whispered, his knees knocking together in a rhythmic percussion of awe and terror. "The land of my dreams... the home of the brave warriors of the sea. I... I think I have the 'I'll-die-if-I-step-on-that-island' disease."
"Change of heart, long-nose?" Zoro asked, a sharp, excited grin tugging at his lips as he felt the overwhelming "pressure" of the warriors inhabiting the island. "The air here... it's thick with Haki. Even the birds fly like they're looking for a fight."
The Great Port of Warland
As the Sunny approached the Great Port—a massive stone archway carved into the side of a coastal cliff—the sound of horns erupted. These weren't the sharp, metallic blares of Marine ships. They were the deep, vibrating bellows of Sea King horns, a sound that shook the very timber of the Sunny.
Standing on the docks were figures that seemed to dwarf the buildings around them. Leading the group was a familiar, massive silhouette clad in gleaming chrome armor.
"LUFFY! BROTHER!"
Hajrudin, the King of the Giants and commander of the New Giant Warrior Pirates, raised a fist that could have crushed a house. Beside him stood his elite crew: Stansen, Road, and Gerd. They didn't stand with weapons drawn or shields raised. Instead, they held massive, silver-bound barrels—horns of ale the size of small villas.
"Welcome to the Warland, Straw Hat!" Hajrudin's voice boomed, echoing off the fjords like thunder. "The news of Hachinosu reached us by crow! You fought the Darkness and saved the Fist! Today, Elbaf does not recognize you as a pirate, but as the Sun God who has finally come home!"
The Straw Hats disembarked into a world of giants. The "party" was a logistical nightmare for anyone of human size. Franky had to recalibrate his sensory inputs just to avoid being stepped on, and Brook found himself being used as a very elegant, musical toothpick by a giant child until Sanji intervened.
But amidst the cheers and the rivers of mead, Luffy noticed something. He looked toward the upper reaches of the roots, where a massive, black-iron chain—each link the size of a Marine battleship—wound around a gnarled, ancient branch of Yggdrasil.
"Hey, Hajrudin," Luffy said, pointing toward the mountains. "Who's the guy tied up over there? He smells... really strong. And really angry."
Hajrudin's joyous expression flickered, a shadow of shame crossing his face. "That is Prince Loki, Luffy. He committed the ultimate sin of the Warland—he murdered his father, King Harald, to steal the legendary 'Fruit of the End.' He is bound by the 'Ancient Shackles' until the day of the Great Cleansing. Do not go near him. He is a man who would burn Elbaf just to see the color of the flames."
The Tears of a Scholar
While Luffy and the others were swept into the chaos of a giant's feast, Nico Robin slipped away. She didn't have to go far. Standing in the shadows of a massive stone library—a structure built with human-sized entrances at its base—was a figure she had seen only in her dreams and nightmares.
He was a giant, but his skin was a patchwork of horrific, pale scar tissue—the remnants of a fire that should have claimed his life. He wore a simple tunic, and his hair was wild, but his eyes were soft.
"Dereshishi... dereshi... dereshishishi!"
The laugh broke Robin's composure. The "Devil Child" of Ohara, the woman who had faced Emperors and Gods with a stoic mask, collapsed to her knees. Her tears hit the mossy ground of Elbaf as she looked up at the man who had taught her how to survive.
"Saul," she sobbed.
"You've grown, Robin," Jaguar D. Saul rumbled, kneeling down with agonizing slowness to offer a finger the size of her torso. She clung to it as if it were the only solid thing in a shifting world. "I told you... the sea is vast. Eventually, you'd find your friends. And eventually, you'd find the truth."
Saul led her into the Library of Ohara. It was a subterranean vault, kept at a precise temperature by the geothermal vents of Yggdrasil. Here, thousands of books—the ones tossed into the lake of Ohara as the island burned—were dried, preserved, and cataloged.
"The giants fished them out, Robin," Saul explained, his voice thick with emotion. "They didn't know how to read them, but they knew that anything the World Government wanted to burn was worth keeping. They brought them to me. I've spent twenty years translating the 'Davy D.' scrolls with the help of the Elbaf elders."
The Revelation of the "D" and the Sunken Grave
Inside the library, Saul laid out a map that made Robin's breath hitch. It was a map of the world as it existed eight hundred years ago. In the center, where there was now only empty sea between the four blues, sat a massive, emerald-shaped continent.
"The 'D' is not a name, Robin," Saul said, his expression turning grim. "It is a mathematical variable. It stands for 'Displacement.'"
He pointed to the coordinates of God Valley.
"Eight hundred years ago, the 'D' Clan were the architects of the world. They created the Devil Fruits not as weapons, but as tools for terraforming. But the twenty kings—the vultures who became the Celestial Dragons—feared that power. They used a weapon of erasure to 'displace' the main continent into the sea, creating the fractured world we see today."
Robin traced the lines on the map. "And God Valley?"
"God Valley was the 'Anchor,'" Saul replied. "It is the only piece of the original world that didn't just sink; it was locked in a dimensional pocket by the first user of the Yami Yami no Mi. That's why the World Government tried to delete it. It's not just an island; it's the operating system of the planet. If someone raises it... they can 'reverse the displacement.' They can bring the original continent back, crushing everything that currently exists on the surface."
Robin realized the horror of Teach's plan. "He doesn't want to be Pirate King. He wants to be the Architect of the New World. He's going to use the souls of the dead to power the Anchor."
The Prince in Chains: The Loki Complication
While Robin and Saul delved into the apocalypse, Luffy had wandered away from the feast, lured by the "smell" of a powerful soul. He found himself at the base of the mountain where Prince Loki was chained.
Loki was a nightmare of a giant. His hair was a tangled mess of gold and blood-red, and his eyes, visible through the gaps in his iron mask, burned with a violet Haki that made the air tremble.
"So," Loki's voice was a sandpaper growl that vibrated in Luffy's bones. "The little sun-boy has come to gawk at the prisoner. Tell me, Monkey D. Luffy... do you know why I killed my father?"
Luffy tilted his head, picking his nose. "Hajrudin said it was for a fruit."
"It was for the Truth!" Loki roared, the massive chains rattling with a sound like crashing tectonic plates. "My father was a coward! He knew that Elbaf was built on a lie! The giants aren't the 'strongest'—we are the jailers! We were tasked by the World Government to guard the 'Void Gates' that lead to the sunken world. I wanted to use the fruit to break the gates and let the giants truly rule!"
Loki leaned forward, as much as his chains would allow. "Teach is coming, boy. He has the key. And when he raises the Valley, these chains will snap. I'll see you on the battlefield... if you're still alive when the sky falls."
The Path Forward
The chapter ends with a montage of the Straw Hats preparing.
Nami and Usopp are being taught the "Art of the Great Bow" by the giant snipers.
Zoro and Sanji are sparring with the veteran warriors of the New Giant Warrior Pirates.
Luffy stands on a cliff, looking out toward the sea, his hand resting on the Vivre Card his father gave him.
The weight of the world had shifted. The Elbaf arc wasn't just another adventure; it was a final exam. They had a month—perhaps less—before the "Grave-Digger" reached the coordinates.
"Robin," Luffy said as she approached him on the cliffside, her eyes red from crying but her gaze sharper than ever. "Did you find it? The way to stop him?"
Robin nodded, clutching a single, ancient scroll to her chest. "I found the truth, Luffy. But to stop him, we have to go back to where it all began. We have to go to the place where the 'D' was first broken."
"Good," Luffy said, his grin returning, but this time, it was the grin of a man who was ready to fight for the soul of the planet. "Then let's eat as much as we can. Because after this... we're going to turn the world upside down for real."
To be continued...