Giants, Emperors and Hostility

_________ POV Narration _________ 

"Another one! For the good days ahead!" Shanks shouted, raising an oversides cup of sake to the sky, his eyes shining a deep red as he celebrated with his allies.

At least the ones that were still standing. 

"Gurararara~" By his side stood none other than Whitebeard, his long yellow hair flowed with the wind, and his children were also by his side, celebrating his health once more.

In the background, hundreds of giants roared simultaneously, raising gigantic cups to the sky and drinking heartily. 

Their celebration had already lasted for weeks, to the point where few even remembered what the celebration was even about.

But at least they were all in one place, god only knew it had been a long time since they all gathered there.

All that was missing was Roger, and their party would've been completed. 

But they also had some new faces around... Like Hawkeye Mihawk, who was rather reserved.

He still raised his cup out of respect, but it was not accompanied by a roar of excitement. Instead, he drank in silence and observed the people around him.

He was rather confused at first, as to why his old friend would call him towards Elbaf. 

He claimed that there was a surprise for him there, but upon his arrival, very little was explained to him, and he simply stuck around out of curiosity. 

For one, there were the giants. Among them were some rather legendary Pirate Captains. Mihawk had even heard legends about them in the past.

Dorry and Brogy were among those figures. Pirates and captains of the Giant Warrior Pirates. 

The celebrations in place were partly because of the fact that the crew had now reunited and reformed after a long break.

But aside from the two captains, there was also the royalty of Elbaf present. The King, Ymir the Frozen Giant.

A gargantuan man, twice bigger than a normal giant, with an extremely bulky build and well-defined muscles. He had a long white beard and wore a blindfold.

His clothes were not all that regal, but he did wear a crown on his head, clarifying his rank and position. But despite that, he fought and drank with the other Giants without any restraints. 

On his back, bound with leather straps was a gigantic club that looked as if it was carved out of an unmelting block of ice.

Mihawk had heard tales of that weapon, he had read plenty of books mentioning it.

A weapon passed down within the Elbaf Royalty, said to be impossible to destroy or melt, supposedly a frozen chunk of ice so heavy that normal giants could not lift it. 

He had also read some strange stories, that within that gigantic club, was frozen the legend of the All Blue, or at least a piece of it. 

With such interesting characters around, it was hard for Mihawk to leave.

Besides the giants, there was also another man who required the Strongest Sowrdsman's attention...

And that man was none other than the Strongest Human, Whitebeard. Who was now young and seemingly stronger than ever. 

Mihawk had taken part in the war against him back in the day, but the hawkeye'd swordsman had made sure to not contribute much. 

He never did have any grudges with the old man and was truly at Marineford just to keep up the facade of a Warlord, whatever would bring him less trouble. 

Shanks never did like that part of him. That lack of ambition when relating to anything other than swordsmanship was always frustrating for Shanks, who always set his sights higher. But that was simply Mihawk's nature, so it couldn't be helped. 

Regardless, Mihawk had plenty of frustrations with Shanks as well. Like the fact that the Red-Haired Emperor still didn't tell him what exactly he had been called for in the first place.

He had heard snippets. That a war was coming. And hell, with the current ongoing climate in the world, anyone could've guessed that much.

But Mihawk had no interest in going to war. He only really cared about swordsmanship.

If he hadn't gotten to duel with some of the Sword-wielding giants on Elbaf then he likely would've left quite a while back. 

His curiosity could only stretch so far after all.

'I'll drink a few more cups and take my leave...' 

But he didn't even get to finish his cup before his ears perked up and his eyes turned to the sky.

"Well, damned liqueur must've left me delirious..." Ymir's voice rang out from amongst the giants.

"Is this the party that you claimed was coming, Red Haired Shanks?" Dorry asked as his eyes narrowed, looking into the horizon. 

"Gurarara~ Of course it is! That lightning brat sure took his damn sweet time..." 

"So we'll finally get to meet this Sky King individual, huh?" Ymir stood up at his full height, towering over the other giants with a wide smile on his face.

"I'd say give it a few more minutes, those islands still look quite far away.

But this here is the Grand Fleet that we'll all be joining!" Shanks laughed a bit as he took another sip from his drink, only to be stopped by Mihawk, who gazed at him with anger.

"What's the meaning of this, Shanks? I told you I had no interest in the war!" Mihawk scowled as he expressed his displeasure loudly.

"I didn't call you here specifically for the war, Mihawk..." Shanks just gave his old friend a smile.

"In truth, there's someone among Enel's people who I figured you'd be interested in meeting. Apparently, the strongest swordsman before you, now turned young like Whitebeard. I figured you'd want to clash with him at least once..." Shanks looked off to the side whilst whistling a bit.

"That's interesting..." Mihawk whispered as his muscles seemed to stiffen for a moment, but he was still a bit confused. "Why didn't you just tell me that from the beginning?" 

Faced with Mihawk's piercing gaze, Shanks just laughed and turned his head.

"Well, the main reason I called you here is a bit more embarrassing, honestly... Let's just say that maybe I wanted my best friend and rival to see me off when I go to war. Gather up for one last drink, you know... Just in case things do go to shit." Shanks sighed and looked at his crew with a bit of embarrassment.

None of his men seemed to judge him though, they all knew how deep his rivalry and friendship with Mihawk ran. 

Mihawk himself was taken aback by Shanks's words, especially the last part. 

"Tsk... Is the situation so dire that you're jumping into a war without the assurance of victory?" 

The Strongest Swordsman simply felt odd just saying those words. Shanks had always been the man with a plan, he never was in way above his head. 

"Honestly, I thought I'd be able to make a difference at first... But now it's hard to say. I guess we'll have to wait and see!" Shanks clenched his fist and looked at his missing hand for a few seconds.

He remembered how powerful IMU's means were, how even he couldn't properly block an attack. 

'At the very least I can help hold back the God Guards and the Elders... But Enel and Luffy will have to deal with the greatest threat. The future is currently on thier shoulders.' 

Mihawk seemed surprised when seeing the unsure figure of Shanks, his crew around him all had rather sour faces, making it clear that the Red Haired captain's words were no joke.

"... Fine, I'll join you for now... But only to face that swordsman you were talking about! Not because I am in any way concerned about you!" Mihawk kept his scowl on before taking one more sip from his sake.

Shanks blinked a few times when hearing that statement, and not long after a wide smile spread on his cheeks.

'Heh... He's always been like this... But I'm glad he's tagging along now.'

Before long, Enel's islands hovered right above the gigantic island of Elbaf, Whitebeard and Shanks both looked up to with with wide smiles.

Marco was already flying up there, turning into a bird and looking at the multitude of islands and people in Enel's army with fascination.

"Huh... That's a familiar stench..." Ymir scowled as he also looked up, the islands above seemed so much closer to him, but they were still large, and out of reach.

But what attracted his attention most was not the number of people, but some of the people present. 

"Oh yeah... Seems the Big Mom Pirates joined in the end..." Shanks felt a bit embarrassed as he looked at the sky and felt them as well.

"This isn't ideal for us... We giants made it clear that we want nothing to do with that demon." Ymir huffed, cold air emitting from his stuffy moustache.

"Now now, isn't that a bit petty?" A voice rang above Ymir's head, making the giant raise an eyebrow as he felt a weight pressing on his head. He could sense a faint figure there, he felt a rather unfamiliar stench. 

"Tsk!" The giant quickly slapped at the top of his head, hitting nothing but his helmet, causing a loud bang to slightly overshadow the drums that thundered above them all. 

The figure reappeared among the people below, right in front of Shanks, Whitebeard and Mihawk in fact.

"Shanks, Whitebeard! Seems that a lot of people are gathered here today!"

That figure was, of course, none other than Enel. Dressed in his usual formal attire this time. 

"Enel... You could've made a better entrance, honestly..." Shanks smiled wryly, unsure why Enel had decided to antagonise the leader of the Giants in such a way.

"Hm? I'd say it was good enough. And this one must be Mihawk! It's an honour to formally meet you." The Sky King extended his hand towards Mihawk, who shook it without any hesitation.

"It's nice to meet you as well, Enel." 

He didn't care about the giants being antagonized at that moment, instead, his gaze burrowed deep into Enel's eyes, searching for an answer to a question that went unasked.

'Yeah... He's certainly grown stronger since Marineford.' 

Mihawk then turned his gaze to Ymir, who seemed to be growing angrier with Enel standing around and ignoring him.

"You have some gall... Stepping into my kingdom and disrespecting me in such a way!" 

Ymir huffed some cold air before reaching for the mace that was still strapped to his back.

But before he could even clutch it in his firm hand, Enel appeared right in front of his eyes, floating in mid-air, his eyes sparkling with energy.

"Touch that weapon, and it will be the last thing you'll ever do in this world... I wonder what'll melt first, that ice or your flesh?" The air around the emperor's body sparked dangerously, his glowing gaze staring straight into the Giant King's eyes with a resolute look.

'Shit... This isn't looking too well. Why is Enel so hostile?' Shanks couldn't help but sweat a bit as he had given his word to the giants that they'd be welcomed in Enel's army with open arms. 

Now the entire situation seemed to be on the cusp of blowing out of proportion, with the other giants also preparing for a fight to defend their Great Warrior King. 

'Well... If a fight does break out...' 

Shanks stared at Mihawk and Whitebeard, and both of them nodded silently.

'Let's see how things unfold...' 

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Hope you liked today's chapter more than the last! 

Gotta admit last one was not my best work :)) I may have failed to portray that properly, but Enel didn't really want to force an unprepared Wano to open its borders to join his war for the sake of Pluton. 

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