One Piece: Nobody knows Devil Fruits better than me.

Chapter 289 The Twelve Zodiac Signs, Horse (午马)!
Just as mentioned before.

The 'War Zone' Elbaf itself exists on the World Tree 'Adam the Treasure Tree'.

From top to bottom, it is divided into the 'Heavenly Realm', the 'Yellow Realm', and the 'Underworld'.

Within these three different areas of the tree trunk, there are three springs, serving as one of the water sources for the creatures living in each area.

The underworld has the 'Fountain of the Underworld,' which leads to the roots of Elbaf.

The heavens possess the 'Fountain of Wisdom,' which serves as the water source for the birds of Elbaf.

In the Yang Realm, where most of the giants live, this spring is known as the 'Warrior's Spring'.

Although it is called a 'spring', because it exists in the land of giants, this spring is actually very large, and there are even beaches formed by the weathering of time around it.

Beside this huge spring, there stands a building called the 'Owl Library'.

Meanwhile, Dorry, Brogy, and several giant warriors who had arrived at the Owl Library were already outside the library.

"There really was an intruder."

They were looking at two footprints on the beach at Warrior's Spring.

"Is it that guy who invaded before? Did he climb up from the underworld?"

"I didn't see any other footprints nearby."

"Could it have flown in?"

They stood around the two footprints, which were very small compared to their size, and discussed them.

To be honest, if this had happened before...

Elbaf doesn't actually harbor much malice towards outsiders—after all, most outsiders pose almost no threat to the giants.

But the situation has been a bit unusual lately.

About two months ago, a riot occurred in the 'underworld' below Elbaf.

The specifics are unknown, but many wild beasts died as a result, and the warriors even discovered the corpses of some powerful beasts from the underworld.

In addition, they also found traces of intruders entering the edge of the underworld.

But after the search, no one found out exactly where the intruder was hiding.

Since then, Elbaf has been experiencing a series of abnormalities.

Every so often, a massive tremor occurs throughout Elbaf, causing riots among the creatures of the underworld and the heavens. As a result, many giants have been injured, and many villages have suffered considerable losses.

Moreover, these riots have become increasingly frequent recently—especially among the giant warriors, whose sixth sense as warriors allows them to perceive that the entire country is shrouded in some invisible dark cloud.

However, the important figure in charge of guarding the underworld said that he had not found anything unusual.

Many people believe that the origin of this incident may be related to the 'intruder' who disappeared after landing in the underworld.

As a result, Elbaf's attitude toward foreign invaders has recently become relatively less friendly.

"Hehehehe, don't rush. We can't confirm the other party's identity yet—but..."

Dongli sniffed the air, then pointed to a certain spot.

“Someone used sunstone to draw ‘stairs’ here.”

As soon as he finished speaking, the giant warriors indeed noticed that there were still some residual 'colors' in the air above.

That's the effect of the giants' specialty, the 'Sunstone'.

"If a rainbow bridge were drawn here..."

All the giants looked upwards—towards the direction the remaining color pointed.
"The Owl Library? The intruders have already gone in?"

"But there were no signs of a battle. Were Curator Biblo and Saul not here?"

"Sauro has been without classes at the Walrus School lately because of the earthquake, and Curator Bibro has been away from home very often, hasn't he? Even if he occasionally goes to the Fountain of Wisdom to drink, he should be back soon."

"Did they let the intruders into the library on their own? They were tricked!?"

The giants were talking about it.

"Crackling sound!"

But at that moment, Brogy laughed heartily: "Why don't we go in and see for ourselves!"

"But you must remember not to destroy the library—Halding is right, the nation needs to preserve the blood of its warriors, but at the same time it also needs to learn knowledge."

"Yes, Chief Brogy!"

The giants nodded in agreement.

Then, they took out stones and started drawing in the air.

As they continued to paint, a colorful suspended staircase appeared before them.

They climbed the suspended stairs and soon arrived at the enormous library perched on a tree branch above Warrior's Spring.

“Sauro, Biblo, you.”

"Gah!"

"Waaaaaah!"

Just as they reached the doorway, they heard a sharp bird cry and a loud shout coming from inside.

Then, the giants' expressions all changed abruptly.

They recognized the voices as those of Biblo, the librarian of the Owl Library, and Saul, the library's founder and history professor at the Walrus School.

So they hurriedly pushed open the library door, and then they saw a scene that made their eyes widen in horror.

At that moment, Sauro lay on the ground, while Bibro above his head opened his mouth and let out a horrified scream.

More importantly, the bandages covering Sauro's body were now falling off, revealing the hideous wounds inside—marks left in Ohara many years ago.

At this moment, the wounds on his body were turning red, which looked quite horrifying.

In front of Sauro and Bibro, a small figure stood there.

"Intruders! Don't even think about harming Sauro!" Seeing this, the giants no longer cared about anything else.

In particular, a giant with a tall stature, long tusks, and high cheekbones, who looked like a walrus, leaped up, wielding his giant hammer!

"Buzz!"

A powerful surge of Armament Haki flowed through the giant hammer as he prepared to smash it down on the 'attacker' below!
That was an attack powerful enough to destroy a small mountain—the man named 'Kiba' was a warrior of the same generation as Brogy and Dorry, the former vice-captain of the Giant Warrior Pirates, and one of the top warriors on the sea!

It was at this moment that he also saw the 'intruder' that had appeared in the Owl Library.

The other person had their back to him, their head hidden in the sunlight streaming into the owl library, making it impossible to see their face.

However, one could see that the other person was wearing a long robe and looked like a scholar.

He was holding a book in his hand.

On the pages of the book, starlight twinkled.

"That won't do."

He spoke softly, his words refined and gentle.

"The knowledge here is very valuable, it would be a great pity if it were damaged."

Faced with the incoming hammer, powerful enough to destroy a mountain.

He simply and slowly opened the book in his hands.

Within the book, it seems as if starlight and sunlight converge.

then
"The giant warrior 'Chiba' used the hammer improperly when it was brought down, causing the handle to break and the hammer to twist, rendering the blow powerless—this is quite reasonable."

He muttered to himself.

As he spoke, Qiba was astonished to see words appearing on the book in his hand.

then
"Crack!"

Chiba then discovered the giant hammer that had been with him for many years, crafted by the giant race's 'craftsmen's village'.

The hammer handle suddenly shattered at that moment, and the hammer body indeed twisted in the next instant before crashing to the ground.

"Boom!"

With a loud thud, Qiba's figure landed on the ground.

"Ability user!?"

Kiba gritted his teeth and then prepared to launch another attack.

But
"Due to the damage to the hammer, Mr. Chiba's body was injured because the point of force he was applying changed. His body became stiff and weak for a moment, making it impossible for him to continue attacking—this is quite reasonable."

The other person's words came again, and the words in the book in their hand changed once more.

Then, Qiba felt his body begin to feel weak and powerless.

"Boom!"

He sat down directly on the ground.

"Chiba!" *N
Upon seeing this, the other giant warriors, though unaware of what had happened, roared and prepared to charge forward.

But
"and many more!"

A low shout interrupted their actions.

"Sauro!?"

They looked incredulously in the direction from which the sound came—and there lay Sauro, 'defeated' by the intruders and lying on the ground.

"Mr. Wu Ma didn't hurt me. He's Robin's friend and was just treating my wounds—ouch, it itches so much! Waaaaah!"

He lay on the ground, gasping for breath as he spoke.

"treat?"

The giant warriors were even more stunned upon hearing this.

Upon closer inspection, they realized that Sauro's bandages had indeed been torn off.

But
But the burns and frostbite that even the best doctors in Elbaf couldn't treat were now rapidly growing new flesh and forming scabs.

That's why Sauro's wounds looked so gruesome to others—new flesh and blackened old scabs overlapped together; it would be strange if they weren't gruesome.

Clearly, as Saulo said.

They were not attacked; instead, the other party was treating Sauro's old wounds.

"Wu Ma?"

At that moment, Dorry and Brogy exchanged a glance and simultaneously exclaimed in disbelief.

They were certainly very familiar with these code names.

And it was at this very moment
"As a giant, it's reasonable that Mr. Sauro's injuries can heal quickly."

All the giants heard the 'intruder' speak again.

He slowly closed the book, turned around, and stepped into the sunlight.

It was only at this moment that all the giants saw his face clearly—or rather, saw the sea monster head he wore on his head.

It was a horse-head mask.

"You two must be Captain Brogy and Captain Dorry, right?"

As he spoke, his gaze also turned to Donald and Brogy.

“Shenhou told me about you.”

"I am one of the twelve constellations, the Horse (午马)."

(End of this chapter)