Chapter 292: The Crown of Wisdom, Harald's Whereabouts!
Before coming here, Uma had already learned some things about Prince Regent Hajrudin from Dorry and Brogy.
At that time, Uma had already perceived that this Prince Regent was not quite the same as the Giant warrior he remembered.
According to Dorry and Brogy, Prince Regent Hajrudin was a 'Wise King'.
One had to understand: during the reign of the previous king, Harald, that king—powerful to the extreme in personal combat—was obsessed with integrating the Giant race into the world's cycle. For this, he did not hesitate to bow and scrape to the World Government, and even changed the entire 'social foundation' of Elbaf.
He abandoned the 'Way of the Warrior' that Elbaf originally pursued, advocating for civilian rule and a moderate faction.
Just as the Giant Vice Admiral 'Hamo', who had a good relationship with Roy, once said—Harald even modified and banned the nursery rhymes of the Giant race, striving to make them less barbaric.
Facts proved that this was the wrong choice.
After Hajrudin became Prince Regent, he made drastic revisions to his royal father's policies.
He had the Giant race reclaim the Way of the Warrior, but at the same time did not abolish the cultural education in the Owl Library or the Walrus School.
"My royal father's thinking was not entirely wrong—if Elbaf wants to survive on the future sea, then we must understand history, study civilization, and know what benevolence and righteousness are."
"We are warriors, and we can also be 'weapons' in war."
"But we must know what we are fighting for."
To be honest, these words made even Uma see him in a new light, even feeling somewhat surprised.
After all, judging from the original story, the original Hajrudin should have been a rough and not particularly sharp character.
But after seeing Hajrudin now, Uma understood.
"The Crown of Wisdom... a creation of Source Energy of Lineage Factor?"
Uma was somewhat astonished.
Just like the Sun Stone, the jeweled crown on Hajrudin's head also contained Source Energy of Lineage Factor.
But soon, he recovered from his surprise.
"Waited for thirty-one years?"
He noted Hajrudin's words from a moment ago.
Undoubtedly—this was a straightforward statement sufficient to explain many things.
"Your Majesty the Prince Regent, what do you mean by this?"
Uma spoke calmly.
The eyes beneath the mask studied Hajrudin before him.
At this moment, Hajrudin smiled.
He pointed to his head: "You don't need to probe—this jeweled crown that my elder brother forged for me using his abilities and 'Lightning' makes my observation and thinking skills exceptional... so I can judge from your body language that you've already understood my meaning, correct?"
He said calmly.
As his words fell, the sharpness in Uma's eyes became even clearer.
He didn't deny it.
When Hajrudin said this, he already had a guess.
After all, thirty-one years ago—this point in time was unmistakable.
That was after Rocks went to Mary Geoise to die, and also when Harald disappeared.
So from Hajrudin's words, Uma could naturally deduce many things.
For example...
Hajrudin said his Crown of Wisdom was forged by his elder brother, the 'Cursed Prince' Loki, using his weapon.
This sentence itself was deeply meaningful.
Because Uma knew very well: Loki's weapon 'Lightning' is an ancient weapon of Elbaf passed down from the primordial era.
The weapon itself also appears to be an ability user, capable of transforming into two forms—a squirrel and a hammer. Just this weapon alone is extremely powerful, to the point where even past kings of the Giant Country couldn't defeat it.
And the reason for its existence is to guard a national treasure passed down through generations in the Country of Giants—a legendary Devil Fruit.
If nothing had gone wrong, this Devil Fruit should be very special, most likely one of the three fruits required to complete Joy Boy and Davy Jones' plan.
And looking at it now...
"The ability of that fruit is related to Source Energy of Lineage Factor... and through 'Lightning', Loki can utilize Source Energy of Lineage Factor to create items like the 'Crown of Wisdom'?"
"No, it could also be that Loki himself is quite special... after all, judging from the original story, this 'Cursed Prince' has a high probability of being the 'King of the Earth' spoken of by the Sea Kings, just as Mermaid Princess Shirahoshi is 'Poseidon'."
Beneath Uma's mask, Roy looked at the crown on Hajrudin's head, analyzing silently.
Of course, this wasn't the crucial point for him.
The true crucial point lay in something else.
"In the original story, the reason Loki ate that 'national treasure' was because his father Harald mistakenly trusted the World Government, signed the 'Abyssal Sea Contract' with Imu, and was thus controlled by Imu."
"So Loki had to eat the fruit under Harald's orders to kill his own father—hm, if Loki's ability can truly control 'Source Energy of Lineage Factor', then this would also explain why he could kill the theoretically 'immortal and imperishable' Harald in the original story."
"But the problem is, Harald wasn't killed by Loki this time. He disappeared..."
Roy understood—this change was the key to Elbaf's current situation.
"Your Majesty the Prince Regent, can you tell me the reason for King Harald's disappearance?"
Uma spoke, pointing directly to the heart of the matter.
Clearly—all the changes in Elbaf stemmed from Harald's disappearance.
Hajrudin must definitely know something about this.
"...As expected of The Zodiac."
Hearing this, Hajrudin grinned.
He nodded, then gestured for Jarul and Uma to take a seat.
After both sat down, Hajrudin spoke slowly.
"Lord Uma should know that thirty-two years ago, Rocks D. Xebec appeared in Elbaf?"
"He held his final banquet here before going to his death."
What he spoke of was exactly the banquet that Uma already knew about, and had only recently learned the full details of from Whitebeard.
Then—
"At that time, my royal father was not in Elbaf, but was subjugating 'pirates' around the world for the World Government—the one who let Rocks into Elbaf was my elder brother."
Hajrudin stated this softly.
"Sure enough..."
Hearing this, Uma only thought "sure enough" to himself.
This matched his previous guess.
When Rocks held that final banquet, someone within the Giant race clearly helped him.
And Harald at that time had already completely severed ties with this former best friend.
So Roy had originally guessed that the one who helped Rocks enter Elbaf was most likely Loki—because this Cursed Prince was a 'fanboy' who deeply admired Rocks.
Hajrudin's words now proved the facts were exactly as such.
However, the crux of the problem clearly didn't lie here—he already knew about the banquet Rocks held in Elbaf, and for Uma, it wasn't particularly surprising.
What truly surprised him was what came next.
"Rocks told my elder brother the truth about the world, history, the 'God's Knights', and the 'Contracts', and entrusted my elder brother to pass it on to my royal father."
Hajrudin calmly recounted the truth of that year.
"And it was after learning all of this that my royal father made a choice."
Speaking of this, he looked at Uma and spoke word by word: "He didn't 'disappear'. He chose to 'leave'."
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