Figarland Ling was not a man to take orders lightly. Not when it concerned his own destiny. He was the heir to House Figarland, Commander of the Knights of God, and the warrior who had bathed Good Valley in the blood of his enemies. No one told him what to do.

Except his father. Except Imu-Sama.

So when his father, the Supreme Commander, ordered him to take a wife, to ensure the continuation of his lineage, he had no choice but to obey. Though obeying did not mean submitting.

So he took up his sword and roamed the pirate-infested islands, not with the intention of finding a wife, but to wipe out the insects that dared to challenge the World Government. His conquests were bloody, efficient, flawless. But he brought no woman with him.

Then the news reached his ears. Big Mom, that disgusting Yonko, was trying to forge an alliance with Elbaf. And that was unacceptable. Not because he cared about the Yonko, but because the giants were a force that not even the World Government could ignore.

Ignoring the warnings of his subordinates—did they think he was a coward?—he went to Elbaf. And there, to his satisfaction, he found what he needed. The giants despised Charlotte Linlin. They considered her an aberration, a pariah who had desecrated their land with her gluttony and childish brutality. It took only a few words, a few veiled promises, to twist fate in his favor.

He returned to Mariejois a victorious man. Not only did he bring peace between Elbaf and the World Government, but he had also fulfilled his father's order.

He had taken a wife.

A wife no one expected.

The second daughter of the King of Elbaf, Bianca, his new wife, walked beside him, her imposing 17 meters tall, her shadow falling over the nobles gathered in the throne room.

The silence was absolute.

Imu-sama read the treaty with unwavering coldness. His father, on the other hand, seemed on the verge of collapse. And Garling, holding back laughter.