Midday, though cloudy enough to block direct sunlight. The wind was calm and as Gideon heard from passerby, there might be a chance of rain. So he figured he would complete his chore before it began raining, and that would be hunting down at least three boars for his dinner tonight.

Gideon packed his fannypack, tied a green bandanna on his head and picked up Jormungandr before departing a small freedom ship he had found and has been using as a bed and a place to store his equipment. He had kept the ship beached beneath a cliff of the Upper Yard.

After a bit of a climb, Gideon began to trek through forest, following the river. The sounds of critters running about and birds chirping were relaxing sounds. Every so often, he spotted small animals running into hiding, away from the giant that was strolling.  Taking a look at his sword Jormungandr, Gideon wondered how the blade cuts since he had yet to used it since he had found it within the temple of the winged giant. He had decided to ask around Angel Island for information about the blade of the temple, but for some reason people have been ignoring him, he wondered it was whether or not he was a giant.

He heard a familiar sound; his sight shot towards the direction to see a wild boar in the distance. Knowing that taking just one step would scare the boar away, given that Gideon is a giant and that every step he took would scare anything away, he crouched low and positioned Jormungandr so he could get a good swing.

After positioning himself, Gideon took one far step while swinging Jormungandr over head and bringing it down like an axe. The boar tried to run, but it was nearly impossible to escape the reach of a three-story long blade. As the blade slammed into the ground, it chopped the boar in half while kicking up leaves everyone.

"One down" Gideon smiled as he collected the two halves of the boar into a zip-lock bag and placed it within his fannypack.

It had taken Gideon about an hour to find two more boars, to which he managed to struggle just a bit to capture and collect them. He had looked up and noticed the clouds had bundled up tighter "Possibly rain soon" he said to himself after pocketing the last bits of the boars. The sun was already dipping over the horizon when he began making his way back towards the cliff he had left his ship under.

The sound of a twig snapping wouldn't catch Gideon's attention, but hearing the sound of a branch snapping was entirely different; the giant took a look back but only saw a cluster of trees. He waited in silence for a moment, staring, wondering what could be heavy enough to break a branch and clumsy enough to not avoid such a thing. But when he grew impatient with the waiting, Gideon turned away and continued his walking back to the cliff, though he remained aware, trying to catch any other sounds.

A deep growl came from behind him along with warm breath grazing his neck which caused Gideon to jump away while drawing Jormungandr. To his surprise, he was shoved into an oversized tree which was strong enough to support him without breaking. His eyes focused on the beast that stood just a few yards taller than him; like a giant, bulky satyr, it had curled horns, the head of a goat, the torso and arms of a man, and the legs and hoofs of a goat, it's fur all red, "W-what are you?" Gideon stammered, surprised and fearful of this monster. When the beast ran towards him, Gideon jumped out the way in time to avoid the attack which ended up destroying the tree when the beast's horns collided.

The beast stood up again, then faced Gideon, it's eyes like a blazing furnace, a symbol on it's head like a tattoo. Before another second could be given, Gideon turned and made a run for it. He could hear the hooves stamping the ground behind him, though he chose not to look back as he continued to run for his life.

Running down a slope and cutting between trees that were close enough to possibly slow the beast, that is if the beast was following him, but Gideon didn't take the chance to stop and look, he just ran as fast as he could. His heart was hammering, adrenaline was at it's peak, whatever that thing was, it wasn't natural.

After jumping down from a from a cliff small enough for him to consider a large step, Gideon tumbled and took a moment to pause and look up back at the ledge. His heart was hammering in his ears as he waited to see if the thing was coming. At first there was silence, then he heard the sound of stomping, or galloping, then the sound of bark breaking and snapping. Gideon knew this thing wasn't slowing and he wasn't giving up the chase. He was frozen at first, but after giving himself a quick slap across the face, he pulled out a keg of ale from his fannypack and chugged it.

The moment the beast came into view, it stared down at Gideon, but the giant was quick enough to spew out a mist that covered the area. With the beast giving an irritated roar from being blinded, Gideon took this chance and ran out the mist fog and continued to head into a random direction.

After some distance, Gideon broke through large foliage and came to a stop at the top of a large cliff that overlook the water. He had thought to turn back, but hearing a beastly roar echo behind him, causing thousands of birds to flew the forest, Gideon decided to make the jump and so he did. He dove off the cliff and entered the water, causing the tide to rise for a moment, but he didn't surface, he used the water as a cover as he swam towards the nearest shore.

After reaching a beach area, Gideon took a moment to catch his breath. his hands pressed against the sand, his whole body dressed and his heart still racing. His eyes darted back and forth, hoping the beast didn't follow him, but the area was quiet.

As the seconds passed, the shadows the trees stretched, the sun dipping further over the horizon. Gideon cursed under his breath, if he stayed any longer, than his sight will be lost and he'll be at a disadvantage. As for the monstrous beast, he knew nothing about it, so he didn't know if it could see in the dark. He needed to get away, time to think and a safe place for his kill.

Gideon quickly determined the direction of where his ship is, dove into the water and swam. By the time he reached his secret spot, the sun had finally vanished over the horizon and the last bit of light colored the sky in a dull orange. As the giant caught his breath, he stumbled into the ship, which was barely large enough to hold him.

The boar meat was placed into his large bag of ice; even in the face of danger, Gideon prioritized making sure food was taken care of before problems were dealt with. And now that the meat was secured, he was able to think about the situation at hand.

A story came back to Gideon, something he heard of when had first heard about the Upper Yard. There was a myth of a large creature that wasn't normal, the locals that knew of the story call it the Upper Yard Devil. Given how the story was told, Gideon figured it was just a bedtime story, but seeing the beast fit the description that most locals give, the myth was no mere tale and what was more shocking was something he recalled the Upper Yard Devil had on it's forehead; a sigil that seemed familiar.

It had taken Gideon a moment to remember the sigil he had seen when he was a kid; Loki's symbol, something he had marked on his projects whenever he would work on something new and whenever Loki presented his work to Gideon's father, the young Gideon would spot the symbol, a pitchfork with a bar running horizontally through the staff, creating a cross.

"Loki" Gideon gritted his teeth in anger.

Gideon sat quietly in his boat, thinking about the past, remembering things that was pushed to the back of his mind because it had no relevance before. He was a child, usually playing by himself whenever Loki would visit. He had been friends with Gideon's dad for as long as Gideon could remember. Loki would be working on projects and would ask Gideon's father for help for some of them. As far as Gideon could tell, the two of them were close friends. There was a day when the two were drinking, Gideon had got curious and looked through Uncle Loki's papers; all of it was boring, just words, but one thing caught his eye -Loki's symbol, the Cross-Pitchfork, a symbol he had seen displayed on Loki's stuff every now and then.

Loki worked weird projects; Gideon wasn't sure of what, but from what other people had said, they called him 'mad', 'insane' and 'dangerous', even Gideon's mother spoke to his father about how uneasy Loki's work made her. Then the memory of Gideon's father -Jacob- had surfaced. A neighbor came knocking on the door, to when Jacob answered, the neighbor told him that the Marines were performing a raid on a neighborhood and that Loki was there. Jacob was quick to act, saying "I'll be right back" to his wife and son, though that would be the last time they would see one another.

Back to the present, Gideon looked up to the night sky, the sun has finally set. The water moved and slightly rocked the boat. The Upper Yard Devil is a monster, not natural, possibly a creation of Loki, and if that's the case, then maybe it'll bring some answers to where Loki is.

Gideon exited his boat and readied Jormungandr.

The wind blew cold air as Gideon zipped up his jacket. One look to the sky, the giant could tell it may rain soon, but he couldn't pass up this chance. It has been years since he's had any lead to Loki, and he believed if he waited a day, he may lose his chance. He made his way away from the cliff and up the slope to trek through the trees towards the direction he had came from, hoping the devil was still in the area.

The thought came into his mind; 'How and why did Loki come to Skypiea? And is he still here?' He most then likely is the reason why the Upper Yard devil is created, and it must have been created within Skypiea given that the thing couldn't have traveled to where he currently is without catching notice of the residents of Skypiea or Jaya. With the time spent in Skypiea, Gideon hadn't received any information of Loki, but now he intended on getting answers.

Gideon gripped the handle of Jormungandr as he continued to trek through the woods. After some time, it had gotten too dark to travel blindly. The giant pulled out a torch and had lit it for his convenience. For a while, the only sounds he could hear were his heavy footsteps, the crackle of the fire, and the crickets that chirped in the distance. His eyes moved to and fro, trying to catch any sight of the beast. Every so often, he would hesitate, seeing shadows, swearing they had moved, then continue on.

What had upset Gideon was that he had gone into this little mission of his without any help, but what could he do? He knew no one up in the clouds and most, if not all the residents of Angel Island were too frightful of the tale of the Upper Yard Devil.

A deep growled echoed through the trees, Gideon turned about, his torch in his left hand and Jormungandr being held in his right. He couldn't tell how far the beast was, the darkness was too deep within the woods. Regret began to fill the giant.

After a few minutes of silence, Gideon continued onward, albeit more slowly, cautiously. After a while, having the large blade in only one hand began to take a toll on the wrist, so he stored away Jormungandr onto his back and drew Mjolgera. With the hammer, it was more easier to breeze pass the trees and the strain on his wrist was lifting.

Suddenly, for a split second, the darkness was lifted and replaced by blinding light, and soon afterwards, the sound of thunder echoed. Within a few minutes, it began to lightly rain, though it wasn't impeding Gideon's movement. Irritating began to overtake the giant's nervousness. For all he knew, the beast was in entirely different part of the Upper Yard. After a handful of minutes, Gideon began to contemplate whether or not the Devil was just his imagination. Then the growl returned... this time it was closer.

Gideon halted in his tracks, listening carefully. There was another low growl, but it had taken him a moment to determine the direction of where it was coming from. For a few seconds, he stared ahead, the growl still emanating, but he was sure which direction it was coming from, just not how far away it was, or whether or not it was the devil itself. The torch gave a bit of light, but Gideon couldn't see pass between two trees, for the darkness was right behind it, and he could swear there were red eyes within the darkness.

And with another flash of lightning, Gideon saw it for a split second, the Upper Yard devil and it's red eyes staring right at him, standing taller than him, just close enough for one stride. The giant was frozen in fear, just long enough for that stride.

The Upper Yard Devil tackled Gideon, sending him flying back, crashing through a few trees before stopping against a sturdy tree, "Damn it" Gideon grunted as he gathered himself. His torch and Jormungandr were still in his hands, though because of that, he couldn't defend himself well enough. Looking ahead, he could see the silhouette of the beast waiting, shifting from side to side, growling.

"What the hell are you?" Gideon got to his feet and coughed a bit; he stabbed Jormungandr into the ground, allowing it to stand before he pulled out Mjolgera, the meat tenderizer, from his fannypack. Because it was simply a rhetorical question, he didn't expect the beast to reply.

"Not sure what I am" it's voice was deep and eerie, echoed rather than spoke; it surprised Gideon, causing him to take a step back, "But give me a moment, and I'll pass as a giant" even though Gideon couldn't see the beast through the shadows, he could tell it was smiling. It gave the giant a feeling unease, maybe this thing was planning on doing something to him.

The devil moved forward again, but this time Gideon was ready, Mjolgera was swung and connected with the side of the devil's head, causing it to stumble, then Gideon took a couple of steps back, gaining a bit of distance; though he was proficient in fighting, he wasn't use to fighting beings his size, it has been a decade since he had a battle with another giant.

"Where's Loki?" Gideon demanded, knowing that this beast was able to talk would make it easier for him to gain information.

"Who the hell you talking about?" the devil growled as he charged at Gideon again. It suddenly feinted an attack, causing Gideon to lose his balance, then delivered a heavy punch  to the giant's side.

Gideon stumbled then gained cover behind a tree just in time to dodge another punch which then cracked and fell the tree. "That symbol on your head, where did you get it from?" the giant's voice was fearless though his knees would say something different.

The devil snickered, it seems it understood, "Seems like you're chasing a nightmare".

Gideon didn't understand what it meant by that, but before he could reply, the devil made another swing, this time the giant was ready, or so he thought. Though Gideon blocked the hook, the impact felt as if his arm was going to break, the force knocked him off balance, then the devil delivered a hard kick with a hoof. Gideon flew through a few trees and tumbled some distance.

"Damn" Gideon coughed, trying to get to his knees, but struggled from the pain. His eyesight adjusted enough to know he was in the dark, the torch must have died out. Once he finally managed to get to his knees he looked towards where the devil was but he couldn't see him due to the lack of light, "What do you want with me?" he managed to finally talk, fear was at his throat.

"I should be asking you the same thing" the deep voice came from the darkness. Then lightning struck, lighting up the area and the one thing he saw was the devil raising a strong fist before he blacked out, though it was only for a moment. Gideon woke a couple of seconds later, being lifted by his throat, "I don't know what I am or how I came to be, but I know I can change my form into whatever I eat" when the devil said this, Gideon understood what it wanted, to devour him so he could pass as him and get off the Upper Yard. The only thing he could see was the red eyes within the dark, fear swept over him.

Then the thought of never seeing his mom again came to him. He had made a promise to himself that he'll find her and free her. He had made sure to get stronger to find Loki and make him answer for his crimes. Gideon wiggled enough to get devil's hand to his face, and when he felt it, he bit down on one of his fingers. The devil cried out in pain as he released him. After Gideon tumbled onto the floor, he stood up, inhaled then ignited his exhaled breath, setting the area flame. He could now see the silhouette of the devil roaring in pain.

With a few trees set a blaze, Gideon was able to see the area better. After taking a second to find Jormungandr on the floor nearby, he grabbed it and readied himself, "You may have jumped out of the frying pan, but you plunged into the fire."

After a moment of staring at one another, they rushed. Gideon sword his blade, but instead of trying to dodge it, the devil allowed it to strike it's shoulder, slicing and drawing blood, but it didn't force the beast to falter, it just kept going, taking advantage of the opening and rammed into Gideon then kept running, sending the giant crashing through several trees, each tree slamming into the giant's back.

Once the devil tire, it stopped and allowed Gideon to tumble onto the floor, but the giant was quick to his feet, not allowing himself to remain downed. His breath, heavy after a moment of coughing, but before he could ready his stance, the devil was already on him, striking with swipes from his claws. Gideon was able to dodge a few of them, but only a few. His jacket torn and his shirt ripped, soon his clothing was redden by his own blood. He jammed the hilt of Jormungandr into the beast's face, taking the chance to position himself at it's side and a step away while he swung the blade, once again the devil took the blow and moved in to ram Gideon like before, but the giant was ready this time, he detached his blade and allowed it's flexibility to maneuver himself around the beast and slicing him with the lower part of the blade. There was a grunt of pain and annoyance as the devil turned around to see Gideon making a run for it.

Indeed he ran, but his intention was not to escape entirely, but to just gain some distance to catch his breath and plan ahead. Pretty soon, after stomping here and there, Gideon broke through a cluster of trees to find himself at a clearing where the moon provided some light, enough to see around him. He quickly took to the center of the clearing and gathered  his thoughts.

The beast had stated something along the lines of possibly taking his image and passing as him, could it change it's shape to whatever it defeats? Does it need to devour the host? Either way, Gideon didn't like the idea, but he couldn't leave just yet, he needed information and the only way he could possibly get any info the beast had, if it had any, was to beat it into submission.

The sound of stomping was emanating from the direction he came from, the beast was closing in. Gideon cursed, he had hoped he would have more time to catch his breath. He tossed his jacket to the side, his body now able to flex more in just his shirt, though it was a tattered and bloody. He held Jormungandr as the red eyes peered through the cluster of trees, hiding in the dark.

Gideon stood in the center of the moonlit clearing, staring at the red eyes that pierced through the darkness within the cluster of trees. Indeed the giant was scared, but he held his ground, for he knew and kept reminding himself that he was doing this to find vengeance for his father and mother. He held Jormungandr in both hands, ready for the battle.

At first there was silence, but before Gideon could wonder what the beast was planning, the devil burst out from behind the cluster of trees and rushed towards Gideon. This time Gideon was ready, once the devil got close, the giant pointed Jormungandr forward, stabbing the devil as it collided, preventing it from closing the gap, or so that was the plan, the devil kept pushing, was planning on allowing the blade to pass through him so he could get close enough to reach the giant's neck, but because of the many ridges on the blade, it kept the beast at bay.

"Ha" Gideon laughed though he was still trying to catch his breath, "Tell me what you know, and I'll let you go".

"Or maybe I eat you slowly instead of an instant death?" the voice of the devil was deeper and colder, setting the nerves on Gideon's neck. When it raised it's right arm, the giant could hear bones cracking, the reddish arm extended and reached out to grab Gideon's head.

Gideon quickly spat fire directly at the beast's stomach where the blade entered. The devil roared in pain which caused him to release his grip. Gideon took the chance and pulled away along with his blade, pulling it out from the stomach, painfully. The two took distance from one another. Both exchanging facial expressions.

Once again, Gideon and the devil exchanged blows, however this time they were more careful, not overstepping. Blood had stopped seeping through the stomach wound, though the devil was still pressing his hand against his stomach, his face has loss the smile but it was still as intimidating as before.

"Why do you continue to hide the secrets?" Gideon yelled, anger began to swell up, he was tired of asking, tired of waiting, "Where is Loki? what is he planning?" he gripped tightly at the handle of Jormungandr.

"Why do you think I know!?" the devil finally yelled out; Gideon's expression changed, now confused, "I never wanted to be this way, at least as far as I know" the devil was confused, thinking, wondering, and the giant was just as confused.

"No memory whatsoever?" Gideon asked, his blade lowly, but only slightly, "What about a name?"

It seemed the devil had struggled with even that such a task, "Other than what vile things the people call me, no" the devil grunted.

"You seem as if you have a sense about yourself, why did you attack me?"

"It's.... thoughts... bouts of anger, sometimes I would wake up not remember what happened to me during the hour" the devil's shoulders drooped as if he was tired. Gideon allowed his shoulders to drop too, but not entirely drop his guard.

The rain slowed a bit and luckily enough, it had caused the fires from the initial fight to die down without causing too much of a forest fire. The giant and the devil stood some distance from one another, both confused and tired. "Why were you planning on killing me? What was your plan?" Gideon wondered what he had meant before, what he had said seemed very odd.

"I... don't know... an idea popped into my mind, that I could steal a person's form if I devoured them" what the devil said caused Gideon to take a step back in surprise. The act was monstrous, and it was even more weird that the sudden 'popped into my mind' statement made it sound like an insane being.

"Have you ever tried it?" Gideon's voice was calm but cautious, he didn't want to cause the beast to lash out for no reason.

"No, but the thought had been there for some time" the devil looked off into the distance.

"What do you remember?"

The devil took a moment to think before speaking "I... was behind some kind of glass... tube." it brought his hand to his head, as if trying to remember hurt his head, "There were humans staring up at me, white coats, taking notes, I was... in some kind of facility."

Gideon wasn't surprised, he knew Loki would be behind this monstrous creation, clearly he had done it in some kind of secret lab, "Anybody else?"

"A giant with a black goatee" With what the devil said, Gideon gripped Jormungandr tightly, that was him, Loki, his goatee was his most notified feature, "And another giant, this one was heavily armored with weapons within his white coat.'

"Weapons?" he was confused at first, but rethinking, the white coats could possibly be scientists or - "Was there anything distinctive about the white coat?" he asked.

"A word on the back, 'Marine'" with that, Gideon pieced it together, Loki's working with the marines and if the marines were in the process of creating such beasts, they must have hid the devil up on Skypiea to avoid the world knowing their dirty little secret.

Gideon stared at the beast. It no longer looked evil or mad, but fragile and lost. The rain falling upon the surrounding grass the only thing that made any kind of sound other than a lightning strike which broke the silence, "What is it that you want now?" Gideon asked, standing Jormungandr on the ground by it's blade.

"I'm not sure" it said with a sigh.

"If anything, you and I can make our way to the blue sea below" Gideon offered.

"And what?" he finally turned to look at Gideon, a serious look, "With my appearance, I would be hunted down first like you did".

"Actually, you attacked me first earlier when I was hunting my boars. Gideon noted. The devil looked surprised, then tried to recall that moment but shook his head; back then, he probably blacked out and gave into the inner rage.

"I think it's too dangerous for either of us; I am a threat to you whenever I black out" the devil said as he sat upon the grass. Gideon stood standing in silence for about two minutes. There didn't seem to be anything he could say to comfort the being.

"Maybe if you place your focus on the person that did this to you, then maybe we can work together, I'm trying to find him, his name is Loki" Gideon said as he walked towards the devil.

The beast looked up at him, "I'm not sure... why would I want to hurt him? Maybe this is my desire, my fault?" it was contemplating hard, which didn't make either of them better. Then Gideon surprised the both of them by taking by the devil. They remain in silence and just stared off into the distance.

With the adrenaline gone, the pain from the battle ran throughout Gideon's body. The giant slowly laid upon the grass to try and relax.

"Sorry" the devil sighed, sincerity hinted in his voice.

"Don't worry about it, just a misunderstanding" Gideon tried to laugh but the pain was a bit too much and a grunt of pain escaped his mouth. Silence fell between the two once more. The rain trickled down. Gideon had his hand over his eyes so that the rain wouldn't blind him. After a few minutes, the giant was close to falling alseep, but the devil broke the silence.

"Can I ask you for a favor?" it asked.

"If I'm able to do it, sure" Gideon sat up and yawned.

"Kill me" this shocked the giant. Gideon stared at the devil wide-eyed, "This life of mine brings only pain to others, regardless if they are friend or foe, and that brings me pain as well, whether it is emotionally or physically" it didn't look back to Gideon, just off into the distance, just nonchalantly.

Gideon wanted to go against it, but he couldn't say anything. He had an understanding to what the devil was trying to describe... such a life, no one would want, another reason why Loki needed to be stopped, "I don't do executions" Gideon simply said.

"Is that pity?" the devil chuckled lightly.

"No, where I come from, we giants are honorable warriors" Although Gideon and his family moved away from Elbaf, some giant traits were still carried over into their living style, even though Gideon himself isn't a warrior, "We don't kill unless it's in actual combat against another fighter".

After minute of silence before the devil said "Very well" he stood up and faced the giant, "Then it is a battle to the death".