April the 8th, naval time 3:00PM, Shouta's perspective.

      Everything was blurry as Shouta opened his eyes. He was slightly nauseas and felt like he would puke again. Recalling the last half hour or so that he could remember. He had been clinging desperately onto the rope attached to the Wani. If it had not been the half gravity present, he didn't think he would have made it, but where was he?

      Maki looked down at the young man she had just saved. Carefully she applied a  natural disinfectant which grew from a flower in the tree village, applying it to the young man inside her nearly finished man palace was slightly difficult. Noticing his awakening she greeted him after a moment. "Hello," she said.

      Shouta started to panic as his vision returned. He was inside a large cage of sorts, a large towering woman was standing outside of it. She was nearly as tall as Osaka castle in his homeland. She spoke to him, but the language was  nothing that Shouta recognized, but still he responded by yelling back in fear. "Get away from me you monster!"

      Maki was puzzled by the young man's words. He was speaking in the words which her people used to thank the gods. It was not a language which was used much for communication only ceremonies practiced from long ago. But still it puzzled her that she was being referred to as a monster, or perhaps she misunderstood him, and he was thanking her for saving him from the bird. Really it didn't make any sense, no matter how she put it. "Are you married, or are you still searching for mates." She asked again in her formal language. Transfixed on the answer.

      The giant woman was talking again and did not seem fazed by his yell. Not that he thought it would. She was very imposing, despite being nearly nude accept a few undergarments made of straw she scared him; curling into a ball, Shouta could only feel fear in his circumstances. This was different from a person holding a gun opposing you, this was a force of nature you couldn't stop; a monster of which one man alone could not face, let alone defeat.

      Maki watched as the scared young man curled up in a ball inside her man palace. He was dressed in some weird clothing she had never seen before. Completely odd she thought. Maki could not believe such a young man existed, he really did seem scared of her. Was it her appearance? He did not respond to her question, so this time she tried in the old tongue used for thanking the gods of the lands. "What's your name?" She said.

      Hearing a familiar phrase, Shouta lifted his head from the fetal position for a brief moment. "Shouta" he said.

      Maki was relieved to hear him say his name. "My name is Maki, why is it that you only speak in the holy words?"

      Gaining a little confidence as his monster now seemed more human, Shouta stood up and looked at her colossal stance, her eye nearly half his size. "Maki, that sounds like Japanese, but this is the only language I know." Shouta responded. "How is that possible, what mother would raise their son with only the holy words!?" Shouta was confused by the Giants response, "why would my mother know your language, she can only speak Japanese as well."

      Maki wasn't sure what Japanese was referring too, but it was apparent that him and his mother only ever spoke holy words, which made no sense at all. Still she would try to get answers out of him, but speaking holy words was mentally exhausting on her, since she rarely spoke it at all. "Have you left your mother's side yet, have you had a male heir yet?"

      Shouta was puzzled by this giant woman's question. It was quite private, but perhaps he could use it as leverage. "That I will answer. But only if you let me out of this cage."

      Maki was floored by this male rudeness, he was blatantly insulting her workmanship of her man palace. He even called it a cage! "It's dangerous outside, why would you wish to venture from your protection, where you not just nearly killed by a bird!"

      What she was saying had merit, but Shouta still did not like the idea of being locked in a cage. "I have never lived in a cage, and I will not stand to be in one now!"

      Maki was taken aback by what the man had said, never lived in a cage. How could such a uncaring unloving mother exist, it was no wonder that he had been attacked by a bird. "You will stay in there, it's for your protection!" Yelled Maki, much to the discomfort of Shouta's ears. "You have no right to contain me giant! Let me return to my people!"

      Maki responded again, "You are with your people, as for your village, how could they miss you when they do not even bother to try and protect you, are you infertile!?"

      "Infertile, I'm still a young man! A proud Strong Japanese Man!" Yelled Shouta.

      Maki was getting nowhere with this stubborn confusing male. Between her father and the suitor which had come to the village before, he was more womanly and feisty, very unlike a man. He was reckless, dangerous to himself even, and for the most part, acted like he was the one in power. "You haven't mated with anyone yet have you?" She said; more as a statement then a question.

      Shouta blushed at the large woman, "I've gotten around, but I've been fighting a war, so how can I take up with a woman."

      Everything about this man bugged Maki. He was strange, he was out of place, he was perhaps the strangest person she had ever met. Just what kind of village did he come from!? "Men don't fight wars, only females do, and the tree burner men of the west have not attacked for two generations! Stop lying and tell me what kind of tree village you came from!?"

      "I did not come from any tree village, I lived in Osaka on the land. My family has a proud tradition in sword making dating back to the Edo period! Why would I live in a tree like you!?" Yelled Shouta in defiance of his capturer.

      "You live on the land, like the Tree burners of the west? That's impossible, no one lives there besides them!" She paused. "Why do you keep lying to me! You must have come from a tree village, there would be no way for a young man as yourself to survive in the wild, no parent would allow a male to do so!" Now tell me...."

      Bang! While she had kept speaking Shouta had realized he was still armed with his sidearm a Nambu Type 94 Pistol. Taking aim at her nearby hand he fired a single round. Given the half gravity of this world, the round traveled  further more accurately due to the lowered gravity. Managing to pierce her skin fairly deep; much like a pin might prick you if stabbed. The result was a loud yelping sound from the Giant woman. "Listen I'm Shouta Petty Officer Second Class of the battleship Hamakaze, and I will not be caged, and you will not call me a liar when I've only told you the truth!"

      Maki continued rubbing her hand. It had felt like a bird had pecked her in the hand. Even blood ran from the wound this little man had somehow caused, much like a mosquito bite. A strange man, and somehow she started to feel like he was telling the truth. She would ask her mother and father. "Listen Shouta, I still don't believe you, yet, but I will take you to meet my mother and father."

      Shouta watched in hope as she opened the cage and placed her hand out respectfully in front of him with her palm facing up. "Let's go." She said.

      Shouta responded by hopping unto her large hand, albeit nervously. It could have easily crushed him in an instant.

To be continued.