"What the hell is this thing?!" Usopp shouted in terror. "Is it a monster?!"
"Or a zombie!"
"A zombie..."
Nico Robin was momentarily stunned upon hearing this, then looked around in confusion and said, "Could Moria be here?"
Otherwise, there would be no explanation for why a zombie would appear here.
"This person might not necessarily be a zombie," Meiser said, carefully staring at Kin'emon's lower half. "After all, there are no strange wounds on his body."
"Not a zombie..." Usopp breathed a sigh of relief. "That's good."
As long as it wasn't some bizarre creature.
"Really..."
Luffy, who had moved close to Kin'emon's lower half, examined the strange figure carefully and said, "There really aren't any wounds on him."
"Then why did he become like this?"
It couldn't be that this person was born with only a lower half, right? How would he breathe and eat?
Could it be using...
As if he had thought of something, Usopp's expression immediately changed.
"Maybe he became like this because of some Devil Fruit ability," Meiser speculated.
Rather than the other party being some special race, he was more inclined to believe that the other party had been affected by some ability.
"An ability..."
Usopp thought for a moment, nodded, and said, "That's the only explanation."
Then, he moved closer to Kin'emon's lower half and continued, "But this guy is pretty big... Just his lower half is taller than my entire body."
If his whole body were here, wouldn't he be three or four meters tall?
"Probably another giant, muscular man," Meiser said.
Just at that moment, Kin'emon's lower half moved.
"Who's there?!" Kin'emon's lower half turned around, seemingly observing the surroundings, and said, "I can sense your presence. What are you doing?"
"Presence..."
Upon hearing this, Meiser stroked his chin and said, "So... this guy is sensing us through Observation Haki."
No wonder he could detect their presence without ears or eyes.
"Observation Haki..."
Zoro stared at Kin'emon's lower half, which seemed to be observing something, and fell into deep thought.
What a strange feeling.
"Damn it, I don't know who you are, but don't get in my way!" Kin'emon's lower half shouted.
As he spoke, Kin'emon's lower half kicked toward Luffy, startling Luffy into performing a backflip to create distance.
"What now?"
Luffy looked at Kin'emon's lower half with uncertainty. Why was he being kicked again?
"Damn it, I can't die here yet!" Kin'emon's lower half shouted. "And... foolish Royal Seven Warlord of the Sea, I won't let you escape!"
With that, Kin'emon's lower half quickly ran into the distance, as if heading off to find a certain Royal Seven Warlord of the Sea.
Upon seeing this, Luffy's eyes immediately lit up with excitement.
"You're really interesting."
"Hey, do you want to be my cre..."
"Thump!"
After punching Luffy to the ground, Usopp opened his shark mouth and roared, "Shut up, you idiot!"
"Don't just drag any weird thing onto the ship!"
If someone like that ended up on the ship, he'd have nightmares in the middle of the night, damn it!
Thinking this, Usopp roared again, "Calm down, will you?!"
Luffy, who had just been punched, wasn't angry at all. Instead, he grinned at Usopp and said, "But this guy is really interesting."
"Interesting... Where exactly is he interesting, you idiot?!"
All he felt was creepiness, nothing else.
"Anyway... I'm going to catch that guy," Luffy said as he got up. "While I'm gone, help me grill some dragon meat!"
With that, Luffy quickly chased after the distant figure, shouting, "Wait for me, feet!!"
Seeing this, Meiser and the others twitched at the corners of their mouths.
What kind of nonsense was this?
"Luffy's curiosity is really something else," Usopp complained. "What exactly does he see in that monster?"
Hearing this, Merry thought for a moment, then blinked and said, "Maybe it's because the other person looks like a monster that Luffy is interested?"
As soon as she said this, Usopp fell completely silent.
Thinking about it carefully... that really did sound like something Luffy would do.
"Damn it..."
Usopp said frantically, "I don't want to be in the same place as a guy like that!"
That would definitely give him nightmares!
"Give it up, Usopp."
Meiser patted Usopp on the shoulder and said, "You know how Luffy is."
If this guy was determined to bring the other person into the Straw Hat Pirates, there was no stopping him.
As if understanding Meiser's meaning, Usopp's expression immediately fell.
Then, he slumped to the ground with a look of despair and said, "Damn it, why did we have to run into this weird situation..."
Why did he suddenly feel like all hope in life was gone, damn it!
Looking at Usopp's utterly dejected face, Meiser shook his head helplessly, not knowing what else to say.
"More than that, I'm more concerned about what that guy said earlier," Nico Robin said thoughtfully. "He said he wouldn't let a Royal Seven Warlord of the Sea escape... Does that mean there really is a Royal Seven Warlord of the Sea on this island?"
As soon as she said this, Usopp's face immediately turned pale.
"There's really a Royal Seven Warlord of the Sea here?!"
"At the very least, a Royal Seven Warlord of the Sea has been to this island," Nico Robin said. "Whether they've left or not is unclear."
After all, they hadn't found that Royal Seven Warlord of the Sea, had they?
The question was, who could turn a living person into something like that?
"Never mind, let's deal with the ingredients first," Zoro said, shaking his head. "As for that Royal Seven Warlord of the Sea, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it."
With that, Zoro picked up his weapon and walked toward the dragon, clearly intending to carve out some tasty meat. "Don't rush, let's drain the blood from its body first."
Meiser approached Zoro and examined the massive dragon before them, saying, "Otherwise, it might affect the meat quality."
Zoro was taken aback for a moment upon hearing this, then seemed to understand something and asked in surprise, "You plan to take this entire thing with you?"
"Of course."
Meiser replied, "Such high-quality ingredients should naturally be brought back for Sanji to handle."
Simply roasting it over fire was the simplest cooking method, and the flavor would undoubtedly be lacking.
But if Sanji could prepare it... this dragon meat would surely become incredibly delicious!
Thinking this, Meiser nodded firmly.
Zoro considered it for a moment, then nodded as well. "Yeah, that makes sense."
Though that pervy cook was quite punchable, his culinary skills were undeniable, so bringing it back for him to handle was the best option.
Then, Zoro continued, "By now, this big guy's blood should have mostly drained, right?"
As he spoke, he glanced at the severed wound on the dragon's neck, where a major artery was located.
"Maybe, but it still feels a bit lacking," Meiser said.
After a moment's thought, he added, "I'll use a Wood Human to drain its blood completely."
With that, Meiser activated his Wood Release ability, summoning an enormous Wood Human.
Usopp, witnessing this scene, was immediately stunned.
Then, Usopp exclaimed in disbelief, "Hey, Meiser, isn't this Wood Human a bit too big?"
A single tooth of the dragon was larger than his entire body, yet the Wood Human Meiser summoned was even bigger than the dragon itself!
Wasn't that a bit too exaggerated?
"This is nothing," Meiser chuckled. "If there's a chance in the future, I'll show you something even bigger."
Usopp: ??
Even bigger?
Could Meiser's Wood Release summon something even more massive than this?
Wasn't that a bit too overpowered?
Ignoring Usopp's reaction, Meiser controlled the Wood Human to approach the dragon, then lifted its enormous body and hung it upside down to drain the blood.
Suddenly, as if remembering something, Meiser used Wood Release to create an enormous cup and collected the dragon's blood inside.
Seeing this, Nico Robin asked in surprise, "You plan to take the dragon's blood back too?"
"Naturally."
Dragon-style blood tofu stew should taste quite good, so it shouldn't go to waste.
Nico Robin smiled helplessly upon hearing this. Meiser really was diligent and thrifty.
Soon, under Meiser's control, a large cup of dragon's blood was collected.
Then, Meiser proceeded to process the dragon's internal organs and other parts.
After everything was handled, he prepared a portion of meat large enough for them to eat.
The excess was stored away using a Sealing Scroll.
Once this was done, Meiser dismissed the Wood Human and, at the same time, controlled a Wood Dragon to begin roasting the meat.
Seeing this, Usopp quipped, "Wood Dragon chef, huh?"
"Just tell me if it's convenient or not," Meiser chuckled.
Though using Wood Release for such tasks was rather unusual, it made handling large pieces of meat much easier, didn't it?
"That's true."
Usopp nodded in understanding, then looked worriedly in the direction Luffy had left and said, "By the way... why hasn't that guy Luffy come back yet?"
He'd been gone for quite a while... Could something have gone wrong?
"Don't worry. If that guy really ran into any danger, he'd definitely make a huge commotion," Meiser said.
He knew Luffy's personality all too well, so he wasn't worried in the slightest.
Usopp blinked at his words. That did seem to make sense.
If Luffy really encountered enemies, he'd definitely create a huge disturbance right away.
That way, they could rush over in time to support him.
Once he understood this, Usopp relaxed and sat quietly on the ground, waiting for the meat to finish roasting.
"Hey, Meiser."
Zoro looked up at the massive roast and said, "Sprinkle more cumin and chili powder on it!"
If you didn't add enough seasoning to such a large roast, the flavor would be much worse.
Hearing this, Meiser twitched at the corner of his mouth. Now he was getting picky, huh?
"I'll do it."
Merry pulled out an enormous seasoning box from her little pouch and said, "I happen to have some here."
With that, Merry ran above the roasting meat and used her ability to precisely sprinkle the seasoning over it, not wasting a single grain~
Seeing this, Usopp marveled, "Your ability can even do something like this?
Your control is really incredible!"
"Hehe, of course~"
Hearing Usopp's praise, Merry chuckled and said, "My ability can do a lot of things."
Controlling seasoning with the power of the wind was just a small matter.
"More than that, I'm curious why you have seasoning in your pouch," Zoro said, looking at Merry with confusion.
Merry wasn't particularly interested in cooking, so why would she carry seasoning in her pouch?
Could it be Sanji's?
That wasn't impossible...
"Oh, Sanji gave this to me."
Merry explained, "He bought a bit too much last time, so he stored the extra with me."
If all the seasoning were kept on the pirate ship, it would spoil due to moisture, which was why Sanji had entrusted it to her.
At least in her space, it wouldn't get damp!
Zoro's expression showed he'd expected as much. It seemed his guess was right—the seasoning in Merry's pouch did belong to Sanji.
"Having a space like that is so convenient," Usopp said enviously.
"If you have anything you need to store, you can put it with me too," Merry offered with a smile.
Usopp blinked at her words. That did make sense.
Then, he nodded and said, "Alright, next time we go shopping, I'll buy more useful tools and store them all with you."
"Okay!"
Merry nodded cheerfully and took out another batch of seasoning to sprinkle, making the roast even more delicious!
Soon, the aroma of the roasting meat began to waft out, making everyone's mouths water.
"Gulp..."
Usopp swallowed his saliva and said, "Doesn't this smell a bit too good?"
The aroma of this meat was even better than any they'd had before... He was absolutely drooling!
"It really does smell amazing." Zoro also looked up at the enormous roasted meat and said, "Maybe it's because of the seasoning?"
"No, it's because this is dragon meat," Meiser replied.
The seasonings used were just the simplest—chili, salt, and cumin—the same as usual.
So Meiser concluded it must be the quality of the meat itself.
Hearing this, Zoro nodded, then turned to look in the direction Luffy had just run off and laughed. "Then I bet that guy will be back soon."
With such an incredible aroma, there's no way he could resist it!
At Zoro's words, the rest of the crew laughed along.
Yeah, Luffy was the one who could never resist the smell of meat.
"Then I'll help fan the scent~" Merry chuckled.
With that, Merry used her wind powers to blow the aroma further out.
Seeing this, everyone laughed even harder.
"Luffy's probably drooling already~" Usopp grinned.
"Definitely~"
"Hahahaha."
"Hey, don't run around like that!" Luffy shouted anxiously. "Don't go into the pile!"
But unfortunately, Kin'emon, who only had his upper body, couldn't hear what Luffy was saying.
Kin'emon's lower half continued running off on its own into the distance, as if searching for something.
"Damn it, still won't stop..."
Luffy muttered, "In that case..."
"Gomu-Gomu Catch!"
"Whoosh~"
As soon as he spoke, Luffy's arm shot forward, aiming straight for Kin'emon's body.
If he could just grab him, he could pin him down!
"Just let me catch you, legs!"
Kin'emon: !!
As if sensing something, Kin'emon's lower half shouted, "I sense a presence... someone is attacking me!"
Then, Kin'emon's lower half leaped into the air, successfully dodging Luffy's attack.
And because Kin'emon's lower half evaded him, Luffy's hand ended up grabbing a burning rock instead.
"Sizzle..."
"Ah!"
"Hot, hot, hot..."
Luffy pulled his hand back and immediately started hopping around, clutching his reddened hand.
"Hey, just who are you?"
Kin'emon's lower half, standing on the rock, turned to look at Luffy and said, "You clearly have no killing intent, yet you attack me... What exactly are you trying to do?"
Kin'emon was deeply puzzled. If the other party had no intention to kill, why attack him?
Could he just be looking for trouble?
"Of course I have no killing intent," Luffy said, looking up at Kin'emon's lower half. "Because I don't want to kill you at all."
He was only trying to catch this guy to make him his crewmate.
Just then, an incredibly delicious aroma drifted into Luffy's nose, making his mouth water instantly.
"This smell... gulp..."
After glancing back in the direction he came from, Luffy said, "Must be Zoro and the others finishing up the roast."
"Slurp... it smells so good!"
No, he had to catch this guy quickly and get back to enjoy that delicious roasted dragon meat!
With that thought, Luffy placed both hands on the rock and shouted, "You, just obediently become my crewmate!""
"Whoosh~"
As soon as the words were spoken, Luffy flew out with a whoosh.
In the end... he crashed hard into Kin'emon's vulnerable spot.
"Thud!"
"Crack~"
Along with a sound like an eggshell cracking, Kin'emon let out a scream.
"Ah!!"
"It's... cracked..."
"!!"
"I'm... sorry..."
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