In the blink of an eye, a group of people were already riding steadily on the extended Long Zhisu.
The poor Long Zhisu let out tragic cries while desperately climbing upwards with great difficulty. Anyone who saw him would feel a pang of pity.
Even though Luffy was bruised and swollen, the excitement on his face couldn't be hidden, and his eyes sparkled with thrilling light.
Orochimaru sat steadily behind Luffy, his face calm.
Further back, Zoro's stern figure came into view. He held the scales drawn on his body with both hands, curiously observing his surroundings.
Kin'emon and the others sat at the very back of the group.
Usopp looked at the bottomless ten-thousand-meter high sky behind him, scared pale, and couldn't help but shout at the top of his lungs: "This is too high! It's scaring me to death! My arms are about to break from the strain! Can't we really fly up on Orochimaru?"
"And also, is Orochimaru's mechanical naruto finally modified? Isn't that supposed to be our exclusive mount?"
His voice trembled, standing out particularly in the howling wind.
Nami nodded in agreement, holding Chopper and barely sitting with Robin's help, but she was crying terribly. She always felt that this wasn't how they should be going up.
Luffy turned his head, looking at Usopp with a speechless expression. He thought about riding Orochimaru, what kind of nonsense was he thinking? He waved his hand helplessly and said:
"There's no place on Orochimaru for you to sit steadily; you'd just slide right off! Don't say that, Usopp! He's trying very hard."
Luffy's gaze swept past his Companions in front and landed on Kanjuro and Kin'emon at the end of the group. He scratched his head and asked with great curiosity: "Speaking of which, why do you guys insist on coming with us to Zou?"
Actually, Luffy vaguely knew that Kin'emon and the others seemed to have some connection with Orochimaru, but he hadn't had time to think about it in detail before. Now that they were about to reach Zou, this curiosity could no longer be suppressed, compelling him to ask the question.
Kin'emon's expression froze slightly when he heard Luffy's words, and a hint of embarrassment appeared on his face. He cupped his hands and said sincerely: "Indeed, you are all our great benefactors. In the future, if there is any task, I, Kin'emon, will go through fire and water, and will not hesitate to die ten thousand times. But I hope you will allow us to first complete the matters we have in our hearts."
Kanjuro nodded from the side and took over the conversation: "Hmm... After we left Wano Country, our destination was this island of Zou. Our actions along the way were, firstly, to confirm whether Momonosuke was safe and sound, and secondly, to search for another one of our compatriots who got separated at sea, the Ninja Raizo, to confirm whether he safely arrived at this island."
As soon as these words were spoken, the accompanying men seemed to receive some unspoken command, and their gazes all simultaneously fell on Orochimaru, then quickly shifted to Kanjuro.
"Ninja!! You said Ninja???" Everyone's voices were filled with surprise and curiosity.
The others' eyes showed a sense of seriousness. After all, in their minds, although Orochimaru was a Ninja, his style of action was completely different from the cool image they imagined a Ninja should have.
If Orochimaru knew their thoughts at this moment, he would probably deal with them one by one without mercy, making them truly feel the terrifying power of the legendary "Three Sannin."
Amidst the clamor of the crowd, only Law looked solemn, mumbling to himself: "So it really exists, Ninja..." His tone was as if he was confirming a long-troubling conjecture.
Sanji suddenly thought of something, a mischievous smile playing on the corner of his mouth, and he squinted at Trafalgar Law, teasing:
"Trafalgar Law, you're not questioning that Orochimaru is a Ninja, are you?"
His deliberately drawn-out tone was full of playful mockery.
Law suddenly snapped back to reality, looking at Orochimaru with a surprised expression, and hesitantly said: "Master Orochimaru's title isn't'Seductive Ninja', is it? Could it really be..."
Before he could finish his sentence, Law's face instantly turned crimson, like a ripe tomato, even the tips of his ears were red, as if he was startled by the images in his mind.
Sanji, who had been wearing a playful smile, instantly lost his composure when he saw Law's blushing face. His eyes widened, and he poked Law's forehead, who was sitting behind him, exasperatedly saying:
"What are you imagining?! Why are you blushing?! Don't think that just because you've seen it, you can just think whatever you want!"
A vein throbbed slightly on Sanji's forehead, as if he was provoked by Law's reaction. His ruffled appearance was a stark contrast to his usual elegant demeanor, as if Law's thoughts were something rebellious.
After all, he was forbidden to bathe with Orochimaru; he was jealous.
Orochimaru listened to everyone's back-and-forth with a cold, expressionless face, but inwardly he was extremely annoyed.
Looking at the gesticulating Kin'emon and Kanjuro, Orochimaru just felt they were embarrassing, especially embarrassing for Ninjas.
He scanned the several noisy fellows below, casually took a Sky Island pumpkin coconut from his system backpack, and threw it down without hesitation.
Sanji and the others were chatting animatedly when they suddenly felt something falling rapidly and instinctively turned their heads.
At this moment, Kanjuro was covering Kin'emon's eyes with his hand, doing who knows what, completely unaware of the "crisis" above his head.
With a dull thud, the pumpkin coconut landed squarely on both their heads.
Without even a chance to scream, the two fell straight down like kites with broken strings.
Everyone's eyes instantly widened, looking at Orochimaru with disbelief, as if asking, "What on earth are you doing?"
Orochimaru, however, calmly uttered two words: "Sorry, my hand slipped."
His provoking demeanor made it clear to anyone that it was absolutely intentional.
Poor Kanjuro and Kin'emon, who was holding Momonosuke, thus became Orochimaru's "sacrifices" for venting his irritation.
Before long, Kin'emon's strong voice came faintly from below: "Luffy-dono, we are fine, you go ahead, we will follow right behind!" The voice pierced through the wind and clearly reached everyone's ears.
Hearing this, everyone's suspended hearts finally dropped back into place, and they all let out a long sigh of relief.
Initially, Luffy and the others thought about having Long Zhisu go down to meet Kanjuro and Kin'emon, but then he glanced at Orochimaru's expressionless face, which clearly showed "what a pity," and his body exuded an inscrutable aura.
Luffy's words, which were on the tip of his tongue, instantly took a turn and became: "Go, Long Zhisu!"
He even added excitedly, "We're almost there!"
His tone was as if he had forgotten Kin'emon, and the brief interlude was just an insignificant farce.
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