At dusk, warm orange afterglow sprinkled across the land. After a long and arduous climb, Long Zhisu finally ascended Zou.
Luffy, Usopp, Franky, Brook, Nami, Chopper, and Robin looked at the panting but still brightly smiling Long Zhisu, and their eyes couldn't help but moisten slightly.
"Long Zhisu, are you going to turn back into a drawing?" Luffy asked softly, with a hint of a choke in his voice.
"Long~" Long Zhisu responded cheerfully, its eyes full of the joy of completing its mission.
At this moment, Zoro, Sanji, and Law walked straight ahead without looking back.
Usopp, seeing this, instantly bristled and roared at them, "Hey! Look back! This is the benefactor who brought us up!"
Zoro and the two others paused, turned their heads helplessly, and gave Usopp a look that said, "Are you serious?"
Everyone watched as Long Zhisu gradually began to glow, and tears could no longer be controlled, streaming from their eyes.
Luffy, Chopper, and Brook cried even more heartbrokenly, shouting loudly, "Long Zhisu!!"
The reluctance in their voices filled the surrounding air with a sad atmosphere.
Orochimaru stood to the side, looking at the group of people crying in a heap, his face full of speechlessness, and couldn't help but grumble, "...You like it so much...do you want to keep it?"
As soon as these words came out, Long Zhisu instantly froze, its eyes wide and round, (◎ - ◎;) as if startled by the suggestion. Did it have to be forced to work again? So, it accelerated its disappearance.
Upon hearing Orochimaru's suggestion, everyone looked at Orochimaru as if he were a devil, their faces clearly saying, 'He's already helped so much, and is about to 'depart', yet you won't even let him rest in peace?'
Just then, Robin silently raised her hand and whispered, "I want to keep it." But then she felt it was not good to force someone to work, so she silently withdrew her hand.
Orochimaru looked at their accusatory expressions, veins throbbing on his forehead, and raised his voice, "Aren't you the ones acting so reluctant to part!!"
Everyone was stunned by Orochimaru's yell, their expressions instantly stiffening, and an awkward atmosphere spread through the air.
At this moment, Nami quickly stepped forward to smooth things over, a sweet, signature smile on her face. While gently pushing Orochimaru's back, she squinted and spoke in a coaxing tone, like to a child:
"Now, now... Orochimaru, don't be angry. Let's go check out the town, and let Long Zhisu rest in peace."
As Nami spoke, she gave the others a look, signaling them to quickly cooperate.
Everyone then came to their senses and followed with silly smiles.
The group pushed and jostled their way into Zou, originally harboring curiosity and anticipation for the new island. But as soon as they entered the town, the sight before them stunned them. They saw many people lying haphazardly on the ground, all on the verge of death, looking extremely miserable.
Chopper, seeing this, instantly furrowed its small brows into a 'river' shape. It instinctively sniffed, but was suddenly choked by a pungent smell, and quickly covered its mouth and nose, shouting, "It's gas! Why is there gas here? It must contain nerve-paralyzing components!" As it spoke, it quickly crouched down and casually examined a few of the collapsed people, its face instantly turning pale. "This is bad! We need immediate first aid! They won't last much longer! The top priority is to deal with the surrounding gas first!"
Orochimaru also couldn't help but frown, thinking to himself: Is it that serious? He was all too familiar with this gas; it was Caesar's weapon. Caesar had given this stuff to Doflamingo before, and he hadn't brought any himself this time. Did he have to deal with it personally?
Orochimaru sighed helplessly, thinking: Never mind, never mind. If I don't save them, those cats and dogs will probably die too. I really have to pay all my own debts.
Orochimaru quickly found an open space, and in the blink of an eye, his body twisted and transformed, instantly becoming an enormous white snake.
The white snake's body coiled, its entire form like a vast shadow, enveloping a portion of Zou.
Orochimaru took a deep breath, and the suction was like a tornado. The gas permeating the air was instantly swallowed into its belly like a tide.
Actually, he could absorb the gas in his human form, but it would greatly affect his image. He didn't want to turn into a toad, so he decisively chose this giant snake form.
Watching Orochimaru's astonishing transformation, everyone couldn't help but exclaim once again that Orochimaru was becoming less and less human!
Soon, accompanied by a violent surge of airflow, a strong wind howled past.
Under Orochimaru's powerful absorption, the gas gradually dissipated. The town, which had been hazy and eerie under the gas, gradually became clear.
As soon as the gas dissipated, several particularly robust warriors began to react.
Pekoms coughed violently a few times, struggling to lift his head. He vaguely looked up and saw a giant python, covering the sky and sun, hovering in the air, feeling a bit desperate. Had they angered the gods? After Jack, another giant python appeared!
However, in the blink of an eye, the giant python quickly disappeared before his eyes, replaced by a rather handsome young man (Mink Tribe aesthetics differ). Pekoms couldn't help but widen his eyes, what kind of magic was this?
After Orochimaru returned to human form, he couldn't help but cover his mouth and dry heave.
He quickly circulated his Chakra to clear the residual toxins from his body as soon as possible.
Ugh... The smell of the gas is so disgusting, it feels like I ate a Jiraiya, ugh.
The group of people looked at the nauseous and dry-heaving Orochimaru with some concern. Chopper ran over intending to check, but Orochimaru waved his hand, pointing at the scattered bodies... "I'm fine, just disgusted. Those things will die if they're not saved quickly. This is Caesar's gas, time is short. This is the antidote formula, Caesar gave it to me before."
(Actually, Orochimaru had helped research it, and Orochimaru felt that if he said so, Chopper would probably rush over and bite him, so he decided against it.)
After saying that, another wave of nausea hit him, "Ugh..."
Chopper knew the priorities. If Orochimaru said he was fine, he definitely was, so the group set about saving people.
Robin fed him water, patted his back, pulled a piece of candy from her backpack, and gently placed it in Orochimaru's mouth: "Have a candy first, take it easy."
Orochimaru sucked on the candy, calmed himself, found a clean spot to sit down, and began to circulate the Chakra within his body.
Chopper, following the formula he had given, began to search for materials and prepare the antidote.
Pekoms, looking at these strangers, struggled to his feet, wanting to help. The other people who could move also laboriously crawled over and gathered together.
Pekoms also stopped Wanda, who had just woken up and didn't know what was happening, from attacking.
Just then, Chopper ran over, clutching a pile of equipment, and looked at the group with a serious expression.
"Hey! What are you all dawdling for? The gas has been spreading for a long time! We need to speed up the detoxification process, or they'll die soon!"
"Now we need to start making the antidote!"
"To save the lives of everyone in this country, we must race against time!"
"Orochimaru will take a while to recover, we have to work hard ourselves and not put everything on Orochimaru!"
"Where's the hospital! We don't have enough medical equipment and medicine! If there are any more people, call them all over!"
"I'm a doctor! Everyone, listen to my command!"
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