Chapter 6: The Little Girl with the Small Scar, the Boy with Half a Brain (Please Subscribe, Please Recommend)
Chapter 6: The Girl with the Small Scar, the Boy with Half a Brain (Please Bookmark, Please Recommend)
Cui Ze stared at the glowing screen. On the pale, translucent display were the words: [Tanjiro Kamado’s Special Rice Ball].
He couldn’t close his eyes no matter how he tried. After squinting for a long time, he finally made out the words between the lines. The entire screen displayed only two characters: “Orthopedics”!
“Even if I die and am nailed into a coffin, I will still shout from the grave with these decaying vocal cords: May all lovers in the world ultimately become siblings!”
Turning off the screen, Cui Ze clutched the [Special Rice Ball] in his hand, utterly clueless about what use it might have.
And what about that bizarre [Bamboo Tube Mouth Plug] from before?
“This [Fishing] skill is definitely a bit abnormal!”
He tossed the [Special Rice Ball] into his waist pocket. Regardless of how ridiculous its effects might be, as a rice ball, it still served the fundamental purpose of satisfying hunger.
It was even more suitable as emergency rations than some reindeer of the new era.
Yet, this thing was apparently worth an E-rank fishing bait!?
Just thinking about it made Cui Ze’s little heart ache faintly.
Calming himself, Cui Ze pushed against a giant rock and stood up from the ground.
The acquisition of the [Tenacity] talent completely erased the soreness in his legs.
“Huff—breathe—”
He tested the effects of [Beast Breathing] again and was delighted to find that the physical burden it imposed had been greatly reduced, while the amplification effect of the breathing technique had significantly improved!
“With my physical condition improving, the full potential of [Beast Breathing] has been unleashed. Soon, this ability will evolve, right? Full Concentration Breathing, and Full Concentration: Constant Breathing!”
Loosening his stiff muscles, Cui Ze brightened his spirit and dashed swiftly toward the summit of the Little Stone Peak.
He planned to use the vantage point to survey the surrounding area, formulating an action plan for the coming days.
His [Keen Hearing] ability was fully activated, flooding his ears with every subtle sound within a fifty-meter radius. This constant stream of information brought him a growing sense of security.
Though it was a false sense of security.
Suddenly, a thunderclap exploded overhead!
“It feels strange when the sky is quiet for too long.”
Cui Ze glanced upward, found nothing amiss, and quickened his pace up the mountain.
Within minutes, Cui Ze had reached the peak of Little Stone Peak with his [Charge Headlong] skill and immediately pulled out his telescope, beginning to scout the general situation around him.
First, he focused on the town.
The navy recruits led by Smaug had already entered the town.
Following the previous explosion, these elite navy soldiers, with solid all-around skills, had realized there might be other dangerous individuals on the island. They were moving in pairs, continuously investigating the town.
“You guys take your time searching the town!”
The next moment, Cui Ze shifted his telescope skyward, then quickly moved it away.
“Sky battles are best observed with ears; no need to do anything else.”
He redirected the telescope toward the area near Little Stone Peak.
After observing silently for some time, beyond a few small hills, he discovered a very hidden cave.
“A godsend for a temporary base!”
Pressing down the telescope, Cui Ze immediately headed toward the secret cave.
Though he had initially planned to use the barren Little Stone Peak as a temporary stronghold, the bare hill offered no shelter from wind or rain.
By comparison, the cave was far more “habitable.”
About half an hour later, Cui Ze arrived at the cave unobstructed.
But as he drew closer, his expression grew serious.
Contrary to his expectations, the cave was not naturally formed.
Along the way, he detected many signs of human activity.
“Since the island’s original inhabitants have turned into zombies, any living beings in this cave would have fled by now…”
Though he thought so, Cui Ze couldn’t help but raise his guard.
Standing on the open ground before the cave, he decisively activated [Beast Breathing: Spatial Awareness]. Invisible, colorless waves of energy radiated from his feet, probing deeper into the cave.
“There’s no biological activity inside... Wait! Those two little things locked in the cell at the cave’s far end are still alive?!”
Frowning, Cui Ze drew out his hammer, gripping it tightly as he slowly advanced into the cave.
As expected from his senses, the vast, desolate cave bore many signs of human presence, though its original occupants had vanished.
The lighting was dim. On shelves built into the cave walls sat enormous transparent containers filled with a pale green unknown fluid, each containing grotesque biological organs. It resembled the laboratory of some sinister biochemist.
Click.
Cui Ze pulled out a flashlight and illuminated the cave.
What would terrify an ordinary person—the evil laboratory—appeared trivial to Cui Ze after four days of surviving zombie ordeals.
“As I suspected!
“From the very first day on this island, I realized this is not just a zombie island, but the territory of a Shadow Shadow Fruit user—the Moonlight Moria!
“Mindless zombies and shadow-infused zombies are two completely different creatures!
“Seeing these things in the cave further confirms my theory!
“The true culprit behind this island’s tragedy must be a biochemist! Most likely a virus-type Devil Fruit user; otherwise, Admiral Zephagan would never have come here!”
Thoughts raced through Cui Ze’s mind, aligning perfectly with the truth.
“The only remaining mystery is Kaido!
“Why did Master Kaido come to this paradise from the secluded Wano Country in the New World?
“Why doesn’t he just stay put in Wano, waiting for the sunlight of twenty years later?”
Due to information asymmetry, Cui Ze couldn’t fully piece together the island’s situation yet, but his steady pace brought him to the cave’s depths, standing before the cell he had sensed earlier.
The flashlight’s beam cut through the darkness like a blade of dawn, fully illuminating the cell.
Inside, constructed from special materials, were two gaunt children.
The older one propped herself up with great effort, half-kneeling and shielding the younger one lying on the ground, barely clinging to life.
Cui Ze fixed his gaze.
The older child was a girl with disheveled, straw-colored long hair. From the sides of her head sprouted a pair of large white horns resembling those of a bull. Her pale red eyes flickered with caution and fear.
Most striking was her severely mutilated mouth.
Her small cherry lips were torn open on both sides as if cut by a sharp blade, revealing a mouthful of jagged white sharp teeth.
The Girl with the Small Scar.
The younger one lying on the ground was of indeterminate gender. Their horns were much thinner than the girl’s, and their condition was far more grievous.
Nearly the entire left half of their head had been cruelly sliced open, exposing the skull entwined with delicate white horns.
Most chillingly, under the flashlight’s glow, the skull revealed an eerie deep green hue.
The Boy with Half a Brain.
For a moment, Cui Ze felt as if he had suddenly crossed from One Piece into the set of some super-horror movie.
Yet in truth, this seasoned veteran quickly confirmed the identities of these two little ones by certain features.
At the same time, Cui Ze understood why Kaido had come flying from the secluded New World’s Wano Country to the first half of the Grand Line’s paradise.
These two little ones were unmistakably the future Flying Six of the Beasts Pirates, adopted by Kaido.
The Girl with the Small Scar: Ulti.
The Boy with Half a Brain: Page One.
Perhaps some readers misunderstood, thinking this island belonged to Moonlight Moria.
In reality, the story was borrowed and expanded using the backgrounds of Ulti and Page One.
According to the creator’s original setting, Ulti and Page One’s father was a pirate who died, after which the siblings were adopted by Kaido, who had some connection to their father.
—
As for why Ulti was labeled “Girl with the Small Scar” and Page One “Boy with Half a Brain”—
It was because they always wore masks and hats.
As ancient-type Zoan Devil Fruit users with strong regeneration, it was strange for them to habitually wear such coverings in daily life.
Ulti never removed her mask, whether in dinosaur or hybrid form.
Page One was the same; regardless of form, he only kept hair on the right half of his head, but had taken off his mask.
Whether the original creator would add more settings later or simply preferred to draw them so is unknown.
Within this story’s [Author’s Setting]:
Ulti wears a mask to conceal a mouth defect.
Page One wears a hat to hide a head defect and a mask to comfort his sister.
(End of chapter)