Chapter 36 The Player's Hunting Attempt
Where is this place?
As soon as she approached the island, Violet was drawn to the towering chimneys in the distance. The entire island was covered in white snow, and the towering chimneys looked like strangely shaped mountains, carelessly tossed on the ground by playful children.
"Drum Kingdom, the famous Winter Island on the Grand Line." Dragon jumped off the [armored ship] first, and after waiting a few seconds and seeing that Violet hadn't moved, he turned back with some confusion, "Vilet?"
But now, the previously energetic and lively Violet was curled up on the boat, with only her large, dark eyes showing, watching the snow outside with extreme vigilance.
"Winter, Winter Island?" Violet shivered even more violently, as she could clearly feel her body temperature dropping rapidly. "I... I haven't made any plans for winter yet!"
When rain is replaced by ice and snow, the player's body temperature will continue to drop. When the player's body temperature drops below 15 degrees Celsius, blue freezing marks will appear around their field of vision. When the player's body temperature drops below 10 degrees Celsius, the player's health will continue to decrease at a rate of 5 points per second.
When she fought the "Sea King," it was because he seemed to have some kind of ability to turn the surrounding environment into "winter" that Violet found her body temperature continuously dropping uncontrollably, which is why she gave up struggling.
In the game, there are two ways to alleviate the cooling effect: one is to increase the heat source, such as standing next to a lit campfire or haystack, equipping a heated stone that has been heated to a sufficient temperature, or eating some food with warming properties.
Another way is to slow down heat loss, such as by wearing warm winter clothes and hats, and staying away from ice, frozen ponds, and other low-temperature areas.
Violet's voice trembled as she spoke: "It's too, too cold. I'll freeze to death if I go down there."
Inheriting the Monkey family's gorilla-like physique, the dragon, wearing only a thin garment, didn't feel cold at all: ?
"It's not actually that cold... Um, wait, Violet, are you alright?!"
Long quickly stepped forward and pulled up the swaying Vera who was about to fall into the water: "No, why are you so cold?"
The dragon felt as if it were holding a block of ice. Could a human body temperature really drop that low?
Violet weakly commanded, "Let me, let me get ashore, raise, raise a campfire..."
Long clenched his fist, using the wind from his punch to blow away the snow beneath his feet before finally setting down Violet, who was frozen solid.
He looked at the campfire, where Vera was curled up and basking in the heat with her hands outstretched. Never before had he realized so clearly that Vera was just a teenager.
No matter how mature she appears or how incredible her survival skills are, Violet is still just a teenager.
What should children do?
The dragon pondered for a while, but couldn't come up with a reasonable answer at all.
Children in this world often mature early due to the pressures of reality.
As for Dragon himself, since his father was a naval hero, he hadn't really spent much time with Garp since he could remember. Under such circumstances, when Garp occasionally came home during breaks in his missions, he would ridiculously ask Dragon who this kid was.
When Dragon got a little older, he moved into the family compound in Marineford and naturally joined the Navy to begin training. It wasn't until he officially started going on missions that Dragon realized the problems with the World Government while traveling to various countries. He then defected from the Navy to form the Self-Defense Forces and liberate the common people oppressed by the nobles.
Dragon crouched down, mimicking Violet's movements, and brought his hand close to the campfire, secretly glancing at Violet through the flickering flames.
Throughout the world, children as young as Violet, unless born into nobility, often shoulder the responsibility of supporting their families or taking care of their younger siblings at a young age.
The world is sick.
Long watched as Vera took something out of her bag and began to rub [warm stones] with her hands.
[Warm stone] is a palm-sized stone that can absorb and retain heat.
Violet placed the warm stones near the fire until they absorbed the heat and turned red, then handed one of them to the dragon.
The red warm stone emitted a scalding temperature and a faint glow. The dragon put it in its pocket and immediately felt so hot that it started to sweat.
Looking back at Violet, who had been shivering from the cold, her cheeks were now slightly flushed, and she had regained her usual vitality.
Long turned to the side and helped Violet tighten her collar to prevent the wind from getting in, telling her to walk behind him.
In the Drum Kingdom, where it snows all year round, the snow is so thick in places rarely visited that it disappears as soon as Violet steps on it.
Turning around, she found that all that remained of Violet was the dragon's head: "Pfft!"
Violet jerked her head up from the snow and glared angrily at the dragon, only to see it resting its chin on its hand with a serious expression: "We're moving too slowly like this."
The dragon bent down with its back to Violet: "Get on."
Vera was moved: "Dragon..."
Was the mocking laughter she just heard really just an illusion caused by the cold?
Violet scrambled onto the dragon's back, and the dragon touched her arm with the back of its hand, frowning: "You're cold again so soon?"
"Hmm, the thermos has turned yellow."
"Then I'll hurry up."
The rabbits living in the Drum Kingdom are called "Labang" by the locals. They possess the agility of a rabbit and the strength of a bear, making them a rather ferocious carnivorous creature.
Their snow-white fur provides excellent camouflage in the snow, making it difficult even for the most experienced hunters to distinguish them from the snow if they remain stationary.
The dragon opened its Observational Color.
Under the power of his Observational Aura, everything in the snow-covered forest was clearly displayed before the dragon.
Long raised his finger and pointed to what appeared to be a small snowdrift not far away: "There it is."
Violet looked in the direction the dragon was pointing, staring for a long time before she could distinguish between the snow and the fur of Laban.
"So big..." As expected of a carnivorous rabbit, it actually grew taller than a dragon.
Long chuckled and turned to look at Violet behind him, his tone relaxed: "You want to capture her alive, right?"
"Um."
"Please wait here for a moment."
The dragon placed Violet on a small stone exposed by snow, put the still-warm stone from his arms into Violet's hand, and took the straw rope that had been prepared for him from Violet.
Long tied a slipknot at the end of the straw rope, squinted to check the distance, and swung it toward Labang.
"Hmm? Chirp!"
The straw rope precisely looped around Labang's body. With a sudden burst of strength, the dragon pulled Labang, who was taller than the dragon and twice as wide, up from the ground.
Long quickly wrapped the straw rope around Labang twice, and Vier successfully obtained a zongzi (rice dumpling) from Labang.
Labang: "Chirp chirp!"
Finally realizing what was happening, Laban glared at Vil with his red eyes and shouted angrily.
You picked up a live rabbit.
Each live rabbit needs its own compartment. Fortunately, Law is now quite skilled at organizing, and he is responsible for tidying up the items in Violet's backpack every time she goes out.
Seeing Violet's eager expression, the dragon asked, "There are three more left. Do you want to try?"
"Of course!" Vera nodded vigorously.
When the dragon caught the first Laban, its movements were so light and quick that it didn't disturb any of the other creatures in the forest except for the unfortunate Laban that was caught.
The two quickly found a second one. Violet, imitating the dragon, tied a slipknot in the straw rope and calmly calculated the distance between herself and Laban.
The dragon stood aside, observing Vera's movements.
Swoosh—
Violet spread her arms and swung the straw rope with all her might, but she underestimated the effect of air resistance on the rope, causing the loop to lose momentum a few meters away from Labang and fall directly onto the snow.
The resting Labang cautiously raised its head and looked around, but perhaps because it had few natural enemies in this forest, after searching around, the Labang did not choose to flee, but continued to rest on the snow.
Vera carefully retracted the rope.
Long was about to say a few words of encouragement when he noticed that Vera didn't seem disappointed at all. Instead, she immediately adjusted her mindset and prepared to try again.
What an amazing child!
Swoosh—
With a sudden burst of strength, Violet swung the rope out. Learning from her previous failure, Violet's strength and speed were both greater this time, and she aimed higher as well.
The dark yellow straw rope flew out of the air and landed precisely on Labang's short legs, which were propped up as he slept.
Violet took a deep breath and pulled back forcefully!
Laban: "Hmm? Chirp chirp chirp!"
Long nodded: "You learn very quickly."
He had a premonition that a guy who would give the world government a major headache in the future was growing rapidly.
Long suggested, "How about we try finding Labang ourselves this time?"
Violet: "Mmm!"
In this world, both humans and animals can learn and train to master an ability called Haki, which is divided into Observation Haki, Armament Haki, and Conqueror's Haki.
Among them, Observation Haki can help users better perceive changes and subtle details in the surrounding world. Powerful Observation Haki users can accurately locate the movement of a bee flapping its wings on a flower petal from a hundred meters away, and the best among them even have the ability to see the future or hear the thoughts of others.
Armament Haki can be concentrated on the body to enhance attack and defense. In addition, only attacks covered with Armament Haki will be effective against Logia-type Devil Fruit users.
As for Conqueror's Haki, it is an ability to intimidate others with one's own power. People with low resistance may even faint on the spot when directly facing Conqueror's Haki. Conqueror's Haki is an innate talent that cannot be learned through training. Only one in a million people can acquire Conqueror's Haki, so such people are also known as "born kings".
Dragon didn't rush to tell Violet about these types of Haki. Youth is her greatest asset, and building a solid foundation is what Violet should be doing right now, rather than rushing to learn Haki.
Long: "It's not just about seeing with your eyes, but also about hearing with your ears and smelling with your nose. Is there a sound different from falling snow? Is there a smell of freshly broken branches?"
Vera slowly closed her eyes.
Sound, smell...
Something was creeping closer stealthily. Vera opened her eyes and quickly turned around in the direction of the sound.
A man wearing a black top hat and with graying hair stood there with a fierce expression, pointing a gun at the two of them.
"Robbery! Hand over all your money!"
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Author's Note: The dragon should be considered a newbie grandpa for Violet [Let me see].
Vera: At just over ten years old, without relying on her parents or friends, she used all her coercion and enticement to get the world's most vicious man to be her teacher. [Eating popcorn emoji]
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