Chapter 20: The Player's Invitation
Crackling, crackling...
Luo opened his eyes groggily and saw a blurry mess of colors, like spilled dye, creating a vibrant and colorful scene.
His body, already feeling unwell from hunger and dehydration, shuddered violently. Luo lifted himself up and painfully gagged a few times.
He didn't vomit anything, which is natural, as he hadn't eaten for several days.
Luo struggled to lift his head and made out that what was above him was an umbrella made of flowers. The person who made the umbrella must have used some magical technique to make the soft and fragile petals stick together to block the rain.
Luo smelled the rich, sweet fragrance emanating from the floral umbrella, and the suffocating feeling that had been lingering in her heart dissipated.
"You're awake?!"
Just then, a clear female voice rang out from behind. Luo turned around quickly, like a small beast whose territory had been invaded, and at the same time, he drew out the dagger that he had never let go of even when he was unconscious and pointed it at the other party.
Upon seeing the figure clearly, Luo's pupils suddenly contracted.
The girl opposite me wasn't using an umbrella; she was sitting directly in the rain. Her hair, wet with rain, clung to her cheeks, revealing her translucent, inverted triangular, fin-shaped ears beneath.
Her skin near her ears was dotted with scattered scales. Although Luo was young, he was not lacking in common sense and knew that ordinary humans did not have such an appearance.
He squinted and cautiously observed his surroundings. It was a rather rudimentary camp. There were some boxes and strange machines around the camp, and a gray-brown triangular stove was burning with flames, emitting a comfortable temperature and reassuring light.
Luo was never a kind person, and the world never treated him kindly.
Perhaps Mr. Corazon once allowed Law to briefly emerge from his cold, thorny shell, revealing his soft and vulnerable true self.
But with Mr. Corazon's death, Law wrapped himself in an even thicker, colder disguise.
He gripped his dagger, ready to rob the strange girl in front of him, replenish his supplies, and set sail again.
You can't blame him. The law of the jungle is the way of survival in this world. Guys who are like idiots and casually save people are the easiest to die.
He will teach her a lesson, making her understand the consequences of recklessly rescuing someone who brings misfortune.
"You haven't eaten anything yet, have you? I can hear your stomach growling."
The idiot girl stood up, walked to a metal box that looked out of place with the simple stove, reached out and pulled it, and white light and cold air came out.
Luo: "..."
Luo turned to look at the back of the metal box in disbelief. There were indeed no wires connected... Wait, how does it work?
The girl took three ice cubes and a piece of purple, hairy meat from what appeared to be a refrigerator and threw them all into a pot.
She stood next to the pot, put the lid on, and lit the fire. The steam immediately began to bubble and gurgle against the lid.
"Clang clang clang clang!"
Vera lifted the lid, took out the food from the snow-white tray, and handed it to Luo.
There were three fist-sized meatballs, topped with a thick broth and garnished with bright green vegetables, emitting a rich and enticing aroma.
Robben's hungry stomach clenched violently.
But now is not the time to eat!
Luo's pupils trembled as he looked at the delicious-looking food in front of him, then turned back to look at the empty, ordinary iron pot that looked as if it had been cleaned by someone.
Luo: "...You, what, what did you just do?"
Vera: "Cooking, of course!"
Who can conjure meatballs out of thin air simply by throwing suspicious chunks of meat and three ice cubes into a pot? And where did that plate and vegetable leaves even come from?!
Luo swayed slightly, raised his hand to cover his face, and this usually strong boy finally lost control of his emotions, his shoulders trembling.
Luo: "So, I'm already dead?"
A strange and terrifying sea with bizarre climate, strange architecture and technology, a girl who is clearly not human... This must be the legendary afterlife.
He still failed to seize the glimmer of hope that Mr. Corazon had risked his life to secure for him.
But Luo was a child who had experienced a lot at a young age, and he quickly accepted the "fact" that he was dead.
Luo took the plate from Vera, thanked her quietly, and without caring about his image, grabbed a meatball and stuffed it into his mouth to eat.
...Although the ingredients were unusual, it was actually quite delicious. Large, plump meatballs were topped with a rich and fragrant broth, a luxury that ordinary people could only indulge in during holidays.
After finishing his meal, Luo felt much fuller: "Where am I?"
Violet: "This is my island—R'lyeh. You can call me Violet."
Luo: "...Trafalgar D. Wattier Luo."
After revealing the taboo "D" in his name, Luo carefully observed Vera's reaction.
As he expected, the other party did not react at all to the anonymous name.
It seems this really isn't the real world.
After exchanging names, Luo was identified as a [friendly] NPC by the game, so Vera could check his status.
I was shocked to find out that this little devil with the strange hat actually had a tiny bit of blood on his skin!
If she hadn't just fed Luo a meatball, her timed poop-making tool would have died!
Vera: "You stay here and don't move. I'll go make you some food!"
Luo looked at the energetic Vera and said, "...Actually, I'm not hungry anymore." The three meatballs, each the size of a grown man's fist, had filled his stomach completely.
But is now the time to look at hunger? Now is the time to look at health!
Violet took out three portions of limpets and a block of ice from the refrigerator... Damn it, the dry season isn't even here yet, and the ice is already being used up!
Pour all the ingredients into the cooking pot, let it simmer for a few seconds, and then the pumpkin-colored clam soup in the bowl is ready.
It smelled wonderful, even better than the food that Mr. Corazon brought to him for his cadres when he was in the Don Quixote family.
But Luo really couldn't eat anymore.
Unable to comprehend the despair in Rona's expression, Violet, taking advantage of his poor health, grabbed his mouth and poured the clam soup into it with her other hand.
"Luo, come on, let's eat."
——
When Luo woke up again, it was already broad daylight. It was a rare sunny day during the hurricane season, and with another mouth to feed in the house, Violet went out early to harvest jellyfish and seaweed near the island.
Luo blinked at the sunlight overhead, then blinked again.
Even hell...has sunlight?
Violet: "What hell? Wait, you actually thought you were dead?!"
Luo, enraged, glared at the girl in front of him who was holding a jellyfish in her left hand and a clump of seaweed in her right: "Shut up!"
Vera put the food in the refrigerator, then walked up to Luo and patted him on the shoulder: "Don't worry, Luo, as long as you have your last drop of blood, I will save you."
"Because you are very important to me."
Luo retreated warily like a startled kitten: "...Idiot, what are you talking about?"
Vera said sincerely, "Really, I'm serious. There are only the two of us on this island, and I want to develop it into the best island in the world. This wouldn't be possible without your (poop's) help."
She was serious; that look in her eyes was definitely not a lie.
An idiot, lacking common sense, naive and clueless guy... His only redeeming quality is that he's honest enough.
If you leave this kind of person alone on this dangerous island, she'll probably be rotting by the time she's done.
Oh right, she also has that amazing ability that might allow her to live a few more days before being captured by some pirate or navy and used as a test subject.
Luo, with the utmost malice, speculated about the fate that would befall Violet.
But that feeling of being needed filled his previously empty heart with something again.
Luo adjusted his hat: "Tsk."
Luo explained, "I just don't want to owe anyone a favor, since you saved me."
Luo glanced up at Vera, feeling a little annoyed that he was half a head shorter than her. However, Luo knew that girls of this age would grow faster than boys, which didn't necessarily mean that she was older than him.
Luo raised his chin: "What do you need my help with?"
Vera looked at Luo expectantly: "You ate so much food last night, are you feeling well this morning?"
Luo's expression froze as he looked at Vera in disbelief: "What, what did you just say?"
Violet: "O Yi, you don't have it, do you? No way, no way, that's not very healthy for you. If you... Waaaaah!"
Luo glared at Vera, whose mouth he had tightly covered: "Shut up! You're not allowed to say that word again!"
Vera handed Luo a wooden bucket and instructed him, "There are 36 farmlands on the island now. If you work hard, we'll unlock the advanced farm and be able to eat fresh vegetables!"
Luo looked at Vera with a complicated expression. Vera clenched her fist at him, full of confidence: "I believe in you!"
Nobody can have that many O's!
Luo really wanted to shove Violet's head down and give her a good lesson in common sense!
After relieving himself alone deep in the forest, Luo coldly refused Violet's idea of checking the results. Instead, he asked her for the blueprints for the [Basic Farm] and [Advanced Farm] and took over the work of building the farm.
Luo and Vera sat under the parasol. Luo examined the two blueprints carefully, and then suddenly thought of something.
"By the way, where have you been sleeping these past few days?"
Vera: "On the ground?"
Luo: "On the ground! Do you know how low the temperature has been these past few days? Do you know how much moisture the rain has brought? How dare you sleep directly on the ground?!"
Violet: "Dampness? Ah, it's okay, my current character won't lose sanity due to humidity."
Luo stared intently at Vie, who looked completely indifferent.
It's really not his fault that there was that misunderstanding last night. The girl in front of him was clearly a hybrid of human and other races. She probably didn't have much contact with outsiders, and while she seriously lacked common sense, she also had her own set of inexplicable logic.
Besides these, there are refrigerators that don't need electricity, strange machines that automatically start when you get close, and cooking pots that turn on a feast just by pouring in ingredients...
Is she also a Devil Fruit user? What kind of Devil Fruit could allow her to achieve this?
As for the food, he didn't have time to savor it properly last night, but when he woke up this morning, Luo was surprised to find that all the wounds and bruises on his body from hitting the ship were gone.
Lead and platinum destroyed his body, making his immunity and recovery ability worse than that of an ordinary person. Even though he had begun to gradually excrete lead and platinum after eating the surgical fruit, the idea of "the wound completely healing overnight" was absolutely impossible for him.
It can only be because of that food I ate last night, which caused a strange burning sensation in my chest.
A fruit that can create food with healing abilities, and its potential is still unknown... If the World Government finds out, it will probably become the second Op-Op Fruit.
At that time, Violet will definitely be controlled and squeezed dry until not a drop of oil is left. Then the World Government will kill her directly and wait for that magical fruit to be reborn somewhere in the sea.
A complete idiot who has no idea what he's revealed.
Simply... just as naive as Mr. Corazon.
A note from the author:
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Luo: Stop talking, I'm a germaphobe. [faints emoji]
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