Chapter 178 Bastard Number Two
"What I'm about to say, please don't be afraid."
"We are members of the Rocks Pirates, we are not afraid."
"I suspect that the Sword of Gibbe is haunted."
"puff!"
"What are you laughing at? I'm not joking... Uh, Captain Rocks!"
The crew members who had initially gathered together to discuss the ghost stories circulating on the Sword of Gibbek immediately stood at attention, large beads of cold sweat dripping from their foreheads, after seeing the expressionless man walk past them.
Yes, it's the captain! How dare they discuss ghost stories in front of the captain, when Captain Rocks is far more terrifying than ghosts!
Lockes had habitually ignored the low-ranking crew members who were not even worth dust in his eyes, but seeing their panicked and guilty looks, he had a sudden thought and reluctantly devoted a little attention to recalling what they were discussing when he passed by.
Ah, it's haunted.
This is a story that is constantly being told on ships sailing on the vast ocean. Ordinary pirate ships cannot avoid it, let alone the members of the Rocks Pirates who kill without hesitation. They become quite enthusiastic about spreading this kind of news after a battle.
As the captain, he should also occasionally take responsibility and address the psychological stress of the crew.
Lox smiled and said to his subordinates, "Since you're all so free, go and clean the dragon bones."
At high speed, going into the sea to clean the keel was undoubtedly suicidal. Upon hearing Lockes' words, the group turned pale, trembling, no longer afraid of the ghost whose existence was uncertain.
After all, they might soon become ghosts too.
His enthusiasm came and went quickly. Lox didn't care about the fate of the crew members and headed towards the captain's cabin with his wine bottle.
Um?
As Locke entered the room, he squinted slightly, then looked up and took a gentle sniff.
His gaze slowly swept over the furnishings in the room, which were unchanged from when he left. His keen Observation Haki also told him that no one had broken in during the time he was gone.
However, his hunter's instincts led him to smell the scent of his prey.
Lockes slowly walked to the captain's table, raised his hand and gently stroked the unfinished nautical chart, his vicious downward-pointing lips gradually curling up.
"Hide-and-seek? That sounds interesting."
He will personally catch that "ghost".
——
"ha--"
Shiki, whose eyes were slightly dark and bluish-black, yawned widely.
Ever since seeing Violet appear out of nowhere in his room, Shiki, who had messed up the task Rocks had given him in just one day, had been under immense psychological pressure. The usually carefree Shiki even suffered from insomnia last night because of this. Fortunately, he always kept the pirate's panacea in his room—high-proof liquor—and after two bottles, his insomnia was immediately cured.
He just went to bed way too late, but that wasn't entirely his fault. Although that girl named Violet said she wouldn't appear in front of any Rocks Pirates member other than him, but would wait for Rocks to personally find her and acknowledge her arrival, Shiki was still worried that this was just a way for her to lull him into a false sense of security. The moment he truly fell asleep, that would be the beginning of his misfortune.
So another reason why Shiki stayed up most of the night was to keep an eye on Violet and prevent her from running out of her room.
...Why does this sound so strange?
In any case, after secretly observing Vera for a whole day and most of the night, Shiki was basically certain that what Vera said was true and that she did not intend to lie or deceive him.
What a strange man. And given Lox's pride, how could he possibly invite someone he had personally rejected onto the ship?
"Hey kid, do you need me to get you some breakfast?"
Don't get me wrong, Shiki has no gentlemanly manners whatsoever. He'd rather Violet be so hungry that she'd collapse and be unable to walk before he'd feel at ease.
But Skeeter was certain that Val would find a way to get the food she needed before then, and in the process, the chances of her being exposed were far too high.
"Hmm?" Violet, who had taken the only chair in Shiki's room, glanced at Shiki upon hearing this, then gave a meaningful smile. "No need."
"Ha—I've had enough food."
After saying that, Violet yawned and waved to Shiki: "By the way, have someone come over and tidy up your room in a bit. Change all the bedding to new ones, the kind that no one has used and that have just been washed and dried."
Shiki frowned. While he wasn't a germaphobe, he certainly didn't consider himself a slovenly person. For Vera to demand he replace all the bedding just because she was hiding in his room seemed a bit too controlling.
"Why would you need to change that kind of thing?"
"Hmm, because I don't really like using things that other people have used?"
Shiki: ?
Shiki's heart skipped a beat, and he asked incredulously, "Who, who uses it?"
“Of course I’ll use it.” Vera stretched her arms back and straightened her legs, yawning as if it were the most natural thing in the world. “Why would I care so much?”
Why do you care so much?!
Shiki now felt like a fool for spending the whole day being wary of her and trying to figure out what she was up to.
Vera was nothing like the bratty, naive, and ridiculously proactive brat he had initially imagined; she was a complete psychopath.
A mentally ill person is incomprehensible because they do whatever they think, dream, or say. If Shiki could understand the thoughts of a mentally ill person, then he wouldn't be far from being mentally ill himself.
"Kid, do you know who you're talking to?!"
Whether it was due to anger or the overflow of his Devil Fruit power, Shiki's already fluffy hair stood up as if it were electrified.
The cabinet in the corner of the room, the table in the center, and the chair under Violet all began to shake violently at the same time. The tea in the cup on the table shook violently, and the water surface rose continuously at a speed visible to the naked eye, eventually overflowing the cup and floating into the air.
In a mere instant, the room seemed to have been suddenly thrown into outer space, with everything in sight floating against gravity—except for the chair beneath Violet, which remained firmly on the ground.
Such exquisite and domineering technique! He didn't even feel the slightest bit of power leaking out.
Violet slowly raised her head, her gaze passing over the floating table, chairs, and wine glasses between the two of them before looking at Shiki.
"You don't want to?" Violet asked, acting as if she were easy to talk to. "In that case, I'll just have to find somewhere else to stay."
A threat, this is absolutely a threat!
Shiki's chest heaved violently, and his already less-than-kind expression became even more ferocious.
The character of [Librarian] exudes a scholarly air and high intelligence, making Violet seem more like a scholar than the lord of an island. When faced with Shiki, a burly, muscular man clearly on the verge of exploding, anyone who sees this scene would assume it's a story of a despicable pirate coercing an innocent girl.
But the truth is quite the opposite!
Although Vera was sitting and Shiki was standing, and although Vera did not put up any resistance except by using Haki to cut off the effect of Shiki's Devil Fruit ability on her, there was no doubt that at this moment, it was Shiki who was being persecuted!
"Oh dear, Mr. Shiki, I didn't expect you to be so unwelcoming to me. Well then, I guess I'll just have to..."
"stop!"
After saying that, Shiki took several deep breaths to control his emotions: "It's just a new bed, I'll have someone bring it over to you in a bit."
“Kid, if you dare let anyone see you, believe me, I have a hundred ways to make you regret being born.” Shiki threatened, his face darkening. “You’ll be begging me to let you die, but that won’t be so easy.”
Vera raised an eyebrow, wanting to retort, "If Shiki is so worried about her being discovered, why doesn't he make the bed himself?" However, seeing Shiki's almost overflowing anger, Vera kept quiet out of respect for his senior from the high seas.
"Don't worry, no one will find me."
Her plan has only just begun; as the person behind the scenes, it's not yet time for her to make her appearance.
"Hmph, you better remember what you said!"
Shiki stormed out of the room, completely fed up with Violet's anger. He had no appetite for breakfast and missed the long bread and his team of cooks. He stood there in shock in the empty cabin, where not even a single vegetable leaf had been seen.
No, what happened to their mountain of food reserves? How did they just vanish overnight?
Amidst the chefs' flustered speculations, the long bread roll's face darkened: "Shut up, all of you. Discussing this kind of topic at a time like this, do you want to die?"
Even someone as powerful as Rocks, a demon reborn, still needs to drink water and eat.
This ship, laden with vicious pirates, sails on the vast ocean, yet it has no water or rice left.
Longbread couldn't even imagine what terrible things might happen on board before the ship found an island to replenish its food and water supplies.
"You stay here and guard the place. Don't let anyone break in and destroy any evidence that might be inside." Longbread looked around and said to the cooks, "Otherwise, if we can't find the real culprit, Captain Rocks' wrath will fall on you."
Rocks's formidable reputation, coupled with the imposing threat emanating from the longbread, made these half-pirate, half-cook guys nod repeatedly, promising that they would supervise each other and ensure that no one would damage any trace of the place.
Longbread nodded in satisfaction and turned to leave. The moment he stepped out of the cabin, he turned around without hesitation, drew his sword, and ruthlessly killed the chefs who hadn't even had time to react.
As their heads fell to the ground, the cooks were still wary of each other, unaware that Longbread, who had already decided to keep the news a secret the moment he realized the food was gone, had long ago decided to make them corpses that could absolutely keep the secret.
Blood was splattered in every corner of the cabin, the cooks' bodies were piled up, and the pool of blood beneath the pile of corpses gradually widened.
The long bread watched this scene expressionlessly, thinking that if everyone didn't mind, this "food" and "water" would be enough to sustain them for a few days.
"...We need to get this news to the captain as soon as possible."
Although his Devil Fruit ability can create food, the lack of drinking water is still a big problem. This is not something that can be solved by individual bravery. Hopefully, other pirate ships will be seen on the route in the next few days so that they can get some supplies.
Knock knock.
Longbread stood outside the captain's cabin and gently knocked on the door.
"Come in."
Rocks' voice echoed from the captain's cabin. Longbread, who considered himself a crew member of some standing within the Rocks Pirates, still felt a sense of walking on the edge of a cliff in the dark when facing Rocks alone. He didn't know when, or which wrong step, would bring death upon him without warning.
As soon as Longbread entered the room, the first thing you noticed was the boots with thick soles and non-slip patterns. The bottoms of his slim-fitting dark trousers were tucked into the boots, enveloping his powerful legs.
Rocks sat with his legs crossed on the table, his posture unrestrained and arrogant. Judging from the strong smell of alcohol in the room, the captain had not encountered anything worthy of his attention in the past few days. Therefore, after taking a short walk in the morning, he returned to the captain's cabin and chose to get enough stimulation for himself in another way.
Only after the long bread stood in front of him did Lox slowly open his eyes. His dark, inky eyes opened slowly, and he stared blankly at the ceiling.
“In some cases, Captain.”
Longbread tried his best to keep his voice completely calm, lest the fear in his heart become sweet bait to entice the person in front of him to attack and kill.
Lox was not one to suppress his desires.
Lox let out a muffled nasal sound: "Hmm?"
"All the food and drinking water on board disappeared overnight."
Lox, who had been languishing and staring blankly, finally fixed his gaze on the long bread, the invisible pressure of which almost made him breathless.
"The food and water have all disappeared?"
Lox repeated what the longbread had said, and then, as the longbread looked on in confusion, Tower suddenly raised his hand to cover his face and chuckled softly.
"What an impatient guy... I guess I need to get a little more serious."
Lox stood up and looked down at the long loaf: "Who else knows about this?"
"Besides me, there's only you, Captain."
Lox glanced at the long loaf of bread indifferently, offering no comment on the obviously embellished statement.
Longbread: "But this can only be kept secret for a day at most."
"One day? That's enough."
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Author's note: Locus, you're causing trouble for the players on your ship! [doge emoji]
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