Chapter 21 The Charm of Players
"Hey." After hesitating for more than ten minutes, Luo finally spoke to Violet, who was squatting on the ground twisting straw rope, "Have you shown your ability to anyone else?"
Vera: "Ability?"
Luo clicked his tongue: "The food you made, it must have a healing effect on wounds, right?"
Violet: "Oh, you mean increasing health points."
Vera: "Many people have eaten basic cooking dishes, but Luo is the first to eat high-end dishes made with a cooking pot."
Luo immediately gave him a look of utter disappointment: "Don't you have any sense of caution at all?!"
Vera put the twisted straw rope aside: "What are you being wary of?"
Looking at Vera's blank expression, Luo couldn't help but raise his hand and tap her forehead: "Didn't you ever think about the possibility that someone might covet your abilities and kidnap you?"
Violet: "So that's what you were worried about."
Vera smiled at him. The girl's hair, which had been wet from the rain last night, was now completely dry. Combined with her pretty little dress, if it weren't for her very prominent fin-like ears, Luo would have mistaken her for a rich young lady who had been shipwrecked on a deserted island.
But this kind-hearted, careless, and ridiculously naive girl gave him a relaxed smile after hearing his concerns.
Vera: "We have a saying where I'm from, 'We welcome friends with fine wine, but we meet wolves with shotguns.'"
Any player who disturbs another player's farming activities will be turned into fertilizer and added to their field.
Luo stared at Vera, then turned away as if giving up: "Whatever, it's your business, it has nothing to do with me."
Wanting to quickly change the subject, Luo asked, "Why are you making so many straw ropes?"
Violet: "I'm planning to build a [coconut leaf shed]. I looked at the description and it has a full 180 degrees of heat insulation and 100% rain protection."
Violet: "While I'm not worried about the humidity lowering my sanity, Luo, you're not, are you?"
Violet looked at the fragile NPC in front of her with sympathy. As her only poop-producing machine at present, Violet would take care of him as carefully as she would care for crops in a field.
She took all the materials to the alchemy engine, unlocked the [Coconut Leaf Shed], looked it over, and placed it in the bottom left corner of the 3x3 grid.
Luo: "...And what about you?"
Violet: "I'll sleep on the ground. Anyway, I'm not going to get sick. Once I've collected enough spider silk, I can make a tent and put it next to me."
As she talked, Violet couldn't help but start daydreaming again, imagining that she had an endless supply of materials, making one tent and throwing it away, imagining that she had already cultivated countless farmlands on the island, and that the only thing she needed to think about every day was which fresh ingredients to pick.
But ideals are often grand, while reality is often harsh.
Violet: "Hey!"
"Should I let him live here instead of living here myself?" Luo looked at the makeshift dwelling made of bamboo poles, straw ropes, and coconut leaves, and felt his eyes welling up with tears.
Luo: "You can sleep with me!"
Vera: "Huh?"
Luo's expression was fierce and his tone was quick as he said, "We're just kids, what does it matter!"
Violet: ...She hadn't actually thought about that, but does this game have a pink route?
Vera: "Okay...do you want to have breakfast?"
Luo: "No need!" Vera's indifferent attitude made Luo realize that he was the only one who was conflicted about the two people being of different genders, a realization that made Luo feel inexplicably irritated.
Violet didn't care about Luo's attitude. She checked Luo's status and nodded after seeing that his satiety level was indeed at a relatively high level.
However... why is there an unknown debuff in the status column?
Vera: "Luo, are you sick?"
Luo subconsciously raised his hand to cover the white patches on his neck. These were a symptom of late-stage lead poisoning, where the white patches would rapidly expand until they covered the entire skin.
Lead poisoning is seen by many as an incurable and terrifying infectious disease. During Mr. Corazon's journey to seek medical help, most doctors screamed and kicked him out of the hospital after seeing the white patches on his body.
Recalling everything he had suffered, Luo furrowed his brow in anger. He suddenly straightened up and, as if torturing himself, took off his shirt, revealing all the obvious white patches on his body to Vera.
Then he stared intently into Vera's eyes, not missing a single change in her expression.
Luo: "It's lead platinum disease."
Violet: "Wow!"
Vera touched it curiously; the texture was no different from normal skin. "Will lead poisoning make you lose your libido?"
Luo: "No way!" How did the topic come back to this again!
Vera: "That's alright then. Just rest well and you'll get better soon."
Vera was eager to try: "Or should I make you an [antidote]?"
Luo coldly rejected Violet's idea. In his opinion, Violet had absolutely nothing to do with the word "doctor," and he was really worried that the antidote she gave him would only make his condition worse.
However, compared to those jerks who panic when they see these white patches when seeking medical help, a guy who has absolutely no connection with doctors actually wins in terms of "medical ethics".
Each advanced farm requires 6 portions of poop. Amidst Violet's repeated harassment, Luo angrily stated that he could not possibly break through the limits of the human body by eating 30 meals a day, thus shortening the time Violet had to collect farm materials.
Unfortunately, Violet left Law, who was under a debuff, at home and gave him an [unknown seed] to watch over the bird traps. If a common seabird went in, he was to release it; if it was a bird with special feathers, he was to put it in a birdcage not far away.
Luo followed the direction of Vera's finger and silently looked at the golden birdcage that was taller than the two of them in the distance.
I feel like this kind of thing should appear in a magnificent castle, not on a deserted island where there isn't even a piece of land.
Before nightfall, Violet made a trip to a nearby island and harvested three spider nests, obtaining four portions of spider silk, three pieces of monster meat, and some spider glands.
When she returned, she was surprised to find a seagull with a tuft of snow-blue feathers on its chest in the birdcage.
Luo sat by the windproof stove, controlling his Devil Fruit ability to clear the lead and platinum from his body. Behind him, under the coconut leaf canopy, was a thick layer of soft grass.
Noticing Vera's gaze, Luo said calmly, "Sleeping on the ground is too unclean and makes you too susceptible to illness. I really don't know how you've survived for so long."
Vera praised him without reservation: "Luo is amazing!"
Compared to the straw mat that Violet had just haphazardly piled up herself, the straw mat that Luo had made looked much more beautiful and comfortable.
Is this an NPC-exclusive blueprint? What a steal!
Luo: "It's barely passable, it's just that your skills are too poor."
Luo looked at the sticky spider web that Vera pulled out of her pocket with disgust: "What are you going to do with this?"
Violet: "Insect net".
A few days ago, Violet discovered that at night, swarms of fireflies would appear in the woods on the island. These glowing creatures were important materials for making cold fire sources such as miners' hats or ship lamps.
While torches can provide illumination and inflict fire damage when attacking, they take up hand space, making them quite inconvenient for both work and boating.
Violet plans to make a miner's hat for herself and Luo respectively, and then make a boat lamp to install at the bow of the boat.
Vera handed the insect net to Luo, saying expectantly, "Let's go catch fireflies together tonight."
"I didn't agree to that." Even as he said that, Luo carefully put the insect net aside.
He looked at Vera, who was sitting under the coconut palm canopy, gulping down a coconut: "You're going to eat this?"
Violet nodded: "Yes, this is vegetarian." The [Fishman] character is great in every way, but the fact that he can only eat vegetarian food is too troublesome.
Before the farm was built, she could only survive on coconut berries and seaweed.
Luo recalled the strange purple meat chunk that Vera put in the refrigerator after she returned, and the scars on her arms that were hidden under her clothes.
...Was it to save the precious meat for him?
Luo turned to the side, raised his hand and wiped his eyes forcefully, and said in a muffled voice, "We can eat together."
Vera: "Oh, no, no, I can't eat meat right now."
Luo gritted his teeth and said, "I'll recover within a week. If you go out to sea then, take me with you."
Luo: "I'm very strong."
Having undergone the Don Quixote family's training in killing and having eaten the Fruit of Ope Ope, he is not afraid even when facing adult men.
Luo: "We must survive here together."
He wanted to survive, to become stronger, to avenge Mr. Corazon, and to free Violet, who possessed wondrous abilities, from her wanderings on the deserted island.
Seeing Violet picking out coconut meat to eat, Luo pressed down on his hat to hide the embarrassing expression on his face.
"Fireflies...how do you catch them?"
"Hey, you don't know how to catch fireflies? Let me teach you, just do this and this..."
"……idiot."
"idiot!!!"
Marco punched Harta on the head.
It was a fist covered in Armament Haki, and Harta, dressed in a green theater-style outfit, was punched so hard that he got a big red bump on his head.
Sachi, standing next to Harta, burst into laughter without a shred of sympathy.
Harta covered his head and looked at his brothers with a wronged expression, saying, "I just want to find that girl as soon as possible."
After finding nothing in the Sabaody Archipelago, the reliable Izou finally remembered the strange group he had seen at the dock back then.
The human girl and the fishman walking together—I only glanced at them casually at the time, but now that I think about it, it was clearly the girl who led them the way and gave them the strange things.
Upon hearing the information shared by Izou, Harta immediately set sail to Fishman Island to investigate, only to be stopped by Marco, who had overheard the news.
Do you want to make things difficult for your father?
Fishman Island is within Whitebeard's sphere of influence, a territory protected by him. Moreover, Fishman Island has always been closed off. Harta's reckless intrusion, with his confrontational attitude, is sure to cause big trouble.
Marco: "I've already spoken to Namur about Yoi; he left for Fishman Island two days ago."
Marco: "Don't worry, Harta, we'll find the girl."
Perhaps that girl is a trap, but it doesn't matter. The Whitebeard Pirates will devour the sweet bait and smash the trap to pieces.
A note from the author:
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Right now, Luo seems like a very wary kitten, but he can't help but purr when Violet pets him. [Let me see]
Mimi, why do they call you "Sang Biao"? [pats head]
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