The warship departed from G-5.
Kuro, along with Lida and Kuro, and the group of Marines who came from headquarters, headed to Cortega, which Smoker had mentioned.
"Kortiga, the Serpent Islands, has a considerable population. There is no king here; the islands are all based in towns and villages. It is an earthquake-prone island."
At this moment, Kuro was reporting to Kuro the investigation report he had obtained from G-5.
Kuro stared at Lida, who was excitedly unpacking snacks in the warship's office. With a flick of his finger, the snack bag floated out of her hand and flew rapidly toward Kuro.
"Hey, Kuro!"
Lida, like a tiger protecting its cubs, roared and leaped over, only to have one hand pinning her head down while the other held a snack, which he ate leisurely, before asking, "Earthquake Island?"
Seeing this, Kro smirked.
Your perverse sense of humor just won't stop, will it?
“Yes, it’s an earthquake island. Originally, an archipelago like this shouldn’t have caused earthquakes, but since more than 20 years ago, there have been inexplicable earthquakes here. At first, the amplitude was very slight, but later it became more and more frequent,” Kro said.
"Then what about that demonic rumor? Why did people disappear?"
"I don't know, it's just a rumor, there's no information whatsoever, but the recent incident occurred here..."
Kro walked over, spread out a map, pointed to the island at the very front of the archipelago, and said, "According to intelligence from G-5, the population here has disappeared the most in the last two days. They all disappeared without anyone noticing. When they were found, there were traces of cooking fires in their homes, but the people just mysteriously vanished without any signs of fighting. So now, the G-5 navy calls this rumor 'The Vanishing Demon of Cortiga'."
"Nowadays, people like to add a touch of mystery and horror to the unknown when they have nothing better to do, so that they don't seem so incompetent."
Kuro curled his lip. "What demon? He's either a power user or a seasoned veteran."
The mystery surrounding ghosts in this world is basically laid bare for you to see.
In the past, giants, demons, long-armed or short-armed creatures would definitely be associated with fantasy, mystery, and horror.
Add to that the power of a Devil Fruit, and if it were set in a less sophisticated era, it would definitely be a classic mystery and fantasy story.
But when you know everything, everything seems so normal.
The only thing that has a sense of mystery is treasure.
But the further they went into the New World, the less like pirates they seemed.
Treasure hunting, plundering, exploring pirate legends—all gone, all gone.
Especially after the Great Pirate Era.
What's trending in the new world now?
Seize territory, collect protection money, and conquer across the sea.
These are things that the Four Emperors often do.
A real, hands-on fight, however, lacks a bit of the adventurous element.
However, what does this have to do with Kuro?
He's not a pirate.
“However, Cortiga has a good specialty: their tobacco is excellent, but it’s all high-quality and very difficult to grow. Every time they release a small batch, it’s snapped up,” Klo said.
These words made Kuro's eyes light up. He ate two more snacks before returning the snack bag to Lida. The latter hugged the snack bag tightly and rushed out, peeking her little head out the door, staring at Kuro warily and angrily, while quickly eating her snacks.
“We definitely have to go and take a look,” Kuro said with great interest.
There were no pirates, just a common rumor, plus rare tobacco leaves... Kuro was very interested!
Two days later, the warship arrived at its destination.
The Cortica Islands are a chain of islands shaped like a long snake. The islands are not too far apart and can be crossed by swimming. There are no pirate flags flying around them. They are just an ordinary archipelago in the New World.
They landed in a port village, surrounded by a few ships, all moored there alone. The entire village was completely silent.
After Kuro got off the boat, he glanced around and saw that there was still cargo left to be unloaded at the dock. There were signs of human handling, and the time could not have been more than three days. In other words, there were people moving cargo here three days ago, but they disappeared inexplicably.
"There are indeed no signs of a battle..."
Kuro, munching on his cigar, glanced at the quiet village. "There's hardly anyone around."
"Yes, Mr. Kuro, I didn't detect any human presence, or even animal presence; they've all disappeared in the vicinity."
A red light appeared in Kro's eyes, but upon further investigation, he detected no aura whatsoever.
"Let's go take a look."
Kuro led a group of marines to the village ahead.
This is a small, peaceful village. Judging from the style of the buildings, this place has not been attacked by pirates much. After all, it is close to G-5, and the combat power of this base is very strong.
Kuro looked around and saw that some houses were still emitting wisps of smoke.
He randomly arrived at a building, pushed open the door, went inside, and glanced around.
The house wasn't big, with a living room and two bedrooms. Food was still on the table in the living room, with plates and cutlery on it. Forks with food stuck in them were casually tossed aside, as if someone was eating, but that person had suddenly disappeared, causing the forks to fall from their hands, resulting in this strange arrangement.
Without leaving any trace, it truly seemed as if it had vanished suddenly.
"Hmm... I have a feeling that's a little scary, Kuro." Lida stared at the dining table, inexplicably shuddered, and moved a little closer to Kuro.
Are you kidding me?
Kuro rolled his eyes, but a red glint flashed in them.
The Observation Haki enveloped the entire archipelago in a vast, overwhelming display.
In his perception, there were sporadic, continuous signs of life appearing in his senses.
There are still people on these islands.
and...
"There's one with decent strength."
Kuro looked in one direction and laughed, "Just find the strongest one. He definitely knows, or rather, he is the strongest one."
Lida then activated her Observation Haki, her brows furrowing slightly. "There are people there, but they're too far away. I can't sense their strength."
“You’ve become complacent. Your Observation Haki hasn’t improved at all in the past few years. You’ve focused all your attention on eating. Pay a little attention now. This is the new world. How can you stay safe if you don’t improve yourself?” Kuro said.
Lida's Observation Haki is no different in strength from when he first encountered her.
Although it is still a wide-range perception, within that range, one can only sense the life force, but cannot perceive its strength.
Only by getting close can she determine the strength of a person's life force.
Unlike Kuro.
From the very beginning, he was able to tell who was strong and who was weak through his Observation Haki, and this range kept expanding.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
