Chapter 182: Irrepressible Disgust
Obei pulled up her pants… cough~ After taking the note with the requests, she left the deck and returned to her temporary laboratory.
As for the remaining two… Little Baki was aggrievedly hugging his knees while sitting on the ground, with faint tears still visible in the corners of his eyes.
Aoxi, on the other hand, looked at him as if wanting to say something but hesitated, ultimately slumping silently to the side.
How to put it… This scene really resembled the ending segment in certain “animal films” with three-letter labels.
“Don’t be sad, Buggy.”
“It’s just getting your nose pinched.”
“Didn’t you aspire to become an official crew member on the ship? How can you cry over something like this?”
Shanks, wearing the Straw Hat, sat down next to his little partner and comforted him softly.
“Who are you calling Red Nose, you guy!”
Although still downcast, Buggy shouted back instinctively.
But after shouting, he fell back into a aggrieved state.
Seeing this, Aoxi also sat on his other side, joining the comforting efforts.
“Yeah, yeah~ A real man shouldn’t cry over something so trivial~”
“Besides, Obei already promised to make you a gun.”
“This is one she’ll make by hand, and the finished product is guaranteed to leave you jaw-dropped!”
“Mm, mm.”
Hearing this, Buggy sniffled and temporarily put the matter aside.
……
The rest of the journey returned to calm, and Aoxi didn’t cause any more trouble along the way.
Obei stayed in her laboratory as usual, only coming out briefly for dinner but basically just eating a few bites before heading back.
During this time, Shanks and Buggy gradually loosened up, starting to banter and play-fight as if they were on their own ship.
However, Buggy still didn’t dare approach Obei and Aoxi, consciously avoiding them.
In contrast, he grew closer to Sister La, starting to call her “big sister” this and “big sister” that.
And it wasn’t just Buggy—even Shanks began instinctively gravitating toward Sister La.
Perhaps because Sister La’s dinners were delicious, or because her voice was gentle, or maybe because they felt a kind of care from her that they’d never experienced before.
In short, after just half a day together, the new red-and-blue little ones replaced the old versions and became Sister La’s little tagalongs.
“Sister La, what color do you like?”
“Sister La, do you have any food you dislike?”
“Sister La, do you want to hear our adventure stories at sea?”
“Sister La, are you going to get the pointer?”
“Shanks, I got this first, so I should be the one to give it to Sister La!”
“But I clearly spotted it first, so I should go!”
“I should go!”
“No, I should go!”
……
“Tch~”
Watching the two brats arguing until their faces were red, Aoxi crossed her arms and leaned against the fence, clicking her tongue in annoyance.
These two detestable guys actually dared to vie for ecological space next to Sister La right under her nose.
It was like lighting a lantern in a latrine—asking for shit!
But at this most crucial moment, that guy Obei had plunged headfirst into the laboratory, leaving her alone outside.
『But no worries~ Trash like Obei is just an optional mascot anyway; even by myself, I, Aoxi, am more than enough!』
『Watch me find a reason to beat the hell out of these two ignorant brats!』
As for why a reason was necessary, after all, the parents were right there watching; randomly attacking without justification would embarrass even Aoxi with her thick skin.
“Ahem… I mean—”
“Sister La, quick, look, we’re here!”
Just as Aoxi was about to fabricate a reason to speak up, she heard a detestable Red Nose pointing excitedly at a distant island and shouting.
“Hey! Buggy, you guy beat me to it again! I clearly saw it first!”
……
“Hm? Finally here… Totoo Land.”
Rayleigh, who had been leaning on a chair drinking, stood up upon hearing this and walked to the front of the deck to look.
Ahead in their vision was an island that looked somewhat shiny, with slightly transparent buildings refracting colorful light under the sunlight.
Even in the New World, full of bizarre islands, this was one with considerable character.
However, compared to everyone’s curiosity about the distant island, Sister La kept looking beneath the sea surface.
Ever since their ship entered this sea area, they’d been spotted by a group of strange creatures at the seabed, and those creatures had been continuously relaying their movements outward.
『This is… modified creatures?』
『What a distinctive scouting method.』
But Sister La just watched without any extra actions; after all, this was the opponent’s territory, and there was no reason to dismantle the host’s surveillance when visiting someone’s home.
But just as the Beasts Pirates group prepared to continue toward the island, a sailboat with a child’s face suddenly sailed toward them.
“La la la~”
“I’m a ship~ I’m a ship~”
“?!”
“Quick, look, Shanks! That ship is actually speaking!”
“Yeah! I saw it! And it’s even singing!”
“So amazing!”*2
The two little ones were stunned to see an ordinary sailboat speaking human words.
“Is this the ability of that Big Mom woman? So amazing~”
Rayleigh had naturally seen this ability before, so he didn’t react much.
As for Sister La, she saw through the essence of this thing at a glance.
“Oh? The ability to grant life to inanimate objects…”
“Devil Fruit abilities are truly varied and bizarre.”
“Though it seems a bit crudely made.”
The ship before them had part of some creature’s soul stuffed into it, but the technique was extremely rough, granting only the most basic intelligence with no possibility for further growth.
But compared to the others’ reactions of surprise, indifference, or seeing it as normal, Aoxi’s response was far more intense.
“Huff~ Huff~”
Her breathing grew rapid, her body trembling slightly, the tips of her red hair flickering with fluorescent light, like a startled little cat.
Hiss hiss~
“Ligh… huff~ Ligh…”
Faint light was already gathering in her mouth, but this time it wasn’t golden—instead, strands of eerie blue electric arcs and flames!
“Ligh?”
Everyone except Sister La looked strangely at Aoxi, whose behavior had turned abnormal, not understanding why she suddenly assumed an attack stance.
As the light in her mouth grew brighter, Aoxi herself seemed to grow pained, as if the attack would harm her before hitting anyone else.
This was the backlash from forcibly using an authority she hadn’t fully mastered; she hadn’t grown enough yet to wield the complete authority.
“Ligh, ligh… ning…”
“Urgh…”
The eerie blue light intensified amid Aoxi’s pained whimpers but never fully coalesced.
“Lightning Sum…!”
“Aoxi.”
Finally, with Sister La’s ethereal call, Aoxi was pulled back from her out-of-control state.
Inside her body, the core of divine power was still unnaturally surging; Aoxi clutched her chest and slumped against the fence, her face looking extremely unwell.
“What’s wrong?”
Sister La voiced the question everyone present wanted to ask; that wisp of eerie blue flame Aoxi had leaked earlier had chilled the spines of all, including Rayleigh.
“Nothing, Sister La.”
“Just saw something disgusting and lost control for a moment.”
Aoxi glanced with disgust at the sailboat homie that had already fainted in fright.
By the way, is the Lightning Summoning Bullet a fireball or a thunderball? It looks like lightning during charging, but like fire after launch.
