Chapter 144: Local Specialty
“What’s wrong with you? Why are you suddenly grinning like that?”
Aoxi, who was eating some unknown roasted skewers, looked at her cheap little sister with some confusion.
She had clearly been like an abandoned kitten just moments ago, curled up in the corner feeling depressed, but suddenly she seemed like a completely different person.
In just a few minutes, she had laughed more times than she usually did in a month.
“Did you eat bee poop?”
“A dog’s mouth doesn’t produce ivory.”
Obei stopped laughing, rolled her eyes, and walked over to Ember’s side on her own.
All the purposes of this trip had already been achieved, so it was time to discuss heading back.
“Ember, have you been in contact with Fenrir Island?”
“Yeah, but I couldn’t reach Mr. Kaido, so I told La everything about the situation here.”
Kaido being out of contact wasn’t anything worth worrying about. After all, when he got bored before, he would occasionally go out on the sea for a few laps, looking for trouble with the Navy and other pirates.
Yeah… frequently occasionally.
But seeing Obei come to find him, she seemed to have already moved on from the failure, so Ember stopped his conversation with the chieftain and the others.
“So what does Big Sister mean?”
“La said she would come here personally later, and that we should just head back directly.”
“You’re preparing to go back? In such a hurry?”
The Shandia Chieftain asked.
“Yeah. Everything has been taken care of, and we have no reason to keep staying here.”
“Then this gold…”
According to the Shandia people’s inventory, the gold reserves in Shandora were shockingly high.
Just the gold covering the surface of these temple pyramids was already countless, not to mention the insides of the other unexplored buildings.
It was hard to imagine the word “abundant” one day being used for gold.
“Our small boat can’t transport all this gold back, so we’ll leave it here for now. Later, others from our Pirate Crew will come here.”
“At that time, she will be in charge of transferring the gold.”
“As for the island’s defense work… we probably won’t send anyone over in the short term, so you’ll have to handle it yourselves.”
“Yeah.”
The chieftain and Zannick both nodded; this was exactly what they wanted.
For the Shandia people who had just reclaimed their hometown, it would take some time to accept new outsiders setting foot on this land.
And those Sky people probably wouldn’t dare to invade easily anymore after Obei’s punch.
……
Early the next morning, the Beasts Pirates group set off on their return journey.
“Do we really have to leave in such a hurry?”
Wright rubbed his right hand, which was cramping from all the writing, and said reluctantly.
The numerous well-preserved ancient Shandora ruins here had left him dazzled and reluctant to leave; he wished he could live here for the rest of his life.
“Yeah, yeah! I haven’t had enough fun yet!”
Aoxi also didn’t want to go back so soon; it was rare to be out here with no one managing her.
These past few days, she could play however she wanted, jump around however she wanted, and skip vegetables if she didn’t want to eat them.
Plus, there were so many people here, and they all spoke so nicely. Oh man~ she super liked it here.
“Then just stay here~ Anyway, Sister La said she would come here.”
Obei said indifferently.
“Is that really okay?”
“Of course. But about how you didn’t sleep at night, didn’t get up during the day, and didn’t eat a single vegetable these past few days…”
“Aaaah~ you guy! And here I was kindly comforting you last night!”
“I never said I needed your comfort.”
“Still being stubborn, still being stubborn! You were clearly whimpering and calling me sister back then!”
“I wasn’t whimpering!”
“You were!”
“…”
And so, amid a group of… well, two people’s bickering, the Beasts Pirates finally set sail again.
Dang!
Dang!
Dang!
Shandora’s Golden Bell rang this time, just like over three hundred years ago, sending off the Shandia people’s friends.
“Goodbye! Benefactors! You must come back!”
“Goddess Sister, goodbye!”
“We’ll be waiting for you!”
On the shore, Shandia people of all ages waved their hands, seeing off the group.
“We will definitely come back!”
“Goodbye!”
“Miss Aranqi, take care of yourself!”
The navigator clung to the ship’s railing, tears streaming down as he desperately waved toward the shore.
And the ship doctor beside him was doing the same.
“Miss Kamalan, Miss Upapa, Miss Riki… take care too!”
“Miss Ula, until we meet again!”*2
“Huh?”*2
“What are you interrupting for when I’m saying goodbye to Miss Ula?”*2
“Huh?! That’s my line!”*2
The shift from hunter to prey often happens in an instant.
……
“So how are we supposed to get back?”
After bidding farewell to the Shandia people, Aoxi lay bored on the deck, sprawled out in a “big” shape, completely relaxed.
“The chieftain said we can return below via the ‘Cloud River,’ but that river seems to be near Angel Island where the Sky people live.”
“Forget it then, let’s just fly back directly.”
Aoxi really didn’t want to take all those detours.
“You gonna pull the ship?”
“Yeah, I want to bring this ship back too.”
After all, it was a ship with special meaning; it would be too much of a waste to leave it in “Paradise.”
“Plus, the local specialties I got for Sister La are still on the ship.”
“Local specialties? How come I didn’t see any?”
Obei was a bit curious; besides gold, what other local specialties did this island have?
“Ah~ because I just caught them last night and casually stuffed them into the cabin.”
With that, Aoxi got up, pattered over with small steps into the cabin, and dragged out a large cloth bag from inside.
“Ta-da~ Shandia specialty giant centipede! And giant mantis!”
Opening the bag, Aoxi reached in and yanked out a super large centipede about as long as she was tall.
And this centipede was still alive, wriggling in her hand.
『Eek!』
“Hm? What sound was that?”
Aoxi seemed to hear a faint cry of surprise.
“Whatever, um… Obei, why are you standing so far away?”
“A-a-are… are you? I, I’m just over here looking at the scenery.”
“Really?”
“Let me tell you, this thing is super tasty when roasted! I tried it last night, and the flavor is even more tender than lobster!”
“W-why would you eat something like this?!”
“Because this thing bit me first last night… Then I thought, aren’t centipedes medicinal ingredients? Something this big must be super nourishing, so I roasted it up and ate it.”
“Heh! No wonder they say our ancestors had sharp eyes~”
“The taste is really great! Sister La will definitely like these special ingredients too.”
As if understanding Aoxi’s words, the giant centipede struggled even harder, its dozens of legs flailing wildly, making Obei’s scalp tingle.
“Throw it away quick!”
“Eh? Why?”
“No reason! Throw it away!”
“I don’t want to.”
……
“They’ve left~”
“Yeah, they’ve left.”
The Shandia people who had seen them off dispersed, leaving only Zannick and the chieftain standing side by side.
Both of them felt a bit lost at the moment; the Shandia people’s nearly four-hundred-year last wish had suddenly been fulfilled in their generation.
Countless resistances, struggles, bloodshed, and sacrifices during that time… generation after generation of ancestors pressing forward relentlessly, vowing to reclaim their hometown, and it had returned to their hands in just half a day.
The promise with Roronoa had also been fulfilled.
Both felt like they had suddenly lost their goal, not knowing what to do next~
