Chapter 137: The Great Warrior’s Resolve (part 2)
【Rank Strike Shell】, a nearly extinct shell with power ten times greater than Impact Shell.
Matching its immense power, its side effect is also terrifying.
Ordinary people who use it once will almost immediately be shattered by the recoil force themselves!
“Zannick!”
The chieftain, who had been silently watching from the side, could no longer hold back and cried out in pain.
Watching his old friend’s body gradually fall limply, he couldn’t help but recall what he had said to him last night.
“So what’s your plan?”
“Tomorrow, I’ll fight that blue-haired girl with all my strength.”
“What’s the point of doing that? You should be able to feel that the power of those outsiders far exceeds ours.”
“Yeah, I know that better than anyone.”
Zannick nodded and looked at his hands wrapped in bandages.
“But just as our ancestors were willing to bet the future of the entire tribe on believing in Roronoa, I may not have the ancestors’ boldness, but I can bet my own life.”
“As a descendant of the great warrior Kargra, the Shandia warrior captain, I have the responsibility and obligation to do so, even if it means offering my own life!”
This is an accounting to the warriors in the tribe who have persisted in fighting until now, and also to show Obei and these outsiders their determination… in the Shandia people’s way.
……
At the center of the impact, Zannick knelt on the ground, his entire body limply leaning on Obei.
The front half of his right hand had already disappeared, leaving only a bit of exposed bone stump.
Looking at Obei before him, who remained completely unmoved and unscathed, his gaze was somewhat scattered, but he endured and pleaded in a voice so faint it was almost inaudible:
“The Shandia and our ancestors’ last wish are all entrusted to you, oh god as sacred and firm as Earth…”
After saying that, the man passed out.
Hearing him compare her to Earth, Obei touched her firm chest… but suddenly felt an urge to grab him and punch him twice “bang bang.”
But in the end, she held back. After all, she had been holding back from fighting back earlier precisely because she was afraid of accidentally killing him.
Taking two deep breaths to calm her mood, Obei gently handed him over to the Shandia witch doctor, then said to the Shandia chieftain with a complicated expression:
“It’s over.”
“Yeah, it’s over.”
The chieftain stepped forward and proactively extended his hand, and Obei directly gripped it.
“Rest assured, I promise you that your next generation will grow up stepping on dirt.”
Clearly just a child whose height only reached her waist, but when she said those words, the chieftain seemed to see a giant that reached the heavens.
The clouds that used to float high in the sky now could only swirl around Its feet, and the distant high heavens seemed within easy reach with a raise of Its hand.
Thinking of the photograph Gan Foll had shown him not long ago, and linking it to the sudden appearance of Obei and her group, he had already guessed most of it in his heart.
『Not a monster, but a god…』
Four hundred years ago, the Shandia people also had a god they believed in, a massive venomous snake named “Kashi God.”
But during the sacrificial ceremony to lift the “curse” of tree fever, it was chopped in half by Roronoa who fell from the sky.
After that came the well-known story of friendship between the great warrior Kargra and Roronoa.
That slash from Roronoa not only severed the Shandia people’s worship of deities, but also gradually faded the profession of “priest” from their culture.
Now, the tribe’s leadership consists only of the ‘chieftain’ responsible for production and internal stability, and the ‘warrior captain’ responsible for external wars and gathering food.
The ‘priest’ line gradually differentiated into the tribe’s witch doctors, teachers, and so on…
Now another true god has appeared before the Shandia people, and the chieftain doesn’t know if this is a blessing or a curse.
……
At night, a huge bonfire rarely rose in the Shandia village.
Using Flame Shell to ignite precious timber, Shandia men, women, and children gathered around the flames, dancing dances passed down from a thousand years ago.
Their figures danced with the flames, casting constantly changing shadows on the clouds.
The warriors guzzled the fine wine rarely seen on Sky Island, which Obei and the others had brought from the ship, along with Wright and the other two who had been watching the ship.
“Hahahaha! You ask what Blue Sea is like? There’s plenty to say about that.”
“First is that Grand Line, islands everywhere, spectacles abound. Heroes from the Four Seas are as numerous as carp crossing the river…”
The ship doctor and navigator, already quite drunk, were grandly discussing with those Shandia girls, full of the air of pointing rivers and mountains.
No helping it, along the way the two had zero presence; even when the executives gathered to discuss things, they weren’t included.
They originally thought Wright was like them, but he was not only an old acquaintance of Jhin, but also one of the rare senior intellectuals in the organization who could even speak up at executive meetings.
Eh~ They thought he was one of their own, but unexpectedly there was already an invisible thick barrier between them.
Now, under the adoring gazes of a group of young men and girls, and exclamations of “Eh?! So amazing!”, the two gradually lost themselves.
“Let me tell you, our Kaido captain can transform into…”
“Eh? You mean me? Of, of course, I’m an existence that can take on a hundred in the organization.”
“Hahaha!”
……
“Miss Aoxi, I’m here to apologize to you.”
“I’m extremely sorry for attacking you indiscriminately back then!”
Zannick, covered in bandages, came before Aoxi supported by his son, bowed his head deeply, and solemnly apologized to her.
“Ouch~ Don’t bounce around in your current state, just lie properly in bed~”
Aoxi quickly helped up this man who had just awakened from unconsciousness.
“No, I should have apologized right away, but…”
“Okay okay, no problem, I didn’t take it to heart at all~”
“I said that back then just to tease you; after all, that bit of power couldn’t even touch my eyebrows.”
“…”
It had to be said that Aoxi was really good at comforting people; with a few words from her small mouth, Zannick’s guilt mostly vanished.
……
After helping his father back to the tent to rest, Yuta returned to the bonfire in his father’s place.
He sat back in his original spot, somewhat enviously watching the adult Shandia warriors guzzle alcohol.
But just as he shifted his gaze to look for Obei, he suddenly saw Braharti holding a wine glass with a worried look.
“What’s wrong, Uncle Braharti? Why do you look so preoccupied?”
“It’s Yuta.”
Braharti came back to his senses upon hearing someone call his name and explained.
“I’m thinking about that monster I saw yesterday. That thing caused such a huge commotion at the time, yet now it’s like it’s vanished.”
“I’m afraid It will suddenly pop out from somewhere again.”
“Is that so? What kind of monster was it?”
Aoxi suddenly poked half her head out from behind him, her red hair even more vivid in the bonfire’s glow.
“I didn’t see clearly, just a pair of red wings.”
Looking at this cute little girl who suddenly popped up, Braharti cautioned again:
“You outsiders should be careful too; maybe that thing is still lurking in White White Sea.”
“Got it… But red wings, huh. Didn’t expect to run into someone with matching style here on Sky Island~”
Yuta on the side secretly glanced at the familiar Aoxi, then asked again:
“Uncle Braharti, is that thing you mentioned really that scary?”
“Mm.”
“That monster absolutely has the power to destroy the entire Sky Island.”
Recalling that terrifying massive void, Braharti still felt chills down his spine.
“Think positively, boss. Maybe that monster was just passing through and has already left.”
A half-drunk guerrilla member patted his captain’s back and comforted him.
“I hope so…”
Feeling a bit psychologically comforted, Braharti threw back the wine in his glass.
『What a wonderful taste… Blue Sea wine.』
……
