Chapter 222: Phantom God Alloy
“Come to think of it, Big Sister Aoxi hasn’t been seen since she was called away that day, right?”
“She didn’t run into some trouble, did she?”
Chewing on a toothpick, Arlong walked out of the canteen gate with his hands clasped behind his head, strutting arrogantly. There were dishes he liked today, so he ate until he was a bit stuffed.
“Eh?! Trouble, trouble!”
“No, no way. Big Sister Aoxi is so powerful, how could she run into trouble?”
Hachi, following behind Arlong, immediately grew worried upon hearing this.
He really liked this beautiful big sister who often told them stories.
“Don’t listen to this kid Arlong spout nonsense. I saw Miss Aoxi come back the day before yesterday, but she didn’t stay on the island long before leaving in a hurry again.”
“As an executive of the Beasts Pirates, she probably has a lot of things to handle, just like Brother Burufaruto.”
Jinbe, who had also finished eating, tightened his training clothes and prepared to return to the training ground to continue practicing Fish-Man Karate.
“Heading to the training ground again? Intense exercise right after eating isn’t good for the body, Boss Jinbe.”
“Hmph! Haven’t even enjoyed a few days of comfort, and you’ve already developed such a pampered habit?”
“Didn’t you say you wanted Miss Aoxi and Admiral Kaido to look at you differently? If you’re this lax, you’ll never catch up to their footsteps, Arlong.”
Jinbe, with his steady and mature personality, saw Arlong growing more and more slack day by day, showing signs of just eating and waiting to die, and grew a bit anxious.
As one of the oldest mermaid children brought back by Burufaruto, compared to the other fish-man orphans who were still at a loss in the new environment, Jinbe had already understood the essence of the Beasts Pirates early on.
The Beasts Pirates were a pirate crew that valued martial prowess above all. His group of fish-men certainly wouldn’t face discrimination or exclusion here, but they couldn’t expect any special treatment either.
Everything here depended on strength.
They fish-men were brought back and trained as future reserve combat power for the pirate crew because their innate physical fitness was superior to that of ordinary humans.
But that was it. If they started eating and waiting to die now just because they were fed and housed, they would be abandoned again before long.
Even the Dragon Palace Kingdom had no free lunch, let alone a pirate crew.
“From today onward, I’ll be watching you all. You must train extra with me. Got it?”
“Y-Yes, got it, Boss Jinbe.”
Although Arlong’s tone was still perfunctory, his body honestly followed behind Jinbe.
“W-Wait for me! Boss Arlong, Boss Jinbe!”
“Instead of making us stop and wait, hurry up and catch up yourself~ Dumb Hachi… Hey~ Boss Jinbe, don’t walk so fast~”
……
Fenrir Sea Area, some uninhabited island.
“Gurgle~”
“S-Success, right?”
“It should be a success.”
“You go pick it up and check.”
“No, you go.”
“Huh? You made this with your own hands, why should I go? Have some confidence in your own work.”
“The energy in my body might disrupt its internal balance, so you go.”
“Why do I feel like you’re making that up… Hey hey hey! Don’t push me!”
In the end, under the power of 4000 fixed panel strength, Aoxi was pushed to the workbench in a “defense descent” stance.
“Gurgle~”
Swallowing again, Aoxi picked up a dry twig from the ground and cautiously probed toward the cube on the workbench.
Unlike the initial gold color, the cube’s volume hadn’t changed, but its color had turned dark blue.
The faint golden light on the surface had completely receded, making the entire cube serene and dim, filling the surrounding space with dead silence…
Pat!
The dark cube shook slightly from the twig’s nudge, emitting a light sound.
“Eek!”*2
Whoosh—!
In the next instant, the two little ones had spread their wings and retreated to the island’s edge.
“…”
“…”
Several minutes later…
“I-It seems fine~”
“Yeah, it’s fine.”
“Phew~”*2
The two little ones, seeing no explosion, both let out a sigh of relief.
“Heh~ Look how scared you got~ It’s something you made yourself, and you didn’t even dare touch it.”
Tossing away the twig, Aoxi wiped the cold sweat from her forehead and returned to her usual tone.
“You weren’t much better. I ran because I saw you run.”
“Alright, alright, it didn’t explode this time, so it should be a success.”
“Yeah~ These past few days have exhausted me.”
Stretching lazily, Aoxi’s whole mood relaxed.
Ever since Oberra came to act as safety officer, aside from a midway trip back to Fenrir Island to replenish materials when they ran out, the rest of the time had basically been spent on one desert island after another.
These days had mostly been spent living in the open, under constant high mental tension.
……
Returning to the simple workbench, Obei looked at the still serene and stable dark cube on it, like an abyss, and directly picked it up.
“Hmm, from the appearance, it’s indeed set. No signs of instability.”
With that, she tentatively released her divine power, letting it flow over the cube’s surface.
Still no signs of instability or explosion; Obei’s energy transmitted exceptionally smoothly over its surface.
It was just like fired ceramics—even if submerged in water again, it wouldn’t be affected.
“Success.”
Letting out a breath of relief in her heart, a faint smile appeared on Obei’s usually expressionless face.
“From that look on your face, it really succeeded this time?”
“Yeah.”
Obei nodded and tossed the small block in her hand to Aoxi; Aoxi deserved half the credit for this experiment’s success.
“Hmm~ It’s pretty nice-looking, just like your color after ‘transformation’.”
“By the way, shouldn’t we give this thing a name? Like… Oliha Steel?”
Tossing the small cube in her hand, Aoxi started spouting random ideas again.
“Can you not pick such an ominous name? Do you want the weapons made from it to make whoever uses them lose?”
Catching the cube mid-air, Obei carefully placed it into the ‘cone-faced president’ knitted bag at her waist, then looked at Aoxi.
“Let’s call this thing ‘Phantom God Alloy·Blue’ for now. How about it? Want to give it a try?”
“Huh? Try what?”
“Like this, make your own alloy?”
“Eh? My own… Nah, I don’t want to get blown up.”
Recalling the islets that had been blasted to the sky during this time, Aoxi shook her head gurgle gurgle.
This thing was both troublesome and dangerous; she really didn’t want to touch it.
Right now, Aoxi just wanted to hurry home, take a bath, and then pig out at the canteen.
“Well~ If you don’t want to, forget it.”
“But your ‘special weapon’ is probably off the table.”
Obei said deliberately.
“Hey hey hey? Why? You clearly promised me.”
Sure enough, upon hearing this, Aoxi immediately blocked Obei’s path.
If not for Obei’s promise to make her a ‘special weapon’ after success, she wouldn’t have grudgingly accompanied her everywhere to ‘correct the sea chart’.
“Special weapon, special weapon—it has to be the weapon that fits you best, right? Have you ever seen a demon lord swinging a holy sword around all day?”
“Hmm↑ Hmm↓ Makes sense, so…”
“So, if you want a special weapon that truly fits you, you have to make your own ‘Phantom God Alloy·Red’ like I did.”
