Chapter 182: The Encounter Of Two Seven Warlords!
“Famous Sword·Autumn Water, the body of Dragon Slaying Swordsman Ryoma······ not bad! To steal something like this, you’re an expert tomb raider!”
Elus sat on the tombstone, his feet dangling down.
He held the Famous Sword·Autumn Water in his hands.
“Great Grade Sword Twenty-One Crafts, an exquisite treasure that’s hard to buy even with money, truly a rare treasure that swordsmen dream of······ nice!” His fingers stroked the thick blade spine, the black-purple blade body was restrained and deep, the blood-red serrated pattern on the blade edge exuded a chilling killing intent.
“Good treasure! Really······ good treasure!”
Even though he wasn’t a pure swordsman,
he had at least trained under ‘Beautiful Sword’ Kurosel for many days, and the weapon he used in combat was also the Moonlight Sword condensed from spiritual pressure······ at the very least, he wouldn’t be blind in appreciation, so he could naturally see the ‘charm’ of this Famous Sword.
Absalom stood in front of the grave mound,
Lion Face wanted to cry but had no tears, at his feet and behind him lay a pile of Zombie Generals and Zombie Soldiers.
He didn’t have the courage to oppose Elus, at least not without Lord Moria’s orders, he wasn’t prepared to fall out with Elus······ but even if he didn’t make a move, Elus forced him to wake up the Zombie Generals.
Combat,
no,
it should be called a one-sided beating,
Elus alone beat his zombie legion, the Zombie Soldiers fell in batches like wheat stalks in the fields during harvest, mowed down by the scythe, the Zombie Generals didn’t fare much better, the vast gap blurred the distinction between Zombie Generals and Zombie Soldiers.
At least, in front of Elus, there was no difference between the two.
Both were one-move takedowns,
including the Zombie General made from Dragon Slaying Swordsman Ryoma’s body, which Elus took down in one round, even Famous Sword·Autumn Water became Elus’s trophy······ the only consolation was that the Zombie Generals and Zombie Soldiers were just defeated, not destroyed.
They could be repaired and used again, especially the Zombie Generals, all top-quality material, once destroyed or purified, it wouldn’t be easy to replace,
otherwise,
he would really become a commander without troops.
“Alright, let’s continue on our way!”
Elus naturally handed Autumn Water to Fran.
The maid silently held the Famous Sword, following behind Elus, the master and servant headed toward the castle ahead, Absalom stared at the groaning zombies on the ground, glanced at the backs of the master and servant, and helplessly hurried to catch up, continuing to lead the way.
“Hey, Lion Face, do you have any other good stuff on your ship? Like Autumn Water.”
Elus suddenly asked.
“This, probably, probably not anymore.”
Absalom cursed endlessly in his belly.
What the hell is this? They were clearly the pirates, yet today they got robbed in reverse, and not only couldn’t they speak up, they had to swallow their anger and admit they were unlucky······ sigh! Unlucky, unlucky! Today was really unlucky!
“Nothing left?”
Elus carefully recalled for a moment.
Besides Famous Sword·Autumn Water, the most valuable thing on Thriller Bark seemed to be Doctor Hogback······
As he spoke,
they had already reached the edge of the graveyard, a tall brick wall and two iron gates blocked the way.
Absalom took the lead, pushing open the iron gate—it wasn’t locked, just closed—and passed through into the courtyard full of dry grass and dead trees, the dilapidated and desolate scene made it hard to see any signs of habitation.
“Lord Black Prince, this way.”
Absalom led the way.
They stepped onto the stairs, entered the door to find it was a long······ tunnel?
Elus furrowed his brows.
What kind of architectural structure is this?
But the doubt in his mind flashed and passed, he wasn’t an architecture expert, just curious about this unseen structure······ by the way, why is there a well? Next to the well were stairs and a door, the wonderful combination caught Elus and Fran’s attention.
At that moment,
“Creak creak—”
The pulley at the well mouth suddenly started moving.
It seemed to be pulling something from the well······
“Zombie? Beautiful Zombie?”
Elus stared at the zombie standing in the well mouth, “Why is she holding a plate?”
What appeared at the well mouth was a zombie, a beautiful zombie······ golden hair like gold, exquisite features that even stitch lines couldn’t ruin, a perfect front-convex back-curvy figure, holding a tall stack of plates in her hands······ um, ignoring those plates, this was indeed a top-class beauty!
“Welcome.”
The beautiful zombie looked at Elus and Fran, and spoke.
Then,
without waiting for Elus to respond, the beautiful zombie pressed her right hand on the plates, flung them hard, the ceramic plates shot toward····· Absalom like frisbees, her mouth still muttering, “One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight······”
“Stop, Sindori, stop right now!”
Absalom awkwardly dodged the flying plates.
“Don’t call my name, you’re not welcome here, playboy Absalom, don’t come over, get out.” While the beautiful zombie Sindori threw plates to attack the flesh, her sharp toxic tongue struck at the playboy······ Absalom’s heart.
“Alright, Sindori, stop bullying Absalom.”
The door on the stairs by the well was pushed open, a man with long thin limbs, round body, sharp long nose, wearing sunglasses, draped in a deep purple down cloak walked out, stood on the stairs, slightly lowered his head looking at the three below,
“Hey, Absalom, what’s going on here?”
Doctor Hogback asked Absalom verbally, but his eyes looked toward Elus and Fran······ focusing on Elus.
As one of the ‘Three Weirdos’ on Thriller Bark second only to Moria, they were equal in status, each had their own territory, normally they wouldn’t go to each other’s turf without reason, especially after Absalom had been beaten by Perona and Sindori respectively.
“That······”
“Doctor Hogback, I’ve heard so much about you, I’m here to find you.”
Elus rudely interrupted Absalom’s words.
“Looking for me? Fuhihi! Fuhihi!” Doctor Hogback let out a smug laugh, “Need to see a doctor? Surgery? You’ve come to the right person, I’m the world-famous Doctor Hogback, known as a genius! Fuhihi! Fuhihi!”
Absalom’s Lion Face twisted into a ball.
This idiot doctor still hadn’t realized what kind of monster the man in front of him was?
Perhaps his roaring thoughts reached Doctor Hogback’s mind, after this strangely appearing genius doctor laughed enough, he looked at Elus······ an indescribable sense of familiarity made him furrow his brows in confusion, “Excuse me, haven’t I seen······ seen······”
As a genius doctor.
Regardless of his character issues, his medical skill was unquestionable, the title of genius was no empty hype.
Excellent memory was just basic ability for a genius doctor, Hogback pulled from his mind photos that had appeared multiple times on the newspaper front page, different times and places, but the person on them was the same, a big shot very similar to the man in front of him.
“Black Prince······ Sokachio Elus?” Doctor Hogback’s voice trembled.
“Recognized again! Your news here is really well-informed! I thought news birds couldn’t even fly to a place like this······ sure enough, some things can’t be guessed, on-site investigation is necessary······”
Elus smiled broadly.
Doctor Hogback couldn’t laugh now, or rather his face had a forced smile, but his voice was like swallowed by a black hole in his throat.
Why had the Black Prince appeared at his doorstep?
What the hell was that bastard Absalom doing?
He wanted to grab Absalom this playboy idiot by the collar, let Sindori teach this jerk another harsh lesson.
“Doctor, won’t you invite me in to sit?”
Elus’s gaze turned toward the interior.
“Ah! Yes yes, please come in, please enter······”
At that moment, heavy footsteps came from the distance.
“Hee hee hee hee!!!”
The laughter echoed in this long tunnel, then a massive figure appeared at the tunnel entrance.
“Absalom, if there are guests, don’t forget to tell me, I didn’t even know guests were visiting······ very rude!” Moria’s legs were short, but his size was there, his strides weren’t small, the distance from the tunnel entrance to the well wasn’t far, in the time it took to speak, Moria arrived at the wellside.
Behind Moria’s massive figure, Perona secretly watched Fran while hugging her person-sized stuffed bear.
“Lord Moria!”
Absalom was so excited he nearly shed tears,
finally, finally Lord Moria had come.
“Moonlight Moria······ first time meeting, I’m Sokachio Elus.” Elus looked up at this giant even taller than Whitebeard, visually nearly seven hundred centimeters tall, but unlike Whitebeard, Moria looked a bit deformed.
Short legs, long neck······ no matter how you looked, not the type skilled in close combat.
“Your Highness Black Prince, I know you, hee hee hee hee!”
Moria’s attitude was subtle.
For a moment, it was hard to tell if it was welcome? Or rejection?
“Um, Lord Moria, shall we go inside to talk?”
Doctor Hogback asked tentatively.
His insight was sharp, he could see Lord Moria’s intent to act wasn’t strong, otherwise he wouldn’t have shown up voluntarily, Black Prince······ one of the overlords of the New World, a powerhouse on par with the Four Emperors.
Clearly, Lord Moria had no intention of antagonizing the Black Prince for now.
Moria didn’t refuse.
The gate opened, the group entered Hogback’s mansion.
Speaking of which, all the buildings on Thriller Bark were built to Moria’s size standards, for normal-sized buildings, even entering to talk would be impossible, the roof would be pierced.
The room was very large,
the fireplace flames burned brightly, everyone sat on both sides of the long dining table.
“Black Prince, what business do you have coming to my ship? I don’t remember sending you an invitation.” Moria stared at Elus, his attitude far from friendly.
“My rudeness, but······ please forgive me, I’m here this time for Doctor Hogback.”
Doctor Hogback, sitting quietly in the corner, twitched his face, feeling the hot gazes converging, he felt frustrated and wanted to shout and vent the pressure in his heart.
“Hee hee hee hee! Looking for Hogback?”
“Yes, that’s right, I need Doctor Hogback’s help with something.”
Elus was relaxed, he touched his chin, looked at the nervous sweating Doctor Hogback, smiled, “Don’t be nervous, doctor, I’m here to ask for your help······ as the world’s best genius surgeon, I need you to help with some experiments.”
“Experiments?”
At the mention of experiments, Doctor Hogback’s intuition keenly detected something.
“I know you’re hiding on this island full of corpses to revive the dead······ but these zombies hardly count as reviving the dead, right? Besides the empty shells in their form, the personality and soul inside are gone, just self-amusing toys······”
“What did you say?!”
Doctor Hogback abruptly stood up.
“What do you know? People like you can’t understand the greatness of my research, my research······”
The unsheathed Autumn Water pressed against his neck.
The unfinished words were immediately swallowed back, Doctor Hogback deflated like a leaking balloon and sat back down.
Fran then sheathed the sword.
“I don’t mean to question your research······ alright! I admit what I said was a bit much, um, let’s change the topic, I have a patient here who needs Doctor Hogback’s treatment, besides that, I have some experiments you might be interested in, doctor.”
“What?”
Doctor Hogback was puzzled.
He didn’t think there was any experiment that could interest him.
“Artificial Human.”
“······ Artificial Human?”
“Not robots, real ones, with blood and tears, yet not born from a womb······ oh right, unlike your zombies, Artificial Humans have souls! Real, genuine souls, not like these zombies that collapse without fruit power support.”
Having dealt with Caesar and Miss Bakkin many times, he had figured out how to handle these experts.
In short,
cater to their tastes.
Like money, give money, like beauties, give beauties······ want to revive the dead, then paint him a big pie of bringing the dead back to life.
The big pie Elus painted was truly enticing!
Doctor Hogback was moved.
He joined Moonlight Moria on the condition of reviving Sindori, but he knew himself that this kind of revival was just self-deception, besides the body being the real person’s, personality, habits, memory······ all came from others.
If,
if he could discover the secret of soul birth,
could he truly revive Sindori······ without Elus needing to persuade deeply, Doctor Hogback with his strong obsession imagined all sorts of beautiful futures full of infinite hope and brightness.
The only problem was—
whether the so-called Artificial Human experiment was real, or a lie fabricated by the Black Prince to deceive him?
