Units One and Two moved through the smoke, their specialized head scanners checking for life signs in the forest. At this combat distance, their shotguns were the scythes of death, each shot delivering a fatal blow to anything in range.
Four shots weren't the limit of the weapon's capacity, but they were the limit of what these people could endure.
"Cough, cough… cough, cough… There are only a few people. Is there really a need for smoke grenades?"
From the tree canopy nearby, Kate emerged. Her overly sensitive sense of smell sometimes caused trouble.
When the smoke grenade was first released, Kate pulled a special cat-head gas mask from the equipment book Oran had given her. She only took it off when the smoke below had mostly dispersed, but the lingering irritant still made her cough repeatedly.
"Isn't this just a test? I didn't expect a smoke grenade to last this long in a real fight."
Ginny's mech, however, had not opened its cockpit.
Mech piloting safety rule: Do not open the cockpit's protection before returning to camp, even if the battle is over.
CRUMP!
Unit One stomped a foot onto the ground ahead. Although shotguns could achieve fire suppression at close range in a very short time, they also had a drawback: occasionally, some lucky individuals would manage to narrowly avoid a fatal injury.
Beep—
A notification sound rang in Ginny's ear, and her previously red visual screen turned green. This meant the battlefield sweep was complete, with no life activity signals detected within the scan range.
"You take this one back. I'll continue to stand guard."
Kate returned to the forest, while Ginny manipulated her mech, carrying the surviving Si Tewe back to camp.
Si Tewe had fainted in extreme panic. On Ginny's way back, the sea breeze blowing from the coast and the shaking of the mech's arm woke him up again.
"Familiar beach… Where am I? Oh right, those idiots were screaming about the enemy's weapons."
Ginny had captured him with a casual grab. At this moment, Si Tewe could even see the mech's massive metal foot, and the muzzle of Unit One's gun occasionally pointed at his head from the side.
Struggling to lift his head, Si Tewe met Unit One's gaze. Looking at that crimson single eye, he tilted his neck and fainted again.
When he woke up again, he found himself in a pure white space.
His hands were pinned to the wall by a white bookmark the size of a finger. Although there was no pain, no matter how he struggled, his hands could not be freed.
"Si Tewe, a member of the Firefly Island Pirate Alliance, Vice Captain of the Deli Pirates, no bounty, joined the newly landed Deli Pirates twelve years ago."
Oran's indifferent voice sounded from the side. At this moment, Si Tewe was imprisoned in his Book Prison, and the bookmark restricting his movement was Oran's ability.
Although it was just an ordinary bookmark, its binding power was terrifyingly strong. In the original timeline, after Luffy, before his training with Kaido, was captured by the BIG MOM Pirates, he was imprisoned in a book by Mont-d'Or, who had eaten the Book-Book Fruit.
After two years of training, Luffy, with a bounty of 500 million Berries, had no way to escape. The only way he could think of getting out was to break his own arms, which shows how strong the binding power of the Book-Book Fruit is.
Extremely strong Haki might be able to break free from such a restraint, but if one's Haki cultivation had reached that level, one wouldn't be confined to this position.
What Oran had just read was a brief biography of Si Tewe recorded on the book page on the left.
This was another aspect of the Book-Book Fruit's ability: for objects imprisoned within the book, the Book-Book Fruit would automatically generate a brief biography of the subject.
As a book, it interprets the things within it. Occasionally, there may be some errors, as there is a possibility of misprints in book production. In this regard, the Book-Book Fruit's ability is extremely close to reality, but most of it is correct.
The Book-Book Fruit cannot read the memories from the other person's mind, but the identity of the imprisoned person cannot be hidden.
"Tell me about your..."
"I'll talk! My Captain is the old Deli, the nominal leader of the Pirate Alliance, and he's a Devil Fruit user who ate the Go-Go Fruit! Among the remaining few...
I can lead you, take you into the Alliance's stronghold!"
Oran had just finished reading his biography, intending to use this method to increase intimidation and smoothly extract information about the pirates on the island from his mouth.
Unexpectedly, as soon as Oran opened his mouth, before he even finished speaking, Si Tewe blurted out the answer, selling out his own Captain completely, like beans pouring from a bamboo tube.
"Big Brother Oran, I told you, these pirates are not quite right in the head. Now do you believe me?"
"I never said I didn't believe you, but now I can understand your previous feeling even more."
"This guy is a spineless coward. When I caught him, he tried to play dead by hiding in the fallen leaves. Look at how he's selling out his boss. Tsk, it seems like it's not the first time."
"Heh, laugh, just laugh a little longer. When I trick you into my boss's place, I'll make you wish you were dead! Huh?"
What Si Tewe had just said was ninety percent true and ten percent false, concealing some crucial information. He wanted to use this method to achieve his counter-kill, but after he had said everything, what pointed at him was only a dark muzzle.
"Everything I said is true, believe me!"
"I didn't say I don't believe you. It's just that after you've said all this, you no longer have any value."
Having Ginny bring back a live captive was only for gathering information. After the interrogation was complete, he would certainly be sent to reunite with the other pirates.
"Didn't you say that if I told the truth, you would let me go?"
"You think too highly of yourself. Have you learned to foresee the future? I didn't say anything, and you interrupted me directly.
What I originally wanted to say was, 'If you tell me, I'll let you die quickly.'"
Bang!
A gunshot rang out, and blood splattered across the book page behind him.
Oran then closed the book directly. Only then did the text on the book appear in Si Tewe's line of sight, but unfortunately, he could no longer see it.
Below his biography, his many crimes were listed. According to the Book-Book Fruit's recording method, these were only a portion of the more egregious ones.
Whoosh!
After leaving the book world, Oran shrunk the book and threw it into the campfire at the nearby camp. The soiled book no longer needed to be kept; creating another book was just a thought away anyway.
"Big Brother Oran, can we trust what he said?"
"I don't know. Just use it as a reference. We'll compare the information when Kuma and the others return to see how much of it is true. However, the ability of that Devil Fruit user he mentioned is somewhat interesting."
"Hmph hmph... I'm going to punch the bad guys... flying!"
On a nearby hammock, Lyleyanna declared her intentions in her sleep. She always slept very soundly; even the gunshots from earlier hadn't woken her.
Originally, many tents had already been set up in the camp, and Oran's Devil Fruit ability had also created a lounge, but Lyleyanna insisted on camping outside, so Oran didn't stop her.
Although Firefly Island is an autumn island, it is currently in its summer, and the climate is very warm. In other words, even if Lyleyanna were to sleep directly in the snow, she wouldn't be affected.
"Roar!"
While Lyleyanna was punching bad guys in her dream, her fist swung to the side, and Terra, whom Lyleyanna was using as a pillow, was consequently flung away.
Two years ago, Lyleyanna was 1.1 meters tall, and the newborn Terra was 1.5 meters long. Excluding their tails, the girl and the dragon were roughly equal in weight.
Two years passed, Lyleyanna grew two meters taller, and Terra grew two centimeters. The family hierarchy suddenly became much clearer.
Despite being a sub-dragon, she was like a kitten, shaking her head and climbing back onto the hammock, lying down again.
"What a cute little guy. Big Brother Oran, aren't you going to rest?"
"You know my situation. It's common for me to work for days without sleep when I'm busy. If you're tired, you should rest first. Nothing should happen tonight."
"I'm fine too. I just wonder how Xiong Zai is doing."
"Um, could I trouble you to leave here? Otherwise, you'll get hurt."
At the same time, Kuma, whom Ginny was concerned about, and Frankenstein were in a room at a small town inn. Kuma held his hands in front of his chest, trying to persuade the people in front of him to stop their dangerous actions.
The Paw-Paw Fruit is very powerful, and Kuma knew how much destruction this fruit could cause, but he didn't like to do so.
In the original timeline, he only acted in a rage for the first time after Bekory King tried to reduce the heavens gold share, splitting the kingdom in half, and turning the southern island, which had more elderly people, into an lawless zone.
Frankenstein's appearance had caused them some trouble. On such an unstable island, beauty was a sin; being pretty had become a source of misfortune.
After years of order collapse, the town had long become a gathering place for pirates. From the moment Kuma and Frankenstein entered at dusk, they attracted many watchful eyes.
"Get lost! We're not interested in you, big guy. Hand over the chick in your room. We're not those useless Kuerhe Gang members! We're pirates!"
They weren't the first ones to arrive. Seeing that Kuma was fine, they thought the previous people hadn't acted for some reason.
"Is that so? I understand."
Hearing them say they were pirates, Kuma stopped trying to dissuade them and instead moved away from the doorway.
"That's more like it. You're smart."
The pirates thought Kuma was afraid and lifted their feet to kick open the door, but Kuma stopped them again.
"Big guy, do you think we're afraid to kill people?"
"No, don't kick down the door. The landlord already has a hard life."
Saying this, Kuma even helped them open the door, but the scene inside the room was somewhat beyond these people's comprehension: more than a dozen Kuerhe Gang members were piled up in a stack, and Frankenstein sat emotionlessly on top of them, muttering something under her breath.
"Can't charge, not in a good mood, don't like it here..."
By the time they realized something was wrong, Kuma had already squeezed in through the doorway, bending at the waist, and locked the door.
"Didn't you want to come in? Why are you in such a hurry to leave? Please cooperate and tell us what you know about the island, otherwise, you'll get hurt."
It was still the familiar words and the familiar smile, but it sent shivers down their spines.
Realizing they had been tricked, the pirates immediately drew their swords and slashed at Kuma, but he blocked them with the paw pads on his palms.
And Frankenstein picked up her hammer and walked towards them. On the dark hammerhead, there seemed to be a lot of bloodstains.
The next morning, when Kuma and Frankenstein went downstairs to check out, the inn owner looked very dazed. Behind Frankenstein, more than a dozen people were strung together like grasshoppers, and she dragged them out of the room like that.
--+--
T/N: Although I'm an inexperienced Editor, I do have a Patreon account! Although it seems like I don't have many supporters right now, my webnovel will be released in full every day, and the advanced chapters will be uploaded to Patreon.
It may not be worth it now, but who knows, it might be different in the future. Who knows!
patreon.com/DaoistRoeoNQ
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