OPTC Chapter 209 - Such a Disobedient Child
Blurting out Kumacy's name, Perona suddenly realized that just like Absalom, Kumacy had already been taken down.
Looking around the unfamiliar room, she muttered, "I wonder how Lord Moria is doing… I need to go out and check."
She had been on guard duty for Moria when Ye Yan startled her into fainting, so she still didn't know the outcome of last night's battle.
Hearing the noisy voices outside, Perona crept out of bed and tiptoed toward the source of the sound.
But the further she went, the more familiar the place seemed. A bad feeling started to creep into her heart.
When she finally peeked into the dining hall, the feast was already at its end. Most people were full and satisfied, and the gathering had shifted into a stage of entertainment.
"Everyone, look—forty-five degrees!" Brook stood ramrod straight, then tilted forward until his skull rested on the wall, forming a perfect forty-five degree angle with both the wall and the floor.
This ridiculous stunt he had invented out of boredom earned loud applause, especially from Tom, Shark Chili, and the flag demons. They laughed so hard tears nearly came out of their eyes. "What the hell is that supposed to be!"
Zhang Da Ye and Rui Meng Meng were equally baffled, but laughter is contagious. Caught up in the mood, they found themselves clapping and laughing along without quite knowing why.
Artoria lifted her head. Since everyone else had stopped eating, she didn't hold back. Her chopsticks moved so fast they left afterimages.
After Brook's act, Ye Yan stepped up to deliver a performance piece he called "the gravely wounded old man."
Honestly, if it were a real performance, it would have been boring. But at a party, even ordinary acts were hilarious when done by familiar faces.
Tom pounded the table with laughter, then without even looking back, reached for a non-existent chicken leg. He bit to the left, then to the right, presenting a masterful display of pantomime.
After chewing for a while, Tom suddenly felt something was off. Looking down, he realized his hand was empty. Glancing at the table, he saw nothing but empty plates, while Artoria delicately dabbed her lips with a napkin.
Tom blinked. Where did my roast chicken go?
That was when he spotted a little head poking out from the doorway.
'Crap, I've been discovered. This is their ship!' Perona instantly shrank back, pressing her back against the wall in fear. No wonder everything looked familiar—she had scouted this ship with her ghosts before.
Thinking back to the reason she fainted, Perona realized she must have been captured. That terrifying gong-beater, the swordswoman, and everyone else were all here. Could it be that Lord Moria had been defeated?
No, she had to escape! She turned to sneak away—only to come face-to-face with a man. "Ahhh—a zombie!"
"I'm the gravely wounded old man," Ye Yan corrected, shaking the broken lantern he carried. He had borrowed it from Spoil just for this gag. Since they'd soon be leaving after reclaiming their shadows, he might as well put it to use.
Perona collapsed to the floor in tears. "Why… why are you here?"
"I just went out to use the toilet, and then I saw you snooping around here." Ye Yan gestured behind her, then turned away. "She's yours. I really need to pee."
When Perona spun around, she found a crowd staring at her. In a panic, she immediately unleashed her power. "Negative Hollows!"
"Seastone cuffs!" Zhang Da Ye reacted fast, snapping a cuff onto her wrist.
Ever since deciding to keep Perona, he had been considering how to deal with her Negative Hollows. He couldn't let himself be forced into kneeling in the corner every time she got upset. Luckily, he had acquired two pairs of cuffs earlier from Gion.
"No… no strength… what is this…" Perona collapsed weakly. She was still young and had never seen seastone before.
As she fell, the Negative Hollows vanished. It seemed they didn't count as permanent creations of her power.
"Such a troublesome ability." Shark Chili was glad Zhang Da Ye reacted quickly; otherwise, he might've been humiliated in front of everyone.
Rui Meng Meng patted her chest with relief. "I thought I'd be stuck in the corner again. No wonder boss was so obsessed with getting seastone—it's amazing."
Seastone rendered Devil Fruit users as helpless as if they were thrown into the sea. They couldn't use their powers, and their bodies turned weak.
With training, stronger people might eventually adapt, regaining mobility while still being unable to use abilities.
But Perona clearly wasn't one of them. She couldn't even stand with the cuffs on.
Watching her cry on the floor, Zhang Da Ye said, "I'll take these cuffs off, but you better not use your power. Understand?"
"Yes," Perona whimpered.
Zhang Da Ye removed the cuffs. The oversized shackle didn't even fit her small wrist properly.
Probably because seastone was so hard to process, they had never been crafted into adjustable designs.
"z've recovered!" Perona perked up immediately, trying to sit up and wiggle her limbs. Then her big eyes swiveled mischievously. "Negative Hollows!"
Click. This time Zhang Da Ye clamped the cuff higher up on her arm, then flicked her forehead. "Knew you wouldn't behave."
"No… no strength again…" Perona collapsed.
"Kekekeke… Ohohoho… Hahaha…" A group of flag demons surrounded her, cackling in all sorts of eerie voices. "Such a disobedient child should be eaten! I heard in Canton there's a delicacy called claypot rice. This human brat would be perfect for it!"
They rolled up their sleeves and rubbed their hands like they were about to start cooking.
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Please don't eat me! So scary! Kumacy… Lord Moria, save meee!" Perona burst into real tears this time, sobbing uncontrollably.
"This is pathetic. You made a kid cry," Shark Chili grumbled. Even with his fierce appearance, he had never made a child cry. Well… mechanical flying robots probably didn't count as children, right?
"Hey, you scared her—so you deal with it!" Zhang Da Ye said. He was no good with kids. Back when he volunteered as a tutor for elementary students, he nearly collapsed from exhaustion.
"We were just joking!"
"Don't be scared, little one—we're actually gentle!"
"Don't cry, don't cry, look over here!"
The flag demons scrambled to pull silly faces, grin, and coo at her. They'd dealt with kids before in their long careers of mischief, so they weren't completely unqualified. They just wanted to teach her a lesson, but clearly they'd gone too far.
Unfortunately, their efforts only made Perona cry harder.
She had been knocked out in fear, woken up in a strange place, saw the one person she feared most, lost her powers to some unknown object, and now was being threatened by man-eating demons.
She wasn't afraid of zombies because she knew they were Lord Moria's creations. But real monsters? That was another story.
So what could poor, weak, helpless Perona do? Cry. Cry with everything she had.
Artoria pushed the flag demons aside, knelt in front of Perona, and like a magician, produced a lollipop. "Want one?"
Zhang Da Ye gave her a strange look. What the hell? Was this a case of luring little girls with candy? And why did Artoria seem so experienced at it?
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