Tom tilted his head, not understanding why Zhang Da Ye was surprised. Getting thin from hunger and fat from eating enough—wasn't that normal?
Zhang Da Ye wanted to smash his cat head and tell him that it wasn't normal at all.
Considering he was Tom, Zhang Da Ye felt relieved. He decided it was better to research his golden finger instead of dwelling on it.
He pressed the ring on the back of his left hand with his right. The number 72% in the center of the ring dimmed, turning into fine lines that formed a magic circle.
At this moment, a light screen lit up, floating above the back of Zhang Da Ye's left hand, moving with it.
The time was displayed at the top, and below it was still the magic circle representing energy.
Zhang Da Ye tried tapping the magic circle, and a prompt popped up on the screen: "[Tip: Insufficient energy, unable to activate summon. Please charge to over 90%.]"
Next, Zhang Da Ye tried swiping left and right. Swiping right, the top read: "[Item Inventory]", and below were small square grids, all empty at the moment.
After thinking for a moment, Zhang Da Ye casually picked up a bar of soap and tried to put it into the screen, but there was no reaction. He then tried putting it on the back of his hand:
"[Tip: Only summonable items can be stored.]"
Does that mean he can also summon items from other worlds?
Although it wasn't an all-purpose personal space, Zhang Da Ye wasn't too disappointed. He closed the Item Inventory, swiped left, and the top read: "[Character Panel]", with only two avatars below.
One was Zhang Da Ye, and the other was Tom. Clicking on them would bring up their basic information and profiles.
Looking at his own profile, Zhang Da Ye felt a little annoyed. The reason for his transmigration was suspected to be a casual wish made by a certain roommate to a shooting star?
Which scoundrel was playing such a trick?
Just wait until I see a shooting star; I'll send all you scoundrels away, one by one!
He swiped through the pages several times, worried he might have missed some function, but in reality, it was just that simple.
However, during his exploration, Zhang Da Ye felt that the screen-switching effects of this thing were exactly like his missing phone, and the patterns of the magic circle looked suspiciously like his school emblem and key layered together.
He hadn't expected two unrelated things, when combined and abstracted into lines, to look so sophisticated.
After confirming there was nothing else to operate, Zhang Da Ye pressed the back of his left hand again to make the screen disappear.
Tom, who had just finished scrubbing his back, was curiously peeking at Zhang Da Ye's activities.
Zhang Da Ye smiled, stroked Tom's head, rinsed himself clean, changed his clothes, and walked out.
"Da Ye, your room is ready. Go in and rest for a bit. I'll introduce you to Bale later," Mrs. Molly called out.
"I've caused you trouble."
"You're too polite! Bale will be the one causing you trouble later!"
...
Zhang Da Ye entered the guest room with Tom. Inside, there was a single bed with clean bedding, and a small blanket had even been prepared for Tom.
On the bedside table were a water glass, some snacks, and a stack of newspapers.
"This is too thoughtful," Zhang Da Ye said, sitting on the bed. He just happened to need these to get some information.
He picked up the newspapers and flipped through them. There were five in total, with dates ranging from sea calendar May 5th to May 9th, 1510. It seemed they had prepared five copies because they heard he had been drifting at sea for five days.
He would read these first, then he would need to find older newspapers to understand things better.
Zhang Da Ye first opened the May 7th issue, not for any other reason than the striking photo on the front page.
It was a beautiful woman with long, hime-cut hair, wearing a pair of snake-shaped earrings, dressed boldly, with an arrogant expression, and a snake coiled behind her.
It seemed that anyone who saw her would be instantly captivated, but unfortunately, the newspaper only had a black-and-white photo.
Zhang Da Ye didn't look for a bounty, because the headline read: "Pirate Empress, Boa Hancock, Invited to Become One of the Seven Warlords of the Sea!"
Becoming a Shichibukai would mean the bounty would be revoked, and no new bounty posters would be issued.
The writer of this news piece seemed to understand the general readership well, dedicating most of the article to praising the Empress's beauty and exceptional temperament.
Only then did it briefly mention her achievement of receiving an 80 million Berries bounty on her first voyage and her subsequent invitation to become a Shichibukai.
Finally, it also gave a brief introduction to Amazon Lily, Daughter Island, and, not knowing any better, even referred to Daughter Island as a paradise for men.
Zhang Da Ye, knowing the truth, thought that if one went there, one probably wouldn't even know how one died.
"If the Empress just became a Shichibukai, does that mean the Shichibukai aren't all assembled yet?"
This newspaper seemed to have only this one major piece of news. The only other thing that caught Zhang Da Ye's eye was: "Rear Admiral Kadaru Transferred to Sabaody Archipelago."
Since he would be living here for a while, it was good to know a little about the Marine officers here.
Below, it briefly mentioned Rear Admiral Kadaru's resume, stating he was a subordinate of Vice Admiral Borsalino, former commander of Marine Fortress G-2, and listed some of his merits.
Zhang Da Ye was very familiar with the name Borsalino, who later became Kizaru, one of the Three Admirals of the Marine, a Glint-Glint Fruit user, and appeared quite lewd.
Some netizens jokingly said he was Monkey D. Kizaru, Luffy's second uncle, a Revolutionary Army spy, and also a kindergarten principal.
He'd say "How terrifying" with every breath, kick a Supernova with every foot, and once his salary was in, the Four Emperors would be wiped out.
If he was still only a Vice Admiral now, then Akainu and Aokiji were probably similar. Sengoku was still an Admiral, and the Fleet Admiral was Kong the Steel Fist?
However, the gathering of the Three Admirals of the Marine would probably happen within the next few years.
Zhang Da Ye continued to search for useful information in the newspapers, his seriousness probably only comparable to the "Newspaper King."
Speaking of the Newspaper King, there was indeed a piece of news about him, not Old Sha, but Doflamingo: "The Donquixote Pirate Crew's ship encountered Vice Admiral Tsuru's warship in the North Blue and fled at the sight of her!"
"At this time, Doflamingo was still being chased all over the world by Vice Admiral Tsuru, which means he hadn't become a Shichibukai yet, and I wonder what Law and Corazon are up to now."
"The Red Hair Pirates Enter the Grand Line! Red-Haired Shanks Loses an Arm—What Kind of Powerful Enemy Did He Encounter!"
Heh heh, you might not believe it, but Red Hair not only lost an arm but also got his head cracked open by the Mountain Bandit King with a wine bottle.
After reading all the newspapers, besides these familiar people, there was only one serialized manga that was somewhat interesting: "Brave Sea Warrior Sora and the Evil Germa Empire."
It told the story of Germa being defeated again and again. This Sea Warrior Sora had a seagull emblem on her, and her combat partners also included seagulls. This manga definitely didn't seem to have made it into the newspaper based on merit.
"Hmph ~ Hmph ~" A soft snore came from beside him.
Zhang Da Ye turned to look. Tom was already asleep, wrapped up like a caterpillar in the small blanket, his head resting on Zhang Da Ye's lap, and a bubble, growing and shrinking, hanging from his nose.
Zhang Da Ye smiled. Tom had been through a lot these past few days. He casually put down the newspaper, gently picked up Tom, and placed him on the pillow.
A wave of sleepiness washed over Zhang Da Ye, and he lay down beside him, preparing to sleep for a while. He couldn't sleep this comfortably while drifting at sea.