One Piece: The Eternal Flame

This empty island is not the same as the empty island in Ace's memory. It is sprinkled with a thick layer of gold powder everywhere, causing the whole world to be golden, which is very magnificent and luxurious.

When they came to the woods, they discovered that it was an orchard, and the fruit trees were covered with gold powder. If they patted the trunk twice, the gold powder would fall profusely, revealing the original color of the real apple trees. Some apples had rotted on the ground, which seemed a pity.

"Look, Ace, it's gold." Oden bent down and picked up a gold stone on the ground. Although there were some impurities in it, it was indeed genuine gold.

The ground is full of such gold, large or small, as if it has entered some treasure cave by mistake.

Ace also picked up a piece of gold, and said with a smile: "If Gray is here, he must be very happy."

That guy likes gold and silver treasures the most. When he sees these golds, he will definitely rush in and roll around. In the end, he comes out covered in gold dust, and is poorly taught by his two mothers, Perry and Colin.

"Will Reggie and the others come?" Oden asked, "How should we leave Sky Island, jump off?"

"Haha, it's definitely not jumping." Ace was amused. "In short, there must be a way. Gray and the others will definitely come, so let's find out the situation of this empty island first."

"Okay." Mitian nodded, let go of his feet and ran towards the depths of the orchard.

Ace followed closely behind him, the smile on his face gradually disappeared, and his expression became a little dignified. The strange empty island, the treasures everywhere, and the fruit trees that have been left unattended for a long time, all of which do not seem to be a good omen.

After walking for a while, Oden stopped suddenly, pointed to the front and said to Ace, "Ace, look, there are many people ahead!"

Not far from them, there are old people and children, with big baskets on their backs and long pliers in their hands, bending over to pick up gold nuggets on the ground. They are dressed plainly, but they are the only strange colors in this golden world.

"Hi——Hello!" Before Ace could speak, Oden ran over and happily rushed to those people, "Below is Kozuki Oden, a trainee crew member of the Black Firework Pirates!"

Because he is too proud and fond of this identity, Oden added this confidently after his self-introduction. He never thought about how ordinary people would react when they heard the word pirate.

Maybe it was because he was too young, or maybe his smile seemed harmless, but those people didn't react very violently.

One of the old men stared at him for a while, mistaking him for a child from another village, and kindly told him, "Son, go home quickly, now is the time to collect gold, if you are seen not working, it will be terrible."

"Yeah, brother, go to work, those people will beat you, it hurts a lot." The thin girl next to the old man also raised her head to look at Mi Tian, ​​and when her hair slid to the sides, a hideous scar on her forehead was exposed.

With deep fear in her innocent eyes, she pointed to her scar and said, "It's like this, brother, Bao Na won't lie to you, it really hurts."

Yu Tian was taken aback for a moment, and couldn't believe what he saw with his eyes, "But you still..."

He swallowed the rest of the words, but this little girl is only four or five years old. Would anyone really do anything to a four or five year old?

The city of flowers where he lives is very prosperous and lively under the governance of Kozuki Sukiyaki. A four or five-year-old child is there, a treasure under the palm of his parents, and should be cared for in every possible way.

Kozuki Oden grew up in this environment, and he was taken out of the country by the pirates before he even had time to look deeply into the darkness deep in the prosperity of Wano country.

So his mind is actually very simple, and he has very little experience. Naturally, he doesn't know that in the wider world, cruelty and struggle are actually the mainstream.

Pirates like Gray and the others are very few. Most of the pirates are extremely vicious, otherwise the world would not need a navy to maintain peace at sea.

Mitian's lips moved, and he wanted to say something, but the old people and children on the opposite side suddenly looked behind him, with terrified expressions on their faces.

Ace noticed the change in the expressions of those people, and immediately stopped, showing a kind smile, "Don't be afraid, we just happened to come to the empty island, and we have no malicious intentions towards you."

"Yes, Ace is my companion," Oda comforted, "He is a very good person, don't be afraid."

"You guys." The old man seemed to recall the problem they ignored just now. They thought that the child Mitian was a naughty kid from other villages, and he was poisoned by pirates. He felt that he was also a pirate, but it seemed that they were thinking too much.

"Brother, are you also from Qinghai from below?" Bao Na asked timidly while hiding behind her family.

Mi Tian nodded, smiling proudly, "Yes, we are pirates from Qinghai."

"It's a pirate."

"It's actually a pirate."

"Is such a small child also a bad person?"

There was a rustling conversation, and then everyone knelt down. They were weak old people and children, and this kneeling made them look even more miserable.

The old man was trembling all over, and his words were full of pleading, "My lords, we really didn't recognize you, please forgive us this time, we must work harder to collect gold, please forgive us this time."

"Yes, yes, please forgive us."

"We were really wrong. If you want to fight, please spare the children."

Those children seemed to be stimulated by this sentence, and everyone was excited.

Bao Na lowered her head so low that she didn't even dare to look up, which was the complete opposite of how she was speaking normally even though she was shy just now.

Oden was taken aback by the actions of these people, stepped back a few steps, and looked at Ace helplessly, "Why are they doing this all of a sudden, Ace?"

"Some terrible things must have happened." Ace sighed, took a few steps forward, knelt down on one knee, and stretched out his hand to help the old man in front - he should also be the leader of these people.

Ace stared at the old man's cloudy eyes, which were full of fatigue and sadness, as well as the despair hidden in them.

He sighed, slowed down his voice and said to the old man: "Don't worry, we don't have any malicious intentions, and we don't know the pirates who hurt you, but we were brought here by the storm occasionally."

"Aren't you guys in the same group?" The old man's eyes lighted up again, "Really? You really won't hurt us?"

"Yes, we don't mean to hurt you in any way. We just want to ask some questions about how we can go back to Qinghai. There are important people waiting for us." Ace smiled, the friendliness in his eyes and the sincerity in his words are very convincing.

Mi Tian also supported Bao Na from the side, this young child was pitifully skinny and skinny, just reaching Mi Tian's waist, he couldn't figure out why anyone would really do something to such a child.