One Piece: The Legend of Beasts

In the lower cabin of the main ship of the Hiku Pirates, a girl of about thirteen years old carefully pressed against the window. Through the glass, she could clearly see the blazing sticky flames covering the surface of the valley. The scorching flames illuminated her filthy, frightened young face.

The girl's name is Chloe, and she was born in the Kingdom of Conkunot in the South Sea. Although her family is very poor, she lives a fulfilling life.

When she was ten years old, the king ordered her to be expelled from the country because her family of three could not afford the high tuition fees. They embarked on an endless wandering journey.

Along the way, the mother fell seriously ill and died due to the fatigue brought by the long journey. After going through untold hardships, the father and daughter finally arrived at Karibola Island, also in the South China Sea, a year later. The father also fell on the beach due to overwork and never woke up again.

Despite this, the young Chloe did not lose heart and soon got over the loss of her parents and began to live a self-reliant life. At first, she was not good at housework and almost collapsed the hut several times, but as long as she thought of the faces of her deceased parents, she would grit her teeth and persevere.

Fortunately, Caripora Island was not under the jurisdiction of the World Government, and there were also people on the island who were exiled for the same reason as her, so everyone in the town was very friendly to her, and some kind-hearted people even came to her house to give her clothes and food. Therefore, she still felt that she was living a happy life.

Until one day, this hard-earned happiness was easily shattered.

A group of vicious pirates attacked the town and began to loot on a large scale. Everything in the town was soon swept away.

The strange thing is that they didn't kill anyone, they just tied up the people they saw and threw them on the ship. According to the pirates, the government's demand for slaves has been particularly high in the past two years, and the price has more than doubled compared to the past. The reason is unknown. Therefore, many pirates have been very enthusiastic about the slave trade recently.

Of course, Chloe didn't understand much about these things. She only knew that the hellish days were waiting for her.

She had already accepted this reality, and when she thought about reuniting with her parents in heaven in the near future, she felt calmer than ever before.

That day, because they had spent all this time in the damp and gloomy underground cabin, several slaves caught a cold, including Chloe.

Although colds were not a serious disease, the pirates were worried that their weak condition would seriously affect the smooth progress of the transaction, so they locked them in a room by the window and waited until the slaves recovered before selling them at a high price.

You can't see the scene inside from the window, but you can see everything outside clearly from inside.

The arrival of the man in white, the deafening explosion, the departure of Shiki and a large number of pirates, the blazing valley... this series of sudden and continuous changes all came into the girl's eyes, causing her already trembling body to tremble even more violently.

"Where did those pirates go? Why did the mountain suddenly catch fire...?"

Chloe's big round eyes widened, and her heart almost reached the limit. "Could it be that someone came to save us?"

"Don't talk nonsense, little girl."

A middle-aged man with a stubble on his face squatting nearby said, with a distraught look on his face, "Shiraguru Island is short of resources and is very remote. Even if someone is lucky enough to find it, they can't defeat the invincible Flying Pirates."

"But, Uncle Marquis."

Chloe turned her head and asked this once optimistic and cheerful neighbor who had helped her many times with some doubt, "Although I didn't hear it clearly, the blond pirate seemed to mention 'Rocks'. Do you know who Rocks is?"

When the name came out of the girl's mouth, the man's face turned pale in an instant, and the next moment he returned to his original listless face, with a bitter smile on his lips: "Another brutal pirate, forget it, it's no different from being sold by the Golden Lion. Anyway, the moment we were caught, our fate was already decided."

Chloe opened her lips slightly and was about to say something else when a soft and weak voice sounded in her ears.

"I say...uncle...stop saying such discouraging things...it's not the last moment yet...you must not give up hope of survival..."

Chloe and Marquis looked in the direction of the sound at the same time, and saw a slender figure lying in a dim corner. Because the person's face was facing inward, they couldn't see what he looked like, but his soft and beautiful long hair perfectly revealed his gender.

Chloe knew that she was a traveler who passed through Caripora Island a month ago and was also captured by pirates. This morning, she felt weak for some reason, and the pirates thought she had caught a cold, so they threw her here. Although she was not very familiar with her, Chloe still asked with concern: "Sister Seto, are you okay?"

"It's okay... I gave those bastards a beating before..."

The woman's voice became proud, but then became weak again. "As a result, I felt weak all over again... It's all my fault that I couldn't resist my hunger... I stole a piece of fruit in the morning... and then it became like this..." When she said this, she stuck out her tongue and gasped.

Chloe glanced back at the tiny hole on the window that was almost invisible to the naked eye, and was secretly grateful to her. If she hadn't touched the glass with her finger just now, the poor old man would probably have suffered even more cruel torture.

“Come on…Chloe…”

"It's Chloe."

"Oh... Chloe... could you please do me a favor..."

The woman spoke intermittently, slowly raising her smooth and delicate left arm, and tremblingly pointed at the iron handcuffs on her right wrist, "Use that thing on your neck... to help me pry open the handcuffs... I will never forget to repay you..."

Chloe was stunned for a moment, and looked down at the iron wire hanging around her neck. She remembered that this was the birthday present her father gave her on her eleventh birthday. Since there was nothing valuable on the simple boat, her father could only make a pendant with the iron wire salvaged from the sea as her amulet.

Although the gift could no longer be described as simple and crude, for Chloe it was the most precious treasure she had ever received.

She touched the iron wire and felt sad when she thought that her parents were no longer alive. Drops of crystal tears rolled down her eyes and soaked her patched skirt.

"Well! Let me try."

Chloe wiped her eyes, removed the pendant from her neck, walked up to the woman step by step, carefully inserted the iron wire into the keyhole of the handcuffs on her right hand, and gently turned it several times, but found no response.

"No... You have to use more force..."

"I'm trying very hard, sister!" Chloe tried her best, her little face turned red, but it was in vain.

"I'll do it."

Marquis had straightened his upper body and walked straight to Chloe. He took the wire from her hand and squatted down to pry the handcuffs tied to the woman's right hand.

Completely different from before, his eyes were full of determination at this moment. While spinning the wire, he said in a self-deprecating tone: "Even you two women are fighting so hard, I will be too ashamed to face people if I continue to be decadent."

Chloe was stunned for a while, then nodded excitedly: "Yeah!"

"Then I'll leave it to you..."

As if she had spoken too loudly, the woman's head tilted and she remained silent, scaring Marquez and Chloe beside her half to death. A moment later, a muffled snoring sound was heard, and they realized that she was just tired and fell asleep, and they all breathed a sigh of relief.

The scorching flames were like a long dragon, tightly coiled around the endless mountains, extending to the other side of the island. Thick smoke was rising, and this amazing sight could be seen from any corner of Baihe Island.

And now, there were three people trapped on a high platform protruding from the rock wall, and no one was in a worse mood than them.

"So, how do we get out of this damn place?"

Guloliosa questioned, her hands on her hips, her beloved snake coiled up on the ground, spitting out its tongue, and its long body trembling constantly.

"Even if you ask me, I don't know..."

Stussy took out a handkerchief to wipe the sweat from his forehead, and looked around at the circle of fire that surrounded them. There was only anxiety in his beautiful blue eyes.

Before this, she tried every method she could think of, but no matter how many fire-fighting tools she took out, the flames did not slow down at all. Instead, they burned even more vigorously than before.

At the same time, that hateful laughter once again echoed through the valley.

"Karaka! It must be very uncomfortable to be in the sea of ​​fire, right? If you feel uncomfortable somewhere, I will personally send someone to pull you out - the premise is that you agree to become a member of the Flying Pirates!

"I will mercifully give you another three minutes. If you still don't surrender by then, this place will become your home forever!"

The man's voice fell silent again, as if he was waiting for the moment when time expired.

With a "bang", Guloliosa punched the rock wall, creating a spider-web-like crack, and cursed angrily, "When I get out of here, I will beat that laughing bastard so hard that he can't laugh anymore!"

"The other party's attitude is quite relaxed. It seems that he is very confident that these flames will not be extinguished in a short time."

Stussy frowned slightly and said thoughtfully, "Now we can only wait for external support, but there is no guarantee when they will arrive. Maybe by then we will have become three charred corpses."

Thinking of this, the image of the three of them with charred bodies emerged in her mind, and she was immediately frightened out of her wits.

"There is a way to leave here." Uno, who had remained silent, looked at the burning wall of fire in front of him and said calmly.

Stussy's eyes immediately sparkled: "As expected of Uno~ much more reliable than someone else!" At the end, her eyes drifted towards the white-haired woman intentionally or unintentionally, with a sly smile on her face.

"Isn't that right? A guy who swears that he has mastered all scientific and technological knowledge can't figure it out!" Guloliosa retorted without giving in.

"Now is not the time to argue."

Uno touched his forehead and sighed, then turned to look at the two of them and said seriously, "Although the success rate is very slim, that is the only way to escape. Everything depends on the close cooperation of the three of us."