[comprehensive] red tide

Near midnight, there was a knock on the door of the rented room.

The slightly cautious knock on the door was very clear in the quiet room, and after a while, the hotel proprietress called again, her voice was quite low, and it sounded like something was really going on.

He got up and got out of bed, picked up his coat and put it on, turned his head and glanced at the blunt arc raised between the quilts, thought for a while and put down the rolled up bed curtain again, and then slowly went to answer the door.

The lady standing outside the door was indeed the proprietress of the hotel. Like me, she was wearing a robe casually. She obviously got up in a hurry in her sleep. She didn't talk much when she saw me. She only said that someone had visited overnight and was waiting in the downstairs hall at the moment.

"I don't know what's going on so late, but I'm very anxious to see Joe, or you go down to see him?"

Pausing for a moment, Xu felt that it was inappropriate for a single female customer to meet a strange man in the middle of the night, and she continued, "Oh~ he is the manager of the largest bank in the commercial street, and he is also a resident of this island. Everyone knows him, so he is not a bad person. "

Is it the bank manager?I nodded, walked out of the room, closed the door behind my back, and followed the proprietress towards the stairs.

The wall lights were on in the corridor on the second floor, and the two of us walked side by side. When we were approaching the corner stairs, she raised her hand to half-cover her mouth, yawned subduedly, and then looked a little embarrassed, "My stupid child has a fever."

Kid has a fever?I froze for a moment, then remembered that during dinner time, there was indeed a panic from the host's house, and then I thought about the reason why the kid had a fever, probably because of something in the alley... eh?Well~ it has something to do with me too.

Glancing quietly at the proprietress, I said in a low voice, "Well, you can go to rest first, and I will greet the guests myself."

After finishing speaking, he gave a reasonable explanation to the proprietress who had a somewhat hesitant expression, "I asked Mr. Manager for help, maybe there is news."

The mother is naturally uneasy when her child is sick. As a guest, if other chores can be done without trouble, then there is no need to bother others.

The corners of her mouth twitched slightly and she sent away the proprietress who had repeatedly promised 'If you have anything to shout, my husband's fists are quite hard', and watched her walk back to her residence every step of the way, I raised my hand to support her forehead.

I really can't stand such an enthusiastic and thoughtful ordinary person.

He shook his head and sighed, but for some reason, a corner of his heart was completely soft.

…………

'Joe' who was waiting downstairs was indeed the bank manager.

He was sitting on the sofa for entertaining guests in a corner of the hall. Under the reflection of the wall lamp on the wall behind him, the man who was calm and capable during the day exuded a strong aura of decadence. He stared blankly at the air in front of him.

I looked at him under the dim light for a long time, I squinted my eyes, and asked in a low voice, "Mr. Manager is looking for me?" As I spoke, I walked to him and sat down on the sofa next to him, pursing the corners of my mouth, "Look at your appearance , there seems to be some bad news."

Even the dim light with a little softening effect can't hide this man's ashen complexion and the depressed panic between his brows; I still remember the first day we met, under my deliberate threats, Mr. Manager was only frightened for a moment, Calm soon returned.

At this time...what happened to make him lose his composure?

After waiting for a long time, the man seemed to have regained his composure. He blinked his eyes slowly, moved his gaze dully, and met my gaze. His eyes seemed slightly distracted, and his body was trembling unconsciously.

I was even more surprised to see him behave like this. After thinking about it, I got up and walked to the kitchen, "Wait a minute, I'll pour you a glass of wine." It was as if he was suddenly announced that he was terminally ill and would die tomorrow. It's good to be calm, at least you can speak clearly.

Just a few steps away, I suddenly heard a short weeping sound from behind. It was Mr. Manager. After a few seconds, he began to speak intermittently in a hoarse and almost incoherent tone.

"I got a call during the day to go back to deal with an emergency," he said.

"A big client withdrew all the funds for no reason, and the other party didn't even care about the heavy losses caused by it. It didn't take long before several investors began to break the contract one after another."

"The incident happened suddenly and strangely, so I asked the headquarters for information, but found nothing."

"Resources in the financial investment industry have always been shared. There are some things that everyone knows very well. The world government also turns a blind eye to certain aspects..."

"But today, no matter how I try to test it, everyone seems to be really ignorant."

"Even if it is an economic storm, it is impossible to have no warning in advance, not to mention, the investment in the capital of seven waters has always been profitable."

I was startled when I heard this, but when I turned around, I found that Mr. Manager was also staring at me with indescribable eyes. Compared with the lifeless eyes before, his eyes at this moment carried a kind of decisiveness.

…………

Raising my eyebrows, I turned back to the original position, slightly raised my chin, "Mr. Manager, if you have something to say, just say it, if I can help... you know, I still have a lot of money in your hands I'm holding it~"

As soon as the words fell, the man's tense body relaxed, as if a drowning man had finally grasped a life-saving straw, with an expression of despair and hope.

He stared at me firmly, and continued in a hasty tone, "I used all my connections, and even found a private consultant who took care of the finances for the generals of the Navy Headquarters through channels."

"That man is an old friend of mine, because what he is doing involves terrible things. If it is not desperate, I will not bother him."

"When I called, he just gave me one suggestion."

Speaking of this, Mr. Manager suddenly seemed to cry, his lips trembled a few times, and he raised his hand to wipe his face, before he continued, "He asked me to go out immediately and buy a ticket to leave the capital of seven waters and escape far away. Far."

"But...how can I leave?" Mr. Manager opened a pair of bloodshot eyes, his voice was broken along with his expression, "This is my home, I was born, grew up, and lived here, this island is My life."

"Afterwards, I called again, but my friend refused to pick it up again; but the headquarters, my superior personally explained, no matter what, you can delay as long as you want to do."

"Ah? So you recognized me early in the morning?" I hooked the corners of my mouth and said with a half-smile, "Your courage is really extraordinary."

In fact, both he and I knew very well. On the day we first met, he had already recognized me. To ordinary people, 900 million bounty criminals are almost equivalent to demons, right?

This person recognized me and ran for me as if nothing had happened. To be honest, I was surprised at first, but then I felt that money can be a magic trick, so I let it go with the fare, and the two sides even tacitly avoided sensitive topics during the conversation.

Now, he is willing to remove that layer of window paper... It is really courageous.

The manager laughed a little self-deprecatingly, "You don't know, everyone in our business makes money, whether it's the navy or pirates, and the government also acquiesces."

"My boss gave me such a job, but I didn't even think about what would happen to me if you found out."

Until this time, or when he felt that the situation was too bad, Mr. Manager calmed down, his eyes faded from chaos and anxiety and regained focus, his eyes were ironic and sharp.

"Of course the people at the headquarters don't care. The death/list is nothing more than a set of numbers to those who have nothing to do with it."

"It wasn't until evening that my friend called me again."

"He left me to figure it out, and then said..."

He fell silent, his body leaned forward slightly, his hands rested on his knees, his fingers formed into a steeple shape, and he looked at me quietly for a long time, his deep voice revealing a hint of sadness.

"West Sea O'Hara."

…………

I slowly narrowed my eyes, and a certain long-term memory suddenly emerged in my heart. The rapidly scrolling picture made my blood flow backwards, and I was instantly murderous.

The air vibrated a few times. Amidst the buzzing sound, the man on the opposite side opened his eyes wide and trembled as if he was about to jump up. Then, as if thinking of something, he clutched the edge of the sofa with both hands, forcing himself to sit still without gritting his teeth. Ken moves.

Seeing this, I was stunned, and quickly let go of the unconscious anger, and said in a low voice, "Then——what do you want me to do, Mr. Manager?"

I was somewhat touched by the man's courage to come here for his hometown.

"If I can, please say so."

For his phrase "This is my homeland...", I will not shirk what I can.

The man looked happy, and he hesitated for a moment for some reason, then he got up and stood one meter away from me, and bowed deeply, "Please leave this island, is that okay?"

"I'm really sorry, it's just..." The man maintained a bowed posture and kept apologizing.

"I'm sorry, I'm really, really sorry—"

…………

After a long, long time, until the man stopped talking, but still buried his head very low, refusing to get up; I stared at the man's hands on his knees, clenched the fabric of his trousers into wrinkled lines, and sighed.

"Why are you apologizing?"

People who just beg me to leave, people who are only afraid of their hometown, who are actually victims, why do they apologize to me, the person who is about to cause disaster?

The information revealed by Mr. Manager’s friend is obvious. The withdrawn funds, what his boss told him, and the avoidance of other people in the bank’s headquarters are all the navy’s actions against the capital of seven waters.

Unfortunately, the target is me, the 900 million bounty criminal.

Xihai O'Hara is a reminder, and it can also be regarded as a warning... One of my hometowns that was destroyed in the war, what Mr. Manager's friend wants to say is the Demon Slaying Order.

It is also rare that he has such a friend who is willing to ignore himself.

The man trembled all over, and he slowly straightened up after a long while. The face that was finally raised was water-stained, and his eyes were even more red. "I'm really sorry to mention your hometown..."

"I, I just..." He didn't seem to know what to say, so he choked up for a moment.

I closed my eyes, let out a deep breath, covered the last trace of fierceness in my eyes, opened my eyes again, slowed down my expression, and replied softly, "I will leave tomorrow, if unfortunately the road has been blocked..."

The spell cards of [Book of Almighty] have not been recovered, especially those that are used for space conversion. I don’t know why, it may be because I used them too frequently before, which caused the recovery time of spell cards to be slower than expected.

If I go out immediately after dawn, I can only choose other means of transportation, but there is no guarantee in this way. Once the navy takes action, the first thing to do is to block the channels from the capital of seven waters to the outside world.

In addition, the boatman said that the gods of water are coming.

Perhaps it is really fate... The hurricane disaster that makes island residents extremely vigilant is also a kind of natural encirclement. If the navy can get the timing right, it will really catch the turtle in the urn.

Frowning, looking at the man whose expression changed slightly, I sighed, "No matter what happens, I can guarantee that the city of Seven Waters will not repeat the mistakes of O'Hara back then because of my relationship."

That's the only guarantee I can make.

…………Dividing line…………

After finishing this conversation and going back to the room and lying down on the futon, I couldn't sleep peacefully.

Rolling and rolling countless times, I finally opened my eyes and stared blankly in front of my eyes; the bed curtain blocked the skylight, and my vision was dim. It should have been the same night as usual, but the sleep was nowhere to be found.

As soon as I closed my eyes, I saw the sea of ​​fire.

The scarlet that reflected the entire night, even the sky would burn through.

I can still smell the thick gunpowder smoke, the beeping sound of the bombed forest, and the scorching smell of burning protein... The whole island wailed silently, as miserable as the end of the day.

The boiling sea breeze, the shells whizzing towards the refuge boats where the people were boarding...

Uncles, aunts, my younger brothers, countless faces that I didn't recognize... were reduced to ashes in an instant.

Unforgettable memory, that kind of resentment, even though the eight-year-old consciousness has been completely separated, I still can't sleep, as if something is gnawing at my heart, eroding my reason little by little.

The darkness in front of me became thicker, I raised my hand and clutched the skirt of my clothes, panting slightly... In the ignorance, something moved beside me and pierced into the chaotic mind.

I let out a heavy breath, let go of the fingers that were holding the fabric, covered the shaking quilt with the other hand, and patted it gently. After a while, feeling that the restlessness gradually disappeared, I retracted my hand and pressed it on my eyes. .

"I scared you, I'm sorry." I whispered to the air in a low voice, after a while, the quilt squirmed a few times, and the round and warm touch touched my waist, rubbed against it, and obediently stopped moving.

Fumbling and touching with the back of my hand, I finally closed my eyes.

…………

The moment I noticed the strangeness in the room was the time when I was drowsy and sleepy.

In an instant, the cold oppressive feeling was like a drop of ice water hitting directly between my eyebrows. I opened my eyes suddenly, and in the darkness, my pupils constricted unconsciously.

The visitor appeared out of thin air, but only one person actually entered the room, walking silently; there was also a half-hidden presence, as if standing somewhere else through the air...

A real spatial ability user?

Speaking of which, I have never encountered a Devil Fruit ability that is really related to space in this world. The ability of the builder of the Muse bridge is more like building blocks or a Rubik's cube. It is a place with ever-changing changes. It is the ability to cut the entire floating city on the sea into Countless copies, finally stacked and spliced ​​arbitrarily.

However, what appeared at this moment was indeed to tear open the crack and connect the two places.

So there really is?I raised the corners of my mouth slightly.

Countless distracting thoughts flashed through my mind, and the well-disguised aura had already covered the bedside, and almost at the same time, the hanging curtain of the bed split a thread.

It was also dim outside, I stared at the almost indistinguishable blackness, and asked softly, "It's so late, what's the matter?"

The visitor froze suddenly, obviously because he was too late to react. The momentary negligence made the thin black silk thread attached to the bed curtain, which had been waiting for a long time, rush towards it.

After a few undetectable turmoil, the bed curtain was closed immediately, and a heart sound with a somewhat disordered frequency resounded in the airtight bed.

"Don't move the one outside, or your companion will die."

Leaving a word to the other person who was waiting in the air gap in the corner, I sat up slowly, turned on the bedside lamp, and took the time to reach out and clasp the uninvited guest lying on my side, wrapped like a paramecium.

Condescendingly looking down at this hooded, all-black...man, with a pair of cold and terrifying eyes, jet-black pupils, staring at people like a beast ready to go.

I raised my other hand to cover it and moved slowly, appreciating the firm and tight body lines, I raised my eyebrows, and licked my lips maliciously, "Your smell is good." How is the night?

Hearing this, a mixed unexpected and annoyed expression flashed across the eyes of the visitor, but in an instant he calmed down again, being restrained to death, his eyes were unexpectedly unmoved.

That is a complete disregard for life, whether it is for oneself or for other people.

…………

I clicked my tongue, put away my troubled hands, and loosened the strength of the silk thread wrapped around the other party's throat, "Please tell me if you have anything to do, if you have nothing to do, go to hell—"

After a while, the man who was lying on his back immobile said sharply, "Nicole Robin." His voice was cold and deep, which matched his temperament quite well.

"Nonsense!" I snorted angrily, my eyes fell to the bed curtain, and I smiled sinisterly, "Try a step closer? Believe it or not, the person who falls into my hands will not even leave you a corpse .”

The sense of presence that suddenly approached a few seconds ago stagnated suddenly, I withdrew my attention, and turned my gaze to the person I captured, "I have been in the capital of seven waters for a few days, and you only came to the door now, I don't think it's rush with the head on my neck."

"Navy—" After thinking about it, I immediately denied my guess, "Your aura is similar to that little brother I met in the alley, not a navy, nor a pirate."

Pausing for a moment, I narrowed my eyes, somewhat unhappy, "The intelligence agency of the world government, are you a spy?"

The pupils of this man's eyes that fell on my eyes suddenly shrank like needlepoints, and the dark pupils became even darker and chaotic. "What do you know?" , with killing intent on guard.

"No, I just can tell, you and that little brother both have a dark aura, you can tell it at a glance..." I looked at him quietly, for a long while, hooked the corners of my mouth, and slowly bent down, "Then A white darkness."

The man froze all over, and the next moment the black silk wrapped around him suddenly tightened, cutting open the cloth and deeply embedded in the skin...

The sweet smell of blood spread from the end of my nose. I licked the other man's bruised neck, took away a few drops of warmth, and then retracted all the black silk on his body. Leaning and half leaning.

"Go away—" I can't even cry out in pain, it's really boring.

The man lying on his back on the quilt was silent for a few seconds, struggled to sit up, held the wound on his throat that almost severed the trachea with one hand, opened the bed curtain, and jumped out.

As soon as his feet landed, the man shook slightly, and following his slightly violent movements, a strong smell of rust burst out.

The man who fell forward was caught by the accomplice outside, the other man gasped, but did nothing, just supported the man, led him back quickly, looked over with eyes full of fear.

…………

As I watched this scene, I smiled silently. If I don't kill anyone, I'm merciful. How can I allow you to retreat completely?

If we hadn't done it now, the navy might have known that they had already scared the snake. Those black silk threads were like fishing nets. With just a little more force, they could divide people into countless parts on the spot.

The two retreated to the corner, and left in a way that was half as expected and also unexpected.

The tall man waiting outside opened something like a door in the air behind him with his backhand, and then the two people who hadn't dared to turn around kept facing me and fell behind the door.

Not long after, the last ray of aftermath in the air returned to calm.

I sneered, hooked my fingertips, and the black silk that stopped at the edge of the bedpost loosened the hooked curtain, and then pulled down the half-up pillow, laid myself flat, and continued the interrupted sleep.