One Piece: The Salted Fish Fruit

"Intruder detected! Intruder detected!" The formulaic voices emanated from their bodies.

"Damn it! A laser cannon! This isn't Vegapunk's exclusive technology! How did it end up here!" Mabi turned around and cursed as a beam of blue-white light flashed past her.

On second thought, it wasn't impossible! He might have encountered relics from eight hundred years ago and inherited similar property. After analyzing them, he might have discovered technology hundreds of years ahead of this world and become a pacifist. But the current situation didn't allow Mebido to analyze them, because they had begun to collectively flash blue light and target him.

"Sever the Void!" He raised his sword and cleaved through a beam of laser light, but even more lasers appeared before his eyes.

"Wow! That's so cool! Robots! Robots that can shoot beams! I want to fight them too!" In an unknown place, Luffy stretched out his arm to try to attack the robots in front of him, but his arm passed right through them and didn't hit anything.

"Damn it! Damn it! Now it's just Mabi playing by herself!" Luffy cursed at the effects on the field after missing his target, while laser beams flashed by from time to time.

"Hey! Hey! Luffy, what we need to do is figure out how to get out of here, not watch robots!" Usopp shouted at Luffy, adjusting the angle of the turret in front of him as he fiddled with it. He glanced at the white bone mountain in the distance with extreme fear, and the tooth marks on it were even more chilling.

"Haha! Robin, Mia, Nami, Angelia, go find the exit! We'll definitely get out!" Luffy didn't care at all and had complete faith in his crew.

"Sanji, is there any more? We haven't had meat soup in ages!" A woman, dressed in rags with only skin clinging to her bones, asked awkwardly, her lips barely visible. She knew there was no food available, but she couldn't resist eating the food the other woman had brought out.

"Beautiful Miss Maureen, please enjoy!" Sanji presented a bowl of delicious meat soup with both hands and smiled. Looking at the group of people lying on the ground, satisfied with their meal, was the greatest compliment to Sanji.

"Thank you, Sanji!" After thanking him, she looked up and gently kissed Sanji's cheek to express her gratitude, causing Sanji's body to stiffen instantly and he collapsed to the ground, convulsing! Happiness came so quickly!

"Haha! Haha! Thank you for the drinks, Brother Zoro! I never thought I could have a good meal and a drink before I die." A group of equally ragged and emaciated men surrounded Zoro and laughed, passing around several bottles of hard-won drinks.

"Please don't drink alcohol when you're hungry." Chopper stepped forward to stop the emaciated man who was about to drink.

"Wow! There's a raccoon dog! We can have meat to eat and use as food reserves for our benefactor!" Someone exclaimed excitedly upon seeing the furry creature in front of them, and forced himself to stand up to grab Chopper.

"You bastard, I'm a reindeer, not a raccoon! And I'm not food!" Chopper, now grown up, pointed at him and corrected him.

"It's gotten bigger and has more meat! Enough for several meals!" Upon seeing this, their eyes immediately turned ferocious, like a hungry wolf encountering a little white rabbit.

"There's a white cat here! Catch them!" But the people, who had been starving for months, could hardly keep up with Chopper and Jack as they ran. After only a few steps, they fell to the ground, panting.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!" In the distance, Usopp adjusted the angle of the turret and rotated it into the sky, firing the cannon and creating explosions in the distance to measure the approximate area of ​​the entire region.

"Luffy! Zoro! Sanji! Usopp! Chopper! Jack! Come here for a second!" Nami and the others, who had returned from afar, called out to their companions who were fooling around.

"Miss Nami, what urgent matter do you have to summon your guardian knight for?" Sanji, his face glowing red, appeared instantly. Still recovering from the shock, he charged at Nami but was immediately knocked to the ground with a single punch.

"What's wrong, Nami?" Luffy jumped back, turning his head 720 degrees to look at Maggie, whose eyes were unusually angry, still upset that she couldn't participate in the battle.

"Idiot! Turn your head around!" Luffy's head was forcibly turned around and he was furious.

"Unfortunately! I have some terrible news to tell you all! According to the information we found, it's unlikely we'll get out. We'll end up starving to death here, just like them!" Nami said slowly, her face grim, as she slowly revealed what she had discovered to her companions who had gathered around her.

"Starve to death? Wouldn't that mean I'd starve to death here before I even become the Pirate King? No way!" Luffy absolutely refused to believe that such a thing would jeopardize his dream of becoming the Pirate King.

Seeing the unconvinced expressions on everyone's faces, Robin was allowed to speak.

Robin glanced at the battle images around her and replied, "According to the information left behind by the original inhabitants, this place was a shelter created to absorb the life force of the island for refuge. People living in this space could clearly observe the outside world through the mirrored projections and choose whether to leave. However, due to some reason, the exit was closed and cannot be reopened, making it a place where one can only enter but not leave. The pirates who first lived here or came here later all died due to lack of food and water!"

"Can't we open it?" Zoro asked, looking at Mabi panting in the image. He didn't know how long it would take before he found out where he was.

"We can give it a try! I need some time to decipher the information here before I can make a judgment." Robin replied after hearing Zoro's words. As a shelter, there were naturally written records of information. She would look for a way to open this place.

"Wow! How terrifying! Is this our graveyard?!" Chopper and Jack huddled together, trembling.

"How much food do we have left?" Sanji asked, exhaling the cigarette smoke from his mouth.

···

"I'm so hungry! I haven't eaten for three days, fifteen meals in total!" Luffy, whose body was already starting to deteriorate, lay on the ground and said weakly.

"Idiot, who eats five meals a day?" Nami cursed, wanting to extend her hand but then thinking better of it and saving her strength to put it down. She started fiddling with the parts made from all the supplies carried by the people in front of her.

"Is Usopp not ready yet?"

"Almost done! We only have enough energy stones for two more attacks!" Usopp tapped on a square, hollowed-out metal object, taller than a person, inlaid with various energy crystals in front of him! Six twisted metal strands woven into a ring faced a two-meter-high, one-and-a-half-meter-wide, patterned, antique metal door frame!

"That's enough! Everyone, move away!" Usopp shouted after checking the last part.

"Food! Food!" Everyone around stared at the strange machine in front of them! All their hopes were pinned on it!

As Usopp operated the machine, it emitted a strange light that spread towards the woven rings and crashed into the metal door frame in front of him!

"Haha! It's finally okay, we can go out again!" He shouted excitedly as he saw a real building appear inside the metal door frame, unlike the blurry projection! Finally, he wouldn't starve to death here!

"Usopp, you're amazing!"

"That's great, Usopp!"

···

"Haha! I'm the world's best sailor! That crazy guy fighting outside is my little brother!" Usopp became smug upon hearing someone praise him!

"Click!" With a soft sound, the dilapidated scene disappeared again, returning to its projected state!

"Damn it, how could it possibly be back to normal!"

"Gum-Gum! Slingshot!" Luffy instantly leaped over the doorframe and rushed into the distant mountain of bones!

Seeing this scene, the surroundings were instantly filled with death! A glimmer of hope had just been ignited, only to be extinguished by the flood!

"Bang!" A gunshot rang out! A corpse fell heavily to the ground! It could no longer endure this torture!

Chapter 79 Rescue

"Damn it! Damn it! Where did they all go!" Mabi vented her anger by dismantling buildings hidden beneath the clouds and throwing them into the distance, causing a series of booming sounds! Any items found with written records were collected for Neilco's research! Behind her was a mess of various broken metal parts, all traces of the battle over the past three days.

"Mabi! Mabi! Find the hidden information in one of these relics! This should be a research institute in a former research space. The key I possessed was a product of that institute! According to the information on it, there should be a hidden space here to avoid enemy attacks. Presumably, the researchers here also suffered the same fate as me, suddenly attacked by an unknown force, which led to the destruction of this place! I think Luffy and his crew were probably taken away by that still-functioning space as local residents, which caused their disappearance. Now we just need to find the door to that space. Based on my own abilities, I think I can try to open it and take a look!" After a long while, Neilco's voice rang in Mabi's mind.

"Hidden space? Doors? They were collected in there?" Maby turned around and looked behind her at the countless broken buildings, interspersed with many broken door frames! She seemed to have, probably, maybe, possibly, definitely dismantled quite a few doors!

Nielko: "..."

"It must not be among them!" Mabi stopped dismantling and fussing over the clouds above, searching for the hidden portal, and comforted herself!

···

Meanwhile, the people who had been gathered together were also working busily, as this was their only chance to leave!

"Is this okay, Usopp?"

"No problem! Trust me!"

"Ahhh! I'm so hungry! I want to eat meat! I want to eat meat!"

"Jack! Once we get out, find Maby quickly and ask her to rescue us!"

“No problem!” Jack affirmed, extending a paw.

Usopp grabbed Luffy by the waist and pulled him backward with all his might, while his hands and feet were held tightly by several people and held still, turning him into a giant slingshot! Jack shrank into a black and white ball of fur and placed it on Luffy's waist, turning it into a bullet that Usopp aimed at the exit in front of him.

"Alright, Robin! Start it up!" He instructed Robin, feeling Luffy's body stretched to its maximum limit.

"Alright! Single-wheel bloom!" The strange metal object in front of us sprouted an arm to install the final part! The light on it began to flicker and spread towards the metal ring at the front!

"Chirp! Chirp!"

"Hurry up, everyone! This is the last time we can charge! We absolutely cannot fail!" Nami whistled a tune she'd found somewhere, clapping along to the rhythm to get everyone's power combined!

Usopp put on his sniper glasses and stared at the spreading light before him, searching for that one fleeting moment of opportunity!

"It's the right time!" With a flash of bright light, the view around the doorway flickered slightly before returning to normal. Having seen it once before, Usopp knew the door was open! He released his grip on Luffy's waist and used the rubber's elasticity to propel Jack inside instantly!

"Haha! We did it!" Seeing Jack's body shatter and the walls collapse, yet no sound came from their side, everyone erupted in excitement, clapping and cheering! As long as they could get a message to Maggie outside, he could find a way to rescue them! Finally, they no longer had to worry about starving to death in this godforsaken place!

"Awooo!" Jack, standing up, saw the empty doorway in front of him and immediately knew he had left that space. He shouted joyfully! Using his remaining strength, he stood upright in human form, his fists covered in mist, and charged upwards! He shattered a passage in the crushed ruins around him, allowing him to break through!

"Jack! Go for it!"

"Jack! Go for it!"

Those who survived inside the space couldn't help but cheer Jack on as they watched the virtual images before them! Every second Jack survived outside brought hope to their side!

"Cloudburst Fist! Mabi! I'm here! I'm here!" Looking at the white clouds peeking through the gap, Jack knew it was the direction of the sky! He was about to appear before Mabi! His weakened body trembled violently, a surge of power erupting from him as he shouted towards the sky! If he found Mabi, everything would be restored, and his companions would be rescued!

"Crack!"

As Jack was moving forward, he suddenly felt his vision blur! The surrounding ruins no longer touched his body! His huge body could no longer use the protrusions to jump upwards and launch attacks. Realizing what was happening, Jack panicked and his body went limp, turning into a foot-sized fat cat as he fell downwards!

"Jack!"

"Jack!" The people who had been watching Jack's condition rushed forward and caught the falling Jack!

"Nami, I failed the mission! I didn't notify Maggie!" Jack opened his eyes and weakly looked at Nami.

"It's alright! Jack, you've finished the character!" Nami, holding Jack, pointed his white tiger head towards the doorway they had just left through. A familiar figure appeared there, looking this way! This immediately caused him to shout!

"Mappy!"

···

"Is this Nielko?" It was Mabi who had just sensed the commotion and used teleportation to get here. Although she had used up a lot of energy, this was not the time to conserve it. Every second faster she got to see them meant one less second of change.

Observing the swirling dust and fresh cracks around them, Robin must have found something useful inside, which allowed them to appear here, only to be taken away by that strange ability.

"Uncertain! There's no information coming from this; it's just like an ordinary door! It's possible that it doesn't have any special features, which is why it escaped destruction! You can use your spatial abilities to check if there's any reaction." Neilco, whose soul had been enhanced and could now leave his arm guards, paused as he circled the unknown door frame before replying.

"Let me try!" Mabi stepped forward and slowly placed her hand, which was wrapped in spatial abilities, on it!

"Buzz buzz buzz!" Mabi looked at the dust shaking on the door frame and immediately realized that this was the target she was looking for, completely different from the ones she had searched for before! Feeling her physical strength rapidly draining away and the door frame shaking in front of her, Mabi didn't care about the boost. As long as she could see them, the rest would be easy to deal with.

"Hey! Everyone's here!" Maggie teased, looking at her companions appearing in the doorway.

"Ah! Ah! Ah! Mapi! Mapi! Mapi, I want to eat meat!" Luffy immediately jumped out and shouted when he saw Mapi appear!

"Luffy, no!" Luffy's companion shouted as he saw Luffy's action, but his weak body due to hunger could not keep up with Luffy's pace. He could only watch helplessly as Luffy crashed into Maggie and the two rolled away into the distance, separating the two spaces again!

Chapter 80 Boiling Ruins

"Mabi! Meat! Meat!" Luffy squatted on Mabi, staring wide-eyed with his mouth agape, drooling as he tugged at Mabi's clothes and shouted.

"Stop, stop! Get down first!" Maggie shouted at Luffy, whose skin was withered and dry. He must have suffered a lot during these few days apart, except for not having any food!

"Meat! Meat! Meat!" Despite Maggie's attempts to dissuade him, Luffy remained unmoved and continued searching Maggie's body.

"for you!"

Seeing this, Mabi immediately took out a piece of roasted beast meat with bones, more than one meter in diameter and more than two meters long. These were all prepared and stored by Sanji! So that they could be used when there was no time to cook. Then he brought out a pot of soup to prevent him from choking, although Luffy's throat was wide enough to make a passage as wide as his stomach to stuff it in.