Zongman: Evolution Paradise

Endless darkness...

In the silent world, only one light shone on Nami, yet it was dim and eerily like a searchlight in a prison searching for criminals.

She sat on the rocks, bewildered, and found that her body had become unusually small, so small that she felt like she would drown in a drop of water. The phantom pain on her face reminded her of why she was there: she had just had a fight with Bellemere not long ago.

The reason was that Bellemere had been making her wear her sister's hand-me-downs. Although they were struggling financially, there was no other way to deal with it, but she wondered if their lives would be better if she disappeared.

"What did I say that made Bellemere slap me?"

Nami rested her hand on her face, oblivious to the unusual darkness around her. She stared at the sea, waiting for Bellemere or Nojiko to come find her, thinking that she could eat orange marmalade omelet rice when she got home.

After a while, Nami lowered her hand again because she hadn't figured out the answer to the question.

What exactly did I say at that time?

Is this important?

Nami remembers that this is important.

But if it's important, how could I forget what happened back then? Nami turned her head somewhat uneasily, looked around, and decided not to stay here any longer. She wanted to go home and eat orange marmalade omelet rice, and she didn't care that Bellemere and Nojiko hadn't come looking for her yet.

Nami jumped off the rocks and walked along the coast into the darkness on her own. Searchlights followed her closely, as if afraid that the prisoner would take the opportunity to escape. There was a stench in the sea breeze blowing in her face. Nami covered her nose and wanted to get away, but a strange thought arose in her mind that this was the only way she could go home.

Let's just bear with it for now.

Anyway, I'm getting closer and closer to home.

The orange marmalade omelet rice must be ready by now.

Honestly, Bellemere, why haven't you brought Nojiko to pick me up yet?

The stench grew stronger, and Nami covered her nose with her finger, trying to put on an expression that she hadn't forgiven Bellemere. But at that moment, another searchlight turned on, focusing on the coast not far away, making Nami's body tremble uncontrollably.

It was a corpse, a female corpse whose lower half was still submerged in the water. As the tide rose to the shore, half of the female corpse's familiar face was faintly visible.

“...Belmel”.

Nami's legs went weak and she kept backing away, tears welling up in her eyes and her heart suddenly stopped. From the surrounding darkness, sharp claws emerged and grabbed her neck, while the roar of the evil dragon echoed from all directions.

"Nami! Nami! Nami!"

"There are a full 100,000 Berries here! You decide who survives!"

"Would you choose your sister or your mother?"

"Answer me, Nami!"

"If it's too hard to choose, how about we just let them both die fairly!"

"Hehehe...!"

Nami turned her head to escape, but she tripped and fell before she could take a few steps. The pain of the past flowed from the wounds that were chafed by the sand and flowed into this space, reminding her of everything that happened that day. The stench of the rotting corpse entered her seven orifices, and the voice of the evil dragon became clearer and clearer, even solidifying in the sky.

Bellemere died that day.

Bellemere is waiting for me to come home.

Bellemere died that day.

Bellemere is waiting for me to come home...

The memories of that day kept fading, but then suddenly burst forth the moment the female corpse was discovered, like a death save point in a game. She was trapped in place, reliving the most painful moments of her memory from scratch time and time again, just to reach the end of her life.

Consciousness began to break down.

The soul wanted to leave the body and fall into the abyss.

Just as Nami's reason was about to be extinguished and her external body was about to undergo a strange change, her divinity froze everything in the nightmare.

The beams of the searchlights converged, and Nami had already reached the female corpse. The hundred and eighty times she had experienced the End just now were merely illusions caused by the divine corruption she had suffered when she approached the female corpse.

Nami's fingertips touched the female corpse, and a sticky voice appeared in her mind.

"Give him to me, and I will let you go."

Upon hearing just the first word, Nami collapsed to the ground in agony, wailing. She vomited up cold, viscous seaweed that resembled snakes, and barnacles sucking blood emerged from her pores, turning her body into pus.

The nightmare shattered.

Nami outside shuddered, two lines of bloody tears streaming from her eyes. Before she even woke up, she began to snore softly again due to the immense mental strain.

……

Outside the deck.

Saeko Busujima came to her senses and poured a large amount of blood into the Hakugo. The Human-Faced Dog, sailing at night, had indeed attracted some passengers. The dark haze gradually spread, and in the middle, a huge, dilapidated bow emitting a green light was faintly visible.

It's like a ghost ship from a story.

“I detected a strange aura. There’s a large source of pollution on that ship.” The data stream from the mechanical spirit root kept rolling in Nan Lixiang’s eyes. Pollution was not uncommon in Night City. As a mercenary, she had dealt with it a few times and knew the trouble it caused. She looked at Saeko Busujima and suggested, “Should we call a few people? It would be bad if we got contaminated.”

"unnecessary."

Saeko Busujima: "The purpose of keeping watch is to allow others to sleep peacefully."

……

New Rogge town.

"The pollution on the island is showing signs of growing!"

"Quickly call General Smoker!"

A giant searchlight illuminated the darkness, and Smoker, who had rushed over, stared intently at the distant island—the abandoned old Roguetown. A dragon-shaped red and black mist lingered above the island, refusing to dissipate. It had been peaceful for over a decade; why was such an astonishing disturbance suddenly occurring today?!

Behind Smoker were Tashigi and another short-haired woman who was still yawning.

Chapter 464 Ghost Fleet

Early the next morning.

Nami half-opened her eyes, feeling as tired as if she hadn't slept all night. Sunlight streamed into the bed from the window, and she stretched for a while before finally getting up.

As I approached the restaurant entrance, I could hear lively, playful noises coming from inside. It sounded like the pink-haired chef and the musician who couldn't play music that I had seen yesterday.

"Ta-da, another one has appeared."

The stand-in appeared behind Goto Ichiri. She pointed to the empty plate in front of her, and as if time had reversed, a steaming plate of toast appeared on the plate, which was the very toast that Kanroji Mitsuri had just eaten.

Seeing this magic trick, Kanroji Mitsuri clapped enthusiastically, saying, "Ichiri-chan is amazing!"

"whee."

Just as Goto Ichiri was grinning foolishly, she saw Kingyo-hime jump off her chair with her breakfast in her hands, walk up to her side, hold the plate above her head, and say with her head held high, "Me too, me too."

Goto Ichiri activated Time Deletion, restoring the number of shrimp balls on the plate. Then she saw the Goldfish Princess eat all the shrimp balls in one bite and still standing in front of her, saying expectantly, "One more time!"

The raw material for this Flaming Peony Shrimp Tail Balls is freshly caught this morning by a ghost ship. Despite being in the ocean, its tail can burn with flames, which looks peculiar and tastes incredibly delicious. Due to its limited quantity, it is a limited supply available this morning.

"Eh……"

Goto Ichiri blinked, shrank back a little in his chair, and whispered, "This ability doesn't create something from nothing; it restores the food you've already eaten to its original state before you ate it. Even if you use it a few more times, you still won't get full."

For people trying to lose weight, the ability to satisfy their cravings without worrying about calories is simply perfect. Unfortunately, Princess Goldfish doesn't need to lose weight; she just wants to properly satisfy her appetite.

Princess Goldfish's brain seemed to freeze. She was pondering whether eating or tasting was more important, and stood there motionless, prompting Ichiri Goto to silently pick up his chopsticks, his face ashen, and place his own portion of Flaming Botan Shrimp Tail Balls onto Princess Goldfish's plate.

"Thank you sister."

Princess Goldfish ran off happily, but Ichiri Goto's smile became increasingly forced.

"Ugh... I really wanted to eat it too... Why did I just give it away without thinking?!"

Breakfast is the start of the day, and Goto Ichiri had already finished early. While munching on her bread, she noticed that the missing shrimp balls on her plate had been replaced. Kanroji Mitsuri blushed and said, "Don't worry, as the chef, I've definitely already eaten them."

To reassure Goto Ichiri, she even winked with her eyes.

"Mitsuri~"

Goto Ichiri was deeply moved, and his affection for Kanroji Mitsuri quickly grew to the point where he would speak up for her even if she turned into a bad woman, deceived him with her body, and then ran off with his pocket money.

"Hello everyone~"

After washing her face, Nami walked into the restaurant, tapping her forehead to fight off sleepiness as she glanced at everyone. She still had to continue her mission of building relationships and gathering intelligence.

"Nami, did you not sleep well last night? You seem a little down. Me too, because it's my first time at sea and I feel very tired." Kanroji Mitsuri seemed to remember something, and her beautiful emotions almost condensed into pink hearts that dripped into milk.

"Well... because we just boarded the ship."

Nami received her breakfast and sat down, thinking to herself: "The pink-haired chef has a gentle personality, but he's too close to the captain."

Princess Goldfish, munching on a shrimp ball, noticed Nami's gaze and turned her face away in displeasure, because Nami hadn't let her stay the night before.

The blue-haired fishman is a bit dim-witted; just keep building a good relationship with him and extract information from him.

Goto Ichiri looked down at his phone. After spending the night getting to know each other, although he was still a little hesitant when talking to others, he was no longer having much trouble having a meal under the same roof. As for his phone, it was because there was a network on the ghost ship, but it was a local area network provided by the mechanical spirit root.

The pink-haired musician's abilities are so strange, is she a Devil Fruit user? But she even subconsciously avoids eye contact with me, so she shouldn't be a problem.

Nami mentally assessed the situation while continuing to observe the people in the restaurant. Just as she spotted the captain reading a newspaper, a sentence suddenly popped into her head.

"I want him."

The sudden thought startled Nami, but she shook her head and didn't take it seriously at all.

What a load of rubbish!

What a jumbled mess of ideas.

Having been identified as a follower of an evil god, she now desperately wanted to jump into the sea and escape, to get as far away as possible from this captain who dared to continue sailing at night, preferably at the distance between hell and heaven, so that whatever he did wouldn't involve her.

A person who doesn't even respect the sea can never sail on for long!

Nami was absolutely certain of this.

"What are you slandering me about?"

Feeling so clearly being stared at, Jolyne lowered the newspaper and asked quietly.

"Cough, no! No!"

Nami choked on her milk and covered her mouth to stop herself from spitting it out. Otherwise, Princess Goldfish would probably have had a fair and just duel with her. Nami stuck out her tongue and said cutely, "I was wondering if I encountered any strange events after I fell asleep last night."

"But judging from the current situation, the strange story is indeed just a tale to fool children. It's clearly impossible to sail at night, yet they make it sound incredibly far-fetched that sailing is impossible..."

"Hold on, something strange did happen last night."

"I knew it! Huh? What?"

"It's still sitting outside, and we've attracted a ghost fleet."

A fleet of ghost ships? Nami wondered if she had misheard. There must be at least three or four ghost ships that could be described with that quantifier, right? But she had slept soundly last night and hadn't felt anything.

Breakfast was so delicious it was almost too good to pass up. Nami quickly finished eating, and the warmth that came from her stomach quickly dispelled the evil unease in her body. She ran out of the cabin in a few steps and saw the ghost ship that Jolyne had mentioned.

"One, two, three... six."

The HMS Dog is still sailing, but unlike yesterday when it was alone, today it has six more ships escorting it ahead.

A white mist filled the air, creating an eerie atmosphere.

On the dilapidated deck, so run-down it seemed a hailstorm might pierce through, skeletons were basking in the sun, replenishing their calcium reserves, fighting fiercely over better bones, and even carving intricate designs on their own ribs…

As you can see, six eerie blue chains emerge from the figurehead of the Hound of the Human, binding these ghost ships like dogs, while the flag atop their heads is a skull with a crown.

"This is... the Krieg Pirates?"

Nami exclaimed in surprise, "Didn't this pirate crew say they had already headed to the Grand Line?"

Chapter 465 Stroking and Wiping

In Nami's memory, the Krieg Pirates were one of the most powerful pirate crews in the East Blue, committing all sorts of atrocities, including burning, killing, and looting. Ordinary islands would even offer up their treasures upon seeing the Krieg Pirates' flag.

Ambitions and arrogance grew in their hearts, and the vast East Sea seemed to shrink. So, a few months ago, the Krieg Pirates held a recruitment event for crew members at the Konov Islands and set sail for the Grand Line with a fleet of six large ships.

Nami knew all this because she had also taken advantage of the chaos to steal money. She looked at the ghost ships that had appeared here in astonishment. Although they were dilapidated, she could still vaguely identify them as the Krieg Pirates through details. And now they had become ghost ships and appeared here.

"What happened? Is the Grand Line really that dangerous? And even if they all died on the Grand Line, how come they're in the East Blue?"

Nami followed the chains and saw the cabin she used to be in. Now, the occupant was a skeleton missing a leg. "Luckily, I didn't go with them..."