chapter 188 part 1
Chapter 188: The Devil Fruit Men Desire Most
On the island shrouded in dense fog, the air was filled with a putrid stench.
The source of this rotten smell wasn't from any animal or food.
It all came from human corpses.
After his defeat at Kaido's hands, Gecko Moria, with the help of his ship Thriller Bark, swallowed up every vessel that passed by.
Using the special properties of the Shadow-Shadow Fruit, he would snip off the crew members' shadows, stuff them into corpses, and reanimate them as zombies to serve him.
These shadows contained a portion of their original owner's abilities and personality. The stronger the original owner of the shadow, the stronger the zombie would be.
However, there was a problem.
The shadows Gecko Moria could steal didn't belong to truly powerful individuals. Furthermore, there was a fatal flaw: to preserve a shadow, its owner had to remain alive. If the owner died, the shadow would also disappear. Moria couldn't kill the owners of the shadows; he could only drive them away.
Thus, the massive island was divided into several sections. Besides the zombies, there were also many pitiful souls who had lost their shadows, barely surviving.
When these walking dead saw Pirate Ren Arakawa, they were all shocked. Although there was no sun on the island, the faint candlelight was enough to see that he was indeed followed by a shadow.
He wasn't one of Gecko Moria's officers. Who was this guy?
A large tree chewing on a coffee branch sized up Ren Arakawa with a curious gaze and hurriedly greeted him, "Oi~oi~oi~"
"Is there something you need?"
Ren Arakawa turned his head. He recognized this tree. Luffy had later invited this strange thing to join his crew, but Nami had punched Luffy hard on the head, forcing him to give up the idea.
The large tree set its coffee branch aside. "Ah, if you put it that way, then there's nothing much."
"Oh."
As Ren Arakawa said this and continued forward, the tree suddenly snapped back to its senses. "Don't move! Who are you! Why are you on this island!"
"Why should I tell you? Do you know how to repair ships?"
The tree froze for a moment. "Repair ships? No, I don't know how."
"Then stop wasting my time. A good tree doesn't block the road."
"You! Hmph, when you meet that great lord, you'll know what terror is, kishishishishi..."
The large tree's branches thrashed about wildly. "But before that, let's see if you can get past me first!"
As soon as its voice fell, countless hands burst forth from the surrounding earth—all zombies created by Moria.
As they emerged from the ground, they let out low growls from their throats, which sounded quite terrifying.
Just as the tree, full of momentum, was about to charge at Ren Arakawa, a terrifyingly immense aura swept across the entire area in an instant, like a tidal wave crashing down!
This aura was cold and sinister, as if it came from the endless abyss, carrying a pressure that made one's soul tremble! But it was also as fleeting as a flash of lightning, leaving only a lingering chill in the air.
The large tree froze on the spot, its previous arrogance completely gone. Beads of sweat the size of beans rolled down its "forehead," and it was so frightened that it began kowtowing to Ren Arakawa.
"I... I didn't know, I didn't know! I didn't know it was you, I..."
It couldn't even speak clearly, just kept apologizing profusely.
Those zombies that had stretched out their hands also quickly retracted their claws. The phlegm stuck in their throats cleared up, and some even took the initiative to help the zombies next to them cover themselves back up with dirt.
That... that was just too damn scary!
Haki! Conqueror's Haki!?
What was this equivalent to?
It was like a primary school student seeing a stranger and threatening them, saying their older cousin was in the fifth grade and had a stick, and if they knew what's good for them, they'd hand over fifty cents for protection.
And then?
And then Ren Arakawa pulled out a gun.
"My lord! My lord, spare my life! Spare me!"
Ren Arakawa had never seen a tree kowtow before. Now, he had.
"My lord! Is there anything I can do for you? Just say the word! Oh, right! Ship repair, was it?! I'll go find someone for you!"
"You'll find them? Fine, here's a service fee for you."
"No! No need! It is my honor to be of service to you!"
Having a guide was a good thing, saving him the trouble of running around like a headless fly.
Ren Arakawa followed the strange tree, striding forward like a meteor.
Along the way, the surrounding zombies all peeked at Ren Arakawa with curious and fearful eyes.
But deterred by the terrifying aura from before, not a single zombie dared to come within half a step.
They knew deep down that someone who could scare the usually arrogant and domineering tree into this state was definitely a major figure they couldn't afford to provoke.
Soon, under the strange tree's guidance, Ren Arakawa arrived at a junkyard filled with an air of decay.
To call it a junkyard was an understatement; it was more like a "graveyard" for ships. Countless battered shipwrecks were piled here in a chaotic mess. Rotting planks and twisted masts seemed to tell tales of their tragic pasts.
The moment Ren Arakawa stepped into this place, his keen senses instantly detected hundreds of weak auras around him, like candles flickering in the wind, ready to be extinguished at any moment.
He frowned slightly. The owners of these auras must be the pitiful people who had lost their shadows and were struggling to survive here.
The strange tree stood in the center of the area, cleared its throat, and shouted at the top of its lungs, "We need a few shipwrights! Repair the ship and you'll be handsomely rewarded!"
The voice echoed in the empty junkyard, startling a few crows resting on a broken ship. They flapped their wings and let out harsh cries.
Hearing the strange tree's words, Ren Arakawa couldn't help but smirk and say coldly, "I never said how much I'd pay."
The strange tree hurriedly winked, its face plastered with an obsequious smile. "We can talk after it's fixed, we can talk after it's fixed."