Chapter 23: The Origin of Ring Tree Island (Part 1)
…
Uncle Kate looked at Luo Han's curious expression and smiled before continuing his explanation.
"Thanks to the divine tree's seawater desalination ability, the salt removed from the water didn't just accumulate in blocks on the seabed—most of it flowed out into the surrounding ocean."
"That's why the sea around the island has a very high salt concentration."
"And because of that, there are hardly any Sea Kings in this region. Salt-Eating Sharks usually live deep in the oceAnne and only come to the surface when they crave salt—or when we disturb the salt blocks."
At this point, Uncle Kate's tone turned more serious.
"Salt-Eating Sharks don't often come to shallow waters—relatively speaking. Every few days, they'll come up to the seabed for salt."
"That's why we've always taken injuries from fighting Salt-Eating Sharks."
"Don't underestimate them. They might not be that large, but their bodies are extremely tough due to adapting to both deep and shallow water. Their strength is terrifying, and they're very fast. Every encounter is a fierce battle."
Looking out over the pale green sea, Uncle Kate's expression was somber. Despite his guidance, the hunting team still suffered injuries now and then.
"Then why not just focus on dealing with the Salt-Eating Sharks? And as long as we don't go out to sea, they can't do much to us, right?" Luo Han asked, puzzled.
They were in deep waters—unlike the seabed, there wasn't much room to maneuver here.
Uncle Kate turned back to look at Ring Tree Island. "Look behind us—there are no other islands nearby. And the seabed drops off sharply after about ten kilometers."
Luo Han and the other hunters turned around to look at Ring Tree Island.
"Whoa! It really does look like a stone pillar rising from the sea! That's amazing—I never noticed that before!" Ryan exclaimed.
The other hunters also seemed to be realizing this for the first time.
"It doesn't really look like an island… More like a…" Luo Han murmured, staring at the island.
Uncle Kate glanced at him with a knowing look—he'd figured it out.
"A long time ago, there was no island here at all. Then, one day, a giant tree sprouted from the sea.
The first time it touched sunlight, it began growing wildly. Within a few years, its root system stretched for hundreds of kilometers.
It eventually formed a towering island nearly a thousand meters tall."
Uncle Kate paused, letting that sink in.
"That tree… was the predecessor of what we now call the divine tree."
Luo Han asked, "But what about the ring of rock surrounding it? And the current size of Ring Tree Island? It's still not that big."
"Ha! Let me explain," Uncle Kate said, smiling, before his face turned serious again.
"As the divine tree expanded rapidly, it eventually began producing a fruit—the Fish Scale Fruit.
Back when it was still underwater, it never bore fruit. But once it reached sunlight, the first time it ripened, it released a scent through its roots that drove Sea Kings wild."
Uncle Kate's voice carried a note of unease—it wasn't hard to imagine what happened next.
"Since this place is near the Calm Belt, the scent drew in countless massive and supermassive Sea Kings, ranging from 3,000 to tens of thousands of meters long.
They fought each other like mad, scrambling to reach the fruit. Even the tree, despite its massive size, couldn't withstand such destruction."
"The divine tree was shattered. All that's left today is its central trunk. Its height was crushed down to the seabed—it was nearly uprooted and destroyed."
Luo Han was shocked. The divine tree was destroyed? Then how did Ring Tree Island come to be? And if the scent from the Fish Scale Fruit draws Sea Kings, how did they deal with it afterward?
He felt sorry for the divine tree. All it wanted was to bask in sunlight and photosynthesize like any normal tree. Was that so wrong?
Why did the Sea Kings have to trample it just for its fruit?
If the divine tree could speak, Luo Han imagined it would have a lot to say.
Uncle Kate continued.
"After that, it was as if the divine tree gained sentience. It began to grow more cautiously and developed the ability to desalinate seawater."
"With this new ability, it absorbed minerals from the seabed and released them around its base, forming a protective ring of rock."
Uncle Kate looked in awe at the sea. The divine tree was truly a miraculous lifeform.
"Then it began growing toward the surface again. Over hundreds of years, it finally reached above the waterline and touched sunlight once more."
"Strangely, it grew slowly underwater—but the moment it surfaced, its growth exploded, as if it had tapped into some mysterious force."
Luo Han could picture the scene vividly—like time speeding up, the divine tree erupted upward in a massive surge of growth.
But he wondered—wouldn't that draw Sea Kings again?
"This time, the divine tree didn't expand its body. Instead, it focused all that energy on absorbing minerals from the ocean floor.
And layer by layer, it built up the ringed rock structure we now call Ring Tree Island."
"Each layer is anchored by its roots, forming the nine levels we live on today."
"Then, using its desalination, it stored fresh water within the island. The salt and minerals were expelled outward, forming the seabed as we see it now."
Everyone stared at the island in awe. So the ring of rock wasn't natural—it was created by the divine tree to protect itself.
Their mouths hung open in silent amazement.
Kate smiled to himself. That had been his reaction too, years ago, when the village elders first told him this story.
"And that's not even all of it," he continued.
"As the divine tree grew, so did Ring Tree Island. Shipwrecks from storms brought survivors, and that's how the first residents came."
"And eventually, the divine tree began to bear fruit again."
Everyone held their breath. This time, it wasn't destroyed, right? They all thought the same thing.
After all, the island still existed—so the divine tree must've survived the second time.
"Guess what happened this time?" Uncle Kate grinned.
"Did Sea Kings attack?" Cole's deep voice startled everyone—he had wandered over to the edge without anyone noticing.
He had clearly been listening intently and couldn't help but ask.
"Haha!" Uncle Kate laughed and continued.
"Nope. Nothing happened—not a single Sea King came."
"This time, the scent from the ripening Fish Scale Fruits was blocked by the rock ring. And all the roots were buried inside it—none exposed to the sea."
"So the scent didn't reach the water—and the Sea Kings never noticed."
"Now, the scent still spreads through the air, but much less than it would in the sea.
It could still attract the odd Sea King if one happened to surface nearby."
"But none ever came. Why? Because the divine tree, through desalination, expelled so much salt over the years that the surrounding waters became hypersaline."
"Most sea life couldn't adapt to it—and they all left. The Sea Kings, too."
"Now, even if the scent does travel far, it's so faint it can't lure any Sea Kings in."
Amazing. So the divine tree was intelligent enough to create a high-salinity sea around itself—forcing the Sea Kings away before the next fruiting season.
Luo Han wondered: was this like that flower-shaped island that Usopp was sent to—the one designed to hunt Sea Kings?
He shivered slightly. What if the divine tree is raising us just to eat us later…?
…No. It didn't have a mouth. Probably not.
Better just keep listening to Uncle Kate.
(END CHAPTER)
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