Orochimaru hummed an unknown song, shaking the test tube in his hand, and contentedly poured the pink liquid from the test tube into a petri dish.
He then inspected his cloned organs, checked their quality, and confirmed there were no issues.
Wiping his hands, he turned off the lab lights, changed clothes, and headed out, grabbing the bento Sanji had prepared for him by the door, eating as he walked.
He pondered how to extract active tree cells and then integrate them into Hashirama cells... He chewed on his chopsticks, pacing, and walked onto the deck, looking up at the giant trees, blinking.
"So big."
He then noticed Usopp and Nami sitting on the deck, knees hugged, tears streaming down their faces, and tilted his head in confusion.
"Usopp, Nami? What's wrong?"
"Orochimaru!!! It's all up to you, this island has…" The two cried, hugging Orochimaru's legs, one on each side. Just as they were about to say something, they saw the giant shadow behind Orochimaru and screamed.
"Giants!!!!!" The two clutched Orochimaru tightly, trembling.
Orochimaru was speechless... He tried to push their heads away... Don't cling so close! "Don't be so scared... I'll protect you... And Giants should be a peace-loving race? Right... probably."
Orochimaru's voice was a bit uncertain.
Upon hearing "peace-loving," the two once again became teary-eyed, and as the Giant approached, their tears gushed out.
"That's why we shouldn't have let Luffy destroy that log pose, boo hoo hoo hoo hoo... Will we be eaten?"
Usopp, on one side, knelt on the ground, legs trembling, looking terrified at the Giant before him.
The Giant approached, laughing loudly.
"Hahahaha... so, what do you all think?"
"What do you mean... Orochimaru?" Nami and Usopp clung tightly to Orochimaru, refusing to let go.
"He's asking if we have any alcohol." Orochimaru, struggling to break free, pressed down on each person's head, trying to pull himself away.
Nami quickly nodded, "Yes, there's still some."
"Ah!!!" A sudden shriek came from the Giant, and Nami screamed in fright, tightening her grip on Orochimaru.
The Giant turned and saw a dinosaur biting his butt. He turned and chopped off the dinosaur's head with an axe.
Nami and Usopp hugged each other, crying in terror... tears gushed out on the spot, Orochimaru's clothes were soaked with tears, and he wanted to cry too... ||Φ|(TДT)Φ||
"I am Brogy, the strongest warrior of Elbaf village! Kabababa!" Brogy laughed, holding up the dinosaur's head.
"We have meat now, let me host you all today, my guests."
"Alright," Orochimaru agreed, nodding.
Nami and Usopp frantically shook their heads, "No, no, no!"
"Then I'll go by myself, you two stay and guard the ship..." Orochimaru was very interested in the Giant Race and wanted to steal some cells.
Orochimaru painstakingly shuffled forward, his two legs clutched by Nami and Usopp, one on each side.
"Respected Lord Orochimaru, don't leave us!"
The three eventually sat beside the Giant, watching him busy himself, roasting dinosaur meat over a bonfire, provided there weren't piles of skeletons nearby. Orochimaru's arms were tightly clutched by the two.
"...By the way... can you two let go for a bit... I can't eat the meat."
Nami choked, her face covered in tears like wide noodles, "Orochimaru... are you sure he won't eat us after we're full?"
Orochimaru struggled to bring his hands together, painstakingly forming the hand sign for a Shadow Clone. He then let the two continue to cling to him, having the Shadow Clone feed him dinosaur meat.
"So, are you sure you don't want to try dinosaur meat?"
Shadow Clone number two fed Nami a small piece. Nami chewed while crying, "...Wuwuwu... delicious."
As for Usopp, who cared about him!
The volcano suddenly erupted, and Brogy stood up.
"Excuse me, I have to leave for a moment. This is the signal for a duel that has lasted a hundred years."
Usopp, hearing this topic, was no longer scared and stood up, "With whom? Where? What's the reason?"
"The reason, well, I've forgotten, kabababa, the eruption of the volcano in the center is our duel signal."
Brogy turned and strode away, followed by a violent shockwave that reverberated across the entire Ancient Island.
Usopp looked up at the two Giants, his face full of admiration.
"How amazing, fighting like this even without a reason.
This is a true battle between men, a warrior's duel full of glory.
This is the brave sea warrior I aspire to be; I want to become a man with such a noble sense of honor."
Nami didn't quite understand but was no longer as scared. The three of them tilted their heads back, watching the duel and eating the roasted meat fed into their mouths by Orochimaru's clone (Usopp ate by himself, a grievance from Usopp).
"If there's a village of such warriors, I really want to visit it someday, right, Orochimaru?"
In the end, the two Giants returned with a draw. Usopp spoke to Brogy about his aspirations, wanting to become a brave sea warrior like them, who could fight for honor.
"We, because our lifespans are longer than yours, have to consider more about how to die.
Ultimately, both wealth and life are things that will one day disappear.
However, if one can die with the glory of an Elbaf warrior, then that is a glorious death, and this glory will be passed down in Elbaf."
Usopp's eyes were filled with admiration.
Orochimaru's expression was somewhat displeased; he silently walked away. He respected such ideals but did not agree with them. Such foolish ideas were just like the Old Man, the Third Hokage—what good is it if fire continues to burn where tree leaves dance when you're dead and gone?
He wandered aimlessly through the forest, collecting some unfamiliar herbaceous plants.
He leisurely wandered and collected, not knowing how much time had passed. Pushing aside the bushes blocking his path, he saw Zoro, Nami, and the client posing on a large cake. Was this some kind of performance art?
"Excuse me..." Orochimaru's expression was complex as he backed away.
"Come back!!!" Nami had a shark-like face.
"Fire Release: Dragon Fire Technique!" Orochimaru exhaled a thin, elongated pillar of fire in mid-air, which extended in a circle around the trio's feet until the wax melted.
"Just kidding, how could I abandon you?" He scanned the area, saw Luffy drinking tea with a little girl but with a ferocious expression, directly knocked out the little girl, and blurred the paint on Luffy's back with a Water Release.
Orochimaru treated Zoro's leg while examining his body. "I'll leave the rest to you, I'm going to check on those two Giants."
Indeed, without restraints in combat, dealing with these three small fries was effortless. Orochimaru had just melted the wax from the Giant's body when the battle ended.
The awakened Brogy looked at the fallen Dorry, crying loudly in pain, like a waterfall, even creating a rainbow in the sunlight.
Orochimaru was forced to take a tear-bath.
"Hey! Stop crying, he's not dead yet!" No one paid attention... The enormous crying drowned out Orochimaru's voice.
"Hey!!" #
"Waaah wuwuwuwu!... Dorry!"
Exasperated, Orochimaru directly pulled out a speaker.
"Shut up! He's not dead!!!"