Chapter 282: Orochimaru Appears

Inside the carriage, Zoro suddenly opened his eyes, his gaze piercing through the ice-crystal window glass, staring intently at the road ahead.

He is a Swordsman who fights by releasing Ghost Qi, so he has a very strong ability to perceive similar energies.

Not far away, an extremely dense energy fluctuation, revealing a cold and evil sensation, was rapidly gathering.

"Stop the car, something's wrong."

Zoro hurriedly spoke to stop them,

but it was already too late; the Frost Drill Car's front, the frost drill capable of easily shattering rock, was blocked by a black shadow.

Buzz, buzz, buzz.

A stark white skeleton hand gripped the center of the drill, using brute force to stop the Magic-enhanced mechanical drill from rotating.

The newcomer was a giant skeleton,

with a massive body of five meters, and within its hollow eye sockets, purple soul flames were burning.

"Purple soul fire, this skeleton is a Purple game item."

Robin, experienced like a scholar, saw the quality of this giant skeleton at a glance.

Players capable of possessing Purple items are never simple.

In the current stage of combat,

the standard by which everyone judges combat power relies on the amount of Reward Point consumption and the quality of the items the opponent possesses.

Although,

there will be differences due to class characteristics and player combat experience—for instance, support-type classes definitely cannot beat combat-type ones—this is only a subtle difference.

Under normal conditions, the more Reward Points consumed, the stronger the player who possesses higher-quality items.

And players who have mastered Purple items,

are definitely among the most outstanding existences among the many players, at least in the first tier.

"No, the aura I perceive is not this skeleton!"

Zoro suddenly roared out,

that evil and cold aura was very pure, having reached the level where even the Ghost Qi within his own body became sluggish.

The intense sense of danger and death, as if he were about to be swallowed, made his hair stand on end.

"I have no malice, I simply want to catch a ride."

A voice that was slightly hoarse, yet seemed to possess some kind of magic, suddenly rang out.

Zoro faced a formidable enemy.

Even Nami and the others did not understand why Zoro's reaction was so extreme.

With the current hard power of the Straw Hat Pirates, even if they were to go head-to-head against top-tier players or the three Navy Admirals, they could still retreat unscathed.

Especially Luffy, who had exchanged for the 【Light Bloodline】, an existence capable of activating the Ultra Body and arm-wrestling with an Admiral.

Under their gaze, the figure of Orochimaru slowly walked out from behind the giant skeleton,

not deliberately striking a combat pose, nor releasing any aura, just standing there as if harmless,

yet Zoro had the feeling of being stared at by an Abyss viper.

"I refuse."

Luffy frowned deeply,

he felt a very disgusting aura from the newcomer, and he did not like it.

Most importantly, Zoro felt uneasy because of this guy,

so, although the other party's request was not excessive, he could not agree to the other party's demand.

"Is that so? That is truly a pity."

Orochimaru looked at the wary Zoro with great interest.

A player from another world?

The strange soul aura radiating from his body seems to be a class capable of driving ghosts and gods to fight.

Is that a sword at his waist?

It looks like he also possesses exquisite Sword Skill.

Truly a rare sight. A shell capable of making a Commander Level undead swordsman.

Intoxicating.

Orochimaru stuck out his tongue and licked the corner of his mouth. Seeing that he was refused,

he felt not the slightest annoyance, just smiled indifferently, and then left while standing on the shoulder of the giant skeleton.

Leaving behind a meaningful sentence.

"We will meet again, friend."

That word "friend,"

sounded devoid of any warmth, yet it was said very earnestly, as if he truly regarded the Straw Hat Crew as friends.

Or perhaps some kind of item that would be collected into his pocket?

Not just Zoro, the rest of the Straw Hat crew also felt a chill run down their spines.

Seeing that the other party did not make a move, Robin breathed a sigh of relief and said: "What an evil player; he definitely exchanged for a class related to the undead, and he is a top-tier player."

"If you are killed in the game, you won't die, but his final words seem to give me a very strange feeling."

The rules of the game merchant can never be violated.

Whether placed in the Pirate world or the Huoying Shijie, they are absolute iron laws.

Chopper the reindeer breathed a sigh of relief and said: "Luckily we won't truly die, otherwise, I would have wanted to turn around and run."

Not just Zoro, Orochimaru's gaze toward him was also very strange, just like how he would look at materials used for researching medicine?

Too terrifying.

The Frost Drill Car started up, and the mechanical engine let out a booming sound.

The little reindeer hurriedly said, "Let's change routes; I don't want to run into that cold, sinister guy again."

"You really are a coward, Chopper."

Nami covered her mouth and laughed, turned the Frost Drill Car in a different direction, and detoured forward.

She didn't feel the terror of Orochimaru; as a top-tier Necromancer, his methods of concealing his aura were extremely sophisticated, and it was only because he encountered an unusual team like the Straw Hat Crew, which had an idiot with super-strong intuition like Luffy, as well as a sharp Ghost Slayer Swordsman like Zoro.

An average player team wouldn't be able to detect Orochimaru's abnormality at all.

"Ghost Slash!"

A black-purple, ferocious sword aura split the monsters blocking the path.

They gradually reached the depths of the Dangerous Region, the monsters all around were getting stronger, and a strange energy shrouded the surroundings.

"Nami, look up at the top, what a beautiful sky!"

Sanji raised his head, and after seeing the sky through the open sunroof, he immediately fawned over the person beside him.

Hearing his shout, everyone tacitly raised their heads.

The azure sky was like crystal-clear glass, and there were actually living organisms swimming inside, emitting a faint, crystalline radiance that spilled onto the earth.

Being shone upon by the radiance scattered from the sky,

even the energy fluctuations within their bodies felt like they were becoming active.

Black text appeared before their eyes.

【You have entered the Dangerous Region 【Sea of the Sky】 range; the monster levels in this area are Lv. 20~Lv. 59.】

Robin took out her notebook and quill, recording continuously, and exclaimed, "No wonder there is biological activity; the sky above is actually an ocean?"

"Hahahaha, as expected of another world!"

Luffy climbed directly out of the car window, stood on top of the drill car, and swung his arms,

stretching out his rubber-like arm directly, wanting to touch the azure Sky Sea.

His rubber body, which he had trained for many years, had been lost due to the disappearance of the Nika Fruit, and Luffy was very unaccustomed to the sudden loss, but his luck was extremely good, and the items refreshed in the Game Mall made up for his disadvantage.

Now it was the genuine 【Rubber Fruit】, which could allow him to regain his rubber constitution.

"Idiot, even though it's called the Sea of the Sky, it's in the sky; how could you possibly touch it?"

"That castle, should be able to climb to the Sky Sea, right?"

Luffy picked his nose,

and pointed his finger toward the very center of his vision, at a massive pillar that seemed to blend the sky and the earth together.

Text also appeared before their eyes.

【Sky Tower】.

(End of this chapter)