Chapter 144

Brook also provided intelligence: "The island is full of zombies made from other people's shadows; their weakness is salt imbued with the power of the sea. Throw it into their mouths to purify them."

"The approximate high-end combat power is..."

"My shadow was..."

Listening to intelligence he already knew, Sima Di stroked his chin in thought.

Now the Straw Hat Pirates' combat power has been greatly strengthened; Luffy and his three main fighters have all awakened Armament Haki, and he and Crocus, two general-level fighters, are stationed there.

Chopping down a "weakest Warlord of the Sea," Moonlight...

But sweeping through for a moment is fun, yet the Straw Hat Pirates would not grow much.

So the core of this operation is still to let the Straw Hat Pirates gain experience—preferably in life-or-death situations.

In that case...

"Nami, bring the Going Merry to shore."

"Since everyone trusts me..."

"This time, let's have a contest to see who can rescue Brook's shadow faster."

"The winner can get a Haki technique tailored by me!"

As soon as Sima Di put out his "wager," everyone's eyes lit up!

Even Crocus was somewhat tempted, casting a questioning glance at Sima Di.

Should I add him?

"Professional players are banned from participating to fish for weaklings," Sima Di refused. "You stay with Run Kuai guarding the Merry. I'll take them and be back soon."

Crocus, clearly having expected this, shrugged and found a lounge chair to lie down on.

Run Kuai breathed a sigh of relief.

—It really is just a pet; don't drag it into combat matters.

"You guys go play; leave the Going Merry safely to us," Crocus said.

Franky seemed to have something to say, but after thinking, he said nothing—the Going Merry didn't need protection at all; its combat power was stronger than most people present.

Sima Di noticed Franky's change and kept it in mind secretly.

This time, with his own materials supplied freely, the Going Merry has improved by several tiers compared to the original Thousand Sunny.

I'm quite looking forward to its brilliant performance.

"We've reached shore, let's go." Sima Di led the way, jumping off the ship.

The others immediately followed.

Most only brought weapons and salt blocks; only Usopp and Chobi chose the ship's Mk-5.

The others not wearing the Mk-5 wasn't because they forgot; besides flight enhancement, the Mk-5 actually restricted their ground combat ability, weakening their overall combat power.

Just as they landed,

the group was blocked by a moat, which seemed intended to prevent intruders from rashly entering.

However, a width of only 10 meters was no problem for anyone present.

"Looking at it this way, it doesn't seem that scary," Usopp said lightly.

Sima Di glanced at Usopp and said nothing.

A sudden change occurred!

A shadow with three heads shot up from below, opening its mouth to bite Usopp flying in mid-air.

Usopp, in danger!

Terrified, Usopp's eyes immediately glowed blue; his petrification beam hit the attacker, turning it into a stone statue.

The process happened too fast.

By the time the others reacted, they saw a "Cerberus Stone Statue" about to fall into the moat.

It was grabbed by Sima Di's telekinesis and thrown onto the empty ground.

Usopp, still shaken, raised his altitude and sped across the moat.

"Hey, didn't you just say there was nothing to fear?" Vivi laughed.

This made Usopp lose face.

He stubbornly said, "Didn't you see me petrify it?"

Even so...

What kind of big BOSS could appear on the outskirts?

The petrification beam was Usopp's ultimate survival skill; using it against a mere minion was hardly something to be proud of.

No one paid any more attention to the stubborn Usopp; they gathered around the "Cerberus Stone Statue" to inspect it.

"It's stitched together; these stitches are too rough... but being able to make three dog heads share one body shows strong technique," Chobi evaluated.

"Three dog heads?" Zoro hesitated. "The one on the far left... looks like a fox head, doesn't it?"

"Come to think of it, that's true."

"Probably ran out of materials and just made do temporarily."

"Don't know how high its combat power is, but something Usopp could one-shot probably isn't that great..."

"Hey, hey! I'm still here!"

"Do you have an objection?"

"..."

With a few words exchanged, the group finished analyzing the general information.

Sima Di, however, looked at the stone statue thoughtfully...

The shadow...

Does it contain soul power?

Let's give it a try!

Sima Di beckoned Brook over and said, "Come here, I'll give you something good."

Brook had heard of many of Sima Di's miraculous feats, so he walked over without hesitation.

Sima Di took out two clumps of "Soul Fire" and pressed them roughly straight into Brook's eye sockets.

Being a skeleton, he matched with the "Soul Fire" with ease; the ghostly green flames leapt within his hollow eye sockets, looking utterly eerie on this desolate, tombstone-strewn night.

Usopp was so startled that he silently improved his steel mask, hoping it would give him some sense of security.

"Yo ho ho ho—what a wondrous flame!"

"It feels like my soul has been absorbed by it."

"It's just like..."

The ghostly green flames suddenly left Brook's eye sockets, and his original skeleton body collapsed into a heap on the ground.

Soul Fire:? っQ?;)っ

The ghostly green flames hurriedly rushed back to the pile of bones on the ground; the bones began assembling themselves with a "clack clack clack" as if gaining life, restoring Brook to his skeletal form.

"Yo ho ho ho—I almost thought I was done for!"

"What an amazing ability—both soul power and Devil Fruit power are gathered within this flame."

"As long as it isn't injured, I can swap out my skeleton body anytime."

"Still, my own works best!"

The excited Brook chattered on, sharing his gains with Sima Di.

Sima Di nodded; it seemed the first step had gone smoothly.

Then......

Let's try the next step!

Sima Di slammed a black fist into the stone sculpture of the Hellhound, shattering it; at the same moment, three black shadows flew into the sky—those were the shadows stored within the three heads.

"Brook, absorb them!"

Absorb?

How do I absorb them?

The thought rose unbidden in Brook's mind, and a rope of ghostly green flame ignited in his hand.

He hurriedly flung the rope and lassoed one black shadow; the ghostly green flames spread and burned it to nothing, leaving only a scattering of green specks of light that drifted into Brook's eye sockets and were absorbed by the "Soul Fire."