Chapter 159

"No, I was just making small talk." Sima Di said with a sincere smile.

Everyone rolled their eyes — do we look like fools to you?

I don't want to......

"Small talk? Are you and that bear-hat guy family? Then why not invite him to our little banquet coming up?" Luffy said, displeased.

That's just terribly inhospitable!

Everyone: _●)_●)

There really is a fool who believed it!?

Sima Di was caught between laughter and tears, and pulled out the Hearthstone to change the subject.

"Let's go, head back and rest up — this place feels awfully creepy."

"Wait! Did we forget something?" Sanji scratched his head.

"Huh? Seems like we did forget something......" Zoro, same puzzled look.

"Forget it, let's go." Luffy laughed heartily: "Banquet time! Meat!"

"Hold on, all of you!" Nami stood with hands on hips: "As a Warlord of the Sea, he must have tons of treasure! Just leave like that? Everyone go search!"

Watching the group scatter to hunt for treasure, not one of them remembered what they'd forgotten.

Sima Di couldn't help but press a hand to his forehead.

Usopp, your presence is truly at rock bottom!

But though......

He had indeed just now forgotten Usopp's very existence.

It was only when Sanji brought it up —

That he, with his 100% brain-domain-developed photographic memory, used process of elimination to figure out it was Usopp who hadn't shown up......

Speaking of which......

Usopp's showdown with Perona was one of Usopp's highlight moments — there should be one or two iconic scenes, right?

Got completely forgotten thanks to Franky's "surprise."

Sima Di walked toward the castle ruins, telekinesis flinging aside chunks of rubble, the Sheep Talisman's spiritual scan locking onto Usopp — after several minutes of digging, he finally unearthed Usopp.

The guy had luckily tucked himself into the corner of the "safety triangle zone," but was still scared out of his wits.

Spotting Sima Di appear, he burst into tears and threw himself at him.

Got dismissed with a telekinetic sweep.

"Tell me, why didn't you just Hearthstone back to the Going Merry? What are you doing here?" Sima Di asked, puzzled.

"Boo-hoo — my weapon pouch got lost in the fight, Di, help me find it! All my ammo's inside."

That's more like it.

Sima Di's spiritual scan swept the area — what had been a vague blob of an object instantly took clear shape, and he quickly locked onto Usopp's weapon pouch.

A few telekinetic rummages and he dug it out, tossing it to Usopp.

"．～ Thank you so much!"

"No big deal." Sima Di glanced at a patch of ruins, puzzled: "What did you do to Perona? Why is she buried in the rubble but doesn't look hurt at all?"

"Perona? That little girl?" Usopp immediately planted hands on hips, ready to brag himself up big time!

"Get to the point, or the Appraisal Technique with blessings is next."

The Straw Hat crew had also heard rumors about that move, the Appraisal Technique.

Usopp shuddered at the words!

He promptly said, brief and to the point: "I went through hell and high water, used the Petrification Ray to turn her into a stone statue — that's probably why she's completely unscathed."

After all, being a stone statue, there's still some hardness to it.

Sima Di nodded in understanding, feeling a touch of regret.

Perona might be a bit odd, but as a "tsundere loli" she was pretty popular.

Her "CP chemistry" with Mihawk was also pretty good.

Who knows what might have happened during Zoro's two years of getting stronger?

And just like that, she met her end here......

Hm?

Sima Di suddenly noticed something was off, because he saw the stone on Perona's body starting to flake off!

By rights the Petrification Ray's petrification is irreversible — how could this be?

Was it because Usopp's Petrification Ray was a "bootleg," so it had a BUG?

No!

"Clever — using ghosts to form a shield on the body's surface...... I did say this loli's a bit well-endowed." Sima Di said, amused.

"What did you say?" Usopp asked, puzzled.

"Not bad — didn't let her off just because she's a cute loli, ruthless enough." Sima Di gave Usopp a thumbs-up.

After that, he didn't bother with Perona—recruiting her to the crew or anything, as Moonlight...

Besides, Sima Di was picky — without a story that moved him, no one could become his companion.

Let her fend for herself among the ruins.

Without Bartholomew Bear sending her off, would she still run into Mihawk?

Consider it a little easter egg.

Usopp grinned smugly at the words.

But only after Sima Di left did he vaguely realize something was a tiny bit off......

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