Chapter 20: The Blood Calamity

Through hard work, the saying that "hard work pays off" held true; Xiao En finally passed the selection, but just as he was preparing to show his skills, his spot was taken by someone else.

Carrying regret and resentment, Xiao En returned to Xiu Mao Zhen, living a poor life as a commoner with his mother; later, his mother fell ill and passed away because he had no money for treatment, and he continued his day-after-day labor in agony.

Just when he thought he would live out his life in mediocrity, the appearance of Luo Di brought him hope once again.

Luo Di handed Xiao En a cigar: "Good work. After eating, I will teach you the practice methods for Shave and Iron Body. As for whether you can learn them, that depends on yourselves."

"Thank you, Lord Luo Di!" Xiao En's body stiffened with excitement.

After eating, the crew members heard that Luo Di was going to teach them the techniques of the Six Powers, and they were all so excited that they didn't even take a nap, standing neatly on the deck under the scorching sun.

But Luo Di knew clearly that the Six Powers were powerful moves that broke through the limits of the human body, and it was extremely difficult for ordinary people to learn them; it would already be quite good if two or three out of these fifty crew members could learn a move or two.

He told everyone the practice methods and let them train on their own.

"Come on, I, A Nuo, can definitely do it!"

On the deck, A Nuo was shirtless, his round belly wobbling; he lowered his center of gravity with a look of grim determination, while a crew member holding a steel pipe stood opposite him.

"A Nuo, are you for real?" A crew member swallowed hard, his hand gripping the steel pipe trembling slightly.

"Come! Use all your strength and become the catalyst for me, A Nuo!" A Nuo roared.

Boom!

Watching A Nuo lying on the ground clutching his stomach, Xiao En shook his head helplessly and smiled, throwing himself into the practice of Shave.

……

The ship was bustling with activity; Gai Ou was also practicing along with the crew members. He was also very interested in this type of combat technique, especially Shave, which could make up for his lack of speed.

"How much longer until the next island?" By the ship's rail, Luo Di asked.

"The weather shouldn't change much today, and the wind direction is normal. At this speed, we should be able to arrive tomorrow morning," Ka Li Na replied.

Luo Di nodded: "Hmm, we've been drifting for a few days; it's time to resupply."

At this moment, a News Coo flew by; Ka Li Na made a move, and a Bounty landed in her hand.

"Ah!" Ka Li Na shouted in astonishment after reading it.

"What are you shouting about?" Luo Di asked.

Hearing the commotion, the crew members also turned their attention toward Luo Di.

Ka Li Na handed the Bounty to Luo Di: "You... look."

After Luo Di took it and browsed through it, the photo of him laughing wildly was extremely eye-catching, along with the bounty amount below, and the nickname the Navy had given him—Blood Calamity.

"Ya hahahaha, this is really interesting." Luo Di smiled and tossed the Bounty into the sky.

As it was about to fall, Xiao En quickly caught it in his hands and watched it carefully.

"Luo Di, these guys are clearly framing us. We only killed those shipyard workers who opened fire on us and took the treasures of the nobles; we didn't kill that many people at all. It was clearly them killing each other; this is too much," Ka Li Na said with dissatisfaction.

Luo Di smiled: "Don't worry about these things. No matter what they say, it doesn't matter to me. We just need to do what we have to do. If those nobles and commoners insult you, I will kill them without mercy as well."

"Captain Luo Di!!!" The crew members shouted excitedly.

"Blood Calamity... blood and disaster; this title is actually quite good," Xiao En said.

A Nuo, who was to the side, also leaned in and said while clutching his stomach: "As expected of Lord Luo Di. Speaking of which, shouldn't we also give the pirate crew a resounding title and hang up a pirate flag or something?"

Luo Di had thought about this question before, but he had been busy with training recently and had put it aside. Now that the Navy had given him a title, he felt it was good himself, and it was time to officially establish the pirate crew.

"Let's call it the Blood Calamity Pirates; I quite like this name," Luo Di laughed.

"Oh ho, we have a name now!" The crew members shouted excitedly again.

Ka Li Na blinked: "Shouldn't we draw a pirate flag?"

"Hmm." Luo Di nodded, and Platinum Star picked up a paintbrush and a paint bucket, leaping onto the mast.

On the white canvas, he first drew an iconic skull, then dotted the skull's hollow eye sockets with scarlet eyes, and added hedgehog-like black hair standing up as if bursting with Qi on the top of the head.

"Wow, your ability can even do this? This level of painting is catching up to mine," Ka Li Na looked surprised.

Now the pirate crew was officially established, and they had a pirate flag. They still needed a ship that could sail on the Grand Line. Luo Di thought about making it as large as possible, after all, he would need to recruit more crew members in the future and experience more cruel wars.

On the deck, the crew members watched the fluttering pirate flag one after another; after the excitement came solemnity. Perhaps it was just a burst of hot blood before, but when they truly stood under the flag, there was an indescribable expectation.

Expecting that one day, the flag of the Blood Calamity Pirates could flutter in the New World that Luo Di spoke of.

……

The next morning, the ship docked at a small island.

They furled the sails, dropped the anchor, and lowered the boarding ladder. The crew members excitedly went ashore. Ka Li Na followed behind Luo Di with paper and pen. The nautical chart only had the locations of large islands, and this small island had never appeared before. She wanted to draw this island into her own nautical chart after landing.

This island was not very large; about a hundred meters into the beach was a dense forest. Standing on the beach, one could hear the movements of wild beasts inside, with the roars of hunting and shrill wails.

"Everyone be careful, be ready for battle at all times. These wild beasts are not vegetarians," Luo Di shouted.

"Yes, Lord Luo Di!" The crew members raised their weapons and responded loudly.

"Xiao En, take a few people to find out if there is a spring on the island. The rest of you go hunt wild beasts. No one should act alone; if there is danger, shout," after Luo Di finished giving instructions, he entered the forest with the crew members.

"Roar!"

A giant wild beast with a lion's head but a pair of bull horns suddenly appeared from the dense forest. Saliva flowed from the corners of its mouth, and its bloodthirsty eyes locked firmly onto Luo Di and his group in front.

The crew members in front were startled.

"Wow, if this guy is made into food, it should be delicious. I, A Nuo, want to fight it one-on-one!"

After A Nuo finished speaking, he took his axe and charged toward the Bull-Horned Lion without any fear, his eyes filled with longing for fresh ingredients.

The Bull-Horned Lion let out another roar and opened its blood-red maw to bite at A Nuo's head. A Nuo did not dodge; he used the axe in his right hand to block the Bull-Horned Lion's sharp fangs, and with his left hand, he smashed a punch into its neck. The Bull-Horned Lion felt the pain and retracted its head. A Nuo stepped forward and chopped at the top of its head with his axe.

Crack!

The sound of bone cracking rang out. The Bull-Horned Lion roared again, wanting to pounce on A Nuo. A Nuo pressed forward, directly hugged the Bull-Horned Lion's head, lowered his center of gravity, and threw it to the ground with a shoulder throw.

Then he quickly used the axe to hack wildly at the Bull-Horned Lion's head, and soon the Bull-Horned Lion stopped making any sound.

Everyone present just stood and watched, not disturbing this duel between man and beast.

Luo Di felt that although A Nuo's brain wasn't very bright, his physical fitness was quite good, already exceeding the scope of an ordinary person; his fight with Xiao En was also lost due to technique.

As for the duel between Xiao En and Gai Ou, it was a defeat by absolute strength.

"Woo-hoo! As expected of Chef A Nuo!" the crew members shouted excitedly while brandishing their weapons, and the forest was filled with laughter and chatter.