Chapter 53: Life Absorption

The warm sun poured onto the sea surface, casting golden scales that looked like millions of golden carp leaping and dancing.

Luo Di loosened his mouth, his sharp fangs still dripping with blood, and his scarlet eyes took on an eerie luster under the sunlight. Beside him, Da Siqi collapsed powerlessly onto the deck, her pupils dilated, and she was no longer breathing.

Meanwhile, the Marines on the deck with stronger willpower had slowly regained consciousness; there was only a little resentment in their eyes, and far more fear.

They had previously been stationed and patrolling in the East Blue, fighting pirates. Smoker's strength was not weak; he was considered a top-tier powerhouse in the East Blue, and usually, he could resolve encounters with pirate crews there very quickly.

But now, the powerful Smoker had died right in front of them, as if they were dreaming, making it hard for them to accept.

Luo Di flapped his wings and flew rapidly to the deck of the God-Slaying Dragon Court, waving his arm: "Kill!"

"Roar! Charge!" The pirates brandished their weapons and charged toward the warship. The already scattered Marines had no power to parry, and the battlefield was completely one-sided.

Killing Smoker and Da Siqi, Luo Di felt no regret in his heart.

In his eyes now, there was no good or evil, only stance. If he did not strike down his opponent, the opponent would not let him go either. This was the most basic principle of this world where the weak are prey to the strong.

Although Smoker and Da Siqi had some strength, it was clearly impossible for them to stand on the same front as him, and he had no need to waste time waiting for them to make a move on his crew.

He was a pirate; he would not be foolish enough to try to sympathize with the Marines or view everyone from the perspective of an audience member from his past life.

Luo Di retracted his bat wings, and Lu Xi Ya walked over, asking with concern: "Are you hurt?"

"I'm fine, a small scene." Luo Di resumed his usual unrestrained smile.

The darkness ability he had just displayed was also a characteristic inherent to the Vampire Fruit, capable of creating darkness to lurk within, with bonuses to all actions while inside. It counted as a domain-type skill, and since he happened to run into Smoker, he used him to test it.

The effect was quite good.

"Wow, Luo Di, that was the famous White Hunter of the East Blue, an existence that made many pirates tremble with fear, and you killed him so easily!" Ka Li Na's face showed amazement, filled with worship.

The crew members were not terrified by the bloodthirsty posture Luo Di had displayed. After these days of life-and-death battles, they had completely adapted to their identity as pirates, knowing that if they harbored mercy in the center of battle, they might as well kneel and raise their hands to await judgment.

Luo Di said: "Don't let your guard down. This sea area is different from the East Blue; it has countless monsters, and our road ahead is still long."

Soon, the crew members finished off all the Marines who had lost their will to fight and moved the weapons and supplies from the warship to the warehouse of the God-Slaying Dragon Court. Luo Di ordered them to set sail, heading at high speed toward Twin Capes.

Before long, the ship arrived at Twin Capes and passed directly through. Luo Di chose a route to sail in, and just as he was about to leave Twin Capes, a window on the distant land suddenly opened, and a head poked out.

"Old man, it's windy outside, remember to close the window when you sleep, ya hahahaha." Luo Di laughed and shouted.

Ku Luo Ka Si slammed the window shut, holding a wanted poster in his hand, and sighed: "Another monster, it's a good thing La Bu isn't here right now."

After pondering for a few seconds, he muttered to himself: "Is this the world you wanted to see, Roger?"

The ship finally officially sailed onto the Grand Line. The crew members stood on the deck, looking left and right. Although some of them had been pirates in the East Blue for many years, here they were like greenhorns who had never seen the world.

Although in Luo Di's memory, the Grand Line was not very large in the entire pirate map, now that he was in it, he felt it was incomparably vast and wide, with endless sea all around and no islands in sight.

According to the calculations of Ka Li Na and several crew members, from the time they set off until now, they had accumulated a total of 800 million Berries in treasure. Except for the loot from Luo Ge Zhen, everything else had been converted into cash, and the property from Luo Ge Zhen had only been partially brought back after the Marines' interception; otherwise, breaking 1 billion should have been no problem.

Luo Di hadn't paid much attention to it at the time, so he didn't bother with it. He believed the primary task was for everyone to reach the Grand Line as safely as possible; as for treasure, in this world of noble slavery, it could be obtained anywhere.

"Captain Luo Di, there must be many ingredients here that can't be seen in the East Blue, right?" A Nuo asked from the side.

Luo Di nodded and smiled: "Of course, the sea is very magical."

"Great, I, A Nuo, love strange ingredients the most. That bull-horned lion last time was too small; next time I have to find a bigger one!"

Boom!

Just as A Nuo finished speaking, the sea surface suddenly rose. His body seemed to be shrouded in shadow, and an octopus several dozen meters high was perched in front of the dragon head, its eyes filled with longing for food.

The red dots in Luo Di's eyes faded, and he smiled: "Isn't it here now? Go ahead, I believe in you!"

"Um, Captain Luo Di..."

Swish.

A Nuo was still looking troubled when an octopus tentacle wrapped around his body, pulling him over. The giant octopus had already opened its mouth, waiting for the prey to reach its rightful destination.

"A Nuo!" Gai Ou leaped into the air, air waves surging from his palms; Fish-Man Karate was already brewing.

Swish!

Bat wings spread, and Luo Di flew behind the giant octopus's head in the blink of an eye, pressing his hand onto its head. At this moment, the octopus's yellow pupils contracted violently, its tentacles began to sway in all directions, and A Nuo fell down, caught in mid-air by Star Platinum, who carried him back to the deck.

Before long, the octopus went completely limp. Luo Di grabbed a tentacle and flew, dragging it onto the deck, looking at A Nuo and saying: "Cook it well."

"Oh!" A Nuo's eyes immediately gleamed, and he ran excitedly to the giant octopus, rubbing his hands. Kamen, who was on the side, also walked over, looking at the octopus with excitement in her eyes.

As the octopus was dragged away, Luo Di looked at his palm, feeling a powerful life force surging into his Blood Pool.

He learned from the fruit's memory that besides storing blood by ingesting it, he could also use his palm to directly touch and absorb life force, then store it in the Blood Pool to use for healing wounds and recovering stamina.

According to common sense, the life force of Sea Kings should be far stronger than that of ordinary people, and his experiments confirmed this. His Blood Pool capacity was currently not large enough; it was full before this giant octopus had even completely died, so the life he could absorb was limited.

But it would increase with the improvement of his abilities.

This kind of growth-type characteristic was quite good.

And now he clearly felt that Star Platinum's abilities in all aspects had also undergone a qualitative change. Before eating the fruit, it would have been impossible to lift a Sea King so easily. As long as it continued to grow, he should be able to develop even more powerful abilities.

Luo Di's heart swayed; as expected, Mythical Zoan was the version answer, and improving oneself was the hard truth.