Chapter 1367 - 78: Settlement

Chapter 1367: Chapter 78: Settlement

New World, a sea area shrouded in purple mist.

Dark clouds loom overhead, and purplish-black mist floats on the sea, making the surrounding hundreds of kilometers appear eerie. It is unknown how many ships have been devoured here.

This place is called ’Kexuludong’, the land of poisonous fog and lost souls; cold and eerie are the strongest impressions it leaves.

Creaaak～

The sound of wood friction emanates from the purple mist, as a ghost ship with tattered sails and moss-covered surfaces glides silently through the mist.

"What do we do now?"

A female voice comes from the ghost ship. The woman lies on the horizontal pole above the ghost ship, resting her head on her hands, legs crossed, with her black hair hanging naturally.

"Cool it."

A slightly depressed voice, with a metallic timbre, comes from a man wearing a metal mask.

This man and woman are Kudu and Shallow Dream. They have just completed a highly difficult side quest together. Following this, Kudu’s reputation exceeded Su Xiao’s by more than 5,000 points.

Just when Kudu thought he was secure, Su Xiao delivered a fatal blow.

"I guess the shadow in your heart is about this big."

Shallow Dream opened her thumb and index finger, casting a sidelong glance at Kudu on the deck, clearly ’letting loose’.

"Let her out, she might have a solution."

It seems Kudu does not wish to chat with the madwoman on the pole, unsure which word might anger her.

Shallow Dream’s eyes close and then open shortly after. She sits sideways on the pole.

"She’s quite unhappy."

Shallow Dream speaks softly.

"You know the situation; is there any turnaround in this?"

"There’s no turnaround; you should just die, hahahaha."

Shallow Dream suddenly laughs heartily, exuding a tomboyish aura.

"Damn."

Kudu’s brain vaguely aches; Shallow Dream clearly hasn’t switched to her calm persona.

"It seems... there may be a way, but it’s rather risky."

Shallow Dream’s tone softens, causing Kudu’s eyes to light up.

"What’s the turnaround?"

Kudu sighs, feeling a bit worn out.

"Kill me, and your pirate reputation can completely surpass that guy’s."

Shallow Dream suddenly ’changes faces’.

"Still me, surprised or not, hahahaha..."

Tomboy Shallow Dream laughs wickedly, but no one notices her fatigue.

"Kudu, don’t forget, I control two-thirds of this body. Although that woman is the main personality, she suffers from severe PTSD. Without my control over those memories, your gentle Shallow Dream would collapse in short order."

"..."

Kudu relaxes himself against the ship’s side, feeling... pretty much beat this time.

"Kudu, don’t mind her; that’s just her personality."

Shallow Dream’s voice turns gentle again, prompting Kudu to give her a glance that clearly says: ’If I believe you again, I’m a fool.’

"This time she’s really gone back."

Shallow Dream smiles apologetically. Kudu sighs, just about to speak.

"Are you thinking if you believe me again, you’re a fool? Hello, fool leader, I’m Shallow Dream, nice to meet you for the first time..."

Amid Shallow Dream’s laughter, Kudu snaps his fingers, cutting off surrounding sounds.

"Lost."

Tomboy Shallow Dream lies back on the pole again, suppressing the gentle persona of Shallow Dream, stopping her from taking over the body. In her view, the other’s plan isn’t very reliable.

Tomboy Shallow Dream handles fighting, killing; her hands are stained with blood, acting impulsively, but not reaching the level of inhumanity.

As for gentle Shallow Dream, she handles networking, devising strategies for the team, belonging to an absolutely friendly unit.

As long as they’re not adversaries, these two personalities aren’t too dangerous. However, when they simultaneously control the body, Shallow Dream becomes like a devil.

With powerful force and a rational, callous demeanor, in that state Shallow Dream sees only two types of people: the living and the dead, and she doesn’t mind turning all the living within her sight into the dead.

...

A vast starry sky.

Several meteors streak across the sky, as Su Xiao, Bubu Wang, and A Mu stand amidst the stars.

Under normal circumstances, Su Xiao should be returning to Reincarnation Paradise, but because of the pirate reputation ranking, he has to wait for this Pirate World to end before he can return to Reincarnation Paradise.

Su Xiao takes out a timer, its precise mechanisms running at high speed, producing a small yet distinct melody.

The timer has four hands: hour, minute, second, and shorter than second. The second hand is already motionless, with the minute hand ticking progressively.

Time has accelerated—no, rather the time unit has been altered. In this starry sky, minutes are the unit of time calculation.

Time, in reality, is harder to comprehend than space. Lucky for Su Xiao, he’s of the martial faction, not needing to delve into such brain-killing matters. The scholars who study this, nine out of ten are baldy.

Time swiftly flows. Su Xiao feels only minutes passing when suddenly contractors appear in the surrounding starry sky.

Masked Man, Iron Tank, Poisonous Python (Invisible Contract User), numerous Lone Wolves who have exchanged blows with Su Xiao in Zone 21 are teleported into the starry sky.

Additionally, Kudu, Shallow Dream, Performer, and other Fifth Tier contractors have arrived here.

Kudu scans the numerous Fourth-tier Contractors, searching for one person, unfortunately having never seen them.

"Over there."

Shallow Dream nods her head gently, now speaking softly, as she had seen Su Xiao before.

Four eyes meet; Kudu, wearing a metal mask, nods his chin as a greeting. Although he didn’t achieve the top rank, they were in fair competition. As a Fifth-tier Contractor, he has the magnanimity to accept defeat without disgrace, only losing face if he whines post-defeat.

Masked Man gnashes her teeth looking at Su Xiao. When Su Xiao shifts his gaze towards her, she turns her head, pretending nothing happened.

"Little Wildcat, are you scared from being beaten?"

Poisonous Python speaks up, having stayed low-key, but that doesn’t mean he’s weak. Inside the Powder Wine House, he almost instantly killed Power Type Contractor Barbartray. The two large Soul Crystals Lan Zuo brought ultimately fell into his hands. This understated guy is one of the Zone 21 brawl winners.

"Dare you fight him one-on-one, I seriously doubt that guy is an Tank."

The Masked Man snorts lightly, of course not mentioning being chopped to the ground.

At this moment, Reincarnation Paradise’s prompt appears.

[Announcement: One Piece: Dressrosa Sea Battle has ended.]

[Announcement: Pirate reputation settlement in progress...]

[Announcement: Settlement complete, rankings as follows.]

[First Place: Bai Ye (Third tier), pirate reputation 30,258 points.]

[Second Place: Kudu (Fifth tier), pirate reputation 25,978 points.]

[Third Place: Shallow Dream (Fifth tier), pirate reputation 23,075 points.]

[Fourth Place: Performer (Fifth tier), pirate reputation 8,360 points.]

[Fifth Place: Forest (Fifth tier), pirate reputation 7,600 points.]

[Sixth Place: Poisonous Python (Fourth tier), pirate reputation 6,809 points.]

[Seventh Place: Man Shi (Fifth tier), pirate reputation 5,701 points.]

[Eighth Place: Masked Man (Fourth tier), pirate reputation 5,360 points.]

[Ninth Place: Iron Tank (Fourth tier), pirate reputation 4,200 points.]

[Tenth Place: None (Fourth tier), pirate reputation 3,916 points.]