"Let's go, there's probably nothing else you need on this island, is there?"
Arceus began walking towards the campsite. The distinctive feature of the Grand Line is its diverse islands, but these uninhabited islands always have some similarities.
After the Red Arrow Pirates returned to where they belonged, this was just an ordinary tropical island, with nothing in particular that attracted him.
"On my way, Lord Sacred Beast."
Shaina was just about to follow Arceus away from here, but then she glanced at the corpse of the Baron of Ecstasy. After some thought, she threw his body into the Red Arrow Pirates' cemetery, adding a new grave mound there.
He used ecstasy as bait, hunting others for over a decade, maintaining the existence of his comrades. Considering Lily Carnation's consumption rate, the number of the dead wasn't small, so killing him wasn't a mistake.
He wasn't a good person, but he genuinely cared for his comrades. That's why Shaina took a little time to bury him.
It wasn't difficult for her; with a single punch, she could create an appropriate pit.
The term "comrade" has held significant weight in the sea since the age of pirates began.
There are violent groups like the Rocks Pirates, each harboring ulterior motives. The only reason they could gather on the ship was due to Rocks' strength, and there was no camaraderie among them.
There are also counterexamples, like Moriah, although he's not the only one. The demise of the Moonlight Pirates was a huge blow to him, and to this day, he remains in a slump.
After returning to the Hundred Beasts' camp, the pirates had relaxed. Those thoughts from the Red Arrow Pirates may have the Undying Body, but they can't harm the members of the Hundred Beasts Pirates.
The strength gap between them was too large. They had encountered Roger, but that didn't mean they had equivalent strength. However, the Baron's men believed their captain was stronger than Roger, a common scenario in the pirate world.
Most people believe their captain is the strongest. Even the ambitious Blackbeard was no exception. Boarding Whitebeard's ship was a gamble for him; without the Dark-Dark Fruit, he might have always played the role of a "good son."
With Lily Carnation destroyed by Shaina, the battle had come to an end. At first, they had not let down their guard; those undying creatures were still worth being cautious about.
It wasn't until Darkrai appeared that they relaxed. These people were the same group who mistakenly entered the Netherworld, also among the few in the Hundred Beasts Pirates who had seen Darkrai's true form.
As Arceus and Shaina had not returned yet, some people relaxed once again.
"Hey, you really dared to drink that rum?"
Watching someone nearby grab a bottle of rum from the table and drink it straight, another person showed a worried expression.
"Huh? What's there to fear? It's just alcohol. The rum here tastes pretty good."
"No, aren't you worried about turning into one of those creatures?"
"If drinking can give me that Undying Body, I actually think it's a good thing. You're too cautious. Didn't Lord Darkrai say that the matter over there had been resolved?
Big Sis and Lord Arceus are there too, what could happen?"
"I guess... But why rum? Isn't there better liquor?"
"....."
The person holding the bottle hesitated for a moment, then put down the rum and started looking for other types of alcohol.
Rum has always been popular among pirates, one reason being it's cheap and easier to store, alleviating water storage issues on ships.
Not all pirates have fancy ships with built-in power supplies and large refrigerators. The environment on smaller pirate ships is pretty bad; fresh water goes "bad" quickly, growing some disgusting slimy fungal colonies on top.
In such cases, cheap rum becomes their first choice.
These indulgent pirates were the ones off duty, and nearby were pirates on lookout duty. Normally, they would envy the resting pirates, but today was different.
After a battle and a few bottles of strong liquor, some drifted off while boasting, dreaming of their future dreams. But tonight, all the sleeping pirates experienced nightmares, with screams echoing one after another.
Watching these people wake up one by one drenched in cold sweat, the lookout pirates burst into laughter.
"Ah!"
"Yo, another one. So, what did you dream about this time?"
"Heh... I dreamt that Big Brother Kaidou, drunk, wanted to spar with me...."
"That's not bad. I dreamt I found a Plate, but it was fake...."
The non-sleeping people chuckled unkindly, listening to them recount their nightmare experiences. If they compiled all tonight's nightmares, it could make a storybook. In the shadows, Darkrai just sighed in exasperation.
He knew why these people had nightmares, but there was nothing he could do. It's his passive trait, and the reason for his nickname as the Nightmare God.
Nightmares are Darkrai's sustenance. He can actively pull people into nightmares, but at the same time, he has a kind of "Nightmare Domain" passive aura. As long as someone falls asleep within a certain range of him, they'll unconsciously fall into a nightmare.
This is Darkrai's nature and his way of protecting himself and marking his territory. As long as you don't sleep, nothing happens, but once asleep, nightmares are inevitable, unless certain special items are used to avoid the influence of nightmares.
The two little ones, however, were not affected; their energy was absurdly high. Like ordinary kids, they only needed about six hours of sleep a day, even if they played all day and were now very energetic, currently engaged in "mutual brawling."
The brother and sister aren't always so amicable; sometimes, situations like this arise, where they fight over something, and the current battle was evenly matched between the siblings.
Setsuna didn't stop them and even encouraged such fights, as long as they didn't hold grudges afterward. Fur Race children often develop their combat abilities through such roughhousing.
The people awakened by nightmares continued one after another until Arceus and Shaina returned.
"My lord, you're back, so I'll continue searching for that thing."
"Go, but don't be too rigid with the path. Some things should just go with the flow, and besides, the entrance's position isn't fixed either."
".....Understood."
Darkrai said nothing, transformed into a shadow, and disappeared in a twist from the island. As to where he went, perhaps even he didn't know.