Chapter 210: Legend of the Starving Ghosts
Jaya Island.
Inside a large restaurant, Luo Han and his group of four sat around a table piled high with empty plates.
They had been eating for a while now.
"Phew! Finally full."
After some time, Ellis exhaled softly, relieving the post-meal pressure.
Then she turned her gaze toward Luo Han, eyes narrowing—this guy…
"Luo Han, what's wrong?" Ellis asked. "You've been frowning this whole time."
"Yeah, did something happen?" Sora asked too.
Even Akatsuki , while putting down a giant chicken leg, looked at Luo Han.
Since Luo Han was the group's leader, if he was frowning, it meant something serious. And anything serious enough to bother him was enough to put everyone on edge.
Uh-oh. Noticing the three girls staring at him, Luo Han relaxed his brows.
So… he had reached a point where even a slight frown could make people nervous.
He laughed internally, but on the surface, he put on a troubled expression and pointed upward.
"The Sky Island isn't above us."
"It's not? Wait… your Observation Haki can reach ten thousand meters into the sky from here?!"
The three women froze, then stared at Luo Han in awe. Whether the island was there or not wasn't the point anymore. The real shock was how vast his Haki range was.
If it were just barely reaching 10,000 meters, that'd be one thing. But for Luo Han to be certain there was no Sky Island above Jaya or anywhere nearby in that altitude range… that was a whole different level of sensory perception.
"Your Observation Haki is terrifying," Ellis said again, still stunned. She already knew Luo Han's range was wide—but not this wide.
"My Haki range has always been huge. Haven't you all known that for a while?" Luo Han said, annoyed. Seeing their shocked faces, he felt like they'd never paid attention.
"Who 'always knew'?" the three of them silently muttered in their heads.
Ellis frowned. "If the Sky Island isn't up there, what do we do? Keep looking? Go back to Water 7?"
That was the dilemma. Luo Han was frustrated. Everything had been going according to plan—why wasn't the Sky Island where it should be?
In all the accounts from other transmigrators, whenever they came to Jaya, the Sky Island was always floating obediently above.
But now that he came, it wasn't.
Was this what it meant to return to being a "normal person"? No more conveniently-timed events?
Sora, seeing Luo Han's puzzled expression, thought—now's my chance.
With a slight smile, she explained, "You didn't know? Sky Islands float atop a layer of special clouds called White-White Sea."
"These clouds drift like regular clouds. But usually, when a Sky Island keeps reappearing over a certain place, it does so on a cycle. So if we wait here, at most in a year, it should return above Jaya."
Luo Han gave her a strange look.
What's this girl's deal?
Same thing happened at Adam Island—she kept stepping in to explain stuff. Was she trying to get attention?
Now that Sister Shao and Aishi weren't around, she seemed unusually interested in him. She wasn't usually this talkative. Was this her way of flirting?
Too bad for her, Luo Han could sense emotional fluctuations. Whether someone's seduction was genuine or fake—he could always tell.
Once he unlocked Kotoamatsukami, he'd really get to the bottom of things.
As he was thinking this, Ellis interrupted.
"Wait—a year?!" she frowned. "We should come back another time."
A whole year?
Then again… Luo Han suddenly remembered—wasn't there a family on Jaya that had been searching for the Golden City?
Golden City…?
Ah! Right. He'd been so focused on the Rumble-Rumble Fruit on Skypiea, he'd nearly forgotten. The Golden City of Shandora was blasted into the sky by the Knock-Up Stream!
So if they knew when the next Knock-Up Stream would appear, they'd know when the Sky Island would be above Jaya again.
"I know how to find out when the Sky Island will return," Luo Han said to the others.
"You do?"
"How?"
"When is it?"
The three women fired off questions in unison. Just moments ago he was frowning, and now suddenly he had answers?
Luo Han didn't explain. "If we're done eating, let's go find a certain someone—or maybe a few someones. They'll know."
With that, he stood up. The others, having finished their meals too, followed.
Clang! The restaurant doors burst open. A group of over a dozen pirates walked in.
A few of them tripped near Akatsuki 's tail.
"Who did that?! Who tripped me?!"
The pirates looked around, stunned. There was nothing there—just four ordinary people, all about two meters tall.
Some of the pirates at the back had a terrified look on their faces.
"N-Nobody! You just… tripped over something invisible!"
Those words sent a chill down the pirates' spines.
Ghosts? In broad daylight?
They quickly scrambled away.
The pirate captain, however, was skeptical. He had seen many strange Devil Fruit powers in his time.
"It could be a Devil Fruit… but it doesn't seem like one…"
He looked over at Luo Han's group—just four ordinary-looking people. He walked closer to confirm.
"Captain, don't!" the others warned him.
Just then, Ellis noticed Luo Han frowning again.
"What's wrong now?" she asked.
"Nothing. Let's go."
Luo Han turned and led Sora and Akatsuki toward the door.
Boom! The pirate captain who had approached Akatsuki suddenly felt a massive invisible force slam into him. He was sent flying and embedded into the restaurant wall.
"Captain!" the other pirates shouted and rushed to peel him off the wall.
They looked back at the spot where Luo Han's group had been—no one was there anymore.
Just seconds ago, the captain got flung across the room by something invisible…
"GHOSTS!!!"
Everyone stared in horror. Goosebumps ran down their arms. They quickly fled.
Not just those pirates—the other diners who had witnessed Luo Han's group vanish also left in a panic.
The poor restaurant owner came out to find the place completely empty.
Rumors soon spread of "four starving ghosts" haunting the restaurant. Business dropped so badly the owner had to close shop.
Even after new owners moved in and reopened, the legend of the four hungry ghosts remained a part of local lore.
Meanwhile, Luo Han's group had arrived at the other side of Jaya.
As soon as they got there, Luo Han fell into thought.
Kyoka suigetsu still isn't perfect, he reflected.
If only I could implant a mental suggestion strong enough to make someone see a steel pipe as a stunning beauty—for life—no matter what they touch, they'd think they're caressing a woman. That would be the true perfection of this technique.
Right now, it still required him to manually filter or alter the sensory inputs people received. Too passive.
Like earlier, he managed to mask their appearances, making everyone see them as four ordinary people.
But when those pirates tripped on Akatsuki 's tail, he hadn't suppressed the feeling in time. And even if he had, their falling reaction would still expose them.
That was how the pirate captain had sensed something was off.
"Looks like I'll need to improve Kyoka suigetsu further," Luo Han sighed.
Still, he felt confident—it wouldn't take long.
Just then, Ellis snapped him out of his thoughts.
"Luo Han, who are you looking for? There's just a weird half-house here, with ocean behind it. I don't see anyone."
"No one, huh?" Luo Han replied after a moment. "They must've gone out to sea. If we wait a few days, they'll probably return."
"Alright. We'll wait," Ellis agreed. Since he sounded certain, the others trusted him.
…
No need for a few days.
The next day, a salvage ship docked nearby. A large man disembarked, his hair shaped like a chestnut—possibly even was a chestnut.
He stood about three meters tall, with lean muscle suggesting years of swimming.
"What are you doing on the Vembran family's land? Do you need something?"
He approached with mild suspicion, scanning the seemingly unremarkable group of one mAnne and three women. He didn't sound hostile—just wary.
"The locals said you know best when the Knock-Up Stream appears around here," Luo Han said politely. "We'd like to know when the next one is expected."
"You're trying to reach the Sky Island too?" the chestnut-headed man asked.
"You know about Sky Island?" Luo Han's eyes lit up. "Do you know where it is right now?"
The three women also looked at him excitedly.
Seeing their eager faces, the man was reminded of the countless adventurers who had risked everything for the dream of reaching the sky.
"Sky Island is just a legend. Don't take it seriously."
He sighed. "Many have tried to ride the Knock-Up Stream up to the sky. But for hundreds of years, none have succeeded. Most are hurled into the air—only to fall to their deaths."
Just last year, he added, a pirate crew tried it. They didn't make it. Everyone died.
"So, I advise you not to chase fairy tales."
"Fairy tales?"
Luo Han's lips curled into a faint smirk. "Then tell me—do you also believe the Golden City is a myth?"
(END CHAPTER)
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