Sabo walked up to Orochimaru, a hint of doting affection on his face, and gently ruffled Orochimaru's hair with a soft rustling sound.
He leaned down slightly, meeting Orochimaru's gaze, a confident smile playing on his lips, and said, "Be a good great genius. Once I 'deal with' Ace, I'll bring him to Wano Country to find you."
Orochimaru frowned, slapping Sabo's hand away with a look of utter disdain. He hated that posture the most; it made him feel incredibly short.
Sabo clearly knew that! That was going too far! Did he want him to chop off his legs in the future?!
Orochimaru picked up a den den mushi for recording from the side and casually tossed it to Sabo.
"Remember to record it with this den den mushi when you beat up Ace. I want to watch it." Orochimaru's lips curved slightly upwards, a glint of slyness in his eyes. He wanted to divide Ace's beaten-up appearance into 100 parts and send them out!
"Unless there's an accident, someone from Whitebeard's crew should be going with you. You don't need to pay attention to him; just let him follow. Ace knows who it is; just ask him."
Sabo took the den den mushi, smiling helplessly, "You, don't go too far. Ace will make a fuss if he finds out."
Although Sabo said that, he still carefully put away the den den mushi and turned to leave.
After successfully seeing Sabo off, Luffy and his crew hoisted the sails and officially set off towards Zou.
The journey was exceptionally calm and smooth. Guided by the vivre card, they arrived at Zou without any obstacles.
When the continuously moving giant creature came into view, the ship instantly fell silent. Everyone was too stunned by the spectacle to speak.
Orochimaru's eyes widened, his face filled with disbelief, and a storm raged in his heart. Although the elephant in that Blue Star person's mind was huge, it was nothing compared to the shock of seeing it directly.
What was a Tailed Beast compared to it? If this thing had self-awareness and autonomous movement, it would probably take a lot of effort to kill it!
Its unimaginably colossal size alone was like a moving continent. Just standing before it made one feel insignificant.
Orochimaru stood rooted to the spot, his gaze fixed on the giant elephant.
At this moment, his mind was racing, various pieces of information about this giant elephant flashing through like a tide.
Although the complete information he possessed was still vague, one thought was firmly rooted in his heart—this elephant was his!
Suddenly, Orochimaru seemed to have thought of something, and the corners of his mouth curved into an uncontrollable, wild grin.
For the first time, he felt that trading his identity as that "great genius son" for this giant elephant was the most worthwhile deal in the world!
As he thought of this, a blush of excitement quietly crept onto Orochimaru's cheeks, his eyes shining brightly. He couldn't bear to take his gaze off the elephant for even a moment, and his small wings, unused for a long time, fluttered excitedly.
Usopp was the first to recover from the shock. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Orochimaru, whose entire face was flushed with excitement, his body trembling slightly.
Usopp's mouth twitched uncontrollably. Following Orochimaru's gaze, he found that Luffy had the exact same expression, eyes wide, grinning foolishly, his face screaming impatience.
Usopp sighed, raising a hand to his forehead, and turned to Nami and Zoro, who also had dark lines on their faces.
Nami pouted, disdainfully saying, "Look at these two. They're like they were carved from the same mold."
Sanji took a deep drag from his cigarette, exhaled a smoke ring, and said with a wry smile, "They really are."
The few of them exchanged glances, all with helpless expressions.
Looking at the two brothers with identical expressions, everyone collectively sighed.
Franky, while adjusting his hairstyle, said, "Never mind them for now. Let's figure out how to get up there."
Everyone nodded and gathered to discuss.
And just then, Kanjuro silently walked onto the deck of the sunny, drawing a brush from his waist.
He narrowed his eyes slightly, his gaze sweeping back and forth between the giant elephant and the surrounding environment. Then, the tip of his brush lightly touched the deck, and he began to sketch.
Before long, a strange, elongated creature appeared before everyone's eyes.
It had a slightly comical pig's nose, a catfish-like tail and whiskers, small dragon horns, and a winding, twisting body, exuding an indescribable strangeness.
It was... quite cute?
Robin narrowed her eyes slightly, a hint of confusion flashing within them, and she softly said, "This... looks a bit like an earthworm?"
Usopp stared at the creature. The more he looked, the more he felt it resembled Orochimaru. His mouth twitched, and after a moment of silence, he said, "No matter how you look at it, it's a snake..."
Franky, meanwhile, leaned closer, his mechanical eyes wide, examining it carefully, and declared, "Look, it has feet! It's clearly a lizard!"
As they argued, in a flash, Kanjuro waved his brush, and an even more bizarre creature took shape.
It combined the characteristics of all their previous guesses, yet it appeared particularly absurd.
Kanjuro put away his brush with satisfaction, a proud expression on his face, and nodded heavily, "It's finished!"
Luffy had just recovered from his excitement over the giant elephant. He turned to see the thing on the deck, tilted his head, and blurted out, his face full of bewilderment, "Orochimaru?"
At the same time, Kin'emon stroked his chin, tilted his head, and said with certainty, "In my humble opinion, this is definitely a snake."
Orochimaru was originally engrossed in his calculations about the giant elephant. Startled by the sudden mention of his name, he instinctively turned around.
His gaze fell upon the painting on the deck, and he instantly froze. After a moment of silence, his face darkened. He grabbed Luffy by the collar, dragged him to a corner, and gave him a good beating.
As he beat him, he gnashed his teeth and said, "That'll teach you to talk nonsense! That'll teach you to talk nonsense! How am I like that thing?!"
Luffy, meanwhile, clutched his head, wailing, "Gomen nasai! Gomen nasai!"
Everyone ignored the two brothers brawling in the corner, their gazes focused on Kin'emon, who was activating his ability.
The strangely shaped creature turned pink and was struggling to crawl out of the floor, as if every inch it moved exhausted all its strength.
Its eyes were extremely unfocused, as if it had lost its sight, and it let out a pitiful moan, its voice weak and trembling, as if recounting endless pain.
Then, the creature suddenly raised its voice and began to howl, "Long... Long... Long..."
However, after every two shouts, it would gasp for breath, its panting sounding like a rusty bellows, making everyone's hearts tighten.
This strange cry, combined with its peculiar appearance, was particularly tragic.
Usopp's eyes were wide, his face overflowing with shock as he pointed at the struggling creature and shouted, "What's going on? Why does it feel like a pitiful creature is being forced to crawl out?!"
And Robin's face had the same blush as Orochimaru's, as she stared intently at the pink creature.
"Kawaii... (灬°ω°灬)"
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