The glowing jellyfish entity showed no hostility, merely observing Law and the others with curiosity.
Through the light emitted by the flowing red fluid, they could roughly make out the jellyfish entity's structure.
It had a head quite similar to a human's, encased in a half-bloomed flower bud. From its shoulders, semi-transparent wings extended, floating gently. Upon closer inspection, it resembled a hanging teru teru bozu. (T/N: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teru_teru_bōzu.)
The jellyfish entity's head featured two pitch-black eyes that slipped and turned as it examined them.
It floated mid-air like a jellyfish in the sea, slowly circling the group while emitting 'Buru buru' sounds.
Since the jellyfish entity showed no hostility, Law didn't attack immediately. He turned to Kuro perched on his shoulder and asked, "Can you understand what this thing is saying?"
"How could I possibly understand?!" Kuro glared.
Law shook his head and muttered, "Useless."
Kuro's expression stiffened. He really wanted to slap Law, but unlike Tonpa, Law wasn't someone he could casually bully.
"Buru buru."
The red jellyfish entity floated closer to Law, its black eyes, like crab eyes, rolling incessantly.
It seemed to be trying to communicate with them, but Law hadn't responded.
"What should we do?" Tonpa whispered.
"Wait and see."
Law glanced at the jellyfish entity, then looked back in the direction they had fallen from.
'Assuming this was a seafloor cave, even if our ship hadn't been destroyed, leaving wouldn't be easy. Even if we managed to return to the sea surface, completing the remaining voyage would be a monumental challenge.'
Just then, the jellyfish entity moved. Two tentacles slowly extended from above its head, reaching toward Law's temples.
Law raised an eyebrow. Although the jellyfish entity showed no hostility, physical contact required caution.
As the tentacles approached, Biscuit and Tonpa's expressions shifted. Law took two steps back, avoiding the tentacles.
Seeing Law evade, the jellyfish entity paused its tentacles mid-air, tilting its head as if confused.
"Buru buru."
It made its unique sound again, though its meaning remained unknown.
Watching this, Biscuit said quietly, "It seems to want to communicate with us."
Law was taken aback. He looked at Biscuit and hesitated, "With those tentacles?"
The jellyfish entity had reached for his temples, and combined with Biscuit's guess, it suggested that the jellyfish might be trying to communicate through tactile contact.
Biscuit understood and asked, "Do you want to give it a try?"
"What do you think?" Law couldn't make a quick decision.
"We don't know what it is," Biscuit reminded.
This sentence truly reminded Law.
'White Smoke Font!'
Law reached out and touched one of the jellyfish entity's tentacles.
In that instant, the jellyfish entity seemed startled by Law's proactive action, retracting slightly. The red glow turned pale green, and the White Smoke Font provided a brief and startling piece of information about the jellyfish entity.
"The Buru tribe?"
Law muttered to himself. The White Smoke Font offered very little information, only stating the jellyfish entity's tribe name and some unique characteristics.
The flowing glowing fluid was the Buru tribe's life energy. Its brightness indicated growth age and vitality, while color changes reflected emotional states.
The Buru tribe had a gentle nature. The tentacle-reaching gesture was indeed their way of communicating with other species.
Moreover, the Buru were highly sensitive to emotional changes in intelligent beings.
'Based on the brightness of this Buru's glow, it was likely an adult. The current pale green light suggested it had been frightened by me moments ago.'
Law raised a finger and gently tapped his temple, signaling the Buru to extend its tentacles to establish contact.
The Buru, which had retracted halfway, slowly extended its head again, cautiously watching Law.
Its intelligence seemed considerable, as it understood Law's intention from the temple-tapping gesture.
After a moment's hesitation, it floated closer again, slowly extending two tentacles toward Law's temples.
The first time, it had been less than two meters away from Law. This time, it extended its tentacles from five meters away, and its glow remained green.
Law noticed this and thought he had genuinely frightened it earlier.
"Law?" Biscuit whispered.
Law waved his hand gently at her, signaling that it was fine.
Biscuit had heard Law's mutterings earlier and felt somewhat puzzled. Seeing Law wanting to verify his guess, she felt an impulse to stop him, but since Law indicated it was safe, she could only watch quietly.
The two tentacles attached to Law's temples.
The touch was icy cold and also soft like grass jelly.
Upon contact, a connection was instantly established.
"Hello."
A polite female voice echoed in Law's mind.
Law was slightly taken aback and instinctively blurted out, "Are you from the Buru Tribe?"
Biscuit and Tonpa, hearing Law's words, looked surprised. The Buru's green glow turned red.
"Yes, I have a name. It's Bruna. What about you?"
"Law."
This time, Law didn't speak aloud but communicated directly with Bruna in his mind.
The experience was truly marvelous. Before encountering Bruna, he would never have imagined such a unique race existed in the world.
"Law? Your name has only one syllable, while our names all have two syllables." Bruna said.
"Uh." Law was momentarily speechless, 'In this world, there were names with up to ten syllables.'
He changed the subject and asked, "Bruna, can you tell me where we are?"
"Inside the Rock Island Crab."
"Rock Island Crab?" Law's heart skipped a beat.
"Mhm."
"You mean... the place we're in is inside a crab?" Law found it hard to accept.
"Mhm."
A chill ran down Law's spine. He looked at the ground beneath his feet, 'It was clearly hard rock. How could it be inside a crab?'
Bruna seemed to sense Law's confusion and replied, "That's the Rock Island Crab's calculus! It's everywhere!"
Law nearly stumbled upon hearing this.
'What the hell kind of calculus is that?!'
Law took a deep breath to calm his inner turmoil. Just as he was about to say something, both Bruna and Tonpa reacted.
Bruna turned green, while Tonpa exclaimed in a low voice, "Those unidentified creatures are heading toward our location!"
"They're the Rock Island Crab's parasites. They're very dangerous. Please follow me."
The green on Bruna's body deepened, indicating her level of fear.
Hearing this, Law said to Tonpa and Biscuit, "Follow Bruna."
Before the words fully left his mouth, Bruna floated off in a certain direction at a surprisingly fast pace.
Seeing this, the three humans and one cat followed without hesitation.
"Can you communicate?" Biscuit asked as they moved.
"Mhm."
Law acknowledged and then relayed the information he had obtained from Bruna.
Upon learning they were inside a crab, Biscuit and Tonpa reacted the same way Law had… utterly unable to accept it.