After eating the squid, Xia Qiu and Moo Moo approached the island.
The island was about the same size as Jumada Island, but three-quarters of it was occupied by mountains with sword-shaped peaks.
Below the mountain range, the land was covered in green vegetation, but above it was bare rock and scattered black dots.
On the southern side of the island, there was a town and a recessed coastline.
Xia Qiu slowly approached the coast and found the location of the port. As he got closer, he smelled a foul odor.
It was disgusting.
Worse than eating bananas and winter dates together.
What is this stuff?
Moo Moo had stopped moving, but Xia Qiu, enduring the nausea, swam a bit further, reaching about thirty meters from the port.
There, a number of ships were docked. They had a peculiar appearance, resembling inflatable boats but much larger.
The sides of the ships looked like two giant brown rubber tubes, with smaller pillars underneath.
Each ship could probably hold more than ten people, had a small cabin, and two sails.
Could such small boats survive in the Grand Line?
One ship wasn't even as big as the Going Merry.
Moreover, the sides of the ships were quite low compared to sailboats, making them easily capsized by waves.
As he got closer, the stench intensified.
Or perhaps it shouldn't be called a stench.
It was a subtle yet dense collection of scent molecules that made one feel uncomfortable upon smelling it.
It was the smell of the ships.
Xia Qiu confirmed that the smell emanating from the ships was making him extremely uncomfortable.
Xia Qiu could no longer stand it and moved away from the coast, but the smell still lingered in his nostrils.
It seemed this ship smell was the method used to keep Sea Kings and other sea fish away.
From a distance, it was just a bad smell.
But up close, the smell was so pungent and irritating that even he could barely tolerate it.
He wasn't operating on instinct; he had his own intelligence and consciousness, and he almost couldn't bear it.
No wonder the Oddity didn't kill the squid. After approaching the island, there were very few marine creatures around.
Marine life with a keen sense of smell probably couldn't stand it.
Moo Moo was dozens of meters away from him, and even the faint smell was making it difficult for it to stay.
Could this place be uninhabitable?
Xia Qiu frowned. This should be one of the starting points of the seven sea routes; could it be uninhabitable?
Xia Qiu swam along the coast and found that the further he got from the shore, the weaker the smell became.
The scent was diminishing for two reasons: first, the density of scent molecules in the water decreased with distance; second, the further he was from the island, the faster the ocean currents flowed, diluting the smell.
Xia Qiu kept circling until he reached the back of the island, where the smell was almost imperceptible.
The sea breeze here, behind the mountain range, was strong. It blew through the openings above the mountains, making a whistling sound.
This place is good.
Xia Qiu thought, releasing sonic waves. Based on the information from the waves, he determined the seabed was about three hundred meters deep from here.
This depth was considered quite deep, bordering on oceanic cliffs and vertical straits.
This was relatively rare in the East Blue.
However, compared to the surrounding water depths, it was quite small, sufficient for him to inhabit.
But, from the sonic waves reflected from the coast, Xia Qiu discovered that the cliffs below the island were not flat; some areas extended inward for over ten meters.
Were these caves? And more than one?
There were also many cave openings on the mountain range on the island.
Why so many caves?
Furthermore, he detected numerous, dense, but relatively small sonic wave signals in the vicinity.
What kind of creatures lived here?
Xia Qiu didn't dare to approach and waited quietly.
But at this moment, creatures from the surroundings rapidly approached.
Xia Qiu didn't pay them much mind. These creatures were small, the longest being only a dozen meters, and the smallest only three to four meters.
Even a school of piranhas or sharks wouldn't worry him.
Their teeth might not be able to harm him.
Xia Qiu slowly retreated, and as the creatures approached, he saw what they looked like.
Snakes.
They were snakes, sea snakes.
Xia Qiu turned and ran, heading in Moo Moo's direction, away from the shore.
Thwack thwack thwack thwack.
These sea snakes lunged at Xia Qiu. As he turned, they slammed into him, biting at his body.
However, with Xia Qiu's scales and the sturdiness of his fins, their teeth couldn't pierce them at all.
But other areas were different.
Especially his abdomen, where several snakes latched onto his tentacles and began to chew.
Not only that, but many more snakes emerged from the caves behind him.
Giant sea snakes, twenty meters, thirty meters, even forty meters long, were charging towards them.
Xia Qiu surged forward, fleeing the area in a panic.
There were many snakes, and they were huge.
This wasn't important, because sea snakes had very weak, almost nonexistent, constriction abilities. This was due to a few reasons: firstly, most marine creatures were difficult to constrict; some had slippery scales, some had shells, and some had peculiar body structures. Secondly, sea snakes breathed with lungs. Although they spent most of their time underwater, their lungs occupied a significant portion of their bodies, sometimes even their entire bodies. Constricting them would actually squeeze the air out of their lungs.
This made it difficult for sea snakes to constrict their prey. More importantly, through long evolution, their scales and body structure no longer relied on constriction as an attack method.
Their scales were spaced further apart, and their bodies were slender rather than thick.
Therefore, their size and numbers didn't pose a direct threat to Xia Qiu.
However, sea snakes were venomous, even lethally so.
Sea snakes belonged to a specific subfamily, Hydrophiinae, with over fifty species on Earth, all generally highly venomous.
Most sea snakes were related to cobras, and the Hydrophiinae subfamily was classified under the Elapidae family.
It was generally believed that sea snakes evolved from cobra ancestors that ventured into the sea and reproduced there.
Of course, the appearance of sea snakes was almost entirely different from the cobras we know; there was hardly any similarity.
Sea snakes were different from aquatic snakes. The former referred to snakes that lived in the ocean, while the latter were mostly found in lakes, swamps, rivers, rice paddies, and ponds.
Although both belonged to the Caenophidia suborder, one was in the Elapidae family, and the other was in the Colubridae family.
Colubrids possessed venom, but it was relatively weak and rarely fatal to humans.
Sea snakes, however, were all venomous, and their venom was potent. This was because, as mentioned earlier, they couldn't constrict their prey and had to rely on venom to kill their enemies.
In other words, it was precisely because they were venomous that they could survive underwater and evolve into the current sea snake family.
Therefore, Xia Qiu dared not stay here any longer.
Run, run.
Xia Qiu surged forward, his speed immense. Apart from the sea snakes that had managed to latch onto him, all the others were left behind.
"Boss, you're running again."
"I won't fall for your tricks this time."
Moo Moo saw Xia Qiu running towards him and, fearing that Xia Qiu would use him as bait again, turned and fled, maintaining a distance ahead of Xia Qiu.
Xia Qiu retracted his tentacles, constricting the snakes that were biting him. His claws dug into the sea snakes' scales, leaving bloody gashes on their bodies.
Xia Qiu ran further and further, creating a significant distance. When no more sea snakes were chasing him, he slowly stopped.
He released his tentacles, and the sea snakes fell off one by one. There were about six or seven of them, the shortest about three meters long, and the longest seven or eight meters.
Under the force of Xia Qiu's tentacles and the power of his constriction, some of these sea snakes had their lungs crushed, while others were impaled through their bodies. They all lost their ability to swim and slowly sank.
Seeing the sea snakes sinking, Xia Qiu immediately pursued them, biting and swallowing them mouthful by mouthful.
Xia Qiu wasn't worried about being poisoned by the venom because most venoms were proteins, containing toxins, enzymes, and non-toxic proteins.
There was a famous question: if a snake killed its prey with venom and then ate it, would it get poisoned? The answer was no.
However, some venoms could damage the digestive tract and oral mucosa, and might not be fully digestible.
Therefore, it was not recommended to drink venom.
Of course, Xia Qiu bit into the heads of these venomous snakes and swallowed them whole. The venom directly entered his stomach for digestion.
Xia Qiu's digestive capabilities were extremely strong; there was almost nothing he couldn't digest.
After eating the venomous snakes, Xia Qiu waited quietly for them to digest and for the venom to take effect.
The venom of sea snakes was primarily neurotoxic, but mostly cytotoxic. Unlike cobras, it primarily damaged voluntary muscles rather than nerves.
However, the effect was the same as neurotoxic death: muscle weakness and respiratory paralysis leading to death.
Sea snake venom was potent but acted relatively slowly compared to terrestrial snakes. Some effects might not be noticeable for thirty minutes to three hours.
But once it took effect, death was swift.
Xia Qiu didn't know how potent the sea snake venom was, so he could only wait quietly, having taken the best possible precautions.
Xia Qiu ate the Sea Snake for one reason: snakes can neutralize their own venom. The venom's effect on them is greatly reduced. For example, a cobra that bites itself and injects venom suffers far less damage than a human would, though it can still be fatal.
So, Xia Qiu ate several Sea Snakes, hoping to gain this resistance to poison.
At the same time, eating Sea Snakes would grant him Evolution Energy, which could repair injuries.
The cellular toxins would damage his muscle cells, but with repair, the onset of his injuries would be greatly slowed.
Furthermore, the venom from only six or seven Sea Snakes was already scarce compared to his own massive body.
Adding to that, Xia Qiu's body had already been strengthened several times, making him very robust, so he should be able to resist the toxin's invasion.
Under these four conditions, Xia Qiu had a very high chance of resisting the toxin. Even if he were injured, it wouldn't be life-threatening.
With thorough preparation, Xia Qiu didn't panic. Instead, he patiently waited and recorded information about the poison's effects.
This wasn't a bad thing.
Because as long as he could withstand the toxin, he could hunt Sea Snakes and evolve venom sacs and fangs for himself.
Xia Qiu looked forward to it.
...
"Big Brother, what's wrong? Why aren't you moving? Did you get bitten?"
Moo Moo, watching Xia Qiu from a distance, slowly approached and nudged him.
Xia Qiu flicked his tail and smacked Moo Moo.
"You ran pretty fast just now, didn't you?"
Moo Moo, after being hit, felt relieved. If Big Brother could still hit him, then he didn't need to worry.
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Translation by: randomtranslator.com
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