"Ah? Bai Ye, are you hungry again?"
Hearing Bai Ye's words, Luffy — the eternal foodie — assumed he hadn't finished eating. He gave a goofy chuckle, pulled a banana from a nearby barrel, and offered it to Bai Ye.
Bai Ye watched the banana head straight for him and couldn't help but let a few dark veins form on his forehead.
"I'm full, Captain." He took a step back and spoke seriously.
"Although this isn't the best time, I want to take care of something quickly. I'm going to sit here and—"
He meant to say he would cultivate, converting his internal force into qi, but worried Luffy wouldn't understand and would ask what "cultivation" even meant. So he changed tack.
"I'm going to nap here, so please don't bother me. You can watch, Captain, but don't let anyone touch me, okay?"
To enter the Codex's inner landscape, Bai Ye would have to be in a kind of out-of-body state. His body's defenses would be near zero and he wouldn't sense anything outside. If it hadn't been Luffy nearby, he would have found a quieter place — but with Luffy present, Bai Ye felt safer asking to be watched.
"Yo-shi, so that's how it is!" Luffy punched his right fist into his left palm, suddenly understanding.
"Don't worry, Bai Ye — I'll guard you!!!" Luffy treated a recruit's request like sacred duty.
Bai Ye settled into a cross-legged posture and arranged his hands; the next moment he slipped into the inner landscape of the Daoist Codex and began receiving the newbie giftpack it provided.
To his surprise, during the cultivation a ritual surfaced in his mind — ancient words echoing like thunder:
"Heaven and Earth, mysterious root, the myriad qi's origin.
Cultivate through endless kalpas, prove my divine art.
Within and beyond the three realms, only the Dao stands supreme…"
— and then the scene cuts back to the storage room.
Koby, watching the motionless Bai Ye, whispered to Luffy:
"Mr. Luffy, Mr. Bai Ye is just… sitting there sleeping? Doesn't that posture look uncomfortable?"
"Probably not." Luffy considered seriously for a second, then shrugged and grinned at Koby.
"I sometimes go to sleep. My grandpa sometimes stands up and falls asleep. Should be fine."
Koby: ???
You sit to sleep? Your grandpa stands to sleep? What kind of world is this?
Before Koby could spiral further, footsteps sounded outside and a familiar voice called:
"Miss Alvida, I swear I saw Koby bring strangers aboard the ship. I was knocked out by those outsiders!"
"Right, Miss Alvida! They were young but powerful — Koby must've hired them as bounty hunters!"
"They're right here!!!"
The pirates at the door pushed it open. The same thugs who'd been knocked out earlier stumbled in, and the bandana pirate blocked the entrance proudly.
"Miss Alvida, see? I told you so! Koby brought outsiders aboard!"
"Ah! That ugly man who got punched earlier! And the bearded guy!"
Luffy, completely unfazed, waved like he'd run into old friends. Koby hissed from the floor.
"Luffy!!! Can't you read the room?"
A rough voice then bellowed from behind the crowd. The pirates all immediately fell silent and parted like the sea.
"I never thought Koby would betray me!"
THUD!!!
A massive iron mace slammed onto the deck, and the air in the room changed — fear tightening every throat. The ship seemed to hold its breath.
"Are you really not afraid of death, Koby?!"
A squat but enormous shape pushed into the cabin like a living boulder.
It was Iron-Mace Alvida, bounty: five million Berries.
She pushed in, glancing at Luffy and the seated Bai Ye. Seeing they weren't the three-sword sorcerer she'd imagined, a sliver of relief slipped across her face. If that had been the other man, she'd have planned more carefully.
Her eyes then flicked to Bai Ye's handsome face, and something soft stirred inside her. This kind of man — she thought — could befit the most beautiful woman of the sea.
Alvida couldn't help staring a second longer.
"Dea…r…lie…est Alvida…" Koby whimpered on the floor, knees knocking as he tried to explain himself.
Luffy, nose still picking, asked innocently, "Who's this savage auntie?"
Luffy's casual tone caught everyone frozen mid-breath. Koby, Alvida, and the pirates all gaped in disbelief.
"You little brat…" Alvida's veins popped; her teeth ground together. "Die!!!"
She'd never had anyone call her "auntie" in public. Rage and humiliation boiled over; she raised her giant mace and charged like a war machine, shrieking.
Luffy had no wish to fight in such a cramped space. He backed out, extended his arms, grabbed both Bai Ye and Koby in one stretchy sweep, and yanked them onto the open deck where there was more room. He wasn't avoiding the fight — he was protecting Bai Ye, just as Bai Ye had asked.
On deck, Koby finally shook off his terror and shouted back at the charging Alvida, venting everything he'd bottled up:
"You're not the most beautiful woman — you're an ugly, fat, awful aunt!!!"
"Ha ha ha, Koby, you've got spirit!" Luffy laughed. "Alright, that auntie's for me. Koby, watch Bai Ye."
Luffy squared up and faced the approaching Alvida.
"Looks like you all want to die early, huh?" Alvida's voice was low and dangerous. In her eyes, everyone but that handsome boy was already dead.
She slammed forward with such force her weight dented the deck, breaking planks in her wake. Holes formed like stepping-stones behind her; the ship groaned in protest.
Before anyone could blink, she reached Luffy.
"Die, you stinking brat!!!"
Her mace came down in a brutal, earth-shattering blow.
But at that instant, Koby noticed something strange about Bai Ye. From Bai Ye's body, thin streams of golden light began to seep outward. Koby even heard a resonance — a vast, distant intonation echoing in his head:
"...Three Realms guard, Five Emperors attend.
Myriad gods salute, unleash the thunder.
Ghosts and fiends blanch, spirits lose form.
Within rumbles thunder, a nameless thunder god.
Golden light swift appears, shield and guard my frame."
In the next instant, a blade of gold flashed from Koby's perspective — vanishing from one side and reforming between Alvida and Luffy.
The mace never touched Luffy — Alvida's strike crashed into that golden radiance mid-swing. Her warcry cut off as the impact rang out.
WHAM!!!
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