Kyle and the others spent several more days in Foosha Village.
After all, it might be a very long time before they returned here, so they wanted to fully soak in the atmosphere of this place one last time.
Finally, the day of their departure arrived.
At the entrance of Dadan's house, piles of large and small bags were stacked, causing Kyle, who was sitting on a large rock not far away, to twitch at the corner of his eye.
So, now this house had truly reverted to its original, bare state, just a structure of wood, right?
Anything remotely visible had been packed up by Dadan, ready to be taken away.
She called it sentimental attachment from long use, she couldn't bear to throw anything away!
Even a rat rummaging through this place would probably spit in disgust and say,
It had never been to a place this clean!!
A while later, as Dadan emerged carrying one last large bag on her back, the house was thoroughly emptied.
Kyle jumped down from the rock and walked up to the group. Looking at Dadan, he asked,
"Is everything packed up?"
"Yes. It's all here."
Dadan replied with a smile.
"Good."
Kyle nodded.
He extended his right hand. Purple lightning sparked from his palm, then transformed into countless fine threads of electricity snaking towards the surrounding bags.
Upon contact, the lightning did not damage the bags. Instead, it formed a purple net of electricity that wrapped around them.
Immediately, the bags began to float, one by one, hovering in the air.
You know the magnetic effect of an electric current, right?
A magnetic field is a companion product of electric current, so it's perfectly reasonable for him to achieve this levitating effect, right?
As the old saying goes, master mathematics, physics, and chemistry, and you can go anywhere without fear.
Although facts have proven this saying might not be entirely applicable in this era, this knowledge indeed provided some inspiration for him in developing his Devil Fruit abilities.
Nearby, Luffy and the others watched this scene with immense envy.
Just moving his hand could make these things float. That was just too cool.
Suddenly, as if struck by an idea, Luffy's eyes lit up. He targeted one of the floating bags and stretched his arm to grab it.
If the bags could float, adding him shouldn't be a big problem, right?
However, the moment Luffy's hand touched the fine mesh of the lightning net surrounding the bag, it suddenly jerked.
"Ah! Ouch, ouch, ouch!"
In pain, Luffy immediately retracted his hand and looked at his palm.
His palm was scorched black, with faint wisps of black smoke still rising from it.
Luffy raised his hand, blowing on his palm vigorously. This comical scene made everyone around burst into laughter.
"You... you're not allowed to laugh!!"
Luffy shouted angrily, then leaped onto Ace's back, vigorously ruffling Ace's hair.
"Idiot Luffy, get down! I'm not the only one laughing, why do you have to jump on me!!"
Ace tried to pull Luffy off, but Luffy clung tightly to Ace's head, choking him as he struggled, making it hard for Ace to even breathe.
Seeing this, everyone around laughed heartily again.
"Hahaha..."
Amidst the playful scuffle, the group slowly made their way towards where the warship was docked.
However, as they reached the village, a commotion and a sharp scream suddenly came from ahead.
Kyle narrowed his eyes. His body transformed into a flash of purple lightning as he vanished from the spot.
A few minutes earlier, an unwelcome guest had arrived in Foosha Village.
A tall, thin man wearing a white shirt, black pants, a red coat, a gold chain around his neck, with a black goatee and an X-shaped scar over his right eye, slowly walked into Foosha Village.
Behind him was a crowd of several dozen men with fierce and vicious appearances.
The villagers' faces paled instantly upon seeing him. They subconsciously stepped back, cold sweat beading and dripping from their foreheads.
"Mo... Mountain Bandit King Hi... Higuma!!"
A villager stammered out.
"Hmm?!"
This exclamation immediately drew Higuma's gaze. The moment he met Higuma's cruel eyes, the villager collapsed to the ground in fear, his face deathly pale.
"Cough... Ptooey!!"
Higuma disdainfully spat a gob of saliva onto the villager and said,
"Trash!!"
After saying that, he continued leading his gang of mountain bandit followers deeper into the village.
The insulted villager dared not show any sign of resentment.
Instead, he felt immensely relieved, thankful that Higuma wasn't in a killing mood today and hadn't killed him.
After all, this Mountain Bandit King was notoriously capricious, killing whomever he pleased, a vicious mountain bandit whose hands were stained with the blood of forty-two people.
Don't ask how he knew the number forty-two so clearly. Every time Higuma came to the village, his followers would give an introduction:
"What are you all looking at? Keep staring and you'll lose your lives! Our boss is the great mountain bandit who has killed forty-two people! Killing you ants is the simplest thing for our boss!"
"Our boss is the Mountain Bandit King with a bounty of seven million Berries!!"
Reaching the center of the village, seeing the sheer terror on the faces of the surrounding villagers, the mountain bandits felt immensely satisfied.
They became mountain bandits precisely to enjoy the fear others had of them, to have a fearsome reputation that allowed them to swagger anywhere they went in a village just by announcing their bandit group's name.
Ignoring the fearful gazes around him, Higuma walked straight into the bar.
Shortly after, he came out carrying several bottles of liquor.
Of course, he hadn't paid for this liquor.
What a joke. He was the Mountain Bandit King, Higuma. If he had to pay for his drinks, wouldn't that lower his status?
He picked up a bottle, pulled out the cork, and started drinking directly, gulping down large mouthfuls.
Then he walked up to a general store, extended his hand, and said calmly,
"Hand over some Berries for me to spend!"
The store owner was a middle-aged man with a simple, honest appearance. Hearing this, his face immediately showed distress as he said pleadingly,
"Lord Higuma, business has been very poor recently. I haven't earned much Berry at all!"
"I'm afraid I don't have much to offer you!"
"Gulp, gulp, gulp!!"
Higuma chugged directly from the bottle, the liquor rushing down his throat, his Adam's apple bobbing.
Soon, he finished the entire bottle.
The next moment, he suddenly hurled the empty bottle at the store owner's head.
*Crack!*
The sound of shattering glass mingled with the store owner's scream. A line of blood sprayed out as the owner clutched his head and fell to the ground.
Shards of the bottle remained embedded in his head. Blood streamed down, staining his entire face red.
This brutal scene immediately terrified the other villagers nearby, rendering them completely silent.
Looking down at the store owner writhing and screaming at his feet, Higuma's expression was savage and cold, gazing down at him from above.
"I didn't come here to listen to your excuses!"
"You just need to hand over the Berries. If you can't produce Berries today, then hand over your life instead..."
*Zap!*
Before he could finish, a crack of thunder erupted.
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