But the next moment, Bonney realized something was amiss.
She thought she was hallucinating from hunger, but she quickly noticed that the temperature around her seemed much higher than before.
It was like moving from a cool cellar into a blazing furnace.
Even hallucinations shouldn't affect temperature perception, right?
"What's going on..."
Bonney rubbed her sore head, trying to stand on tiptoes to look out over the desert ahead.
She could see tumbleweeds rolling by and numerous cacti standing tall not far away.
A breeze carrying a bit of sand hit Bonney's face, making her eyes uncomfortable.
At the same time... it also shocked Bonney, making her incredulous: "Is this really a desert?"
Bonney swallowed nervously, this was beyond her understanding.
Sasori glanced at Orochimaru with surprise, not expecting to be sought after by someone he despised so much.
"But... how is that possible?"
Chouji scratched his head, puzzled, "Sakura? What are you doing here?"
Just then, a childish voice came from behind. "My head is spinning... Why is this happening again?"
Marco snapped to attention, rushing into the cabin to check, then hurried back out, "Pops, there's about a third left!"
On the other side of the Moby Dick.
Orochimaru felt the pressure, but under Whitebeard's gaze, he could only muster, "It should be possible..."
Whitebeard raised an eyebrow.
Bonney suddenly turned and punched Chouji, knocking him out cold with his eyes rolling back.
But all he saw was Bonney's retreating back, not daring to look back.
Did it take a third of the energy to cross from the Shinobi World to the sea, and another third to return? Was the amount used for each crossing the same?
Orochimaru also emerged from the cabin, saying, "Whitebeard, we need to replenish the Dragon Veins' energy. Otherwise, if the ship crosses again and runs out of energy, we won't be able to return."
"...Want to know?" Bonney clenched her little fists, not turning back, speaking to Chouji, "If you want to know, come closer."
She didn't even know where she was, how was she supposed to navigate this vast desert?
And more importantly...
Weren't they just on the sea a second ago?
How did they end up in a desert the next?
Even if the ship had been moving incredibly fast, it couldn't have reached a desert island in the blink of an eye, could it?
Sasori snorted with a hint of pride, "To be precise, it's you who needs my lead, and you're just my support!"
At that moment, Chouji also spotted Bonney ahead.
He didn't argue with Sasori's haughty remark.
Bonney who was so hungry and her energy was nearly depleted after throwing a punch.
With one hand, she patted Orochimaru on the shoulder, a bit of schadenfreude in her voice, "This is what you should be researching! What's the use of tinkering with all those other things all day?"
Whitebeard's hearty laughter echoed through the skies, "Gurararararara! Looks like we're back in the Ninja World! Silly sons, go check how much energy is left in the container of the Dragon Veins!"
If Orochimaru weren't so reserved, he would have rolled his eyes at Tsunade.
Chouji staggered to the railing, retching as he walked over, lamenting tearfully, "I've been saving my chips for days... I was just about to open them... and now they're all spilled outside..."
To this, Orochimaru just chuckled.
But soon, he noticed something amiss, "Hey? Why is your hair so long?"
Watching the chubby boy on the ground, seeing stars, Bonney breathed a sigh of relief, but soon became anxious again.
Move the entire Dragon Veins onto the ship?!
She began to wonder whether she should leave the Moby Dick now.
But the biggest question was, where could she run?
Indeed... When Chouji saw Bonney's pink hair, he thought she was Haruno Sakura!
Bonney broke out in a cold sweat, not expecting anyone to pass by this corner.
"I'm so hungry!"
Chouji, in a daze, actually walked over, stopping just less than a meter away from Bonney.
"Phew... This is bad. Even if I knock him out now, I'll be discovered when he wakes up..."
Then Whitebeard turned to Orochimaru, "Brat, can you do it?"
He was a bit suspicious that Tsunade did it on purpose.
...
Orochimaru quickly dismissed Tsunade and said to Sasori, "I need your assistance. This big project is a bit too much for me alone."
"Is this the ninja world that Naruto kid talked about?" Vista looked around curiously, rubbing his chin and pondering, "It doesn't seem much different from our place! Although there's no sea, the New World also has many desert islands. Isn't this place just like those desert islands?"
And that woman's slap was too strong; Orochimaru was nearly knocked to the ground.
"Gurararararara... Looks like we have to go back to that ruin again!" Whitebeard grinned, "If only we could move the entire dragon vein onto the ship."
Jozu's attention, however, was elsewhere, "Eh? Why can our ship stand upright in the desert?!"
Kakashi explained, "The ship has been modified to be puppet-like. When on land, many mechanical arms extend from the bottom to keep the ship balanced."
Jozu suddenly seemed to understand as if he got it!
With a look of "I've understood."
Katakuri, using the properties of mochi to extend his arm, grabbed a handful of sand from beneath the ship. He observed the sand closely, murmuring to himself, "It's just ordinary sand."
He also tried using Armament Haki and Observation Haki, finding that both could be used in this world.
"We haven't had time to send back some information about the Whitebeard Pirates to Mother," Smoothie said in a low voice to Katakuri, moving to the side. "I won't be able to go back, will I?"
Katakuri shook his head, "It shouldn't be. Didn't they say they're going back to find the dragon vein? They probably want to replenish the dragon vein's energy, right?"
Then, Katakuri looked in a direction, "That chubby kid got knocked out, and Whitebeard doesn't care?"
Smoothie shrugged, "Maybe it's part of his training?"
Clearly, for the Haki masters on the ship, Bonney's hiding was no different from playing house.
The moment she appeared on the ship, most people were aware of Bonney's presence; they just didn't openly acknowledge it.
"That girl is not simple," Katakuri mused. "She has an aura not found in ordinary people her age. She must have slipped onto our ship from that Marine warship. She's either a Marine family member or a prisoner."
"Oh?" Smoothie's curiosity was piqued, and she smirked, "I'll go ask her."
Meanwhile, Bonney, completely unaware she was being watched, was searching for food on Chouji's body.
"What the heck..."
Bonney, having found only a few candies, wore a look of disappointment, "You really are a waste of space, carrying so little food for someone your size."
But her stomach was already growling wildly, and Bonney could only stuff all the candies into her mouth.
Just then, she noticed a shadow looming over her.
Bonney's body suddenly stiffened.
Danger!
Extreme danger!
Even though Bonney hadn't awakened the Observation Haki, she could still feel a dangerous presence closing in on her.
Bonney didn't have time to think; she raised her hand and pressed it against the person behind her.
"Brush with Death!!!"
As her palm touched the skin of the person behind her, her Devil Fruit power activated instantly!
"Quite an interesting Devil Fruit power. That moment just now actually made me experience a sensation of near death. But..."
Smoothie bent down, grabbed Bonney by the collar, and lifted her up: "Little one, is it possible that for people like us, a brush with death is a rather sparse and common experience?"
"Damn it..." Bonney realized she had used the wrong move; she should have turned the other person into a child right away!
"Let go of me, you jerk!" Bonney flailed her limbs, struggling continuously: "Did you hear me? You impolite cow!"
Cow?
Smoothie glanced down at her own peaks, not taking offense at a child's words, just finding it a bit amusing.
"I'll take that as a compliment. No wonder Katakuri said you have an unusual aura..." Smoothie, sizing up Bonney in her hand, laughed: "You don't seem like an ordinary kid, you've definitely killed someone, haven't you?!"
Bonney didn't answer her question but tried to touch Smoothie's skin.
However, because the child's body had such short arms, she couldn't reach at all.
Bonney, driven by hunger, activated her Fruit power again and transformed into a twenty-something in front of a surprised Smoothie!
Bonney touched Smoothie's wrist with a triumphant smile: "Got you! Turn into a child now!"
The next second, Bonney's body collapsed.
She looked up at Smoothie in astonishment, then her gaze shifted to Smoothie's other hand.
There, Smoothie's other hand was holding a small dagger, its sharp part of the dagger was gently pierced into Bonnie's butt.
"Sea... Seastone?!" Bonney felt completely drained, speaking in a weak voice.
"One of the eleven Supernovas of the Worst Generation, the only female Supernova, Jewelry Bonney?"
Smoothie grew more surprised: "You really are full of surprises!"
After Bonney grew larger, Smoothie recognized who she was at a glance.
"Is this your true form now? Or was the child form your real self?" Smoothie asked curiously.
"…Hmph!" Bonney chose to remain defiantly silent.
And so...
Smoothie, holding Bonney who had a seastone dagger stuck in her bottom, and Akimichi Chouji, who had been knocked out, brought them both to where Whitebeard and his group were.
"Gurarara! Isn't this the 'little pest' who sneaked onto the Moby Dick a while back?" Whitebeard's comment made Bonney realize she had been discovered long ago.
"This guy..." Marco was surprised: "Wasn't it a little girl who snuck onto the ship? How did it turn out to be an adult? And why does she look somewhat familiar?!"
Izo surveyed Bonney's face with surprise, "She seems to be that Supernova, right?"
"Supernova?" Marco recalled and then realized, "Jewelry Bonney?!"
Smoothie explained, "Her Devil Fruit ability is a bit special. She can appear as an adult or a child, only she knows the specifics."
Katakuri looked down at Bonney, "It seems I wasn't wrong, she is indeed a prisoner caught by the Marines. Escaping from the hands of a Marine admiral is no small feat."
Kakashi looked at Chouji in surprise, "Isn't that Chouji?"
Smoothie said, "The little chubby one was knocked out by her."
"What?" Shikamaru stared incredulously at the limp Bonney, "Damn it! An adult attacking a child, have you no shame?"
Shikamaru hurried over to Chouji, trying to wake him up.
"Damn it..." Being stared down by a crowd and powerless to resist, Bonney gritted her teeth in frustration, reminded of the time she was captured by Blackbeard.
"Gurgle gurgle—"
But the dizzying hunger combined with the limitations of the seastone had stretched Bonney's consciousness taut, and it finally snapped. She didn't get a word out before fainting from hunger.
Her adult form visibly shrank before their eyes, and even her clothes seemed to shrink with her.
What kind of material were they made of?
"Tsk..." Smoothie crossed her arms, commenting, "It seems this form is her true self. One of the infamous 'Worst Generation' being a little girl, who would believe that if we told them?"
"The Worst Generation?" Sasuke squeezed in, looking doubtfully at the unconscious Bonney, "Is she that impressive?!"
"Hmm..." Smoothie assessed, "Although the title sounds intimidating, they're just a bunch of greenhorns."
Izo shook his head, "To us, they are newcomers, but to many pirates in the first half of the Grand Line, they are already quite strong. I remember Jewelry Bonney's bounty reached 140 million Berries."
Sasuke: "??? What?"
This pink-haired person has a bounty of over a hundred million?
Sasuke was flabbergasted!
She looked about his age!
Sasuke was dumbfounded!
"140 million!" Naruto was also shocked by the number, counting on his fingers, trying to figure out how much less his bounty was compared to Bonney's.
Shikamaru's expression stiffened, "Oh no... I think I insulted a woman I shouldn't have. Should I go into hiding?"
"Gurararararara!" Whitebeard looked at Bonney with interest, "An intriguing little devil!"
His habit of taking in sons and daughters.
He was getting restless again.
...
...
(End of Chapter)
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