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Chapter 21: The Man Trapped in the Box
1,250 Words
A moment later.
As the small boat docked, Luffy and Zoro jumped off, stepping onto the deserted island with great anticipation.
In retrospect, Nami's statement that it was a deserted island was inaccurate.
The island had a dense, lush forest, teeming with strange creatures they had never seen before. It exuded vitality.
Luffy looked left and right, then suddenly squatted down, picked up a long snake with rabbit ears, and excitedly shouted:
"Look, this rabbit looks so peculiar!"
Zoro's lips twitched. "Just because it has rabbit ears doesn't mean it's a rabbit."
The two continued on their way, and soon.
Luffy pointed to a strange creature with a lion's mane and a wild boar's snout, exclaiming in surprise:
"Is that a lion or a wild boar?"
"Well…" Zoro examined it for a moment, but couldn't figure it out. He could only reach for the hilt of his sword.
"It's easy to tell. We just have to taste its flesh."
Just as Zoro was about to strike.
A voice carrying a warning tone drifted over:
"Don't hurt the animals here!"
Hm?
There were people on the island.
If most people suddenly heard voices on a deserted island, they would be terrified and leave immediately. But Luffy and Zoro merely exchanged a glance, their expressions turning joyful.
They both understood what the other was thinking. A savage!
"Hey! Are you a savage? Can you come out and meet us?" Luffy shouted at the top of his lungs.
Zoro looked around, trying to find the source of the sound.
"No! I am not a savage, but the guardian of this forest!"
"Listen! I hereby order you to leave this island immediately!"
Zoro frowned slightly.
It was strange. He pinpointed the direction the sound came from, behind a large tree, but found no one.
"We just landed on the island, we're not leaving now!" Luffy continued talking to the voice.
"Hmph. If that's how it is, then you shall accept the forest's punishment!"
As soon as he finished speaking, a gunshot rang out from deep within the woods.
Bang!
"Found you!" Zoro's eyes lit up, and he charged off in that direction with his sword drawn.
A flying bullet struck Luffy in the chest, but it simply bounced off.
"What?"
He scratched his head in confusion, looking at the bullet that had pierced the ground.
When he looked up, he saw a tree had fallen.
Under the tree.
Zoro stood before the stump, his right hand holding a sword forward. The sawdust-covered blade tilted down, its cold tip pressed against the neck of a "dwarf-like" creature.
"Are you… a person?"
Zoro asked uncertainly.
"I… I…"
The creature held a pistol, trembling, too frightened to speak for a long time.
At this moment.
Luffy excitedly ran over and pressed down on Zoro's blade. "So it was you who was whispering!"
Seeing the blade depart, the creature breathed a sigh of relief. Looking at the curious boy in the straw hat, he slung his gun over his shoulder and said:
"I'm not some 'guy'. My name is Gaimon, and I'm a person. A person trapped in a box."
"Box?"
Luffy and Zoro were taken aback, and then looked down.
Only then did they realize he wasn't a dwarf. His entire body, from his neck to his knees, was crammed into an old wooden box.
Luffy looked him over for a while and then laughed. "Why are you in a box? Did you mistake it for your clothes?"
"That's not it. Twenty years ago, I was accidentally trapped in this box. When I woke up, all my companions were gone, and I was left alone on this island."
"Twenty years?" Zoro was stunned, finding it hard to imagine how a person could live in a box for twenty years.
"That's right, it's been twenty years. I remember every single day."
Gaimon smiled calmly, but his smile concealed a barely perceptible sadness.
Luffy thought for a moment and asked, "Then why didn't you let someone else rescue you? Quite a few people must have landed on the island in the past twenty years, right?"
"Because there is treasure on this island. I don't trust those people and I'm worried they will steal my treasure."
"Treasure? Where?!" Luffy's eyes lit up immediately when he heard the word "treasure".
Gaimon stood up, carrying the box, and pointed in one direction.
"It's over there. Come with me."
"Wait."
Zoro reached out to stop the impatient Luffy, asking suspiciously:
"You haven't told anyone about your treasure for twenty years. Why are you suddenly taking us to see it?"
His suspicions were not unfounded. No matter how you looked at it, this seemed like a trap.
However, this time Zoro was overthinking things.
"He's not lying to you. I really did see treasure on a hillside."
At that moment, a beautiful, blue-haired young woman descended from the sky. Her figure was graceful and her clothes fluttered, looking ethereal. The girl descended step by step, as if on invisible stairs, her posture dignified and elegant.
The three men present were stunned by the scene.
Luffy's eyes widened. "Seriously! Ganyu, you can actually fly! Can you teach me?"
"I'm sorry, Luffy. I really can't teach this."
Ganyu shook her head slightly and gracefully walked between Luffy and Zoro.
Zoro glanced at her. "Why did you come to the island? Where's that greedy woman?"
"Nami is on a small hill. She said she wanted to experience flying, so I took her up."
"Wait… you mean you flew to a small hill and found treasure there?!"
Suddenly, Gaimon rushed over excitedly, looking up and staring straight into Ganyu's eyes.
No wonder he was so excited. If nothing unexpected happened, the small hill the girl mentioned was the one he had been guarding for over twenty years. Since being trapped in the box, he had been unable to climb it again.
Ganyu nodded slightly. "Yes, there are several boxes up there, and inside…"
"What's inside! Gold, jewels, or a treasure map?!"
Gaimon's voice cracked with excitement.
"Well… you should go and see for yourself."
Ganyu sighed softly, her eyes filled with pity.
The boxes were completely empty.
They were empty.
The treasure he had guarded for twenty years was actually just a few empty boxes.
More than ten minutes later, with the help of Luffy and Zoro, Gaimon finally climbed the small hill he had been guarding for twenty years.
However.
When he opened the boxes with great anticipation, he found them empty.
"Empty… empty… how can it be empty…?"
Gaimon collapsed, utterly dejected, as if he had lost all his spirit.
Twenty years had passed in vain.
It was heartbreaking.
"Hey! There's so much gold here!"
Suddenly, Luffy and Nami burst into excited shouts.
"Where is it? Let me see!"
Gaimon sat up and ran over like a madman.
He suddenly opened his eyes wide. Inside a dilapidated box, a pile of glittering gold shone brightly in the sunlight.
Two streams of tears slid down Gaimon's cheeks as he threw himself onto the gold, a satisfied smile spreading across his face.
On the side, Zoro crossed his arms and pondered, muttering to himself in confusion:
"The designs on this gold… they seem so familiar."
(To Be Continued)
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