The group of people had black lines on their faces, staring blankly at the two brothers.
Luffy's appearance was one thing, but why was Orochimaru joining in the fun? Didn't he just cut in earlier?
Sanji shook his head helplessly, quickly stepped forward, bent down, and carefully picked up Orochimaru as if he was holding a treasure, then straightened his leg and kicked Luffy in the face.
"Hey, get up now!"
Luffy's head snapped to the side from the kick, his eyelids twitched, and he groggily opened a slit, then his mouth opened wide, letting out a long yawn that sounded exceptionally loud in the silence.
"Ah... ٩(๑´~`๑)۶ I slept so well."
Luffy didn't know what had happened, still feeling drowsy, he vaguely scratched his head, a bewildered expression on his face (ㅍᯅㅍｷ).
Luffy's gaze unintentionally shifted to Jinbe's tear-streaked, weeping face.
"Huh... Jinbe... are you crying?" Luffy's eyes widened instantly, saying with a hint of surprise.
Jinbe hurriedly wiped his tears away in a panic, feigning composure as he responded, "What are you talking about? How could I be crying?"
Luffy looked around blankly, his eyes full of confusion: "What?"
Jinbe seemed a bit embarrassed by Luffy's persistent questioning: "You're so annoying! I already said I'm not crying."
Luffy blinked his big eyes, took the sleeping Orochimaru from Sanji's arms, and mumbled:
"Oh, I didn't expect Orochimaru to fall asleep too. Is Jinbe's story that boring?"
Sanji, with a dark expression, roared at Luffy: "This is clearly both of your problems! How can you two fall asleep in the blink of an eye? Your sleep quality is too good!"
Ignoring the commotion, Nami walked up to Shirahoshi, looking up slightly, her gaze full of curiosity as she looked at the giant Mermaid Princess before her.
"You're Shirahoshi, right?" Nami asked softly.
Camie nervously corrected her, "It's Princess Shirahoshi, Nami-chin! This is the kingdom's princess!"
Shirahoshi nodded gently, lowering her eyes to look at Nami, her slender fingers lightly wiping away the tears from the corners of her eyes.
"Yes, I'm truly sorry. Whenever I think of my mother, the tears just can't stop flowing."
Nami gazed at Shirahoshi with an extremely solemn expression, "What a great mother!"
Shirahoshi heard Nami's heartfelt praise, a proud smile bloomed on her face, then she slightly lowered her head, meeting Nami's gaze, "Yes! You are 'Nami-chin', right?"
Camie, standing by, quickly waved her hands, a slightly flustered expression on her face, "No, no... Princess Shirahoshi, 'Nami-chin' is a term of endearment... Her real name doesn't have 'chin' in it."
Shirahoshi's face was beaming with a bright smile, her eyes full of joy as she happily looked at Nami.
"Although this is our first meeting, I feel like we've been friends since childhood, which makes me feel very at ease."
"Is that so? Perhaps our experiences are a bit similar," Nami said, smiling at Shirahoshi.
Orochimaru slowly woke up, yawning sleepily, took a warm towel from Sanji's hand, casually wiped his face a few times, then put a bubble around himself and floated directly in front of Shirahoshi.
Orochimaru raised a hand and stroked Shirahoshi's head as if petting a pet, his actions natural and casual.
Camie's eyes widened instantly, flapping her hands and anxiously exclaiming: "Snake Snake-chin! This is the Princess! Not Papagu! You can't touch her like that!"
Orochimaru's forehead twitched slightly, and he secretly thought to himself: "What kind of weird name is 'Snake Snake-chin'? Even if everyone gets 'chin' added, he should be 'Orochimaru-chin'."
Orochimaru looked directly at Shirahoshi and said gently, "Shirahoshi is a very polite and good child... As a reward for being a good child, would you like me to help you revive Queen Otohime?"
"Eh!!!!!!!!!!!"
As soon as these words were spoken, everyone was shocked, a string of exclamation marks seemingly about to burst through the screen.
The group of people stared at Orochimaru in unison, dumbfounded, their jaws dropping in disbelief.
"Can such a thing be done?!"
Orochimaru looked at Luffy and Jinbe with a headache, full of helplessness: "Why are you two surprised? Weren't you both there when Roger was revived?"
Jinbe's mind went blank for a moment, and he blurted out subconsciously: "Wasn't that just an inflatable doll?"
Orochimaru felt a wave of speechlessness. He felt his silence was deafening at this moment, and he said testily:
"Do you think Sengoku would be wary of a silicone model? That was real... it was just a soul attached to a puppet... If that were fake, Sengoku would be retired by now."
Orochimaru couldn't help but secretly slander: This fathead fish is probably an idiot too... Why does Luffy only pick idiots to hang around with?
At this moment, Princess Shirahoshi's emotions were slightly agitated, crystal tears quietly slid down her cheeks, and she asked with a trembling voice: "Can such a thing really be done? Is there anything I can do?"
Orochimaru, in turn, gazed at the young girl before him with a rare gentle look.
She truly is dazzling, a princess perfectly fitting a fairy tale.
Beautiful, kind, polite, brave, and strong, though a bit prone to crying, which is also a bonus.
It's hard for anyone not to like such a perfect being, I wonder if she can be kept.
In Orochimaru's eyes, starlight slowly gathered, becoming brighter and brighter ଘ(੭☆ᵕ☆)੭* ੈ✩‧₊
His small wings flapped excitedly, his eyes sparkling, and his whole being was almost glowing.
Shirahoshi saw the light in Orochimaru's eyes and for some reason felt a sense of crisis, timidly calling out: "Orochimaru-sama... Chopper, Nami, Luffy, Sanji, and Franky immediately understood something when they saw the light in Orochimaru's eyes.
Their mouths twitched uncontrollably a few times. They were all too familiar with that look and instantly understood Orochimaru's inner thoughts.
So, the several of them roared with shark-like faces in unison towards Orochimaru's direction.
"Don't even think about it!!! Absolutely not!"
Orochimaru's narrow eyes were full of grievance, his eyelids slightly drooped, and the gaze that usually held cunning and wisdom became somewhat dim.
Snake Snake felt wronged. He hadn't even said anything yet. These people were so annoying, his lower snake tail was even wilting and coiled into a ball.
Shirahoshi looked at the somewhat dejected Orochimaru, her eyes full of concern, and quickly extended both hands, carefully cradling Orochimaru in her palms.
"Orochimaru-sama, are you alright? Is it very difficult...?"
Shirahoshi looked at Orochimaru with genuine eyes, her eyes filled with tears.
"Even if you can't revive Mother, it's alright.
Your willingness to do so has already made me incredibly grateful.
To me, this intention is more precious than anything else."
Shirahoshi's fingers unconsciously tightened slightly, trying hard to hold back the tears in her eyes.
"As humans meeting for the first time, you and Luffy-sama have already helped me so much, so please don't trouble yourself too much."
-------------------------
If you enjoy this story, you can read + 70 advanced chapters on Patreon!
Webnovel will keep getting 1 new chapter every day but Patreon readers can stay far ahead.
Maybe it's not a big deal now… maybe it will be later.
[email protected]/Greyhounds
"And If you're enjoying it, drop a Power Stone for me!"