[Pirate] I! Orochimaru! I will never split! Chapter 052

Tomorrow is the Mid-Autumn Festival, and Meow has worked hard to produce another chapter. I wish all the little cuties a Happy Mid-Autumn Festival in advance. By the way, Meow will be eating roast duck tomorrow… hehehe.

Henzo watched speechlessly as the Straw Hats busied themselves with a pile of bottles and jars filled with Rainbow Mist. At first, it was just Robin, then Usopp found it interesting and went to help. Luffy originally went to cause trouble, but after being punished by Orochimaru, he squatted dejectedly to the side, twisting jars.

Orochimaru looked at the crestfallen Luffy, feeling a sense of conscience for the first time in a long while, as if he was being condemned.

He rummaged through the General Store (formerly the Junk System Store) and found a lollipop specifically for mischievous children, about the size of a fist, claiming to be inexhaustible. He threw it to Luffy.

“Good boy… get to work… when we get back, Sanji will make you meat.”

Luffy ate the lollipop and felt something was off. Then, he turned his shark-like face towards Orochimaru and roared,

“Don’t talk to your big brother in that tone!!”

“ᄑ_ᄑ Oh, is that lollipop delicious?”

“Delicious… (๑•؎ •๑)✧”

“ᄑ_ᄑ Then get to work.”

“Oh!! Watch me! Gum-Gum! Jar Lid Twist!!” The jar lids almost sparked from Luffy’s twisting.

There was no child Orochimaru couldn’t trick.

The Going Merry drifted through the Rainbow Mist, picking up some unwanted treasures along the way.

Orochimaru checked the jars in his backpack: small, medium, large, extra-large, super-large, all sizes x 1000. He wiped his sweat; it was enough.

He patted the dispirited Luffy on the head. “You worked hard.”

“Food…” Luffy looked at Orochimaru weakly.

Usopp also collapsed to the side, feeling hungry. Only Robin was still sipping red tea. The Flower-Flower Fruit was truly convenient.

Since Sanji wasn’t around, Orochimaru had to cook for them, making miso ramen.

Zoro woke up to the smell. “Oh… ramen today?”

“Orochimaru made it?!” Usopp curiously took a bite. “Delicious! Orochimaru, your cooking is pretty good too!”

Orochimaru hadn’t cooked since Sanji joined the crew, so this was Usopp’s first time eating Orochimaru’s ramen.

“Yes… it’s quite good,” Robin elegantly slurped her noodles.

Luffy looked at the ramen, his eye twitching slightly. It had been over half a year since he last had it. He couldn’t be picky.

He ate the familiar-tasting ramen with tears in his eyes… Sanji… where are you (╥╯^╰╥)?

Although Orochimaru’s ramen was… delicious, Luffy had been eating it for over ten years.

No… it should be… Luffy ate it for 10 years… Ace ate it for 7 years… almost once every 3 days… Was this the retribution for them secretly eating ramen behind Orochimaru’s back back then? He envied Sabo so much.

Looking at Luffy eating noodles with tears in his eyes, Usopp blinked. “What’s wrong with Luffy?” Was Orochimaru cooking that moving?

Luffy received a glare from Orochimaru.

(Ｔ▽Ｔ) Smarty-Pants Luffy, online for a limited time.

“Hmm… my little brother cooking for me makes me super moved… really.”

Usopp looked at Luffy, bewildered, and shivered. This kind of Luffy was disgusting. Was his brain starved?

“Delicious!!” The children who had joined them at some point sat together on the deck of the Going Merry, slurping noodles. Seeing more people, Usopp also showed off his cooking skills.

Not to mention the steamed buns were delicious, Orochimaru affirmed.

Encouraged, Usopp then pulled out Sanji’s semi-finished meat from the fridge and processed it. A group of people inexplicably started a banquet on the deck of the Going Merry.

Crash! The sound of a plate shattering drew everyone’s attention. Rabani had knocked over the food Henzo brought.

“Suddenly telling me 50 years have passed! How am I supposed to believe that?!”

Usopp stood with his hands on his hips, very agitated. “Believe it!

No matter how much time passes, no matter how appearances change!

As long as they were once partners gathered under the same flag! They can trust each other!

Even if the flag’s color has faded! Friendship will always exist!”

Under Usopp’s persuasion, the children finally believed that 50 years had passed outside. The few of them reconciled and contacted Nami and the others outside via Den Den Mushi. Everything was developing in a good direction.

That’s what Orochimaru thought.

But looking around at the empty surroundings, with only Luffy and Rabani… Orochimaru rubbed his temples.

Suddenly, many misty whirlpools appeared around the Going Merry. Before Orochimaru could react, he was bumped… by Luffy.

The vast mist stretched endlessly, seeing nothing.

“Luffy, I’m going to turn into my snake form to see how big this place is. You and Rabani be careful. This place might lead to other eras, don’t wander off, remember to hold onto my tail.”

Orochimaru transformed into his snake body, a giant white snake with a pair of wings on its back, roughly the size of Manda. Orochimaru extended his upper body into the time points of various passages to investigate.

Upon entering one of the time-spaces, he saw a young Marine floating by the sea. Orochimaru leaned over and examined him closely. Strange… this Marine looked like Luffy, tall? Muscular Luffy??… Pfft!…

Perhaps this was fate. Orochimaru leaned over, pressed against the unconscious Marine, and infused chakra into him, gently pushing the Marine back to shore.

In his hazy state, the young Marine saw a giant white snake with wings. Just as he was about to speak, he only heard, “Orochimaru!! Come back quickly! There’s light here!” Then the snake disappeared.

Some time later, the Marine was rescued by a warship. The awakened young Marine looked at his companion beside him.

“Pfft ha ha ha… I’m still alive, Sengoku… I dreamed I was saved by a giant snake with wings.”

The young Sengoku’s mouth twitched. “I think you really were dreaming… a snake with wings… But your physical fitness is really good. You were bombed into the sea and you’re completely fine.”

The Marine picked his nose, unconcerned, and pondered the last words he heard in his mind, “Orochimaru, what a nice name.”

On the other side, Orochimaru, Luffy, and Rabani successfully returned to the Going Merry by following the light.

“Nami??? How did you get in?” Orochimaru walked towards Nami on the deck.

“I came through Dr. Henzo’s safety device,” Nami explained the situation outside.

“But that small boat was just sailed out by that pirate. Now we need to find a way out again.”

Orochimaru pondered, then saw a group of people building a teleportation channel and entering the Rainbow Mist.

“Alright, no need to think of a way, they’re in,” Orochimaru pointed at the group.

The greedy army wantonly plundered the treasures of the Rainbow Mist shipwrecks, transporting them via conveyor belts, which ultimately benefited Orochimaru, who was waiting at the end. The pirate mayor’s grandson was knocked unconscious and thrown into a corner.

As the battle erupted, the Rainbow Mist exploded, and the channel collapsed with it, causing space to distort.

Rabani appeared, carrying the fallen Luffy.

“Luffy! Orochimaru! That light! It’s sunlight! The light of the setting sun! Sunlight shone in through the space crack. We just moved towards that light and came out!”

“Quick! Start rowing in that direction!” Nami commanded everyone. Zoro gathered all the remaining soldiers and began to sprint with all their might, but the oars broke under their combined strength.

“If only there was wind,” Nami muttered softly.

Hearing Nami’s words, Rabani jumped into the sea without hesitation.

“If we blow up our ship, there will be wind! That was originally a Marine warship, full of ammunition.”

Orochimaru saw Rabani and suddenly thought of the sneezing officer from before, and the few people next to him. He knew the final outcome, and they also needed to return to their own era.

The other children also left with Rabani. Among them, the girl Isoka looked at everyone on the ship.

“Henzo… we won’t die, we will definitely go back, no matter how many years pass, we will return.”

As the explosion sounded, violent flames swept over, and the Going Merry rushed out with the blast.

The people in the town stared blankly at the large ship falling from the sky. The Going Merry crashed heavily into the sea, and Merry’s poor head flew off again.

Luffy was a little disappointed, wondering how Rabani and the others were doing. Orochimaru patted Luffy and pointed at the Marine warship that had been chasing Merry earlier.

“Luffy, look at that person.”

Henzo looked at the person with a flicking finger skill. “Rabani… is that Rabani?”

The now elderly Isoka looked at Henzo. “Henzo… I told you, we would definitely return.”

The Marines arrested the mayor’s family and told everyone that after the explosion, they were washed out, but it was 50 years ago.

To arrest the mayor and them, it took them 50 years to climb to this position.

Luffy smiled brightly, said goodbye to everyone, and set sail again.

Orochimaru lay on his beach chair, re-reading the book about the Rainbow Mist.

On a hidden page at the end, he saw a sentence:

I will write down all the adventures we experienced in this mist, for the adventurers who will arrive here in the future. These adventurers are the benefactors who will bring us back to our original world… the Straw Hat Pirates.

Orochimaru closed the book.

Causality… it really is amazing.

But Muscular Luffy, really funny.