Although Ren knew that the super rare Phantom Beast Devil Fruit was here, it didn't mean it would be easy to find.
This place is not safe. It's fine during the day, but almost no residents dare to go out and hang out at night. Those who don't believe in evil may become corpses the next day. Most of them die in weird ways with their blood drained and missing arms and legs.
Remoteness, Gothic style, serious feudal superstition, and endless ghost stories... all of this shrouds the town in darkness and mystery.
This style of painting almost made Ray almost mistakenly believe that he was in the hometown of Count Dracula, the small town of Transylvania.
But this is not surprising. The geography and culture of this world are very magical. Thousand-year dragons, rainbow mist, pure gold... all of them look amazing.
Sleeping Ancient Town is as bizarre as the Shampoo Islands, which are built on mangroves and full of bubble-like buildings.
According to the residents of the town, the abandoned church where the vampire monster was once burned to death is in the forest to the west.
The forest that is shrouded in fog all year round is a complete death zone for the residents of the town.
Werewolves, vampires, fallen angels, zombies... Under the vivid descriptions of the town residents, that place is not a forest at all, but a hell and a devil's cave.
"Hey, boss, I almost panicked when I heard what they said."
Entering the forest, Wen Xi looked at the dense and deep trees around him and took a breath of air.
The forest is cold and humid, and the numerous thick fogs that are absent make the field of vision extremely short.
Especially at dusk, after the blood-like setting sun is swallowed up, everything becomes like a horror movie. Those dense trees and vines seem to turn into monsters with claws and teeth, devouring every human who dares to step into the forest.
The misty moonlight and fog mixed together, and the atmosphere in the forest path was extremely cold and terrifying, giving Wen Xi even goosebumps.
"Don't worry, how dangerous can this place be?"
The swordsman Marcel held the long sword and sneered, "What is connected to the entrance to hell, the forest where the devils live, so powerful that all the residents shouldn't be dead?"
When they came in, they didn't see any werewolves, vampires, or fallen angels.
The town residents are just talking nonsense. On the contrary, some poisonous insects, snakes and frogs in the forest are really troublesome. Even they are a little confused to deal with them. Ordinary people can easily die if they are bitten accidentally.
However, this is not a problem for the Lionheart Pirates. To be precise, it is not a problem for the captain.
boom!!
Ren drew out his black sword and slashed it down. A hundred-foot-long blue sword energy surged and shattered the trees and the earth!
When the sword energy dissipated, a wide road leading deep into the woods appeared.
The dense forest was divided into two by the sword energy. There were no poisonous insects around everyone, and even the nearby fog was blown away by the sword energy.
The moonlight shone down, and the haze suddenly cleared away from the forest, making the night a little more sultry.
"This is more pleasing to the eye. Let's go."
After opening up a good road, Renn put away his black knife and took the lead under the awe-inspiring eyes of his subordinates.
In a small, remote place, what kind of powerful things can be found in the forest? Could it be that there is also a group of yellow monkeys?
The swordsman Marcel looked longingly: "This kind of slash is still shocking no matter how many times I see it."
No matter what obstacles and monsters are ahead, we will overcome them all.
"Of course, the boss is mighty!"
Wen Xi chuckled and immediately sent the flattery. Anyway, the boss had to pretend, they could just be responsible for applauding.
Only Robin rolled his eyes and reminded:
"Hey, pay attention, the data shows that there are many precious ancient ruins in this forest, which are of great archaeological value. If you open the road like this, nothing will be left..."
She is like a scholar who cherishes cultural relics and admonishes gangsters or tomb robbers who like to destroy ruins and ancient buildings.
"I know, Miss Robin, the archaeologist."
Ren just turned a deaf ear and looked impatient. He even reached out and patted her buttocks, "But if you want to restrain me, you have to teach her in bed."
Robin: "..."
Bah, little rascal.
"Hahahaha... Miss Robin, why don't you just accept the captain's orders? I promise you will be popular and drink spicy food from now on."
"Yes, the World Government is nothing. As long as you become the captain's woman, you can do archeology wherever you want in the future."
"Captain, stop pretending to be a gentleman and give me some medicine. This woman is suitable to be a wife."
Wen Xi and the other boys burst into laughter.
Robin rolled his eyes and took a few steps away from Ren, not bothering to pay attention to this group of living treasures.
In the first few days after boarding the ship, she was "screamed" and "intimidated" by these people from time to time. She was still a little uneasy, fearing that the sheep would fall into the tiger's mouth.
It was later discovered that she had completely overthought it.
Including Ren, this group of people are all "big talkers". They talk about all kinds of nonsense. Their words are usually very arrogant and evil, but they don't take any action.
Especially in the past few days when we were looking for the ancient town of Sui, when we passed several small islands, Wenxi and the others, not to mention robbery, paid honestly for meals and drinks, but at most they would spit and haggle.
Robin was still a little confused,
Although the Straw Hats don't know how to burn, kill, and loot, most pirates are actually scum. In her opinion, the Lionheart Pirates have done nothing bad except shouting.
Oh, it’s not like I didn’t do anything.
A group of pirates blocked the way, clamoring to take down the cannon king's dog head, forcing him to hand over Roger's treasure and the supreme sword. As a result, the Lionheart Pirates took advantage of them and looted them. Everyone was thrown into the trap.
The sea is feeding fish.
But Robin has no sympathy for those people.
Even Zoro, if someone dared to steal his famous sword, he would kill them without saying a word.
The current core business of the Lionheart Pirates is to fight against evil.
Half an hour later, Renn, Robin, Wen Xi and a group of others found the abandoned church.
Under the moonlight, the church's surface was covered with vines, like countless devil's tentacles wrapped around it. Coupled with the dark doors and windows and the smell of rot and mold, it looked eerie.
Whoosh~
Before anyone could enter, without any warning, several bats suddenly flew out and attacked everyone!
They are larger than ordinary bats, have weird and disgusting scarlet lines on their bodies, and are extremely fast. They open their mouths with fangs and aim at everyone's necks!
Boom!
As soon as Ren raised his hand, the thunder rolled and condensed, and the incandescent lightning pillars broke away, hitting the bats accurately!
The electric light flashed, and the terrifying plasma instantly cooked the bats, and they fell to the ground one by one with electric arcs.
"Those blood-sucking demons that the residents call them, can't they be them?"
Robin looked at the burnt bats at his feet and said.
These bats with strange blood patterns on their bodies are larger than human heads, and they dare to attack humans. They are indeed cruel, but...
"It should be like this. Mutated vampire bats are quite scary to ordinary people."
Master Renn put down his palm with electric light flowing out of it and shrugged, "But for pirates, it's a piece of cake."
The residents of Sleeping Town are ordinary people, and the monsters they know may not be very strong. At least for the Lion Heart Pirates, they are just mutated animals with a little strength.
"rumble……"
However, the next second, Ren was slapped in the face, and the entire decaying and dilapidated church trembled.
With the sound of flapping wings, countless black shadows rushed out from the doors and windows of the church. They were densely packed and the number was frightening. The overwhelming mutant bats opened their mouths and rushed towards everyone like a billowing black tide.
"Fuck! So many?" Wen Xi was startled.
"..."
Robin's face also turned pale. It wasn't that she was a coward, but that she had trypophobia.
This scene is very scary. Ordinary people would not be able to leave any corpses here, and even ordinary pirates would have to flee.
If that Devil Fruit is hidden here, it's not surprising that it hasn't been obtained by anyone.
There are so many vampire bats that even an ordinary naval vice-admiral may not be able to deal with them easily.
"MD, are you entering a bat nest?"
Ren's face darkened and he was very unhappy. As soon as he said it was a piece of cake, they came and slapped him in the face.
He had to admit that this was not a trivial matter, at least it was a moderate one.
Boom!!
As soon as Ren raised his hand, there was a loud sound in the sky, and the violent thunder plasma was released from his arm, turning into a thunderous sea and flooding the black tide like a dam opening to release water!
The incandescent thunder sea light liquid boiled completely, swallowing and melting those bats just like the sun melting ice and snow!
Not to mention the corpses, almost as soon as they came into contact, they were reduced to ashes by the thunder.
The thunder sea and the black tide of bats collided with each other, and countless electric lights burst out and danced wildly. The bats were like moths flying into the flames, destroying themselves.
But soon, they couldn't stand it anymore and fled in panic.
All living creatures are capable of fear. Even if they are killed in large numbers, no matter how ferocious they are, they will give in.
"Isn't this the thunder fruit of yours?"
Robin looked at the powerful gunner next to him, his beautiful eyes filled with curiosity.
If it hadn't been clearly stated in the newspaper that the Artillery King could open space gates and project weapons, she would have thought that he was a natural-type person with the thunder fruit ability.
"Want to know?"
After using thunder to destroy or scare away the group of bats, Renn grinned at the curious Robin, "Lie down on my bed at night and let's talk in depth, and you'll know."
"What you think is beautiful, if you don't say it, don't say it."
Robin glared at him, was too lazy to pay attention to him, opened the door and walked into the church.
"Look carefully, don't miss the corners or the basement."
Dozens of thunderballs appeared on the palm of Ren's hand, and he controlled these veritable "light bulbs" to float to every corner, illuminating the dark and gloomy interior of the church.
Wen Xi and others looked excited and started hunting for treasure.
Unfortunately, everyone spent an hour and only dug three feet of the ground. They searched the entire church and found nothing of value, except a pile of rags.
"Let's go and look for those ruins."
Ren was not depressed and left with everyone.
Although there is a legend that a priest got rid of vampires in the church, it does not say that the Devil Fruit must be there.
Compared with churches where people once stayed, those ancient ruins are more likely to hide treasures.
They came here just to investigate one by one and not miss any suspicious places.
The group continued to set off, and along the way, in addition to bats, snakes, frogs, poisonous insects and other dangerous creatures, they also encountered a green-eyed wild wolf.
For ordinary people, this place is indeed quite dangerous. No wonder no one in the town dares to hunt.
But Ren and the others are just ordinary people.
Not to mention the mere mutant wolves and bats, even the ancient ability user Drought Jack and the phoenix Margo can't stop them.
"This is the last place."
Looking at the morning light on the horizon, Robin wiped the sweat from his forehead.
She was a little embarrassed at this time, her face was dirty, and there was a lot of dust on her clothes. There was nothing she could do, many ruins and buildings had collapsed, and even underground, it was not easy to search.
After searching all night, I finally found it.
"Well, I'm finally done."
Ren's hair and clothes were also covered in dust.
After all, he didn't dare to violently demolish the treasure for fear of destroying it. Fighting upside down was a technical job, and he couldn't divide the money and fix the points, so he still had to investigate slowly.
"Damn it, I'm really unlucky." He couldn't help but complain.
The Devil Fruit is here as expected, but after eliminating all wrong options, it was found at the last ruins. Such luck...
There is no doubt that he is definitely not a child of luck.
If Robin and Luffy came here to hunt for treasure, he doubted they could win the prize in one go.
The last ruins are a cave entrance deep in the mountains. Before entering, the surrounding area is quiet and dark, as if it is connected to an abyss.
"Let's go."
Robin gasped and said that with the Gun King around, she wasn't worried about any danger.
"Well, let's go in quickly!"
"I'm hungry. I haven't had breakfast yet."
Wen Xi, Marcel and others nodded and said.
I discovered for the first time that fighting against each other... well, treasure hunting is quite tiring.
As usual, Renn took the lead to clear the way, passed through the tunnel, cracked the traps, and then Robin interpreted the mural text. In this way, everyone arrived at the center of the ruins without any surprises.
In the center of the ruins, there is a pile of treasures, gold coins, jade, gold and other items, which emit an intoxicating light under the "light bulb" released by Ren.
"Yeah! This alone is worth the trip!"
"That's great. Just by visual inspection, there are still 200-300 million Baileys."
Seeing this pile of treasures, everyone became excited and couldn't help but hurried over and started searching.
Ren and Robin didn't even take a second look at the gold ornaments, gems, and some strange treasures all over the floor.
Only when he sees something like a box will he open it and take a look.
"Boss, I found a strange fruit, look, is it this!"
Suddenly there was an excited voice coming from the side.
It was Wen Xi. He picked up a rectangular box from a corner and was giggling happily. The box had been opened, and there was a Devil Fruit inside.
"Cultural man, please identify it."
Ren took the box and came to Robin.
She carefully picked up the devil fruit, looked at the shape of the fruit and the "Arabic grass-like" spiral pattern on it, and smiled slightly:
"This should be it, animal type, bat fruit, fantasy beast type, vampire form, it can be called one of the most valuable devil fruits!"
"Hey, vampire form is indeed an ability that can make people go crazy." After confirming that it was correct, Renn grinned.
The evaluation of being the most valuable cannot be overstated.
Animal type·Bat Fruit·Phantom Beast Species·Vampire form, a very unnatural ability.
The person with the ability of this fruit can absorb the vitality of others by sucking their blood, allowing them to return to their youthful appearance. Even their abilities can be restored to their youthful state and remain youthful forever.
You can also create darkness at night, allowing yourself to hide in it so that your opponents can't find you.
He didn't know if it meant immortality, but the vampire form could definitely live for a long time, just like a real vampire.
Just being forever young and having a long lifespan is enough to drive many people crazy, not to mention the "vampire form"'s combat effectiveness and functionality are also extremely powerful.
If Ren were from this world and asked him to choose a devil fruit, he would definitely eat this one.
What dark fruits, thunder fruits, and shaking fruits are not worth mentioning in the face of longevity.
Of course, for Ren, who actually has more choices, this fruit is useless.
"Hahahaha... Come on, Red Earl, let's start the world's top war with me!"
Ren held this powerful phantom beast fruit and let out an arrogant laugh.
This big bargaining chip, specially used to make things happen, was finally obtained.
When the time comes, he will most likely be able to call on the Golden Lion, the Red Earl, Pluto Rayleigh and others to form the strongest group of senior citizens to show off to the Navy Headquarters!