Chapter 15: Infection
"What a tragedy, to be controlled and not even know it?"
Nicholas felt no sympathy for King Boss kneeling on the ground. In the Grand Line, if your Strength isn't enough, you don't even qualify as a pawn; at most, you're just cannon fodder to be discarded at any time.
"Nicholas! Is all of this your doing?!"
Greatly provoked, King Boss, who had initially regained his sanity, seemed on the verge of losing control again.
Nicholas had no intention of explaining. He directly sliced him in two with his sword and then walked towards the door.
After all, the continuous Wolf Howl echoing across the Island indicated that the Island was now filled with these Monsters everywhere.
Nicholas, having just taken two steps, suddenly sensed something. He turned his head and saw King Boss, now in two pieces, reaching out to grab his trouser leg. Seeing Nicholas's gaze, King Boss said with difficulty.
"Lord Nicholas, please save me and my Subjects. I can give you all the Wealth accumulated by the Royal Family over countless years!" After saying this, King Boss spat out a mouthful of Blood, looking at Nicholas with a hopeful expression.
"I really don't understand you Kings. When you're in power, you don't care at all about the lives of your Subjects, but when you're about to die, you want to be a good Monarch. How boring."
After speaking, he walked directly towards Bell-lin and the others without looking back.
Behind him, only King Boss's massive Corpse lay sprawled on the ground.
"Bell-lin, do you have results yet?"
Nicholas looked at the Werewolf Corpse in front of Bell-lin, which was already covered in colorful Fungi, and asked as if it were commonplace. Vistad, on the other hand, was poking at the Werewolf Corpse on the ground with his Axe, seemingly very curious about how this thing could suddenly transform from a human into another species.
Only Simon, watching the actions of his two Companions, felt that the Breakfast he had eaten today might be wasted.
"Soon."
Bell-lin replied without looking up. When that big idiot Vistad asked her how long it would take to analyze the results, she said two minutes, so she had to get the results within two minutes. There weren't many seconds left until two minutes, and she had no time to waste.
Seeing this, Nicholas, knowing Bell-lin's personality, naturally didn't say much. He looked at the Pirates, who had suffered heavy casualties, and said, "Go and get your Spoils of War. Take as much as you can, and don't think about embezzling the portion that should be handed over. Of course, you can try not handing it over and see if you can hide from the Lightning Strike above your head."
After speaking, he waved his hand, signaling his Pirate subordinates to plunder Spoils of War in the Castle. After all, being a Pirate was about looting, and this was also a way to motivate his subordinates to exert themselves in battle.
"Nicholas, things seem a bit tricky."
Just as the Pirates scattered to plunder, Bell-lin also stood up from the ground.
However, her calm tone didn't reveal any sense of trickiness.
"These people seem to be infected by something. Initial judgment suggests it might be some kind of Devil Fruit Ability. And with the infection, their life forms have also changed. The cells in their wounds can regenerate rapidly. It can be said that as long as it's not a fatal wound, these Monsters can quickly recover and regenerate.
However, their cells seem to have no resistance to silver. Wounds caused by ordinary Weapons usually heal completely within one to two seconds, but using Silver Weapon can prevent these Monsters' astonishing Vitality from exerting its regenerative Ability. In other words, the only advantage of Silver Weapon is that the wounds it causes are almost unhealable."
Bell-lin explained calmly.
"Damn, such terrifying things, can you not say them in such a calm tone?"
Simon was wiping the Sea Stone Bullet that Nicholas had blocked earlier. After all, this thing was quite rare.
But after hearing Bell-lin's words, he was immediately shocked. If this thing was really as Bell-lin said, wouldn't it be easy to destroy Islands, even the world?
"This Ability should have limitations, right?"
Nicholas asked in a deep voice. After all, if there really was such a bugged Ability, the landscape of the Pirate world would have changed long ago.
Just like when Luffy fought Golden Lion and the current Kid, and later Teacher Kaido, their Strength was weakened.
Just like Golden Lion with a ship's wheel stuck in his head still using his Devil Fruit Ability to carry such a large Island, and Teacher Kaido using flame clouds to lift Onigashima, it can be said that they have all been weakened to an epic degree. After all, maintaining Devil Fruit Ability requires a lot of Vitality.
"Yes, after these Monsters reach a certain number, even if there are more infections, no new Monsters will appear. And their Strength will also change greatly over time. In other words, the later the Monster is infected, the weaker its Strength. This may be limited by the Strength of the original source mother body.
Of course, even if they are weak, dealing with ordinary people is still easy. And after being killed, new Monsters will replenish them, always maintaining a certain number."
Bell-lin gave Nicholas and the others a science lesson.
"So, this Island is finished?"
Simon then looked directly at Nicholas and asked, "Captain, let's run away."
"As expected, it's an infection?"
Nicholas narrowed his eyes. From King Boss and his Guards turning into Werewolves, and then the Werewolves in Castle Staff uniforms that appeared later, he had this feeling.
It seems the person who created these things is not simple. Counting the thick fog that appeared on the Island and that long-range sniper shot, there are already three Strongest individuals.
"Bell-lin, do you have a solution?"
Nicholas looked at the disappearing fog outside and the carnage filling the Island that he sensed, and asked.
"Yes, although this infection is derived from Devil Fruit Ability, it is, in the end, just a contagious Germ. As long as we can formulate a Vaccine, it can be solved. But it will take time, about ten minutes."
"Alright, then let's wait ten minutes."
After speaking, Nicholas turned around, stepped over King Boss's Corpse, and sat on the Throne.
On a large ship several nautical miles away from Taji Island, three mysterious people wearing strange masks and shrouded in loose white robes were gathered in a Ship Cabin.
"I didn't expect Nicholas to come. What bad luck."
"Yeah, if it were Wang Zhi or John, maybe this plan would have succeeded. After all, it's about continuously producing troops at the cost of an Island."
"What's the use of saying this now? But how should we report this matter when we get back? After all, although Taji Island isn't one of those large Islands, it's still considered a medium-sized Island in the New World. If it's destroyed like this, someone will definitely be held responsible."
"Doesn't matter, this time it's a problem of intelligence error. What does it have to do with us?"
"Sigh, I originally thought we could rest for a while after this Mission ended. Looks like I was overthinking it."
"Hahaha, rest? Who knows what Rocks is thinking now. How many dangerous guys has he contacted already? I reckon we'll have a tough battle soon."
(End of Chapter)