Chapter 2356 Poison <TOC> Chapter 2358 Chase
Translator: SumTLMan
“Can you detoxify him?” Birch asked urgently. Although he was not particularly fond of Renko’s behavior, Captain Barlow’s teachings had made him understand Renko’s importance and irreplaceability. Moreover, their strength was weak, and if discovered, Renko was the only one capable of dealing with the pursuers.
“Yes, can you detoxify him, Little Flea?” Barlow also hurried over.
Little Flea was silent for a moment, then shook his head: “Without being able to determine the type of poison, I cannot detoxify him. Moreover, even if we knew the type of toxin, without the necessary antidote ingredients and laboratory tools, it would be impossible.”
“Does that mean Mr. Renko… is beyond help?”
Little Flea glanced at Renko, who was pale, and remained silent.
Renko said, “You’re Little Flea, right? Can I call you Little Flea? Just tell me straight, if I’m going to die, at least I’ll have time to leave some last words.”
Little Flea didn’t respond but pondered for a moment before taking out a stethoscope he carried with him, placing it on Renko’s chest, and carefully listening to his heart sounds.
After a while, Little Flea said, “The sound flowing through the blood vessels is loud, like a torrent. Maybe there’s still hope.”
Birch’s eyes lit up: “Really?”
Little Flea nodded: “Mr. Renko’s physique is quite strong. Even for a toxin, it would take some time to fully invade. During this time, if we can find the corresponding toxin, I could formulate an antidote. It’s just…”
At this point, Little Flea paused and suddenly fell silent, lowering his head.
“What is it?” Birch asked anxiously.
Barlow patted Birch’s shoulder: “What Little Flea means is, to save Renko, we need to find the person who poisoned him and also must have the corresponding medical equipment. That is to say——”
“We have to go back to Dock 1.”
Go back… Birch was stunned. They had just escaped from Dock 1, and now they had to go back? How? With just a few of them, especially with Barlow injured and Renko poisoned, how could they possibly go back?
Barlow clearly understood Birch, seeing his puzzled expression, he knew what he was thinking.
“We definitely can’t go back now. Our only option is to wait… wait for them to leave this place, then quickly return to the Moonlight Toucan, where we have some medical equipment, to see if we can hold off Renko’s condition. Then, we will lead the others back to Dock 1!”
“Is that the only way?” Birch asked.
Barlow nodded: “There’s no other way. It’s impossible for just a few of us to break into Dock 1.”
“But, can we really defeat Manfred?”
Barlow stated, “We must fight even if we cannot win; it’s the only way. Most importantly, the current priority isn’t whether we can defeat Manfred, but whether Mr. Renko can hold on for that long.”
Everyone turned their gaze towards Renko.
Renko said, “I don’t want to die; I’ll try to hold on…”
Barlow looked deeply at Renko, and after a long while, he sighed, “You, why did you decide to follow us today? If you hadn’t come…”
Birch interjected, “If Mr. Renko hadn’t come, it would have been us who died.”
“This time, we owe our lives to Mr. Renko. It’s just that we didn’t expect the people on the Broken Blood to be so treacherous, to actually use poison,” Birch said with a look of indignation on his face.
Just before, they had gone to see that woman, but were accidentally discovered. About fifty to sixty percent of the people from the Broken Blood came out, and at that moment, Birch and Barlow were tightly surrounded by the people from the Broken Blood. Birch was nearly scared out of his wits, thinking that he was definitely going to die there. At this critical moment of life and death, Renko appeared out of nowhere, fighting against a hundred by himself, and rescued them.
They thought they could escape without worries, but they didn’t expect such an accident to happen.
Renko turned his head towards Birch, “If you’re grateful, remember what I’m about to say…”
Birch was stunned, “Huh?”
Renko’s pale lips slightly curved, “My last words.”
“If I die, I hope you can remember my words and do something for me. If I don’t die, then that’s another story.”
Without waiting for Birch’s agreement, Renko began to speak his last words in a trembling and faint voice.
Renko’s last words weren’t anything too impassioned, just a simple recount of his life and the dreams he might not be able to fulfill before his premature death. In the end, the request he made to Birch was also simple: if Birch had the chance to leave Ghost Shipyard Island, to pass on the news of his death to his distant family.
Everyone heard Renko’s last words, and no one spoke.
The air was heavy, whether due to the lack of airflow inside the stone or the collective heavy hearts of the people present.
At that moment, Renko smiled and turned to Barlow, “Captain Barlow, I haven’t asked you yet, what exactly did you come to Dock 1 for?”
Renko didn’t really care about the answer; he asked merely to lighten the mood.
“To see a woman,” Birch lowered his head, blaming himself, “It’s all my fault. I shouldn’t have encouraged the captain.”
Renko queried with a hint of curiosity, “Is she the woman the captain carried on his back before? Oh, I was wondering who this woman could be, as the captain seems to treat her quite differently?”
Birch and Little Flea also glanced over, recalling the urgency of the moment when Captain Barlow refused to abandon this woman without hesitation, indicating his extraordinary affection for her.
Barlow’s throat moved slightly as he advised, “You’d better keep your mouth shut now, don’t speak, to prevent the poison from spreading faster.”
Despite his pallor, Renko’s face bore a smile no different from any other day, “Even if I am to die, let me die knowing the truth.”
After a moment of silence, Barlow sighed and nodded gently, “Alright, I’ll tell you who she is.”
Turning his gaze to the woman lying unconscious behind him, a flicker of fanaticism and adoration inadvertently passed through his eyes, “You all know that I was a pirate before joining the Moonlight Toucan. However, what you might not know is why I became a pirate.”
Birch, playing along, asked, “Why?”
“It was to follow her. My becoming a pirate was because of her, and my leaving piracy was also because of her,” Barlow explained.
Flea’s curiosity about the woman’s identity was piqued, “Who is she, exactly?”
Barlow revealed, “You might have heard her name. She is the uncrowned Queen of the Blackberry Seas, Asbay.”
“Asbay?” Renko mulled over the name, “It feels familiar, as if I’ve heard it somewhere.”
After a moment of thought, Little Flea added, “I think I’ve heard of her too, just can’t quite remember.”
Asbay, Asbay.
Barlow continued, “She is the pirate queen I admire the most, my spiritual belief. That’s why I could never abandon her…”
Before he could finish, the ground suddenly began to undulate.
Everyone’s thoughts were immediately drawn back, and Little Flea gestured for silence, whispering, “Stop talking, it seems they’ve followed us.”
“As long as we stay quiet, they probably won’t discover anything.”
Everyone nodded in agreement, falling silent.
The air turned still, with only the sound of their pounding hearts audible.
The footsteps outside paced back and forth, making the brief moments feel infinitely stretched for those hidden in the stone cave.
“We won’t be found, definitely,” Birch prayed with hands clasped together.
Not just Birch, but everyone else was silently praying too.
They had covered their tracks outside, even the bloodstains were washed away by the water, surely leaving no clue behind. This was what they believed.
The events transpired exactly as they had anticipated. Some footsteps reached the edge of the stones but ultimately found nothing amiss and gradually receded.
“There’s nothing here; they must be further inside. Let’s keep searching!” someone shouted.
With a chorus of responses, they could distinctly hear the ground’s vibrations starting to move away, and the footsteps diminishing.
It seemed they had narrowly escaped this time.
The group exchanged looks, each face painted with the relief of having survived a close call.
However, their celebration was premature. Just as the footsteps were about to fade away, a voice suddenly rang out: “Is that the deputy team? What are you doing here? I just heard some noises near Dock 1, and saw some lights. What happened?”
“Oh, so you’re looking for them. Heh, I know where they are.”
When this statement was made, a flicker of confusion passed through the eyes of those hiding in the stone cave. Who was this speaker?
At that moment, Barlow seemed to realize something and whispered, “It sounds like Half-Ear.”
Previously, he had tricked Half-Ear into the woods and then sneaked into the dockyard. Unexpectedly, Half-Ear was now nearby.
Why would he claim to know where they were? Could it be that he had seen something?
As doubts swirled in their minds, the footsteps resumed, growing louder and closer: “When I was wandering in the woods just now, I happened to see them entering the stones. Oh, and the one leading them is Little Flea, our ship’s doctor.”
The moment these words were spoken, a flurry of questioning voices came from outside. But inside the stone, the faces of the group turned ashen.
Half-Ear was telling the truth!
He had indeed discovered their whereabouts!
Barlow’s face was particularly pale, as it was he who had lured Half-Ear into the woods. The irony was that Half-Ear had become the straw that broke the camel’s back.
“What do we do?” Birch was so frightened that he was nearly in tears, especially as the footsteps grew ever closer, like the Grim Reaper wielding his scythe, extending an invitation to death.
Little Flea also looked troubled. Although he had long considered betraying Manfred, he had not anticipated facing the crew of the Broken Blood as a traitor at this moment.
He knew all too well how Manfred dealt with traitors.
For a moment, Barlow was consumed by guilt, Birch and Little Flea were paralyzed with fear, but Renko’s expression remained unchanged, having resigned himself to his fate.
Observing his companions, Renko sighed softly and mustered the strength to sit up: “When I was at the Knight Academy, I learned a secret technique that can shield all pain, burn one’s will, and momentarily reach the pinnacle of individual strength.”
“So, leave the next steps to me. All you need to do is escape.”
Barlow looked at Renko with confusion, “Is this it? The secret medicine?” Renko nodded, pulling out his sword and prying open the hilt to reveal a red pill.
“This is it, the key to unlocking the mysterious. If I take it, I should be able to resist for a few minutes, buying you time to escape.”
Barlow asked, “Since it’s a secret technique, are there any side effects?”
Renko, skirting the issue, said, “For me, any side effects are irrelevant now.”
At that moment, Little Flea on the other side caught a whiff of the red pill, its pungent scent furrowing its brow slightly, “I think I’ve heard of this medicine.”
“It’s a toxic concoction… I’ve heard it contains a deadly poison, but after consuming it, one becomes extremely agitated, almost mad. However, once the effect wears off, death is certain.” Little Flea said, “In our line of work, it’s absolutely forbidden.”
“Is that true?” Barlow asked.
Renko hadn’t expected Little Flea to recognize the pill’s origin, but since it was identified, he didn’t hide the truth and nodded, “Little Flea is right. It’s both a divine medicine that burns the will and a poison that erodes the consciousness. Using it, I have almost no chance of survival.”
“But even if I don’t use it, my chances of survival are slim. With it, at least you have a chance to live.”
Renko looked at everyone, “I’ve entrusted my last words to you, and I’m waiting for you to bring news of my death back, so you can’t die.”
As everyone was about to speak, the stones above them were suddenly lifted.
The light from torches shone in.
“Ha ha ha ha ha, found you, you little bugs!”
With a series of taunts and malicious words, everyone was exposed.
Faced with layers of pursuers all around, everyone except Renko was petrified. Birch even felt a bit damp between his legs.
What to do, what to do? Birch looked around helplessly, ultimately turning his gaze to Renko.
“Renko, being poisoned must be tough, huh? Heh, if you weren’t poisoned, we really wouldn’t dare to chase you. But who told you to be careless?”
“Manfred has ordered, kill them all!”
“Oh, right. Don’t harm that woman, take her back. And Little Flea, don’t kill him either. Let Manfred personally teach him what it means to live a fate worse than death.”
Amidst the malevolent clamor, the large crew steadily approached.
The people huddled in the rocks glimpsed despair in their eyes.
Seeing this, the mocking voices around them grew even louder.
To instill greater fear, the crew’s footsteps deliberately slowed, aiming to exert a more formidable psychological pressure.
At this moment, Renko sighed softly.
He stood up, using his sword for support.
“Your opponent is me.”
Observing Renko, who trembled and struggled even to stand straight, a burst of laughter erupted from around.
However, Renko paid no heed to these sounds. Turning his head, he whispered to Birch and the others, “You must survive. Leave this cursed island alive.”
The moment his words fell, Renko swallowed a pill.
Two seconds later, his eyes turned blood-red, and his skin began to redden and sweat.
An unparalleled ferocious aura emanated from Renko.
At this, everyone was stunned; they were no longer facing a frail man but a beast from ancient times!
Renko took a deep breath, controlling the power surging within him, and dragged his knight’s rapier forward step by step.
As his aura intensified, reaching its peak, Renko, like a proud lone wolf, raised his head and charged into the midst of nearly a hundred men from the Broken Blood crew…