[One Piece] Inferior Star

Chapter 358 The Test in the Dream

I'm really not kidding, I said... this world of dreams...

Ace's footsteps became heavier.The "test" Mrs. Shi Jiang mentioned, in short, is throwing herself into the dream world, only telling herself to walk along the blue-green light, and then there will be nothing.

There is nothing in the dream world, and when it comes to blue-green light, most of it is emitted by a strange crystal cluster.The color of this light is exactly the same as the color of Mrs. Shi Jiang's blind eye.How should I put it, it looks a little uncomfortable, but I can't tell what's wrong.

Ace didn't know how long he had been walking, but fortunately he would not feel hungry in the dream world.He met many spirits or demons along the way, and they all knew who they were and their purpose without exception.Some of them are rhetoric, some are sincere, and some directly use violence. They have only one purpose, and that is——

Beat yourself up, then occupy your body and go outside.

Fortunately, I heard Frey talk about the world of dreams before.He also said that you can't trust anyone here, because anyone may be a demon who wants to deceive you and then kill you to occupy your body and go outside.But he didn't emphasize how strong the devil is...

All of them are like monsters.But then again, they are monsters.It's a devil.

Ace paused for a moment to catch his breath.He kind of felt that the fog around him was obstructing his breathing.But when you raise your hand and touch the position of your heart, you can feel the existence of the person who gives you strength.All this is for her, so it is worthwhile and must be successful.

Enough things have failed.If you continue to fail, you won't even be able to see yourself.Ace stepped forward again, it should be almost the end, right?The blue-green light... over here...

"You are already very tired."

A voice appeared in Ace's ear.This has happened several times, and these demons always appear nearby out of nowhere.Ace ignored him and continued on.

"Even if you keep going, you may not get what you want."

The demon has the appearance of a beautiful woman, but this is not her fixed appearance. Ace knows that they can change into any shape at will, whether it is male, female, old or young, even animals, monsters and the like.

"Madam Shi Jiang didn't tell you one thing."

Finally, the demon said something that the previous demons hadn't said. She floated in the air and followed Ace leisurely, and said in a leisurely tone, "That's what happened to her blind eye."

"Huh?" To be honest, Ace was a little curious about this matter, and he glanced at the demon.This... This dress is too exciting, it is worthy of being a devil.The demon's skin is a strange blue-purple color, with a pair of very large and streamlined horns on her head, milk tea-colored hair is very fluffy, she wears (and only wears) made of extremely thin gold wire clothes—

Normal people don't dress like this.But because she is not human, you can't force her.

"When she was an oiran... oh, that was a long, long time ago... before this country became what it is today." The devil said to himself, "she is the most beautiful oiran, all men Everyone spends a lot of money on her and flocks to her. However, she has a special talent and can see through the hearts of everyone who covets her beauty."

"Watching those dirty souls every day, no matter who it is, will get tired of it. Until one day, a man appeared. Unlike the men who paid a lot of money to see her every time, that man didn't have that much money. He seemed to be Borrowing money is the only way to take a look at Hua Kui. But she is the only person Hua Kui has seen for a long time who is not interested in her beauty, but in her heart."

"Every time I look up at you sitting on the top of the city, I think, obviously you are the most beautiful person in the veranda, but why do you feel so lonely in your eyes?"

Speaking of this, the demon turned around, and her face changed into Mrs. Shi Jiang's when she was young, wearing a beautiful oiran kimono, her black hair tied up and an exaggerated headdress, and she was holding a paper umbrella in her hand.This is indeed Qingcheng's beauty, no matter who it is, they will want to take a second look.Ace even felt that this beauty was a bit dazzling.

"The oiran was moved by this sentence. How naive, obviously she is an oiran, and she also has extraordinary talents, but she will still be confused by such meaningless rhetoric. Human beings are really stupid."

The demon tilted her head slightly, she approached Ace, climbed onto his shoulder, and even raised his chin with her slender fingers and said, "Always believe that such a thing as love really exists."

"..." Ace blocked the demon's hand and kept her away from him, "Has Mrs. Shi Jiang been deceived?"

"Ah. Of course. That man is just more able to talk sweet words and cover himself up." The devil didn't mind, she resumed her previous appearance, and continued, "But the oiran is a crazy, inextricable love Fucked him. That love was too blind. The man made a promise, saying that he would redeem himself for the oiran if he saved enough money, and the oiran believed in him and waited every day—”

"However, what she waited for was the news that the man had been arrested for stealing Fengxing's money and was going to be executed."

The devil laughed, and she said: "The oiran is panicking, she has lost contact with her family long ago, no one will help a geisha save a condemned prisoner. She can only rely on herself, she can only... rely on us. "

"She...couldn't be..." Ace said, "Did she sacrifice something?"

"You understand quite well~ Mrs. Shi Jiang was born with talent, just like you, she tried to pay the price to get closer to the dream world, closer to us, and tried to use magic to fulfill her wish." The devil raised his eyebrows. , she said, "She was convinced that the man stole the money to redeem herself, because she was pregnant with the man's child at that time. The mixture of emotion and guilt... made her even more blind."

"—she came here too."

Saying that, the demon pointed forward.Ace saw a white altar behind the mist, and on top of the altar was a golden dagger.The demon said: "The end of the test. This is the ritual of 'enchanting'. It can allow ordinary people... to break barriers slightly, gain the power of dreams, and realize wishes!"

"This blue-green light is the only magic that can bring out the dream world. As long as you use it to replace a part of your body, you can get closer to the dream world. This is the ritual of 'enchanting'."

So that's it... I want to use this kind of blue-green light to replace the eyes... How do I do it?There's a dagger here, is it supposed to gouge out the eyes and stuff the glowing ore in?Is this the price Mrs. Shi Jiang said?Ace seemed to understand, and he said, "What about the end? Why did Madam Shi Jiang fail?"

"She failed the final test."

A coquettish smile appeared on the demon's beautiful face. She looked at Ace with great interest and said, "The previous ones are nothing worth mentioning. This final test is a prank by God (father)."

"Really. You told me so much, didn't you get to the point?"

You should also propose other options to me and try to trade with me, right?After all, all the previous demons were like this.Ace said, "If you finish talking, I'll leave."

"..." What a stupid man.The devil narrowed her eyes, and she said, "I want to see your ending now. Rather, when you know that what you are looking for does not exist, it is the easiest time to be invaded. Then Now is my chance."

Makes sense.But I will not lose.Whatever the test that follows, I will not lose.You're going to lose your hopes.Ace didn't wait any longer. He walked up to the altar and looked left and right. There was no blue-green light in front of him. This should be the end point.

Is this golden dagger really used to poke eyes... Isn't this too bloody?Do I have to do it myself?Forget it, there is no way to back down now.It's just an eye, for the sake of fragrance, everything...

"Ace?"

"Hey?"

Just when Ace was about to reach for the dagger, he heard Youxiang's voice, raised his head and saw Youxiang appeared in front of him at some point: "Youxiang? You, you are really Youxiang, right? ?”

"Of course it is!" Stupid!Youxiang looked at Ace strangely, and she said, "Why is Ace here...um...what is this place?"

You Xiang looked around, saw a strange altar with a golden dagger on it.Speaking of which, this altar...is the same as the altar with the rebirth gem when I first met Rossi.Is it the same?

Youxiang looked at Ace again, and raised her hand to touch his face: "It doesn't seem like a dream...Why did Ace come to the dream world so awake? It's dangerous?"

"Ah, I noticed..." It was indeed dangerous.Can't tell.I can't tell if this is real Youxiang or a trick of the devil.Although some demons have turned into Youxiang before, this one is completely different!This is too similar to the real one!

"Then what are you doing here stupidly! Wake up quickly~~" Big idiot!Youxiang looked at him with her hips crossed and said, "Don't worry about me... I've already succeeded as an undercover agent~ Hmm... Is it considered an undercover agent or not? In short, Mr. Kushiro is willing to help me."

"Who is Kuangshilang? You Xiang! This name sounds very bad!" Ace almost forgot that this was a dream, he said, "Where are you? Sabo and I will look for you after this, okay?" good?"

"I told you not to worry about me~~" Youxiang elongated her voice, and she said, "What is Ace doing in this kind of place? This dagger looks so weird... Let's stay away from it."

"Wait, wait a minute, Youxiang...is it really you?" Ace was still not sure.

"It's me~ Ace is so stupid! Just ask me to confirm after waking up! Use Matthew's communicator!" Youxiang reminded, she took Ace's hand and was about to leave. "This place is really strange. I'll talk about Ace later. I don't think this place is good! Let's run away!"

"You Xiang!" She didn't listen to me at all!It took me a long time to get here, at least listen to me—huh?

At this moment, Ace suddenly found that he couldn't move his body, and it became difficult to breathe. Youxiang turned around when he realized that he hadn't left: "Ace? What's wrong?"

"You Xiang...this is..." What's going on... completely...

"Can't you go?" The demon just now appeared again, and she climbed up Ace's body from behind. It seemed that her touch made Ace completely immobile and even knelt on the ground, "The final test has just begun."

"Devil..." Youxiang took half a step back, "What, what do you want to do? Let Ace go!"

"No way." The devil smiled slightly, and she said, "This is God's (father's) test. Since it has already begun, it cannot end halfway. Come on, make your choice. Beloved..."

As soon as he spoke, the demon stretched out his finger, and the golden dagger floated up, flew to Youxiang and fell into her hand: "This person is willing to pay for one eye for you... as long as you pay this price, you and him will be together." You will get what you are looking for. Whether it is happiness, ordinary, or the power to protect someone—this is a gift from God."

"What..." What kind of gift... Are you... Youxiang looked at the dagger in his hand in surprise, Ace... What did you do?What do you mean by price?

"If you refuse, the final test will fail..." The demon smiled again, and she raised Ace's face, who was bowing his head because of difficulty breathing, and said to Yuxiang, "You will also stay in the here."

"I... am I, the price of failure?" Although Youxiang didn't know what the final test was, she still understood it.

"Because there is no greater price than losing what you want." The devil smiled, and she said, "It's okay. There's nothing difficult about it. It's just an eyeball. Only one eye can make your wishes come true. "

"Ace..." What kind of wish did you make... Youxiang approached him with a dagger, then knelt down in front of him, looking into his eyes who had difficulty breathing and couldn't speak, and said , "You want to protect me, right? You know what a demon is like... You're so stupid."

"There...you are fragrant..." Let me protect you... Please... There is no need to hesitate in this kind of thing!As long as I protect you... all...

"Stupid." Really stupid, really stupid~~ Youxiang looked at him, and felt a little happy again.In order to protect myself, I made a deal with someone I don't know... Ace is always so rampant... Youxiang raised her hand to touch his face, and then raised the golden dagger——

"That's right, there is no need to choose at all!" One eye and two lives are not an equivalent exchange at all!Whoever chooses eyes!The mistake is that you will believe in demons in the dream world!Although the devil can't lie, but the devil's mouth will always have only words of charm—huh?

The golden dagger was inserted straight down, but what it pierced was not Ace's eye, but the devil's eye!The demon backed away in shock and surprise, then screamed and turned into green smoke!Youxiang grabbed Ace forcefully and dragged him off the altar!

As soon as he got off the top, Ace immediately regained his ability to breathe. He took a breath and immediately blocked Youxiang behind him: "Ah, I'm suffocating! I thought I was going to die!!"

"Ace is such an idiot!! So what exactly did he do to become like this??" Youxiang said while hammering him, "Obviously Frey insisted not to listen to the devil every day!! "

"I just, want to find a way to protect you, Youxiang!!" Ace turned around, grabbed Youxiang's hand and said, "I can't stand it anymore! Do you suffer every day? But I don't I can't feel it!! I...I don't want to...I'm clearly by your side, but it feels like there's a windless belt between us! I'm sad too!!"

"Ace..."

"I want to protect you! It's like you protected me...you gave me your heart, I have to do something? And...and I also...I don't want to see you like this every day Scared, so uncomfortable. I want to do something, but I can't, because I can't do anything now..."

It's so uncomfortable, every time I think of this, I feel uncomfortable, your heart is hurting!Very special pain... I can't bear it anymore, I can't go on like this: "Let me protect you! Youxiang!! I also want to tell you...no matter what it is, I can do it for you too! !So, let me do it! Just let me do it, okay?!"

Idiot... idiot! !Obviously... it's enough for now... it's enough for you to be here...

Youxiang puffed up her mouth, and she raised her hand to hold Ace's face and said, "But, I want to see Ace happy. Smile at me happily. That's enough. That way you won't feel scared." and uncomfortable."

"I also want to see Youxiang happy, I want to see Youxiang smiling at me happily..." You are an idiot!You are stupid little cauliflower!Ace moved closer to Youxiang's face, and said, "If Youxiang doesn't smile, I won't be able to laugh either. If I can't do anything, Youxiang will think I'm useless one day."

"No~ no."

"I would think so." I already feel like I'm pretty useless.Ace said, "I saw... the way Youxiang was scared of something I couldn't perceive at all, and the way she covered her ears to escape the sound I couldn't hear at all. I watched it for so many years. I started , and even wanted to escape it. I thought that I just need to remember Youxiang’s smiling face...then leave Youxiang in the safest place and give it to someone better than me...it will be fine."

"But deceiving myself will only become more and more painful. I will not run away like before, nor will I try to push you to Chris, a perfect guy who is ordinary, stable, and can give you a stable life. I Wanting to take my responsibility, I want to make up for all the previous evasions..."

"I have a bad memory, so I will find that I can't remember the smiling faces of You Xiang. And when I look back, I find that You Xiang is not smiling at all. Then I realize what the hell I am. How stupid. If I don't do something, I will never see Youxiang's smiling face again, thinking of this makes me more painful than when I was shot through the heart by Sakalski."

"So let me protect you, let me do something, eyes or whatever, no matter what the cost, I just want to protect you, I don't want to see you cry again, I don't want to see you squatting in the corner Cover your ears and tremble at everything I don't know. I want to go to you at that time, I want to pass through the 'windless belt' between us, and really go to your side."

"I'm stupid, You Xiang, I'm just an idiot! So I can only use this method... I can only think of this method to get close to you! I can only... I can only do this!!"

What a fool!I can only think of this method!So you are an idiot! !Stupid... so stupid! !Youxiang thought so in his heart, but hugged his neck without saying anything, Ace also tightened his arms and hugged Youxiang almost off the ground: "...Did I make you cry again?"

"No." I didn't cry~ Youxiang said, "Does Ace feel a little closer to me?"

"I don't know. I just don't think it's enough." No matter how tight the hug was, it wasn't enough.Ace buried his face in Youxiang's hair, he said, "I want to see Youxiang smile at me."

"Then just tell me! Do you have to sacrifice an eye to the devil? Ace?"

"If you want to protect the treasure, you must have such awareness! Dad told me!"

Rampage guy... always has been, since day one.In this way, according to his own thoughts, he rushed to my side regardless of the reason.Always do the 'straight line' thing...

"... Just now, when that demon was talking to me, I saw a phantom." Youxiang calmed down a little, and she said, "A very beautiful girl was blinded by a man holding that dagger. "

Huh?Could it be... Mrs. Shi Jiang?

"That may have happened in the past. The girl's expression was very sad, very painful...and very disappointed. So I think it was wrong to hurt Ace at that time." And I definitely couldn't do it.Youxiang said, "We should have succeeded...the final test."

"Hey? Really?" I didn't feel any difference at all!is that a lie?

"Ace is really slow~~~" Hey... Youxiang stood on tiptoe helplessly, she carefully looked at the left eye of Ace who raised her head, there seemed to be a blue-green light entrenched in it, " It's been a little different now, Ace."

"where?"

"It seems... closer to Ace!" Youxiang laughed.

Really... smiled at me.Very good.Ace also laughed: "This is in a dream. I'll find you later, okay? Wait for me."

"Yeah." Youxiang nodded, and she said, "Well, I...I'm very happy! Ace told me so much today...I know what Ace thinks, so I'm very happy."

"I'm sorry. I didn't know how to talk to you before. After all, I'm just an idiot...and I'm not as honest as Luo. Just scold me."

"Ace! Stupid!"

"Yeah! Youxiang is right!"

"Sue to grandpa!"

"Ah! Then don't do it! Youxiang! Can't it be our secret?"

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The author has something to say:

Ace suddenly praised Chris while talking.

Chris: I'm perfect so you hate me?

Ace: Yes, why are you dissatisfied?

From beginning to end, the devil never said a word like "you need to dig out your eyes with a dagger", she just said that you need to offer an eye, and how to offer it is all in the imagination of the people who listened to her.So she didn't lie, she just uttered "charming words".She is inducing people to kill each other, causing people's thirst for life and causing people to fail the test.

The final test is really a test of 'the other person'.

People make wishes to God, but is the wish itself looking forward to the person who made the wish?If it is, then the wish will be granted, if not, both parties will pay the price, one for its stupidity and the other for its betrayal.

So the final test can be successful as long as it proves that the wishes of both parties are consistent.The situation of Youxiang and Ace is that they both want each other to be happy.And if one party picks up a dagger and attacks another person, it means that the attacking party values ​​his own safety more than the other party.It can be said that demons and daggers are also part of the test.What needs to be overcome is ultimately human nature.

As for Mrs. Shi Jiang... After all, this is the time of dreams, and getting her eyes hurt here won't really hurt her body, so she's just blind.It can be understood that this part of the soul is gone, so it still loses its function.