Chapter 143: Awakening

Margaret’s body shuddered, and she asked in disbelief, "Granny Nyon, are you saying he... he is a man?"

Granny Nyon rolled her eyes. "I’ve lived for sixty or seventy years, and I’ve crossed more bridges than you’ve walked roads. Of course I know the difference between men and women. I knew this brat was a man the moment he arrived. On the contrary, you lot groped all over him for ages."

"But isn't our country forbidden to men?" Margaret asked weakly.

Granny Nyon looked surprised. "Didn't you say this brat is a distinguished guest of Her Majesty the Snake Princess? Could it be that you're lying to me, girl?" Granny Nyon wore a meaningful smile. "The ancestral teachings clearly state an absolute ban on men."

"No, no, no... He... He really is a distinguished guest of the Snake Princess," Margaret said with a guilty conscience. The country had centuries-old ancestral teachings; once a man set foot here, he would be executed. Had she known he was a man, she wouldn't have saved him and instead let him fend for himself.

"Since he's a distinguished guest of the Snake Princess, that settles it. As long as the Snake Princess permits it, even a pig could prance around the country as it pleases."

"Hahaha, thank you, Granny Nyon. I'll take him back to recuperate first." Margaret fled in panic with Shu Mingyuan, terrified of slipping up. After all, the so-called distinguished guest was entirely her own fabrication; if the Snake Princess were to fly into a rage, she would definitely come to a bad end.

"Don't forget my consultation fee of two hundred million Berries."

Margaret: "..."

Stealthily and with a guilty conscience, Margaret returned to her quarters. She looked with a complicated expression at the man lying on her bed. Remembering how she had felt him up and down yesterday, and how the strange parts of his body represented the subtle differences between men and women, her face instantly flushed bright red.

Rubbing her face hard, Margaret sighed. Things had come to this, and she could only keep it a secret. If everyone, or worse, the Snake Princess, found out that she had brought a man back to the country and saved his life, there was a high probability she would be directly put on trial.

"Sigh..."

Margaret was deeply worried. This guy was currently sleeping like a dead dog, while she was stressed out of her mind over this ridiculous mess.

"Before the man wakes up, should I just kill him with an arrow?"

Margaret sprang up abruptly. The snake wrapped around her waist transformed into a rigid bow, and pulling an arrow from the quiver tied behind her thigh, she nocked it and aimed right at Shu Mingyuan's head.

"Don't forget my consultation fee of two hundred million Berries."

Granny Nyon's words suddenly echoed in Margaret's mind, and she remembered that she was now saddled with a massive debt of two hundred million because of this guy.

"Ahhhhh, this is so annoying! It's all because of you!"

"Men really are no good!"

"Well, let him wake up first, pay off Granny Nyon's consultation fee, and then I'll kill him myself. Yes, that's what I'll do!"

Margaret went through an intense mental struggle, finally lowering her bow and arrow, and sat down on the floor, hugging her knees and staring blankly.

The trouble she brought upon herself had to be resolved even through tears.

She now deeply understood the meaning of that phrase.

"I saved him, after all. To kill him now would make no sense emotionally or rationally. Ahhhh, whatever, I won't think about it. When the man wakes up, I'll go straight and tell the Snake Princess. Whatever punishment awaits me, I'll accept it."

Margaret took a deep breath, glared fiercely at Shu Mingyuan lying on the bed, and then walked out.

...

The coast of Amazon Lily.

Elder Nyon led a group of warrior women to the spot where the Ark Maxim had crashed. When they saw the colossal ship adorned with massive amounts of gold, they still couldn't help but gasp.

With so much gold, how much would it be worth if sold?

Not to mention that the ship itself was an extremely valuable item.

"Let's go... Let's go inside and take a look."

It wasn't until they saw the natural Devil Fruit crackling with lightning in the core engine room that Granny Nyon nearly fainted from overwhelming joy.

"Is this the Rumble-Rumble Fruit of the Logia class?"

A ship fell from the sky, and it even came with an even rarer Rumble-Rumble Fruit—something invincible and impossible to buy with money! This was simply too blissful!

Could it be that Amazon Lily was a nation chosen by the Sea God? Was that why they were being favored to this extent?

Granny Nyon eagerly reached out her hands toward the core engine, wanting to take out the Rumble-Rumble Fruit. Once successful, it meant that Amazon Lily would likely produce another powerful warrior, at least no weaker than the Pirate Empress, perhaps even stronger. That way, even if Boa Hancock lost her status as one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea, she wouldn't fear any invaders.

After all, external forces could never be relied upon; only one's own strength was fundamental.

However, the moment Granny Nyon thrust her hand into the core engine center, the Rumble-Rumble Fruit suddenly erupted with a brilliant burst of lightning, paralyzing everyone and sending them crashing to the ground.

This control room was forged from massive amounts of gold, which possessed exceptionally good electrical conductivity. As long as the Rumble-Rumble Fruit released even a tiny bit of energy fluctuation, it would generate a very powerful electric current.

After the paralysis wore off, the group of warriors stationed at Amazon Lily slowly climbed back up, looking at this rare Logia-class Devil Fruit with lingering fear.

"Let me."

A warrior woman coated her hands in Armament Haku, attempting to insulate the electricity. However, when she extended her palms into the engine center just the same, the Rumble-Rumble Fruit erupted with an even more powerful electric current.

And so, all the women were paralyzed and knocked to the ground once again.

By then, they realized that relying solely on their own strength was not enough to take the Rumble-Rumble Fruit away.

Granny Nyon was frustrated, but also delighted. Since this colossal golden ship had appeared on the coast of Amazon Lily, everything on it naturally belonged to Amazon Lily. Once Empress Boa Hancock returned, all these difficulties would be effortlessly resolved.

The golden ship was too huge for them to move, so Granny Nyon could only dispatch a squad of warrior women to stand guard there and protect it closely.

...

That night.

In Margaret's bed.

As her boundless thoughts gradually returned, Shu Mingyuan abruptly opened his eyes. His memory remained frozen in the excruciating agony of enduring the severe side effects of the red chili pill; the painful memories that had brought his body to the brink of collapse were completely etched deep into his soul. Given another choice, he would rather die outright than experience that again.

"Am I dead?"

"Why is my body healed?"

"Where is this? This isn't the Ark Maxim!"

Shu Mingyuan suddenly snapped to his senses, terrified that the World Government might have finally caught him and locked him away in a laboratory to be experimented on like a laboratory mouse.

He immediately activated his Sharingan, and everything in the pitch-black night became clearly visible. This seemed to be... a woman's boudoir?

Shu Mingyuan reached out and groped around, his palm suddenly touching something soft.

"Gulp... No... Way?"