One Piece: The Archangel's Guide

Chapter 31: Blood Moon in the Sky

In the large kitchen of Avant Heim's cloud cave, Yelena tucked her high ponytail to one side of her chest and placed the cooked food onto plates. Then, she brought the food out to the main hall and set it before the waiting Louis and Uta.

"Alright, eat up while it's hot!"

"My cooking might not be the best, but at least it won't taste bad and waste food."

To this, Louis expressed no opinion. He wasn't picky about food; as long as it was edible, he wouldn't say a thing. Back on Baal, there was a guy with superb swordsmanship but terrifyingly bad cooking skills. The food he made was so awful that even the Lunarians, who prided themselves on being able to survive in any environment, couldn't stand it. That person had invited Louis to his home for dinner more than once, and Louis had never refused. Although his cooking was terrible, Louis could eat every dish he made without a change in expression. Since Louis wouldn't even refuse "dark cuisine," he certainly wouldn't say anything about Yelena's perfectly decent food.

"Isn't this delicious?" Uta's cheeks were puffed out, making her face look even rounder. She gave her evaluation in a muffled voice. It was clear her mouth was stuffed with food.

Yelena stared blankly at Uta's eating habits for a moment, but she soon smiled and said nothing, simply handing her a glass of juice.

On the other side, Louis also picked up his cutlery and began to eat at an unhurried pace. As soon as the food entered his mouth, feeling the taste on his palate, he realized Uta's words weren't just to comfort Yelena. The texture and flavor, while not quite "lingering on the lips and melting in the mouth," could certainly be called delicious.

...

After a while, the trio had all eaten their fill. They sat or lay on the sofa formed from the Island Cloud. Uta and Yelena began to chat about their upcoming adventure.

"Hey, Yelena!"

"Do you think we'll find some long-forgotten treasure on our next adventure?"

"Probably not. People have been sailing the seas for many years. If there was any treasure, it would have been found by now, right?" Yelena offered her opinion after some thought. "Even if there is, we might not necessarily be the ones to find it."

To this, Louis gave the two a smile. "Aren't the pirate ships all over the sea just moving treasures?"

"If you really want treasure, you can just take it from other pirates."

"But that would take away a lot of the fun of adventuring!" Uta retorted with her hands on her hips.

"Fighting other pirates is also a kind of adventure!"

"And we can't be lucky enough to stumble upon every treasure. We just need to always look forward to the next stop."

"What we gain is our fortune; what we miss is our fate."

Louis's view on things like treasure and money was indifferent. As he saw it, his current goal before the counter-attack was to leave his mark on this world.

Hearing his words, Yelena looked at Louis with a thoughtful expression.

Nighttime. The flying Island Cloud descended to the sea's surface.

Uta, carrying a backpack with a light short sword and a flintlock at her waist, leaped down from the Island Cloud and landed steadily on the sandy beach.

"Louis, Yelena, hurry up!"

Uta turned her head, excitedly urging her companions behind her. "This is the first stop on our journey! A memorable adventure!"

"Maybe we'll even run into some long-lost ancient creatures!"

"Coming!" Yelena, also carrying a large backpack and her war hammer, landed next to Uta.

Then, Louis landed softly. He looked up, facing a certain direction, his gaze seeming to pierce through the entire forest and land on the altar he sensed with his Observation Haki. Then, Louis turned to the two of them and said pointedly, "Have either of you heard any strange sounds?"

"No," Uta said, her face blank with confusion.

"No." Yelena followed the direction Louis had just been looking and tightened her grip on her war hammer.

"Good that you haven't..." Louis nodded. It was better for them not to hear those bewitching whispers.

Then, Louis took the lead, walking along the path at the end of the beach. As they walked, the once-faint path became darker under the cover of the tree canopy. The strangely shaped trees on either side became even more eerie in the night, their forked branches like gnarled demonic hands.

The next moment, Louis stopped and looked up at the sky.

The other two didn't understand why, but they also looked up.

They saw the moon, high in the sky, begin to change. The bright, clear moonlight turned a crimson red at a visible rate. A blood moon hung in the sky, dyeing the dim world a bloody hue. The crimson light shone down on the land, making the already strange path even more terrifying. As the moonlight shifted, the countless tree branches cast shadows on the ground like horrifying demonic hands, as if they were slowly reaching for them.

"!!" Uta's hair stood on end. She quickly drew the pistol and short sword from her waist, on high alert.

Behind her, Yelena frowned slightly. She didn't understand why the moon would turn red.

Just then, Louis looked at Uta and calmed her. "Don't worry, they're just shadows!"

Uta glanced at the demonic hands on the ground, then at Louis's serious face. In the end, she put away her pistol and short sword. Then, she subtly moved closer to Louis.

"Let's go. Keep moving forward."

The two girls looked at Louis's confident appearance. Out of their trust in him, they didn't ask any more questions and quietly followed his steps.

Soon, they arrived at an open highland. Standing on the edge of a cliff, they could see the entire island.

"Ruins!" Uta exclaimed.

Looking out, a stretch of dilapidated ruins stood in the center of the island. In the crimson world, three towering pillars were distributed around the ruins. In the distance, a small town was brightly lit. People holding torches were rushing along a path in the direction of the ruins.

The dilapidated ruins, the altar with the cursed sword, the three towers...

A flash of understanding crossed Louis's eyes. He remembered what this place was. Asuka Island.

And the whispers he had been hearing most likely came from that cursed sword formed from a war thousands of years ago—the Seven Star Sword!

A moment later, the look in Louis's eyes changed. This island had things that were out of place in this world's art style—shrine maidens and magical barriers. That's right, shrine maidens and barriers that should have appeared in a fantasy world setting.

And, if Louis remembered correctly, this island was supposed to be on the Grand Line...