"Splashing..." When Fang Yi reached the side of the warship on a lifeboat, suddenly, the life rope on the warship was thrown down by itself, as if to make it easier for him to board the ship.
"Who's up there?" The life rope couldn't have been lowered for no reason; it was lowered just when Fang Yi arrived. This proved that there must be someone or something up there, constantly keeping an eye on him.
"Wangzai, go!" After checking his equipment, Fang Yi was no longer that scared.
Compared to before when he knew nothing, now he was certain that there was definitely something on the ship.
What humans fear the most is the unknown. Only the unknown is truly terrifying.
"Little guy... Now it's up to you! If something approaches, remind me!" After boarding the warship, Fang Yi looked around and found that this was indeed the warship that had docked beside the Oro Jackson during the day.
"Xiaoyi... Have you found anything?" At this time, Roger and his men also came to the side of the warship and were about to climb up along the life rope.
"Nothing, Captain!" Fang Yi turned around and shouted to Roger below.
"Woof woof..." Just as Fang Yi turned around, Wangzai suddenly barked in one direction.
Without saying a word, Fang Yi immediately grabbed the dagger in his hand and started to be on full alert.
"Xiaoyi... What's going on?" Roger seemed to have heard Wangzai's barking and was afraid that Fang Yi might be in danger, so he shouted loudly.
But Fang Yi didn't answer.
When Roger and his men reached the warship, they found it empty. Moreover, not only had Fang Yi disappeared, but Wangzai was also nowhere to be seen.
"What the heck's going on? Where's Xiaoyi?" Yamon, who came along, climbed onto the ship and didn't find Fang Yi's trace. He asked in surprise.
"Dunno. We didn't see Xiaoyi when we got up here!" Roger shook his head and said with a frown.
"Xiaoyi~~" Hearing this, Yamon shouted loudly.
But there was no response on the empty ship.
"It's really strange... Maybe he went to the cabin first. Everyone, let's go and look for him together!" After looking around, Roger said.
"Roger, there's something strange here. Xiaoyi couldn't have disappeared for no reason. Everyone, be careful!" Relying on his beast - like intuition, Yamon seemed to sense that this ship was different.
"Clang~! Thud!"
Just then, everyone suddenly heard a noise coming from the stern of the ship.
"It's Xiaoyi!" Yamon took the lead and ran towards the stern. Roger and the others immediately followed.
When they reached the stern, they indeed saw Fang Yi and Wangzai.
"Xiaoyi! Xiaoyi! Are you okay?" Seeing Fang Yi lying on the ground, Yamon quickly went over to check on him.
"Um... Teacher Yamon?" Fang Yi slowly opened his eyes and saw Yamon looking a bit anxious.
"Xiaoyi, are you okay? Who attacked you?" Yamon finally let out a sigh of relief when he saw Fang Yi waking up and asked.
"I don't know either!"
Fang Yi shook his head and said, "Earlier, Wangzai seemed to have discovered something. Just then, I heard the captain's shout. I was slightly distracted and suddenly felt extremely sleepy. Then I fell asleep right away. I didn't feel like I was attacked!"
"Indeed, it wasn't an ordinary attack. There are no external injuries on Xiao Yi, and neither on Wangzai!" The ship's doctor who had followed them over was carefully examining the still unconscious Wangzai. He nodded and confirmed in reply.
"That's strange. What on earth attacked Xiao Yi?" Roger said, rubbing his chin in confusion.
"I feel... it's a bit like a ghost!" Fang Yi swallowed hard and said.
"Ghost?" Everyone almost simultaneously turned to look at Fang Yi.
"Let me make it clear first. I really didn't believe in ghosts before!" Fang Yi said after thinking carefully, "But at that time, I'm sure it wasn't a human in hiding who attacked me. It was more like some kind of spiritual entity. I didn't feel a thing..."
Just when everyone was feeling at a loss, suddenly they seemed to faintly hear singing.
"Is this... the mermaids' singing?" Langram listened carefully and said in surprise.
"The mermaids' singing?" Everyone looked at Langram, seemingly waiting for him to explain.
"Yes. It's said that a long time ago, the mermaid clan had beautiful singing voices. This kind of singing could make people unconsciously get lost in it. They could even use this singing to control the surrounding marine creatures!" Langram nodded and said.
"Could it be that the navy on this ship was killed by the mermaids?" Everyone was a bit incredulous. They had once been to Fish - Man Island. Unlike the violent fish - men, those mermaids were quite gentle.
"But if it was the mermaids, then what attacked me?" Fang Yi frowned and asked.
No one could answer this question, and they also had no idea what to do now.
"Thud..." Suddenly, there was another sound coming from inside the cabin, as if something had fallen.
"Let's go and have a look!" Roger's eyes sharpened and he said.
So everyone headed towards the cabin. Fang Yi also carried the unconscious Wangzai and followed the group.
But when they reached the cabin, they didn't find any problems, nor did they find anyone.
"The result is still the same!" Roger frowned and said, "What on earth is wrong?"
There were more people here this time than during the day, but the result of the search was still the same, still nothing was found.
"Captain!" Just then, Roger suddenly heard Fang Yi's shout.
"What's that?" When everyone came out of the cabin room, they saw that Fang Yi and Wangzai seemed to have discovered something.
"It's a secret passage. There should be an additional layer at the bottom of this ship!" Fang Yi thought for a moment and said, "After I woke up just now, I felt... as if something was guiding me, so I just came here!"
"Step back. I'll open it and take a look!" Roger nodded, gesturing for Fang Yi to step back a bit. After all, no one knew what was down there.
"This is..." After the secret passage was opened, everyone was extremely surprised.
"Unexpectedly, it's a water prison!" Langram immediately recognized what was behind the secret passage.
"A water prison? Is it used to detain people here? This is too sloppy, ain't it? What if the prisoner drills a hole in the ship's bottom? That'd be bad!" Fang Yi said in confusion.
"This isn't an ordinary prison cell... It's designed for pirates with Devil Fruit abilities! After all, seastone is too rare. So after the Navy captures pirate Devil Fruit users, they'll lock them up in this kind of water prison to suppress their Devil Fruit abilities!" Langram shook his head and explained.
"So... there might be a pirate with Devil Fruit abilities down there?" Fang Yi frowned and said.
"Let's just go down and take a look and we'll know," Roger said with a smile.
He wasn't a Devil Fruit user, so he wasn't afraid of the sea water.
Not long after, Roger, who had gone underwater, brought up a dead male pirate's body that didn't seem to have been dead for long.
"He's already dead!" Langram shook his head after a brief examination.
But just then, Wangzai suddenly started barking crazily at the body.
"Everyone, be careful!" Fang Yi, having had relevant experience, took a step back immediately and warned everyone.
But the scene that followed shocked everyone.
A transparent figure that looked exactly like the body Roger had fished up slowly began to float in the air. The figure seemed to have seen its own body and showed a sad expression on its face.
"What... what is this? Is it a soul?" Even Roger had never seen such a scene before, so he was stunned for a moment.
"Thank you for fishing my body up. I'm a pirate and also a Devil Fruit user. After the Navy captured me, they locked me up in the water prison. But my ability is very special. It allows my soul to leave my body and move freely! So when I still had the strength, I let my soul out of my body, and that's how I ended up like this!"
The floating transparent man used the sea water to write on the ground.
"So... you in your soul state killed the Navy here, but didn't have the ability to free your own body, and eventually your body drowned?" Fang Yi blinked and asked tentatively, "So what's your situation now? Are you dead or alive?"
"Of course I'm dead!" The pirate's soul continued to write on the ground, "I can feel my soul power fading. If it weren't for being next to my body, I probably wouldn't even be visible to you! And even now, my soul power is still fading!"
"So... after you met us at the port, you controlled this warship to follow us?" Roger asked curiously.
"Since you're also pirates, maybe you can help me free my body from the water prison!" The other party continued to write.
But Fang Yi found it hard to believe. If this soul could control the warship, then rescuing its own body shouldn't be a problem, right?
The other crew members listened carefully and didn't say a word.
However, it seemed that the pirate soul noticed Fang Yi's confusion and continued to write on the ground, "My body is completely immersed in the sea water. I can't reach it at all! So I have to trouble you guys!"
"So it was you who attacked me earlier?" Fang Yi stared at the pirate soul and asked.
"Yes. I originally planned to use my soul power to control you to open the water cell. But unexpectedly, my remaining soul power was too weak, while your soul power was quite strong. As a result, I was forced to separate from you when we reached the stern of the ship, and almost all my remaining soul power was consumed!" The pirate soul didn't hide anything and answered all the questions from Roger and Fang Yi one by one.
Finally, the pirate soul gradually dissipated in front of Fang Yi and the others.
"I really didn't expect that there would be such a fruit ability that can allow one's soul to leave one's body!" On the way back to the Oro Jackson, Fang Yi couldn't help but sigh with emotion.
"Hahaha... What a pity. It would be great if there were really ghosts!" Roger grinned and laughed.
"Captain, are you thinking of catching a ghost to be our partner?" Fang Yi's mouth twitched involuntarily and he asked.
Because he thought of a certain rubber - man who seemed to like to find some strange guys to be his partners.
"Hahaha... Captain, if you really find a ghost to be our partner, I'm afraid Xiaoyi will ask to get off the ship before we reach the next island!" Without waiting for Roger to answer, the other pirates laughed out loud one after another.
Fang Yi argued a few times, but it didn't seem to have much effect. So he was too lazy to explain further. Anyway, the fact that he was afraid of ghosts seemed to have been forcibly established.