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That strange sound immediately made Rojen and Jason exchange glances.
"Th-this necklace, help, help me…"
The man who had been flipped over looked pale, his lips dry and cracked, his eyes dim and unfocused, as if he could lose consciousness again any moment. Gritting his teeth, he squeezed out these words through his lips, then his head dropped, and he passed out.
"So it's not a squeak, it's this!"
Only then did Rojen and Jason understand, their eyes naturally drawn to the necklace tightly clenched in the young man's right hand.
A green heart-shaped jade pendant, strung together with fine gold threads, still shone with a green luster despite the desert surroundings. It was clear this necklace was quite valuable.
What puzzled the two was that, according to the words of the uncle driving the car, this group was obviously attacked by desert bandits. Yet the necklace in this kid's hand remained intact , quite a miracle.
"Captain, look!" Jason suddenly seemed to notice something and pointed ahead.
Rojen's gaze shifted, and his eyes narrowed.
"These guys are bandits!"
A glance revealed five corpses lying ahead, all with fierce and ugly faces. Yet now, they were sprawled lifeless on the ground.
What surprised Rojen and Jason was that on each corpse's chest and forehead was a small circular bloodstain. At a glance, it looked like they had been shot dead by a single bullet.
"It was this kid!"
With an interesting gleam in his eyes, Rojen scanned the young man lying on the ground again. Not far from the young man lay a semi-automatic rifle broken in two, and spent shells scattered nearby.
From the distribution of bodies at the scene, he quickly drew the conclusion: these five bandits were all killed by this young man.
"Jason, carry him onto the car, give him some water, and bandage his wounds. This kid isn't badly injured; he fainted mostly because of dehydration and some other unknown reasons." Rojen's eyes flickered as he gave the order to Jason.
Jason responded with a sound, easily hoisted the young man onto his shoulders, and headed to the car.
"You guys… you're going to bring disaster upon yourselves!" The middle-aged uncle said anxiously.
"Uncle, don't worry, just drive." Jason laughed heartily and patted the uncle's shoulder.
The middle-aged uncle sighed helplessly, glanced at Rojen who was checking the young man's injuries, and stopped arguing.
Though these two seemed friendly on the surface, the uncle could sense a fierce aura about them , a unique feeling honed by his many years traveling the desert.
The bells on the camels' necks jingled as the convoy slowly set off again.
Three hours passed in the blink of an eye.
"Hū hū hū!"
The camel carriage shook, and Rojen and Jason inside heard unusual noises from outside.
They exchanged glances, and Jason quickly lifted the carriage curtain.
"Uncle, what's going on?" As he spoke, Jason's mouth dropped open in shock.
"S-sandstorm!! This is bad!" The uncle's face was panic-stricken, eyes filled with terror.
Ahead of them, an immense sandstorm stretching hundreds of meters raged violently, roaring across the land.
The howling wind and swirling yellow sand resembled a furious dragon in the desert, whipping up a storm with every breath. It was clear that everything in the terrifying sandstorm's path was swallowed whole, as if the dragon was devouring the world.
"This really is a serious problem!" Jason's voice trembled.
No matter how strong he was, facing such a massive natural force was awkward. One gust of wind carried the force of a thousand tons , it could easily sweep him off his feet and blow him away to parts unknown.
"Th-this is not a sandstorm!" At that moment, a weak voice sounded. Jason turned to see someone appear beside him.
"It's you, kid! You woke up so fast!"
"I'm not a kid. Call me Trens."
The voice came suddenly from the injured young man.
Rojen, who was just about to step out from behind, almost spat out his drink when he heard that name.
People from the One Piece world naturally wouldn't know the meaning of those three letters combined. But to Rojen, it sounded very familiar and even friendly.
"Trens, what did you mean just now when you said this isn't a sandstorm?" Jason asked curiously.
The raging yellow sandstorm outside was clearly a great force of nature.
"It's a person. One person caused it."
"We… were harmed by that guy."
Trens' eyes showed some fear, but more so, anger.
"A person?" Rojen narrowed his eyes and looked again at the immense sandstorm outside.
"That can't be, right? For a human to create something like this, it's hundreds of meters wide and could easily destroy an entire town."
Jason said in disbelief.
"No, Jason, this sandstorm in front of us might really have been caused by a human." Rojen suddenly said. "Moreover, that person, we've both seen him before!"
Jason's eyes flickered with surprise. "Crocodile?"
"But I've seen him fight. This immense sandstorm doesn't look like something he'd cause!"
"You forgot, he was only on the sea at that time. And here, this is his territory." Rojen said softly. "In this desert, his power is practically limitless. Every grain of sand is his weapon."
Jason's eyes widened in shock at those words.
"That guy actually has that kind of power."
"But, no need to worry." Rojen smiled lightly, his expression relaxed.
"Uncle, keep moving forward. No need to worry about the sandstorm."
"But!" The middle-aged uncle was still fearful.
"Let's go."
Rojen's gaze hardened as he said seriously.
Under Rojen's intense stare, the uncle shivered instinctively, feeling a natural urge to obey, unable to resist.
The camel bells jingled again as the two vehicles slowly moved closer toward the sandstorm amidst the fierce winds.
"That person can control the desert, how can you still dare to move forward?"
Inside the vehicle, Trens said in shock.
Having seen that terrifying power firsthand, he instinctively feared it. Though they were only affected by the ripple of that power, he was the only one left alive.
It was easy to imagine how much pressure and terror it would be to truly confront him.
"Relax, kid!"
Jason patted Trens on the back.
"By the way, why were you willing to die rather than let go of that necklace?"
If it weren't for us finding you, after half a day or a day, you'd have been buried by the desert, and no one would've even known you died.
(End of chapter)