Chapter 59: District 21 (Fourth Update)
The rubber boat reached shore, and Su Xiao stepped onto the grass by the bank. A faintly unusual sensation came from beneath his feet.
Su Xiao lifted his foot, and several white threads stretched between his sole and the ground. This substance was similar to glue, but not quite as sticky.
Bubbles the size of washbasins emerged from the ground, detached themselves, and slowly floated upward.
Seeing these rainbow-colored bubbles, Su Xiao immediately thought of that old hag, Vice Admiral Tsuru.
Bubu Wang seemed to have heard of the Sabaody Archipelago bubbles for a long time. He leaped up and dove straight into a larger bubble.
These bubbles formed naturally. The "Yarukiman Mangrove Roots" beneath Sabaody Archipelago secreted natural resin, which, after absorbing a certain amount of air, created these bubbles.
These bubbles had a wide range of uses, from building houses to serving as transportation and coating ship hulls.
Over 60% of the ground surface on the entire Sabaody Archipelago was covered by natural resin. Only commercial districts, residential areas, and the like did not seep resin—this was the result of later modifications.
Su Xiao was temporarily unsure of his location. Sabaody had a total of 79 districts, meaning 79 small islands connected to one another, hence the name Sabaody Archipelago.
Districts 1–29 housed human trafficking shops, slave auctions, bars, pirate fencing operations, lawless zones, hospitals, and so on.
Districts 30–39 contained the Bubble Park, food streets, commercial districts, etc.
Districts 40–69 were for sightseeing, shipyard businesses, Marine garrisons, etc.
Districts 70–79 featured hotels, pleasure districts (flower streets), lover's lanes, etc.
In fact, Sabaody Archipelago could be divided into four major areas. The first major area was a chaotic mix of all sorts—without a certain level of strength, it was best not to enter.
The second major area was the commercial district, relatively safe, mostly filled with legitimate entertainment facilities.
The third major area was the residential district, the safest, housing over 90% of Sabaody's civilians.
The fourth major area was the gray industry zone. Most women dared not easily enter this area. During the day, there were few pedestrians on the streets, but at night, it was exceptionally lively.
...
Su Xiao's gaze swept around. Not far away, a red tree nearly five meters thick was marked with the number 30. This meant he was in the commercial district, a relatively safe area.
Since Su Xiao was already famished, he led Bubu Wang toward the island.
There was no need to worry about getting lost on Sabaody Archipelago. Every giant red tree had a number written on it. Unless one was severely directionally challenged, getting lost here was difficult.
Given how important Sabaody Archipelago was, when Su Xiao last entered the One Piece world, he had already checked the detailed information on Sabaody at the Marines.
If he remembered correctly, the food street was in the area of Red Tree No. 33.
After passing through District 31, Su Xiao arrived at District 33. Walking across a stone bridge, the aromas of various foods drifted from afar. Without a doubt, the source of the scents was the food street.
Five minutes later, inside the food street.
"Customer, that'll be 2,500 Berries."
"Someone's dining and dashing!"
"Sir, please don't push..."
The noisy voices of people reached his ears. The food street was unexpectedly lively. There were pirates with sallow complexions from long voyages at sea, as well as residents holding newspapers, queuing in front of roadside stalls.
The food street didn't have those high-end restaurants. What met the eye were two long rows of roadside stalls, with various eateries behind them. The roadside stalls were a means to attract customers—there were too many competitors on this street. If customers couldn't see the food with their own eyes, the competitiveness was clearly insufficient.
After giving Bubu Wang 500,000 Berries, Su Xiao walked into a seafood restaurant. Soon, all kinds of seafood were served before him.
He had to admit, the seafood in the One Piece world was very fresh. This world had neither pollution nor artificial farming.
After a hearty meal, Su Xiao leaned back in his chair, a cigarette dangling from his mouth.
Now that he had arrived at Sabaody Archipelago, the time limit for the Promotion/Main Quest Fourth Ring was about 11 days left. According to the mission information, those two Celestial Dragons would appear at least ten days later.
Based on Su Xiao's speculation, those two Celestial Dragons would arrive at Sabaody a few days early. Su Xiao certainly couldn't ambush them separately; he had to kill both in quick succession. This approach minimized risk.
Moreover, Su Xiao needed some scapegoats to ensure that after killing the Celestial Dragons, he wouldn't be hunted by the World Government immediately.
Su Xiao had already chosen his scapegoats. Several notorious pirate crews would arrive at Sabaody Archipelago in the near future. They were all good scapegoats.
Just as Su Xiao was pondering, Bubu Wang, who could barely walk from eating, came into the restaurant.
"Woof, burp~"
Bubu Wang seemed to want to express something, but his ending burp made it hard for Su Xiao to understand him immediately.
"District 21's situation is very special?"
Su Xiao looked at Bubu Wang with a puzzled expression. Soon, he understood what Bubu Wang meant.
Earlier, while Bubu Wang was sampling food from stall to stall, he had overheard some information from the dining civilians. It was that District 21 had become a complete mess.
If District 16 was a lawless zone, a pirate's territory, then District 21 was now a human forbidden zone. Not just civilians, even pirates dared not enter.
Originally, District 21 had many bars operating there. Now, the bar owners had all fled. During the day, there wasn't even a ghost on the streets, let alone at night.
District 21 was one of the larger areas on Sabaody Archipelago. Its neighboring districts were the hospital zone and the lawless zone. If something happened there, the Marines on the island wouldn't ignore it.
What Bubu Wang heard was that even the Marines now dared not enter there. Marines, pirates, civilians, reporters—no one dared to enter District 21. The only result of entering was being instantly riddled with bullets.
Su Xiao immediately thought of who had occupied District 21: the Contractors. Only Contractors would be so reckless as to turn a district of Sabaody Archipelago into a battlefield.
But the Contractors hadn't been fighting each other in Dressrosa. Now, they had traveled thousands of miles to Sabaody Archipelago to start a war? And why? Moreover, their travel speed was too fast. From Bubu Wang's description of District 21's situation, it seemed the fighting had been going on for days. Could it be that these people didn't need to travel but were directly teleported to Sabaody Archipelago?
Su Xiao opened the public communication platform. After all the Third Rank Contractors had returned, the platform had become much quieter.
Now, no Contractors were speaking on the communication platform. A total of 278 Fourth Rank Contractors had entered the One Piece world. Even if some had died in the Dressrosa naval battle, at least over 200 Fourth Rank Contractors should have survived.
Of those over 200 Contractors, not a single one was speaking on the platform. This was very abnormal.
Normandy (Rogue): "Seeking rogue team. Self-funded mandatory contract fees. Pirate Reputation distributed fairly."
...
Seeing this unusual team-seeking message, Su Xiao understood why District 21 was so feared. It was all for Pirate Reputation.
The top five in Pirate Reputation could receive high rewards. But what if one didn't make the top five? Would all efforts be in vain? Would Pirate Reputation be cleared directly? Su Xiao felt that was unlikely. When the One Piece world ended, the Contractors who hadn't made the top five should still receive corresponding rewards for their Pirate Reputation, just far less than the top five.