Chapter 536 Romance
Kulikai recounted everything he had seen and heard during the past year here, including the approximate period of the Chongtian Current and the approximate intervals at which the Jidi Clouds passed through the Chongtian Current area.
It’s a pity that the information he provided was not accurate enough, and Zhang Daye and the others still need to verify it personally.
"'The sound of that gigantic golden bell resounded throughout the island, as if boasting to the people about the prosperity of this city in the past'... hiccup~ I really want to hear that beautiful bell sound with my own ears..."
As he had received the rare good news, Kulikai drank some wine and couldn't help but read a passage from Nolando's navigation diary to Zhang Daye and the others. He also wanted to tell them the story of Nolando and the great warrior Kalgara.
Zhang Da was also thinking about his next investigation plan, so he had no interest in the story he told.
Uncle Long was very interested in this kind of true and verifiable historical story, so he listened to him with great interest and asked for a copy of Nolando's navigation diary.
Kulikai readily agreed. In the past, this navigation log was the motivation for him to continue pursuing the truth, but now it has completely become his glory. He wanted the whole world to know that Nolando was not a liar, but a great explorer.
Several people were eating, drinking and chatting in the house, and the atmosphere was very good. However, Shark Chili and Rui Mengmeng from the diving team returned empty-handed.
Just as Zhang Da had guessed, they lost their way soon after they went out to sea. At first, they could use Gaya Island as a reference, but after they were far away, no matter how good Rui Mengmeng's eyesight was, her line of sight could not turn, and she could not tell the directions of east, south, west and north in the vast ocean.
Finally, they even thought of letting the flag demon, the tide-calling mermaid, float in the air to guide the direction. They tried to search for a while, but unfortunately there was no result. They had to rely on Zhang Daye's life paper to lead the way back.
Wendy and her friends in the flying group encountered similar problems. They originally wanted to fly higher and explore for a while, but Wendy said a storm was coming, so they had to return.
"It turns out there is such a convenient thing as Nan Nan Jian Niao!" Several eyes were fixed on Zhang Daye, and the meaning in their eyes was probably that you clearly knew it, so why didn't you say it earlier.
"Anyone want to play Landlord? How about 100 points? Or maybe Pai Gow?" Zhang Da thought he had wisely changed the subject, then said sheepishly under everyone's gaze, "I just didn't think of it. Maybe when Weiwei and Misaka come back, they can bring Nannan Mitori back with them."
"We're back!" Vivi's energetic voice came from outside the door. She and Misaka were both dirty, but obviously not injured. Only Kalu looked normal, but in fact he seemed to have been frightened.
"Quack~~" Kalu ran to Tom and complained that there were many terrible insects in the forest, such as huge spiders and centipedes, which scared him to death.
The others couldn't understand what he was saying, but Tom patted Carew's head to comfort him.
Perona asked, "Vivi, Misaka! Have you seen Nannan Mitori?"
"No." Weiwei shook her head, then happily took out a palm-sized rhinoceros beetle and showed off, "But I caught this!"
Misaka also took out a similar rhinoceros beetle. "Misaka also achieved the same result, beep~" Misaka said in a boastful tone.
"Ah~~" Perona said with some disgust. She hated these bugs the most. "Why are you catching this?"
"Because it's so handsome!" Weiwei showed the rhinoceros beetle to the others. "Look, isn't it majestic?"
Zhang Da didn’t quite understand what was so cool about the rhinoceros beetle. He thought only Luffy would like this thing.
"Actually, I used to hate rhinoceros beetles too. Even now I can't appreciate what's so cool about them. I think sharks look more handsome." Kabuda is a rhinoceros beetle. Shark Chili hates rhinoceros beetles because he always opposed him.
After everyone reconciled, Shark Chili reluctantly changed his mind about Rhinoceros Beetle, but Shark was still the most handsome. The body that the doctor helped him shape was the best and the strongest.
"I remember that the Big Nuclear People have a traditional armor that looks very similar to a rhinoceros beetle, which is why many children think rhinoceros beetles are cool. I think Weiwei has probably seen similar armor before?" Jackie Chan also had some understanding of the culture of the Big Nuclear People, and he answered the question that had been in Zhang Da's mind for many years.
This would explain why Luffy thought this thing was cool, even though he still couldn't appreciate it.
Kulikai was probably the only one in the room who understood Vivi's aesthetic. Even Misaka didn't understand - she caught rhinoceros beetles just because Vivi caught them, and as she said, she probably just wanted to show off.
So the two lucky rhinoceros beetles were released. Only then did Kulikai realize: "You two actually went to that forest!"
There were so many strange insects in that forest that even Kulikai might get hurt if he wasn't careful. How come the two little girls walked around in there and caught some insects and came back only a little dirty?
Before Weiwei could say anything, Wendy reminded her, "Uncle, it's going to rain soon. Don't you need to put away your clothes?"
"Huh?" Kulikai walked to the door and looked out. It was a sunny day, and there was no sign of rain. He asked, "Raining? When?"
"It's too late." Xia Lulu said for Wendy. She had just seen the scene of clothes being drenched in rain. It was completely meaningless to activate the prophecy magic in such an inexplicable situation. Xia Lulu was a little distressed.
Kulikai looked confused. At this time, heavy rain was pouring down, and the clothes that Kulikai had washed and hung out to dry were fluttering in the rain.
"You actually have the ability to predict the weather so accurately!" Kulikai looked at Wendy and Xia Lulu in shock. As someone who had sailed on the Grand Line, he understood too well the importance of this ability.
Think about it, the little girl seemed to say that a storm was coming at sea as soon as she entered the door, so that's why they came back?
As expected of the Amber Tour Group, even these little girls have special skills.
Kulikai looked at his wet clothes and spread his hands helplessly: "Thank you for your reminder, but it seems there is no need to collect them now."
"Anyway, whether it's looking for Nannan to see the bird or investigating the surging ocean current, let's wait until the rain stops before we do anything else," Kulikai suggested. "How about I tell you the story of Nolandu and Kalgara?"
Weiwei asked curiously, "Is that Mr. Nolando from the fairy tale?"
Because Zhang Da had already said on the boat that Nolando was no liar, everyone sympathized with his plight. Weiwei remembered that the man with the chestnut on his head was Nolando's descendant, so she considerately didn't mention the title of the book.
Kulikai was a little touched. He knew of course that the so-called fairy tale referred to "Norlando, the Liar", but the child actually used honorifics when mentioning Nolando's name. It turned out that all the people in the Amber Tour Group were good people.
"Yes, that's him." Kulikai nodded and began to tell the story recorded in the sailing diary, which was almost completely different from the fairy tale book.
Zhang Da simply listened along, thinking that he could fill in the details that he had forgotten.
Four hundred years ago, the Sandiya tribe living on Gaya Island was a very primitive tribe or village.
Their medical level is very backward. When they encounter serious illness or disaster, they can only ask the "priest" to pray to the "God of Kasi", and sometimes even have to sacrifice living people.
That year, the island suffered a disaster. Almost all the crops in the fields withered, and people contracted infectious diseases one after another. Even the priest fell ill and died. Before his death, he claimed that he heard the voice of God, who wanted a young girl to be a living sacrifice.
In order to save the village, Kalgara's daughter Musi semi-voluntarily became a "living sacrifice" to the god Kasi, who was actually just a very large snake.
Fortunately, Nolando arrived in time and not only saved Muse, but also helped the people here find a way to cure the infectious disease.
Of course, there were some twists and turns along the way, but during this time, Nolandu and Kalgara became friends, and Nolandu and his group were warmly welcomed by the Shandia people.
However, after a while, Nolandu and his men cut down the Shandian people's sacred forest - the Shandian people believed that the sacred forest was the place where the souls of their ancestors resided.
In other words, Nolando was equivalent to leading his men to dig up other people's ancestral graves and smash the ancestral tablets.
Since Nolando was the savior of the entire village, although everyone was angry, they could not do anything to him, but their attitude inevitably became cold.
Nolando felt that there must be some misunderstanding and wanted to find Kalgara to find out.
But Kalgara was also angry. He was an impulsive person. When he learned that his best friend had dug up the ancestral graves of the entire village, he naturally didn't want to see Nolando.
A few days later, Nolando, filled with suspicion and grievance, led his crew to sail out, taking nothing with him except the necessary food, including the gold given to them by the Shandia people.
Kalgara's daughter Musi couldn't bear to see the two good friends break up inexplicably, so she secretly went to Nolando to explain the reason without telling the villagers, and asked him why he cut down the sacred forest.
Nolando informed Kalgara's daughter, Muse, that the trees had been infected with the "tree fever" virus, the source of the previous epidemic in the village. If they were left standing, the previous epidemic would reappear, killing not only humans but also animals and plants.
Although he had such a reason, Nolando felt that he was really sorry for his friend's behavior of digging up his friend's ancestral grave without saying a word, so he ignored Muse's attempts to keep him and insisted on leaving.
Mus had no choice but to rush back as soon as possible to tell Kalgara the truth.
Kargara felt very guilty and quickly asked the villagers to ring Nolando's favorite golden bell to bid farewell to Nolando. He himself immediately chased after the ship and shouted apologies to the departing ship on the beach, asking Nolando to come back.
Kalgara said that he would always wait for Nolando here and would keep ringing the bell here to welcome Nolando's return.
Nolando was of course very moved, because he met a good brother who could forgive him even if he dug up his ancestors' graves. He cried and shouted that he would definitely come back.
According to the routine of general romance dramas, after the male and female protagonists experience misunderstandings and resolve them, their relationship will become even sweeter. Although Nolando and Calgara are both men, their friendship will be sublimated after this misunderstanding and they will become close friends.
However, accidents often happen before tomorrow, and half of the island where the Shandia tribe lives is blown into the sky by the strong ocean current, and the two good friends are ultimately unable to reunite.
Some people may think that Nolando's behavior is not very decent. Taking the king to look for gold without permission will trigger a war with the Shandia tribe.
But in fact, the Shandia people did not care about the gold. They had promised to give all the gold except the clock tower to Nolando, but Nolando was not so greedy, and because of a misunderstanding, he did not take any gold.
The most important reason was that if he wanted to go out to sea to see Calgara again, he had to get the king's permission. However, the last time he led his team out for an expedition, he brought back almost nothing except a bunch of stories. The only thing that could impress the king to send him out to sea again was the Golden Country.
But Nolando never expected that greed would make the king abandon the entire country and follow him to the dangerous Grand Route.
Unexpectedly, when I went back again, my friend and half of the island had completely disappeared.
When he was being executed, Nolando did not care about his own life, but was always worried about what had happened to Kalgara. He wanted to hear the sound of the golden bell again to confirm the safety of his friend.
Unknown to him, Calgara was leading his people in a battle for land with the Sky Islanders. Calgara's greatest wish was the bell tower of the Golden Bell, where there was a stone tablet guarded by the Shandians for generations, and also the most important agreement between him and Nolando.
Unfortunately, because they were unfamiliar with the environment of Sky Island and were not used to the fighting style of the people of Sky Island, the Shandia people suffered a great loss and were eventually driven out of their territory.
But their descendants did not give up and continued to fight the Sky Islanders, a war that lasted for four hundred years. To this day, the Shandians are still fighting to reclaim their land and to keep that promise.
Kulikai only knew the story up to the point where Nolando was executed, but the story between the two close friends still moved everyone and made them feel sorry for them.
Zhang Da also knew the rest of the story, so he suggested, "So, would you like to go to Sky Island with us? There, perhaps the descendants of Calgara are waiting. It would be nice to have our descendants fulfill the promise made four hundred years ago."
Weiwei, whose eyes were filled with tears just now as she listened to the story, immediately agreed: "Yes, Uncle Kulikai can go with us!"
"Descendants of Kargara... the promise of our ancestors..." Kulikai was a little stunned. He was still happy to know the truth, but now he thought about the promise that his ancestors had left behind, 'I will definitely return'...
Kulikai thought seriously for a while, and finally said: "I will go to Sky Island, but not on your ship."
"That's my own journey. Only by reaching that place by my own strength can it be truly romantic!"
