Night in the Graveyard (New book seeking collection, recommendations, clicks)

Gurgle--

A series of sharp cramps in his stomach jolted Bai Junyi from his crushing despair. He licked his cracked lips and peered through the cracks in the wall at the world outside. It was nearing noon, and smoke from cooking fires drifted across Frost Moon Village. The mouth-watering aroma of food made Bai Junyi's already starving stomach churn with acid.

Without realizing it, he had gone a day, a night, and an entire morning without eating. After what happened yesterday, he hadn't been able to think about food, and he had spent the entire night in a daze, unable to rest, which only left his body feeling even more hollow. If this continued, he might starve to death before Kudri even arrived to kill him.

After a moment of hesitation, Bai Junyi stumbled to his feet, his frail frame looking as if it could collapse at any moment. Leaning against the rotting wooden wall, he took a step toward the door.

"Creak--"

With the harsh sound of the door opening, the midday sun flooded into the dim shack. The sudden, blinding glare made Bai Junyi feel dizzy.

After taking a moment to recover, Bai Junyi headed straight for the small forest behind the village. There were still some fruit trees there, and even in this autumn harvest season, plenty of fruit remained. While it wouldn't be as filling as catching fish by the sea, his current weak body was incapable of the strenuous labor required for fishing.

His small body walked slowly along the village path, drawing no attention from others, who couldn't be bothered to notice a helpless child.

Watching the villagers gathered in small groups on the street, a look of confusion appeared on Bai Junyi's perpetually lowered face.

What on earth had happened? Why were there so many people on the street at this hour?

Soon, Bai Junyi learned the truth from the villagers' conversations.

"What a pity. The dojo master's daughter was only ten, wasn't she? How could something like this happen?"

"Indeed, a life cut short. I heard she was a true genius at swordsmanship. Only ten years old, and her skills could already defeat adults."

"Yes, I heard that too. But Master Koshiro and his student Zoro must be devastated."

"True, you could often see Zoro and that girl Kuina practicing swordsmanship together."

"..."

Has the plot reached this point already? Is Kuina dead? Bai Junyi thought, though a moment later, he offered a bitter, self-deprecating smile.

What did any of this have to do with him?

He was already struggling to survive; half of the time limit given by Kudri had passed. In another day and a half, he would be dead. How could he care about the progression of the plot or whether Kuina was dead or not...

Wait...

Bai Junyi's figure came to an abrupt halt. His expression shifted rapidly, flickering with uncertainty as hesitation and struggle played across his youthful face.

A genuine genius of the sword.

As far as Bai Junyi knew, she had dueled the future great swordsman Zoro over 2,000 times without a single defeat. Her talent for the sword was, if anything, even greater than that of Roronoa Zoro.

She could defeat adults at age ten.

And she was dead!!!

With these factors combined, a terrifying idea began to rise in Bai Junyi's mind, one he could not shake no matter how hard he tried.

Bai Junyi's expression gradually twisted.

Madness, ferocity, guilt, killing intent, hesitation, and anger flashed across his face, finally settling into a look of grim determination and guilt. He turned and looked toward the dojo in the distance, his eyes filled with remorse.

Then, without looking back, he headed toward the orchard. Even if he wanted to carry out the insane idea in his mind, he had to fill his stomach first.

Dusk approached, the sun dipped behind the mountains, and darkness once again descended upon the land.

In the cemetery in the woods behind Frost Moon Village, the crowd of mourners had gradually dispersed. The last to leave was a small boy with rare green hair, his face streaked with tears but making not a sound. Led by a middle-aged man in a kimono, he left the graveyard, leaving the eerie site to return to silence and hide within the darkness.

This silence lasted for half an hour.

"Crunch--"

The sound of a branch snapping underfoot broke the stillness. A small figure emerged slowly from the woods outside the cemetery. Judging by the dew on his clothes, he had been waiting there for a long time.

The newcomer carried a shovel and walked slowly to Kuina's tombstone. As he stepped out from the cover of the trees, the moonlight spilled onto his face, revealing a delicate-featured child with bruises on his skin—it was Bai Junyi.

Bai Junyi had arrived hours ago, waiting until the crowd left and another half-hour had passed to ensure no one else was around before choosing to act.

He stared deeply at the tombstone for a long moment before gritting his teeth. Carrying a shovel nearly as tall as himself, he circled the tombstone and stood at the mound behind it.

"Hello, Kuina!"

Bai Junyi whispered to the mound, closing his eyes and standing there for nearly a minute.

"Hoo--"

He let out a heavy breath and opened his eyes, his gaze a mix of guilt and a desperate desire for strength. He drove the shovel hard into the ground. The soil of the freshly filled grave was loose, and he didn't need much effort to dig out the first spadeful.

And so, under the cover of the pitch-black night, the small figure began to dig away the newly piled earth, one spadeful after another.

Although the soil was fresh, it was extremely muddy from the recent rain. After nearly twenty minutes of digging, a rectangular pit about a meter deep appeared before Bai Junyi, with a wooden coffin resting at the bottom.

Thump--

Bai Junyi jumped down without hesitation. Once he found his footing, he vigorously rubbed his muddy hands against his clothes to clean them. Only then did he reach out to gently push open the coffin lid, a thought flashing through his mind.

It's fortunate that the world of pirates doesn't have the custom of nailing coffins shut, or I would have wasted so much energy trying to open it...

Shaking the impractical thought from his head, Bai Junyi's gaze fell upon Kuina's slender body. She was dressed in a white, short-sleeved shirt and brown cropped pants. Her hair was medium-length, and she looked full of spirit, though the slight swell of her chest added a touch of feminine grace to her appearance.

A handsome face, a high bridge of the nose, fair skin, and eyes tightly closed...

Bai Junyi stared for a long time, engraving every strand of Kuina's hair and every inch of her skin deep into his mind.

After a while, Bai Junyi moved; he climbed straight into the coffin, pressing his entire body against Kuina's cold yet miraculously supple frame.

Clothes gradually fell away, and two naked bodies embraced; Bai Junyi gazed tenderly at Kuina's tightly closed eyes, then lowered his head, using the tip of his tongue to slowly pry open her sealed lips.

Lips met, tongues intertwined, saliva mingled, and they sucked with fervor... a kiss to last an eternity, feeling like a fleeting moment yet also like a hundred years passing in the blink of an eye; as their lips parted, a thread of crystalline nectar was drawn out!

Lowering his head once more, Bai Junyi's tongue and lips kissed every inch of Kuina's skin, from top to bottom, leaving nothing behind—not her palms, not her soles, nor the mysterious Nether Spring...

Perhaps due to the side effects of the mysterious fruit, Bai Junyi's nine-year-old body already possessed an instinctive reaction...

The coffin lid slid shut without a sound... Under the hazy moonlight, in the eerie graveyard, within the narrow confines of the coffin, the air grew thick with passion, as if bringing a touch of warmth to the gloomy cemetery.

A legend began here, and a mysterious union was thus forged...