"Captain Carl, are you all right?"
Clay looked worried.
The moment he heard a loud crash from Captain Carl's room, he rushed over and smashed through the door.
But as soon as Clay entered, he saw the charred table.
"I'm fine. I was testing out a new move."
"Crackle!"
Carl looked down as a spark of lightning flashed across his hands.
"Captain, did you eat a Devil Fruit?"
This was the first time Clay had seen Carl wield lightning. His first thought was that Carl had eaten a Devil Fruit. After all, Devil Fruits came in all shapes and sizes, and their powers varied wildly. Lightning wasn't even that rare. Still, he was happy about it. Captain Carl becoming stronger was a good thing for him, too.
"More or less."
Carl didn't explain much. He didn't want anyone to know about the power he had now; he wanted to keep it as a trump card.
"By the way, how much longer until we get back to Hachinosu?"
Carl changed the subject and lowered his right hand. He wanted to know how long it would take to return to Hachinosu.
"Captain Carl, we ran into rough seas earlier, so it might take a little longer."
Clay hadn't expected the rough seas, but fortunately, they weren't too bad.
"That's fine. Safety comes first. There's no rush to get back."
"By the way, have you seen those two kids?"
Since they wouldn't be back at Hachinosu anytime soon, Carl thought of Long Yi and Long Er.
He wanted to study their physiques.
"Captain, you mean Long Yi and Long Er?"
"I saw them. They're well-behaved kids. They just finished washing up, and they're having their health checked by the ship's doctor now."
Clay wore a doting smile. For some reason, he really liked those two kids.
"From now on, you'll be in charge of them."
Seeing his smile, Carl thought that if Clay found the kids so endearing, he could take care of them from now on.
"Huh? Captain, I don't know how to look after kids!"
Sure enough, when Clay heard that Captain Carl wanted him to take charge of Long Yi and Long Er, he immediately looked troubled.
"Hahaha, it's settled. Come on, let's go see them."
Carl stood up, chuckled, and patted him on the shoulder. Without giving him a chance to refuse, he headed out first.
"Come on, Captain. Pick someone else! I can't do it."
Clay turned and followed him, protesting the whole way.
Clay didn't want two little tagalongs trailing after him. He had no experience looking after children. He liked them, sure, but that didn't mean he wanted to take care of two little kids.
But no matter how much Clay complained, Carl didn't answer.
"How are they?"
Carl went to the infirmary first and asked the ship's doctor.
"They don't have any illnesses. They're healthy, just a little malnourished."
When the doctor saw Carl arrive, he immediately stood up to answer. Since Carl had personally brought the children aboard, the ship's doctor had taken their care seriously. Still, he hadn't expected two such skinny kids to be completely free of illness. It struck him as odd.
Carl had sensed the unusual energy in their bodies and already knew they weren't ordinary. Naturally, he didn't share the doctor's confusion.
As people with special bloodlines, they only needed enough nourishment to quickly recover their strength.
"Come on, you two. Follow me to the mess hall."
"Yes, Lord Carl," Long Yi and Long Er said happily. It was their first bath in a long time.
They sniffed each other. A faint, fresh scent now clung to them.
It smelled much better than the stench that had clung to them before.
Carl went to the dining room and spoke to Long Yi and Long Er.
"Go get yourselves some food."
"Take only as much as you can eat. Don't waste any."
"All right, Lord Carl."
As soon as he heard Carl, Long Yi hurriedly dragged Long Er toward the kitchen.
He knew that they owed their new life to Lord Carl, and he was deeply grateful to him.
Long Yi and Long Er each carried back a huge platter, piled high with all kinds of roast meat.
"Eat!"
He mainly wanted to see whether the energy in Long Yi and Long Er's bodies would awaken after they replenished their strength.
At Carl's command, Long Yi and Long Er began gobbling down the food.
As he ate, Long Er started to cry.
"Thank you, Lord Carl. We haven't had a meal this good in ages."
As he spoke, Long Er remembered their time at the auction house, where they'd gone hungry for three days out of every four. Back then, they would tie ropes tightly around their stomachs and comfort each other, trying to forget how hungry they were.
"Thank you for taking us in, Lord Carl."
"All right, hurry up and eat."
"Yes, Lord Carl."
Long Yi and Long Er didn't waste any time.
They continued their feast.
As they ate at a rapid pace, Carl keenly noticed the faint energy in their bodies gradually growing stronger. As it did, it began to course through them.
Their bodies swelled rapidly, like balloons being inflated, gradually returning to a normal size.
He knew his guess had been right. Long Yi and Long Er definitely had special bloodlines.
Only people with special bloodlines could digest food so quickly and send its nourishment throughout their bodies, restoring them to peak condition in the shortest possible time.
An ordinary person might need ten days or half a month to recover, but people with special bloodlines could return to their best condition whenever they had food.
That was the allure of special bloodlines. Carl couldn't help thinking that this must be why Charlotte Linlin was always searching for people with special bloodlines to have children with.
But he couldn't tell which bloodline they had. Too many bloodlines had vanished from the Pirate World, and many had never even appeared in the original story.
"System, do you know what bloodline these two kids carry?"
"Host, they have one-third Dragon-Human blood."
"Dragon-Human?"
Carl had never even heard of that. As far as he could remember, there was no such thing as Dragon-Human blood in the Pirate World.
"There used to be a Dragon-Human Race in this world, but... In short, they are descendants of the Dragon-Human Race."
Carl understood. Something huge must have happened during the Void Century in the history of the Pirate World, wiping out many different races.
But many branches of those bloodlines had survived. He hadn't expected to be so lucky as to come across two children with Dragon-Human blood.
Then he carefully examined their heads.
Looking closely, he saw two small horns, one on either side of each head. They were only tiny bumps, though, because the children were malnourished.
What's more, when he sensed the faint energy in their bodies circulating from head to toe, it returned to the small horns on their heads.
He could conclude from this that the horns were a defining feature of Dragon-Humans.
Once Carl found out what bloodline they carried, he turned and left. Now that he knew, he had some things of his own to take care of.
Long Yi and Long Er remained where they were, still devouring food. Their bodies were malnourished.
They had already finished the food they'd brought over, so they went back to the kitchen for more.
Meanwhile, in a corner of the deck.
"Hello, Captain Rocks?..."
Before you continue