Zi Zhenzhu's Shock

The young pirate leaned against the doorframe, watching him eat. The longer he watched, the more interesting he found the kid.

At six years old, he had drifted alone for dozens of nautical miles. Aside from a penguin onesie and a white little blob that could turn into oranges, he had nothing on him, yet he was heading straight for the Heaven Dou Empire.

That kind of courage was rare even among adults, let alone children.

"Little guy, where are your parents? They just let you run off by yourself?" the young pirate could not help asking.

To be honest, it was his first time seeing a six-year-old out on his own, and he could not resist satisfying his curiosity.

Jiang Lan lifted his head from the bowl of soup, bread crumbs clinging to the corner of his mouth, and said seriously, "Mama Bo Saixi doesn't know I came out."

The young pirate nearly choked on his own saliva.

Bo Saixi?

That legendary Sea God Douluo from Sea God Island?

This kid called her Mom?

He opened his mouth, intending to ask for clarification, but after a second thought, he decided against it. Knowing too much about some things was not a good thing.

While the young pirate was still stunned, Jiang Lan had already finished eating, but he was not full yet.

Jiang Lan rubbed his stomach and looked at the young pirate, saying somewhat embarrassedly, "Um, I'm not full."

The young pirate waved a hand. "It's fine. I'll get you some more bread."

Jiang Lan hesitated for a moment, then said, "Um... I eat quite a lot, so get more."

The young pirate waved him off with an unconcerned smile. "How much can a little runt like you eat? Wait here. I'll bring you two more loaves of bread."

He turned and left the cabin, his thudding footsteps fading at the end of the corridor.

Jiang Lan sat at the table and drained the last mouthful of fish soup from his bowl, licking his lips. Doro rolled down from the hammock, her round body bouncing twice across the tabletop before landing steadily by Jiang Lan's leg. She looked up at him.

"Jiang Lan, how much are you planning to eat later?" Doro asked softly. As Jiang Lan's companion for the past six years, she knew his true appetite better than anyone.

Jiang Lan thought about it and said earnestly, "I'll eat until I'm half full first. It's someone else's ship, so it wouldn't be polite to eat too much."

Doro blinked her purple beadlike eyes without saying anything. She merely pushed the untouched pickled kelp on the table closer to Jiang Lan.

Before long, the young pirate returned carrying a tray. On it were two hard loaves of bread, a bowl of stewed fish chunks, and several pieces of dried cheese. He set the tray on the table and clapped his hands. "Is that enough? Tell me if it isn't."

Jiang Lan's eyes lit up like two little stars at the sight of the food. "Thank you, Uncle! Then I'll start eating!"

"Go ahead, go ahead." The young pirate leaned against the doorframe with his arms crossed, ready to see how much this little bean sprout could eat.

Then he witnessed one of the most shocking scenes of his life.

Jiang Lan picked up one hard loaf and finished it in three bites.

He picked up the second one and finished it in three bites as well.

He poured the stewed fish chunks and broth into his mouth together. Even after he had emptied the bowl, he was still licking along its rim.

He stacked two pieces of dried cheese together and bit down once, taking away half of them.

He wrapped the pickled kelp in bread crust and stuffed it into his mouth like a burrito. His cheeks puffed up so much that he could not speak, only making muffled, garbled chewing sounds.

In less than five minutes, nothing remained on the tray except empty bowls and bread crumbs.

The young pirate's smile froze on his face. His mouth fell open of its own accord, revealing his gold tooth.

He rubbed his eyes hard to make sure he was not seeing things. The food on the tray had indeed all disappeared.

Meanwhile, the little bean sprout, who was only as tall as his knees, was using bread crust to wipe the bottom of the last bowl clean. Then he stuffed the fish-soup-soaked crust into his mouth and chewed with a satisfied expression.

"You..." the young pirate's voice trembled slightly. "Are you full?"

Jiang Lan rubbed his stomach and smiled sheepishly. "About thirty percent full. It barely took the edge off."

The young pirate felt his entire worldview collapsing.

That tray of food had been enough to feed three adult sailors for a meal, yet it had only filled this little bean sprout to thirty percent?

He took a deep breath and asked in a tone that was almost reverent, "How much do you usually eat in one meal?"

Jiang Lan tilted his head and thought about it. "For breakfast, about one six-hundred-year Great White Shark."

"..."

The young pirate fell silent.

He finally understood that this child had not been bragging when he said he had swum here from Sea God Island and was very strong.

For a six-year-old who could eat a six-hundred-year Great White Shark for breakfast, what did swimming dozens of nautical miles even count as?

That was called walking off a meal.

"I'll get you more." The young pirate turned around twice as fast as before, an inexplicable urgency in his steps.

He just wanted to see how much this little guy could really eat. That curiosity had even surpassed his shock.

Over the next half hour, the young pirate made six full trips between the kitchen and the storage cabin.

Each tray carried more food than the last.

On the third trip, he brought three loaves of bread and a basin of stewed fish. On the fourth, he brought half a roasted shark and a bucket of water. On the fifth, he simply carried over the remaining half pot of fish soup from the kitchen.

By the sixth trip, there was nothing ready-made left, so he swept up everything in the kitchen that could be eaten directly, including an entire ham, half a basket of mashed potatoes, and a basin of cold seaweed salad.

Every time he entered the storage cabin, he thought it would surely be enough this time.

Every time he left the storage cabin, his expression became a little more dazed.

Jiang Lan did not eat quickly, but he ate with incredible consistency.

His mouth was like a precision food-processing machine. No matter what was put into it, it disappeared after three chews and two swallows.

Doro helped from the side, using her tiny arms to carry orange after orange into Jiang Lan's mouth. She occasionally took a bite herself, but most of them ended up in Jiang Lan's stomach.

Finally, on the seventh trip, after the young pirate carried over the last half side of smoked pork from the kitchen, Jiang Lan finally put down the bone in his hand and let out a small burp.

"Burp—I'm eighty percent full. That's enough, that's enough. Thank you, Uncle!"

The young pirate leaned against the doorframe, his legs weak. Looking at the mountain of empty bowls, plates, and pots piled in the storage cabin, his face took on the drained look of someone who had just survived a life-or-death battle.

At some point, several other pirates had appeared behind him, drawn over by the commotion in the kitchen. They craned their necks to look inside, their expressions shifting from curiosity to shock, then to blank stupor.

"Didn't I tell you to bring food to the little brat? How did you empty out the entire kitchen?" Zi Zhenzhu walked over and asked.

The young pirate slowly turned his head and said in a world-weary tone, "He ate all of it by himself."

Zi Zhenzhu: "????"

No, buddy.

All that food had been eaten by one little kid?

At that moment, Zi Zhenzhu felt a headache coming on.

She might have been a pirate, but she was not the kind who committed every evil imaginable.