Rocks

Xia Chen's eyes narrowed, and he slammed his fist into the ground.

With a loud "boom," a bottomless hole appeared before Xia Chen's eyes. Without hesitation, Xia Chen jumped in.

The imagined complete darkness did not appear. The entrance to the cave was about several tens of meters from the bottom, where there was a long corridor with oil lamps on both sides of the walls, adding some light to the dark space.

Xia Chen glanced around and then walked towards the end of the corridor.

The aura he sensed was right ahead, and judging from what he was currently perceiving, the person inside had deliberately let him discover them. Otherwise, he really wouldn't have noticed anything amiss.

Xia Chen was now very curious: who was here? And why had they lured him here?

However, Xia Chen was merely curious and not worried. With his current strength, he wouldn't panic no matter what happened.

With his powerful physique and the unparalleled speed of the Flying Nimbus, even if he couldn't win, he didn't believe he couldn't escape!

When Xia Chen arrived at the end of the corridor, he was greeted by a slightly eerie-looking room with a coffin in the center.

Xia Chen narrowed his eyes. That's right, the aura was coming from the coffin.

With a thought, a Clone appeared beside Xia Chen and walked towards the coffin.

He was a cautious person, and he definitely wouldn't allow his main body to open the coffin. Moreover, his Clone and his main body shared the same perspective, so Clone saw was equivalent to what his main body saw.

Xia Chen's Clone arrived at the coffin and slowly moved it aside. What came into view was a man with a Haki appearance. The man did not have the scars like Moria's zombie, so he was not Moria's zombie.

Xia Chen stared at the man for a while, but still couldn't remember who he was.

Just as he was pondering this, the man in the coffin suddenly opened his eyes, startling Xia Chen.

Xia Chen waved away his Clone and looked at the man slowly sitting up in the coffin, saying speechlessly, "Could you please not suddenly open your eyes? Don't you know that scaring someone can be deadly?"

That's right, after Xia Chen's assessment over a period of time, he determined that the man in front of him was alive. He just didn't know why he liked sleeping in a coffin!

The man slowly climbed out of the coffin, turned his gaze to Xia Chen, and then suddenly exuded an extremely strong pressure.

Xia Chen groaned, startled by the sudden pressure. He stared at the man before him in shock and asked, "Who are you? Why do you possess such powerful Conqueror's Haki?"

It's no wonder Xia Chen was shocked. Faced with the man's Conqueror's Haki Conqueror's Haki, even though he had broken through to a high level, he was completely overwhelmed and had no ability to resist.

Xia Chen would bet that among the Four Emperors, only Red Hair might possess this level of Conqueror's Haki, and even then, it's just a possibility; whether he could actually reach that level is uncertain.

Xia Chen was speechless. He had just been thinking that there weren't many people in the world who could threaten him anymore, but he hadn't expected to encounter one now. His luck was truly unbelievable.

The ancients were right: curiosity killed the cat!

However, what reassured Xia Chen was that the man in front of him didn't seem to have any intention of attacking him, because he had already slowly dissipated his Conqueror's Haki.

A smile crept across the man's face as he said to Xia Chen, "Kid, not bad! You've got some skill!"

"You flatter me, senior!" Xia Chen replied awkwardly, feeling immense pressure from the man before him.

At this moment, Xia Chen was racking his brains trying to figure out who this man was, but he couldn't come up with an answer.

For a moment, Xia Chen felt that this world was not as simple as he had imagined. Where on earth did this powerful figure come from?

"Kid, don't be nervous, I mean you no harm!"

"I only sensed a familiar presence while I was asleep, and that's why I released my presence to lure you here!"

"As for your question, who am I?"

"I don't know if the World Government has erased my existence; after all, that's what they love to do most!"

"My name is Rocks, I don't know if you've heard of me?"

" Rocks?!" Xia Chen's pupils contracted sharply, revealing disbelief. His heart pounded.

" Rocks!! Are you Rocks D. Xebec?"

"That's right, it's me! Looks like I'm pretty famous, even a kid as young as you knows me! Hahaha..." Rocks laughed happily.

However, Xia Chen, who was opposite him, was in a state of great shock, feeling that the situation had spiraled out of his control.

He used to rely on his complete knowledge of the world, so he always acted as if he had everything under control.

But judging from the fact that Rocks is here, this world... is far from simple!

After some time, Xia Chen finally calmed down and looked at Rocks, asking, "Can I ask you some questions?"

"Of course! Since I brought you here, I'll definitely answer some of your questions, after all... we're the same kind of people!" Rocks said with a faint smile.

Xia Chen took a deep breath and spoke.

I want to know...

--

"Huff~ Huff~"

Nami, hands on her knees, panting heavily, complained, "These zombies can run pretty fast!"

" Nami- san, I'm here!" Sanji's voice came from behind. Nami turned around and saw everyone running towards her.

But... it seems like one is missing?

When everyone approached, Nami asked, "Where's Xia Chen? Where did he go?"

"I don't know! It just disappeared!" Luffy replied.

"Oh~" Nami nodded thoughtfully and said, " Xia Chen is a sensible person. He must have something important to do when he disappears!"

Upon hearing this, everyone was speechless.

That's just how Xia Chen is; if they were the ones who suddenly disappeared, Nami wouldn't have reacted this way.

Thump! Thump!

At that moment, a tremor came from afar, drawing everyone's attention.

As soon as they saw it, a large group of zombies was walking towards them, and they looked to be on a completely different level from the zombie minions they had seen before.

Without hesitation, Nami unleashed a bolt of lightning. But to her surprise, one of the zombies suddenly jumped in front of Nami's lightning, drew its sword, and slashed down at the lightning.

"Tear!" Nami's lightning was split in two, scattering in all directions.

"What?!" Nami's eyes widened at the sight, then she silently shielded Luffy and the others in front of her and said:

"Go, Luffy, Zoro, Sanji! These zombies are yours to handle!"