Chapter 171

The old man raised his hand and showed two fingers to the bartender:

- Two bloody Aquavits, please ... - His voice was rather rude, but you can't say that its owner is an old man. The only reason I thought he was an old man was because of his hands. But now, I even started to doubt a little. Just a tall and thin man in a raincoat ...

Just at that moment, he turned to me and asked:

- So, it is you, the famous Sea Devil? - when his eyes flashed with a bloody color, the man immediately took off his silver hood. Under it was indeed the face of an old man with a light gray stubble, but strangely, his long golden hair was not gray at all, but looked like pure and shiny gold. Due to the dimly lit bar, they looked even brighter, as if they were glowing. His face was elongated, like the whole body, the man was noticeably taller than me, almost a whole head. Although he was hunched over, his height is definitely taller than anyone on our team.

Smiling a little at his question, I replied:

- It's me ... But, you can just call me Mor.

- Ha-ha, excellent Mor! - Sliding me a glass of red booze, he raised his own and said loudly:

- Let's drink to the meeting!

I smiled and raised my glass in the same way, then we drank quickly.

- Haaa ... Nice booze! For three dozen nothing has changed here ... - the old man laughed and asked for more. While the bartender was pouring, I asked:

- You know about me, but what should I call you?

`` Hmm, well, just call me Yong, '' at the same second he drained another glass. But as soon as I heard this name, I suddenly remembered something and asked in amazement:

"Wait ... Yong, isn't that the name of the Silver Ax?" - Slightly deviating and looking at the old man's silver poleaxe, of course, I immediately understood everything. He also did not open it and nodded curtly:

- So there is a guy, one stroke of my friend and instead of one island, there will be two te-ha-ha-ha! Although, I'm too old for this ...

I threw back another glass and grimaced slightly:

- But our meeting is not accidental? I doubt you suddenly decided to have a drink right next to me.

Yeon immediately burst out laughing and slammed his fist on the table.

- Durila, pour more often! - the bartender shuddered and began to pour faster. Yeon turned to me and patted my shoulder with a bright smile.

- Of course, are there such coincidences? Haa, I guess our meeting is a foregone conclusion ... '' After draining another glass, Yeon stood up to his full three-meter height and grabbed the ax with a light movement. I immediately felt the pressure, which immediately disappeared. With a light sweep, Yeon shoved the ax into the sheath on his back and nodded to me.

- Come on, I'll show you something, and at the same time, I'll explain the reason for our meeting.

I drained my first glass of rum and paid, then slowly followed the old man. Of course, it was only slow at the beginning. Within a few seconds, the old man literally walked across the sky somewhere into the distance, I did not lag behind and flew after.

In a few seconds we arrived at the highest island, it went above the clouds themselves and was quite deserted. Even stairs and bridges did not lead to it, unlike the rest of the islands of the archipelago, which were connected. It was strange, because after all, this island is the highest, widest and probably should be the main one, but in reality, it looks like everything is different.

When we got up, all I saw were heaps of ruins and many petrified buildings. Moreover, here not only buildings turned to stone, even grass, trees and even people ... Everything, literally everything here was turned into stone. Not a single movement of the wind, nothing, as if time had stopped in this place ... Hancock was the first to come to my mind, but I quickly dismissed the idea, her fruit was definitely not that strong. Also, could a devil fruit do something like that? If it can, then its owner is a real monster ...

At some point, Yeon finally stopped and looked around. Then he turned to me:

- How do you like it?

- Quite a gloomy place ... This is not your job?

The old man shook his head and grinned wryly:

- No, it's ... Im.

- To them?

At that moment, Yeon walked over to the tree frozen in the stone and touched it slightly. But as soon as he did this, it instantly crumbled like ... ash. And then it dawned on me that it was not a stone at all. Simply, so frozen ash. But how, is this even possible? Why hasn't he dispelled? Although, if there is no wind here ...

Seeing my gaze, Yeon smiled slightly and sighed sadly.

“This is the result of the Purge that He gave. Do you not notice anything unusual about these people?

Coming close to the nearest person, I noticed some oddities and differences with ordinary people. Everything was almost the same, except that they had wings and are quite large, unlike those on the Sky Island.

Just at that moment, Yeon came up to me and took off his cloak. At the same instant, a large black wing suddenly opened from behind his back and I immediately understood everything ...

- So this is ... Is this your race?

The old man nodded.

- Yes, but this is not my home, and I do not know all these people. I was born much later than their death. As you already understood, this is just ash ...

- Then why haven't they crumbled yet?

Throwing on his cloak, Yeon calmly replied:

- Ordinary people cannot get here, only the strong are capable, and they did not crumble because they are in a special belt of clouds. This archipelago, like many others in the New World, experienced the Purge, but only a few such untouched places remain. You see, the Purge is about cleansing ... It sounds good in words, but in reality, it is just the extermination of an entire race. That's what the Great Purge is. '' With a sigh, Yeon continued.

`` This is exactly what distinguishes it from the call of the five, the island does not even suffer, but only its inhabitants, see for yourself, '' concentrating the strength in his fist, Yeon sharply hit. The wave from his impact instantly swept away a large layer of ash. As soon as the ash was demolished, clean earth and grass full of life appeared beneath it.

- The lower islands have already been cleared by nature itself, but this place was less fortunate. There were only a few left ... Everything was completely cleared.

“I see,” I sighed. This situation was similar to what happens after a volcanic eruption. Everything dies, but then it is reborn again ...

Yeon nodded and put on his cloak again.

- Where is the second wing? I asked. He didn't seem to have a second ...

The old man smiled slightly:

- I'll tell you, just listen to everything first ... There are things that you must learn before continuing your journey.