As they ventured deeper into Bird Dropping Island, Bellamy noticed that the plants here were unusually large. This was likely due to the exceptionally high-quality fertilizer.
The various weeds, trees, shrubs, and vines on this island were several times larger than their normal counterparts. Even a simple blade of grass was over two people tall.
Bushes were laden with berries the size of human heads, emitting a rich, fruity aroma that could be smelled from a considerable distance. Walking here felt like being in a forest of giants.
Passing by a bush, Bellamy casually plucked a bright red fruit and brought it to his nose. The enticing scent made him want to take a bite.
"Is this fruit edible?"
"I don't know," Mia replied, shaking her head seriously. "I don't recognize many of the plants here."
This was quite strange. Normally, she should have been familiar with almost all the plants in the North Blue. After all, she had put considerable effort into studying herbalism. The existence of this island challenged Mia's common knowledge.
Since the Demon Cook didn't know, and the doctor wasn't present, Bellamy promptly tossed the tempting fruit onto the ground.
"Never mind then. Until we leave this place, don't eat anything from here."
They had brought plenty of dried food and water before setting out, enough to last them.
No sooner had Bellamy given this order than a large flock of vibrantly colored birds flew over from a distance, flapping their wings. These birds seemed completely unafraid of humans, flying all around them. Some of the bolder ones even landed on Mia, pecking at her hair.
"Such beautiful birds," Mia said, carefully stroking their wings.
"Look, the birds are eating the fruit."
The flock gathered around the bushes and began to feast on the berries. Before long, the sated birds started to defecate explosively.
"Something seems off." The birds appeared to have diarrhea.
Bellamy looked thoughtfully at the ground covered in bird droppings. "This is probably the unique ecology of this island."
If he wasn't mistaken, the plants on Bird Dropping Island were most likely inedible. He discreetly raised his guard.
Because they weren't simply traveling, but also searching for traces of the Red Flame Pirates, Bellamy's group wasn't moving very quickly through the forest.
At noon, the fruitless search led them to find a place to rest. This forest was truly excessively large. Searching aimlessly like this, they might not find any clues even after several weeks.
They needed to come up with a better plan.
Before this, Bellamy had never imagined that the biggest challenge of this mission would be finding people.
Due to the island's peculiar circumstances, their food was, of course, limited to the dried provisions and water they had brought. However, Mia seemed to have other ideas. While Bellamy was clearing a campsite, she and Ross disappeared somewhere.
Before long, they returned, carrying the corpses of over a dozen large birds. Ross had also retrieved several hundred bird eggs from the trees.
So much food, and it looked quite delicious. But was it really safe to eat?
On their return, Mia was also carrying a large pile of strange plants and a stone pot, making Bellamy's left eyelid twitch.
"Where did you get a stone pot?"
What was she planning?
"I got lucky and found a hollowed-out rock. After a bit of polishing with Finger Pistol, it can be used as a pot," Mia replied, smiling at Bellamy but not revealing her intentions.
"Didn't I tell you? You can't eat things from here."
She was carrying a huge pile of random plants, none of which Bellamy recognized.
"These are all very rare medicinal herbs, you can't buy them anywhere else."
"I never expected to find them growing here. If I saw them and didn't collect them, I wouldn't be able to sleep at night." Although some of the plants seemed a little different from what was described in the books.
The cook gave the captain a mysterious smile, tossed a large pile of bizarre ingredients into the stone pot, and started a fire to slowly simmer them.
After a long while, as Bellamy finished gnawing on his tenth piece of dried food, a strange purple gas began to slowly rise from the stone pot.
"What is she making?"
The liquid in the pot had, at some point, turned a deep, dark purple. The broth looked incredibly thick, and as it boiled, purple bubbles gurgled up. As the small bubbles burst, an unknown purple gas silently dispersed.
And our cook was stirring the pot occasionally with a wooden spoon, seemingly muttering something under her breath.
Okay, Bellamy finally understood how she'd gotten the nickname "Demon Cook." Although, he thought "Witch" might be a more fitting moniker.
A short time later, Mia produced a wooden bowl from who-knows-where, filled it to the brim with "soup," and leisurely walked towards him.
"Captain, time for your medicine."
Why did that line sound so familiar?
Bellamy shivered involuntarily. "I'm not drinking that. Whoever wants it can have it."
He quickly pulled Ross over, using him as a shield.
"Ross, you go!"
"No, no, no, I'm not hungry, I'm already full," Ross protested, shaking his hands frantically, his face filled with terror as he stared at the concoction in Mia's hand.
Everyone's gaze shifted to Drake.
"Refused," Drake stated firmly, quickly retreating several hundred meters.
Chardin desperately tried to shrink down, hoping that Mia wouldn't notice her.
"Hmph!" No one was willing to drink the food she had carefully prepared.
Mia was very angry, so she casually shot down a bird from the sky and force-fed the entire bowl of medicine to it.
After being force-fed the entire bowl, the bird immediately stiffened on the ground, looking like it had kicked the bucket.
"This stuff really isn't fit for human consumption."
Just as Bellamy and the others were about to breathe a sigh of relief, the "dead bird" suddenly sprang up from the ground and began flapping its wings furiously.
"Caw! Caw, caw, caw..."
With a series of harsh squawks, the bird's muscles all over its body suddenly bulged. In the next instant, all of its feathers shot outwards. The pose was almost like a shirt-rip.
Then, a muscle-bound, incredibly energetic giant bird appeared in its place. The giant bird's size had increased by at least three times. And judging by the almost-exploding muscles all over its body, its strength had likely increased by an unknown number of times.
Seeing its new form, Bellamy was shocked.
This giant bird looked even more potent than if it had eaten the Energy Steroids from Fish-Man Island.
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