Chapter 1609 Collective Awakening

Under the dim light, Kidd did not make any rash moves; on the contrary, in some ways, he had a beast-like intuition and caution.

The shop was eerie, and the sense of order that defied common sense made him instinctively feel awe, even a little fear. He only dared to stay in the relatively normal hall area.

He crouched down and began to examine the injuries of the people lying on the ground.

The situation is not optimistic, but it is not fatal.

The wounds of all the people had one thing in common: both ears had congealed dark red blood clots, and there were even slight tears in the ear canals.

It was clear that they had all been temporarily or permanently deafened by the terrifying giant wild boar's overwhelming sonic attack.

That deafening roar, imbued with a destructive will, was so terrifying that Kidd had no doubt that over 90% of the pirates at sea would be unable to withstand such an attack.

It's a miracle they survived, or rather, it's the result of the shop's timely intervention.

Kidd didn't care about the fate of the CP9 World Government's lackeys; his attention was more focused on his own allies.

Luffy wasn't the most seriously injured. Although he was covered in blood and his breath was weak, his chest was still rising and falling slightly, and you could hear his faint but steady breathing. This guy's vitality is indeed as tenacious as a cockroach.

Capone Becky was in a worse state; his face was as pale as paper, and he was barely breathing, his breaths extremely weak, as if they might stop at any moment.

Where is this place?

A deep, slightly hoarse voice sounded behind Kidd—it was Hawkins!

The first thing he saw when he woke up was Kid squatting next to Luffy, patting the Straw Hat's face rather rudely with his only remaining left hand, as if trying to wake him up.

Hawkins appears to be in the best condition among them, thanks to his Straw-Straw Fruit ability.

In the instant the deadly sonic wave struck, he used his ability to transfer most of the damage he was taking to the unfortunate crew members.

Therefore, as the captain of the Hawkins Pirates, he only had slightly torn clothes and no obvious external injuries.

Without turning his head, Kidd continued patting Luffy's face, his voice low, "Speak softly, this shop is strange, we've come to a safe place."

Hawkins was taken aback; it was the first time he had seen Kidd restrain his unruly temper.

This change instantly raised his sense of the shop's eeriness and danger several levels, and he nodded silently.

The first thing Hawkins did upon waking was to try to sense the Devil Fruit power within him, but all he received in response was deathly silence.

That close connection with the straw fruit seemed to have been completely severed.

Without the Straw-Straw Fruit's power, his body, which wasn't particularly suited for direct hand-to-hand combat, would probably be weaker than Kid, who only had one arm but was physically strong.

"Why isn't my Devil Fruit ability working?"

He habitually pulls out the tarot cards he always carries from his inner pocket. When he arrives at a place of unknown significance, his first reaction is often to perform a divination for himself. This is his way of managing uncertainty.

He first wanted to divine his current position, just before he shuffled the cards and was about to draw one...

"call--!"

A small cluster of eerie blue flames suddenly burst forth from the divination cards in his hand.

Before Hawkins could react, the flame spread with incredible speed, igniting all the divination cards in his hand.

The scalding heat made Hawkins instinctively throw away the burning cards in his hand.

The divination cards that had been with him for so long quickly turned into flying black ashes in the air, then drifted and scattered onto the ancient wooden floor, leaving not even a trace of flame.

Hawkins froze on the spot, a fine layer of cold sweat instantly breaking out on his forehead—something he had never experienced before.

"How can it be……"

"Don't try to be clever here!!"

Kidd had walked over at some point and patted Hawkins heavily on the shoulder, bringing his first mate back to his senses. "Come with me and wake these guys up first. I'll explain everything to you after they're awake."

Hawkins took a deep breath, trying to calm the turmoil in his heart. He wiped the cold sweat from his forehead with his sleeve, looked at the unconscious people on the ground, and nodded silently.

The two had a clear division of labor: Kidd chose to continue to roughly wake Luffy, while Hawkins went to the more seriously injured Capone Bege, trying to check on his ally's condition in a gentler way and attempting to wake the gang leader.

With their intervention, more and more people began to wake up.

Ada clutched her throbbing head and struggled to sit up, her eyes glazed and wary. Close behind her was her brother, Allen, who was also in poor condition.

To be on the safe side, Ada chose to wake up her fellow agent, Lucci. His face was also pale, but his beast-like eyes regained their cold sharpness the moment they opened.

Lucci quickly scanned his surroundings and focused on Kidd and Hawkins, and Kaku woke up shortly afterward.

Finally, with Hawkins's help, Capone Becky let out a weak groan and slowly opened his eyes.

Luffy, who seemed invincible, was the last to rub his head and sit up groggily.

Luffy muttered, "Ouch, that hurts! What happened..."

His hearing had clearly not recovered yet, and his voice was rather loud.

For a moment, in this not-so-spacious, dimly lit hall, the most evil generation of supernovas and the world government's elite agents—forces that would fight to the death if they met in the outside world—were strangely coexisting in one room.

The atmosphere was very tense at one point.

No one spoke, only heavy breathing and wary eyes silently sizing each other up.

Lucci's gaze was like a knife, sweeping over Kidd and Hawkins before finally landing on Luffy, leading him to suspect that this was related to Nika.

Kidd glared back defiantly. Although he had lost his powers, his fierce aura had not completely dissipated.

Hawkins lowered his head, seemingly deep in thought. Allen and Ada stood back to back, watching everyone warily.

This strange shop temporarily suppressed their Devil Fruit powers and also temporarily suppressed the conflict. In such an extremely unfamiliar environment, no one dared to be the first to make a move.

No one knew what would happen next, and no one knew what the shop owner's purpose was in bringing them here.