*Chapter 6: Little Split-Mouth Girl, Little Half-Brain Boy*

Troy stared at the glowing screen, which displayed the words: Special Rice Ball of Tanjiro Kamado.

No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t make sense of it. After a long time of squinting at the text, he finally pieced it together. The whole thing screamed just two words: "Sibling Romance!"

"Even if I die and get nailed into a coffin, I will use my decayed voice to shout from the grave: May all lovers in the world become brother and sister!"

Closing the screen, Troy held the Special Rice Ball in his hand, having no clue what purpose this thing served.

Just like that weird Bamboo Mouth Guard from before!

"This fishing skill is definitely broken!"

He tossed the Special Rice Ball into his waist pouch. No matter how strange its effect might be, as a rice ball, it still served the basic function of filling his stomach.

Definitely more useful as emergency rations than a certain modern-day reindeer.

But was it really worth an E-grade bait!?

Just thinking about that made Troy’s heart ache a little.

After calming himself, Troy leaned on a large rock and stood up.

Thanks to his newly acquired [Resilience] talent, the soreness in his legs had completely disappeared.

"Inhale... Exhale..."

Troy tested his [Breath of the Beast] ability again and was pleasantly surprised to find that it now put much less strain on his body, and the amplification effect of the breathing technique had significantly increased as well!

"As my physical fitness improves, the [Breath of the Beast] ability seems to be fully unlocking. It won’t be long before I can upgrade it to Full Concentration Breathing or even Full Concentration Breathing—Constant!"

Stretching his muscles and bones, Troy gathered his energy and sprinted toward the top of the small stone peak.

He planned to take advantage of the peak’s elevation to survey the surrounding area and develop a plan of action for the next few days.

Activating his [Acute Hearing] ability, he expanded his perception to a radius of fifty meters. Every subtle sound within this range flooded into his ears, giving him a reassuring sense of control over his surroundings.

Even if it was a false sense of security.

Suddenly, a thunderclap boomed overhead!

"It feels weird when the sky’s quiet," he muttered, glancing up at the sky. Seeing nothing of concern, he quickened his pace up the mountain.

In just a few minutes, he’d charged to the top using [Beast Rush]. Pulling out his binoculars, he began scanning the area.

The first thing he noticed was the situation in the nearby town.

Smoker and the new Marine recruits had already entered the town.

After the explosion earlier, these elite Marines, with their strong overall abilities, realized that there might be other dangerous individuals on the island. Now, they were searching the town in pairs, carefully investigating.

"You guys take your time searching the town."

Troy turned his binoculars to the sky, only to quickly move them away.

"I can hear the battle up there. No need to worry about anything else."

He redirected his focus to the area around the small stone peak.

After silently observing for a while, he spotted a very well-hidden cave just beyond a few hills.

"A heaven-sent temporary base!"

Lowering the binoculars, Troy immediately headed in the direction of the hidden cave.

Although he’d initially planned to use the small stone peak as a temporary base, the bare, rocky terrain offered no shelter from the wind or rain. In comparison, the cave seemed much more "livable."

About half an hour later, Troy reached the cave without any issues.

But as he approached, his expression grew more serious.

This cave was not a natural formation, as he had originally thought.

Along the way, Troy noticed several traces of human activity.

"Everyone who lived on this island has already turned into zombies. Even if there were survivors in the cave, they would've left by now…"

Despite these thoughts, he remained cautious.

Standing on the open ground in front of the cave, Troy unhesitatingly activated [Beast's Breath—Spatial Perception]. Invisible waves spread out from under his feet, sweeping through the cave, probing for any signs of life.

"No active creatures in the cave... Wait! There are two small things alive in the prison deep inside?!"

Troy frowned, drew his spiked hammer, and carefully proceeded into the cave.

As expected, the cave wasn’t untouched by humans. Inside, there were clear signs of previous habitation, but the original occupants were nowhere to be found.

The dim cave was lined with shelves holding huge transparent containers filled with a pale green liquid. Submerged in the liquid were various grotesque biological organs, making the place look like the lab of some evil biochemist.

Click!

Troy switched on a flashlight, illuminating the cave’s interior.

To a regular person, this terrifying bioweapon lab might be heart-stopping. But after surviving four days on this zombie-infested island, Troy was hardly phased.

"As expected!

"From the first day I arrived here, I noticed that although this is a zombie island, it isn’t the territory of a user of the Kage Kage no Mi—like Moria!

"The zombies here are mindless, not the kind made by inserting shadows!

"Now that I’ve seen this lab, I’m sure of it. The one responsible for this island’s tragedy is a biochemist! Probably a virus-type Devil Fruit user, otherwise Admiral Zephyr wouldn’t have come here!"

Troy’s mind raced as he pieced together the clues.

"The only mystery left is Kaido!

"Why did Kaido come to this island?

"Why isn’t he waiting in Wano for the Sun God’s light in twenty years?"

Though he hadn’t figured out everything, Troy’s fast walking speed brought him to the prison at the cave’s deepest point. This was where he had sensed the two small "things."

The flashlight’s beam cut through the darkness like a blade, revealing the prison’s contents.

Inside the specially made cell were two extremely skinny children.

The older one was barely holding herself up, kneeling protectively in front of the younger, who lay on the ground, barely alive.

Troy’s eyes focused.

The older child was a girl with messy, straw-like long hair, and a pair of white horns growing from the sides of her head. Her pale red eyes were filled with both fear and caution.

The most striking feature was her mouth.

Her small, cherry-like lips were slashed open on both sides, revealing a set of jagged, sharp white teeth.

A little split-mouth girl!

The younger one lying on the ground was harder to identify in terms of gender. They also had horns, but much thinner ones than the girl’s. Their condition was even more horrifying—the entire left side of their head had been brutally cut open, exposing a patch of greenish skull.

A little half-brain boy!

For a moment, Troy thought he’d crossed over into some horror movie set.

But being a longtime fan of One Piece, he quickly recognized who these two were.

Now, he also understood why Kaido had come all the way to Paradise from the New World.

These two kids were none other than the future Tobi Roppo of the Beasts Pirates!

The split-mouth girl—Ulti!

The half-brain boy—Page One!

---

Some readers might’ve thought this island was Moria’s territory. Actually, I just used Ulti and Page One's backstory to come up with this original plot.

According to Oda, Ulti and Page One’s father was a pirate who died, and the siblings were adopted by Kaido.

---

As for why I made Ulti a split-mouth girl and Page One a half-brain boy…

It’s because both of them always wear masks and hats.

As ancient Zoan-type Devil Fruit users with strong recovery abilities, it’s strange that they always wear such coverings in their daily lives.

Whether they’re in their full beast forms or hybrid forms, Ulti never removes her mask; and Page One also only ever shows the right side of his head, though he no longer wears a mask.

I don’t know if Oda will add more to their designs later, or if he just likes drawing them that way.

In this story, my explanation is that Ulti wears a mask to hide a defect in her mouth, and Page One wears a hat to cover a defect in his head, with the mask as a way to support his sister emotionally.