52 Chapter 52

Chapter 52: Tom Looks at the Camera

The next morning, the three of them were prepared and applied the invisible ink on their bodies.

It felt okay when applied on their arms and legs, but when applied on their faces and hair, it felt strange. Fortunately, this stuff was as smooth as shower gel, so wherever it was applied, it immediately turned invisible.

In Adrian's perspective, Tom and Artoria first touched the ink, and with their movements, they gradually disappeared, as if someone was erasing a simple drawing. Of course, Adrian himself was the same.

After everyone was invisible, Adrian noticed a problem: "After becoming invisible, we can't see each other either."

Not only could they not see others, they couldn't even see their own bodies. In this situation, it was like performing actions with closed eyes. Without visual assistance, many actions couldn't be executed precisely. For example, if you closed your eyes and extended both hands with your index fingers out, it was difficult to make sure the fingertips touched each other every time.

Adrian curiously twirled around, bent his neck, wiggled his bottom, thinking that even if he danced on the spot like this, no one would be able to see.

He took a tentative step forward and suddenly felt the ground beneath his feet soften, followed by a scream:

"Ah!!!" It was Tom's voice. His foot had been flattened, but no one could see it.

"Tom?" Adrian quickly lifted his foot and reached out with his hands, trying to find Tom's head, then followed his neck down to his armpit, lifting Tom up and placing him in front of his eyes... Well, he couldn't see Tom's condition at all.

"What are you doing? Why did you step on my crotch? It hurts!" Tom complained, his voice muffled by his hand as he blew air. For some reason, this breath extended to his foot, making his toes puff up one by one.

Although he still didn't like talking, Tom decided to endure. He couldn't convey his feelings through expressions and actions when no one could see him.

"I'm sorry, I can't see. How about you sit on my shoulder?" Adrian lifted Tom onto his shoulder.

"Okay!" It was just a footstep, and Tom chose to forgive him.

"Then, Artoria, where are you?" Adrian became cautious and didn't move around anymore.

Then Artoria accurately grabbed Adrian's wrist. "It's about time I taught you how to sense a person's aura."

"Sure, being able to sense someone's position and movements is really convenient." Adrian felt that this was almost the same as Observation Haki.

Artoria' voice continued from the side, "Indeed, it's quite convenient. I even 'saw' the movements you just made in your dance."

"... " Adrian couldn't see her expression, but he felt awkward standing there. This was bad... He embarrassed himself...

Who came up with this ridiculous Sensing skill? Violating other people's privacy!

...

The location of the human auction house was in Area 1GR, northwest of where Adrian was in 59GR, not far away.

The author's hand-drawn map of the Sabaody Archipelago island numbering distribution is in the previous Easter Egg chapter.

Some islands that seemed to have a big difference in numbering were not really far apart. People could just walk there. Riding bubble cars there would seem like autonomous driving to others and might startle them.

Learning sensing wasn't something that could be done quickly. For now, Artoria had to hold Adrian's wrist and guide him through the pedestrians to avoid getting lost or bumping into people.

The feeling of invisibility was quite novel. Even if you walked right in front of others, they couldn't detect you.

As for the problem of shadows not turning invisible, with so many people on the street, who would notice a few more shadows? They just needed to stand in the shadows of trees when doing something important.

As they entered the lawless area, Adrian immediately felt a change in atmosphere.

On the outskirts of town, there were many rundown shops. Some signs were left with only a single nail, hanging diagonally. Some shops had only half of their doors left. The scariest one was a shop where a long knife was nailed with a skeleton at the entrance. (I'm not exaggerating, there really is such a scene in anime.)

"So this is the lawless area?" Artoria had seen large scenes, so she wasn't too shocked by this. The contrast between the scene in front of her and the places they had been living was just too obvious.

"Right?" Adrian hadn't actually been here before. After all, anime tended to romanticize things.

As they walked further in, they had to remain silent, as there were more pedestrians now.

Most of them carried weapons and had a wary look in their eyes. Many were pirates, slave traders, and bounty hunters. Except for those with clear pirate crew markings, it was hard to distinguish their identities.

Following Artoria, Adrian passed by tough-looking individuals. On Adrian's shoulder, Tom trembled, but he soon realized that no one could see him. With growing confidence, he began to behave in a cheeky manner:

He waved his hand in front of people's eyes, pulled up his eyelids and stuck out his tongue, made funny faces, and even used the tip of his tail to tickle people's noses.

"Achoo!" A man wearing a captain's hat sneezed, causing his hat to jump off his head. He casually wiped his nose, looked up, and saw a bald, drooling giant glaring at him angrily.

Adrian didn't know what Tom had done, but he saw two people draw their knives and start fighting due to a sneeze. He sighed at the volatile temperaments of the people in this lawless area. They were like ticking time bombs.

Artoria, who knew the situation, gave a glance in Tom's direction, shaking her head without saying a word.

Tom, as the one involved, turned his head towards the camera that no one could see, shrugging and raising his hands, as if this had nothing to do with him.

As they left the area, Adrian noticed that not every part of the illicit area was chaotic. Some places had ordinary people living there too. There were restaurants, bars, various shops, and even what looked like upscale hospitals.

If it weren't for the occasional sound of gunfire, they wouldn't even know they were in an illicit area.

Ordinary people seemed to be able to judge from the sound of gunfire that it was far away from them. They continued walking calmly, chatting and laughing, as if someone had just set off a string of firecrackers.

This kind of absurdity was something Adrian couldn't have predicted or adapted to. Subconsciously, he wanted to leave this place as soon as possible.

Artoria whispered, "There's no sign of the Celestial Dragons nearby."

Adrian suggested, "Let's head directly to Area 1GR. If the Celestial Dragons come, they're likely to go there."

They were in Area 2GR now. It wouldn't take long to get to Area 1GR.

The central building in Area 1GR was the most conspicuous on the entire island. Four

spires stood around it, serving as lookouts or something similar. Two guards were stationed at the entrance, and a wooden sign hung above the entrance, with the word "HUMAN" written on it.

Adrian looked at the tall building. "So, this is the human auction house. Oh right, the official name is the 'Career Stabilization Center.'"

Using the nicest name to disguise the ugliest transactions.

Tom noticed that you were looking at him. Are you scared or not! In drama, there seems to be a term for this, called breaking the fourth wall.

As for the issue of whether the invisible ink works with clothing, that was discussed when they got the ink. I won't go over it again here, as I don't want to write clichéd undressing scenes.