Nobita's Time Heist

"呲呲呲..."

A sound like sharp objects scraping came from the cabin not far away.

The three exchanged a glance, and taking Da Xiong's slight nod as a signal, they tiptoed and stealthily crept over.

Though small, it was fully equipped; this seemingly antique sailing ship contained various rooms. Judging from the layout, this particular room was likely for the captain and his clerk to work in and store nautical records. It was built next to the mast, quite far from any potential water source. As the three men reached the edge of the door, the sound grew clearer—like a mouse grinding its teeth on a roof beam in the dead of night, a rustling, unpleasant sound.

"Wait a minute, Gian."

Nobita reacted quickly and grabbed Gian's shoulder; otherwise, Gian would have already pushed the door open and gone in...

"Just to be on the safe side, let's eat this first."

Nobita pulled a test tube out of his pocket. Inside the test tube were several round pills, the color of refined iron.

(【Steel Pill: As the name suggests, after ingesting it, the user will gain abilities similar to Colossus from X-Men, with a body as hard as steel and that will not change color. Resistance to blows is greatly increased, and the effect lasts for fifteen minutes. Nobita used it in his childhood to scare away the bullying high school student from the next town, Goro Kumamoto.】)

"You little brat...you're using me as a human shield, aren't you?"

Fat Tiger rolled his eyes at him, but didn't say anything. He took the drink and swallowed it whole without even needing water.

"Fine~~ Who told you to choose the marksman position?" He cracked his wrists a couple of times, his hands, clad in super gloves, slowly clenching into a clenched fist, making a snapping sound, a smile of excitement spreading across his face. "You'd better just stay behind me and pick off the guys!"

"boom----!!"

A Spartan kick blasted the door open, and the scene that came into view was completely different from what everyone had imagined.

A thin figure was seen kneeling on the ground. By the standards of the time, his clothing undoubtedly belonged to the upper class. He wore a large, square red cloak embroidered with intricate and ornate patterns, yet the figure beneath it remained remarkably thin.

The logbook was in disarray, and the entire table was a mess, covered in scratches, with some papers torn to shreds.

Upon closer inspection, these very new scratches can be seen on the walls, table corners, and even the ceiling.

If it weren't for the fact that this was a sailing ship, Nobita would have suspected that a wild beast like a brown bear had broken in.

This was one of the rare times he had smelled blood so clearly during an adventure, and he couldn't help but feel nauseous.

Hearing the door open, the nobleman, who was about thirty years old, slowly raised his head, half-closed his eyes, and saw several East Asian faces. At first, he couldn't believe it, but then he seemed to have a sudden realization and chuckled.

"Finally, finally... I'm dying. Even God has abandoned me, letting me see such absurd hallucinations..."

"Calm down," Dekisugi said in a deep voice. "We're not hallucinating."

"It's not a hallucination, how...how can you speak our language?"

Indeed, this was a difficult question to explain, and even Dekisugi was stumped for a moment. He exchanged a glance with Nobita and found that the latter was equally bewildered—in their previous adventures, it seemed that no one had asked a similar question, even if the person was an alien. Hearing Nobita and the others speaking the same language, the reaction was rather lukewarm.

He was somewhat surprised that there could be such a large gap between two people who are both Earthlings, only with different skin colors.

"Uncle, have you seen Columbus?" At times like this, Fat Tiger's thick skin came in surprisingly well. "What on earth happened on that ship?"

"What happened... ah..."

The man turned his thin body completely around, blood dripping from his ten fingers. Only then did the three notice that he had been kneeling on the ground, actually biting his own fingers! None of his ten fingers were intact; some were so badly injured that the blood was mixed with white and red, and the bone was visible.

"Are you alright?" Startled, Da Xiong felt a phantom pain, a mixture of pain and itchiness, shooting through his fingers. "Your fingers..."

“This ship is cursed, sir, but I refuse to be like them, crawling on the ground and swallowing poisoned gold nuggets!”

The man waved his still-bleeding hands, seemingly oblivious to the pain, and said viciously, "It's because the purpose of this voyage was impure... Yes, impure, a demonic act disguised under a noble banner! To punish us, God sent down that terrible disease... leaving us isolated on the sea, awaiting our day of judgment..."

"Disease?" Dekisugi quickly caught the key word. "Was there scurvy on the Santa Maria?"

"I cannot say, sir, I cannot say! For I myself will soon suffer the same fate!"

He opened his eyes wide in pain, then suddenly gasped, his breathing becoming increasingly rapid, before collapsing onto the table with a thud, like a drowning man, frantically reaching out and smearing bloody handprints all over the table. Da Xiong noticed that his pupils were undergoing some kind of change; the unfocused pupils gradually became vertical slits, gleaming with an amber hue.

With a snap, like the sound of celery being twisted, his neck bent backward at a terrifying angle, staring directly at Nobita with his mutated eyes.

Blue scales began to grow on his arms.

“Please remember me… Jamie Guswazy, finally… as a human being…”

"The fight lasted until the very last second."

The next moment, humanity vanished completely in his eyes, replaced by a frenzied bestiality. His body suddenly swelled, scales piercing his clothes, and a massive tail grew from his tailbone. This bizarre creature, half-dragon and half-human, was undoubtedly bewildered by his current situation, but soon, his instincts helped him find the first thing to do.

"Roar----!!"

After a piercing screech, the half-dragon leaped high into the air, its sharp claws tearing through the air!

Author's message

--------------

What time do you think is the best time to update?

Chapter 10: You're the Nobita Girl of this year!

"boom----!!"

The next moment, the figure with the large tail crashed through a wooden wall, leaving a clear mark in the heavy rain, and fell heavily onto the deck.

His large eyes were filled with confusion; he couldn't understand how this human, who was less than half his size, could throw him so easily. But he immediately got up, landed on all fours, and pounded the deck with his massive tail, making a thumping sound like a war drum.

Half-dragons who looked similar to him emerged from various corners. In the darkness, pairs of amber eyes lit up one after another, exuding a murderous aura, like predators who had spotted their prey.

"Ha, a trap, I knew it. These despicable bastards..." Fat Tiger cracked his knuckles, rubbing his fists together, eager to try, as if the violent genes hidden within him had been activated again, and even a smile appeared on his face.

"Nobita, I haven't detected any heat source here. The sonar indicates there seems to be a very large thing in the sea... but it's not moving for now." Suneo's voice came through the earpiece just in time, giving the three of them a boost of confidence. "I've roughly figured out how to operate this thing. Just call for help if you need fire support!"

Deeply entrenched in enemy territory, versus having your own brothers ready to provide artillery support at any time, are two completely different concepts.

However, Nobita's original intention was still to use Suneo's atomic submarine as a last resort. After all, the missiles carried by the submarine were genuine; a salvo would absolutely reduce the Santa Maria to a pile of wooden fragments, which would do nothing to restore history.

"No, Suneo, wait a minute..."

Fat Tiger, standing nearby, clearly had a different understanding. He twisted his neck, making cracking sounds deep within his bones. Facing this group of monsters who were obviously no longer human, he displayed an unusual excitement. He stomped his feet, adopting a sumo wrestler's "four-legged" stance, and raised both legs one after the other, slamming them heavily onto the deck with a sound no less impressive than that of the opposing side.

"Let me have my fun first!"

"roar--!--!!"

A particularly robust half-dragon roared, baring its claws and teeth, and stood upright like a wild beast in nature, intimidating its opponent in this way.

"ah------!!!"

Fat Tiger retaliated with a battle cry that was equally powerful, and relying on his now indestructible body, he strode directly into the enemy ranks. The opposing half-dragons were dumbfounded, and their claws and teeth struck the tiny human, sparks flying and their claws snapping on the spot.

Conversely, Fat Tiger was simply enjoying the feeling of hand-to-hand combat, even though his targets could no longer be considered human... He unleashed punches and kicks like cannonballs, bombarding the scales and leaving them utterly disoriented.

Sonic booms echoed repeatedly, just like a classic scene from The Matrix. The half-dragons were all blasted into the air, and some unlucky ones were thrown directly into the sea. This first line of defense was too solid. Gian standing there gave the impression of being a one-man army, and Nobita and Dekisugi didn't even need to lift a finger.

"This...this is really..."

This was the first time Dekisugi had ever seen Gian so fierce, and his lips trembled slightly. "Should I call it bravery or savagery? Gouda-kun is really something."

"Sigh, Xiaoshan, you just didn't have much contact with him when you were little, so this is nothing."

In contrast, Nobita is at the other extreme—having grown up together, he's used to Gian's menacing appearance being aimed at him nine times out of ten. Eventually, even when Gian is furious, Nobita doesn't think much of it anymore.

"Once, Doraemon gave me a gadget called the 'Anger-Suppressing Stick.' If you put it on someone's mouth and say, 'Never mind, never mind,' their anger will temporarily subside. But Suneo stole this gadget. He deliberately provoked Gian, then used the gadget to suppress his anger, repeating this several times..."

……

"Boom————!!!"

A half-dragon was grabbed by Fat Tiger with one hand and thrown out like a baseball.

It smashed through the hull, probably crashing into a room containing black powder, and immediately exploded, sending up clouds of smoke.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

"It exploded?" Dekisugi was stunned. "Nobi-kun, isn't that a bit of an exaggeration?"

To everyone's surprise, Nobita shook his head and said very seriously, "It's not an exaggeration, it's not a metaphor, it really exploded. Doraemon and I were watching from the side at the time. If we hadn't run away quickly, we probably would have gotten hit too... It was terrifying, even the trees on the roadside were shaking from the explosion."

"From that day on, I started thinking, is there any way to use such powerful energy for the benefit of humanity?"

……

The two looked toward the main battlefield with perfect understanding—Fat Tiger was using the starting stance of the Strong Hand Skull Crush, grabbing the head of a half-dragon and slamming them together.

"boom--!!"

After a solid, muffled thud, Fat Tiger tossed it aside, clapped his hands, and looked around at his opponent lying sprawled on the deck, seemingly quite satisfied.

Well, I don't know if it's beneficial to humanity, but at least this surging fighting spirit finally has an outlet.

"Nobita, what do we do next?"

"Um... my original plan was to keep one who could respond, and then use the 'integrity tape' to get some information out of him." Da Xiong sighed helplessly, "But..."

The place was a mess.

Anything alive and breathing was either hanging on the ship's edge or lying on the deck.

"You should have said so earlier! If you had, I would have left one alive for you!" Fat Tiger also looked heartbroken. "So... shall we continue searching for Columbus?"

"Judging from this situation, the half-dragons might all be transformed crew members. Columbus might even be among them, and you could beat them all up."

Da Xiong walked over to an unconscious half-dragon, squatted down, and gently touched the scales on its body with his finger. He narrowed his eyes and said, "That man named Jamie seemed to be in great pain before the change. He even bit off his own finger... Such self-harm could not possibly be caused by an ordinary disease."

"Ah, Nobi-kun, I do have some thoughts on that."

Dekisugi calmly pulled a crumpled notebook from his coat pocket. Despite using the best materials available at the time, the paper was, in the eyes of the three men from later generations, extremely rough.

It was clearly written hastily, with black characters scrawled like a dog's scrawl, and a shocking bloody handprint accidentally smeared onto the paper.

“This is the logbook of the Santa Maria. It seems that Jamie was the navigator in charge of compiling the logbook.” Dekisugi spread out the logbook and flipped through it quickly. “There might be clues in it.”

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

"Crack!"

The sudden friction sound abruptly interrupted their discussion.

The messy deck in front of me suddenly became fraught with danger.

"...Suneo?"

"Wait a moment, I'll bring the spy satellite over." Xiaofu's voice came through the earpiece just in time. "At three o'clock to your right front, in the corner where the junk is piled up, there's a wooden barrel there, and someone is hiding inside!"

The three exchanged a glance, understanding each other perfectly, and began to split up and encircle the barrel. Even the usually unrestrained Fatty Tiger tiptoed, trying to make as little noise as possible. The deck wasn't large to begin with, and in just a few steps, they had surrounded the conspicuous wooden barrel from three directions.

Nobita and Dekisugi raised their weapons, while Gian quickly approached, suddenly exerted force with his five fingers, pierced through the wooden barrel, and threw it into the air.

"??!"

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

A thin, pale-faced little girl appeared before them.

Chapter Eleven: The Dragon's Disease, and Its Originator?

"Wait, Nobita, wait!"

When Dekisugi doesn't use honorifics with him, things must be very urgent.

Turning around, seeing his companion's anxious expression, Nobita actually guessed what he wanted to say. In the 15th century, the sea, which had not yet been fully explored, was like a monster or a labyrinth to humankind.

Those qualified to board the ship were all elites selected from thousands of candidates; no unauthorized personnel would be allowed on board. Especially for an adventure aimed at discovering a new continent, which seemed like a death trap to those involved, the sudden appearance of a young girl in such an environment seemed suspicious.

After all, it wasn't appropriate for Dekisugi to say it directly in front of him, so he could only remind him in this way.

but……

Da Xiong glanced again at the little girl curled up in a ball—she was dressed in very thin clothes, almost like she was wearing a white sheet, and she smelled of the salty, fishy sea. She didn't even have her own shoes; her ten tiny toes were sticking out, tucked into a ball. Although her hair was wet from the rain, her face was ashen white as paper, her lips were cracked, and her fingers trembled slightly.

She seemed to realize that her hiding place had disappeared, but she didn't know how to face the strangers who had suddenly appeared. The little girl could only curl up and shiver on the cold deck.

For some reason, the moment he saw her, Da Xiong felt a sense of familiarity, as if he had seen her somewhere before.

"..." He sighed almost imperceptibly, took off his own clothes, and draped them over the mysterious girl in front of him, asking, "What's your name?"

"……Um……?"

The girl was startled by his sudden touch and instinctively shrank back. Realizing that Da Xiong was going to put his clothes on her, she looked on with disbelief. Upon closer inspection, if one ignored the mud on her face, the girl's features were quite delicate; her high nose and emerald eyes made her look less like an East Asian. Her long, black hair was now soaked with rain, hanging dirty over her smooth forehead.

“According to historical records, there should have been no female crew members on the Santa Maria,” Dekisugi said in a deep voice. “Who exactly are you?”

……