Chapter 342
Ace's whereabouts, unexpected awakening!
Chapter 342 Ace's whereabouts, unexpected awakening!
Let's rewind the time by a few minutes.
Mary Geoise, sea area with elevator access.
"Aaaaaah! What a huge wave! It's crashing in!"
Usopp's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets as he watched the massive wave approaching from the distance, which was at least ten meters high.
"Shut up, Usopp—it's just a wave! Pull up the sails! Sanji, Brook, you guys pull up the side oars at the stern!"
"Yes, Miss Nami!"
On a warship that once belonged to the World Government, the Straw Hat crew is currently busy.
"Wow, that's amazing. To be able to navigate so stably in waves of this size, it seems Luffy has found an incredible navigator."
Amidst the raging wind and rain, Rayleigh planted his sword in the deck to steady himself, then looked at Franky, who was struggling to steer the ship, and Nami, who was nervously directing Franky.
"Mr. Raleigh, please don't flatter me like that."
Nami smiled and waved her hand after hearing this, but then frowned and looked around: "However—if there's such a storm here, the situation outside must be even worse."
"More than that."
Franky had already pulled down his sunglasses and opened a mechanical umbrella over Nami's head: "I just intercepted the ship's communication equipment. I heard that almost all the islands in the nearby waters sank because of this natural disaster. Are Chopper and Shakky okay?"
There was some worry in his words.
As mentioned before, the waters near the large elevator in Mary Geoise have been specially treated by the World Government, resembling the 'Triangle Current' where the Gate of Justice is located.
Therefore, although it is located in the waters near the Sabaody Archipelago, the ocean currents are extremely stable under normal circumstances and are hardly affected by external factors.
But this time, even in this sea area, there were such huge waves and storms, which is enough to show how bad the situation outside is.
This makes the Straw Hat crew worry about their companions left behind in the Sabaody Archipelago, as well as Shakky.
"rest assured."
Rayleigh grinned upon hearing this, tightening the bandage on his hand: "Shakky is very strong, not someone who dies so easily."
Upon hearing Rayleigh's words, Nami and Franky both breathed a sigh of relief.
"And compared to this..."
Rayleigh turned his head slightly to look behind him: "I'm more curious about something else now."
Several corpses were lying on the deck behind him.
Without exception, they were all the corpses of those few Gods' Blades.
This was what puzzled Rayleigh the most at that moment.
Just now, after he and the Straw Hat crew boarded this warship and encountered the God's Blades, Rayleigh engaged in a fierce battle with them.
Rayleigh was even prepared to engage in a protracted battle with his opponents, just like in the past—after all, he knew very well that the God Knights were unkillable.
However, after they actually clashed, Rayleigh quickly discovered the problem.
That is, these 'old rivals' who have clashed with each other more than once in the past seem to have become weaker.
Not only had their strength weakened, but their will to fight also seemed to have weakened—Rayleigh could even clearly see fear and retreat in their eyes.
This led Rayleigh to suspect something, and subsequent events confirmed his suspicions.
"Those guys can be killed."
Rayleigh murmured to himself, "Their power has been 'stripped'."
This was undoubtedly a good thing—at least Rayleigh didn't have to put in much effort to kill them, suffering only minor injuries from start to finish, and they even managed to seize the warship.
But the problem is
"Why were they suddenly stripped of their power after having possessed it for over twenty years?"
Rayleigh frowned and looked at the surging sea in front of him.
He knew very well that there could only be one answer to this question.
The Twelve Zodiac Signs.
He recalled the Snake he had seen before at Amazon Lily and murmured to himself, "Is the rampage of the times finally about to begin?"
Thinking of this, his gaze shifted again to the back of the deck—where Straw Hat Luffy was.
"What role will he play in this era?"
Rayleigh didn't know.
But he was looking forward to it.
"So, you didn't kill Ace?"
Meanwhile, Luffy was sitting cross-legged on the deck—unconcerned as his body tilted with the ship, he was just staring at the blue-skinned fishman in front of him.
That was none other than 'Knight of the Sea' Jinbe.
"Hmm—I never expected that you would be Ace's brother."
At this moment, the former Shichibukai also looked solemn.
He still bore unhealed wounds from his previous battle with Roy.
But he clearly didn't care about his injuries; he just anxiously looked at the sea while answering Luffy's questions.
"I did have a fight with Brother Ace, but in the end, we barely managed to fight to a draw."
He had no clue about what was going on at sea, and the young man in front of him kept pressing him for answers.
Jinbe sighed helplessly.
Composing himself, he began to recount his experiences with Ace.
That was shortly after he lost his status as one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea, when he led the New Fishman Pirates to seek Whitebeard's protection for Fishman Island.
The process itself went very smoothly, as Whitebeard was willing to protect Fishman Island.
But not long after, Jinbe heard that a supernova had entered the New World and then traveled all the way to Whitebeard's territory.
Therefore, it was only natural that he, having just received a great favor from the white-bearded man, chose to intercept him.
Ultimately, just as he said, he fought Ace to a draw, and even destroyed Ace's ship during the battle.
"Brother Ace said that he does have plans to challenge Whitebeard, but not now."
Jinbe said seriously, "Some of his former companions were killed by the 'Lizard King' Hanafuda, so he has been following Hanafuda's trail since the beginning of Paradise. Now he is going to Wano Country, which is why he passed through my father's territory."
"However, due to the natural defenses of Wano Country, he has never been able to enter it."
"He and I are quite compatible, so I've decided to help him."
He said in a deep voice.
"My brothers and I repaired his ship, then took it up the Great Waterfall and brought him to the Kuri region of Wano Country."
He briefly explained the situation.
Wano Country has a unique geographical location, and outsiders must climb the Great Waterfall to enter the country—which is extremely difficult for most people, but not for the fish-people who are blessed with good fortune.
"As for what happened after that, I don't know anything about Brother Ace. However, I haven't heard any news about the Lizard King being killed, and that place is, after all, the lair of the 'Beasts,' so I think he should still be waiting for an opportunity in Wano Country."
Jinbe told Ace everything he knew, but his words also betrayed his worry for Ace.
Wano Country is the lair of the 'Beasts', and even if he acknowledges Ace's strength, it would still be too dangerous to operate in such a place.
"Wano Country, ah. I understand!"
Luffy crossed his arms and nodded: "Let's go there next, and see Ace!"
"Go to hell! Are you deaf? That's the lair of one of the Four Emperors! The waves are coming again! Luffy, instead of spouting nonsense, you should come and help!"
Usopp, who was busy at work, let out such a low exclamation.
"Now that you understand, I intend to leave."
Jinbe looked at Luffy and slowly struggled to his feet: "This natural disaster is very likely related to Fishman Island. I need to go back and check the situation."
He was still extremely anxious—after all, he had been arrested by Roy shortly after leaving Fishman Island and knew nothing about the situation there.
Looking at the situation on the sea, he slowly deduced that something must have happened on Fishman Island! "Hey, your body won't be able to handle this!"
Looking at Jinbe's hideous injuries, Sanji, who had just put away the auxiliary oar at the stern, frowned: "Even a fishman couldn't withstand injuries like this—going to the deep sea now would be fatal. At least come ashore with us and find a doctor to take a look."
At this point, Sanji seemed to remember something: "But then again, given the current situation, it's hard to say whether we can even find a doctor in the nearby waters."
"Ahem. I'm alright."
Jinbe spoke, but his weak voice clearly conveyed the opposite of what he said.
But it is precisely at this moment
"Hey, I said."
Another voice came from the side: "Straw Hat Leader, Fishman Leader—I was rescued by you guys, don't ignore me."
“I am a doctor. Remove my sea stone handcuffs and I can treat him right now.”
The one speaking is 'Teralga Law', who was rescued from prison by Luffy along with Jinbe.
The only difference was that he was still wearing sea stone handcuffs.
This is to be expected, since Luffy's purpose in coming here is simply to find out Ace's whereabouts from Jinbe.
Although Law was brought along by him, since they didn't know his background and he was a pirate, the Straw Hat crew had no intention of removing his handcuffs.
"Are you a doctor?"
"Hey, Luffy, we can't let this guy go—I checked his bounty, he's a pirate with a bounty of over 100 million!"
"Does Mr. Raleigh know him?"
Before Rayleigh could answer, the surrounding situation suddenly changed.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
Whether it was the Straw Hat crew, Law, or Jinbe—at that moment, they all heard it with perfect clarity.
The enormous drumbeats came from beneath the sea.
"Boom!"
Everyone instinctively turned their heads, and then they all saw the incredibly huge starship suddenly rising from the sea.
What is that?
Everyone present was stunned.
Leaving aside the Straw Hat crew—the sheer size of the 'Est' alone would be absolutely oppressive to any normal living being.
"That's Fishman Island!?"
Jinbe noticed the island embedded above the Esther, resembling a solitary mountain rock—although the bubble membrane surrounding it had completely collapsed, he could still recognize that the island was Fishman Island.
"Is it an island ship representing the twelve constellations? It's actually this large?"
As for Rayleigh, he noticed the Ester's flag immediately, just like Kizaru.
While everyone was still in shock, something unexpected happened.
"Ok!"
At that moment, the liberation drums rang out continuously.
Just like in Alabasta before, Luffy suddenly knelt down with a slightly painful groan.
He clutched his chest tightly with both hands, and then his whole body began to turn red, eventually emitting plumes of smoke like steam.
"Luffy!?"
"Luffy!"
"Luffy, what's wrong!?"
Upon seeing this, the Straw Hat crew immediately panicked.
Sanji, who was closest to Luffy, instinctively reached out to help him up, but...
"and many more!"
He was stopped by Ridley.
"Mr. Rayleigh, Luffy, he..."
Everyone looked at Rayleigh with suspicion, while the Pirate King's right-hand man was squinting at Luffy on the ground, his eyes filled with a rare look of horror.
"This aura."
At the same time, Jinbe sensed something through his Observation Haki, and his pupils widened suddenly: "Brother Luffy, what is this?"
He could sense it.
At this moment, Luffy's body is undergoing an exaggerated and unbelievable transformation.
"Same as before."
Clutching his chest, Luffy gritted his teeth and said, "I can't control my heart, it...it...it's going to beat!"
"I feel it, I feel it."
As the words fell.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
The sound of drums resounded from within Luffy's body.
The sound was almost identical to the drumbeats coming from the Ester on the sea surface at that moment, and even the rhythm was gradually becoming the same.
Or to be more precise—the two cheerful and free drumbeats clearly resonated in unison at that moment.
And with the generation of this resonance.
Luffy's body then began to undergo incredible changes.
Pure white flames appeared around him, and Luffy's hair and figure began to turn white.
"Hehe. Hehe."
An irrepressible smile appeared on his lips as he raised his head.
"I feel—great now!"
If Roy were here, he would be incredibly surprised.
Because at this moment, what Luffy is displaying is precisely...
[Gear 5 - Nika Mode]
Yes.
That was beyond Roy's original expectations.
The 'Nika Fruit' has the power to grant freedom to all life; those who hear the 'Drum of Liberation' can gain a free body.
What if Luffy, the user of the Nika Devil Fruit, heard that drumbeat?
The answer is right in front of you.
The resonance of desires will cause the power of the fruit to be activated, and the cry for freedom will allow him to obtain his strongest form ahead of time.
"Luffy!?"
"what is that?"
"Awakening of a Zoan-type Devil Fruit? How is that possible?"
Everyone on the deck was stunned by Luffy's display of power.
So much so that nobody, including Raleigh, noticed.
It was inside a gap in one of the decks of this warship, which they hadn't searched.
Not long ago, a crew member on a warship was wearing a 'latest-model camera' with timed shooting and transmission functions, which flickered slightly.
"Click".
Accompanied by barely audible sounds, the camera captured the free-spirited posture on the deck.
and
"Timed shooting complete, currently being transmitted to Mary Geoise."
(End of this chapter)