r18novel Chapter 264 In Pursuit of the Sage
Chapter 264 In Pursuit of the Sage
Chapter 264 In Pursuit of the Sage
The head guard hesitated for a moment, then waved to signal.
It took several strong guards working together to slowly push open the heavy, massive door.
Inside the door was darkness, with faint, timid sobs that could be heard.
"Your Highness," Jinbe softened his voice and stepped into the darkness first.
"It's me, Jinbe. There are also the Straw Hat crew and a friend. We need your help."
As the door opened, light flowed into the tower, vaguely illuminating a mermaid girl curled up in the corner of the enormous room.
Her enormous size made everyone who saw her at first glance take a second look.
She had long, light pink hair, and her deep blue eyes, as blue as the sea, were now brimming with tears as she looked fearfully at the uninvited guest at the door.
When she saw Luffy dying inside the bubble, her huge eyes widened suddenly.
"Boss Jinbe—they—he is—" Shirahoshi's voice was soft and trembling, with a sob in it.
"Your Highness, this is Straw Hat Luffy. He was seriously injured while protecting His Majesty Neptune and Fish-Man Island."
Jinbe's words were concise and to the point, and his tone was earnest.
"Now, perhaps only Lord Noah can save him. And you are the key to finding Lord Noah, or rather, to fulfilling the conditions for Lord Noah's awakening."
"Me?" Bai Xing pointed to herself blankly, tears streaming down her face again.
"I—I can't do it—I can't do anything—I'm just a coward—"
"But you can hear the voices of the sea kings, can't you?"
Robin stepped forward, his voice gentle yet firm.
"You can communicate with them, even summon them. This power is the power of Poseidon, the sea god."
"Noah's prophecy mentions the key of destiny and a pure heart, and is associated with Neptune."
"Your Highness, your strength and your kind heart may very well be the bridge connecting Lord Noah."
Shirahoshi was stunned. She looked at Robin, then at the unconscious Luffy, and then at the heavy expectation in Jinbe's eyes.
She remembered her mother Otohime's dream, the protection her father and brothers had always given her, and the lonely years she had spent locked in the tower because of this power.
Fear still lingered, but something unfamiliar and faint was struggling to sprout in the depths of her heart.
"Can I really do it? Can I help him?" she asked softly, her gaze fixed on Luffy's pale face.
"He—to protect his father—"
"He not only protected the King, Prince Shirahoshi."
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When faced with such a beautiful woman as Shirahoshi, Sanji was unusually serious, even pleading.
"This guy is an idiot, but he keeps his word. He said he would protect Fishman Island, and he really did take a knife for himself."
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"Now, you may be the only one who can protect him."
Shirahoshi's tears flowed even more fiercely, but this time, there seemed to be something else mixed in with her fear.
Her enormous tail fin twitched uneasily, and then, very, very slowly, she nodded.
"I—I'll try—but how should I do it? Lord Noah—I only sensed a very warm and very grand aura from afar on the day my father and Jinbe summoned him to descend—"
"He was in a very, very deep trench, where—many enormous ancient sea kings swam and guarded—"
Just as Shirahoshi was trying to recall and describe it, Kojiro, who had been silent and on guard, suddenly frowned.
He didn't turn his head, but his fingers on the hilt of the knife tightened slightly.
"There's a breeze," he whispered, his voice barely audible to Zoro, Robin, and Jinbe who were nearby.
"A very faint scent of 'shadow'—just a moment ago, in the shadow of the third pillar on the right side of the tower. Now it's gone."
Zoro immediately placed his hands completely on the hilts of his swords, ready to draw them at any moment.
Robin's gaze sharpened, and he crossed his arms slightly.
Jinbe's face darkened: "They followed us so quickly? Or were they already nearby, waiting for us to find the princess?"
The rats lurking in the shadows were indeed watching all along.
"We can't delay any longer," Jinbe decided immediately.
"Your Highness, please concentrate and try to sense Lord Noah's exact location using your mental resonance, or—try to communicate with the guardian sea kings to guide us to a safe path."
"The path to the Abyss of the Covenant is not a simple waterway; it may be filled with barriers and mists formed by Lord Noah's power."
Bai Xing nervously closed her huge eyes, her long eyelashes trembling.
She tried to calm her breathing and placed her hands folded over her chest.
At first there was nothing but darkness and a tense heartbeat.
But gradually, a sound beyond hearing began to emerge in her consciousness.
That was the deep sound of the ocean current, the long, drawn-out murmur of ancient creatures, the subtle rustling of coral growth—
Deep within all of this, in the abyss directly beneath Fishman Island where even light seems to be absorbed, there is a powerful, gentle yet boundless energy, like that of a sleeping whale, imbued with the vicissitudes of time and a certain unwavering will.
"I—I think I feel it—" Bai Xing said softly, her voice filled with disbelief.
"Down there—very deep—there's a warm yet sad feeling—like having a very long dream, a dream where—there's a flood, an ark, many, many different creatures—and—waiting?"
She described it intermittently, while her innate abilities unconsciously created a very faint connection between her and some enormous beings near the abyss.
Outside the hard-shell tower, in the deep sea, some incredibly large shadows seemed to slightly adjust their course, turning their gaze toward the Dragon Palace.
"There's a response!" Jinbe's right hand suddenly felt hot as he vaguely sensed a faint ripple from Noah's vast spiritual foundation.
"Your Highness, please maintain this contact! Tell us the exact location and any potential obstacles!"
However, just as Shirahoshi was struggling to sense and try to trace a path on a spiritual level, a sudden change occurred!
The steady light inside the hard-shell tower suddenly dimmed without warning!
It's not a problem with electricity; something more fundamental has been disturbed.
Immediately afterward, Chopper, who had been monitoring Luffy's condition, let out a terrified scream: "Luffy! Luffy's heartbeat!!"
On the monitoring instruments in the medical pod, the curves representing vital signs fluctuated violently before suddenly plummeting to a dangerous trough!
The purple poison mark on Luffy's chest seemed to come alive, suddenly spreading out in a small circle!
On the ship, Roger, who had been concentrating with his eyes closed, suddenly swayed, becoming even more transparent, and a clear look of pain appeared on his face.
"The backlash has intensified—" Roger gritted his teeth, struggling to maintain his form.
"The toxin is eroding Luffy's very foundation—kids, you'd better hurry!"
This sudden deterioration startled Shirahoshi, causing her to scream in fright, and the fragile connection she had just established was almost severed.
She also felt a chilling malice emanating from somewhere, stimulating her nerves.
"It's interference!" Kojiro suddenly opened his eyes, his gaze shooting like lightning to a corner where shadows met at the top of the tower.
"There's more than one! They're using some method to remotely exacerbate the toxins or interfere with life force!"
His judgment was correct.
At this moment, in an abandoned coral reef cave on the edge of Fishman Island.
In the dead of night, a petite woman sat cross-legged with her eyes closed, holding a small ball of ever-changing purple poisonous mist in her hands. At the center of the mist, a faint light shimmered, the same kind of light that had pierced Luffy's body.
"We have to leave immediately! We can't wait any longer!" Sanji roared, his eyes bloodshot.
"But the path—" Jinbe looked anxiously at Shirahoshi.
Shirahoshi looked at Luffy, who was on the verge of death in the medical bay, and at the almost collapsing eyes of the Straw Hat crew.
Then I felt that warm, sorrowful, and expectant wave emanating from the abyss, and an unprecedented courage overwhelmed my usual fear.
The image of her mother, Otohime, seemed to light up in her heart.
"I—I'll take you there!" Shirahoshi mustered her courage, her huge tail supporting her body.
"I can sense that path—it's not in ordinary seawater, it's as if it's—in some kind of passage?"
"Those guardian sea kings—they seem willing to make way for me a little—but only for a very short time, and—"
Fear reappeared on her face.
"Down there—besides Lord Noah and the Guardians, there seems to be something else—something very cold and empty—that's what made me feel cold just now—"
"A cold, empty thing—" Robin immediately thought of assassins.
"It seems they not only followed, but may have already made preparations near the Abyss of Agreement."
"Then we need to hurry!" Zoro had already drawn his Wado Ichimonji. "Princess, show us the way! Jinbe, what's the fastest way?"
"Take the secret passage reserved for royalty, leading directly to the edge of the bottom of Fishman Island, and then descend from there to the entrance to the Abyss of Promise!"
Jinbe immediately planned the route.
"But the secret passage is narrow, and the princess's size—"
"I can shrink the bubble and try to follow it!"
Bai Xing hurriedly said that her ability to control the water flow began to manifest, and an oval-shaped bubble, suitable for her enormous size to move, enveloped her.
"Let's hurry, let's go!" Jinbe led the charge toward the hidden entrance to the secret passage on the other side of the Hard Shell Tower.
The team sprang into action.
Chopper did his best to inject Luffy with a stimulant and a slow-release toxin.
Roger gritted his teeth and persevered, his figure flickering in and out of sight as he followed behind.
Kojiro brought up the rear of the column, his senses heightened to the extreme, like the most sophisticated radar, scanning for any unusual sounds from behind, above, below, left, and right.
However, they had only been in the secret passage for a short time when Jinbe, who was walking at the front, suddenly stopped and his expression changed drastically.
Ahead of the secret passage, the coral rock wall, which should have been incredibly sturdy, had partially crumbled away as if weathered, revealing a pipe system behind it that gleamed with a dull metallic sheen.
One of the thick pipes was ripped open by something sharp, and what was gushing out was not seawater, but an oily liquid that emitted a pungent, fishy odor!
The liquid quickly spread throughout the seawater, coming into contact with the surrounding corals and bioluminescent plants.
A hissing, corrosive sound immediately filled the air, releasing a large number of murky bubbles that severely interfered with vision and perception.
"This is—a mixture of sea stone extract and potent poison and nerve-disrupting agents!"
Jinbe recognized the insidious thing.
"They've damaged part of the Dragon Palace's purification system! We can't pass directly through this contaminated area!"
With his path ahead blocked and his rear possibly under surveillance, Luffy's situation is deteriorating.
In the critical moment, Kojiro suddenly stepped forward, closed his eyes, and gently placed his palm on the uncontaminated rock wall.
"Everything can be a sword, every sound can be the wind," he murmured, his aura becoming extremely mysterious.
He was listening, listening to the sound of water flowing through the cracks in the rock wall, listening to the movements of the invisible pursuers behind him, listening to the sound of the unpolluted water veins flowing in this polluted water area.
After a moment, he opened his eyes and pointed to an inconspicuous gap diagonally above.
"There, there is a narrow, unpolluted undercurrent leading downwards, but it is winding and narrow, barely wide enough for one person to pass through, and the current is rapid."
"Your Highness is probably—"
Bai Xing looked at the narrow gap, then at the main road behind her that was blocked by black grease, and struggle reappeared on her face.
She knew that her large body was a burden.
Just then, Robin's calm voice rang out: "Perhaps not everyone needs to squeeze onto one path. Their target might be the princess, or it might be preventing us from reaching Noah. We need to divide our forces."
She quickly analyzed: "Sanji, Zoro, Chopper, you escort Luffy and follow Lord Kojiro down that undercurrent to get down there as soon as possible."
"Jinbe, Brook, and I will protect the princess. We'll take another route—"
"Since they disrupted the system here, it means they judged the princess would take the main path. Let's do the opposite, using the princess's ability to control water currents and sense sea kings to dive down from the outside!"
"Although it's risky, it can attract attention and buy you time and safety."
"No! Miss Robin! It's too dangerous!" Sanji immediately objected.
"This is the most reasonable strategy at present," Robin said without question.
"And don't forget, we have backup—" Her gaze seemed to unintentionally sweep over the shadows in a corner.
King Hassan, who seemed to have completely blended into his environment and whose presence was almost imperceptible even to Kojiro, subtly moved his unchanging hood in the direction Robin was about to travel.
A silent agreement.
"That's settled!" Jinbe made the final decision, leaving no time for further debate.
"Sanji, Zoro, and Luffy, I'm counting on you! Your Highness, please stay close to me and Miss Robin!"
"I—I will try my best!" Bai Xing clenched her huge fist, tears still flowing, but her eyes held a new determination.
They split into two groups.
Zoro, Sanji, Chopper, and Kojiro, carrying the critically injured Luffy, charged into the narrow, swift current like an arrow released from a bow, and were instantly swallowed by the water.
Jinbe took a deep breath, his right arm muscles bulged, and Armament Haki covered his body. He then punched the rock wall to the side!
"Fishman Karate - Ultimate Technique - Budaikan!"
Boom!
A huge hole was blasted open in the hard rock wall, revealing the vast, dark ocean outside.
The powerful water pressure surged in instantly, but was barely blocked by the bubbles created by Jinbe and Shirahoshi together.
"Go!" Jinbe protected Robin and Shirahoshi, and plunged into the dark depths of the sea, heading towards the Abyss of Promise, diving down without hesitation.
Almost the instant they charged out, several blurry black figures, seemingly melting into the background, flashed past behind the distant coral reef and silently followed.
In the deep sea, two teams, carrying a shared hope but facing different dangers, sped toward the ancient abyss where deadly traps lurked.
The race has entered the final straight.
Meanwhile, the countdown to Luffy's death continues relentlessly.