"..."
Looking at the Transponder Snail in Loki's hand, the gaze beneath Uma's mask became serious for a moment.
Just as mentioned before, he knew who the person communicating with Loki through the Transponder Snail was.
Duke Ponpon — or rather, 'Duke Mosa' — a friend Loki had never met in person, but communicated with through the Transponder Snail.
If there were no accidents, her true identity should be the Mermaid Princess of Fish-Man Island, Shirahoshi.
The interesting part lay exactly here.
Uma knew very well that Mermaid Princess Shirahoshi was the Ancient Weapon, Poseidon.
And Loki was the Ancient Weapon, Uranus.
Although he didn't know exactly through what channels these two had obtained each other's contact information, let alone how they became friends, this matter in itself carried a hint of fate.
However, right now, what surprised Uma somewhat was what Shirahoshi said.
"Prophecy?"
The matter Shirahoshi told Loki over the Transponder Snail naturally made Uma think of one thing.
Earlier, when Snake had been on Amazon Lily, he had heard Dark King Rayleigh mention that the natural-born prophet of Fish-Man Island, Madam Shyarly, had once made a prophecy.
In the prophecy, Fish-Man Island, Elbaf, and Amazon Lily would disappear from the sea and converge amidst the stars.
Now, this prophecy had clearly been fulfilled.
"Elbaf really did disappear..."
This demonstrated the accuracy of Madam Shyarly's prophecy, and simultaneously gave Roy a guess in his heart.
Shirahoshi's words now seemed to further corroborate that guess.
"That Master Prophet saw yesterday that my homeland will be attacked by a group of demons, and a person will swing a sword to shatter both the Sunlight Tree Eve and Ryugu Palace. Everyone will plunge into the sea along with the ruins of the island. I... I..."
She spoke like this, completely unaware that her words had already completely exposed her own identity.
But clearly, neither Loki nor Roy cared much about the other party's silly personality — this Mermaid Princess's scatterbrained nature was famous.
Regarding what she said, the two each had their own thoughts.
"Yesterday..."
Roy realized — the prophecy Shirahoshi told Loki right now was clearly a new prophecy, not the one Rayleigh had recounted earlier.
"A group of demons will attack Fish-Man Island, and a person will swing a sword to sever the Sunlight Tree Eve and Ryugu Palace?"
Demons? Swing a sword?
Beneath Uma's mask, Roy frowned, somewhat unable to understand — what kind of things were 'demons'?
As for swinging a sword to sever the Sunlight Tree Eve and Ryugu Palace... he had no impression of a swordsman capable of such a feat.
Compared to Roy, Loki's reaction was clearly much simpler.
"Sunlight Tree Eve..."
He had long guessed his good friend's identity, so he didn't feel surprised at these words.
It's just that Shirahoshi's words made him almost subconsciously look toward the sea surface behind him that had already gradually become distant.
Just like Elbaf — was his good friend's homeland also about to face variables?
"Duke Ponpon, there is no need to worry."
After a moment of silence, Loki spoke slowly.
"So-called friends are people who help each other in times of crisis."
As he spoke, his gaze also looked toward Uma.
The meaning within was quite clear.
Receiving the plea in his eyes, after thinking for a moment, Uma didn't hesitate either. "What a coincidence — we are also somewhat interested in Fish-Man Island... let's go together."
While he said this, his gaze slightly looked at the Aster beneath his feet.
Deep in his eyes, it could also be clearly seen within the Fruit Encyclopedia.
[Current Source Energy of Lineage Factor: 2500 portions]
The Source Energy of Lineage Factor he possessed had already reached quite an astonishing number.
The origin of this Source Energy of Lineage Factor was also very simple — it was all the Source Energy of Lineage Factor belonging to Treasure Tree Adam that had been previously devoured by Teach within Loki's body.
Yes.
After completely obliterating Teach's soul, Uma had reached a cooperation with Loki.
Loki handed over the Source Energy of Lineage Factor on him to Uma, and Uma used it to complete the Aster to rescue the citizens of Elbaf.
After all, although Loki could also utilize Source Energy of Lineage Factor, he could only use it superficially. If used to save people, he was far inferior to Uma.
And the Source Energy of Lineage Factor provided by Loki was basically enough for Roy to create the Star Fruit unique to The Zodiac — what he needed next was only an enormous amount of 'wish power'.
But clearly, Roy was still not satisfied with this.
Just as Loki said earlier — if he was to deal with that grand war, what he needed was not just the Star Fruits of The Zodiac.
What he needed was to truly turn the existence of The Zodiac into reality.
To complete such a miracle, he still needed more and more Source Energy of Lineage Factor.
So logically—
"Since the Treasure Tree Adam contains that level of Source Energy of Lineage Factor, then Fish-Man Island's Sunlight Tree Eve must inevitably be a similar existence."
The murals on the Abyss were enough to explain this point.
Not to mention, the Ancient Weapon Poseidon was also present on Fish-Man Island to begin with.
So even without this call Loki received right now, Roy had long made up his mind that he would go to Fish-Man Island sooner or later.
"Eh!?"
Shirahoshi clearly also heard the conversation between Uma and Loki, and appeared both surprised and happy. "Lo... Lord Loki, is there someone else beside you?"
She clearly hadn't thought of this point, even stuttering a bit when she spoke.
But then, she seemed to realize what Loki and Uma were talking about. "You... you are coming over? But Lord Loki, don't you have an agreement tying you down, unable to leave the place you guard? And your mother..."
As telephone friends for many years, she was clearly intimately familiar with Loki's situation.
"Ah, about that..."
Hearing Shirahoshi's inquiry, Loki gently let out an 'ah'. "The agreement has already been completed — I have already passed my captain's message to his comrade."
"As for my mother, she has completely recovered with the help of this Mr. Uma beside me."
He and the Giant race had already broken free from their cage and had the qualification to help his friend.
"Your mother is cured? That's truly wonderful — but... Mr. Uma? What a unique name, no wait, I seem to have heard royal father mention it... Eh!? Co... Could it be!?"
Hearing this, Shirahoshi exclaimed again, clearly feeling happy for Loki.
But immediately after, she seemed to have guessed Uma's identity — compared to the Giant race, the Fish-Men located right in the center of the Grand Line clearly possessed much broader knowledge.
"The Zodiac!?"
Even she understood the significance of The Zodiac.
That was a monster group that made her father look full of solemnity every time they were mentioned, and every piece of news related to them was enough for the ministers of Ryugu Palace to study repeatedly.
Such people were actually coming to Fish-Man Island because of her words?
"This... this..."
Shirahoshi suddenly felt somewhat worried about the heart of her royal father, Neptune.
But immediately following, she suddenly realized another matter.
"You guys said you want to come to my place, but... but Lord Loki, Lord Uma, how do you know where I am? I've never told you guys before?"
She asked in confusion.
Loki, Uma: "..."
Logically speaking, although the New World was the territory of the Four Emperors, and the Marine's and World Government's influence and intelligence-gathering capabilities here were relatively weak, a thing like Elbaf vanishing into thin air was an absolutely impossible-to-conceal super-massive incident.
After all, the size of that Country of War standing atop Treasure Tree Adam was considered a unique level even on the Grand Line — a giant tree of that scale vanishing into thin air, as long as one wasn't blind, anyone could see it.
So logically, the sea shook.
[Elbaf Disappears, Land of War Sinks]
[Where Did the Giants Go?]
The World Economic Journal logically reported on this matter immediately.
But clearly — the uniqueness of this incident lay in the fact that even the intelligence system of the World Economic Journal completely failed to obtain any detailed information.
In the reports, they only obscurely guessed that Elbaf vanishing into thin air was highly likely sinking into the sea.
Even so, the world trembled because of it.
Especially the higher-ups of the various countries in the New World, who could truly be said to have trouble sleeping and eating.
They didn't mind Elbaf vanishing into thin air, but the crux was that those Giants on the island were not to be trifled with — no one on the sea knew better than them the power the Giants possessed.
To be blunt, if Elbaf truly sank, and some Giants luckily survived — then they only needed to form a small squad to easily plunder the vast majority of countries on the sea.
However, regarding this, the World Economic Journal proposed a possibility.
[Did The Zodiac Participate in This?]
According to the intelligence gathered by the World Economic Journal, on the day Elbaf disappeared, ships passing by the nearby sea area happened to see a giant ship emitting starlight.
Of course, because the sea area near Elbaf was inherently very dangerous, most passing ships didn't have the courage to approach and investigate.
But based on this characteristic of 'starlight', the World Economic Journal had already boldly made this kind of guess.
[Judging from the many incidents that occurred recently, the power of The Zodiac frequently contains elements of 'starlight']
[Perhaps this mysterious and powerful organization sank Elbaf?]
Such guesses created a huge uproar on the sea, and spread extremely widely.
This was inevitable — after all, over this past year or so, the idea that "as long as a major incident occurs on the sea, the vast majority are inextricably linked to The Zodiac" had almost formed a cognitive inertia.
But—
"No, The Zodiac and the Giant race are not enemies."
In front of people who truly knew the inside story, such guesses were almost immediately dismissed.
For example, right now, on a certain island in the New World—
Red-haired Shanks, his face full of solemnity, was saying exactly this while reading the newspaper.
"That guy Loki would not fight The Zodiac. Something else must have definitely happened... highly likely related to the recent earthquakes in Elbaf."
"I wonder how Mr. Gaban is doing? I originally planned to go to Elbaf to help him before the prophecy was fulfilled."
His words carried a hint of heaviness.
Clearly, Shanks was also aware of the prophecy Rayleigh had mentioned earlier.
Besides that, frequently communicating through letters with Gaban, he was also very clear about the abnormal earthquakes that had occurred recently in Elbaf.
But he never expected that before he had time to head to Elbaf, he would actually receive such news.
"It can't be helped — after all, that guy Kuzan caused no small amount of damage to the ship before."
Beside him, Yasopp shook his head, his gaze looking at the Red Force, still undergoing repairs not far away.
Previously, due to the matter with Hawkeye and Snake, they had fought a fierce battle with Kuzan.
In the end, they successfully repelled Kuzan, but the latter also caused considerable damage to their ship.
Coupled with the retaliatory pursuit by the Marines afterwards, this resulted in them being unable to head to Elbaf in time.
"However... the World Economic Journal is right about one thing this time. This matter is highly likely related to The Zodiac."
Benn Beckman was similarly looking at another newspaper, analyzing softly. "On the current sea, only they could possibly be involved in such a massive incident."
"Is Loki dead?"
"It shouldn't be possible to die, right? That guy is terrifyingly strong."
"Even Captain doesn't have the absolute certainty of victory when facing him."
The members of the Red Hair Pirates started talking one after another.
"..."
Shanks was silently looking at the newspaper.
"Loki... that fruit of Elbaf..."
Looking at the 'giant ship of starlight' and related reports, Shanks' eyes became sharp to the extreme.
Had the complete berserk state of the era... already begun?
"This is truly... much earlier than the estimated time. I thought I would have to wait at least until that guy Luffy grew a bit more..."
He murmured softly and stood up, his pitch-black cape fluttering in the wind.
He turned his head to look at his comrades, his words unusually serious.
"Hey, boys."
He spoke in a deep voice. "Work hard, put in some overtime to fix the ship... Let's take a trip to the ruins of Elbaf. By the way — Beckman, contact the others and investigate the whereabouts of that giant ship of starlight."
As soon as these words came out, Benn Beckman's expression became serious.
He naturally knew what Shanks meant.
The Red Hair Pirates was different from the other Four Emperors.
The number of members in the entire Red Hair Pirates had always remained low, and they didn't have mandatory 'subordinate pirate crews' under their command.
The relationship between the Red Hair Pirates and their subordinate forces was more like that of friends — or to be more precise, some pirates simply admired the personal charisma of Red-Haired Shanks and voluntarily formed a 'Grand Fleet'.
Shanks rarely gave them any orders either — most of the time, the Red Hair Pirates were more like an adventure crew freely adventuring on the sea.
But clearly, Shanks' intention now was exactly to utilize these connections.
"And after finding its whereabouts?"
Benn Beckman asked softly.
Shanks replied without hesitation. "Mihawk should have already conveyed my invitation for a meeting — but looking at it, it seems we can't wait for them to come find me."
While speaking, he turned his head to look beside him — there lay another piece of intelligence.
That was a major piece of intelligence he had only recently obtained, which he cared about immensely.
"If my guess is right — we probably have to hand this intelligence over to The Zodiac quickly."
"Therefore... once we find the whereabouts of that giant starlight ship, we'll personally go find them!"
(End of Chapter)
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