Chapter 339: Chapter 339: Wish · Ship of Freedom
Chapter 339: Wish · Ship of Freedom
Shamrock’s expression suddenly changed drastically.
That was because his Observation Haki, which had been strengthened by the power of the Abyss to the extreme, told him that the changes occurring around him right now were not natural in any sense.
And...
"Thud!" "Thud!" "Thud!"
With the resounding drumbeats, the power of his Abyssal Servant Contract on his left arm sent a distinct wave of revulsion through him.
That was...
"Drums of Liberation!?"
Accompanied by Shamrock’s exclamation.
He saw the scene revealed within the starlight shooting out from the darkness of the deep sea.
It was a giant ship wrapped in starlight.
It was the giant ship that had made a fleeting appearance in the reports of the World Economic Journal.
It was the ’Aster’.
But at this moment, compared to its first appearance in Elbaf, the Aster had undergone some changes.
Its massive hull, transformed from the ’Abyss’, remained as magnificent as before.
But in the center of the hull, there was another ship that seemed to exist as the ’core’.
Of course, although it was small compared to the Aster’s massive size, by any other measure on this sea, it was undoubtedly a giant ship comparable to the size of an island.
If there were other Fish-Men here, they could all recognize the ship acting as the core at this moment.
That was the giant ship that had existed on Fish-Man Island since 800 years ago, the Ark ’Noah’.
And right now...
"Thud!" "Thud!" "Thud!"
Those continuous drumbeats were exactly coming from the Noah.
The resounding of every drumbeat seemed to generate some kind of powerful driving force from within Noah—that driving force rolled up the seawater, stirred the waves, and pushed the Aster upwards.
And exactly at this moment...
"Rumble!"
Fish-Man Island, which had been facing complete collapse since just now, plummeted at this moment.
Immediately following, it was held up by the starlight from the giant ship below.
And at the same time...
Fish-Man Island.
"This... this is..."
Ryugu Palace had a massive port—located at the junction of Ryugu Palace and the main island of Fish-Man Island, named ’Sea King Port’.
And at this moment, King Neptune and all the surviving Fish-Men, as well as those demon Fish-Men who were knocked out or forcefully restrained, were all here.
Following them here were the Giant warriors and the heroic spirits summoned by Loki’s ability.
Fear still lingered on the faces of the Fish-Men.
In fact, at the very moment when the Sunlight Tree Eve completely died just now and the island foundation of Fish-Man Island completely shattered, they truly thought they were finished—if Fish-Man Island fell, under the massive inertia brought about by its sinking into the deep sea, even if the Fish-Men didn’t fear the deep-sea environment, they would be dragged down with Fish-Man Island into the abyss.
Neptune had even briefly considered ordering his people to scatter and flee however they could.
But ultimately, he still chose to believe the words Gaban told him.
Or to be more precise, he believed in his daughter’s choice.
Fortunately, looking at it now, his choice was not wrong.
The only thing he didn’t expect was...
"You asked me to gather everyone at Sea King Port, saying a ship would come to receive us..."
He looked at Gaban: "But you didn’t tell me it would be a ship like this..."
He looked at the unbelievably massive, continent-like magnificent starlight giant ship below, his voice carrying unmistakable disbelief.
It clearly wasn’t coated, but that layer of starlight seemed to replace the function of coating.
And...
"Why is Noah on that ship — how was it embedded into it?"
There were clearly many doubts in Neptune’s heart.
But quickly, his doubts were answered to a certain extent.
Because...
"VMMM!"
Neptune could see.
The moment the falling Fish-Man Island touched the flickering starlight on the Aster, this gleaming starlight spread across the island.
This caused the island foundation, which was originally continuously collapsing due to the loss of Eve’s support, to halt its collapse.
What surprised Neptune even more was that the entire island was beginning to fuse back together impossibly, and then rapidly merged onto the deck of the Aster.
Just a moment later, the Fish-Man Island that once existed here seemed to have already become a ’part’ of the Aster.
The whole sequence happened so fast it was over before Neptune could react.
"Don’t be surprised, King Neptune—go comfort the people."
A voice came to his ear.
Neptune instinctively looked down, and then saw below, on the massive, mountain-like mast in the center of the Aster, someone in a horse head mask stood watching.
"The Zodiac... Neck Gold Dragon!?"
Sounding together with Neptune’s exclamation was Shamrock’s hissed, teeth-clenched murmur.
His gaze stared fixedly at the figure with the horse head mask: "Looking at that mask, it’s ’Uma’... I see, the matters of Elbaf are indeed related to The Zodiac."
Whether it was the content revealed by Loki earlier or the scene he saw at this moment, it was enough to confirm it.
The previous matters of Elbaf were indeed related to The Zodiac. The Giants had completely joined The Zodiac’s faction, and Star Lord had captured the power of the ’Seed of the Sky’.
However...
"The Sunlight Tree Eve—the ’Seed of the Sea’ has already turned into ruins in the deep sea."
Shamrock declared, raising Seven Sins high.
"You who usurp and rebel against God shall face the same fate!"
"Hell’s Paradise: Purgatory Fall: Thousand Dog Chomp!"
As the words fell, the rapier in Shamrock’s hand slashed down.
And this time, along the blade, there appeared far more than three dog heads—those overlapping, continuously converging dog heads numbered in the thousands!
Massive power converged on each of their heads, gnawing towards the Aster below.
Shamrock was certain it was enough to destroy any island — its power even exceeded the strike he had used against Eve.
He wanted to make the Aster turn into nothingness along with Eve today.
But...
"VMMM!"
At the same time the dog head slash bombarded the ’Aster’.
"Thud!" "Thud!" "Thud!"
Shamrock watched in horror as — from that unbelievably massive island ship, accompanied by that inexplicable drumbeat continuously sounding — the Ark ’Noah’ embedded in the center of the island ship emitted light.
That light seemed to protect the Aster, dissolving Shamrock’s slash into nothing in an instant.
So much so that in the end, his strike didn’t even leave the slightest scratch on the Aster.
"!!!"
Seeing this, Shamrock frowned tightly.
"It’s the ’Ark’s’..."
He seemed to realize with a start what had happened.
But clearly, he didn’t have time to react.
Because exactly at this time...
"Moo-ang!" "Moo-ang!" "Moo-ang!"
The massive sounds from before rumbled back.
But unlike before—this time, the roars sounding from all directions were clearer, and somehow felt even more... threatening.
Quickly, within Shamrock’s line of sight, countless massive shadows rose one by one from the pitch-black deep sea, haloed in circulating starlight!
Every single silhouette was comparable to a mountain. Although not all of them were as large as the ’Aster’, which was almost the size of a continent, the largest among them was infinitely close to that level.
"Moo-ang!"
Their neighs and roars echoed through the seabed — this had always been their domain.
Those were unbelievably massive creatures.
"Deep-sea... Sea Kings?"
Surrounded by a pack of beasts, Shamrock’s expression changed drastically.
Yes.
At this moment, accompanying the Aster, the massive behemoths appearing before him were exactly the true rulers of the sea in this world.
Not pirates, not Marines, not even humans.
They were the ’Deep-sea Sea Kings’—each one having a body length of over a thousand meters, behemoths that could destroy an island or a kingdom with a single careless roll.
And right now, the deep-sea Sea Kings surrounding Shamrock and looking at him with hostile gazes numbered far more than one or two.
Shamrock naturally knew what that meant.
All deep-sea Sea Kings are the kings of the ocean, and under normal circumstances, they definitely all have their own territories.
Across the entire sea, only one power could make them gather together and launch an attack against him.
"Poseidon... Poseidon!?"
Shamrock’s gaze had already looked towards the top of the Aster below.
As expected, he only noticed it at this time.
A mermaid princess with pink hair and a beautiful face was slowly swimming to Uma’s side.
"To think..."
So Shamrock’s expression was unprecedentedly solemn—this meant that not only Uranus, but now even ’Poseidon’...
However, before he had time to make any reaction.
The next instant, those countless Sea Kings had already moved.
They broke through the waves and arrived, and then... continuous attacks!
"BOOM!" "BOOM!" "BOOM!"
Giant tails swept horizontally, giant heads smashed down, giant mouths opened wide.
"Mere Sea Kings..."
Looking at the attacks launched by those kings of the deep sea, Shamrock grew increasingly angry.
Just as he intended to counterattack.
"Where are you... looking!?"
From behind him, a voice erupted through the ocean currents.
"!!!"
Shamrock’s pupils abruptly shrank—he had momentarily lost track of something crucial.
And when he turned his head, he saw Loki wildly laughing and shattering the ocean currents.
"Primordial World: Starfall!"
As the words fell, the giant hammer ’Lightning’, wrapped in thunder and starlight, directly bombarded Shamrock’s body.
At the same time, the attacks stirred up by the countless Sea Kings also hit Shamrock’s body.
Under such attacks, even the body of this ’Abyssal Servant Contract’ holder could not repair itself in a short time—he was blasted downwards, plummeting directly towards the distant, profound deep sea.
"Pfft, refreshing!"
After finally sending Shamrock down with one strike, Loki spat.
He didn’t pursue. Instead he turned decisively toward the Aster!
"You did very well, Princess Shirahoshi."
Uma smiled and looked at Shirahoshi beside him.
"No, no, it’s you, Lord Uma..."
Hearing this, Shirahoshi lowered her head somewhat shyly.
But immediately after, she couldn’t help but exclaim in admiration: "It’s too unbelievable, I didn’t expect you could actually drive the power of ’Noah’, and even help me master my ’ability’."
"Thanks to you, Fish-Man Island..."
Her words were full of admiration.
Uma gently shook his head.
"I merely did some insignificant things."
While he said this, his gaze also looked at Shirahoshi and the ’Ark’ Noah beneath his feet, which had already merged with the Aster.
And what he said right now was also the truth.
In fact, the reason he originally headed to the Ark Noah was very simple—his original plan was just to go there and eliminate the destabilizing elements on Fish-Man Island, Hody Jones and Vander Decken.
Incidentally, he also wanted to confirm—whether the ’Ark’ Noah, a creation of Joy Boy, had any special characteristics.
And his guess proved correct.
[Discovered Lineage Factor Creation ’Ark of Promise: Noah’]
[Contains ’Wish: Ship of Freedom’]
[The Fish-Men firmly believe that one day their race will obtain freedom, and the Ark will carry the Fish-Men to the sea surface with the fragrance of flowers, sunlight, and air, to coexist with all races in the world]
[Ships created from this wish must be driven by ’Wish: Freedom’ as power, can sail freely on the seabed and sea surface, and will never be destroyed by external forces]
Yes.
The so-called ’Noah’s Ark’ is indeed a ship.
But at the same time, it is not just a ship.
Just as mentioned before—in this world, wishes are the source of power.
When enough wishes and Source Energy of Lineage Factor converge, extraordinary things can be born.
Devil Fruits are like this.
The Ark Noah is also like this.
It is the proof of the promise between the Fish-Man race and Joy Boy — a symbol of ’freedom’, of his pledge to one day take the Fish-Men to the sea surface, to live under the sunlight like other races.
Therefore, this ship also possessed its own ’power’.
It must be powered by the Drums of Liberation of the Nika Fruit to activate, and will never be sunk.
After learning all this, Roy decisively chose a fruit and loaded it into Uma’s final fruit slot.
[Combine-Combine Fruit LV5]
[Can fuse any non-living object with oneself, turning it into a part of oneself while retaining its original characteristics]
Relying on this fruit, he connected Noah and the Aster together through himself.
Coupled with the massive amount of Source Energy of Lineage Factor just obtained from the Sunlight Tree Eve, he could even use it to activate the power of ’Poseidon’ within Shirahoshi’s body.
Only then did this scene occur.
The Aster no longer needed to conceal itself, and could appear wantonly in front of Shamrock.
Poseidon would escort it, and the waves would set its sails.
And just as Uma said — although he had played his part, the greater reason was still...
"It was the choice of the Fish-Man race that created this miracle."
He recalled the words the giant tree told him not long ago, and responded softly.
While speaking, he slowly raised his hand.
His gaze no longer lingered on Shamrock—during Loki’s battle with the other party, he had basically confirmed Shamrock’s identity.
The other party was Imu’s proxy, possessing a contract similar to the initial twenty kings.
That represented a true ’immortal body’ in the same vein as Imu.
Although he was blasted into the deep sea, he would not die so easily.
And Uma knew, in his current state, he had no way to deal with a guy with this ’special contract’ either — continuing to engage would not only waste time, but would likely give Imu time to react.
That was not part of his plan.
"Compared to tangling with Shamrock right now, the next step of the plan is the most important."
Thinking of this, Uma also looked at Shirahoshi.
"Then, Princess Shirahoshi—please bear witness."
"Following the promise between our leader ’Star Lord’ and the Sunlight Tree Eve... the Aster will take the Fish-Men and rush to the sea surface."
"And declare to the world the arrival of a new era."
(End of Chapter)
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