Let's turn the clock back a few minutes.
Mary Geoise, Elevator Channel Sea Area.
"Ahhhh! What a huge wave, it's crashing over!"
Looking at the giant wave coming head-on from the distance, at least over ten meters high, Usopp's eyes almost popped out of his head.
"Shut up, Usopp—it's just a mere ocean wave, hold the sails... Sanji, Brook, pull up the side oars at the stern!"
"Yes~ Miss Nami!"
On the warship that formerly belonged to the World Government, the Straw Hat crew was currently busy.
"Ho, truly amazing. To be able to hold so steady in waves like these, it seems Luffy found an incredible navigator."
Amidst the fierce wind and torrential rain, Rayleigh thrust the sword in his hand into the deck to stabilize his figure, looking at Franky who was barely steering the helm and Nami who was nervously directing Franky.
"Mr. Rayleigh, don't praise me like that."
Hearing this, Nami smiled and waved her hand, but immediately frowned somewhat as she looked around: "However—if even here has a storm of this scale, the situation outside is probably even worse..."
"More than that."
Franky had already pulled down his sunglasses, opening a mechanical umbrella over Nami's head: "I tapped into the ship's communication equipment just now. I heard that almost all the islands in the surrounding waters have been swallowed by this natural disaster... Are Chopper and Miss Shakky okay?"
His words carried some worry.
Just as mentioned before, the sea area near the great elevator of Mary Geoise was specially treated by the World Government, similar to the 'Tarai Current' where the Gates of Justice are located.
So even though it was also situated in the sea area near the Sabaody Archipelago, the ocean currents under normal circumstances were extremely stable, almost unaffected by the outside world.
But this time, even this sea area was experiencing waves and a storm of this scale, which spoke to how catastrophic conditions outside must be.
This made the Straw Hat crew inevitably worry about the companions they had left behind and Shakky on the Sabaody Archipelago.
"Rest assured."
Hearing this, Rayleigh grinned and wrapped the bandages around his hands: "Shakky is very strong, she's not someone who dies easily."
Hearing Rayleigh's words, Nami and Franky sighed in relief simultaneously.
"And compared to this..."
Rayleigh turned his head slightly at this moment, looking behind him: "I'm more curious about something else right now."
On the deck behind him, several corpses lay scattered.
All of them were the Divine Servants.
This was what puzzled Rayleigh the most right now.
Just now, after he and the Straw Hat crew boarded this warship and encountered the Divine Servants, Rayleigh engaged in a fierce battle with them.
Rayleigh was even prepared to settle in for a drawn-out battle as he had in the past—after all, he knew very well that the God's Knights could not be killed.
But after truly exchanging blows, Rayleigh quickly discovered a problem.
And that was that this group of 'old opponents' he had fought more than once in the past seemed to have become weaker.
Not only had their strength weakened, but even their will to fight seemed to have become weaker—Rayleigh could even clearly see fear and the urge to retreat in the other party's eyes.
This gave Rayleigh a theory, and the subsequent facts confirmed it.
"Those guys can be killed."
Rayleigh murmured in his heart: "Their power was 'stripped' away."
This was undoubtedly a good thing—at least Rayleigh killed them without expending much effort, sustaining only minor injuries throughout, and they even hijacked this warship.
But the problem was...
"Why would they, who had possessed this power for over twenty years, suddenly be stripped of it?"
Rayleigh frowned, looking at the turbulent sea in front of him.
He knew very well that there should be only one answer to this question.
"The Zodiac."
He thought of the Snake he had previously seen on Amazon Lily, murmuring secretly in his heart: "Is the berserk era finally about to begin?"
Thinking of this, his gaze once again looked further back on the deck—Straw Hat Luffy was right there.
"What kind of role will he play in this era?"
Rayleigh didn't know.
But he looked forward to it.
"So, you didn't kill Ace?"
On the other side, Luffy was sitting cross-legged on the deck—even though he was swaying with every roll of the ship, he completely didn't mind, just staring at the blue-skinned Fish-Man in front of him.
That was exactly the 'Knight of the Sea' Jinbe.
"Mm—I truly didn't expect that you are actually Brother Ace's younger brother."
At this moment, this former Seven Warlord of the Sea also had a solemn expression.
Hideous, unhealed wounds still remained on his body, left behind from the battle with Roy earlier.
But he clearly didn't have time to worry about his own injuries, merely answering Luffy's question while anxiously looking at the sea surface.
"This old man and Brother Ace indeed had a battle, but ultimately he and I fought to a hard-won draw..."
He temporarily had no clues about the matters on the sea, and the kid in front of him kept pressing the question.
Jinbe sighed helplessly.
Putting away his thoughts, he turned to talk about his encounter with Ace.
That was shortly after he had lost his identity as a 'Seven Warlord of the Sea', when he took the New Sun Pirates to seek Whitebeard's protection for Fish-Man Island.
This process itself went very smoothly; Whitebeard was willing to protect Fish-Man Island.
But not long after, Jinbe heard that a Supernova had come all the way to Whitebeard's territory after entering the New World.
So naturally, having just received a great favor from Whitebeard, he chose to go intercept the other party.
Ultimately, just as he said—he and Ace fought to a hard-won draw, and during the battle, he even shattered the other party's ship.
"Brother Ace said he indeed had plans to challenge Whitebeard, but not now."
Jinbe said seriously: "Some of his past companions were killed by the 'Lizard King' Hanafuda, so he had been tracking Hanafuda's whereabouts all the way from Paradise. He was going to Wano Country now, which was why he passed through Pops' territory."
"It's just that due to the natural barriers of Wano Country, he had been unable to enter it."
"He and this old man got along well, so this old man decided to help him..."
He said in a deep voice.
"This old man and the brothers of the New Sun Pirates repaired his ship, and then hauled his ship up the 'Great Waterfall', delivering him to the 'Kuri' region of Wano Country."
He briefly explained the situation.
Wano Country has a unique geographical location; outsiders must climb the great waterfall to enter its borders—this is extremely difficult for the vast majority of people, but it is not so for the uniquely endowed Fish-Men.
"As for what happened after, this old man is also unclear about Brother Ace's situation... however, I haven't heard any news of the Lizard King being killed, and that place is after all the lair of the 'Beasts', so this old man believes he should still be waiting for an opportunity in Wano Country."
Jinbe disclosed everything he knew about Ace, but his words couldn't hide his worry for him.
Wano Country is the lair of the 'Beasts'. Even if he greatly respected Ace's strength, operating in that kind of place was still too dangerous.
"Wano Country... understood!"
Luffy crossed his arms and nodded: "Then let's go there next, just in time to see Ace!"
"Go my ass, are you deaf? That is the lair of one of the Four Emperors ahhhh! The wave is coming again! Luffy you bastard, if you have time to spout that nonsense, you might as well come help!"
Usopp, who was originally bustling about, let out such a shout.
"Since you understand, this old man plans to leave."
Jinbe looked at Luffy, slowly struggling to stand up: "This natural disaster is almost certainly connected to Fish-Man Island — this old man has to go back and confirm the situation..."
He was still burning with anxiety—after all, he was arrested by Roy shortly after leaving Fish-Man Island, and was currently completely ignorant of Fish-Man Island's situation.
Looking at the situation on the sea surface right now, he also slowly deduced that something must have happened to Fish-Man Island!
"Hey, your body won't be able to handle it if you act like this!"
Looking at the hideous injuries on Jinbe's body, Sanji, who had just retracted the secondary oars at the stern, frowned: "Even for a Fish-Man, you can't handle this kind of injury, right—if you go to the deep sea now, you'll die. At least come ashore with us and find a doctor to take a look first."
Speaking of this, Sanji seemed to remember something: "But then again, under the current circumstances, whether we can still find a doctor in the nearby sea areas is hard to say."
"Cough cough... This old man is fine."
Jinbe said with his mouth, but his weak voice said otherwise.
But exactly at this moment...
"Hey, I say..."
Another voice came from the side: "Straw Hat-ya, Fish-Man-ya—I was rescued by you guys after all, don't ignore me."
"I am a doctor. Undo my Seastone handcuffs, and I can treat him right now."
The one speaking was 'Trafalgar Law', who was rescued from the prison by Luffy along with Jinbe.
The only difference was—he was still wearing Seastone handcuffs right now.
This was to be expected. After all, Luffy's purpose for coming here was only to confirm Ace's whereabouts from Jinbe's mouth.
Although Law was brought out along with him, since his background was unknown and he was a pirate after all, the Straw Hat crew had no intention of unlocking his handcuffs.
"You are a doctor?"
"Hey, Luffy, we can't let this guy go—I checked the bounties, he is a pirate with a bounty over a hundred million!"
"Does Mr. Rayleigh know him?"
Before Rayleigh's answer could come, the surrounding situation suddenly changed.
"Thud!" "Thud!" "Thud!"
Whether it was the Straw Hat crew, Law, or Jinbe—at this moment, they all heard it with perfect clarity.
That massive drumbeat coming from beneath the sea surface.
"Rumble!"
Everyone instinctively turned their heads, and then all saw that unbelievably massive starlight giant ship abruptly surfacing from beneath the sea.
"What is that..."
Everyone present was stunned.
Leaving the Straw Hat crew aside—just the massive scale of the 'Aster' itself held an absolute sense of oppression for any normal creature.
"...That is Fish-Man Island!?"
Jinbe, however, noticed the island embedded above the Aster, like an independent mountain rock—although the bubble coating surrounding it had completely shattered, he still recognized it immediately as Fish-Man Island.
"It's the island ship of The Zodiac? It's actually on this scale?"
As for Rayleigh, like Kizaru, he immediately noticed the ship's flag of the Aster.
Just as everyone was still reeling with shock, something no one expected happened.
"Ngh!"
Right now, as those 'Thud', 'Thud', 'Thud' Drums of Liberation continuously sounded.
Just like in Alabasta before, accompanied by a pained groan, Luffy abruptly fell to his knees.
His hands tightly clutched his chest, and then his entire body actually began to turn red, ultimately even starting to emit bursts of steam-like smoke.
"Luffy!?"
"Luffy!"
"Luffy, what's wrong!?"
Seeing this scene, the Straw Hat crew instantly grew anxious.
Sanji, who was closest to Luffy, instinctively wanted to reach out and help him up, but...
"Wait!"
He was stopped by Rayleigh.
"Mr. Rayleigh, Luffy is..."
Everyone looked at Rayleigh confusedly, and this right-hand man of the Pirate King was currently squinting to examine Luffy on the ground, rare alarm in his eyes.
"This aura..."
At the same time, Jinbe also sensed something through Observation Haki, his pupils abruptly widening: "Brother Luffy is..."
He could perceive it.
At this moment, an extraordinary change was happening to Luffy's body.
"Just... just like before..."
Clutching his chest, Luffy gritted his teeth and said: "I can't control my heart, it... it... it's about to beat!"
"I feel... I feel..."
As the words fell.
"Thud!" "Thud!" "Thud!"
From within Luffy's body, a drumbeat resounded.
That sound was almost identical to the drumbeat coming from the Aster on the sea surface right now, and even the rhythm gradually became identical.
Or to be more precise—those two cheerful and free drumbeats clearly began to 'resonate' at the same frequency at this moment.
And along with the generation of this resonance.
Luffy's body also began to undergo unbelievable changes.
Pure white flame clouds surfaced around him, and Luffy's hair and posture both began to turn pure white.
"Hehehe... heh..."
An uncontrollable smile broke across his face, and he raised his head and stood up.
"I feel—absolutely fantastic right now!"
If Roy were here, then he would inevitably be incomparably surprised.
Because at this moment, what Luffy displayed was shockingly...
[Gear 5 - Nika Form]
Yes.
That was a situation exceeding Roy's original estimations.
The 'Nika Fruit' possesses the power to bring freedom to all lives. Those who hear the 'Drums of Liberation' can obtain a physique of freedom.
Then what if it was 'Luffy', the consumer of the Nika Fruit, who heard that drumbeat?
The answer was right in front of them.
The resonance of wishes would cause the power of the fruit to be stimulated, and the cry of freedom granted him his strongest form ahead of schedule.
"Luffy!?"
"What is that?"
"Zoan fruit awakening... how is that possible?"
At this moment, everyone on the deck was stunned by the form Luffy displayed.
So much so that no one, including Rayleigh, noticed.
Right on this warship, within a gap in a deck they hadn't searched.
Not long ago, the 'latest model video camera' with timed shooting and transmission functions worn by a certain crew member on the warship blinked once.
"Click."
Accompanied by an almost inaudible sound, the lens captured that liberated form on the deck.
And...
"Timed shooting complete, currently transmitting to Mary Geoise."
(End of Chapter)
☆☆☆
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