Charlie clears his throat as he stands. The sound cuts through the murmur of conversation, drawing every eye to him.
"If I may."
Marya nods.
Charlie continues, "In your absence, we followed up on your request to research the AI database—to learn as much as we can about Elegia and the entity called Tot Musica."
He gestures. A holographic image of Elegia appears, hovering over the conference table. The island shimmers in pale blue light—its mountains, its valleys, its ruined cities.
Luffy jumps up, stars in his eyes. "How cool!"
Jannali grabs him by the collar and pulls him back down. "Down, mate!"
Charlie shakes his head. "As I was saying—between the two AI databases, we were able to learn the original purpose of Elegia."
Beckman blows out a plume of smoke. "Purpose? It's just an island."
Galit interrupts, his voice carrying the weight of something important. "That's just it. It isn't."
Shanks leans forward, resting his elbows against the edge of the table. His gaze fixed on the hologram. "What is it, then?"
Charlie clears his throat again. "What we have learned is that the pre-Void civilization sought to construct an artificial, self-sustaining metaphysical engine—capable of harmonizing every sentient consciousness on the planet into a singular, frictionless utopia."
The room falls silent.
Charlie continues, "They were trying to manufacture an absolute, painless communion of souls across the entire world. If they could tune the world's soul to a perfect celestial octave, suffering, isolation, and war would cease to exist."
Jannali mutters, "Bloody hell."
Marya interrupts, her voice flat. "I assume it didn't work."
Charlie nods. "That is correct." He calls out, "Halia."
Halia's face appears on the monitor—her features shifting with the fluidity of a being made from pure information. "Welcome back, Captain."
Charlie gestures. "Please adjust the hologram to include the complex parameters."
Halia nods. "Of course."
The hologram of Elegia shimmers. An intricate crystal complex appears beneath the island—a vast network of geometric chambers, pulsing with pale blue light.
Law asks, "What are we looking at?"
Bianca interjects, her hands gesturing wildly. "It's like where the entity lives and stuff."
Charlie adds, "That is a crude but effective way of putting it. To be more precise, it is where the entity is sealed away."
Vesta jumps up from her seat. Her chair slides across the floor with a sharp screech. She thrusts a fist in the air. "And we are going to break it!"
The room falls silent.
Then Luffy laughs. He jumps up too. "Yeah! Let's break it!"
Law snaps, "Would you sit down!"
Bepo looks to Law, his ears flat against his skull. "Sorry, Captain."
Law groans as Luffy and Vesta both sit.
Jean Bart claps Law on the shoulder. "It will be alright, Captain."
Charlie clears his throat. "As my companions have both stated, breaking the complex would be the ideal strategy."
Shanks narrows his eyes. "Wouldn't that release Tot Musica?"
Melinoë's voice emanates over the intercom. The monitor splits, showing her sad expression—her orca tail floating lazily behind her, her long hair drifting as if underwater.
"Not that anyone thought to ask or anything, but you won't be able to do anything without the Extraction Frequency."
She stares at the floor. "It doesn't matter anyway."
Halia interrupts, her voice carrying the warmth of a teacher correcting a student. "On the contrary, it matters a great deal."
The holographic image shimmers. "Allow me to demonstrate. Once the frequency is determined, it will be able to shatter the crystal complex—releasing the entity."
Melinoë sighs. "If I absolutely have to... I guess I could use the island erasure frequency to mess up the crystal complex. Not that it really matters."
Bianca stands. She walks over to the monitor and presses a button, turning it off. "Like, sorry, but like, they get like all into the feelings and stuff."
---
Charlie clears his throat. "Allow me to elaborate more clearly."
He gestures to the hologram. The image shifts—showing the crystal complex in greater detail.
"Elegia was not chosen at random. Its geological substrate was rich in a unique, highly resonant mineral—crystals that acted as natural piezoelectric conductors for spiritual energy."
Beckman interrupts, his voice flat. "Haki."
Charlie nods. "Correct! The island was transformed into a massive furnace. To generate an artificial soul of global scale, the experimenters required an immense volume of emotional resonance. They attempted to distill the collective emotional humors of humanity into a living musical thoughtform."
He pauses. His expression darkens.
"However, they made a fatal miscalculation. When the Ancient Kingdom opened the psychic floodgates across their acoustic grid, the human subconscious did not broadcast pure celestial joy. It flooded the Elegia crucible with unrefined grief, buried terror, and the agonies of mortal existence."
The hologram shifts—the crystal complex darkening, pulsing with sickly green light.
"Instead of the golden harmony, the experiment suffered an instantaneous, catastrophic blackening. The volatile emotion fused with the latent acoustic energy, coalescing into an autonomous, predatory consciousness: Tot Musica."
Vesta's face is pale. Her hands are clenched in her lap.
Charlie continues, "Rather than liberating the soul from the body, Tot Musica became a black hole—an insatiable parasite that consumed the souls of everyone within earshot to sustain its own monstrous macrocosmic physical manifestation."
---
Charlie pauses. He removes his glasses and polishes them with a handkerchief. The gesture is slow, deliberate as he gathered his thoughts.
"When the entity breached the laboratory, it could not be destroyed by conventional arms or elemental fire. Tot Musica is pure, coherent, conceptual sound; cutting it merely split the vibration into harsher overtones."
He puts his glasses back on.
"The ancient sages were forced to execute an emergency containment operation. Deep beneath the surface of Elegia, the sages utilized the island's native crystal network to construct a planetary-scale Seal. By carving exact logarithmic angles into the subterranean crystal caverns, they turned the entire island into a subterranean crystal stone."
The hologram shifts again—showing the crystal complex from above, its geometric patterns glowing with pale blue light.
"They counteracted Tot Musica's kinetic chords with absolute destructive interference. They forced the demon down the frequency gradient into a state of acoustic inertia—trapping its volatile consciousness inside the dense mineral lattice beneath the earth."
He pauses.
"The crystals of Elegia became an eternal prison, holding the entity in suspended petrification."
---
The room falls silent.
The hologram flickers, casting strange shadows across the faces of everyone present.
Beckman breaks the silence. His voice is quiet, measured. "Then the World Government came along and tried to control that power by using clones."
Shanks looks at Beckman. His expression, stern. "Then we came along with the perfect host for their experiment."
Yasopp asks, his voice uncertain, "What are you saying, Chief?"
Shanks' expression grows dark. The shadows under his eyes deepen. His jaw tightens.
"That we played right into their hand. Uta didn't find the key. It was left for her to find."
---
Aurélie asks, her voice flat, "Should we assume you have deduced a way for us to overpower this entity?"
Galit stands. Charlie sits.
Galit's neck uncoils slightly as he speaks, his emerald eyes sweeping across the room. "We won't be able to rush the island and attack it with a single blow. It will require us to break into teams and coordinate our efforts."
He pauses. His voice hardens.
"Communication will be the most important thing. If one team moves out of sync with the others, then the island explodes and Tot Musica is unleashed on the world, undeterred."
Atlas shifts in his seat. "Let's not let that happen, Noodle Neck."
Galit glares at him. He steps out from the table, pointing at the center of the hologram. "We will need a group..."
The doors burst open.
Everyone looks over.
Eliane stands in the doorway, a massive tray in her hands. Steam rises from the dishes, carrying the scent of roasted meat and fresh bread and something sweet.
"I brought lunch!"
Luffy jumps up. "Great! I am starving!"
Vesta adds, "Me too!"
Ember is on Eliane's heels, her mismatched eyes gleaming. Elaine slides the tray onto the table. "You better hurry before Ember and Jelly eat it all!"
Jelly bounces in, a sandwich in each hand. He is chewing, his translucent blue body wobbling with each movement.
"Bloop! Snacks!" he says around the food.
Galit groans. He pinches the bridge of his nose.
Marya smirks. "You are just going to have to talk louder."