In the depths of the ocean, Luo Chen could no longer control the coffin to descend further because they had already reached the deepest part of the current sea area.
Not far below the coffin was the hard seabed.
And Aokiji's cold air was still able to track them.
Luo Chen had no choice but to switch to teleporting the coffin horizontally, heading for deeper waters.
His face was a little pale, and he could clearly feel his stamina gradually giving out.
Robin could hear his increasingly heavy breathing and said with concern, "You won't be able to hold on if this continues."
Luo Chen gritted his teeth. "I know, but I can't stop now. If I stop, we'll be frozen."
He mused, "Aokiji must be using Observation Haki to track our position. I have to find a way to disappear from his Observation Haki."
Only by escaping Aokiji's Haki could they completely shake off the pursuit.
Robin was silent, not knowing what to do.
In the current situation, she was completely helpless. She could only act as Luo Chen's eyes.
If not for some bioluminescent marine plants on the seabed, Robin wouldn't even be able to see her surroundings.
Luo Chen said in a low voice, "Look for Sea Kings, or giant sea beasts."
He had a plan. The prerequisite was to find a suitable giant undersea beast.
Although Robin didn't know what use it would be, she still trusted him. She grew more eyes around the coffin, searching for a sea beast.
Several minutes passed. During this time, Luo Chen teleported many more times.
Fortunately, as they went deeper, the speed of Aokiji's cold air also slowed down a lot. He didn't have to use the Flying Thunder God Technique constantly and had some time to catch his breath.
Robin suddenly spoke, "Three hundred meters to the front right, there's a huge fish-shaped sea beast. I can't see its full length, but it must be very big."
Luo Chen's spirits lifted. He said, "I'm going to make another coffin. Hold on to me tight."
Robin was taken aback but said nothing. After a moment's hesitation, she reached out and hugged Luo Chen tightly, her body pressed against his with almost no gap.
Luo Chen controlled his Wood Style power.
A small coffin slowly materialized around the two of them, enveloping them.
And outside the small coffin, that is, inside the original, larger coffin, wood slowly condensed, gradually forming two short human figures.
From their appearance, they were miniaturized versions of Luo Chen and Robin.
These were two Wood Clones that Luo Chen had created. They could perfectly imitate his presence. Although Robin's presence couldn't be perfectly simulated, it should be enough to confuse Aokiji.
After all, having dived so deep into the sea, Luo Chen didn't believe Aokiji's perception could still be as clear as before. Besides, Aokiji also couldn't rule out the possibility that he might kill Robin.
After all preparations were made, Luo Chen created a Wood Dragon in the ocean, which swam straight for the giant fish-shaped sea beast to the front right.
"Tell me when the Wood Dragon gets eaten."
Luo Chen had placed a Flying Thunder God mark on the Wood Dragon when he created it.
As soon as the Wood Dragon was swallowed, he could teleport himself, Robin, and the small coffin into the sea beast's body.
With the sea beast's life force acting as a shield, Aokiji's Observation Haki would no longer be able to accurately track them. What's more, there was still the large coffin in the ocean, with the Wood Clones inside, which could serve to mislead Aokiji.
Robin could now roughly guess Luo Chen's plan. She didn't ask much and observed intently.
A dozen seconds later, she said quickly, "It ate it!"
Luo Chen activated the Flying Thunder God Technique without any hesitation.
The next moment, the two of them, along with the small coffin outside, teleported and disappeared.
Only the large coffin and the two Wood Clones were left, floating three hundred meters away from the sea beast.
The Luo Chen-lookalike Wood Clone possessed all the abilities of the main body.
It took control of the large coffin and continued to use the Flying Thunder God, fleeing in a direction away from the sea beast.
...
Inside the giant beast, a small coffin materialized.
Inside, Luo Chen asked, "How is it? Where did we appear?"
Robin shook her head. "It's too dark outside, but we're definitely inside the sea beast. We should have been swallowed into its stomach."
She smiled. "Will we be corroded by its stomach acid and then become excrement?"
Luo Chen sighed. "How could that happen? Don't be so morbid."
Due to her dark past, Nico Robin often associated things with unlucky outcomes.
Today, Luo Chen had seen it for himself.
He tried to push open the lid of the small coffin.
It was pitch black outside, but fortunately, no seawater or liquid poured in.
This proved that the environment was tolerable.
Luo Chen sat up and vigilantly observed the surrounding darkness.
His physique was far stronger than Robin's, and he had a certain degree of night vision. He could barely make out his surroundings.
It should be the stomach of the fish-shaped sea beast.
The coffin was floating on a dark green stomach acid.
A sour, foul smell assaulted his nostrils, making Luo Chen frown.
Robin, restricted by the space in the coffin, could only lean against his chest and poke her head out to observe.
She wrinkled her delicate nose and remarked, "It stinks, but there's oxygen."
Some sea beasts had oxygen in their stomachs. He and she were lucky. Otherwise, the oxygen in the coffin wouldn't have lasted long.
Robin temporarily relaxed and asked, "Will Aokiji find out that we've entered the sea beast's body?"
Luo Chen rubbed his chin. "Probably not. If he finds out even with this, then we can only accept our fate."
He really had no other options now. He had done all that was humanly possible; now he could only leave it to fate.
He hoped the Wood Clones in the large coffin could successfully mislead Aokiji. He also hoped that this sea beast would swim far away and take them away from this sea area.
Robin's deep blue, beautiful eyes fell on Luo Chen's face.
"If we succeed in escaping, it will definitely be big news."
The process of the two of them escaping from the desert to the sea while being pursued by Aokiji had been witnessed by many of the people of Alabasta. The matter certainly couldn't be kept under wraps.
Once it was confirmed that Admiral Aokiji had failed to capture them, it would surely cause a huge stir across the seas.
Luo Chen made a joke out of their predicament. "My bounty can go up again then."
...
On the surface of the sea, a smile appeared on Aokiji's face.
After such a long stalemate, it was a relief that he hadn't let Luo Chen get away.
Through his Observation Haki, he had sensed that his ice had frozen a coffin, and inside the coffin were the presences of two people.
"Ara ra, it's a good thing I caught this guy. When Mr. Sengoku mentioned Luo Chen, his tone was unusually grave."
"If I had let him get away, I probably would have gotten a scolding."
Aokiji said to himself.
With his status and strength, Sengoku would treat him as an equal. But Sengoku seemed to be paying very close attention to Luo Chen. If he had really let the man escape, Aokiji suspected he wouldn't have been able to avoid a reprimand and punishment.
He controlled the ice from the depths of the sea to quickly bring the coffin up.
A moment later, a frozen coffin surfaced.
"Mission complete. That was pretty easy."
Aokiji smiled slightly.
Compared to facing the great pirates from the Four Emperors' crews in the past, capturing Luo Chen was a relatively easy task. After all, the opponent only knew how to run and didn't require much effort to deal with.
"To prevent Luo Chen from using his teleportation again, I should just carry the coffin straight back to Headquarters."
Aokiji thought.
To be on the safe side, he used his Observation Haki to probe deeply again.
Inside the coffin, the presences of two humans were confirmed, although Nico Robin's presence felt a little strange.
But Aokiji didn't think much of it.
In his mind, the main target for capture was still Luo Chen.
Nico Robin being exposed along with Luo Chen this time was an unexpected disaster for her. Even if Aokiji wanted to let her go, he couldn't. If he, a dignified Marine Admiral, had let someone get away, Sengoku wouldn't believe it.
...
Meanwhile, on the coast of Alabasta.
The Going Merry had set sail and was already far from the shore.
Ace was on the shore, holding off Gmil and the other four Vice Admirals, as well as Smoker and Hina.
Seeing Luffy and the others get away safely, Ace was also preparing to leave.
Just at that moment, the Den Den Mushi on Gmil rang.
"Admiral Aokiji?"
"Yes. Mission complete. Luo Chen and Nico Robin have been captured. Return."
Aokiji's lazy voice came from the Den Den Mushi.
The four Vice Admirals, Smoker, and Hina were overjoyed.
Ace's expression, however, changed slightly.
'So they were caught after all?'
Ace murmured in a low voice.
He had anticipated this outcome.
Facing a Marine Admiral, even his own chances of escape were very slim.
With Luo Chen and Nico Robin captured, there was indeed nothing they could have done.
He sighed, his legs turning into flames as he shot into the sky, heading straight for the Going Merry.
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