"Lord Moria… wuuu…"
Among the shattered ruins and corpses strewn across the ground, Perona's sobbing was the only sound that remained.
So much so that not far away, Brook, still standing guard beside Ryuma, adjusted his cravat.
He, Perona, and Moria had all been enemies, but that did not stop him from empathizing at this moment.
"Losing companions really is a painful thing."
He remembered his own crewmates.
But just then…
"That can't be helped either." A voice suddenly sounded beside him. "After all, they were pirates."
"Yeah…" Brook nodded.
Killing others, or being killed by others.
Making others lose their companions, or losing your own.
Once one chose to set sail as a pirate, these were things that had to be accepted.
But then again…
"Who!? Who said that!?"
Only now did Brook snap back to reality. His skeletal body trembled as he looked toward Shinryu, who had somehow appeared beside him without warning.
"Lord Shinryu, could you stop appearing so mysteriously? You nearly made my heart jump out of my chest, oh wait, I don't have a heart! Yohohoho!"
"When your body shakes, it actually rattles. That's pretty amazing." Shinryu chuckled happily.
"Well, I am a skeleton after all." Brook treated the comment entirely as praise. "Speaking of which, I must thank Lord Shinryu for helping me recover my shadow."
As he said this, he even swayed his body around, gesturing proudly for Shinryu to look at his shadow.
"I shall never forget such a great kindness." He spoke with complete seriousness.
"No need to be so polite." Shinryu answered casually.
"Just guarding this corpse for me counts as repayment already."
As he spoke, his gaze shifted toward the frozen corpse behind Brook,
Shimotsuki Ryuma.
"Oh?"
Brook raised a curious brow, though naturally, he had no eyebrows.
"So Lord Shinryu really does intend to keep Ryuma's corpse?"
He sounded intrigued.
"Yeah. After all, he's the legendary Sword God of Wano Country. Someone in our organization might be very interested in him." Shinryu casually made up an excuse.
"A member of your organization? A swordsman?" Brook remained as chatty as ever.
"Something like that." Shinryu nodded.
Naturally, that was still a lie, there currently wasn't any swordsman among The Twelve Zodiac.
But at the same time, it was also true.
Because the reason he wanted to keep Shimotsuki Ryuma's corpse was precisely because he already had a preliminary idea for a future member of The Twelve Zodiac.
"Ooh~"
Brook became even more curious.
Although his main profession was musician, he was still technically a swordsman, and he had witnessed Shinryu's strength from beginning to end.
That "Gekko Moria," who outside the Florian Triangle would absolutely count as a Great Pirate and had once filled Brook with nothing but helplessness, had been utterly powerless before Shinryu.
The ability to control the weather itself, like the incarnation of a natural disaster, already seemed unbelievable to him.
Yet according to Moria, such a person was merely one of the great officers of The Twelve Zodiac.
Naturally, Brook could not help but wonder what kind of swordsman might exist within such an organization.
"Still, I'll probably need you to watch over him for a little longer."
However, Shinryu did not continue explaining further.
"Hm?" Brook blinked in surprise.
"Lord Shinryu still has something to do?"
"Yeah. I just learned some information from Moria. I need to verify a few things." Shinryu replied calmly.
"Oh!"
Brook did not ask further questions this time.
He merely nodded seriously.
"Rest assured. I absolutely won't let anyone take this corpse away. If someone wants to steal it, they'll have to step over my dead body first, although…"
"You're already a corpse."
After completing Brook's skeleton joke for him, Shinryu laughed softly as Brook froze awkwardly in place.
Then, with a leap, Shinryu shot into the air.
"ROAR!"
A deep dragon's cry echoed out as the crimson dragon soared into the heavens.
"D-Dragon!?" Seeing the unbelievable sight, Perona's eyes widened in shock.
Yes, when Shinryu first arrived earlier, she had been asleep, and after waking up, she had only seen his hybrid form. So only now, as she watched the mythical creature flying through the skies on flaming clouds, surrounded by wind and thunder, its mere flight stirring the surrounding seas,
Did she finally understand what kind of existence had battled Moria earlier and destroyed Thriller Bark itself.
Only then did she finally understand the meaning behind Moria's earlier words.
"You are forbidden from taking revenge against The Twelve Zodiac, this is… your captain's order!"
That was not his usual cowardice. It was his final act of protection toward her, because the enemy truly was monstrously strong.
Meanwhile,
"Scarlet Dragon Might · Wind-Thunder Heart Network!"
High in the skies, the soaring Shinryu slowly closed his crimson vertical pupils.
"BOOM!"
"WHOOSH!"
In that instant, thunder exploded and violent winds howled. Lightning and storms spread outward from him in every direction.
Yes.
Previously, Enel had possessed an ability known as "Heart Network", which was essentially Observation Haki amplified by the powers of the Goro Goro no Mi.
And Observation Haki itself fundamentally worked by sensing the presence of living beings and the environment through one's five senses, allowing the user to predict danger.
For Shinryu, who could influence every heavenly phenomenon across the surrounding seas,
The weather itself was his five senses.
Wind, lightning, clouds, mist, everything became an extension of his "Heart Network."
This directly made his Heart Network ability even more terrifying than Enel's, whose range could already cover an entire island.
"Though it consumes a lot of stamina, the Scarlet Dragon Devil Fruit provides enough endurance… so it's not a big issue." As he muttered to himself, Shinryu began scanning everything throughout the area he passed through.
The information Moria revealed before his death carried significant meaning to him.
The fact that Moria belonged to the Kozuki Clan was not surprising to Shinryu at all; it had already been explained in the original story. Not only was he a member of the Kozuki bloodline, but he was also the "legendary hero" worshipped in Ringo, Wano Country.
Shinryu also knew that although Wano Country had remained isolated from the world,
In earlier times, some people from Wano had ventured into the Four Seas.
Perhaps it was to preserve their heritage.
Or perhaps they simply refused to live in confinement.
Shimotsuki Kōshirō and Shimotsuki Village, whom Inoshi had once encountered, were examples of this.
These emigrants often inherited more of Wano's hidden knowledge,
Such as Shimotsuki Kōzaburō's Enma Iron.
Therefore, Shinryu naturally would not underestimate the prophetic song Moria mentioned, and from Shinryu's perspective, there were two key points within that prophecy that he could confirm.
The first was the "cursed bloodline."
Shinryu clearly remembered that in the original story, the "David Clan" to which Rocks belonged had been referred to as "the cursed clan."
The cursed bloodline likely referred to them.
The second was the "Drums of Liberation."
If nothing unexpected had happened, that should refer to the unique Drums of Liberation belonging to the Human-Human Fruit: Model Nika.
Naturally, the latter was not particularly important to Shinryu.
What truly mattered was the first point.
Through it, Shinryu could basically determine one thing:
"Rocks came here for the 'giant ship wandering within the mist' that Moria mentioned, and the 'First King' and the 'Cursed One' spoken of in that prophetic song should be Rocks' ancestor, the founder of the David Clan…"
"David·D·Jones."
That was the reason behind Shinryu's current actions.
After realizing that Imu already seemed to have set their sights on The Twelve Zodiac, Roy had become extremely interested in anything connected to the truth of this world and its ancient past.
"Hm?"
But Shinryu quickly noticed something strange.
Because,
"There aren't any traces at all?"
He frowned.
The Florian Triangle sea was enormous, but if there truly existed a gigantic ship drifting within this fog, and if that ship was really as unimaginably massive as Rocks had described, then no matter how one thought about it, such a ship could not possibly move without leaving behind even the slightest trace.
Ripples across the sea.
Disturbances in the wind.
There should have been something.
Yet the truth was that his Wind-Thunder Heart Network had still discovered absolutely nothing.
Within this sea, there seemed to exist only dense fog and icy ocean winds.
"Could it be that Rocks found the ship back then… and sailed it away?" Shinryu muttered inwardly.
But in the very next moment,
His body suddenly froze in place.
Because,
[Detected Devil Fruit user: "Abyss"]
[Confirmed Devil Fruit: Special Mythical Beast-Type · Clam-Clam Fruit · Mirage Beast Form. Parsing and recording into the "Devil Fruit Encyclopedia."]
[Devil Fruit Ability, Can exhale and create mist. Within the mist, the user can completely conceal their own traces and movements while creating nearly real illusions.]
[Effects by Level]
[LV3: Gain all Devil Fruit effects and transform into the mythical beast "Mirage." This is a special Devil Fruit, because the mythical beast "Mirage" has no fixed physical form, although the user gains physical enhancement, they cannot perform the standard Zoan transformations. The user will passively release a special gray mist called "Mirage Energy," which can create illusionary scenes known as "Mirage Scenes." Requires 1.7 billion Beli to unlock.]
[Releasing "Mirage Energy" does not consume stamina. Within Mirage Energy, the user can conceal all traces and signs of themselves. The created "Mirage Scenes" may be objects or living beings. Objects can be shaped freely, but living beings can only be created if the user has personally seen their appearance and posture before. The resulting illusions are extremely lifelike.]
[LV4: Deep Devil Fruit development. Mirage Energy's color and properties may be altered. Created Mirage Scenes gain physical substance. Although they still cannot truly attack, even their "presence," "abilities," "vitality," and "strength" can be replicated almost perfectly, making them nearly impossible to distinguish from reality. Requires 4 billion Beli to unlock.]
[LV5: Devil Fruit Awakening · Illusionary True Mirage Shadow. Gain the unique Zoan Awakening transformation, surrounded by "Mirage Energy Flame Clouds." The user may switch positions with any illusion at will and may designate one created illusion to become a real "Mirage Shadow" through Mirage Energy Flame Clouds, merging it into their own body. This places a massive burden upon the user, but temporarily grants the battle techniques, strength, and physique of the selected Mirage Shadow. However, Devil Fruit abilities and Haki cannot be copied. Requires 15 billion Beli to unlock.]
[Entering "True Mirage Shadow" form continuously drains stamina. The stronger the chosen illusion, the greater the strain and consumption placed upon the body. Maximum duration: 1 minute.]
[Analysis Progress: 0%]
Shinryu: "?"
Where the hell did a Mythical Beast Devil Fruit user suddenly come from? Did the Devil Fruit Encyclopedia bug out?
But only moments later, he reacted.
"Mirage!?"
Naturally, he had heard of this mythical beast before.
Some said it resembled a dragon.
Some said it resembled a giant clam.
Others claimed it possessed no concrete shape at all.
In ancient legends, it often appeared together with dense fog, and the so-called "Mirage Towers" seen at sea were said to be illusionary scenes created by this legendary creature.
Naturally, that was not the important part.
What truly mattered was the name displayed by the Devil Fruit Encyclopedia.
[Abyss].
That clearly did not sound like a person's name.
Instead… it sounded more like the name of a ship.
"Could it be…"
A bold guess formed in Shinryu's mind. He abruptly halted mid-flight and swept his gaze across the surroundings. His Heart Network told him that there was nothing at all hidden within the surrounding fog.
But now, he already understood why.
"Mirage Energy… concealing all traces…"
Reading through the Devil Fruit's abilities recorded within the Encyclopedia, Shinryu already grasped the answer.
"And according to what the Encyclopedia says, if I want to break through this Devil Fruit's power…"
The moment that thought crossed his mind, Shinryu shot upward into the sky!
His crimson vertical pupils snapped open.
Within his mouth, claws, and body, Violent storms began gathering.
In the next instant, he swung his enormous tail fiercely and roared toward the heavens!
"ROAR!"
The dragon's cry, deep as rolling thunder, echoed through the fog.
Violent winds howled.
Thunder exploded.
The mist churned wildly.
[Heavenly Phenomenon Control · Scarlet Dragon's Cry]
…
Meanwhile, upon Thriller Bark,
Brook, who had been humming quietly while guarding Ryuma's corpse… And Perona, who was wiping away tears while gritting her teeth and dragging Moria's body away…
Both witnessed an unbelievable sight.
"BZZZZT!"
Silently,
From the far depths of the dense fog,
"ROAR!"
A dragon's cry traveled over on the raging winds.
And in the next moment, it was as though some invisible hand had pulled aside the gray curtain covering the stage known as the sea.
Across the entire Florian Triangle,
The dense fog that had existed for countless years, so thick that nothing could ever be seen through it,
Split apart from the center, carving open an enormous hollow passage.
And from within that opening,
Heavenly light poured down through the torn mist.
The sunlight fell across Brook's face.
Across the cold earth of Thriller Bark.
Across Perona's long hair.
Across Moria's peacefully deceased body.
And so,
"…"
For a moment, neither of them knew how to describe the scene before their eyes.
Just as Shinryu himself could not describe the sight before him now.
Because at this moment,
Within the scattered fog before him,
The colossal existence he had been searching for had finally revealed itself.
(End of Chapter)
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