Chapter 356: Completely Wiped Out!
At the mention of the word "ally," the shadow fell silent.
"…Would you like to hear my story?" the phantom eventually asked, voice low and timeless.
"Just give me the key points," Ryuunosuke replied coldly. "I don't have the patience to sit here while you slowly recover."
Without waiting for a response, he grabbed Shirahoshi and flung her into the air.
Whoosh!
Kun, who had been waiting above, opened his mouth and swallowed her whole—then vanished into the deep sea.
It was too risky to leave Shirahoshi here.
Ryuunosuke didn't know what other tricks this ghost had up its sleeve, but the earlier possession attempt had already set every alarm bell ringing.
"I'm only a fragment of consciousness," the phantom said. "I can't harm you."
"But that Conqueror's Haki of yours… really is troublesome."
"…Tch." Ryuunosuke kept his arms crossed but stayed on guard.
"Nine hundred years ago, I was an adventurer like you…" the shadow continued. "Though these days, I suppose you call them pirates."
The phantom didn't wait for Ryuunosuke's response—he continued speaking, lost in his own tale.
Back then, during the first generation of Joy Boy, the Poseidon was called Lingze.
At that time, the Joy Boy of Poseidon and the Joy Boy of Pluto traveled together, sailing toward an unknown continent across the Grand Line.
But then—he came.
Uranus.
And beside him… a man.
A man who called himself God.
These two were beings who stood at the peak of the world—yet even then, the phantom had felt a chilling sense of death simply standing before this so-called god.
The battle began without warning.
There was no conversation, no diplomacy—just bloodlust.
Both Joy Boys knew something was wrong.
They didn't know the reason.
But they could feel it.
A storm was brewing.
---
"A Joy Boy of Pluto?" Ryuunosuke muttered. His eyes narrowed. "I thought carrying the name Joy Boy already meant having a god-like status. And you're telling me there were two?"
"Three," the phantom corrected him. "The one who called himself God… was the third."
"He controlled Uranus. And not just that—he wielded a weapon unlike any we had ever seen… a colossal warship from beyond the stars."
"…Beyond the stars?"
"Yes. It was then we realized: there are other worlds. And the people of those worlds had already mastered the technology to invade ours."
The phantom's voice grew heavier.
"To protect this sea… to prevent our world from becoming a colony… the war began."
What followed was the tale of an apocalyptic battle.
The world's strongest fighters gathered.
Their battlefield? A place now known as Raftel.
It wasn't a land of treasure or a grand kingdom as legends described.
It was a graveyard.
A place where titans clashed, and history was erased.
Countless warriors perished. Outsiders were slaughtered in droves.
Poseidon and Pluto sacrificed everything to hold off the rampaging Uranus.
And the first Joy Boy—this ghost before Ryuunosuke—led twelve legendary warriors in a suicidal charge against "God" himself.
No one knew how it ended.
But when it was over… the world had changed.
The Red Line rose from the ocean. The Calm Belt formed. The seas were divided.
The twelve warriors vanished.
So did Uranus, Pluto, and Poseidon.
Only the name Joy Boy remained.
And soon after, the World Government emerged from the ashes.
What followed was the blank century.
A hundred years erased from the records—brutally cleansed by fire and blood.
The ones who opposed were wiped out. The ones who remained became ignorant bystanders.
Only the ancient script carried the truth forward, eventually reaching Ohara… and sealing its fate.
The phantom paused.
"…Are you done recovering?" Ryuunosuke asked, arms still folded. "Story aside, it was well told."
"But what's your next move?"
Though he'd appeared calm, Ryuunosuke had been on high alert the entire time.
This presence—this so-called first Joy Boy—felt just as dangerous as Im.
No. Perhaps even more so.
"Nothing more," the phantom answered. "After failing to control Shirahoshi, I no longer have the energy to attempt it again."
"I only told you all this to pass on the burden… and reconnect the ocean."
"The Calm Belt—"
Before the sentence could finish, the shadow vanished.
"…Gone?"
Ryuunosuke immediately activated his Observation Haki, and at the same time, summoned the Voice of All Things.
Silence.
No sign of the phantom's presence.
Even the dim light that once bathed the ancient ruins had faded. Now, seawater trickled in from cracks, beginning to flood the chamber.
Within minutes, the entire space would be swallowed by the ocean.
"…He just disappeared?"
Buzz…
Ryuunosuke frowned. He couldn't be sure whether the phantom was truly gone or simply hiding again.
Either way, he wasn't taking any chances.
He released another pulse of Conqueror's Haki—a shockwave of spiritual pressure that rattled the ruins around him.
The force crackled across the water, shaking the seabed.
If there was still a trace of that consciousness left, it wouldn't survive this.
The repeated use of Haki made his vision blur slightly.
He bit his lip.
If he left without confirming the phantom's destruction, he'd never be at ease.
Without hesitation, he popped open a vial of life essence and drank it.
Whoom!
Power surged through him once more—restoring stamina, refreshing the mind.
Ryuunosuke clenched his fists and roared, blasting another wave of pure Haki.
"You want to lie low?! Dream on!"
Suddenly, the shadow flickered back into view, its form unstable.
"Enough!" it roared. "Why are you doing this?! There's no enmity between us!"
The once-calm figure now looked twisted—infuriated.
"I attacked Shirahoshi only to pass the message! If you had let me speak through her, none of this would've happened!"
"Oh, so now it's my fault?" Ryuunosuke sneered. "You tried to hijack her body. That's not a message—that's possession."
"There was no harm meant!"
"There was intent," Ryuunosuke countered. "You crossed the line the moment you used her as a vessel."
His gaze sharpened like a blade.
"There's no going back from that."
"And I told you… I don't kill unnecessarily."
"But I won't let you walk away either."
BOOM!
A final burst of Haki surged from him.
This time, it was focused—narrow, piercing.
The phantom let out a distorted scream as its form unraveled, torn apart by the force.
Then—nothing.
Silence returned.
The sea poured into the hollow, erasing all evidence of what had transpired.
Ryuunosuke floated in the middle of the collapsing space, panting lightly.
Even with his enhanced mental strength and the essence of life, that had drained him.
He wiped a trickle of blood from the corner of his mouth.
"Too close…" he muttered.
If it had been someone else—someone without Conqueror's Haki, or without caution—they would've been played by that spirit. Manipulated into who knows what.
The story that phantom had told?
Part of it felt true.
But the other part? Fabricated. Half-lies wrapped in sweet truths.
Who is the Joy Boy of Pluto?
And if Im isn't the one on the throne… then who is?
And more than that… the mention of the Red Line and the Calm Belt raised another flag.
When Ryuunosuke had been in the Valley of the Gods, he'd learned secrets buried beneath the Red Line.
And now…
Now he was beneath the very same landmass.
Could there be something hidden beneath the Red Line… something connected to all of this?
His fists tightened.
For the first time, Ryuunosuke felt the storm of world secrets start to overwhelm even him.
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