The air in the circular chamber was still and cool, carrying the faint, clean scent of ancient stone. Kuzan rounded the final corner and stepped into the vast space, his eyes immediately drawn to the source of the soft, pervasive glow: a central pillar of seamless cloud-stone, from within which pulsed a light the color of captured moonlight. The chamber itself was a perfect circle, the walls smooth and curving up into a shadowed dome. But it was the sentinels that gave the room its ominous weight.
Arranged in a silent circle around the glowing pillar stood the Gorgon Watchers. They were nothing like the brutish Gargoyle Sentinels. These were serene, androgynous figures carved from polished cloud-stone and veined with obsidian, standing twice the height of a man. Their features were finely detailed, almost peaceful, with closed eyes that gave them the appearance of deep meditation. Their hair, however, was what set his teeth on edge even from a distance; it wasn't carved stone, but a living, shifting mane of hundreds of thin, articulated Seastone filaments that coiled and uncoiled with a faint, metallic hiss, like a nest of restless snakes.
The soft scuff of a boot on stone came from an entrance opposite him. Marya emerged from the shadows, her gaze sweeping the chamber with a practiced calm before landing on him. A faint smirk tugged at her lips. "Looks like we made it to the center."
Kuzan shoved his hands deeper into his pockets, his own expression one of weary acknowledgement. "It appears so. Any sign of the others?"
She shook her head, the long raven strands shifting against the leather of her jacket. "Not that I've seen. You?"
"Me either," he shrugged. "But I don't get the feeling this place is meant to trap people. More like… test them."
Marya gave a short, agreeing nod, her attention already returning to the luminous pillar. The light played across the sharp planes of her face and glinted off the Heart Pirates insignia on her chest.
"That what you're looking for?" Kuzan asked, his voice a low rumble.
"Think so," Marya replied, her tone casual, though her eyes were fixed with an intense focus on the pulsating core.
Kuzan's gaze drifted back to the silent Watchers. "What do you think these statue things are all about?"
Marya let out a soft sigh, cocking a hip and crossing her arms over her cotton shirt. "Well, if they're anything like those stone gargoyles, I'd assume they're a defense mechanism of some sort."
"Makes sense," Kuzan murmured, stroking his jaw thoughtfully. "I wonder what activates them."
Marya's golden eyes, so like her father's, scanned the empty space between them and the pillar. "Well, we've both already crossed the threshold, so it's not about mere presence."
"I don't think they're going to just stand there while we vandalize their labyrinth," Kuzan observed dryly.
"I don't disagree with you," Marya said, her hands dropping to rest on her cocked hips. "But short of cutting that pillar down, I don't know another way to get to it. And I don't know if hacking through the pillar will damage the crystal inside."
Kuzan let out a long, slow breath that fogged slightly in the cool air. "Well, looks like we don't have any other options, then."
In unison, they both took a deliberate step forward.
The Gorgon Watchers did not move. The only sound was the continuous, sibilant whisper of their Seastone hair.
They took another step, their boots echoing softly in the vast chamber. Still, the polished figures remained inert, their closed eyes ignoring the intruders.
Marya and Kuzan shared a brief, validating look. This was it. They took a third, decisive step, closing the gap on the nearest Watcher.
It was like a chain reaction.
With a sound like grinding crystal, the eyes of all twelve Watchers snapped open. There were no pupils, only complex, multi-faceted Lens Dials that glowed with a hard, internal light, flooding their serene faces with an unnerving luminescence. The one directly in their path tilted its head, its blank gaze fixing on them. The Seastone filaments of its hair fanned out, stiffening and quivering like the antennae of some colossal insect.
Marya's smirk returned, sharper this time. "Looks like they're waking up."
Kuzan sighed, the sound full of a profound and practiced resignation. "Here we go."
He didn't have time to say more. The Watcher they had approached moved with a speed that belied its stone construction. It didn't step; it glided, its feet seeming to whisper across the floor. One arm, ending in a blade-like hand, swept toward Kuzan in a cut that would have sheared through steel.
Kuzan was already moving, his body leaning back at an impossible angle, the wind of the passing strike ruffling his loose coat. He didn't counterattack; he flowed backward, his Observation Haki painting the trajectory of the next three moves in his mind. "The eyes!" he barked. "Don't let them focus on you!"
Marya was a shadow in motion. Eternal Eclipse slid from its sheath without a sound, the obsidian blade seeming to mute the chamber's light. She lunged, not at the body, but at the Watcher's extended arm. Her sword met the cloud-stone with a sharp crack, and a web of fractures spread from the point of impact. But the arm didn't shatter; it held, and the Watcher's head swiveled, its glowing Dials beginning to brighten, focusing on her.
A wave of pressure hit her, a dense, smothering energy that made the air feel like syrup. Her Armament Haki, a moment before a solid, comforting presence around her blade, flickered and thinned. The Haki-dampening field.
"Tch. Annoying," she grunted, leaping back as a beam of concentrated white light fired from the Watcher's eyes, searing a smoking trench into the floor where she had stood.
Another Watcher glided in from the side, its hair lashing out like a whip of Seastone needles. Kuzan intercepted it, his fist sheathed in deep black Haki. He punched, not the hair, but the creature's torso. The impact was a thunderous BOOM that echoed through the chamber, but the Watcher only staggered back a step, a network of fine cracks appearing on its chest. Its own gaze began to glow.
"They're tough," Kuzan commented, his voice even despite the effort.
"You're just now noticing?" Marya shot back, ducking under a sweeping arm and scoring a deep groove along the Watcher's leg with Eternal Eclipse. The black veins on her arms seemed to pulse in time with the sword's hungry crimson runes.
The fight became a desperate, high-speed ballet of avoidance and measured strikes. They couldn't use their Devil Fruits; the very air of the labyrinth sapped that potential. They couldn't rely solely on their Haki; the Watchers' field weakened it, making their defenses fragile and their attacks less potent. It was a battle of pure, refined physical skill against ancient, unfeeling automatons.
The first close call came for Kuzan. He'd just shattered the arm of one Watcher when two others cornered him, their eyes glowing in unison. The light that erupted wasn't a beam, but a wide cone, impossible to dodge. He crossed his arms, layering his Armament Haki as thick as he could, but he knew it wouldn't be enough. The Haki-dampening field was making it feel like trying to hold water in his hands.
A black blur shot past him. Marya planted herself between him and the light, Eternal Eclipse held vertically before her like a shield. The blinding glare slammed into the obsidian blade—and shattered, flowing around it like a river around a stone. The blade devoured the light, the runes flaring a vicious, bloody red.
"Don't just stand there," she said, her voice strained as she held back the torrent of energy. "Make yourself useful."
Kuzan didn't need telling twice. While Marya acted as a living shield, he dropped low and swept the legs out from under the nearest Watcher with a Haki-infused kick. As it fell, he drove his fist into its face, shattering the glowing Lens Dials with a spectacular explosion of glass and sparks. The creature went still.
The second close call was Marya's. Distracted by saving Kuzan, she didn't see the Watcher behind her raise its hand, its fingers forming a cage. A cage of solidified Seastone filaments shot from its hair, wrapping around her arms and torso, binding Eternal Eclipse to her side. The contact was instant agony, a deep, bone-chilling weakness that stole her breath. The Haki around her sword sputtered and died.
The Watcher's eyes began to glow, charging the petrifying blast at point-blank range.
"Marya!" Kuzan's voice cut through the haze of pain.
He didn't run to her. He stomped his foot on the ground. A shockwave of pure, concussive force, amplified by his Haki, traveled through the stone floor. It wasn't ice, but it was a fundamental manipulation of physical energy. The floor beneath the Watcher buckled, throwing it off balance. Its gaze shot wide, searing a line across the domed ceiling.
Marya, summoning every ounce of her strength, twisted in her bonds. The Seastone burned, but it was a physical constraint. With a raw, guttural cry, she flexed her arms, the powerful muscles in her back and shoulders straining against the unbreakable threads. She couldn't break them, but she could move. Just enough to swing the tip of Eternal Eclipse in a short, brutal arc. It wasn't a cut; it was a bludgeon. The pommel of the massive sword smashed into the Watcher's chest, and this time, without its Haki-dampening field fully concentrated on her, the impact was devastating. The creature exploded backward into a cloud of stone dust and glittering Seastone shards.
The bonds around her fell away, and she stumbled, gasping, the scent of crushed rock and ammonia filling her nostrils.
They stood back-to-back now, panting in the sudden lull. Half the Watchers were destroyed, but the remaining six closed in, their movements perfectly synchronized, their glowing eyes and hissing hair creating a terrifying symphony of impending judgment.
"We can't take them one by one," Marya breathed, her knuckles white on Eclipse's hilt. "They adapt."
"Then we don't," Kuzan said, his mind working with a glacial clarity. "The pillar. It's the heart of this place. It's what they're protecting. We hit the heart."
"My thoughts exactly," Marya agreed, a wild, competitive glint in her golden eyes. "You make the opening. I'll sing it a lullaby."
Kuzan gave a single, sharp nod. "On my mark."
He exploded forward, not at a Watcher, but straight toward the circle of them. He became a whirlwind of controlled, overwhelming force, his Haki-clad fists and feet a blur. He didn't aim to destroy, but to disrupt, to draw every single glowing gaze onto himself. He weaved and dodged, a giant making himself the biggest target, the air around him buzzing with the concentrated Haki-dampening fields of six automatons. Beams of light crisscrossed around him, searing his coat, coming closer with every passing second.
"Now!" he roared, crossing his arms and taking a direct hit from two beams on his fortified Haki, his boots grinding backward across the stone from the force.
It was the opening Marya needed. While all eyes were on Kuzan, she shot forward, not in a straight line, but in a zig-zag pattern, using the shattered remains of fallen Watchers as cover. She poured every bit of her will into her legs, her combat boots pounding a frantic rhythm against the floor. The central pillar loomed before her.
She didn't slow down. At the last second, she planted her foot and leaped, twisting in mid-air, Eternal Eclipse held high over her head. The obsidian blade trailed darkness, the crimson runes blazing like furious stars.
With a kiai that tore from her throat, she brought the sword down in a single, perfect, vertical slash.
It didn't connect with the pillar.
The blade stopped a hair's breadth from the glowing surface, and the entire chamber… gasped.
Then, a hairline fracture of pure blackness appeared on the pillar's surface. It spread, branching out like a lightning bolt frozen in time. There was no sound of breaking stone, only a deep, resonant hum that vibrated in their teeth and bones. The light within the pillar flickered, dimmed, and then focused into a single, fist-sized crystal that fell neatly into Marya's waiting hand. The pillar itself stood intact, but dark and silent.
As one, the remaining Gorgon Watchers froze. Their glowing eyes winked out. Their restless Seastone hair drooped, falling still and silent. They returned to being mere statues, their purpose fulfilled.
The fight was over.
The only light now came from the fragment in Marya's palm, casting a soft, rhythmic pulse across her face and the surrounding destruction. She stood there, chest heaving, her leather jacket scuffed and dusted with white powder. Kuzan slowly straightened up, lowering his smoking arms, his own breath coming in deep pulls.
The chamber was ominously silent once more, save for their ragged breathing. The air was thick with the chalky dust of shattered cloud-stone and the sharp, metallic tang of stressed Seastone. They stood amidst the ruins of the ancient guardians, the prize finally in hand, the weight of the labyrinth's silence pressing in on them once again.
The silence of the chamber was a fragile thing, broken only by the ragged rhythm of their breath. Then, with a finality that vibrated through the soles of their boots, the massive stone doors to every connecting corridor slammed shut. The resulting boom echoed like a funeral drum, and a fine shower of dust rained from the ceiling, adding to the chalky haze already hanging in the air.
Kuzan tilted his head, his gaze drifting over the newly sealed exits with an air of profound inconvenience. "Well," he rumbled, shoving his hands deep into his pockets. "That looks like a problem."
Marya's response was a sharp, defiant smirk as she securely pocketed the glowing fragment of the Celestial Tideglass Compass. "It appears to be some sort of trap." The crimson runes on the obsidian blade of Eternal Eclipse pulsed once, as if in agreement.
Aokiji raised a brow, the gesture lazy and unimpressed. "You think?"
A short, genuine laugh escaped Marya, the sound starkly human against the tomb-like stillness. She shrugged, the leather of her jacket creaking softly. "I enjoy stating the obvious. It annoys people."
A faint chuckle rumbled in Kuzan's chest. "Noted. So, do you see an obvious way of escape?"
Her golden eyes, so like her father's, scanned the circular prison, taking in the seamless walls and the shattered remains of the Gorgon Watchers. "I do," she said, her voice dropping to a calm, decisive tone. She tightened her grip on Eternal Eclipse's hilt, her knuckles paling against the dark leather wrappings. "I believe we will need to create our own exit."
She didn't wait for a reply. In one fluid motion, she lifted the massive obsidian sword high over her head. There was no wild wind-up, only a focused, controlled swing that ended with the point aimed directly at the chamber wall. An arc of invisible force, sheathed in the deep black of her Armament Haki, launched from the blade. It didn't whistle or shriek; it simply ate the sound before it hit.
The impact was not a crack, but a deep-throated WHUMP that felt like a physical blow to the chest. The cloud-stone wall did not simply break; it vaporized in a straight, tunnel-like path, exploding outward in a storm of powdered rock and larger fragments that clattered down a newly formed corridor of their own making. The sheer, brutal line of destruction was a stark contrast to the labyrinth's intricate, deceptive design.
In the ringing silence that followed, a new sound began: a deep, wailing alarm that blared from hidden conduits in the walls, a Klaxon's cry that seemed to shake the very foundations of the Temple of the Luminous Path.
Aokiji blinked once, slowly, as a piece of rubble bounced off his shoulder. "I believe that is our cue."
Marya gave a single, sharp nod, sheathing Eternal Eclipse with a definitive click. "Meet you at the sub."
"What about the others?" Kuzan asked, his head tilting toward the labyrinth where their companions were presumably still waiting.
Marya's smirk returned, wider this time, touched with a feral glee as she glanced back at the path of pure devastation she had just carved. The blaring alarm was message enough. "I'm sure they'll get the message."
Aokiji's lips quirked into a rare, genuine smirk. "Good point."
Then, in the space between one heartbeat and the next, the two figures vanished. There was no puff of smoke or flash of light—they were simply gone, leaving behind only the settling dust, the screaming alarms, and a perfectly straight, profoundly disrespectful new exit from the heart of the ancient maze.
Back in the antechamber, the air was tense.
"Right, new plan," Galit was saying, his voice tight. "Jannali, you and Eliane get to the sub and start pre—"
He was cut off as a tremendous, dull thud resonated through the stone beneath their feet, strong enough to make Vesta yelp and Jelly jiggle violently. It was followed by a deep, insistent, wailing alarm that flooded the chamber from all directions.
"What in the blazes was that?" Atlas barked, his ears flat against his head.
Before anyone could answer, Jannali pointed a trembling finger toward the main entrance of the labyrinth. A thick cloud of white dust billowed out from the archway, followed by Jelly, who zoomed into the room chirping, "Loud! Loud! Loud!"
Eliane, completely unfazed, giggled and clapped her hands. "Marya says it's time to go!"
Galit and Atlas exchanged a long look. The leopard Mink's tail nub gave a single, decisive twitch. "Yeah," Atlas grunted, a slow grin spreading across his face. "Message received."
Without another word, the entire group turned and sprinted for the temple's exit, the blaring alarm a frantic soundtrack to their escape. The labyrinth had been solved not with wisdom, but with a sword stroke, and their ride home was about to get very, very interesting.
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