Gatz watched from a distance, completely baffled. He scratched his head in confusion. "How... how are they even fighting? It feels like Big Bro Wang Zhi is constantly on the verge of being hit, but Big Bro Whitebeard can never land a blow."
"This isn't a duel of power, but the pinnacle of skill," Silver said, wiping his spear, his gaze sharp. "Every one of Wang Zhi's dodges and attacks anticipates the focal point of Lord Newgate's power and the flow of his aura. He's using the minimum amount of force to neutralize the strongest attacks."
The sparring match ended with both men withdrawing simultaneously, neither gaining an advantage.
"Exhilarating!" Wang Zhi took a large swig of wine. "Next time, let's see who can drink the other under the table first!"
"Gurararara, I'll take you on anytime!" Newgate laughed heartily.
Just as the atmosphere on the ship grew livelier with Wang Zhi's arrival, an unexpected discovery pointed their massive vessel, which had already strayed from the main Grand Line route, in a completely new direction. While sailing through the thick fog, they found a drifting ship.
It was a vessel of a peculiar style. The hull was made of an unknown white wood, the sails were shaped like spread wings, and the figurehead was a coiled giant snake. The entire ship was deserted. Only the sails made a faint tearing sound in the eerie silence.
"A ghost ship?" Gatz gripped his anchor, a little tense.
"No," Dolum's eyes lit up. He looked like Columbus discovering the New World, his face filled with fanaticism. "This wood... this structure... I've only ever seen it in ancient texts! This is a ship from Amazon Lily! The legendary shipbuilding technique used only by the Kuja tribe!"
After confirming there was no danger, the crew boarded the ghost ship from Kuja. The cabin was covered in a thick layer of dust, clearly abandoned for a long time. In the captain's quarters, Silver found a logbook. The owner of the log was not the current Snake Princess, but a long-forgotten empress from three generations prior.
The handwriting in the log was elegant and strong. The early entries recorded the daily trifles of the Kuja and her pride as an empress. But from a certain page, the words began to fill with sweetness and shyness. She had met a man, a man for whom she was willing to give up her status as empress. However, the sweet records soon turned to pain and struggle. The man eventually left her, returning to the sea that was his home. From then on, this powerful empress contracted an incurable disease—lovesickness.
In order not to let her people see her pitiful state, and to pursue the shadow that had long since disappeared, she resolutely gave up the throne and, all alone, sailed this ship away from Amazon Lily, never to be heard from again.
On the last page of the log, the handwriting was messy and desperate.
"Lovesickness has become a terminal illness, incurable by medicine... I will travel to the end of the world, and let the scorching volcanoes completely incinerate this cold heart of mine..."
"The flames may grant me a new life, or eternal death... My name, Gloriosa, will burn together with this sea..."
Below was a blurry sea chart, pointing to an unknown sea region filled with volcano markings.
"An empress troubled by love? How boring," Charlotte Linlin commented with disdain while eating a lava chocolate cake Ren had just made for her.
Rocks, however, rubbed his chin, a smile of interest on his face. "To make the empress of a nation fall for him, he must not have been a simple man. And to leave her home because of lovesickness, that obsession itself is a powerful force." He looked at his crew and grinned. "Alright, boys, are you interested in this Empress Gloriosa?"
Gatz was the first to raise his hand. "Yes! An empress! Sounds impressive! A fight with her must be exciting!"
Wang Zhi, drunk, added, "An empress's wine cellar must have some good booze, right?"
Rocks nodded in satisfaction. He tore the blurry sea chart from the logbook and gave an order to Dolum. "Change course! Target, the Sea of Volcanoes! Let's go and meet this empress who burns for love!"
The Behemoth cut through the thick fog like a ghost. Guided by Dolum's superb piloting skills and Wang Zhi's drunken intuition that seemed to predict the ocean currents, it sailed toward the ominous volcanic sea region on the chart. After several days of sailing, the smell of sulfur in the air grew stronger, and the seawater became warmer.
On the distant horizon, a huge island appeared. In the center of the island, a majestic active volcano was continuously spewing black smoke and red sparks into the sky, like a restless, irritable heart. The entire island's landscape was a strange dark red, as if it had been soaked in blood. There were no tall trees on the island, only some twisted, heat-resistant black shrubs and large patches of red flowers that bloomed like burning flames.
This was Gloriosa's place of self-exile.
"Whoa... this place is really hot," Gatz said, taking off his shirt to reveal his strong, bronze muscles, his forehead already beaded with sweat.
"The energy in the air is violent, but also pure," Newgate said calmly, sensing the surroundings. "Gurararara, a good place for a fight."
The Behemoth docked in a hidden fjord, and the crew split up to explore the volcanic island, which was filled with a primitive and wild atmosphere. Rocks and Newgate went as a pair. They weren't very interested in the so-called Gloriosa, but they were very interested in the powerful energy contained within the island itself. The two of them headed straight for the most active volcano, wanting to see the view from the top.
Charlotte Linlin, with Prometheus and Zeus, happily charged into the sea of red flowers. She found that the flowers tasted sweet and spicy, a strange dessert she had never tasted before, so she began to feast on them with gusto.
Wang Zhi, from somewhere, found a fishing rod and went to a small stream where lava flowed. He actually began to try lava fishing, muttering, "Maybe I can catch a fire salamander for a snack with my drink."
Gatz, Silver, and Dolum were responsible for searching for Gloriosa. Gatz, relying on his beast-like intuition, charged through the jungle. He didn't find a person, but he did get into a fight with a three-headed lava hound, which ended with him swinging the hound around like a chain ball and flinging it away. Dolum became deeply interested in the island's rock formations. He knocked here and there, collecting various mineral samples, trying to find new materials to reinforce the ship's hull.
In the end, it was Silver who made a discovery. Like the most patient hunter, he moved through the complex valleys, not missing a single clue. Finally, in front of a hidden cave concealed by a waterfall, he found some extremely subtle signs of human activity. The inside of the cave was a different world. It was neat and tidy, with stone tables and stools, clearly indicating that someone had been living there for a long time. But at this moment, the cave was empty.
On the stone table, Silver found something: a broken hair tie, woven in a special way.
Just as the crew regrouped and Silver took out the hair tie, a sharp, peerless killing intent descended from the sky!
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