The glowing point on the map sat inside a bath. Which meant there were probably sights in there that could not be put into words.
"System, can I jump there instantly?"
"You can, as long as you tap the point. However, only you can travel that way. The girl beside you cannot."
"What, I cannot bring her?"
"Only you hold that special right to traverse. Others do not."
So it was a system limitation. With that clear, Rakuya dropped the idea.
"Come on. I will take you down the normal way."
He hooked a hand around Momousagi's wrist and dove. The sea behaved as if it had a will. Before a single drop touched her, the water split aside to form a hollow pocket around her, with a cushion of fresh air inside.
That was the Sea Sovereign at full mastery, a privilege Rakuya now wielded without strain.
"Incredible." Momousagi cracked one eye open, then both. It was her first time beneath the Sabaody Archipelago. Enormous Sea Kings cruised past, but not one dared move on Rakuya. Instead they crowded close like pets begging for a pat.
She told herself she had to be imagining it. Stranger still, Rakuya showed none of the weakness that cursed Devil Fruit users in seawater. If anything, he came alive here, like a dragon in its river.
"You really are a monster," she said at last.
Rakuya only smiled and arrowed for the depths.
In barely a minute they hit ten thousand meters. A floating island loomed ahead, wrapped in a two-layer bubble membrane that made the whole place look like a dream caught in glass. A round opening at the top served as the port.
"So this is Fish-Man Island? It is beautiful." Awe softened Momousagi's voice.
The gate had no guards. Odd. Rakuya knew Neptune kept his kingdom under tight watch. He drifted through the opening and up toward Ryugu Palace.
Inside was ruin. Blood streaked the tiles. Bodies lay everywhere, fish-men, merfolk, humans, all jumbled together. A scene from hell.
"What happened?"
"Looks like a revolt. Come on."
The palace proper had been gutted. Splendor was gone, replaced by armed fish-men and merfolk in tense ranks. Beyond them stood a band of humans with weapons and swagger. The scarred man at their head wore a spider tattoo on his arm.
"Neptune, I am taking your throne," the man sneered at the king bound at his feet. "Pack up and crawl out, you dead fish. From today the Spider Pirates own Ryugu Palace and Fish-Man Island."
"I will not hand my country to you. These are my people."
"Shut it."
The captain's slap snapped across the hall. He was small, but the blow carried brutal force. Neptune spat blood.
"Try me again and I will kill you where you kneel."
"Your Majesty."
"Let the king go."
"Name your terms."
The soldiers shook with rage, but the hostage left them helpless.
"Kneel, all of you, or I split him open," the captain barked. His name, shouted by lackeys, was Kuka.
"Bite me."
The voice cut in like a knife.
"Who dares run his mouth? Show yourself. I will slap you into paste."
Rakuya chuckled, brushed through the line of soldiers, and stepped into the open.
"You. You think that is funny? I am a big-time pirate worth two hundred million. Even Whitebeard treats me with respect. What are you supposed to be."
"First, do not insult the term big-time pirate. Two hundred million and you are a legend, my ass. Whitebeard respectful to you, that is a lie tall enough to shade half the New World. How about you try some dignity."
"Captain, kill him. Arrogant little punk."
"Yeah, flatten him, captain."
"A nobody acting tough. Slap him into meat paste."
"You talk back to me, you die," Kuka roared. His arms whipped forward, stretching like rubber.
Rakuya blinked once, then raised his hand.
"Body, maxed. Giant form."
A thunderclap boomed. His right arm swelled and swelled, in a breath becoming a pillar ten meters thick that blotted the lamps.
He brought it down.
"I will show you what paste really looks like."
The hand fell like a mountain.
When the dust settled, there was no Spider Pirates. No captain. No crew.
One slap had wiped the lot of them from the hall.
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