The last word of the prophecy hung in the air, and the Sea Forest fell into a dead silence.
Every member of the crew turned to stare at Kyle, their eyes a mixture of shock, confusion, and concern. The fortune was so terrifyingly vague. Did it mean he was a bringer of disaster? A savior at the end of days? Or just a bystander, composing a final symphony for the world's destruction?
Faced with their complicated stares, Kyle himself was a little taken aback. He considered himself a perfectly sane person, but Shyarly's vision of a future apocalypse was admittedly confusing. Still, he thought with a wry internal smile, that description… standing with my back to the entire world… It does sound pretty cool. It's got style.
Just as the heavy atmosphere was about to become unbearable, a loud, carefree laugh shattered the tension.
"Hahaha!" Roger slapped his thigh, bending over with laughter until tears streamed from his eyes. "Hey, hey! What's with those long faces? Isn't that the coolest thing you've ever heard?"
He threw a heavy arm around Kyle's neck, his grin impossibly wide as he winked at the others. "With his back to the whole world! Just listen to how powerful that sounds! It's way better than some old geezer who's just going to become a coating craftsman after he retires, right, Rayleigh?"
"Pfft!" Shanks and Buggy, who had been trying to hold back their unease, immediately burst out laughing again.
Rayleigh, who had been stroking his chin thoughtfully, just rolled his eyes. "Captain, my plans for a peaceful retirement can't compare to a spectacle like that."
"That's the spirit!" Jabba boomed, his eyes lighting up with a familiar battle-hungry glint as he looked at Kyle. "Who cares if it's the end of the world? When the time comes, we'll just have to fight it!"
The crew's boisterous laughter completely washed away the grim feeling. They were the Roger Pirates, a crew of madmen who lived on the edge of a blade and laughed in the face of death. A vague prophecy, no matter how scary, wasn't enough to make them doubt a trusted comrade.
Kyle, finally managing to break free from Roger's headlock, looked at his crewmates, who were already back to their usual selves. His surprise melted into a fond, weary smile. He turned to the still-shaken Shyarly and offered her a gentle, reassuring look. The young mermaid stared back, seeing no trace of darkness in his eyes, only a calm clarity like the sea far above.
"Alright, alright!" Roger clapped his hands, getting everyone's attention. "We've got the rubbing of the Road Poneglyph, and we've heard the fortunes. Time to say our goodbyes! Neptune, thanks for having us!"
Neptune looked at the pirates, whose vitality had returned in an instant, and felt his headache grow worse. He sighed and waved a hand. "…I'll see you out."
Before they left, Roger slung his arm around Neptune's shoulder one last time and whispered conspiratorially, "Hey, Neptune, I'm serious. Ten years goes by in a flash! You'd better get a move on!"
The burly king's body went rigid, his face turning bright red all the way down to his neck. "You idiot!" he shouted, shoving Roger away. "Just get on your ship and go!"
Amidst Roger's hearty laughter, a giant bubble formed around the Oro Jackson, and the ship began its slow ascent. The crew stood on deck, waving goodbye to the palace below. The residents of Fish-Man Island were no longer hiding in fear; a few brave children even waved their small hands back from a distance. The world outside the bubble gradually brightened, the deep blue giving way to the warm light of the surface. With a final pop, the ship broke through the water and returned to the sun-drenched world.
"Set sail!" Roger shouted from the bow, full of energy. "Alright, lads! Our next target is the last Road Poneglyph!"
"YEAH!!!"
Back on the unpredictable surface of the Grand Line, the crew's spirits remained high. Shyarly's terrifying prophecy had already been tossed aside by the crew's relentless optimism, becoming just another running joke.
"Hey, Mr. Rayleigh," Shanks said, leaning on his mop with a mischievous grin. "Should I get you a set of craftsman's coveralls ahead of time? For all that coating you'll be doing!"
Rayleigh didn't even look up from the sword he was polishing. "Come talk to me about my retirement after you can last more than ten seconds against me, kid."
"Pfft!" Buggy, who was swabbing the deck nearby, laughed loudly. "Shanks, you should worry about not getting another bump on your head from Mr. Rayleigh's training sword first!"
"What did you say, Red Nose?!"
"You wanna fight, Shanks?!"
The two apprentices were at it again in an instant.
The voyage continued peacefully for several days. Then, without any warning, the Oro Jackson sailed into a thick, milky-white fog that swallowed the sea and sky. One moment, the sun was shining; the next, visibility was less than ten meters. The air became damp and sticky, and a strange silence fell, broken only by the sound of the ship cutting through the water.
"All hands, on alert!" Rayleigh's sharp voice cut through the quiet. "Keep your eyes open!"
The relaxed atmosphere vanished as the crew scrambled to their posts.
"Hahaha! How interesting! I wonder what kind of treasure is hiding in this fog!" Roger, far from being nervous, stood at the bow, excitedly trying to peer through the mist.
"Roger, this fog is strange," Kyle said, joining him at the bow with a slight frown. "The sound waves and electromagnetic pulses I sent out are just being absorbed. I'm getting nothing back."
"Oh?" Roger's grin only widened. "Well, doesn't that make it even more fun!"
"Hey! Buggy! Get up to the crow's nest!" Shanks shouted from the deck below. "Your shiny red nose is perfect for this weather! Maybe it can work as a beacon!"
"My nose is not a beacon, you moron!" Buggy stomped his foot in anger but still grumbled as he grabbed the rigging and scurried up the mast.
"Yell if you see anything!"
"Yeah, yeah! So annoying!" Buggy grabbed his telescope and began scanning the oppressive whiteness. As far as he could see, there was nothing, and the monotony was making him sleepy. He let out a big yawn. "Can't see a thing… No way there's an island in this godforsaken place…"
He trailed off as his movements suddenly froze. Through the lens of his telescope, a gigantic shadow was looming in the distant fog. Whatever it was… it was too big. Buggy frantically adjusted the focus, trying to make out its shape. The shadow slowly sharpened into a massive, almost cylindrical outline.
"A pillar?" he muttered to himself. "How can there be a pillar this huge in the middle of the ocean? Is it a rock formation from an undersea volcano?"
He instinctively tilted his telescope upward, trying to see how high the "pillar" went. His view followed the rough, gray, deeply wrinkled "rock wall" up and up… Wait, he thought, this texture… it's not right. It didn't look like rock. It looked more like… the skin of some giant creature. An absurd thought sent a shiver down his spine. He kept looking up. Above the long "pillar" was an even larger, mountain-like structure that looked like some kind of joint.
A joint?!
Buggy's breath caught in his throat. The hand holding the telescope began to tremble. He jerked the lens higher, past the enormous "knee," and kept going up. But the top was still lost in the impossibly deep fog. This wasn't a pillar.
It was a leg.
A leg belonging to some colossal beast that was standing on the seabed ten thousand meters below, yet was so tall that its upper body was hidden in the clouds. And their ship, the Oro Jackson, was nothing but a tiny speck of dust in comparison.
"Wha… wha…" A choked gurgle escaped Buggy's throat. His face was pale, his mouth hanging wide open.
"Hey! Buggy! What do you see? Is it an island?" Shanks yelled impatiently from the deck.
The only response was a heartbreaking, world-ending scream.
"—THAT'S NOT A PILLAR!!!"
"IT'S AN ELEPHANT!!!! AN ELEPHANT… WALKING IN THE SEA!!!"
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