Ultimate Treasure

Crackle...

"Ah! You bastard, what did you do to me?!"

The little bat seemed thoroughly frightened. He had just felt an electric current enter his body.

"I planted my power inside your body. That way, you won't be able to escape my grasp. I can easily decide whether you live or die. Understand?"

Lightning flickered from Ling Donglai's fingertips as he looked at the strange little bat.

Was it a Devil Fruit ability?

It was a little strange, but it had piqued his interest. An adventure into the completely unknown was probably what made things tense and exciting.

"Y-you bastard, do you know what you've done?!" The little bat frantically flapped its wings in midair.

Ignoring the bat creature, Ling Donglai looked once more at the massive whirlpool swallowing seawater.

Indecision was irritating. "Let's go, Momoo!"

The sea cow had no choice but to drag the ship toward the enormous whirlpool.

"A... a sea beast!"

The bat creature's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.

Someone could actually command a ferocious beast of the sea? These were predators that ordinary people had to take detours to avoid!

This time, he had kicked an iron plate!

Deep regret rose in the bat creature's heart.

"So deep!" Nami clutched Ling Donglai's arm tightly. The ship was descending at tremendous speed.

Even with the sea cow offsetting the descent, it was still frightening.

"This place is filled with traces of ancient construction." Ling Donglai gripped the side of the ship. Courage came from strength, and he continued observing the surroundings.

The Navel of the Sea was not a natural current, but something man-made.

Ancient technology?

"Is this the sea monster that supposedly guards the treasure?" The ship landed, and the tremendous impact seemed to awaken something. A huge, dark-green octopus appeared in Ling Donglai's sight.

"So many dead people... Were they pirates who came here looking for treasure? It's like an ancient battlefield..." Nami stared at the scene around them in shock.

"Moo..." Momoo stood up. It had noticed the enormous sea beast as well, so it rose to stand shoulder to shoulder with it, seemingly trying to intimidate its opponent.

"We only need to defeat three monsters like this!" The little bat flew about wildly in the air.

Countless things resembling drifting bottles flew overhead, each stuffed with a piece of parchment similar to Ling Donglai's.

This was the source of the Navel of the Sea legend.

"300,000 Volts!" Ling Donglai raised a finger and pointed it at the giant octopus monster.

A terrifying current, roaring with thunder, struck and killed the octopus monster in an instant.

I'm doomed. What kind of monster did I provoke?! The little bat was so frightened that it forgot how to fly and fell straight from the air.

At this point, he could only rely on that treasure capable of granting any wish...

What rotten luck...

"The monster guarding the treasure was so weak that I'm not even interested in this so-called treasure anymore."

A single strike of 300,000 Volts had effortlessly taken out the guardian, leaving Ling Donglai somewhat disappointed.

"Lead the way, bat!" Ling Donglai kicked the bat, snapping him out of it.

The foul-mouthed bat finally fell silent and led the way ahead. Before them lay an abandoned city, and beyond it stood a mountain they had to climb.

Ling Donglai encountered the second guardian sea beast: a crab monster.

Ling Donglai merely found an opening, reached out to touch the crab monster, and injected an electric current into its body, paralyzing it.

"Hey, what are you doing? Kill it already! Only by killing it can you obtain the ultimate treasure!" The bat creature could not help shouting.

"Are you telling me what to do?" Ling Donglai swept him with a glance, frightening the bat into trembling.

Damn it... The bat creature gritted his teeth and silently continued leading the way.

At the mountaintop stood a temple, its densely packed pillars dividing the space.

"It looks a bit like a maze."

"Yes. You need to find the right path through this maze. Of course, there are guardians here too," the bat said through gritted teeth.

The moment Ling Donglai stepped inside, the earth began to tremble. A gigantic sea urchin rolled toward him along the path.

"These sea beasts... They all give me a strange feeling. It's like... they aren't physical entities." Ling Donglai released an electric current and paralyzed the sea urchin, then led Nami straight into the temple.

"Captain, should we split up?" Nami instinctively suggested the more efficient plan.

That was how ordinary people thought.

"There's no need for that. We can just go straight ahead." Ling Donglai knocked on a stone pillar blocking their path, then punched right through it.

"This really... doesn't feel like treasure hunting or solving puzzles at all." Nami complained weakly.

"These words are ancient writing." Ling Donglai noticed some text on the stone pillars.

They were not words Nami had taught him, so ancient writing was the only possibility.

"This place..."

Ling Donglai demolished his way through and reached the very center of the maze. There, he saw a dead skeleton with an exquisite revolver in its hand.

Above a flight of stairs floated a captivating cluster of purple light, resembling flames.

"Damn it, how can I let you obtain the ultimate treasure so quickly..."

"The treasure is mine!" The bat shrieked frantically in the air.

The ground rumbled as the two gigantic sea beasts that had been paralyzed broke free of the debuff and charged toward the center of the temple.

It was as though they knew exactly where the intruders were.

"Azure Thunder!"

Ling Donglai casually called down lightning and directly killed the two strange sea beasts.

"Yes, yes, killing them is the right thing to do... Hahahaha." The bat creature cackled viciously, transforming into a wisp of smoke and drilling into the dead skeleton.

"The ultimate treasure is mine!"

Accompanied by the familiar, arrogant laughter of the bat, the skeleton swayed unsteadily and actually stood up!

"The... Revive-Revive Fruit?"

Instinctively, Ling Donglai blasted it with 300,000 Volts of lightning.

The skeleton immediately exploded.

"That's it?" Ling Donglai felt as if he had hit nothing but air.

Was this cluster of light... the treasure capable of granting any wish? Nami stared doubtfully at the strange purple glow, then looked over the temple's layout.

"Captain, I keep feeling... something's wrong. Like there's something off about that place."

It was not just Nami. Ling Donglai felt that something was wrong as well. This temple was far too gloomy.

A current shot from Ling Donglai's hand and struck the purple light.

Yet the current seemed to be absorbed, producing no reaction at all.

The only difference was that the purple glow flickered once.

"If it can grant wishes, then let's try it. I want to become stronger!"

A layer of still-unfamiliar Armament covered Ling Donglai's right palm as he approached the cluster of light.

Buzz—

The purple light flared brilliantly, as though it had received an instruction.

Something seemed to interfere with his will, making Ling Donglai see what appeared to be an illusion.

However, Ling Donglai constantly tempered his cells with his willpower. His will had been passively honed to an extraordinary degree, and he directly crushed the illusion.

The Navel of the Sea arc is a special arc from the original work. It seems like it was created by the production team. The original work made it all flashy without ever explaining what the treasure actually was, and hardly anyone has written about it, so I just borrowed it for some ideas.

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