Just then, they finally reached the bottom of the ten-thousand-meter abyss.
The sight before them left both men speechless with shock.
The Thousand-Tentacle Monster's true body was an ancient beast slumbering on the seabed. Its mountainlike bulk stretched at least several dozen kilometers long. Its shape lay somewhere between an octopus and a dragon, and its body was covered in scales as hard as rock, each gleaming with an eerie black-purple light.
The enormous tentacles wreaking havoc on the surface were only a small part of the monster's body. Thousands of smaller tentacles coiled around it, packed across the seabed like a forest.
Most staggering of all was the vast graveyard of wreckage surrounding the beast. Countless ancient warships, buildings, and skeletal remains lay piled into mountains, some stacked several layers deep. This was clearly the burial ground of every challenger over the past thousand years.
"How long... has this thing been alive?" Zoro's voice trembled slightly, not with fear, but with shock.
"At least several thousand years." Jinbe carefully studied the beast's form. "Judging by the age of these remains, it may have witnessed this world's entire history."
Though the beast slept, the pressure radiating from it was still terrifying. Simply approaching it subjected Zoro and Jinbe to an unprecedented sense of oppression, as though they faced not a living creature, but the will of the entire deep sea.
"We've come this far. There's no reason to back down." Zoro slowly drew his three Divine Blades. "Jinbe, let's work together and create a new move that can deal with this monster!"
"What do you have in mind?" Jinbe began gathering his sea god power, preparing for battle.
"My sword intent can cut through anything, and your sea god power can control the ocean." A gleam of insight flashed in