Why Are You Looking at Me Like That?

"That place... If I can get to that place, I can leave this place!"

Jin gritted his teeth and poured all his strength into this one thrust.

Just as Jin was about to touch the crack, it suddenly shrank, as if sensing his intention, and was desperately moving away.

"Don't even think about escaping!" In the darkness, Akuta's voice carried a hint of urgency for the first time.

Instead of slowing down, Jin let out a wild laugh, increasing his speed instead of decreasing it. He was like a burning comet, crashing straight into the closing crack!

The first thing that stood out was Jhin's hair.

Because Jhin was flying forward, his hair was the first to slip through the crack.

The moment his hair entered the gap, Jin felt a sensation completely different from before.

Unlike the unique viscous feeling in the Shadow Domain of the Akuta, King, being a pirate, sensed it immediately.

That's the scent of the sea!

Although the scent of the ocean emanating from his hair was almost too strong, Jin didn't have time to think.

At this moment, he was completely immersed in the joy of escaping the shadow domain of the Akuta, and had no time to care about anything else.

His wings flapped again, and his speed increased one last time.

With a "whoosh," Jin's body burst out of the shadow domain of the Akuta.

Feeling his vision return, Jin was overjoyed!

He came out.

He's out of that damned dark cage.

He's free!

But before Jin could even take a deep breath of the fresh sea breeze, he was met with another despairing situation.

When Jin opened his eyes, he realized that he was no longer at the previous port.

He was underwater at that moment!

The seawater instantly extinguished the flames on his body, and white mist billowed up.

Jin is a Devil Fruit user, and he knows better than anyone what seawater means to a Devil Fruit user.

The moment Jin touched the seawater, he felt as if his limbs and bones were filled with lead, and he couldn't muster any strength at all.

His knife slipped from his hand and fell heavily into the dark seabed.

"Gurgle... gurgle..."

A series of bubbles gushed from his mouth and nose.

As a user of superpowers, the ocean is his natural enemy.

Jin's body sank uncontrollably downwards, and his vision became increasingly blurry.

His burning wings had long since been extinguished in the seawater, with only a few wisps of white smoke rising from the base of his wings before being swallowed by the sea.

Consciousness is slipping away rapidly.

'I... am actually... in a place like this...'

He was unwilling to accept it.

I clearly saw through that brat's trick, and I clearly escaped that damned darkness, so why am I still at the bottom of the sea?

unless...

Unless the crack itself doesn't lead to the sea.

It leads to the sea.

Jin's pupils contracted sharply.

He suddenly understood.

That "crack" was not an exit he tore open with brute force at all.

It was Akuta who showed it to him on his own initiative.

That guy deliberately made a hole in a certain direction on the sphere, making him think that was the exit, causing him to fly desperately in that direction.

Furthermore, his senses relied heavily on Observation Haki while he was in the shadows, further weakening his perception of direction.

The Akuta slightly misled him, causing Jin to lose his way and plunge headlong into the sea.

"Gurgle..."

Another string of bubbles emerged.

Jin's eyes widened, filled with resentment and anger.

But at that moment, that blurry consciousness was suddenly stabbed by something sharp.

Jin suddenly regained consciousness for a moment.

He thought of Mary Geoise.

I recalled the days when I was used as a test subject, chained up every day and subjected to experiments.

That feeling is exactly the same as it is now.

Helpless, desperate, being dragged little by little into the abyss.

"I... will never... go back... to... that kind of place..."

However, in this darkest moment, an astonishing will surged forth from within Ember.

That doesn't belong to any Devil Fruit power.

It is the innate, boundless life force of the Lunaria race that Jin possesses!

He won't end here.

He absolutely refused to die in this deep sea!

The vitality of the Lunaria race gave Jhin a surge of strength. He held his breath and swam towards the surface of the sea with all his might.

If he can swim to the surface, he can regain his abilities and survive!

Just as Jin's hope was rekindled, a dark figure slowly appeared beside him.

Although the other party was completely enveloped in a thin, black shadow, only their eyes were visible.

But Jin recognized it at a glance as the Akuta he had just fought!

'His ability can be used in seawater!'

Jin's pupils contracted again.

At this point, he no longer had time to think about how the Akuta had done it.

He only saw Akuta slowly swim up to him, meeting his gaze across the seawater.

Although it was just a glance, Jin immediately understood the meaning contained in Akuta's eyes.

How does it feel to be trapped by seawater?

However, Jhin was unable to respond at this moment.

Akuta did not make a move immediately.

He floated in the seawater, quietly looking at the once high and mighty Beasts Pirates' flagship.

In the last challenge, he was completely overwhelmed by Jhin, thrown into the quarry to do hard labor, and finally sent to his death by a single move, "Guardian Fire Dragon Emperor".

At this moment, the enemy he once looked up to was being swallowed up by the sea little by little, like a bird with broken wings, struggling futilely towards the surface.

The Akuta Sword could have delivered the final blow, sending Ember sinking completely to the bottom of the sea.

But for some reason, Akuta suddenly felt a little bored.

Isn't it a bit too hasty to end it like this?

While Akuta was pondering, Jin was also watching him.

Jin figured it out.

Akuta was clearly capable of making a move, but he didn't.

He could have ended it all in this sea, but he just stood there, as if waiting for something.

What are we waiting for?

Wait until he struggles to float to the surface?

Wait for him to climb back to the surface on his own?

It felt like something had struck Jin in the chest.

Why... did you look at me like that...?

The Lunarians.

The "Clan of Gods" who once inhabited the Red Line continent.

They were considered taboo by world governments, their names erased from history, and treated as monsters, experimental subjects, and tools by countless people.

Before his identity as a member of the Beasts Pirates, King was first and foremost a member of the Lunaria race.

It is that race that was once called gods.

They can die.

It can be defeated.

You can lose to time, to fate, or to a stronger opponent.

But one must never accept charity from others.

Jin's pupils widened in the sea, the whites of his eyes becoming bloodshot.

Do you think I'm not good enough?

"Do you still think I need your pity?"

"Stop joking!!!"