Kirishima Bupai still stood motionless at the bow, but deep within those hollow, indifferent eyes, an extremely faint, almost imperceptible ripple seemed to pass.
A stream of information inaudible to anyone else, which only he could receive, was being transmitted through some invisible link.
It was the signature voice of Dante from "Shoddy Navigation," a little irreverent yet utterly precise.
At that moment, it was reporting real-time conditions in the core region of the Calm Belt ahead, on a frequency only he could understand.
["Hey, Boss! Massive energy concentration detected ahead. Matches the characteristics of a 'perpetual energy vortex'... but there's a little problem.]
[The gravitational field at the vortex's core is unusually active and increasing exponentially. Conservative estimate: it could suck in ten Ark Maxims and crunch them up like candy.]
[Also, multiple life signs on par with the 'Lord of the Reefs,' or even stronger, detected in the surrounding waters. Total count... hmm... six? Seven?]
[That commotion just now really pissed them off, and they're moving in to surround us. Oh-ho, one of them seems to have brought some 'underlings' too. A whole swarm of small and medium ones, packed together like piranhas that caught the scent of blood... tsk, tsk. Quite the welcome ceremony."]
With a hint of gleeful mockery, Dante casually described the scene ahead, which could well have been a vision of hell.
Kirishima Bupai's brows furrowed ever so slightly.
To Crocodile, who had been watching him anxiously all along, that minute change was like a bolt from the blue. The Demon King... found this troublesome?!
An extremely faint murmur, almost a sigh, seemed to drift out from an ancient fissure in space and time. Carrying an indescribable weariness and irritation, it reached Crocodile's and Enel's ears clearly:
"Looking for Pluton... searching for Uranus... and