Countdown: 08:42.
Muffled explosions came from inside Noah's Ark-the bombs Blackbeard had planted began detonating in a chain reaction. The hull shook violently, enormous cracks spreading upward from its bottom as seawater flooded in.
"Captain! The ship is sinking!" Isuka shouted anxiously through the communication shell.
"No." Lin Yan's voice was frighteningly calm. "It won't sink."
He gently pressed the three-colored sun in his palm against the deck.
"Genesis Flame: Three Forms Evolution-"
"First Day: Matter Decomposition."
Scarlet-gold patterns of flame instantly spread from the point of contact across all of Noah! Wherever the flames passed, the hull, machinery, coral, seaweed... all matter began to "decompose"-not burning, not being destroyed, but returning to its most fundamental particle form.
In just three seconds, the five-thousand-meter-long Noah's Ark became an "ocean of particles" suspended in the deep sea. Those particles gave off a faint glow, slowly swirling like stardust.
Everyone was stunned.
Even Blackbeard forgot to laugh wildly, staring blankly at the scene before him that defied common sense.
Countdown: 07:15.
The bombs were still within the ocean of particles, but without anything to carry their force, their detonations became meaningless-like igniting gunpowder in the air, producing only a muffled bang with no destructive power.
"Second Day: Structural Reforging."
Lin Yan held his hands as though loosely grasping something and began to "sculpt" like a sculptor.
The particles began flowing and recombining at his will. Before everyone's eyes, a new Noah's Ark "grew" out of nothing.
But this Noah was entirely different from before-
The hull was no longer made of pitch-black ancient material, but a translucent "crystalline substance" that radiated three-colored light. Reliefs of the sun, waves, and clouds appeared on its surface, symbols of the three fragments. The originally cumbersome mechanical structures were simplified and optimized, replaced with a streamlined design better suited to fluid dynamics.
Even more astonishingly, a "life-support system" appeared inside the hull-an internal ecological cycle Lin Yan had created by using Genesis Flame to simulate plant photosynthesis.
Countdown: 05:33.
The new Noah was one-third complete.
"Third Day: Energy Infusion."
Lin Yan looked at Shirahoshi. "Princess, lend me your power."
Shirahoshi nodded, cupping her hands before her chest. Poseidon's power turned into a stream of blue light and flowed into the Noah taking shape. At the same time, the Nika Core's power within Lin Yan became a stream of golden light, while Ace's Blue Flame became a stream of white light. The three colors of energy converged at the ship's core, forming a self-cycling "Perpetual Energy Reactor."
Noah came alive.
It was no metaphor. It had truly come "alive"-the hull began breathing on its own, taking in seawater and breaking it down to extract oxygen, and adjusting its own buoyancy. There was even... a faint heartbeat.
Countdown: 03:21.
"Fourth Day: Rule Inscription."
Lin Yan bit his finger open and used his blood to inscribe markings on the figurehead.
These were the "Divine Runes" left behind by the Sun God Nika-not decorations, but physical manifestations of "rules." The instant he completed the final stroke, all of Noah erupted with dazzling light. The three-colored patterns on its hull began flowing as though they had come alive.
From that moment on, the ship was no longer fully bound by the laws of physics-it could sail underwater, fly through the air, and even... make short-range spatial jumps.
Countdown: 01:47.
"Fifth Day: Weapon systems."
Lin Yan looked at the remnants of the Blackbeard Pirates-Burgess, Doc Q, Lafitte, and the others were still watching menacingly from nearby.
He raised his hand. Noah's sides opened automatically, extending twelve cannon muzzles. These were not conventional cannons, but "Energy Cannons"-three-colored light swirled within their muzzles.
"Genesis Flame: Three Forms Cannon, test fire."
Whoosh-!
A three-colored beam shot out, instantly piercing the Seastone shield in front of Burgess, then leaving a bowl-sized scorch mark on his chest-precisely controlled to wound without killing.
Burgess fell to his knees, unable to fight.
Doc Q tried to escape, but vines suddenly grew from Noah's deck and bound him tightly-plant manipulation simulated by Lin Yan using Genesis Flame.
Lafitte tried to use hypnosis, but with a flash of three-colored light, his ability was directly "negated by the rules." It rebounded on him, knocking him unconscious.
Countdown: 00:21.
"Sixth Day: Control system."
Lin Yan walked up to the newly re-formed helm and pressed his hand against it.
The helm lit up, displaying a holographic control interface. Hull condition, energy reserves, weapon systems, navigation routes... every piece of information was at his fingertips.
Even more miraculously, he felt a "mental connection" form between himself and Noah-there was no need to operate it. A single thought was enough for the ship to obey.
Countdown: 00:05.
"Seventh Day: Naming."
Lin Yan turned to face everyone:
"This ship is no longer the ark from eight hundred years ago, waiting for the 'promised day.'"
"It is a witness to a new era, a bridge connecting all races, and a symbol of the covenant between the Sun God and Poseidon."
"From this day forward, its name is-"
"Dawn Ark: Noah Refit."
The countdown reached zero.
But no explosion occurred.
Because the particles of the bombs had long since been reassembled into part of the hull.
The deep sea was silent.
Only the brand-new Noah Refit radiated warm, three-colored light, like a sun rising beneath the sea.
Blackbeard slumped on the ground, looking at this "ship of miracles" before him, and finally broke down completely.
"Monster... you're a real monster..."
Lin Yan walked up to him and looked down at him.
"Marshall D. Teach, your ambition ends here."
He raised his hand. Three-colored flames became chains that wound around Blackbeard's limbs.
"I won't kill you. Because your fate should be ended by someone else."
"But until then-"
The flame chains tightened. Blackbeard screamed and passed out.
"You'll be imprisoned in the lowest level of the Noah Refit, sealed with both Seastone and Divine Runes. Until 'that person' arrives, you can reflect on yourself in the darkness."
Lin Yan turned to look at the others.
The CP0 agent Purple Lightning was already unconscious, and Tashigi had secured him with Seastone Handcuffs. All the Blackbeard Pirates' officers had been subdued. Fish-Man Island's warriors began clearing the battlefield.
It was all over.
Shirahoshi came to Lin Yan's side, tears glistening in her eyes, but they were tears of joy.
"Lord Sun God... you did it..."
"Just call me Lin Yan." Lin Yan smiled. "And thank you. Without your resonance, I couldn't have fully merged with the Nika Core."
Shirahoshi shook her head firmly. "No, you saved Fish-Man Island. You saved me. From now on, Fish-Man Island will always be your staunchest ally."
She paused, then asked softly, "Um... can the 'Dawn Ark' really take us to the land beneath the sunlight?"
Lin Yan looked at the completely transformed Noah Refit and nodded:
"Yes. But not now."
"Because for the Fish-Man Race to truly live beneath the sunlight, what's needed isn't a ship, but a change in the world."
"But please believe me-that day isn't too far away."
Above the deep sea, within Fish-Man Island's bubble membrane, countless fish-men and merfolk gazed toward the Sea Forest at the pillar of light piercing the deep sea, their eyes filled with hope.
The dawn Queen Otohime had awaited had finally arrived.
And with that light, the legend of the Sun God would spread to every corner of the world.
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