The voyage through the passage lasted nearly a full day and night.
Time lost its precise measure here. Only the shifting numbers on the instruments and the body's instinctive cycles of fatigue marked its passage. Dark green seawater flowed silently on either side of the passage. Occasionally, strangely shaped, faintly glowing deep sea plants or silent energy entities slipped past the ships like blurred silhouettes in a dream. The atmosphere was oppressive and wary. Everyone's nerves were taut, ready for an attack from any direction-whether from the waters themselves or the enemies following them.
Yet the anticipated attack never came. The passage truly seemed to be a "permitted" safe route. Apart from the inherent strangeness of the surroundings and the occasional jolts caused by turbulent energy, nothing disturbed them. But this unnatural peace only deepened their unease.
"It's too quiet." Sabo stood on the Dawn Ark's bridge, staring into the seemingly endless mist ahead, his brows tightly furrowed. "Blackbeard and CP0 would never let us go this easily. What are they waiting for?"
"Perhaps they're waiting for us to leave this passage and enter more open waters better suited to an ambush," Robin reasoned. "Or perhaps they're waiting for a better opportunity, or... stronger reinforcements?"
"Stronger reinforcements?" Nami shuddered. "What could be worse than the Blackbeard Pirates and CP0 joining forces?"
"Who knows?" Sanji exhaled a smoke ring, his wary gaze sweeping the sea. "In this hellhole, nothing would surprise me."
Lin Yan sat cross-legged nearby, regulating his breathing. He opened his eyes at their words. Much of the color had returned to his face, but the thread of golden light deep in his eyes moved more slowly and profoundly, as though digesting and settling the insights and burdens brought by the earlier Will Resonance.
"They're waiting for us to