The doors to the Hall of Echo opened slowly without a sound, as if even the concept of sound had been absorbed by the hall. Behind the doors lay a space that could not be accurately described in words—there was no sense of direction, no feeling of the passage of time, only countless flowing ribbons of light meandering through the Void, each ribbon composed of countless information symbols, like the nerve endings of the universe.
"This is..." Nami froze as soon as she opened her mouth, realizing that her voice had turned into a string of visible musical notes, which flickered in the air before disappearing.
"Be careful," Allen cautioned, "Here, every thought, every word will come into being."
As if to confirm his words, the thought "This place is terrifying" flashed through Usopp's mind, and the next second several menacing fear symbols appeared in front of him, scaring him so much that he quickly covered his mouth.
Luffy curiously, but what he saw wasn't a band of light, but countless ripples of laughter. "I hear so many sounds! Happy, sad, angry... they're all here!"
Robin stared in fascination at the flowing ribbons of light. "These are the memories of the universe... They're so beautiful..."
Suddenly, all the bands of light began to converge at the center, forming a giant sphere of light. A clear image appeared on the surface of the sphere—
They saw the origin of the Cradle of Chaos:
In the beginning of the universe, order and Chaos maintained a delicate balance. However, during a cosmic catastrophe, this balance was broken, and Chaos began to expand uncontrollably. To prevent the entire universe from Void, several races that had reached the pinnacle of civilization united to create the Cradle of Chaos, a massive "rule filter," concentrating the excessive Chaos within it.
"So the Cradle of Chaos is actually... a purifying device for the universe?" Franky asked in surprise.
The image continues to change:
They witnessed the original guardians— the Star Speaker, the Keeper of Secrets, and other powerful beings—voluntarily merging their will into the Incubator, becoming the core that kept the system running. But as time passed, the accumulation of Chaos exceeded the design limits, and the Incubator began to show signs of spiraling out of control.
" Joy Boy..." Robin suddenly pointed to a figure in the image.
That was a man wearing Straw Hat and with a bright smile; he was none other than Joy Boy, as recorded in the Poneglyph. The images show that he arrived at the Cradle of Chaos eight hundred years ago and discovered the impending collapse of the cradle.
"He originally wanted to restore the breeding ground," Allen deciphered the flowing information in the images, "But he discovered the only way was to become the new equilibrium point..."
In the video, Joy Boy makes a startling decision: he infuses his "joyful" essence into the incubator, temporarily stabilizing the system. But this is only a temporary fix; he leaves a prophecy that someone who inherits his will will bring the true solution in the future.
The images suddenly became chaotic, revealing the true state of the incubator— Chaos energy had accumulated for eight hundred years and reached the point of collapse. Without intervention, not only would the incubator be destroyed, but a chain reaction would sweep across the entire universe.
"Is this... the truth we have to face?" Jinbe said in Jinbe voice.
The sphere of light shifted again, revealing three possible futures:
In the first future, Chaos erupts completely, and the universe returns to Void;
In the second future, someone forcibly sealed away Chaos, but at the cost of the free will of all life.
The third future... The image blurs here, revealing only a faint glimmer of hope.
"It seems," Zoro gripped his sword hilt tightly, "that we are the 'beacon of hope.'"
Just then, the entire Hall of Echo suddenly trembled violently! The light bands that recorded the memories of the universe began to become unstable, and some areas even broke apart.
"What happened?" Sanji looked around warily.
Allen sensed the flow of energy, his expression turning grim. "It's the Chaos energy from outside impacting the Hall of Echo! The collapse of the cradle... has begun!"
The tremors grew stronger, and glowing fragments of information began to fall from the top of the hall. One fragment landed beside Chopper, showing the final moments of a planet being swallowed by Chaos; the desperate cries brought tears to Chopper's eyes instantly.
"We must get out of here as soon as possible!" Nami shouted, watching the palace crumble.
"But the solution..." Robin looked unwillingly at the information that had not yet been fully deciphered.
Suddenly, all the bands of light converged upon them, and a massive influx of information forcefully flooded into everyone's consciousness. This time, it was no longer a gentle display, but an almost brutal indoctrination—the truth of the universe, the nature of Chaos, the mysteries of order...
"Aaaaaah!" Usopp screamed, clutching his head. "My head's going to explode!"
Even Luffy collapsed to his knees in agony. "Too many sounds... it's so noisy..."
Just as everyone was about to be overwhelmed by the information deluge, Allen made a decision. He fully committed to expanding the Definition Domain, not to protect himself, but to act as an "information filter" and "transfer station."
"Everyone... hang in there..." Despite bleeding from all seven orifices, Allen stubbornly stood tall. "I'm processing this information... give me a little more time..."
He was like a dam, withstanding the onslaught of information while rapidly filtering out key knowledge. Countless rules collided and reorganized in his consciousness; he saw the way to repair the breeding ground, the secret to balancing Chaos and order, and also... the price that had to be paid.
After processing the last piece of information, Allen collapsed from exhaustion and was caught by Sanji, who arrived just in time.
"I understand..." Allen said weakly, "I know what to do..."
The collapse of the Hall of Echo had spread to their feet, and cracks were beginning to appear in the ground.
"Let's talk outside!" Luffy stretched out his arm, grabbed everyone, and said, "Let's go!"
Just before the palace completely collapsed, the Thousand Sunny broke through the obstacles and sailed out of this regulated space.
When they looked back, the Hall of Echo had turned into a swirling cloud of light, slowly dissipating into Chaos. All cosmic memories, all ancient knowledge, vanished forever with the collapse of the hall.
But the most important answer has already been revealed by them.