The Thousand Sunny cruised at low altitude, like a cautious fish swimming in a dead ocean. The scenery passing below was uniformly desolate: dried-up riverbeds were like scars on the earth, collapsed mountains exposed the rocky skeletons, and occasionally some remnants of what appeared to be cities could be seen, but they had all been eroded by wind and sand, leaving only blurry outlines, without any signs of life.
"The energy scan shows a faint, unnatural energy fluctuation fifty kilometers ahead," Nami, pointing to a small spot of light on the detector. "It's very weak, but very stable."
This was undoubtedly an important clue. Franky immediately adjusted his course and headed towards the source of the signal.
As they drew closer, a relatively intact ruin came into view. It seemed to have once been a magnificent city, with the outline of towering spires and wide avenues still faintly visible, but now all covered by a thick layer of gray dust. In the center of the city, a huge hemispherical building was the best preserved, and the faint energy fluctuations emanated from it.
"Go down and check it out, be on guard," Luffy ordered.
The Thousand Sunny slowly landed on an open area outside the hemispherical building, kicking up a cloud of dust. The crew, wearing the simple filter masks distributed by Chopper, descended the gangway one after another. Their feet crunched on the loose sand, making a jarring "shush-shush" sound in the absolute silence.
Allen deployed his Definition Domain, enveloping the team within and isolating them from the corrosive influence of the external toxins, but he could sense that the domain was being consumed faster than it was on the spaceship.
They cautiously entered the hemispherical building. The interior was vast, filled with various stopped precision instruments and workbenches, its style unlike any of Vegapunk's technology or any known civilization, leaning more towards a combination of fluid, organic lines and geometric structures. The walls were covered in a thick layer of dust, but some screens occasionally flickered with a faint light.
"This looks like a... control center or archive?" Robin stroked the unfamiliar symbols on the control panel, his eyes gleaming with the light of discovering history.
Franky tried to activate several devices that looked like control panels, but nothing happened. "The energy is almost depleted; only the most basic maintenance systems are still running on residual energy."
Just then, Usopp accidentally knocked over a metal can-like object that was placed in the corner. The can rolled to the ground, the lid came loose, and some silvery, mercury-like liquid flowed out. Upon contact with the air, the liquid quickly evaporated and condensed into a blurry, flickering holographic image!
The images depict the world's former prosperity: blue skies and white clouds, lush green trees, unique buildings soaring into the clouds, and various elegant creatures moving through the air and on the ground, full of life and vitality. This contrasts sharply with the desolation of today.
Then, the images began to change. Ominous dark purple cracks appeared in the sky, exactly like the ones the Straw Hat Pirates had encountered before! Countless Otherworldly Demons surged out from them, attacking not only living beings but also frantically drawing upon a certain silver energy flowing through the earth, rivers, and even the air—the origin of the world's rules.
The footage documented Resistance, despair, and the collapse of civilization. Finally, the image freezes on a tall, weary-looking but determined humanoid creature standing in what resembles this control center. He (or she) speaks in an ethereal and sorrowful language; though unintelligible, the resolute and unwilling spirit resonates directly in everyone's heart.
The footage then showed the leader activating a massive device that depleted the world's last energy reserves, creating a weak barrier covering the entire globe. This barrier could neither stop the Otherworldly Demons nor repair the rules; it seemed to serve only one purpose—to hide and preserve.
The video abruptly ended there, and the silver liquid completely evaporated and disappeared.
Silence fell over the control room. The lingering, desperate sound deeply resonated with everyone present.
"So... this world was completely drained by the kind of Otherworldly Demons we encountered?" Usopp's voice was hoarse.
"They extracted the very essence of the rules, causing the world's demise," Allen concluded somberly. "And the last survivors of this world activated some kind of 'hidden' program in order to preserve... some kind of hope?"
"Hope? Where is it?" Luffy looked around, but saw nothing but dust and ruin.
Robin walked to the control panel and wiped the dust off a panel, revealing a special groove underneath. Its shape perfectly matched the strange crystal with its ever-changing light that they had obtained earlier.
"Perhaps..." Robin took out the crystal, "This is the Key."