The Gray Fleet's attacks were like a relentless, icy tide. The eerie blue energy beams were not only incredibly powerful, but also carried an unsettling sense of "alienation," as if forcibly rewriting the physical constants of the contact area. The Thousand Sunny's shields teetered on the brink of collapse under these attacks, forcing Franky to devote most of his energy to maintaining defense, leaving him struggling to mount a counterattack.
" Definition: The rules here are not to be altered!" Allen expanded the Definition Domain, forcibly stabilizing the rules around the ship. When the dark blue energy touched the domain, it was like cold water dripping into hot oil, making a hissing sound of rule conflict. The erosion speed was significantly slowed down, but maintaining the domain to resist these extraterritorial rules was extremely taxing on Allen.
Luffy attempted to attack the ship directly with his Gum-Gum Fruit powers, but when his fist touched the dark gray armor, it felt as if he had struck some strange material that constantly slid and absorbed force, deflecting most of his impact. Zoro's slashes could only leave shallow marks, and a ghostly blue energy would quickly flow out from the marks to "repair" them.
"Their technology and defense mechanisms are completely beyond our comprehension!" Sanji's Ifrit Jambe slammed into the ship's hull, and the burst of flames was quickly absorbed and extinguished by the eerie blue energy field.
What's even more chilling is that these warships coordinate as one, without any delay. Their attack, defense, and movement are perfectly integrated, as if controlled by a unified consciousness.
"We must find their weakness!" Luo continued scanning within the ROOM space, but all he got back were a large amount of undecipherable gibberish and contradictory information. "Their energy structure and physical composition... are completely different from anything we know!"
Just as the battle reached a stalemate and the Thousand Sunny was gradually being suppressed, the cross-shaped flagship projected information again, this time with a hint of "doubt" that seemed almost electronically synthesized:
[Target Entity... Rule Compatibility... Anomaly... Exists Deep Binding to the Native Universe... Capture Difficulty... Increased...]
[Analysis... It is necessary to prioritize severing its connection with the rules of the native universe... Recommendation... Use the ' Rule Stripping Force Field '...]
As this information appeared, the eerie blue energy patterns on all the gray warships suddenly lit up, and their energy output mode changed. They no longer attacked directly, but instead gathered their energy, weaving it into a huge, invisible energy network around the Thousand Sunny. This network was not meant to bind physics, but rather to forcibly "sever" Allen and the Thousand Sunny from the rules of the surrounding universe!
In an instant, Allen felt his connection with the " World Seed " become sluggish, and maintaining the Definition Domain became incredibly difficult, as if the entire universe was rejecting him. Luffy and the others also felt that their Devil Fruit abilities and Haki were being interfered with and weakened to varying degrees, as if they had become rootless duckweed. The Thousand Sunny's engine output plummeted, and its shield flickered erratically!
This is a terrifying method that fundamentally undermines their power!
"Oh no! They want to 'isolate' us from this universe!" Nami watched in horror as the value on the instrument, representing the ship's connectivity with the cosmic environment, plummeted.
"We absolutely cannot let them succeed!" Luffy roared, trying to unleash even greater power, but in an environment where the rules were stripped away, his Drums of Liberation became dull and powerless.
At this critical moment, a resolute glint flashed in Allen's eyes. He abandoned all defense, gathering all his remaining power and concentrating it on the connection point between himself and the World Seed.
Definition: I am the anchor of this world, and the rules cannot be separated from me!
He forcibly " Definition " his own existence as an inseparable part of the rules of this universe! This is tantamount to using his own existence to forcefully resist the other party's stripping force field!
boom!!!
A violent collision occurred at the invisible level of rules! Allen coughed up blood, his body trembling violently, but he held on tightly to the connection that was about to break! The World Seed seemed to sense the crisis and for the first time, it spontaneously erupted with unprecedented light. A vast, primordial force of order belonging to the origin of this universe counteracted the network of rules that was being stripped away!
The Gray Fleet seemed to have not anticipated that the target could unleash such a strong counterattack based on local rules. The invisible network trembled violently, its eerie blue light flickering erratically, and the stripping process was forcibly interrupted!
Taking advantage of this opportunity, Luffy had a sudden Haki and merged his remaining Haki and the will to liberate himself, no longer attacking the physical entity, but bombarding the energy connection point between the rule-stripping network and the Gray Fleet!
" Gum-Gum - Giant, Roar of the Rules!"
The surge of resentment and defiance, imbued with an unyielding spirit, spread through the layers of rules, causing a brief moment of disarray in the Gray Fleet's formation.
"Now! Maximum power, Order Harmonics!" Nami seized the opportunity and activated the harmonic generator, which Franky had urgently enhanced!
The warm, orderly ripples spread with unprecedented intensity. Although they could not directly harm the gray warships, the strong "existence" and "order" rules belonging to the native universe had a natural repulsive effect on external forces, further interfering with the Gray Fleet's systems and energy fields.
"Target resistance is stronger than expected... Rule-based exclusion is intensifying... Temporary retreat recommended... Reassessment advised..."
The cross-shaped mainship sent out intermittent messages, and the eerie blue light of all the gray warships quickly receded. The next moment, just as abruptly as when they appeared, they instantly transformed into more than a dozen eerie blue streaks of light, disappearing into the depths of space at a speed far exceeding that of conventional engines, leaving only the damaged Anvil Star defense platform and the Straw Hat Pirates, still shaken.
They repelled the extraterrestrial visitors, but everyone knew this was only the first contact. These mysterious enemies, their purpose, their origins, and the " Origin Relic " they sought... a vast mystery, like a shadow, looms over the Xinghai.