Based on the star map coordinates provided by the Silent Ruins stele, the Thousand Sunny embarked on a new voyage. This time, its destination was a special region known as the " Chain Link Point." According to the information on the stele, this might be one of the facilities established by the pioneer civilization to stabilize the rules of the universe and connect certain key nodes, and it is also an important part of the " Broken Chain."
After a period of hyperspace travel, they arrived at their target star system. The scene before them, however, was somewhat unexpected.
There were no massive space stations or artificial celestial bodies there, only an extremely vast, slowly rotating, complex structure composed of countless luminous geometric shapes. It didn't resemble architecture; rather, it was a naturally formed (or artificially guided) cosmic spectacle, like a vast, precise, and constantly self-calculating mandala, silently suspended in the Void. This was the " Chain Link Point."
"A strong stabilizing effect has been detected," Nami, looking at the instrument readings. "The physical constants in this region are unusually stable, the spatial structure is indestructible, and even the flow of time seems to be anchored by some force."
"Is that the entrance?" Luffy pointed to a glowing channel at the center of the mandala structure that kept opening and closing, like flower petals.
Just as they were about to approach, the Domain Compass suddenly emitted a familiar alarm for extraterrestrial energy! But this time, the signal did not come from the outside, but from inside the Chain Link Point!
"There's an energy reaction from ' Shadow of the Other Side ' inside!" Nami exclaimed.
Could the Chain Link Point have already been taken over by outsiders?
Carefully navigating into the glowing passage, the interior was not a traditional cabin or hall, but an infinitely extending " Corridor of Light " with flowing data and rule-based runes on both sides. The corridor constantly branched and merged, like a labyrinth without end.
Even more surprisingly, they saw many blurry, recurring "phantoms" in this corridor—
They witnessed ancient pioneers debugging equipment and stabilizing the system here;
I witnessed the violent energy burst and the tragic choice made when the "bridge" broke;
They even spotted small units of the Gray Fleet that had previously fought them, flashing by in some of the corridor's side passages, seemingly searching for something;
Other explorers from unfamiliar civilizations appeared in the corridor at different times, mostly looking puzzled, before finally disappearing at the end of some fork in the road.
"This... records fragments of what happened here in the past?" Robin guessed.
Suddenly, at a fork in the road ahead, a shocking sight appeared—they saw their past selves, discussing which path to choose! Then that "them" chose a path and vanished.
"Is this... a time loop? Or a memory replay?" Usopp felt a chill run down his spine.
Allen sensed the rules of the corridor. "It's not entirely a time loop. It's more like all the information that 'passes through' this place is recorded and randomly projected. What we see are 'shadows' of information from the past."
Just then, a swarm of pale blue energy parasites (more solid than those encountered in the ruins) surged out from a side path and pounced on them! At the same time, several ancient-looking but clearly pioneering automated defense robots appeared from another direction. Their target was also the parasites, but they also seemed to have identified the Straw Hat Pirates as a potential threat, issuing warning energy fluctuations.
With parasites in front and defensive robots on the side, and trapped in a bizarre information corridor, the Straw Hat Pirates must simultaneously deal with threats from the past and present, and find the path to the true core of the Chain Link Point.
"It seems gaining control of the Chain Link Point or information won't be so simple." Zoro drew his sword.