The Thousand Sunny sailed along the tilted pointer, and several days later, the familiar, massive Knock Up Stream reappeared! With previous experience, and under Nami's precise command and Jinbe's steady steering, the ship, though fraught with danger, successfully rode the current and soared into the sky!
Breaking through the White Sea, I found myself once again above that boundless sea of clouds, and the familiar feeling of weightlessness washed over me. However, the scene before me was completely different from the Sky Island where the City of Gold was located in my memory.
There are no lush cloud forests here, nor the vibrant buildings of Angel Island. As far as the eye can see, there is a vast and desolate white cloud plain, scattered with countless enormous, broken ruins. These ruins are composed of a special white, rock-like yet foam-light material, ancient and peculiar in style, covered with signs of weathering and cracks. Many buildings are reduced to mere crumbling walls, seemingly telling a story of a forgotten history. An atmosphere of desolation and vicissitude permeates the air.
"Is this... also Sky Island?" Usopp looked at the desolate landscape, somewhat disappointed. "It feels more like a ruin."
"It looks like it's been abandoned for a long time." Robin carefully examined the patterns on the ruins. "The architectural style is unique, unlike any civilization I know of."
Nami glanced at the Log Pose, which was trembling slightly, seemingly affected by some kind of interference, but its general direction pointed deeper into the ruins. "The pointer is pointing inwards; it seems we need to go in and explore."
Luffy, however, was quite interested in the ruins. "Oh! Ruins exploration! Maybe there's treasure or some interesting guys inside!"
Allen stepped onto this land of clouds, his senses rapidly expanding. Unlike the vibrant Serenia, this place was permeated with an atmosphere of "stillness" and "end." The spacetime structure also seemed somewhat unstable, with extremely subtle ripples appearing occasionally. He could sense that deep within the ruins, there was an exceptionally vast and stagnant energy source, which was attracting the Log Pose.
"Be careful," Allen warned, "The space here is somewhat 'fragile,' and... there's a dormant aura about it."
Franky has already begun researching the materials used to construct the ruins. "Super~ Lightweight and sturdy! If it could be used to modify the Thousand Sunny..."
Brook played a somber violin tune facing the empty ruins, the echoes reverberating among the broken walls, adding to the desolation, "Ho ho ho, not even a ghost? How lonely."
Chopper, hiding behind Zoro, whispered, "It feels a little scary..."
Sanji lit a cigarette, cautiously observing his surroundings as he stood guard beside the ladies.
Ace casually tossed out a small ball of flame, which burned unusually slowly in the air, as if time itself had slowed down. "That's strange indeed."
The Straw Hat Pirates began to venture deeper into the shattered Cloud Ruins. Passing through crumbling archways and collapsed palaces, they heard nothing but their own footsteps Gentle Breeze; the silence was eerily profound.
Suddenly, Luffy, who was walking at the front, seemed to have bumped into something invisible and was bounced back with a "thud".
"Wow! What is that?"
The group stepped forward and discovered a transparent barrier, rippling like water, in what appeared to be an empty passage. Zoro tried to touch it with his scabbard, but was pushed away by a gentle yet firm force.
"Is it a barrier?" Nami asked, puzzled.
Robin tried to use her ability to bloom on the other side of the barrier, but failed; "The ability cannot penetrate."
Allen extended a finger and gently touched the barrier. The power of spacetime flowed slightly, sensing its composition. "It's not a simple defensive barrier... more like a... filtering mechanism. It rejects 'life' from passing through, but seems unresponsive to 'non-life' matter and... a certain kind of 'fluctuation'."
As everyone pondered how to get through, Brook tilted his head. He seemed to hear a faint, ancient call. He instinctively picked up his violin again, playing a fragment of the melody he had comprehended in Serenia, a melody imbued with spiritual power.
A strange sight occurred. When Brook's music touched the transparent barrier, the barrier rippled like water after a pebble was thrown in, and then a gap, just wide enough for one person to pass through, slowly opened!
"Music... is the Key?" Usopp asked in surprise.
" Brook, well done!" Luffy cheered.
With Brook's music as their guide, the Straw Hat Pirates continued their exploration of the mysterious ruins. Little did they know that deep within these sleeping ruins lay not treasure, but an ancient and weighty secret concerning time and existence.