Thanks to Allen's keen perception of spacetime fluctuations and Jinbe's precise control of the chaotic currents, the Thousand Sunny navigated the Shattered Cape Waters with difficulty yet unwavering determination, as if dancing through a minefield. They avoided several deadly spacetime traps and witnessed even more bizarre illusions—fragments of ancient wars, silhouettes of futuristic cities, and even strange landscapes that defied the laws of physics.
The tremors of the Log Pose did not lessen; instead, they intensified, as if several sources of attraction were approaching, or... merging?
"Something's wrong," Nami, her voice trembling with confusion as she stared intently at the pointer. "The swing amplitude is decreasing, but the frequency is increasing! It seems... all the scattered points are converging towards a single point!"
Allen focused his senses and confirmed Nami's discovery. "Yes, the spacetime turbulence in this sea is not evenly distributed; it's as if bound by an invisible gravitational force, all pointing towards a core. We are approaching that 'anchor point'."
"Anchor point?" Robin pressed.
"A singularity that can remain relatively stable in this Chaos, and might even be the cause of this sea's formation," Allen explained. "Finding it might reveal the truth about this place, and perhaps even find a way out."
As they delved deeper, the surrounding spacetime turbulence began to exhibit a strange regularity. The shattered illusions were no longer chaotic, but rather, as if drawn by a force, slowly rotated around a certain center, forming a massive vortex composed of countless spacetime fragments!
At the center of the vortex was not a dark void, but a relatively stable area emitting a soft white light. The light was not dazzling, but gave people a sense of peace that could soothe all chaos. The Log Pose stopped swinging at this moment and pointed firmly to that area of white light!
"That's it!" Luffy shouted, pointing to the center of the whirlpool.
"We've finally found the source!" Usopp, both excited and terrified.
"Hold on tight, everyone! We're about to enter the whirlpool!" Jinbe roared, gripping the rudder with all his might.
Like a small boat in a raging torrent, the Thousand Sunny was dragged by immense gravity into a vortex of time and space fragments. Countless images of the past, projections of the future, and possible and impossible scenes flashed past the sides of the ship like a revolving lantern, bringing a strong sense of dizziness.
Under Allen's protective power and Jinbe's skillful control, the ship struggled to maintain its balance, slowly approaching the white light field at the center of the vortex's force field.
Finally, they broke through the last barrier of chaos and entered the peaceful white light.
In an instant, all the noise, chaos, and distortion vanished. The Thousand Sunny seemed to have sailed into an absolutely calm harbor. Here, there was no broken sky, no mottled seawater, only a pure, milky-white space radiating a faint light, with no visible boundaries.
In the very center of the space, an object is suspended.
It wasn't some enormous machine or mysterious creature, but a very ancient-looking compass made of some unknown wood and metal. It floated there quietly, slowly rotating, emitting a steady and soft white light. It was this light that supported the only pure land in this chaotic sea.
The compass needle did not point north or south, but was constantly and subtly adjusted, as if balancing something. Countless tiny, thread-like white lights extended from the compass and disappeared into the surrounding milky-white spatial barrier, seemingly connecting with and stabilizing the turbulent spacetime flow outside.
"A... compass?" Sanji, somewhat surprised.
"Is this what caused such a commotion outside?" Franky asked incredulously.
Brook tilted his head. "Yo ho ho ho~ Is it navigating itself?"
Allen's gaze, however, was fixed on the compass; his senses told him that this was no ordinary compass.
"This isn't a compass," Allen's voice held a hint of solemnity and understanding, "This is... the Anchor of Time."
" Anchor of Time?"
"A legendary Ancient Weapon... or rather, a stabilizing device," Robin explained, drawing on the ancient texts she had read. "It is said to possess the ability to stabilize local spacetime and even, to some extent, interfere with the flow of time. But it should have been lost long ago..."
"It seems we've found not only the source of the chaos in this sea," Allen stepped forward, carefully sensing the state of the Anchor of Time, "But also... an ancient relic abandoned here, still operating on its own, attempting to maintain some kind of 'balance'."
What does it exist to seal away? To stabilize something? Or... is it waiting for something?
The answer may lie in the Anchor of Time.