Guided by the Super Soldier Company jets, Ark Maxim flew over continuous mountain ranges and vast plains. The scenery below dazzled the Straw Hat Pirates —towering skyscrapers, crisscrossing highways, and fast-moving metal vehicles... These were sights from another world to them.
"What... what is that building? It's even taller than the World Government Building in Holy Land Mary Geoise!" Usopp exclaimed, lying on the ship's side, speechless.
"So many metal boxes that can move on their own!" Chopper exclaimed in surprise, pointing at the cars on the highway.
"There's a strange smell in the air..." Sanji sniffed. "It's not the sea breeze, it's... the smell of burning and metal."
Nami gripped the Clima-Tact tightly, her face grave. "This is definitely not the East Blue, or even any place in our world. The climate pattern, the magnetic field, the terrain... none of it matches."
Zoro's brow was furrowed, and his hand never left the hilt of his sword. He could sense the faint killing intent emanating from the "tin men" flying around them, the aura of those who had experienced real battlefields.
Franky, meanwhile, had completely switched into engineer mode. "SUPER! Interesting design! The propulsion systems for those aircraft, and the city's energy supply systems... I've never seen any technology like this before! Dr. Vegapunk would go crazy if he saw this!"
Robin quietly observed everything, then said softly, "This world... seems to be on high alert. Look at the edges of those cities, there are traces of fortifications, and many buildings look newly built..."
Brook's music turned somewhat somber. "Yo ho ho ho... the atmosphere here is even heavier than Thriller Bark."
Luffy was unusually quiet. He adjusted his straw Straw Hat and looked down through the ship's railing. "This... isn't our Foosha Village." There was a hint of disappointment in his voice, but it quickly hardened. "But that's alright! Since it's a new adventure, let's see what it's like!"
Allen stood at the bow of the ship, his heart churning. The city skyline flashing below, the Chinese characters on the signs, the familiar modern architecture... all of this confirmed his startling conjecture. This was very likely the world he had come from before his transmigration—or rather, an extremely similar parallel world. And he, a "stranger" from the world of pirates, with a ship full of companions also from another world, had stumbled into a technologically advanced modern Earth facing an alien invasion.
" Allen," Robin walked up to him and asked in a low voice, "You seem to know something?"
Allen paused for a moment, then decided to partially confess. "This world... I may have heard of it. In some distant memory of mine, it faces a tremendous threat, an enemy from beyond the stars. And these ' Super Soldier Company ' might be the warriors protecting this world."
"An enemy from beyond the stars?" Robin mused. "Something like the ' Purge Protocol '?"
"Similar, but perhaps more direct, more... violent." Allen recalled the plot of " Super God Academy," the war between Taotie, demons, angels, Death God Karl... the brutality of these intertwined forces was no less than any battle they had ever experienced.
After about an hour of flight, a massive military base came into view. Towering radar towers, neatly arranged hangars, heavily armed patrolling soldiers... and in the center of the base stood a landmark building—the rebuilt North Star Command.
"Descend altitude and follow the guidance signal," Ge Xiaolun's voice came through the communicator.
The Ark Maxim slowly landed in the designated area—a specially reinforced helipad. When this giant silver ship, which combined Vegapunk technology, Sky Island technology, lunar civilization heritage, and stellar power, truly landed, the soldiers who had been waiting in the wings around it couldn't help but hold their breath.
The ship is hundreds of meters long, its streamlined silver hull gleaming softly in the sunlight. The seemingly decorative patterns on the hull actually contain complex energy circuits. The dragon head statue at the bow is so lifelike that it seems ready to come to life at any moment. Most astonishingly, even after landing, a faint, almost invisible energy field still surrounds the spaceship, distorting the surrounding light.
"All personnel on high alert!" a commander ordered over the communications channel. "Target energy readings still unreadable, threat level: unknown, tentatively classified as Level A!"
Dozens of armored vehicles and hundreds of fully armed soldiers surrounded the helipad. Further away, high-energy laser turrets and electromagnetic defense arrays had been quietly activated, locking onto Ark Maxim.
The warriors of the Super Soldier Company also landed around, spreading out in tactical formations. Ge Xiaolun, Rena, Du Qiangwei, Zhao Xin, Liu Chuang, Qilin, Rui Mengmeng... almost all the core members of the Super Soldier Company were present. They wore black armor, held their respective weapons, and stared solemnly at the hatch of the spaceship.
The hatch slowly opened.
The first to step forward was Luffy. He was still wearing his simple red vest, blue shorts, and straw Straw Hat, with his signature wide grin on his face. However, according to the tactical goggles of the Super Soldier Company, the bio-energy reading within this seemingly ordinary boy was ridiculously high, even exceeding the baseline of the third-generation super soldiers.
Next came Zoro, Sanji, Nami, Usopp, Chopper, Robin, Franky, Brook, Jinbe... and finally Allen.
The appearance of each Straw Hat Pirates member made the data analysts of Super Soldier Company break out in a cold sweat.
"Target 1 ( Luffy ): Energy type unknown, extremely high physical strength, exhibits some kind of regular ability fluctuation..."
"Target 2 ( Zoro ): The energy is concentrated in three swords, the material of the blades cannot be analyzed, sword energy... that's sword energy?!"
"Target No. 3 ( Sanji ): Incredible leg explosive power, fire ability... not chemical combustion, but energy conversion!"
"Target 7 ( Chopper ): This is... an animal? No, it's an intelligent life form with multiple forms..."
"Target 9 ( Franky ): A semi-mechanical life form, with completely unfamiliar mechanical technology..."
"Target 11 ( Allen ): Warning! Warning! Energy readings continue to rise! Multiple high-level energy reactions detected: time perturbation, space distortion, dual light and dark attributes... Upper limit cannot be assessed!"
Du Qiangwei's fingers flew across the virtual keyboard, but all the analysis results showed "insufficient data" and "model cannot be built." She gritted her teeth. " Xiaolun, these people... are completely beyond the cognitive framework of the known universe."
Ge Xiaolun gripped his greatsword tightly and said in a deep voice, "Stay vigilant, but don't attack first. General Du Kao will be here soon."
Rena kept her eyes fixed on Allen. Her Light of the Sun genes made her extremely sensitive to energy. She could sense that the dark-haired young man seemed to possess the energy of an entire galaxy—vast, profound, and... very "ancient." This antiquity wasn't in the sense of time, but at an essential level, as if connected to some fundamental origin from the very beginning of the universe.
"Hello, visitors from another world."
A calm and authoritative voice rang out. The crowd parted, and a middle-aged officer with Sweet Commander and the rank of general walked over, accompanied by a group of staff officers. It was General Du Kao.
His gaze swept over the Straw Hat Pirates, finally settling on Allen —clearly, intelligence had indicated that this young man was one of the key figures on the other side.
"I am Du Kao, Commander-in-Chief of Earth Defense." Du Kao's voice was neither humble nor arrogant. "First, on behalf of humanity, I welcome you all. Second, given the current dire situation facing Earth, I must ask a few questions."
Luffy tilted his head. "A question? What question?"
Ignoring Luffy's casual attitude, Du Kao cut straight to the point. "First, where do you come from? Second, what is your purpose? Third, what is your power system? Fourth, are you connected with the Taotie, demons, or any known alien forces?"
A series of questions were posed, carrying the directness and urgency of a soldier.
The Straw Hat Pirates exchanged glances. Nami, acting as both diplomat and treasurer, stepped forward. "We are the Straw Hat Pirates, from... a world you may not know. After a long voyage, we wanted to return home, but it seems... we've come to the wrong place."
"Wrong place?" Du Kao astutely grasped the key phrase.
"Yes," Allen finally spoke, his voice calm and clear, "What we originally wanted to return to was a world with the Four Seas, the Grand Line, and the Red Line. There was World Government, the Navy, pirates... but clearly, this isn't that world."
These words caused an uproar in the audience.
"Parallel worlds?" Lian Feng's voice came through Du Kao's headset, filled with shock. "General, if what he said is true... then it explains why they don't have Dark Energy signatures, and why their power systems are completely different..."
Du Kao's eyes sharpened. "How do you prove that?"
Allen was silent for a few seconds, then slowly raised his right hand. In his palm, a point of starlight lit up, the light pure and warm, as if a condensed starry sky. Then, the starlight spread, transforming into a small, three-dimensional star map projection. The star map contained the familiar Solar System, but the way it was marked, the scale, and even some details were different from the star maps mastered by the Super Soldier Company.
"This is our star map," Allen said, "Marking our journey. The last coordinate should point to our home planet. But apparently, the navigation system led us here—to a world with similar coordinates, but fundamentally different."
Rena stepped forward, carefully examining the star map projection. As the chief goddess of the Lieyang Star, she possessed an extremely high sensitivity to star maps. "This projection... isn't holographic technology; it's purely an energy construct. Moreover, the rules governing its creation... are very ancient, very... primitive, yet simultaneously incredibly precise. This truly doesn't resemble the cartographic style of any known civilization in the universe."
Du Kao fell into deep thought. Visitors from a parallel world? This was even more bizarre than an alien invasion, but it also explained the peculiarity of these people to some extent. If this was true, then they were not enemies—at least, not necessarily known enemies.
But the soldier's caution prevented him from drawing conclusions easily.
"Even if you come from a parallel world," Du Kao said slowly, "Earth is currently at war. We are facing the Taotie Legion from the Styx Galaxy, and an even more dangerous Demon Civilization. Any uncertainty could affect the course of the war. I need your cooperation in the investigation, and, if necessary, your supervision."
"Supervision?" Zoro sneered. "Does that mean locking us up?"
"We just want to go home!" Usopp shouted.
"If this isn't our home, then we'll keep sailing until we find our way home!" Luffy shouted. "We won't stay here and be locked up by you!"
The atmosphere tensed up again. The soldiers of the Super Soldier Company gripped their weapons tightly, and the Straw Hat Pirates also assumed combat stances.
Just then, a piercing alarm blared throughout the entire base!
"Warning! Large-scale spatial jump fluctuations detected! Coordinates: 39°54′N, 116°23′E, altitude 12,000 meters! Quantity... more than fifty units! It is the vanguard flagship and escort fleet of the Taotie!"
"What?!" Du Kao's expression changed drastically. "How dare they jump directly over the North Star?!"
"Did they detect our unusual energy reaction?" Lian Feng quickly analyzed. "Or... are these visitors from another world their target?"
In the sky, space rippled like water. One after another, menacing cross-shaped warships bearing skull and crossbow symbols leaped out of the Wormhole, their massive main cannons charging and aiming at the North Star Base below.
The Taotie has arrived.
On the helipad, the pirates from another world and the guardians of Earth both looked up at the sky.
An unexpected encounter is about to escalate into a three-way battle.
Allen's gaze turned cold as he looked at the aggressive warships in the sky. In any world, such wanton destruction and acts of war filled him with disgust.
" Luffy," Allen said softly.
"Ah," Luffy adjusted his straw Straw Hat, a wide, excited smile spreading across his face, "Looks like a fight's about to break out!"
The forces of two worlds are about to clash for the first time amidst the flames of war.