The Pacific Ocean night sky was sparsely lit by stars. Moonlight spilled onto the sea near Newborn Island No. 1, creating shimmering ripples. However, this sea, which should have been tranquil, was now teeming with unusual energy.
Allen's figure streaked across the sky, transforming into a silver meteor, arriving above the fluctuating coordinates at an astonishing speed. His Eye of the Torch Dragon glowed with a dark golden light in the night, clearly "seeing" the anomaly beneath the sea.
It was neither an enemy fleet nor a space Wormhole.
About five nautical miles from Newborn Island No. 1, in the deep sea at a depth of approximately 300 meters, a complex, silvery-white geometric structure, over 50 meters in diameter, is emitting a soft, pulsating blue light. It resembles the base of some giant mechanical device, or a strange, naturally formed crystal, made of neither gold nor stone, with flowing, water-like patterns on its surface. Even more peculiar is that the surrounding seawater is not pushed away, but rather blends harmoniously with those patterns of light, as if this device were an integral part of the ocean itself.
At the center of the device, a fist-sized, sapphire-like core was flashing at a peculiar frequency. Each flash caused a subtle, almost imperceptible ripple in the surrounding space—the "unknown spatial fluctuations" detected by the North Star Base.
Allen hovered in the air, his brow furrowed. He sensed no hostility from the device, nor detected the energy signatures of Taotie, demons, or any known alien civilization. Instead... there was a faint, familiar fluctuation of "rules," somewhat like... the Star Core Mark of the Ark Maxim? But not entirely, more "gentle," more "natural."
Just then, several streaks of light flew rapidly from the direction of North Star. They were Ge Xiaolun, Rena, and Du Qiangwei from the Super Soldier Company, as well as Robin, Jinbe, Franky, and Sanji from the Straw Hat Pirates ( Luffy and the others stayed behind at the base to prevent a diversionary tactic).
"What's going on?" Ge Xiaolun gripped his greatsword tightly, scanning the sea surface warily.
"Down there," Allen pointed to the area of the sea, "An unknown device is emitting spatial fluctuations."
Du Qiangwei immediately started scanning, but the data that came back puzzled her. "It's not driven by Dark Energy... the structure cannot be analyzed... the material is unknown... it seems like... it 'grew' out of the sea itself?"
"I'll go down and take a look." Jinbe said, about to enter the water. As Fish-Man, the underwater world was his home turf.
"Wait." Allen stopped him, his eyes serious. "Let me use my Observation Haki to sense it first."
He closed his eyes, spreading his Observation Haki, combined with the Power of the Stars, like ripples on water, covering the device. The feedback became even clearer:
• No vital signs: Not a living organism.
• High concentration of water-based energy: resonates with the depths of the ocean.
• Stable spatial anchoring: The device itself "fixes" the surrounding spatial structure, but the flickering of its core seems to be attempting to establish a "connection" with some distant existence.
An ancient and pure aura: devoid of malice or pollution, like a long-dormant relic awaiting awakening.
What concerned Allen the most was that when he carefully sensed the blue core, he vaguely felt an extremely faint aura that was the same as the " Star Core Mark " in his body, but leaned more towards "water" and "life".
"No danger," Allen opened his eyes, "But its origin is unknown. It seems to be attempting some kind of long-distance space communication or... location."
"Communication? Location?" Rena asked, puzzled. "Where is the target?"
"I don't know. The information is one-way, and extremely weak and vague, as if... it has traversed an unimaginable distance, with severe signal attenuation," Allen analyzed. "However, the spatial fluctuations it emits are likely to attract the attention of other entities."
As soon as he finished speaking, as if to confirm Allen's concerns, space above the distant sea suddenly distorted, and an irregular purple Wormhole rapidly opened!
"It's the devil's Wormhole technology!" Du Qiangwei immediately recognized it.
From the Wormhole, three small, black warships with grotesque shapes, resembling giant bat skeletons, sped out and headed straight for the device beneath the sea! The warships were painted with demonic skull symbols, clearly an advance team sent by Morgana to "fish in troubled waters."
"As expected, it's you cowards hiding your true colors!" Rena sneered, gathering light energy in her hands.
But the demon warships' objective was clear: instead of attacking Allen and the others, they headed straight for the sea, with mechanical claws extending from their hulls, clearly intending to capture the unknown device directly.
"Trying to steal my stuff? Did you even ask me first!" Ge Xiaolun roared, brandishing his sword and charging forward.
However, the deep sea itself moves even faster than them.
Just as the demon warships were about to touch the surface of the sea, the once calm waters suddenly surged violently! It wasn't waves, but the seawater itself seemed to "come alive," condensing into several giant waterspouts with diameters exceeding five meters. Like living sea serpents, they shot up from the sea at an astonishing speed and precisely entangled the three demon warships!
"What the hell?!" The pilot of the demon warship tried to break free in terror, but the power of the waterspout was far beyond imagination. Moreover, the moment the seawater came into contact with the warship's armor, it began to "erode" it—not through chemical corrosion, but as if the seawater was "assimilating" the metal. The warship's armor dissolved and disintegrated into the water at a speed visible to the naked eye!
In just a few seconds, the three demon warships were completely shredded and swallowed by the waterspout amidst piercing alarms, leaving not a trace, only a few bubbles rising to the surface.
After completing its task, the waterspout slowly receded back into the sea, and the surface returned to calm, as if nothing had happened.
Everyone was stunned by this sudden turn of events.
"That was... the seawater attacked on its own?" Ge Xiaolun asked incredulously.
"It's not just simple seawater manipulation," Robin said, a glint of intelligence in his eyes, "It's more like... the 'will' of the ocean protecting that device."
"The will of the ocean?" Du Qiangwei asked, puzzled.
Robin looked at Allen: "In our world, the ocean itself is a magnificent entity, nurturing life and bearing the curse of the ' Devil Fruit.' And here... that device seems to have an extremely profound connection with the ocean of this world. It might not have been 'manufactured,' but rather 'nurtured' by the ocean."
A thought struck Allen, connecting it to Robin's earlier discovery about the similarities between the myths of the two worlds, and a conjecture arose. "Could it be... the ' Heart of the Ocean ' from this world's legend? Or something similar?"
Just then, the silver-blue device in the deep sea seemed to have consumed energy due to the "self-defense" it had just performed. The core's flashing frequency increased significantly, and the spatial fluctuations it emitted became stronger and clearer.
Allen's Eye of the Torch Dragon keenly detected that within that fleeting fluctuation lay an extremely complex, non-digital "flow of information." It was more like... a "feeling," a "call."
It calls upon... beings of the same origin.
At this moment, the " Star Core Mark " within Allen's body actually heated up slightly, generating an extremely faint resonance!
"It... is calling upon the Star Core Mark within me?" Allen was shocked.
" Allen, look!" Sanji suddenly pointed to the sea.
Centered on the device, glowing patterns began to appear on the sea surface. These patterns continued to extend and intertwine, gradually outlining a vast and complex "array" covering several square kilometers of sea! The array was composed of countless glowing geometric shapes and incomprehensible runes, radiating a pure blue-white glow, like a miracle in the night.
"This... this is..." Robin looked at the runes, his voice trembling with excitement, "The structure of these symbols... is similar to some of the ' Universal Cosmic Runes ' I saw in the lunar ruins and the Sea of Origins! But they are older, more...'localized'!"
Once the formation was fully formed, the Light of the Heart brightly, and a soft yet extremely penetrating blue-white beam of light shot into the sky, directly hitting the heavens!
The beam of light did not shoot towards the starry sky, but rather, about a thousand meters above the sea, it struck an invisible wall, its halo spreading out and transforming into a slowly rotating, enormous circular "mirror."
The mirror did not reflect the Earth, but rather a blurry, flowing play of light and shadow. Within this play, stars, vortexes, and... the faint outline of some enormous creature could be seen.
"A spatial portal?!" Du Qiangwei exclaimed, "It's opening a stable spatial passage! But the coordinates... are completely unknown! They're not recorded in any of the Great Clock's records!"
The beam of light lasted for about ten seconds, then slowly weakened and dissipated. The "mirror" in the sky also became transparent and unstable, eventually disappearing like ripples. The glowing array on the sea surface also dimmed and disappeared back into the seawater.
Only the device in the deep sea continued to flicker faintly but firmly at its core, as if it had completed a certain stage of its mission and entered a kind of "standby" state.
"Where did that door lead?" Rena asked.
No one can answer that.
Allen landed back on the surface of the sea ( the Power of the Stars allowed him to stand on water), looked down at the faintly glowing device underwater, and felt a turmoil in his heart.
This device is undoubtedly related to his " Star Core Mark ". Its "call" and the "door" it opened just now are likely the key clues!
" Lian Feng," Du Kao's voice came through the communicator, clearly he had been remotely monitoring the situation, "Immediately analyze the spatial fluctuation data from just now! Try to decipher the coordinates of that 'door'!"
"It's already underway, General! But the data is extremely complex, and... it's highly 'encrypted,' so cracking it will take time."
" Qiangwei, Xiaolun, you two take men to seal off this area and establish a temporary research station," Du Kao ordered. " Allen, what do you think of this device..."
"It might be relevant to us," Allen said in a deep voice. "I need to stay here and study it. Furthermore, its demonstrated 'self-defense' capabilities, and its deep connection to the ocean... forcibly moving or destroying it could have unforeseen consequences."
"Agreed. We'll do it your way," Du Kao said decisively. "You have primary research rights over it. The Super Soldier Company will provide protection and necessary technical support. Remember, report any discoveries immediately."
"Clear."
Over the next few hours, the Super Soldier Company' engineering corps quickly established a forward base on Newborn Island No. 1 and began constructing an underwater research platform. The Straw Hat Pirates also temporarily shifted their focus to the island.
Late at night, inside a makeshift research tent.
Allen, Robin, Franky, along with Lian Feng (holographic projection), Du Qiangwei, and several top Earth scientists (including an oceanographer and a paleographer) gathered together to analyze the collected data.
"The preliminary analysis results of the device's material are in," Lian Feng pulled up the report, "A previously unseen crystal-metal composite material with perfect energy conductivity and self-healing properties. Most remarkably, its atomic structure is unlike any substance on Earth, but it bears a faint resemblance to the secretions of microorganisms in certain extreme environments of the deep sea... as if it were formed by a living organism 'secreting' and 'mineralizing' it."
"A living organism secreting this?" The oceanographer's eyes widened. "What kind of living organism could secrete something like this?"
"I don't know. But what is certain is that it is very ancient. According to isotope decay analysis, it may have been formed more than... 100,000 years ago." Lian Feng's words made everyone gasp.
One hundred thousand years! Long before the emergence of human civilization!
"What about the runes?" Robin asked the paleographer eagerly.
The elderly professor, his hair white, pushed up his glasses, his hands trembling with excitement. "Incredible... Although I've never seen most of the symbols before, several of their basic structures are remarkably similar in abstract terms to the patterns on some ancient Huaxia rock paintings and jade artifacts, as well as the conceptual symbols for 'water,' 'star,' and 'door' in early Ancient Egypt and Sumer writing! It's as if... all ancient civilizations inherited or imitated the 'concepts' of these symbols from the same, even more ancient source!"
"In other words," Robin concluded, "this device, and the array it 'draws,' may originate from a prehistoric civilization far older than any known human civilization, or even... a non-human civilization. And this civilization may possess profound knowledge related to 'water,' 'stars,' and 'space.'"
"And it resonates with Allen," Franky added. "SUPER~ Interesting! Could it be left behind by the civilization that created the ' Star Core Mark '?"
Allen pondered. The Star Core Mark was a gift from the lunar civilization ( the Winged Tribe ), a civilization that had been destroyed. This deep-sea device was clearly not of the lunar style. So, could the technology of the Star Core Mark originate from an even earlier, also vanished, super-civilization? And could this civilization have left traces on Earth (the Earth of this world) as well?
" Lian Feng, is there any progress in analyzing the coordinates of that 'door' we just saw?" Allen asked.
Lian Feng pulled up an extremely complex multidimensional coordinate diagram. "It exists, but it's very blurry. The spatial coordinates point... unable to locate. It's not a conventional three-dimensional cosmic coordinate system; it's more like a location based on a 'concept' or 'rules.' If you had to use an analogy, it's not ' Milky Way - Orion Arm - Third Planet of the Solar System,' but rather an abstract description like 'Source of Water - Memory of the Stars - Path Home.'"
"The road home?" Allen and Robin were both startled.
"This is just a speculative translation based on the symbolic meaning," Lian Feng said cautiously, "But the concept of 'returning home' appears repeatedly in the fragmented information we've analyzed."
A brief silence fell over the tent. Everyone realized that this could be a groundbreaking discovery.
"This device," Allen began slowly, pointing to the blue core in the holographic projection, "May be a ' Key,' or a ' Beacon.' It's waiting for the right ' Key ' to be inserted, or for something that needs to 'return home' to approach, and then... to guide us."
"And we might be the 'being' it's waiting for," Robin said softly.
Just then, the alarm outside suddenly went off.
"Report! High-energy biological activity detected approaching from the deep sea! Extremely fast! Large quantity! Target... this place!"
Everyone rushed out of the tent. They saw that the sea surface had been glowing strangely, and a large number of points of light, like stars, were rising from the deep sea and rapidly converging on Newborn Island No. 1 and the area where the device was located.
As they approached the surface of the sea, the people were able to see their true forms by the help of the moonlight and their own light.
It was a marine creature I had never seen before. They varied in size, from the size of a palm to several meters long, with semi-transparent bodies and flowing blue-white light inside. Their appearance was like a combination of jellyfish, manta rays, and some kind of bioluminescent worm, elegant and mysterious. They swarmed together, like a glowing nebula, slowly floating above the sea—yes, they had actually detached themselves from the seawater and were suspended in the air!
These creatures slowly circled the area where the deep-sea device was located, emitting a deep and melodious resonance that sounded like a whale's song or a wind chime. They did not show any aggression; instead, it was as if they were... worshipping or guarding it.
"What... is this?" Sanji lit a cigarette, watching the beautiful, glowing creatures warily.
"The energy fluctuations emanating from them... originate from the same source as that device," Rena said after sensing it. "And... they're extremely strong. A single one might not be much, but this number..."
Looking out, the glowing creatures covered almost the entire sea area, numbering in the tens of thousands.
"They don't seem hostile." As Fish-Man, Jinbe is more sensitive to the emotions of marine life. "Are they... expressing joy? Welcome?"
Just then, the largest of the group of glowing creatures—over ten meters long, like a luminous, transparent giant whale—slowly swam up to Allen. It had no eyes, but Allen could feel a pure and ancient consciousness "watching" him.
A non-verbal "information stream" entered my mind directly.
Those are images, those are feelings:
The endless deep sea, the source of light.
A call that transcends the Xinghai, a call from lost compatriots.
Beyond the door lies the coordinates of my hometown.
• To protect, to wait, to guide.
Although the information was vague, Allen understood it instantly.
These creatures, and that device, are " Watcher " and " Beacon " left behind by an ancient civilization that has long since sunk into the river of time. They await the return of the " Star Kin " (possibly beings related to the Star Core Mark ) to guide their descendants lost in the universe home.
This "home" may very well have some profound connection to the Straw Hat Pirates's original world.
The luminous whale slowly lowered its head, as if in homage, then led its pod into the sea and disappeared. The bioluminescence on the surface of the sea also dimmed.
But the messages they conveyed were deeply imprinted in Allen's heart.
" Allen, what did you receive?" Robin asked keenly.
Allen took a deep breath, looked at his companions, and his eyes shone with an unprecedented light:
"I think... we've found a clue. That device, and these creatures, they're guiding us. It's still blurry, but the direction... is clear."
He looked up at the deep starry sky, then at the sea beneath his feet.
The way home may lie hidden in the depths of the sea and the starry sky of this world.
"And our next stop..." Allen turned, looking towards the western continent, "Maybe we'll first go to the Kunlun Mountains to verify Robin's other hypothesis. By connecting all the clues, we might be able to piece together a complete 'map'."
The new discovery brings great hope, but also more mysteries.
Who was that ancient civilization? Why did they leave these things behind? How are the two worlds connected?
Meanwhile, the various forces that witnessed this scene from the shadows reacted in different ways.
Morgana licked her lips excitedly. "This is getting more and more interesting! I definitely have to get involved!"
Karl fell into deeper thought, "The ancient Watcher... the Star Kin... is this related to the legends from before the Void Age?"
Angel Zhui relayed the message back to Angel Nebula, Angel Yan's reply was brief yet profound, "Continue to observe. 'Justice' needs to be judged—is this an opportunity or a crisis?"
Earth, this seemingly ordinary planet, is gradually revealing its astonishing secrets hidden beneath the dust of history, thanks to the arrival of the Straw Hat Pirates and the awakening of ancient ruins.
The Straw Hat Pirates's journey home and their mission to protect others will intertwine as they unravel these secrets.