Like a lone boat, the Dawn sailed into the boiling, dark purple ocean.
As soon as the ship entered the outer perimeter of the Nether Abyss, alarms blared. Outside the portholes, the starry sky was no longer visible, but rather a flowing, ever-changing fluid of energy. Occasionally, enormous Chaos energy clusters, like deep-sea whales, swept past the ship's side, creating ripples on the surface of the universe and causing all the instruments to read wildly.
" Sparks Protection Layer activated! Energy output maintained at 40%!" Lian Feng (who was on board as a technical advisor) quickly operated the controls at the main console.
Allen stood in the center of the bridge, his hands resting on specially designed energy conduction pillars. Platinum-gold Sparks surged from his body, spreading through the pillars to the entire outer wall of the ship, forming a flowing shield of flames. When the Sparks came into contact with the Chaos energy, it emitted a dense hissing sound, and the latter was constantly being converted and absorbed, but the conversion speed was far lower than the impact speed.
" The Chaos concentration is three times higher than expected!" an angelic guard reported. "The pressure index of the divine protective layer continues to rise!"
"Engine output is being disrupted by the rules, reducing warp drive efficiency by 65%!" shouted the engineers on Earth.
Ge Xiaolun activated the Void Engine, attempting to stabilize the spacetime curvature around the ship. " Definition: Within 500 meters of the Dawn, the fundamental physical constants are stable!"
A pale blue Anti-Void domain spread out, overlapping with the Sparks Shield and the Divine Protection Layer. The three forces of order resonated with each other, temporarily stabilizing the ship.
But everyone knew that this was just the beginning.
As they ventured deeper, the surrounding scenery became increasingly eerie.
Within the dark purple Chaos energy, fragments of memory began to emerge—shattered planets, burning warships, wailing life forms, twisted ruins of civilizations... These were not illusions, but remnants of matter and information left over from the process of being devoured and digested by the Nether Abyss. They floated and sank in the energy flow like ghosts, exuding an aura of despair and madness.
"Don't look at those images!" Angel Yan shouted sternly, "That's information pollution; it will directly erode consciousness!"
It was too late. Several weaker engineers screamed in agony, clutching their heads, dark purple lines appearing in their eyes. Chopper immediately rushed over and injected them with sedatives and anti-contamination serum—the special medicine he had developed over the past few days.
"Everyone, concentrate! Silently recite the Ark Maxim of order or the sacred creed!" Rena unleashed her solar domain, the warm light dispelling some of the mental chill.
Luffy picked his nose and looked out the porthole. "Those things floating around... they look edible?"
"You can't eat that!" Nami punched him on the head. "That's the memory of something dead! Do you want to go crazy?!"
"Oh..." Luffy seemed to understand but not quite.
Zoro held his sword, eyes closed, concentrating. His demonic aura instinctively repelled the surrounding Chaos, forming a thin protective field. Sanji exhaled smoke rings, his brow furrowed—the flames of Diable Jambe burned unusually brightly here, as if resonating with the Chaos energy.
Robin quietly observed the fragments, her archaeologist's instincts prompting her to decipher them, but she forced herself to look away. Franky was excitedly (perhaps too excitedly) recording various data about the ship—the performance of this ship, which incorporated the technologies of multiple civilizations, in such an extreme environment was invaluable information to him.
Usopp had curled up into a ball. "I told you this place was scary! A million times scarier than Thriller Bark!"
Brook's soul flame flickered. "Yohohoho~ The aura of the dead here is so strong, but they seem... trapped, unable to rest in peace."
Jinbe activated Fish-Man Karate: Secret Technique, creating a water-like energy field around him that filtered out mental pollution.
The Dawn struggles forward.
Three hours later, they arrived at the " Rule Fault Zone "—one of the most dangerous areas inside the Nether Abyss. Fragments of different cosmic rules collide, tear, and merge here, forming countless unstable spacetime vortexes.
"Large-scale regular Tide detected! Arriving in thirty seconds!" the warning system screamed.
"All personnel immobilized! Maximum protection!" Angel Yan shouted.
Allen increased the output of Sweet Commander to 70%, Ge Xiaolun compressed the Anti-Void Domain to its limit, and the Divine Protection Layer operated at full power.
The next second--
Chaos "tsunami" has arrived.
It wasn't a material impact, but a violent tremor at the level of rules. The ship's hull was as if it had been thrown into a blender; all sense of direction vanished instantly, and the concepts of time and space became chaotic. The protective layer emitted a piercing groan, Sparks, Anti-Void, and Divine Code were forcibly pulled and twisted.
Even more terrifying is that this Tide carries a powerful mental shock, like the collective wails of billions of living beings pouring directly into the mind!
"Aaaaaah--" Usopp rolled over, clutching his head.
Chopper transformed into his giant form and used his body to protect several engineers.
Luffy suddenly shouted, " Gum-Gum-- " He wanted to do something, but his abilities were limited in the vacuum environment (the ship's internal environment was temporarily stable).
Just then, the largest spacetime vortex exploded on the starboard side of the ship!
"Protective layer ruptured! Sections 3 and 4 on the starboard side damaged!"
"The ship's structural integrity has dropped to 45%!"
"Third engine failure!"
Amidst a series of devastating news, the most deadly warning rang out. "The rule-breaking is about to spread to the main power module! Emergency separation of the damaged section is recommended!"
General Du Kao, projected from his location (he maintained contact via quantum entanglement communication), decisively ordered, "Execute the separation procedure! All personnel move to the central section!"
But it was too late.
A jet-black, regularly spaced rift sliced through the middle of the ship like a blade—right through the area where the Straw Hat Pirates was!
" Nami! Robin!" Luffy stretched out his arms to grab them, but the spatial distortion caused by the rift made his rubber arms deviate from their direction.
Allen watched helplessly as his companions' compartment separated from the main ship and was swept into the depths of Chaos by the raging turbulent currents of rules.
"No!" Ge Xiaolun tried to rush out, but Liu Chuang him back tightly.
"If you go out now, you'll be torn to shreds the moment you do!"
"The separation capsule has independent protection and power!" Lian Feng quickly pulled up the data. "Their signal hasn't disappeared! But it's been carried in different directions by the turbulence!"
On the main ship's side, after a period of violent shaking, it barely stabilized. However, the Sparks Shield weakened due to Allen's emotional fluctuations, and Chaos energy began to erode the ship's hull.
" Allen! Stay calm!" Angel Yan placed her hand on his shoulder, channeling divine energy into him. "They're still alive! We must stabilize ourselves before we can save them!"
Allen took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down. The Sparks reignited, burning even brighter—his companion's crisis had only fueled his power.
"Track the separation capsule's signal! Develop a rendezvous plan!" His voice was cold and resolute.
Meanwhile, inside the separation capsule that was swept away by the turbulence.
The Straw Hat Pirates were scattered about. The hull had stopped rolling, but the scene outside was despairing—they were floating in a relatively "calm" Chaos energy zone, surrounded by a large number of strange material fragments: half-melted warship wreckage, crystallized biological tissue, and some... building fragments that seemed to come from different eras.
"Is everyone alright?" Robin was the first to stand up and use her ability to check inside the pod.
"N-nothing... it's nothing..." Usopp's face was deathly pale.
Nami, leaning against the wall, looked at the external monitor. "Where have we landed? Where's the Dawn?"
Franky checked the separation capsule's systems. "Power remaining at 32%, protection can last for about three hours. Communications... completely jammed, unable to contact the main ship."
Chopper is bandaging Zoro's arm—During the turbulence, Zoro hit the bulkhead while protecting Chopper, fracturing his left arm.
"I'm fine." Zoro stretched his bandaged arm. "The key is, what do we do next?"
Sanji a cigarette (life support system in the separation capsule was functioning normally): "Look outside, it looks like there's land?"
The group crowded around the porthole. Sure enough, in the distance of the Chaos energy sea, a stable, dark golden area could be vaguely seen, like an isolated island in the Chaos. There seemed to be the outline of buildings on the island.
" Isolated Island of Order..." Robin recalled the previous intelligence briefing, "It might be a stable, rule-based region left over from Karl's early experiments, used to test the adaptability of Void creations in an ordered environment. There... might be an exit there, or a clue to the core tower."
"Let's go there!" Luffy clenched his fist.
"But how do we get across?" Nami pointed to the floating debris outside the cabin. "Those things look dangerous."
No sooner had the words left his mouth than the nearest "fragment" suddenly moved!
It was an indescribable creature. Its main body resembled a human torso that had been skinned, but its limbs had been replaced with tentacles of Void energy, and its head was a swirling dark purple vortex. It seemed to sense the presence of the separation pod and slowly "swam" over.
" Void creation!" Robin recognized it. "One of Karl's failed experiments, abandoned here and evolving on its own... It's taking our separation pod as prey!"
More "fragments" began to move. Dozens of Void creatures of various shapes and sizes gathered from all directions.
"Prepare for battle!" Zoro drew his sword.
"If we fight in this confined space, the separation capsule will shatter!" Franky exclaimed anxiously.
Brook drew his Soul Solid: "Let's go outside and fight! Yohohoho~ Anyway, there's no air outside, I don't need to breathe~"
"No! The outside environment is Chaos energy. If we're exposed without protection, we'll be corroded!" Chopper shouted.
At that critical moment, Jinbe stood in front of the hatch. "I have an idea. Fish-Man Karate can manipulate 'water'—not just liquid water, but also all flowing energy. Although the Chaos energy outside is violent, it is also 'flowing'."
He looked at Luffy: " Luffy, cooperate with me. Use your rubber powers to create a temporary enclosed space. I'll try to use Fish-Man Karate to manipulate Chaos energy to form an 'isolation layer,' protecting everyone as we move to that isolated island for a short time."
"How do we do it?" Luffy asked.
"First, you wrap everyone up in rubber, forming a sphere. Then, I activate my secret technique from the inside, attempting to 'guide' the flow of Chaos energy, creating a relatively stable energy layer around the rubber sphere—similar to creating bubbles in an ocean current."
"That sounds risky..." Usopp trembled.
"But we have no other choice." Nami gritted her teeth. "Let's do it! Franky, how much more time can the separation pod buy us?"
"If they start attacking, it will last five minutes at most!"
"Enough! Luffy! Jinbe! Begin!"
Luffy a deep breath, and his body expanded rapidly—into Gum-Gum Balloon form! He enveloped all his crewmates, forming a rubber ball with a diameter of five meters.
Jinbe stood in the center of the ball, assuming the Fish-Man Karate starting stance.
" Fish-Man Karate Secret Technique: All Streams Return to One"
With a thrust of both palms, invisible waves pierced through the rubber sphere and spread into the Chaos energy of the outside world. A miraculous scene unfolded: the originally chaotic and violent energy flow, guided by Jinbe, began to form regular "circulations" around the rubber sphere! These circulations canceled each other out and stabilized, forming a relatively calm "energy sheath" around the sphere!
"Success! But I can't hold on much longer! Three minutes at most!"
"Charge!" Luffy controlled the rubber ball and launched it towards the island!
The rubber ball bounced forward in the Chaos energy sea, with surrounding Void creatures trying to pursue it, but being repelled by the energy sheath. Occasionally, some slipped through the net, but Zoro and Sanji quickly dealt with them inside the ball.
Two and a half minutes later, the rubber ball slammed heavily onto the "ground" of the isolated island—a smooth, cold, dark gold metallic material.
Luffy withdrew his power, and everyone landed.
Jinbe was panting Jinbe, clearly having exhausted himself. Chopper immediately injected him with an energy booster.
They finally set foot on this Isolated Island of Order amidst Chaos.
But the danger was not over.
The island is small, about two kilometers in diameter. The ground is made of uniform dark gold metal plates with vertical cuts at the edges, as if it had been forcibly torn off from some huge structure. In the center of the island, there is a half-collapsed tower-like building, similar in style to the Carl's Tower seen in previous footage, but much smaller and more severely damaged.
"It seems this was Karl's early experimental ground." Robin observed the markings on the ground—some kind of research notes, but most of them were blurred. "He tested the fusion of Void creations and the material world here... then gave up, throwing the failed attempts outside."
"So, there might be... data here?" Nami's eyes lit up. If they could find Karl's research data, perhaps they could figure out how to deal with the Nether Abyss.
"There might be a trap." Zoro gripped his sword tighter.
The group carefully moved towards the central building. The surroundings were unusually quiet, with only the faint rumble of the churning Chaos energy sea in the distance.
Upon entering the building, the scene became even more bizarre. Dozens of cylindrical culture chambers were placed in the hall, most of them broken and empty. But three remained intact, filled with... indescribable biological tissues, which were still slowly wriggling.
A tattered holographic image was projected onto the wall, showing a younger version of Karl recording an experiment:
[The fusion experiment of the Void Gene and the Triangle Bodies Biomatrix, 173rd attempt... failure. Consciousness collapsed, physical deformity occurred... but the 'information carrying capacity' increased by 15%. Perhaps the direction is correct, but a more powerful 'container' is needed...]
[We captured an interesting sample today—a 'superhuman' from some lowly civilization, whose genes naturally carry Rule Distortion characteristic... After being injected with the Void Engine, he survived for 71 hours, setting a record. In his final moments, he kept shouting 'fire'... What is fire?]
[I seem to have touched upon some taboo. The Void whispers, telling me of the existence of a 'door'... but that requires immense energy, and... a ' Key '. What kind of Key?]
The video ends here.
"It seems Karl knew about the 'Door' a long time ago," Robin said gravely. "He created the Nether Abyss, probably to obtain the energy to open the Door... and the Key..."
" Sparks," Sanji exhaled a puff of smoke, "He's waiting for Allen."
Suddenly, a soft "click" sound came from deep within the hall.
Everyone immediately went on high alert.
The glass of the deepest incubation chamber slowly cracked, and the blurry biological tissue inside rolled out, wriggling and stretching on the ground... gradually forming a barely human-shaped outline.
It raised its head (if it can be called a head), its face a blurry vortex of energy, but within the vortex emerged a pair of... both crazed and lucid eyes.
A hoarse, broken voice came from within it:
"You... are not Karl..."
"Is it a new... test subject...?"
"Or... food?"
The creation of the Void has awakened.
Moreover, this one seems to... still retain some of its pre-experimental consciousness.
On the main ship side, the Dawn finally crossed the Rule Fault Zone and arrived at a relatively stable area. Ahead, the outline of the Carl's Tower was clearly visible.
But around the tower, all the floating "failed divine bodies" had turned towards the Dawn.
Dozens of empty, crazed eyes locked onto the Order Ship that had intruded into the forbidden area.
Angel Yan drew her Flame Sword: "Prepare for... the war of the gods."
Ge Xiaolun, clad in black armor and wielding a greatsword, cried out, " Allen's comrades... you must hold on!"
Rena held up the miniature sun with both hands. "Let them see what real light is!"
The decisive battle began simultaneously on two fronts.