The army of Chaos Remnants remained suspended in the starry sky, like a frozen gray storm.
The consciousnesses of the three remnant lords—the multi-eyed serpent, the hundred-armed giant, and the burning nebula—are clashing fiercely. The message delivered by the Star Speaker, and the memory shared by the remnant who was guided, are like a pebble thrown into a Chaos pond, stirring up ripples beyond their instincts.
[Coexistence... is it even possible...?]
The light in my memory... warm... unlike the coldness of order...
[But the risks are too great... Once the balance is broken...]
Just then, an ancient will, so ancient that it Air Quake, awakened from the deepest part of the army of Chaos Remnants.
That was not sound, nor thought, but a change in existence itself.
All the Chaos Remnants —including the three lords—simultaneously stepped aside, clearing a path through the starry sky. At the end of the path, a shadow darker than darkness, more Void than Void, was slowly taking shape.
It has no fixed form, yet it projects different images of fear into everyone's consciousness: Luffy saw the moment Ace died, Zoro saw a future where he could never Transcendence Hawk Eyes, Sanji saw a world where all women hated him, Nami saw the Orange Grove wither before her eyes...
"Mental attack!" Ge Xiaolun immediately activated the Anti-Void barrier, but the effect was minimal—the attack wasn't aimed at reason, but rather directly triggered the deepest fears within his heart.
Only the Star Speaker did not retreat. His silvery-white eyes stared directly into the ultimate darkness, the light of order flowing across his body, counteracting the corrosive power of fear.
" Ancient One..." the Star Speaker conveyed the message with the utmost reverence, "You have awakened."
In the darkness and shadows, one eye slowly opened.
The eye had no pupil, no whites, only a swirling gray vortex, as if compressing a microcosm of the entire Chaos universe into a single field of vision.
[ The Star Speaker... Once a Child of Chaos... Now a Bridge to Order...]
The will resounded directly in the minds of all living beings, ancient, weary, and filled with the vicissitudes accumulated over countless years:
I heard your suggestion...
But do you know... what lies at the end of the path of balance?
The Star Speaker paused for a moment, then answered honestly, "I don't know. But the Threshold Bearer knows; he is searching for a way out for all Chaos existence."
[ The Threshold Bearer... the human who came carrying the Spark...]
For the first time, an emotional fluctuation appeared in the will of the Ancient One —a profound sorrow:
[I have seen a similar Spark... in the hands of the pioneers of the Weavers Civilization...]
[They also said they wanted to find a way out of Chaos... to establish eternal balance...]
[Then... the Reapers arrived.]
The Star Speaker was utterly shocked. "You mean... the Weavers attracted the Reapers?"
[Causality... is not that simple...]
The Ancient One slowly unfurled—if such boundless expansion can be called unfurling:
The Reapers had been observing... waiting... they weren't drawn by the Spark... but by the balance the Spark was trying to establish...
Because true balance... will give rise to something they cannot comprehend, nor can they Harvest...
Therefore, they must... destroy the Spark... Harvest the Chaos before balance is established...
The Burning Nebula Lord suddenly emitted a powerful mental fluctuation: [Then why even try?! If maintaining balance will attract the Reapers, why don't we just maintain the status quo?!]
[Because the current situation cannot be maintained.] This time, it was Angel Yan who answered. She had already flown to the Star Speaker's side, holy fire dancing on her Flame Sword. "The process of the Threshold Bearer guiding the Chaos Consciousness Side to its proper place is irreversible. Regardless of our actions, the concentration of Chaos in the universe is rising, and the Reapers will return sooner or later."
[correct.]
The will of the Ancient One carries approval:
[Little girl... you're very perceptive...]
Therefore, the choice lies not in "whether to act," but in "how to act"...
[The Fragment Resonance Network proposed by the Star Speaker... is indeed a path... but if it fails... the price will be the complete annihilation of the entire Chaos race...]
The Star Speaker clenched his fist. "So, what's your suggestion?"
The Ancient One remained silent for a long time.
So long that everyone thought it had fallen back into a deep sleep.
Then, the gray, swirling eye turned toward the outpost—or more precisely, toward the observation window where the Straw Hat Pirates was located.
[Those humans... they have the aura of Spark on them...]
[Not fragments... but a deeper connection...]
Luffy paused for a moment, then pointed to himself. "Us?"
[Yes... you fought alongside the Threshold Bearer... his Spark is etched into your souls...]
[Especially you... Straw Hat Kid... your will once resonated with the will of the Threshold Bearer...]
The Ancient One's will suddenly became heavy:
[If you're willing to take the risk... I can tell you something...]
[Regarding the location of the first Harvester Outpost... and... how to destroy it without activating the alarm...]
At the same time, in the world of One Piece, at the Sky Island ruins.
Franky's debris detector sounded a piercing alarm beneath the Golden Bell of the ancient Sky Island city of Shandora.
"SUPER--! Found it! The Chaos -order mixed fluctuation reading here is the highest!" Franky excitedly adjusted the detector parameters, "And... look at this waveform!"
On the detector screen, in addition to the two-color waveform representing Balance Field Fragment, there was another completely different waveform—a pure, cold wave of order, devoid of any Chaos components, but mixed with a... hungry frequency.
" The Harvester Outpost." Robin crouched down, stroking the ancient patterns on the base of the Golden Bell. "These patterns... are not Shandora craftsmanship."
The side of the base, hidden by vines and moss, revealed a smooth, mirror-like black surface. The material was completely different from the surrounding gold, absorbing light entirely and reflecting no image.
Brook tapped the cane lightly with her sword, producing a hollow Echo: "Yo ho ho ho... It's hollow inside, but very deep..."
Usopp nervously raised his slingshot. "Should we... retreat first? Wait for the main force to arrive?"
"It's too late." Sanji looked at the intensity curve of the order wave on the detector. "The reading is slowly rising, indicating that this outpost has entered the warm-up phase. By the time the main force returns from the Super Soldier Company Universe, it may already be activated."
Zoro gripped his sword tightly. "Then let's dismantle it."
"Wait a minute," Robin suddenly said, "Look at this."
She parted more vines, revealing a line of inscriptions on the back of the base.
It wasn't the text of the Poneglyph, nor was it any known language, but Robin recognized it—she had seen similar symbols in the forbidden book section of Ohara.
"This is... an ancient star map coordinate system." Robin's finger traced the inscription. "It marks... the possible location of the Reapers mothership? No, these coordinates are constantly moving..."
She suddenly stopped, her face turning deathly pale.
"What's wrong, Robin?" Chopper asked worriedly.
Robin's voice trembled. "The trajectory of this coordinate... matches perfectly with the legendary route of Pluton."
Everyone was stunned.
Pluton, one of the Ancient Weapon, is a legendary super battleship capable of destroying an island with a single blow.
"Wait, wait, wait!" Usopp panicked. "You mean the Harvester Outpost is tracking Pluton? Or... Pluton is—"
"--The Reapers's creation?" Zoro continued.
Franky had already rushed to the base, his palm pressed against the black surface. As a shipwright who had inherited some of Vegapunk's technology, he could sense the energy flow within the material.
"This isn't the material from the One Piece world..." he murmured. "Its energy conductivity is 37 times that of Seastone, but it has absolutely no Devil Fruit suppression effect... and its internal structure is..."
He suddenly pulled his hand back, as if he had been burned:
"It's alive! There's biological tissue inside this outpost! It's breathing!"
As if to verify his words, the black base suddenly trembled!
Cracks began to appear on the smooth, mirror-like surface, and a dark red light emanated from the cracks. A deep, pulsating sound, like the heartbeat of a giant beast, came from the depths of the earth.
"It's waking up!" Sanji shouted, "Retreat!"
But it was too late.
The entire platform where the Golden Bell was located suddenly collapsed! The stone slabs beneath everyone's feet cracked, revealing a bottomless vertical shaft. The inner walls of the shaft were made of that black material, and at this moment, dark red energy veins were flowing through them.
A feeling of weightlessness washed over them, and everyone plummeted downwards!
"ROOM!"
A calm voice rang out from above the shaft.
The falling crowd suddenly stopped in mid-air, enveloped by a pale blue spherical force field. At the wellhead, a man wearing a spotted beanie stood there, his palms outstretched—the power of the Op-Op Fruit was activated.
" Torao!" Luffy exclaimed in surprise—although Luffy himself wasn't there, Usopp shouted it out for him.
Luo jumped down from the wellhead and landed inside the force field sphere. He glanced at the Abyss below, his brow furrowed.
"I was in the vicinity when your ship received Franky's probe signal. Looks like you made it in time."
"Luo! Can you teleport us out?" Nami asked anxiously.
Luo tried to activate his ability, but his expression changed. "It won't work. The space inside this well is sealed off. It's not a Devil Fruit ability, it's a more advanced space-fixing technology."
He looked down at the approaching dark red light:
"We can only look at the bottom."
The force field sphere continued to fall. The well was incredibly deep, and after falling for a full three minutes, the view suddenly opened up before them.
They arrived at a huge underground space.
In the center of the space, a black rhomboid crystal with a diameter of over fifty meters floats. The crystal's surface is as smooth as a mirror, and dark red liquid—or rather, some kind of energy flow—flows within. Six thick pipes extend from the crystal, connecting to the six corners of the space, and each pipe's end is inlaid with a... Devil Fruit.
"That's..." Chopper's eyes widened.
" Logia- type Magma- Magma-Magma Fruit..." Sanji looked at the first one.
" Logia, Ice-Ice Fruit..." Zoro looked at the second one.
" Logia, Rumble- Rumble-Rumble Fruit..." Nami recognized the third one.
" Zoan, Bird-Bird Fruit, Phoenix Form..." Robin looked at the fourth one.
" Paramecia, Tremor- Tremor-Tremor Fruit..." Franky looked at the fifth one.
"And..." Law's gaze lingered on the last one, his voice low, " The Op-Op Fruit."
The fruit was almost identical to the one Luo possessed, but it was darker in color and covered with black veins.
"This is..." Usopp's voice trembled, "... a collection of Devil Fruit specimens gathered by the Reapers?"
"No." Luo walked to the nearest pipe and examined the " Op-Op Fruit " carefully. "These aren't specimens... they're energy converters."
He pointed to the dark red energy flowing inside the pipe. " The Harvester Outpost extracts the 'rule-based properties' of these Devil Fruit, converting them into the energy that powers them. Devil Fruit are essentially crystallizations of Chaos rules, while the Reapers's technology can transform them into pure, ordered energy—"
Luo suddenly stopped because he saw the reflection on the crystal surface.
The reflection wasn't of them, but rather... countless shattered remnants of civilization.
Those were fragments of a world destroyed by the Reapers over billions of years, sealed within this crystal as a "database" or "trophy."
Deep within those fragments, Luo glimpsed a line of text.
A warning written in blood, transcending time and space:
[The Creator... The Eternal One... Ithaqua...]
Luo abruptly took a step back, the tip of the Scalpel pointing at the crystal:
"Destroy it! It's reading our consciousness! It knows—"
It's too late.
A face suddenly appeared on the surface of the black rhomboid crystal.
It was a face without features, only three sunken holes—the places of eyes and mouth. Gray swirls of stars swirled within the holes, just like the eyes of the Ancient One in the starry sky.
Then, it "spoke".
It doesn't rely on sound, but rather directly imprints the information deep into each person's consciousness:
[Keyword detected: Ithaqua ]
[Initiate Harvest Protocol: Eliminate all intelligent life forms that know this name]
[WARNING: Spark Carrier Detected - Member of the Straw Hat Pirates ]
[Priority increased to: Absolute Clear]
On the surface of the crystal, six channels simultaneously emitted a dazzling red light!
The six Devil Fruit began to tremble violently, their power forcibly extracted, twisted, and fused, condensing into a dark red energy ball in front of the crystal.
Within the energy sphere, the faint silhouettes of six Devil Fruit could be seen struggling in agony.
"It's attacking us with the power of its Devil Fruit!" Franky shouted, "Prepare your defenses—"
Before the words were even finished, the energy ball exploded.
It didn't explode outwards, but collapsed inwards.
The entire space began to twist and fold, like a crumpled piece of paper being crushed by an invisible hand. The laws of physics broke down here, the flow of time became chaotic, and spatial dimensions began to overlap.
"This is..." Law gritted his teeth, doing everything he could to maintain the force field of the Op-Op Fruit, "A spatial annihilation attack! It wants to wipe us, along with this space, from the universe!"
Zoro drew all three swords simultaneously, tearing through some of the distorted space with his strikes, but the gaps healed instantly.
Sanji's Diable Jambe struck the spatial wall, only causing a ripple.
The thunderclouds created by Nami's Clima-Tact could not take shape in the chaotic space.
Usopp's plant bullets inexplicably grew on his back as soon as he fired them.
Chopper's Monster Point form sometimes grows larger and sometimes smaller due to a distortion in the flow of time.
Brook's Soul Departure, only to find a part of his soul trapped in a distorted dimensional rift.
Franky's latest weapon, under the Rule Distortion, has turned into a talking pineapple.
despair.
The absolute suppression of the rules made all their abilities seem laughable.
Just as the space was about to completely collapse--
Robin suddenly sat down cross-legged and closed his eyes.
" Robin?" everyone exclaimed.
Robin did not answer. Her consciousness sank into the final legacy Ohara left her—not just the knowledge from the Poneglyph, but also the understanding that ancient scholars had gained at the cost of their lives.
She understood the essence of Devil Fruit.
I have come to understand the dialectic between Chaos and order.
I understand now... the power of a name.
She opened her eyes, and deep within her pupils was reflected the name sealed within the deepest part of the crystal:
Ithaqua.
Then, she whispered the name.
It's not about using words, but about resonating with your soul.
"I--Ta--Ku--Ya--"
The entire black rhomboid crystal suddenly froze.
The spatial collapse has stopped.
The dark red energy flow solidified.
For the first time, emotions appeared in the three empty spaces on that featureless face.
That was... fear.
Robin stood up and walked towards the crystal. With each step she took, the space beneath her feet became more stable, and the distorted rules returned to normal.
She walked up to the crystal, reached out, and pressed her hand against its cold surface.
"You're afraid of this name, aren't you?"
Chaotic fluctuations of thought emanated from within the crystal:
[Impossible... Lower-dimensional life forms could not possibly know the creator's true name...]
[Unless... you are...]
"I'm not anyone special," Robin said calmly. "I'm just an archaeologist, someone who wants to understand the truth of history."
"But history tells me—"
A faint white light appeared in her palm. The light was very weak, but it caused the dark red veins on the surface of the crystal to recede.
"Knowing the truth is a power in itself."
White light flowed from her palm and into the crystal.
The crystal began to vibrate violently, and cracks appeared on its surface. The six pipes broke, and the six Devil Fruit fell to the ground—their color returned to normal, and the black lines disappeared.
"How long have you been imprisoned here?" Robin asked softly. "As a sentinel, as an alarm bell, as... a prisoner."
The crystal did not answer, but the fear within it intensified.
"The creator of that name has bound you here, forcing you to wait, watch, and kill for endless ages."
"But if I tell you now--"
Robin placed his other hand on the crystal, the white light from both hands intertwining to form a strange rune:
"--You are free."
"In the name of those who know the truth, with the power of those History Bearer, and with the spirit of those who Sparks Resonance— "
"I hereby terminate your contract with the Creator."
Runes are imprinted on the surface of the crystal.
In an instant.
A moment of absolute silence.
Then--
The crystal shattered.
It wasn't a devastating explosion, but rather... a blossoming of liberation.
Countless points of light scattered from the fragments, each a fragment of imprisoned consciousness, the last Echo of a Harvest civilization. They danced in space, offering silent thanks, before gradually dissipating and returning to eternal peace.
When the last glimmer of light disappeared, only a small, platinum-gold crystal fragment remained.
That was Balance Field Fragment, which had been suppressed deep within the core of the Harvester Outpost.
Robin picked up the shards and held them in her palm.
The fragments emitted a warm pulse, like a miniature heart.
Meanwhile, far away in the starry sky of the Super Soldier Company universe—
The Ancient One suddenly let out a long sigh.
[I see...]
[That girl... inherited Ohara's legacy... and also... the Weavers's final blessing...]
It looked at Luffy:
You are now entitled to know the truth...
[But be careful... the moment you learn the truth...]
[ Ithaqua... will also know about you...]
Luffy adjusted his straw Straw Hat and grinned.
"Then let it come."
"Perfect --"
He gazed into the depths of the starry sky, his eyes burning with a spirit of challenge:
"I want to ask it, what gives it the right to treat other people's fates as its own toys?"