The Undercurrent, a submarine secretly built by Tesoro, sails silently through the dark side of the universe, just as its name suggests. It is entirely matte black with smooth lines and almost no unnecessary edges. Its engines have been specially treated to suppress energy signals to a minimum, making it like a ghost fish swimming in the deep sea.
Inside the bridge, the atmosphere was focused and heavy. Sabo, at his command post, was highly concentrated in his Omniscient Domain, processing the limited data transmitted from the Undercurrent's own sensors and external spy satellites, circumventing known World Government patrol routes. Several relatively safe routes pre-calculated by Nami (although she went to Marineford, she left behind detailed star chart analysis and navigation suggestions) were being carefully verified.
Allen stood by the porthole, his deep purple vertical pupils seemingly able to pierce through the endless Void, gazing at the ever-approaching starfield— the Eternal Mist— that seemed shrouded in an eternal veil. In his perception, the spacetime structure there was like a wildly churned, thorny mess, dangerous and chaotic.
"The intensity of the spacetime turbulence continues to rise, rendering conventional navigation completely ineffective." Jinbe operated the navigation device, his expression grave. "We can only rely on Mr. Allen's perception and Ms. Robin's interpretation of the ancient star charts."
Before Robin was a magnified image of the animal hide scroll, along with scattered fragments of information extracted from the Pluton database. "The entrance indicated by the star map is behind that largest, most colorful nebula vortex ahead, but the energy readings there... are terrifyingly high."
Tesoro checked the ship's status: " The Undercurrent's shields have been reinforced with gold plating and energy channels, so they should be able to withstand high-intensity impacts for a short time, but not for long. We must get through the entrance area quickly."
The Undercurrent cautiously approached its target. The sight before it was breathtaking and even suffocating: it was not a simple nebula, but an energy storm of countless colors twisting, mixing, exploding, and reforming, interspersed with visible spatial rifts and time vortices that flowed slowly and rapidly at times. Huge amounts of interstellar dust and debris were hurled at will, like a deadly rain of bullets.
"Now! Full left turn 17 degrees, engine power 90%, charge!" Sabo decisively gave the order, following Allen's guidance and Robin's calibration.
With a deep roar, the Undercurrent's engine plunged into that dazzling yet deadly Chaos!
Rumble--!!! In an instant, the spaceship seemed to be grabbed by countless invisible giant hands, torn and shaken wildly! The shields emitted a piercing groan, and the energy readings instantly spiked to red!
• The scenery outside the porthole was bizarre and surreal; one second it was a slowly drifting, colorful cloud, and the next it could turn into a rapidly passing shower of sharp meteorites; the instruments inside the spaceship sometimes ran at lightning speed, and sometimes they were so slow that they seemed to have stopped.
Even the crew members themselves were affected, sometimes feeling incredibly sharp-witted, and other times feeling drowsy, with their sense of time completely distorted.
"Hold on, Allen!" Sabo shouted.
Allen placed his hands lightly on the control panel, and the Power of Zhulong slowly spread out. It was not a forceful confrontation with the great power of this world, but rather, like the most skilled surfer, it sensed, followed, and subtly guided the spacetime turbulence around the spaceship.
He used the spaceship to accelerate in a region where time flowed extremely fast.
• Glide through spatial folds to bypass the most dangerous cracks.
• Use the power of light and darkness to neutralize some of the excessively violent energy surges.
This was extremely mentally taxing, and fine beads of sweat appeared on Allen's forehead again, but his eyes remained focused, and he successfully stabilized the small boat, the Undercurrent, on the verge of destruction.
"There's something ahead! It didn't form naturally!" Jinbe suddenly shouted.
Amidst the chaotic energy storm, the shadows of enormous, dilapidated man-made structures could be vaguely seen! They resembled the ruins of some kind of super space station or interstellar fortress, ancient and peculiar in style, made of neither gold nor stone, and covered with huge scars, clearly destroyed under an extremely terrifying attack.
"Are these the ruins of the 'Guardian' mentioned in the scroll?" Robin stared in shock at the structural fragments that were even larger than Pluton.
Even more disturbingly, the Undercurrent's detectors detected faint, unnatural energy signals that flickered within the wreckage.
"Be careful, something might be dwelling here," Tesoro warned, gold flowing in his hand, ready to defend at any moment.
Sure enough, several Black Shadow emerged silently from behind the massive wreckage like ghosts! They were not physical entities, but rather condensed, malicious spacetime anomalies, their shapes unpredictable, radiating hatred for all living beings, and silently lunging towards the Undercurrent!
"Is it a collection of resentment born from the turbulent flow of time and space? Or is it the remnants of the 'Guardian's' automated defense system?" Sabo analyzed, and the Undercurrent's weapon systems immediately opened fire!
The energy beams struck the Black Shadow, but it was as if they were passing through phantoms, with minimal effect! They pierced directly through the shields, attached themselves to the hull, and began to corrode the ship's hull!
"Physical and energy attacks are ineffective! They're like a... curse!" Tesoro manipulated gold to cover the eroded area, and even the gold itself was slowly "rusting"!
Allen frowned and attacked again. "Candlelight Purification!" A flash of white light appeared in his left eye, and a gentle light with the effect of purifying all abnormalities swept across the ship. The Black Shadow, as if encountering their nemesis, let out a silent shriek and quickly dissipated and retreated.
"It works! But there are so many of them!" Jinbe looked at the increasingly numerous Black Shadow converging on the sensor.
"Don't linger! Charge forward!" Sabo ordered.
Guided and protected by Allen, the Undercurrent struggled through the massive ruins, battling increasing interference from spacetime anomalies. The deeper they went, the more intact the remains became, revealing massive, long-depleted weapon platforms and incomprehensible markings.
Finally, after passing through a graveyard-like area made up of massive metal beams and pillars, the view ahead suddenly opened up!
The chaotic energy storm suddenly subsided, revealing a relatively stable, mist-shrouded, empty star field. Space here was still distorted, and the flow of time was unstable, but the destructive tearing force was gone.
In the center of that empty area, a colossal, strange celestial body, resembling a cluster of crystals and emitting a soft, faint light, could be vaguely seen. It hovered there silently, as if it had existed since time immemorial, the center around which all the turbulent currents of spacetime revolved.
The star map coordinates on the animal hide scroll ultimately point to that place!
Meanwhile, inside the Undercurrent, everyone clearly heard a sigh that was different from the Whispers of All Spirits —an ancient, sorrowful, yet tinged with expectation—as if it came from the direction of the crystalline celestial body.
"We... have arrived?" Robin whispered, gazing at the mysterious crystal cluster with the excitement and awe of an archaeologist.
"At the core of the Eternal Mist..." Sabo's expression was extremely solemn, "Will what awaits us there be the ' Final Dogma,' or... something else?"
The Undercurrent slowed its pace, cautiously navigating towards that final unknown land like a pilgrim. The real exploration had only just begun.