Like a night bird chased by an enraged swarm of bees, the Undercurrent plunged headlong into the turbulent and chaotic temporal currents of the Eternal Mist. Behind it, the massive silhouettes of three " Tribunal "-class warships appeared and disappeared at the edge of the mist, their main cannons flashing intermittently, unleashing devastating energy beams in an attempt to penetrate the Space-Time Barrier erected by Allen. However, most of these beams were deflected and swallowed up by the distorted spacetime and energy storms, only futilely stirring up even greater chaos.
"Shake them off! Use the turbulence!" Sabo stared intently at the sensor screen, his Omniscient Domain operating at its limit under high pressure, calculating the most dangerous paths, often narrowly avoiding devastating energy vortexes.
"These guys... are much more troublesome than CP0!" Tesoro controlled the Undercurrent's shields and engines, the gold plating constantly being worn down and rapidly repaired under the impact of the energy storm, consuming a huge amount of resources.
Allen's face was pale, but his eyes remained sharp. He constantly fine-tuned the surrounding spacetime structure, sometimes creating small-scale spacetime folds to delay the pursuers' artillery fire, sometimes accelerating the flow of time in front of the Undercurrent to gain instantaneous burst speed, and sometimes subtly guiding deadly energy turbulence toward the pursuers. The Power of Zhulong thrived in this environment, but at the same time, the mental strain was terrifying.
"Their ships are too strong, we can't shake them off!" Jinbe reported. "We are attempting a short-range space jump interception!"
Sure enough, a Tribunal -class warship disregarded the risks and forcibly performed a short jump, instantly appearing in front of the Undercurrent, its cannons gleaming brightly!
"Oh no!" Robin exclaimed.
"Don't even think about it!" A surge of eerie purple light erupted in Allen's eyes, and he ripped forward with both hands! "Spatial Belt Dislocation!"
A twisted, eerie purple streak of light instantly appeared in front of the bow of the Tribunal -class warship! The warship had just completed its jump and was still in a period of spatial stability. Caught off guard, half of its bow seemed to have crashed into another dimension, causing a terrifying spatial displacement!
• Crack--Boom!! A tooth-grinding sound of metal twisting and breaking rang out, accompanied by the flames of an internal explosion. The bow of the warship was almost completely obliterated! Although it was not immediately destroyed, it was completely rendered incapable of fighting or pursuing, and it plummeted at an angle into the energy storm below.
The other two warships were clearly stunned by this strange and powerful attack, and hesitated for a moment in their pursuit.
"Well done, Allen!" Sabo seized the opportunity. "Full speed ahead! Turn left into the largest spacetime vortex! Let's take a gamble!"
With its engines roaring, the Undercurrent charged headlong into the center of a colossal, wildly swirling vortex of spacetime! This was the most dangerous area, but also the easiest place to break free of its lock.
In an instant, the world spun around, all the sensors malfunctioned, and everyone felt as if they had been thrown into a washing machine, the immense overload almost causing them to lose consciousness. Allen gritted his teeth, Power of Zhulong to protect the core of the spaceship, struggling to maintain basic spacetime awareness.
It's unclear how much time passed—perhaps a moment, perhaps a long hour—before the Undercurrent was suddenly "spit out" of the vortex, appearing in an unfamiliar, relatively calm star field. The Eternal Mist and pursuers behind it had vanished.
"Successfully escaped..." Jinbe breathed a sigh of relief, checking the ship's condition. "The hull is damaged in several places, but the core functions are intact. Where... are we?"
There were no markings on the star map; they were randomly thrown to an unknown coordinate by that spacetime vortex.
"Silence immediately. Inspect the damage. Prioritize repairing the stealth and communication systems," Sabo ordered, his brow furrowed. Losing their bearings and being unable to rendezvous with Luffy and the Luffy in time was a major problem.
Just then, Robin seemed to have discovered something. "Look at this star field... Although it's not recorded on the star map, based on the star ages and planetary distribution models... we might have been thrown into the latter half of the Grand Line (on a cosmic scale), or even... perhaps not too far from the Red Line?"
Allen also sensed the surrounding spacetime anchor points and nodded. "The spacetime flow here is relatively 'young' and stable, unlike the ancient and chaotic flow at the edge of the universe. Robin's speculation is possible."
"Try a low-power, wide-area encrypted communication scan to look for signal markers that the Revolutionary Army or the Straw Hat Pirates might have left behind." Sabo decided to take the risk. "Be careful with shielding; we absolutely cannot reveal our location."
The communications officer immediately took action. Time ticked by, and as everyone's mood grew increasingly heavy—
"Beep beep beep... Encrypted signal received! It's the Revolutionary Army's highest-level emergency communication code!"
"Connected!"
The screen displayed Koala's anxious face, the background seemingly set on a rapidly moving spaceship. " Sabo! You've finally shown up! We've been trying to contact you for so long without a signal! Something terrible has happened!"
"We just emerged from the Eternal Mist, our location is unknown. How is Marineford?" Sabo asked anxiously.
" Marineford... they've gone berserk!" Koala spoke rapidly, " Luffy wreaked havoc as planned, exposed the execution hoax, and fought a massive battle against the Marine Admiral and the newly appeared ' Seraphim '! Pluton went all out and almost destroyed New Marineford! But..."
She gasped for breath, her face pale. "But Imu didn't show up at all! The Navy was just feigning an attack! The World Government's main force... including the highest levels of CP0 and at least two Admiral, secretly bypassed the main force, their target... is the Revolutionary Army's headquarters— Baltigo (space version)! Mr. Dragon and his group are fighting a fierce battle, but the enemy is too strong, they're about to collapse! We need immediate support!"
"What?!" Sabo jumped to his feet, his face changing drastically! He instantly understood that Imu's conspiracy was a series of interconnected schemes! Marineford was bait to attract attention, and even the pursuers in the Eternal Mist might be a decoy to force them away! Imu's true goal was to destroy the Revolutionary Army's stronghold and completely eradicate the resistance's command core and organizational foundation!
" Baltigo's coordinates! Calculate the best jump route immediately! Full speed ahead!" Sabo practically roared.
"Wait!" Allen suddenly spoke, pointing to a newly calculated coordinate on the star map, "Our current position... if we use that unstable small spacetime fold ahead as a springboard for an over-range jump... we might be able to reach the outer star system of Baltigo directly! Much faster than the conventional route! But the risks are extremely high!"
"There's no time to hesitate!" Sabo's eyes were resolute. "Use this plan! Calculate the jump parameters immediately! Allen, the task of stabilizing the springboard is yours! Everyone else, secure yourselves and prepare for the jump impact!"
The Undercurrent once again roared to full power, hurtling towards the dangerous small spacetime fold. Allen unleashed the full Power of Zhulong, like a top surfer, forcibly carving out a brief and fragile passage through the raging spacetime energy.
"Coordinates locked! Jump countdown! 3...2...1..."
The Undercurrent transformed into a streak of light and plunged into the forcibly stabilized, distorted space!
This over-distance jump was more intense than any before; the spaceship felt as if it were being torn apart and reassembled. But when everything calmed down, the scene outside the porthole sent a chill down everyone's spines—
In the distance, the star system where the Revolutionary Army Headquarters Baltigo, is located has been surrounded by a densely packed World Government fleet! Huge explosions, like festive fireworks, are constantly erupting on the base's protective shield! The battle has reached a fever pitch!
They made it, but it seems... they were still a step too late?
"Prepare for battle!" Sabo's voice was cold and filled with killing intent. "We must break through and support headquarters, no matter what!"
The small submarine, Undercurrent, charged headlong into the much larger and more brutal battlefield.