Marco's expression was grave, yet utterly firm as he shouted, "Hold steady! Pay attention—the crust is beginning to separate!"
His voice echoed through the air, as if challenging fate itself.
"Lift!"
With that earth-shaking roar, the three of them shouted in unison. Their voices rang out like great bells, piercing through layer after layer of clouds and mist.
Veins bulged at their temples like writhing worms, proof that they were now pushing themselves to the limit.
In that instant, heaven and earth seemed to fall under some strange spell and sank into an eerie silence.
Even the sound of the waves, which had been rising and falling without end, seemed to be suddenly strangled by an invisible hand and disappeared completely.
Then the earth began to tremble violently.
A deep, awe-inspiring groan rumbled out, like some ancient beast awakening from a long sleep.
The sound seemed to come from the very core of the planet, carrying an ancient and mysterious power that filled everyone's heart with instinctive reverence.
The once-flat and orderly streets of the Flower Capital tilted violently, as if the earth itself were toying with the city's fate.
Roof tiles on both sides of the streets flew upward like dense rain, tracing chaotic yet magnificent arcs through the sky.
The waterfalls that had once rushed down with grand, unstoppable force now displayed an impossibly strange sight.
They froze in midair.
It was as if time itself had stopped.
But the stillness lasted only for a moment.
Soon, the waterfalls transformed into billions of crystal-clear silver beads flowing backward, shooting toward the high clouds with mountain-toppling force, as though trying to fill the sky itself.
At the same time, a circular wall of seawater over a hundred meters high rose along the coastline.
The surging sea was pushed aside by an overwhelming force, revealing the ancient seabed beneath, covered in barnacles and colorful coral.
Every detail of that seabed became clearly visible, as though telling the story of countless years of change.
Yet the most shocking sight, without question, happened beneath Onigashima.
In that deep and mysterious world below the sea, a lower city that had been mercilessly submerged for centuries was now slowly breaking through the curtain of water and rising upward.
It was like a giant that had slept for a very long time finally breaking free of its restraints and showing itself to the world once more.
"Look! That's…"
A sharp-eyed samurai pointed downward, his face filled with shock as he cried out.
"Something is coming out from the center!"
Everyone looked in the direction he was pointing.
What emerged from the water was a magnificent ancient city.
Its buildings were all made of solid stone, and after enduring the long erosion of time, they were covered in green seaweed.
On the mottled city walls, traces of old flames and battle still remained.
Those charred marks seemed to silently tell of fierce wars that had once taken place there.
At that moment, sunlight pierced through layers of cloud and mist, generously shining upon that long-submerged land for the first time in eight hundred years.
Warm light fell across the ancient streets, reflecting off pearl shells scattered across the ground.
The seawater slowly flowed away like a retreating tide, returning to the vast ocean as though making way for the ancient city that had reappeared in the world.
The hidden underwater world was now displayed before everyone without reservation, making people marvel at the wonder and greatness of nature.
On the viewing platform, Ron stood tall, his gaze sharp and focused as he looked down at the ancient capital that had returned to the surface.
A light breeze brushed against the hem of his clothes, yet it could not shake the calm and awe within him.
He turned his face slightly and slowly said to Robin, who stood beside him with the same look of astonishment,
"Look. This is the true Wano.
"Even the World Government, which has always controlled so many secrets and believed itself to know everything, never realized that the mysterious and immensely powerful Pluton had been sleeping all this time beneath this dreamlike underwater city."
With a deep, magnificent roar, the final piece of land completed its slow but steady rise.
In an instant, the entire Wano seemed reborn, bursting with new vitality and life.
The scenery that had once been sealed by time and eroded by seawater was gone.
In its place was a breathtaking sight.
In the upper region, prosperous towns rose one after another.
Bustling crowds moved through the streets and alleys, while laughter echoed from every corner.
Colorful buildings stood in orderly rows, shops were filled with all kinds of goods, and flags snapped in the wind, displaying the thriving energy of this land.
Below them was the ancient capital, carrying countless memories of history and mysterious legends.
Its old walls were mottled and weathered, speaking of former glory.
Exquisite carvings and murals adorned the structures, making people feel as if they had been transported back to that distant age.
At that moment, the waterfalls began rushing down once again.
The water surged fiercely, throwing up layers of white spray.
But unlike before, they no longer flowed inland.
This time, they poured mightily toward the vast, deep-blue sea, as if announcing Wano's rebirth to the entire world.
Time seemed to freeze at that moment.
When the last of the seawater withdrew from the canyon with a hissing roar, carrying endless power like a tide pulling back, the ancient city that had been submerged for so long finally revealed its mysterious true form completely.
Broken streets twisted and wound through the city, rubble scattered everywhere. Every stone seemed to tell of the immense changes it had witnessed.
Collapsed shrines stood alone, their ruined walls carrying a simple yet solemn aura.
And amid that wasteland and decay, a massive battleship beyond the limits of human imagination lay silently hidden, like a prehistoric beast that had slept for ages and was now about to awaken.
This was the legendary Ancient Weapon—
Pluton!
Its hull was a deep, ink-black color darker than night itself, as if it could swallow all surrounding light.
Its streamlined armor design was breathtakingly precise, resembling the powerful muscle patterns of a shark moving through the water, displaying unparalleled speed and agility.
The bow was unimaginably sharp, like a blade piercing straight toward the clouds, as though a single movement would be enough to tear open the blue sky.
Sunlight poured across its surface, striking some unknown, nonmetallic material and refracting into specks of starlike fluorescence, like the brightest jewels in the night sky, giving off a mysterious and captivating glow.