Late at night, all was quiet.
Over an hour had passed since the end of the pre-race gathering for the Dead End Race.
Inside the cabin of the Going Merry, the atmosphere was heavy.
The Straw Hat Pirates and Maya sat around the dining table. The dim lighting cast shadows across their faces. Apart from a certain foolish captain who still wore his usual dazed expression, everyone else looked deeply serious.
"Meow..." Bestia curled in Nami's arms, letting out a soft mew.
It stared with a pair of crimson eyes and tilted its neck, seemingly puzzled by what was going on with these litter-box servants of its.
However, the little black cat's attention was soon drawn to a compass placed on the table.
Unlike the Eternal Pose or Log Pose on Nami's wrist, the design of this compass resembled a standard compass used in the East, West, North, or South Blue. However, there was no magnetic needle in the middle; instead, a tiny sea turtle floated submerged in water.
The little sea turtle stayed inside obediently, completely still. Luffy reached out and nudged it; the little turtle immediately flapped its limbs to adjust its posture, hurriedly turning its head back toward the direction it was originally facing.
"Hey, look at that! It seems the guy on the screen earlier wasn't lying—its head really only points in one direction!" The foolish captain marveled with a chuckle.
"The magnetic fields in the Grand Line are extremely chaotic, yet certain animals can still navigate with remarkable accuracy."
Sherlock pushed up his glasses, looking toward the distrait blue-haired girl, and said, "The ancestors of your Asuka Kingdom were truly a group of remarkably wise people, Miss Maya."
Nami and the others wore mixed expressions. No wonder Maya said last night that her compass was alive—so its true form was actually a living little sea turtle!
Hearing this, Maya didn't feel the slightest bit of joy. She stared blankly at the Turtle Compass on the table, her heart filled with overwhelming turmoil.
For some reason, Log Poses couldn't point to her hometown, the Lost Island, at all. So after losing her Turtle Compass, Maya had always assumed she would never be able to return.
Yet, after just a single day, Maya had obtained a new Turtle Compass at the pre-race gathering.
This should have been a cause for immense celebration, but... over a hundred other pirate crews had obtained Turtle Compasses as well!
That's right—the finish line for this Dead End Race was Maya's hometown: the Lost Island.
And the condition for becoming champion was to find the legendary cursed sacred sword—the Seven Star Sword—and bring it back to Hannabal.
(How in the world did that son of the Penguin find out that the Seven Star Sword was sealed on the Lost Island? And how did he get his hands on so many Turtle Compasses?)
Maya fell into deep confusion. And when she thought about how her homeland was about to be invaded by over ten thousand vicious pirates, her mind went completely blank.
"Maya..."
Seeing the blue-haired girl looking so helplessly pitiful, Nami couldn't bear it. She wanted to offer words of comfort, but didn't know what to say at a moment like this.
Every single one of them knew full well what it meant for the Lost Island to be the destination of this Dead End Race.
It was bound to trigger a bloody storm!
To expect those pirates to merely search for treasure without disrupting the peaceful lives of the civilians? You'd have better luck expecting meat-lover Luffy to give up meat forever!
"Calm down, Maya."
Sherlock maintained his usual calm and collected composure. Resting his elbows on the table, he intertwined his fingers.
"Now is not the time for you to space out. There is still some time before the race officially begins, so we must quickly draw up a plan of action."
"All of us will help you." In a calm tone, a certain bespectacled youth conveyed an unhurried yet firm resolve.
"Help me?"
Maya froze. She stared numbly at this group of pirates whom she had only known for a day or so, her heart suddenly pounding.
"That's right, Maya." Luffy nodded and said seriously, "Even though Charlo bought you, now that you've joined us, you're our companion."
"And shouldn't companions help each other out?"
In the mind of this foolish captain, there was no such concept as master and slave. He simply felt that since the blue-haired girl was brought back by Charlo, she was Charlo's companion—and a companion's companion was equal to his own companion, wasn't she?
"Heh heh..." Nami, Sanji, Usopp, and Chopper smiled softly, their gazes toward the blue-haired girl filled with determination and encouragement.
Looking at these pirates who had once again shattered her perception, Maya felt a warm current surge through her heart. Her nose tingled, and large tears began to stream down her face.
"Thank you, thank you! Thank you all so much..."
At this point, Maya couldn't find any other words to express her gratitude.
"Che, what is there to thank us for?" Zoro crossed his arms over his chest and muttered under his breath, "We were going to enter the race anyway, and those pirates are all enemies. Helping you is basically helping ourselves."
"You idiot!" Enraged, Nami struck the green-haired swordsman heavily on the head and shouted, "Don't say such mood-killing things at a time like this!"
"Che, idiot moss-head!" The curly-eyebrow cook scoffed with schadenfreude.
"Fufu..." Robin covered her mouth with a soft chuckle.
After this brief interlude, the atmosphere in the cabin lightened up significantly, and the dark clouds brooding over Maya's brow dissipated a bit.
"Alright, Maya. Since things have come to this, I hope you won't hide anything else from us."
The clear lenses reflected two rays of white light, obscuring Sherlock's eyes. He looked quietly at the blue-haired girl and asked, "Is that legendary Seven Star Sword truly hidden on your homeland, the Lost Island?"
"Yes," Maya nodded.
Robin's expression shifted, and she quickly pressed further, "Then the truth behind the fall of the Asuka Kingdom... was also because of..."
"That's right."
Maya nodded once more, her expression grave to the extreme: "A thousand years ago, the immensely prosperous Asuka Kingdom was destroyed by that very sword of calamity!"
Gulp— The Cowardly Trio swallowed hard in unison. Recalling what Maya had said at the barbecue party yesterday, cold sweat poured down their backs.
The two men and one reindeer suddenly felt that compared to a cursed sword capable of destroying a massive empire, threats like Bear King or the Fish-Man Alliance seemed far safer.
"A single sword could destroy a country?" Sanji paused mid-motion while lighting his cigarette.
Zoro found it hard to believe as well, frowning as he asked, "No way... What on earth is so special about that sword for it to be that terrifying?!"
(As expected. I should have guessed it earlier.) Robin and a certain bespectacled youth exchanged a glance with each other.
Back when they were returning to the Blue Sea from Skypiea, Sherlock had handed several black books written in ancient script, along with deciphering formulas, to her, the archaeologist.
From those black books, Robin learned that the legendary cursed sacred sword was not merely a myth, but a terrifying weapon second only to the Ancient Weapons!
A crimson moon of ill omen, a gaze from hell, demonic flames that bring calamity...
Recalling those mystifying descriptions of the Seven Star Sword in the black books, Robin felt that destroying a nation was well within the Seven Star Sword's power.
"It's true! The Seven Star Sword is precisely that kind of cursed sword that brings nothing but disaster!" Maya's body trembled slightly.
Even though she hadn't personally experienced the great cataclysm from a thousand years ago, through the generations of stories passed down by survivors, the blue-haired girl could still feel the sheer despair her ancestors had endured back then!
"In that case, let me tell you how the Seven Star Sword was created. Once you hear it, you'll understand everything."
Maya gathered her thoughts, and then began softly recounting to the Straw Hat Pirates that piece of history that had been sealed away for a thousand years.
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