"I wonder what kind of Sea King Jin caught this time," Merry said, resting her chin in her hands.
Speaking of Sea Kings, the one they killed back at Sabaody still hadn't been eaten yet. She wondered if it had spoiled by now.
"What kind doesn't matter," Luffy said. "As long as it can take us to the basin prison."
"It's Impel Down!" Merry corrected helplessly.
What was wrong with Luffy?
Why did he always remember names wrong and give everything strange nicknames?
People, places, objects—it was always the same.
"Ahahaha! Anyway, it's that big prison!" Luffy laughed, scratching his head.
"This trip to Impel Down may bring enemies far beyond what you expect," Granny Nyon said. "So you must be careful."
With Jin's Sea King, leaving the prison should not be too difficult.
But if they encountered Admiral-level combatants inside, things would become extremely dangerous.
After all, monsters of that level were exactly that—
Monsters.
Luffy's smile faded. He adjusted the brim of his hat and said seriously, "No matter what, I'm saving Ace."
Even if he died trying, he would have no regrets.
Seeing his expression, Granny Nyon felt a headache coming on.
Looks like warning him is useless. This boy only knows how to charge forward.
Still, with Jin beside him, there hopefully wouldn't be any major problems.
Thinking that, Granny Nyon gradually calmed down.
Then she looked toward Merry.
"Merry, what color snake do you want?"
"Hmm… I want a green one."
Margaret: "???"
"Don't tell me it's because you saw Lady Sandersonia's form and wanted a green snake," Margaret said in shock.
If she remembered correctly, Lady Sandersonia could transform into a large green serpent.
"Of course not," Merry shook her head. "I just want a snake that color."
After saying that, Merry looked at Granny Nyon again.
"Granny Nyon, do you have one?"
"I'll look for one," Granny Nyon nodded.
Maybe she could find a snake with some kind of special venom.
That would increase the little girl's combat ability as well.
"Thank you, Granny Nyon!"
"It's nothing."
Granny Nyon smiled and gently rubbed Merry's head, her eyes filled with warmth.
Seeing this little girl reminded her of Hancock and her sisters when they were young.
At that moment, Jin appeared in the backyard.
"Let's go. We can depart now."
"We can finally leave?!"
Luffy shot up instantly, moving like a monkey.
"What kind of Sea King did you catch?" Margaret asked curiously.
"Hmm… it has a dog head and is probably several hundred meters long," Jin replied.
"Several hundred meters?!"
Margaret stared at him in disbelief.
He had actually tamed a Sea King several hundred meters long in such a short amount of time?
That was unbelievable!
Something that huge would be many times bigger than a pirate ship.
"Impressive," Granny Nyon sighed.
He really had subdued a large Sea King so quickly.
As expected of someone capable of clashing with a Marine Admiral.
With a Sea King that size, they should be able to follow the Marine warship without issue.
"But I discovered a problem," Jin said. "Sea Kings seem to have poor detection in certain situations."
"Detection?" Margaret asked in confusion. "What do you mean?"
"When they're deep underwater, they don't seem to observe their surroundings with their eyes," Jin said, rubbing his chin. "It's more like they sense everything through aura or scent."
"But the aura given off by Marine warships is the same as the sea."
To make sure following the warship wouldn't be a problem, Jin had specifically controlled Erha and made it swim near the Marine ship.
The information he received was that it couldn't locate the warship from underwater.
Because the aura coming from the ship was identical to the sea.
"The same aura as the sea?" Granny Nyon frowned slightly, gradually forming a guess. "That should be Seastone."
"Seastone?"
"Yes." Granny Nyon nodded. "You should know what Seastone is, correct?"
"Yeah. It's used to restrain Devil Fruit users."
"That explanation is too shallow," Granny Nyon said. "More accurately, Seastone is the crystallization of the sea itself. It contains the dense aura of the ocean, which is why it can suppress Devil Fruit users."
"Still, I didn't expect the Marines to use it like this."
After a brief pause, she continued.
"Judging by the current situation, the Marines must have mastered some special technology that allows them to apply Seastone to their warships, erasing the ship's presence. That is probably how they can cross the Calm Belt."
Otherwise, the moment a warship entered the Calm Belt, it would immediately attract large Sea Kings.
And if a ship was targeted by Sea Kings hundreds or even thousands of meters long…
It would basically be finished.
"So you can't make the Sea King follow the warship?" Margaret asked.
"Not exactly," Jin replied. "I just need to surface occasionally to check."
"Of course, if we can find that special Marine current, then we won't need to do that. We can just follow it directly."
According to Shakky, that current could bring them to Impel Down.
So as long as they found it, everything would be simple.
"No need for anything so troublesome."
Granny Nyon stood up.
"Come with me to find Snake Princess."
"I have a method."
Jin was a little confused, but if she had a method, that was obviously better.
Then he raised his hand and formed a hand sign.
Poof!
White smoke drifted out, and an identical Jin appeared beside him.
"Eh?!"
"A… a clone?!"
Margaret stared at the scene in shock, her eyes full of disbelief.
He could even create clones?
"Yeah. A clone," Jin said with a smile.
"You really keep surprising me," Granny Nyon said, looking shocked as well. "I didn't expect you to actually know how to do that."
According to storybooks, ninjas could use cloning techniques.
But Jin had never shown it in front of her, so she assumed he couldn't.
Who would've thought he really could?
"As a ninja, knowing clone techniques is perfectly reasonable," Jin said with a grin.
Then he turned toward Luffy.
"Luffy, follow my clone to the Sea King first. I'll come find you soon."
"Got it!" Luffy nodded.
After that, Jin handed the food scroll and the storage shed scroll to his clone, signaling for it to arrange everything first.
That way, they wouldn't waste time.
"Understood."
The next moment, Jin's shadow clone activated a jutsu.
A massive stone hand suddenly stretched out from the ground, grabbed both of them, and then burrowed back underground.
"They… they went underground again!" Margaret shouted, eyes wide.
Just like what she had seen before.
This ability was too amazing.
"What a convenient power," Granny Nyon sighed.
With Earth Release, this boy could go anywhere he wanted.
Ninjas really were enviable.
"Let's go find Hancock."
With that, Granny Nyon called over her snake staff and slowly walked forward.
Jin followed her, but just as he took a step, a small hand caught the edge of his clothes.
"Merry?"
"Jin…" Merry looked at him with tear-filled eyes. "You two have to come back alive."
She was truly afraid this farewell might become permanent.
"Didn't we already make a pinky promise?" Jin bent down and rubbed her little head. "The two of us will definitely come back alive."
"Mhm!"
After receiving another promise, Merry finally released his clothes.
"Margaret, I'll leave Merry to you for now," Jin said.
"Don't worry." Margaret nodded seriously.
"Brat, hurry up and follow me," Granny Nyon called.
"Coming!"
After smiling at Merry, Jin turned and left.
Instinctively, Merry reached out again.
But this time, she said nothing.
She only silently watched Jin's back until he disappeared completely from sight.
Jin… Luffy… you must come back safely.
Biting her lip, the little girl prayed for them in her heart.
"Don't worry, Merry," Margaret said, picking her up gently. "They're both so strong. They'll definitely return safely."
"Mhm!"
"Come on. I'll teach you some egg-hatching techniques," Margaret said.
"Oh!"
…
Amazon Lily, western coastline.
At this moment, a massive Sea King lay quietly in the water, only its eyes and part of its head exposed above the surface.
Under Jin's control, it hadn't moved since arriving here.
A moment later, the ground on the shore burst open, and a stone hand emerged from below.
"We're out!"
Standing on the stone hand, Luffy spread his arms and shouted.
Jin's clone glanced helplessly at Luffy.
This guy really loved making noise.
Shaking his head, the clone looked toward the sea and shouted:
"Come out."
As his voice fell, the enormous Sea King began to move.
BOOM!
The next instant, a gigantic dog head emerged from the sea, its eyes glowing blood-red.
"So… so huge!" Luffy exclaimed.
"I already said it was several hundred meters long," Jin's clone said.
Luffy scratched his head.
"I don't know how big several hundred meters is."
Jin: "…"
The corner of his mouth twitched.
Making Luffy understand numbers was clearly asking too much.
After shaking his head, Jin said, "Anyway, this guy is our transportation this time."
"I named him Erha."
"I see. Erha, huh." Luffy nodded. "Since he has a name, I guess we won't eat him."
Jin: "???"
Wait.
So at first, this guy had actually considered Erha emergency food?
Thinking of emergency food, Jin immediately thought of Chopper.
Poor Chopper…
"Jin, are we sitting on his head?" Luffy asked excitedly.
As he spoke, he stretched his arms out, grabbed Erha's head, and prepared to launch himself upward.
"Idiot! We're not going on his head!"
"Huh?"
Hearing Jin's shout, Luffy froze.
But because of his rubber body, he had already launched himself.
He flew out instantly and plunged headfirst into the sea.
Glug glug glug…
Jin: "…"
Watching Luffy start bubbling in the water, Jin covered his face with one hand.
"This idiot."
With a pained expression, Jin used Water Release to fish the bubbling fool out of the sea.
"Cough, cough… blegh…"
"I… I almost thought I was going to die!"
"Why didn't you just drown?" Jin snapped. "Can you listen until I finish speaking next time?"
Fortunately, this was the western shore, far from the Marine warship at the front of the island.
Otherwise, the Marines might have discovered something.
If that happened, their entire plan could fail.
Thinking of that, Jin's fist hardened.
BANG!
His Haki-coated fist struck Luffy directly on the head, raising a large lump and sending him rolling around in pain.
"That… that hurts!"
"Next time, remember to let me finish talking, you idiot!" Jin said.
"But…"
"Hm?"
"Sorry…"
Seeing Jin raise his fist again, Luffy apologized immediately.
Jin snorted, then looked toward Erha.
"Open your mouth."
The Sea King obediently opened its mouth, revealing massive fangs that looked terrifying.
Unfortunately, neither Jin nor Luffy would be frightened by such a sight.
"Let's go, Luffy."
As soon as he finished speaking, Jin grabbed Luffy and jumped over, landing accurately inside Erha's mouth.
Then he took out the scroll containing the storage shed and clapped his hands.
Poof!
The storage shed appeared.
Looking at where it landed, Jin nodded.
"Good. At this edge, it won't be affected too much."
Then Jin activated Water Release and created a hollow water sphere, firmly wrapping the storage shed inside.
After circling it once and confirming there were no problems, Jin nodded in satisfaction.
"What is this?" Luffy asked curiously, staring at the water sphere.
"A hollow water sphere made with Water Release," Jin explained. "This way, we won't have to worry about seawater rushing in and washing everything away."
Although it required continuous chakra to maintain, this wasn't difficult for him.
After all…
His Mangekyo Sharingan ability was extremely powerful.
Too bad it can only stay fixed in one position. Otherwise, I could use it like coating.
"So cool!" Luffy's eyes sparkled.
Jin's Water Release could even do something like this?
That was awesome!
"Impressive, right?" Jin grinned. "My Water Release is seriously powerful."
With that, Jin dragged Luffy toward the water sphere.
"Hold your breath."
"Huh?"
Luffy froze.
But before he could ask anything, Jin dragged him straight through the seawater barrier.
Luffy: "???"
Glug glug glug… cough, cough!
After passing through the seawater barrier, Luffy collapsed on the ground and coughed violently.
Seeing this, Jin laughed.
"I told you to hold your breath."
"You said it so fast… cough… how was I supposed to know… cough…"
Jin awkwardly looked away.
Had he spoken too fast?
Ahem.
He would pay attention next time.
Luffy didn't care too much. After spitting out the water, he immediately recovered his energy and began curiously examining the storage shed before him.
With the help of the moonlight, he could barely see the shed inside the water sphere.
"Jin, are we going to stay here from now on?"
"Yeah, that's right."
Jin opened the door and walked inside.
"This space is more than twenty square meters. It's enough for us to move around."
As he spoke, he took out several candles from the scroll, placed them on the table, and lit them.
"I bought some candles on the way back. They'll work as our light source."
As for oxygen, that was easy.
They only needed to let Erha surface for air regularly.
When that happened, he would open the water sphere and let fresh air in.
"Jin, you really thought of everything!" Luffy said with a grin.
He hadn't considered the light source at all.
Jin merely smiled and said nothing.
Before they reached Impel Down, they would be living here.
If he didn't prepare properly, they would be the ones suffering.
Naturally, Jin had to find a way to make things a little more comfortable.
Then he turned toward the outside and thought to himself:
I wonder how things are going with the main body.
The method Granny Nyon mentioned…
What exactly was it?
At that moment, Luffy suddenly asked:
"Jin, can I eat something?"
Jin: "???"
He turned back and stared at Luffy in shock.
"Don't tell me you're already hungry again?"
"I was full this afternoon, but now I'm hungry again," Luffy said, scratching his head.
His digestion was extremely fast.
What he ate in the afternoon was naturally gone by night.
That was also why he often sneaked into the kitchen at midnight to steal food.
Jin: "…"
His expression became indescribable.
For a moment, he didn't even know what to say.
Fortunately, they had bought plenty of supplies this time.
Otherwise, they really might not have been able to feed this guy.
Shaking his head, Jin took out the food scroll.
"Good thing I had foresight."
After opening the scroll, he took out a portion of food and placed it on the table.
"Eat, you glutton."
"Oh!"
"Arigato!"
Luffy laughed loudly, grabbed a large piece of bone-in meat, and began eating with a blissful expression.
Jin ignored him and glanced toward the window.
I wonder if there's an Admiral guarding Fire Fist Ace…
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