Chapter 362 - 201

Chapter 201: RED (8): The Demon King Hunting Plan!Gordon's gaunt fingers gripped a roll of yellowed parchment tightly, as if it were the only pillar of support he had for the past eleven years.The morning light fell upon his deeply lined face, revealing a nearly paranoid seriousness."Listen up!"His gaze swept across the gathered Straw Hat, and every word seemed to be squeezed out from the depths of his lungs."If you want to completely eradicate the Song Demon King 'Totem Gika', conventional attacks are meaningless!""You must launch a synchronized, coordinated pincer attack from both reality and the Uta World... That is the only sliver of a chance!"He caught his breath, his cloudy eyes burning with a light that intertwined the certainty and madness accumulated from years of research.After that incident, his life seemed to have only one goal remaining: to collect every scrap of information about that demon, to dissect it, to understand it, and to find even the faintest weakness."The moment the Demon King is fully summoned by Uta's singing and descends into the world," Gordon unfolded the parchment, which depicted incomprehensible diagrams using ancient scripts and eerie symbols,"Its 'existence' will be simultaneously anchored in two realms... the reality we are in, and the 'Uta World' constructed by Uta's ability.""They are two sides of the same coin, like light and shadow. Attack one, and the other will immediately replenish it, or even transfer the damage."He looked up abruptly at Luffy, as if looking through him to that desperate battlefield from eleven years ago:"That is why... back then, even as strong as the Red Hair Pirates were, they could only manage to'seal' it rather than 'eradicate' it despite giving their all!""They couldn't enter the Uta World, and couldn't coordinate between the two realms! Their attacks were like striking a phantom, or being shared by the other world!""Huh?!" Sanji's fingers holding his cigarette paused, his face revealing an expression mixed with absurdity and realization,"So... this thing, put simply, is just a 'gimmick boss'? It's not about overwhelming absolute power, but a 'level' that must be cleared according to specific rules?"He exhaled a smoke ring, his expression somewhat speechless, "I actually thought it was some world-destroying ancient evil god...""Do not have such a reckless thought!!" Gordon almost roared, stepping forward abruptly, the parchment rustling in his hands.His eyes were fixed on the silent Uta, with fear, worry, and deep sorrow in his gaze."The source of the Song Demon King Totem Gika's power has always been Uta! Its strength, its scale, the destruction it can cause... all are directly linked to the summoner's strength!"Gordon's voice trembled with excitement, "Eleven years ago, Uta was just a child who had just adapted to her ability and had an ordinary physique! But now..."His gaze swept over Uta's slender yet powerful figure.Gordon's voice carried a warning of near despair, "No one can predict... if the Demon King were to be fully summoned and descend right now, what terrifying power it would possess! Perhaps... perhaps it would be ten or a hundred times more terrifying than eleven years ago!"The air seemed to solidify due to this warning. The atmosphere, which had relaxed slightly due to the "gimmick boss" comment, tightened once again.Luffy adjusted his straw hat, but the corners of his mouth beneath the shadow slowly curled up, revealing a highly aggressive and excited arc: "In other words... as long as we beat them both at the same time, it'll be fine, right?"Law held his kikoku, his eyes plain and indifferent: "No matter how troublesome the rules are, as long as we find the method, it'll be fine!"Yamato shouldered the Spiked Club, her silver hair fluttering, her red eyes filled with excitement, "Uta, we will protect you! And we will defeat the Demon King!"Gordon looked at this group of pirates who had instantly entered the zone, not only not scared off but instead ignited with fighting spirit; he opened his mouth, but ultimately swallowed back a more severe warning.He looked at Uta, who was being subtly protected in the center by Luffy and the others, and prayed silently in his heart. He prayed that this ray of sunlight, shining into the ruins of Elegia eleven years later, could truly disperse the deepest darkness this time.And this hope of "coordination" lay not only in the pincer attack of the two worlds but also in these people who were tightly connected at this moment...."Luffy, are you really going to break into the Uta World?" Yamato clenched her fists, her voice hiding uncontrollable hesitation.Gordon's detailed explanation earlier had already made them fully understand the extremely dangerous connection between the Song Demon King and the Uta Uta no Mi.Even for Luffy, who now stood at the pinnacle of the sea, stepping into that eerie world might not guarantee a safe escape.After all, the ability of the Uta Uta no Mi was just too sinister. As long as that beguiling singing was caught by the ear, one would be forcibly dragged into a world of another dimension.Once one died in that world or Uta died, the soul would be trapped there forever, never able to return to the real world.This nearly unsolvable ability was simply an alternative version of Infinite Tsukuyomi, the Song Demon King's ultimate self-destruct move that risked everything.Moreover, the Uta World was a high-dimensional domain controlled by the Song Demon King, and there, the power of Totem Gika would undoubtedly be a full tier stronger than in the real world."Don't worry!" Luffy grinned, raised his hand to touch the tip of his nose nonchalantly, his bright black eyes full of arrogance and confidence, his tone overflowing with pride: "I'm very strong!"...A heavy silence shrouded the ruins of Elegia. Gordon solemnly handed the last pair of specially made headphones, which gleamed with a cold metallic luster, to Rayleigh."Even for you, 'Pluton' Rayleigh, please be sure to wear them." Gordon's voice was dry and serious, with not a hint of joking in his eyes,"Uta's Uta Uta no Mi ability has a very high priority for its 'forced pull-in' rule." "It does not act on pure force or defense, but directly targets the act of 'hearing the singing' itself."Rayleigh took the headphones, his fingertips rubbing the cold metal surface. He smiled, with a touch of emotion: "I didn't expect that at my age, I would still have to rely on such gadgets to avoid risks. However..."He glanced at Luffy, who was already excitedly hopping in place, and shook his head, "This fruit's ability is indeed eerie." "Distracting oneself during battle to use Haoshoku to protect one's hearing for a long time? It's not worth it, and it might not be 100% safe."He put on the headphones neatly, sealing them tightly. The world instantly fell into a strange silence, not completely dead, but one that could filter out all specific dangerous frequencies.Sanji and the others also finished putting them on. Everyone was on high alert, their eyes focused on the two people in the center of the field.Gordon's warning echoed in everyone's hearts: the Uta Uta no Mi's ability was strong enough that even the top powerhouses of the sea could be caught off guard and fall into the cage of rules; yet it was also "weak" enough to be astonishing... a pair of carefully designed noise-canceling headphones could actually become an "absolute barrier" to exempt one from its rule-based influence.This extremely contradictory characteristic was the very embodiment of its bizarre mechanism."Alright, let's start, Uta!!" Luffy's voice broke the solemnity. His face was beaming with a bright smile, he bumped his fists together, and his rubber arms made a bouncy sound.His expression was so relaxed that it was as if he wasn't about to step into a perilous other world that even Rayleigh had to treat with caution, but rather just preparing for a novel adventure.Uta looked at his smiling face, which was free of any gloom, took a deep breath, and suppressed the last trace of hesitation and worry deep into her heart.She nodded slightly, a flash of determination in her amethyst-like eyes. Her thin lips parted slightly, and an ethereal, highly penetrating melody, like tangible ripples of sound, rippled out from her as the center."The New Genesis is this future..."Her singing was no longer a grand narrative for creating an eternal utopia, but transformed into a precise key, a door opened only for one person.The beautiful sound waves, containing special rule-based power, were transmitted with absolute clarity into the ears of Luffy, who was the only one not wearing headphones.Almost the instant the singing entered his ears, a surge of irresistible sinking sensation originating from the level of rules came rushing in.It was not fatigue, but a forced "invitation" and "stripping away" of consciousness itself.Luffy's keen Observation Haki was like encountering the most violent interference, frantically warning and vibrating in his perception, trying to resist this external erosion of rules.However, Luffy—this man who had always followed his own intuition the most... at this moment, he actively relaxed all resistance.He closed his eyes, his mouth even carrying a hint of expectant smile, letting his consciousness be gently wrapped and pulled by the tide of the singing, detaching from the anchor point of reality.Under the gazes of Rayleigh, Gordon, and all his companions wearing headphones, Luffy's upright body suddenly swayed slightly, then lost all supporting strength, and like a puppet with cut strings, he collapsed forward.Uta stepped forward instantly, her arms steadily supporting his falling body, and pulled him into her embrace.Luffy's chest was still rising and falling steadily, his breathing even, as if he had just fallen into a deep sleep. But everyone present knew that his consciousness was no longer within this shell.He had already stepped into—the bizarre and perilous "Uta World" constructed by the Uta Uta no Mi....The sensation of weightlessness flashed and vanished, and a solid yet wonderful touch came from under his feet. Luffy "opened" his eyes of consciousness."Whoa—!!!" An exclamation uncontrollably rushed out of his throat, Luffy's eyes instantly widened, and the flickering excitement in them was about to turn into tangible little stars popping out.The world before his eyes completely subverted his perception of "world". This was by no means the bleakness of the ruins of Elegia, nor the scenery of an ordinary island, but a fairyland completely materialized from music, melody, and emotion.Under his feet was an endless, "cloud meadow" like the softest velvet, with colors of dreamy pearlescent white and light purple intertwined; stepping on it felt like sinking in, yet it firmly supported him.In the air, crystal clear musical notes, large and small, floated like living things. They flowed like streams of glowing blue light, sweeping over the meadow, streaking through the air, leaving behind fleeting melodic trajectories.Some notes bumped into each other, emitting pleasant, tinkling sounds like spring water. The whole world was "breathing", "singing". The colors were pure and saturated, the light soft yet pervasive, and the sound was not through the ears, but directly soaked into the consciousness. It was breathtakingly beautiful, harmonious to the point of being illusory."So amazing—!!" Luffy spun around in place, his rubber neck stretched out long, wishing he could swallow the 360-degree spectacle into his eyes in one gulp, "This is even more interesting than Sky Island! Uta's ability is awesome!!"