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The Deep Sea
🕑 Added 2022-11-25 15:03:53 +0000 UTC.................
Chapter 92: The Deep Sea
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The Sabaody Archipelago is the final island in Paradise, close to the Red Line. Being the last stop before going to the New World, pirates land on Sabaody to prepare for the dangers that lay ahead.
They must stop here if they wish to have their ship coated so that they may proceed to Fish-Man Island.
Fish-man Island is an underwater island which dwells 10,000 meters below sea level in a giant hole that goes under the Red Line at the bottom of a deep trench.
It serves as an underwater gateway to the New World for those who do not wish to cross over the Red Line above.
So the Strangers had to go through it to reach New World. They had to go under the Red Line because on it lies the Mary Geoise, the capital of the World Government, where its highest rulers reside and govern.
It is located on the Red Line at the opposite side of the world from Reverse Mountain and serves as the official route for people to cross between the two halves of the Grand Line.
But pirates naturally can't go through it, especially someone like Yovan because it's that much of a dangerous place.
Yovan never needed to get his Ship coated with the special resin of the Archipelago. He was planning with using a barrier of feathers, something he can trust more.
However, he didn't need to as Kalifa spread her hands, twisting them slightly to form a colossal bubble around the Ship.
"I tried my best to mimic the Archipelago's special resin, but it's not perfect, so we should remain wary," Kalifa said with difficulty, seeming strained for more reasons than one as the Ship started diving down.
The ocean was deep, incredibly deep to the point that they went down for miles but the Seabed was still nowhere to be seen.
They could only enjoy the fabulousness of the depths as much as they could because Yovan was certainly not allowing them any free time... It was time for hard work.
The trio forgot what living with Yovan was like, especially since he gained a way to force them to work hard, Conqueror Haki.
He was constantly putting pressure on their minds, a pressure far above what they once felt from Hancock, and the pressure was continuously rising, threatening to incapacitate their already trained minds.
But Yovan was making sure they don't pass out while he himself was relaxing on Antarisa's soft fur, the latter was especially on the verge of passing out.
"C-cap! Pleeease stop... I-Is this not a va-vacation?" Laffitte crawled up behind Yovan, begging him with hopeful eyes.
"Hm? Look at this," Yovan turned around and planted a bounty poster on Laffitte's face, "Is this not you?"
"Huh?"
"Is this not you with just a two hundred million bounty? What were you doing? Shopping for make-up?" Yovan further added, judgingly eyeing Laffitte.
"Hear me out! The World Government is corrupted, so so so what that means is that they're out to get me!" Laffitte quickly sat as he coughed and started desperately explaining.
"Either that or someone in the Marines fell in love with my beauty, so they're just making sure I remain safe!" He nodded at himself, even he wasn't convinced of his own bullshit.
"Kalifa, Bege, Kaku, all have five hundred million bounties on their head, so is that truly your excuse?" Yovan wanted to make sure.
"Huh? No? Bege must've set me up or something?" Laffitte came to another conclusion.
Yovan ignored Laffitte as he stood up, turning around to look in a certain direction, "Quite the coincidence, I have something for you, Laffitte."
The crew found themselves in a very dark and cold part of the ocean. They are in a place known as The Deep Sea, a part of the sea where light cannot reach, and no normal creature exist.
Far far away, amidst the darkness of the depths, there was a bright light, a lightbulb in darkness. The reality of what it actually is became apparent as the lightbulb approached them.
It was a horrifying creature, a giant grey-brown angler fish, with tiny white eyes, veiny fins, and a huge yellow light on the tip of its antennae.
Not far behind the monster, there was a Ship, a colossal ship as massive as the monster itself, following after it with as much speed.
The Angler fish's mouth was wide open, fully intending to devour the colossal Seizon No Hono which wasn't much smaller than the beast, a Ship operated by Kaku, Laffitte, and even Kalifa because she was controlling the bubble.
But the Fish stopped. It simply halted its movement with its mouth still wide open. Yovan vanished from the ship, and his crew followed after him inside a bunch of bubbles.
They made their way to the enemy Ship, the light of the Angler Fish allowed them to clearly see their surroundings, seeing several strange Sea monsters, one weirder than the other.
And without a question, they were all colossal as finding a monster smaller than the colossal Seizon No Hono was a rarity in the depths.
They reached the Ship without any resistance from the seemingly sleeping Angler Fish.
"Gorgeous! I heard about this!" Laffitte eyed the Ship, his eyes glowing with fascination, "It is called "The ship that should not be." The story dates back hundreds of years. On a stormy day, a captain became deranged and started throwing his crew overboard, killing all of them.
The captain's name was Vander Decken. He incurred the wrath of God, and was doomed to an eternity of wandering the sea, forbidden to ever make port!! So cool!"
"Em, it has soul." Kaku agreed as he eyed the ship. It was old and worn from time. The sails are torn and tattered, moss and barnacles are growing out from various spots of the ship, and the mast is similar to a clock tower in design.
It shouldn't be able to move, but it was. In fact, most of it didn't even have the special resin of the Archipelago, and it didn't need it because the crew on the ship were Fish Men. Only a small portion of the deck was coated for their captain to reside in.
They are one of two humanoid races that inhabit and rule the seas, able to breathe and naturally swim underwater, making the sea a natural advantage to them.
But as the Stangers came to find out, the individuals on the Ship were all passed out. They couldn't help but eye bubble of feathers floating in the middle of the ship as Kalifa created a bubble for Yovan to move more freely.
"They passed out so easily," Yovan shrugged as he picked up one of the said individuals, "This guy should be the Captain, so let's have a talk with him."
"I would suggest taking the Ship with us, it should sell for a lot of money in the Underworld," Kalifa suggested as she enveloped the entire colossal ship with a bubble.
"It's that valuable, huh?" Yovan said while stroking his chin, "I have to wonder how it's moving. Is it something Seizon No Hono would be capable of?"
"Only one way to find out," Kaku stated with an excited smile. He was once an agent of the world government before anything else, but now he's a Shipwright before anything else, even his swordsmanship.
So while Kaku explored the ghostly ship, Yovan brought the Captain of the other Ship to Seizon No Hono and allowed Laffitte to take care of the rest.
The Captain of the other ship was a tall individual with beige-colored skin, a slim build, and lanky limbs. His most distinguishing feature was his four legs. He has a short, scraggly goatee, a long, wavy mustache with spiky edges, and similarly, long, wavy and spiky black hair.
Laffitte went down to his knees, his head near the Fish man's ears as he started whispering something. It was almost like a fuzzy song that went on to bring him back from unconsciousness.
"HAAHH! Wh-What? Where am I??? Huh?" His words were cut short as Laffitte picked him up and hugged him tightly from behind, continuing to whisper words in his ears.
It was a very weird sound that made even Kalifa dizzy who was relatively far let alone the Fish man. It took minutes but his eyes became cloudy as he started drolling, seemingly falling asleep.
"Tell me about yourself," Laffitte finally released a grin as he said something coherent.
"V-Vander Decken IX. I'm the captain of the F-Flying Pirates. My Ship is the Flying D...fDutchman, and I'm the eighth descendant of Vander Ddd-Decken of legend."
His words were muddy, and a bit stuttery but he really answered, but Laffitte wanted more as he gently said, "Kindly tell me even more..."
His words were like sweet honey, sounding seductive, and peculiar, triggering something within Vander.
So apparently, the Flying Pirates were a pirate crew led by Vander Decken IX, usually floating over the ocean floor and endangering the citizens of Fish-Man Island.
However, something changed recently due to the World Noble's Death, a few individuals visited Fish-Man Island, seemingly expecting someone, and they were so strong that Vander saw no chance of victory.
