dmims Chapter 267 Facing Noah, the Power of a Saint
Chapter 267 Facing Noah, the Power of a Saint
Chapter 267 Facing Noah, the Power of a Saint
The entrance to the abyss was shrouded in deathly silence.
The strike that Wang Hassanna made was not a flash of light or an impact, but rather the erasure of a concept.
The scene was horrifying.
"Still—still this exaggerated, old man Wang Hassan—" Sanji's legs cramped, his voice serious.
He recalled that night in Water Seven, when King Hassan first appeared and the oppressive feeling that made Rob Lucci and that terrifying Heroic Spirit freeze in place.
Zoro slowly sheathed Wado Ichimonji, the veins on the back of his hand bulging slightly, and let out a low hum: "————Hmm."
He disliked this level of power that was completely incomprehensible and impossible to catch up with.
But it must be admitted that having this old skeleton around does save trouble at times.
He glanced at Brooke.
Brooke stared at King Hassan with his empty eye sockets, his finger bones tapping lightly on his skull, making a soft knocking sound, as if confirming something.
"Yohohoho—every time I see you make a move, it makes me rethink the definition of death. However,..."
He turned to his companions, his tone grave, "These attackers—their scent is indeed the same as yours!"
Robin crossed his arms, his sharp gaze sweeping over the only remaining purple-haired woman, Hassan, before turning to King Hassan.
"Brook said that Lord Hassan is the progenitor of the Old Man of the Mountain, originating from an ancient cult called the Assassins."
"As for Azrael, according to later intelligence, it seems to be the name of the god of death worshipped by the cult, and may even have a special connection with King Hassan."
She calmly analyzed, "Now it seems that the assassins who tried to kill King Neptune, framed us, and even those who just besieged us—are all members of the Assassins?"
"Is he one of Azrael's subordinates?"
This deduction sent a chill down everyone's spine.
Terrifying memories of Water Seven resurface: the powerful enemy who called himself Azrael and could manipulate the concepts of life and death, and the eerie atmosphere of confronting King Hassan with him.
If the enemy comes from the same source, then the complexity and danger of this incident are probably far beyond imagination.
Sanji took a deep drag of his cigarette, suppressing the shock in his heart: "We'll talk about these things later! Luffy's injury!"
Chopper looked up anxiously, "No! The poison is still spreading! It's slower than before, but Luffy's vital signs are getting weaker and weaker! We have to find Noah immediately!"
Jinbe forcibly pulled his attention back from the shock. As the current backbone of Fishman Island, he knew what was most important at this moment.
"That's right! Brother Luffy can't wait any longer!"
He looked down at the dark abyss entrance and the ancient sea kings that exuded a sense of awe around it.
"The obstacles to Lord Noah's slumber have been cleared; let's descend immediately!"
Just then, Hassan, the purple-haired woman who had been standing motionless, slowly lowered her hand.
She raised her head, her skull mask facing King Hassan, her posture still displaying profound respect, but her voice came through the mask, carrying a suppressed tremor and indescribable complex emotions.
"First Lord—you truly are—always the unattainable pinnacle for us—"
Her voice echoed in the still sea, confirming Robin's guess—
"However—" she said stubbornly.
"The path of utter desolation you have pointed out—we will not abandon it. The chaos of this vast ocean deserves an equal end from us—"
Wang Hassan's bottomless hood turned slightly towards her, and his hoarse voice resonated directly in everyone's hearts without causing any ripples.
"It's alright————"
His words were concise, yet contained an unquestionable authority.
The other person's body trembled slightly again, and his gaze beneath the mask shifted between King Hassan and the abyss below.
Ultimately, her reverence for the original overwhelmed her will to continue.
She said no more, but bowed deeply again in the direction of King Hassan, and her figure disappeared quietly, like ink merging into water.
She ignored her companions who might still be lurking elsewhere; evacuation was the only option at this moment.
The enemy retreated, and the road ahead was cleared.
"Let's go!" Jinbe didn't hesitate any longer and swam towards the entrance of the abyss.
The ancient sea kings silently parted to make way, their giant eyes occasionally sweeping over King Hassan, revealing an instinctive fear.
The Straw Hat crew quickly followed. Chopper lay in the bubble, not daring to relax for a moment.
Zoro, Robin, and Brook were guarding him.
Kojiro sheathed his sword, nodded slightly in the direction of King Hassan, and followed.
His mission was to assist the Straw Hats, and now that the powerful enemy had been forced to retreat by King Hassan's words, he naturally continued to fulfill his promise.
As Brooke passed by King Hassan, he paused briefly and whispered, "Thank you, sir."
He knew that if King Hassan hadn't intervened, they would have suffered heavy losses even if they had won the attack, and Luffy would have been in grave danger.
King Hassan remained silent, but his unchanging silence seemed to ease the barely perceptible tension.
Like the most loyal shadow, he followed Brook as he drifted toward the bottomless abyss.
The abyss is not pure darkness.
As we descended, specks of ethereal blue and emerald green light began to appear all around us—the cold glow emitted by peculiar bacteria and minerals living in the deep sea.
The water flow became unusually calm, yet it carried an indescribable sense of antiquity and heaviness.
Bizarre-shaped deep-sea creatures swam in the distance, but all avoided this path that was permitted to pass through by some kind of will.
"Can you feel it?" Robin whispered. "A kind of—sad warmth."
Indeed, the further down one goes, the clearer an indescribable, vast will becomes.
It is filled with compassion, as if it has witnessed countless destructions and separations.
It also carries warmth, like the only safe haven after a storm; deeper still, there is a steadfast and ever-growing warm current.
"It's Lord Noah—" Shirahoshi murmured softly in the bubble, tears streaming down her face again, but this time they were more of a deep, empathetic sorrow.
"I feel—he—has been waiting for a very, very long time—although the time he was summoned wasn't long, it feels like he's been waiting for an incredibly long time—"
However, after descending for a while, the surrounding scenery began to become bizarre and surreal.
The seawater did not disappear, but seemed to have merged into some more illusory medium.
They stumbled into a mesmerizing space composed of countless flowing lights and shadows, as if they were in a constantly changing kaleidoscope.
Sometimes I see the illusion of a raging flood sweeping across everything; sometimes I see a giant ark tossed about in the raging waves; and sometimes it transforms into a barren land waiting for new life.
"Is this... Noah's memory? Or a domain formed by his power?"
Robin cautiously observed his surroundings, trying to find a pattern.
"Luffy! Luffy's heartbeat is getting weaker again!" Chopper's tearful scream gripped everyone's hearts.
Although the purple poison mark on Luffy's chest had been temporarily suppressed by King Hassan's previous aura, it was still slowly and stubbornly eroding his life force. His face had turned ashen, and his breathing was so weak that it was almost invisible.
"Quickly! Where is Noah?!" Sanji looked around anxiously, but apart from the changing light and shadow, he couldn't see any specific shape or building.
Jinbe's Command Seal was burning hot, and he could clearly feel that Noah's Spirit Origin was at the core of this space, but the location was blurry, as if the entire space itself was constantly moving.
"Something's not right—Lord Noah seems to be avoiding direct contact? Or rather, his existence has completely merged with this space, without a fixed location!"
"What do we do?! Luffy can't hold on any longer!" Zoro punched the flowing light and shadow beside him, but it only caused a ripple and had no effect.
Time passed second by second, each second feeling like a knife stabbing into everyone's hearts.
Chopper had exhausted all first aid methods, tears streaming down his face as an atmosphere of despair began to spread.
Surrounded by the crowd, Luffy, who was on the verge of unconsciousness, seemed to have his dormant will stirred by some kind of thought permeating this space.
Some sounds came from inside.
"Look at that madman Noah! Building a giant ship on dry land?"
"What rain? What flood? He's afraid of a shadow that will never come."
"This guy has been driven mad by a fictitious voice of God."
"This rain—why won't it stop?" "The springs on the ground have all burst open? What's going on!" "Noah's ship—could what he said be true?"
The sins of those who have been cleansed by the flood—I will pay for them—
So what do you want? To accept those who mock you, to accept those full of sin. What have you ever pursued?
"Me? I ask for nothing more."
In the depths of Luffy's unfocused pupils, a glimmer of laughter seemed to flash.
Swish!
Luffy's body trembled violently, and the next instant, Luffy was standing in a warm light.
Beneath my feet lies a calm, mirror-like surface of golden water, reflecting the boundless azure sky.
There is no seawater, no pressure, only a reassuring tranquility and vastness.
"Where am I??" Luffy scratched his head. He felt lightheaded, and the sharp pain in his chest had disappeared, but a sense of weakness remained.
"Welcome, you troublemaker of fate, successor of Joy Boy, laughter of the sun."
A young male voice, sounding somewhat tired yet full of kindness, rang out from behind.
Luffy turned around and saw the owner of the voice.
He was a young man who looked to be in his early twenties, with smooth, short, flaxen hair and a pair of clear, azure eyes like the sky after a rainstorm.
He was dressed in a simple, antique-style white linen robe, barefoot, standing on the water, his smile clean and warm, as if it could dispel all gloom.
He possessed no imposing aura, yet naturally exuded a calm and compassionate demeanor, reflecting a life weathered by time yet steadfast in his original aspirations.
"Who are you?" Luffy asked, tilting his head.
"Did you bring me here? Where are my companions? And I'm so hungry!"
The young man smiled softly upon hearing this, a smile that carried a hint of helplessness and understanding.
"I am the one you and your companions are looking for. Your companions are waiting anxiously in the outer corridor. As for hunger—unfortunately, there is no meat available here."
He walked towards Luffy, and Ziguang looked him over gently, as if he were looking at an old friend he had been waiting for.
"I felt the rhythm within you, and I felt your will to endure harm in order to protect others. This convinced me that you are one of the key variables of this era."
""
"Variable? Drum? What are you talking about?" Luffy looked confused.
"You're Noah?! Oh right, I'm here to save me! Some bastard outside poisoned me, I can't hold on much longer, Chopper and the others are worried sick!"
Noah nodded, his expression becoming more serious: "I know. The Silent Poison stems from a twisted obsession with death."
"But it is precisely because you are here that I can bring you into this place where hearts meet. Some things are inconvenient to say amidst the noise of cause and effect and the prying eyes of the outside world."
As he waved his hand, some blurry yet meaningful fragments of images appeared between the two of them.
The God-Slaying Spear, gleaming in the Alabasta rainforest, pierces the Lava God.
On the sky island, Thor confronts the crowd, and in the end, his lightning and divinity are seized by some kind of greed.
In the night of Water Seven, the pale angel of death confronts the silent First Generation.
And deep within Fishman Island, countless figures wearing skull masks whispered in the shadows—
"Since the Holy Grail War began, too many anomalies have been spun into the threads of fate." Noah's voice carried an all-knowing clarity.
"The arrival of heroic spirits is already disrupting the original trajectory of this world."
He looked at Luffy with a deep gaze: "You, Monkey D. Luffy, from the moment you were drawn into the war, your fate has been inextricably linked with these anomalies."
"You summoned the Pirate King Roger, and your crewmates awakened the first Old Man of the Mountain."
"You face the gods on the Sky Island; your very existence is the greatest disturbance to predetermined fate. You are the warrior of liberation, the laughter of the sun god."
"The freedom and feast you yearn for are essentially a resistance to and salvation from all oppression and suffering."
"This resonates with my promise to build an ark during the flood and await a new world."
Luffy only half understood what he was hearing, but he grasped the core idea.
"You mean, because I enjoy throwing parties and dislike anyone bullying my friends, my feelings are the same as yours—wanting to save people and wait for a new world?"
Noah paused for a moment, then his smile grew even warmer and brighter: "You could understand it that way. It's pure, and it's powerful."
He pointed to Luffy's heart: "Therefore, I cannot let this spark be extinguished here. Poison erodes the connection between life and soul."
"But your will, your selflessness in bearing harm for others, is the most powerful antidote and the cornerstone that resonates with my covenant."
Noah stretched out his hands, palms up.
A warm, golden light emanated from him, even stronger than what could be felt from the outside world.
In the light, a wooden boat radiating a warm glow emerged.
"I cannot directly intervene in external conflicts with brute force; my strength lies more in maintaining order."
"But I can give you the protection of this ark; it cannot grant you any extra power, cleanse your sins, or purify the corruption that should not exist."
"The important thing is to let you sense the thread of the agreement in this deep sea."
The phantom of the small ark slowly drifted towards Luffy and merged into his chest.
In that instant, Luffy felt an immense power surge from the depths of his soul, flowing through his entire body!
That stubborn purple toxin evaporated rapidly, like snow exposed to the scorching sun!
The feeling of weakness vanished, replaced by a vitality even more vibrant than before the injury!
It was as if the fatigue from the series of battles had been washed away.
"Wow! That feels so good! I feel so powerful!" Luffy looked at his body, which had been restored to its original state, with surprise and swung his fist forcefully.
"This simply releases your life force that has been suppressed by toxins and expels the harmful substances."
Noah smiled, and his figure began to become somewhat transparent.
"Remember, Luffy. The real battle is outside. It is you who must correct the imbalance of this world caused by those who should not exist."
"The crisis on Fishman Island needs you and your companions, along with those who have good intentions, to resolve it."
"I, and the power of Aquaman, will be your support, but the rudder of your voyage will always be in your own hands."
His voice faded into the distance: "Take this blessing and go back. Your companions are waiting for you."
"Tell Jinbe and Shirahoshi that the key is in their hearts, and the Ark has never been far away. When the true moment of choice comes, follow the light within your heart—"
Before he finished speaking, Noah's figure and the golden space of consciousness slowly dissipated.