One Piece: Kaido's adopted son, starts with the Eight Gates Formation.

"Let's go, monk." Lynn tugged at Hyosube Ichibei's robe. "You walk ahead, I'll follow."

Hyōshūbe Ichibei looked down at the small hand holding his robe; the hand was fair and tender, like that of an ordinary three-year-old child.

But he knew that this hand had just flicked away two of Wang Yue's toys with two fingers.

"...Please." Hyosube Ichibei turned around and raised the lollipop in his hand—he discovered that the lollipop could also serve as a medium to open the passage—a beam of light descended from the sky and enveloped everyone.

As the beam of light rose, Lynn lay on the edge of the beam and looked down.

The Seireitei grew smaller and smaller, Kaido's figure became a tiny dot, and Whitebeard became an even smaller dot.

In the distance, the Barragan skull sculpture fixed to the throne flickered; Akainu had accidentally bumped into it while dusting off some dust.

Further away, Kenpachi Zaraki was chasing Stark all over the street, because he was "unconvinced by losing at rock-paper-scissors".

"It's really lively," Lynn muttered to himself.

Then the beam of light pierced through the clouds and through the sky above the Seireitei—a completely new space appeared before us.

The Palace of the Spirit King.

Five enormous palaces floated in the void, each exuding an ancient and profound aura. In the center of the five palaces, a massive crystal-like barrier emitted a soft light.

Within the barrier, a gigantic figure could be vaguely seen.

It has a human form, but it's incomplete.

It had no limbs, no facial features, only a huge torso pierced by countless crystal pillars, suspended in the center of the void.

There is a cavity where the heart is located.

"That is..." Lynn narrowed his eyes.

Hyosube Ichibei walked to his side, his voice low and deep: "That is the Soul King. The cornerstone of the three realms. Without him, Soul Society, the Human World, Hueco Mundo—everything would collapse."

"He looks terrible." Lynn tilted his head and looked him over for a moment. "Who did this to him?"

Hyosube Ichibei was silent for a moment: "...It's us."

"oh."

Lynn floated forward a step.

The barrier sensed his presence and began to emit a piercing alarm.

But Lynn didn't care at all and poked the barrier with her finger.

A crack appeared in the barrier.

Wang Yue of Ermei House subconsciously reached out to stop him.

But he put his hand down halfway through.

Because he saw Lynn's eyes.

There was no greed, no malice, and no ambition to conquer in those eyes.

There was only a pure, childlike curiosity.

It's like a child discovering a small animal locked in a cage and wanting to reach out and touch it.

Lynn reached his hand into the crack in the barrier.

All five palaces of the Spirit King Palace trembled simultaneously.

Hyosube Ichibei's hand, holding the lollipop, was trembling.

"He's going to touch the Spirit King..." Kiryu's voice was almost trembling.

Lynn's fingers touched the Spirit King's torso.

The moment he touched her, a burst of light exploded in Lynn's mind.

It wasn't an attack, nor was it the transmission of information; it was something more primal—emotion.

pain.

A long and endless ordeal that lasted for millions of years.

The pain of being stripped of limbs. The pain of having one's heart ripped out. The pain of being fixed in the void, becoming the cornerstone of the three realms. The pain of consciously feeling one's body being consumed inch by inch, yet never dying.

For an ordinary person, receiving this level of emotional shock would burn out their brain.

Lynn simply frowned.

"Ouch, that hurts!" He pulled his hand back and shook his fingers. "It hurts so much."

When Hyosube Ichibei heard these words, he felt as if his bones had been removed, and the expression on his face became very complicated.

"He...is still conscious?" Nimaiya Oetsu asked in a low voice, his voice carrying a guilt that he himself was unwilling to admit.

"Of course he is." Lynn glanced back at him, a hint of displeasure in her eyes. "He's always had it. He's always been in pain. You've made him like this, he's always been in pain."