A cook, vice-captain of the Rocks Pirates?

"That leaves only Fishman Island."

Marco shrugged.

"Fishman Island?"

A hint of nostalgia flashed in Newgate's eyes.

"Speaking of which, it's been quite a few years since I last saw that old man Neptune. Perfect timing, let's go see how the kids there are doing. Gurglalalala! It's settled then!"

Newgate delivered the final blow, rising from his throne with an imposing, mountain-like presence that exuded an undeniable aura of dominance.

"Men! Let's go! Destination—Fishman Island!"

"Oh oh oh!"

"wait wait wait!"

Dorum's screams rang out again.

"Dive? Are you kidding me! This is a living island! I haven't even designed a special coating for it yet! What about the water pressure? What about the oxygen? And the bubbles from Gatz's burps might trigger a chain reaction of explosions!"

However, his protests were drowned out by the excited cheers of the crowd.

Newgate walked to the very front of the island. Ignoring Dorum's near-collapse wails, he simply placed his hand gently on the massive, mountain-like head of the progenitor tortoise.

An invisible will, filled with protection and trust, was transmitted through the connection of food.

"Old buddy, it's time to go home."

The ancestral giant tortoise seemed to understand his words and let out a long, ancient cry.

Its massive body slowly turned around and began its new voyage homeward toward that great sea route filled with legends and treasures.

Chapter 283 Deep Sea Oarfish (Trench Guardian Form)

For the Whitebeard Pirates, the voyage to Fishman Island was more like a leisurely armed outing.

The colossal body of the progenitor tortoise was like a moving, unsinkable continent, ignoring the unpredictable weather and undercurrents of the first half of the Grand Line.

Whether it's a sudden storm or a massive whirlpool that can swallow ships, they all seem childish and laughable in the face of its absolute, godlike power.

Occasionally, some new-generation pirates, blinded by the great pirate era started by Roger, would mistake this seemingly vibrant moving island for some legendary treasure land and rush over with great fanfare.

Without exception, they were all sent back to the ocean by Gatz's resentful burp when they were still several nautical miles away from the ancestral giant tortoise, without even arousing the monsters' true interest.

"Tch, so fragile."

Gatz listlessly hoisted the anchor onto his shoulder, feeling like he hadn't even done enough warm-up exercises along the way.

"These small fish are not as challenging as those pig-shaped potatoes in our boat's vegetable garden that can only root around in the soil by themselves."

"That's because we're too strong, Gatz."

Vista polished his twin swords, a confident smile playing on his lips.

Life on the ship returned to its usual noisy and peaceful routine.

Half a month later, when they arrived at the end of the first half of the Grand Line—the waters near the Sabaody Archipelago—Dorum, who had been in charge of piloting, finally let out a long-awaited exclamation filled with technical difficulties.

"Captain! We've arrived! Ahead lies the underwater entrance to Fishman Island, a massive cave on the Red Line!"

Dorum pointed to the bottomless, pitch-black sea ahead, like the gaping maw of an abyss, his voice trembling slightly.

"But... how are we going to get down there? I haven't had time to coat this huge thing yet!"

This is indeed a difficult problem.

Ordinary ships entering Fishman Island need to have a special layer of Yarchiman mangrove resin applied to their hulls by professional coating craftsmen in order to withstand the terrifying water pressure at a depth of 10,000 meters.

To coat such a colossal creature as the Primordial Giant Tortoise, the amount of resin required would probably be enough to drain all the mangroves in the entire Sabaody Archipelago.

"Gurarararar! Who said we needed that thing?"

Newgate laughed heartily as he walked to the bow of the ship, gazing at the deep underwater cavern with a look of exhilaration in his eyes.

He pushed the power of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit to its limit, but not for the purpose of destruction.

"Vibration, Protection, Giant Bubble!"

Newgate spread his hands outstretched, and an invisible, vibrating force filled with the will to protect spread out, compressing and enveloping the surrounding air in an extremely subtle way, eventually forming an unimaginably huge bubble around the progenitor tortoise, almost covering the entire island, shimmering with a faint white halo!

This bubble is exceptionally strong, perfectly isolating itself from the seawater, like a self-contained little world.

"Wow!"

A deafening cheer erupted on the deck.

"Dad is awesome!"

"This looks way cooler than coating!"

Dorum stared in disbelief at the miraculous scene before him. He felt that all the shipbuilding knowledge he had acquired in his life was as fragile as a piece of paper in the face of his captain's unreasonable abilities.

He silently took out his notebook and drew a big X on the page with the hull coating plan.

"set off!"

Newgate gave the order.

The ancestral giant tortoise let out a long cry, carrying this mobile kingdom enveloped in white bubbles, slowly and solemnly sinking into the unfathomable azure.

The descent was like a bizarre and fantastical dream journey.

The sunlight was filtered through layers of seawater, becoming increasingly dim, until it was finally swallowed up by the eternal darkness of the deep sea.

Only the enormous guardian bubble emitted a soft white light, illuminating the surrounding world.

Countless schools of glowing fish swam past them like a flowing galaxy.

In the distance, massive, mountain-like underwater volcanoes erupt silently, their scalding lava rapidly cooling in the frigid seawater, forming peculiar black rocks.

However, as they descended to nearly eight thousand meters and were about to reach the seabed plain known as the deep-sea paradise, a terrifying pressure, full of primal and wild energy, suddenly emanated from the deeper, dark trench below!

The oppressive force was so immense and so pure that even the ancestral giant tortoise subconsciously stopped its descent and let out a low growl filled with vigilance.

"Ok?"

Newgate's vast and unfathomable Observation Haki allowed him to clearly sense that an unimaginably enormous life form was lurking in the trench below.

"There's something big here!"

Gatz roared with excitement, feeling his blood boiling.

The next second, a head so huge it blocked out all light slowly rose from the darkness of the trench.

It was the head of an ancient ferocious beast, covered entirely by a deep blue carapace that shimmered like the hardest diamonds. Its two eyes were golden vertical pupils burning like lava, filled with savagery and the rage of its territory being invaded.

【Ingredient Name: Deep-Sea Anglerfish (Trench Guardian Form)】

[Attribute: Ancient Species - King of the Sea Kings, feeds on energy from the Earth's core veins, has a tyrannical personality, an extremely strong sense of territory, and its carapace is harder than any known metal.]

[Capture Level: Unable to Estimate (This creature's physical defense is almost unassailable; its only weakness lies in the nodes of its internal energy cycle)]

"Roar!"

A deep, muffled roar, seemingly capable of shaking the seawater to its boiling point, resounded.

The deep-sea oarfish opened its abyss-like maw and stirred up a terrifying, massive undercurrent, powerful enough to suck in a ten-thousand-ton ship, as it lunged toward the ancestral giant turtle!

The scene was as if the entire trench had come to life, ready to completely devour these uninvited guests!

"Good timing!"

Joz was the first to roar and charge forward, his entire body covered in dazzling diamond light, like a shooting star going against the current, and he collided fiercely with the deep-sea oarfish.

boom!

The collision of the diamond and the carapace produced a deafening roar.

For the first time, Joz's indestructible diamond body let out a mournful cry of unbearable strain.

He felt an irresistible, terrifying force that combined immense power with the pulse of the earth, and he was forced back dozens of meters. Spiderweb-like fine cracks appeared on the diamond surface of his arms.

"This thing...it's so hard!"

Joz gritted his teeth, his eyes filled with horror.

"Its power is connected to the earth's veins on the entire seabed; a direct confrontation is not the solution!"

Rein's voice came just in time: "Gats, Bista, attack its gills on both sides. That's where it breathes and exchanges energy, and it's also the weakest point in its defense!"

"okay!"

Gatz and Bista responded simultaneously, and the two of them, one on the left and one on the right, like two of the sharpest daggers, flanked the deep-sea oarfish from both sides!

The battle erupted in the darkness eight thousand meters below the surface of the ocean, yet it was more intense and shocking than any war on land.

Chapter 284 Return to Fishman Island

The power of the deep-sea oarfish has exceeded everyone's expectations.

Its carapace, as hard as diamond, is virtually immune to any physical attack, and every sway of its massive body can unleash terrifying undercurrents powerful enough to tear steel apart.

When Gatz's giant anchor struck it, it only sent up a string of sparks and left a shallow white mark.

The sword energy of Bistana, powerful enough to cut through steel, only caused it a slight itch.

"Damn it! This guy is a total blockhead!"

As Gatz dodged the massive tail fin that crashed down like a mountain, he roared in exasperation.

"This can't go on, yoi."

Marco hovered inside the bubble, his blue flame wings casting specks of life light to heal the injured Jozu.

"Its power is connected to the earth's veins, and its stamina is virtually limitless. We'll be worn down to death!"

"Gurarararar! Then sever its connection with the earth!"

Newgate laughed loudly, pushing the power of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit to its limit, but did not directly attack the Oarfish's body.

He threw a punch, aiming straight for the bottomless trench below!

"seaquake!"

An invisible shockwave pierced through thousands of meters of seawater and slammed violently onto the dark seabed!

Rumble!

The entire seabed trembled violently, and huge, spiderweb-like cracks spread out instantly. Countless underwater volcanoes were detonated by this brute force, spewing out scorching lava.

The massive body of the deep-sea oarfish suddenly stiffened, its energy connection with the earth's veins being forcibly disrupted and severed by this unreasonable force!

Its inexhaustible source of power also came to an abrupt end.

"Now's the time!"

Newgate gave a sharp shout.

Seeing this, everyone was preparing to work together to completely dismantle the giant beast, which had temporarily lost its power supply, into sashimi when Renn's voice rang out.

"Everyone, stop for a moment."

Upon hearing the sound, everyone instinctively stopped what they were doing and turned around to look at it in confusion.

Raine slowly walked out, looked at the deep-sea oarfish that had become somewhat listless due to the loss of energy supply, and then looked at its golden vertical pupils burning with anger and resentment, and smiled.

Renn's gaze shifted to the lower abdomen of the oarfish.

There, a gigantic parasitic sea urchin, entirely black and exuding an aura of decay and death, beat slowly like a heart. Countless sharp spines, like venomous snakes, pierced deep into the core of the royal sea urchin's body, constantly draining its life energy.

"really."

Renn nodded.

"This oarfish is not inherently violent. The reason it attacked us is because its mind has been corrupted by a parasitic creature called the 'Lamenting Gallbladder,' and it is in great pain right now."

Ryan turned around and nodded slightly to Newgate: "Captain, I'll take care of it."

Newgate looked into his calm and confident eyes, remained silent for a moment, and finally withdrew his imposing manner.

"Okay, I'll leave it to you."

Renn nodded, then took something out of the food box.