Ron nodded, his gaze fixed on the massive, slowly dissipating mushroom cloud in the distance.
"That's right. To ensure we understand the full scope of your new abilities—and to avoid any more... accidents—we need to test your limits in a controlled way."
Jozu fell silent for a moment, a thoughtful expression on his face.
"Actually," he finally said, a confident smile curling at the corners of his mouth.
"I was just thinking the same thing. Although I can freely control ten thousand beams, I haven't tried to exceed that number yet. If Ron says so, then let's see just how far my limits can go!"
He took two deliberate steps forward, his eyes fixed firmly on the endless White-White Sea.
As his feet settled, he took a deep breath and his arms began to undergo their startling transformation.
They swelled with power, the diamond skin shifting from blurred to a flawless transparent crystal, revealing the impossibly complex network of prisms within.
"Pops, everyone, I'm starting now!" he announced.
"Hahaha, just don't blast a giant hole in the White-White Sea!" a pirate joked. "It'd be bad if we all fell through!"
Jozu focused intently, a low hum filling the air as he began to draw in light.
The halo around him grew brighter and more intense with each new threshold he crossed, the strain beginning to show on his face.
"Ten thousand beams!" he grunted, a line of sweat forming on his brow.
"Twenty thousand beams!" The light grew almost too bright to look at.
"Forty thousand beams!"
******
Meanwhile, far below in the Blue Sea, near the former location of Jaya Island, a unique pirate ship sailed through calm waters.
On the deck of the Going merry, Luffy was passed out in a food coma near the adorable alpaca figurehead, Chopper was mixing some medicine and Zoro was.... fast asleep against the railing.
It was a peaceful, ordinary afternoon.
But for the ship's navigator, "ordinary" was the last thing on her mind.
"This is really strange," Nami muttered, her delicate brows furrowed in intense concentration.
She tapped the glass of the Log Pose on her wrist for the tenth time, then cross-referenced it with a slightly yellowed nautical chart spread before her.
The needle was steady, pointing directly down.
"Where's the island?" she murmured, utterly perplexed.
"It should be right here! There's no way I made a mistake," she told herself firmly.
"I'm the world's greatest navigator."
Yet, the empty, endless sea before her was a stark contradiction to her unwavering confidence.
"Nami-san!" A familiar, twirling figure emerged from the galley, his eyes already turned into hearts.
"I've brought you my specially prepared Love Juice!" Sanji cooed, gracefully placing a vibrant, heart-adorned drink in front of her.
"No, I don't want any right now," she said distractedly, her gaze still fixed on the impossible conundrum of the map and the Log Pose.
Seeing the genuine, focused worry on her face, Sanji's usual cheerful demeanor evaporated, replaced by the seriousness of a concerned crewmate.
He knew that for his navigator, a mystery like this was a sign of unknown danger.
Just as he was about to ask what was wrong, a panicked, blood-curdling scream suddenly erupted from below deck, echoing up through the ship's planks.
"Help! Help! Damn it! Get it away from me!"
It was Usopp's voice, filled with a raw, mortal terror.
Usopp burst from the surface, sputtering and gasping for air, his face a mask of pure, unadulterated terror that immediately caught everyone's attention.
Luffy, hearing the commotion, instantly became excited.
"Hey! Usopp, is there something fun underwater?!" he asked with a wide grin, his eyes already shining with the promise of adventure.
Nami, Sanji, Zoro, and Chopper were also drawn by the sudden shout, rushing to the side of the ship and crowding the railing to look down.
"Below... below..." Usopp stammered, his teeth chattering as he pointed a trembling finger at the water beneath him.
His face was abnormally pale. "I just... I just saw an... an island down there!"
"An underwater island?! Awesome!" Luffy cheered.
"An island? Usopp, are you sure you're not having a fever?" Chopper asked, his doctor instincts kicking in as he prepared to leap in after him.
"Baka," Zoro grunted without opening his eyes from his nap.
"Islands don't belong in the sea."
Only Nami leaned forward, her expression a mixture of intense curiosity and concern.
Her Log Pose had never lied to her before, and it was pointing directly down.
"Usopp," she asked, her voice urgent, "what did it look like?"
Feeling a surge of hope that at least someone believed him, Usopp tried to describe the horrifying landscape.
"It was flat! The whole island is flat... made of huge, flat rocks. There's nothing on it, just pits and scars everywhere, like it's been bombed by cannons! It's pitch black, like an abandoned battlefield, and it's just a meter below the surface! You have to believe me!"
Just then, a deep, sickening CRUNCH echoed up from the hull.
The entire Going merry lurched to a violent, shuddering halt, as if it had run aground on a mountain, throwing everyone off balance.
Luffy, caught completely off guard at the ship's figurehead and was thrown forward.
"AHHHH, I'm gonna fall!" he yelped, a flash of panic in his eyes before he reacted with lightning speed.
"Gum-Gum Rocket!" His arm stretched out and grabbed the merry's head, slingshotting him back onto the deck.
"What happened?!" Nami shouted, picking herself up from the deck.
"The Merry hit something!"
Before Luffy could answer, Usopp had already plunged back into the sea.
He resurfaced a moment later, his expression a strange mix of terror and vindication.
"The bottom of the ship hit that island!" he exclaimed.
"'It's not serious, no big problems'! Now do you believe me?! There really is an island down here!"
The rest of the crew now had no choice but to believe him.
They could see it clearly: the water directly in front of their ship was a patch of much deeper, darker blue than the surrounding sea.
There was indeed something massive lurking just beneath the surface.
"The Grand Line is really something else," Sanji murmured, taking a drag from his cigarette.
He and Zoro prepared themselves and leaped over the railing.
When Zoro plunged beneath the waves, the scene that met his eyes stole the breath from his lungs.
It wasn't an island in the traditional sense.
It was a vast, unnaturally flat, and jet-black plain stretching out into the murky depths as far as he could see.
The entire surface was pockmarked with perfectly circular, eerily smooth craters, as if some god had used a massive hole punch on the seabed.
It was a dead, silent, and utterly alien landscape.
He and Sanji broke the surface, their usual bickering completely absent.
The water dripped from their faces, which were set in grim serious lines that immediately silenced the others.
"What is it?" Nami asked, her voice hushed with a new sense of dread.
Zoro took a deep breath, his expression darker than she had ever seen it.
"Craters," he said, his voice low and heavy.
"Endless craters."
-----------------------------
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