In Sabaody Archipelago, sunlight filtered through the giant mangroves, casting dappled shadows.
Bubbles floated lightly in the air, reflecting colorful light.
The bustling sounds of Port 34 echoed, with vendors hawking their wares and tourists exclaiming in wonder, forming a vibrant scene.
Gern's warship slowly docked at the Marine-exclusive pier, and on the deck,
Libo could no longer contain her excitement. Her rabbit ears stood up high, and her pink eyes sparkled with anticipation.
She was dressed in a light Marine uniform, with a pair of special carrot-shaped daggers at her waist, looking very cute.
“Gern! We’ve arrived!” Libo cheered, and without waiting for the warship to fully dock, she leaped lightly onto the pier.
The characteristics of the Rabbit Mink Tribe made her movements as fast as lightning, drawing the attention of passersby.
Tesoro followed closely behind. “Is this Sabaody Archipelago, the halfway point of the Grand Line?”
He looked around, the shopping list Stella had given him carefully folded and tucked into his chest pocket.
Gern was the last to disembark from the warship, black blade eight desolations casually hanging at his waist, his cloak gently fluttering in the sea breeze.
“I’ll leave the coating of this warship to you. Thank you for your hard work.” Gern smiled at the coating shipwright from Sabaody Archipelago’s G-33 Base who had been arranged for him in advance.
“It’s no trouble at all! Everything is for the Marine, and serving Rear Admiral Gern is my duty!”
Looking at the shipwright, Gern didn't say much more, but instead pulled out a bag of Berries from his pocket and handed it to him.
After all, giving money at this time was the only most practical thing!
By the time Gern had arranged the warship, Libo and Tesoro had already disappeared, no one knew where.
So he could only glance at the bustling port, a slight smile playing on his lips: “It seems it’s as ‘lively’ as ever here.”
Just then, a commotion came from a distance.
The crowd scattered in panic, as several ferocious pirates brandished their weapons, shouting arrogantly,
“Get out of the way! Don’t block the road! Today, we’re going to let Sabaody Archipelago know who’s boss!”
Leading them was a burly man with a hideous scar on his face, wielding a massive spiked club.
He was “Bone Breaker” Bayard, a pirate from the first half of the Grand Line, with a bounty of 120 million Berries.
At this moment, Libo’s ears, at the entrance of a small snack shop, instantly perked up, her expression probably something like this (￣～￣) chew!
“Oh, it’s pirates!”
Gern, who had locked onto Libo’s location with Observation Haki, lazily waved his hand: “Go on, but don’t make too much of a fuss. We still need to go to Fish-Man Island!”
“Understood!” Libo grinned, seeing Gern’s gesture.
The next second, her figure suddenly vanished from where she stood, leaving only an afterimage.
“Soru!” Libo instantly appeared in front of Barton, her right leg raised high,
Carrying a sharp gust of wind, a “Moonwalk: Rabbit Kick” struck directly at the opponent’s chin.
“Bang!” Barton didn’t even have time to react. He was kicked into the air and fell heavily to the ground a dozen meters away, his spiked club flying out of his hand.
“Boss!” The other pirates were greatly alarmed and rushed towards Libo, who was wearing a Marine uniform, raising their weapons.
“A bunch of small fry!” Libo snorted lightly, pulled out her carrot daggers, and her figure, imbued with electricity, moved like a phantom through the crowd.
Her movements were incredibly fast, each strike precisely hitting the enemy’s vital points.
The daggers danced in her hands, and as cold light flashed, the pirates fell one after another.
“Damn brat!” A pirate roared, raising his flintlock and aiming at Libo’s back.
However, before his finger could pull the trigger, a golden light suddenly flashed.
Tesoro had appeared beside him at some point. With a gentle squeeze of his golden glove, the flintlock was instantly enveloped in liquid gold, twisting and deforming.
“Sneak attacks are not a good habit,” Tesoro said coldly, then threw a punch.
Then, he raised his left hand, and a trident shaped from gold plunged into the dust.
The battle ended in just a few minutes.
Libo clapped her hands, looking satisfied at the wailing pirates sprawled on the ground: “Done!”
Tesoro walked beside her, the gold reverting to powder and slowly returning to form his gloves and rings.
“You’re too slow, Libo. You missed three.”
“Hmph!” Libo pouted, “You clearly stole my targets!”
Their bickering made Gern laugh: “Alright, stop messing around.
Tie these guys up and hand them over to the stationed Marines.”
...
The coating work in Sabaody Archipelago lasted a full day and night.
As the first rays of dawn pierced through the gaps in the mangroves, Gern’s warship was already completely enveloped in a giant transparent bubble, shimmering with colorful halos in the morning light.
“It’s amazing!” As a fluffy Mink Tribe member, Libo had never seen anything like this before.
So she lay on the ship’s rail, her small face almost pressed against the bubble, her pink eyes reflecting the changing colors.
“Gern, look! The bubble changes color!”
Tesoro stood beside her, his hand also gently touching the surface of the bubble.
“If Stella didn’t want to come to Sabaody Archipelago, I would have wanted to show her too (Stella was kidnapped in Sabaody Archipelago).”
“Enough! You two, don’t even think about touching the coating.” Gern walked over, “This is our guarantee for a safe dive.”
Just then, a Sergeant from G-33 Base hurried over, giving a standard Marine salute: “Reporting, Rear Admiral Gern, the coating is complete, ready for immediate submersion!”
Gern nodded, his gaze sweeping over the Marine soldiers neatly lined up in front of the warship.
“These are…”
“The G-33 Base Commander learned that the Rear Admiral is about to head to Fish-Man Island, so he sent us to provide sup…”
The Sergeant’s words were interrupted by Gern: “You don’t need to trouble yourselves. The three of us will go down this time!”
“But Rear Admiral Gern, Fish-Man Island is a transit point for pirates heading to the New World…”
“If my strength isn’t enough, no matter how many of you there are, it won’t make a difference. It’s better to maintain law and order in Sabaody Archipelago!”
“Alright!” The G-33 Sergeant nodded, then led his team away.
...
After the G-33 Marines left, Gern’s warship slowly departed Sabaody Archipelago, heading towards the designated dive point.
Libo excitedly ran around on the deck, occasionally peering over the edge of the bubble.
“Gern, when will we see fish?”
“You’ll see them soon.” Gern leaned against the ship’s rail, feeling the wonderful sensation of the bubble gently swaying with the waves.
“But first, we need to find the correct ocean current.”
As the warship entered a specific sea area, a giant whirlpool suddenly appeared on the surface of the water.
The speed of the swirling water gradually increased, forming a funnel-shaped depression hundreds of meters in diameter.
“Now!” Gern commanded, “Submerge!”
The warship slowly entered the center of the whirlpool. The bubble began to deform under the pressure of the seawater, but it still toughly maintained its integrity.
Libo clung tightly to Gern’s cloak, her eyes wide: “Are we going to fall?”
“No, not fall,” Gern said with a smile, rubbing her head, “It’s ‘slide’ down.”
As soon as he finished speaking, the warship was suddenly pulled by a powerful suction, plunging into the sea.
The moment the bubble touched the seawater, it made a “gurgling” sound, but miraculously kept the seawater out.
The light in the shallow sea area was bright, and the beauty of the deep sea was fully displayed.
But as they submerged deeper and deeper, the warship was dragged into the abyss as if by an invisible giant hand.
Libo’s ears were pressed tightly against her head, her small hands clutching Gern’s clothes: “So… so dark…”
As the submersion depth increased, the pressure gradually intensified, and the bubble began to make “creaking” sounds.
Tesoro, acting as helmsman, nervously checked all the connection points, ensuring there were no weak spots in the coating.
Suddenly, a group of glowing deep-sea fish swam past the warship. Their bodies were transparent, their internal organs clearly visible, emitting a faint blue light.
Libo instantly forgot her fear, her small face pressed against the bubble: “Wow! Fish that glow!”
“Those are anglerfish,” Gern explained. “Many creatures in the deep sea glow on their own.”
Just then, a giant dark shadow swept through the deep sea, casting a shadow that enveloped the entire warship.
As the depth continued to increase, more peculiar deep-sea creatures began to appear.
Transparent jellyfish trailed long tentacles, glowing squid squirted dazzling ink, and schools of small fish formed shifting patterns...
“Look over there!” Tesoro suddenly pointed to the right.
A massive ocean current, like an underwater highway, traversed the deep sea, with countless Marine creatures swimming within it.
The current itself emitted a faint blue light, standing out remarkably in the pitch-black deep sea.
“That’s the current leading to Fish-Man Island.” Gern ordered a change of course, “Full speed ahead, enter the current!”
The warship slowly entered the glowing current, immediately accelerating with a powerful thrust.
The bubble slightly deformed in the current but remained stable. The surrounding scenery began to recede rapidly, and various strange deep-sea creatures swam alongside the warship in the current.
“So fast!” Libo shouted excitedly, her rabbit ears twitching with the warship’s bumps.
As they continued to submerge, the surrounding seawater temperature began to rise, and the light gradually became brighter.
In the distance, a spectacular array of colors gradually appeared.
That was the coral forest on the outskirts of Fish-Man Island. The colorful corals were like an underwater forest, with various glowing fish schools swimming through them.
This beautiful scenery after the deep darkness instantly stunned the trio. Tesoro even silently raised his camera and took a “click” picture.
“It seems we’ve arrived.” Gern’s voice carried a rare sense of ease.
“Welcome to Fish-Man Island.”