A few minutes earlier.
After devouring several ancient Sea Kings, Caesar's Kunpeng True Form had finally completed its evolution.
Forty kilometers!
This length was the current maximum size of the Kunpeng True Form.
Feeling the boundless, vast life force within his body, Caesar had an impulse to overturn the world.
His body shrank, returning to its original form.
His original height of 9.3 meters had now reached 9.5 meters.
His body proportions became more symmetrical, more full of power!
Even without transforming into his oni form, merely standing in these ten-thousand-meter-deep waters with his physical body alone, Caesar couldn't feel the water pressure at all.
On the contrary, the seawater around him was actually being repelled and compressed outward!
Where he stood, a spherical space resembling a soap bubble abruptly appeared.
Just the power radiating from his muscles alone distorted the seawater, forming countless overlapping ocean currents and whirlpools.
Gently clenching his fist, Caesar threw a punch at the seawater before him!
Boom!
Accompanied by a deafening roar, right before him, beneath these ten-thousand-meter-deep waters, Caesar's single punch actually carved out a several-hundred-meter-long, dozens-of-meters-wide underwater tunnel!
"Hiss... Damn, my physical body is a bit too monstrous, isn't it?"
Caesar drew a sharp breath.
He exerted force with his feet, stepping on the seawater as if stepping on solid ground, his body transforming into an underwater torpedo, tracing a long white wake as he swiftly headed back toward Fish-Man Island.
A moment later, Caesar had traversed hundreds of miles and appeared above Fish-Man Island.
"M-Master! You're back?"
Shirahoshi was actually still waiting in the seawater outside the bubble, craning her neck in anticipation.
The moment Caesar's figure appeared, this oversized little girl immediately threw herself into his arms, clinging to his neck and hanging on him without letting go.
Caesar pinched Shirahoshi's soft, squishy cheek and detached her from his body.
Suddenly, Caesar's movements froze.
Because he noticed that on Shirahoshi's full chest, the two pink shells covering her had, at some point, lost one...
"Hiss..."
In an instant, Caesar felt a buzzing in his head, his thoughts drifting to cotton candy, white clouds, bunnies, peaches...
Shirahoshi noticed Caesar's gaze, paused for a moment, then followed his line of sight.
Trembling, surging, undulating...
"Ahhhhh!"
Though she couldn't speak underwater, Shirahoshi's scream still rang out in Caesar's mind at the right moment.
She quickly covered her ample chest, her face as red as a heated branding iron, burning hot and practically steaming.
"Shirahoshi is just too adorable."
A voice sounded in Shirahoshi's heart.
Shirahoshi secretly glanced up at Caesar and saw him looking at her with a mischievous grin.
Her face turned even redder.
"I really want to eat cotton candy, ah no, eat bunny."
Shirahoshi was taken aback and immediately responded to this thought.
"Bunnies are so cute, why would you want to eat them?"
But soon, Shirahoshi realized her mistake.
"No! That's not a bunny..."
...
...
In the plaza of Ryugu Palace, Caesar landed lightly before Neptune, holding Shirahoshi who was curled up like a quail in his arms, too embarrassed to show her face.
Ahem, of course, on the way back, Caesar had helped Shirahoshi find a new shell.
Neptune, who had been waiting anxiously, finally saw Caesar and Shirahoshi return.
Seeing them, he let out a long sigh of relief.
Before he could speak, Caesar said, "Neptune, get ready. I'm going to start relocating your Fish-Man Island."
"What? So soon?" Caesar's words not only startled Neptune, but also Fukaboshi, Jinbei, and even Shirahoshi were all greatly shocked.
Caesar nodded: "Yes, we must act immediately. As the king of the Fish-Man tribe, you should first reassure everyone. Because what comes next might be quite... dramatic."
With that, Caesar set Shirahoshi down and, in a flash, dashed toward the underside of Fish-Man Island.
Neptune's outstretched hand froze mid-air.
The question "How do you plan to do it?" that he meant to voice remained unspoken.
Fukaboshi, his face filled with agitation, handed over a broadcast Den Den Mushi.
Neptune took it, his hand trembling uncontrollably.
He cleared his throat and spoke into the broadcast Den Den Mushi.
"Ahem, people of Fish-Man Island, I am your king, Neptune. I have an important announcement to make..."
Before he could finish, the ground beneath them began to shake violently and tremble!
The sudden change left everyone on Fish-Man Island stunned and bewildered!
"What's happening? Is it an underwater volcanic eruption?"
"Or is a massive ocean current passing through?"
No one answered them.
Even Neptune's broadcast, transmitted through speakers hung on streets across Fish-Man Island, was affected by the intense shaking, becoming distorted and intermittent.
Jinbei's eyes were filled with astonishment because he could feel that Fish-Man Island was moving!
Accompanied by a deafening roar from the earth, a massive black shadow appeared directly beneath Fish-Man Island, lifting this thousand-year-old pearl of the sea right up!
"Fish-Man Island... is going to be destroyed! The prophesied doomsday has arrived!"
On the coral hillocks of Fish-Man Island, the curvaceous Fish-Man fortune-teller, Madame Shyarly, with her heavy black eyeshadow, caressed her trembling crystal ball and let out a piercing scream.
The apocalyptic tremors lasted for a moment, causing many of the towering coral mountains on Fish-Man Island to collapse.
On the Fish-Man streets, Fish-Men watched in despair as buildings swayed and crumbled, their faces filled with terror as they collapsed to the ground one by one.
"It's an illusion, it's all an illusion, nyu!"
Hachi, somewhat delirious, hopped around while clutching Caimie and Pappag.
Outside the Ryugu Palace, Neptune watched the palace structures collapsing amid the shaking and was himself thrown to the ground by the violent tremors.
"How does Caesar plan to move Fish-Man Island?"
Just as this thought crossed his mind, he saw the light above growing increasingly blinding, and the seawater churning more fiercely!
Jinbei shouted, "Fish-Man Island is rising! Fish-Man Island is about to break through the surface!"
"What? How is that possible? How is that possible?"
Neptune was disheartened and dazed.
But Jinbei's words soon became reality!
Because the shimmering seawater above grew increasingly transparent and clear, and the sunlight grew brighter and brighter!
With one final roar, the massive spherical Fish-Man Island, like a moon rising from the sea, broke through the water's surface in front of G-1 Base Island, lifted by a black ridge stretching for miles!
Neptune sat slumped on the ground, staring blankly at the sun hanging high above.
Even though the sunlight was harsh and blinding, he couldn't tear his eyes away.
On Fish-Man Island, Fish-Men of all shapes and sizes tilted their heads back, gazing in awe at the sun above, the vast expanse of the sea around them, and the distant horizon.
Silence!
After a long, long while, their king, Neptune's aged and emotional voice, came through the broadcast.
"My people, welcome to the sun!"
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