As the black ashes scattered and drifted into the sea, Roya couldn't shake off a lingering sense of unease.
Just then, a weak, almost imperceptible voice echoed faintly in his ear.
He had no choice but to set aside his thoughts about the black ash for now and step into the captain's quarters.
Inside, Whitebeard—who had been unconscious all this time—had finally awoken.
Upon seeing Roya enter, Whitebeard's eyes were filled with guilt.
In a raspy and feeble voice, he said,
"I'm sorry, Roya… I never imagined Weevil would turn out like that…"
Seeing that Whitebeard still regarded Weevil as his own son, Roya sighed inwardly but decided to tell him the truth.
"Old man, that guy not your biological son."
"While he is related to you by blood, in truth—he was created by Vegapunk using your genes as a blueprint. He's a biological weapon… Prototype No. 1."
Whitebeard's expression froze—then slowly softened into understanding.
With a bitter smile, he murmured,
"Not my son… That's for the best. Really, that's for the best…"
Roya scanned Whitebeard's body briefly and explained:
"What's happening to you is a Devil Fruit–initiated transfer. In the 'eyes' of the Gura Gura no Mi, you and Prototype No. 1 are essentially two bodies belonging to the same person."
"Your body had lost vitality, so the fruit instinctively chose the more viable host."
"But now that the prototype's body and genetic sequence have collapsed, you're once again the fruit's sole compatible host. Before long, your powers will return—and your health will follow."
Whitebeard shook his head weakly.
"You don't need to comfort me. I know my body better than anyone…"
"This time… the damage struck deep. It's worse than any wound I've ever taken."
He pointed with great effort at the horrifying scars across his chest and wheezed as he tried to steady his breath.
Then he continued:
"I'm going home. Ah… after spending my whole life searching for it, I never thought that, in the end, the only home I'd find… would be that one."
Roya nodded slightly and gently patted Whitebeard's withered arm. At the same time, he discreetly sent a thread of Observation Haki into his body.
This thread would remain within Whitebeard for at least half a month, just enough to help restore his sluggish blood flow and energy circulation.
Having done all this, Roya was about to speak with Marco and the other commanders—see what they planned to do after escorting Whitebeard home—when suddenly, his heart stirred.
Within the range of his Observation Haki, he sensed something bizarre happening beneath the sea.
A black, gel-like substance lunged at the face of a massive shark, like a predator ambushing its prey.
The great shark instinctively began thrashing, rolling like a crocodile in an attempt to shake off the black slime.
But the gel seemed to possess a form of life—it writhed and squirmed like a conscious organism and drilled directly into the shark's gills!
Within moments, the shark's eyes were completely filled with the black substance. Its violent struggling ceased all at once.
Its muscular body began to slowly sink.
Seconds later, the shark convulsed—then suddenly snapped back to life.
The black gel in its eyes now shimmered like two living black gemstones, gleaming with unnatural brilliance.
The shark glanced up at the Moby Dick, flicked its tail, and propelled itself away at high speed.
"It still retained vitality after total genetic collapse—and even revived?"
Roya was taken aback. Without saying a word to Marco and the others, he leapt from the captain's quarters and plunged into the sea.
Moving like a dragon through the depths, he swam silently beneath the surface, tracking the giant shark from afar.
The chase went on—he had no idea how long.
Suddenly, a vast red underwater mountain range came into view.
Roya's heart trembled slightly. He knew he had finally reached his destination:
The Holy Land—Mary Geoise.
From that point on, the shark moved with uncanny familiarity, weaving effortlessly through the tangled canyons and trenches of the seafloor, as if it had traveled this path countless times.
Now deep within the World Government's heartland, even someone as powerful as Roya didn't dare act recklessly, lest he alert their forces.
He completely suppressed his presence, tracking the shark by sensing only the faint shifts in seawater from its movements.
He followed it for what felt like ages, until finally, the shark swam into a seemingly ordinary subterranean cave beneath the sea.
Roya waited just outside the entrance.
Soon, he sensed something—the shark had begun thrashing wildly once more.
Without hesitation, Roya slipped into the cave after it.
Inside, a hidden world unfolded.
As soon as he surfaced, he was met with metallic walls identical in style to those at Punk Hazard.
It was clear—this was one of Vegapunk's secret research bases.
Several surveillance Den Den Mushi floated along the walls, scanning the area with their wide eyes, covering every angle of the entrance.
But this posed no threat to Roya.
Den Den Mushi surveillance worked by transmitting only what they could see—and in Roya's fully retracted state, they couldn't see him at all. Naturally, there would be nothing to transmit to the security monitors.
The shark, acting completely against its biological instincts, charged directly at the metal security door ahead.
As it thrashed, the black slime seeped back out of its gills, coalescing into a palm-sized gel, and detached from the shark's face.
The gel blob then rolled forward, liquefied completely, and slipped through the gap beneath the door.
Roya glanced at the shark—it was now lifeless. Its eyes were dull and cloudy, no trace of consciousness left.
With a sigh, Roya nudged the shark's body gently with his toe, sending it back into the sea—into the embrace of its mother.
Only then did he turn toward the metal door where the black gel had disappeared.
Above the door was a raised surveillance sensor, glowing faintly red.
Clearly, entry beyond this point required intense security checks and identification.
But for Roya, that was hardly a challenge.
He dissolved his body into an impossibly fine thread of Observation Haki, thinner than a strand of hair, and slipped through the narrowest gap in the door.
What he saw on the other side—
Left him utterly stunned.
He had entered an enormous underground plaza, stretching across what must have been dozens of kilometers.
Countless giant metal support struts, shaped like mechanical legs, stretched down from the ceiling and anchored into the metallic floor.
Between those struts were massive turbine engines, large and small, spread evenly throughout the space.
Roya couldn't help but think:
"If all of these turbines were activated at once… could they lift everything above into the sky?!"
And hovering above this colossal turbine plaza—was none other than the summit of the Red Line.
So this was the secret of Mary Geoise, the Holy Land of the World Government—
It was an airborne fortress. A flying city, ready to launch at any time.
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