One Piece: Arkham: Buggy the Clown

Chapter 274 Undersea Ruins in the Calm Belt
The moon and stars are rare.

On the sea, only layers of white waves could be seen sweeping across, and the sound of the waves covered the sound of the whistling sea breeze.

White Star raised its head above the sea surface and its tail fin swayed underwater.

The sea kings seemed to be waiting for her and did not swim very fast. However, after Shirahoshi approached the herd, they all began to whimper.

The herd began to move towards their king.

Shirahoshi doesn't need to swim much, the ocean currents created by the swinging of a group of sea kings can push her forward.

The sea kings also floated up a little, revealing their dorsal fins or tail fins on the sea surface, and their skin was also different.

Some are as bright and distinct as carp, with their scales reflected when they float to the surface of the sea.

Some are like eels, with a smooth mucous membrane, which makes them swim extremely fast.

Buggy's feet were hanging on Baixing's head, and his body was floating in the air. He was full of curiosity about this wonderful sight.

Neither the college students nor the red-nosed ones have such a scene in their memories.

Maybe eight hundred years ago?

Roger had concluded through the historical text of Sky Island and the description of King Neptune that the unborn Shirahoshi and the mermaid princess eight hundred years ago both belonged to the "King of the Sea" Poseidon.

A kind of inheritance?
There was also a funeral-like ceremony in front of them.

They are not just wild beasts...

Buggy recalled a setting he had seen in his memory...Sea kings have a very long lifespan and high intelligence, almost comparable to humans.

Using the Calm Belt as its nest…

If there really is equivalent to human wisdom, I'm afraid these big guys are the real kings of the world?

"Is this another secret that has been blank for a hundred years?"

He looked into the distance and saw the faint morning light floating very far away on the sea.

The secret that even Red Nose doesn’t know…

The rising and setting of the sun was like someone had replaced an image in the sky, and the scenery around Bucky hadn't changed at all.

The sea kings were hurrying on their way. Shirahoshi seemed to be infected by their emotions. Her eyes were always red. She would occasionally show her face, then quickly bury it again.

Bucky had no one to talk to.

However, he also had a clear understanding of their position.

Bucky reached out and felt it.

The moment the sunlight was completely swallowed up by the sea, the sea breeze disappeared, and only the layers of white waves left by the tsunami were still surging on the sea surface, but the waves had become much lower.

Windless zone.

This is the doldrums.

On both sides of the herd, huge shadows like islands flashed by from time to time, and then seemed to merge into the herd under the sea, and soon disappeared.

From the moment the other sea kings gathered, Buggy felt that this ceremony had gone beyond the scope of a funeral. Instead, it was more like some kind of testimony... like a coronation ceremony.

He floated his head higher, his body pulling it like a kite, so that the bird's-eye view could allow him to see more clearly.

They are the center of the herd.

To be precise, it's not the Joker's business, Shirahoshi is the center of it.

The sea kings were being very considerate by not dragging the guy who stepped on their head into the water and skinning him alive.

"I bet Godzilla is a kid next to these guys. Could it be that the sea level is rising because these guys are getting bigger?"

Bucky muttered something, his voice unmasked.

"Mr. Clown!" At this time, Bai Xing turned around and changed from forward stroke to backstroke.

“It’s time to dive.”

The direction in which the beasts swam began to gradually descend. Floating up was just a concession to the king, and now they had to rush to their target.

Bucky nodded and put his body back together piece by piece.

"Deep sea... I still miss it a little bit."

"Still incapacitated."

"I should have told them to go easy on me and at least leave Barrett's submarine behind."

Deep diving without coating or submarine is an extreme sport no matter how you look at it.

Bucky could feel his heartbeat skip a beat, then quickly calm down.

This kind of thing is not as stimulating to him as Barrett fighting against "Godzilla".

However, my curiosity about the sea kings has arisen.

He took out a bubble gun and created a bubble that was just big enough to accommodate him. The texture of the bubble was very similar to the bubbles made by the coating craftsmen, but when he touched the bubble, he could clearly feel a sense of weakness in his body.

But it won't completely incapacitate him.

The effect is not quite the same as what Vegapunk claims, it may be because the concentration of Buggy Devil is too high, or the seawater content of the bubbles is too low.

Bai Xing held the bubble in the palm of his hand.

Then there was another fierce stab.

The dark blue world suddenly came into Bucky's eyes.

Unlike the herd of animals that appear to be visible on the sea surface like a floating island, the true appearance of this herd of animals is revealed beneath the sea surface.

There is no need for starlight to penetrate the sea water. The glowing eyes of these super-giant sea kings are enough to illuminate everything in Buggy's field of vision.

All around him were hills of different colors moving slowly, and the ocean currents seemed to have turned these hills into substance as they were dragged by them.

The stars are farther away.

After Buggy and his companions dived about two hundred meters, they could vaguely see flickering lights on the dark blue seabed.

It’s more than just lights.

Although Shirahoshi was holding a bubble, she still showed her front face so that Buggy could see what was in front of her...

A city sunk to the bottom of the sea. Between the ruins, there were lights of fluorite or lantern fish. Sea kings shuttled through the openings of the ruined buildings as if they were shuttling through the holes of their nests.

This made Buggy quickly realize that the city in front of him was a huge city belonging to giants.

The scale of the city is almost endless, it is more urbanized than Marijoa and the buildings are more densely packed.

After arriving at the city, the sea kings dispersed again. This was their nest, while those sea kings carrying the corpses were still rushing towards the city center.

"What is this place?"

Bai Xing couldn't even see enough with her eyes. In front of the tall door, her size was equivalent to that of a child.

"I have a rough idea." Bucky tapped his chin with his fingers. The antiquity and mystery of this place brought him a lot of fresh feelings.

It's a bit like... Red Nose went deep into the ruins of some buried treasure.

The greatest enjoyment in the exploration process is constantly seeing new things.

Including the huge wave cross carved on these buildings, Bucky felt that he seemed to have seen this pattern somewhere else.

Shirahoshi's attention was more focused on the emotions of the Sea Kings, "It should be here soon."

She heard the sea kings whimpering again.

Surrounded by a bunch of dilapidated buildings, a mushroom-shaped tower stood. The corpses of sea kings flowed along the sea current and into the opening of the tower.

"They're saying... the fire will be reignited."

Shirahoshi could feel the emotions of the sea kings, which were their unwillingness, persistence, and joy of seeing hope again after hundreds of years of waiting.

"Then this place is just a pile of ashes."

"The ashes of the great kingdom." History can be erased, but the land where the great kingdom once stood cannot be erased. However, the World Government still made it all disappear completely.

Buggy had never figured out this question before, but now the answer is that the land where the huge kingdom was located has been completely submerged.

Just beneath the surface of the Calm Belt, a vast kingdom lies buried.

But what is the relationship between sea kings and giant kingdoms?
At Buggy's eye signal, Shirahoshi held up the bubble and swam towards the tower. The bodies of the dead sea kings fell into the tower, while other sea kings surrounded them, looking at them with expectant eyes.

This should be called a blast furnace.

As he got closer, Bucky had a clearer understanding of the towering building.

If there is something similar... this seems to be a giant version of the energy reactor that Vegapunk used to create the Holy Mother of Fire.

He remembered that the Holy Mother Flame had another name, Mother Fire.

Is this where the mother fire of the great kingdom lies?

It was dimly lit inside the tower, with phosphorescent flames burning.

The circular wall has lost its original appearance after years of corrosion, and one can only barely make out what appears to be integrated cables, circuit boards and other things.

"They said that this place was very bright many years ago."

Shirahoshi could still hear the cries of the sea kings.

"Like the sun, it provides endless energy to the entire kingdom..."

"But that fire was extinguished by a demon."

"It's the exact opposite of theirs. The devil believes that power should be in the hands of a few people, not..."

Shirahoshi opened her mouth, not quite understanding the word conveyed by the sea kings.

"They want to use faith... the prayers of many people..."

She frowned. The sea kings who had experienced countless years had extremely unconventional thoughts and soon jumped to another thing.

"Let a few people evolve into gods..."

Buggy didn't say anything, but thought about some of Vegapunk's research on the nature of the fruit's ability, that is, mankind's pursuit of evolution.

So the idea of ​​Joyboy or the Mega Kingdom is to let everyone evolve together?
He looked around and saw sea kings that were intelligent, long-lived, and huge in size... Could they be the attempt made by the giant kingdom?
The twenty countries chose to form a coalition to launch an attack because they could not accept this abnormal evolution.

What role did Naim play in this?
Bucky was more interested in this.

But at this time the sea kings stopped talking, and Shirahoshi chose to take Buggy and swim deeper into the blast furnace.

She wanted to see what ashes looked like?

There were many corpses of sea kings floating in the blast furnace, and the phosphorescent fire was produced in their bodies. These sea kings seemed to be trying to use their bodies as fuel to reignite the fire.

This seems to be a futile exercise.

When Bucky and the others sank to the bottom of the blast furnace, they did not see any fire or ashes.

Time will smooth out all traces.

"King... they said that another king is needed to reignite the fire."

"To find another king...to win the war."

“Then the world will be connected.”

Shirahoshi could understand what the Sea Kings meant, but it was difficult for her to convey their meaning to Buggy.

But Buggy suddenly laughed, "You can ask if the king is called Nika and is from the Sun God."

His eyes were narrowed.

"Well, maybe it was called Joyboy eight hundred years ago."

Bai Xing's face was full of confusion.

Whether it was the king mentioned by the sea kings or Nika mentioned by Buggy, they were things she had never heard of.

However, she still conveyed this message to the sea kings.

wow——

The sea kings hovering outside the blast furnace suddenly became excited, staring down with their huge eyeballs. It seemed that only then did they pay serious attention to the clown following the king.

"They said that Joyboy was the old king, the former sun god Nika, and his will has been passed down through this..."

"The King will be born again."

Shirahoshi felt like she had become a mouthpiece, passing messages back and forth between the Sea Kings and Buggy.

"Yes."

Buggy asked Shirahoshi to take him out of the blast furnace and outside.

The super-giant sea kings were circling around him, looking at him with scrutiny in their eyes.

"So the power of the devil will continue to cover up everything and make the king's will drown in the sea like this city."

"It's like you... you were once pioneers, but now you are forgotten and hated like a monster of the sea."

"You attack every ship that enters the doldrums."

"It's just because countless ships once attacked this place and you."

Buggy's speech speed is not fast, so it is not difficult to convey Buggy's meaning. Shirahoshi can easily convey it through her own abilities.

After Buggy can finish his sentence, he can clearly observe the reactions of the Sea Kings.

They have human wisdom, but over the years they have become dull and unable to conceal their wisdom, leaving everything exposed.

The expressions of the sea kings suddenly became anxious and they bared their teeth at Buggy, as if they were ready to swallow him at any time.

This actually confirmed Bucky's guess.

The sea kings were an attempt by the once great kingdom to evolve all of humanity, like the mountain spiders of Saint Satan and the sandworms of Saint Peter.

But in contrast...

"But you refuse to step out of the Calm Belt and treat this dilapidated ruin as your nest. Is it because... your evolution is not yet complete?"

Boom!
A huge sea king that looked like a sea snake suddenly jumped in front of them, and the strong current it created forced Shirahoshi to quickly hold on to the wall.

This reaction made Bucky even happier.

His gaze completely left this ancient city and lingered on the city defenders.

Well, it seems that I guessed right.

"Who are you? they are asking."

The emotions transmitted from the sea kings were full of questioning and shouting, but Shirahoshi herself turned it into a soft and sticky tone.

She still didn't dare to speak loudly to the clown.

"The one who supports the only king." Buggy grinned, still speaking slowly. With few facts, he had to adjust his words according to the reactions of the sea kings.

The sea kings did not react violently to this, at least calmer than when Buggy had just poked their sore spot.

"We don't need another king. Someone has already created a new kind of fire. The seas will soon become one..."

“The tsunami is proof of that.”

Buggy brought up the tsunami as an excuse again, just like a charlatan during a natural disaster, using people's powerless emotions when facing a natural disaster to decorate himself.

However, it is also very useful on sea kings, who also possess human intelligence.

"where is it?"

White Star conveyed.

(End of this chapter)