The infinite sword system has been mastered, and you say this is the dragon clan?

Chapter 421 Pirate Empress, Steno!?
"666, so according to you, the locals' worship of Oceanus—'the great ocean that encircles the world'—corresponds to the ring-shaped ocean region of the Grand Line, right!"

Emiya followed this line of thought and realized that his ability to make sarcastic remarks had improved recently—was that something to celebrate?

"Anyway, isn't this quite a coincidence? These Road Sign Keys, one for each person, four in total, that's the Four Emperors. If you collect them all, you'll be the Pirate King—you're cosplaying as Shanks, and then once we get one of the four Road Signs, we can rightfully proclaim ourselves the Emperor of the Sea!"

God the hell are the Four Emperors!

Emiya thought to himself that even if there really was such a title as one of the Four Emperors, most of the other people's strength would not be able to match his own, Shanks.

Unless the other three emperors are all Grand Servants at the peak of their power.

Wait, that's not right... Considering that even Buggy the Clown could become a Yonko in the later stages of One Piece, the possibility of a fake Yonko also exists.

As they spoke, the scene around Regina continued to change as Nono profiled her. Unlike the others who still had the mood to joke around, the girl's expression was serious, and she focused her attention on Maria's grandmother, who would arrive on the island hundreds of years later, without blinking.

Maria's voice continued to echo, her tone becoming increasingly like that of a charlatan spouting nonsense. Even more shocking and disheartening was the fact that the others echoed her words in unison, like mystical heretics:

The endless tides of the Yanghe River rise and fall, the clear and turbid waves of the four seas and hundreds of rivers, only the four elements are the foundation of heaven and earth, the nodes that seal the flow of energy, the revelation of the Heavenly Eye is clear, the sun and moon shine again, this place refers to 'fire'...

This time, even without Nono's translation, most people could still understand: there was only one valid piece of information, which was that the key mark stored here corresponded to the fire element authority.

The way it's phrased is just too profound and childish.

"..."

Rachel felt her cheeks burning and nervously intertwined her ten fingers.

Maria, her grandmother in her teenage years, had a voice almost identical to hers, except for the tone of her speech. So this profiling process felt more like Regina Reeves listening to another "chuunibyou" version of herself muttering to herself, which was incredibly awkward.

Unfortunately, because Amor shared a piece of information, Emiya also listened in on the whole thing. Thinking of this, she suddenly felt flustered and uncertain, because she had always admired her grandmother and would often say things like "Grandmother once said..."

Well, this is terrible. The younger version of her grandmother speaks like this... It's so different from the older Maria she remembers raising her. The girl felt a little tired, afraid that her image and reputation in the eyes of others would be damaged.

Wow, that's cool! Reggie Love learned all this from your grandmother? Could you teach me sometime?

Erii, who had been silent all along, suddenly gave Reggie Love a thumbs up, indicating that although she didn't understand, she really wanted to learn.

"Ah!" Reggie Love cried out inwardly. Had her reputation already been ruined?!

Erii's eyes blinked: "I learned a few similar lines when I watched 'Kamen Rider Kabuto' last time, you know? The protagonist, Tendou Souji, always said in a very cool way, 'My grandmother once said, I am the one who walks the path of heaven and governs everything,' but I can never quite grasp the essence of it. Maybe I need to have a grandmother who truly taught me something, like Reggie Love..."

Upon hearing this, Regina's mind went completely blank with confusion and embarrassment: "..." What is that? I've never seen it before! My grandmother Maria never taught me any cringeworthy quotes!

"cough!"

Emiya sensed the conversation was veering off course and gently tapped Erii's forehead. "This far-northern organization of the Star Maria doesn't really understand the truth of the world, so they use all sorts of mystical terms to explain it. Believe me, Erii, if you actually try to read those mystical books, you'll find it's not cool at all, and you'll fall asleep in less than half an hour."

What about "The Golden Dawn Scroll," "A Detailed Explanation of Reversed Tarot Cards," and "Macroastronomical Astrology and Omens of Fate"...?

"Oh……"

Erii responded softly, seemingly giving up on the matter. Reggie, who had been helped by Emiya to smooth things over, felt a warmth in her heart and breathed a sigh of relief.

After chatting for a while, the figures ahead finally stopped their heretical chanting and began their in-depth exploration. Emiya noticed that the stone chamber they had entered seemed to be buried in a specific location on the island, and turned to look at Nono.

Nono stared intently at the gray, twisting, and swaying shadows, silently giving Emiya an "OK" sign to indicate that she knew the entrance to the stone chamber.

Emiya was relieved, but just then, a scream suddenly came from among the shadows!

[Damn it! What are these things? Demons crawling up from the gates of hell?!]

[Calm down, First Officer Jeffries. To pass through the Gates of God, something always has to be paid, doesn't it? Before reaching the ultimate destination, we must first endure the trials of hell and even purgatory.]

Oh my god! I wish I were a Dante guided by angels!

【Haha, Captain Perez, why worry? Our guiding angel is right beside us!】 The meaning behind that rough voice was self-evident, followed by a chorus of loud echoes.

Emiya didn't need to look closely at the shadows' movements to know that their words were just another round of subtly praising the goddess Maria.

However, he didn't care how many admirers surrounded Maria. In the end, they were all losers. They didn't make it back alive, and Maria chose to marry Vincent, the coward they looked down on. She was then deceived by his sweet talk and imprisoned on the Yamal for life.

What he was more concerned about was that the shadows in the stone chamber were soon surrounded by larger shadows. Those shadows that moved rapidly around them, more agile and strange, looked like fallen dead servants, but upon closer inspection, they were much taller than those that Emiya had seen, and perhaps more powerful sub-adult dragon servants.

Each terrifying, grotesque shadow resembled a massive, rampaging building. The bodyguards accompanying Saint Mary seemed to be armed with heavy firepower, the deafening roar of gunfire filling the air. The scene was chaotic, causing the footage to be intermittent and increasingly distorted and blurry, as if suffering from a poor signal. Emiya couldn't even determine the exact difference in firepower between the Saint Mary's side and the monsters' combat strength...

We won! We won! Hahaha, we got the 'landmark'!

[Quickly, quickly, give this to the Holy Maiden for interpretation; this is the result of a bloody battle...]

After an unknown amount of time, the number of shadows became noticeably sparse, the scene quieted down, and a few people cheered, but there was a hint of unconcealed sorrow in their cheers.

They continued to protect the saintess in the center, just as before. The young girl Maria also used her gentle and soothing tone to comfort everyone. Her words were like a sweet spring watering the men's parched and cracked hearts. As a result, the morale of the entire exploration team, which had been low, actually rose again!
It was as if they were willing to fight for their goddess at any cost...

Emiya clicked his tongue inwardly, thinking to himself, "As expected, the brainwashing of this kind of heresy is terrifying. Everyone is willing to risk their lives for the Holy Maiden. Even the First Generations who set up this trap would have to say that humans are really crazy."

Although he didn't mean to be too offensive, he couldn't help but think of Athena's famous line from the Saint Seiya series, "Don't you still have life?"

Unfortunately, the biggest difference is that these sycophants, while having the mindset of goddesses and Saint Seiya warriors, lack the resilience of Saint Seiya warriors.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

After the profiling process was completed, Nono directly determined the location of the key and how to enter, even including the traps she might encounter and the flight path of the next key. The progress was unexpectedly gratifying. Emiya then summoned the Heroic Spirits to prepare for a collective exploration. He wasn't overconfident, nor did he intend to handle it all alone—after all, if he did it all himself, wouldn't bringing so many people be completely pointless?

However, before that, we need to deal with a small problem.

"Gurgle...gurgle!"

Bound hand and foot, Blackbeard was nearly terrified and wet himself. "Lord Teach, are you finally going to be used and discarded like a worn-out millstone?! Waaah! Damn it, even if you kill me, there will definitely be a second or third me! Because, because..."

Why is that?

Beside the imposing cannon barrel, the adorable face of little Leonardo da Vinci, responsible for determining the bearing, reveals curiosity.

"Because I am Blackbeard, waaaaaaah—"

Teach was ruthlessly shoved into the dark cannon barrel.

Emiya shrugged, ignoring the screams. "You asked for this. As the captain of the Blackbeard Pirates, you bombarded the entire island and destroyed the town, causing countless losses... But there's no judicial system here now, and our Red-Haired Pirates don't have time to pull this stunt for you."

"Hey hey!" Little Da Vinci finished adjusting the orbital angle and gave an OK sign. "So, we've adopted a more ironic and convenient method to deliver a quick verdict on you..."

"Oh! So that's how it is. So this is what they call karma? So what goes around comes around!" Blackbeard realized that his bound position resembled a round cannonball stuffed into a pipe.

"This is called 'fighting fire with fire.' Since you like firing shells so much, let you experience what it feels like to fly as a shell."

Seemingly sensing that they were serious, Blackbeard Teach looked like he was about to cry. "Quack, do I still have the right to utter a few words of my dying words?"

Emiya was about to leave when he turned back to look at the black-bearded man peeking out of the cannon barrel. "Go on, I'm listening."

"May I ask your name?"

"Redhead, Shanks."

"Oh, oh, oh, Shanks, you are the true Emperor of the Sea! I've lost, Blackbeard, it's over!"

boom!
The Leonardo da Vinci-themed Red Frost Cannon launched Blackbeard into the sky; his dark figure flashed by and disappeared like a shooting star across the heavens.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

In a certain sea area to the northwest, the vast ocean surface ripples, and dark blue or black patterns sway up and down in varying depths. Upon closer inspection, they are clearly many thick sea snakes swimming in the water!
As for the leading giant sea serpents, they were thousands of meters long, resembling sea monsters, with several sturdy reins attached to them, pulling an ancient giant ship sailing on the ocean.

"My dear Medusa, what are you doing?"

A purple-haired girl named Euryale leaned over and poked Medusa, a little girl with a similar face, on the deck. Medusa instinctively wanted to avoid Euryale's teasing, but dared not openly disobey, so she looked embarrassed.

"Sister, I... am scouting the sea."

"Hey! Can't we just leave that kind of thing to these obedient Amazon warriors?" Euryale poked Medusa's cheek mercilessly, grinning as she watched her sister's defiant expression. "We're 'Goddesses,' you know. We just need to show off our beauty and enjoy ourselves!"

"...But I want to help my two older sisters and drive away those malicious villains!"

Medusa clenched her fists, but this only drew laughter from her sisters.

"Hehehe——"

On the other side, a purple-haired beauty with a figure and appearance almost identical to Euryale walked over gracefully. "Our sister is really as loyal as a dog, but things are different now. This is not the situation we had back then on the 'Invisible Island'."

“Sister Stheno…” Medusa called out the name of the purple-haired beauty.

Stheno, Euryale, and Medusa are the famous Gorgon sisters in Greek mythology, the snake-haired monsters. Legend has it that the human hero Perseus became famous by killing Medusa, the youngest of the three sisters.

"Hehehe, because of this special time and space, we have now obtained the body of a goddess! Not a weak and powerless idol girl, but a divine servant with martial prowess. Come, my valiant and agile warrior—"

Stheno waved his hand, and several strong female warriors who were guarding the four directions on the deck, their expressions fanatical and obsessed, came at his command as if they had lost their souls, falling down and kneeling in worship under the invisible charm of the goddess.

"See? No matter what kind of hero comes, they will all become the goddess's captive. My dear sister, this is our advantage in this spiritually vibrant, closed sea area—wait, what?"

The three sisters looked up at the sky without prior arrangement.

A dark shadow flew from the sky, like a giant cannonball striking the giant ship of the three Gorgon goddesses!

"Enemy attack!" The female warriors, with their muscles taut and displaying exceptional combat skills, instantly drew their bows and arrows in an attempt to intercept the attack.

Medusa also raised a scythe attached to a long chain and swung it, but her eldest sister Stheno and second sister Euryale did not move.

Rumble!
The reverse-flying arrows and chains successfully intercepted the black cannonballs, but it seemed they only hit some outer shell fragments; something inside still tumbled and rolled onto the deck with a thud.

"Gurgle..." The indescribable blackbeard let out a whimpering sound as his spirit origin was severely injured.

Stheno's expression remained unchanged, her tone slightly cold, "Oh dear, a dark, ugly man? Is this a provocation to the goddess?"

"The Emperor of the Sea... Shanks, you win..." Blackbeard lay on the ground, muttering incoherently, seemingly on his deathbed.

"Shanks?"

Stheno's interest was piqued. She made a heart shape with her hands, and then a pink heart-shaped beam of light shone from it, illuminating Blackbeard. "I want to know more—"

(Eldest sister: Sweet and refreshing!)
(End of this chapter)