I am the Bandit King of the East Sea.

After a few words, Zefa's expression grew increasingly grim.

The dragon had already made things clear, leaving Zephyr with no choice but to confront the facts he had previously unconsciously ignored.

He was a true admiral of the navy, and indeed possessed formidable strength and high prestige, with disciples everywhere.

But in the decades since, not a single person has come to agree with or potentially carry on his ideas.

Only Higuma, who recently rejoined the Navy, shares similar ideals with Zephyr.

"What exactly are you trying to say? You're not so naive as to think you can recruit me, a naval admiral, into the revolutionary army, are you?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Zefa's face flushed red, and his breathing became rapid. He immediately took out a medicine bottle from his pocket, swallowed the medicine, and his complexion improved.

Dragon and Ivankov watched quietly as Zefa finished taking his medicine. After exchanging a glance, Ivankov nodded slightly.

"Did it start from the time you lost to Whitebeard? Your injuries have never fully healed, or have they caused complications?" Ivankov asked, but Zephyr remained expressionless and did not answer at all.

"You should have heard of Ivankov, he's known as a miracle worker..." the dragon murmured.

“Zeff, you know in your heart that we, the Revolutionary Army, and you, the admiral who is trying to build a heroic navy, are not enemies…”

.................

On the coast.

The navy personnel had already assembled next to the stranded naval training ship.

Standing at the very front of the line was Vice Admiral Doberman, the surviving dog, but his posture was a bit awkward, standing out from the upright sailors around him.

He survived the tsunami because he was on the coast of Kenzan Island when it struck, due to his limited mobility.

A golden light flashed in the distance, landing on the beach and gradually coalescing into a human shape—it was the newly appointed Admiral Kizaru.

In front of Kizaru, Vice Admiral Doberman, a survivor of the tsunami, reported on the news of the Navy survivors.

"The tsunami not only destroyed the naval fleet, but also swept across the coast of Sword Mountain Island? Sig's coffin can't be found... and Admiral Zephyr is still missing..."

The training ship has not found many survivors so far, and the losses are considered heavy.

"I see, the tsunami that Siguru created was truly terrifying..." Kizaru replied casually.

"Oh right, what about a colonel named Higuma? I remember he was also in Teacher Zephyr's training camp... I heard he was very active on the battlefield."

"Higuma... This person is not currently on the list of surviving naval personnel."

Doberman dismissed it, then changed the subject:

"However, General Borsalino, we have discovered some unusual situations near the coast."

"Abnormal? Tell me about it."

"I can't explain this either... On another beach, a strange distortion has appeared... Admiral Borsalino should go and see for himself."

As he spoke, Doberman frowned; he was also puzzled.

A moment later.

On the beach where Sigir once took photos, Kizaru stood under a palm tree, lost in thought.

The two or three palm trees on the beach all had straight trunks, but one of them had a strangely bent trunk.

Kizaru examined the tree trunk for a long time before suddenly realizing, "This tree is growing crooked?"

Doberman's eye twitched: "Of course not!"

He pointed to a nearby rock that was also noticeably twisted, and then reached out to touch the bent tree trunk.

A shocking scene unfolded: when Doberman's fingers touched the tree trunk, they began to bend in a bizarre way.

When he pulled his finger back, it remained straight, unaffected in the slightest.

Seeing this, even the usually nonchalant Kizaru finally showed surprise in his eyes.

He pointed towards the tree trunk and the reef, and golden light shone from his fingertip, then a beam of golden light shot out.

As the golden light passed through the tree trunk, it strangely curved and shot towards the sea, grazing the trunk.

"How strange! This is the first time I've ever seen something like this. It can even distort my light."

Kizaru stroked his chin thoughtfully for a moment, then gave an order to his subordinates:

"Bring me the video Den Den Mushi."

Kizaru gradually became interested as well.

This anomaly, which could even distort light, was something he, a user of the Glint-Glint Fruit, had never seen before.

Although his Glint-Glint Fruit is powerful, it still has to follow the laws of nature.

In a uniform medium, light can only travel in a straight line. Therefore, although his speed is extremely fast after he transforms into an elemental being, he can generally only move in a straight line or move by reflecting light through a mirror.

However, if one can fully understand the principle of light bending... and further develop their abilities, this would be of extraordinary significance to Kizaru.

Light, which can bend and change direction at will, is far more flexible than light, which can only travel in a straight line.

"Also, use a Den Den Mushi to contact... Vegapunk."

With that in mind, Kizaru gave another order.

Chapter 463 Space Warp Engine Spaceship?

In this world, the person who understands light best might not be Kizaru, a Devil Fruit user, but rather the Navy's chief scientist, Vegapunk, who had long been researching the "laser light" of the Glint-Glint Fruit.

The call was connected quickly.

"Dr. Vegapunk, under what circumstances would light bend?"

After the call connected, Kizaru got straight to the point.

"As far as I know, there are two possibilities: one is that light can travel in a curved path under inhomogeneous conditions, and the other is that the strong gravitational field around a massive object can also cause light to bend. Therefore, around all massive celestial bodies... I mean stars, there should be spacetime vortices, and spacetime would be distorted to some extent due to the strong gravitational field around the star..."

When asked about his expertise, Vegapunk became quite talkative, so Kizaru quickly interrupted him:

"Dr. Vegapunk, the connection with the Den Den Mushi should be established by now, right?"

"I found some strange things on Sword Mountain Island. Which category does this fall into?"

As Kizaru spoke, he faced the camera of the Den Den Mushi, and a beam of light continuously shone from his finger, passing directly through the palm tree. It was noticeably deflected in the distorted area before finally shooting into the sea.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the Den Den Mushi, Vegapunk was watching the commotion from afar through the screen.

After carefully watching Kizaru's demonstration several times and conducting a simple test, Vegapunk's doubts deepened.

"The bending of light is clearly visible to the naked eye...it doesn't seem like either of these situations..."

Vegapunk pondered for a moment, then suddenly remembered a word that Kizaru had mentioned earlier.

Sword Mountain Island.

Vegapunk held considerable authority within the Navy's science unit, and he had already learned that the coffin that had come from the depths of space contained Sieg.

Kizaru's mission was to come to Kenzan Island on orders from the Marine Headquarters to collect survivors and arrest Higuma.

"Could this be related to Sig?" Vegapunk blurted out.

"Sigurd? You think this strange distortion was caused by Sigurd?" Kizaru stroked his chin and said.

"However, it's not impossible. Sig seems to be very mysterious, and his coffin seems to have been swept away by the tsunami and cannot be found."

Kizaru's words, however, made Vegapunk's thoughts even more active.

Clearly, this distortion is not just ordinary light bending; other materials, including human hands, palm trees, and rocks, are also distorted in the same way.

"What's distorted isn't light or any other matter... but space itself!"

"It seems that space itself has been distorted! Within that small area, the curvature of space has changed significantly!"

"The light didn't bend; it still traveled in a straight line through the distorted space..."

As Vegapunk blurted out the words, countless thoughts flashed through his mind.

The strong gravitational field formed by a massive object can not only deflect light, but also distort four-dimensional spacetime. According to Vegapunk's understanding, this should create the so-called spacetime vortex effect.

However, the distortion phenomenon on Sword Mountain Island is limited to only a small part of the space.

To make light bend in a way that is visible to the naked eye, you would need a massive object, which is clearly not feasible.

"If this strange distortion is indeed related to Sigurd, then is it the power of some kind of Devil Fruit, or...?"

"The power of technology?"

Vegapunk's eyes suddenly brightened, shining like stars.

Vegapunk is hailed as a genius three hundred years ahead of his time, but as a member of the World Government, he faces many limitations and his exploration of the universe is limited.

Launching a lunar probe secretly is already the limit.

But in Vegapunk's heart, there existed the stars and the sea.

Many equally groundbreaking concepts existed only in Vegapunk's mind; they were merely concepts and were never verified.

But now, Vegapunk seems to see the moment when fantasy becomes reality.

"The ability to alter the curvature of spacetime is related to Sig... and Sig emerged from the depths of space in a coffin..."

Thoughts flashed through Vegapunk's mind, one idea after another appearing and colliding in his mind, and being constantly rejected.

Finally, an extremely bold hypothesis emerged in Vegapunk's mind.

"Could it be that Sieg has mastered the space curvature drive engine technology?"

This hypothesis, like a bolt of lightning cleaving through dark clouds, illuminated Vegapunk's mind, instantly stimulating his thinking.

In Vegapunk's imagination, space curvature engine technology is one of the prerequisite technologies for interstellar travel, which may enable humanity to achieve faster-than-light interstellar travel and head towards the stars.

However, Sieg returned from the depths of the starry sky in a coffin, leaving behind traces of altered spatial curvature on Sword Mountain Island.

"Was the origin of that coffin and those seven dark figures farther than I imagined?"

"Perhaps it wasn't a coffin at all, but a faster-than-light spaceship disguised as one!"

"Who exactly is Sieg? Where did he come from? What is his purpose? Does he really possess warp drive technology that far surpasses his era?"

Countless questions lingered in Vegapunk's mind.

If he is three hundred years ahead of his time, then even he cannot see how many years ahead of his time his warp drive technology is.