socalfunplaces 43: In the fog... what's that?!
43: In the fog... what's that?!
"Yes, 'them,' there's definitely more than one of those things! Although we..."
Before York could finish speaking, Lingling shouted:
"Auro! Look! To the right front!"
Her shout carried an unprecedented solemnity, piercing through the increasingly thick fog.
Although only Oro was called, everyone on both ships subconsciously turned their gaze in that direction.
At that moment, everyone's breathing almost stopped simultaneously.
Deep within the fog, two dark red lights broke through the white veil, like two blood-red stars that had fallen into the deep sea, hovering in mid-air.
The ball of light was at least a hundred meters in diameter, with a liquid-like halo flowing around its edges, from which no emotion could be seen.
As the light pupils rotated, the surrounding thick fog seemed to be forcibly torn apart by an invisible force, revealing a distorted void, yet the outline of the body behind the light pupils remained unclear.
Even more strangely, as the red pupil moved, the surrounding seawater began to resonate violently.
The Golden Dawn was alright, but the Rumba pirate ship's wrecked hull creaked and groaned, and even the planks were shaking.
Molly, still below the boat, was pale. Although the elevator beneath her was rising, she could still clearly sense that the water's rotation speed had increased threefold!
It was as if an invisible hand was stirring the sea, trying to drag the two ships completely into the whirlpool.
"What the hell is that?!"
One of the Rumbar Pirates crew members couldn't help but gasp, his voice filled with fear.
Although they had been attacked multiple times in the past month, they had never seen the "monster" so clearly before.
Those empty, crimson eyes emanated a chilling, inanimate aura that was more suffocating than any pirate's murderous intent.
At the same time, the sensation transmitted by the nano-gold powder made Oro's heart sink—
Right in the direction of those two pairs of red pupils, that dark red unknown substance had formed a visible dark red mist tide, sweeping in like a tsunami!
Oro leaped into the air, jumping from the deck of the Rumba pirate ship back to the Golden Dawn, landing next to Lingling:
"Lingling! Let's go together!"
"good!"
Without needing to say more, Lingling instantly understood Oro's intention thanks to their long-standing tacit understanding.
The Conqueror's Haki that she unconsciously emitted suddenly condensed and intertwined with the Conqueror's Haki that erupted from Auro, forming an invisible wave of energy.
With a wave of his hands, Oro caused the golden plates on both sides of the ship to peel off and recombine instantly, forming a golden greatsword twenty meters long in his hands.
The sword blade was covered with fine spiral patterns, and Auro's intense Conqueror's Haki swirled around it like black flames.
Wherever the blade passed, even the air was torn apart with tiny cracks.
Lingling poured all her powerful aura into the golden giant axe in her hand, and the axe blade gleamed with a deep black luster.
Both of them braced themselves on the ground with both feet, lowering their bodies simultaneously and concentrating all their strength into their arms—
"Awe-inspiring nation!"
The two shouted in unison, their voices resounding in all directions.
The golden greatsword and the golden giant axe were swung out simultaneously, their black aura and golden sharpness intertwining to form a massive slashing wave that spanned the sea.
This strike was like a sharp blade that cleaved the heavens and the earth, slashing directly at the surging dark red fog.
"boom!!!"
The moment the slash struck the thick fog, it produced a deafening roar!
This thing has a physical form!
The dark red fog was instantly cleaved apart, turning into countless tiny specks of light that dissipated into the air.
The sea was forcibly cleaved open! The seawater surged to both sides, forming two walls of waves hundreds of meters high!
The fog-covered area, which was already trembling violently, now resembled an underwater earthquake.
The Rumbar Pirates' ship rocked so hard it almost capsized, and the white mist in the distance churned wildly, as if countless things were stirring within it.
"Now!"
Without pausing, the instant Wei Guo struck, Oro manipulated the gold in front of the ship to rapidly transform, condensing into three layers of densely packed gold mesh.
The gaps in the filter are filled with nano-sized gold threads, which can block the residual dark red mist and filter the toxins in the thick white mist.
At the same time, he released a large amount of golden threads, which, like a giant fishing net, quickly wrapped around the hull of the Rumba pirate ship and bound it firmly.
"Everyone! Hold on tight!"
With a loud shout, Oro fully activated the golden propulsion system at the stern of the Golden Dawn.
The next instant, the Golden Dawn shot off like an arrow, dragging the Rumba pirate ship at full speed to the left, away from that empty red eye.
The dark red pupils seemed to be enraged by this attack, and an even deeper "humming" came from the depths of the fog.
The red pupil suddenly moved faster, and the surrounding seawater resonated more violently.
Countless tiny metal fragments were stirred up from the seabed, swirling with the current to form a huge metal vortex that chased after the two ships.
"It's catching up!"
Taylor's voice was very tense as she and the mermaids desperately pulled Molly back onto the ship.
The pulling force of that giant vortex was so strong that the Golden Dawn's thrusters began to show signs of overload.
Auro gritted his teeth, manipulated the gold to transform again, wrapped it with a large amount of cannonballs and gunpowder, and then condensed dozens of sharp golden spikes at the stern of the ship, which he then shot fiercely at the pursuing metal vortex.
The moment the spike pierced the whirlpool, it triggered a series of explosions. Although it failed to completely destroy the whirlpool, it successfully caused the seawater to churn.
Finally, the two ships were freed from the gravitational pull, and the Golden Dawn continued to travel at full speed after escaping gravity.
Only when the red light in his eyes completely disappeared into the depths of the thick fog and the resonance of the seawater gradually subsided did Oro slowly reduce the power of the thrusters.
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief and slumped onto their respective decks, panting heavily.
The crew of the Rumbar Pirates stared in awe at the massive Golden Dawn.
That attack just now was like that of a god.
York, gripping the ship's railing with a look of relief at surviving the ordeal, shouted towards Oro:
"Thank you all for your help! The Rumbar Pirates are extremely grateful!"
Oro jumped down again, letting Gails, who had finished healing, return to the Golden Dawn first, before speaking:
"Can you call me Oro? Have you heard of the 'Golden Pirates'?"
"Oh! It's you! I've heard so much about you!"
York looked at the magnificent and enormous hull of the Golden Dawn and suddenly realized:
"Then you are...?"
Oro curled his lip and waved his hand dismissively:
"Although the World Government's laws stipulate that going to sea illegally is thievery, their aesthetic standards, which harbor malicious intentions, are clearly very low. Please do not use that title to refer to me."
"Just call me Oro. So, what are you doing here, and what do you know about those red eyes?"
York nodded very seriously: "I understand, Captain Oro."
"To be honest, after observing for a while, we suspect this is the infamous Thriller Bark, but strangely, our original flight path never goes through here..."
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.
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