Chapter 42: 42
The sounds of battle shook the walls of the Cake Island—thuds, booming screams and the howl of metal. Somewhere above us, Big Mom, roaring with rage, fought with Kaido and the projection of Whitebeard, but the outcome was obvious: her strength was gradually fading under the pressure of two opponents. The pirates of the Charlotte family were outnumbered, and their resistance seemed sluggish against the fierce pressure of the Beasts controlled by the Pirates. I didn't waste time on their desperation—all this chaos was just a backdrop for my search.
I wandered through the treasury, examining the massive stone blocks. Poneglyphs. Three of them stood out among the piles of treasures. The first one, an ordinary gray one, was covered with neat rows of symbols. I slowly ran my finger over the rough surface, reading the lines.
"The depths of the oceans provide a path for those who see the stars. Four currents, four boundaries. The foot of the three islands is a place where all the waters converge to one point..."
There is no pretentious truth, just notes, like an old sea atlas left by those who understood the structure of the sea better than others. They recorded knowledge that could be the key for any sailor who could read between the lines.
The second poneglyph was different.
"When our fingers were reaching for heaven, the world lowered its eyes to the ground. We Long-armed Ones built cities out of stone until the giants' hammers stopped. Our bridges have survived the ages, but time has not spared either us or them..."
A story frozen in words. Non—threatening, not political, just the fact of their existence. The stone chronicle of a people who held on to their identity for too long and eventually disappeared into time, like many before them.
The red Poneglyph was further away, hidden from view at the back of the hall. The coin used for fortune-telling led me to a narrow passage between the statues and a pile of treasures. I made my way inside when a familiar figure appeared in front of me. Perospero, licking his fingers, lazily swayed forward.
—I saw how you got separated from Kaido's team,— his voice sounded mocking. — Is it stupid, you know? The poneglyph is likely to be one of Kaido's main targets.
I shrugged, glancing past him to the scarlet Poneglyph.
"Maybe I'm not on their team at all."
"You're being disrespectful,— he drawled, snapping his caramel staff.
I didn't answer. It was useless to talk to him, as well as to fight. Perospero understood the silence in his own way and threw a stream of sticky caramel at me. I stepped into the fire, disappearing with a fiery leap, and found myself in front of a Red Poneglyph. The last lines are engraved with deep incisors:
Under the light of the stars and the dominion of the moon's shadows, see the path leading to the land where the sea ends. Draw an arc at an angle of 62 degrees from the north-west direction from the northern borders of the flow of the Eternal Log. Along this path, at a latitude equal to XX° YY', there is a hidden boundary where celestial bodies meet the edges of the known world. Crossing this boundary, the traveler enters the boundaries of a forgotten era, which hides the truth of the past.
Perospero kept pushing, but I hardly paid any attention to him. His caramel shells dug into the stone walls, cracked, turning gold and treasures into a trap for those who clumsily move. But not for me. With one fiery leap, I was outside the treasury and emerged from the tunnel directly into the gray sky, soaked through with the smell of gunpowder and burning wood.
"Everyone retreat," I said, looking at the remnants of the fleet of Beasts.
The air trembled with the roaring Kaido and the roars of the not-yet-fallen Big Mom. Their battle, like two hurricanes, devastated everything around them. Even Whitebeard's projection, disembodied and alien to this world, already looked like it was dissipating. All three of them were exhausted, but their inertia did not allow them to finish the fight — they fought automatically, by instinct. However, their troops pursued us.
— Go ahead! Faster! King barked, standing at the edge of the last ship. His wings were outstretched, claws at the ready, but he did not move from his place. The Guardian.
I crossed the deck, ignoring the chaos around me. A moan came from the sea. First one ship — then the second — went down, cut by the attack from the shore. The air smelled of salt and blood.
Enel's puppet was a piece of bloody meat, not a former god. Lightning crackled in the distance, but there was no one to support him. The body collapsed, collapsing next to King. On the other side of the deck, I noticed Quinn, one of the few people still standing. Instead of the right arm, there was a ragged stump, from which a thick, almost black spot of blood was escaping. The smoothie obviously spared no effort. Ulti was breaking through nearby, fighting off more attacks, but she looked exhausted.
Jack and Doflamingo — despite the emptiness in their eyes — were able to snatch the victory from the Cracker. He lay motionless, but the price was dozens of dead on the battlefield. Doflamingo staggered, his fingers still twitching, weaving invisible threads. Jack continued to disperse the enemy army in the form of a mammoth.
— The fleet is decreasing! — a voice came from the foremast. — The wind is weak!
I turned my gaze to the water. There weren't as many ships following us as there were in the beginning. Of the eighteen thousand soldiers, barely a thousand remained — those who managed to reach the ships. The rest either died or remained in Totland, crushed by debris or abandoned in helpless flight.
King rushed forward with lightning speed, holding the mast, which was cut off by a sudden attack from the shore. A little more and the ship would have lost its main sail. I glanced in his direction, and then shifted my gaze to the two furious silhouettes on the horizon —Kaido and Big Mom were still converging in a deadly dance. Their strength was running out, and their stubbornness was leaving a devastating mark.
Not wanting to lose such a useful puppet, I quickly activated the "replacement", swapping places with it. Big Mom roared furiously when she noticed the movement, but it was too late. One more substitution, and my place was replaced by a useless puppet standing on board the Leviathan. The enraged Big Mom, realizing that she was unable to catch up with us, quickly killed her. Her gaze was accompanied by a maggot, which quickly flew towards my body.
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Our ship was moving further away from Totto Land, leaving a mess and ruins in its wake. The silhouettes of the flaming archipelago were still visible in the distance, but soon disappeared into the thick sea fog. Big Mom stayed on the archipelago, her screams lost in the sound of the waves.
There was silence on the deck. The once invincible army of Beast pirates now looked like a beaten pack of dogs. Wounds, torn clothes, and blank stares. They were silent, but each of them understood perfectly well that they had been thrown into a battle from which not all were supposed to return. The war had squeezed them dry, and their commanders had shown no mercy. I could see it in their eyes: fear, pent-up anger, and a desire to run.
By nightfall, some of the ships had already left the flotilla. I stood on the upper deck, looking at their treacherous silhouettes walking away under the light of the dim moon. One of the Shinuchi burst into Kaido's cabin and reported what was happening with nervous haste.
—Let them go,— Kaido's voice, amplified by my control, was deep and indifferent. — They are no longer needed.
The fleet continued to thin out every day. Time after time, ship after ship broke away from us, going in an unknown direction. At first, ordinary soldiers left, then officers, seeing salvation in this. Even Toby Roppo's exes began to disappear, as if mockingly realizing that Kaido would not interfere with their escape.
A few days have passed. Of the entire fleet of Beast pirates, there was only one ship and a crew of five hundred people. The rest either died or chose to try their luck elsewhere. That was fine with me.
At night, when the sea was calm and the stars were barely breaking through the clouds, we finally reached the right point. The ship froze in place, and Quinn, with a paper hand replaced, made a mechanism that began to slowly sink into the water. There was silence all around, broken only by the creaking of chains and the lapping of waves.
A few minutes later, a heavy square stone covered with sea salt and ancient writings emerged from the water. I took a few steps forward, studying its surface. It was him, the last red poneglyph.
"Get him on board," I said calmly, taking my eyes off the hieroglyphs.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone