The bridge of the Dreadnought Thalassa hums with a frequency that resonates somewhere deep in the bones—a sound that isn't quite sound, more a vibration that travels through the obsidian alloy deck plates and up into the teeth. The chamber stretches in concentric rings, each tier descending toward the central command dais where the captain's chair sits like a throne carved from shadow and starlight.
Galit Varuna occupies the pilot's station, his impossibly long neck coiled into a loose S-curve as his emerald eyes sweep across the holographic displays that float before him. The geometric kelp-scars on his olive skin reflect fragments of the bridge's ambient glow, each pattern shifting as he adjusts the controls. His fingers—still bearing the faint scars of his underwater battle with Jinbe—dance across the surfaces with the grace of a conductor coaxing music from an orchestra.
Aurélie Nakano Takeko sits beside him in the copilot's seat, her silver hair cascading down her back like a waterfall frozen in time. Her posture remains ramrod straight, her steel-gray eyes fixed on the forward viewport where the turquoise waters of Amigo Island's coast shimmer in the afternoon sun. Anathema rests against her hip, the cursed blade's obsidian surface refracting fragments of the holographic displays, and for a moment—just a moment—something flickers beneath its surface. A crimson pulse. A hungry heartbeat.
Aurélie's voice cuts through the bridge's ambient hum, flat and measured. "Any word?"
Galit shakes his head, his neck uncoiling slightly with the movement. "No."
The air above the central dais shimmers. Halia materializes—not appearing so much as unfolding, her form resolving from fragments of golden light into the shape of a woman whose features shift with the fluidity of a being made from pure information. Her eyes, ancient and knowing, fix on the two pilots.
"I have configured a trajectory based on the Vivre card you have provided."
Galit nods, his emerald eyes narrowing with focus. "Are you able to lock in the coordinates?"
Code cascades across Halia's eyes—streams of symbols and glyphs that predate the Void Century, flowing like water across her pupils. Her expression remains serene, but there's a flicker of something almost like frustration in the set of her jaw.
"That is a negative. I am only able to calculate a course based on the pull of the card. The signal is... diffuse. The Red Hair Emperor's presence is not anchored to a single location."
Aurélie's fingers move swiftly across the console, her voice weighted by years of navigating impossible situations. "Transmit what you have to the Pluton."
Halia nods, her form flickering with the effort. "Affirmative."
---
The hatch to the bridge bangs open.
Galit and Aurélie both turn—Aurélie's hand drifting toward Anathema's hilt with the practiced reflex of a seasoned warrior, while Galit's neck coils into a defensive spiral.
Halia's voice carries the warmth of a mother welcoming children home. "Welcome back, Captain."
Marya Zaleska strides onto the bridge, raven hair stirring in the recycled air as her golden-ringed eyes scan the space with the alertness of a superior returning to familiar ground. The Heart Pirates insignia on her leather jacket cracks in the holographic displays, and Nisshoku's obsidian blade—strapped across her back—pulses with a slow, steady heartbeat that mirrors her own.
Behind her, a procession follows.
Luffy stumbles through the hatch first, his straw hat pulled low, his sandals slapping against the deck plates with clumsiness. His impossibly bright, starry eyes sweep across the bridge with a child's first glimpse of the ocean.
"This is your ship?"
Vesta Lavana practically bounces through the hatch beside him, her rainbow hair shimmering with each step, her violet eyes sparkling with the excitement of someone who has finally found an audience.
"Yeah! Isn't it the best?"
Luffy's eyes continue their sweep. The holographic displays. The obsidian alloy walls. The singularity core's glow—a contained stellar heart that pulses at the center of the far wall like the eye of a god.
"SO COOL!"
Atlas Acuta follows, rust-red fur reflecting the displays as amusement gleams in his blue eyes. His nib sways behind him with the indolence of a hunter that has already deemed the situation unworthy of its full attention.
Jannali Bandler enters with the practiced grace of someone accustomed to navigating spaces never built for her. Her afro bounces as her gold-and-crimson headscarf glints in the holographic illumination, while her brown eyes sweep the bridge with the curiosity of someone who hears the voice of everything.
Sanza Kaplan Figarland brings up the rear, his short legs pumping furiously to keep pace. His heavy Gallagher eyebrows are drawn together in concentration, his eight-year-old brain clearly working overtime to catalog every detail of the bridge for future reference.
Marya settles into the captain's chair. The seat conforms to her frame with a whisper of adjusting hydraulics, its surface warm from the residual heat of the singularity core thrumming somewhere deep in the vessel's belly.
"Do we have everyone?"
Galit nods, his neck uncoiling slightly. "Bō-Zak just returned. But he wasn't happy about it."
Jannali snorts, crossing her arms. "No surprise there, mate. He probably had to chuck a miss on whatever he was doing."
Atlas chuckles, the sound rumbling through his chest. "Won't be the last time."
Galit continues in the even tone of a routine status report. "Ember is secure on the ship with Jelly. Bianca is prepping the engine. And Charlie is in the kitchen with—"
Luffy interrupts.
"Kitchen?"
His stomach makes an audible sound—a low, rumbling growl that echoes through the bridge like distant thunder. His eyes, already impossibly wide, somehow grow even wider.
"I could go for some lunch."
Sanza announces with the eagerness of a child who has just discovered his purpose. "I can take you there!"
Vesta adds, her hand rising to her chest. "Oh yeah, I could totally go for something to eat right now."
Marya continues as if the interruption hasn't happened, her voice steady. "Do you have a course? Has it been relayed to the Pluton?"
Halia replies, her form flickering with the effort of maintaining cohesion. "A course has been plotted based on the directional pull of the Vivre card. However, I am in need of more information in order to triangulate a specific location for a successful jump."
---
The console beeps. Aurélie's eyes track to the communications panel, where a small indicator pulses with amber light.
"It's the Pluton."
Marya nods, her expression unchanging. "Put it on the screen."
The main monitor flickers.
Law's face materializes first—his spotted hat pulled low, his tattooed features set in an expression of controlled impatience. Beside him, Bepo's large form radiates anxiety, his ears flat against his skull. Jean Bart looms in the background, his massive arms crossed, his expression unreadable.
Law's voice crackles through the bridge's speakers. "Do you have coordinates?"
Luffy leaps forward, pointing at the screen with the excitement of a child who has just spotted a friend.
"That is so cool!"
Atlas reaches out, grabbing Luffy by the back of his vest, and pulls him back with the ease of a predator handling prey.
"Come on, Pirate King. We're trying to leave."
Marya shakes her head, replying with the measured patience of a captain managing a difficult crew. "Not yet. We are working—"
Another sound beeps.
Aurélie's fingers fly across the console, her voice sharpening. "We may have a situation."
Marya raises an eyebrow. "Situation?"
Aurélie's eyes remain fixed on her displays. "Yes. It appears authorities are closing in on the dock."
Marya shifts in her seat and rests her head on a bent elbow, her golden-ringed eyes narrowing as she considers the threat.
"Something I need to know?"
Aurélie glances over her shoulder, her steel-gray eyes meeting Marya's for just a moment. "There may have been a brief altercation with Ember during the extraction."
Law's voice crackles through the monitor. "Altercation?"
Marya sighs—a long, slow exhale that carries the weight of everything she hasn't said. "Disembark. I don't want to get stuck here."
Law nods, his image flickering as he turns to address his crew. "Let's get out of here."
Bepo and Jean Bart answer in unison, their voices bright with loyal enthusiasm. "Aye, aye, Captain!"
Both Marya and Law look up.
Pings echo on the hull—sharp, metallic sounds that travel through the obsidian alloy like stones skipping across still water. Muffled shouting follows, the words indistinct but the tone unmistakable.
Melinoë materializes on the Pluton's deck, her holographic form resolving from fragments of shadow and starlight. Her orca tail floats lazily behind her, her long hair drifting as if underwater, her expression permanently locked in a state of profound, soul-crushing existential gloom.
"I may be able to pinpoint a jump coordinate from a communication node. Not that anyone asked, though. I am just here. Waiting for someone to think about me."
Law groans, pinching the bridge of his nose.
Bepo reassures her with the earnest concern of a friend. "Don't say that. We think about you all the time."
A brief, knowing smirk crosses Marya's face. She turns to Halia and speaks with crisp authority.
"Are you able to lock in coordinates with the marsupial network?"
Code flashes across Halia's eyes. "Yes, Captain. I believe that is possible."
Marya nods, turning to Aurélie. "Get Shanks on the line."
Aurélie nods, her fingers already moving across the console.
Luffy jolts upright, his body tensing as if he has just heard the impossible.
"You're calling him?"
Marya looks over at him, her brow furrowing. "Of course I am."
---
Several rings.
Then—
A deep, warm voice crackles through the communications system, weighted by decades spent navigating the world's most dangerous waters.
"Marya? Is that you?"
Marya's expression doesn't change, but something flickers behind her golden-ringed eyes. Something guarded. Something careful.
Satisfaction colors Halia's voice as she announces, "Affirmative, Captain. Coordinates acquired and confirmed."
Melinoë's voice cuts through the monitor, flat and monotone. "Not that anyone wanted to know, but I have them too."
Shanks' voice crackles again, a thread of confusion woven through the warmth. "Marya? You there?"
Marya presses the comms button on her chair's armrest, her voice steady.
"Bianca. Prepare to jump."
Bianca's voice bursts through the speakers, flooding the bridge with chaotic energy. "Cool! Like, ready in like—"
Marya looks up at Law's image on the monitor.
Bepo announces with the pride of a navigator who has solved an impossible problem. "Coordinates locked. We're ready, Captain!"
Marya meets Law's gaze, her voice calm and measured, "See you in a bit."
Law nods, his image flickering as the monitor goes dark.
Marya announces, her voice carrying across the bridge. "Prepare to dive."
Galit nods, his neck coiling into a tight spiral as his fingers dance across the controls. "Dive, dive, dive."
Luffy stumbles backward, his arms windmilling as he fights for balance. "Whoa!"
Atlas tells him, "You may want to sit for this."
Bianca's voice crackles one last time, her words tumbling over each other in a rush. "Jumping in like, three, like two, like one—"
Halia announces, her form flickering with the effort of coordinating the jump. "Jumping now."
Luffy flops into a seat—just as the world twists.
---
The singularity core's hum spikes.
It's not a sound—not exactly. It's a vibration that travels through the obsidian alloy, through the deck plates, through the bones of everyone on the bridge. It's a frequency that exists somewhere beyond hearing, somewhere beyond the normal range of human perception, and yet—
Everyone feels it.
The holographic displays fracture. They don't flicker or glitch—they shatter, breaking into cascading waterfalls of light that reform into new configurations. The obsidian walls of the bridge blur, their edges smearing like wet ink on parchment. And for one impossible moment, Marya sees through the hull—
She sees dark water surrounding them.
She sees the geological strata of the ocean floor—layers of sediment and stone that have existed for millions of years, pressed together by the weight of the world above.
She sees the curve of the planet itself, bending around their vessel like a mother cradling a child.
Then reality snaps back into place.
The displays stabilize. The hum returns to its baseline rhythm. And through the forward viewport, Marya sees—
Nothing.
Just water. Endless, deep, dark water.
They are submerged.
The bridge is silent for a long moment. The only sounds are the steady hum of the singularity core and the distant, muffled groan of the hull adjusting to the pressure of the deep.
Luffy breaks the silence.
His voice is quiet—quieter than anyone has heard it since he woke up. There's something in it that sounds almost like fear. Almost like hope.
"Shanks..."
Marya looks at him. Her expression doesn't change, but something flickers behind her golden-ringed eyes. Something almost like understanding.
"Yeah," she says. "We're going to see him."
Luffy swallows. His throat bobs. His hands—resting on his knees—curl into fists.
And somewhere, in the darkness of the deep, the Dreadnought Thalassa and the Pluton glide forward through waters that have never known the touch of light.
Marya calls out to Galit, "Confirm our location and prepare to breach!"