"Vice Admiral Taro, I heard Lord Kuma is still at your Sabaody Archipelago, is that correct?"
Wearing a bellyband and carrying a large axe, Sentomaru came to welcome Taro. After boarding the ship, he couldn't wait to ask Taro the question.
Taro nodded, "Rest assured, the Sabaody Garrison will not attack him."
Sentomaru had heard about this and looked grateful, "Thank you for this, Vice Admiral Taro. You must have faced a lot of pressure by doing this, right?"
Pressure? Not at all!
Taro was stunned for a moment and waved his hand, "It's nothing on my end. However, while the Marine won't attack him, I can't guarantee those with ill intentions won't. Given the current situation, the Marine cannot stop everything."
"The current situation is fine; those scumbags can't beat Lord Kuma!" Sentomaru was very satisfied with the current state of affairs and didn't care much about the pirate attacks Kuma might face.
Taro frowned, not knowing where Sentomaru's confidence came from.
"I remember he wasn't wearing gloves on his hands; is his Devil Fruit Ability still there?"
Sentomaru thought for a moment and shook his head, "I don't know about that. Perhaps you can ask Dr. Vegapunk."
Taro's heart stirred; with Sentomaru's personality, if he knew, he definitely wouldn't be able to hold it in.
Since he didn't say, it was almost certain he really didn't know.
Looking around and confirming the course, Taro asked, "Are we heading towards the Red Line? Is Dr. Vegapunk at Marijoa?"
"Yes and no, you'll find out in a moment!" Sentomaru first nodded, then shook his head.
Then, the man with the tightest lips in the world spoke with a proud expression,
"Once we pass through the rock wall, you'll definitely be shocked!"
Taro didn't understand and looked bewildered.
The warship sailed straight toward the face of the Red Line. Taro noticed that this course was not heading toward the dock where the Marine's bubble lifts were located.
This meant they weren't going to use the lifts to ascend to the top of the Red Line.
"Ahem, Sentomaru, we're going to crash!" Taro coughed lightly as he looked at the Red Line looming right in front of them.
Sentomaru's expression turned serious, "We're here!"
Taro was stunned, and just as he was wondering, a synthesized mechanical voice rang out,
"Entry detection in progress..."
"Marine Science Unit, Warship No. 007, identity verification complete, entry permitted!"
"Marine Science Unit, No. 00366, Captain Sentomaru, welcome back!"
"Directly under Marine Headquarters, No. 00233, Vice Admiral Taro, welcome!"
Immediately after, the hard rock wall of the Red Line rippled like the surface of a lake, the ripples spreading rapidly.
Taro was dumbfounded. Holy crap, what kind of high technology is this!
Amidst his shock, he quickly channeled his Internal Energy to probe the rock wall in front of him. His eyes turned slightly pale-white under the surge of Internal Energy.
However, his Internal Energy seemed to be swallowed up. After entering those ripples, it became like rootless duckweed, instantly losing connection.
Receiving no feedback from his Internal Energy detection made Taro even more surprised.
His Internal Energy was strong enough to detect a Clear-Clear Fruit user, yet it couldn't detect the anomaly here!
Just then, the warship sailed into the ripples of the Red Line's rock wall.
Taro's vision suddenly went dark, then gradually became clearer.
In the pitch-black space, there were specks of light. This was a corridor filled with a sense of high technology!
This feeling gave Taro a sudden sense of familiarity. He frowned and thought for a while, then suddenly realized.
Holy crap, this place is somewhat like the space opened by Blueno of CP9 after he 'opened a door' with his Door-Door Fruit!
However, this corridor was clearly much more Advanced than Blueno's.
If Taro hadn't experienced the 'Door-Door Fruit' once before, this place would have felt more like walking in space to him.
The scattered lights around were like stars dotting the vast Universe.
"This, this is...?" Taro blurted out in surprise.
"It's one of the results of Dr. Vegapunk's improvements," Sentomaru explained, seemingly satisfied with Taro's surprise.
"You said 'improvement'?" Taro immediately noticed the key point in Sentomaru's words. "Has this place always existed?"
"Yeah, but I don't know exactly when it started existing." Sentomaru nodded, pointing to the flashes around them.
"At least these weren't here before!"
Taro's heart felt heavy. The secrets hidden by the World Government were much more than he had imagined!
If he hadn't come this time, he would never have guessed in a million years that inside the massive rock wall of the Red Line, beneath the Holy Land Mary Geoise, there would be such a miraculous place.
A large area of light appeared ahead in the corridor. Taro had experience with this and knew it was the exit.
At the same time, his previously disconnected Internal Energy regained its sensing ability, letting Taro know that outside the exit was an extremely vast space.
A slight sound of wind accompanied by the sound of waves reached his ears. Had they passed through the Red Line?
While he was wondering, the warship sailed out of the corridor. The surroundings suddenly brightened, causing Taro to involuntarily squint his eyes.
Blue sky, white clouds, sunny weather, a gentle breeze, and sparkling waves—an island stood quietly on the sea!
This scenery didn't look much like the New World!
"This place doesn't seem to be the New World?" Taro couldn't help but ask softly.
Sentomaru showed a smile, "Vice Admiral Taro, surprising, isn't it! Haha, we are inside the Red Line!"
Taro's eyebrows shot up. His Aura suddenly surged, and his entire body's Internal Energy poured out frantically, gathering in one place to probe upward.
"This, this is... the sun tree eve?" The results of Taro's Internal Energy detection shocked him. "Are we above Fish-Man Island?"
"Combat unit, please note: illegal energy intrusion detected!"
"Combat unit..."
The synthesized mechanical voice rang out, reaching everyone's ears. Sentomaru lowered his large axe and grabbed Taro.
"Vice Admiral, don't use your abilities in here. Withdraw it quickly!"
Taro realized he had been a bit reckless as soon as he heard the alarm. He hurriedly withdrew his ability and then said apologetically to Sentomaru:
"I'm very sorry, I got a bit too excited!"
Sentomaru stepped forward, raised his head, and shouted loudly:
"Marine Research Unit, No. 00366, Sentomaru reporting. The illegal energy intrusion has been handled!"
Immediately after, the synthesized mechanical voice followed,
"Re-detecting illegal energy intrusion..."
"Detection complete. Energy confirmed to have disappeared!"
"Resuming scheduled procedures!"
Taro was in a daze the whole time. What he had seen and heard today simply broke his understanding.
Is this artificial intelligence?
Has Vegapunk already reached this level?
"This is indeed the sun tree eve, and this is indeed above Fish-Man Island."
Sentomaru gave an affirmative answer,
"However, this is only the midsection of the sun tree eve!"
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