Chapter 430: Me? Gao Wen? Nika?

However.

The crowd's near-mad questioning of the events unfolding before them could not, in the end, alter the fate that was about to arrive.

The moment Straw Hat slowly opened eyes that had already closed, Ah Jin's footsteps also came to a halt.

He slowly turned around.

What met his gaze was a Straw Hat whose appearance had changed drastically!

The short shirt on his upper body had turned pure white, his black hair had turned white, dancing in the air like flames, while pure white flame clouds draped over Straw Hat's shoulders.

That was the mark of a Zoan-type ability user's awakening.

Ah Jin recognized it.

But what he did not recognize was the Straw Hat standing before him.

The other party's change was not merely in appearance, but in something far deeper.

"Just as the captain said, your ability was never the Rubber-Rubber Fruit, but the Zoan-type Human-Human Fruit, Mythical Model: Nika!"

"But..."

"Who exactly are you now?!"

That another will resides within a Zoan-type fruit was, of course, no secret to Ah Jin.

After all, before Xiang Keluo awakened, he had once said he sensed another will within the Kamaitachi Fruit, and Gao Wen had also spoken of this matter.

The awakening of a Zoan-type ability user is precisely a clash between two wills.

If the host consumes the fruit, they completely master this power.

If the fruit consumes the host, what is ultimately forged is a pitiful creature like the Jailer Beasts within Impel Down, having lost their self and degraded into a beast driven only by instinct.

Yet the Straw Hat before him was different from both Xiang Keluo, who had completely devoured the will within the fruit to achieve unity of body and mind, and the self-lost Jailer Beasts of Impel Down.

Ah Jin perceived this distinction, and thus posed such a question.

The spectators in the stands all around, and even those in the competitors' seats, wore expressions of utter bewilderment.

Straw Hat returning from death to life was already an extremely bizarre event; at this moment, Ah Jin's question cast an even deeper shadow over the matter.

What puzzled them even more was that Straw Hat actually placed a hand on his chin, lowered his head, and began to think.

Silence hung over the scene for a long time.

Straw Hat suddenly lifted his head, his eyes bright, his smile radiant and sunny, carrying a power capable of infecting others.

"I am..."

"Monkey D. Luffy!"

"The man who will become the King of the Pirates!"

As these words landed, Straw Hat's smiling face at this moment was broadcast to the entire world.

On the Sabaody Archipelago, Lei Li, half-drunk and half-asleep, lifted his head; looking at the already-awakened Straw Hat in the image, the drunkenness vanished entirely from his eyes, leaving only an indescribable feeling:

"It's white, it's white!"

"Nika!"

At the same time, far away across a thousand li, Gab who was rushing back to Elbaf also witnessed this scene.

Unlike Lei Li, he lay directly on the deck and burst into loud laughter.

Pfft!

Pfft!

Pffft—!

Across the vast ocean stretching a thousand li, countless Sea Kings and super-sized Sea Kings simultaneously floated to the surface, standing like mountain ranges erected within the sea!

Passing pirate ships were simply stunned into stupidity; the captains standing on their decks truly believed they were witnessing the end of the world!

"Rest assured."

"They are merely cheering for the liberation that is about to come!"

The laughter startled the Sea Kings leaping from the sea around them into instinctively fleeing far away, yet upon hearing that familiar drumbeat, they could not suppress themselves from turning back to gaze toward that ship!

Some mission etched into their genes—no, a promise, a contract—drove them to seek out that figure.

A human's lifespan is but a fleeting century; a giant's lifespan reaches several hundred years, already a longevity that ordinary people dream of.

But even a giant's lifespan is far inferior to that of the Sea Kings, whose bodies often span several thousand meters; theirs is a lifespan that must be measured in units of tens of millions of years.

Aside from Imu and those blessed existences among the Celestial Dragons, the only ones who still remember Nika are these giant beasts still existing in the deep sea!

The super-sized Sea Kings surrounding the Giant Kingdom, those still awaiting Nika's return, are the best example of this.

A promise long forgotten by humans, and even by the D, is still clearly remembered only by these existences that have survived since eight hundred years ago.

Wuum—!

As the Drums of Freedom spread across the sea, Zunesha, carrying the furry Mink Tribe nation on his back, halted his steps and let out a long trumpet with his trunk.

It seemed to express joy that the eight-hundred-year sentence was about to end.

In Dressrosa, while evading Caesar's pursuit, Kouzuki Momonosuke suddenly clapped his hands over his ears.

It was simply because he heard it once again—that sound he had heard countless times in his dreams—but this time, that sound was infinitely clear, infinitely distinct!

"Young Master, what is wrong with you?!"

Kin'emon hurriedly rushed forward, lifted the pained Momonosuke into his arms, his eyes filled with concern.

After Kouzuki Oden's death, Momonosuke, who inherited his bloodline, became the sole hope of Wano Country.

Kin'emon held this conviction in his heart and regarded protecting Momonosuke as his own mission.

"Did you not hear it? The drumbeat coming from afar!"

Kanjuro looked around in confusion; all that reached his ears was the sound of pursuers killing their way up from behind.

The three of them fled once more, barely shaking off the pursuers behind them and finally finding a moment to catch their breath.

"There is nothing."

"There is!"

"There must be; I heard it!"

A seriousness utterly incongruous with his age surfaced on Momonosuke's face as he said:

"In Britannias! In Britannias!"

Kin'emon froze for a moment:

"Britannias is over five thousand nautical miles from here; even if that nation were wiped out directly, the sound could not reach this place."

"There is!"

"There must be!"

"We must go to Britannias... The future of Wano Country, the hope of opening its borders, surely lies there!"

Momonosuke broke free from Kin'emon's embrace, stumbled to his feet, and gazed into the distance, toward the direction of Britannias.

Kin'emon stood stunned on the spot for a time.

Having protected Momonosuke for so long, this was the first time he had seen Oden's shadow in him.

Right or wrong, if only for the sake of Momonosuke's current resolve, a trip to Britannias had to be made.

Moreover, if anyone in this world could help him defeat Kaido and assist Wano Country in restoring its nation, aside from the World Government, it could only be that person in Britannias!

The Knight, Gao Wen!

This man might possibly be the most powerful existence since the World Government was established eight hundred years ago.

Even Kaido, who now oppresses Wano Country to the point that both Orochi and Oden's remnants must retreat, would absolutely be no match for that man!

Deep sea.

Fish-Man Island.

The scene from two years ago, where super-large Sea Kings surrounded the entire Ryugu Kingdom, was replayed.

Massive figures cast shadows from above vast enough to envelop the entire Fish-Man Island.

The sky instantly turned gloomy.

The Ryugu Kingdom descended into chaos; countless passing pirates caused trouble at the departure ports, while in the streets and alleys, innumerable fish-men fled in panic, seeking merely a sliver of hope for survival amidst the potential destruction!

Neptune hurriedly found Bai Xing, only to discover she had already lost consciousness; it took several full minutes before she slowly regained awareness.

"Father!"

"I heard it!"

"That voice, the voice that brings liberation!"

"It is today!"

"It is... in Britannias!"

Neptune's heart gave a violent leap.

In his mind, he could not help but recall the scene from two years ago, when Gao Wen suppressed the super-large Sea Kings by himself.

Such immense power was already sufficient to be celebrated as a myth.