SWNOVELXO Chapter 183: Chapter 183
The first sliver of sun clawed over the horizon, painting the churning sea blood-orange and casting long, distorted shadows from the ancient trees on Zunesha's back. Marya moved like a wraith, not running, but flowing. Her form blurred, dissolving at the edges into swirling grey mist that carried her effortlessly over the gnarled roots and moss-covered stone walls of the Whale Forest. Behind her, a streak of white fur (Nekomamushi) and flashes of rust-red (Atlas), dark silhouettes (Pedro, Wanda, Carrot, Raizo) pushed their Mink speed to the limit, leaping obstacles, the damp dawn air filling their lungs with the scent of wet earth and crushed leaves.
She rematerialized, boots planting firmly on the highest, weathered plateau of Zunesha's colossal head. The vast expanse of the ocean stretched before her, the terrifying abyss – the Karmic Maw – a stark circle of purest black devouring the light just ahead. Eternal Eclipse was already in her hand, the obsidian blade seeming to deepen the shadows around it. She stood perfectly still, a statue against the rising light, her golden eyes scanning the water's surface with unnerving intensity.
Atlas skidded to a halt beside her, chest heaving. "Sweet roots… that's one big hole," he breathed, his usual bravado momentarily replaced by awe at the sheer scale of the abyss.
Nekomamushi landed next, barely winded, his tail lashing like a metronome of impatience. "See anything, meow?" he growled, his own gaze sweeping the deceptively calm water near the Maw's edge. The salty tang of the sea mixed with the faint, ancient musk of Zunesha's hide.
Marya didn't turn. Her jaw muscle clenched, a subtle ripple beneath her skin. Then, her eyes changed. The familiar gold vanished, replaced by a swirling, unsettling duality: one eye became milky, sightless white, the other an absolute, light-swallowing void of black. A faint, intricate beetle-shaped mark, usually invisible, flared with cold violet light on her forehead. Around her boots, tendrils of thick, grey mist began to coil, not rising, but spilling down the titanic slope of Zunesha's head, creeping across the ocean's surface like a living shroud, muffling the sound of the waves.
"Whoa…" Carrot whispered, her ears twitching nervously.
Nekomamushi's whiskers stiffened. "A power holder, meow meow," he murmured, recognition dawning. The air around Marya crackled, not with visible lightning, but with a heavy, oppressive pressure – Haki so potent it made the fur on their necks stand on end. The mist thickened, swirling faster now, chilling the dawn air.
The water within the mist's embrace began to ripple. Not waves, but deep, concentric vibrations emanating from the heart of the abyss. Marya's voice, low and devoid of inflection, cut through the tension. "There you are." She didn't shout the warning, but it carried with the weight of the Haki saturating the mist: "Everyone. Brace yourselves."
The sea exploded.
A mountain of water erupted skyward, a geyser taller than Zunesha's head. And within it, rising with impossible speed, was Charybdis. Water sheeted off its colossal, eel-like body, dark as volcanic rock and scaled with jagged, obsidian plates. Its head was a nightmare: a gaping maw lined with concentric rings of jagged, yellowed teeth like broken swords, surrounded by a halo of cruel, dark spikes tipped with bone-white. Two long, whip-like sensory tendrils lashed below the jaw. Small, hateful pink eyes, glowing faintly, fixed on Zunesha. It blotted out the newly risen sun, casting the defenders into sudden, chilling shadow. The stench of deep ocean decay and something sharp, like ozone mixed with brine, washed over them.
Zunesha, the ancient continent-walker, reacted. Its massive head lifted, trunk coiling back. A sound erupted that wasn't just loud; it was a physical force. A deep, earth-rending ROOOOOAARRR that vibrated through bones, rattled teeth, and forced Pedro, Wanda, Carrot, and Raizo to clap hands over their sensitive Mink ears, faces contorted in pain.
Marya, her dual-colored eyes fixed on the lunging Charybdis, didn't flinch at the roar. Instead, pure, venomous frustration twisted her usually stoic features. "Shut up, you stupid elephant!" she snarled, the outburst utterly human and jarring amidst the supernatural terror.
Charybdis, unfazed by the roar, its lamprey-mouth gaping wide enough to swallow islands whole, lunged. It was a strike of pure predation, aimed at engulfing Zunesha.
"Hold formation!" Pedro bellowed, shaking off the sonic assault, his voice raw.
In that heartbeat of terror, Nekomamushi moved. "NOW, meow meow!" he roared, a white blur leaping towards the descending horror. Instinct and years of battle-sync kicked in. Pedro, Wanda, Carrot, Raizo, and Atlas didn't hesitate. They launched themselves after him in perfect unison, forming a razor-sharp V in the air, Nekomamushi at the point. Blue-white lightning – raw Electro – crackled to life around each of them, arcing between their bodies, converging into a single, blinding spear of energy focused on Nekomamushi's maw.
They struck the descending head of Charybdis not with physical blows, but with the concentrated fury of Mink lightning. The CRACK-THOOOOOM was deafening, a sound felt as much as heard. Blue energy spider-webbed across the creature's dark scales where they struck near its spiked crown. Charybdis's lunge faltered. A shiver, then a full-body convulsion ran through its colossal form. Those hateful pink eyes rolled back, momentarily glazed. Its trajectory altered, the massive head jerking sideways as the combined Electro discharge overloaded its senses. With a sound like a mountain collapsing into the sea, Charybdis slammed sideways into the water just shy of Zunesha's head, sending a colossal wave crashing back towards the abyss.
The Mink defenders, their Electro spent, used the momentum of their strike and their natural agility. They twisted, flipped, and landed back on Zunesha's head in a scattered, panting semicircle, smoke curling from their fur where the energy had discharged. They watched the titanic wake roll outwards, the monstrous head vanishing beneath the churning, mist-shrouded water. Silence fell, broken only by the ragged breaths of the defenders and the ever-present, deep groan of Zunesha's steps. The mist, Marya's creation, still clung thickly to the water's surface, hiding the depths where the ancient terror stirred. The reprieve was bought, not won.
The heavy silence after the Minks' strike clung to Zunesha's head like sweat. Pedro, Wanda, Raizo, Carrot, and Atlas stood in a loose semicircle, chests heaving as smoke curled from singed fur. Electro's fading pungent scent mixed with the salt-sting of the sea and the damp musk of ancient elephant hide. Below, Marya's mist churned over the water, a living shroud hiding the depths where the Charybdis stirred. Dawn's light bled across the horizon, painting the waves rust-gold.
Carrot's ears twitched, her wide eyes fixed on the unnervingly calm surface. "Did we do it? Is that it?" she panted, hope lifting her voice.
Pedro wiped brine from his brow, his gaze never leaving the mist. "No. Stay focused, Carrot. All we did was stun it." His knuckles whitened around his sword hilt. "That thing's still—"
Marya cut him off without turning. She stood statue-still at the plateau's edge, Eternal Eclipse poised at her side. Her dual-colored eyes—one milky white, one void-devouring black—scanned the water with predatory intensity. The violet beetle mark on her forehead pulsed like a cold star. Around her boots, tendrils of grey mist thickened, spilling down Zunesha's slope as if drawn by some abyssal gravity.
Atlas cracked his neck, rust-red fur bristling. "Quiet as a grave," he muttered. "Too quiet."
Nekomamushi's tail lashed like a metronome. "The water appears… meow meow—"
A shadow surged beneath the mist—a mountain of scales and teeth rising soundlessly. The Charybdis erupted, its lamprey-mouth yawning wide, jagged teeth glistening like shattered tombstones. Putrid decay and metallic brine flooded the air. It lunged, not at Zunesha this time, but at the defenders—a blur of obsidian death.
"DUCK!" Marya's command tore through the roar.
She pivoted, boots grinding leathered flesh. Eternal Eclipse sang free of its sheath, trailing an arc of crackling, violet-black Haki. The blade met the creature's snout with a sound like the world splitting—a SHRIIIIEK of sundered scales and bone. For a heartbeat, the Charybdis hung suspended, impaled on the strike. Its pink eyes bulged, shock freezing its features. Then, convulsions wracked its body, violent spasms that shook the sea beneath it.
CRACK-BOOOOOM.
The beast detonated. Chunks of scaly flesh, shards of bone, and geysers of hot, coppery blood rained down. Atlas threw an arm over his face as gore splattered his tactical pants. Carrot yelped, slipping on a slick of innards. Raizo staggered, his kimono drenched crimson. Only Marya stood unmoved, Eclipse held high, her leather jacket's Heart Pirates insignia stark against the carnage. Blood streaked her denim shorts and combat boots, droplets beading on her cheek like morbid jewels.
Silence crashed back, thicker than the mist. The Minks stared, slack-jawed. Pedro's breath hitched. Atlas wiped blood from his sapphire-blue eyes, a rare flicker of disbelief in them. Carrot scrambled up, trembling. "Y-You… sliced it…" she whispered.
Marya flicked Eclipse's blade—a precise, practiced motion—sending a ribbon of gore splattering onto stone. The sword slid into its sheath with a soft click. She turned, golden eyes restored, her expression as calm as if she'd sheathed a kitchen knife.
Raizo's voice was hushed, reverent. "I haven't seen a strike like that since…" His words trailed into memory—perhaps a long-dead legend of Wano's sword saints.
Pedro let out a low whistle. "Daughter of the Greatest Swordsman indeed."
A smirk tugged at Marya's lips. She cleared her throat lightly. "As my father would say," she drawled, her tone dry as sun-baked parchment, "that was an adequate warm-up."
Carrot exploded into motion. "AMAZING!" she squealed, bunny ears quivering. She lunged, wrapping Marya in a bone-crushing hug, her face buried in the Heart Pirates leather. "You saved us! You exploded it!" Marya stiffened, her guarded expression faltering. Slowly, almost awkwardly, she patted Carrot's head—once, twice—her knuckles brushing soft fur. A faint, genuine smile softened her stern mouth. Cute things, she thought. Always the exception.
Wanda stepped forward, her own fur matted with blood. "The sun's fully up," she announced, gesturing eastward where light now gilded the waves. "I'll update Lord Inuarashi."
Raizo nodded, wringing ichor from his sleeve. "I'll accompany you. He'll want details."
Nekomamushi threw back his head with a rumbling laugh. "Well fought, meow meow! I expect a report when I return—meow!" He turned, tail held high, and bounded down Zunesha's slope toward the Whale Forest, a streak of white against the dawn.
As the others dispersed, Marya gazed at the settling mist. Blood dripped from her boots onto the ancient stone. Behind her, the remnants of the Charybdis floated in the crimson-stained water—a grim testament to the fragile peace bought with a single, lethal swing. Somewhere deeper in Zou, the Heart Pirates hammered at the damaged, broken gears in the Celestial Chamber's roots—a silent reminder that this victory was just the first note in a far older, darker song.
*****
The salt-sting of panic hung thick in the damp air clinging to the Lost Coil observation platform. Visha and Vritra, perched like twin sentinel birds on the rain-slicked edge, leaned so far over the churning abyss of the Karmic Maw their matching serpent tattoos seemed to writhe on their olive skin. Below, the unnatural cold currents swirled, the eerie lights of microorganisms dancing far beneath the surface fog – a sight usually met with professional calm. Not today.
"Vritra– look! North-northeast!" Visha's voice, usually a playful counterpoint to her sister's, was a high-pitched rasp. Her luminous yellow eyes were wide, reflecting the impossible sight tearing through the perpetual mist bank shielding Sankhara Deep.
Vritra's head snapped around, her snake-neck coiling with a fluid, mirrored motion. "Sweet Ananta's coils… what is that?" she breathed, the words escaping in perfect unison with Visha's gasp. Before them, dwarfing even the colossal scale of their crescent island, something monstrous breached the horizon.
It wasn't a ship. It wasn't a sea king they knew. It was… land? Living land? A titanic silhouette, hazy in the distance yet undeniably massive, moved with a slow, earth-shaking rhythm that vibrated through the sinew-and-kelp cables anchoring their platform. Water cascaded down flanks that seemed carved from ancient stone and petrified wood. Atop it, impossibly, rose jagged peaks like mountains, wreathed in low-hanging cloud.
"It's… it's walking?" Vritra stammered, fingers tightening on the electrified prongs of her Coral Trishula until her knuckles matched her vibrant tattoos.
"Walking on the ocean?" Visha finished, the absurdity warring with terror in her tone. Her hand fumbled for the compact, kelp-fiber-wrapped transceiver clipped to her streamlined armor. "Commander! Commander Mangala! Come in!"
Static crackled, harsh and grating. Then Mangala's voice, deep as the Maw itself, sliced through. "Report. Calmly." The usual immovable calm was edged with a familiar tension – the precursor to the 'Iron Tide'.
Visha took a shuddering breath, trying to channel her commander's composure. "Sir, visual contact! Massive unidentified–"
"Gigantic!" Vritra interjected, leaning into the mic over Visha's shoulder. "Like… like a moving island! Or a mountain range with legs! Heading straight for us! Bearing zero-two-five, closing!"
"Legs?" Mangala's voice sharpened. "Description. Details. Is it organic? Construct?"
"It's alive, sir!" Visha cried, her voice cracking. "We felt its steps! And before it– before it–!" The image of the explosion, the rain of dark scales and coppery gore staining the distant sea, choked her.
"The Charybdis, sir!" Vritra blurted, unable to contain it. "We saw… we saw it just… erupt! Like a volcano blew its head off! One moment it was surging, the next– BOOM! Pieces everywhere! Gone!"
Silence stretched on the comms, thick and heavy, broken only by the groan of their platform cables and the distant, rhythmic THOOM… THOOM… of the approaching behemoth's steps vibrating through the sea itself.
"...Repeat that." Mangala's command was low, dangerous. Disbelief warred with the cold pragmatism ingrained over decades.
"It exploded, Commander!" Visha insisted, finding her voice again, frantic. "Something hit it! We didn't see what! Just a flash, maybe? Then it just… came apart! And that thing…" She pointed a trembling finger at the impossible silhouette drawing nearer, its upper peaks now piercing the cloud layer. "...it didn't even slow down! It's still coming! Straight for the Maw!"
Another beat of static-laden silence. Then, a sound rarely heard – a sharp, guttural curse in the old Urdhva tongue, carrying the weight of shattered certainties. Charybdis, their karmic guardian, a force believed near-immortal, annihilated in moments.
"By the Spiral… How?" Mangala muttered, the question hanging in the air, heavy with dread. The tactical implications were staggering. Whatever had destroyed Charybdis was either riding that colossus or was the colossus. His mind raced – Pentagon Circles? Ancient weapons? A new World Government monstrosity?
"Orders, Commander?" Vritra pressed, her knuckles white on her trident. The synchronized tremor in their necks was visible now, a shared current of fear.
The 'Iron Tide' snapped back. His voice, when it came, was iron-clad command, resonating with the force that steadied fleets. "Hold position. Maintain visual. Relay everything. Do not engage. I repeat, observe only." The line clicked, then reopened on a broader channel, his voice booming through the hidden speakers embedded in the cliffside docks and Lost Coil platforms. "All Lost Coil units! Battle stations! Mobilize! This is not a drill! Nola Kin riders, to the sky! Veil Weavers, maximum obscuration! Pentagon Circle crew, stand ready! Deep Dwellers, secure the gardens! Move!"
The hidden crescent of Sankhara Deep erupted into controlled chaos. From caves high on the inner cliffs, brass nozzles atop the Steam-Fog Citadels roared, belching out thick, grey banks that rapidly thickened the perpetual shroud around the Maw. On retractable platforms, warriors scrambled, the clatter of treated volcanic glass armor and the hiss of Vipera Whips being uncoiled filling the air. A deep, resonant bellow echoed as Abyssal Resolve, Mangala's immense Nola Kin mount, surged from a concealed water dock, the Admiral already astride its broad head, his Mistcloak whipping in the suddenly agitated air.
Mangala's amplified voice cut through the din again, landing like a hammer blow. "The stakes are higher than any raid, any probe! Our guardian is fallen! An unknown leviathan approaches our home! It bears the power to shatter Charybdis! Assume hostile intent!"
From a nearby platform still rising from its dock, a young voice, Jal's, cracked through the tension. "Commander! Rules of engagement? Lethal force?"
Mangala's amber eyes, scanning the terrifying silhouette growing larger by the second, narrowed. The weight of the Spiral Conclave, of centuries of survival balanced on a knife's edge, settled on his shoulders. There was no room for karmic hesitation now. Survival was the only balance.
"By any means necessary!" The command ripped from him, raw and final. "Protect Sankhara Deep! Protect our people! Unleash the Maw's wrath if you must! LOST COIL! FORWARD!"
Below, in the heart of the Steam-Fog Citadel, the ancient Pentagon Circles, powered by the island's volcanic pulse, began to hum with an intensifying, eerie blue light. Kavi, the Depthseeker, his own eyes reflecting the energy, placed trembling hands on the glowing interface plates, whispering a prayer to Ananta-Shesha as he prepared to guide a force even he feared. The air tasted of salt, fear, kelp, and the sharp tang of impending, unimaginable conflict. The colossal footsteps grew louder, shaking the very bones of the crescent island.
*****
The air in Inuarashi's audience chamber, usually scented with polished wood and ink, curdled. Wanda and Raizo stood just inside the grand doors, panting, Wanda's fur matted not just with sweat, but with thick, dark ichor that reeked of deep ocean decay and iron. Crimson droplets spattered the pristine tatami mats, stark against the pale reeds. Shishilian, ever-vigilant beside the throne, recoiled a fraction, his palm instinctively tightening on his spear's haft. His keen nose wrinkled at the stench.
Inuarashi (Dog-Storm), seated rigidly on his dais, froze mid-sentence to a scribe. His own muzzle, usually set in a stern line, slackened slightly. The sight of two of his most capable warriors drenched in gore, their expressions grim beneath the grime, sent a jolt through the formal quiet. "Wanda? Raizo?" he growled, his voice low but sharp as a blade scraping stone. "Report! What fresh calamity paints you thus? Gara!"
Shishilian stepped forward, his gaze darting between them and the door, as if expecting the threat to follow. "By the Whale Tree's roots! Are you pursued? Is the Head breached?"
Wanda wiped a streak of dark blood from her cheek with the back of a trembling hand, leaving a smudge. "No, Lord Inuarashi, Shishilian," she managed, her voice rough. "The breach... it's contained. For now." She took a steadying breath, the scent of salt and death clinging to her. "But we bring urgent, grave news."
Raizo, ever the composed ninja even when coated in monster viscera, bowed deeply. "Forgive our state, my lords. We come directly from the battle atop Zunesha's head. We faced... a Charybdis. A leviathan drawn by the disturbance."
"A Charybdis?" Shishilian breathed, his eyes widening. "Here? But they dwell in–"
"It is slain," Wanda cut in, the words heavy with awe and residual terror. "Utterly destroyed. By Marya. The pirate woman." The image flashed behind her eyes again: the impossible sword stroke, the detonation of scale and bone, the rain of gore. "One strike. It... exploded."
Inuarashi stood slowly, his movements deliberate, radiating controlled intensity. The news of a Charybdis appearing and being slain by a single outsider was staggering. "Slain? By her? Gara!" He descended the dais steps, his gaze piercing. "But this gore... this is not merely the aftermath of defense. This speaks of cataclysm."
"It was," Raizo confirmed. "A creature large enough, we believe, to swallow Zunesha whole. Marya ended it." He paused, the weight of their true purpose settling back over them like the clinging mist. "But the battle was a symptom, lords, not the cause. We discovered the source of Zunesha's distress."
Wanda nodded, stepping closer, lowering her voice instinctively despite the chamber's emptiness. "Within the heart of the Whale Tree, deep in its roots where they fuse with Zunesha's spine... we found it. The Celestial Chamber. The legends are true. It is an astrolabe, vast and ancient, guiding Zunesha's path."
Shishilian gasped, a sharp intake of breath. "The Calibration Well? It exists?"
"It does," Wanda affirmed. "But it is damaged. Lord Nekomamushi has returned to slumber. The Heart Pirates and technicians remain below, attempting repairs. They..." She hesitated, glancing at Raizo. "They require a specific type of metal to complete the work. A rare star-metal, integral to the mechanism. Without it... the chamber remains crippled. This must remain secret," she added urgently. "Only those present in the chamber know its full nature."
Inuarashi's claws flexed, scoring the wooden armrest of his chair. The implications crashed over him: the mythical chamber found, damaged, needing an unknown metal... and Zunesha, guided by this broken compass. "And Zunesha's course?" he demanded, his voice like gravel. "Where does this broken astrolabe lead us?"
Raizo's expression was grim. "Directly towards a vast abyss in the ocean, Lord Inuarashi. A void of pure darkness devouring the light ahead. The Karmic Maw, if the course holds true. We saw it from the Head."
"The Maw..." Shishilian whispered, a superstitious dread flickering in his eyes. "A place of ill omen."
Inuarashi slammed his fist down. The sound echoed sharply in the chamber. "Gara! Walking towards oblivion, guided by broken stars!" He paced, the scent of blood and fear thick in the air around the messengers. The pieces fell into place: the erratic movements, the alarms, the monstrous attack drawn to the disturbance. All stemming from a hidden, shattered heart within their own sacred tree. Marya's impossible feat bought time, but only fixing the chamber could avert disaster.
He stopped pacing, fixing Wanda and Raizo with a gaze that brooked no argument, no delay. "This secrecy has to be upheld for the sake of the Mink Tribe. Shishilian!" The Musketeer captain snapped to attention. "Seal the palace. No one enters or leaves without my direct order. Double the guard on the Whale Tree's roots. Absolute silence on the chamber's existence and its needs." He turned back to the bloodied messengers. "You. Lead us. Now. We see this Celestial Chamber with our own eyes. Every moment Zunesha strides towards that abyss is borrowed time bought with monster blood." He strode towards the doors, his cloak swirling. "Move! Gara!"
Without another word, Inuarashi swept past Wanda and Raizo, Shishilian falling into step beside him, his spear held ready. The pristine order of the palace was left behind, replaced by the lingering stench of the deep-sea battle and the frantic pulse of a hidden crisis unfolding within the bones of the living island. Their path led downward, into the roots, towards the broken heart guiding them all towards the dark.