SWNOVELXO Chapter 186: Chapter 186
The air in the Whale Forest still thrummed with the aftershocks of battle. The scent of crushed moss mingled with the sharp tang of spilled blood and the lingering, acrid smell of discharged Electro, creating a perfume of violence that clung to the ancient trees. Sunlight, fractured by the canopy, dappled the scene where the defenders encircled their captives. Inuarashi, Duke of the Day, stood with arms crossed, his formidable presence a pillar of authority amidst the chaos. His fur, streaked with ash and grime, bristled slightly as he looked down at the two bound figures seated on the mossy ground: Galit Varuna, the Young Tide, and Kavi, the Pentagon's Whisper.
Galit Varuna strained against the braided sea-snake sinew binding his wrists behind his back. His deep olive skin was smudged with dirt, the thin scar on his cheekbone stark against the pallor of exertion and frustration. His emerald-green eyes burned with defiance as he glared up at Inuarashi. Kavi beside him seemed almost detached, his slender frame hunched, electric-blue eyes distant and flickering as if processing data from another realm. The scent of static from spent Electro and the deeper, mineral smell of volcanic stone from their armor clashed with the forest's earthy breath.
"Why?" Inuarashi's voice was a low growl, the word heavy with the weight of Zou's pain. "Why attack us? Gara! What threat did we pose, drifting on Zunesha's back?"
Galit Varuna's neck coiled tighter, a complex knot forming near his shoulders. "Defending ourselves!" he snapped, his voice sharp as a whip-crack. "Why navigate your beast towards our island? Were we just to wait for the collision?"
Pedro and Wanda exchanged a look of genuine confusion that rippled through the surrounding Minks. Wanda's ears twitched. "Island?"
Pedro echoed, his tone measured but laced with bewilderment. "There is no island. Only the Maw – a sinkhole swallowing the horizon."
Galit Varuna's eyes widened fractionally, a crack in his defensive armor. "Our island," he insisted, "lies on the far side of the Maw. Sankhara Deep. A crescent remnant. Over a thousand years ago, a great conflict shattered it… tore most of it away. We are what survived. The descendants." His voice held a bitter pride, the weight of generations living in the shadow of that cataclysm.
Raizo, the Wano ninja, snorted, crossing his arms. His skepticism was a physical thing, thickening the air. "A likely tale. Convenient ghosts from a hole in the sea."
"Possible." The single word cut through the tension. All eyes turned to Marya. She stood slightly apart, her Heart Pirates leather jacket dusty but intact, her golden eyes fixed on Galit Varuna with unnerving focus. She moved forward, the tread of her boots silent on the soft moss. Kneeling fluidly, she brought herself eye-to-eye with the bound lieutenant, her expression unreadable – not hostile, but deeply analytical, like a scholar examining a rare specimen. The faint scent of leather and cold steel clung to her. "I've seen societies hidden in stranger places." Her gaze didn't waver. "You sent the Charybdis."
It wasn't a question. Galit Varuna flinched, then his jaw set. "Yes," he admitted, the word forced out. "A guardian. A deterrent."
Marya tilted her head, a faint, almost imperceptible line appearing between her brows. "If you knew it was defeated… why believe a direct assault would succeed? Your tactics seemed… desperate."
"We didn't know!" Galit Varuna burst out, frustration cracking his composure. "We didn't know the creature had…" He struggled, his long neck twisting as he searched for the term, "…inhabitants. Sentient ones. Our objective was singular: stop the creature before it collides with Sankhara Deep. Crush us. Destroy the Maw. Erase everything." The raw fear underlying his anger was suddenly, starkly visible.
"Idiot," Atlas Acuta rumbled from behind Inuarashi. The Lightning Sovereign's rust-red fur was matted, a fresh claw mark visible on his shoulder, but his sapphire eyes blazed with contempt. "You attacked first. Asked questions never."
Galit Varuna's head snapped around, his emerald eyes flashing. "Says the beast who fights like a rabid–"
"We," Atlas cut him off, his voice dropping to a dangerous growl that vibrated in the chests of those nearby, "are trying to change Zunisha's course too. We are–"
"Wait." Wanda stepped forward, her gentle voice a counterpoint to the rising tension. She looked from Atlas to Galit Varuna, her intelligent eyes wide with dawning realization. The scent of crushed ferns intensified as she moved. "This… this is a misunderstanding. A terrible one. Gara." She turned fully to Galit Varuna, her tone softening with a compassion that seemed alien in the aftermath of battle. "You thought we were invaders steering a weapon towards your home. We thought you were invaders attacking ours. Zunesha walks its own path. We are merely its passengers."
Silence descended, heavier than before. The chirping of unseen forest insects seemed loud in the sudden stillness. Galit Varuna stared at Wanda, the defiance in his eyes warring with stunned comprehension. The complex knot in his neck loosened slightly.
"My father?" Galit Varuna's voice was suddenly quieter, younger. He looked past the circle, towards the distant bulk of the Whale Tree.
Marya followed his gaze. "Unconscious," she stated flatly. "Likely still. Impact was… significant." She offered no reassurance, only fact.
Inuarashi grunted. "Gara. His wounds will be seen too. We are not butchers." His gaze, however, remained stern as it returned to the prisoners.
Kavi, who had been silent, lost in the currents of his own thoughts, suddenly spoke. His voice was thin, reedy, carrying an odd resonance that made the air hum faintly. "What about us?" His electric-blue eyes focused, sharpening on Shishilian. The Musketeer captain stood nearby, his spear held ready, expression grim.
"Secure holding," Shishilian stated, his voice like gravel. "Until we decide."
Kavi shook his head, a slow, deliberate movement. "Mistake. Waste." He looked past Shishilian, his gaze sweeping over the Whale Tree, then up towards Zunesha's immense flank visible through the canopy. "I am a technician. Skilled. I don't understand this creature…" He trailed off, his eyes losing focus again, then snapping back with startling intensity. "…but."
Pedro leaned forward, his weathered face intent. "But what, Depth-seeker?"
Kavi met Pedro's gaze. "But the problem remains. The creature walks. The Maw awaits. Your mechanism," his eyes flickered to Marya, "is broken. Our Pentagon Circles…" He took a ragged breath. "We all have the same goal now. The difference is… we know it. We need to work together! The scales tip…" His voice faded into a whisper, echoing the Spiral Conclave's fatalistic mantra.
Galit Varuna stiffened. "Kavi! You can't–"
"I can," Kavi interrupted, his voice gaining strength, a strange light in his blue eyes. "We face annihilation. Tradition dies with the island. Innovation… or extinction. Choose, Young Tide."
Galit Varuna stared at his comrade, conflict warring on his face – loyalty to Sankhara Deep, the weight of his father's disapproval, the chilling logic of Kavi's words. He closed his eyes for a moment, then let out a long, shuddering sigh that seemed to deflate him. He gave a single, curt nod, his gaze fixed on the moss between his boots.
Raizo's hand tightened on his staff. "Unwise! They attacked us! They–"
"We are short on time," Marya stated, rising smoothly to her feet. Her golden eyes scanned the group – the wary Minks, the skeptical Raizo, the desperate prisoners. "Shorter on resources. Their perspective… their technology… might offer options we lack. Or confirm dead ends faster." Her logic was cold, pragmatic, cutting through the emotion like her blade.
Pedro didn't hesitate. Before Inuarashi could fully process Marya's words or Raizo's protest, the steadfast guardian stepped forward. His swords flashed once, twice – swift, sure movements. The braided sinew binding Galit Varuna's and Kavi's wrists fell away, severed cleanly.
The sudden freedom made Galit Varuna gasp, rubbing his wrists where the bindings had bitten deep. Kavi simply flexed his fingers, the blue light in his eyes intensifying.
Pedro's gaze was hard as flint, locking onto each prisoner in turn. His voice was low, a promise wrapped in steel. "Try anything. Betray this fragile trust. And I won't hesitate next time. Gara. The cut will be final." The unspoken threat hung in the air, underscored by the distant, mournful groan of Zunesha taking another world-shaking step towards the abyss. The war for Zou's course had entered a new, uncertain chapter, forged not just in battle, but in the reluctant, thorny soil of shared desperation.
The descent into the Celestial Chamber felt less like entering a room and more like plunging into the living heart of the world. The air thickened, cool and damp, carrying the scent of petrichor from unimaginably deep earth, the faint sweetness of ancient tree sap, and the sharp, clean tang of meteoric iron. The walls weren't stone, but a lattice of petrified Whale Tree roots, vast as cathedral pillars, veined with soft, pulsing blue light that waxed and waned in time with Zunesha's titanic footsteps. The deep, resonant thrum of those steps vibrated up through the volcanic glass floor, making boot soles tingle and chests resonate.
Wanda led the way, her fur catching the eerie light, followed by Inuarashi, his presence a stern anchor. Raizo moved like a shadow, ever watchful, while Shishilian's spear tip glinted dully in the chamber's glow. Marya walked beside Pedro, her golden eyes sweeping the impossible space, taking in the seven channels of liquid light – azure, violet, chaotic rainbow swirls – flowing like captured ocean currents across the dark glass floor towards a central pool of mercury-bright sap. Carrot bounced nervously beside Atlas, whose rust-red fur seemed almost black in the dimness. Bepo, Penguin, Shachi, Jean Bart, Uni, Clione, and Hakuga of the Heart Pirates fanned out, returning to their earlier assigned work locations. Galit Varuna and Kavi, unbound but flanked by wary Minks, brought up the rear.
In the chamber's heart, near the hovering crystalline orb – the Pole Star Lens, swirling with nebula-light – Ikkaku and Master Forgepaw's team labored. Sparks flew from a damaged gear assembly the size of a house, illuminating sweat-streaked fur and grim faces. The rhythmic clunk-groan of the massive, star-map-etched bronze rings rotating overhead underscored the frantic repair efforts. Master Forgepaw, a grizzled Mink with soot-stained fur and arms thick as tree roots, looked up, his hammer pausing mid-swing. Ikkaku straightened, wiping grease from her brow with the back of her hand, her gaze instantly locking onto the newcomers, specifically the long-necked strangers.
"Who's the guy with the giraffe impression?" Ikkaku asked, her usual flippancy cutting through the chamber's solemn hum. She gestured at Galit Varuna with her wrench.
Marya stepped forward slightly. "Galit Varuna and Kavi," she stated, her voice calm but carrying easily over the chamber's ambient sounds. "Of Sankhara Deep. They possess knowledge potentially relevant to our... shared problem." She didn't elaborate on their recent status as enemies.
Atlas snorted, crossing his muscular arms. "Took a knock to the head to see sense, long neck?"
Galit Varuna's neck coiled defensively, the faint kelp-scar patterns on his olive skin tightening. "Took realizing you weren't steering a living battering ram, fur ball'," he shot back, his voice sharp. Carrot stifled a surprised giggle.
"Enough!" Wanda's voice, usually gentle, held a rare edge. The sweet-sappy scent seemed to intensify around her. "Focus! Lives hang in the balance! Gara!" She turned to Ikkaku. "Progress?"
Ikkaku's shoulders slumped slightly. She kicked a fractured piece of dark, incredibly hard metal lying near the damaged gear. "This star-metal? Without it, or something just as tough and energy-conductive... best we can manage is a patch job. A bandage. It might hold for a tremor, but Zunesha taking a full step? Or hitting rough seas near that Maw?" She shook her head, the grim reality settling heavier than the chamber's vibrations. "It'll shatter. Again. And probably take more of the mechanism with it."
Kavi, who had been staring around the chamber with wide, electric-blue eyes, finally spoke. His voice was thin, almost reverent, yet carrying an undercurrent of excitement. "This... this technology... ancient. Different execution... but the principles..." He drifted closer to the damaged gear, ignoring the wary glances. He knelt, his slender fingers brushing the fractured edge of the star-metal component, then tracing the intricate etchings on the surrounding bronze. "We have this," he murmured, almost to himself. "We mine it. Deep within the volcanic vents under Sankhara Deep. Key element. Armor plating. Pentagon Circle conduits..." He looked up, his eyes meeting Ikkaku's. "This exact alloy."
Marya's golden eyes narrowed, a flicker of intense curiosity breaking through her usual stoicism. She tilted her head, studying Kavi, then the star-metal, then the vast holographic projection dominating one wall – the jagged, pulsing crimson wall of the Red Line, the chaotic river of the Grand Line, and the golden node marking Zunesha's path creeping towards the Maw. "Is that why Zunesha walks this path?" she mused aloud, her voice low. "A forgotten directive? A resonance with this metal... or its source?"
Galit Varuna scoffed, his earlier defensiveness returning. "A thousand-year-old coincidence? Unlikely. The Maw pulls. Currents shift. Karma dictates–"
"Karma dictates survival," Kavi interrupted sharply, his blue eyes locking onto Galit's. "And survival now requires this metal. Quickly."
Pedro stepped forward, his weathered face grave. "What do you propose, Depth-seeker? Gara. How do we get it?"
Inuarashi didn't wait for Galit Varuna's diplomatic instincts. His voice cracked like thunder in the cavernous space. "Carrot! Wanda! Gara! Find Commander Mangala. See his wounds are tended. Then bring him here. Immediately." The order brooked no argument. Carrot nodded vigorously, ears perked, and darted towards the exit passages with Wanda close behind, their footsteps echoing.
"Atlas!" Inuarashi barked next. The Lightning Sovereign snapped to attention. "Fetch Dr. Miyagi. Bring him here. Now." Atlas gave a curt nod, his fur crackling faintly with residual Electro, and vanished after the others with blurring speed.
"Pedro! Master Forgepaw!" Inuarashi turned to the grizzled smith and the steadfast guardian. "Assemble a team. Skilled miners. Your best metalworkers. Be ready to move. We need this mineral. We need it forged. Time is a luxury we squandered in battle." His gaze swept the chamber, encompassing the Heart Pirates, the Minks, the Sankhara natives. "Be ready within the hour."
Galit Varuna shifted, his long neck held stiffly. "You're assuming much, Duke. My people... the Conclave... they won't just hand over a vital resource. There are protocols. A council must–"
Marya let out an audible groan, rolling her eyes skyward where the lightwell pierced upwards. She rubbed her temples. "Do you grasp the scale of the ticking clock? That," she pointed a leather-clad arm towards the hologram, where Zunesha's golden node pulsed perilously close to the swirling void representing the Maw, "isn't waiting for parliamentary procedure. Minutes matter. Hours might be fatal."
Kavi nodded vigorously. "She speaks truth. But Commander Mangala... he attends the high councils. He understands the weight. His voice... carries authority yours and mine lack in such matters, Young Tide. He can convey the... shared existential imperative."
Inuarashi cut through the debate like a blade. "Mangala will be brought. Your council will hear him. But my orders stand. Gara! Teams assemble now. We move the moment Mangala confirms the necessity, or the moment we run out of time waiting." He fixed Galit Varuna with a stare that held the weight of centuries. "Self-doubt is a poison we cannot afford to swallow. Not here. Not now." He turned to Kavi. "Can you assist here? Understand this mechanism?"
Kavi moved towards the damaged gear assembly, his eyes already tracing lines of energy only he seemed to see. "Yes. The principles resonate... like a half-remembered song. The flow... the connections..." He reached out towards a complex array of crystalline lenses projecting from the wall. "Ikkaku-san? We should start with the harmonic stabilizers feeding this main drive shaft. If they're misaligned, even new metal will fracture under the first major stress."
Ikkaku blinked, then a fierce grin spread across her face. She hefted her wrench. "Finally, someone talking sense instead of politics! Alright, Glowy, show me what you see. Let's get this ancient beast singing again!" The clunk-groan of the bronze rings overhead seemed to echo the renewed, desperate pulse of activity in the Chamber of Celestial Sap, as former enemies bent over shared scribbled schematics written in light and ancient metal, united only by the abyss yawning before them all.
*****
The Spiral Conclave chamber felt like the inside of a fossilized serpent's ribcage. Volcanic rock walls curved upward into gloom, carved with coiling patterns that seemed to writhe in the flickering light of oil lamps fueled by rendered sea-beast blubber. The air hung thick with the scent of brine, wet stone, and the cloying sweetness of fermented storm kelp incense—a smell that clung to the back of the throat like remorse. Distantly, the Karmic Maw roared its eternal hunger, a basso profundo vibration trembling through the stone benches where the seven elders sat.
Commander Vasuki stood at the chamber's heart, the obsidian plates of his armor drinking the lamplight. His neck, usually coiled tight as a spring, quivered minutely. Before him, Elder Kali slammed a fist onto the basalt table. A spray of salt-crystals scattered from the impact.
"Who authorized this madness, Vasuki?" Kali's voice was a whetstone dragged over iron. His battle-scarred neck pulsed with old fury. "Mobilizing the Lost Coil without Conclave sanction? Draining our fog reserves? And for what?" He jabbed a thick finger toward the void beyond the crescent's curve. "Three of our best—Mangala, your own lieutenant, Kavi—captured by whatever dwells on that thing!"
Elder Galit Varuna—no relation to the captured lieutenant—leaned forward, his shorter neck taut. The brass instruments woven into his kelp-fiber robes chimed faintly. "The steam-fog citadels are strained," he hissed, his yellow eyes darting nervously. "If the mist thins now, Marine scouts could—"
"Silence." The word cut through the clamor like a blade through kelp. All eyes turned to Elder Ananta. Her neck, longer than any other in the chamber, rose in a slow, sinuous curve, the skin like ancient driftwood. Her green eyes glimmered with the cold light of deep water. "The recklessness is undeniable, Commander. But rage is a wave that drowns reason. Explain."
Vasuki's pale-yellow eyes remained fixed on the swirling patterns in the table's stone. "The creature changed course," he stated, his voice gravel scraped from the Maw's floor. "Its trajectory threatened the crescent's western horn. The Pentagon Circles showed impact within seventy-two hours. Mobilization was… necessary. Swift."
"Necessary?" Kali scoffed. "And what did swiftness buy us? Failure! Your warriors were overwhelmed!"
"Not by conventional arms," Vasuki countered, his coiled neck tightening further. "By beasts. Furred, clawed, speaking beasts. Fighting with lightning in their fists and strategy in their snarls." He met Kali's glare. "We faced warriors, Elder. Not mindless fauna."
A ripple went through the Conclave. Elder Galit Varuna's instruments tinkled as he shuddered. "Preposterous! Talking animals?"
But Ananta's gaze had gone distant, fixed on the waterfall of mist cascading down the chamber's far wall. Her long fingers traced a serpent spiral etched into the arm of her seat. "Beast-people…" she murmured, the words soft as silt settling. "Living atop a creature of the deep… atoning for betrayal…"
Elder Galit Varuna leaned closer. "Ananta? What troubles your thoughts?"
The eldest elder blinked, refocusing. "An old legend. A fragment from before the Shattering. A tribe cursed to wander the seas upon a living island, seeking redemption for a great treachery." She gave a slow, dismissive wave. "Likely just myth. The ramblings of starved minds after the cataclysm."
Kali slammed the table again. "Myth and madness! We don't need dusty tales, Ananta! We need solutions! Our people are prisoners! Our defenses are compromised!" He whirled on Vasuki. "What do you propose, Commander? Another assault? More lives thrown into that creature's maw?"
Vasuki straightened, the star-metal plates of his armor grinding faintly. "Retrieval is possible. But it requires… additional resources. The Pentagon Circles could agitate Charybdis to create a distraction near the creature's head. A strike team could infiltrate under cover of the chaos—"
"Agitate Charybdis?" Galit Varuna's voice rose to a squeak. "Unleash the Maw's judgment for a rescue? The karmic imbalance would be catastrophic! The Circles are strained already!"
"Catastrophic is losing Mangala's tactical genius! Catastrophic is Kavi understanding our Pentagon systems falling into enemy hands!" Kali roared, surging to his feet. His shadow loomed monstrous on the coiled-wall carvings. "Or have you forgotten what happened the last time outsiders learned our secrets?"
The chamber plunged into uproar. Elders shouted over each other, voices crashing like waves in a storm-locked cove. Arguments fragmented:
"Send the Nola Kin riders under fog cover!"
"Negotiate! Offer storm-kelp venom!"
"The Void Sea Gates! Seal the Maw entirely and let the creature pass!"
"Abandon them! Karma demands sacrifice!"
Ananta closed her eyes, her long neck swaying gently as if buffeted by the tempest of words. The mournful wail of the conch shell echoed down from the Veil Weaver's post high above, a sound like a soul drowning in the abyss. It seeped into the chamber, a chilling counterpoint to the heat of debate.
Vasuki stood immobile amidst the chaos, a statue carved from night and resolve. His pale eyes scanned the furious elders – Kali's raw aggression, Galit Varuna's twitching panic, the others lost in fearful calculation. He saw no unity, only the crumbling edges of their hidden world.
"And yet," his own voice, low but piercing, cut through the din, forcing a momentary lull. He gestured not towards the arguing elders, but towards the pulsating, holographic map projected onto a smoothed section of volcanic wall. It showed the jagged crescent of Sankhara Deep… and the relentless, golden sigil of the walking island drifting closer, minute by minute, towards the swirling vortex of the Maw. "That lost creature of time and sea… it does not debate. It does not fear imbalance. It simply walks. Towards us."
Silence fell, heavy as stone. The only sounds were the drip of condensation, the distant roar of the Maw, and the fading echo of the conch – a lament for choices not yet made, hanging thick in the incense-laden air. The path forward remained shrouded, as impenetrable as the fog clinging to their fractured island. The clock of the deep ticked on.