Chapter 111

The Chamber of Echoes narrowed into a claustrophobic tunnel, its walls throbbing with Living Gold veins that pulsed like exposed nerves. Jelly waddled ahead, his gelatinous body flattening to squeeze through cracks, his bioluminescence casting wavering shadows over ancient tribal reliefs carved into the stone. The air hung heavy with the metallic tang of mercury and the briny rot of centuries-old seawater pooled in the crevices. 

Marya trailed her fingers over the glyphs as they walked, her Void-blackened veins humming in resonance. "This panel," she murmured, pausing at a mural of robed figures kneeling before a fissure in the earth. "They're offering mercury to the Current. Not sacrifices—fuel." 

Mihawk glanced at the carving, Yoru's scabbard scraping the low ceiling. "Fuel for what?" 

"The gate." She pressed her palm to the wall, and the gold veins flared. "They weren't worshipping Naylamp. They were maintaining something." 

Jelly blobbed back, extruding a wobbly finger to point at a shadowy figure in the mural. Its armor—coral-plated, jagged—mirrored the Tidal Sentinels guarding Karathys' shores. "Metal puppy-dog!" 

Mihawk's gaze sharpened. "The Oathbound. Jailers of the damned." 

"Jailers?" Marya arched a brow. 

"Guardians who became prisoners when the gate was sealed. Their armor matches the Sentinels." He tapped a glyph of a warrior shackled in living gold chains. "The World Government repurposed them as statues. A poetic punishment." 

Marya snorted. "Poetic? You've been reading too many fairy tales." 

"Hm. And you've inherited your mother's flair for selective listening." 

She shot him a sidelong glance, the corner of her mouth twitching. "That's clever, considering you are the one who insists I ignore distractions." 

A tremor shook the tunnel, dislodging salt shards that clattered like fractured bone. Somewhere above, the Titan-Sea King's roar reverberated, its fury echoing through the Primordial Current. Jelly whimpered, melting into a puddle. "Scary puppy's mad!" 

"It's heading for the ocean," Mihawk said, voice grim. "If it breaches the boundary—" 

"Then we finish this first." Marya turned to a half-obscured glyph, her fingers brushing moss from its surface. The moment she made contact, the Living Gold seized her. 

Vision: 

Elisabeta Vaccaria stood in a vault of black seastone, her raven hair matted with sweat as she pried open a World Government chest. Inside, nestled in sacred velvet, glowed the Mist-Mist Fruit—its surface swirling with fractal patterns that mirrored Marya's Void veins. Elisabeta's hands trembled as she sketched the fruit into her journal, her annotations frantic: 

"It was here the whole time. Hidden away by the World Government. This fruit isn't random—it's a compass. The gate's key is its bearer." 

The vision fractured, reforming into a star-charted chamber where Elisabeta knelt before a maw-like fissure. A voice boomed, not as a force, but a presence—a sentient storm of teeth and shadows. 

"You will die here, little scholar," it crooned, its words vibrating in Marya's marrow. "But your blood will open the way." 

Elisabeta smiled, bloody and defiant. "And my blood will bury you." 

Marya wrenched her hand back, gasping. The chamber's walls hissed where her palm had touched them, the Living Gold bubbling like molten wax. 

Mihawk steadied her, his grip unyielding. "What did you see?" 

"Her." Marya flexed her cursed hand, the Void's whisper coiling around her thoughts. "The Mist-Mist Fruit wasn't chance. It called to her. To me. The… It's not a force. It's a prisoner. And it's using us to break free." 

Mihawk's jaw tightened. He nodded to the mural, where the Oathbound's coral armor now glowed under Jelly's light. "Then we ensure it stays caged." 

"No." Marya straightened, Eclipse's hilt cold in her grip. "We control the key. And keys can lock as well as open." 

Another tremor—closer now. The Titan-Sea King's roar shook salt from the ceiling, its fury a promise. Somewhere in the depths, the Primordial Current shifted, its song a dirge for the drowned. 

Jelly quivered, reshaping into a glowing arrow. "Shiny pool this way! Hurry-hurry!" 

Marya glanced at Mihawk. "Still trust him to lead?" 

He smirked, faint and fleeting. "Marginally." 

As they plunged deeper, an ominous laughter trailed them—a hungry, hollow sound. And in the shadows, the Oathbound's empty armor watched, waiting to see if jailers or prisoners would drown first.

The tunnel opened into a cavernous chamber where the air shimmered with mercury vapor, refracting Jelly's bioluminescent glow into fractured rainbows. At its center lay the Tears of Naylamp—a pool of liquid mercury so pure it reflected the ceiling's star-charted frescoes like a black mirror. Ancient glyphs spiraled around its rim, their gold-leaf edges tarnished by time but still pulsing faintly, as if breathing. Salt encrusted the walls in jagged, weeping formations, and the scent of burnt copper clung to the air, sharp enough to make Mihawk's nostrils flare. 

Jelly bounced to the pool's edge, his gelatinous form quivering. "Shiny bath! Bloop!" 

Marya knelt, her Void veins writhing as the mercury's surface rippled in recognition. "The Lunarians…" she murmured, tracing a glyph of winged figures offering flames to a serpentine sea deity. "Mother's notes mentioned them. They weren't just fire-wielders—they were bridge-builders between realms. Their rituals here…" 

Mihawk tilted his head, studying a relief of Lunarian priests channeling flames into mercury. "The World Government erased them for a reason. Fire that bends the Current is… inconvenient to tyrants." 

"And profitable," Marya said coldly, pointing to a defaced mural of Marines looting Lunarian artifacts. "They stole their tech, their history. Turned guardians into slaves." Her finger paused on a half-obscured inscription, the glyphs crumbling where World Government saboteurs had hacked at the stone. "…the Gates of Lethe require the blood of the…... and the Tears of … The rest is gone." 

Mihawk's gaze flicked to her cursed sword. "Convenient." 

"Or calculated." She stood, her reflection warping in the mercury. "Whatever was imprisoned here wants out. The government wants it buried. And we're the knife's edge." 

A tremor shook the chamber, dislodging salt stalactites that shattered like glass. Somewhere above, the Titan-Sea King's roar echoed—closer now, hungrier. Jelly flattened into a puddle, whimpering. 

Mihawk stepped closer, his shadow merging with hers in the mercury's reflection. "You trust this ritual?" 

"No," Marya said, withdrawing a vial from her coat. "But I trust her." She nodded to Elisabeta's journal, open to a page where her mother had sketched this chamber, the words "Forgive me" smudged by what might've been tears. "The Lunarians used mercury to stabilize the Current. Blood…" She pressed her Kogatana's edge to her palm, blackened veins bulging. "…is the spark." 

Mihawk caught her wrist, his grip iron. "If you're wrong—" 

"—then our journey ends here." She met his gaze, her voice steady but her pulse thrumming under his fingers. "You taught me to cut first, Father. Let me finish this." 

For a heartbeat, time stilled in the chamber. Then Mihawk released her, his golden eyes unreadable. "Arrogance and recklessness. Truly your mother's daughter." 

Marya smirked, a rare flicker of warmth. "And yours." 

She sliced her palm, letting her blood—ink-black and shimmering with void energy—drip into the pool. The mercury erupted, spiraling into a vortex that peeled back the chamber's layers like rotting skin. Beneath the frescoes, older glyphs glowed: Lunarian prayers to Naylamp, pleading for the Current's mercy. The air hummed with the weight of centuries, the walls whispering secrets in a dead king's tongue. 

Jelly yelped as the pool's center revealed a staircase carved from black seastone, descending into abyssal dark. "Scary shiny hole!" 

Marya pocketed the vial, her veins throbbing. "The gate's below. Whatever's left of the 'bridge'…" 

Another roar shook the chamber, closer now. The Titan-Sea King had broken free. 

Mihawk adjusted Yoru's sheath, his voice softer than the mercury's hiss. "Stay behind me." 

"Marginally," Marya echoed, earning a flicker of his smirk. 

As they descended, the Void's laughter followed—a sound like cracking ice and the Primordial Current's endless hunger.

The staircase plunged into a cavernous abyss, its steps slick with brine and the ghostly sheen of mercury. Mihawk led, Yoru's blade cutting through tendrils of mist that clung to the air like cobwebs. Marya followed, her boots crunching over shattered Lunarian relics—charred fragments of star-metal inscribed with prayers to Naylamp. Jelly wobbled behind, his glow dimmed to a nervous flicker. 

At the bottom, the ruins sprawled like a skeletal hand. The gate—what remained of it—was a jagged arch of black seastone, its surface scarred by claw marks deeper than time. Chains thicker than galleon masts lay rusted and broken, their links crusted with barnacles that whispered of millennia submerged. Above, the ceiling bore a fresco of the Ancient Kingdom's warriors, their coral armor cracked, their faces erased by World Government defacement. 

"The Lunarians' bridge," Mihawk murmured, Yoru's edge reflecting the chamber's eerie glow. "Built to span realms… or cage them." 

A tremor shook the chamber. Above, the Titan-Sea King's roar vibrated through stone, closer now. Jelly quivered, flattening into a puddle. "Puppy's mad!" 

Marya approached, her boots leaving ripples in the mercury. Void veins burned as the air thickened with static. Laughing. The sound coiled from the shadows, serpentine and cold. Ignoring it, she traced a glyph of a Lunarian priestess plunging a blade into a mercury pool. "The ritual. They didn't just open the gate—they controlled it. Balanced the Current with fire and..." 

Mihawk's gaze lingered on the priestess's face, its features eerily mirroring Marya's. "And the World Government erased their methods. Left only the poison." 

Jelly oozed to the moat's edge, poking the mercury with a gelatinous tendril. "Hot!" He recoiled, his form sizzling. "No touchy!" 

Marya knelt, Elisabeta's journal open to a sketch of the same glyph. "They used Lunarian flames to temper the mercury. Stabilize the Current."

A tremor rocked the chamber. Dust rained from the ceiling as the Titan-Sea King's roar echoed through the tunnels above—closer, angrier. The ruin's constellations brightened, their light warping into a vortex that tugged at Marya's veins

"Pitiful, isn't it?" The Void's voice slithered into her mind, its words vibrating in her molars. "Your precious jailers thought they could cage a storm. Now look—ashes and echoes." 

She clenched her fists, the curse beneath her sleeves writhing. "You were imprisoned once. It can be done again." 

"Can it?" The Void's mockery echoed through the ruins, dislodging debris. "The stars align, little eclipse. The Current hungers. And you… you'll open the way." 

A roar shook the chamber—closer, hungrier. The Titan-Sea King had breached the island's core. 

Mihawk's hand closed around her arm, his grip bruising. "Distracted again," he snapped, yanking her backward as a stalactite speared the ground where she'd stood. "Move." 

Jelly squealed, flattening into a puddle as the ceiling rained salt and stone. Mihawk's Conqueror's Haki erupted, a shockwave that carved a path through the chaos. Marya dissolved into mist, dragging Jelly's quivering form with her as they surged into a narrow fissure. 

The tunnel spat them into blinding fluorescence. Sterile white walls hummed with the buzz of Marine tech, clashing violently with the salt-rot stench of Karathys. Mihawk's coat brushed a World Government emblem stamped on the steel. 

"Research Facility," Marya muttered, her mist reforming. She tugged her sleeves lower, hiding the black veins creeping toward her wrists. 

Mihawk eyed Eternal Eclipse, its obsidian blade devouring the hallway's light. "Your sword…. it reeks of curses." 

"Oh, that, yeah, it's a long story," she said flatly, striding past monitors flashing emergency alerts. Containment Breach. Subject: Imu-β Active. 

He blocked her path, golden eyes piercing. "It's a story that would interest me." 

Jelly oozed between them, morphing into a wobbly arrow. "Shiny doors that way! Bloop!" 

"If we survive, I will make a point to share it with you," she smirked, stepping past him.

As they moved, the Void's whisper trailed Marya, a promise and a threat: "You'll see, little eclipse. Stars… tides… me. You'll beg to be the key." 

Above, the Titan-Sea King's roar shook the facility. Somewhere, in the deep, the Primordial Current laughed with it.

The lab's fluorescent lights flickered as if possessed, casting a sickly pallor over rows of abandoned workstations. Marya's boots clicked against the sterile tiles, the sound swallowed by the cavernous silence. Mihawk prowled beside her, Yoru's tip grazing the floor, etching a hairline scar into the steel. Jelly slithered behind, his gelatinous form leaving faint trails of bioluminescent slime that evaporated with a hiss. 

"Too quiet," Marya murmured, eyeing a shattered monitor crawling with static. "Even with the beast loose." 

Mihawk nudged a toppled chair with his boot. A half-drunk cup of coffee lay spilled nearby, its contents long congealed into black tar. "They fled in haste. Prioritized containment over combat." His gaze lingered on a bulletin board plastered with grainy photos of the Titan-Sea King, red strings connecting them to notes scrawled in World Government cipher. 

Jelly blobbed toward a refrigeration unit, his glow reflecting off rows of vials labeled SAD-XX (Haki-Nullifying Compound). "Shiny poison!" 

Marya snatched one, rolling it between her fingers. The mercury inside swirled with flecks of living gold. "They've weaponized it. Neutralizes Armament Haki—permanently." She pocketed it, her voice flat. "Useful." 

Mihawk's eyes narrowed. "For whom?" 

Before she could answer, a pneumatic door hissed open, revealing a chamber veiled in frost. Cryo-pods lined the walls, their glass frosted except for one at the center—a massive cylinder labeled SUBJECT: IMU-β. Inside floated a mummified Titan-Sea King embryo, its shriveled form hooked to a labyrinth of tubes pumping mercury and black seastone slurry. 

Marya's Void veins prickled. The creature's single milky eye twitched, tracking her through the glass. 

"You recognize it," the Void crooned in her ear. "A kin to your pet. A key… or a lock?" 

She clenched her jaw, forcing her attention to Elisabeta's journal entry projected on a nearby terminal: 

"Imu-β's blood mirrors the Eclipse. The gate opens only to those who bear its mark. They will use it to control the Current. Destroy this abomination." 

Mihawk studied the embryo, his reflection warped in the cryo-glass. "Vegapunk's work. Cloning legends to leash them." 

"And failing," Marya said, nodding to a cracked pod nearby. Its occupant—a smaller, malformed sea king—lay rotting, half its body dissolved into mercury. "The World Government doesn't create. They corrupt." 

A tremor shook the facility. Alarms blared as red lights strobed, illuminating a vault door marked PONEGLYPH ARCHIVES. Mihawk sliced it open with a flick of Yoru, revealing stone slabs etched in the Ancient Tongue. Marya traced a glyph of Naylamp's serpentine form, her fingers trembling imperceptibly. 

"They stole these to rewrite history," she said, her voice colder than the cryo-chamber. "To turn guardians into puppets." 

Mihawk tilted his head, studying her. "And your sword? Another puppet?" 

Eternal Eclipse hummed at her back, its obsidian blade drinking the light. "A tool. Like your Yoru." 

"Tools don't hunger," he countered, golden eyes sharp. 

Before she could deflect, Jelly squealed. He'd oozed into a vent, emerging with a Star-Metal tablet clutched in his wobbly grip. "Shiny rock! Bloop!" 

Marya pried it free, her breath catching. The inscription was fragmented, but the words "Eclipse-Blood" and "Primordial Key" stood clear. 

"You see?" the Void whispered. "Even your father's blade cannot cut fate." 

"Marya." Mihawk's voice cut through the static. "We're not alone." 

She followed his gaze to a security feed flickering on a terminal. The screen showed Proto-Mono cartwheeling through a hallway, her holographic arm morphing into a blowtorch as she cackled, "Glitchy fixy, make it spicy!" Behind her, Dr. Lysandra stormed toward the lab, her coat billowing like a vengeance-fueled storm cloud. 

"Time to go," Mihawk said, sheathing Yoru. 

Marya lingered, staring at Imu-β's dormant form. The Void's laughter coiled in her chest, warm and venomous. 

Soon, it promised.