The Great Expedition II

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Chapter 181: The Great Expedition II

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All the while, Yovan was nowhere near Elabf or Lodestar. He wasn't even in New World. Yovan was in the West Blue, the place where he started.

He was on the very Island he first found himself in when he opened his eyes to this new fabulous World.

He traced his eyes around the Island, observing it just as he did the first time he was here, only at that time, it was for survival.

This time, however, he took it as a vacation, a vacation in his personal resort. He could see the traces he left behind about, pieces of trees scattered around, left from the boat he created long ago.

He could also see his old wrecked camp, perhaps destroyed by the occasional heavy weather... Most importantly, he could see bodies... Well, more like dolls, just two dolls that survived an old catastrophe.

The two dolls were resting by the sea, submerged in sand, and they looked very much ruined. The dolls were Zeus and Poseidon, the imaginary friends that once accompanied Yovan.

"It's been a while, huh?" Yovan muttered as he sat down on the sand and closed his eyes, seemingly unconcerned about his old 'friends', not even bothering with taking a second glance at them.

He remained frozen in his place even as it rained, not moving muscle as if he had entered a state of deep sleep.

It soon rained, yet he still didn't move, the only thing keeping him warm was his black coat, but it couldn't do much, not as months went by and winter came.

It was cold, very cold, especially amidst the heavy weather and the freezing drops of rain, showing that he truly left the realms of humanity, not needing to eat or even breathe.

He cared less about the World that even when the Countdown came to an end, he didn't react at all, and strangely, misfortune didn't pay him a visit.

In fact, Limitless also didn't react or even try to bring upon him misfortune, and he certainly didn't solve it by stealing others' luck... He didn't need to.

It was as if he didn't care about the outside world, all the insane events that took place, such as the Great Expedition which involves all the forces of the World, mostly dominated by the Four Emperors.

Several months passed and a new year shone upon the World, one of bloodshed. A lot of things happened, such as the approximate location of the One Piece being released by the Pantheon.

Such a long span of time passing means that the Great Expedition has already reached Lodestar Island, yet they didn't find Yovan, but the problem was that they had no destination from thereon.

So the Pantheon released the Longitude and the Latitude of the One Piece, coordinates they got from the Road Poneglyph at Zou and the other near the Fishmen Island.

They said that they copy of them long ago before Blackbeard and Shanks acquired them, and the two specified the longitude and the latitude of the Treasure.

The Pantheon hoped the Stranger could be stopped before he acquires the One Piece, for the sake of the World... Very few people believe it, thinking that the Pantheon was fearful of Yovan growing even more powerful, especially since they're supposedly enemies now.

Some even believed that the Stranger's enmity with the Pantheon is deeper than what's known, maybe they were betrayed by the greedy Stranger who stopped at nothing to get the One Piece.

Either way, the Pantheon's goal was clear, especially as they released other speculations about the location of the One Piece, speculation about its altitude, and when it's accessible.

They were, however, only speculations as the Pantheon didn't have the two other Poneglyphs which are in the possession of Kaido and Big Mom, and the thing is, the two can not decipher the Poneglyphs, so they also don't know the real altitude or the time the One Piece appears.

Of course most of these things were lies except for the approximate location of the One Piece, but everyone mostly believed them, even Shanks.

Shanks was a part of Roger's crew, so he should know the location of the One Piece, and the longitude and latitude coordinates were accurate, so he wasn't doubtful, although he came here for a different purpose.

Someone like him wasn't interested in the One Piece, he was interested in stopping Yovan for he strongly believes him to be a threat... He was here to observe and then act if need be.

Tens of Thousands of Gigantic Ships sailed through New World, most being Ships of Giants as they led the Expedition, seeking to avenge Ymir, their old King.

It was a scenery never seen before, or perhaps something similar happened before, more than 800 years ago.

The ridiculous grand scale of the Great Expedition left more pirates with regret, especially as they sailed through the dangerous waters of the end of New World.

The ridiculously grand predators there brought them despair, but what brought them even more despair were the monsters among those in the Great Expedition, monsters capable of defeating such creatures.

Those monsters are their opponents in acquiring the One Piece, so how could they not despair? Well, in the face of Greed, what is despair? Nothing but a fleeting emotion.

The long sleepless nights tried so hard to bring upon despair, and the constant struggle against the gigantic predators was nightmares, taking away the desire to sleep.

Yet even as casualties continued to accumulate, bringing about the stench of blood, the march stopped not but continued forward, finally getting a breather.

The Great Expedition has reached the closed end of Reverse Mountain, and according to the Pantheon's speculation, the One Piece should be within the unbreakable Red Line.

"Hah ZEHahahahahah, we're finally here!!" Such laughs were common but this one was special, its owner's evil eyes tracing their eyes on the Ships about, "Not yet, not yet... Let's use them as human shields to make way."

The speaker was none other than Blackbeard whose influence rose greatly over the years, becoming one of Four Emperors with a fairly strong fleet.

In fact, most of the Ships around were under his command or his underlings' commands and hearing his command, they didn't hesitate in scattering about, getting some human shields.

Well, they were more so used to making way just in case, as the climb to the top of the Red Line started while few were able to fly directly there.

They found themselves atop of the Red Line in an Isolated structure many times bigger than the biggest of Islands. The structure stood at the rear of Reverse Mountain, looking down on the long high Rivers leading to Paradise.

The view was gorgeous, as if a bunch of Gods were looking down on the World below, but none paid much attention to it, focusing on the only thing on the Red Line.

The area was completely empty, just a vast red land... Except for one thing, a thing that made the Dragon, Kaido's face twitch as he stepped back.

The thing reminded him of horrible memories, of some torturous days, a time when he was used as a training dummy, and he couldn't escape.

He remembered the days when he sought nothing but war and bloodshed, then he remembered the days when he desperately wanted to escape bloodshed but couldn't.

It was all the doing of that monster, causing him to have PTSD from the sight of a fucking feather alone.

Indeed, before the Four Emperors was a black feather, resting gently on the ground, just waiting in slumber from the long awaited time.