LRAB Chapter 86 The Devil's Triangle!
Chapter 86 The Devil's Triangle!
Chapter 86 The Devil's Triangle!
Like his colleagues, Norton has been having a very fulfilling time lately.
Every morning, he would wake up on the soft cloud bed he had brought back from the sky island, linger in bed for ten more minutes, and listen to Steel Hands yelling at someone outside the deck and someone being thrown into the pile of cables.
Since the room wasn't far from Norton's living room, Nami and Funing would often come over to play with Norton for a while at this time.
After all, the cloud bed is just too comfortable; once you've slept on it, you can't give up that feeling.
If it weren't inconvenient, both Funing and Nami would like to sleep with Norton.
After sleeping in, it's time for breakfast. Arriving at the sea restaurant from the White Pearl, you can see Sanji busy in the kitchen.
It's worth mentioning that although Sanji was also on Tsunade's training list and got beaten up every day, he still insisted on spending eight hours in the kitchen every day.
"King, what do you want to eat today?"
"Seafood fried rice, with extra squid."
Three minutes later, Sanji placed a generous portion of squid and seafood fried rice in front of Norton. After slowly finishing it, Norton wiped his mouth, got up, and left.
After dinner, we had our usual fishing session.
He moved a folding chair, sat at the stern of the boat, propped his fishing rod on the gunwale, and leaned back in the chair, closing his eyes to bask in the sun.
However, the fishing rod remained motionless.
Twenty minutes, forty minutes, an hour.
"Why haven't any fish taken the bait yet!" Nami, who was fishing with Norton, was losing patience.
"Don't rush, wait a little longer."
After waiting for a long time, the buoy remained anchored to the sea surface without any movement.
Norton opened his eyes and looked down at the deep blue sea.
"————Big Black".
Fine ripples spread across the water's surface.
The massive, silent silhouette of the mist whale emerges from the depths of the ocean. It emits a deep, resonant sound, as if in response.
"Go to the deep sea for a while. Don't let the fish all avoid you."
The giant whale swung its tail fin and slowly sank. Its jet-black dorsal fin sank deeper and deeper into the inky blue water until it disappeared from sight.
Norton leaned back in his chair.
Unfortunately, the fishing rod remained motionless.
Another half hour passed.
Even Norton was starting to get a little annoyed, so he put his fishing rod on the deck, took off his coat, and climbed over the gunwale barefoot.
"Thump!"
Water splashed up as Nami got up from the beach chair, her soft white flesh pressed against the bulge through her bra, the curves shifting under the pressure.
"Jellyfish catching! Norton! Those creatures are beautiful!"
None of the sailors on deck spoke.
The captain goes out to sea to catch fish four or five times a week; he's gotten used to it.
Soon, the sea broke open. Norton, soaking wet and with his silver hair plastered to his forehead, vaulted aboard, one hand bracing against the gunwale. In his other hand, he carried a massive creature—a semi-transparent, giant jellyfish with a bell as large as a millstone. Its tentacles, still dripping with seawater, swayed gently in the sea breeze, gleaming with a pale blue glow.
"Funing!"
Fu Ning poked her head out of the cabin and was stunned when she saw the crystal clear, still-alive thing in his hand.
"—Is this for the aquarium?"
"That's right!"
Twenty minutes later, a giant jellyfish appeared in the aquarium next to the conference room.
The jellyfish slowly unfurled its bell, its tentacles swaying like ribbons in the filtered seawater, its pale blue glow reflected on the glass. It seemed unconcerned about being abducted from the deep sea to this moving metal hull.
Norton stood in front of the glass for a while.
During his leisure time after dinner, Norton stood at the bow of the White Pearl, staring blankly at the horizon.
The weather was beautiful; the western clouds were burned orange-red by the setting sun, and the sea was shimmering with golden light.
In Nami's words, it was "a level 3 wind, a southeasterly wind, and normal humidity," and "a rare good day."
The sailors on deck were doing their pre-dry work. Some were winding ropes, others were wiping the hull. Zoro leaned against the mast, wiping his sword, the blade reflecting the sunset. Zeff smoked by the galley window, the greyish-white smoke drifting into the sea breeze.
At that moment, Nami came up from the cabin.
Holding a recording pointer and a barometer, she stood on the ship's side, looking down at the data, then looking up at the sky, and then frowned.
Something's not right!
Nami approached Norton and whispered something that several people on the deck heard.
Zoro stopped wiping his sword. Zeff leaned out of the window.
Several sailors stopped what they were doing and looked at her.
But Nami didn't have time to explain. She quickly turned around, walked briskly to the main mast, and picked up the Den Den Mushi (a type of electric phone).
"Hmm?" Norton noticed Nami's unusual behavior.
"Attention, all fleet members! This is Nami!"
Nami's voice was transmitted throughout the fleet via Den Den Mushi.
"The air pressure has dropped by four millibars in three minutes. The wind direction is changing, and the angular velocity of the change is abnormal. All vessels, from now on, are on level three sea alert."
"Put away any loose deck items. Check the watertightness of the hatches. Avoid having any non-essential personnel on deck!"
She paused.
"Something will happen within ten minutes!"
The responses from the ships came through the Den Den Mushi, and the sailors of the White Pearl began to move about without panic or doubt.
Nami's judgment has long been the norm in this fleet.
Norton walked over to Nami, but Nami didn't look at him. Instead, she stared at the clouds in the west, still tinged red by the sunset, her knuckles turning white from gripping them so tightly.
Seven minutes later, the wind suddenly stopped, the sails drooped limply, and the sea surface became as smooth as a mirror.
The barometer began to fall, and the orange-red hue on the western horizon was being swallowed up.
Thick, dark clouds rolled in and pressed down!
"Hard to port!" Nami roared. "All fleet, heading 15 degrees! The storm vanguard will arrive in three minutes."
Before the words were even finished, the first bolt of lightning tore through the clouds!
Above the White Pearl, Enel, standing at the bow of the Ark of Truth, looked up, his face illuminated by lightning.
Thunder roared across the sea, and the wind went from still to howling in a second. The sails of the White Pearl creaked and the mooring lines were taut like a fully drawn bow.
Immediately afterwards, a torrential downpour began!
Countless icy water whips lashed at the people on the deck, making it impossible for them to open their eyes.
Nami rushed into the cockpit, placing her hands on the navigator, rain streaming down her hair.
"Ship number three! Yawed! Turn starboard five degrees!"
"Ship No. 7 reports water ingress into the cabin!"
"Stay in formation! Plug the leaks, slow down, and stay close to the White Pearl!"
The waves didn't rise slowly; they crashed directly down from the horizon.
When the first wave crashed against the port side of the White Pearl, the entire ship listed twenty degrees. Barrels on deck rolled into the sea, and the mooring lines were scattered.
The helmsman gritted his teeth and turned the rudder, struggling to steer the ship through the troughs of the waves.
The second wave. The third wave.
Lightning bolts tore through the sky one after another.
The Ark Maxim hovered low in the sky, Enel's body crackling with lightning. He channeled his lightning into the clouds, forcibly dispersing a small patch of cumulonimbus clouds, clearing a barely visible path for the fleet below.
Several tens of minutes later, the storm stopped abruptly, just as it had arrived. The dark clouds dispersed, the gale subsided, and the sea returned to calm.
Nami released the steering wheel, grabbed the bridge, and slowly slid down to the floor.
"—It's over."
On the deck, the sailors lay sprawled out, panting heavily.
However, after overcoming the difficulties, no one cheered, because looking around, the surroundings had been enveloped by thick fog.
"King! Did you make Big Black blow smoke again?" Fu Ning ran over and asked.
"No," Norton shook his head, "we should be here by now."
"Where are we?"
"The Devil's Triangle".
The fog surged out from all directions simultaneously, like something alive rising from the seabed; it was grayish-white, thick, and icy. Visibility plummeted from several hundred meters to fifty meters, thirty meters, ten meters, and finally less than five meters.
The bow of the White Pearl disappeared into the wall of fog ahead, the Baratie beside it was reduced to a mere outline, and the Ark Maxim in the distance was swallowed up by the fog, even its lightning.
The sound of waves crashing against the ship's hull has become distant and indistinct!
Nami stood up, walked to the ship's side, and looked down at the record pointer on her wrist.
The pointer inside the glass ball was spinning wildly, like a bird trapped in a cage.