As time passed, the others gradually became aware of the change in the light.
There wasn't a single cloud in the sky, yet it was slowly growing as dim as an overcast rainy day. In the distance, the sky still seemed to hold some light, but it looked as though a patch of illumination had gone missing here, replaced by a pitch-black void.
But right now, it was clearly the middle of the day...
"Is it time?" Kaido suddenly realized, turning to look toward the Wolf Eye's position.
He wasn't the only one — the others did the same. No one was thinking about fighting anymore.
After all, the entire reason they came here was for Captain John's treasure.
The polar night wouldn't last long. At most, by tomorrow evening, this phenomenon would disappear. The water that had receded from the cave would also slowly rise back up.
At this point, many people no longer cared about the deterrence of Shiki and the others. Everyone on the island surged frantically toward that direction. They didn't actually want to snatch John's treasure right in front of Shiki and his group — they just wanted a share of the spoils.
Even the tiniest fraction, the scraps that slipped through the fingers of those big shots, would be enough for one person to live in luxury for the rest of their life.
Every single person believed they were the lucky one. Every single person was terrified of being one step too late and not even getting a crumb.
Kaido, however, was remarkably composed. He didn't scramble to push ahead, nor did he deliberately lag behind.
As Ren followed Kaido forward, he caught sight of Redfield not far away, who secretly winked at him. Ren understood immediately and began observing the movements of the others.
The Marines were deliberately moving a beat slower. Ren figured they probably had no intention of entering the cave, but would absolutely be there to blockade the exit when the time came.
This was actually just Ren's guess. Redfield also suspected that John might have cooperated with the Marines. If there had been more time and Ren had received intelligence from Shutenmaru, he would have known that John's true partner was the World Government.
In a certain sense, that was no different from cooperating with the Marines.
It was precisely because of this guess that Redfield didn't follow the crowd rushing toward the cave. After all, what lay below was nothing but a trap anyway.
Ren went in only to prevent Shutenmaru from meeting with an unexpected accident. He also wanted to see whether John's plan would actually succeed. In his recollection, apart from Silver Axe, everyone else seemed to have survived for over thirty more years.
But he wasn't sure whether this ambush had existed in the original history. It was entirely possible that this ambush only happened because John had lost a leg in the first place.
If that were the case, it was very likely that some other great pirate could end up dying here.
"Get out of my way, you small fry!"
Upon realizing something was wrong, Shiki abandoned Big Mom and the others without a second thought, rushing toward the cave. With a casual swing of his hand, he released a powerful slash of sword energy that instantly slew numerous pirates.
Even pirates further away were sent flying by the sheer impact.
These people thought they could seize the advantage, but they failed to understand that greed without the corresponding strength would only invite disaster.
It was only because Shiki was in a hurry to get through that he didn't slaughter them all on the spot. Otherwise, it wouldn't have been impossible for him to wipe them out entirely. Wang Zhi and Silver Axe also didn't fall behind, immediately following after him.
"Katakuri! Perospero! Hurry and follow me!"
Big Mom called out loudly, summoning her two sons.
At the same time, the countless Homies ruin guards sprang into action, blocking the path leading to the cave.
"Those who can't even handle these machines are worthless trash — get lost already! Mamamama!"
She laughed while stepping on her thunder cloud and charging forward.
"Keep up, Zeus! We can't let those three get ahead of us."
"I know, Mother."
On the other side, the pirates who had fallen behind had no choice but to face the massive number of ruin guards. But just as Big Mom had said — if they couldn't even handle these things, they might as well pack up and leave. Staying would only add another corpse to this island.
"Genryu: Triceratops Slash!"
Shutenmaru led the vanguard squad, cutting their way forward. In reality, he didn't have that many men under his command. Most of his forces remained at the base camp by the bay.
The sword energy he unleashed took the form of a massive triceratops, charging straight toward the mechanical wall!
A path was carved open through the Homies-controlled ruin guards by Shutenmaru's assault.
After Shutenmaru and his group pushed through, some pirates seized the opening and poured in from behind. But with so many people trying to enter, they inevitably began fighting among themselves.
"We're going through too!"
Kaido swung Hassaikai, slamming it down onto one of the machines. The impact shattered and sent it flying while also knocking down several more machines in the distance. He had held back his strength, avoiding drawing too much attention to himself.
King had flames blazing from his back. Ren wasn't sure whether he had already eaten a Devil Fruit, but at least for now, he hadn't shown any signs of it.
But as a member of the Lunarian tribe, King already possessed an extraordinary physique. Even an Ancient Zoan Devil Fruit would be nothing more than icing on the cake for him.
After dispatching a ruin guard in a few moves, he followed Kaido and charged ahead.
By this time, Shiki at the very front had already plunged into the cave's interior.
The pitch-black darkness couldn't impede his progress. Shiki moved as though he had eyes in the back of his head, precisely avoiding protruding rocks even in places he couldn't see.
"This plant... it really is the Moon Tree, isn't it?"
He ran his hand along the massive vines beside him. Aside from the Moon Tree, the Sun Tree Eve was also intertwined among them. But while Eve could conduct light, it wouldn't absorb all the light from an entire area.
The light that had originally illuminated Skull Island must have been channeled away to Hati Island by this giant tree.
Just as he was pondering this, a distant sound suddenly echoed through the empty cave.
From deep within the cave, something seemed to be wreaking massive destruction!
Shiki couldn't see anything, or else he would have known that the source of the commotion was a colossal squid that had been trapped in this cave for who knows how many years.
Upon sensing Shiki's presence, the squid immediately went berserk. Six tentacles thrashed wildly, striking the cave walls until they shook violently, as if they were about to collapse at any moment.
After its brief rampage, it began attacking Shiki.
A tentacle well over ten meters wide came crashing down toward Shiki, seemingly intent on flattening him into a pulp. If the cave's interior hadn't grown wider the deeper it went, this squid would have struggled just to move its tentacles.
"Out of my way!"
Shiki didn't take this squid-type Sea King seriously at all. Though he couldn't see it, his Observation Haki had already captured its movements.
With a swing of his dual swords, he released a cross-shaped slash wave, cleaving the Sea King cleanly into four pieces.
[
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