In the pitch-black void.
After falling for some time, the Going Merry, as if traversing through time, landed on a silver river emitting a faint blue glow.
Around them, the sparkling silver light in the void resembled infinite stars in the sky, giving everyone the feeling that they were sailing through the cosmos.
The previously boundless seawater had completely vanished, making their past experience feel like an illusory dream.
"It's so beautiful!"
The crew marveled at the countless stars surrounding them. Although they didn't know where they were, it didn't diminish their awe at the beauty of the place.
After all, Kong Tai hadn't given any warnings, which meant there was no danger here.
At the bow, Kong Tai lay on the figurehead, holding his wine gourd in his right hand, slowly drinking wine under the vast expanse of stars.
Indeed, there was no danger.
Initially, Kong Tai had assumed that at the bottom of the abyss lay an unknown colossal entity that devoured everything in the surrounding sea, much like the sea monster they had encountered, hunting purely by instinct.
However, upon falling into the abyss, Kong Tai clearly felt spatial fluctuations.
This abyss was not really an abyss, but a passage to another world. This passage was part of that creature's body.
In other words, that unknown creature was actually a being that lived within space itself.
This was quite interesting.
This was the first time Kong Tai had felt such clear spatial fluctuations in this world.
"Accidental, or intentional?"
Gazing at the seemingly endless silver river, Kong Tai felt no fear of the unknown ahead.
At this moment, he was confident that he could easily take anyone from anywhere and leave.
Of course, except for the Creation God that Bian An had mentioned, whom he had met once.
...
Upon the river of stars, which seemed to have existed for eternity, there was no sound other than the gentle flow of water.
But today, the silence was broken by a two-masted sailing ship arriving from the other end of the silver river.
The wondrous and peculiar scenery they had never seen before embodied the true spirit of adventure. Shortly after entering this place, before even having dinner, the crew naturally started a feast.
"Yohohoho!"
"Yohohoho!"
Brook played the violin, Kong Tai played the piano, and the crew sang along while eating.
A song, "Binks' Sake," traveled far and wide in this unchanging starry sky.
"Captain, Captain, listen, listen quickly, there are people, there are people!"
At the other end of the starry sky, on a giant sailing ship, weathered by the passage of time and now in a state of disrepair, an old man with ashen hair and a gaunt appearance, upon hearing the song approaching from afar, froze. He immediately dropped the piece of rotten meat in his hand and hurried to the bow.
Together with another old man at the bow, he stared intently into the distance.
"A ship, a ship, it's really a ship..."
With trembling lips, the old man followed the hand of the other old man beside him and saw a small black dot at the end of the silver river, slowly approaching them.
"A ship?"
"So what if it's a ship?"
Excitement gradually turned into numbness. The old man raised his hand, touched his tattered captain's hat, and muttered to himself, "They can't escape, they can't escape. Just like us, they will be trapped in this seemingly beautiful, but actually hope-devouring starry sky."
"They will be trapped here, trapped here."
Hearing the captain's words, the old man who had first spotted the Going Merry also gradually calmed down.
His once upright posture instantly lost its spirit and vitality. He exuded an air of decay and desolation. Staring at the approaching Going Merry, the light in his eyes was replaced by a dull haze.
"Yes! There is no hope. Once you enter here, no one can leave."
Turning his head, the old man and the captain no longer looked at the increasingly close Going Merry, but cast their gaze upon the numerous neatly stacked skeletons on the deck behind them, falling into an absolute silence.
Just as they could spot the Going Merry, Kong Tai and the others could also spot them.
The singing continued, the laughter remained, as if the two ships were in two different worlds. Even as they drew near, the people on both sides could see each other but exchanged no words.
"I don't think they represent evil pirates. Their aura is quite similar to Brook's."
At the side of the ship, Kuina, with her left arm around Kong Tai's, glanced at the two old men on the giant ship and asked the young man beside her, "Should we save them?"
She wasn't sure if her perception was accurate, as judging by the ship and the two old men, they had clearly been trapped here for a long time.
Such a long time would be enough to make anyone completely hide their original appearance.
"Hey! Old man, do you want to leave this place?"
Kong Tai didn't answer Kuina. Instead, he called out to the two old men sitting cross-legged at the bow of the giant ship, looking like two statues, "If you want to leave, I don't mind giving you a ride."
He didn't sense the bloodthirsty and evil aura unique to pirates from the old men. Moreover, these two old men, as Kuina had said, had an aura very similar to Brook's.
They should be pirates who truly adventured for the sake of adventure.
Not truly evil and vicious pirates.
Therefore, Kong Tai didn't mind saving them.
However, despite his good intentions, others might not readily accept it.
"Leave?"
Upon hearing Kong Tai's words, the old man wearing the captain's hat looked up, revealing a weathered and wrinkled face beneath the hat.
He stared at Kong Tai, his aged and cloudy pupils showing no excitement. With a hoarse, ancient voice, he said, "Kid, I thank you for your kind offer. If we could really leave, I..."
He paused, then turned to look at the pile of bones covering the deck, and said in a low voice, "If we could really leave, we wouldn't have ended up like this."
He then turned his gaze, sweeping over Kong Tai and the others, before settling back on Kong Tai.
He could tell that this seemingly ordinary young boy, who exuded no discernible aura, was the captain of this ship.
"Do you know what this place is?"
"Yes, it seems to be some kind of death zone, you can only enter, not leave."
"Since you know, you are still confident you can leave."
A flicker of interest crossed the old man's cloudy eyes.
"How long have you been here?"
Looking at Kong Tai's ship and their clothes, the old man seemed to recall something, his eyes suddenly lit up, and his withered hands clenched into fists.
At this moment, a powerful aura, like that of a awakened beast, emanated from the old man.
This old man was actually a strong individual who possessed Conqueror's Haki.