bdsm-fiction Chapter 274 Cognitive Interference, the Invisible Blade
Chapter 274 Cognitive Interference, the Invisible Blade
Chapter 274 Cognitive Interference, the Invisible Blade
The sea of flowers is fading.
It did not wither naturally, but was corroded from the inside by some force.
Those colorful, luminous, dreamlike flowers are turning gray, withering, and then crumbling into powder, one by one.
Merlin stood in the center of the sea of flowers, the jewel at the top of his staff now dimmed considerably.
The smile was still on his face, but the curve of his lips was a little stiffer than before.
"Wow, it's faster than I expected!"
He looked in three directions at the sea of flowers.
Silent Hassan was tearing apart a wall of flowers with her bare hands, black venom flowing from her fingertips, instantly rotting the flowers wherever it touched.
Her movements were slow, but steady and resolute, as if she were chiseling through rock.
Hassan, the man with the cursed wrist, knelt on the ground with his hands pressed against the earth.
Countless black lines spread from his palm, like the roots of a plant, penetrating deep into the sea of flowers and frantically drawing upon the magic that constituted the flower sea.
With each fraction drawn, the area of the flower sea shrinks by one foot.
As for Bai Mausoleum, she didn't even lay a hand on her.
She simply stood at the edge of the sea of flowers, watching quietly.
"Three minutes—" Merlin estimated the time, clicked his tongue, and said, "Two minutes and seventeen seconds have passed. Everyone, isn't this a little too quiet?"
The silence tore open the last layer of the flower wall.
She stepped into the waterless space where Merlin was, her eyes beneath the skull mask fixed on the magician.
"Get out of the way."
His voice was hoarse, filled with suppressed anger.
Merlin shrugged. "What if I say no?"
The next second, all three attacks came at the same time!
The silent, poisoned blade pierced the throat, while cursed threads wrapped around the wrists and feet, and the frozen space of a hundred faces unfolded once more.
But Merlin just smiled.
He raised his staff and gave it a gentle turn.
"Well then, goodbye everyone~ Exactly 3 minutes."
His figure vanished like smoke, along with the entire sea of flowers, completely disappearing before the three Hassans' attacks hit.
Only one sentence remained, echoing in the sea.
"Just a heads-up, don't just focus on the rabbit you're waiting for; the old man in the mountains is already on his way too!"
In the next instant, his figure completely disappeared into the seabed thousands of miles below.
Only the three Hassans remained, silent.
Meanwhile, when Kojiro returned to Ryugu Castle, a tense silence filled the council hall.
Jinbe stood alone in front of the throne, his hands behind his back, his gaze fixed on the deep sea outside the window.
"Where are Luffy and the others?" Kojiro asked in a deep voice, noticing that the residual magical energy fluctuations in the air were somewhat unusual.
"We've been heading to the Coral Forest for an hour and a half," Jinbe said, turning around with a furrowed brow.
"But the merman scouts I sent out reported that strange things were happening on the outskirts of the Coral Forest."
"All the fishmen who try to enter will inexplicably lose their way, wander around the edge of the forest, and eventually return to where they started."
Kojiro suddenly realized!
"I see—is it cognitive interference? I was lucky to have had the magician's help, otherwise I would have been lost too!"
"Is there any way to crack this?"
"There are two kinds," Kojiro thought to himself.
"We need to either cover it with a stronger concept or find the nodes of the domain and destroy them. But either way, we need to find the location of her true form first."
Where do you think she is?
Kojiro paused for a moment, then stated his judgment: "She's not in the Coral Forest. That's just a decoy."
A sharp glint flashed in Jinbe's single eye: "What do you mean?"
"Thinking back carefully, there were indeed some oddities during the time I was being chased," Kojiro said slowly.
"This isn't the behavior of an assassin who wants to kill me; it's more like she's stalling for time."
"What time are you delaying for?"
"Let us focus our attention on the coral forest, on tranquility and the cursed wrist."
Kojiro walked up to the sea chart and pointed to three key locations on Fishman Island.
"Dragon Palace, Coral Forest, Deep Sea Altar. These are three distinct locations, but if we broaden our perspective..."
His finger moved along the seabed topography map, eventually stopping at an inconspicuous mark.
"Shipwreck Canyon?"
"Thirty nautical miles northeast of Fishman Island, there is a natural underwater rift valley, inside which are piles of ships that have sunk over the past hundreds of years."
Jinbe recalled, "The water pressure there was extremely high, and the environment was complex; even fish-men rarely approached. Why do you suspect that place?"
"Because it's too quiet," Kojiro said.
"The Hassans have created so much chaos, assassinating the king, spreading rumors, and setting up positions, but their true purpose has always remained shrouded in mystery."
"I have some guesses, but they are just guesses. With that magician's involvement—"
"In short, Azrael has been summoned, but so far has not shown any clear behavioral logic."
Deeper still.
Jinbe's expression turned serious: "You mean—"
"I suspect there's something more important there," Kojiro said.
"And the true form of the Hundred Faces is very likely there. The base in the Coral Forest and the rituals at the Deep Sea Altar are just smokescreens to distract us."
Just then, the doors to the council chamber were pushed open.
Brooke walked in.
The skeleton musician, leaning on a cane and sword, walked with a somewhat unsteady gait.
His bones are usually even brighter, and with each step he takes, they leave faint, translucent ripples in the air.
"Brook?" Jinbe immediately stepped forward. "How are you feeling?"
"Not good," Brooke's voice trembled slightly.
"From just now, my Devil Fruit ability has been resonating. It's like something in the deep sea is calling to it, and it's getting stronger and stronger."
He looked up at Kojiro: "By the way, sir, during the pursuit, did you sense anything unusual? For example—"
—A chilling killing intent—
Kojiro remembered the fragments of the bone bottle that Shizuka used to escape.
"Yes, unlike ordinary death, it's more like—a death that has been accumulating for a very, very long time, almost to the point of becoming a physical entity."
"The death of sedimentation—" Ghostly flames flickered in Brooke's empty eye sockets.
"In reality, the fruits of the home can communicate with the underworld, but some things no longer belong to the realm of the underworld."
The three fell silent.
If Shipwreck Canyon really does accumulate a large number of dead bodies, what does that mean?
Kojiro's speculation was further verified.
A merman scout swam in hurriedly and knelt on one knee.
"Report! An unusual magical fluctuation has been detected in the direction of Shipwreck Canyon! The intensity is rapidly increasing, exceeding the peak value of the Deep Sea Altar!"
"What exactly is the nature of this fluctuation?" Jinbe asked immediately.
"It's hard to analyze, but—" the scout hesitated for a moment, "according to the soldiers who were nearby, the fluctuations made them feel extremely sad and nostalgic, as if they were hearing the calls of their deceased loved ones."
Brooke shuddered.
"It's a ritual to call upon the dead—" he whispered. "Old Master Wang Hassan told me about it."
"Awaken what?"
Brook remained silent for a long time before slowly speaking: "I don't really understand the power of the Yomi Yomi no Mi (Revive-Revive Fruit)—but I do know that it has one power."
"I can communicate with the dead and the living, I can converse with the soul, and even briefly bring the soul back to the present world."
Brooke, unusually serious, said, "But I've always been curious, where did those souls that never returned go?"
Everyone was taken aback.
"The underworld is a concept, not a specific place," Brooke continued.
"Most of the dead enter the cycle of reincarnation, dissipate, or go to the destination of their respective faiths. But there is one type of dead—"
"Because their obsession is too deep, or their way of dying is too unusual, they will be trapped in the gap between this world and the underworld, and will never be able to break free."
If Brooke's speculation is correct, then Azrael's purpose is more terrifying than they imagined.
Brook is key; this guy absolutely cannot go to Shipwreck Canyon.
Once his Devil Fruit power resonates deeply with those souls, the integration process will accelerate and may even become irreversible. "We must stop him," Jinbe said in a deep voice.
"But what to do? Luffy and the others are trapped in the Coral Forest, King Hassan is missing, and Noah is unable to awaken. The high-end combat forces we can utilize are—"
Everyone remained silent, as if they had been completely trapped in a dead end.
Meanwhile, at the edge of the coral forest.
Luffy and his crew finally arrived at the area shrouded in cognitive interference.
"Is this the place?" Zoro gripped the hilt of his sword, scanning his surroundings warily.
Ahead lay a dense thicket of bioluminescent corals. The blue-white light emitted by the corals should have illuminated the entire sea area, but at the edge of the forest, the light was strangely distorted, as if refracted by an invisible barrier.
Robin activated her power, and an arm grew out from inside the coral reef, but the hand became blurry the moment it appeared, as if looking at something through frosted glass.
"It feels strange." She withdrew her arm. "If I force my way in, I might get lost."
Sanji lit a cigarette: "So what do we do? Go around it?"
"I'm afraid that won't work," Robin shook his head.
"Unless you go around it from above or below, but this forest has a vertical height of over 500 meters and a depth of over 300 meters, the detour is too far."
Luffy craned his neck to peer inside, his rubber neck protruding several meters, but all he saw was distorted light and shadow: "Damn it!"
"According to the information Kojiro sent, Brook should still be in Ryugu Castle," Robin calmly analyzed.
"There must be something important in the forest, otherwise those guys wouldn't have gone to such lengths to set up this level of interference."
.
Just when everyone was at a loss, Roger stared at the distorted light and shadow, and after a moment spoke: "This kind of interference—I've seen something similar before."
"You've seen it before?" Zoro turned his head.
"Ah, in certain special sea areas of the Grand Line," Roger recalled.
"Due to geomagnetic anomalies or the influence of ancient relics, to decipher the problem, we need to find the source of the distortion."
"It is usually an item with powerful spiritual energy, or a special node."
"How do I find it?"
"Feel it with your heart," Roger said, looking at Luffy. "Don't you have that ability? The ability to sense presence."
Luffy was taken aback, then realized: "Uncle, you're not talking about Haki, you're talking about that ability to hear things."
"That's right. Close your eyes, don't use your eyes to see, use your senses to explore this area. Distorted light and shadow are illusions, but the flow of energy doesn't lie."
Luffy nodded and closed his eyes.
A few seconds later, he pointed in a certain direction in the forest: "Over there! There's a strange aura, like—many people are whispering, but I can't make out what they're saying!"
"That's the node," Roger said. "Someone's maintaining the interference there. Take them down, and the interference will be gone."
"Alright!" Luffy opened his eyes. "Everyone, follow me!"
The group followed the direction Luffy sensed. Although their vision was obstructed, they quickly found the node by following Luffy's guidance.
It was a relatively open sandy area, and three figures were sitting in the middle of it.
Three distinctly different assassins sat back to back, their hands forming the same hand seals, chanting some kind of incantation in a low voice.
With each verse sung, the surrounding light and shadow distorted a little more.
Around them floated dozens of semi-transparent clones, surrounding them like guards.
"Found it!" Luffy shouted.
The three Bai Mei opened their eyes at the same time.
There was no panic, no surprise; they simply looked calmly at the intruder and then smiled.
"They've finally arrived," the one in the middle, Bai Mao, said. "They're slower than expected."
"You guys are not allowed to hurt anyone!" Luffy demanded.
The one on the left said, "Harm? You've got it wrong. Our mission is simply to keep you here."
"Stay here?" Zoro drew his sword. "What do you mean?"
Bai Mao on the right slowly stood up: "You don't need to know too much. Just stay here for a while, and everything will be over."
As soon as he finished speaking, the surrounding clones moved simultaneously!
Instead of attacking, they dispersed, quickly blending into the coral reef and disappearing from sight.
The bodies of the three Hundred-Faced beings began to become transparent, as if they were about to merge into the seawater.
"Trying to run?" Sanji instantly appeared behind one of the Hundred Faces and kicked out!
But his leg passed right through Bai Mao's body and missed.
"It's no use," a voice from all directions said. "We were never here. What you're seeing are just illusions."
The three Baimao completely disappeared.
At the same time, the distortion of light and shadow in the entire coral forest suddenly intensified!
"Damn it," Robin's expression changed, "They've increased their interference! We can't even see each other's positions anymore!"
""
The group looked around and indeed found that their companions' figures had become blurry and their voices had become distant and distorted.
The coral's blue-white light twisted into eerie bands of light, dancing wildly in the seawater and creating a dizzying illusion.
"Calm down!" Roger shouted. "Form a circle, back to back!"
Everyone did as instructed.
Luffy, Zoro, Sanji, Robin, Franky, Chopper, and Usopp stood back to back in a circle, warily watching the distorted light and shadow around them.
"What do we do now?" Usopp's voice trembled slightly.
Luffy gritted his teeth, closed his eyes again, and unleashed his Observation Haki.
But this time, he sensed only chaos.
Countless breaths surged, intertwined, and overlapped all around, as if thousands of people were whispering at the same time, making it impossible to discern any direction.
"No way—" Luffy's forehead was sweating, "It's too chaotic—"
Just then—
A flash of light slashed out from the depths of the forest.
It wasn't aimed at them, but at the distorted light and shadow.
The blade flashed dark and silent. Wherever it passed, the distorted light and shadow disappeared as if erased by an eraser, revealing the original clear coral scenery.
A knife.
With a single slash, the cognitive interference that covered the entire forest was shattered.
Everyone stared in shock at the direction where the blade of light had vanished.
There, a tall figure in a black robe slowly walked over.
King Hassan.
He had no knife in his hand; that slash just now seemed to have been done casually.
The red light from beneath the skull mask swept across the crowd, finally settling on Luffy.
"You are wasting your time here."
His voice was deep and commanding, leaving no room for doubt.
"Grandpa King Hassan!" Luffy exclaimed in surprise, "Brook's here too?!"
"No need to worry, he's not here," Wang Hassan said succinctly. "This place is a trap, just a delaying tactic. The real battlefield is in Shipwreck Canyon."
"Shipwreck Canyon?" Everyone was taken aback.
Wang Hassan offered no explanation, but simply turned away.
He strode into the depths of the forest, his figure appearing and disappearing among the coral reefs.
Luffy and the others exchanged a glance and followed without hesitation.
After they left, three shattered crystals slowly sank into the sand.
The crystal shards reflected the final expressions of the three hundred-faced clones—not defeat, but the smiles of triumphant success.