OP: My Aircraft Carrier Evolves#116+117: A Miracle, The Line Between Virtual and Reality, Swallowing Uta, and Arriving at Shimotsuki Village!

In two separate spaces—one real, one virtual—Jin "devoured" Tot Musica simultaneously.

An intense collision of will and reality erupted between the two Awakened fruits. Waves of immense power pulsed outward.

The sky, the island, the very sea itself warped and twisted, a chaotic mess like a child's frantic scribbles. Reality and the virtual world bled into one another. The ocean churned, tilting and pouring into the void. Massive Sea Kings were crushed in an instant.

No normal human body could have withstood such a clash—it would have been annihilated by the Spacetime distortion.

But Jin was different. He had been tempered by his journey through spacetime, possessing a natural resistance and an affinity for its power.

And he had the demonic carrier, a formidable ally providing an endless wellspring of support.

—————————

In the real world.

After swallowing the version of Tot Musica that had once been Uta, a black "smoke" began to pour from Jin's every pore.

Countless songs and melodies fused into a terrifying cacophony of shrieks, noise, and roars.

It thrashed and writhed within him, twisting his body, trying to assimilate him, to turn him into a monster just like it.

His body swelled to a colossal size—dozens of meters tall. His arms flickered, one moment a piano, the next a flurry of musical notes.

An Awakened Paramecia fruit assimilates everything around it into its own "property."

Including people.

Take the Gomu-Gomu Fruit, for example. Under the influence of its Awakening, even Kaido had been "rubberized," turned into a living jump rope.

The Sing-Sing Fruit was now trying to do the same to Jin.

But Jin was wielding the power of his own Awakened fruit—the Munch-Munch Fruit. He was a living black hole, devouring and reshaping reality itself.

At the same time, he used the Calm-Calm Fruit to create a zone of silence, compressing the music, containing its "infection."

And in this moment of crisis, his Armament and Conqueror's Haki, both unconsciously unleashed, wrapped around his body like a raging fire, suppressing the Devil Fruit's power.

To have the courage to face a "demon"—to have the sheer audacity to try and swallow it whole—was that not, in its own way, a form of indomitable will? A belief powerful enough to bend reality?

Of course, that audacity was fueled by the confidence that came with his third evolution.

THUD... THUD...

Bearing a terrifying power, Jin began to walk. With each step, the ground cracked and the island shook.

With his immense willpower, he maintained a fragile balance.

Finally, he reached the demonic carrier.

And in an instant, the pressure on him lessened.

"Woooooooooom..."

The carrier's boiler burned a massive amount of soul crystals. The steam that billowed out was a brilliant gold.

The boiler, the engine, the cabins, the deck, the conning tower...

Everything was connected by an invisible force.

They began to "burn."

They slowly turned transparent, dissolving into nothingness.

The ship was devouring itself.

Finally, a torrent of golden flames poured from the walls and railings, flowing into Jin's body and transforming into a surge of spiritual energy.

It was like a cool rain on a parched soul.

—————————

In the virtual dream world.

Robin, Carina, Nami—everyone stared, wide-eyed, at the king who had swallowed the "demon."

Even Kuma found it unbelievable. He had heard the ancient legends, of a fruit's "demon" possessing its user. He had never heard of a user devouring the "demon."

It was terrifying.

Was he even human?

'No...' Kuma thought. 'Of course he isn't human. He's a god. And only a god can defeat a demon.'

What he was witnessing... was it not a miracle?

As they stood there, dumbfounded, golden flames began to lick at Jin's body.

The flames surged, consuming the black smoke and the grotesque images. In an instant, he was a living torch.

And the fire was spreading, consuming the entire space.

But strangely, it wasn't hot.

It didn't harm them.

In fact, it soothed their frayed nerves.

The golden flames were so brilliant, they made him look like the sun, like a lighthouse guiding ships through a storm.

And the virtual space around them was transforming, taking the shape of the island.

"Woooooooooom..."

A deep, whale-like cry echoed from the void. It was approaching, fast.

"A ship!"

Kuma and Robin knew that sound all too well. It was the "roar" of the Empress.

It was entering the virtual dream world.

How was that possible?

To cross from the real world into a virtual one... it was the stuff of the most terrifying legends of the sea.

"Look! Over there! What is that...?" Nami gasped.

In the sky, a ball of golden light, like a meteor, was plummeting toward them, threatening to shatter the very fabric of this space.

It was getting closer.

"It's going to hit us!"

But it never did.

The fireball stopped, hovering a dozen meters off the ground, held aloft by the golden flames.

The Kilo-Kilo Fruit.

At that moment, the two-thousand-ton demonic carrier weighed only a single kilogram. To make it float was effortless.

Robin, Nami, and the others were already numb with shock, but when they saw the massive shadow within the golden flames, their jaws dropped.

The silver warship was a thing of beauty, every line a perfect golden ratio, wreathed in shimmering golden flames.

Was that really the Empress?

And even more unbelievably... there were two kings.

Chains of golden fire shot out from the demonic carrier, wrapping around the virtual Jin.

With a heavy groan, the two "Jins"—the soul and the body—were pulled together, becoming one.

Then, the chains wrapped around Kuma, Robin, Nami, Carina, Tashigi, Gordon, and Uta, who was being protected by the others, and pulled them all back to the ship.

Robin realized that another "her" was lying on the deck, along with the bodies of Nami and the others. She was smart. She understood instantly. Those were their physical bodies, brought from the real world into the dream.

She could also hear music playing from the ship's speakers. She didn't recognize the language—it sounded a bit like the dialect of Wano—but she understood the melody.

In fact, she had heard the king speak in that strange language more than once. It was clearly a complete linguistic system. She had been secretly trying to learn it.

As she was pondering this, the chains pushed her back into her own body. Her eyes snapped open.

Nami, Kuma, and the others all woke up as well.

They stood up and saw that their own bodies were also wreathed in golden flames. They felt a strange sensation, a mixture of burning heat and soothing coolness. The flames were protecting them, keeping their physical forms from being eroded by the Spacetime distortion.

Only Uta...

She was still unconscious.

"Woooooooooom..."

The demonic carrier roared again.

It was setting sail.

It became a streak of light, following the anchor points it had left on its way in, and pierced through the boundary between reality and illusion.

It was like a submarine surfacing from the dark depths.

But the chains still stretched back into the virtual space, pulling, dragging...

The virtual Elegia and the real Elegia slowly began to merge.

And when the merger was complete, the sun rose.

The entire island vanished from the sea, sinking into a shadow, swallowed by the gaping maw of the carrier.

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The sea breeze was gentle, carrying with it the sounds of the wind and the waves, and the salty smell of the ocean.

On the deck, the flames quickly receded.

The last remnants of the shadow in the sky dissipated like mist.

Kuma, Robin, and the others all stood there like statues, lost in the memories of the night's journey.

It was... fantastical.

Like a dream.

No.

More fantastical than a dream.

Nami took a sharp breath and closed her eyes.

Gordon was panting, his old bones thoroughly rattled.

Kuma took out his little notebook and began to write...

He had witnessed a miracle.

Carina was still reeling, the night's events having completely shattered her worldview.

Tashigi was in a daze, a look of awe and reverence in her eyes.

Robin let out a soft breath.

In the sunlight, the oppressive feeling was gone.

She looked around and saw Jin, standing at the prow of the conning tower, the last wisps of golden flame still clinging to him.

His massive, swollen form... at that moment, he looked like the ruler of the world, majestic and terrifying.

The sight of him shook her to her very core.

Sensing her gaze, Jin opened his eyes.

He was not in good shape.

Tot Musica had claimed more than one victim.

The souls of Elegia alone, so full of sorrow and anger, had been released in the flames, their memories flooding into him.

It was like absorbing too much "knowledge" all at once. He was stuffed. He would need some time to digest it all.

"Ai, free navigation," he commanded. "The rest of you, to your posts. I'm going to get some sleep."

His body sank into the deck, and he returned to the simple workshop from when the carrier had just been a model.

The power of the Castle-Castle Fruit shrank his body. The power of the Kilo-Kilo Fruit lightened his weight.

Before him was a single, fixed bed, a desk with a laptop and a printer, and a toolbox underneath.

It was familiar, like coming home.

No matter how much the demonic carrier had evolved, Jin had never changed the layout of this room. It was an anchor for his soul.

"There's no place like home," he sighed, touching the desk.

An outsider, long away from home... even a man with a heart of stone will feel a pang of homesickness.

—————————

Jin had a dream.

He became a thousand different people, experiencing a thousand different sorrows, pains, angers, and despairs.

It was a terrible nightmare—

—And in the end of it, There was a musician. She had been frail and sickly from a young age, but she had been born with a kind of empathetic Observation Haki that allowed her to hear the pain of others. After accidentally eating a Devil Fruit, she had been blessed with a talent for music.

But her music was not sad. It was joyful, inspiring, powerful, and happy.

She had used her music to save people from their suffering. Until one day, she was framed as a criminal and became a wanted woman.

The people who had once loved her turned their backs on her. The audiences who had once cheered for her began to curse her, to hate her, to wish for her death.

Her husband and her child were murdered by the very people she had saved, their heads presented to a noble in exchange for a bounty.

How could they do that?

What was wrong with the world?

An overwhelming tide of pain, sorrow, despair, and anger washed over her.

More and more people came to capture her.

She didn't want to run anymore.

She returned to the place of her birth.

She sat at her piano.

And with all the hatred in her heart, she played.

She poured all of her emotions, her soul, her blood, and finally, her life, into the creation of Tot Musica.

Her malice toward the world, her intense emotions, seeped into the Sing-Sing Fruit, and at the moment of her death, it Awakened.

An uncontrolled Awakening.

Her name was Piresia.

Jin watched, impassive. It wasn't that he lacked sympathy, but... there are two sides to every story. What about the innocent people who had been killed by Tot Musica? Who would speak for them?

Right and wrong... he no longer had the heart to judge.

...

A gentle melody began to play.

It was Uta's voice.

"I come from the mountains, with an orchid in my hand..."

Her song was like a fresh breeze, like a clear mountain spring, stirring the innocence in one's heart.

The Sing-Sing Fruit allowed Uta to learn any song after hearing it just once, even in a language she didn't understand. The words may have been different, but the emotion was conveyed.

And then, Tot Musica began to play again. But it was no longer angry, no longer filled with hatred. It was calm, gentle.

And then, it became light, joyful.

Uta had rewritten the music, the lyrics, filling it with a yearning for a better life, a wild passion for the future and for freedom.

In her song, the resentment of Elegia faded away.

It, too, became specks of light, like stars, and scattered.

Tot Musica was reborn.

The dream ended.

—————————

Jin woke up. Despite the constant nightmares, he didn't feel tired. In fact, he was full of energy.

His body had returned to normal.

And there was something soft against him.

He looked down.

Uta, naked, was lying in his arms, still unconscious. Her features were delicate, flawless.

He had "swallowed" her.

When Tot Musica was dealt with, she had returned to normal and had been "spit out."

That's why they were lying together.

To avoid any awkwardness, Jin moved to Robin's quarters and had her dress Uta. He then asked about what had happened.

"I was asleep for seven days and seven nights? That's a long time. Where are we now?"

"In the waters near Shimotsuki Village."

As they were talking, Uta, now dressed, was laid on the bed. A chain of golden fire extended from the wall, wrapping around her consciousness and pushing it back into her body.

Uta's eyelashes fluttered. She woke from her "dream."

"What... what happened?" she asked, sitting up, confused. She seemed to have lost some of her memories. But her face was flushed, and she couldn't meet Jin's eyes.

She was obviously faking it.

She might not remember much of what had happened in the "Sing-Sing Space," but she definitely knew what had happened afterward.

She was the one who had tamed Tot Musica.

But Jin and Robin, with a silent understanding, didn't call her on it.

Jin had Robin explain the situation to Uta and went outside for some fresh air. He also took the opportunity to check on the demonic carrier's changes.

It had "swallowed" the island of Elegia, which was now integrated into the ship's hull, in a second-level space within the "castle."

And the island now had a "Mirror Space," the virtual Elegia.

"Interesting," Jin thought, walking around the island. In the future, he could turn it into an amusement park, an entertainment center on the Empress.

He then went to the conning tower and contacted his various subordinates.

Dalton, Rear Admiral Enru, Hina, Crocodile, Maya... he got a status report from all of them. No major incidents.

"A solid foundation makes for smooth sailing," he thought.

He looked into the distance and saw a faint speck of green.

"Is that the island where Shimotsuki Village is?"

Jin stroked his chin. "I wonder if there's a connection between Tashigi and Kuina."

He had "borrowed" Tashigi from Smoker for this very reason: to bring her to Shimotsuki Village and find out.

—————————

Shimotsuki Village, Isshin Dojo.

In the courtyard, a group of children were practicing.

Koushirou walked among them, correcting their posture, patiently instructing them.

"Don't just use brute force. Feel it. Breathe."

"Feel it? What does that mean, sensei?" a bold child asked.

For children of this age, a concept like "feeling" was too abstract.

Even a genius like Zoro had only come to understand it through countless battles.

A faint smile played on Koushirou's lips.

The path of the sword is like life. You have to experience it for yourself, to understand it for yourself.

"You'll understand when you're older."

"Aw, not again! I want to be a grown-up now!"

"I wish I could be a grown-up right now!"

The children chattered innocently, not knowing how many grown-ups longed to be children again.

A slightly older apprentice rushed in. "Sensei! There are some people outside. They say they're looking for you."