One Piece: Madness of Regret-Chapter 35: Rain, Storm and Whales. Again!(8)

A smaller version of the World Serpent. Jörmungandr.

This Apex Leviathan was simply that—a force, a monstrosity, a godless entity that could coil around continents and not even notice. It was massive, stretching so far that my mind could barely comprehend its sheer scale. If I had to guess, its length alone could reach triple digits in kilometers. Two hundred? Three? More? Its width was enough to dwarf entire islands, making even smaller Leviathans seem like mere parasites clinging to its hide.

A beast in its own right.

A freak of nature.

A nightmare given form.

Every glimpses I had of it, every flash of lightning that gave me more pieces to join. All of that reinforced one thing.

I was glad I wasn't being hunted by this beast.

Because it I was, I couldn't run. I couldn't hide. I couldn't fight.

I would simply die.

This creature, no this godless entity was not a creature to chase prey. It was not something that needed to exert itself to hunt. A single movement, just a flick and the me from hundreds of kilometer would die from its wave.

I wouldn't be a prey. I wouldn't be a battle.

I would be a collateral damage, an insignificant casualty in a storm it didn't even realize it created.

Just a speck in the waters. Something so fragile, so meaning less in the grand scheme of thing that I won't even register in its mind.

Such a irritating thought, to be caught up on fantasies like this. Fantasies of being caught up on stuff to large for me to handle, to grand for me to change.

And yet, here I was, standing, waiting.

Waiting for the Apex Leviathan to finish its sky-soaring leap and to be grounded by the natural law I knew of. Waiting for the moment. Waiting for the moment the Apex Leviathan goes away or gets busy eating.

Waiting for the chaos that is about to happen.

Even the lightning stopped for a fleeting second. The world was bathed in an unnatural, unsettling darkness, as if something had swallowed it all. The colors. The rain. The storm. The Lightning.

And then I heard it a plop.

A sound so absurd that even my busted ear could hear it.

A plop. Like a pebble thrown into a pond.

Except it was no mere pebble.

It was a beast. A godless, unfathomable thing returning to the depths it called home.

And then a splash.

The ocean did not welcome its return. The beast didn't care. It shattered the surface. A wave exploded outward, a force so titanic that even the Whale class Leviathan I stood on was sent drifting afar.

And me?

As always, I was at the mercy of the waves. The water slammed into me, knocked me far away from where I stood. Was it Luck or something I didn't fall into the waters. At least, not this time.

I clang on the unsteady ground beneath me, soaked even more on the stormy rain. The force alone was enough to make me reconsider everything I was doing.

Every single reckless choice.

Every single defiance.

Every single gamble.

Maybe, just maybe, I should have not veered into the pitch dark. Maybe I should have played it safe. Maybe I was a fool to think I could best fate in gamble. Maybe I was a fool to think I could dance with monsters and come out alive.

Like I had the luxury to decide.

Yet reconsidering meant hesitation.

Hesitation meant losing the gamble.

So, I stopped thinking.

My two chips were small in the gamble. Life was meaningless in the water. Life was meaningless to me. Even my own. But my pride. My pride meant everything to me. My pride was the one that kept me going.

So, I stopped thinking.

Not for life but a chip I bet. My pride. My pride would accept no loss. Not in this gamble.

I did what I had always done.

I steadied myself.

I endured.

I waited.

Because once these Leviathans began to move, the chaos would truly begin. And in that chaos, in all the storm of beast and blood. I could slip away and somehow win the gamble.

Drift. Swim. Claw my way to somewhere unknown.

Somewhere, Anywhere but far, far away from this.

And then by the grace of the Lightning that struck closer with every fall, I saw it, the first movement.

It wasn't the Apex Leviathan. Something much smaller. But I knew it.

It was a Leviathan I had seen before.

It was a Anglerfish Leviathan. Except, this one was much, much bigger.

The light that acted as its beacon, a burning sun in the depths, dangled in front of it. It looked red, bright-blood red to me Even by rough estimate, the lure alone was five to seven times larger than the one I had encountered before. The one that got swallowed by the Apex Leviathan.

And if just the lure was that big, then the monster attached to it must be even bigger.

Even without the lightning lighting up the background from time to time, I could see few beacon of light emerge from the waters. There were a bunch of Anglerfish Leviathan under water.

While I don't know if this is because they were not patient hunter? Or if the Apex Leviathan had gone away?

This chapt𝓮r is updat𝒆d by ƒreeωebnovel.ƈom.

I was sure of one thing. The chaos was beginning.

Yet the whale beneath me wasn't moving. Still as it was before. Was it still scared? Or did it sense some kind of danger that the Anglerfish Leviathans couldn't sense? Something much worse? I had a gut feeling that said it was much better if I stayed with the whale for now.

The whale wasn't moving and neither was I.

I knew nothing of the waters nor much about the Leviathans that called it home. But whales? I knew a bit more about whales than the Anglerfish. Even if the world and water around me didn't work with logic. But I had something.

Reference.

If I could compare, connect anything from what I knew before to what I was seeing now, then maybe, just maybe I could piece something useful. something useful to plan.

And because I knew a lot about whales from Animal Planet and Nat Geo. This lead a lot of questions. Especially since I saw the whale pod and the fucking baby whale that tried to drown me.

Why was this whale alone?

Shouldn't it be in a pod? Guarding its young, traveling to food-rich area? Was it a lone male hunting in the water? A male kicked out from the pod? Or are there any whales beneath the waters, hidden in depths I couldn't see?

And more importantly, Why was this whale so much bigger than all the others?

This was big. A Leviathan Class big.

I had walked for who knows how long and I still hadn't seen the blowhole that let out the water. Granted I was slow with injuries but it is massive in its own right.

The Whale wasn't moving anytime soon.

So I kept my eyes on the Anglerfish Leviathan. They were feasting. Swarming on the hole made by the Apex Leviathan, their bodies tangled together, lures bumping and clashing as they fought for a share. Teeth tore into flesh and chunks were ripped with every mouthful they got.

There weren't just a few of them. There were dozens. Maybe even more.

Why?

When I had approached the wound before, there had only been one. A smaller one.

Now, there are twenty? Thirty? All scrambling over each other for a mouthful of flesh.

Why?

Why are there so many Anglerfish at once? While I just saw one.

And more importantly—

Why did the first Anglerfish look at me? Why had it reacted so violently when I showed it my two bricks from the Cathedral?

I should have brushed it off. Left it alone. Moved on.

But I couldn't.

The questions wouldn't stop circling in my head. The more I think of the thought. The more it circles around. The less I think of it. The more it clouds my thought. The thought wasn't going away.

Would the bricks have the same effect on all of them?

Could I control them with it? Control their movement with it? They crave for it, don't they? Would they devour me for it?

Could I use it to kill? Could I use it to eat the Leviathans?

I slapped myself across the face. What am I thinking? If I went down the last line, I am sure to die without a grave. It was a wicked thought from desperation.

But, unfortunately—

I was full of wicked thoughts.

And even worse ideas.

So, I took out the two bricks.

The one I had taken for myself.

And the one the kids had given me.

Both had grown. A lot.

And the moment I did,

The Anglerfish stopped eating.

One by one, their lures twisted toward me.

Dozens of pale lights, flickering in the dark, locked onto me like predators spotting prey.

The feeding frenzy halted. They had been starving. Now, it seemed they had found something they wanted more.

The bricks.

Just like before.

Even the whale beneath me trembled.

Not in fear. Not in panic.

Excitement.

Like it knew.

Like it had been waiting for this.

The whale was trembling, vibrating. I could feel it. It wasn't fear. It was almost as if it let out a call. A call for its pod.

A chill ran down my spine.

I should put them away. If I didn't want to be food for the Leviathans. If I didn't want to die.

But I questioned myself. Sure, I could do this once, twice and run every single time. But will I get answers. Answer to enter the Cathedral. No, I would be just running from it and I needed to go in there. No matter the cost.

I tightened my grip instead.

If I put them away now, I would put them away forever. Hesitation I had already forgo it. I had already decided to stop hesitating. So why am I hesitating?

The Leviathans can hunt me all they want. All I need to do is survive and get answers.

And the bricks are the answer.

So I focused my full attention on the bricks. Not the Leviathan that were chiming to hunt me down.

The bricks felt different. Bigger. Heavier. Yet weightless. Even with my busted vision in the dark. I could see it.

And I felt it.

Familiarity. Warmth. Coldness.

Something deeper. Something inevitable.

The same feeling I had in the Cathedral.

The same feeling I had in the fog.

The same feeling I had in front of the kids.

Something I couldn't run from.

Something I couldn't stop.

Something I didn't want to stop.

Something I didn't want to run from.

I smiled. I had a small part of the answer

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Not the best Chapter as it didn't go according to my plan. But I have been awake for two days without sleep. So mistakes are common. And I will give it a pass. Now I plan to finish the whole Leviathan part in a Chapter and a half and in the remaining half the MC will make contact with the pirate crew.

Oo, and you will get to see one of the functions of the brick.