Arceus hadn’t issued any additional orders, so the objective of the operation on Whole Cake Island remained unchanged. Since Morgans wanted to go back, they naturally had to send him back.
At the same time, the other members of the Underworld were much the same. Du Feld and Peclo were dead; they mourned this for about a minute before starting to think about how to swallow up the other party’s industries.
After the Beasts Pirates joined forces with Big Mom, there would no longer be any force in the Underworld capable of opposing them. Everything had already become a foregone conclusion. If it couldn’t be changed, then the only option was to try to secure greater benefits.
Stussy, in particular, still bore the important responsibility of acting as an undercover agent to gather intelligence, so the remaining few all returned one after another to their original positions.
Germa, however, took the opportunity to carry out a great escape. Aside from the Straw Hats, who were sent back to a single location, everyone else reappeared in basically random places. By sheer chance, Germa broke out of the encirclement, and naturally had no intention of turning back.
Just like the Straw Hats, who had obtained what they wanted, they too were fleeing toward safer seas.
Although the outside world had yet to return to normal after being covered by the underworld, within the underworld itself, a new order was still taking shape.
Giratina’s figure traveled through the skies above the underworld. Along its path, warped dimensional passages frequently appeared; even distances of thousands of miles could be reduced to mere steps with Giratina’s own power.
“Where are we going?”
Following Giratina, Shayna was somewhat puzzled. In this special flying state, they had already traveled for quite a long time, and judging by Giratina’s speed, there was no sign of stopping at all.
This was already somewhat different from what she had anticipated.
“The underworld is vast. It’s more like the inverse of the world of the living. Father God had special reasons for having Darkrai and me operate within this space; our abilities just happen to allow us to move freely here.”
Giratina’s words seemed not to answer the question directly, but as it opened another portal, everything became clear.
“Their aura is the same as yours. Your souls belong to the same lineage.”
Just as Giratina said, the underworld covered a vast area, and its sense of space was somewhat chaotic.
Previously, it was the underworld’s own consciousness that expanded its sphere of influence. Under conditions of internal spatial distortion, souls connected to the living would end up gathering in the same region.
The later-arriving group led by Arceus was not among them, so Giratina brought Shayna to search on their own. Without Giratina’s ability, who knows how long it would have taken to find this place.
“They should be the people most closely related to you by blood. There aren’t many left. You can wait here, I’ll be back soon.”
The Lunarian population peaked 800 years ago, before the World Government was established, when they were considered one of the godly races on the Red Line. Since then, the Lunarians have been in steady decline.
From a race to a few tribes, from several remnants to a handful of families, and finally to just a few individuals; the later it got, the fewer their numbers became.
The existence of souls, however, was the opposite: the shorter the time since death, the greater the likelihood that it still existed.
Even though Lunarians possessed monstrous adaptability, they were not eternal beings. The Lunarians from hundreds of years ago had long since dissipated; those still remaining were only from the generation of Shayna’s parents.
Just as Shayna had guessed back then, what Giratina was searching for were the few remaining Lunarians in the Underworld. It just took a bit longer.
The nearly transparent soul forms made their skin color indistinguishable, and the Lunarians’ iconic flames were no longer manifested on them.
In terms of appearance, however, they shared many similarities with Shayna; especially the male soul, who was basically a gender-swapped version of Shayna herself.
Faces can deceive, voices can be disguised, but souls cannot. This fundamental similarity is something no one can imitate.
The mask on her face faded away, the beast transformation of her hands was undone, and the wings on her back shifted from crimson to black. Shayna rarely released her transformation, returning to her human form.
“Father, Mother.”
The words caught in her throat. This was no longer a false illusion, but genuine souls. Her childhood memories had long since grown blurry, yet upon seeing those familiar faces again, a faint sense of grievance still welled up in her heart.
Compared to when she was eight or nine years old, Shayna had changed tremendously, but the moment she spoke the words that meant “parents,” they recognized at once that this was their daughter.
“Sha—Shayna? You’ve grown up? That’s wonderful.”
When they died, both Shayna and King were still very young. Being able to see the grown-up Shayna at least meant that after that, she had survived. Regardless of how she managed it, she managed to survive in that world.
Her childhood memories grew ever clearer. Shayna extended her hand, trembling slightly, but then suddenly remembered that the living could not touch souls, yet she distinctly felt the sensation of her parents’ fingers.
Behind her, Arceus, having finished dealing with other matters, also arrived.
“Lord Sacred Beast.”
“Don’t rush. There’s still plenty of time. Giratina has already found Alber’s relatives as well. You all have ample time to reminisce. This is only the beginning.”
There weren’t many souls, so it seemed he would have to work from the space–time aspect. To refine his control over space and time without causing any negative consequences, the Psychic-type Plate was indispensable.
“It will all be over soon. Let’s go to the Reverse World first. From now on, that will be your new home.”
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