"Escape?"
"Where to escape?"
On Capri, no, to be precise, not on Capri, but into something they had no idea what it was. After merging with the air wall, the space here expanded rapidly.
The dense fog that had been slowly dissipating around them with the setting sun seemed to be summoned by something, quickly closing in.
It enveloped the island completely, blocking the view from the outside and cutting off the escape routes for Kong Tai and the others.
All these changes happened so suddenly, so fast, that everyone had no time to retreat.
Kong Tai could have retreated, but he didn't move, because his companions were still by his side.
Woowoo~
Just then, a cold wind blew.
The town ahead, weathered by time and devoid of any lights, now appeared eerie in their eyes.
Even though they didn't know what it was, their primal instincts made everyone's hearts leap.
"Kong Tai, on that high ground in the distance, there are two very powerful presences."
Gu Yina narrowed her eyes, looking up at the only high ground in the center of the town that emanated a sense of light, and said with a serious tone.
"And this town..."
Her gaze shifted downwards, a look of confusion on her face.
Her body warned her that the town ahead was dangerous, but her Observation Haki couldn't sense any presence.
Even with electromagnetic waves, it was the same.
On the high ground, there were indeed seven presences. Two of them, in her perception, were like fireworks in the dark night, dazzling and full of energy.
They were no less powerful than Admiral Borsalino, whom they had encountered on Ore Island, the guy Kong Tai jokingly called the Yellow Pikachu.
One presence was as deep as an abyss, like a black hole, making one feel pressure from the depths of their soul.
The other was like frozen ice, trying to freeze her senses.
As for the other four, in her perception, they were very strong, but for her now, they were still a bit lacking.
Before eating the Goro Goro no Mi, she would have had to be on high alert if she encountered those four. Now, her target was already people of Admiral level.
Finally, there was one person whose presence was very weak, so weak it was like an old man with a flickering candle.
However, on this person, there was a familiar residual presence... "Caribou."
"No..."
"There are three."
Kong Tai gazed at the town, his eyes fixed on the church on the high ground. His gaze seemed to penetrate the church walls, falling on the seven people and one soul inside.
"Three?"
Gu Yina's eyes widened in surprise, because in her perception, there were only two particularly powerful presences there.
"Mhm!"
Kong Tai nodded, his gaze shifting downwards to the town weathered by time, and said solemnly, "Be careful. Until I clear that soul that can absorb time, don't enter the village. Just wait here for them to come!"
"These guys went to great lengths to lure us here and set up such a grand display. If we don't go in, they'll come out anyway."
In his perception, the people in the town...
Were not people, but souls.
His Observation Haki was imbued with spiritual power, and his Observation Haki was very special, able to sense the deepest essence of living beings.
Now, by sensing these souls, he also knew what his Observation Haki was sensing.
It should be the soul, the deepest part of a being, hidden within the body.
Although it sounded quite fantastical, in a world where Devil Fruit abilities could transfer souls, achieve eternal life, and create souls out of thin air, sensing the existence of souls wouldn't seem too strange.
"Absorbing time??"
Hearing Kong Tai's words, everyone's bodies stiffened instinctively, their pupils contracting slightly.
The distant town now seemed to transform into a monstrous beast, opening its maw wide, waiting for them to walk into its trap.
As for traps, the moment Caribou disappeared, it was like a final burst of brilliance. He had called out words of escape to them, and they had known.
So they weren't too surprised.
But regarding a Devil Fruit ability that could control time, they had never heard of it. Even Indigo and Robin, who were well-traveled, had never heard of it. This was the reason for everyone's astonishment.
Although they knew from Capri that there might be a fruit related to time abilities here, it was only a possibility. Now that they had actually encountered it, and Kong Tai had warned them to be careful,
It meant that if they entered the town ahead, they might end up like Caribou.
In this world, if one were to ask what human ability was most yearned for, it would not be the power of nature, nor the power of space, but the power of time that continuously flowed away from the moment of human birth.
And this flow of time was simply time.
Possessing time, controlling time, was something so many people dreamed of, longed to have.
This kind of power was not something humans could possess, even in this world full of miracles.
For only gods could wield such power, and only gods could disregard the erosion of time, disregard the passage of years, and even travel through the river of time, exploring history.
What a desirable ability!
What about magma, fire, ice, lightning...
In the face of the power of time, they were all insignificant.
And before them, in that dim town, within the only beam of light in the center of the town, there was one such person, whom they could not perceive, who possessed the ability to manipulate time... a person?
This made them surprised, and for the first time since following Kong Tai, a sense of tension arose in their hearts.
This included Gu Yina and Hua A.
After all, the unknown always brought fear.
Although they weren't afraid, they were somewhat nervous.
"Mhm, absorbing time."
Kong Tai took out his gourd, took a drink, and then said.
"I don't know what Devil Fruit that soul ate. The malice and madness emanating from her, and that ancient aura of time, I sensed it from afar."
"And this village..."
Putting down his hand and looking at the entrance to the village, Kong Tai's eyes flashed with a cold light, "is not empty, but filled with souls, malicious souls."
"These souls should also be controlled by some Devil Fruit user."
Even the soul capable of extracting time should be controlled by that figure he was facing across the distance.
Only such a strong individual could control such powerful souls.
It seemed that this was a soul whose Devil Fruit had not regenerated after death.
Rubbing his chin, and combining it with Caribou's reminder from before, he thought he might have guessed roughly.
The story Caribou told, and his experience, might be true.
But that was more than ten years ago, or even earlier.
Perhaps a long time ago, a woman dressed as a church nun, who had eaten a time-related fruit, had indeed come here.
This nun might have been the woman in Caribou's story, or her child.
She came here and used her time fruit to absorb everyone's time.
But the ending wasn't that Caribou woke up and sought a way out, but that all the people in their town died.
And at that very moment, perhaps the strong individual he sensed passing by, or perhaps waiting here specifically, arrived, killed this woman full of hatred who had just achieved her revenge,
And controlled her soul, along with the souls of everyone in the town, by some unknown means.
As for why he felt Caribou was Caribou, just an ordinary person,
This was probably the terrifying aspect of that person's Devil Fruit ability!
Controlling souls, altering memories, and even allowing souls to attach to others, then having subordinates completely hand over their bodies to the souls to control, this was essentially becoming another person.
If Kong Tai could detect this, then something was definitely wrong!
Because everything he showed, even his soul, was Caribou, except for the body that had its time drained.