Chapter 71: Ambush in the Abyssal Depths

“Kid, are you... are you really alright?”
“What’s there to be afraid of? If I’m not scared of Mihawk, Tiger, how could a fish-man like you be scared?”
“Who said I’m scared! Wait, can you focus a bit? Stop swaying so much!”

At first, when Chu Yi displayed his abilities and confidently promised that he could ensure their safe passage to Fish-Man Island, Tiger, who unconditionally trusted Chu Yi, did have a certain degree of faith in him.

However, as time went by, Chu Yi found it increasingly difficult to advance through the deep sea using the ingenious application of “Shinra Tensei.” The reason was simple: as they dove deeper, the pressure from the surrounding seawater grew ever greater.

When they first descended a thousand meters, Chu Yi barely felt anything. But by the time they reached two thousand meters, he realized that driving back the water with his “Shinra Tensei” was becoming harder. At five thousand meters, Chu Yi stopped speaking altogether, devoting himself solely to maintaining the “Shinra Tensei.” He knew that if he made even the slightest mistake while “driving,” everyone on this “vehicle” would be doomed.

Even though Chu Yi poured all his energy into using “Shinra Tensei” to keep the seawater at bay, traveling freely at eight thousand meters deep was a real challenge. The most striking sign was that, at this depth, the vacuum space created by his power would expand and contract erratically. Sometimes, when a strong current swept through, Tiger, Mihawk, and the others felt the whole space lurch violently, as if they were a tiny boat tossed about in the midst of a vast, raging sea.

Of all of them, only Tiger could force a grim conversation with Chu Yi—mainly because, as a fish-man, he could still protect himself even if Chu Yi’s power failed. Smoker and Lucci, on the other hand, could barely contain their terror past three thousand meters; they fell silent, overwhelmed with fear.

The deep sea... truly was terrifying.

Beyond the near-absolute darkness, the suffocating pressure of the depths weighed heavily on Smoker and Lucci, shattering any sense of confidence they once had.

Only Chu Yi and Mihawk seemed utterly unfazed. Chu Yi was fully focused on maintaining “Shinra Tensei,” with no time to worry about anything else. As for Mihawk...

Well, he was simply extraordinary. Sitting cross-legged next to Chu Yi, Mihawk, aside from his broken wooden sword resting across his knees, was completely unaffected by the outside world. No matter what happened around him, Mihawk could sit there and train in absolute serenity—a clarity of mind that spoke volumes about how far he would go in the future.

There was no clear sense of time in the deep sea, and none of them bothered to keep track. All they knew was that their stomachs had grumbled several times, and they had relied on Tiger’s supplies to keep hunger at bay.

Gradually, as Chu Yi continued to employ “Shinra Tensei” without pause, he found that his mastery of this and his other awakened abilities was improving rapidly in this timeless journey. The realization brought a silent sense of wonder: there were so many environments suitable for training—it just depended on how one chose to take advantage of them.

The deep sea, for instance, was the perfect place to hone his awakened abilities. If he failed to maintain “Shinra Tensei,” the result would be death. With such motivation constantly driving him, how could he not improve?

According to Tiger’s calculations during moments of boredom, two full days had passed. After two days, ten thousand meters beneath the sea, Chu Yi had not only reached the point where he could create a shadow clone with half his physical strength to maintain “Shinra Tensei” and guide the group forward, but he no longer needed to control the clone himself—the clone’s own manipulation was enough to ensure everyone’s safety.

At last, Chu Yi, who had been on constant alert for days, finally had the leisure to train during the journey to Fish-Man Island. After all, according to Tiger’s records, at their slow pace, they still had two more days before reaching their destination.

With this newfound free time, Chu Yi approached Mihawk, intending to ask more about swordsmanship. However, seeing Mihawk deep in meditation, Chu Yi refrained from disturbing him and instead began to train quietly on his own. When Mihawk finally let out a long breath, signaling the end of his practice, and turned to Chu Yi to resume their discussion about the way of the sword—

Suddenly, Tiger clenched his fists tightly and called out to Chu Yi and Mihawk, “We’re being ambushed. Be on your guard!”

“Alright!”

Tiger’s observation haki wasn’t fully developed, but even so, he sensed something that Chu Yi hadn’t. What surprised Chu Yi even more was that although Tiger could detect the enemy, Mihawk had not. Chu Yi knew that Mihawk had awakened his own haki and was no novice in its use, so why did Mihawk glance at Tiger with a puzzled look, as though he sensed nothing?

Could it be... that in the deep sea, a fish-man’s haki was naturally stronger than a human’s?

Was this the fundamental difference between the haki possessed by fish-men and humans?

With this thought, Chu Yi narrowed his eyes at the waters ahead, a scornful smile curling at his lips.

“Tiger, are you talking about those fish-men over there?”
“Yes, you see them?”
“Their hiding skills are so poor, and they’re so close—if I couldn’t see them, that would be a real problem.”

Chu Yi shrugged and laughed easily, “I thought our first ambush in the deep sea might be something impressive, but it’s just a handful of small fry fish-men.”

“Forget it, Tiger. No need for you to step in personally. Let me handle this.”

With that, Chu Yi slowly extended his hand, ready to use his greatly improved “Shinra Tensei” to teach these foolish fish-men a lesson.

But as Tiger saw Chu Yi raise his hand, familiar with his techniques, his expression darkened. After a moment’s hesitation, just as Chu Yi was about to act, Tiger spoke in a muffled voice, “They mean no real harm, kid. Go easy on them, will you? After all... after all, they’re my people.”

“Understood.”

Since Chu Yi considered Tiger a friend, he couldn’t just harm fish-men carelessly—that would be the same as slapping Tiger in the face. He had already planned to moderate his strength without Tiger’s reminder.

With a single “Shinra Tensei,” Chu Yi merely severely injured the ambushers, finishing the fight with ease before dusting off his hands, ready to report back to Tiger.

But just then—

Chu Yi, having easily dealt with the ambush, suddenly spotted a tattered pirate ship slowly drifting into view.

“What’s that...?”

“A ghost ship?”