Deep in the facility's lower sub-levels, Franky's fingers flew across a cracked console. Wires sparked at his feet, data screens blipped between languages he didn't recognize, and the only light came from the pulsing glow of the Core's expanding influence.
"Come on, come on," Franky muttered, sweat pouring down his forehead. "Just give me one backdoor... Just one override command!"
His fingers froze as a waveform cracked across the monitor. It wasn't code. It was a pulse—living data. The Hellix Core was adapting again.
"It's rewriting itself WHILE I'm inside it?!" Franky cried. "That's SUPER cheating!!"
Behind him, Robin and Usopp entered through a half-sealed hatch, breathing heavily.
"Franky," Robin said urgently, "we found something. Someone."
Franky looked up, confused. "What, one of the CP0 grunts?"
Usopp shook his head, pale. "It's... it's Riven. That scientist guy."
They led Franky into a dark hallway. Slumped against the wall, bloodied and coughing, sat a gaunt figure in torn clothes and broken glasses—Riven, the man who built the Hellix Core.
Franky's jaw clenched. "So you're the one behind all this."
Riven gave a low, bitter laugh. "I built a dream... and they turned it into a nightmare."
Robin stepped forward. "You need to help us shut it down."
Riven coughed, wiping blood from his lip. "I can't. I designed the Core to evolve. Once it bonded with Kael, my access was revoked. It doesn't obey me anymore."
"But you still know its system!" Franky barked. "The Core's about to flatten reality itself, and there's a Buster Call heading straight for us!"
"That was always the contingency," Riven muttered. "The World Government would rather erase history than face it."
Usopp stepped forward, nervously clutching his slingshot. "Why'd you do it? Why Kael?"
Riven stared blankly into space. "Because he was angry... broken. And the Core feeds off that. He was perfect. And I was weak."
Robin knelt beside him. "You still have a chance to do something right. Even if it's small. Help us."
But Riven only shook his head.
"You want to stop the Core? You'll have to kill Kael. There's no other way."
Franky stood frozen for a moment. Then he turned sharply and stormed back to the control room.
"Then I'll find my own way. Even if he's broken, we don't abandon people like the government does."
Usopp lingered beside Riven, then quietly walked away, leaving the broken man in the dark.
Back above, chaos raged.
Luffy and Zoro stood side by side, bruised and bloodied, facing Kael's distorted form as waves of reality-bending force lashed out around him.
"He's not our friend," Zoro said, tightening his grip. "But we've faced worse than this. Let's bring him down."
Luffy nodded, simple and fierce. "We hit him hard. We keep going. That's all."
Together, they lunged.
Meanwhile, CP0 agents dropped from the shadows, aiming for Robin, Usopp, and Nami. Sanji spun forward in a blur, fire bursting from his heel.
"You're not touching a single hair on their heads."
He fought like a demon, protecting the crew from the precision of CP0's elite.
Back in the chamber, the ground began to tremble. A new countdown appeared on Franky's console—initiated by the Core itself:
[PHASE OMEGA – 59:59]
The island had one hour left.