Several hours later, near the Diet Building…

"Well, here we are near and outside the Diet Building for the second time, everyone." said Aglaia slightly teasingly to Keiko and the others once they've arrived and stand near and outside the Diet Building.

"Security guards became suspicious of us last time, so we can't stay here for long." said Makoto.

"But we still have no hit on the keyword…" said Futaba as she briefly shake her head.

"Think it's a barrier after all?" said Ryuji.

"Why do you sound so unsure now, Ryuji?" said Keith in a deadpan tone of voice to Ryuji.

"He's right. Where'd your enthusiasm from yesterday go?" said Yusuke.

"Aw shuddup, you two. The real game starts at two outs!" said Ryuji as he scowled at both Keith and Yusuke.

"Enough chatting, you guys. You guys should only be thinking about the keyword!" said Ann sternly to Ryuji, Keith and Yusuke.

"Right, we know and sorry about that, Ann." said Keith apologetically to Ann.

"The citizens are secondary. He only cares about his own well-being, his lackeys and his "allies"…" said Haru.

"He wants to become Prime Minister even if it means trampling, destroying and even killing others…" said Makoto with a cold look on her face.

"Fortune… Rich people…" mumbled Futaba.

"Hey, Madame Keiko, can you think of anything based on what you and Miss Mallory heard from him before you two came here? Just try remembering and saying anything. It doesn't matter if you guess." asked Morgana as he glance at Keiko.

"Hm…" thought Keiko to herself.

XXXX

Flashback…

"Incompetent fools like you just need to shut your mouth and follow where I steer this country!"

Flashback end…..

XXXX

"I got it! I remember that he did say he's going to steer this country and that the woman with him need to shut her mouth and follow him." said Keiko.

"Steer, huh?" thought Goro to himself.

"Steer…?" said Morgana with a confused look.

"I wonder, could it be a ship?" said Keiko before she and the others saw with surprise looks on their faces that it's a match with the Meta-Nav app on her phone while their surroundings briefly turned purple.

"It was a match!?" gasped Haru.

"Way to go, Amamiya-san." said Jason as he smiled and nodded at Keiko.

"What!? The Diet's Building a ship!? What kind of scenery will that be!? The actual building's on land!" said Ann.

"I can't even begin to imagine what it will be like…" said Makoto.

"I'm sure we'll know and see with our own eyes soon enough, Makoto." said Keith.

"Well, whatever it is, it looks like there are no barriers!" said Futaba teasingly to Ryuji.

"Sh-Shuddup! Let's hurry up and go in already!" snapped Ryuji as he scowled at Futaba.

"Are we all clear of the guard's sight?" asked Yusuke.

"Yeah, we are, I think and hope so, Yusuke." replied Aglaia.

"Get closer to the wall, just in case." said Morgana to Keiko and the others (who nodded at Morgana before they get closer to the wall). "Alright, that's close enough. Do it, Madame Keiko." added Morgana to Keiko.

"Right, let's go, everyone." said Keiko as she pressed and activated the Meta-Nav app on her phone and transport them into Shido's palace.

XXXX

Inside the Metaverse…

"Huh? Did anything change? We did come in here, right?" said Ryuji as he look at the Diet Building with a confused look on his face before he turned and glance at Keiko and the others.

"The security guards seems to be gone, but it's difficult to tell for certain… This seems to be similar to what happened with Sis's casino palace." said Makoto.

"You may be right, Makoto." said Keith as he nodded at Makoto.

"But this time, the Diet Building remains unchanged…" said Yusuke.

"Ah… The gate weren't open earlier though." said Haru as she noticed that the front gate of the Diet Building is open instead of closed.

"Wait, look! Morgana's appearance is different." said Ann as she noticed that Morgana is in his alternate form.

"That means we're definitely in a Palace." said Futaba.

"C'mon. Let's go take a closer look." said Ryuji to Keiko and the others and they all nodded before they split up to get closer and take a thorough look at the Diet Building Palace while Futaba decide to stay behind near a short wall next to a long metal pole.

"How's it look over there? You guys see anything?" asked Keiko to Goro and the other guys with him.

"No, nothing yet. Still look totally normal to us, Keiko." replied Goro.

"What about you girls? You girls see anything on your side?" asked Jason.

"No, nothing on our side either, Jason." replied Haru.

"I'll check it out, you guys." said Futaba as she turned and sat down and open her laptop and as she's about to check it out, Futaba suddenly look up and let out a gasp of surprise. "What the heck?" gasped Futaba.

"What's up, Futaba?" said Ryuji to Futaba and didn't received any answer from her. "Futaba?" added Ryuji as he, Goro, Akira, Yusuke, Keith, Jason, Ann, Keiko, Aglaia, Makoto and Haru turned and run toward where Futaba is and they stop on both sides of her and saw what is it that surprised her, which is them standing on a huge cruise ship that carry and hold the entire Diet Building on the ocean over the sunken country of Japan.

"What the!?" said Akira.

"The hell!?" swored Ryuji.

"My goodness…" said Keiko as she cover her mouth with her right hand.

"Keiko…" said Goro as he raised and put his hand around Keiko's shoulders to comfort her a little.

"Even though this country may sink, only he and those he deemed useful and worthy will survive… That's what this cognition of his is about… huh?" said Haru.

"This is bullshit! A country that the children can be proud of, my ass! It's completely sunken in his damn head! If a guy like this stands above everyone, we're seriously done for!" said Ryuji angrily to them.

"This is beyond ridiculous!" said Ann, angry and disgusted as well.

"The same goes for Sakurai and her allies. She should've seen this heinous scenery as well… yet she and her allies still aided Shido." said Yusuke.

"What in the world and they thinking?" said Makoto.

"Whether it be for glory or for simply a reward… my father died because of someone like this!" said Haru.

"We know, Haru." said Jason calmly to Haru.

"We gotta sink Shido instead of this country!" said Futaba.

"A Palace with not just the center of the distortion, but the entire country sunken… I can't believe there's someone with this tremendous of a desire… Be careful! This will be completely different from past Palaces!" said Morgana warningly to them.

"Right, of course!" said Keith.

"We're definitely gonna take his Treasure!" said Ryuji.

"We will, it's Phantom Thieves business as usual for us!" said Keiko.

"All right!" said Ryuji excitedly to Keiko.

"We must put an end to this by December 17th, the day before the election." said Makoto.

"Let the infiltration begin! Time to pay him back for setting us up into a cruel trap and with full interest too!" said Morgana.

"And hopefully you're somewhere in there. We're coming now so wait for us a bit longer, Maly." thought Keiko (and also Akira) sadly and worriedly in her mind for Mallory before they make their way toward and entered the Diet Building Palace of Shido.