"This..."
Yamato gasped when she looked outside the crystal window and stared at an entirely new world.
The roof was littered with glowing vines, and it was indeed an Emerald City with everything made completely out of emeralds but covered in flora that was not too dissimilar to the one she and Sin had found in the Lost City of Westoria on Star Island.
And there was air in this place, helping them breathe, and she was elated when she picked up on thousands of life signatures far away from the Palace.
"Yamato!" Robin called out to her, but the Oni Girl did not stop as she jumped out and rushed towards the city.
"There's no one here strong enough to threaten us!" She said, and her words calmed down the nerves of the crew, who felt a lot at ease.
Lily quickly chased after her, and so did Shachi and Bepo, but the rest stayed behind.
"Let's search for treasure!" Nami said but then tensed up when she saw thousands of people, small people, rushing towards the Palace.
Yamato stopped in her tracks, and Lily jumped up on her shoulder and waited for people to come close.
Seeing weapons in the hands of citizens of this city, Shachi, and Penguin tensed up a little, but more than anything, they were extremely curious about these humans, who barely stood three feet tall.
Even the adults and the old were no taller than three feet, but they were well-built for their stature and also possessed slightly long and muscular arms.
Another thing they noticed was that they all had some childlike innocence on their faces, and their skin was fair and rosy. Even those with long white beards had baby faces.
"What are they?" Lily curiously asked when Robin rushed to their side and stopped at the gate.
The smallfolk stopped too, a dozen meters away, quite hesitant to step within the bounds of the Palace.
Both sides stared at each other for several minutes, not saying anything, but then a small old man finally stepped forward, holding a battle hammer in his hands, wearing a Viking armour and helmet not too dissimilar to that of the Giants of Elbaf.
Robin furrowed her brows when she heard the man speak, having never come across this language before.
"We don't mean any harm. We are only here to explore the City." She repeated her words in several different languages until she finally spoke in the language of Westoria, and the old dwarf's eyes widened.
"Which Kingdom do you come from?" He solemnly asked.
"My name is Black D. Robin. I am not from any Kingdom. I was born on an Island called Ohara. My brother and husband is the Prince of Avalon and the King of Skypiea and Winterheim." She calmly said. "This is Lily, she is from Elbaf."
Even though the Giantess did not understand the language they were using, she did recognise her name and Elbaf getting mentioned, and she jumped off Yamato's shoulder and enlarged herself to her true size.
The smallfolk were shocked to see her grow so big, but then their faces turned very grim.
Robin felt that something was wrong, and she quickly asked Lily to turn small again.
"She's not welcome in our City." The old man flatly said and already started pouring Haki into his battle hammer, ready to fight them if Lily left the bounds of the Palace.
"Why?"
"Dwarves and Giants are ancient enemies." He said, and she weirdly looked at him.
Her curiosity was visible on her face, and it made a few old dwarves feel embarrassed.
She clearly wanted to ask them if they were even strong enough to consider Giants their ancient enemies.
"We are strong!" One of them yelled.
"Okay. I believe you."
They all deadpanned at her words, and the old Dwarf coughed and quickly regained his composure.
Robin then introduced everyone on the crew to the Dwarves of the Emerald City.
"How do you speak the Westorian Language?" She curiously asked.
"Westorian Language?" The old man was confused. "This is the Ancient Tongue of the Five Symbols that the followers of the Five Divine Beasts use."
Robin surprisedly looked at him.
"White Tiger of the West, Azure Dragon of the East, Vermillion Bird of the South, Black Tortoise of the North, and Qilin of the Fortune. Whom do you follow?" She asked.
"We follow all five, and the Star God, Sin, who rules over the skies and these Divine Beats." The Old Dwarf proudly said.
Her brow twitched at their words, and Yamato immediately noticed that the old man had taken Sin's name.
"How does he know Sin?" She asked, and Robin sighed.
"Dwarves worship the Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Vermillion Bird, Black Tortoise, Qilin, and the Star God who rules over the skies. The name of the Star God is Sin."
When she heard Nami and Vivi giggling and saw the rest grinning, she sighed.
"Sin was named after a God who ruled the skies. The Star God the Dwarves, Lunarians, and the Valorians believe in."
Those who had been to Valoria remembered Aala telling them about the Star God, whom both Lunarians and Valorians believed in.
"Oh, so that is why Aala never told us the name of the Star God." The Oni Girl laughed out loud, and Nami and Nojiko curiously looked at her.
"Who's Aala?" The Oranghead curiously asked.
"A Lunarian."
Nami had lots of questions now, but she stopped when she saw an aged Dwarf lady step forward, holding a large crystal ball in her hands.
By how the other Dwarves stepped aside to let her pass through, it was clear that she was someone with a lot of authority. And the old Dwarves all bowed to her as well.
"Priestess Gavona!" The old man who was leading the forces called her name out loud.
The Priestess, however, ignored him and stared right into Robin's eyes.
"I see a young man by your side. Your Blood. Your Husband. The father of your two sons. And I see us kneeling to him."
Robin froze at her words, and her heart started racing in anxiety.
Subconsciously, her Conqueror's Haki started oozing out of her and washed over all of the Dwarves.
"What's the colour of my brother's eyes?" She lightly asked.
"Grey. Cold Grey. His hair is the same as yours." Gavona answered, and Robin grew even more anxious.
She did not like that the old woman had said those things out loud. Even though the others could not understand the language, she now knew what was possibly going to happen in the future.
The woman had not spoken of any tragedies, but still, she was not comfortable with the idea of knowing what had been revealed.
"I would like it very much if you can keep quiet about these things in the future." She said, and the woman smiled.
"What is your brother's name?" The old woman asked, not intimidated by her.
"Why? Can't you tell?"
"They need to hear it from you." She said, making Robin feel even more restless with her presence.
"Black D. Sin."
As soon as the Dwarves heard her words, their mouths dropped open in shock, and then loud cries and cheers reached high up, reverberating through the entire city.
"Bonney's not going to be happy. These people will fuel Sin's God Complex." Nojiko lightly said, curious why they were recaring this way to Sin's name, and her little sister and Vivi laughed out loud.
Yamato and Lily just grinned, and the rest of the crew felt relaxed now that these Dwarves did not seem to be willing to fight them.
Robin, however, was soon observing the armours the Dwarves were wearing, and also the weapons that they were holding.
"May I?" She slowly walked over to a Dwarf and drew her hand forward, asking for his Rifle, and the old man happily handed it to her.
They all tensed up when Yamato and Lily walked out of the bounds of the Palace, and the younger Black sighed.
"She's not an enemy. She our good friend."
Her words did not ease their worries, but for the moment, they remained quiet.
Robin carefully inspected the rifle which was a little small for her, and then tossed a coin to Lily.
"Enlarge it and throw it up."
The Giantess did as asked, transforming the coin as big as a plate, and then threw it up, not too fast and not too slow.
Robin aimed, pressed the trigger, and smiled as the coin shattered.
"This is a nice rifle."
"We create the best weapons in the world!" The old man proudly said. "My specialties are rifles!"
"What's your name?" She curiously asked.
"Gunthor!" He proudly said, and she smiled.
"Who can tell me how well crafted these twin Kanabos are?" She asked as she picked up Yamato's Twin Kanabos and showed it to the Dwarves, who quickly surrounded her to prove their expertise.
The Blackstar Crew watched the Dwarves stare at the twin Kanabos in awe, and their excitement rose after an old man checked for something specific on the handles.
"So?" Robin asked, quite curious about their assessment.
"These are Dwarven Weapons!" A few answered in unison. "Finest craftsmanship and the metal used is the Star Metal, one of the toughest and most durable metals."
"Oh." She curiously picked up Takeru and threw it to the old man who who seemed to be an expert in this weapon. "And this?"
Yamato did not like how they all showed disgust toward her favourite Kanabo.
"Not good. Not at all. Only Dwarven Weapons are the best. This is inferior Kanabo...."
One of the young ones impatiently said, but the old man who was holding the Kanabos lightly tapped his head, making him go quiet.
"It's a good weapon. Well built, but it is indeed inferior to those twin Kanabos. Firstly, the metal used is inferior, less durable. Secondly, the smith who created it did not add more layers to it when he could have. He probably did not want to make it heavier or lacked confidence in the heat treatment and quenching..."
Robin calmly listened to the lengthy assessment of the old Dwarf, and when he finished speaking, she smiled.
"So, can you make it better?"
At her question, the old man laughed and nodded his head.
"Yes! I will recreate it and add layers of Star Metal to it. It will be slightly heavier but a lot stronger than before."
She smiled some more at his enthusiasm and conveyed everything to Yamato, who happily nodded her head and allowed the old man to reforge her favourite Kanabo.
"It will cost you 10 Gold Coins!"
"Gold coins?" The Younger Black smiled and took one out of her pockets. "Like this one?" She tossed it to the old man, who curiously inspected it and frowned.
"Only three of these." He said, she promised him the other two coins after inspecting the finished weapon.