"The Emerald King and the Ice Queen forbid the Dwarves from ever entering the Palace," Robin lightly said as she stared at the portraits of the last Rulers of the Emerald City. "Something happened here over a thousand years ago. The Dwarves have been locked here for over a millennium. The Queen, who was the awakened user of the Hie Hie no Mi, created that eternal tower of Ice with her powers. Only leaving a sign for the Star God to find his way to this city..."
Sin stayed quiet as he stared at the pair in the portrait, and then looked at the child in their arms.
"Their son, Volanz, died when he was eight years old. Stabbed in the heart by his own Royal Protector who wanted to steal the treasure of the Emerald Palace. The Prince spotted him, fought him, held him long enough for the rest to arrive at the scene, but was killed right in front of his mother's eyes."
Her voice was devoid of any emotion, but she could not hide from Sin's senses.
He glanced at her, furrowed his brows, and then looked at the child in the portrait again.
"Is something bothering you, Robin?" he gently asked, and she froze at his words. "Did Gavona say something to you?"
Robin glanced at him in shock, and when he turned to meet her eyes, she quickly looked away.
"Yes."
"A tragedy?" He smiled a little when she quickly shook her head. "Then?"
"She told me about my future."
"And?"
"I am just not comfortable with the idea of knowing what's going to happen."
"I see."
"Do you want me to tell you what she said?"
"No." He shook his head and grinned. "Life is more fun when you don't know what's in store for you. Otherwise, I will end up spacing out of the present just like you."
She smiled at his words and nodded her head.
"The treasure of the Emerald Palace. What is it?"
"They are no longer here."
Sin curiously looked at her.
"They?"
"Ryu Ryu no Mi, Model: Kirin."
His eyes widened in surprise, and then he furrowed his brows.
"The library?"
"Empty."
"The treasury?"
"Empty."
"The secret treasury?" He raised his brow, and she smiled.
"I haven't found it yet." She sweetly smiled. "Want to know something interesting about Emerald City?"
"Yes?"
"It was once an Island, a small one, but after the war, which the Emerald City barely won, the King, with his awakened powers, buried the entire island inside a crystalline dome. An eternal crystal dome. It was then sunk into the sea with the help of their Allies, and one of their allies created all this flora inside this city."
"Hito Hito no Mi, Model: Dryad."
"Yes," she nodded, and Sin raised his head and stared at the beautiful ceiling.
"No, the real treasure is still here," he whispered, and Robin raised her brow.
A few seconds later, she narrowed her eyes.
"The Dwarves?"
"Yes." He smiled. "They are the only ones of their kind left in this world. The Emerald Island was hidden under the seabed to protect them."
"They are genius craftsmen and engineers. Shachi and Penguin feel like they are in heaven here."
Sin chuckled at her words and took a deep breath.
"Those two get easily distracted from their goals, but it's fine. We have a few years to play around." He glanced at his sister, whose Will had grown stronger in the few days he had been absent.
"Let's stay here for a while. Everyone needs to focus on training, and it's good to stay away from the eyes of the world."
"Why? Don't you want to go back to Hancock and Hiyori?" she playfully asked, and brightly smiled when he walked over to her and lifted her by her waist.
Robin wrapped her arms around his neck, stared into his eyes, and then leaned in to capture his lips.
There was no hint of haste between them, and they both closed their eyes and lost themselves to each other's taste.
Minutes later, when their lips finally separated, they grinned at each other, and then Robin just hugged him like a little girl, as she used to do in their younger days.
Sin did not make fun of her or tease her. He just carried her in his arms and walked around the Palace with her.
The two spent an entire day looking around, but they did not find any secret treasury.
"Maybe there isn't one," Robin expressed her doubts, but Sin shook his head and frowned.
"This Palace has been created by two awakened Logia Users, and it holds their Wills. I can hear it greeting me and asking me to protect the Dwarves. And it is the Will of those two that kept this Palace sealed for so long."
"Then ask it to tell you where the Treasury is." She rolled her eyes, and he chuckled at her words.
Sin put her down on her feet and then placed his palm on the Emerald Wall.
"Tell me your secrets," he whispered, and to his surprise, the Palace responded.
He followed the fleeting whispers and arrived inside a bedroom, which was not the most lavish one in the Palace but was in the Royal Wing.
They had checked this place before, but they had not found anything there.
Sin frowned as he sat down, placed his palms on the Octagram, and narrowed his eyes as a layer of Eternal Ice disappeared, revealing a mechanism and a circular trapdoor.
Following the voices, he moved the arms of the Octagram, and soon he heard a click, and the door sank before receding into the floor, revealing a staircase.
He glanced at his sister, able to hear her racing heart, and then smiled at her before walking in.
Robin quickly followed him, and after descending forty-four stairs, they arrived inside a large hall that was filled with gold and gems, and also bookshelves.
There were thousands of books, and their eyes stared at them before bright smiles bloomed on their faces.
"Let's just hope they are not blank."
As soon as she heard his words, she rushed to the nearest shelf and picked up a book.
She let out a sigh of relief when she saw that they were all fine and quickly started checking out the other books.
Sin too joined her as they searched for some history books, but most of them were books on engineering, sciences, manuals, and blueprints of some equipment, weapons, and even buildings.
After spending a few hours, they finally found a section of history books, including a book of the Lineage of the Pontus Family.
There were also books on the history of Dwarves and Giants, as well as books on a lot of other races.
Sin was surprised when he found a book on Westoria, and whilst Robin checked everything else out, he sat down and read it, managing to finish all of it within a few minutes.
He frowned a little and then picked a book on Valoria, and also books on Elbaf, Wano, Arabasta, Jaya, Dressrosa, Asuka, and the Moon City of Birka.
The two siblings did not even notice the passage of time as they completely lost themselves in their books.
Days later, when Robin could no longer stay awake, Sin pulled the book she was reading from her hand and picked her up, taking her out of the Hidden Chamber.
He weirdly looked at the Ice Wall that now sealed the room, and as soon as he closed the trapdoor, the door of the room appeared again.
Sensing that it was morning and that Bart and Gad had opened the Gate to the Emerald Palace on the Split Island, he rushed up to check on the two Guardians of the Black Pearl.
They seemed to be doing fine, and since it was extremely rare for a Log Pose to lock onto this Island, no one had come there in the last few days.
Sin picked up a change of clothes for himself, Nami, Nojiko, Vivi, and Robin, and then dropped their things in the room his sister was sleeping in.
He was quite tired, but he really wanted to check the Wakizashi and Tanto that he had ordered Ironnord to create.
Kuina was performing her morning sword dance with a lot of Dwarves watching her, and she was wielding her new Wakizashi in her hands. Her Wado Ichimonji was on her waist, and her Tanto was on her back.
Just one glance was enough for him to tell that the blades were perfect, and when he arrived in front of Ironnord, nearly giving him a scare, the man rushed in and brought him the Wakizashi and Tanto to go with Enma.
A smile formed on his lips as soon as he pulled the Wakizashi out of its purple floral scabbard, and the Dwarf's eyes widened in shock at how, by the time the blade was completely out, the ground under their feet had already been diced.
"Good work," he honestly said, and the old man immediately went down on his knees.
"It's my honour to craft something for you, God Sin."
Sensing how sincere and happy the old man was, Sin took out thirteen gold coins from his coat and tossed them in the air.
All of them stacked on top of each other on the ground, and when Ironnord raised his head, he was shocked to see them.
"Your reward. Now, go find me the finest Cannonsmiths in this city."
"Yes!" The man picked up his gold coins and ran away to gather the best Dwarven Cannonsmiths.
Sin found Augur next, who was almost finished polishing his two rifles, and the tall young man immediately stood up and bowed to him.
"I will be taking a few Dwarves to see the cannons on the Black Pearl. See if they can be improved or if everything needs to be created from scratch."
"Aye, Captain."
The four Dwarves were very hesitant to enter the Palace when he informed them that he wanted to take them to the surface, but they did not refuse his order when he gave it.
He smiled when they stared at the sky as if they were looking at heaven itself, and they were also extremely excited to see their ship, having never seen one before in their lives.
The Dwarves soon got to work, and as he expected, they expressed their blunt distaste for all the cannons that were installed on the Black Pearl.
With Augur's input, he ordered them to create and install new cannons on his ship, and they promised to finish the task in forty days.
After dropping them back inside the Emerald City and leaving Augur on the ship with Bart and Gad, Sin rushed to Winterheim to check up on Hancock and stayed with her the entire day and the night.