On the boundless desert land, a tortoise with a cigar and sunglasses, dragging a mushroom-shaped vehicle, galloped across the yellow sand, leaving a long trail of dust.
Smoke billowed in the carriage. A man and a woman, each lost in their own thoughts, had no desire to converse. They both gazed out at the endless desert through the windows beside them, falling into deep contemplation.
'The best outcome today is to find clues to the whereabouts of Pluton in Alabasta, then usurp this country, make Cobra my puppet king, and, while I'm at it, team up with Moria and others to eliminate that Marine Rear Admiral Rorschach who killed Daz Bonez.'
This was Crocodile's current thinking.
He genuinely hadn't expected to directly obtain the ancient weapon Pluton in Alabasta.
That wasn't realistic.
The rumored Pluton was a battleship capable of destroying an island with a single shot.
What kind of place was Alabasta?
A desert kingdom.
Its capital, Alubarna, was located in the heart of the desert, atop towering rock walls.
Any sane person wouldn't believe a ship would appear in such a place.
As he had told Robin before, he wanted to obtain clues to the Pluton battleship's location and then use Alabasta's national power as a springboard to search for the true Pluton.
Suppressing the turbulent thoughts in his heart, Crocodile looked at Robin, who was sitting opposite him, through the drifting smoke.
A hint of coldness flashed deep in his eyes.
Nico Robin, the Devil Child, the sole survivor of Ohara, one of the few historians in this world capable of deciphering Poneglyphs.
Over the years, this capable woman had indeed helped him a great deal.
Without Robin's planning and management, the Baroque Works would not have reached its current scale.
She was an excellent subordinate, more outstanding than all other members of Baroque Works.
It would truly be a pity if such a woman were to die...
The tortoise-vehicle's speed was not slow. It took less than two hours to cover over a hundred li (about 50 km), arriving at Alubarna's back entrance, at the foot of the steep rock wall.
The two dismounted the tortoise-vehicle. Crocodile, with his cigar, looked up at the towering rock wall, a sneer playing on his lips.
Thinking that building the royal capital on a desert plateau would ensure peace of mind—the Nefertari royal family truly was naive enough.
Crocodile ignored the battle that might have already erupted at the front gate. He reached out and grabbed Robin's exposed fair shoulder. His lower body twisted and rotated, transforming into a yellow sand whirlwind that carried him and Robin skyward, instantly soaring over the dozens of meters high rock wall and city walls, flying towards the already scouted location of the royal capital's underground ruins.
Flying in mid-air, Crocodile casually scanned the interior of the royal capital, finding that the vast city was indeed deserted, with only two or three sparse figures remaining.
It seemed that old Cobra had deployed them all to the front gate to guard the city.
What kind of despairing expression must that poor fellow have now?
Crocodile was almost impatient to see those foolish commoners shouting the name of him, their kingdom's hero, urging him to step forward and end Cobra's tyrannical rule.
Landing with Robin in hand, Crocodile bent down and spread the five fingers of his right hand, pressing them against the sealed entrance to the underground ruins.
"You think sealing the entrance with thick rocks can prevent outsiders from entering? Naive.
Dry Ground!"
As the Sand-Sand Fruit's ability activated, a corrosive force capable of withering all things rapidly eroded and turned the hard, thick ground into sand.
The solid rock ground quickly transformed into a large amount of fine yellow sand, which spun and dispersed. Before Crocodile, a large hole, three meters in diameter, appeared.
Inside the hole, there was a sloping stone staircase leading downwards, appearing somewhat dim.
Within, there was an extremely precious Poneglyph.
Crocodile had spent a lot of time obtaining this intelligence.
Although it wasn't one of the four red Poneglyphs leading to Laugh Tale, it was still valuable enough.
It was said to contain clues about the whereabouts of Pluton.
The thought of the ancient weapon, and that unconquerable man, made Crocodile's breathing quicken.
His eyes were streaked with clear blood vessels as he glanced at Robin.
"Let's go, come down with me and translate every word written on the Poneglyph without missing a single one."
With that, he ignored the silent Robin and strode ahead, walking down the stone steps into the ruins' passage.
The gloomy passage wound downwards, extending for several hundred meters. Under the impatient Crocodile's feet, it took only a dozen seconds for his vision to suddenly open up.
At the end of the passage, a massive underground space, supported by dozens of thick ancient stone pillars, appeared before Crocodile and Robin.
A hint of excitement flickered in Crocodile's eyes. His first glance landed on the giant cubic stone monument, ten meters on each side, located in the center of the underground space.
He was about to order Robin, who was closely following him, to go and decipher the text on the monument.
But in the next instant, the excitement on Crocodile's face froze.
Robin, who had followed him, her pupils suddenly dilated, gazed blankly upwards at the top of the massive stone monument.
Crocodile stared blankly at the object atop the Poneglyph monument, which, despite being covered in thick dust, still revealed large patches of brilliant gold. He stood rigid on the spot, as if struck by lightning, a roaring sound in his mind.
"What... what is... this?"
His lips moved. He dropped the equally shocked Robin behind him, forcefully suppressing a thought that was subtly emerging and making his mind tremble. He leaped onto the top of the cubic monument, leaning in to examine the object that resembled a ship.
This unidentified object was covered in thick dust, suggesting it had been in these underground ruins for countless years.
Crocodile extended his slightly trembling right hand, disregarding the grime, and directly wiped away a thick layer of dust.
Where the dust had been wiped away, golden, rough patterns were exposed.
It was gold.
The same golden material as the golden hook he wore on his left hand.
The rough patterns subtly interwove with scales and flowers, appearing ancient and sacred.
Crocodile licked his dry lips and couldn't help but wave his hand, conjuring a sandstorm out of thin air.
The howling sandstorm rushed towards the object in front of him.
As the thick dust covering it was swept away in large swaths by the sandstorm, dazzling golden light instantly illuminated the vast underground ruins space, making it bright.
It also made Crocodile's widened eyes sparkle.
Was this a ship?
Crocodile wasn't entirely sure.
Because he had never seen a ship with such a design.
The flat deck had only one thick golden pillar, which appeared to be a cannon barrel.
There were no masts or sails, which are typically found on ships.
The cabin also seemed extremely small, perhaps only able to accommodate one or two people.
The entire ship was crafted entirely from gold, with numerous flowers and scales carved into its hull. Upon closer inspection, a winding giant dragon could be seen coiling around the golden ship's body.
However, perhaps due to the passage of a great deal of time, the ship's surface was severely worn, and the details of the dragon carving were somewhat blurred.
Even so, it made the entire ship appear exceptionally sacred, grand, and majestic.
Crocodile held his breath, jumped onto the deck of this golden battleship. He first stared for a long time at the thick, straight golden cannon barrel, then walked into the cabin.
The space within the cabin was very confined, with a square opening in the floor.
Through that opening, one could see the ship's interior, filled with a large number of interconnected golden gears.
Those golden gears, large and small, in the shape of wheels, gave Crocodile an extremely powerful visual impact.
He had never seen anything like them.
Those complex gears somewhat resembled the outer wheels of an icebreaker, but they were infinitely more exquisite and intricate.
They were simply perfect works of art.
Suddenly, Crocodile's pupils constricted. He saw a mottled golden slab resting among countless interlocked golden gears.
His gaze was immediately drawn to that slab.
The square opening in the cabin was somewhat small, and the golden slab was more than two meters away from the opening.
If it were an ordinary person, they might not even be able to reach it.
But Crocodile was a Logia-type Devil Fruit user.
His right hand transformed into sand and extended into the opening, grasping the somewhat heavy golden slab. As if fearing to damage it, he carefully lifted it out of the opening.
Crocodile held the mottled golden slab in both hands, as if he were holding the most precious thing in the world.
Looking at the individual patterns carved on it, the thought that had risen in his mind grew louder and louder.
Could this ship be...?
Crocodile took a deep breath, his heart pounding, his face flushed as if he had been drinking.
The text on this golden slab also seemed to be ancient writing, which Nico Robin should understand.
With that thought, Crocodile immediately turned and walked out of the cabin.
He carefully held the slab, leaped from the golden battleship, and walked over to Robin, who had been in a daze for a long time.
"Nico Robin, look... look at what the words on this say."
He handed the golden slab to Robin.
Robin finally recovered from her stupor, looking away from the golden battleship standing atop the monument, and gazed at the golden slab handed to her.
The words on the slab were indeed ancient characters, and Robin understood them.
As she read, Robin's face froze and became blank once more, her pupils trembling.
"What does it say? What is this thing?" Crocodile demanded excitedly, his voice trembling uncontrollably.
Robin glanced at the cubic monument towering behind him, then at the golden slab in front of her, and her lips moved a few times, as if she were hesitating.
Smack!
A large hand slapped her face, sending the silent Robin flying a couple of meters, where she fell heavily to the ground.
"Speak! What does it say!" Crocodile roared.
Robin sat on the ground, blood spilling from the corner of her mouth, looking somewhat distraught at the golden slab held high by Crocodile.
"A blueprint. This is a blueprint for a flying battleship. Its name is Ark."
"Ark?" Crocodile froze. He muttered, "A blueprint for a flying battleship, not Pluton?"
He turned and looked again at the golden battleship towering atop the monument, at its thick golden cannon barrel.
"This is the flying battleship Ark? But how can a ship made entirely of gold fly without a mast?"
He jumped back onto the battleship's bow deck, looking closely at the ten-meter-long golden cannon barrel connected to the golden base.
It was at this moment that Crocodile's body suddenly shook, as if a current had surged through him. He felt an unimaginable, terrifying energy contained within the golden cannon barrel, so close at hand.
The sheer scale and ferocity of this energy reminded him of a volcano on the verge of eruption.
His eyes widened instantly, and the corners of his mouth spread into an uncontrollable grin.
"Hahahaha, hahahaha, ah hahahaha!"
A series of hysterical laughs burst from Crocodile's mouth, echoing continuously throughout the vast underground space.
At this moment, Crocodile seemed to have gone mad. He tightly clutched the golden slab in his hands, feeling the terrifying energy fluctuations so close by, and laughed wildly towards the sky, tears streaming from his eyes.
"Pluton! Pluton!"
"Ancient Weapon!"
"There's no mistake! This chilling energy fluctuation!"
"Ah hahahaha, I finally found it! I finally found the Pluton battleship!"
(End of Chapter)
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