After learning that Sherwin had acquired a suspected Mythical Zoan Devil Fruit from a remote island, the pirates and CP agents who subsequently arrived in trans refused to give up, turning the entire ruins upside down once again.
Unfortunately, that ruin seemed to have been prepared specifically for the Vampire Fruit, so they found nothing at all.
The people of trans Town were quite fortunate. Because their geographical location was too remote, and most ambitious people were currently keeping their eyes on Egghead Island, no pirates took a liking to their island.
The island only suffered a few destructive excavations and hosted a few batches of unwelcome guests before quickly returning to peace.
Also returning to peace was Egghead Island, which had previously been the focal point of contention among numerous factions.
The Battle of Egghead Island and the subsequent struggle for the scientists had caused both the pirates and the World Government to consume a massive number of personnel.
In addition, Kaido and BIG MOM, who had snatched the scientists, needed time to digest the technology they had acquired, so they had all quieted down for the time being, at most sending a small number of informants to monitor Egghead Island.
After the Hundred-Grand Alliance took the lead in quieting down, the other pirates also knew they lacked the capability to do anything to Egghead Island, so they gradually dispersed on the surface.
As for what was happening in the shadows, that varied from faction to faction. But regardless, the pressure on the World Government instantly lessened a great deal, and they were finally able to spare personnel to stabilize their rule over the four seas and the first half of the Grand Line.
Of course, they did not dare to completely relax on the Egghead Island side.
Among the three Admirals, "Ryokugyu" Aramaki remained permanently stationed on Egghead Island, while the fastest, "Kizaru" Borsalino, and the most ruthless, "Akainu" Sakazuki, were running around everywhere, suppressing and deterring those ambitious figures and allied nations who were eager to stir up trouble.
Along the way, they teamed up with CP agents to track down the Revolutionary Army, who had shown little activity in recent years but had suddenly appeared at Egghead Island.
However, quite coincidentally, while they were investigating, several army commanders of the Revolutionary Army had just been called back by Dragon for a major meeting, and the other members went into hiding one after another.
Coupled with the assistance of local residents, except for a very small number of members who were unfortunate enough to have their tails caught, most of the Revolutionary Army evaded this inspection.
The current Marine Fleet Admiral, "Aokiji" Kuzan, also returned to Marineford to hold the fort.
On the surface, the defenses of Egghead Island seemed to have weakened quite a bit all of a sudden, but in reality, Sengoku, who claimed to be retired but had actually been running around quite a bit over the past few years, had already quietly moved into Egghead Island.
In addition to this, the "SHIELD Unit," which was previously responsible for guarding the Dyna Stones, had also been transferred over.
As for the Dyna Stones they were originally guarding, they had been secretly moved to another location long ago, ever since Klee Meow dropped the "Little Girl" on Wano Country.
Even Zephyr had been spending this period leading his newly formed "Marine Anti-Pirate Guerrilla" to operate in the waters near Egghead Island.
After all, his purpose was to eliminate all pirates, and right now, there was no place more attractive to pirates than Egghead Island.
Therefore, even without the orders of the World Government, Zephyr would most likely be active in this vicinity, not to mention that the World Government had also promised to provide his Pirate Expeditionary Force with a knockoff version of Valstrax.
With these arrangements, even if Kaido and BIG MOM made a comeback, they wouldn't be able to break through Egghead Island defenses in a short amount of time.
However, while Egghead Island calmed down, other places began to get lively.
As mentioned before, after Akainu and Kizaru left Egghead Island, they began to suppress pirates everywhere and stabilize the situation.
Kizaru, who was good at slacking off, was fine, just dealing with things half-heartedly, but Akainu never knew restraint in his actions.
Furthermore, he hadn't achieved any noteworthy results on Egghead Island, but had instead been suppressed and beaten by pirates for so long, so a fire had long been burning in his heart.
Originally, he wanted to go look for trouble with the Whitebeard Pirates, who were suspected of having ties to the Revolutionary Army, but he faced opposition from the vast majority of people within the Navy.
This caused his temper to become even more violent. During this period, the number of civilians who died by his hands was almost catching up to the number of pirates.
Akainu ruthless methods did indeed deter those pirates and affiliated nations, but at the same time, it made those affiliated nations that were already dissatisfied with the World Government complain even more bitterly.
Precisely because of this, he was also "naturally" and tacitly selected by a crowd of Revolutionary Army cadres as the first step of their plan...
"Sakazuki, there seems to be someone researching the Poneglyphs on Faboket Island. Go and check out the situation."
Actually, if possible, Kuzan would have preferred Kizaru to handle this issue. After all, back during the Ohara Incident, he was dissatisfied with Akainu behavior of wiping out even civilians.
However, this order was directly transmitted from the Five Elders, and their only requirement was—resolve it as quickly as possible.
Under the manipulation of that large group of inside agents from the Revolutionary Army, this fabricated piece of intelligence happened to be delivered into the hands of the Five Elders just as the fleet led by Sakazuki was passing nearby.
The team led by Kizaru was not only far away from Faboket Island, but was also "unfortunately" entangled during their mission by a certain king who had plenty of grievances regarding the Navy recent actions.
With no other choice, Kuzan could only helplessly convey the order passed down from above to Akainu.
However, out of his own philosophy, Kuzan still added an extra reminder: "Try not to involve innocent people. Recently, many affiliated nations have already developed dissatisfaction toward us."
"Hmph! I will make my own judgment!"
Sakazuki let out a cold snort, hung up the Den Den Mushi, and then spat angrily, "Now all kinds of monsters and demons are popping up, and Kuzan is actually still thinking about appeasement. If you ask me, those ungrateful affiliated nations should be taught a lesson!"
Then, he turned around and immediately ordered his adjutant, "Notify all ships to turn around! Target, Fabokte Island!"
Initially, in order to spread the news of "Joy Boy" and "Nika" and to force the World Government to ruthlessly silence them, the Revolutionary Army had actually chosen several islands that had sizable populations and had been absorbed by the Revolutionary Army.
However, considering that doing so might still cause harm to these people and potentially leak the news, under the suggestion of the Felyne think tank, they ultimately changed the location to Fabokte Island, where ruins had been discovered but was currently uninhabited.
In addition to possessing the aforementioned conditions, this island had another advantage: a vast stretch of wildly growing dense forest.
Although it wasn't as exaggerated as Green Bit, where the Tontatta Kingdom was located, the vegetation on the island was much denser and taller than that on other islands.
Using the concealment of these overly well-grown plants, any tricks the Revolutionary Army wanted to pull inside would naturally be much more covert.
Therefore, after Sakazuki and his men landed, they did not notice anything unusual. They were very smoothly drawn to the periphery of the ruins that had been "renovated" by Sherwin and the others, and very "coincidentally" bumped into an "archaeological team" that was transporting something outside.
Although it was impossible to tell what the other few objects covered in huge black cloths were for the time being, the square one was definitely a Poneglyph without a doubt.
Sakazuki narrowed his eyes and looked at the members of the archaeological team who were fleeing into the ruins in a panic.
With conclusive evidence, there was naturally no need to leave any survivors...
"Great Eruption!"
The scorching magma flew toward the group of "archaeologists," but the strength of these people exceeded Akainu expectations, and they actually blocked his move quite easily.
Without waiting for Akainu to continue his attack, they quickly ducked into the ruins and vanished.
At the same time, the huge black cloths wrapping the "antiques" were ignited by the magma they had scattered, revealing the Poneglyphs hidden beneath and...
Giant robots that looked ancient.
Moreover, whether or not they were stimulated by Akainu, red lights lit up in the eyes of those robots that originally looked no different from scrap metal.
They snapped the ropes tied around their bodies and slowly stood up from the ground.