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"Look guys, some of the new trees are already growing." Usopp said, seeing the saplings, "Trees sure grow fast around here…"
Robin, who was noting down things in her note book, stopped, and looked at Sanji wondering something. "Hey, Sanji your powers are basically to speed things up right?"
Sanji was a bit confused but nodded. "Yeah, I can speed up anything."
Robin then pointed at the saplings, "Can you then speed up the growing process of the trees?"
Sanji blinked, his surprise shared by most of their crewmates. Even Luffy was intrigued by it.
Sanji walked forward and kneeled near a small sapling, he touched it. And started to use his powers on it. At first, nothing happened, before the small sapling started to grow. It reached one foott in height, before it started to brown up and withered. Even when Sanji took away his hands the tree didn't survive, falling over its own weight.
"Well, that didn't work," Zoro said. "Huh, so the cook is bad at growing trees, who could have guessed. Good thing you didn't become a farmer."
Sanji's brow twitched as he gave a small glare to Zoro. Rather than giving up, he moved towards another sapling while rolling up his sleeves. He would show him.
He kneeled down, and touched the small tree, and started focusing on it.
He might have some idea of what went wrong the first time. He tried to focus, using his Observation Haki to feel for the tree and its growth factor. Rather than using his powers on the whole tree, and even speeding up the bacteria and viruses on it, he tried to focus solely on the tree itself.
And after some time, he activated his powers. For a while nothing happened, before the tree started to grow. What began as a seemingly ordinary sight quickly evolved into an extraordinary spectacle.
As time seemed to warp, the sapling's growth accelerated at an almost impossible pace. The air was filled with a hushed sense of awe and anticipation, as the ground rumbled, and quaked.
With each passing second, the sapling's thin stem thickened and gained strength, its roots delving deeper into the earth. The sapling's growth defied all expectations. Its slender form shot upward with an urgency that transcended the laws of nature.
In the blink of an eye, the sapling transformed into a towering giant, a colossal tree that seemed to touch the very fabric of the sky. Matching the old trees of Upper Yard that was decades older than it.
Most of the Straw Hats had their jaws on the floor, including Zoro. While Sanji wore a smug expression on his face. Though the cook was a bit dizzy, that took a lot more power than he had expected.
Luffy placed a hand on Sanji's shoulder, with a grin that made Sanji sweat a bit. "Sanji… I have got a business idea and a way to train your powers! Shishishi… let's work on it after this."
.
After that was done, the crew moved on, finally entering the supposed City of Gold. The city was located underneath a trench of sorts, and with years passing, white clouds had solidified here, but even then, the city was a marveling sight for archaeologists like Robin. For others though, it might be a bit lack luster.
The structures, once proud and towering, now bow under the weight of age, their stones weathered and moss-covered, bearing the weight of memories etched into their very foundations.
Vines and creepers, like nature's determined sentinels, wind their way through the crevices and corridors, weaving a tapestry of green that softens the edges of the stone ruins. One could see a few glimpses of gold from their cracks, but most of it was removed.
As the group walked in, they looked around, finding little remnants of gold.
"So, it was true, the bastard did remove most of the gold from here…" Cricket said.
Most of the group had anticipated it. After capturing the rest of Enel's men, they had told them about a lot of stuff. And this was one of them. Apparently, Enel wanted to hog all the gold for himself. But as to why, the lackeys didn't know.
"Well, not all of it." Nami said touching a cracked building, where some of the gold still remained. It was only a few, but there were some traces of gold coating still remaining. Even then, if all of the gold was gathered, it would surely be a couple of kilograms.
Though, the crew didn't want to mine the remaining gold. Well, Nami and a few others wanted it. But when Luffy spoke of Arc Maximum, they shut up. Everyone present would get at least a few kilos of gold. And the rest of it would be stored for later use.
So other than stopping to explore the ancient city, most of the Straw Hats left for Arc Maximum. The ancient city was good, but other than some run-down buildings, most of them cared about the gold. They were pirates after all.
With that in mind, most of the crew went upwards. Basically, they had to climb giant Jack. The giant beanstalk tree, where the previous home of Enel was. As most of the crew knew how to use Geppo, they made it with little effort, carrying those that couldn't.
Though, a few of them stayed behind.
Robin, Anchor, Cricket, and Usopp mainly were intrigued by the old city. The same was for Chopper, Bepo, and Law.
Shachi and Penguin also wanted to stay, but knew they would get bored. So they stuck with Johnny and Yosaku.
Sanji also stayed with the group. But unlike them, he was exploring the sky. Mainly trying to find the Golden Bell. With there being many solid clouds, who knows where the bell could be.
Luffy hadn't outright said where the Golden Bell was, because even he didn't know it. But he pointed it out with half-truths. So Sanji was up in the air with Geppo, trying to find the Golden Bell.
The city of Shandora was big. The abanded city had a lot of buildings, so the group took the time to explore it, trying to find anything interesting. Most of the things inside were hundreds of years old, and already ravaged over time. So they didn't find anything useful. Still, the group had their hopes up.
After a lot of time Cricket, Anchor and Usopp were able to find something. Due to the solid white clouds, it was hard to find. But right at the center of Shandora, before the pyramid-like structure, was a large gap. It was almost as if a whole portion of it was missing.
Of course, it was covered by solid white clouds so that's why they didn't find it sooner. Cricket had to cut it up, and Usopp even had to shrink the white clouds in there to find it.
"What do you think it could be?" Usopp asked, as he leaned towards the hole.
"It's quite deep!" Anchor said, he was inside the hole along with Cricket. Both of them were observing it before Anchor kneeled down and knocked the ground. "And it seems something might be down below?"
Usopp blinked, "Do you think you could dig through it?"
"Well, let's find out?" Cricket said, before flipping his sword and stabbing the ground below.
Clank!
"That's a nope it seems." Anchor said, "We should have brought Zoro…"
Cricket twitched, "It ain't a skill issue, mate. I can already cut steel…" he grumbled.
"Heh, keep saying that pirate," Anchor said, before he jumped out from the hole, with Cricket following him from behind with a pissed expression.
"Stupid Haki…" Cricket mumbled. Regretting the fact that he never figured out how to use it.
"So…" Usopp asked.
"I don't know what this stuff is made out of. But it's definitely stronger than sea-stone steel. But…"
"But what?"
"Call it a hunch, but for some reason, with how the inner structure was aligned, it looks like a key?"
"A key?" Robin, who had just came down from the hollow pyramid structure, asked. "What are you guys, talking about?"
"Well, you see…" So Usopp explained.
"Interesting." She hummed, "I wonder what it could be?"
———— (This is a request, if you like my story so far. Please leave a review to boost the story.)