One hour later.
The group stood at the bow of the ship, staring blankly at the strangely shaped island ahead.
They were driven here by the ocean current, and it seemed that this island was the center of the vortex current.
The perimeter of the island didn't appear very special, lush with vegetation and sporadically dotted with coconut trees.
But at the center of the island, a massive stone mountain rose like the trunk of an ancient tree, resembling an anthill built up, surrounded at the bottom by numerous densely packed diamond-shaped entrances.
The whole structure stood several hundred meters tall, soaring into the clouds, a truly spectacular sight.
"Where have we ended up?" Shano asked, bewildered, "Is this still the East Sea?"
"Even I have never heard of such a place in the East Sea."
Zeff also shook his head with a sigh, "But it's normal; the sea is vast beyond measure. Outside of the heavily trafficked sea routes, there's no shortage of such little-known deserted islands."
"Anyway, let's go ashore and explore first!"
Nojiko was enthusiastic, spreading her arms to embrace the sea breeze, "Let's go, bro! A place like this might just have treasures buried from centuries ago!"
Shano nodded, sharing the same curiosity about the island, especially since the radar bright spot turned from green to yellow upon nearing it.
This indicated that he was quite lucky—the Devil Fruit was not floating on some part of the sea but was most likely on this island…
"I also need to figure out how to get out of this vortex current, find a pattern to escape…"
Kuina wore a pained expression, surrounded by a pile of thick books she kept leafing through, "Why don't you guys go, I'll stay here and watch the ship."
"Oh, there's plenty of food; we don't miss the time."
Nojiko insisted on dragging her up, linking arms with a smile, "Come on, exploring together is more fun, right, Ah Yin?"
Ah Yin was lying on the figurehead, secretly gnawing on the statue's wings. Hearing this, she was thrilled, quickly turned her head, and covered behind her body, nodding vigorously with her tongue out.
"But…" Kuina cast a plea for help towards Shano, who returned a smiling glance, motioning Nojiko to apply more force.
He understood Kuina's mind well; she was just as curious, wanting to roam the island too.
However, the sincere swordswoman felt responsible, thinking the haphazard steering was her fault, and a sense of guilt prompted her to make amends.
The more this was the case, the less she should be left alone here to continue self-blaming.
Kuina was "unwillingly" dragged ashore, and after Shano dropped a "If I come back and see the wings missing, I'll stick them on you" to Ah Yin, he also disembarked, leading the group towards the anthill entrance at the island's center.
He consciously took the lead to pave the way.
The thorn-filled jungle was like nothing to him, and the sharp thorns on his skin felt like mere scratching; he trampled a path through sheer force.
...
About half an hour later, the group successfully entered the inside of the anthill-like stone mountain.
The space within was even more vast than anticipated; it seemed the entire stone mountain was hollowed out. Before long, sunlight spilled in, and a gigantic ship, several hundred meters long, suddenly appeared in sight, astounding everyone.
A ship inside this stone mountain, and such a huge one?
This ship had been resting here for an unknown number of years, its masts broken, only stumps remaining, and the ship's timber was already decayed to the point where a good blow might send it scattering with the wind.
"I'll go up and take a look."
With a swipe, Shano stepped onto the figurehead resembling a sea dragon, surveying around and spotting several similarly sized massive ships in the distance, equally heavily damaged, as if they had all undergone a fierce battle.
Amidst them, he felt as small as an ant.
"Hmm?"
He suddenly noticed a rusty, broken giant sword, measuring twenty to thirty meters long, stabbed beneath the figurehead. He exerted some effort to pull it out with one hand.
"These ships don't seem like they were manned by humans, more likely the Giant Race."
The others followed him onto the ship, and Kuina, gazing up at the giant sword in Shano's hand, recalled an old story, "I once saw in one of my father's books: many years ago, there was a Giant Soldier Pirates from Elbaf, who roamed the Grand Line with a renowned name."
"It's said their ships were enormously large like this, but then they suddenly disappeared for some unknown reason…"
"That's mainly because the two captains of the Giant Soldier Pirates inexplicably started fighting, and it's been going on for centuries."
Shano shook his head speechlessly, casually reinserting the giant sword, "They're still fighting now, on an island in the Grand Line known as Little Garden."
"Little Garden?"
Zeff was stunned, "I heard of that name when I roamed the Grand Line back in the day. But I heard there were island-sized giant fish there that devoured passing ships, so I deliberately chose other routes to avoid it. Are there really giants from centuries ago on that island?"
"So should we change our route this time and go have a look?"
Nojiko's eyes lit up, "I've never seen a living Giant Race before, Uncle Zeff, don't you want to see one for yourself?"
"Of course, I want to go; otherwise, what's the point of traveling the same route again?"
Zeff laughed broadly.
His current strength surpassed his peak years, and with Shano as the captain—a complete monster—what was there to fear from giant goldfish or Giant Races?
"Then let's go!"
Shano made the decision directly, purely curious about how much the legendary giant wool from those two would be worth.
"But for now, let's focus on the present. Everyone scatter and check around. In such a magical place, there might really be treasures from a hundred years ago."
"Yes, Captain!"
...
Each of them started taking action.
Unknowingly, several hours have passed. These giant ships are indeed too large for humans, making the search quite time-consuming and labor-intensive.
However, gradually, each of them had some gains.
Zeff headed straight to the kitchen, finding some well-preserved spirits with surprise and delight;
Kuina dug out many strange and unusual books, carefully bundling them up;
While Shano was the busiest, going through crew rooms, searching for the Devil Fruit, while testing items he encountered along the way —
This can't be sacrificed, and this can't be either, so annoying, this ship is really disappointing, can't it be Loki's ride back then or something...
On the other side.
"Whew!"
Nojiko carried a treasure chest on one shoulder, grabbed the edge of a hole with her left hand, climbed from the bottom deck back onto the main deck, and dumped the chest onto the ground.
"Now the light is sufficient."
She wiped the sweat off her forehead, "Hid so deep, almost missed it, seems like the things inside are really valuable!"
Screech!
An ugly giant bird with a wingspan of four to five meters flew in from somewhere, opening its huge mouth intending to swallow the chest whole.
"Get lost, you freak bird!" Nojiko threatened fiercely with her fist, "I found this first!"
The strange bird remained unmoved, continued to fly over, but suddenly, noticing something it turned in horror, flapping its wings in retreat.
"That's more like it."
Nojiko thought she scared it away, watched it fly off with a giggle.
Then she put on Metal Boxing Gloves, swung a punch, easily smashed the copper lock on the chest.
She lifted the lid, and to her disappointment, there wasn't a myriad of glittering treasures inside, just a uniquely shaped fruit.
It looked a bit like a pineapple, but was orange-red, covered in flame-like spiral patterns...
"What is this?"
Nojiko held it up to her eyes, the more she looked, the more familiar it seemed.
She immediately turned her head and shouted, "Brother! Where are you! Come check if this is a Devil Fruit!!!"
"Devil Fruit?"
Shano's surprised voice came from afar, "You have it? Stay there, don't move, I'll be right over!"
"Okay!"
Nojiko knew the value of Devil Fruits and sat quietly, holding the fruit, waiting.
The next moment, her ears suddenly twitched, vaguely hearing a sound of breaking wind from far behind and to the right, but the voice from Shano wasn't coming from that direction...
Is there someone else here?
Nojiko immediately became alert, stood up quickly, and turned to look back, just in time to see a giant silver wolf pouncing excitedly towards her—
"No, Ah Yin!" she hurriedly moved the fruit behind her, "You can't just eat this thing!"
"Awoo!"
Ah Yin glanced at the fruit, disdainfully turned its head, not interested in the thing unless it was a strawberry!
Only then did Nojiko realize she misunderstood Ah Yin's intentions, why is this guy so excited then?
"Seems that strange bird was scared away by you! But Ah Yin, why aren't you staying by the shore guarding the ship, came over here for what, to tell me some good news?"
She curiously looked at Ah Yin in front of her.
"Aw!"
Ah Yin nodded vigorously, grinning happily, gestured behind Nojiko.
Behind me?
Nojiko turned around puzzled, didn't see a second figure at all.
Unaware, a slender figure with orange hair had already sneaked under her feet, slipped into her blind spot, then triumphantly reached out a devilish hand towards the Devil Fruit in her grasp...