Chapter 163: Ancient Mural, the Truth of the World!
"Curse of the Abyss!"
The dominance of that slash replayed within the mirage mist.
Even though the black-red Conqueror's Haki wrapping it wasn't real.
Even though over thirty years had passed.
Ryuji could still glimpse the power possessed by this descendant of the Davy Clan, power enough to shake the sea, through the peephole of time.
Because he saw an incredible scene.
The sword light penetrated the surrounding rock walls instantly, penetrated the door in front, penetrated everything—flying toward the infinitely distant horizon, like wings of freedom.
Splash! Splash!
Then, Ryuji heard the sound of water.
No—
"The sound of waves!"
He looked down and discovered...
The 'Past' constantly replaying on this island ship named 'The Abyss' seemed to have ended.
The true appearance of the bottom of this temple at the base of the island was revealed.
Before Ryuji, the door was gone.
To be precise, not just the door.
The path leading to the door, the surrounding rock walls, and everything below... were gone.
Starting from the last step where Ryuji stood, there was only deep seawater below.
Ryuji finally realized what happened.
"This ship... was cut open?"
Yes.
Because the ship was too massive, Ryuji couldn't observe the bottom of 'The Abyss' from the sky.
But now, inside the ship, he could see clearly.
The bottom of the central part of this ship was cut open—from where he stood, only seawater flooded the massive hull below.
And the cause was undoubtedly...
"That slash just now?"
Looking at the extremely neat cut on the rock wall, Ryuji was shocked.
Although just the central bottom, given the ship's size, the cut part was exaggeratedly huge, far larger than Moria's Thriller Bark—at least Ryuji couldn't see the end of the cut.
"Slash power reached this level?"
But thinking again, Rocks in the original story had a record of cutting the massive Gates of Justice in half, so it made sense.
"Truly the strongest of an era..."
Sighing, Ryuji roughly understood what happened on this island over thirty years ago.
"The Abyss, the ship of Davy Jones."
Ryuji knew the legend of Davy Jones.
Said to be the first pirate, called the 'Cursed One of the Seabed'.
In fact, legends of Davy Jones still circulate in parts of the Grand Line, even having a pirate game named "Davy Back Fight".
Legend says the first pirate conquered the world as his subordinates, hence the rule of "Davy Back Fight": [Loser must become the winner's subordinate].
In the God Valley flashback of the original story, it was mentioned that Davy Jones seemed to have an agreement with the World King 'Imu', and even seemed to have been the 'King of the World' once.
This was also mentioned in the prophecy song provided by Moria—though in that song, Davy Jones wasn't the "King of the World", but the "First King".
He was one of the most mysterious figures in the One Piece world, almost on par with 'Joy Boy' who brought liberation and freedom.
"He left something here for his descendants, hoping his cursed descendants would fulfill the agreement and bring that thing to Joy Boy in a certain era."
"But..."
Ryuji's expression was strange.
Clearly, Davy Jones believed his descendants would be outstanding, leaving the item in such a dangerously hard-to-find place.
But he obviously didn't expect his descendant to be overly outstanding.
Rocks—or rather "Davy Xebec", was definitely not a bound person.
He clearly didn't intend to fulfill his ancestor's last wish, choosing... his own path.
"This guy said he'd leave the thing for someone..."
Ryuji muttered, guessing the answer.
Rocks said he met a remarkable guy at God Valley, making him willing to bet everything. This meant Rocks coming here indeed experienced God Valley.
Then it was basically certain that the "remarkable guy" he mentioned had no second option.
"He chose to leave that thing to Star Lord!?"
Under the dragon mask, Ryuji smiled bitterly.
"What kind of 'Me' did he see at God Valley?"
Rocks chose to leave the thing symbolizing the sea's incomparable power, hope, and freedom to him?
He didn't know what happened at God Valley, but Rocks' choice was too radical.
But clearly.
Inside this temple where thirty years had passed, no one could answer his question.
So Ryuji retracted his thoughts quickly.
He was used to the secrets surrounding Rocks.
Besides, he witnessed Rocks' trajectory personally this time, confirming many things.
And speaking of which...
"Cut like this, yet this ship isn't dead—because 'Devil Fruit Objects' aren't biological, so not easily killed?"
Ryuji muttered.
Just then...
VMMM!
He saw the mirage mist diffuse again.
In an instant, the deep hollow, sea surface, and exaggerated sword mark below vanished.
Before him, the passage and the door at the end reappeared.
Ryuji knew naturally—the 'Past' was replaying again.
Unless unexpected, another "Rocks" had emerged from the mist and landed on the island outside the temple.
But clearly, Ryuji had no interest in following again.
So he looked at the distant door.
Although he didn't know what was behind the door, he had time to observe the murals carved on it now.
Looking at it, Ryuji raised an eyebrow.
"Like the murals of Elbaf?"
He discovered...
The murals carved around the door were similar to the ancient murals left in the giant kingdom 'Elbaf' in the original story—not just the ancient art style, but both were spliced from different murals, seemingly symbolizing different 'Eras'.
The difference was, Elbaf's murals were horizontal.
While the murals on this door were vertical.
From bottom to top, there were five 'Parts'.
In the first part, Ryuji saw countless figures kneeling to something descending from the sky, seemingly praying.
The thing they worshiped was...
"Tree?"
Looking at the clear 'Roots' and 'Branches' structure, Ryuji judged it was a tree.
But the tree was strange—various things were falling from it continuously.
Animals like cattle and sheep, plants like flowers and grass, even humans and things like fire and lightning.
In the second part, it was still the tree.
But now, the tree seemed rooted somewhere, with soil structure below.
In front of the giant tree, a small figure was carved.
Holding a simple trident, the figure knelt to the tree too.
But differently, inside the tree structure, with the small figure's kneeling, a Black Shadow appeared suddenly.
From the tree body where the black shadow was, a round object fell, landing on the small figure's head, embedding into a black crown.
Thus, the small figure seemed to become darker overall.
"..."
Ryuji frowned, shock flashing in his eyes.
Looking at the black shadow and the small figure, he vaguely realized something but wasn't sure.
And crucially...
Below the second part of the mural, Ryuji could see...
With the appearance of the "Black Shadow", something seemed to emerge from the bottom of the mural.
It looked like waves.
It looked like... Seawater.
Then, the third part.
In the center, still the tree.
The black thing was still inside the tree but seemed larger.
The surroundings changed.
The small figure with the black crown, holding the trident, sat on a throne.
The throne seemed built on a very high place, clouds visible around it.
Beside the throne, countless swords and treasures were stuck—seemingly 'Trophies' collected by this King.
Below the throne, many figures with smaller crowns knelt to him.
Like the first mural, these kneeling figures included various races.
Ryuji focused on twenty small figures among them—their body shapes were close to the "First King", seemingly representing "Humans".
Besides them, a huge existence obviously a Giant, and a half-human half-fish existence caught Ryuji's attention.
Because these two races were closest to the central throne, and they seemed to receive the King's gift.
From behind the King, two small "Saplings" fell from the giant tree, landing in their hands.
Around these figures, countless races and commoners seemed to rejoice, building structures.
"Twenty Kings 'Creating the World', two trees for Giants and Fish-Men... Treasure Tree Adam and Sunlight Tree Eve?"
Compared to the first two parts, the meaning of this mural was clearer.
All figures with crowns clearly represented 'Leaders' of races in this world.
The twenty humans were ancestors of today's Celestial Dragons, the "Twenty Kings Creating the World".
The two trees obtained by Fish-Men and Giants were clearly the cornerstones of their existence—Elbaf's Treasure Tree Adam and Fish-Man Island's Sunlight Tree Eve.
From this, Ryuji inferred the story—the "First King" conquered the world with a powerful fleet and gifts from the black shadow in the tree.
By the way.
Now, the wave patterns at the bottom of the mural still existed and were clearly higher.
The former "Original Land" and the part where the giant tree's roots were... were completely gone.
The seawater there was a deep darkness like an "Abyss".
In that abyss, wreckage of ships and figures falling into the sea could be seen.
Clearly.
Behind the joy and submission of races shown in this mural, there must have been a long "War".
Following that, Ryuji looked at the fourth part.
In the fourth mural, the King with the crown seemed to be sleeping.
Beside him, the simple buildings became a magnificent kingdom.
Even with simple strokes, Ryuji could see the former prosperity of that kingdom.
But in a corner of the kingdom, the twenty "King Figures" quietly approached the giant tree while the King slept.
Now, the giant tree was almost occupied by the black shadow inside.
The King figures seemed to kneel and pray to the tree, and the shadow granted them twenty smaller crowns.
In this mural, the seawater, previously behaving at the bottom, seemed to change. Visibly, it began to occupy a quarter of the picture.
In this part of the seawater, hideous monsters seemed to live beneath the surface of the magnificent kingdom.
Finally, the last part.
Unlike the previous four.
In the fifth mural, the giant tree was completely filled by the black shadow.
Ryuji could even see the shadow faintly exceeding the tree's frame, as if ready to detach—its appearance faintly formed a "Demon" with bat wings and a pointed tail.
Below the shadow, the twenty King figures turned pure black. One long-haired figure even showed some "Demon" features.
Around the mural, clear traces of war—the magnificent kingdom was gone, replaced by ruins.
People of countless races fled. Above them, even the sun fell.
The world seemed to plunge into darkness at this moment.
Below the dark world, the seawater finally surged up completely.
In the entire picture, only the place with the twenty Kings and the giant tree remained above sea level.
Other places were covered by seawater.
At the other end of the mural.
The "First King", still holding the trident, drove a massive three-masted ship to escape.
Now, covered in blood, the black color on him had disappeared.
He took off the crown, hugging it tightly.
He and the giant ship entered the mist—becoming the "Final Scene" of this mural.
The mural ended here.
At this moment...
Ryuji: "..."
"..."
Ryuji expressed he needed a moment.
Yes.
Even without decoding ancient texts, Ryuji knew—the information on this mural was incredibly vast.
Even just the bits he understood and guessed.
He could almost be certain—this mural depicted one of the key secrets intentionally hidden by the World Government.
That was—The Truth of the World!
☆☆☆
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