After the system illuminated the dark room, ARCH could see everything more clearly. The inside of the cabin was made of dark brown wood. The walls were filled with moss and some small plants growing in them. The flooring of the cabin was made of cobblestones. He looked around the cabin and saw no windows at all.
Then he reached a kitchen-like area where there was a simple brown table and an oblong chair. On the table were a wooden spoon and a bowl. The entire table was also covered with moss, little purple flowers, and some grass.
He then moved to the next place, which looked like a bedroom, but there was no bed, only a closet. He opened the closet and saw two old-looking books inside. He took the one on top. The book had a black cover and no title. He flipped the cover over and tried to read what was written on the first page, but, just like the writing on the cube, he couldn't understand any of it. He then called out for the system to open the inventory tab.
ARCH:heyy system..I need to store this book...
*CREAKKKKK
After Arch commanded the system to open the inventory, the system hovering above his head creaked and cloned itself, producing another system tab. The interface then changed to the Inventory tab, which moved toward Arch.
Arch then placed the black book onto the inventory tab screen, and the book sank into the interface. He then grabbed the last old blue book and added it to the system inventory as well. After he stored both books, the inventory tab retracted and rejoined the main body of the system, which continued to hover above Arch's head, still illuminating the pitch-dark room like a flashlight.
Arch sighed. "Is that it? No treasures? Nothing? Hmm."
After storing the books in the system inventory, Arch walked out of the bedroom and began searching for valuable items. After twenty-three minutes of searching, he gave up, having found nothing of worth. Just as he was about to walk out of the cabin to continue his search somewhere else, he noticed the picture hanging above the entrance of the door.
"A picture," Arch muttered to himself. He crouched down and grabbed a purple flower from beside his feet, then activated his Devil Fruit power. A blue, transparent sphere appeared from his left hand—ROOM! The sphere expanded rapidly until it covered the entire cabin.
With his index, middle, and thumb fingers outstretched, he chanted, "SHAMBLES!" The purple flower in his right hand instantly switched places with the picture on the wall.
The picture was covered in dust and moss. He patted it, wiping away the debris, and when the picture was finally cleaned, he was silent. Then, a single chuckle escaped him, which quickly escalated into a loud, booming laugh...
ARCH: GURARARARARARARARA...
Arch ran his left hand through his white hair, his eyes fixed on the picture in his right hand. He muttered to himself, "Well... well... well, things just got more interesting..."
Gurararararara!" he laughed. "System, please store this picture in your inventory."
Arch tossed the picture straight up. The system, reading his thoughts, responded instinctively. It cloned itself again, and the new tab quickly drifted toward the image. The picture and the inventory tab met in mid-air, and the picture sank inside the interface. The inventory tab then returned to its original position on the main system body.
Arch, whose laughter suddenly cut off, walked immediately out of the cabin. He looked up at the ceiling of the underground space and whispered to himself, "Gramps... is this what they call the butterfly effect, or consequences?"
Receiving no answer—just total silence—he shrugged his shoulders. Then he laughed again, but this time, the "Gurarararara!" sounded more like a serious declaration. He then continued his search for the way out of this place..
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[Somewhere in the Gap]
The Author looked at the Gramps, who was sleeping in a chair. The Narrator did the same, and the Director was sipping from his coffee, curiosity clearly visible on his face. The Gramps they were looking at gave no response, but a smirk could be seen on his lips as he pretended to be asleep.
-------- to be continued-----