"Alright, that's about everything packed up. Doradom, take these over to the ship for us, will you?"
The expedition leader patted their haul from the past few days and prepared to leave the ancient ruins.
"There's quite a lot of artifacts in these ruins. If we take them to an auction house, we should make a killing."
One of the team members said with visible excitement.
"We're not going through an auction house this time. We'll just find a black market and offload them."
The leader shook his head.
"On the black market we'd get thirty to fifty percent less." Someone grumbled in dissatisfaction.
Selling artifacts on the black market usually meant getting lowballed, whereas an auction house — especially one at the Sabaody Archipelago — could drive the price well above market value.
"Things are different now. Pirates are everywhere. What good is money if you can't hold onto it?"
The leader was pragmatic about it, leading the group back along their original route.
"If any of you want to try the auction house instead, we can split the artifacts right now and you can go your own way."
He added generously.
"Forget it, we'll follow your lead."
The others thought about it and conceded he had a point. Out on the Grand Line, staying alive mattered far more than maximizing profits.
As the group made their way toward the bay, the scout in front suddenly froze and called out a warning.
"Wait — there's another ship in the bay. They've taken our vessel."
"What's going on?" The leader rushed to the front to see for himself. The others set down their loads at once, and a sudden silence fell over the group.
"Who is it?"
"Looks like... a Marine ship." One of the team members squinted, not entirely sure.
At the word "Marines," Olbia's heart lurched. A cold sweat broke out across her body. But she composed herself almost immediately, keeping her expression perfectly neutral.
"Marines? What do those guys want? We've got official exploration permits — we're legal adventurers."
Whether an expedition team was legitimate or not required official documentation. Without it, they could be treated as pirates or black-market operatives on the open sea.
The team leader narrowed his eyes, his gaze flickering briefly backward before he spoke in a measured tone.
"Don't worry. We've got our papers, so the Marines shouldn't give us too much trouble."
"If they need us to cooperate with anything, just play along. Worst case, we lose a little money and move on."
"What a pain. All that work for nothing." One of the team members sighed but didn't argue.
The Marines were too powerful to cross — unless you were ready to become a pirate, it was best to show some respect.
Besides, this sort of thing didn't happen often. When it did, you just had to swallow your pride and deal with it.
Still, none of them wanted to walk away empty-handed. A few of the sharper members quietly buried half of the recovered artifacts in a hidden spot.
Olbia followed their example, pretending to bury relics while actually stashing her research notes in a concealed location.
Down at the bay, Marine Headquarters Vice Admiral Yamakaji stood on the deck of the expedition team's ship, biting down on a cigar as he waited for them to return.
According to intelligence he'd received, the scholars the World Government had been hunting — the ones researching the Void Century — might be hiding within this very expedition team.
"Don't damage their ship. Just wait for the team to come back."
Yamakaji was good-natured for a vice admiral. Though he'd only been promoted this year, he was already well-liked by his subordinates.
He was built similarly to Garp, though his face bore more of a resemblance to CP9's Blueno.
"Vice Admiral, people are coming out of the mountain." Just as he was leaning against the railing, enjoying his smoke, a group of figures emerged in the distance.
At the report, Yamakaji hopped down from the ship and strode toward the approaching expedition team.
"Gentlemen of the Marines, is there something we can help you with?" The team leader adopted a deferential tone the moment he saw them.
"We're an expedition team from the Dortland Kingdom, and Dortland is a member nation of the World Government. Whatever you need, just say the word."
"Just a few things we need to look into." Yamakaji wasn't overbearing. His gaze swept across every member of the team — a leader, a heavily built man, a handful of unremarkable crew members, and a dark-skinned woman.
None of them looked like scholars.
Yamakaji was operating on a tip. Without solid evidence, he wouldn't make arbitrary arrests.
"Could you show us the artifacts you found on this island?"
"Of course." The team leader didn't hesitate, laying out their entire haul.
Yamakaji used a Den Den Mushi to photograph everything, then had the team searched. A pair of female Marines escorted Olbia to a cabin aboard the ship and went through her personal belongings and backpack with a fine-tooth comb.
"Vice Admiral, nothing suspicious found."
Yamakaji nodded. He waited for confirmation from the other end of the Den Den Mushi connection, and once he was satisfied there was nothing out of the ordinary, he let Olbia and the others go.
"Looks like the intelligence was wrong." He offered an apology and left without taking any of the gifts the expedition team had prepared for him, leaving the group bewildered.
Olbia and the team leader both had their suspicions, but neither voiced them.
The leader wasn't entirely confident that Olbia's activities wouldn't drag them down with her — better to keep quiet and avoid complications.
It wasn't as if their paths would cross again anyway.
After parting ways with the expedition team, Olbia was acutely aware that her situation had become extremely dangerous.
Yet she barely hesitated. She still intended to continue her research.
She turned down the team leader's offer to introduce her to a new expedition group. Instead, she decided she needed to find a powerful backer.
After years of studying the Poneglyphs, she had accumulated considerable knowledge of ancient technology.
If she offered that knowledge, she was certain plenty of pirate crews would be willing to help her track down more Poneglyphs.
But she quickly abandoned the idea.
She and the other scholars of Ohara wanted only one thing — to uncover the history of the Void Century.
They had no desire to see ancient, terrifying weapons of mass destruction resurface and threaten the world once more.
If she handed that technology over to pirates, there was no telling how many innocent people would suffer.
"I can't just give up. The people of this world have a right to know the true history!"
[
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