Sea Circle Calendar, Year 1490.
At the farthest edge of the New World, within seas no one had ever reached before, a shadowy island slowly emerged through the dense mist and entered the sight of the Roger Pirates.
Even though its outline remained blurry and indistinct, the mere appearance of that silhouette was enough to make the entire crew erupt into cheers.
"This is strange," Gaban said while standing on the deck and staring at the Log Pose in his hand with amazement. "At first, the magnetic fields were completely chaotic and impossible to track, so I assumed the final island would either have no magnetic field at all or some kind of distorted one. But the closer we get, the more stable the Log Pose becomes!"
The final island, Laugh Tale, truly was a mysterious place.
Across these seas, there existed many peculiar islands. For instance, the future site of the Marine Science Unit base, Punk Hazard, which would later be destroyed, as well as the future Revolutionary Army headquarters, Baltigo Island—both were zero-magnetic islands.
In other words, the only way to reach them was through special coordinates. A Log Pose could never lock onto their location.
There were also islands with chaotic magnetic fields, places the Log Pose could not guide anyone toward at all, leaving people to stumble upon them purely by chance.
But Laugh Tale was different from all of them.
At first, its magnetic field appeared completely disordered. Yet the closer one drew to it, the clearer and more stable it became.
"The magnetic recording speed is insanely fast too!" Rayleigh exclaimed in surprise as he looked at the blank Log Pose in Gaban's hand, which had already fully transformed into a permanent Log Pose pointing toward the final island.
Normally, storing an island's magnetic field required time. Some islands took three to five days, while others required several months before a Log Pose could finish recording them completely.
But now, they had only just approached Laugh Tale, and the recording was already complete. That alone was unbelievably rare.
Just then, Roger suddenly stepped forward and snatched the freshly completed Eternal Pose right out of Gaban's hand.
"What are you idiots doing with something so boring?" Roger shouted. "Don't ruin the mystery of this place, damn it!"
"Hey, wait—" Gaban barely had time to react before Roger casually hurled the Eternal Pose straight into the sea.
Watching it sink beneath the waves, Roger nodded in satisfaction.
"That's more like it! Don't leave a record of this island behind. You've gotta leave enough adventure for the next generation of pirates!"
Filled with excitement and anticipation, the Oro Jackson circled around the island before finally discovering a natural harbor suitable for docking.
The anchor dropped into the sea, and the moment the ship stabilized, Roger leaped off the deck first and landed directly onto the damp, slippery shore.
"The final island, your grandaddy has arrived!!!" Roger spread his arms wide and inhaled deeply as he shouted excitedly toward the sky.
Valthior and the others soon followed behind him, one after another stepping onto the island itself.
At first glance, the island was completely devoid of human life. Perhaps traces of civilization had once existed centuries ago, but now everything had long since been swallowed by dense forests and thick fog, leaving behind no visible signs of anything beyond untouched nature.
Once everyone had disembarked, there was no need to worry about the Oro Jackson's safety anyway. After all, no one else in the world could even find this place.
So the entire crew advanced onto the island together.
No one gave any explicit orders, yet everyone moved with silent understanding toward the center of the island.
As they traveled through the dense jungle, Valthior carried a logbook in his hand, writing as he walked.
"Sea Circle Calendar, Year 1490, February 5th.
Under the wise leadership of the great scholar, explorer, and legendary pirate, Lord Jaygarcia Valthior, his loyal servants — the poor countryside pirate crew known as the Roger Pirates — have finally arrived at the legendary final island.
Based on the information recorded within the Poneglyphs, as well as Roger's own proposal, we have officially named this island 'Laugh Tale.'
Although the records are not especially detailed, it is possible that centuries ago, the name of that Great Kingdom was also Laugh Tale. At the very least, that is what the Poneglyphs suggest.
What kind of treasure did Joy Boy, the man who stirred the seas into chaos for centuries, leave behind in this place?
At long last, we are about to uncover that secret ourselves."
While Valthior continued writing in his logbook, the Roger Pirates advanced deeper into the forest without encountering any danger at all.
The island was not entirely devoid of life. Various creatures inhabited the forests, though they were all ordinary animals rather than the sort of monstrous beasts commonly found throughout the Grand Line.
Still, some of the species even Valthior found unfamiliar. He had never encountered them anywhere during their voyage, and he could not help wondering whether such creatures even existed elsewhere in the world.
Unfortunately, there were no biologists aboard their ship. No one possessed the professional knowledge needed to properly identify or classify them.
After passing through the dense forest, the scenery suddenly opened up before them, revealing a vast valley plain.
And only then did they finally see unmistakable traces of artificial construction.
Ruins.
Unlike the untouched wilderness surrounding them, the structures within the valley had clearly been altered by human hands.
Moss covered the ancient stone blocks, while vines twisted tightly around weathered pillars. After centuries without human presence, nature and civilization had gradually fused together, creating a strange yet breathtaking beauty.
"Hey… what do you guys think this place is supposed to be?" Roger asked as he stood at the edge of the valley, staring toward the ruins in the distance.
"Hm…" Rayleigh narrowed his eyes thoughtfully. "For some reason, this feels oddly familiar. Those things standing between the two stone pillars… aren't they taiko drums?"
"This thing's definitely unusual," Gaban remarked in surprise. "Everything around it is covered in moss and vines after hundreds of years, but those drums still look completely brand new. It's like time itself doesn't affect them at all…"
"This is clearly an open-air circular campfire banquet stage, isn't it?!" Valthior observed closely for a moment, realizing that if one were to clear away the naturally overgrown trees and creeping vines, this valley formed a massive banquet arena!
The kind that could easily accommodate tens of thousands of people throwing a party!
They had found it familiar just moments ago, and the moment Valthior pointed it out, the others realized it too. Upon closer inspection, it really was exactly that!
Furthermore, the recessed area in the center that should have served as the campfire pit was composed of two massive, solid slabs of stone, resembling the grand doors to an underground palace. Quite clearly, there was another space entirely underneath this campfire pit.
"Joy Boy's treasure might be down there," Roger said, raising a brow excitedly. "Let's see if we can open it!"
The moment he finished speaking, he jumped straight down into the campfire pit, drew Ace, and slashed at the stone gate with his sword.
He had not used his full strength, but the strike was still powerful enough to split mountains apart.
Yet nothing happened.
Not even a scratch remained.
"You idiot," Rayleigh said while crouching beside the stone and running his hand across its surface. "It's obvious at a glance this is made from the same material as the Poneglyphs… no, actually, it feels even purer than that."
"Well, if the front door is made from indestructible material, then we just dig another way in," Valthior declared casually. "It's not like this is our first time robbing a tomb. Let's open a tunnel and break in from below!"
Back in Alabasta, they had practically dug straight into the royal tomb of the Nefertari family themselves.
And everyone knew ancient tombs were one of the best places to obtain relics, treasures, and historical artifacts. The Roger Pirates had traveled all across the world uncovering Poneglyphs, ruins, and priceless antiques, so grave robbing was naturally one of the skills they had mastered along the way.
Every last one of them was an expert tomb raider.
Of course, according to Valthior, this was merely "protective excavation."
Very soon, Roger, Gaban, Rayleigh, Bullet, and the others grabbed whatever tools they could find and began digging enthusiastically.
Even Valthior — who normally would only provide "technical guidance" from the side while drinking cola whenever this kind of labor came up — was now carrying a shovel himself and working seriously.
A short while later, Bullet brought his shovel down hard onto the ground.
Crack!
The shovel snapped clean in half.
"There's something down here!" Bullet immediately shouted.
The others quickly gathered around and cleared away the surrounding dirt, only for every single one of their expressions to darken instantly.
Good lord.
It wasn't just the entrance.
The entire underground structure appeared to be constructed from the same indestructible material as the Poneglyphs themselves.
Digging a tunnel into it was completely impossible.
"What kind of sick joke is this?!" Roger cursed furiously. "Didn't the scholars say Wano barely produced any of this stone in the first place? That's why there were only thirty Poneglyphs, and why they couldn't record too much information!"
The Poneglyphs were made from a special kind of stone closely related to Seastone, an incredibly rare material.
Only Wano possessed the world's richest Seastone deposits, making it the sole place capable of producing such stone.
According to the scholars' research in Wano, the material had become so scarce that it could barely even be found anymore. That was supposedly why Joy Boy and his allies could only create thirty Poneglyphs back then, leaving them unable to fully document the Void Century and forcing them to summarize it instead.
But looking at the situation now, the scholars' conclusion had obviously been wrong.
It wasn't that they lacked enough material to record everything.
That bastard Joy Boy had simply used nearly all the stone to build this underground palace, while the Poneglyphs themselves were made from the leftovers!
"Could it really be that the timing isn't right, and this underground chamber simply can't be opened?" Rayleigh muttered as he looked toward the taiko drums in the distance. "Do we really need Nika himself to play the Drums of Liberation in order to open it?"
Roger refused to believe it.
He climbed out of the pit, rushed over to the massive drums, grabbed the drumsticks from the stand, and swung down with all his strength.
BOOM!!!
The deafening sound exploded across the island instantly.
The sheer volume caught the Roger Pirates completely off guard. The soundwaves themselves generated a circular shockwave that blasted everyone backward.
Roger, standing closest to the drum, suffered the worst of it. He spun several times through the air before crashing headfirst into the ground in a miserable heap.
And during that tumble, a small card hidden inside the pocket of the undershirt beneath his coat slipped free and flew out into the air.
As for what that item was?
It was Roger's security pin card for the World Bank. As long as one swiped this card at the World Bank, they could withdraw over sixty billion Berries in cash that he had stored inside!
And that very card landed dead center on the grand doors of the campfire pit, sliding perfectly right through the narrow gap between the two stone doors and dropping straight into this indestructible underground palace.
"FUCK!!! MY BANK CARD!!!" Roger screamed in absolute despair the moment he hit the ground.
He desperately tried prying open the crack with his fingers, but no matter what he did, the stone doors would not budge in the slightest.
The man looked completely broken.
Valthior stared blankly at him.
…The hell?
So you really did leave all your treasure on Laugh Tale?!
I thought you were joking during your execution speech!
...
Read Advanced Chapters on : www.patreon.com/c/ReadJin
~ Every 100 PS = Bonus Chapter!
~ Push the Story forward with your [Power Stones]