บท 119: Chapter 119: Ancient Weapon: Pluton
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When Robin agreed to go down, Vivi said, "I'll go with you too."
Byakuya chuckled, "Don't be silly. Neither of you should come down. I can go alone."
"I can ensure my safety, but it won't be as easy if I have to look after both of you."
Byakuya's reasoning made sense—bringing them along would only make things harder for him if there were any real danger below.
Seeing that neither argued further, Byakuya added, "Wait for me up here."
With that, he leaped into the abyss.
Vivi watched as Byakuya's figure vanished from sight, her brow furrowed with worry, her eyes filled with anxiety.
As Byakuya descended freely, he felt the wind whistling past his ears and heard sand grains rubbing together.
A strange feeling of agitation crept over him. Coupled with the pitch-black surroundings, this irritation became even more pronounced.
After about a minute of falling, he still hadn't reached the ground.
This unusual situation caught Byakuya's attention.
Quickly, he used Moonwalk (Geppo) to stop mid-air. When he looked up, the crack he had entered through was so far away that it was barely visible.
Suddenly, the air was filled with a pungent stench, accompanied by occasional gusts of hot wind that made the smell even more intense.
Byakuya instinctively wrinkled his nose at the odor, looking down into the endless darkness below.
"What is that smell? Could something down there be rotting?" he muttered.
Realizing he couldn't continue descending like this, Byakuya searched his system space for something that could provide light to assess his surroundings.
Soon, he found a flashlight he forgot to put in the system space.
The moment Byakuya turned on the flashlight, his heart nearly stopped.
In the pitch-black abyss, the flashlight's beam revealed something startling not far in front of him.
Two enormous, orange-yellow slit pupils, the size of bronze bells, reflected his image in the light.
The sudden illumination irritated the creature as its eyes blinked in discomfort.
Slowly, Byakuya moved the flashlight around, revealing a massive snake's head, as large as a house, hovering just a short distance from him.
The enormous serpent flicked out a tongue over ten meters long, red with a purple tint, stirring up hot winds that carried a foul stench with each flick.
Byakuya finally understood the source of the smell and the hot winds—the massive snake right before him!
For some reason, the snake didn't attack immediately upon discovering Byakuya.
Instead, it swayed its head slightly, its tongue inching closer to Byakuya.
Seeing that the serpent wasn't attacking, Byakuya didn't feel the need to flee.
Instead, he continued to shine the flashlight down the snake's body, occasionally making observations.
"Wow, its body is almost as thick as Jack in his beast form," he muttered in amazement, eyeing the enormous coils of the snake, each scale as large as a washbasin.
It was hard to imagine how many years this snake had lived to grow to such a size.
As Byakuya continued his inspection, he noticed a faint glimmer in the flashlight's beam.
"The snake's scales reflect light?" he wondered, moving closer to examine it.
Upon closer inspection, he realized that the object reflecting light wasn't a scale but a cylindrical steel object resembling a cannon barrel.
The barrel was so long that only a tiny section protruded from the snake's coils, just enough for Byakuya to spot it.
As Byakuya continued to scan the area, he found more and more steel objects resembling cannon barrels.
He even spotted the railings used on ships to prevent items from falling overboard and the masts where sails would be hung.
Byakuya's mind raced, "Why does this thing wrapped up by the snake look more and more like a ship?"
Wait, a ship? Byakuya's eyes widened as he examined the structure before him. Could this be Pluton?
Byakuya spent quite some time thoroughly investigating from top to bottom, and the more he saw, the more convinced he became that the object entangled in the snake's coils was indeed Pluton.
Finally, Byakuya understood why his powerful strike had created such a deep crack in the ground.
Pluton was standing upright underground, and his slash had struck directly above it, which is why the crack had formed so deeply and why it had been so easy to locate Pluton.
This also meant that Robin hadn't deliberately misled him with false information.
The "Pluton" before Byakuya spanned over 5,000 meters, nearly the size of a small island.
With something like this, you could sail the seas and create your mini-kingdom, accommodating tens of thousands of people.
Despite being buried underground for many years, Pluton's surface remained smooth and unblemished, without any signs of rust.
Pluton lived up to its reputation as the pinnacle of shipbuilding, crafted by the combined efforts of the greatest shipwrights.
However, Byakuya hadn't forgotten why he was searching for Pluton.
He placed his hand on Pluton's surface, feeling the coldness beneath his palm. As expected, a system prompt sounded in his mind:
[Recoverable Item Detected: Pluton (Unique, Damaged), Recovery Value: 12,000 World Source Points]
Byakuya nearly shouted in excitement. Coming to Alabasta had certainly been worthwhile.
Even without factoring in the changes to the plot that hadn't yet been tallied, just Pluton and the Poneglyph stored in his system space alone were worth 15,000 World Source Points.
And on top of that, he'd managed to win over a princess. Byakuya couldn't help but wish for more opportunities like this.
Greedily, Byakuya thought, "If it's worth 12,000 points while damaged, wouldn't a fully intact Pluton be worth at least 20,000 points?"
It was easy to guess that Pluton's damage was likely due to the giant serpent that had been coiled around it for so many years.
But it was also because of this serpent that Pluton had remained hidden for so long.
Byakuya wasn't insatiably greedy. The 12,000 points alone were more than enough to make this trip worthwhile.
What a haul! Byakuya's face lit up with joy as he mentally confirmed the recovery.
In an instant, the island-sized Pluton and the Poneglyph in his system space vanished before his eyes.
A total of 15,000 World Source Points were credited to his account.
Just as Byakuya was about to open the system panel to admire his growing balance of World Source Points, a thunderous noise like a landslide echoed from above.
Looking up, he realized a massive void had been left, and Pluton was now gone.
The sand and rocks above began to collapse, rapidly filling the gap until it was filled. Damn! If he didn't move quickly, he would be buried alive...
On the surface, Vivi, pacing anxiously near the aperture out of concern for Byakuya, suddenly felt the ground beneath her shake violently.
The sand and stones at her feet began to sink into the crack, forming a deep, circular pit.
Caught off guard, Vivi fell into the sand and tried to stand, but there was nowhere to get a foothold.
It felt like an invisible hand was pulling her relentlessly toward the pit. Despair began to creep into her heart as Byakuya's image filled her mind.
But Byakuya was still down in the crevice, and he was likely in an even worse situation than she was.
At this critical moment, two arms suddenly emerged from the ground before Vivi, grabbing her hands and preventing her from being dragged into the pit.
Vivi looked up to see that Robin had saved her with her Devil Fruit powers.
However, Robin's strained expression made it clear that the effort was also weighing on her.
After all, she was using her strength to fight against the forces of nature itself.
After about three minutes, Robin's face turned pale, and her body was drenched in sweat.
Her thin clothes clung to her skin, revealing her shapely figure as she struggled to hold on.
She was nearly at her limit. Just as Robin was about to collapse from exhaustion, the pit finally seemed to fill, and the desert returned to its calm state.
The only evidence of the recent events was the indentation beneath Vivi.
Seeing that Vivi was safe, Robin could no longer hold herself up.
She collapsed to the ground, her chest heaving with heavy breaths.
However, instead of immediately thanking Robin, Vivi began frantically digging at the sand beneath her, her face filled with disbelief as she muttered,
"Byakuya is so strong. He must be okay, right? He can get out of this on his own. He definitely can!"
Tears began to stream down Vivi's sand-covered cheeks, falling into the ground.
Her delicate fingers, bloodied from digging, didn't stop their frantic movements.
After what felt like an eternity, Vivi knelt on the ground, burying her face in her hands, and began to sob uncontrollably.
Not far away, Robin watched Vivi's sorrowful expression, feeling deeply sad.
Although Byakuya was incredibly strong, even his strength might not be enough to escape death in the face of such a natural disaster.
Robin didn't dislike Byakuya. She even felt a tinge of regret at the thought of his potential demise.
However, just as Vivi was grieving, the ground suddenly began to shake violently again.
Thinking the ground would collapse again, Robin turned pale with fear.
She was completely exhausted, unable even to stand, let alone escape. To her surprise, Vivi hoisted Robin onto her back, carrying her to a safer place.
Robin recalled her time as the vice president of Baroque Works.
Although she hadn't directly harmed the citizens of the Alabasta Kingdom, she had still played a part in the events that threatened them.
Vivi had every reason to leave her behind, yet she chose to save her.
At that moment, Robin felt a subtle shift in her once-closed heart, as if a ray of sunlight had pierced through a place that had never known light.
The two walked for several hundred meters until the trembling ground finally stilled. Seeing Vivi's tear-streaked face, Robin softly tried to console her,
"Don't worry too much. He's so strong; I'm sure he's all right."
Vivi nodded firmly, "I believe he'll be fine! But I need to see him to be sure. I'm going back to my father to send out the army. We'll dig through this entire area."
She added firmly, "Even if he is dead, I have to find his body."
Hearing the determination in Vivi's voice, Robin sighed, choosing not to say anything further. Perhaps this was the nature of youthful feelings.
Just as the two were about to turn and leave, a roar suddenly echoed behind them...
<End Chapter>
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