One hour later.
Everyone stood at the bow of the ship, staring blankly up at the strangely shaped island in front of them.
They had been swept here by the ocean current, and it seemed that this island was right at the center of the swirling vortex.
The outer edge of the island wasn't anything special—lush greenery, scattered with some coconut trees.
But at the center of the island, a massive stone mountain jutted out of the ground. It looked like the trunk of a towering ancient tree, or perhaps a stacked ant nest. Around its base were rows of densely packed diamond-shaped entrances.
The entire structure towered several hundred meters high, piercing the clouds—an awe-inspiring sight.
"Where the heck are we now?" Shano muttered in confusion. "Is this still the East Blue?"
"Even I've never heard of such a place in the East Blue."
Zeff shook his head and sighed. "But then again, the sea is vast. Other than the busy sea routes, it's not unusual to find isolated islands no one's ever heard of."
"Well, let's go ashore and explore first!"
Nojiko was full of enthusiasm. She spread her arms wide to embrace the sea breeze. "Let's go, bro! A place like this might be hiding some treasure buried hundreds of years ago!"
Shano nodded. He was equally curious about the island. Moreover, the radar's blinking light had changed from green to yellow as they approached the island.
This meant his luck was pretty good—the Devil Fruit wasn't just floating somewhere at sea. There was a high chance it was right here on the island...
"I still need to figure out how to escape this vortex current. I'll have to study its patterns to get out..."
Kuina wore a bitter expression as she flipped through a pile of thick books in front of her. "Why don't you all go? I'll stay here and guard the ship."
"Oh come on, we've got plenty of supplies. A little time won't hurt."
Nojiko grabbed her by the arm and cheerfully dragged her up. "Let's go, let's go. Exploring is more fun together! And really, who needs you to guard the ship? Right, Gin?"
Gin was crouched at the ship's figurehead, secretly gnawing on the wings of the statue. When he heard that, he turned around in delight, quickly using his body to hide the evidence and nodded furiously with his tongue out.
"But…" Kuina looked at Shano pleadingly, but he just smiled and nudged his chin toward Nojiko, signaling her to pull harder.
He knew what Kuina was thinking—she was clearly curious and wanted to explore the island too. But the swordswoman was too earnest. She felt that it was her responsibility for steering the ship into the vortex, and her guilt was making her want to make up for it.
In times like these, leaving her behind alone would only make that guilt fester.
Kuina was "reluctantly" dragged ashore. Shano tossed a warning over his shoulder at Gin: "If I come back and those wings are missing, I'm sticking them on you," before jumping down and leading the group toward the ant nest-like mountain in the island's center.
He instinctively took the lead.
The thorny jungle was nothing to him—the sharp barbs only tickled his skin. He plowed through the brush, trampling a clear path.
…
About half an hour later, they smoothly made it into the interior of the ant nest-shaped stone mountain.
The inside was even more spacious than expected. It seemed the entire stone mountain had been hollowed out. They hadn't walked far when a beam of sunlight poured in—and a massive ship, hundreds of meters long, suddenly came into view, shocking everyone.
A ship? Inside the mountain? And this huge?
No one knew how many years it had been sitting there. The masts were broken, only stumps remained. The wooden hull had long since rotted—one strong gust and it looked like it would scatter into dust.
"I'm going up to take a look."
With a whoosh, Shano used Moonwalk to step lightly onto the sea dragon-shaped figurehead. He scanned the area and spotted several similarly sized giant ships in the distance, all heavily damaged. It looked like they had been through a brutal battle.
Standing among them made him feel like an ant.
"Hm?"
He suddenly noticed a rusted, broken giant sword embedded beneath the figurehead—at least twenty to thirty meters long. Even with his strength, it took a bit of effort to pull it out one-handed.
"These ships don't look like they belonged to humans—more like the giants."
The others followed him aboard. Kuina looked up at the massive sword in Shano's hand, a memory surfacing. "I read about this in one of my father's old books. Many years ago, the Giant Warrior Pirates from Elbaf were feared across the Grand Line."
"It's said their ships were built this huge. But then, they suddenly vanished…"
"That's because the two captains of the Giant Warrior Pirates started fighting over something dumb. They've been fighting for over a hundred years."
Shano shook his head, speechless. He casually stabbed the sword back into place. "They're still fighting, you know—on an island in the Grand Line called Little Garden."
"Little Garden?"
Zeff was stunned. "Back when I was sailing the Grand Line, I heard that name. But I also heard that the island had massive goldfish as big as islands themselves that devoured passing ships. So I deliberately chose a different route to avoid it. I didn't know there were ancient giants there…"
"Should we take a different route and go check it out this time?"
Nojiko's eyes sparkled. "I've never seen a real giant before. Don't you want to see them in person, too, Uncle Zeff?"
"Of course I do! Sailing the same route again would be boring!"
Zeff laughed heartily.
His strength now surpassed his prime. Plus, with Shano—a total monster—as the captain, what's there to fear? Giant goldfish? Giants?
"Then it's settled!"
Shano clapped his hands, partly just curious how much the super-sized wool of those two legendary giants was worth.
"But let's focus on the now. Everyone split up and search the area. A place like this might really have treasure from a hundred years ago."
"Aye, Captain!"
…
Everyone set off.
Hours passed without them realizing it. These giant ships were just too big for humans. Searching them was both time-consuming and exhausting.
Still, each of them had some findings.
Zeff headed straight for the kitchen and joyfully found a stash of well-sealed strong liquor;
Kuina discovered piles of strange old books and carefully tied them up;
The latest novel is first released on 69shu!
As for Shano, he was the busiest. He went room by room, searching for the Devil Fruit while testing every item he found—
This can't be sacrificed. That can't be sacrificed either. So annoying. Couldn't this ship have belonged to Loki or something? Ugh...
Elsewhere—
"Whew!"
Nojiko hoisted a treasure chest over one shoulder, gripping the edge of a hole in the deck with her other hand. She climbed back up from the lower deck and dropped the chest with a thud.
"Finally, better lighting."
She wiped the sweat from her forehead. "It was hidden so deep—almost missed it. Must be something valuable inside!"
SKREE!
A hideous bird with a four-to-five-meter wingspan swooped in out of nowhere, mouth wide open, aiming to swallow the chest whole.
"Back off, freaky bird!"
Nojiko raised a fist menacingly. "I found this first!"
The bird ignored her and kept coming—until halfway through, its eyes suddenly filled with terror. It turned midair and flapped away in panic.
"That's more like it."
Nojiko thought she'd scared it off and grinned as she watched it flee.
Then she slipped on her metal gloves and slammed her fist down, easily smashing the bronze lock.
She lifted the lid. But to her disappointment, there weren't any glittering treasures inside—just a single strangely shaped fruit.
It looked somewhat like a pineapple, but it was orange-red in color, covered in flame-like spiral patterns…
"What is this?"
Nojiko held it up, finding it more and more familiar.
She immediately shouted, "Bro! Where are you?! Come check—does this count as a Devil Fruit?!"
"Devil Fruit?"
Shano's surprised voice called back from the distance. "It's over there with you? Stay put, I'll come take a look right away!"
"Okay!"
Nojiko knew how valuable Devil Fruits were, so she obediently sat down and held the fruit carefully in her lap, waiting.
The next second, her ears twitched—she caught the faint sound of wind slicing the air from her rear right side. But Shano's voice had come from another direction...
There's someone else here?
Nojiko was instantly on alert. She stood and looked behind her—but saw no one.
She had no idea a slim orange-haired figure had quietly snuck up right to her feet, creeping into her blind spot, and now reached out smugly toward the Devil Fruit in her hands…