"Hody Jones is dead? How long has it been since he went out?" Van der Decken was greatly startled upon hearing what the fleeing fishman said.
Fortunately, he had just been about to take his leave and had not followed them out. Otherwise, wouldn't he have met his end as well? Thinking of this, Decken immediately slipped away from Fishman District.
Who knew if trouble would come looking for him? After all, he and Hody were in an alliance. And who exactly had made the move? Could it have been one of the so-called Four Emperors' officers among the humans?
At this moment, the strongest humans on Fishman Island should be them.
But it didn't matter. As long as he did not expose himself, once he encountered his target, with the ability of his Mark-Mark Fruit, it would be useless no matter how far one fled to the ends of the earth. Unceasing attacks posed no problem at all, for not every place had a hard-shell tower like Ryugu Palace.
Not long after Decken fled, Rosen brought Enel before Noah's Ark. "The ark you built before was an ark, and this is also an ark, only the specific name differs. See if there's anything special about it. It's fine if there isn't. I was just curious and came to take a look. But this ship is truly enormous."
The current Dawn was already quite large, but compared to this vessel, it was far too small. Standing before the ship, one could see no end to it. No wonder that if this giant ship were to fall, it could destroy the entire Fishman Island.
"Let's go inside and look..."
A short while later.
"There are no special weapon installations. If there had been any, traces should still remain even if it's abandoned. It seems this is not a battleship meant for combat. But if it's not for battle, why build such a massive ship?"
"Perhaps it had some other use. Let's go up top and see." Fishman District was not entirely dry land; there were places with seawater as well. But as long as one was careful to avoid it, Rosen, who possessed Moonwalk, could adapt to any environment.
"Surely it wasn't used to transport islands." Enel laughed. Although this ship's construction techniques closely resembled those of his ark, the Ark Maxim, their functions were entirely different.
"What did you just say?" A sudden flash of inspiration crossed Rosen's mind.
"I said, this ship probably wasn't used to transport islands."
"Transport islands. Yes, that's it. It doesn't seem impossible..." Rosen considered the unique geographical environment of Fishman Island and its rather convoluted history. It appeared that on Fishman Island, more than one generation had strived for the hope of living together with humans under the same sun, or achieving coexistence among races.
Speculating along these lines, perhaps in the lost history, Fishman Island might actually have existed on land, only later, much like Wano Country, to avoid some irresistible force or calamity, they resorted to certain means—such as using the ancient weapon Poseidon to command Sea Kings—to send the island and the fishman race to the seabed for refuge. This seemed plausible.
Alternatively, another possibility existed: from ancient times to the present, Fishman Island had always yearned to live beneath the sun, yet in reality, they had always inhabited this present island, at this very location.
Thus, a pact was made with important figures of antiquity, and this giant ship was constructed. The then Poseidon of the sea likely intended to raise Fishman Island to the surface, only for unforeseen events to occur midway, causing the plan to be abandoned.
"The truth of Fishman Island probably falls into one of these two more likely scenarios. Judging from the giant ship and the historical direction Robin has been researching, these fit best. And this is also the reason why generations of Fishman Island have strived and guarded this giant ship—it represents the opportunity for Fishman Island to step into a brand-new life..." Rosen had gradually pieced together several possibilities for the blank history by combining intelligence and conjecture.
However, these still remained mere fragments and threads of possibilities. One day, when they were all fully connected, it would be possible to determine which possibility was the true history.
"In that case, how should we treat Shirahoshi? If we were to make a move against her now, we could easily restrain her before she reacted. Moreover, for the time being, no one else knows Shirahoshi's true identity. She is a Poseidon born only once every several centuries. If properly guided and controlled, she could stand against any ultimate trump card the World Government might possess in the future. Relying solely on Pluton, which cannot yet be fully unlocked, might not be sufficient..."
"No, that won't do. The known supreme leader of the World Government, Im, can likely guess the identities of a few—Vivi, Shirahoshi, Luffy. If Vivi represents the controller of Pluton, and Shirahoshi represents Poseidon, could Luffy represent Uranus? Does the so-called 'Heaven' possess the characteristic of traversing time and space? No, no, that doesn't make sense. If so, what did the Eternal Pose for Uranus that I once obtained represent? Is it a place of certain bloodline inheritance? Or does Uranus refer to a weapon that only those of the D. clan can wield?" Rosen already had a clear outline regarding the three great weapons.
On this point, he had even moved ahead of all other pirates. Of course, other great pirates might not necessarily be interested in such matters, for no one wished for the world's destruction. Some powers remaining undiscovered was not necessarily a bad thing.
Yet as far as Rosen knew, Zephyr, who had just defected from the Marines, possessed power sufficient to destroy the New World. By destroying three specific islands, the entire New World would be annihilated.
These powers were gradually emerging now, and coupled with the observation he had made on Godpeak Island, Rosen harbored some apprehension. Therefore, if power or ancient weapons were readily obtainable, Rosen would not refuse them.
"If Im can ultimately deduce this, then we cannot treat Shirahoshi as a tool or an enemy, lest one day she be lured by the World Government to turn against us. That would be disastrous."
With such thoughts, Rosen returned to the palace alongside Enel, yet he still could not devise a reasonably sound way to utilize Poseidon in the future. Unless... Shirahoshi came to trust him deeply. Though that did not seem too difficult—given Shirahoshi's naive and innocent nature, she would be easy to coax—yet he felt an inexplicable sense of guilt in his heart.
Deceiving a princess whose actual intellect might not even match Natalie's? Not exactly intellect, but rather an alarming degree of naivety.
"What's wrong with the Boss?" Robin and Valentine strolled back from outside. Robin had already achieved her objective.
"This is what happened." Rosen spoke with Robin alone. First, he shared his conjectures about Fishman Island, then brought up the possibilities concerning the three ancient weapons.
"Boss." Robin suddenly looked at Rosen with great seriousness.
"What is it?" Seeing Robin so earnest, Rosen could not help but be taken aback.
"It is truly a loss to the field of archaeology that you did not become an archaeologist. Although the Poneglyph on Fishman Island contains a letter of apology, your speculation is likely correct. I suspect that Joy Boy wrote that letter precisely because he could not fulfill the promise made to the predecessors of Fishman Island. And that promise was very likely to help Fishman Island resolve their situation at the time. Perhaps it involved leading Fishman Island to refuge, but unforeseen circumstances arose, making it impossible to return Fishman Island to the surface. Or perhaps they had agreed to introduce Fishman Island, lying ten thousand meters deep, into the human world, including its entire island civilization, only for accidents to occur, halting the effort..."
"In that case, no matter which possibility it is, during that blank period of history, there must have occurred an event significant enough to completely alter the world's structure, perhaps even genocidal for many races." Rosen arrived at this conclusion with a heavy heart. This indicated the profound foundations of the World Government. And genocide? Would they truly go to such extremes?
"Correct."
"Then..."
"Damn you, Neptune! By defying the Beasts Pirates, you are prepared to have your kingdom destroyed, aren't you?" An angry voice suddenly rang out from outside.
Immediately after came the booming sound of collapsing buildings, which from the noise alone sounded as if they were being blasted apart or sent flying! There was a strong tremor of power.
"The Beasts Pirates?!" Rosen and Robin's train of thought was abruptly interrupted, and both simultaneously furrowed their brows. How could members of a Four Emperors' crew appear here?
"Fishman Island will soon be under the protection of the Big Mom Pirates. I advise you to leave as soon as possible." Jinbe's calm voice carried outward.
"Protection? Can that old hag protect Fishman Island? Can she protect you as well, Jinbe..." Page One glared menacingly at Jinbe. Leaving just like that... he was unwilling to accept it.
(End of Chapter)