Calamity City floated in mid-air while Roa and his officers landed on a desolate surface of the moon.
"This land is completely dead!"
Teach (Blackbeard) scuffed the ground with his foot, finding it soft and loose, nothing more than a layer of pale sand.
As far as the eye could see, there was only ash-gray nothingness, devoid of any life.
"It is precisely because of this that our ancestors abandoned the homeland that nurtured them and journeyed to the Blue Star."
King's voice couldn't help but carry a hint of complexity.
Birka's technology in those days had flourished to an unimaginable degree, but because of it, the excessive exploitation of the moon's resources finally led the planet that incubated such a brilliant civilization to its doom.
It was only then that the people of Birka realized that problems existed that even their science and technology could not solve.
So, they could only choose to leave.
That was a long, long time ago, so long that now the moon was utterly barren, leaving not a single trace of the Birka people.
"The Endless Veld,"
Enel, who was only ten years old this year, felt a strange soreness in his eyes. "Is this what it looks like?"
Only utter devastation.
Only the vast, empty land.
"What idiotic thing are you saying?"
Roa merely curled his lips. "Civilization? Life? They are nothing more than insignificant embellishments in the near-eternal age of these stars!"
"Greatness or insignificance, everything is merely a past event that occurred on this planet. Sooner or later, the name Birka will fade into oblivion, and the traces they left behind will be buried in history, but this planet will continue to exist."
Everyone paused at his words.
Then, Loki suddenly burst into loud laughter. "What a fascinating thing to say! But it's true. The Birka people think they destroyed their home, but the planet itself is still right here!"
"Indeed,"
King also curved his lips, immediately feeling that all his previous lamentations were unnecessary. "Humans are truly arrogant creatures. We always think we've changed the world, but in reality, everything is insignificant to the world itself."
Even the war eight hundred years ago, which was said to have nearly destroyed the world, could only destroy the world as seen through human eyes.
"However, there are exceptions,"
Roa stated matter-of-factly. "For example, the Blue Star should feel honored that I was born upon it."
Sooner or later, he would surpass that planet and become an even greater existence.
Everyone was stunned.
Then.
"Hahahahaha!"
A burst of laughter echoed across the desolate plain.
Even Moria, who always treated himself as an outsider in the Calamity Company, couldn't help but laugh now.
He was a detestable fellow, true, but the sheer audacity of his spirit was unrivaled on the sea.
Dylan laughed and nodded in agreement, "That is only natural! The world will eventually crawl at your feet!"
However, amidst the laughter and banter, a practical problem remained.
"So, where exactly are the Birka ruins?"
Doflamingo was the first to ask.
Everything was covered in dust and sand. At least during their descent, they hadn't seen any trace of ruins.
Were they expected to search for it inch by inch? Observation Haki wouldn't work well in this situation!
Although the moon was much smaller than the Blue Star, it was still unbelievably vast for an individual.
If they truly had to search every inch, it would take forever.
Even with the Pure Gold they brought, their supplies wouldn't last much longer.
"Regarding that,"
Roa smirked. "Judge."
"Coming, Boss!"
Judge, who had also landed on the moon to pay his respects to the birthplace of the Blue Sea's technology, hurried forward. "Everything is ready!"
He then further explained, "As the Boss predicted, the Birka people built an underground city in the later stages of their civilization due to the deteriorating surface environment."
"And after countless years of material accumulation, that ruin must be buried deep underground."
"Conventional radar lacks the ability to detect targets deep underground, so I specifically designed a special device! They can precisely detect seismic waves. By analyzing the way the waves change as they pass through different mediums like rock and soil, we can map out the underground environment over a large area!"
"So, we need an earthquake?"
Everyone looked at Roa.
Roa's smile didn't change. "The stronger the earthquake, the better?"
"The detection range of a single detector has limits, but if enough detectors are deployed, then yes, the stronger the seismic wave, the farther we can probe in one go!"
"Then what are we waiting for?"
Roa chuckled. "Let's start deploying them."
The detection devices Judge designed were long, giant iron spikes.
One end needed to be buried deep underground, housing sensors capable of precisely capturing the refraction and reflection of shockwaves to ascertain the subsurface conditions over a vast area.
The head was connected to a transmitter to relay the collected information back to the lab.
Quite a few of these devices had already been produced.
The task now was to scatter these devices and drive them into the ground.
Instantly, all the flying officers were mobilized.
Even Roa himself, carrying bundles of the iron spikes, began flying haphazardly across the moon's surface.
These devices would be distributed in concentric circles, centering on their landing spot.
Once all the devices were deployed, the maximum detection radius in a single sweep would be about a thousand kilometers.
This was sufficient, considering the moon's diameter was less than four thousand kilometers.
Deploying these devices alone took about a week, and that was with Roa and the others flying incredibly fast.
Then.
"Judge,"
Roa had entered his Beast-Man Form, fluttering his wings as he floated in the sky. He held a Transponder Snail, talking to Judge in the lab.
"Can we start?"
"Yes, Boss! All detectors are operational! We're ready here to begin data analysis! Please proceed with the full-power earthquake!"
"Then, I won't hold back!"
Roa curved his lips.
Truthfully, he rarely used the Earthquake disaster.
This ability was mostly effective against ordinary people on the Blue Sea; slightly more powerful individuals wouldn't be crushed by collapsing buildings.
Thus, he didn't really know the result of an earthquake at his full power.
In any case.
Roa looked down at the pale land below, then raised his right hand and snapped his fingers.
"Magnitude Shift!"
Rumble!!
The ground below suddenly shook violently.
A sound like thunder blasting upward shook the heavens.
The earth was visibly ripped apart by savage force. One enormous chasm after another instantly fragmented the land in this dozen-kilometer radius.
Outside this central area, the ground was also cracking, with spiderweb-like fissures spreading out, though less spectacularly than the center.
The dust covering the surface swiftly flew up. Looking down from the sky, one could clearly see concentric waves spreading outward.
In the sky, on the edge of Calamity City, the observing officers were all wide-eyed.
"That power is excessive!"
Doflamingo couldn't help but gasp. "If that attack were on the Blue Sea, it could tear a large island apart!!"
"As expected of the Boss!"
Bege nodded repeatedly in deep agreement. "He truly is a monster among monsters!"
Below, Roa was taking deep breaths.
There was no black energy permeating the moon, so using his ability at full power had severely drained his stamina.
However, looking at the result of the strike, he nodded slightly.
Not bad.
But it was nothing to be proud of.
After all, canonically, the force of Whitebeard's punch that shattered the Marineford headquarters during the Summit War had residual shockwaves that reached the New World, creating a gigantic sea trench that extended all the way to the island hosting the Pirate Expo in the Stampede movie.
A force that literally tore the world apart!
Of course, it was more likely that the awakened Tremor-Tremor Fruit triggered a resonance, causing the continental plates to shake, thereby setting off a much larger chain reaction.
Along with the earth-shattering roar, the vast seismic waves had already spread out.
The stage was now Judge's.
In the lab within Calamity City, Judge and Caesar were furiously tapping keyboards in front of electronic screens.
"It's here!!"
Judge's voice rose. "The data from the first batch of detectors has been transmitted! Everyone, start processing at full capacity!"
Roa slowly flapped his wings and returned to Calamity City.
The black energy permeating the city instantly restored his vitality.
Black energy is the best! So invigorating!
Then, Judge's ecstatic shouts came through the Snail in his hand.
"Boss! We found it!! Based on the orientation of Calamity City, there is a giant cavern underground, about seven hundred kilometers in the two o'clock direction!!"
That fast?
Roa paused in surprise.
Did that even take five minutes?
The seismic waves would have taken at least a minute or two to travel seven hundred kilometers. Was the data processing that quick?
Forget it. The advanced science of this world doesn't need logic.
"Well, what are we waiting for?"
In any case, Calamity City quickly headed in the direction Judge indicated.
A mere seven hundred kilometers was hardly a distance for the speed of the floating city.
Soon, the floating city arrived over another similarly pale plain.
"Is it really here?"
The group landed again. Doflamingo stomped his foot hard. "It feels no different from where we first landed."
But Roa had a smile playing on his lips. "What the eye can't see doesn't mean it doesn't exist, Doffy. You need to practice your Observation Haki!"
"Indeed!"
King nodded solemnly, his eyes looking down as if peering through the thick accumulated matter to the depths of the earth.
"There is a massive hollow space below, and within that hollow space, there are uniformly distributed structures!"
"We finally found it?"
Dylan also sighed in relief.
He was truly worried about wasting too much time on the moon and missing some unforeseen changes on the Blue Sea, especially since the distance might prevent communication via Transponder Snails.
"Then what are we waiting for!"
Loki raised his club high. "Let the great me smash a way down!"
"Being too rough won't do," Roa waved his hand. "It would be a pity to damage ancient ruins like this, wouldn't it?"
He smiled. "Let me handle it."
Then, in the next instant, the ground began to melt!
Both the dust covering the ground and the soil and rocks beneath the dust suddenly began to melt at that moment.
These dust, soil, and rocks instantly turned into scorching lava!
Then, the lava was guided by an invisible force, flowing upward like long dragons and quickly condensing into a giant sphere of magma in the sky.
Isn't that even rougher?
Loki's lips twitched.
Immediately, Roa waved his hand, and the enormous magma sphere shot into the distance, instantly causing another earthquake.
However, the others had no time to marvel at Roa's shocking power, for after the lava flowed away, a gigantic cavern appeared before them.
And at the bottom of this massive cavern was a city that had been sealed for an untold number of years.
"This... these are the Birka Ruins?"
King's voice was dry.
Enel's eyes were burning with fervor.
This is the place where their ancestors once lived?
"Let's go, let's go down and see."
Roa jumped down first.
The officers followed close behind, employing their various abilities to descend toward the ruins below.
As he descended, Roa waved his right hand lightly. Dark clouds suddenly gathered in the sky, and bolts of lightning slammed down into the city below.
Before anyone could react to what their Boss was up to, they saw the lightning bolts suddenly diffuse into the city below.
Pipe-like structures flashed with electrical energy, transmitting power outward.
Then.
Lights flickered on.
"How is this possible!"
Judge practically shrieked. "After so many years, the facilities in this city can still be used?!"
What level of civil engineering is this!
The people of Birka are terrifying!
And it wasn't over.
Once the group landed in the city—which looked ancient but contained astonishing technology—a sound of footsteps suddenly echoed.
"Hey! What's that?"
Loki, using his height advantage, immediately saw the small figures emerging from one of the streets.
"Are there still people living here?"
The others were also startled.
Didn't they say it had been abandoned long ago?
Roa merely gave a faint smile.
He had said it before: the Birka people didn't take everything with them.
Soon, the small figures approached the group with synchronized steps.
"Are those... robots?"
Doflamingo, who had hitched a ride on Dylan's back, was utterly bewildered.
They were very short, with large heads and relatively short limbs, wielding spears. They were covered in a metallic sheen, with mustache-like decorations on their noses and small wings on their backs.
They were definitely not human.
"Incredible! Incredible!"
Judge instantly jumped off Dylan's back and rushed toward the robots.
"They immediately regained mobility just by restoring power? Are they immune to the corrosion of time? What exaggerated technology! Are these the creations of the Birka people!"
Then, the little robots uniformly bent at the waist, bowing in greeting to the group.
"This—"
Dylan was surprised. "Is this a gesture of thanks?"
"They have their own consciousness!"
Judge was practically dumbfounded.
"Well, could you take us to see the factories here?"
Roa, who had known about this all along, was naturally unconcerned, only asking with a smile.
Without hesitation, the little robots turned and started leading the way.
"No way! They understood!?"
Even the officers who weren't well-versed in science and technology were astonished.
This was the technological prowess of the Birka people?
Truly the origin of everything!
It's astounding!
-----------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------
I handpick only the finest and most captivating novels for you. Don't forget to check out my other novels!
p@treon HongMengZi