The ancient city of Shandora sprawled before them like a golden dream half-buried in time.
Finn crouched before the massive stone Poneglyph, his fingers tracing the weathered grooves of text he couldn't read. Centuries of wind and rain had covered most of the city in thick layers of mud and vegetation, but here and there, exposed sections gleamed with unmistakable luster. Gold. Everywhere. The entire metropolis, constructed from the precious metal that drove men mad with greed.
He couldn't help but wonder about the Shandia people who'd built this place. Where had they found such impossible wealth? Jaya Island below held no gold mines, he was certain of that. If it had, the current inhabitants would have stripped the island bare decades ago.
At the city's heart rose a massive bell tower, the legendary Golden Bell hanging silent in its frame. And beneath it, this Poneglyph, embedded into the foundation like an anchor to history itself.
In the bottom corner, barely visible, someone had carved an additional message.
"I have come here and will lead this passage to the very end." Finn read the words aloud, his voice soft. "Pirate. Gol D. Roger."
So the Pirate King had stood exactly where Finn now squatted, perhaps two years ago, leaving his mark on history before sailing toward his fate. The historical text itself recorded information about Poseidon, one of the three Ancient Weapons. Finn's knowledge from his past life supplied that detail, though the actual script remained incomprehensible to him.
"This can't stay here." Finn spoke more to himself than anyone else, though several Marines stood nearby, still visibly stunned by the golden cityscape surrounding them. "If some ambitious idiot stumbles across ancient weapons intelligence, the chaos would be... problematic."
He considered Shiki briefly. The Golden Lion had probably visited Sky Island multiple times over the years, his Float-Float Fruit making the journey trivial. Finn had even seen Dial shells from Sky Island in Shiki's possession. But there were numerous sky islands scattered across the White Sea, and Shiki clearly hadn't explored them all. Otherwise, Enel would never have acquired the Rumble-Rumble Fruit from Birka.
Given Shiki's documented ambition to build a massive fleet and conquer the world, he definitely would have looted Shandora if he'd discovered it. Therefore, Shiki had never found the two most valuable sky islands: Birka and the Golden Land.
Simple logic.
In the original timeline, the Straw Hat Pirates would eventually ascend to Sky Island and learn about Poseidon here. But now? That future had been decisively altered.
Finn turned his head, scanning the distant sections of the city. Gion was out there somewhere, electricity crackling around her body in uncontrolled bursts as she struggled to master her newly acquired Devil Fruit. The Rumble-Rumble Fruit had been everything Finn hoped to find, and watching Gion test its powers filled him with satisfaction.
"A swordsman with lightning abilities," he muttered with genuine amusement. "Like Raiden Shogun from Genshin Impact."
He rose to his feet, brushing ancient dust from his knees. The Marine lieutenant standing nearby, Lieutenant Commander Scola, finally seemed to recover from his gold-induced stupor.
"Get a team together," Finn ordered, his tone casual but clear. "Dismantle this gold that surround the Poneglyph and load it onto the ship. Separately from the gold."
"Yes, Vice Admiral!" Scola snapped to attention, his professionalism returning. After a brief hesitation, he asked, "Sir, regarding the Golden Land itself... one warship obviously can't transport all of this."
Finn patted the long silk scarf wrapped around his waist, his smile sharp with anticipation. "Don't worry about capacity. I'm taking the entire island."
Understanding lit Scola's eyes. "Of course! The Press-Press Fruit. I should have realized, Vice Admiral."
"Get started on the Poneglyph. I'll be resting in the cabin." Finn turned away, heading back toward where they'd anchored the warship at the edge of the ancient city.
Gion was still out there, blue-white lightning dancing between her fingers as she experimented with combinations of swordplay and electrical discharge. She'd probably need several more hours before achieving basic control. Plenty of time for Finn to handle his own business.
Back inside the cabin, he spread his Devil Fruit Encyclopedia across the desk and began the methodical process of identification. Two unknown fruits remained from their Birka expedition, and Finn had been comparing patterns during the entire journey to Shandora. The Encyclopedia's illustrations were comprehensive, but not complete. Plenty of Devil Fruits existed that had never been properly documented.
He poured tea, taking a slow sip while his eyes scanned page after page. The work was tedious, but potentially rewarding.
"Now that the Golden Land is secured, G-7's funding problems are solved," Finn mused aloud, organizing his thoughts. "Next priority: recruitment."
Two methods existed for expanding a Marine base's personnel. The first involved submitting formal applications to headquarters. Marine command would collect all such requests annually, calculate total required conscription numbers, and launch a worldwide recruitment drive the following year. After processing, the new Marines would be distributed according to the applications.
The second method was independent recruitment. Each base found its own candidates, and headquarters simply didn't interfere. How many soldiers you recruited depended entirely on your own capabilities and resources.
Both methods required substantial funding. For the first option, headquarters would audit your military budget to verify you could actually support additional personnel. For the second, you simply needed capital and went hunting for recruits. More money meant more soldiers. Less money meant fewer. If you could somehow convince people to work for free, well, more power to you.
Despite the Great Pirate Era's chaos, the Marines still maintained an excellent reputation. Recruitment wouldn't be difficult. Many people actively wanted to join, attracted by the organization's famously generous benefits and steady employment.
Three World Government member nations fell under G-7's protection. Finn planned to recruit soldiers from each, targeting about 17,000 new Marines to bring G-7's total strength to approximately 24,000. Each nation only needed to provide slightly over 5,000 recruits. Not particularly stressful.
The procedures were well-established. He wouldn't even need to oversee the process personally. Just allocate the funding, send capable subordinates to handle logistics, and the recruits would flow in naturally.
"Training programs for that many new soldiers will be necessary," he continued thinking aloud. "Veterans training newcomers, the standard Marine method. Nothing requiring my personal attention there either. The real issue is warships. We'll need to purchase a significant number, and that costs serious money. Fortunately..." He chuckled. "I now have more money than I know what to do with."
Currently, G-7 possessed twelve Marine Headquarters standard warships, plus numerous smaller vessels and patrol boats. Headquarters' large warships were configured to carry a thousand Marines each. With twelve ships plus the auxiliary vessels, they could manage various formation requirements adequately enough.
But once total personnel reached 24,000? They'd need at least 30 large warships from headquarters to be properly equipped. Probably more, accounting for reserves and rotation schedules.
Current market price for a headquarters warship ran about 200 million berries each. Finn would need to acquire at least 20 massive warships, plus various other ship types. Total cost: tens of billions of berries.
Money wasn't the problem. The question was whether Marine headquarters could manufacture and deliver that many ships quickly enough.
"I'll need to negotiate with Admiral Sengoku when I get back," Finn muttered, touching his chin thoughtfully. "Request priority allocation for G-7's expansion."
At that moment, his eyes caught a familiar pattern in the Encyclopedia. His attention sharpened instantly. "Found one."
After careful comparison, he confirmed the identification. It was indeed one of the two remaining fruits from Birka.
His enthusiasm died immediately.
Zoan Class: Horse-Horse Fruit.
An utterly unremarkable Devil Fruit. Nothing special whatsoever.
The gap between the upper and lower limits of Zoan-type abilities was notoriously extreme. At the highest tier, you had Mythical Zoan variants. Fish-Fish FruitModel: Azure Dragon, Admiral Sengoku's Human-Human FruitModel: Buddha, Marco's Bird-Bird Fruit Model: Phoenix. Abilities that defied conventional logic and granted godlike power.
The middle tier contained Ancient Zoans: dinosaurs, saber-toothed tigers, mammoths. Formidable enough, granting significant physical advantages.
But the lower tier? Ordinary species, especially herbivorous ones, were essentially worthless. Among common Zoans, at least carnivorous types provided aggression and combat instincts. Herbivores felt like... well, trash.
Unless you happened to be a flying species. That provided genuine tactical value.
But the Horse-Horse Fruit? Completely uninspiring. Finn doubted anyone would willingly eat it even if offered.
He vaguely recalled that in the original timeline, this fruit should had drifted away from Birka and eventually ended up in the hands of Gan Fall, the God of Angel Island. The man's companion had consumed it, transforming into a Pegasus that Gan Fall rode around Sky Island like some sort of flying cavalry mount.
Sounded impressive in concept. But thinking about that bird's actual appearance... hideously ugly. Even if someone gave Finn that exact Pegasus, he probably wouldn't ride it.
Finn held the fruit up to the light, examining its swirled patterns with distaste. "Useless. I'll ask around when we get back to see if anyone wants to eat it. If not, I'll just hand it over to headquarters. Complete garbage."
He started to set it aside, then paused.
His hand froze mid-motion, and his brow furrowed slightly.
"Wait." He stared at the fruit with renewed focus. "Gan Fall's Pegasus is ugly because his bird was ugly to begin with. What if... what if we found a more impressive bird? Tamed it properly, then fed it this Devil Fruit. Would the result be different?"
The thought crystallized rapidly. If he located a giant eagle, trained it thoroughly, then gave it the Horse-Horse Fruit... wouldn't that create a griffin? That would actually be pretty magnificent. He didn't personally need a flying mount, given his gravity manipulation, but riding a griffin around would certainly make a statement.
Especially when dealing with Kuzan, who'd eventually start riding his bicycle across the ocean like some sort of eccentric ice-skating nomad. Imagine swooping down on a griffin while Kuzan pedaled along below. Maybe the griffin could even... well, defecate on his head.
The mental image was surprisingly satisfying.
"No, actually, I shouldn't use this Zoan Horse fruit at all," Finn corrected himself, thinking more carefully. "I should find a Zoan that grants a Lion transformation. Cat-Cat Fruit, Model: Lion. That would synergize far better with a bird, creating a proper griffin. This Horse-Horse Fruit is fundamentally wrong for the concept. We're wasting the fruit's potential."
He tossed the Devil Fruit back onto the desk with mild disgust.
After that revelation, he spent another hour meticulously comparing the Encyclopedia's illustrations against the final unidentified Devil Fruit. Nothing matched. He checked every single entry the Marines had documented.
No results.
"Might not be recorded in the Marine's Encyclopedia at all," Finn concluded, setting the mysterious fruit carefully aside. "Could be a pleasant surprise. I'll keep it suppressed for now, see if I can find a suitable test subject later. Or maybe acquire an updated Encyclopedia with new entries."
A knock at his office door interrupted his contemplation. He answered casually.
Gion pushed inside, small sparks of electricity still crackling across her skin intermittently, though far less violent than before. Her expression radiated excitement.
"Have you controlled your excessive energy yet?" Finn asked, smiling at her obvious enthusiasm.
"Mostly. At least I'm not accidentally releasing massive lightning bursts anymore." She grinned back. "I saw Lieutenant Commander Scola already loaded the Poneglyph onto the ship. Are we ready to leave?"
"Everything that needs doing is done." Finn stood, gathering the Devil Fruit Encyclopedia and securing it in his desk. "Time to head back."
He walked out to the deck, Gion following close behind. The Marines scattered throughout Shandora had already returned to the warship, awaiting departure orders. As for the Shandia warriors who supposedly guarded this sacred land, Finn hadn't encountered a single one during the entire operation.
They were probably still at war with the residents of Angel Island, fighting over this very city without realizing it was about to vanish entirely.
Actually, by removing Shandora completely, Finn had just resolved a four-hundred-year-old conflict at its fundamental source. The Shandians and Angel Island residents would have nothing left to fight over.
Doing one good deed a day, Finn thought with private amusement. I'm practically a humanitarian.
He moved to the center of the deck, positioning himself carefully. Lavender light began to emanate from his body, his Press-Press Fruit activating with controlled precision. The halo of gravitational force expanded outward, engulfing the entire ancient city of Shandora in supernatural energy.
The Golden Land, motionless for four centuries, began to tremble.
Marines grabbed railings and secured themselves as the ground beneath the warship started to shift. Gion watched with open fascination, never quite losing her amazement at Finn's Devil Fruit capabilities, even after seeing them repeatedly.
Finn's grin widened. The power surging through him felt intoxicating, as always. Controlling gravity on this scale, lifting an entire city of solid gold into the air, represented the exact kind of overwhelming strength he'd craved since arriving in this world.
Years of grinding. Years of calculated advancement through Marine ranks. Years of pragmatic decisions, ruthless when necessary, politically savvy when required.
All leading to this: Vice Admiral Rodriguez Finn, Admiral Candidate, capable of casually stealing a legendary city of gold right out from under the sky itself.
And soon, G-7 would have the funding to become something truly formidable. Not just another Marine base, but a fortress-class installation capable of projecting real power throughout the Grand Line.
"Return!" Finn shouted, his voice carrying across the golden city as gravitational forces intensified.
Shandora lifted free from its four-hundred-year resting place, rising into the white clouds of Sky Island like a golden meteor ascending rather than falling. The warship rose alongside it, Finn's power keeping everything stable despite the massive forces involved.
Behind them, the landscape of Upper Yard gained a massive crater where an ancient civilization had once stood.
The Marines on deck maintained their positions, professional enough not to show excessive emotion despite the historical magnitude of what they'd just accomplished. Only a few of the younger soldiers allowed themselves brief expressions of awe.
Finn kept his concentration focused on maintaining stable gravity fields around both the warship and Shandora as they ascended through the cloud layers. The city's weight was substantial, even for his trained abilities, but entirely manageable. He'd lifted heavier things during his gravity training regimen.
Beside him, Gion watched the Golden Land floating alongside their ship, her hand resting on the hilt of her sword. Small arcs of blue-white electricity still danced between her fingers occasionally, residual energy from the Rumble-Rumble Fruit she was still learning to contain.
"You know," she said conversationally, "when you told Doberman we were going to 'make money,' I thought you meant something like raiding a pirate treasure stash house. Maybe intercepting a smuggling operation. This is slightly more ambitious."
Finn laughed, genuinely amused. "Why think small? G-7 needs funding for massive expansion. A few million berries from pirate treasure wouldn't cut it. This?" He gestured at the floating golden city beside them. "This solves our budget problems for the next decade."
"Assuming you can actually transport it all the way back to G-7 without incident," Gion pointed out. "We're carrying what, a trillion berries worth of gold? Every pirate in the Grand Line would attack us if they knew."
"Then it's fortunate that nobody knows." Finn's smile turned sharp. "And even if they did, I'd like to see them try. Between my gravity manipulation, your lightning, and a thousand trained Marines? We could repel a small fleet."
As they broke through the upper cloud layer, descending back toward the White Sea, Finn allowed himself a moment of satisfaction. The Rumble-Rumble Fruit secured for Gion. The entire Golden Land captured for G-7's development fund. A Poneglyph removed from circulation to prevent potential future catastrophe.
Not bad for a few days' work.
Now he just needed to navigate back down to the Blue Sea, avoid any complications during the descent, and return to G-7 to begin the base's transformation in earnest.
Simple enough.
Finn's gaze drifted toward the horizon, where white clouds merged with distant blue sky. Somewhere out there, the Grand Line continued its chaos. Pirates warred with Marines. The World Government manipulated nations. Ambitious individuals schemed for power and position.
And Finn intended to carve out his own piece of that chaotic world. Not through ideology or grand declarations of justice, but through pragmatic accumulation of strength, resources, and strategic positioning.
The transmigrator who'd reborn into this universe, confused and terrified, was long gone. In his place stood Vice Admiral Rodriguez Finn: calculating, ruthless when necessary, and absolutely determined to reach the highest levels of power this world offered.
Admiral wasn't his ceiling. It was just the next step.
"Set course for G-7," Finn ordered, his voice carrying across the deck with casual authority. "And someone bring me more tea. This is going to be a long flight."
Behind them, the hole where Shandora had rested for four hundred years slowly began filling with wind and mist, erasing the evidence of their passage.
History wouldn't record that Vice Admiral Rodriguez Finn had casually stolen one of the Grand Line's greatest legends.
Which suited him perfectly.
After all, the best operations were the ones nobody ever discovered had happened at all.