Chapter 27: Shandora
Year 1516 - Skypiea, Three Days After the Battle
Aiko woke to find Doc Reiner glaring at him.
"Don't even think about moving," the doctor said before Aiko could speak. "You've been unconscious for three days. Your Haki reserves are depleted to dangerous levels. You have second-degree frostbite on your hands from your own powers, and somehow—somehow—you managed to get electrical burns despite having a Logia fruit that should make you immune."
"How is that possible?" Aiko's voice was hoarse.
"I have no idea! That's what makes it impressive and terrifying! You pushed both your Devil Fruit and Haki beyond safe limits!" Doc jabbed a finger at him. "If you keep doing this—fighting until you collapse—eventually your body won't recover. You'll burn yourself out permanently."
"Noted. How's everyone else?"
Doc's expression softened slightly. "Fine. Minor injuries from the Knock Up Stream, but nothing serious. Robin's been researching Shandora's location. Franky's reinforcing the ship. And your prisoners..." He paused. "They've been talking to each other."
"Lucci and Enel?"
"Yes. We've kept them in separate cells, but they can hear each other. Apparently, being defeated by the same person creates a bond." Doc's tone was dry. "They're either plotting revenge or having an existential crisis. Maybe both."
"I should talk to them."
"You should rest. But you won't, so at least eat first." Doc produced a tray of food. "And drink this. It's Ivankov's special hormone mixture—accelerates healing, restores energy. Tastes like battery acid mixed with regret, but it works."
The description was accurate. Aiko forced it down anyway.
Thirty minutes later, feeling marginally human, he visited the brig.
Lucci and Enel were in reinforced cells on opposite sides of the room, both secured with seastone, both looking significantly less godlike than their reputations suggested.
"The Blue Sea demon awakens," Enel said, his usual confidence cracked. "Tell me, how does someone from below possess such power? Lightning should be absolute. Yet you froze it. Made it hesitate."
"By not limiting myself to assumptions about what's possible," Aiko replied. "You assumed lightning was unbeatable. That assumption made you vulnerable."
"I was god of Skypiea for six years. Untouchable. Invincible." Enel's laugh was hollow. "Three days ago, I learned I was neither. That's... disturbing."
"Welcome to questioning everything you believed," Lucci said from his cell. "I've been here for weeks. It's unpleasant."
"You're CP0," Enel observed. "World Government assassin. Yet you're imprisoned by someone who used to serve that same government. There's irony there."
"There's stupidity there," Lucci corrected. "I followed orders without question. Believed in absolute authority. And look where it got me—in a cell, watching my assumptions crumble."
"Are you two having a therapy session?" Aiko asked.
"Mock if you want," Lucci replied. "But defeat provides perspective. Enel thought he was god. I thought I was the perfect weapon. We were both wrong. That's... worth discussing."
"So what now?" Enel asked, addressing Aiko directly. "You've proven your superiority. Do you kill us? Torture us? Keep us prisoner forever?"
"I offer you a choice," Aiko said. "Same one I've been offering Lucci. Look at the evidence. Question your assumptions. Decide for yourself what you believe instead of accepting what others told you."
"And if we decide differently than you?"
"Then you've still made your own choice. That's more than either of you had before." Aiko turned to leave, then paused. "We're going to Shandora today. To the ancient city you claimed to rule, Enel. If you want to come—under supervision—and see what your 'kingdom' actually was, you can. Same for you, Lucci. See what the World Government doesn't want people to learn."
"Why would you allow that?" Enel asked suspiciously.
"Because keeping you locked up forever doesn't accomplish anything. But showing you truth—that might change things." Aiko met his eyes. "You wanted to be god. I'm offering you a chance to see what real gods left behind. Decide for yourself if your claims compare."
He left them to think about it.
Upper Yard - The Ruins of Shandora
The ancient city was magnificent even in decay.
Golden structures emerged from the jungle, covered in vines but still gleaming. Architecture that predated modern civilization by centuries showed engineering sophistication that current societies couldn't match. And everywhere—carved into walls, built into foundations—were symbols and writing that Robin identified as related to the Poneglyphs' ancient language.
"This city was built by the ancestors of the Shandians," Robin explained as they explored, her historian's mind cataloging everything. "A civilization that existed before the Void Century. They built the city on the ground, but four hundred years ago, a massive 'Knock Up Stream' launched the entire island into the sky."
"An entire island launched into the sky?" Marcus asked. "That's..."
"Impossible by any rational standard, yet here we are." Robin pointed to specific architectural features. "But more importantly—look at these. They're preparing for something. Walls designed for defense. Structures built to last forever. They knew something was coming."
"The destruction of the ancient kingdom," Aiko said quietly. "Shandora was allied with them. They built this city to preserve knowledge even if the main kingdom fell."
"Exactly. And somewhere in this city is a Poneglyph. One of the most important ones—the Rio Poneglyph, which supposedly tells the true history of the world."
They found it in the heart of the ruins, inside a structure that had somehow survived four hundred years and a ten-thousand-meter fall intact. The Poneglyph stood in a shaft of sunlight, its surface covered in the same indestructible material as all the others, its message waiting four centuries to be read.
Robin approached it reverently, her fingers tracing the ancient script.
"Can you read it?" Aiko asked.
"Yes. It's... this is significant." Robin pulled out her notebook, began transcribing. "This Poneglyph speaks of the ancient kingdom's name—something that was erased from every other record. It calls them the 'Great Kingdom of D.' Not a place name, but a designation. The Will of D isn't just inherited—it was the foundation of an entire civilization."
"D?" Isra repeated. "Like Monkey D. Luffy? Monkey D. Dragon?"
"Exactly. The D clan aren't just descendants—they ARE the ancient kingdom, scattered across the world after its destruction." Robin continued reading. "It says the Great Kingdom possessed knowledge that the twenty kingdoms feared. Not weapons, not power, but knowledge itself. Understanding of history, of the true nature of the world, of..." She paused, her eyes widening. "Of Im."
Everyone went silent.
"The name Im appears here?" Aiko asked.
"Not directly. But it references 'the Eternal Sovereign' who has ruled for eight centuries. Who manipulates from shadows. Who fears the dawn—metaphorically, I think, representing enlightenment or revelation." Robin's voice shook slightly. "The ancient kingdom knew about Im. They left warnings. They said that the Eternal Sovereign would destroy any threat to their control, that the only way to defeat them was through unity and truth."
"Does it say how to defeat them?" Yuki asked.
"No. But it says where the next Poneglyph is hidden—the one that contains military information about the Ancient Weapons and how they were meant to be used. Not as weapons of destruction, but as..." Robin squinted at the text. "It's unclear. The translation is ambiguous. But it suggests the Ancient Weapons had a different purpose than everyone assumes."
"Where's the next one?" Aiko asked.
"Fishman Island. Ten thousand meters below the ocean, the opposite of where we are now. In Ryugu Palace, guarded by the royal family."
A voice called from the ruins' entrance: "Are you done stealing our history?"
They turned to find a group of warriors—Shandians, based on their appearance—led by a man with distinctive markings and carrying a bazooka. His presence radiated barely controlled fury.
"I'm Wyper," he introduced himself. "Descendant of Kalgara the Great Warrior. This city—Shandora—is my people's heritage. And you're trespassing."
"We're reading history that concerns everyone," Aiko replied carefully, sensing this could go violent quickly. "The Poneglyph contains information about the Void Century. About the World Government's founding. About—"
"I don't care about the Blue Sea's problems," Wyper interrupted. "For four hundred years, my people have fought to reclaim this city from Enel's tyranny. Now he's defeated—by you, apparently—and you think that gives you the right to plunder our sacred ground?"
"We're not plundering. We're learning. There's a difference."
"Is there? Because from where I stand, you're just another outsider taking what isn't yours." Wyper's bazooka aimed at Aiko. "Leave. Now. Before we make you leave."
Behind him, dozens of Shandian warriors emerged from the jungle, all armed, all clearly loyal to Wyper's command.
"We don't want to fight you," Aiko said. "You're not our enemy."
"But you're ours. You defeated our oppressor, which we would thank you for, except you did it to serve your own goals. You don't care about Skypiea or Shandora or the people who've died for this city. You care about your war with the World Government."
"That's not—"
"Isn't it?" Wyper stepped closer. "Tell me honestly—if this Poneglyph wasn't here, would you have come to Skypiea at all? Would you have freed us from Enel's rule?"
Aiko opened his mouth to argue, then stopped. Because Wyper was right. They'd come for the Poneglyph, not to liberate Skypiea. Enel's defeat was a side effect of their larger mission.
"I thought so," Wyper said, seeing the admission in Aiko's silence. "So here's what's going to happen. You're going to leave. You're going to forget about this Poneglyph. And you're never coming back to Skypiea. In exchange, I won't report your presence to the World Government."
"You'd do that?" Isra asked. "Help the World Government?"
"To protect what's ours? Absolutely. We've spent four hundred years fighting for independence. I'm not letting Blue Sea politics drag us into another war."
Aiko considered. They could fight—probably win, given the crew's power. But that would mean attacking people who'd been oppressed, who'd fought for freedom, who were only protecting their heritage.
It would make them exactly what they claimed not to be—people who used power to take what they wanted regardless of local consent.
"We'll leave," Aiko decided. "But on one condition. Let Robin finish transcribing the Poneglyph. Give us that knowledge, and we'll go. You'll never see us again."
"Why should I trust you?"
"Because if I wanted to take what I wanted by force, we'd already be fighting. The fact that we're negotiating proves we respect your authority here." Aiko met Wyper's eyes. "One hour. That's all we need. Then we leave Skypiea, and you never have to worry about the Blue Sea again."
Wyper considered, his warriors tense and ready. Finally: "One hour. Not a minute more. And if you ever come back—"
"We won't."
Robin worked quickly, her hands copying text with practiced efficiency. The Shandians watched, suspicious but allowing it. Forty-seven minutes later, she closed her notebook.
"Done. I have everything important."
"Then we're leaving," Aiko said. He looked at the Poneglyph one last time, at the ancient city, at the Shandians who'd protected both for centuries. "Thank you for allowing this. And for what it's worth—what Enel did to your people was wrong. We may have come here for our own reasons, but I'm glad his tyranny ended."
"Save your sentiment," Wyper replied coldly. "Just leave."
They did.
The Hakusetsu - Descending from Skypiea
Getting down proved easier than going up—Skypiea had a "cloud waterfall" that ships could ride to descend safely. As they fell through the sky, the crew gathered in the war room.
"Read what you learned," Aiko said to Robin.
She pulled out her transcription, and over the next hour, revealed everything the Poneglyph had contained. The name of the ancient kingdom. The confirmation of Im's existence. The location of the next Poneglyph. And most significantly—hints that the Ancient Weapons weren't meant for war at all.
"If they weren't weapons," Kiara asked, "what were they?"
"The text is ambiguous, but I think they were infrastructure. Pluton wasn't a battleship—it was a ship capable of moving entire populations. Poseidon wasn't a weapon—it was a way to communicate with and unite the sea kings. Uranus..." Robin frowned. "I'm not sure about Uranus. The text is damaged there. But the pattern suggests they were tools for building something, not destroying."
"Building what?" Yuki asked.
"A world without the barriers that divide people. A world where sky islands, surface dwellers, and fishmen could coexist. Where knowledge was shared freely instead of hoarded. Where—" Robin paused, emotion creeping into her clinical tone. "Where Ohara's dream could have been real. A world of true understanding."
"And the World Government destroyed it," Aiko said quietly. "Not because the ancient kingdom was evil, but because they represented a threat to hierarchical power. To the idea that some people are inherently superior to others."
"Exactly. The Void Century wasn't a war between good and evil. It was a war between two visions of how society should work. And the vision that won was the one that benefits the few at the expense of the many."
Silence settled over the room as the implications sank in.
"This is bigger than we thought," Isra said finally. "We're not just exposing corruption or revealing hidden history. We're challenging the fundamental structure of how the world is organized."
"Yes," Aiko agreed. "And the World Government knows it. That's why they've been so aggressive in hunting us. That's why Im-sama is personally invested. We represent the same threat the ancient kingdom did—the possibility that things could be different."
"So what do we do?" Marcus asked.
"What we've been doing. Continue reading Poneglyphs. Continue gathering evidence. Continue proving that another way exists." Aiko looked at each crew member. "But understand—this makes us existential threats. The World Government won't just want to defeat us. They'll want to erase us. Completely. The way they erased the ancient kingdom."
"Then we make sure they can't," Sadi said firmly. "We spread the information too widely. Create redundancies. Make ourselves impossible to erase even if they kill us."
"Exactly. Which means our next step—"
A klaxon alarm interrupted him. Koji's voice came over the ship's communication system: "Admiral-class ship detected! Distance: five kilometers and closing! It's... it's Akainu!"
Everyone rushed to the deck.
Sure enough, a massive battleship bearing Admiral colors approached. And standing at its bow, magma already dripping from his arms, was Sakazuki—Akainu—the man who'd nearly killed Aiko at Iron Haven.
His voice carried across the water, amplified by Den Den Mushi: "SNOW ADMIRAL! You've evaded capture long enough! By order of Fleet Admiral Sengoku and the authority of the World Government, I'm authorized to use ANY MEANS NECESSARY to end your rebellion! Surrender now, or I will sink your ship and everyone on it!"
"How did he find us?" Yuki asked.
"He's been hunting us for weeks," Akira said, checking his instruments. "Must have informants tracking our movements. Or maybe—"
"It doesn't matter how," Aiko interrupted. "What matters is we're not ready for this fight. Not here, not now, not when we're still recovering from Enel."
"Then we run," Isra decided. "Franky, can the ship's improvements get us away from a Marine battleship?"
"Maybe? SUPER maybe? It'll be close!"
"Make it happen!" Aiko turned to the crew. "Everyone to stations! We're not fighting today—we're surviving! Move!"
As the Hakusetsu turned and accelerated, as Akainu's ship gave chase, as magma attacks began falling around them like volcanic rain, one thought dominated Aiko's mind:
The World Government had escalated again. They'd sent their most ruthless Admiral with explicit authorization to use lethal force.
The trap was closing.
And they were running out of places to run.
END OF CHAPTER 27
Next Chapter: "The Chase - Akainu's Relentless Pursuit"