_________ POV Narration_________
Enel started his training soon after speaking with Garp.
At first, the Lightning Emperor wanted to go down to the lower seas and knock out Sea Kings with his Conqueror's Haki constantly, to slowly allow it to grow stronger.
But another solution appeared in the form of Wyper, once again. The two of them would spend the rest of the following days locked in constant clashes with Conqueror's Haki.
The entire island could feel it, and Garp eventually came in and punched the two of them in the head.
They ended up having to change to a smaller island to the side, one that didn't have any people on it.
It was just an island filled with wild animals that Shiki floated around, likely collecting exotic species from what Enel could sense.
Regardless of its previous uses, the island was now a place where Wyper and Enel could go all out, and that was what they did for the most part.
Oven trained on the side, along with the other Sky Guards and even with Momonga.
The two of them started sparring regularly, and Momonga was able to hold out quite well against the Sweet Commander.
It seemed that Oven had a rather large advantage when it came to physical strength, while Momonga had an edge when it came to technique.
It was a rather good match for the Sky Guards to witness, it helped them gain a bit more understanding of the marine fighting style and Rokushiki.
Momonga was also pleased to fight a tougher enemy. Previously the only people on the island that could fight him were Wyper and Bellamy, who were both still rather lacking.
Garp, Francisco and Shiki didn't count at all, as they were on a completely different level.
Oven was also pleased to make some new friends on a sky island of all places. He was rather shocked at how friendly Momonga was with him.
'If you're friends with Enel then you must be a trustworthy person!' That was what the 'Noble Killer' had told him.
Yes, even Oven and his family had heard about Momonga, as the former Vice Admiral was now one of the few people still alive known to have killed a Celestial Dragon.
Momonga's existence was something like a permanent red stain on the Government's reputation.
Most Pirates ended up respecting the former Vice Admiral for that.
Momonga wasn't the only person of interest when it came to the Celestial Dragon's death.
Most people also considered the people of Foosha Village to be martyrs due to that incident, especially after people started drawing similarities between them and the people of Ohara.
So much fuss would obviously be noticed by a lot of people worldwide. And the emperors also took notice of Momonga, some even had thoughts of recruiting him, including Kaido and Big Mom.
Alas, Oven now realized that Enel was one step ahead of them when it came to that.
Bellamy was just a small pirate to Oven, not someone that he considered a threat by any stretch of the imagination.
The Sweet Commander sparred with all of the members of the Sky Guard at once, minus Momonga and Wyper, and won every time.
Bellamy was stronger than all of the others, but to Oven, he and the Sky Guards were still very far off from ever posing a threat to any one of his siblings.
One thing did manage to surprise Oven... And that was the fact that all of the Sky guards seemed to have high endurance and strength compared to pirates in the first half of the Grand Line.
And one thing that surprised Oven slightly was Bellamy's potential for growth. The former pirate turned Sky Guard was constantly learning and adapting in fights.
It certainly showed to Oven that there was no shortage of talented people under Enel.
Slowly but surely, one week flew by.
Shiki and Francisco were steadily getting closer to the Holy Land.
They had enough time to discuss the plan and even visit an island on the way.
Shiki was very enthusiastic about the operation, to the point where he even showed his face in public for the first time in decades.
The only people that could recognize him were the older folk, and they turned completely white when seeing him stroll around the city's streets.
Other than that, no one could recognize him anymore. He was no longer as relevant as he had been.
No one recognized Francisco though, that was a given after all. No one really remembered the Rocks Pirates, aside from the people that had lived through their tyranny.
To others, they were just a bunch of pirates that got ruined 4 decades ago. The World Government had done a thorough job of burning any evidence of them being the rulers of an era.
Francisco was a bit discouraged when seeing that, but he was already prepared for it.
Shiki didn't seem to care much either, they only stopped on that island for one reason anyway...
"Cmon! We need to get you a real sword!" Shiki's voice rang out throughout the streets, as he looked at Francisco with a raised eyebrow.
"My current blade is already good enough..." The Legendary Swordsman said as he continued walking randomly.
To him, the trip was more about sightseeing, and to Shiki, it was about convincing Francisco to get an actual sharpened sword.
"Blade?! That thing strapped to your waist might as well be a breadstick! Cheap metal, shoddy blacksmithing and an edge so blunt that any kitchen knife off the street would be better to use..."
Shiki continued his tirade as Francisco just sighed and continued looking around at the stalls with a smile on his face.
"No blade of the streets would be better than the one I currently have, Shiki... No use in replacing something inadequate with something that is just average." Francisco simply shrugged, not quite willing to part with the cutlass that the sky people had forged for him.
"Well, we won't just find another Meito/Named Blades randomly on the streets... There are only so many of those in the world." Shiki scowled a bit as he spoke.
"That is extremely strange to hear from the person that has four of them..." The First Mate looked pointedly at the Golden Lion as he said that.
Shiki simply whistled a bit, deciding not to continue that conversation. Using named blades as his feet was certainly a luxury, and he wasn't exactly willing to part with any of his blades...
Francisco and Shiki continued strolling for a bit longer until Francisco stopped and looked at a side street.
"... What island are we on again, Shiki?"
"How the fuck should I know? Just some random small island near the Calm Belt..."
"Isn't this place John's Town?" Francisco stroked his short beard as he looked around the town with a closer eye, his gaze returning to that alleyway constantly.
"... No fucking way!" Shiki immediately disappeared, flying above the city and rushing back to the beginning, looking at the sign with a raised eyebrow.
"It seems so..." The Golden Lion stroked his beard as he looked at the sign with a flabbergasted expression.
The Golden Lion then flew back to Francisco and simply nodded.
"Yep... That greedy bastard used to live here." Shiki said as his bladed legs touched the ground again.
"Heh, wasn't this where we recruited him as well? Random urchin trying to steal from us." Francisco said as he then started walking toward that alleyway.
"Well, I wasn't that much older than him at that time, pretty sure we were both teenagers," Shiki said as he remembered one of their old crewmembers.
The man that had gone on to be known as Captain John to the world after the fall of the Rocks Pirates.
'A greedy and scummy scalper that only really cared about wealth and how to get it...' That was how Shiki remembered that man.
"He was an ambitious brat. I still remember him trying to capitalize on Xebec's strength to extort money out of people..." Francisco seemed to remember John a bit more fondly.
Shiki just looked weirdly at Francisco for that.
"Didn't Xebec rip him a new one for that stunt?" The Golden Lion smirked a bit as he remembered how mad Xebec was at John at that time.
Xebec didn't care about extorting people for money and goods, but he didn't like others using his name to do it.
Had John used his own strength to extort people, Xebec would have even praised him.
"Indeed, Doc Kureha had to glue him back together after that one..." Francisco smiled as he remembered a bit more about that incident, as well as their resident doctor, Kureha.
That woman was the only one older than Xebec and Francisco in the crew, she was the only real voice of reason besides Francisco as well.
She was a motherly figure to everyone, including Whitebeard, who she scolded regularly for his hotheaded attitude.
Both Shiki and Francsico remembered her fondly, though neither knew what had happened to her after the war.
They just remembered her fondly and assumed she was already gone since she was older than all of them when the Rocks pirates were active.
"Heh... I wonder if that Greddy bastard left anything behind in this place." Shiki looked around in that alleyway as he followed Francisco.
They were heading for what had been John's childhood 'home'. More specifically, a brothel that he used to live under covertly.
"Doubtful. He didn't seem the type to leave behind anything for anyone..." Francisco simply shook his head.
"Oh, you'd be shocked. That guy left behind one of the most sought-after treasures in the world before he croaked." Shiki laughed a bit as he remembered stories about Captain John.
"I remember hearing he got killed by his own crew because of his bloodthirsty and stinginess..." The Golden Lion was more than happy to bring Francisco up to speed on the fate of their greedy former crewmember.
"Sounds about right. Even Xebec told him he'd get killed eventually with that attitude." The legendary swordsman said as he stopped in front of a half-collapsed building.
"Bah! If Xebec of all people told him that, then it really was to be expected." Shiki stopped right behind him, looking at the building in question with a raised eyebrow.
"... I guess there's no way it would have survived after so many years... Was it 60?" Francisco's voice immediately gained a melancholic tune as he stared at that collapsed wooden building, eroded by age.
"Around that much... Maybe more." Shiki's voice felt the same, as the Golden Lion also looked at the destroyed building with a strange gaze.
The two old men seemed to both be stuck like that for a few moments. They stood there until Shiki's cigar burnt out, and the Golden Lion started walking towards the building.
"I guess we should check if he did leave something behind..." The Old Man said as he touched some parts of the building and raised them up.
"Let's look at the basement, that was where he actually lived for a good part of his life," Francisco said as he started walking directly toward the basement.
The Legendary Swordsman could still remember how he had saved John from their captain's wrath after John had successfully stolen a few pieces of jewellery from them.
He remembered how he had helped recruit John into the Rocks Pirates.
Banking on his talent and deft hands, the greedy thief had been one of the first people they had ever recruited in the Rocks Pirates, which only consisted of 5 people at that time.
The two old men walked down the stairs of the basement, the wooden stairs were mostly broken down, but neither man was afraid of falling.
There was also no danger of the rest of the building collapsing on top of them, as Shiki made sure to move all of the debris away from the basement with his devil fruit powers.
"This place stinks..." Shiki said as they walked further down what had formerly been a wine/alcohol storage. It was clear that no one had cleaned that place in decades, it reeked of mould and dried stale ale.
"To be expected, but I feel something interesting ahead..." Francisco and Shiki eventually reached the end of the room and were both staring at a stone wall.
"Where was that secret button again?" Shiki scratched the back of his head as he looked around the room once more, holding his nose as he did so.
"I don't remember, but I don't feel like spending too much time here." Francisco tapped the wall in front of him with his palm, his arm turning red as his will attacked the core of that rock instantly.
The wall wasn't blown backwards, it instead crumbled to pieces where it stood.
Francisco then continued walking into the hidden room.
"Fair enough..." Shiki said as he followed suit.
The contents of the hidden room shocked the two old men greatly.
The walls were littered with old paintings and pieces of art, golden statues lined half-collapsed wooden tables, and golden bars formed a small wall all around the room.
"That bastard really was a hoarder..." Shiki said as he looked around a bit more.
In the centre of the room was a 2.5 meter-long stone casket, with a notebook placed upon it.
"Do you think this is that fabled 'hidden treasure' of Captain John?" Francisco said as he looked around the room.
"Doubtful. There's barely any gold here by his standards. That bastard should've hoarded a lot more than this in his life. This is likely just a stash of his..." Shiki judged the amount of wealth in the room with a critical eye.
It was a lot for regular people, that was sure. But for a legendary pirate that much money wasn't really anything to write home about.
Both Francisco and Shiki had more bounty on their heads than the value of everything in that room put together.
But Francisco saw something rather promising in the centre of the room.
"The gold isn't all that impressive, true... Let's check that notebook though." Francisco continued walking, ignoring all of the gold and paintings around him as his hand touched the stone case
Shiki followed suit, looking around at the walls with suspicion in his eyes.
Francisco then picked up the notebook and started reading through it out loud, for Shiki to hear as well.
"If you're reading this, then you're either really lucky, or you are one of 5 people to know of this place.
Regardless of who you are, I decided for this to be my resting place, so I prettied it up a little.
If by any chance I don't make it here, please try to return my body to this place.
You can keep all of the money and gold in this room, the map to my secret treasure is also on my body, so you will have that as well..."
Francisco raised an eyebrow, as he then opened the casket in the centre, only for there to be nobody inside.
"I guess he didn't make it here... His betrayal and murder were rather sudden, I guess." Shiki shrugged as he spoke.
Francisco simply shook his head with disappointment and continued reading.
"If by chance you are one of my former comrades, then I hope you get eaten by a group of ravenous Lance Land-Sharks." Francisco nodded sagely when reading that, Shiki had a similar reaction.
"Sounds about right, at least we know this is John's writing." The Golden Lion stroked his beard as his eyes noticed something shining in a corner.
Francisco then continued reading the last few passages from the book.
"Hope you at least have the decency to do your old buddy a solid.
Anyway, that's it from me. If you want my treasure you better find my body.
If it's already here, fuck off and let me rest in peace.
Buh Bye" Francisco closed the notebook with a cold expression on his face, wondering why he wasted his time reading that in the first place.
"What a dignified ending..." Shiki said as he started walking to the corner, where he noticed a handle poking out from behind a pile of gold.
"A weapon? In this mess?" Francisco asked as he watched Shiki pull out a long spear from that gold pile.
It was sharp and it had a red piece of fabric tied near the blade of it. The shaft itself was around two meters long, with the spearhead adding another 30 centimetres in length.
The spearhead was not made out of metal, instead, it seemed to be built out of a sharpened bone.
On the shaft, three characters were scribbled down near the spearhead.
"Yasei no Kiba(Wild Fang)" Shiki read out loud as he pondered on that name.
Francisco was the first one to recognize it though. " One of the 21 Great Grade Blades!?" The Legendary swordsman was a bit surprised to see it there.
He had read everything about the Meito, or the Named/Ranked blades. He knew each of them by name easily, though that was the first time he had seen that particular one.
"Oh shit! Looks like they aren't that difficult to find! Yahahaha!" Shiki laughed a bit as he looked more at the bone blade.
"Why would John keep something like this?! He wasn't even a spearman..." Francisco was a bit confused though, not quite willing to just accept that finding one of the 21 Great Grade Blades was easy.
"He's a greedy hoarder! He would've stolen all of the Meito in this world if he could have." Shiki simply shook his head, just accepting that they were lucky enough to find the stash of their former crewmate.
"... So I guess we're taking that with us?" Francisco said as he stroked his beard.
"Yeap! No reason to let it gather dust in this place. Though neither of us is a spearman..." Shiki lamented for a bit, wondering if they had anyone they could give the weapon to.
"I think my newest student will appreciate it. If you don't have anyone in mind for it, of course." Francisco instantly thought about Wyper.
The Tribal Warrior turned Sky Guard was more of a Bazooka type of person, but Wyper still used the spear sometimes in training, and he was clearly trained with it.
"Didn't you want to also make him a swordsman?" Shiki asked as the two of the started walking out of the hidden room, not bothering to take any of the gold, deciding they would much rather take it when returning.
"Yes, but he seems to have different talents. It can't be helped." Francisco simply shrugged.
"Also, since we're taking the spear... We might as well look for John's body, retrieve it and all that." The legendary swordsman crossed his arms as he wondered where the body could be.
"Bah! Why would we bother with all of that?!" Shiki was clearly not enthusiastic about it though.
"I would've done the same for you Shiki. And you know that John would've done the same for the both of us." Francisco tapped his chest with a smile on his face.
Shiki just stared at him with a blank expression. "... You just want his money, right?"
"Well, the funds will certainly help my new captain out! No need to dwell on it though, let's get going!"
Francisco ignored the Golden Lion's question and continued walking back towards their floating island, exiting the collapsed building without any issue.
Shiki also exited the building, spear in hand as he looked back at the basement.
'At least don't act altruistically if you just want to steal from him... Well, he was a greedy bastard, so it's whatever.'
The Golden Lion proceeded to cover the entrance in debris, and started flying back to their Island.
'Still, a week of the journey left... I can barely wait!' Shiki smiled widely as their island continued flying into the horizon.
__________________________________________________________________
Hope you liked the chapter!
Captain John was rich af :))
Also, this chapter was like, 3.4k words, which I think is actually the biggest one yet
If u want to support me look up VeganMaster(Vegan Cult) on Patre_on, you'd also get 10 chapters in advance (or 5 depending on tier)
_________ POV Narration_________
Enel started his training soon after speaking with Garp.
At first, the Lightning Emperor wanted to go down to the lower seas and knock out Sea Kings with his Conqueror's Haki constantly, to slowly allow it to grow stronger.
But another solution appeared in the form of Wyper, once again. The two of them would spend the rest of the following days locked in constant clashes with Conqueror's Haki.
The entire island could feel it, and Garp eventually came in and punched the two of them in the head.
They ended up having to change to a smaller island to the side, one that didn't have any people on it.
It was just an island filled with wild animals that Shiki floated around, likely collecting exotic species from what Enel could sense.
Regardless of its previous uses, the island was now a place where Wyper and Enel could go all out, and that was what they did for the most part.
Oven trained on the side, along with the other Sky Guards and even with Momonga.
The two of them started sparring regularly, and Momonga was able to hold out quite well against the Sweet Commander.
It seemed that Oven had a rather large advantage when it came to physical strength, while Momonga had an edge when it came to technique.
It was a rather good match for the Sky Guards to witness, it helped them gain a bit more understanding of the marine fighting style and Rokushiki.
Momonga was also pleased to fight a tougher enemy. Previously the only people on the island that could fight him were Wyper and Bellamy, who were both still rather lacking.
Garp, Francisco and Shiki didn't count at all, as they were on a completely different level.
Oven was also pleased to make some new friends on a sky island of all places. He was rather shocked at how friendly Momonga was with him.
'If you're friends with Enel then you must be a trustworthy person!' That was what the 'Noble Killer' had told him.
Yes, even Oven and his family had heard about Momonga, as the former Vice Admiral was now one of the few people still alive known to have killed a Celestial Dragon.
Momonga's existence was something like a permanent red stain on the Government's reputation.
Most Pirates ended up respecting the former Vice Admiral for that.
Momonga wasn't the only person of interest when it came to the Celestial Dragon's death.
Most people also considered the people of Foosha Village to be martyrs due to that incident, especially after people started drawing similarities between them and the people of Ohara.
So much fuss would obviously be noticed by a lot of people worldwide. And the emperors also took notice of Momonga, some even had thoughts of recruiting him, including Kaido and Big Mom.
Alas, Oven now realized that Enel was one step ahead of them when it came to that.
Bellamy was just a small pirate to Oven, not someone that he considered a threat by any stretch of the imagination.
The Sweet Commander sparred with all of the members of the Sky Guard at once, minus Momonga and Wyper, and won every time.
Bellamy was stronger than all of the others, but to Oven, he and the Sky Guards were still very far off from ever posing a threat to any one of his siblings.
One thing did manage to surprise Oven... And that was the fact that all of the Sky guards seemed to have high endurance and strength compared to pirates in the first half of the Grand Line.
And one thing that surprised Oven slightly was Bellamy's potential for growth. The former pirate turned Sky Guard was constantly learning and adapting in fights.
It certainly showed to Oven that there was no shortage of talented people under Enel.
Slowly but surely, one week flew by.
Shiki and Francisco were steadily getting closer to the Holy Land.
They had enough time to discuss the plan and even visit an island on the way.
Shiki was very enthusiastic about the operation, to the point where he even showed his face in public for the first time in decades.
The only people that could recognize him were the older folk, and they turned completely white when seeing him stroll around the city's streets.
Other than that, no one could recognize him anymore. He was no longer as relevant as he had been.
No one recognized Francisco though, that was a given after all. No one really remembered the Rocks Pirates, aside from the people that had lived through their tyranny.
To others, they were just a bunch of pirates that got ruined 4 decades ago. The World Government had done a thorough job of burning any evidence of them being the rulers of an era.
Francisco was a bit discouraged when seeing that, but he was already prepared for it.
Shiki didn't seem to care much either, they only stopped on that island for one reason anyway...
"Cmon! We need to get you a real sword!" Shiki's voice rang out throughout the streets, as he looked at Francisco with a raised eyebrow.
"My current blade is already good enough..." The Legendary Swordsman said as he continued walking randomly.
To him, the trip was more about sightseeing, and to Shiki, it was about convincing Francisco to get an actual sharpened sword.
"Blade?! That thing strapped to your waist might as well be a breadstick! Cheap metal, shoddy blacksmithing and an edge so blunt that any kitchen knife off the street would be better to use..."
Shiki continued his tirade as Francisco just sighed and continued looking around at the stalls with a smile on his face.
"No blade of the streets would be better than the one I currently have, Shiki... No use in replacing something inadequate with something that is just average." Francisco simply shrugged, not quite willing to part with the cutlass that the sky people had forged for him.
"Well, we won't just find another Meito/Named Blades randomly on the streets... There are only so many of those in the world." Shiki scowled a bit as he spoke.
"That is extremely strange to hear from the person that has four of them..." The First Mate looked pointedly at the Golden Lion as he said that.
Shiki simply whistled a bit, deciding not to continue that conversation. Using named blades as his feet was certainly a luxury, and he wasn't exactly willing to part with any of his blades...
Francisco and Shiki continued strolling for a bit longer until Francisco stopped and looked at a side street.
"... What island are we on again, Shiki?"
"How the fuck should I know? Just some random small island near the Calm Belt..."
"Isn't this place John's Town?" Francisco stroked his short beard as he looked around the town with a closer eye, his gaze returning to that alleyway constantly.
"... No fucking way!" Shiki immediately disappeared, flying above the city and rushing back to the beginning, looking at the sign with a raised eyebrow.
"It seems so..." The Golden Lion stroked his beard as he looked at the sign with a flabbergasted expression.
The Golden Lion then flew back to Francisco and simply nodded.
"Yep... That greedy bastard used to live here." Shiki said as his bladed legs touched the ground again.
"Heh, wasn't this where we recruited him as well? Random urchin trying to steal from us." Francisco said as he then started walking toward that alleyway.
"Well, I wasn't that much older than him at that time, pretty sure we were both teenagers," Shiki said as he remembered one of their old crewmembers.
The man that had gone on to be known as Captain John to the world after the fall of the Rocks Pirates.
'A greedy and scummy scalper that only really cared about wealth and how to get it...' That was how Shiki remembered that man.
"He was an ambitious brat. I still remember him trying to capitalize on Xebec's strength to extort money out of people..." Francisco seemed to remember John a bit more fondly.
Shiki just looked weirdly at Francisco for that.
"Didn't Xebec rip him a new one for that stunt?" The Golden Lion smirked a bit as he remembered how mad Xebec was at John at that time.
Xebec didn't care about extorting people for money and goods, but he didn't like others using his name to do it.
Had John used his own strength to extort people, Xebec would have even praised him.
"Indeed, Doc Kureha had to glue him back together after that one..." Francisco smiled as he remembered a bit more about that incident, as well as their resident doctor, Kureha.
That woman was the only one older than Xebec and Francisco in the crew, she was the only real voice of reason besides Francisco as well.
She was a motherly figure to everyone, including Whitebeard, who she scolded regularly for his hotheaded attitude.
Both Shiki and Francsico remembered her fondly, though neither knew what had happened to her after the war.
They just remembered her fondly and assumed she was already gone since she was older than all of them when the Rocks pirates were active.
"Heh... I wonder if that Greddy bastard left anything behind in this place." Shiki looked around in that alleyway as he followed Francisco.
They were heading for what had been John's childhood 'home'. More specifically, a brothel that he used to live under covertly.
"Doubtful. He didn't seem the type to leave behind anything for anyone..." Francisco simply shook his head.
"Oh, you'd be shocked. That guy left behind one of the most sought-after treasures in the world before he croaked." Shiki laughed a bit as he remembered stories about Captain John.
"I remember hearing he got killed by his own crew because of his bloodthirsty and stinginess..." The Golden Lion was more than happy to bring Francisco up to speed on the fate of their greedy former crewmember.
"Sounds about right. Even Xebec told him he'd get killed eventually with that attitude." The legendary swordsman said as he stopped in front of a half-collapsed building.
"Bah! If Xebec of all people told him that, then it really was to be expected." Shiki stopped right behind him, looking at the building in question with a raised eyebrow.
"... I guess there's no way it would have survived after so many years... Was it 60?" Francisco's voice immediately gained a melancholic tune as he stared at that collapsed wooden building, eroded by age.
"Around that much... Maybe more." Shiki's voice felt the same, as the Golden Lion also looked at the destroyed building with a strange gaze.
The two old men seemed to both be stuck like that for a few moments. They stood there until Shiki's cigar burnt out, and the Golden Lion started walking towards the building.
"I guess we should check if he did leave something behind..." The Old Man said as he touched some parts of the building and raised them up.
"Let's look at the basement, that was where he actually lived for a good part of his life," Francisco said as he started walking directly toward the basement.
The Legendary Swordsman could still remember how he had saved John from their captain's wrath after John had successfully stolen a few pieces of jewellery from them.
He remembered how he had helped recruit John into the Rocks Pirates.
Banking on his talent and deft hands, the greedy thief had been one of the first people they had ever recruited in the Rocks Pirates, which only consisted of 5 people at that time.
The two old men walked down the stairs of the basement, the wooden stairs were mostly broken down, but neither man was afraid of falling.
There was also no danger of the rest of the building collapsing on top of them, as Shiki made sure to move all of the debris away from the basement with his devil fruit powers.
"This place stinks..." Shiki said as they walked further down what had formerly been a wine/alcohol storage. It was clear that no one had cleaned that place in decades, it reeked of mould and dried stale ale.
"To be expected, but I feel something interesting ahead..." Francisco and Shiki eventually reached the end of the room and were both staring at a stone wall.
"Where was that secret button again?" Shiki scratched the back of his head as he looked around the room once more, holding his nose as he did so.
"I don't remember, but I don't feel like spending too much time here." Francisco tapped the wall in front of him with his palm, his arm turning red as his will attacked the core of that rock instantly.
The wall wasn't blown backwards, it instead crumbled to pieces where it stood.
Francisco then continued walking into the hidden room.
"Fair enough..." Shiki said as he followed suit.
The contents of the hidden room shocked the two old men greatly.
The walls were littered with old paintings and pieces of art, golden statues lined half-collapsed wooden tables, and golden bars formed a small wall all around the room.
"That bastard really was a hoarder..." Shiki said as he looked around a bit more.
In the centre of the room was a 2.5 meter-long stone casket, with a notebook placed upon it.
"Do you think this is that fabled 'hidden treasure' of Captain John?" Francisco said as he looked around the room.
"Doubtful. There's barely any gold here by his standards. That bastard should've hoarded a lot more than this in his life. This is likely just a stash of his..." Shiki judged the amount of wealth in the room with a critical eye.
It was a lot for regular people, that was sure. But for a legendary pirate that much money wasn't really anything to write home about.
Both Francisco and Shiki had more bounty on their heads than the value of everything in that room put together.
But Francisco saw something rather promising in the centre of the room.
"The gold isn't all that impressive, true... Let's check that notebook though." Francisco continued walking, ignoring all of the gold and paintings around him as his hand touched the stone case
Shiki followed suit, looking around at the walls with suspicion in his eyes.
Francisco then picked up the notebook and started reading through it out loud, for Shiki to hear as well.
"If you're reading this, then you're either really lucky, or you are one of 5 people to know of this place.
Regardless of who you are, I decided for this to be my resting place, so I prettied it up a little.
If by any chance I don't make it here, please try to return my body to this place.
You can keep all of the money and gold in this room, the map to my secret treasure is also on my body, so you will have that as well..."
Francisco raised an eyebrow, as he then opened the casket in the centre, only for there to be nobody inside.
"I guess he didn't make it here... His betrayal and murder were rather sudden, I guess." Shiki shrugged as he spoke.
Francisco simply shook his head with disappointment and continued reading.
"If by chance you are one of my former comrades, then I hope you get eaten by a group of ravenous Lance Land-Sharks." Francisco nodded sagely when reading that, Shiki had a similar reaction.
"Sounds about right, at least we know this is John's writing." The Golden Lion stroked his beard as his eyes noticed something shining in a corner.
Francisco then continued reading the last few passages from the book.
"Hope you at least have the decency to do your old buddy a solid.
Anyway, that's it from me. If you want my treasure you better find my body.
If it's already here, fuck off and let me rest in peace.
Buh Bye" Francisco closed the notebook with a cold expression on his face, wondering why he wasted his time reading that in the first place.
"What a dignified ending..." Shiki said as he started walking to the corner, where he noticed a handle poking out from behind a pile of gold.
"A weapon? In this mess?" Francisco asked as he watched Shiki pull out a long spear from that gold pile.
It was sharp and it had a red piece of fabric tied near the blade of it. The shaft itself was around two meters long, with the spearhead adding another 30 centimetres in length.
The spearhead was not made out of metal, instead, it seemed to be built out of a sharpened bone.
On the shaft, three characters were scribbled down near the spearhead.
"Yasei no Kiba(Wild Fang)" Shiki read out loud as he pondered on that name.
Francisco was the first one to recognize it though. " One of the 21 Great Grade Blades!?" The Legendary swordsman was a bit surprised to see it there.
He had read everything about the Meito, or the Named/Ranked blades. He knew each of them by name easily, though that was the first time he had seen that particular one.
"Oh shit! Looks like they aren't that difficult to find! Yahahaha!" Shiki laughed a bit as he looked more at the bone blade.
"Why would John keep something like this?! He wasn't even a spearman..." Francisco was a bit confused though, not quite willing to just accept that finding one of the 21 Great Grade Blades was easy.
"He's a greedy hoarder! He would've stolen all of the Meito in this world if he could have." Shiki simply shook his head, just accepting that they were lucky enough to find the stash of their former crewmate.
"... So I guess we're taking that with us?" Francisco said as he stroked his beard.
"Yeap! No reason to let it gather dust in this place. Though neither of us is a spearman..." Shiki lamented for a bit, wondering if they had anyone they could give the weapon to.
"I think my newest student will appreciate it. If you don't have anyone in mind for it, of course." Francisco instantly thought about Wyper.
The Tribal Warrior turned Sky Guard was more of a Bazooka type of person, but Wyper still used the spear sometimes in training, and he was clearly trained with it.
"Didn't you want to also make him a swordsman?" Shiki asked as the two of the started walking out of the hidden room, not bothering to take any of the gold, deciding they would much rather take it when returning.
"Yes, but he seems to have different talents. It can't be helped." Francisco simply shrugged.
"Also, since we're taking the spear... We might as well look for John's body, retrieve it and all that." The legendary swordsman crossed his arms as he wondered where the body could be.
"Bah! Why would we bother with all of that?!" Shiki was clearly not enthusiastic about it though.
"I would've done the same for you Shiki. And you know that John would've done the same for the both of us." Francisco tapped his chest with a smile on his face.
Shiki just stared at him with a blank expression. "... You just want his money, right?"
"Well, the funds will certainly help my new captain out! No need to dwell on it though, let's get going!"
Francisco ignored the Golden Lion's question and continued walking back towards their floating island, exiting the collapsed building without any issue.
Shiki also exited the building, spear in hand as he looked back at the basement.
'At least don't act altruistically if you just want to steal from him... Well, he was a greedy bastard, so it's whatever.'
The Golden Lion proceeded to cover the entrance in debris, and started flying back to their Island.
'Still, a week of the journey left... I can barely wait!' Shiki smiled widely as their island continued flying into the horizon.
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Hope you liked the chapter!
Captain John was rich af :))
Also, this chapter was like, 3.4k words, which I think is actually the biggest one yet
If u want to support me look up VeganMaster(Vegan Cult) on Patre_on, you'd also get 10 chapters in advance (or 5 depending on tier)
