Ultimate Fruit

Chapter 19: The Golden Bell

“...Where am I?”

Wyper asked as soon as he woke up to an unfamiliar ceiling.

From the side, Gan Fall answered.

“You are in the ruin of Shandora.”

“Gan Fall...! You...you are also from Skypiea!”

Wyper’s face darkened when he saw Gan Fall and Conis.

“You can’t move yet!”

“Calm down. Don’t try to push it with your wounds.”

“!?”

Hearing the familiar voice, Wyper couldn’t help but doubt his ears.

That person who spoke was...the Chief? But then, why would the Chief and Gan Fall be in the same room together!?

However, there was still something else on Wyper’s mind.

“Chief! Where’s the golden bell!? We still have to guard it from-”

“Take it easy, Wyper...just listen…”

“?”

The Chief sighed and opened up the curtain revealing the outside to Wyper.

“In the past, the warriors had their reason for war. For generations, the sky is our home…”

“Chief…”

“Listen...the earth had never rejected anyone. It was us who rejected each other.”

“Yes...right now...among us...there is not one person...who desires the continuation of the war.”

It was only now that Wyper had heard of the noises from outside and saw the sight…

There they were, Skypieans, Shandians...all laughing and dancing merrily around a huge campfire!

He could see the bright smiles of everyone as they sand and danced together, not minding anyone’s identity!

In the middle of it all was a young man wearing a straw hat.

He was the one who smiled the brightest as he raised his arms to the sky.

“PARTY!!!”

!!!!!

Everyone cheered and laughed. Some were even competing in drinking!

Lucas was holding Nami’s hands as they danced together.

Seeing her smile, Lucas’ heart wavered.

For a moment...he thought. Maybe it would be best...to stay in this world…

Just like this, the 400-year war...now ends with laughter from both sides.

After a few hours of partying, Luffy decided to wake everyone up.

“Psst, Lucas! Wake everyone up!”

“Hmm? What’re you up to now?”

Just now, Lucas is still enjoying the feeling of Nami sleeping beside him and even Robin is beside him for some reason… but then Luffy slapped him awake so he was a bit annoyed.

Luffy didn’t care about that as he grinned.

“Let’s steal all the gold and run away!”

Hearing the G-word, the orange-haired lady beside Lucas woke up instantly!

“Ehh!? Gold!? Really!”

“Stupid! Don’t talk so loud!”

“You’re the one who is loud!”

While Nami and Luffy were shouting at each other, the others also started to wake up.

Usopp woke up from the noise but was still half-asleep as he blamed Chopper who was beside him and punched him.

“Be quiet! I can’t sleep with all the noise!”

“Ouch! That hurts!”

Soon, everyone else woke up as well.

“Is it morning already?”

“Those citizens of Blue Sea sure party a lot…”

It took a while but Lucas finally managed to calm and quiet the crew down as they discussed what to do.

When they were done planning, Luffy said.

“You guys got that? Make the best out of tomorrow. Don’t forget to do anything and regret later!”

The next morning.

Some shouted and alerted the Chief.

“Chief! We found the golden bell!”

“Oh!?”

“It’s hanging on the fallen beanstalk! Now, everyone’s getting ready to pull it back up!”

The Chief smiled and quickly issued an order.

“Gather as many men as you can and head to the beach!”

As they were quite loud, Robin was able to hear them as well.

The Golden Bell?

A relieved look appeared on her face as she thought.

“Finally...the stone tablet of Shandora that bears the ‘Historical Text’ is within my reach...I almost gave up on it too…”

Before having met Enel in the ruins, she had read some inscriptions on the walls and found that the thing she was looking for was on the golden bell.

But when the bell had fallen, she thought that she would never be able to see it once more.

Hearing that they had found it had given her a huge relief.

It wasn’t just Robin who heard about it as well. Lucas was there and saw the look on Robin’s face.

Lucas scratched the back of his head and sighed.

Finally, he went over to Robin.

“Shall we go see?”

“...Un.”

Anyway, it seems that the others are still busy and he had nothing to do.

Zoro was training as usual. Usopp was talking with the engineers of Skypiea and traded a lot of common goods from the ground with dials here.

As for Luffy and the others, they are currently inside the giant snake’s body as they took all the loot inside…

Lucas didn’t join them as he didn’t really want to stay inside a snake’s stomach for a long time…

Since this was the case, he decided to come along with Robin.

By the time the two of them got there, the Shandians and the Skypieans had already pulled the golden bell up.

“We got it!”

“Hurray!”

“So that’s the golden bell!?”

“It is marvelous!”

Lucas finally saw the bell in person.

Sure enough...it is quite majestic when compared to seeing it in manga or in the anime…

Despite the moss and vines covering most of its exterior, the golden shine and majesticness was truly something to behold!

Though, it was too bad that one of the pillars broke off.

At the bottom of the bell stand, there were square-shaped runic symbols etched onto it.

“There seem to be some writings on it, Chief.”

“...I cannot decipher the language on it, but...that is not important because-...”

Just before the Chief could start saying something profound, someone spoke.

“Before the Heart of Truth there is no need for words.”

“!?”

Lucas turned to look and it was indeed Robin who spoke.

“We are the Recorders of History. Existing in harmony with the sound of the Great Bell.”

The Chief looks shocked as he looked at Robin.

“Where...did you learn those words?”

“I found them on a rock in the Shandora ruin...it also said that you are the warriors of Shandora, Protectors of the Text.”

Hearing her say that, the Chief trembled as he asked.

“Can you...really decipher...that ancient language!?”

Robin didn’t mind him and focused on the text written on the bell.

Lucas was a bit tempted to cut in and pretend to read it to impress Robin but decided not to. After all, he really can’t read it…

“Hm...the Ancient Weapon with the power so strong that...it was named after the God...Poseidon?”

“An ancient weapon!?”

“We have such a thing here!?”

The Shandians were surprised but Robin ignored them. She frowned as she continued to read the texts.

Another weapon named after a God. It’s just like the Pluton of Alabasta?

Eventually, she sighed.

“What a waste of effort…”

This is not something that she wished to learn about…

Lucas smiled helplessly as he knew what she was thinking of.

“Robin, can you look at that other writing at the side? Maybe you’ll find something more useful.”

“Hm?”

Robin looked over and her eyes opened wide!

“We came here, found the text, and followed its guidance. -Gol D. Roger.”

After reading the text, more questions formed in Robin’s head.

“The Pirate King!? So he also came to the Sky Island...furthermore, he also knew this Ancient Language!?”

“Roger, you said?”

Gan Fall interjected when he heard the name.

“Do you know him?”

“20 years ago, there was such a guest on Sky Island. He said that he was a pirate of the Blue Sea. Can he be the same person who carved that message?”

“Perhaps...so that means, the Pirate King...already found the text 20 years ago. Those carvings are the proof.”

Lucas saw that Robin was talking to herself but didn’t interrupt her thought process as he waited.

“It is said that there are two kinds of tablets that hold texts like this one. They are the Tablets of Clues and the Tablets of Truths. This one is probably a Tablet of Clues...Hm...we came here, found the text, and followed its guidance...followed its guidance…”

Robin’s eyes lit up and a certain thought emerged which shocked her in the core!

“...Can it be...that the True Historical Text is actually…!”

Lucas smiled then turned to the Chief.

“Chief. It seems that...this text has already served its purpose.”

“...Served its purpose?”

Robin continued.

“Yes...there are many Tablet of Truths around the world, and...one must link them together to get the records of the Lost History. The True Historical Text is the combined result of these Tablets of Truths refer to by the Tablets of Clues...Surely, the Pirate King has recovered the Tablet of Truth that this Tablet of Clues here refers to…”

The Chief didn’t understand what she explained as much but...he did understand one thing.

“In other words, we...no longer…”

His eyes revealed tears that seemed to have been held back ages ago.

“We no longer...need to...fight…!? So the wishes of our ancestors...have long been fulfilled…!?” 

“...That is correct.”

The Shandians celebrated with tears of joy.

Finally...finally...now, they really did feel...that the war is truly over!

Seeing them react like that, Robin smiled then looked back at the golden bell as she continued to think.

This also means that I must follow the guidance given by the tablets I have read so far...to the ending point of the Grand Line...Raftel!

However, there is one more thing that she was confused at.

Her sights landed on Lucas who was smiling warmly at the Shandians who finally felt peace in their hearts after such a long time.

Earlier, it was Lucas who pointed her to the note left by the Pirate King...and it was also Lucas who was the first to say to the Chief that the text had served its purpose…

All this wouldn’t have been possible if...he didn’t know how to read the ancient text himself!

Well, the truth was that Lucas can indeed not read it. He held back trying to impress Robin but was unable to hold back completely as this was quite a historic moment in the story as well.

It was at this point that one would know just how important these ‘Poneglyphs’ are to the story and that they weren’t simply texts that points to weapons or something.

Which was why he was excited and pointed the note of Rogers and also prompted him to speak to the Chief…

Of course, Robin doesn’t know that. However...the way she looked at Lucas had certainly changed.

It was not the romantic kind at all...but more on suspicion.

Lucas...in the end, just who are you?

“Oh yeah, I heard that your friends also desire gold. Since in the Blue Sea, gold is more valuable than land...I cannot give you the bell itself, but how about this broken pillar?”

“Yeah! That’s a great idea chief!”

“Take that as a symbol of our gratitude!”

Lucas heard it as well and laughed.

Well, those guys are busy planning to escape with a few stolen treasures though…

Then, Gan Fall asked him.

“Lad, that boy wearing the straw hat...he reminds me of Roger. Are they related?”

Lucas smiled.

“His name is Monkey D. Luffy. Just wait, he’ll become the Pirate King as well.”

“D...I see, they have the same initial. Is that why they are so similar? Hahaha!”

“Maybe. Or maybe…”

Well, the Will of D is something that has been greatly teased and debated on the internet for so long that Lucas didn’t know how to answer.

After a while, Lucas and Robin went back to Luffy and the others with the golden pillar carried by the others following behind.

When Luffy finally saw them, he waved over their direction and shouted.

“Hey! Robin! Lucas! Hurry up!!! We stole their gold! We need to hurry and leave!”

“Luffy! Why did you blurt that out!? Didn’t you see all those people behind them!?”

“This isn’t good! They have a huge cannon with them!”

“Ahh! So many people and a huge cannon!”

Usopp and Chopper panicked when they saw the large pillar wrapped in cloth and thought it was some sort of weapon.

Lucas knew what they were up to and quickly calmed them down.

“Luffy! They are giving us the gold so you don’t need to run!”

“...Hah!?”

The golden pillar would be such a huge waste to not take…

Lucas thought so he tried to stop the crew from leaving.

Thankfully, this time, Luffy listened. Soon enough, he was staring at the huge golden pillar with shining eyes!

“How many meats can this buy!?”

“...”

While talking about this and that, everyone arrived at the shore and found the ship ready to depart.

Lucas sighed when he looked at Going Merry still intact.

Back when Enel had seemingly killed him and make him fall from the sky, Going Merry was also destroyed and the pieces of the ship had scattered in the sea below.

The only piece they could find left was the head…

At the time, Lucas felt regretful. He knew that although they would replace the ship one day, the importance of Going Merry was still quite a big thing to the crew.

Especially to Usopp...He even had a big fight with Luffy because of it.

That was why...last night...when he took the broken headpiece of Going Merry…

He...used his powers.

He didn’t know if it will work. He didn’t know if his water’s healing factor would help but...he tried.

Just as how he was able to regain the life from the dead plants that Crocodile had dried up in Alabasta...he...tried to resurrect Going Merry!

Well, seeing as Going Merry is fine and in front of them now. Obviously his powers had worked. But what Lucas couldn’t forget at that moment was...when Going Merry was whole again, he saw a strange...shadow-like figure standing on the deck…

The shadow seemed to smile and wave at him but when he tried to get near to get a closer look, it was already gone.

Though Lucas knew that there was something like the Ship’s Spirit that was teased in the original story, it was never actually explained and there are all sorts of rumors and speculations about it.

Seeing that shadow...he looked back at Going Merry and smiled.

“Well...with you all healthy like this...I wonder...just how much impact it would do compared to the original story…?”

He was amused by the thought and figured that it would be quite exciting as well.

Back to the present, Nami was confused why Luffy and them had come back while being followed by everyone else.

She thought that they were escaping...

When Lucas grinned and revealed the giant golden pillar, her eyes seemed to turn into gold itself!

Needless to say...she has no objections!

Still, it would be hard to bring that huge pillar on board the ship...so the Skypieans and Shandians had made a long raft fitted with jet dials which is tied to the ship so they could simply pull it along with them.

While being watched by everyone, the crew waved their goodbyes.

“Everyone! Take care!”

“Thanks a lot strawhats!”

“God! We will always remember you!”

Lucas coughed when he heard himself being called God again…

Suddenly, they heard the sound from the golden bell once more.

Luffy laughed.

“Shishishi! Sky Island! Farewell!!!”

Nami checked in on her log pose.

“Alright, Captain, the log pose has locked on to the next island…”

“Okay! To the Blue Seas!!!”

“Yeah!”

Alright, this chapter should calm down everyone who keep talking about Going Merry XD I aready had this in mind but figured you guys needed some suspense.

Well, more mystery comes about Lucas' powers...but I have actually seen 2 people already get the right answer in the comments from previous chapters. To those two, I can only say that you have the same wild imagination that I have haha.

Next chap would be tomorrow...sorry I couldn't post more frequently. See ya in the next chap!