After finishing a delicious yet simple lunch, Robin climbed up a vine twenty meters above the ground.
She surveyed the surroundings from her vantage point.
Centered around the massive vine, the ground was formed by Island Cloud. Gazing at the boundary where the Island Cloud met the landmass in the distance, she spoke with certainty.
"Excellent. Without a doubt, the City of Gold lies beneath this Island Cloud-formed ground."
This conclusion was derived from ancient texts Robin had deciphered during her morning investigations on the island.
Moses stood beside her, admiration gleaming in his eyes. As expected, such minor challenges couldn't conceal the truth from the astute Robin.
The two descended from the vine.
Upon reaching the Island Cloud surface, Moses watched as Robin took Bear Cub's arm and led him to a corner, pointing at the ground.
"Bear Cub, eat. Start digging downward from here."
Bear Cub's expression showed mild exasperation, but he didn't object. Gold mattered to him too—after all, gold meant Berries, and Berries meant delicious food.
Immediately dropping to all fours, he opened his massive jaws wide and began taking huge bites, his entire body soon disappearing into the growing hole.
Moses and the others gathered around the excavation site. Minutes later, a heavy thud echoed from below, followed by Bear Cub's excited voice.
"Come down! There's so much gold here!"
Moses leaped into the hole first, landing steadily on the rocky floor seconds later.
They had entered an underground ruin—a sprawling complex of tightly clustered golden structures gleaming magnificently. The most striking was a pyramid-like edifice towering majestically at the center.
Unexpectedly, the entire subterranean ruin was bathed in bright light due to the Island Cloud's properties. At the very heart stood the enormous Braided Vines stretching toward the sky.
Kureha and the others descended one by one, each supported by Robin's segmented arms that resembled stick insects connected in chains.
As they landed, the pale segmented arms dissolved into pinkish-white petals.
Everyone stood awestruck by the resplendent golden architecture. Bear Cub approached Moses, tugging his sleeve with a grin.
"Moses, so much gold! We can buy loads of tasty food now, right?"
Moses sighed and led him to a collapsed structure, pointing at its cross-section.
"Look, it's not solid gold. These buildings just have thick gold plating over stone interiors."
Bear Cub's face fell. He bit into a broken piece, his ears drooping instantly.
"Fake stuff? Tricking bears..."
Kureha strode over, laughing. "Even just the surface gold plating would last you a lifetime, you dummy."
Bear Cub's eyes immediately brightened. "Oh right! Then I'll extract all the gold!" he declared, already springing into action.
Robin approached and grasped his arm seriously. "Can you collect just the gold without damaging the ruins?"
Bear Cub pondered briefly before nodding. "Just gotta eat slower."
Hearing this, Robin breathed a sigh of relief. Though she knew it would add a lot of work for Bear Cub, she still couldn't bring herself to damage the ruins for the sake of gold.
Moses observed the scene without objection—it wouldn't take much time anyway.
Flap! Flap!
The sound of flapping wings echoed as Crow Dabao flew over excitedly, exclaiming:
"Mei, look what I found! Follow Crow!"
With Crow Dabao leading the way, Moses and the others followed. Beneath the largest structure, they found a stone chamber with its door slightly ajar. Upon entering, the sight nearly blinded them.
An entire room filled with a small mountain of gold artifacts, gemstone jewelry, all piled up like trash.
"This is... truly astonishing."
Even the well-traveled Kureha was stunned, let alone the two younger girls, who fell into stunned silence. Moses was equally amazed:
"Well, this solves it. Our research funding won't be a concern for a long time. The wealth in these ruins must amount to at least hundreds of billions of Berries, right?"
Kureha took a deep breath and nodded, rubbing her temples as she said:
"Possibly even more. These items could easily be considered ancient relics, and they're so well-preserved. How fortunate."
Indeed, this gold could be considered untouched virgin land, unlike in the future when Enel would ravage it, using the Rumble-Rumble Fruit to refine every last scrap away.
At this moment, all of it belonged to Moses.
Moses looked at them, waved his hand, and cheerfully declared:
"I've taken a look—there are plenty of exquisite ornaments here. Take whatever catches your eye."
After a brief silence, no one moved. Moses asked curiously, "Don't you like these things?"
Perona snapped out of her daze and sighed. "Seeing so many treasures all at once... I don't even know what to do. It feels unreal, like a dream."
Robin chuckled softly. "The ancient City of Gold, Shandora, truly lives up to its name. That giant bell tower from yesterday must have been the famous Light of Shandora."
Seeing that no one was making a move, Moses sighed and motioned to Crow Dabao.
"Dabao, move all these treasures back to the storage room. You can take whatever you like later."
Crow Dabao was also fond of these shiny objects and cawed at Moses, "Can Crow take some to line the nest for the chicks?"
Moses laughed. "Go ahead. You could even have Bear Cub build you a nest made entirely of gold if you want."
Crow Dabao cackled with delight.
Flapping its wings, spatial ripples shimmered over its body as it stored all the treasures away into the castle.
Moses turned to Bear Cub. "I'll give you a month to refine all the gold outside into bars. Can you handle it?"
"No problem, leave it to Bear."
Bear Cub patted his chest proudly—when it came to eating, he was an expert.
Moses and the others exited the chamber.
Robin headed back into the ruins to continue her archaeological work, hoping to uncover more information.
Bear Cub also got to work.
He hugged a wall and began gnawing away at the outer gold plating with remarkable speed and precision, cleanly separating the gold from the rest.
The remaining group—Moses and the others—strolled around the ruins.
An hour later.
Robin walked over with a helpless expression, clearly having found nothing else useful.
Leaving Bear Cub to work there, Moses and the others departed.
They continued the morning gathering work with Kureha, while Robin joined them in climbing the vines barehanded.
...
Days passed one after another.
Everyone's daily routine gradually stabilized.
Bear Cub worked fervently, only appearing at mealtimes and otherwise staying out of sight.
Kureha conducted her research on biological gigantification in the laboratory.
Moses, Robin, and the others spent each day climbing the towering vines barehanded, training both their physique and willpower.
In the blink of an eye, seven days had passed.
Early morning.
Ocean Cycle Calendar 1507, February 22nd.
Inside the Castle Space. Smithy,
Moses was attempting an entirely new weapon forging.
Looking at the weapon blank in his hands—a failed steel creation—he began cleaning up the scattered materials.
Suddenly, Moses froze. An intangible, indescribable wave of spiritual energy swept past. Sensing no danger, everything seemed to change in those brief seconds—yet also as if nothing had changed at all.
At that moment,
a primal instinct surged within Moses, as though something engraved in his genes had awakened, or as if some restrictive shackles had dissolved.
And instinctively, he understood.
At this moment, the world's rules had been recalibrated.
Yet, it also felt as though nothing had truly changed.
Frowning slightly,
he tidied up the smithy and returned to his room.
For now, this transformation had little impact on Moses, so he simply washed up and went to bed early.
...
Amazon Lily.
The royal palace's grand bathhouse.
At this hour, she was the only one here.
Hancock relaxed in the bath, leaning against the stone wall, idly twirling a small silver scalpel in her hand. Her eyes gleamed with an inscrutable light:
"What are you doing now? I've grown so much stronger. I've already found three Devil Fruits. When will we meet again?"
"Next time I see you, I'm definitely going to tie you up and whip you, you arrogant little brat."
Outside the bathhouse, two young women whispered to each other by the wall.
"Big Sister's muttering again. She always takes so long in the bath."
"Right? Doesn't she worry about soaking her skin off?"
"Nonsense! Big Sister is so beautiful, and her Breath technique is incredible. I heard that recently, combined with her Observation Haki, she suddenly became able to perceive something called the Breath of All Things."
"True. According to Granny Nyon, that's something only swordmasters out on the open seas usually comprehend."
"Hmm, let's go in and join her. We can give her a back scrub so she doesn't lose track of time and faint again."
"Yeah, good idea. Otherwise, we'll have to drag her out again."
...
"So curious… so very curious."
Moses lay in bed, unable to sleep.
All things in the world had their own rhythm of breath. Because the world had changed for him, Moses' perception had become extraordinarily keen in this moment.
Some previously unnoticed frequency fluctuations were captured—mysterious yet elusive.
Hard to comprehend.
Yet there was an instinctive feeling that those indescribable frequency fluctuations were profoundly important and extraordinary, as if they were the most fundamental existence in the world.
As Moses' Breath rose and fell, he entered the Celestial State. In complete rationality, he emptied his mind, aligning the fluctuations of his own Breath with those he sensed, striving to perceive and grasp them.
But like air slipping through fingers, he could sense it yet never quite hold it in his hands.
Of course, Moses knew this was simply because he wasn't strong enough. If he were strong enough, even air could be clenched in his palm and hurled at someone.
Everything flowed with time. After an unknowable duration, Moses opened his eyes, a trace of disappointment in his gaze.
He hadn't managed to grasp that Breath frequency—only a faint impression lingered in his mind, leaving him restless.
There was an inexplicable sense of familiarity.
Yet also something deeply unfamiliar.
It resembled the spatial fluctuations when entering Crow Dabao's Castle Space, yet also felt subtly different.
Like a kitten scratching at his heart, he wondered, "What could it be? That unique Breath frequency fluctuation."
The sharp perception that had lingered in his mind had now faded, forcing Moses to give up.
Frustrated.
Sleep.
Eyes closed, head tilted—this time, sleep came easily. Soon, soft snores filled the room.
(End of chapter)