Ever since Rowan stepped onto the sky island, he had been thinking about one thing—
"Golden City" Shandora, according to records, was once a glorious city.
Its glorious period was about eight hundred years ago, almost parallel with the prosperous period of the Alabasta Kingdom!
But what Rowan found strange was that he had never heard of the city of Shandora.
Logically speaking, even eight hundred years ago, gold, as a precious metal, was a hard currency between countries, and Shandora, which possessed a massive amount of gold, shouldn't have been unknown.
Originally, Rowan didn't pay much attention to this, simply thinking that the trajectory of history was slightly changed by the butterfly effect, but now, looking back from eight hundred years later, it's not the case.
Shandora still exists and still leaves behind the legend of the Golden City for future generations.
If that's the case, why wasn't Shandora active eight hundred years ago?
Did they choose to isolate themselves and avoid war?
Or were they without anything else besides a large amount of gold, with extremely weak military capabilities?
Or perhaps, they had other goals different from maritime domination?
According to Rowan's current known information:
About four hundred years ago, Upper Yard hadn't yet been blasted into the sky by the Knock Up Stream and was still part of Jaya Island.
At that time, the explorer Montblanc Noland led his crew to land on Jaya Island, discovering a group of people who valued battle and honor above all else.
Their fighting power was amazing, even capable of hunting Sea Kings, but their living environment was quite simple, and their culture was very primitive.
Even when infectious diseases spread among them, they wouldn't choose medical treatment but would instead sacrifice living people to the mountain god, praying for the god's protection.
This situation gradually improved only after Noland established a deep friendship with the then "Great Warrior" Calgara.
According to the situation at the time, these natives, whose social structure was similar to that of "tribes," were definitely incapable of building such a magnificent city.
Even if war might cause cultural traditions to be cut off, it wouldn't cause a vast civilization to decline to this extent.
What exactly happened in Shandora?
The Poneglyph, which records information about the Ancient Weapon "Poseidon," is located here.
Eight hundred years ago, World Government...
Is it because of that lost century?
Nefertari, what did you find again?
...
Conqueror's Haki spread, and countless tiny grains of sand spread throughout this lost city.
The sand gathered, forming one person after another wearing traditional Alabasta clothing.
Under Rowan's control, they lived in Shandora like real people, recreating the Golden City of eight hundred years ago.
Rowan's consciousness spread throughout Shandora, and he tried to use the method of elimination to find any clues hidden in Shandora.
In the market, vendors were selling their goods, reasonable;
In the square, children were playing, reasonable;
On the streets, crowds were coming and going, reasonable;
In the basement of a tall tower, there was a staircase leading deeper underground…
Rowan narrowed his eyes.
He deduced it hundreds of times, but he always failed to find a "reasonable" use for that staircase.
Therefore, unreasonable.
...
Gan Fall and the others arrived in time.
"What's buried under Shandora?"
"Or rather, what is Shandora built on top of?"
Faced with Rowan's question, Gan Fall was also confused for a moment.
For the sky islanders, the soil "Vearth" is an incredibly precious and sacred thing, and Upper Yard is an even more sacred and inviolable "God's Island."
Ordinary sky island residents are not qualified to set foot on Upper Yard, and the successive "Gods" who live on it would not idly try to dig up the island.
Therefore, Gan Fall could not answer Rowan's question.
Crocodile, who was standing to the side, didn't understand.
"Why bother so much? Is your Observation Haki just for show?"
Rowan pointed in a direction, which was exactly where the plaza in front of the tower was located.
"Stand over there and try."
Crocodile then turned into a sandstorm and arrived at the place Rowan was pointing to.
He shrugged as he smoked a cigar, "I'm here. So what…"
Before he could finish speaking, Crocodile's expression suddenly froze.
With an incredulous look on his face, he looked down and stomped his feet.
Before long, a gloomy smile appeared on Crocodile's face.
"Hehehehe, this is quite interesting."
Several curious people then rushed over, including Gan Fall, Habu, Dalton, and Bell.
But the reactions of these people were different.
Gan Fall and Habu looked bewildered, not knowing what Crocodile was talking about, while Dalton and Habu had strange expressions on their faces.
The two of them suddenly felt a slight… sense of powerlessness?
Yes, it was as if half of their bodies were submerged in seawater, not enough to drown, but they couldn't muster their strength.
Dalton frowned and asked, puzzled, "What's here?"
Crocodile took a puff of his cigar and answered his question.
"Sea stone."
Crocodile stomped his foot, "Right below us, and a massive amount of sea stone!"
After he finished speaking, he tapped off some ash, thinking there would be exclamations of surprise waiting for him, but when he turned to look, he found that everyone was looking at him, waiting for what he was going to say next.
Crocodile: "…"
How annoying, these guys from the first half of the Grand Line really don't have any knowledge!
He tried to explain, but after understanding what sea stone really was and how rare that stone was, the initial exclamations were reduced to only a few sighs.
Crocodile: "…"
Unpleasant.
...
Rowan led the main force over here as well.
Gan Fall stepped forward, intending to learn more about the Four Seas Alliance, but Rowan shook his head.
"Old knight, wait a moment."
Gan Fall clearly saw that this powerful man from the Blue Sea, who carried a strong sense of oppression, actually had a youthful light shining in his eyes.
Rowan walked into the tall tower and eventually arrived at the basement.
The crowd followed closely behind.
Most people were just marveling at the ruins of Shandora, but the Devil Fruit users in the team felt a wave of powerlessness washing over them.
Crocodile really didn't like this feeling of being passive.
Following the feeling of the territory, Rowan quickly discovered a hidden door in the basement.
To avoid unnecessary leakage of information, all irrelevant people were dismissed, leaving only the elite forces of the Four Seas Alliance and Gan Fall himself.
"I'll open it."
Dalton was about to act, but Rowan stopped him.
Since it involved sea stone, randomly opening the door was too dangerous for Devil Fruit users.
A black sand soldier slowly took shape, holding not the usual spear but a sharp blade wrapped in Armament Haki.
Swish!
In an instant, the blade slashed through, shattering the bricks blocking the hidden door into countless pieces.
Behind it was a dark passage.
"Dark" for two reasons.
First, because there was no light underground to begin with.
Second, because the material of the corridor itself was black.
—The black of sea stone.
...
"A sea stone corridor?"
Crocodile narrowed his eyes. He never expected that beneath that massive amount of gold, there was such a large amount of sea stone!
Observation Haki went deep into it, but it wasn't possible to explore the depths of this corridor at all.
It was a road—
A dead end for Devil Fruit users!
You can read 50+ more chapter on patreon com/JYouyi