Chapter 83: Veridis Quo

Robin woke up.

She looked around and saw Nami  on a bed next to her. Looking at her surroundings she tried to make sense of where she was. They were not cuffed or in a cell, so the chances of being in an hostile environment  were low.

She raised herself up to assess the situation better. Suddenly she heard a door open on her right prompting her to turn her head in that direction and raise her hands, ready to do some blooming.

”You’re up!” exclaimed the person walking in the room.

”Camie?”

”Yup!” answered her mermaid friend with a smile.

”Where are the others and how…”

”Mermaid friends of mine found you drowning between the protective bubbles of the island. They recognized the jolly roger and brought you to me. My place wasn’t big enough for everyone, so I had to improvise and separate you. Some of your friends are already up and went to explore the island while you were out cold. I kept Nami and you together…” explained Camie before being interrupted by Robin.
“Thank you.”
“No need for thanks between friends!” said the mermaid with a smile, to which Robin simply nodded in agreement.

The brunette got out of bed and got closer to Nami to check on her. After kissing her little kitten’s forehead she turned to Camie who had a big smile on her face.

”What is it?” asked the archaeologist. 

”Seeing you like that with her…I don’t know, it just brings a smile to my face. Are the others still in the dark about your relationship? I don’t want to make a blunder.” asked the mermaid.

”We’re still hiding it and they don’t know about Rick either. So please keep keeping our secret.” replied Robin earning another nod from Caimie.
“Are you two doing alright?”

That question made Robin pause. And the answer was not an easy yes or no. It was complicated. For the past two years she had missed him, everyday, despite moving forward, but her breaking down the other day proved that she was not, in fact, alright. Yet with Nami, she could bear it a little better.

“I thought I did… It turned out I didn’t. Nami is surprisingly holding it better than I do. We can be okay all day and then something just jolts a memory of him to come to mind. When that happens, it’s difficult but we’re here for each other, so we’re managing.” confessed Robin.

Caimie nodded again and went to the closet in the room. From it she pulled out Robin’s jacket and sarong.

“Here, I washed your clothes while you were asleep.”

The brunette thanked her and took her clothes. She quickly changed from the shirt and short someone had put on her. She searched for her glasses when Camie handed them to her.

“Are you not waiting for Nami to wake up?” the mermaid questioned.
“It could take a while, and I’d like to get some fresh air instead of sitting here doing nothing.”
“I understand.”
“Does fishman island have a library, or a town hall with records?”
“There is a library in Ryugu palace, but you can’t go there. As for a town hall we do have one in the central district. What are you searching for exactly?”
“I’m an archeologist, so books about fishman island’s history or the fish folk’s would be great.”
“Those kinds of records are in Ryugu palace too, however I can have someone show you the way to a bookstore, you might find what you want there.”

Robin thanked Caimie and one of her mermaid friends led her to the place. There, the few books she found who were history related didn’t say much.
Mainly about how fishman island came to be and how its society developed on a social level.

Apparently, before the Void Century, fish-men who had the time lived on the ocean’s floor gathered to the only source of light coming from the surface. The how was simple, the sun’s light shone upon what the people called the Sunlight Tree Eve which absorbed it and sent it down to its roots where the light was let out.

Robin made a mental note to remember the Sunlight Tree Eve, thinking that maybe it was in some ways related to the mythical Tree Adam, and continued her reading until she arrived at a part who captivated all her attention.

During the void Century, a man named Joy Boy came from the surface and made a promise to the people of the island. While the promise was not recorded in the book it involved what was called Noah or the ‘Ship of Promise’, a gigantic vessel half the size of fishman island. It was currently guarded in the fish-man district, waiting now for more than 800 years for the promise to be fulfilled.

The book contained no more information on the subject, she picked another one, this one focusing on the societal aspects of the island and its geography. She learned that the island was divided both by class and by the species of the people who lives there.  The richer the people the better the district they lived in. Diggin deeper she found out that Noah was currently in the fishman district, the poorest of them all and the least safe, as the folks living there were preyed upon by many things from simple brigands to slavers and with no protection from the island’s authorities. That piece of information made her change her mind on going there alone to study the famous ship, and without any kind of guide at that. No, she made the decision to go there once the other members of the crew had woken up.

Studying a map of the island, a zone in particular caught her eye. Its official name was the ‘Sea Forest’ but the book also referred to it as the ‘Ship Graveyard’. The area was at the bottom of the island, devoid of any habitations but filled with different species both of flora and fauna. A thought crossed her mind.

“Maybe that’s where Sunny is…”

The chances were high for it to be the case as when they entered the protective bubble around the island they were falling a bit towards the bottom. Furthermore, since many shipwrecks were there, maybe some of them date from the time of the Void century, or close to it, and still keeping any kind of information about it. The trip would be worth it and way less dangerous than going to the fishman district.

Making up her mind, Robin closed the book and put it back on the shelf she took it from. Before exiting the store she asked the clerk if detailed maps of the island were on sale, especially ones leading the way to the Sea Forest. Fortunately for her, that was the case.

Now with a goal in mind, the straw hat crew’s archeologist went on her way to her own adventure.

~~~~~

Robin walked and walked for hours to reach her destination, and while she did enjoy being amazed by the diverse fishes and plants the nature of the island presented before her amazed eyes, this was not what she was looking for. She found better actually, something she didn’t think she would find here in this place. Getting closer she started to read the poneglyphs in front of her.

The content surprised her, as the poneglyphs are separated into two categories. The first one were the historical poneglyphs, relating ancient history and the second were instructionals and led to the first category.

But this one was different, it was neither. It was in fact an apology letter from Joy Boy about him breaking his promise to the people of Fishman island which involved carrying Noah’s purpose. Studying the moss on the cubic stele, Robin determined that the poneglyph hasn’t been there ‘for long’. Certainly not hundreds of years ago but more like decades.

It was obvious that it wasn’t Joy Boy who put the poneglyph here for two reasons. One, he lived during the Void Century. Two, there wouldn’t have been much of a point to leave an apology letter in the backyard of the people you’re apologizing to, especially with how difficult it is to get to fishman island.

Robin wondered who would transport a poneglyph to here. She thought about it for a while until the answer came to her.

Gol D Roger.

The pirate king himself, with his crew, was the one who brought the ‘text’ here. She remembers the poneglyph on Skypiea. The stele detailed the location of the ancient weapon Poseidon which was fishman island. But that wasn’t what led her to her realization. No, what did was the small text on the side of the stele that Rick had told her about.

“ We came here, found the text, and followed its guidance “ quoted Robin out loud.

It made sense. Shandora was built around 1100 years ago and disappeared around 800 years ago, during the Void Century, until Norland found it 400 years later. All along the location of Poseidon was in Shandora. It wouldn't be far-fetched to think that the man named Joy Boy left his apology letter next to the poneglyph leading to Poseidon meaning, to fishman island since he couldn’t deliver it himself, otherwise the letter wouldn’t have been needed to begin with.

That discovery shocked Robin.

“Why would the pirate king deliver the letter here? Am I missing something?” she thought.

Looking around the poneglyph she noted a subtle difference on the ground near it from the ground in the surroundings. Getting a better look She determined that something heavy, big and in cubic shape used to be there.

“Another poneglyph was there! Did the pirate king take it with him when he put the other here? But why? Was it another message? No it wouldn’t make sense. The poneglyph which used to be here was neither a message nor a historical or instructional text, there would have been no point to move it. What was it then? A new type of poneglyph?”.

Robin didn’t know what to think anymore. She was completely lost.

After examining the area a bit more and not finding any new clues she decided to explore further into the Sea Forest, hoping to find Sunny. That endeavor was an easy task as she heard two voices yelling at each other. One of them, she knew, as it belonged to her captain. Moving a bit faster she saw him fighting with whom she recognized as the former shichibukai Jimbei. Raising her hands she made a clone of herself appear between the two of them. Sanji, who was among the ones present, intervened immediately seeing who he believed was Robin. He just ended up being smacked by the two fighters while the brunette made her clone disappear.

With the tension gone, Jimbei started telling his story and the one of the fishman island. Looking around the group, she noticed that Zoro, Brook and Usopp were not there. She got intrigued by the giant mermaid near Jimbei. She was adorably cute despite her size and seemed a bit like a scaredy cat. She reminded her how Nami acted when they began their secret relationship. It was an enthralling sight. She knew that teasing her would have been a delight.

“Rick would have loved going after her.” she thought with a pang of sadness and amusement.

Nami, seeing her lover watching intently at the mermaid princess, leaned over the former and whispered in her ear.

“Is she my new pet sister? You know cats eat fish right?” making Robin grin slightly.
“Shh you! I admit she’s gorgeous and I would love to have her writhe under me but she’s a bit tall for that. And let’s not forget the whole mermaid anatomy. Besides I’m not one used to …”
“Seduce? Riiight. Wasn’t it you who seduced me?” said Nami with a dubious face.
“That was a team effort… He… had the charm, I just reaped any work he did.”
“Uh-huh. Said the one who gave me out of nowhere a kiss which rocked my world, turned it upside down THEN, proceeded to molest my poor breasts while kissing my neck.
“I…”
“Robin, that sent an electric shock to my body, it was tingling all over.”
“You were not as innocent as she is.”

Any retort that Nami could have made was forgotten when a visio den den mushi appeared from behind the trees and started displaying a direct feed of Hody Jones. With Zoro, Usopp and Brook’s life at stake the crew had no other choice but to confront Hody in battle which changed Jimbei mind to not fight him as Jones himself revealed that he was the was who killed the former queen of fishman island and framed an human for it, advancing his plan of world domination and human enslavement.

Despite having a force of more than 100 000 people the crew of ten dominated the fight. Luffy’s display of conqueror haki, knocking out half of the numbers, helped a lot. And while the crew was dealing with Jones’ commanders and the army of fishman island with the grunts still standing an unexpected danger appeared.

The Ship of Promise, Noah, was going to crash onto fishman island, thanks to the doing of a pirate named Vander Decker, who has been after the mermaid princess for years and got rejected hours ago. He had lost his sanity and decided that since he can’t have the princess, he’d destroy the whole island, killing everyone. Using his Mato Mato no mi powers, allowing him to target everything he touched with a hand and everything he threw with the said hand would fly towards the target, he targeted the mermaid princess years ago and sent Noah after her.

Luffy tried to get on Noah to stop it, hoping that by knocking Vander Decker unconscious the effect of his powers would stop. Meanwhile to save the island the princess swam away, as the Ship of Promise would follow her.
After a hazardous underwater fight between Luffy and Hody along numerous incidents, the former was left with no choice but to destroy the giant ship to the acceptance but great sadness of the people of fishman island.

Something unexpected happened however.

Thousands of hands sprouted on Noah’s deck where a giant bubble of air was. Luffy was grabbed by one of them and pulled back from his assault against the ship.

“Robin! What are you doing?!” he yelled to himself as no one was close enough to his location to hear him.

Down below Usopp, with his prodigious eyesight and who saw what was happening, was about to ask the brunette the same thing when something they believed they would never see again, happened.

A dark purple glow began to shine around the thousands of hands. Noah’s fall due to hody getting rid of Vander Decker began to slow down until it stopped for a few moments.
That familiar glow was instantly recognized by the strawhat crew. And while separated by their location on the battlefield, they all had something to say or to think.

“That’s…” was all Usopp said.
“...Can’t be.”
“... impossible.”
“...dead!”

Nami and Robin were completely frozen, oblivious to the world around them. Their eyes wide opened, fixed on what was happening.The latter had tears slowly and silently falling down her cheeks, unaware of it. Even with her sunglasses on everyone could see that she was crying.

Suddenly the purple light got weaker and faltered until it disappeared completely. Noah, now free of the force stopping it, began to fall again. Luffy was too out of it and too wounded to continue his destruction of the ship after being stopped in his momentum. All hope seemed lost when Sea Kings appeared out of nowhere, catching in their maws the giant chains attached to the Ship of Promise and leading it away towards the Sea Forest where they could land it safely.

Everyone cheered; adults, children, the ederly.... Everyone but ten people.
They knew why the purple light disappeared. They had witnessed it back on Skypiea when they had to make the giant bean fall. Frantically they began looking around trying to locate him. Right now, more than anyone he needed medical attention because the last time they saw that purple glow faint into nothingness, despite different circumstances….

Their Vice-Captain died.