Pirates on Rocks' Ship 996

"This should be the inside of the gourd-shaped mountain!" Reina said, looking around as he sensed that the temperature around him seemed a bit higher than before.

"To think they could build such a passage inside a mountain, that's truly amazing!" Perona couldn't help but exclaim.

The passage wasn't long, and after walking for a short while, they saw a building that looked like a palace.

"Wow~ It's made entirely of gold!" Luffy exclaimed, his mouth agape as he looked at the building before him.

Indeed, the building that appeared before them was made entirely of gold, and there were huge statues of soldiers holding various weapons on both sides of the road. These statues were all tall human figures, giving people a very powerful sense of oppression.

Reina carefully sensed the surroundings but found no signs of life.

According to typical storylines, these statues would likely come to life and attack the attackers once they passed by.

However, what Reina feared did not happen. When they worked together to open the golden palace gates, the statues remained motionless.

Upon entering the Golden Palace, the first thing that catches the eye is the countless gold and jewels piled up inside. If Nami were here, she would definitely faint from happiness.

Even Reina had never seen so much gold before, not even counting the entire palace made of gold.

"Is this the so-called treasure?" But Robin was somewhat disappointed when she saw the treasure, because in her opinion, this treasure was not as valuable as the documents found in the ruins before, which were the most precious treasures of mankind.

But the others didn't see it that way; they were nearly driven mad by the sight of the vast treasure before them.

"Hahahaha... We're rich! We're rich! Perona, we're rich this time!" Olga rushed into the pile of treasure, laughing wildly as she gathered gold and jewels around herself.

The Naga and the merfolk warriors quickened their pace and walked inside.

Reina didn't stop them; he just watched everything with a smile.

Although the gold here cannot enhance his strength, it can bring wealth to Crescent Moon Island, improve the lives of its residents, and accelerate Dr. Vegapunk's research. Therefore, Rena was quite satisfied with his gains this time.

But just as everyone was stunned by the treasure before them, the entire golden palace suddenly trembled.

"Hmm?" Reina immediately realized something was wrong; it seemed they had triggered some kind of mechanism.

But after carefully sensing it, he found nothing wrong.

"What is that?" Just then, Perona suddenly shouted and pointed to the deepest part of the palace, where a huge throne made entirely of gold appeared, inlaid with precious gems. Most importantly, there seemed to be a person on the throne.

“Something’s not right, I can’t sense any life force!” Reina said, frowning.

His Observation Haki was constantly activated, but he couldn't sense any life force other than theirs.

Luffy, curious, wanted to go forward and take a look, and Reina didn't refuse, but just told him to be careful.

When Luffy walked up to the enormous throne, he said speechlessly, "It's just a corpse, just a skeleton, only much bigger than Brook, like a giant!"

"It seems he must be the master of this golden palace!" Seeing that Luffy was safe after going up, Robin followed him.

"Can you tell anything?" Reina quickly came over and asked.

Robin shook his head and said, "Judging from his uncorrupted clothing, he's not from our time! And he's probably not a giant; real giants are much larger than him!"

Robin has a strong curiosity about the enormous kingdom that once existed in this world. Both Ohara and her mother, Olvia, have discovered records about that enormous kingdom more than once.

However, there are no complete records, only some fragmented accounts.

On this underwater island, she also discovered some ancient writings, which were related to the great kingdom, but there were still no detailed records.

She had expected to find something in the place where the treasure was stored, but she didn't.

"Huh? This is... a Devil Fruit?" Just then, Olga discovered a treasure chest among a pile of gold. When she opened it, she found a Devil Fruit inside.

"What kind of Devil Fruit is this?" Naga asked curiously, having never seen a Devil Fruit encyclopedia.

Seeing this, Reina and the others also went over, but they did not notice that a red light seemed to flash in the eyes of the skeleton sitting on the huge throne.

"Huh? It really is a Devil Fruit! This thing tastes awful!" Luffy glanced at it and immediately said with some disgust.

There aren't many things that Luffy would say tastes bad! It seems the Devil Fruit he ate back then left a deep impression on him.

“This should be a Devil Fruit not listed in the Devil Fruit Encyclopedia; I haven’t seen it there!” Reina shook his head and said, “If you’re interested, you can eat it now! We completed this expedition together, so you have priority. If you don’t want it, I’ll take it back!”

The Naga, Shirahoshi, and the Murloc warriors all shook their heads in refusal.

They live in the ocean year-round, and the ocean would hate them if they ate a Devil Fruit, so they generally don't eat Devil Fruits!

On the Straw Hat crew's side, Luffy and Robin are already Devil Fruit users, and even Chopper, who is waiting for them on the sea, is a Devil Fruit user, so they don't need Devil Fruits.

So in the end, everyone looked at Olga, who was the only one in the group who wasn't a Devil Fruit user and didn't have to worry about the sea.

"Olga, do you want to eat it?" Perona asked expectantly.

She herself is a Devil Fruit user, and she is quite satisfied with the Negative Ghost ability. If Olga could also eat a Devil Fruit and gain an ability similar to hers, that would be even better.

Olga herself hesitated, looked at Reina, and asked, "Do you suggest I eat it?"

"You can ask yourself that. To some extent, Devil Fruits are indeed a quick way to increase strength, but for those who want to climb to the top, it's not a good thing. First of all, after you eat the fruit, you gain power, but you also gain a weakness! And this weakness is basically known all over the world, so your enemies can target your weakness!"

Olga nodded in understanding. Seastone and the sea are the greatest weaknesses of Devil Fruit users, especially with the opening of Wano Country. More Seastone has been traded from Wano Country, which has also had a great impact on Devil Fruit users.

Secondly, there's the fruit itself. For example, the Logia-type Sand-Sand Fruit is naturally countered by water, which was one of the reasons Luffy was able to defeat Crocodile.

Chapter 1181 Awakening

Seeing Olga's hesitation, Reina smiled and said, "If you're not in a hurry, why don't you go back and ask the Doctor? You can get his opinion! I'll take this Devil Fruit for now, you guys don't have any objections, right?"

Upon hearing Reina's words, everyone shook their heads, indicating that they had no objections.

It's just a Devil Fruit; it's not really of much use to them.

But just as Reina was about to put the Devil Fruit away, he suddenly heard a cry of surprise. Reina turned around and saw that the skeleton that had been sitting on the throne had actually stood up.

"Another Brook?" Luffy looked at the skeleton who had gotten up with surprise and asked curiously.

With a flick of his wrist, Reina put the Devil Fruit into his inventory, and Hyōrinmaru appeared in his hand at the same time.

"Everyone be careful!"

Everyone was on high alert, watching the giant skeleton standing there, ready to retaliate immediately if it made a move.

But after waiting for a while, the huge skeleton did not move; it simply stood there.

Naga gave a wink to the merfolk warrior beside her, and immediately one of them slowly stepped forward, intending to test the waters.

"Luffy, if they make a move, you immediately go and attack. I'm going to rescue them!" Reina said to Luffy beside him, holding the Hyōrinmaru.

He dared not entrust the task of rescuing people to Luffy, so he could only leave the attacking part to him and take care of the rescue himself.

Sure enough, as the merfolk soldiers stepped forward, a red light flashed in the eyes of the skeleton standing there, and its body began to tremble.

"Luffy, watch out! Everyone, back up!"

Before the skeleton man could make a move, Luffy charged straight at him. Reina had to warn Luffy to be careful and told the others to retreat.

"boom!"

Luffy's fist landed directly on the skeleton, but the skeleton didn't react at all.

"Huh?" Luffy looked at the giant skeleton with some surprise, but the giant skeleton did not retaliate or move.

"What's going on?" Luffy didn't continue attacking, but asked with some confusion.

Although his attack wasn't his strongest strike, it was still quite powerful, yet the opponent didn't react at all, which was rather unbelievable.

Reina, standing to the side, also frowned. Luffy's punches were not so easy to catch. Although he needed to activate Nika Mode to have the fighting power of a Yonko, even in normal mode, most people couldn't withstand his punches.

"Everyone, be on guard!" Seeing this, Reina could only tell everyone to be careful while he quickly put the surrounding gold into his inventory.

"Roar~~"

As the gold on the ground disappeared, the red light in the giant skeleton's eyes grew stronger and stronger. With a roar, it took a step forward with its right foot.

It was just a simple movement, but it caused everyone, including Reina, to simultaneously take a step back.

“Father, he should be guarding this gold!” Robin seemed to have noticed something and shouted loudly to Reina.

"Hmph! I'm a pirate, how can I not take the gold I see? Luffy, attack him, give me some time!" But Reina didn't stop, instead speeding up his movements and asking Robin to create time for him.

"Hehehe... No problem!" Luffy laughed and charged straight at the giant skeleton, unleashing a barrage of attacks.

Seeing this, the others also stepped in to give Reina enough time to collect the gold, as they all had a share of it.

However, the giant skeleton seemed to have skin of copper and bones of iron, completely ignoring the attacks from Luffy and the others, and with a wave of its hand, it directly slammed down on Reina.

"boom!"

The opponent was too slow, and Reina easily dodged the attack. However, the giant skull's hand left a huge palm print on the ground of the golden palace.

"He's strong, but he's slow. Be careful and stay away from him!" Reina shouted as he gathered up the gold on the ground.

No sooner had Reina finished speaking than Luffy rushed in front of the giant skeleton and punched it in the face.

"Oh!"

The skeleton remained motionless, ignoring Luffy's attack, and raised its hand to strike Reina.

"Get away from me!" Reina knew he was the target, so he shouted, "Naga, take your people and get out of here!"

Naga hesitated for a moment, then nodded and replied, "Okay!"

In a place like this, the merfolk are of no help at all. It would be better for them to retreat first and ensure a way out for everyone.

"Blooming Flowers - Entangling!" Robin crossed his arms in front of his chest, and instantly countless arms appeared from the giant skeleton's body, forming a large net that entangled the giant skeleton.

But this did nothing to stop the giant skeleton's movements; it continued its slow pursuit of Reina.

"No! Our attacks are completely ineffective against him!" After being easily broken free, Robin realized that her moves were useless against her enemy.

"Gear Third!" Seeing this, Luffy knew that ordinary attacks would not be able to stop his opponent, so he skipped Gear Second and activated Gear Third in Giant Mode.

"Giant King Kong Gun!" Luffy activated Gear Third, concentrated his Haki on his right arm, and punched the giant skull.

"Oh!"

Luffy's punch worked this time, knocking the giant skeleton off balance and nearly causing it to collapse.

Meanwhile, Reina took the opportunity to collect all the gold and treasure on the ground into his inventory.

However, even though he took so much gold, the system still didn't notify him that the task was complete, which made Reina a little suspicious. Perhaps this gold wasn't a real treasure?

While Luffy was holding off the giant skeleton, Reina began searching around to see if there were any other passages or mechanisms.

"Father?" Robin, noticing Reina's unusual behavior, called out in confusion.

Reina didn't waste any words and directly stated his guess: "This gold may not be the real treasure. Perhaps there is something else here that we haven't discovered yet!"