One Piece: Blue Scale Admiral

At the end of the passage, a huge underground space, supported by dozens of thick, ancient stone pillars, appeared before Crocodile and Robin.

A hint of excitement appeared in Crocodile's eyes as he immediately spotted the giant cube-shaped stone monument with sides measuring ten meters in the center of the underground space.

He was about to order Robin, who was following closely behind him, to go and decipher the inscription on the stone tablet.

But the next moment, Crocodile's excitement froze.

Robin, who was following behind, suddenly widened his pupils and stared blankly at the top of the huge stone monument.

Crocodile stared blankly at the top of the Poneglyph, where a large expanse of gleaming gold was still exposed despite being covered by a thick layer of dust. He stood frozen in place, as if struck by lightning, his mind reeling.

"What...what is this?"

His lips moved, leaving behind the equally shocked Robin, and he suppressed a thought that was faintly rising in his mind, making him tremble. He leaped to the top of the cube-shaped stone tablet and leaned closer to look at the object that resembled a ship.

The unidentified object was covered with a thick layer of dust, indicating that it had existed in this underground ruin for countless years.

Crocodile stretched out his slightly trembling right hand, ignoring the dirt, and wiped away a thick layer of dust.

The areas where the dust had been wiped away revealed a rough, golden pattern.

It's gold.

It was made of the same gold material as the gold hook he wore on his left hand.

The rough texture, with scales and flowers faintly interwoven, looked ancient and sacred.

Crocodile licked his dry lips and couldn't resist waving his hand, creating a sandstorm out of thin air.

The howling sandstorm swept towards the object in front of it.

As large swaths of the thick dust covering the site were washed away by the sandstorm, dazzling golden light instantly illuminated the vast underground ruins.

It also made Crocodile's wide-open eyes shine brightly.

Is this a ship?

Crocodile was somewhat unsure.

Because he had never seen a ship with this design before.

On the flat deck, there was only a thick golden pillar, which looked like a cannon barrel.

It lacked the masts and sails that are typically found on ordinary ships.

The cabin was also very small, perhaps only big enough for one or two people.

The entire ship is made of gold, and its hull is carved with a large number of flowers and scales. When viewed closely, a winding dragon can be seen coiled on the hull of the gold ship.

However, perhaps due to the passage of time, the surface of the ship is severely worn, and the details of the dragon carving are somewhat blurred.

Even so, it makes the whole ship look exceptionally sacred, grand, and majestic.

Crocodile held his breath, jumped onto the deck of the golden warship, stared at the thick, straight golden cannon barrel for a long time, and then went into the cabin.

The cabin was very cramped, with a square hole in the floor.

Through that hole, one could see inside the ship's hull, where numerous golden gears were interlocked and fitted together.

Those large and small, disc-shaped golden gears gave Crocodile an extremely powerful visual impact.

He had never seen anything like it before.

Those intricate gears resembled the outer hulls of some icebreakers, but were infinitely more exquisite and complex.

It's practically a perfect work of art.

Suddenly, Crocodile's pupils contracted as he saw a mottled golden slab supported by countless interlocking golden gears.

His gaze was immediately drawn to the stone slab.

The square opening inside the cabin was rather small, and the golden stone slab was more than two meters away from the opening.

If it were an ordinary person, they might not even be able to get their hands on it.

However, Crocodile is a Logia-type Devil Fruit user.

His right hand transformed into sand and extended into the cave entrance, grasping the somewhat heavy golden slab. As if afraid of breaking it, he carefully took it out of the cave.

Crocodile held the mottled golden slab in his hands as if he were holding the most precious thing in the world.

As he looked at the dissected patterns carved on it, the thought that had risen in his mind grew louder and louder.

Could this be the ship?

Crocodile took a deep breath, his heart pounding, his face flushed as if he were drunk.

The writing on this golden stone tablet also appears to be ancient, which Nico Robin should be able to recognize.

Thinking of this, Crocodile immediately turned around and walked out of the cabin.

He carefully held the stone slab, jumped down from the golden warship, and walked to Robin, who had been staring blankly for a long time.

“Nicole Robin, look…look at what’s written on this.”

He handed the golden stone tablet to Robin.

Robin finally snapped out of his daze from the golden warship atop the stone tablet and looked at the golden stone slab handed to him.

The writing on the stone slab was indeed ancient, and Robin could understand it.

As Robin watched, his face froze and his pupils trembled.

"What does it say? What is this?" Crocodile asked excitedly, his voice trembling slightly.

Robin glanced at the cube-shaped stone tablet behind him, then at the golden stone slab in front of him, his lips twitching as if he was hesitating.

Snapped!

A large slap landed on her face, sending the silent Robin flying two or three meters before crashing heavily to the ground.

"Speak! What does it say on it!" Crocodile roared.

Robin collapsed to the ground, blood trickling from the corner of her mouth, staring blankly at the golden slab held aloft by Crocodile.

"Design blueprint, this is a design blueprint for a warship that can fly, its name is Ark."

“The Ark?” Crocodile was stunned. He murmured, “The blueprints for the flying warship, isn’t that Pluto?”

He turned around and looked again at the golden warship towering atop the stone tablet, staring at the thick golden cannon barrel.

"Is this the flying warship Ark? But how can a ship made entirely of gold fly when it has no mast?"

He jumped onto the bow of the warship again, looking closely at the more than ten-meter-long golden cannon barrel connected to the golden base.

At that very moment, Crocodile's body shuddered violently, as if an electric current surged through his skin, sensing an unimaginable, terrifying energy hidden within the golden cannon barrel so close at hand.

The sheer size and ferocity of this energy reminded him of a volcano about to erupt.

His eyes widened suddenly, and the corners of his mouth turned up in an uncontrollable grin.

"Hahaha, hahahaha, ahahahaha!"

A series of hysterical laughs erupted from Crocodile's mouth, echoing endlessly throughout the vast underground space.

At that moment, Crocodile seemed to have gone mad, clutching the golden stone tablet tightly in his hands, feeling the terrifying energy fluctuations so close at hand, laughing maniacally to the sky, laughing until tears streamed down his face.

"Pluto, the King of the Underworld!"

"Ancient weapons!"

"There's no mistake! This chilling energy fluctuation!"

"Hahaha, I've finally found it! I've finally found the Hades warship!"

Chapter 326 Old Sha Tests the Cannon

In the underground ruins, illuminated by the dazzling golden light of the golden warship, Robin sat on the ground, indifferent to the dirt and dust on her body. She looked up, completely lost in thought, at Crocodile, who stood at the bow of the golden warship, laughing incessantly as if he had fallen into boundless madness.

Robin felt that what he was seeing was extremely unreal.

Is this golden ship, less than twenty meters long, the Pluto warship, one of the three legendary ancient weapons, capable of destroying an island with a single shot?

Robin couldn't believe it, and didn't want to believe it.

She could hardly imagine the horrific disaster that would befall the world if the ambitious Crocodile were to acquire such a weapon capable of destroying the world.

Robin originally planned that even if the historical stone tablet in this underground ruin recorded the whereabouts of the Pluton warship, she would find an excuse to mislead Crocodile, telling him that there were no clues, or misleading him to another place, and would not give him the real clues.

However, the solutions that had been devised through internal struggle along the way suddenly became completely useless.

Because what appears to be the real Hades warship appeared directly in this long-forgotten underground ruin.

This bizarre, outrageous, and dreamlike scene was so strange that even the usually composed Crocodile was driven to a prolonged state of madness.

It's like a pirate searching for the One Piece, randomly landing on an island, hoping to find a Poneglyph that has even the slightest connection to the treasure, but instead discovering the treasure itself.

Unbelievable!

On the golden warship, Crocodile, who had been laughing for several minutes, finally calmed down his surging emotions and began to carefully examine the golden slab in his hand and the golden cannon barrel in front of him.

He couldn't understand the golden stone slab.

However, the raised patterns on the golden cannon barrel, converging towards a hemispherical protrusion on the base, caught Crocodile's attention.

"What is this? A button?"

He subconsciously reached out and gently pressed the hemispherical button.

The button had sunk less than a millimeter.

Zizizizi!

Beams of dazzling electricity emerged from the golden cannon barrel, flowing and flashing across its surface.

A terrifying surge of energy instantly erupted within the underground ruins, sending chills down one's spine.

Crocodile's throat bobbed as if he'd been electrocuted, and he quickly released his grip.

At this moment, his hair was standing on end, stimulated by the electric light flowing across the surface of the cannon barrel.

As soon as his palm moved away from the hemispherical button, the dazzling electric light that had appeared on the surface of the cannon barrel immediately dissipated.

The intense energy fluctuations subsided.

Crocodile trembled and let out another nervous, low laugh.