One Piece: The Salted Fish Fruit

"Hey girls! Let's go out for a bit!" After comforting his younger brother, Franky called to his younger sister and headed towards Maby.

"Brothers Mabi! Let's go! I've been eyeing that piece of material for ages."

“No problem! Let’s go to the Holy Land of Poplar together! The sooner we buy the materials, the sooner the ship will be completed!” Maby laughed. She had previously discussed with Franky that as soon as they docked, they would rush to the Holy Land of Poplar to buy the materials.

"Brothers! Here's five million Berries, go ahead and spend them! I'm taking your Franky brother with me!" Mabi pulled out a stack of Berries and handed them to a brother who had caught up.

"Ah! Thank you, big brother!" After taking it, he turned to the brothers behind him.

"Haha! Guys, we've got some pocket money now!"

"Oh! Thank you, big brother!" Immediately, everyone surrounded him and left happily!

"These bastards!" Franky laughed and cursed at the bastard who had completely forgotten about him.

"Haha! Don't mind them leaving! We need to hurry over too!" Mabi saw his laughter and jokes, stepped forward, put her arm around his shoulder, and laughed.

Chapter 124 Saint Poplar

As soon as Mabi got out of the car, she felt a wave of heat hit her! Looking up at the island with its countless giant branches, some hundreds of meters high, she saw many workers sweating profusely as they cut and felled these giant branches!

"The Saint Poplar maintains a temperature above fifty degrees Celsius year-round! Growing in this scorching environment, the poplar trees desperately compress their wood fibers to prevent cracking and retain moisture, yet their weight is extremely light, making them the best material for shipbuilding, recognized by all shipwrights! This also brings immense wealth to the locals, with materials from other regions being transported to this island for sale. They, along with the entire island, are known as the Saint Poplar by the people of the Grand Line!" Franky explained to Maggie after getting out of the car.

Feeling the intense heat radiating from her body, Mabi replied, "How will people survive here if it's this hot?"

Looking around, apart from the figures near the station and the lumberjacks working in the distance, there were very few buildings.

"Haha! You'll see in a minute! Right now, you need a Super Coke to cool you down!" Franky laughed as he took a Coke out of his body and handed it to Mabi.

"Thanks!" I opened the bottle and poured it into my mouth, feeling instantly refreshed!

Franky casually hailed a vehicle pulled by a beast covered in yellow armor plates, and invited the three of them to get in. They then drove along a neatly maintained dirt road towards the distant woods. All the poplar trees had very few leaves to conserve their transpiration.

"What a vicious island!" Mabi laughed as she reclined in her chair, watching the chaotic battle unfolding in the distant woods.

Two distinct groups were engaged in a fierce battle, with swords clashing and guns roaring, and countless splattered bloodstains sizzling on the heated stone slabs.

"Haha! This is the largest black market in the surrounding waters! How can it not be chaotic?" Franky laughed heartily, completely used to this situation.

"Whee!"

"Hehe! Don't worry, Mabi, there's nothing to be afraid of with your big brother here!" Kiwi and Moz, the two cube sisters, said with a grin, clearly used to this kind of thing since they often followed Franky around.

"Thank you for reminding me, sisters!" Maggie said with a smile, picking up her Coke.

"Haha! You've been fooled by this kid. He's even stronger than your older brother!" Franky, seeing Maby's humble demeanor, immediately slapped the shoulder of the little sister next to him, tears and snot streaming down his face, exposing Maby's pretense.

"Haha! Franky is always weak in front of his friends," Maggie laughed. He can joke and fight with his buddies! He's not showing off! That's for outsiders!

"Really? Brother Mabi, you actually lied to us!" The two girls said coquettishly, putting their hands on Mabi's shoulders and giggling.

"Hehe! As an apology, Brother Mabi, will you buy us some jewelry later!"

“No problem!” Mabi readily agreed. She had already taken out a portion of the pewter in the car and distributed it. After the distribution, she received about 20 million pewter in living expenses, which was enough for her.

"Honorable guests! We've arrived at the destination!" Just as the group was chatting, the middle-aged man driving the vehicle stopped at a giant hole carved out of the rock and replied, with loud shouts faintly coming from the hole!

"Welcome to Saint Poplar! What services do you need? This is the paradise of all pirates. Whatever you want, we can find it for you!" Upon hearing the sound of vehicles at the cave entrance, two women dressed in light gauze rushed out and greeted Maggie and her companions. Through the gossamer-thin gauze, one could see the beautiful scenery inside.

"Girls! Take us to that bastard Cassis!" Franky ordered the two women as soon as he saw their guide appear, his arms crossed and his right leg outstretched.

"Boss Cassis? May I ask who you are?" one of the women asked, puzzled when she heard him address her boss by his name.

The woman next to her, seeing that the strange posture and bizarre attire perfectly matched the image of the underground king of Water Seven, a nearby island, hurriedly pulled her companion behind her.

"Sorry, Boss Franky! She just joined and doesn't know who comes here regularly! I'll take you to Boss Cassis right away!"

"Haha! I forgive you!" Franky said magnanimously, letting the two of them lead the way.

"What is this?" As Mabi walked down the steps, she noticed that the temperature around her had started to drop significantly. After walking about a hundred meters, the air around her suddenly became cool, and the cave entrance not far away was incredibly noisy with flashing red lights!

“You felt it too, Mabi! The heat on the surface has caused everyone to leave the surface and live underground. This has also created the largest underground city in the entire Grand Line, where countless transactions have taken place in this darkness! And precious materials like Adam are also transported here!” Kiwi answered Mabi’s question.

"Thanks! No wonder I don't see anyone living here on the ground!" Mabi exclaimed as she emerged from the cave onto a platform suspended in mid-air, gazing down at the noisy, chaotic crowd below. Occasionally, a few gunshots rang out, only to be drowned out by the chaos.

Countless tall wooden buildings rise from the ground to the ceiling, with various shops scattered throughout the vast three-dimensional space, connected by long wooden railing passageways for people to pass through.

"Haha! Nice chick, have a drink with me!" A middle-aged man, reeking of alcohol and with a long, brown beard, standing three meters tall, saw Kiwi walking towards him and, overcome with lust at her scantily clad appearance, reached out with his filthy hand to grab her!

"Something's wrong!" Mabi stepped forward, blocking her behind him, and grabbed his wrist with her hand, speaking coldly.

"Heh heh! Kid, hand over your girlfriend! I'll spare your life! I'm the long-bearded lord with a bounty of twenty million Berries!" The man threatened, completely unconcerned that his arm was being grabbed by a young man. Based on past experience, those young men would definitely abandon their girlfriends and leave obediently.

"Excuse me, it seems you're a repeat offender!" Mabi immediately understood when she saw his mocking look. She had spent years under that kind of gaze. She twisted her arm and flung him away in his astonished gaze.

"Hummingbird!" With a series of swift swings, five shuttles flew out with a crisp, loud whistling sound, heading straight for their destination!

"Brother Mabi!" Kiwi and Moz looked over in surprise!

"Let's go! The sooner we get back, the sooner we can build the ship and the sooner we can feel at ease!" Mabi laughed, putting her arms around their shoulders and pulling them forward without looking behind them.

“These two beauties should lead the way!” Mabi said with a smile to the two women standing in front of her.

"Uh!" Hearing Maby's reminder and seeing her actions, the two women immediately fell silent and obediently led the way. They knew what that long-bearded man had done; many women had fallen victim to his cruelty during their stay here! If they hadn't belonged to the same gang, they probably wouldn't be alive today!

"Brother Mabi! That's so decisive!" Franky laughed heartily, before he could even make a move, Mabi had already taken care of him.

"This saves a lot of trouble!" Mabi replied, looking at the passage that had automatically moved aside. Just now, quite a few people had put their weapons away. The one who hadn't put them away and nailed them to the wall would have been in this situation!

"It's really troublesome! Every time we come, we have to clear out a lot of people!" Franky joked as he walked along the cleared path.

Not long after, Maggie and her three companions met their target at a neon-lit bar. Before they even got close, they heard a hearty laugh!

"Hahaha! Franky, you've really put me in a difficult position! You've just arrived and you've already given me such a big gift!" A man who was only 1.2 meters tall was smoking a cigar, with several burly bodyguards standing behind him.

"Frankie! You've come at the perfect time! Haven't you been eyeing that piece of wood for a long time? If you help me get rid of this trouble, I'll give it to you directly!"

"Hey! When did you become so generous! I used to want you, and you wouldn't give me a single Beli less!" Franky teased, hearing his tone.

Chapter 125 Trap

"What do you say, Maby?" Franky turned and asked, since they had paid for the material and needed to get Maby's opinion.

“Let’s look at the materials first!” Maby replied with a frown. She remembered that in the original story, Franky returned in just one night without any mistakes. Now, however, unexpected complications had arisen! However, judging from the current situation, the entire plot had become chaotic, leaving only the general outline. The details had long since become a jumbled mess!

"This one? It's no longer here!" The other person saw Franky's gesture towards Maby and knew that the real buyer was no longer the straightforward Franky, so he laughed awkwardly.

"Hey! Cassis, you tricked me!" Seeing the other's embarrassed expression, he immediately knew something must have happened to lead to the scene of the gift earlier, so he grabbed the other's collar and shouted angrily.

"Boss!"

"Frankie! Let go of the boss!"

"Crack!"

Countless guns were loaded and pointed in this direction!

"Put them down! Put them down! Put down your guns! Franky and this brother, let's go inside and I'll explain it to you!" Seeing his men raise their weapons, he waved them down and turned to Mabi and Franky with a smile!

.

"So that means the piece of wood has fallen underground, and as long as we can find it, it's ours?!" Mabi replied after hearing his explanation. Sure enough, it was a time of many troubles. The ground collapsed for no reason, and the warehouse storing the wood collapsed directly into a bottomless pit.

"Yes! We would be extremely grateful if you could investigate the situation down there and tell us, since this is where we live and we'd like to know what's going on down there too," the other person nodded.

"No problem! After all, the ship we're going to be on will be sailing the whole world and going through all sorts of battles, so it needs to be made with the best materials! Franky, we need to get moving quickly!" Maggie agreed immediately. The new ship had to be ready as soon as possible. Since the Going Merry had disappeared, they'd been constantly hitching rides and fighting for seats, without any fixed place to stay! Everyone desperately needed a sense of belonging!

"No problem!" Franky said confidently!

"Alright! I'll take you there right away!" Seeing Maggie's agreement, the other man puffed on his cigar and smiled broadly.

So Maggie and her companion followed them to a wide plaza, illuminated by countless spotlights that made the area as bright as day, reflecting the haphazardly piled logs and bushes scattered throughout. In the center of the plaza was a cave several hundred meters in diameter, around which a large group of people were throwing rope ladders down in an attempt to descend!

"Alright, this is it! There was a sudden collapse below, and some of the cargo here fell down at the same time! Our detection shows that this cave is at least a thousand meters deep! Our workers will build a rope ladder for you to go down!" Cassis explained, looking down into the deep cave.

“No need for all that trouble!” Mabi stepped forward and replied, closing her eyes. Under the powerful mental force, all her sensory organs seemed to be magnified countless times, and she could control the airflow around her! The airflow that had been emanating from the cave earlier appeared in Mabi’s senses like a howling wind!

The airflow was not smooth and varied in speed and strength, unlike the normal smooth flow of air. This was caused by the presence of an object moving below, which made the airflow in the entire space turbulent and unstable!

"How is it?" Franky suddenly asked when he saw Maby open her eyes.

“It’s alive! There’s something moving below!” Mabi replied slowly, glancing at the looks around her. She found that they weren’t particularly shocked, which meant they already knew and weren’t surprised by it.

"Haha! This brother really has a unique ability. I just remembered that when it collapsed, a vine did indeed extend from below and wrap up the Adam Tree!" Seeing that Maby had analyzed the specific plan below in such a short time, he laughed heartily. As for being exposed by Maby as having living things below, he didn't care at all, as if he had just remembered it.

"Really? It's not too late to tell me now!" Mabi smiled as she looked at his laughing face, but her whole body was like ice in winter, radiating a cold aura that spread around and made people shiver.

"It's so cold!" Looking at Mebius's increasingly radiant face, Cassis found his body stiffening and becoming unresponsive! It seemed he had provoked someone he shouldn't have!

"Frankie, you stay with those two girls! I'll be right back!" Maggie said coldly, jumping into the abyss below without looking back! Whether it's real or fake, we must get that piece of the Adam Tree!

"I'm here! No problem! Cassis, I didn't expect you to play tricks on me! Powerful Right Hand!" As the underground ruler of Water Seven, Franky was no idiot. From the previous conversation between Maggie and Cassis, he already knew that Cassis had deliberately concealed some information from them, causing them to jump! He couldn't let the price for playing tricks on him go unpunished!

"Wait..."

"Bang!" The iron fist, propelled by the spray of cola, gave the other party no chance to explain. It instantly appeared in front of him and slammed heavily into his body, sending him flying high into the distance and crashing into a pile of debris!

"Clang!"

"Clang!"

"Snap! Snap!"

"Frankie, how dare you lay a hand on the boss!" The surrounding guards roared in anger upon seeing their boss get beaten.

"Super invincible! You want to fight me? Even if you all join forces, you're no match for me!" He showed no fear in the face of the weapons around him, striking out with disdain! The two young ladies beside him also drew their long swords and shouted in a sweet voice!

"How dare you bully our little brother!"

"Stop! Franky is turning against us for a stranger! If you dare to make a move, you won't be able to escape in this confined space!" Cassis, who had stood up again, abandoned his usual magnanimous demeanor and shouted in a sinister tone. With everything laid bare, there was no need to hide anything. As someone who allowed others to plunder his territory, he was certainly not a kind person.

"Haha! It really shouldn't have been me who did it. When he comes out, you'll all suffer his wrath! Little sisters, I'll sing you a song of betrayal!" Upon hearing this, Franky laughed loudly, sat down on a log, and took out a guitar that had inexplicably appeared and began to play.

"Haha! You scared me! You're just some nobody pirate with a Devil Fruit! I have something here specifically designed to counter Devil Fruit users!" The other party laughed heartily, completely unfazed by Franky's threat. He had already ordered his men to search for information on the other party but found nothing, so he didn't care. He figured he could just send the creature below to fight and weaken its fighting ability!

"Haha! The Adam Tree of Kasis is right down there. It's agreed that whoever finds it gets to keep it!" At this moment, a man wearing a pirate hat and followed by a group of his men appeared and laughed loudly!

“No problem! The Adam Tree is right down there, take as much as you like!” Cassis said with a straight posture, standing at 1.2 meters tall.

"Men, let's go! Let's get down!"