Chapter 506: Underground Shipyard—Mayor Hades
After ten hours, with absolutely nothing of value discovered, Alex finally returns to the surface, looking completely drained.
When he steps into the house, everyone turns toward him with an expectant gaze.
"Do not even ask!" Alex says immediately. "Tomorrow...."
Princess Jewel is so excited! She has complete trust in her Soulmate!
"..."
A day later, almost to the minute, Alex finds himself blushing. For the first time in a while, he experiences a powerful sense of déjà vu.
Exactly like yesterday.... Nothing! Just empty rooms and rotted garbage!
Princess Jewel does not doubt Soulmate at all!
On the third day, Alex jumps back into the water once more.
This needs to work... today is the day!
Another dreadful day of diving later, Alex returns, his skin wrinkled and expression exhausted, before rejoining the others, now looking visibly upset.
Princess Jewel belie—
"Don't..." Alex says, silently. "Just don't."
"Nobody is blaming you, Alex," Benezia replies gently. "This was my idea in the first place, and you are clearly doing your very best. This might be a good time to abandon the task. It was certainly worth a try. Intelligent people know when to quit."
"No," Alex says. "I can do this. There should be something down there! It makes so much sense! You said it yourself. Even that shitty volcano on Little Garden turned out to be a gold mine. How the fuck can the lost part of Water 7 be completely empty? It does not make any sense!"
"With your LUK..." Benezia begins to reason. "Having found absolutely nothing after three grueling days of diving. Makes no sense. I fear there is simply nothing to find. Your Conjuration is so situational. One Piece was never about diving—in fact, thanks to all the Devil Fruit users, I'd say it does its best to avoid diving."
"Really? I don't know, I mean, I wasted three days already!" Alex says, still undecided.
Menchi smiles. "Alex, ever heard of the Sunk Cost Fallacy? What you're showing right now is a textbook example of it."
"I am not aware of these primitive theories, but I can imagine their meaning. Menchi is right... for once," Benezia states.
Alex sighs. "I know about it... but still... no! I still haven't explored everything. I'm only focusing on the central building—if there is something valuable down there, it must be there!" Alex insists, taking out the map and pointing toward the marked structure.
"This place is massive, and diving slows things down—especially since I have to conserve Aura and can only use En when I completely lose my awareness and sense of surroundings in the darkness. This is the legendary Water 7. There must be something of value down there!" Alex says, his voice rising, a faint edge of desperation slipping through.
"As much as I agree with Menchi and Benezia," Tereza says, "I also understand your point, Alex. Since you're already at your goal, it might be worth continuing. It's not like we've made any progress ourselves. We've spoken to the CP9 agents several times, but we haven't found any player or Iceburg. And we've only earned a few million because the entire town is flooded with Sea King Meat. At our current pace, hitting the 300 million Belly is impossible. At least without desperate measures, which we want to avoid."
Benezia nods.
"The true problem is that all the wanted pirates have fled the city. Our Reputation has spread, and we are considered the worst kind of Pirate Hunters on the entire Grandline. A fearsome Reputation is indeed a double-edged sword, as you humans like to say. According to Gerald, there are almost no pirates left, and those who stayed are hiding or simply do not have bounties," she explains.
"Don't worry... I'll make us rich! I will definitely succeed," Alex says.
At least I hope so. I need to rely on my LUK, but even the best LUK cannot create treasures out of thin air. If there is simply nothing to find, then even with my high LUK state, I am destined to fail.
The next day, Alex descends once more, taking the same route he knows by heart at this point—he could probably remember it in his sleep.
Having already explored a large portion of the massive building, he maneuvers through it with ease, gliding past familiar hallways until he reaches the few remaining areas left unchecked.
Thanks to his repeated dives, he's grown noticeably more adept with his new Conjuration and can now move through the water with far greater control.
Still, despite having combed through almost the entire structure—including the central office—Alex presumes belonged to the mayor at that time, he is nearly ready to give up. Still, as he inspects the large table made of a quality dark-wood, he sees a tiny nameplate, simply displaying 'Mayor Hades'.
What a scummy Mayor, he spent so much on a damn table, yet the system does not recognize it. Even the damn wooden nameplate has withstood the test of time. Anyway, time to move on.
His AURA is nearly depleted, and with only twenty-five minutes of Conjuration time remaining, he's forced to abandon his exploration yet again. He's covered every floor, with only a small side complex on the bottom level left, barely worth his attention.
Frustrated, he begins to make his way back.
When he finally reaches the surface, night has already fallen. The others are fast asleep, except for Jewel, who drops from the ceiling and lands neatly on his head.
❤️
Alex sighs, strokes Jewel's shiny, metallic-cool back, and heads straight to bed without another word.
The next morning, he can feel everyone's eyes on him—but they remain silent, allowing him to leave without interruption or even mentioning a thing.
Thank you... Well, this is it. If I don't succeed today, I'll give up!
And with that, he sets out once more, diving deep into the catacombs of Water 7.
Returning to the massive building, Alex explores the final area he hasn't inspected yet.
To his surprise, it opens into a wide space.
Is that... a warehouse? No... There are small tables around, is that some kind of pen and ink? Also, there are... ships? Unfinished ships...
Is this a shipyard? Probably the most expensive one! I guess it makes sense... still, this is all worthless.
Still, despite the ships and the tables, Alex sees nothing of interest, much less value.
However, as he continues deeper into the area, he activates En to get a better sense of his surroundings and is immediately surprised.
As he activates it, he notices something strange.
The floor beneath him feels thick—but there's something under a thick floor, made out of solid stone. A sort of tunnel.
Now paying close attention, Alex follows the faint sensation, until he reaches the massive stone walls.
Focusing his Aura into his eyes, he peers forward and spots something—A large sail, blocking his view.
Behind it? Yes!
He pulls the sail aside and senses a set of stairs.
Opening the hatch, he dives into a narrow tunnel.
Looking somewhat uneasy, but with no other way forward, he gathers his courage and pushes on.
I've wasted almost five days! It would be pathetic to turn back now! Forget all the deadly diving accident documentaries you've watched on YouTube. This is very safe... nothing can go wrong.
He dives down a small set of stairs and dives through the tunnel for a while, eventually coming across another set of stairs leading further down.
He swims above it carefully, only to realize—The stairs don't end. Even his entire En radius doesn't fully cover them.
Well... time to dive...
One minute passes. Then three and finally five. It takes him over five minutes to reach the bottom, finally arriving at what looks like the edge of a dark abyss.
Despite the lack of proper lighting, a few small glimmers on the surface give off a faint glow, just enough to let Alex grasp the scale of what lies before him.
Some sort of stone that lights up? It's weak, but it's enough light to see this crazy underground batcave on steroids.
A vast, empty cavern, stretching hundreds of meters high, appears before him. Sadly, it seems completely barren.
Is this... a place used to construct ships? But ships are not that tall! Even in One Piece, this is ridiculous! Is this a shipyard to create Giant ships? That would probably be a ship where even Oars could comfortably sleep and live in. It's fucking humongous! But... but... it's fucking empty as fuck!
What a rip-off... Still, I might as well take a closer look. Man, let me find something, at least.
He swims deeper inside the vast space—only to freeze as a flicker of movement startles the hell out of him.
[Congratulations, Player, you have discovered a Secret Location: Pluton's shipyard]
!!!!
Now wide awake, blood pumping through his veins, Alex surges forward at full speed!
I still have enough time to stay here for half a day! I need to look around. This place might look empty, but still—this is where Pluton was created! That must've been ages ago!
Despite how empty the shipyard seems at first, Alex soon begins spotting remnants.
Scraps of wood and metal. Cannons. Tools. Clothes. Rotted construction equipment.
The floor is scattered with abandoned remnants from long ago.
Suddenly, a large wooden platform appears before him—easily a hundred meters tall. The stairs leading up to it have long since broken down, and part of the platform itself has collapsed.
Still, thanks to the water, Alex can easily make his way on top of it.
Upon arriving, he sees the platform is covered in tables and filled with a large contraption—something clearly designed to let people board ships from different angles, able to extend a sort of bridge.
Right in front of the bridge stands a large table, sturdy enough that it has survived all the time.
Quality wood... like the table in that Mayor's office.
On it—something gleams, which makes Alex smile.
Maybe some item that's decent? Let it be good!
Alex immediately swims toward it.
Carefully, but without hesitation, he reaches out and grabs the object.
The system reacts at once.
You have received Hades' Hammer
[Hades' Hammer]
World: One Piece
Quality: Deep Gold
Type: Hammer (One Handed)
Required Stats: STR - 15, PHY - 15, SNS - 15
Required skills: Hammer Proficiency lvl 5, Basic Close Combat Prowess lvl 5, Basic Endurance lvl 5
Durability: 999/999
Damage: 50-50
Effect: True Damage - This weapon always deals full damage that damages and bypasses armor.
Effect: Hades' Legacy - This weapon is imbued with the Underworld's durability and is virtually indestructible. It does 500% increased damage to any piece of equipment it strikes.
Effect: Underworld's touch - Allows the user to enhance his next strike, doubling damage and immediately destroying any piece of equipment it strikes, forcefully setting its durability to 0 and thus making it unusable until repaired. Should this weapon strike an unprotected target, it will deal an additional 100% damage and cripple its target permanently, requiring a high-class healing method to recover from.
Warning: This ability can only be used once every 24 hours.
Note: An average hammer, wielded by Hades, also known as Pluton, the so-called God of the Underworld. After creating the legendary Weapon Pluton, which he named after himself, a weapon with such craftsmanship and might that it has persisted through time, even the hammer partly used to forge it has reached the threshold of divinity, falling just a tiny step short.
Note: Capable of crafting the strongest weapon on earth, it is now capable of destroying virtually anything if wielded by a worthy user.
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