Although he was smiling, his eyes were filled with deep astonishment.
For a Body Techniques specialist to use hard objects for training was perfectly normal, but most people used hard steel; this was the first time he'd seen someone use a Poneglyph for training.
He knew very well how hard this thing was.
To be able to leave a fist mark on this...
"It's not just pure talent."
Beckman also walked over, leaned in to examine the fist print, and even twitched his nose. "There's a bloody smell. On this fist mark, what's left is that guy Sage's sweat and blood. Truly worthy of being the number one on the sea."
Even the Red Hair Pirates acknowledged the title of number one on the sea; beyond battle records, just seeing this level of effort, even if he was an enemy, was enough to earn their respect.
"Not here. Let's go. There's definitely nothing up top. Let's go down and take a look."
Shanks smiled. "I can feel some presences below. Maybe that's where it is."
The passage down below wasn't that hard to find either. Sage didn't conceal his underground passage, because he felt that once someone had beaten him all the way down here, whether he hid it or not didn't mean much anymore.
This also let the Red Hair Pirates easily find the underground passage and enter the spacious first underground level. As for the Barbarian Tyrants guarding each junction of the passage, they weren't their match at all. After easily knocking them out, the Red Hair Pirates found that Haki-corroded metal wall wrapped in Refined Steel.
Then, Shanks broke it open.
Just as a crack appeared, the golden light that burst out almost blinded them.
Gold! Gold everywhere!
And it was all high-quality Gold, mostly in the form of Crowns, scepters, and other jewelry; under these Gold ornaments, the Gold Coins piled up into a mountain seemed far less impactful.
The Gold mines within Sage's territory weren't qualified to enter his Treasure Vault. Only those Gold jewels full of historical information were worthy of coming here, which led to the extremely high quality of everything inside.
But although these people were shocked by the Gold at first, they were quickly drawn to something else.
Right in the center of the Treasure Vault, three massive Red Poneglyphs were lying there quietly.
"Take them."
Shanks said with a smile, "The truth can't be buried deep underground. That way the world will never know it."
The Gold and jewels were actually secondary.
Dong!!
Just as he finished speaking, the ceiling above them suddenly let out a tremendous tremor, blasting open a huge hole.
"Zehaha, zehahahaha! So it really was here, and there's the presence of strong ones too! I saw it on the way in—Red Hair, your ship's docked at the harbor!"
Teach's rampant laughter echoed from above, and then several gigantic figures dropped down from above, landing right on top of the Poneglyphs.
"This isn't something you get to take! I need it too!"
Teach's one hand was filled with darkness, while the other hand shone with vibrating white light. He laughed wildly. "Better let me be the one to hold it!"
"I'd already wanted to clash with you before, but could never find you. Now we finally meet..."
Shanks gripped his sword hilt tightly and looked up at Teach. "Perfect. I'll take you out along the way. In my eyes, you're far more dangerous than Sage."
"Zehahahaha, only if you've got what it takes! I've been wanting to clash with you too! How can there be two Pirate Emperors in the latter half of the New World!" Teach roared with laughter.
The two stared at each other from below and above, and in an instant, one threw a punch and the other drew his sword.
Boom!!!
Deep within the cave of the Red Earth Continent, with a thunderous boom, magma surged, black light burst in all directions, and the mushroom cloud from the explosion expanded sideways again, reaching all the way to the Paradise side. The rock wall of the continent in that direction cracked open, revealing a gap.