They didn't dwell on the topic for long.
Roger quickly changed the subject: "Anyway, coming to the Sky Island was just a whim of mine. I figured I'd see whether there might be any Poneglyphs up here… but I didn't expect we'd find one right away—and even the City of Gold on top of that…"
After a brief pause, Roger continued, "So what's next? Do we keep exploring the Sky Island a bit more, or head back down? My suggestion is we take some gold and leave—I want to get Shakky back to Amazon Lily as soon as possible!"
Originally, Gaban and the others wanted to keep exploring, but the moment they heard about sending Shakky back to Amazon Lily, everyone perked up.
"I support the captain's proposal!"
"We can't let Rayleigh keep being this happy, or I'll die of jealousy!"
"That's right, we've got to listen to the captain for once!"
Rayleigh immediately blew up. "Oh, now you all remember he's the captain? Where's this obedience been all this time!?"
"Hahaha, Rayleigh, to be honest, I also want to go back to Amazon Lily. It's been a while—I kind of miss my sisters," Shakky said with a smile from the side.
At that moment, however, Valthior pulled out a worn, tattered map and said, "I have a different opinion."
Rayleigh immediately hugged Valthior. "Brother, I knew you were different from these vulgar idiots!"
Truth be told, most of Roger's crew had, at one point or another, harbored some feelings toward Shakky—no, more accurately, almost no one on the seas didn't have some thoughts about her.
After all, she was the "Supreme Beauty" who ushered in an era of overwhelming obsession.
And coincidentally, Valthior was one of the very few exceptions.
Rayleigh wasn't stupid—he could tell as much from their usual interactions—so at this moment, he genuinely felt Valthior was a true brother.
"This has nothing to do with that," Valthior said, shaking Rayleigh off in annoyance before continuing, "Have you guys heard of the Rumble-Rumble Fruit?"
"The Rumble-Rumble Fruit?" Spencer raised a brow. "That ability is famous—hardly anyone hasn't heard of it. They say it's invincible."
"Invincible?" Roger said in surprise. "Seriously? Isn't the strongest ability Whitebeard's Tremor-Tremor Fruit? That thing's supposed to be able to destroy the world… I've decided—next time I see him, I'm calling him an Ancient Weapon, hahaha!"
"Yeah, you can tell Roger's never heard of it before," Rayleigh muttered on the side.
"Rumors are just rumors," Gaban said, smacking his lips. "Devil Fruits might differ in strength, but in the end, it depends on whether the user is strong enough."
"Still, the Rumble-Rumble Fruit hasn't appeared on the seas for over a hundred years," Spencer continued. "What, Valthior—you've got a lead?"
Valthior nodded. "Just a small lead. I looked through some documents in Mary Geoise before—there are records that seem to point to a Sky Island called 'Birka.' It's possible that the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, which has been missing for nearly a century, is currently there."
Before anyone else could respond, Valthior held up the worn map in his hand. "One of the reasons I agreed when Captain Roger said we were coming to the Sky Island was because I wanted to search for this place called Birka. I wanted to see if I could get the Rumble-Rumble Fruit. This map here is something I specifically obtained before leaving Mary Geoise—it charts part of the Sky Islands and their sea-cloud routes."
"But you're a Devil Fruit user already—what's the point of finding it? You can't eat it anyway," Roger asked, puzzled.
Truth be told, the Roger Pirates really didn't care much about Devil Fruits. Up to now, aside from Valthior, none of them were users.
In the original story, even when they obtained the Chop-Chop Fruit, no one cared about it—it ended up being eaten by Buggy.
So even after hearing about the so-called "invincible" Rumble-Rumble Fruit, no one got particularly excited or started shouting about going to find it.
Valthior replied calmly, "Of course I'll keep it as a collectible—for some future subordinate who needs it."
"Is that so?" Roger scratched his head, then clapped his hands. "Well, if it's something Valthior wants, let's go look for it. Anyone object?"
They were all comrades on the same ship, and after nearly three years together, they got along very well. Now that Valthior had spoken up, no one was going to refuse.
After a quick discussion, they soon decided—their next destination would be this Sky Island called Birka, to search for the Rumble-Rumble Fruit.
Once that was settled, Roger immediately started climbing the giant vine, eager to ring the bell at the top.
Meanwhile, Valthior and the others stayed below, waiting for Roger to fulfill his romantic whim, while using various tools to collect the gold scattered around.
Despite being pirates with little regard for morality, surprisingly, they chose to gather the scattered "debris" first, rather than damaging the overall structure of the City of Gold.
And even these remnants, weathered by centuries, amounted to an astonishing quantity.
They had no way to weigh it precisely, but by the time Roger rang the bell, Valthior and the others each had at least two sacks of gold slung over their backs.
Then, humming cheerful tunes, the group left the legendary City of Gold—Shandora, one of the three great treasures of the sea—completely satisfied.
When they returned to the ship, the crew members who had stayed behind were dumbfounded. Roger and the others swapped places with them, letting them go see the City of Gold for themselves—and grab some gold while they were at it.
While waiting for everyone to return, Valthior and the others also worked together to haul the Oro Jackson out of the gradually disappearing "lake," guiding it into a proper river channel.
Gaban studied the Sky Island navigation map Valthior had given him for quite a while before finally figuring out the route across the White-White Sea.
"Clearly, Shandora isn't on this map," Gaban said, gesturing as he explained. "But based on comparison, we're not too far from a place called Angel Island. If we take that as a reference point, we need to head east from here. The Birka you're looking for isn't far either—three or four days at most. Won't delay us much."
In fact, Angel Island and Birka really weren't far apart.
Otherwise, Enel wouldn't have destroyed Birka and then immediately gone to Angel Island to rule over it.
From Gan Fall's descriptions, he knew exactly what had happened to Birka. Considering how closed-off Sky Islands were, that kind of information could only spread if the islands were relatively close.
Once everyone had returned—and the ship had gained a few more sacks of gold—the Oro Jackson slowly sailed along the river toward the distant White-White Sea.
Meanwhile, hidden deep within the jungle, several Shandia warriors stood concealed among the trunks of ancient trees, watching the departing Roger Pirates with wary eyes.
On the deck, Roger twisted open a bottle and took a swig, smacking his lips. "Looks like the locals don't like us very much…"
"Well, we did barge into their territory and loot a bunch of gold," Rayleigh replied calmly.
"For centuries, no one found this place—not even Shiki. I hope they guard the City of Gold well for me, until this Saint returns again…" Valthior leaned against the mast, grinning as he joked.
Next time, he intended to take the entire City of Gold with him.
...
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