Fear of Falling Behind, True History

"Hey, hey, hey, Luffy."

Although he had already learned how to get to Sky Island from the diamond-faced uncle 'Wenblan Cricket', Usopp was still frantically trying to persuade Luffy.

"Think about it, if we fail, we'll suffer the same fate as that giant sailing ship we encountered before..."

"No problem, let's go!"

Facing Luffy's grinning Luffy, Usopp pointed tearfully to the Going Golden Merry nearby.

"Look at the delicate body of the Going Merry, how could it possibly withstand such torment..."

"Indeed,"

The middle-aged man with the diamond-shaped face next to him nodded in agreement.

"Your boat is just an ordinary 'caravelle' sailing ship; I'm already quite surprised it made it this far..."

"What did you say? You old fool!"

Upon hearing negative comments about the Golden Merry, Usopp instantly turned hostile!

"I'm just telling the truth. If you want to continue on the in the Grand Line, you'd better get a different ship... never mind."

Seeing that Usopp was already furious, the diamond-faced uncle waved his hand.

"But this time, I can have apes and Masira escort you and reinforce the ship while I'm at it."

"Leave it to us!" x2

The Masira captain and the ape captain next to him pounded their chests loudly, and Luffy thanked them with a grin.

"Oh, thank you very much!"

·······

"But Luffy," Nami pointed out a serious problem, "If we stay in Jaya for too long, the Log Pose in my hand that points to Sky Island will be assimilated and start pointing to the next island..."

"Yeah, yeah," Usopp breathed a sigh of relief, shrugged, and asked the diamond-faced uncle next to him, "You see, if you want to go to Sky Island, you have to wait for both the 'Thick Clouds' and the 'Sky-Piercing Current' to coincide!"

How often does this happen? Once a month, once a year, once a decade—

"It will be available tomorrow."

!?

"What a coincidence!!"

Faced with Usopp's astonished eyes that almost popped out, the diamond-faced uncle asked a question.

"You don't want to go to the Sky Island?"

"No...no..." Usopp moved his lips, and finally retorted loudly and fiercely.

"You're lying!... Yes, this is really strange."

"We only met today, and you're already so welcoming... even offering to help us reinforce our boat..."

"Usopp— "

Before Luffy could finish speaking, Usopp abruptly waved his hand to interrupt him.

"Besides!"

"You promised two extremely rare weather conditions, and they're going to happen at the same time tomorrow! Isn't that weird? You're clearly a descendant of that big liar—"

"Hey, dinner's ready!"

Sanji and the two captains, the ape and the Masira, walked over.

"The ingredients are all from that uncle's place... What are you guys doing?"

Whew~~

With a long sigh of relief, the diamond-faced uncle walked towards Usopp, causing Usopp to nervously assume a fighting stance.

"What, you want to fight now that I hit the nail on the head—"

Smack

A hand gently landed on his shoulder.

"I've lived here for ten years, and I can sense all the weather patterns in this area even with my eyes closed."

"I wouldn't say it's 100% certain, but tomorrow is indeed the day when 'Thick Clouds' and 'Sky-Piercing Current' will appear at the same time."

"Can······"

"Alright, I'm glad to meet you guys, you dream-chasing fools." The diamond-faced man patted Usopp on the shoulder in a friendly manner. "Now, let's have a meal together."

"Because we are all the same kind of people."

"Hehe," Luffy grinned, showing his teeth, "Let's eat!"

"I'll go get Miss Robin ~~"

Chopper ran towards the Golden Merry.

"Hmm? Have you eaten?"

This is Zoro suddenly waking up.

"Usopp, come here right now!"

As the diamond-faced uncle passed by, Usopp, who had been standing there dumbfounded, plopped down on the ground, looking dejected as Roman walked up to him.

"Roman, do you think I'm a pathetic coward?"

"No, absolutely not."

Roman answered without hesitation, and when Usopp looked up as if to say something, Roman simply extended his right hand.

"If you're considered a coward, then what am I?"

"No... Roman, do you dare to fight Crocodile alone..."

"That's different," Roman shook his head as he helped Usopp up. "I dared to go to Crocodile alone because I had already planned my escape route. In fact, if it weren't for the 'intelligence error' and Crocodile's possession of Armament Haki, I, who can Elementalization and fly, could have escaped unscathed."

It seems that for Logia masters, Armament Haki may not be necessary, but they still absolutely must know it!

Otherwise, you'll end up in an awkward situation where Logia fights Logia, and you can't hit the other, but the other can still grab you.

"But you are different, Usopp."

"Even when facing an enemy who is far stronger than you and who knows nothing about you, you still won't back down for your comrades. You are much braver than me."

"Roman, you really are..."

As Usopp lowered his head and wiped away his tears, unsure of what to say, Roman patted him on the shoulder.

"I know you're worried about the Golden Merry, aren't you?"

"Don't forget that I can protect the ship with my abilities, and you should also have faith in 'Merry'."

"Um····"

"Go apologize to the old man."

"Waaaaah, Uncle! I shouldn't have talked to you like that just now~~~"

"Don't wipe your snot on me!!!"

"Haha, you can hold your liquor pretty well."

Zoro a wicked smile in response to the Masira captain's boastful words.

"I haven't even started drinking it yet."

?

The most lethal form of showing off is the subtle kind.

"Haha, everyone, eat up! We've caught a huge school of saury today!"

Captain Man-Man brought up plates of food.

"This Sanji guy's cooking skills are really good."

"Roman, have some fish!"

······

While everyone else was celebrating wildly, only Nicole Robin was engrossed in reading the logbook of Noland, who was known as the "Great Liar" 400 years ago.

"I saw gold in the skull's right eye!"

Robin was startled by the sudden approach of the diamond-faced uncle. He pointed to this sentence in the logbook and said, "It was this sentence that led the king to bring his soldiers to this island, and then, when the king did not find the gold, he ordered my ancestor to be executed."

"What does the skull's right eye represent? Does it refer to a certain place, or does it signify his own death?"

"That's why I dived into the water day and night, trying to find the truth..."

"Um, Roman, what are you trying to say?"

Nami looked at Roman, who seemed to be saying, "I know the truth, but you won't let me tell you, so I'm suffering from this." She decided to make an exception this time.

Do you know the truth behind that statement?

"Yes."

In an instant, everyone's gaze fell upon Roman, while the diamond-faced uncle, the Masira, and the ape captain were all completely focused. Their goal, which they had strived for day and night, could it be...?

"First of all, Noland was not lying."

Roman took out a map of Jaya Island —where everyone was located—and placed it on the table. Then, he used his finger to draw a new outline of the terrain around the island, forming a complete 'skull' map!

"In fact, the truth is just as you guessed, uncle."

"Four hundred years ago, when Noland left this island, the island encountered a rare, giant 'Sky-Piercing Current'."

"The upper part of the entire island—the skull and face of this skull—was blasted into the air at an altitude of 10,000 meters! The remaining mouth part is what is now Jaya Island."

!!

"A very... very exciting story," the man with the diamond-shaped face said, finding it hard to believe when the moment came.

"And what about the gold? And what about the enormous amount of gold—"

"That involves the 'Void Century' more than 800 years ago." Roman shrugged. "I'm not entirely sure about the specifics, but back then this place was known as 'Shandora,' a city with the reputation of Golden City."

"Unfortunately, it was later destroyed by the Allied Forces, which is now the World Government. — Leaving behind a ruined city and a 'small amount' of gold."

While everyone else was simply listening to 'legendary tales,' Nico Robin, trembling slightly, was a different story! Her lifelong dream was to understand the 'Poneglyph' that Void Century!

"Of course, this 'few' is in comparison to Shandora at its peak. If we convert it to today's value..."

Roman stroked his chin.

"It should be worth several billion Beli."

Ding-dong,

In an instant, Nami's eyes turned golden and sparkled.

"We're definitely going to that Sky Island!"

You don't actually think Sky Island is uninhabited, do you...? Most of the gold was taken by Enel to build the Ark. How dare you steal money from him...?

"In short, the Golden City does exist, located at the right eye of the original island."

Roman pointed to the map on the table that had been completed.

"This is the meaning of Noland's words before he died."

P. S.: I received 850 recommendation votes yesterday~~~ Thank you all for your enthusiasm~~~