"Is this it?" Sig looked at the wooden bucket Moria handed him.
After Sig opened it, signal flares were automatically released from inside...
In the original work, Luffy's crew, as well as the Rumbar Pirates from fifty years ago, all discovered this "barrel," and after salvaging and triggering it, they found themselves trapped in the fog.
Then Luffy and his crew were "swallowed" by Thriller Bark, while fifty years ago, the Rumbar Pirates were ambushed by a group of pirates using poisoned weapons...
"Hmm? What's in here?" Sig looked down at the bottom of the bucket and found a layer of mud-like substance.
Moria said somewhat embarrassedly, "I also got these things from the pirates who used to be based here... Of course, we modified them ourselves!"
"The pirates who used to live here were..."
"They're probably remnants of the Rocks Pirates, a bunch of good-for-nothings," Moria said nonchalantly.
Of the current Four Emperors, three are from the Rocks Pirates: the Flying Great Pirate Golden Lion, Silver Axe, Captain John, Ochoku, and other powerful figures. However... not everyone in the Rocks Pirates is strong.
The Rocks Pirates of that time were a mixed bag. Rocks had an enormous appetite and didn't discriminate against anyone. Even weak pirate crews could fly his flag as long as they were willing to obey his orders and hand over their treasures. As a result, their numbers were extremely large.
When the Rocks Pirates went to the New World to become kings and conquerors, some of their underlings who dared not go stayed at their original base.
When Moria arrived, the remaining forces in the Devil Triangle Sea Area were only remnants of the old regime, with some degree of continuity between them.
After Moria defeated the pirates who were entrenched here, he obtained the materials to make the "Sea God's Treasure Front Barrel"!
"The Rocks Pirates must have stolen it back then. Maybe there were even natives on the back of those three sea monsters," Moria said, belittling the Rocks Pirates.
If there really are any native inhabitants, Sig suspects... they are related to Wano Country.
After all, there's a small flag on this barrel that says "Sea God's Treasure Front," which is clearly a phrase from the Wano Country style!
However, upon closer reflection, it's not surprising, given that another sea monster, "Zunesha," has close ties to Wano Country.
The method of "controlling" or rather "guiding" the behemoth's movement is quite simple: after falling into the sea, the behemoth will follow the barrel, specifically... it should be attracted by the mud-like substance inside the barrel!
The barrel is made of a special material. When immersed in seawater, the "mud" interacts with the seawater through the "wooden planks," generating a signal that attracts the giant fog beast from afar.
However, there are also limitations in distance and range. Not only can the signal barrel not be too far away, but it is also only effective in a certain area of the surrounding sea, possibly due to the magnetic field.
As for the specifics, neither Moria nor the Rocks Pirates of that time knew.
Just look at how they use it...
Fearing that even the slightest change would render the wooden barrel ineffective, they even copied the flag on it!
Sig estimates that this likely also had the meaning of worshipping the sea god for the indigenous people.
"What you mean by the parts you modified yourself is..." Sig had already guessed somewhat.
"I added a flare inside! That way, when it's triggered, I'll know the prey's location!" Moria said confidently.
Yes, that's right. This thing is essentially a sacrificial item from the natives, plus a signal flare added by Moria himself.
The wooden planks and mud, which were considered "core technologies," were readily available and seized.
As for why even the symbolic little flag had to be copied?
This is where Moria is smarter than Jack...
Such a huge sea monster would frighten anyone. Even if one deeply believes that this thing has no self-awareness, one would still feel a sense of dread. Therefore, the tradition of "sacrifices" has been well preserved.
Unlike Jack, whose first reaction upon seeing Zunesha in the original work was to kill it...
While they were talking, Brook had already been brought over by Perona. After losing his shadow, Brook had been hiding in the ruins of the Rumbar Pirates' ship, researching ways to regain it. He had already made some progress, namely, discovering that zombies were afraid of salt.
Just then, Perona arrived with the Ryoma Zombie and even released his shadow... Although he didn't know what was going on, Brook saw that the other party was so sincere, so he followed.
"Are you Mr. Siegfried? Thank you so much! Although I don't know you, I will never forget this kindness!" After Perona pointed to Sig, Brook came over, patted his chest, and bowed to express his gratitude.
Jack, standing nearby, exclaimed in surprise, "Huh? Isn't this guy a zombie? Is he a living person?"
"It can't really be called a zombie, can it? There's no meat at all..." Weevil wondered.
"Um... I am Underworld-Underworld Fruit user), which allows me to revive once. However, because my soul got lost in the mist, my body is in this state," Brook said somewhat embarrassedly.
"Huh? There's even such Devil Fruit?" Jack exclaimed in amazement.
Weevil asked curiously, "When you ate the fruit, did you think you ate the Human-Human Fruit, Normal Type, Human Form, and that your ability was to not be able to swim? Hahaha..."
Weevil burst into laughter at his own amusement.
Although it was somewhat impolite, Brook chuckled and said, "I did think about it, so I specifically trained my body more, but I didn't feel like Zoan Devil Fruit user at all, so I gave up."
Brook "died" in the mist fifty years ago, and for the next forty-five years, he was only accompanied by the Rumbar Pirates' dilapidated pirate ship and the corpses and belongings of his deceased comrades, and he was never able to leave the Fog Sea.
On the one hand, the fog covered a large area, and on the other hand, it was not easy for Brook, who was alone, to navigate a wrecked ship in a specific direction.
Five years ago, Brook became involved with Thriller Bark because his shadow was stolen.
In total...
While I can't say I'm thanking Moria, the last five years have indeed been somewhat more "fun"—the loneliness and solitude of the previous forty-five years were the hardest to endure!
"I wonder if there's anything I can do for you, Mr. Siegfried?" Brook himself was an old pirate, so he naturally knew a lot about pirates.
Sig specifically asked Moria to let him go; he must have had his reasons.
Even Moria himself, while pretending not to care, was secretly listening, hoping Sig would answer on the spot!
"I'm somewhat interested in the Revive-Revive Fruit), so I asked Mr. Brook to let me study the body."
Sig was now even more curious, because when he first saw Brook, Sig found his soul state quite interesting, and... he didn't have Devil Fruit ability!
"Eh? The body? I could... but I don't think there's any point in studying this body anymore. The secrets of the Revive-Revive Fruit Mi probably don't lie here." Brook breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this.
He didn't think Sig would get his way, but it wasn't a difficult situation.
"No, I have my own way..."
Sig is certain that this special state is caused by the Revive-Revive Fruit), but the Revive-Revive Fruit is no longer with Brook.