The Marines!!!
No... to be precise, a skeleton wearing a Marine cloak sat on the steps just inside the entrance, its arms resting on its leg bones and its head bowed. No one knew how long it had been dead.
Once he got a good look, Buggy breathed a sigh of relief. "This guy... is pretty creepy."
"Ka-chew!" The Big Octopus suddenly summoned a tremendous burst of strength. Before Buggy could react, it yanked him to the ground, and the reins slipped from his grasp.
By the time Buggy got back to his feet, the Big Octopus had fallen to its knees before the skeleton, making a mournful, somewhat strange sound as if desperately trying to release and vent its emotions.
Its lonely, pained cries echoed through the vast stone chamber. They sounded ridiculous, but somehow weren't funny.
Buggy looked at Robin, and she glanced back at him in surprise. They exchanged a look. The Big Octopus's behavior was unexpected, yet it made sense: it not only knew this Marine, but was probably closely connected to him.
Taking a lesson from what had happened in the previous chamber, they walked very carefully to avoid stepping on any traps. Then they used the oil lamp to light the grease-coated torches on either side of the walls.
Once all four torches were lit, the entire chamber was brightly illuminated.
They looked around. Like the passageway before it, this chamber had no visible mechanisms in the floor or ceiling. Three steps led up at the far end, and the skeleton sat right on them. A short distance away, a pristine stone tablet leaned against the rock wall, covered in tightly packed ancient cuneiform script.
That tablet... Buggy stared at the writing, and his heart skipped a beat. As a pirate who had completed the Grand Line alongside Roger, he was highly sensitive to this kind of script. Could the tablet be a Poneglyph?!
Robin looked even more excited. Her body trembled slightly as she drew a deep breath and walked up the steps to the tablet. She reached out to touch the lines of writing, her eyes shining with joy as if she were looking at a newborn baby.
Treasure... Buggy came back to his senses. He hadn't forgotten why he had come here in the first place. There might be another hidden room.
He began searching every corner of the chamber. After half an hour, he had practically turned the place upside down, but he hadn't found anything valuable or any hidden mechanisms.
Could the island map not be a treasure map at all, but merely a guide to where this tablet was kept?!
Unwilling to give up, Buggy searched again, nearly digging three feet into the ground, but still found nothing. Suddenly, he felt as if the whole world were filled with malice. Robin had found what she needed, and the Big Octopus had achieved its goal, but he, Buggy, had gained nothing at all.
Hearing the Big Octopus's strange cries, Buggy felt a sudden, inexplicable pang of sympathy. He shouted, "Octopus Slice, stop crying! Your crying is really getting on my nerves."
"Waaah, waaah~" The Big Octopus was heartbroken, tears still streaming from its eyes, but it wasn't about to back down. It glared back at Buggy with the two little eyes on its head, trying its best to look fierce.
"Is that how an octopus is supposed to cry...?" Buggy's thoughts suddenly went off track. His urge to teach the Big Octopus a lesson faded, and his mood inexplicably soured.
He flopped onto his back and lay sprawled on the floor, staring blankly at the ceiling, suddenly feeling a little dejected.
After a while.
"Tap, tap..."
Robin seemed to have finished deciphering the cuneiform on the tablet. She walked softly across the floor and came over to Buggy.
Buggy listlessly turned his head away, then suddenly shivered. From this angle, the view was quite enticing: following the curve of her long, shapely legs upward, he could just make out the curious scenery beneath her short skirt. Hmm... pu... purple?
Robin froze, then took a couple of small steps back. Perhaps because of her wheat-colored skin, it was hard to tell whether her expression had changed, but there was something strangely mischievous in her eyes.
"Hey, what do you mean by looking at me like that? Captain Buggy isn't that kind of creep!" Buggy hurriedly sat up and protested, wiping the two bright red streams of blood running from his nose.
Seeing Robin remain unmoved, he quickly changed the subject. "Does this tablet have a Poneglyph on it?"
Robin looked surprised. "How do you know about Poneglyphs?"
Buggy shrugged. "I used to be a member of Pirate King Roger's crew. Poneglyphs aren't a secret to me."
"You were a member of the crew of Gol D. Roger, the Pirate King!" Robin looked incredulous, and her breathing grew rapid. "Then do you know... about the Void Century?"
"I don't." Buggy shook his head, then asked, "I was going to ask you the same thing. What does the writing on the tablet say?"
"You don't know..."
For the first time, Buggy saw a look of disappointment on Robin's face. She quickly concealed it, then answered vaguely, "It only talks about some weapons. It isn't a Poneglyph."
"Ancient Weapons..." Buggy murmured to himself. He had never known what kind of things they were, but since they were forbidden by the world, they must be powerful enough to change it—or even destroy it.
Still, his frustration at finding no treasure filled his heart. He had no interest in weapons right now. He felt as if a heavy stone weighed on him. After all that work, he had nothing to show for it. Treasure and riches—he had looked forward to them for so long, only to discover they were nothing but an idle fantasy.
His uninterested gaze followed Robin to the skeleton.
The Big Octopus was still making its strange crying sounds. Robin circled the skeleton, crouched down, and pulled a thick notebook from beneath its bones. Sitting carelessly on the floor, she used the light from the torches to slowly leaf through it.
Her expression was calm at first, then gradually turned to surprise, and then grew grave. At last, she closed the notebook and fell into thought.
The changes in her expression piqued Buggy's interest. "Miss Robin, what did you find?"
"I think I know who this Marine was, and what the story is behind this octopus and the statue."
"Ka-chew, ka-chew!" The Big Octopus stopped crying. The expression on its head was even more eager and curious than Buggy's. It wiped its tears with a tentacle and stared motionlessly at Robin.
"I'm all ears..." Buggy wasn't all that interested, but perhaps the story would hold some unexpected tidbit.
Robin said, "This skeleton belonged to a Marine Branch Vice Admiral from sixty years ago. His name was Gray Katz, and his hometown was also my hometown, Ohara..."