Tuka's Request

The smoke and electric sparks in the metal hall gradually died away.

The ancient alloy walls that had once seemed indestructible had completely collapsed beneath the earth-shattering punch of Rain's Obsidian giant god soldier. Hundreds of mechanical guards had been reduced to scrap metal and scattered parts, while the air reeked of burning.

Rain slowly withdrew the violent aura of his Logia Awakening. His black haori snapped in the wind amid the devastated metal ruins. He casually picked up his conical hat from the ground and put it back on, his dark gray eyes coldly fixed on the open doors of the ancient treasury at the very back of the hall.

"Th-that was terrifying. Is this Logia Awakening?"

Tuka, standing at the rear of the group, swallowed hard, the shock in his eyes lingering. Though he could sense through the Voice of All Things that Rain harbored no savage malice in his heart, the absolute power to turn steel into rock with a gesture and summon a hundred-meter giant god still filled him with deep reverence for this powerful man from the outer seas.

"Boss is awesome!"

Keen dusted off the grime left behind after his dragon scales receded and burst into laughter. Carina gave a cheer, her beautiful eyes gleaming with the unmistakable shine of a thief's greed as she impatiently led several sailors toward the treasury doors.

"Please don't rush, Master Keen, Master Carina. This isn't the time to be celebrating."

Tuka steadied himself and strode quickly to Rain's side. He closed his eyes, his ears twitching slightly as if catching faint echoes that had drifted through the depths of the treasury for eight hundred years. Then he explained to everyone through telepathy:

"I know that ever since the banquet in the settlement was only halfway through, you