Pluton

Rocks took Oak, Newgate, and Kaido away from the main force, and the four of them set off for Punk Hazard.

Rocks told no one besides the four of them about the purpose of this trip.

The four sailed a small boat across the sea. During the journey, Oak voiced one of his doubts to Rocks.

"Why are you searching for the Great Hammer Warband and trying to revive them? Are you planning to rebuild Pluton, one of the Three Ancient Weapons?"

It was the only reason Oak could think of.

Based on the plot of the original story he had read, the Great Hammer Warband was most likely the group that had once built Noah of Fish-Man Island and the Pluton warship.

Yet the moment he asked that question, all three people on the boat were stunned!

Kaido and Newgate were shocked to hear information about the legendary Ancient Weapons from his mouth.

Pluton might actually have been built by the Great Hammer Warband?

As for Rocks, he was shocked by where Oak had learned all this information.

First, on the stone cliff at Hachinosu, Oak had named the two Devil Fruits Rocks wanted to find. Then, not long ago, he had told Rocks that the Great Hammer Warband might be on Punk Hazard. And now, he had even guessed why Rocks was searching for them!!

Every one of these was a secret known to only a handful of people across the seas. None had ever been recorded in writing; they existed solely through oral transmission.

"What else do you know?"

Rocks realized that he had found a priceless treasure.

"What else do you know? Spill it all!"

He stepped forward eagerly, seized Oak by the shoulders, and shook him hard.

"Let go first!"

Oak's shoulders ached from the grip as he stared at Rocks resentfully.

Damn it, even if he was excited, did he have to squeeze him like he was trying to kill him?!

"Tell me first. Was my guess right?"

After Rocks let go, Oak made him answer first. When Rocks nodded, Oak snapped his fingers and immediately had him turn the boat around.

"We don't need to go to Punk Hazard. Why go through all that trouble for the Pluton warship? We can just make a trip to Wano Country. I can say for certain that the Pluton warship that was built long ago is in Wano Country!"

This was another earth-shattering revelation, nearly stunning the other three unconscious.

That old Pluton warship still existed in the world?

And its exact location had just been revealed?

"How do you know?"

Rocks questioned him again with an eerie look in his eyes. He truly had no idea what other surprises Oak could still bring him.

"You know Alabasta, right? That country was one of the first twenty nations to establish the World Government eight hundred years ago. But its royal family did not ascend to the Holy Land to become Celestial Dragons like the other nineteen families. Instead, they remained in that country and left behind a Poneglyph there. Written on that Poneglyph in ancient script was that Pluton was in Wano Country."

Oak wanted to steer Rocks toward Wano Country, so he spilled everything he knew. As for what consequences would result if Rocks really took their group to Wano Country, he did not care in the slightest.

In fact, he would have preferred for Wano Country, which had been modeled after a certain nation from his previous life, to be wiped out entirely. That country was full of idiots, especially Kozuki Oden, the biggest idiot of them all, and Momonosuke, that perverted little brat who was a guaranteed kill for transmigrators.

By this point, Kozuki Oden was already a teenager. Oak had no chance to snuff him out in the womb, but he could still take him out early and keep him from producing such a disgusting thing as Momonosuke!

"You can even read ancient script?"

Rocks had heard long ago that the Poneglyphs contained important information. However, since no one had deciphered those lost writings, nobody had known what they recorded for centuries.

He looked at Oak in surprise. He had not expected this thick-browed fellow to be a man of learning, but no matter how he looked at him, Oak did not seem like one!

Facing his strange gaze, Oak quickly waved his hands in explanation.

"I can't. The scholars of Ohara can read those words. Didn't I mention it before? Back when I was in the West Blue, I met a scholar who came from that place. Everything I know came from that scholar."

Oak dumped all the blame on Ohara. Everyone in the world knew that the scholars there were highly learned, and it would not be strange for them to have researched anything. It also neatly explained why he knew so many secrets.

And, as expected, Rocks believed the explanation after hearing it.

"Looks like I'll need to pay more attention to Ohara in the future. It would be best if I could recruit one of their scholars."

Rubbing his chin, Rocks fell into thought. He himself came from the West Blue, but he had never paid much attention to that group of scholars before. He had thought that no matter how knowledgeable they were, they had nothing to do with him. Now, it seemed he had been negligent. Their knowledge was immensely useful.

Oak rolled his eyes when he heard that Rocks wanted to recruit an Ohara scholar.

Was he trying to make Ohara die sooner?

If they got involved with him, Ohara might not even last another twenty years. It would probably be destroyed ahead of schedule.

Although Ohara would not be destroyed by a Buster Call until more than twenty years later, those scholars had not begun studying ancient script and Poneglyphs only then. They had started much earlier and had mastered a method of deciphering ancient script long ago. More than twenty years later, in the era when Roger became the Pirate King, they would be searching the world for Poneglyphs in an attempt to uncover the history of the Void Century. That was what exposed their activities to the World Government and brought about that catastrophe.

If Rocks recruited an Ohara scholar, then with the Rocks Pirates drawing the attention of the entire world, Ohara would definitely attract the World Government's attention in advance. Once it was discovered that they had deciphered ancient script and Poneglyphs, their fate would be obvious. There was a very high chance they would face a Buster Call more than twenty years early.

Of course, none of that had anything to do with Oak, and he had no intention of involving himself in their karma.

He had always felt that those scholars had something wrong with their heads. They were too foolish and naive. Without sufficient power, they had recklessly touched a taboo they could not possibly bear, and they had not even known to hide it. In Roger's era, they had openly sent expeditions around the world in search of Poneglyphs, treating the World Government as if it did not exist, without considering the consequences at all.

It could be said that their ending had been set in stone from the moment their curiosity about the history of the Void Century arose. No one could change it.