A week later.
The Nautilus reached the waters near the Organ Islands.
"Lilith, find a deserted island where we can rest for a while!"
Lilith nodded. After a full week of traveling under the sea, the others, who had never been to sea before, were having some trouble adjusting.
Before long, Lilith found the nearest deserted island on the nautical chart. The island did not even have an official name on the standard chart; it was simply marked Organ No. 52.
Three hours later, the Nautilus surfaced in a bay suitable for landing.
Once everyone had gone ashore, Noah casually sealed the Nautilus in a card. Now, by adjusting the length, width, and height of his card space, he could just barely fit the Nautilus inside.
"Brother, it looks like we're not alone on this island!" Joshua warned quietly, narrowing his eyes.
Noah had already noticed that someone was on the island as they approached, but he had not warned the others right away. "Joshua, just keep watch. Don't say anything else."
Joshua immediately understood and put aside the idea of warning the others.
As soon as the group reached shore, they were like wild horses freed from their reins, shouting and hollering on the beach.
Just then.
Bang! A lead bullet shot toward Uncle Joseph, who was stretching.
In the next instant, Joshua used Soru and appeared in front of Uncle Joseph.
"Tekkai!"
Clang! The lead bullet struck Joshua's chest, but failed to pierce his skin.
Everyone braced for an attack, grabbing their weapons in some panic.
Noah shook his head at this, clearly dissatisfied with their reaction.
"Who fired that shot? Get the hell out here!" Vic charged to the front and roared at the jungle by the shore.
Bang, bang, bang... Three bullets answered Vic.
Vic's body swelled, and the bullets struck him as though they had hit steel.
Bang, bang, bang... Ray pulled the trigger, firing his revolver repeatedly in the direction the bullets had come from.
Jay reacted too, quickly creating a graphite wall around the girls.
"Roar!" After a brief moment of shock, Uncle Joseph let out a roar and beat his chest. His body swelled to over three meters tall as he entered his full beast form.
In the next instant, Uncle Joseph stomped hard and leaped into the jungle.
Joshua and Anthony followed close behind, charging into the jungle with their long blades swinging.
A moment later, Uncle Joseph came out carrying a dwarf who had been beaten black and blue. The fellow's lower body was still stuck in a chest.
Noah recognized him at once.
Gaimon, the treasure chest man!
The fellow wept bitterly as he begged for mercy.
But Noah felt not the slightest sympathy. Although the man would seem like a good person more than a decade later, judging by his attack on Uncle Joseph just now, he had definitely intended to kill them to silence them.
"A pirate is a pirate. Do it. Each of you give him a cut."
Ray, who particularly hated pirates, fired directly, breaking one of Gaimon's arms with a shot.
"Ahhh... you bastards..."
Mary gritted her teeth, picked up her rapier, and stabbed him in the leg. "That's for attacking us! Die, you villain!"
The others also took turns striking him. Even Lilian and Lilith each stabbed him with a sword.
Finally, Noah beheaded him with one stroke.
Only after dealing with Gaimon did Noah assess everyone's performance. "You did very poorly just now. Apart from Joshua, who used Observation Haki and spotted the hidden enemy in advance, none of you noticed the danger or guarded against any danger that might be present."
"Don't assume you can rest easy just because this is a deserted island. There could be pirates, wild beasts, or unknown diseases here. If you let your guard down like this again, sooner or later you'll pay dearly for it."
Everyone looked a little dejected.
Noah waved a hand. "All right, remember this lesson and don't make the same mistake again. Now we'll split into two groups. Uncle Joseph, take Vic, Joshua, and Anthony to explore the island. The rest of us will build a camp here."
"No problem. Let's go!" Uncle Joseph quickly led Joshua, Anthony, and Vic into the island.
This time, they were extremely vigilant, even overreacting somewhat. Several times, they mistook the strange-looking rare beasts for enemies, throwing the forest into chaos.
Meanwhile, Noah's group quickly cleared a large area of primeval forest for a temporary camp, then released the wooden cabin, daily necessities, and cooking utensils stored in cards.
Lilith, Lilian, and Mary began preparing food.
Jay and Tomani chopped a large pile of firewood.
In a mountainous area deep in the forest.
Uncle Joseph's group found Gaimon's home.
"Was he alone?" Anthony looked at the utensils and bedding inside the cabin. He could be reasonably certain that only Gaimon had been living there.
"He said there was treasure here. What do you think?" Uncle Joseph asked the others, sounding uncertain.
"Why don't we just look around nearby?" Vic said casually.
"That's true." Joshua nodded.
Using Gaimon's cabin as their starting point, the group carefully searched the surrounding area.
Soon, Anthony found more than a dozen wooden chests on a platform at the top of a mountain.
After opening the chests, the group looked at one another.
"Empty?"
"So it was a lie after all."
"Someone else might have gotten here first."
Anthony was puzzled. "That's strange. Even if someone took the treasure, why leave the chests in this spot?"
Anthony's remark made Joshua realize it too. "That's true. If the treasure was here, this spot is far too obvious. If it wasn't here before, why would the person who took it move the chests here? Wouldn't that be pointless extra work?"
"There's nowhere around here to hide anything, though, is there?" Vic looked around in bewilderment.
"Who says there isn't? Isn't there a place right under our feet?" Anthony crouched and drew his dagger, plunging it into the ground. "There's soil underneath. Should we dig and see?"
They began digging with their blades.
After digging more than a meter down, they hit rock.
"Looks like stone!"
"No, there are signs this stone was cut by someone. There might be something underneath."
"Keep going."
Before long, they had cleared a pit four or five square meters across and found a massive stone slab.
Anthony slipped his blade into a gap around the slab and found that it went in more than ten centimeters before hitting an obstruction. "This slab is pretty thick!"
"Stand back. Let me do it." Vic put on his alloy gauntlets and gathered all his strength. "Iron Cannon Fist!"
His fist slammed into the slab, shattering it into pieces and revealing a pitch-black opening.
"Vic, don't go down yet," Anthony warned. He lit a windproof lighter and brought it close to the opening. Sure enough, the flame dimmed as soon as the lighter entered. "There isn't enough oxygen inside. We can't go down for now."
Anthony thought for a moment. "Vic, go to Brother Noah and bring back two diving suits."
"Diving suits? OK."