October 3, 1506 ( Sea Circle Calendar )
Half a month has passed since Noah and his group set sail again.
During this time, they passed by eight islands.
Today, they have finally arrived at the edge of the Lost Sea.
Noah, wearing a cowboy hat, stood at the bow of the ship, gazing at the gloomy sea in the distance.
"Big brother, the situation in this sea area is a bit strange!" Lilith, who came all the way from the Rum Kingdom to provide support, was standing on Noah's side, her expression very serious.
Noah's Observation Haki also sensed the strangeness of this sea area. Unpredictable storms and tornadoes, coupled with the occasional huge Hail, made this sea area seem less like the South Blue and more like the Grand Line.
Are you confident?
Lilith thought for a moment, "If we activate the Magnetic Field Shield, and with my monitoring, we should be able to navigate."
"Let's give it a try! If there's really no other way, then we'll have to have Ray open a wormhole and leave."
Lilith nodded, then, holding the treasure map she had obtained earlier, along with the nautical charts she had acquired from neighboring countries, she focused intently on monitoring the weather changes within a radius of several dozen kilometers.
The Nautilus sped towards the depths of the Lost Sea.
Hail ahead, full left wind at 37 degrees!
About three kilometers directly ahead of the Nautilus, a large Hail, five or six meters in diameter, pelted down from the dark clouds.
"Not good! Full defense! Charge to the right!"
Noah's body had entered Rubidium Magnet Mode, and an extremely strong defensive magnetic field immediately enveloped the Nautilus.
The next moment, more than a dozen Water Dragon surrounded us from all directions.
"Get out of my way!" Noah manipulated magnetism, condensing iron sand into a spear. " Super Railgun! Rapid fire!"
More than a dozen Railgun shot towards the sea surface at the bottom of the Water Dragon.
Boom boom boom...
The violent impact further turbulent the sea surface, but also disrupted the Water Dragon's trajectory.
The Nautilus took the opportunity to break through the encirclement.
Four days had passed since they entered the Lost Sea, and during those four days, situations like the one they had just witnessed occurred almost every few hours.
With the intention of exercising, Noah did not use the Float-Float Fruit to pull the Nautilus to a safe zone in the sky, but continued to lead everyone to sail through the waves.
Noah didn't maintain the Magnetic Field Shield all the time; instead, he had everyone take turns trying to combat this strange weather.
However, after four days and four nights of battering the waves, everyone was somewhat exhausted, and even Noah felt a little tired.
Seeing that the Nautilus had safely avoided the Water Dragon, Noah turned to ask, " Lilith, how far are we from our destination?"
"It's about 53 kilometers to the northwest in the sea. If all goes well, we'll reach the target island in five hours."
Five hours? Then let's go full speed ahead!
The Nautilus continued its journey against the wind and waves.
Clearly, the journey was far from smooth, which took them more than three hours longer than expected to reach their destination.
After docking, Noah casually put the Nautilus away.
The scene that came into view at this moment was surprisingly calm.
The island was covered with vines, weeds, and moss.
Apart from Oyster, barnacles, mussels, and dried shrimp clinging to the coastal rocks, there are no traces of large animals around the coast. Apart from the occasional small crab sneaking around in the crevices of the rocks, there are very few other active creatures to be seen.
After passing through the rocky, craggy area along the coast, Noah and his companions arrived at a low hill.
"There are building ruins..." Kuro cut through a large patch of vines and saw the outlines of many buildings.
Following in their footsteps, they gradually ventured deeper into the ruins of this ancient city.
Everywhere there were crumbling walls covered with moss and vines.
"Very clean!" Kuro flipped over another collapsed rock wall and found no gold or silver jewelry inside.
Noah had already discerned some possible truths. "As expected, if this place hadn't been destroyed by a natural disaster, the treasure inside wouldn't have remained."
Two hours later.
They arrived at what appeared to be the ruins of a temple.
Noah stared at a mural depicting a ritual, a hint of surprise on his face. "It's the Nika Dance! Is this the place where the Sun God held his sacrifices?"
Kuro swept the surrounding stone walls and discovered more murals.
After looking at the murals, Noah shook his head. "It seems this really is Nika's sacrificial site. No wonder it was destroyed; this is the fate of the losers."
"Big brother, how do we solve the riddles on this treasure map?" Lilith, completely bewildered as she held the treasure map.
Noah read the riddle aloud, "The land of sunrise, the time of sunset, where colorful light shines and ancient wells roar."
"Actually, this riddle is very simple. The place where the sun rises represents the location, the time of sunset represents the evening of the day, the colorful light represents the season when the aurora appears, and the so-called treasure should be inside the ancient well."
"The aurora borealis appears in the Lost Sea during April/May or August/September each year. During these two periods, the Sun rises from the northeast, meaning the ancient well is located in the northeastern part of this island."
Soon, the group began exploring northeastwards, using the sacrificial site as their center.
However, no building remains were found along the way, and naturally no man-made wells or similar structures were discovered.
Noah used electromagnetic waves and Observation Haki, but still couldn't find any trace of the ancient well.
They reached the shore but still found nothing.
Kuro adjusted his glasses. "Does that ancient well only appear every evening?"
"Not necessarily." Noah pondered again. He had followed the clues from the riddle, so why couldn't he find the ancient well?
Looking at the surging waves in the distance, Noah suddenly had a flash of inspiration. "So that's it! The rising sea level caused that ancient well to be submerged by the sea?"
He once again focused his Observation Haki and electromagnetic wave perception, probing towards the nearby seabed.
A few minutes later, Noah opened his eyes. "Found it, it's in the sea about 2 kilometers away."
"It's actually on the seabed. It seems the effects of rising sea levels are indeed real." Kuro hadn't expected that this treasure map from hundreds of years ago would indirectly prove the fact of rising sea levels.
Noah touched the surface of the sea with both hands.
Soon the surrounding sea surface parted to the sides, revealing the seabed, which was about thirty or forty meters deep.
As the seawater parted, the ruins hidden on the seabed were finally revealed.
The ruins of a lighthouse-like structure, with the upper part of the tower completely destroyed, leaving only the base, and the ancient well is located inside the base.
Turning over the ruins of those buildings, you'll find a fairly large ancient well, with a spiral stone staircase running along its walls.
Noah and his companions descended the stone steps.
The seawater inside had been drained by the Float-Float Fruit, and there were still many octopuses, eels, and lobsters left in the crevices of the surrounding rocks.
After descending more than a hundred meters, they reached the bottom, which was filled with mud. After using the Float-Float Fruit to remove the mud, a tunnel was revealed at the bottom.
After passing through the tunnel, you'll find a natural cave at the end.
However, there are many traces of human alteration inside this natural cave, as well as a section of the tunnel that has been destroyed. Judging from its design, this should have been a submerged harbor.