With his mind filled with scenes of adventuring with the Roger Pirates, and having gained no useful information, Vic immediately restricted his mental visualization, focusing all his attention on the text itself!
Vic composed himself and began flipping through the logbook again from the first page. This time, he didn't go as fast. Vic tried to find patterns, codes, or metaphors between Oden's lines, but he didn't succeed!
" Yamato! Go ahead and do your work. I'll come find you if I need anything. Don't waste my time here!"
And so, Vic flipped through the ship's logbook again and again, until Yamato next to him started yawning.
Vic knew that there was no codebook to decipher the text, and much of the content looked normal, with no hidden meaning beneath the surface!
But Vic didn't know Oden had ever used a codebook, so the possibilities became even more numerous, like solving a probability problem. He flipped through the logbook again and again, but Vic still had no clue!
"I see. The problem is these few log entries written after returning from Laugh Tale. The content is ordinary, rambling, and seems to have been written just for the sake of writing!"
The torn pages, those about Laugh Tale, were the real smokescreen, drawing the attention of those unaware of the truth to their contents while ignoring the subtle anomalies in the later pages. What a clever tactic!
A few days later, Vic finally discovered a clue in the contents after the torn pages. The torn pages were records of Laugh Tale, and the following pages were records of the period from the return from Laugh Tale to Roger's disembarkation, after which Oden stopped writing!
Actually, there's something wrong with these pages. Vic should have suspected it earlier, because the tattoo on Shanks' back was done by Roger and Oden around that time!
To uncover the secret behind Shanks' back tattoo, the most suspicious source is the ship's log from that period, but since there's no specific information to refer to, Vic can only focus on everything!
Vic has been consulting many famous publications around the world these past few days, such as Noland the Liar, trying to find the corresponding codebook from these books that have been circulated throughout the world, but he has failed to do so, as he cannot find any coherent content!
Later, Vic consulted the unique culture of Wano Country and the books circulating in the country, but still got nowhere. It was as if this logbook really was a record of the Pirate King Roger's voyage after conquering the Grand Line and becoming the Pirate King, which made Vic want to give up!
However, the fact that Roger and Oden had tattoos on Shanks' back was too unusual, forcing Vic to grit his teeth and persevere!
Finally, Vic was driven to desperation and could only try using Ancient Script as a last resort, but to his surprise, it actually worked!
Every character in Ancient Script can be translated into modern script, but translating modern script into Ancient Script is not possible for every single character.
Because that's how writing works; as time goes on, more and more new characters will be created in order to better write and express.
Therefore, not every modern character can be matched with an ancient character. This is true in the world of One Piece, and it is also true in the world of Vic's previous life. Oden simply took advantage of this and wrote a few ordinary, rambling chapters to convey information!
Therefore, after Vic translated the last few log entries into Ancient Script, many gaps appeared in them.
When all the Ancient Script are connected, they form a guide to deciphering the tattoo on Shanks' Shanks. This guide allows you to peel away the tattoo layer by layer in a certain order, and then reassemble it in another form to reveal the hidden content!
Without a written guide map outlining the sequence, no matter how hard you try, you'll never understand it; it's just a jumble of gibberish. Who has the ability to find the final answer?
This is no longer a problem of decryption, but a problem of probability. What is the probability of getting every step right? With so many steps and their order, the probability is probably close to zero!
"No wonder Roger and Oden abandoned Red-Hair and Buggy. Laugh Tale can only be entered at the right time and in the right place. It really does exist in another dimension!"
No wonder Luffy couldn't find it. Trying his luck was futile; there were limitations in both time and space. It's like a tiny dot that only appears once a year in the sea behind Lodestar Island. Who would be lucky enough to stumble upon that elusive dot? Probably only Zoro leading a crew could possibly get in!
The tattoo on Shanks' back, after being deciphered layer by layer by Vic, turned out to be rows of ancient script, or rather, disjointed Ancient Script.
However, the contents of the other three Road Poneglyph matched remarkably well. After recombination and redistribution, Vic obtained four intersecting coordinates and the validity period for entering Laugh Tale!
There's a real reason why you can't find Laugh Tale without those four road signs; you can't argue with that!
Having finally deciphered the tattoo on Shanks' back, along with obtaining the exact location and time of Laugh Tale's appearance, Vic was completely relieved. The One Piece would finally see the light of day again, and there would be no more uncertainties!
After returning Oden's logbook to Yamato, Vic returned to his normal routine!
" Luffy, I'm sorry!"
Vic has no intention of handing over the fourth Road Poneglyph behind Shanks to Luffy. If he gave it to him now, with Robin around, the Straw Hat Pirates would find Laugh Tale in a year at most!
When Luffy returns as King, it will likely be the time for his final battle against the World Government and Imu!
But Vic has only just grasped one of the Law of Lightning, his Law of Speed and Slowness is still at a bottleneck, and his Law of Space is far from perfect. How can he fight like this? Even with Garp, it's no use. Imu is a powerful figure who possesses several complete Laws, so he still lacks time to develop!
Vic is now trying to drag the fight out to the next generation, that is, twenty or thirty years from now, since he has Pure Gold in his hands!
He could quietly retire and use Pure Gold to maintain the peak physical condition of Luffy, Ace, and the others who he believed had the potential to break through to the God Realm. After that, he could go into seclusion and cultivate in seclusion until everyone had quietly broken through to the God Realm, and then catch Imu off guard!
Anyway, Vic has the Soul Tree to isolate the intense Laws fluctuations when breaking through to the God Realm. With his intentions on the side, he can catch Imu completely off guard!
Moreover, Vic was confident that he could hold out until then, and given Roger and Oden's arrangements, the fourth Road Poneglyph would most likely have already been destroyed by them!
Therefore, without Vic's explicit instruction, Luffy will never find the fourth Road Peg in his lifetime, because Oden's logbook is in Yamato's hands, which is equivalent to Vic's hands. As long as Vic doesn't agree, Yamato will never show it to outsiders!
With Ain and Bonney's abilities added in, all we need to do is give Luffy a chance to use them at the right time, and then let the slightly older Luffy show themselves.
If the One Piece doesn't appear, and this is used a few more times, even Luffy, the Sun God Nika, probably won't be taken seriously by Imu anymore. He probably won't even bother to make a move!
With the One Piece nowhere to be found, and the new generation of Joy Boy growing old day by day, who can threaten Imu's rule?
Then, let Luffy and his crew pull off a clever escape, ensuring Imu won't suspect anything. Once they Luffy to the God Realm, their chances of defeating Imu will be much greater!
Luffy can't think too far ahead right now; his goal has always been to become the Pirate King. This is determined by Luffy's current level, and there's no point in saying anything more!
Luffy has said that he doesn't want to be a hero, he only wants to do what he wants to do, and it's probably no use trying to persuade him otherwise. Only after he becomes the Pirate King and realizes his ambition will Luffy consider other things!
Vic, however, always considers the big picture, and the One Piece is just one part of that big picture. So, in this life-or-death moment, the One Piece can be temporarily abandoned, and Luffy's dream can be temporarily put aside!
It might sound like a lie, but faced with so many lives at stake, Vic would rather go against his conscience!