"Old man, I've been here for far too long. I usually just sleep all day. You woke me up today. I was just trying to amuse you, but I didn't expect you to be so easily teased. You're so boring!" the aged voice said, somewhat speechlessly.
"Were you telling the truth before?" Vic was still unsure whether the old man had been joking with him.
"Of course it's the truth. I have indeed been here for almost two hundred years, and I have indeed met Roger. It's just that I have spent most of my time in hibernation, and I am trapped here, so I don't know much about the outside world."
The old man saw that Vic was a respected person and hadn't lied to him. People in this world rarely lie; they even told their enemies what abilities they used directly—they were all very honest!
"You've lived for two hundred years? Are you even human?" Vic was very curious about this person who claimed to have lived for two hundred years. Could a human live that long under natural conditions?
"Of course I'm human. Come up to the platform and see what I look like."
The aged voice only said that it was human and that if you had any questions, come and see. This made Vic very suspicious. What if it suddenly attacked when he got close, or possessed his soul?
But curiosity still drove Vic to continue upwards. He got closer and closer to the platform and gradually saw that it was a small clay sculpture of an old man.
It looked very much like the image of the local earth god that Vic had seen in his previous life. It sat cross-legged on a high platform, not very tall, about the size of a five-year-old child, with a face full of wrinkles. If a fly were to crawl on that face, five and a half of its six legs would be twisted. The clay statue's mouth was surrounded by cracks, as if some of the clay had fallen off.
Vic felt that the thing that had spoken to him just now could not possibly be this thing; it was more likely that it was the mechanical giant soldier. At least the mechanical giant soldier had given him some kind of response. This clay sculpture looked like a work of art.
Vic continued to approach the platform. By now, his line of sight had gone beyond the platform, and he could see the entire view of it. The clay sculpture had its hands on its knees, palms facing upwards.
On the platform in front of the clay sculpture were two fist-sized holes, from which water gushed out. The water formed an arc-shaped cylinder that connected with the clay sculpture's palm, and the water seemed to disappear into the center of the palm. This scene struck Vic as very eerie.
Vic turned his head and looked around. He saw the scene that was fully revealed behind the platform: a giant mechanical soldier sitting on the ground with his back against the rock wall. It was probably twenty meters tall, not counting its legs. Next to the rock where the giant mechanical soldier was sitting, there was a square stone of a different color embedded in the mountain wall, with only one side of the rock surface showing strange square characters. It was right in the gap between the giant mechanical soldier's body and arms.
"This mechanical behemoth is quite intact, with no visible damage. I wonder if it can still move?" Vic thought to himself as he looked at the behemoth.
"Don't look around, I'm right in front of you, can't you see me?"
Just then, the aged voice rang in Vic's ears. Since Vic was now less than two meters away from the platform, Vic turned his head and saw that the clay sculpture was still the same as before. If there was any change, it was that another piece of clay had fallen off the corner of its mouth.
On the hot spring street, Rebecca and Kanbo had already clashed. Both were swordsmen, and their fight was quite direct, with swords clashing back and forth.
Barnett and Desukurei faced off. Neither of them had fought before, and neither knew the other's strength, but Barnett knew that Desukurei was definitely not as fast as him.
"Shave"
Barnett also started with the Six Powers Shave, and sure enough, this move was effective quickly. Desukurei fell into a pit twice and was kicked away by Barnett at close range, spitting out another mouthful of blood.
"Those two are too fast; I can't react in time. I have to use my Devil Fruit ability, otherwise I won't even be able to escape."
Desukurei wasn't stupid; having been tricked twice by shaving, he already knew that this trick was his weakness.
" Great Round Table "
After standing up, Desukurei conjured a Great Round Table out of thin air and threw it at Barnett, while taking two steps back to guard against Barnett's extreme speed.
"Hmm? The power of Devil Fruit?"
Seeing his opponent conjure a large table out of thin air, Barnett guessed it was Devil Fruit ability, but he had never heard of such an ability before and didn't know how to deal with it.
But the table had already flown close enough that he could only throw a punch, trying to smash it to pieces.
Instead of the expected scene of the table exploding, he found himself in an unfamiliar place. The ground beneath his feet was flat, and the sky was still the same, but he could hear nothing. Looking into the distance, he could still see the familiar burning streets, but the buildings on those streets looked enormous, and the flames Shrouding the Heavens.
"What's going on? Have I been hit? What kind of ability is this?" Barnett was quite surprised. The change was too great. He became alert and started circling around on the spot, wary of any sudden enemies.
Just then, he saw a huge figure approaching on the distant horizon. He could only see the upper body; the lower body seemed to be buried in the ground. It was Desukurei, who had just thrown the table. The bloodstains on his face were clearly visible, and he wore a smug smile.
"Hahaha, you've fallen for it! You're now in my Round Table World, where I'll set the rules. Aren't you desperate?!"
A loud buzzing sound reached Barnett's ears, and Barnett realized that he had been sealed onto a round table.
"The desktop has boundaries too, right? As long as you reach the edge of the desktop, you can go over it."
Barnett calmed himself down and ran off in a direction far away from Desukurei, Desukurei merely watched with a mocking expression and did not stop him.
At this moment, Rebecca, who was in the middle of the battle, forced Kanbo back with her sword and disappeared from the spot. She reappeared by the round table and slashed at it with her sword, trying to split the table in two to rescue Barnett.
She was just fighting with Kanbo when she sensed Barnett kicking that sleazy little man away with his Observation Haki, and she was even a little happy about it.
But after the man threw a round table at Barnett, the closer the table got to Barnett, the smaller Barnett's body became. Then the table stood still, and Barnett appeared on the table like a small doll, which looked quite eerie.
Before Rebecca's sword could even strike the round table, she was flung away by an invisible force, and her entire body was carried away by that force. It was as if there was a barrier around the round table, making it impossible for any attack to get close.
"Hahaha, it's useless. Once you enter my Desktop World, no external force can destroy the round table. Give up on that idea!" Desukurei was delighted to see the woman who had kicked him earlier get her comeuppance, and he stood on the other side of the table, laughing heartily.