After experiencing another magical sight, Vic stored the two Mystery Fruit in his Dimensional Space and began exploring the giant tree again, but still found nothing.
Just then, the giant tree emerged from the water and began to slowly sink into the lake. Vic felt a little anxious, but then an idea suddenly popped into his mind: Voice of All Things could reveal the Poneglyph and allow one to hear the words of the Sea Kings, and this island was connected to both. Would using the Voice of All Things to explore the giant tree yield any results?
Without hesitation, Vic flew to the island where the giant tree was rooted. At this time, a small part of the island was still above the lake. Vic stood beside the giant tree, closed his eyes, and placed his palm on the trunk. He then released his Observation Haki and Mind Power, combining the two to make Vic senses even more refined, but he still couldn't detect anything.
"What secret are you hiding? Tell me! Tell me! What is becoming a god within a tree? Tell me! Tell me!"
Vic shouted in his heart, maximizing his Mind Power and Observation Haki, conveying his emotions to the giant tree. The giant tree did not respond, but when he activated the Voice of All Things to the extreme, he sensed a cavity somewhere in the trunk.
How could there be a cavity in a fully grown tree? This isn't some small tree that gets eaten by animals and insects; this is a tree that's been submerged in poisonous water for years. Would there be any animals or insects that aren't afraid of the poison? Maybe there are, but it's somewhat of a coincidence that it appeared here. Vic is more convinced that he has discovered the secret of this tree!
Slightly apprehensive, Vic used Geppo to fly upwards and arrived at the hollow trunk. The trunk, which had been submerged in the lake for many years, was covered with unknown mosses, obscuring its original color.
Vic drew out the Blood Wither and quickly scraped off the moss on the tree trunk, clearing out a section of the trunk twenty meters long and wide. Vic carefully examined the cleared trunk, but found nothing unusual. The giant tree was still slowly sinking into the lake.
Vic didn't have much time to waste. He reached out and pressed his hand against the cleaned tree trunk, unleashing his full Observation Haki, which allows him to Voice of All Things.
As he groped along the tree trunk with the blurry image he sensed, a hidden door made of tree trunk suddenly opened as Vic pressed down. The door was only about three meters high and a little over a meter wide, but it was more than a meter thick.
Looking at the glowing passageway inside the door, Vic swallowed hard. He had finally found the tree's secret. Indeed, one had to Voice of All Things to find this door. Joy Boy's backup plan was indeed meticulously designed, leaving no opportunity for the enemy.
Seeing the giant tree still sinking, Vic quickly flew into the doorway. Just before the doorway, located halfway down the tree trunk, was about to be submerged in water, the hidden door closed automatically. Vic looked inside and found it to be perfectly sealed and watertight.
Vic estimated that the door had become one with the entire tree trunk, returning to its original state where he couldn't detect any flaws.
Vic stood at the cave entrance without immediately going inside. He only breathed a sigh of relief after the tree stopped shaking. The giant tree had sunk into the lake without any leaks. If Vic wanted to get out, he would have to wait until the full moon next month.
Vic took out the Den Den Mushi from his pocket and looked at it. The Den Den Mushi was drooping and had fallen into hibernation, which meant it couldn't receive a signal. It seemed he wouldn't be able to contact the outside world for a month, Vic thought to himself, and then put the Den Den Mushi away.
Vic snapped out of his thoughts and observed the passage. The passage was the same size as the door, and it looked like it had been hollowed out entirely. It seemed to cause a lot of damage to the tree, but for the giant tree, it was probably just like pulling a small piece of wood out of its trunk. This giant tree was about three hundred meters in diameter, so this passage could hardly be called damage.
The walls of the passage emitted a faint fluorescence. Although it was not as bright as day, it was still clear enough to see with the naked eye. The walls were smooth as a mirror and had a warm, smooth feel. They did not feel like touching wood at all, but rather like touching jade or emerald.
Vic walked along the passage for more than a hundred meters before being stopped by a door. The door was obvious, and Vic pushed it open. It was a horizontal sliding door, and the two-meter-thick door disappeared into the side wall after Vic opened it.
Upon opening the door, what came into Vic's view was a spacious, cylindrical space. There were no tables, chairs, bookshelves, or beds inside, so it didn't look like a living space. The area was about thirty square meters, and based on the diameter of the giant tree, this place should be located in the center of the trunk.
Vic glanced around the room and was quickly drawn to a small tree in the center. The tree's branches and leaves emitted a green fluorescence, looking fresh and vibrant, clearly something special.
This is not a small tree that exists alone, but rather it grew directly from the woody ground. The shape of its leaves is exactly the same as the leaves on the outside of this giant tree, except that the leaves of this small tree are luminous and more tender.
"Could this sapling be a divine medicine, capable of granting godhood upon consumption? Is this the ultimate secret to achieving godhood through trees?"
Vic approached the sapling and bent down to examine it closely. He had this thought in mind about this mysterious little tree, but since it wasn't recorded in detail in the Poneglyph, Vic couldn't be sure if it was true.
Vic didn't keep staring at the sapling. Although there weren't any extra items in the space, he had seen other things when he looked around the circular space earlier.
Vic walked past the sapling to the innermost circular wall. The fluorescent wall had many relief-like patterns and words that looked like they were carved, but the brushstrokes were exceptionally smooth and natural, without the artificiality of human carving.
Vic started looking at the pattern on the far left. It was a long, vertical strip, like a belt, dotted with countless dots of different sizes and shapes. The more Vic looked at it, the more familiar it seemed.
Upon seeing the X-shaped symbol in the very center of the long strip, I finally understood what this belt was: it was the chart of the Grand Line, and the X-shaped symbol in the middle was the Reverse Mountain, the entrance from all Four Blues to the Grand Line!
Vic didn't know the purpose of having a map of the Grand Line here, but he still carefully recorded it. The Four Blues were relatively peaceful areas, and maps of them had been drawn long ago, but no one had ever drawn a complete map of the Grand Line; only very partial maps existed.
Therefore, this Grand Line chart is still very useful for people like Vic who travel through clouds. If this chart was left by Joy Boy, then Laugh Tale is probably not marked on it, otherwise all the other arrangements would be wasted.