"Really, Luffy?"
Even though she had already guessed it, Nami was still unwilling to give up and wanted to hear it from Luffy directly. Luffy chuckled, and six empty chests were tossed down. Sure enough, they were completely empty.
"Nothing at all!"
Usopp sighed.
"Man, old man, you wasted decades for nothing."
Zoro waved his hand dismissively.
"And you ended up looking like neither a person nor a ghost."
Nami shook her head.
"Hehe, well… At first, it was really tough, and I felt it was a huge waste. But then, having them by my side, I realized it wasn't so bad. If I hadn't lost everything else, I wouldn't have gained this. In a way, I feel lighter now. Thank you, Straw Hat boy, I'm not sad because I've found my true treasure."
Kamon first sighed, then shook his head, his eyes bright and determined as he gazed warmly at the rare and exotic animals around him. It was their companionship that kept him going all these years.
"Huh? Moonlight, what are you doing?"
At that moment, Luffy caught sight of Moonlight suddenly raising his sword, unleashing a powerful sword aura.
"Huh?"
"Moonlight, what's going on?"
"An enemy?"
"Which mountain are you going to cut down?"
Upon hearing this, Nami and Usopp were shocked, while Zoro immediately saw what Moonlight was targeting—the hillside!
"Whoosh!"
Before they could be more surprised, a massive crescent-shaped sword aura slashed out forcefully!
"Boom!"
The hillside was split in half, rocks rolling down in a spectacular display.
What was revealed was a hollow mountainside.
"So it was true, the legend wasn't just a rumor!"
Moonlight's mind was racing as he approached the mountainside, where he saw strange inscriptions etched into the rock—ancient texts that he couldn't understand!
"What is this?"
"Is this the treasure?"
"A bunch of writing?"
Luffy, Zoro, Nami, and Usopp crowded around, bewildered.
"This… I've never seen this before!"
Kamon was also stunned. He never expected that splitting the hill would reveal something like this.
"Nami, do you have some paper for rubbing? I want to make a copy."
Moonlight didn't pay them much mind and looked at Nami.
"Yeah, I have some."
Nami nodded and took out some paper. As the ship's navigator and a thief, she had everything.
"If I'm not mistaken, this might be the real treasure. These inscriptions are in ancient language—I can't read them. Luffy, when you recruit more crew members, make sure to find a historian who can read this; only they will understand these writings."
Moonlight said while making a rubbing of the text.
"Yeah, definitely."
Luffy nodded, still curious about his surroundings. However, none of them could decipher the ancient text.
"Alright, now that this is done, we should weigh anchor and set sail. Hey, old man, why don't you come with us and join our crew?"
With everything wrapped up, the crew prepared to leave. Luffy looked at Kamon and extended an invitation.
"No, thank you. I've been waiting and hoping for so long, missing out on too much. The treasure is no longer my only pursuit; these animals are my treasure now."
Kamon shook his head firmly, refusing outright.
"Well, alright then, old man. You better live well!"
Luffy waved, and Moonlight raised the anchor, Usopp took the helm, Nami monitored the course, and Zoro kept watch. The crew set sail, leaving the treasure island behind.
"Honestly, Moonlight, how did you realize there was something wrong with that hill?"
On the ship, Nami asked Moonlight, still puzzled.
"Yeah, this kind of thing… we'd never have thought of it."
Usopp nodded. Though he often claimed to be the smartest man in the world, even he wouldn't have thought to split open a hill.
"You're not the only one; even I didn't see that coming."
Zoro added, nodding.
"It's nothing, just a gut feeling. When I heard that guy say this was the legendary treasure island and that so many of them had searched everywhere except that hillside… I thought, are they all idiots, or blind? So many people, yet none of them went up there? It didn't make sense. He was probably lying; they must have gone up there, but he was the only one who saw the chest."
"There are many coincidences in this world, but when coincidences defy logic, they're no longer coincidences—they're secrets."
Moonlight shook his head. He found it odd and just tried it out, never expecting there really was a secret.
"No wonder you're so sharp, Moonlight."
Nami couldn't help but admire him.
"That's right, I rarely admire anyone, but you, Moonlight, are one of them!"
Usopp gave a thumbs up.
"Hmph."
Zoro just grunted, but his eyes were burning with fighting spirit. This man—whether in swordsmanship or intellect—was sharp. He could only look up to him. But he would surpass him one day.
"I'm so hungry; I need meat."
Luffy, already bored, sat at the prime spot at the ship's bow, holding his stomach and looking drained.
"…"
Everyone was speechless.
Luffy's antics left them at a loss for words.
"Moonlight, think of something—I'm starving!"
Luffy turned, pleading.
"Hungry? In the open sea, food is the last thing you need to worry about."
Moonlight smiled, using his Observation Haki. He swung his sword!
"Whoosh!"
A crescent-shaped sword aura cut through the sea!
The sea split, and ten meters away, a giant shark lunged toward them, having been lurking to ambush the Merry. But it never expected Moonlight to act first!
"So awesome!"
"Moonlight!"
Nami and the others gasped in amazement.
But then, as the sword aura passed, the shark was sliced in two; one half was grabbed by Luffy, while the other was flung far away by the impact.
"I slashed too hard!"
Moonlight sighed. He had overestimated the shark's resilience!
"Whoa, shark meat! Usopp, roast it up! We're having shark meat!"
Luffy eagerly grabbed one half of the shark and turned to Usopp.
"Alright, leave it to me. Grilling is my specialty."
Usopp pounded his chest, quickly setting up a fire to roast the meat.
"…"
"…"
Seeing how Luffy and Moonlight acted so swiftly, Nami and Zoro were at a loss. These two… but seeing the shark meat roasting, their stomachs also growled.
"Hahahaha!"
Luffy's laughter echoed. The crew exchanged looks and couldn't help but laugh along.
"Boom!"
Just then, a loud wave crashed, accompanied by shouting.
"Hey, who threw a shark at us? It flipped our boat! Joseph, don't die on me!"
Cough cough…
"What's going on?"
The crew, in the midst of laughter, was startled by the noise. They looked around and finally spotted a small boat flipped by the shark, with two people floating in the sea. They exchanged puzzled glances.
How could they hit someone in the middle of the ocean?