Chapter 472: Disaster Descends from the Sky
Robin turned around and saw that at the spot the guerrilla fighter had pointed to, there really was a small piece of the same text. Curious, she walked over and, after reading it, exclaimed in surprise: "I came to this place, and shall carry this text to the ends of the world! — Pirate Gol D. Roger!?"
"Pirate King Roger!?" Hearing that name, not only Robin was surprised, even Luffy and Nami were also greatly astonished.
Ian, however, wasn't too surprised. In his memory, the Grand Line route Luffy and his crew were following was actually the same route the Pirate King Roger had taken back in the day. The person who gave them their Log Pose was Crocus, the former ship doctor of the Roger Pirates at Twin Cape... Following that logic, Roger must have also been to Jaya, so it wasn't impossible that he learned of the Skypiea legend and came to explore it...
And after hearing the name Roger from Robin's mouth, Gan Fall finally managed to interject, saying: "Roger? He came to this Skypiea over 20 years ago..."
Ian understood immediately. This must have been during the final leg of Roger's pirate career when he came to this island. By that time, he had likely already found the true Poneglyph, which was why he left this message here.
After looking for a while, Robin also vaguely guessed some of the intentions behind Roger leaving this information. She nodded to Gan Fall and Wiper, saying: "I've committed it to memory."
Wiper, who was currently being bandaged by Chopper, lowered his head upon hearing this and said with a sense of loss: "Then we don't need to fight anymore, do we?"
For a moment, all the Shandian guerrilla fighters fell silent.
Ian didn't know how to comfort them either, so he changed the subject: "Alright, next, let me help you get this golden bell down. The place this golden bell should belong is the golden city of Shandora!"
Hearing Ian say this, the Shandians snapped back to reality. In truth, because the battle had ended so quickly, they still hadn't found the location of the golden city.
Ian, however, knew that the golden city was actually buried in the cloud layer in the middle of the vine. Back then, half of Jaya Island was carried up by the Knock-Up Stream, and when it fell, it was pierced by the vine. The golden city landed in the middle section, but the golden bell was caught by the vine and remained at the top.
Unaware of this, Wiper and his guerrilla fighters had long been searching for the location of their homeland, exploring this forbidden land and thus fighting many battles with the Skypieans. After Enel came to Skypiea, their exploration was restricted to the extreme. There was no helping it—under Enel's Mantra perception, all Shandians who entered the forbidden land were killed by Enel...
Since Ian had already helped Wiper and his men find the golden bell, he wouldn't begrudge leading them to the golden city either. And the gold Ian was looking for could only be taken from Shandora.
Strictly speaking, the golden bell was the heaviest and largest piece of gold. However, Ian knew that unless he secretly took the golden bell, it was completely impossible. The golden bell was the most important thing the Shandians guarded—it was their lifeline. If they knew Ian planned to take it, they would fight him to the death.
Ian didn't intend to take what others cherished, so he decided to return the golden bell to the Shandians. However, he wouldn't be polite about the treasures in the golden city of Shandora. Those gold items were dispensable to the Shandians. Since Ian had given them such great help, he believed they wouldn't refuse when he asked.
Ian planned to take them openly and honestly...
So, while saying this, Ian winked at Nami, making a gesture with his thumb and index finger as if rubbing a banknote.
Seeing Ian's gesture, Nami immediately understood, and her eyes lit up!
She knew Ian was going to take them to find gold and treasure!
But... how were they supposed to move such a huge bell tower?
The Shandian guerrilla fighters discussed among themselves, seemingly planning to go back and call for help. However, at that moment, Ian snapped his fingers and said: "Dorry, it's your turn!"
"Leave it to me, Captain!" Dorry grinned. Then, under everyone's watch, he walked to the side of the bell tower, let out a loud roar, and plunged his furry hands into the stone base of the tower, burying both palms deep inside.
The spot Dorry chose wasn't where the Poneglyph was, or he wouldn't have been able to get his hands in.
Feeling that he had a firm grip, Dorry, under the gaze of everyone, suddenly exerted force. The muscles in his arms bulged explosively, and with a lift of his hands, he raised the entire golden bell tower!
Luffy and the others stared wide-eyed. The Shandians were equally stunned. They never imagined that Ian's strange bear-like companion possessed such incredible innate strength!
This massive bell tower, including the base and the golden bell on top, must have weighed no less than several tens of tons. Yet, one man had lifted it so easily.
"Quick!" Ian commanded, seeing Dorry had lifted the tower. He directed him to carry it to the edge of the cloud layer. Ian looked down, confirmed the location of the cloud layer in the middle of the vine, and then told Dorry to throw the entire tower down.
Dorry's burst of superhuman strength had a reason—it came from the Gluttony Fruit he had eaten.
After much observation, Ian had confirmed one thing: Dorry's Gluttony Fruit allowed him to convert all the food he ate into stored power, which he could then release in a single burst at will.
Normally, you'd see Dorry eating all day, every day, constantly storing up energy. And when he released that power all at once, it even surpassed the strength of a hundred men from Kuina's Asura Fruit. So lifting this massive bell tower was a piece of cake.
However, the Gluttony Fruit had its drawbacks. Dorry's power burst didn't last long. Ian had tested it by having him lift a large ship from the sea, and he could only hold it for about a minute. The bell tower's weight was probably similar to a ship's, so Ian figured Dorry couldn't hold it long enough to climb down the vine. That's why he had him just drop it.
The golden bell was made of gold, and the Poneglyph below was hard to damage. Ian figured that dropping it from such a height wouldn't break it. At most, the stone base would be damaged, which could be easily repaired.
So, under everyone's astonished gaze, Dorry performed this feat of lifting a cauldron, and then dropped the Shandians' most prized possession...
Ian didn't know what the Shandians thought of this, but in any case, it saved a lot of effort...
"Let's go, find the golden bell!" Ian called to the group, then said to Wiper: "You might need to get some people to drag it back and set it up later."
"..." Wiper stared at Ian, speechless for a long time. Although Ian's method was simple and crude, Wiper knew that the Shandians owed Ian a great debt.
"Thank you, Blue Sea dweller!" Wiper said. "Can you tell me your name?"
"I'm Ian!" Ian smiled and led the group down along the vine...
..............................
Before Dorry dropped the bell tower, in the golden city of Shandora hidden in the cloud layer in the middle of the vine, a massive serpent was dancing, twisting its body to the sound of the bell.
This serpent was the creature the Skypieans called the Sky Lord. It had been carried up into the sky by the Knock-Up Stream four hundred years ago. Now, after four hundred years, its body had grown to an enormous size.
Yet, even after four centuries, it still remembered the brilliant tone of the golden bell when it was rung.
When Wiper had struck the golden bell with his fist above, the Sky Lord, coiled up in the golden city and sleeping, immediately woke up. It raised its head high, looking toward the source of the sound above the clouds, and twisted its body joyfully.
But it didn't expect that after ringing for a while, the bell stopped.
The Sky Lord was puzzled. Just as it was slithering its body, intending to climb up the vine to see what was happening, suddenly, a huge shadow pierced through the clouds and fell toward its location.
Before it could react, the Sky Lord's head was struck!
"Clang!" A loud noise rang out. Indeed, it was the bell tower Dorry had thrown down!
With such immense weight falling from such a height, the impact force was unimaginable. Even the Sky Lord's massive body couldn't withstand such a powerful blow, and it was knocked unconscious.
So, when Ian and the others came down from above the vine and found the golden city buried in the clouds, the first thing they saw was this unconscious Sky Lord...
"What the hell?" Ian scratched his head in confusion, looking at the golden bell that had rolled to the side. He thought to himself, *Well, that saves trouble.*
Ian remembered that inside this giant serpent's belly, there was quite a bit of gold and treasure. When coming down, he had planned to find it and have Matthew touch it.
Now, Matthew didn't even need to act. The serpent had knocked itself out with the bell tower.
*Looks like even heaven wants you to cough up the treasure in your belly...* Ian thought to himself...