Chapter 170 The Underground Cave (11,000 chapters)...
rustling, rustling...
Inside the dark underground caves, there grow plant and animal species that are completely different from those in the outside world.
Dark purple ferns grew in the crevices of the rocks, and giant mushroom trees emitted a faint glow. Violet walked ahead, carrying a lantern, occasionally stopping to check the [ancient map] to make sure they hadn't lost their way in the darkness.
Shanks held a perfectly round fluorescent fruit in his hand. This plant, which grows among dark green moss, produces one to three fruits. Before they rot, these fruits emit a cool white light, providing a valuable source of light for exploring underground caves.
Shanks had been studying the fluorescent fruit for over half an hour. Since descending into the cave, everything he had seen had greatly conflicted with his previous understanding.
As a free-spirited pirate who loves adventure, Shanks has visited many, many magical islands, but none can compare to the scene he is about to witness.
This is like another world.
Another world, which has always existed beneath their feet, yet has never been noticed by them.
Shanks: Wow!
Shanks looked at Violet, who was enveloped in the glow of the lantern, and was extremely glad that he had chosen to go on the adventure with her.
Ah, if Beckman and the others knew what fun things he'd encountered, they'd be green with envy.
Taking a few quick steps to get back into the very center of the lantern's circle, Shanks casually stuffed the fluorescent fruit he had been playing with into the lantern to add fuel. Shanks was in high spirits, eagerly anticipating what he would encounter next.
Unfortunately, all those clockwork robots were dealt with by Val last time. When Shanks and Val went down into the cave this time, they only saw scattered parts and incredibly free-growing cave plants growing in the gaps between the parts.
Shanks tried to dig out one of the larger fragments and carefully recall it by comparing it with his memories. Unfortunately, he was found by Captain Roger not long after his birth and grew up among a group of pirates. Shanks did not have the opportunity to receive the education that the noble yet filthy bloodline he despised should have received, and thus had no way of knowing whether these amazing machines were another secret of the World Government.
The sound of flapping wings rose from all directions. Shanks raised his head with interest, his gaze piercing through the thick curtain of darkness into the distance. After a few moments, he exclaimed in surprise, "Bats?"
Upon entering the underground world, Shanks immediately discovered that his Observation Haki was severely suppressed, only able to function at one-fifth of its normal level.
The dense darkness did not seem pure; in the dimly lit space, there were forces that even Shanks could not recognize that suppressed the development of Observation Haki.
This performance reminded Shanks of those mysterious marbles, with so many fragments lying in Elbaf for them to study. The Red-Haired Pirates discovered long before Violet and the others that those marbles could generate Haki-like power to resist Devil Fruits and attacks that were also mixed with Haki.
Thinking about it this way, the change in his Observation Haki at this moment seems less like it was being suppressed and more like it was being absorbed by something? After all, Shanks didn't feel any more difficulty when releasing his Observation Haki than before.
Hmm, following this line of thought, could the marble's extremely high hardness be a result of absorbing Armament Haki? And could the fact that they remained intact even after his full-force attack mixed with Conqueror's Haki mean that other Conqueror's Haki they had absorbed in the past helped them in the process?
hiss--
Even after all these years, with the marbles of Elbaf shattered into pieces, so much power still remains. Just imagining how much of the three types of Haki those marbles initially absorbed, and under what circumstances they were able to come into contact with and absorb so much of the three types of Haki, Shanks felt a heavy sense of grand and mysterious history rushing towards him.
While Shanks was pondering, even with his Observation Haki suppressed to less than one-fifth of its normal level, he accurately detected the huge, ferocious bats that emerged from their rocky nests and attacked them. Shanks, who was about to draw his sword, remembered his earlier guess and released his Haki to knock them unconscious one by one.
"Huh?"
Val also noticed something was wrong at this point, because Shanks had used two chances to stun the first bat!
Before setting off, Violet personally confirmed that Shanks had no smell of alcohol on him, and she had been keeping an eye on his sanity level, so she was certain that he was perfectly sober.
Along with the question arose Violet's Observation Haki. The moment her Observation Haki spread out, Violet, like Shanks, felt as if she were plunging into a heavy quagmire.
Violet intensified her efforts to finish off the remaining bats. Afterward, she maintained her Observation Haki and sensed the situation. She then turned her head slightly to look at Shanks: "It seems like something is absorbing my Haki."
This was something she hadn't experienced the last time she came to this underground world... No, that's not right. Last time, she didn't even know how to use Observation Haki, so of course she couldn't feel this strange sensation of her power being absorbed.
Shanks looked up at the darkness above him: "Perhaps it's the plants, the rocks, or even the air."
Based on his extensive adventure experience, Shanks deduced that as they delved deeper, their absorption of Haki would likely become stronger, to the point that they would eventually need to expend tremendous effort to unleash even a tenth of their full power.
Violet couldn't help but sigh, "The ocean is the nemesis of Devil Fruit users, so it seems that these underground worlds are the nemesis of Haki users." The game's background setting is quite particular about balance and symmetry. She had always thought that the powerful Haki users were a bit too overpowered, too much of a meta-defining force, as if there was no one who could counter them. Now it seems that her adventure just hasn't reached that point yet.
Shanks's brow twitched upon hearing this, and he couldn't help but glance down at Violet.
This was an idea he hadn't considered before, but it certainly made a lot of sense.
Violet's thoughts are very unconventional and unrestrained. Even free-spirited pirates who are far removed from so-called rules and order would find it difficult to have such thoughts immediately. Violet is a bit... well, too wild.
"We can exchange vigilance."
Not knowing how long it would take to find the location on the map, or how much the surrounding environment would absorb Haki by the end, Violet believed that even she and Shanks needed to consider conserving their physical strength and energy.
Shanks nodded in agreement.
"You go first."
This is because the further you go, the better the surrounding environment absorbs the domineering aura, and the more difficult it becomes to be vigilant.
Valerie also had no objection to Shanks's arrangement. This was the benefit of having a major battle before cooperating; both of them had an extraordinary understanding of each other's abilities, and when their goals were aligned, they could naturally create a stronger synergy.
As the two ventured deeper and further away from the entrance in Alabasta, more and more underground creatures appeared before them.
Those creatures that live in the darkness are extremely aggressive, and Valerie and Shanks are attacked by them as soon as they pass through their territory. Waves of bloodthirsty bats, red-eyed deformed spiders that spray deadly venom, and giant snails that spit flammable and explosive slime charge at them, giving Valerie and Shanks almost no time to catch their breath.
After dealing with two more spider nests, Val checked Shanks's status on the panel and stopped when she saw that his sanity had dropped to two-thirds.
"Take a break first."
"call--"
Shanks let out a long breath, feeling that among all the adventures he had ever experienced, this was one of the most exciting and thrilling.
Although these creatures of the underworld are not as powerful as the pirates of the New World, they are not afraid of darkness or death. They live in groups and are frenzied. There is no way to stop their crazy attacks except to kill them completely.
Shanks stood beside the lantern, letting its cold white light completely envelop him. Then, with great interest, he turned his head to watch as Vale took out one piece of firewood after another, of uniform length and thickness, from a pocket on the side of her skirt, skillfully arranged them into a campfire shape, and lit them.
Violet squatted by the campfire, skewering the mushrooms she had picked up while cutting down the giant green mushroom tree with a branch and roasting them over the fire. When the plump caps of the green mushrooms burst open like popcorn under the high temperature, Violet picked off the top one with her hand, blew on it, and then couldn't wait to put it in her mouth.
As her sanity steadily increased with the effects of the [Roasted Green Mushrooms], Violet waved to Shanks after finishing a few skewers. He bent down, picked up the lantern, and walked to Violet's side. He hesitated in front of the mushroom, which was still incredibly bright red even when fully ripe and looked quite poisonous.
Shanks has a good memory; he still remembers when he first met Violet, she picked up a few mushrooms from the ground and put them in her mouth, almost getting poisoned and passed out.
The flickering orange flames illuminated Shanks' profile, making his features even more defined and striking. He gazed at Vale for a few seconds, observing her silently, before slowly raising his hand and extending two fingers.
How many is this?
Violet: "..."
Vera: "Are you going to eat or not?"
Shanks closed his eyes, and Valerie keenly sensed that he had activated his Observation Haki at that moment. A few seconds later, Shanks relaxed, crossed his legs, sat down next to Valerie, and took the skewer of [grilled green mushrooms] and began to eat with a flourish.
Shanks looked at the crackling fire and sighed, "If only we had some wine."
Violet ignored him, took out a papyrus from her backpack, and began to write and draw on the [ancient map]. Shanks curiously leaned closer and discovered that Violet was drawing the route they had traveled before, and had marked the various monsters from the underworld they had encountered in the form of drawings and words.
"It seems that the deeper you go, the more frequently those monsters appear."
Looking at the markings on the papyrus, Violet said, "Judging from that [ancient map], we've only covered less than a quarter of the distance. We're likely to encounter more and more powerful monsters along the way."
Shanks laughed heartily: "I'm starting to look forward to the adventure ahead."
Indeed, the bats, spiders, and snails they had encountered before were not particularly troublesome, except that their high mobility and tendency to hide in the darkness at any time made it difficult for them to stay within the range of the lantern's light.
Violet muttered a couple of things, praying that the monsters she would encounter next would provide her with some interesting loot, rather than useless things like bat droppings, bat wings, monster meat, or snail shell fragments.
After a short rest to replenish her hunger and sanity, Val extinguished the fire, picked up her lantern, and set off again with Shanks.
Da da da da...
After an unknown amount of time, the two of them simultaneously heard a sound like pebbles clashing together coming from ahead. The information transmitted by their Observation Haki made Shanks alertly take a step forward to block Violet. He was about to draw his sword to deal with those guys when Violet suddenly patted his side lightly.
"Don't move."
Violet tilted her head to sense it and was surprised to find that even at this distance, the group of creatures in front of her still did not have any health bars.
This means they are rare neutral or even friendly creatures in the underground world.
"They mean no harm."
Shanks didn't know how Val made that judgment, but seeing her relaxed expression, he also removed his hand from Griffin.
Violet can judge whether someone has malicious intent without meeting or communicating with them; is this a special ability of her Observation Haki?
While Shanks was speculating, Val had already raised her lantern and walked towards the direction where the clattering sound was most intense.
The silvery light quickly illuminated the area, a rocky region devoid of moss and ferns. Dark yellow saltpeter, large chunks of gold, and even rubies and sapphires were scattered on the ground, and dozens of bipedal creatures, each over fifteen meters tall, roamed back and forth within the rocky area.
They had shrimp-like pointed heads and small, dark eyes on either side, as well as slender legs and huge pincers. When Violet approached them, they neither flinched nor avoided them, but continued to move forward as before, making that rhythmic tapping sound.
Those grayish-white bodies looked as if they were made entirely of rock, and even had traces of rock weathering and cracks on them.
In such a dark and deserted environment, they may have walked silently for hundreds of years, and after Vil and the others left, they may continue to walk for hundreds or even thousands of years until the hard rocks that make up their bodies are completely weathered and broken!
"It's a scene that's really... hard to describe in words."
Shanks looked at those creatures brimming with historical aura and couldn't help but sigh. The grand history was like a vast ocean, and facing it always made one easily feel one's own insignificance.
The world on Earth witnessed the birth of the World Government, countless rebellions and suppressions, the rise and death of Rocks, Roger's awe-inspiring journey to the final island and his desolate end on the execution platform; it witnessed the rise of the Sea Emperors like Whitebeard and Kaido, and the birth of the Seven Warlords of the Sea like Violet...
They have spent countless long years in the underground world, waiting for time to pass in endless cycles of wandering.
All those great, insignificant, magnificent, and despicable people or stories have been ground into sand and sunk to the bottom and disappeared in the long river of time.
If a philosopher or a wandering poet were to witness this scene, they might be inspired to create one or two masterpieces.
Unfortunately, only a pirate and a farmer witnessed this scene.
Shanks watched as Vale bent down to pick up the gold nuggets and gems from the ground, stuffing them into her pocket with remarkable ease, and then, with a flick of her wrist, took out a round, light gray pebble.
He watched as Vera carefully approached one of the shrimp monsters, raised her arm, and offered the pebble to it.
The shrimp monster, which had been wandering around, suddenly stopped when it saw the pebble. Its segmented, tentacle-like whiskers twitched twice, and then it bent down, opened its pincers, which were as big as half of Violet's body, and carefully and gently pinched the pebble into its mouth.
Crack, crack...
The hard pebbles made a crunching sound in its mouth, much like a human eating nuts.
After satisfying her little hobby of feeding the shrimp monsters, Val waved to them and then crossed the empty rocky area with Shanks, heading deeper into the area once more.
"Vell".
"Hmm, I know."
She turned around helplessly. Behind her seemed to be nothing but empty black air, but her Observation Haki told Violet that the shrimp monster she had fed pebbles to once on a whim had been secretly following them all along.
It wasn't exactly quiet, since the clattering sound of its footsteps was quite noticeable in a quiet environment.
Seeing that Violet had stopped, the shrimp monster silently emerged from the darkness, its tentacle whiskers twitching twice more, sending a silent longing to Violet.
...Is he addicted to it?
Sigh, you really shouldn't just feed wild animals like that.
Violet spread her hands out to it, trying to tell it that she didn't have the food it wanted.
Da da da...
The shrimp monster circled around twice, but showed no intention of leaving.
"Pfft!" Shanks chuckled, suggesting gleefully, "If it wants to follow, let it follow. It doesn't mean any harm anyway."
"In a dark underground world, having such a huge and burly shrimp monster following you might scare away a lot of malicious monsters."
Violet felt there was little hope. In terms of sheer terror, she and Shanks, who were always exuding an aura, were no less terrifying than any shrimp monster, yet those monsters didn't seem to run away because of it.
However, judging from the size of this shrimp monster and its rock-like body, you can tell that this guy must have an incredibly long health bar. Unless it attacks maliciously, and Violet isn't some battle maniac who would insist on starting a side quest to fight a monster at a time like this.
"Alright... but if you accidentally get caught up in the fight and get injured, don't blame me."
After saying that, Valerie ignored the silent shrimp monster and Shanks and continued on her way.
"Huh? A rabbit?"
Shanks tugged at Val's sleeve, gesturing for her to look to the side. There, in the grass not far away, were seven or eight snow-white rabbits squatting and chewing on tender grass leaves.
These furry little creatures, no bigger than two palms, looked no different from the rabbits on the ground. After hearing the sounds made by Violet and the others, they stood upright on their hind legs, their ears pressed tightly against their heads, sniffing warily in their direction.
However, after seeing the rabbits clearly, Violet's expression suddenly changed, and she quickly grabbed Shanks' cloak and pulled him to the side.
"Hurry, hurry!"
"Huh?" Shanks looked at Violet, whose expression was tense and serious, with confusion. "Are you afraid of rabbits?"
"It's not that I'm afraid of rabbits, it's just..."
"roar--"
An angry roar suddenly rang out from the bushes. Shanks stared wide-eyed in disbelief as the cute little white rabbits turned into a muscular, burly rabbit-man monster right before his eyes!
Looking at the rabbit-man monsters' muscles, which were bigger than his head, Shanks gasped and wondered if he might develop a psychological aversion to rabbits in the future.
"Meat! Meat!"
The rabbit-man monsters shouted "meat" and charged towards the two of them.
Violet shoved the lantern she was holding into Shanks' hand, and at the same time quickly made a torch: "Let's split up!"
Her intuition told her that these rabbit-men were quite difficult to deal with!
At this depth, the absorption of their Haki by the surroundings has increased several times compared to the beginning, and even Shanks felt a bit strained.
He nodded and ran off in two directions with Violet, preparing to defeat the rabbit-men one by one.
whoosh—
Shanks took a couple of steps and suddenly realized something was wrong. He turned around abruptly, only to find that the scene he had envisioned—some of the rabbit-men chasing him and others chasing Violet—had not occurred at all.
There was nothing behind him, not even a single rabbit hair, while behind Vera followed a row of rabbits hopping around with fierce eyes!
Wait, what's going on? Why is Violet's hatred level so high?!
Shanks, who had run halfway, quickly turned around and ran back, becoming the last in the group, following behind the last rabbitman.
"Huff... Vie, Vie, slow down!"
In the underground cave, Shanks dared not unleash his sword energy, for fear of accidentally collapsing the entire cave and causing trouble.
Griffin is sharp enough that a single stab would surely finish off these rabbit-man monsters, but the problem is...
Shanks bared his shark teeth: "Vilre, slow down!"
Violet's speed is outrageous! Even with his shave, he can't catch her! And what are those rabbits doing running so fast?!
As she sprinted at top speed, Violet shouted, "Do I want to be surrounded and attacked if I run slowly?!"
She wanted to stop too, but if she stopped, that bunch of muscular rabbits behind her would swarm up and beat her up!
Da da da...
Just then, the shrimp monster that had been silently following behind them rushed out of the darkness and walked slowly toward Violet, seemingly in a hurry to rescue her.
Violet's eyes lit up, and she rushed toward the shrimp monster, circling around it and the rabbit-man monsters.
Violet drew her Shadow Sword and stabbed sharply as she turned around. Behind her, a rabbit with bloodshot eyes and a fierce glint in its eyes opened its mouth wide and actually bit the half-solid, half-illusory sword.
"ah?"
This was the first time Violet had ever seen anything that could withstand the Nightmare effect of the Shadow Sword and bite it directly with its mouth.
"Meat! Meat!"
Seeing the fierce rabbit, a brilliant idea suddenly struck Val, and she took off her backpack, which was stuffed with jerky and various dishes, and threw it forcefully to a spot not far away!
"Get out of the way, Shanks!"
Shanks understood and quickly dodged the tan backpack.
The backpack traced an arc through the air before landing in the grass, rolling twice before coming to a stop.
The rabbit-man monster lowered its body, and Violet gripped the hilt of her sword with both hands to barely withstand its force.
"Meat! Meat?"
A hint of confusion flashed in its crimson pupils, and then in the next second, all the rabbit-man monsters simultaneously raised their heads to sniff the air, and under the watchful eyes of Violet and Shanks, they quickly shrank back into the shape of cute little white rabbits.
Snap, snap...
The round, fluffy, snow-white rabbits hopped back to the grass where they had been eating. However, this time, Shanks, who happened to be in their path, subconsciously took two steps back and watched them leave in a rather formal manner.
call--
Violet wiped the sweat from her brow and took two pebbles from her pocket, handing them to the shrimp monster who had done a great service.
"It seems they will attack any creature with flesh on its body." What kind of extreme vegetarian is this?
Shanks: "So, that backpack is just lying there?"
Violet shook her head: "There's food, ointment, and my weapons in there."
After she finished speaking, she took out a book from her pocket with a cover as dark blue as the night sky and decorated with golden stars.
Bedtime Stories!
Having lost all her meat, Violet walked over to the rabbits who had returned to normal and began reading the book, putting them to sleep. Once she was sure they were asleep, Violet quickly grabbed her backpack and ran off.
In less than half a second, it completely disappeared from Shanks' sight.
Shanks: "..."
Shanks quickly raised his lantern and gave chase, shouting, "Wait, wait for me!"
-----------------------
Author's Note: Shanks secretly used his Observation Haki to foresee the future before eating the mushrooms. How cautious Shanks is! [doge emoji]
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