One Piece: Dream of Immortality-Chapter 533: Ancient Rocks

"I cannot believe that Zoro turned up at just that moment," Cherry said.

"Why is that?" Zeus asked, though the question sounded a bit off with a sword stuck in his mouth like a lollipop.

"Because-" Cherry stepped the the left as a sword slash ripped through the wall and passed near enough to her to feel the buzz of the air as it passed. "-Zoro is hopelessly lost. I don't mean that he gets lost; I think he exists in a state of perpetual displacement. It's fascinating."

"I don't really get it, but okay." Zeus continued to suckle Sakura Tengoku.

"Hmph, I bet that new cloud Big Mom made would understand," Cherry sneered.

"Wha-! That's so mean!" Zeus complained.

"Mean is my middle name~" Cherry snickered.

"I thought it was Cheapshot?" Zeus said.

"I've got lots of middle names. Like Cloud-Crusher or Storm-Slayer," Cherry said.

"Eh?!" Zeus squeaked. "Nami wouldn't let you kill me!"

"You killed my pet cloud!" Cherry did an unsettlingly accurate Nami impression. "But I'll forgive you for 100,000 Beri."

"I'm worth more to her than that!" Zeus grumbled.

"Maybe, but you do have a price tag. Hehe~" Cherry smirked.

Zeus found it difficult to deny it based on what he's learned in the little time he's known the red-headed thief.

Cherry saw that the little cloud was more downcast than filled with dread. She scoffed, "You've been nothing but a hungry little gremlin since you've met. If you want to be more than a weapon in her eyes, and you can be, then you just need to show her that she's more than a meal ticket to you."

Zeus brightened up. "You mean it?"

"I'm dead serious. Nami is a greedy cat, but her friends are worth more than any amount of money to her. She's a sentimental softy like that," Cherry said.

"You're right! I should try to be friends with her!" Zeus declared. "I know! I'll bring some rare sweets to her! Mama always looked so happy when she got sweets! I'll kill those sweet shop owners from the Flower Capital and bring her their entire stock!"

"Maybe don't do that. At least pay for it properly," Cherry said, suddenly feeling a little less guilty about threatening the cloud for her own amusement.

"Kill some other people for their money, then buy the sweets! Got it!" Zeus nodded. "Gweh?!"

Cherry squeezed him beneath her arm, employing her haki to make sure it hurt. "No killing random people. Only kill people that Nami tells you to kill, understand?"

"I understand!" Zeus managed to say.

Cherry plucked her sword from his gob. "You've lost your snack privileges for being a blood thirsty little freak."

"Awww," Zeus bemoaned.

...

Law found it.

It took some searching, but deep beneath Onigashima there stood one of the ancient stone monoliths.

"Not one of the Road Poneglyphs, though," Law sighed. That was a disappointment.

Perhaps he could trade a scratching of it in exchange for one of the true Road Poneglyph he wanted, though, in the case that he didn't end up finding it? Nico Robin was a learned woman, so surely she was interested in more than just the ones that lead to Laugh Tale. He didn't imagine Straw Hat would refuse the desires of his own key to becoming King of the Pirates.

"They're beautiful, aren't they?" Robin asked him.

"Tsk," Law clicked his tongue. "There goes my leverage. Now I have to find the real one for myself, after all."

Robin giggled like tinkling bells. "Luffy won't cheat you out of a copy, you should know that by now."

"Maybe, but I'd bet every Beri to my name that Cherry will meddle with it somehow," Law said.

Robin actually barked a laugh at that. "I'll give it a once over, make sure she doesn't change anything. Though I doubt she'd change the actual contents. Perhaps she'd give you a riddle to solve, hm?"

Law clicked his tongue again. "That's worse."

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If she kept laughing like that, he was going to fall head over heels for her. That wouldn't be good for his health, he suspected.

"Come here, darling," Robin waved her hand at him. His heart leapt into his throat as his eyes widened.

Then he felt something skitter down his leg. Law jumped nearly as high as he was tall in fright at the sensation.

He saw what it was clearly, then. A spider of inordinate size that looked to be made of metal, prancing over to Nico Robin. She picked it up like one might do a kitten, nuzzling it affectionately against her nose.

"That's how you followed me here, huh?" Law had been curious about that. He hadn't taken the traditional route to get here, simply teleporting himself past physical boundaries that others rarely consider to be less than impassable.

Some sort of mechanical contraption of Franky's, he assumed. A useful thing to have, what with how sneaky it was.

"Indeed," Robin answered him cryptically, neglecting to explain any further.

She could keep her secrets.

"What does this one say, then?" Law asked, turning his attention back to the great blackish-blue stone.

"Oh? Are you interested in forgotten history as well, Tra-guy?" Robin asked in turn.

"Only because the World Government wants to hide it. Did they not try so hard to keep it hidden, I would likely not think twice about it," Law admitted.

"That's a shame. They're always quite enrapturing. That is, in part, why I am so dedicated to finding them," Robin said. "This one seems to detail the process of creating the Poneglyphs, for example. Perhaps it may even explain why they chose this medium specifically."

"Really? So you could make more of your own, then?" Law questioned. "If you wanted to?"

"Hypothetically, I suppose," Robin answered. "In truth, just based on a cursory reading, it is likely beyond me. I am a scholar, and this was meant to be read by skilled craftsmen... Oh?"

"What is it?" Law wondered.

"Well... I was just thinking that Cherry might be able to make something of the instruction, but now it seems almost like she was destined to find this," Robin became much more focused on the text, stepping closer as she was absorbed into her own little world containing just herself, the poneglyph, and Law as an afterthought.

"How so?" Law asked, but the words had hardly left his mouth before he thought of an answer. "Her fusion fruit?"

Robin nodded. "It's no wonder she was able to use her fruit to steal away some of the material; her devil fruit was used to create them. That explains why there are so few in the world, if the manufacturer was a single person. It also explains why more of the material has never been found, since it is actually many different materials."

"... I'm not sure I want to imagine what Cherry-ya will do with this information," Law said after a moment of silence.

That set Robin off laughing again. She seemed to think he was a great comedian, which was weird because his own crew thought he was a bit too dour. Maybe that's just the kind of sense of humor the woman had.