The underground chamber hummed with the weight of centuries. The air was cool and stagnant, a stark contrast to the biting wind of the desert surface fifty meters above. The Straw Hats stood in the center of the antechamber, surrounded by statues of jackal-headed gods and walls covered in hieroglyphs that seemed to dance in the light of Ben's wand.
Ben stood before the massive, dark blue stone slab—the Poneglyph. It radiated a silent, imposing history. It was a message from the void century, an indestructible record of truth.
To most, it was a holy relic. To Ben, it was loot.
He tapped the Kimoyo Beads on his wrist.
"Merry," Ben said, his voice echoing in the vast hall. "Full scan. I want a complete topographical map of this complex, structural integrity analysis."
"Aye, aye, Ben!" the cheerful, synthesized voice of the Going Merry chirped.
The black beads flared. A grid of blue laser light exploded outward from Ben's wrist. It moved like a wave, washing over the stone floor, climbing the pillars, and passing through the walls. The light mapped every crack, every carving, and every hidden void.
The crew watched in awe.
A few seconds later, the light retracted. A detailed, 3D holographic projection materialized in the air above Ben's wrist. It showed the room they were in, a long corridor leading deeper, and several collapsed side chambers.
"Scan complete!" Merry announced. "Structure analysis indicates this is a 'Lost Palace' from 1000 years in the past. It appears to be a vault."
"A vault?" Nami's ears perked up. "Does 'vault' mean 'treasure'?"
"Usually," Ben grinned.
He turned his attention back to the massive Poneglyph.
"We can't leave this here," Ben noted. "Robin would kill me if I told her I found a Poneglyph and didn't bring it back. Plus, I don't want the World Government stumbling over it."
Ben raised his right hand, fingers splayed.
"Command T: Shrink."
A ripple of distortion surrounded the massive cubic stone. The air warped.
With a sound like a deflating balloon—fwoomp—the twenty-ton indestructible block of history instantly compressed. In the blink of an eye, the massive slab was reduced to the size of a dice.
It fell through the air. Ben caught it casually with two fingers.
He held it up. The ancient text was still there, just microscopic.
"There," Ben said, dropping the tiny Poneglyph into his pocket alongside the shrunken prison-suitcase containing Crocodile. "Pocket-sized history."
The crew moved deeper into the ruins, following the holographic map Merry projected. Ben kept the recording function active.
"Merry, record everything," Ben ordered. "Every carving, every statue. We'll analyze it later."
"Recording started," Merry confirmed.
They walked down a long hallway lined with statues of warriors holding spears. The atmosphere was heavy.
"I don't like this place," Usopp whispered, clutching his slingshot. "It feels... watching."
"It's just rocks, Long-nose," Zoro grunted, hand on Wado Ichimonji. "If a ghost shows up, I'll cut it."
"You can't cut ghosts!" Usopp shrieked.
"We're here," Ben announced, stopping in front of a massive set of double doors.
Unlike the sandstone of the rest of the ruins, these doors were made of a dull, grey metal. They were seamless, lacking handles or hinges. A large, complex sigil was carved into the center.
"The Treasure Room," Nami declared, pushing to the front. "I can smell it. The smell of ancient gold."
She tried to push the door. It didn't budge. "Locked. Zoro, cut it down."
Zoro stepped forward, cracking his neck. "Finally. Something to do."
He drew Sandai Kitetsu. The cursed blade hummed in the low light.
Zoro assumed a stance, his breathing shifting to a focused rhythm.
"Ittoryu: Iai... Lion's Song!"
SHING.
He moved faster than the eye could track. The blade struck the metal door with the force to slice through steel.
CLANG!
Sparks flew. The sound was deafening.
Zoro rebounded, his arm vibrating from the impact.
He looked at the door.
There wasn't even a scratch. Not a dent. The metal was pristine.
"What?" Zoro frowned, looking at his sword. "It's harder than steel? Is it Sea Stone?"
"Move aside, Zoro!" Luffy shouted, stepping up. "You just didn't hit it hard enough!"
Luffy bit his thumb.
"Gear Third!"
He blew air into his skeletal structure. His arm inflated rapidly, growing to the size of a giant's limb. The sheer mass was intimidating.
But Luffy didn't stop there. He recalled the feeling from the fight with Crocodile. The black armor.
He concentrated. Armament Haki spread over his giant fist, turning it a glossy, metallic black.
"Gomu Gomu no... ELEPHANT GUN!"
Luffy swung the gargantuan, Haki-clad fist.
BOOM!
The impact shook the entire underground complex. Dust fell from the ceiling. The ground trembled.
But when Luffy retracted his arm, shrinking back to normal size, the door remained.
Unbroken. Unmoved. Mocking them.
"Ehhhh?!" Luffy cried. "It didn't break?! That was my super punch!"
"It's an alloy from the Ancient Kingdom," Ben observed, examining the door. "Physical force won't work unless you can crack a continent."
"So we can't get in?" Nami wailed. "The treasure is right there!"
"I didn't say that," Ben smiled. He pulled out his wand.
Magic didn't care about tensile strength. Magic cared about concepts. A lock is a lock, no matter how strong the door is.
Ben pointed the wand at the center sigil.
"Alohomora."
Click.
A sound came from deep within the metal. Then the grinding of gears.
The seamless metal split down the middle. The massive doors slowly, heavily, swung inward.
"Open sesame," Ben quipped.
"GOLD!" Nami screamed, sprinting into the room before the doors were even fully open.
The crew followed her in.
It was a small, circular chamber.
There were no piles of coins. No statues. No jewels.
In the center of the room, on a solitary stone pedestal, sat a single, small chest.
Nami skidded to a halt. She looked around frantically. She checked the corners. She checked the ceiling.
"Where is it?" Nami asked, her voice trembling. "Where is the loot? Where is the mountain of jewels?"
She ran to the small chest. It was the size of a lunchbox.
"Is this it?" Nami cried, shaking the chest. "A box?! I came all this way for a box?!"
"Maybe the treasure is inside?" Usopp suggested. "Like... a really big diamond?"
"It better be the Hope Diamond times ten," Nami growled.
Ben walked up to the chest. It was locked with a similar mechanism to the door.
"Alohomora."
The lid clicked open.
Nami threw the lid back.
Everyone leaned in.
Inside, resting on a bed of velvet, was a fruit.
It was shaped like a melon, but it was a deep, swirling violet color. The skin was covered in intricate, spiral patterns that seemed to glow faintly in the darkness. The stem was jagged, looking like a lightning bolt.
"A fruit?" Nami slumped, defeated. "It's just a fruit. I can't pay off a debt with a fruit."
"That's not just a fruit, Nami," Sanji said, his eye visible through his hair narrowing. "Look at the swirls. That's a Devil Fruit."
"A Devil Fruit?" Usopp gasped. "Like Luffy's? And Chopper's?"
"Yeah," Ben nodded, picking it up. He examined it. "I don't recognize the pattern from the encyclopedia. It's not a standard Zoan or Paramecia pattern."
"Can I eat it?" Luffy asked, drooling. "It looks like a grape."
"If you eat another fruit, you will die, Idiot," Sanji scolded. "Don't eat it."
"We don't know what power it holds," Ben said, turning the fruit over in his hand. "It could be something useless like the Jacket-Jacket Fruit, or something catastrophic like an Admiral's power. It was locked behind an indestructible door in a lost palace. Whatever this is... it was meant to be hidden."
"So it's valuable?" Nami asked, perking up slightly. "Like, 100 million Belli valuable?"
" Easily," Ben assured her. "But we're not selling it. Not yet. We need to identify it."
He placed the Devil Fruit back in the chest, locked it, shrank the chest, and put it in his pocket.
"Another souvenir," Ben said. "Let's go. We're done here."
Getting out of the ruins was easier than getting in. Ben simply cast Ascendio, launching the crew up through the hole and back onto the desert sands.
Once they were topside, the cold night air hit them again.
"Alright," Ben said, checking the map. "Zoro's little detour cost us time. The sun will be rising soon. The final battle in Alubarna is starting."
"We need to get there fast," Nami felt the urgency. "Vivi is waiting!"
"We're not walking," Ben said. "Gather round."
The crew huddled together.
"Apparate."
CRACK.
The sound was like a gunshot. The desert, the ruins, and the night sky vanished.
The world swirled into a vortex of color and pressure. It felt like their insides were being rearranged.
POP.
They reappeared instantly.
Stumbling, coughing, and disoriented, the Straw Hats landed on a rocky outcrop overlooking a vast canyon.
"Blergh..." Usopp gagged, falling to his knees. "I think... I think I left my stomach in the ruins."
"That was terrible," Nami groaned, holding her head. "Never do that again."
"Efficient though," Ben shrugged.