The bow of the warship—nearly two hundred meters wide—was fully revealed before Luffy's eyes.
Judging solely from the exposed hull, one could roughly estimate that Pluton's total length was no less than two thousand meters.
Back in Luffy's previous life, even the largest aircraft carriers in the world had never exceeded four hundred meters in length.
This colossal heavy warship, known as an Ancient Weapon, was at least four or five times the size of an aircraft carrier!!!
As expected of a legendary battleship…
Luffy marveled silently in his heart.
What intrigued him even more was this—
What kind of war had taken place back then… to make such a monstrous existence choose to vanish from the world?
Wait…
No—something wasn't right!
It didn't vanish on its own!!!
Luffy's thoughts suddenly scattered.
Crocodile's words echoed once more in his ears.
The Nefertari family was not one of the First Twenty from eight hundred years ago!
Vivi's ancestors were merely retainers of a royal family.
According to the intelligence left behind by Robin's mother, the Nefertari family had once betrayed their original master.
Which meant that the true owner of Pluton should have been one of the vanished Twenty Royal Families!
Perhaps Vivi's ancestors had exploited the trust of Pluton's rightful wielder, hiding this island-destroying warship here.
As a result, that legendary family lost everything in the great war and was completely erased from the river of history.
So then…
What exactly happened back then?
If the FirstTwenty—ancestors of today's Celestial Dragons—had truly waged war and unified the world through brute force, there was no reason for only one family to be completely wiped out.
Especially when the Nefertari family was deliberately left behind and publicly declared to be one of the First Twenty.
Unless… that family had been so powerful that the remaining nineteen had united to annihilate it entirely?
But even that didn't quite make sense…
If it were only four or five families, Luffy might have believed it.
But there were twenty of them!
Could that family truly have had not a single ally?
And how had the others even been united in the first place!?
At this moment, Luffy finally understood the meaning of the phrase—
The more you know, the more unknowns appear.
At first, he had assumed it was simply a story of twenty royal families brutally suppressing the world and establishing the World Government.
But now, it was clear—
Things were far more complicated than he had imagined!
The corners of Luffy's mouth curled upward into a grin.
Now this is getting interesting!!!
...
"Luffy?"
"LUFFY?!"
Seeing him standing motionless at the edge of the pit, staring blankly at the warship below, Zoro and Sanji couldn't help but call out together.
Their voices successfully dragged Luffy back from his thoughts.
He suddenly looked up, a mysterious smile blooming across his face, and waved lightly at the two waiting beside him.
"Let's go.
Let's see just what makes this legendary ancient battleship so incredible."
It's precisely because it's unknown… that it's fun!
As soon as he finished speaking, Luffy stepped forward and leapt straight into the abyss thousands of meters deep.
Zoro and Sanji exchanged a glance, grinned, and followed after him without hesitation.
Three figures fell freely through the air.
The howling wind blasted upward, sending their hair flying.
About forty seconds later—
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Three consecutive impacts echoed from within the massive pit Crocodile had created as the trio landed steadily at the bottom.
Seen up close, Pluton's colossal form was even more terrifying!
With a vertical height stretching several kilometers, Luffy and the others couldn't even see the top of the warship no matter how much they craned their necks.
"This thing's insane…"
Sanji muttered in awe as he gazed at the majestic hull.
Zoro, meanwhile, walked around to the rear of the ship and shouted at him:
"Hey, quit gawking! Hurry up and get it out!"
"What's the rush…"
Sanji flicked away his cigarette butt and stepped up to the hull.
Just like Zoro on the other side, he placed both hands against the uneven steel plating.
"One! Two—"
"LIFT!!!"
ROOOAAARRR!!!
With their simultaneous roar, the sand beneath Luffy's feet trembled violently.
From the warship came creaking sounds, like massive sheets of steel grinding against one another.
The violent vibrations gradually shattered the sand that had imprisoned the ship for centuries.
This island-sized behemoth—tens of thousands of tons in weight—was slowly pulled upward by the combined strength of Zoro and Sanji.
Creeeak… creak…
The protruding lookout structures carved deep black grooves through the earth.
BOOM!
The warship suddenly surged upward faster than before!
Luffy was now standing on empty air, one hand gripping Pluton's bow, the other erupting with blazing flames.
Smoke and dust exploded outward in all directions.
"HEY!!! LUFFY!!!!"
Zoro and Sanji clung desperately to the hull, faces filled with shock and panic as they were dragged skyward along with the ship.
But Luffy acted as if he hadn't heard them at all, continuing to haul the warship upward.
The mischievous grin tugging at the corner of his mouth made it clear—
This was completely intentional!
Sunlight spilled across Luffy's fluttering shirt.
At this very moment, the ancient weapon buried for centuries finally returned to the light of day!
BOOM!!!
The massive warship slammed down onto the surface, kicking up a storm of sand no less violent than the sand fog Crocodile had created earlier.
...
After quite a while—
"Cough! Cough!!!"
"LUFFY!!!!"
Spitting sand from their mouths, Sanji and Zoro clawed their way out of the dunes, roaring furiously at Luffy, who was hovering safely above the dust cloud.
A powerful gust of wind swept through, dispersing the sandstorm and revealing the full, time-worn form of the ancient battleship.
It also blew the sand off Zoro and Sanji.
From the distance, Nami and the others rode the wind down gently, landing near Luffy.
Perhaps sensing Pluton's presence, Crocodile—who had previously collapsed from exhaustion—slowly opened his eyes.
Forcing his battered body upright, he stared toward the massive warship that embodied his convictions.
"Heh… heh heh…"
Landing on the ground, Luffy flashed what looked like an apologetic smile at Zoro and Sanji.
Before they could explode with complaints, he spoke first:
"Let's go.
Let's take a closer look at this legend."
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100 Power Stones = Bonus Chapter
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