"Lord Red, your foresight is divine!"
On the other end of the call, Moria had clearly learned so flattering phrases from sowhere. Even though the call did not have video, he was still smiling in an extrely obsequious way.
"The final Road Poneglyph is in Elbaf's Heaven World."
"However, the situation there seems even more complicated than we imagined, Lord Red."
"Complicated?" Red raised an eyebrow with interest. "Tell ."
"Mm…" Moria responded in a low voice, then explained, "Lord Red, you should know that Elbaf possesses a special mineral known as Sunstone."
"This Sunstone is extrely miraculous. It seems to possess the power to turn people's imaginations into reality."
"I know."
Before Moria could finish his introduction, Red cut him off directly.
As for information about Elbaf, Red would not say he knew more than Moria, who was currently there, but he certainly was not ignorant of it.
Moreover, his understanding of Elbaf did not co from the manga he had read in the past.
It ca from the information he had obtained through casual conversations with Vegapunk while they were conducting project research.
Sunstone was a unique mineral resource of Elbaf. Its most common use in Elbaf was to construct rainbow bridges, allowing ships on the sea to cross over the Underworld and enter the Sun World, where sunlight shone and people could live comfortably.
Aside from that, much of Elbaf's civilian technology was also realized through this miraculous energy resource known as Sunstone.
In fact, Red had seen Sunstone long ago, and the current Straw Hat Pirates possessed quite a lot of it.
Vegapunk had a stockpile of extrely high-quality Sunstone ore in his possession.
One of the main materials used to create the Mother Fla was this Sunstone with miraculous power!
In addition, the artificial Devil Fruit project that Red currently had high hopes for also required Sunstone in many areas.
It shared extrely similar traits with the power of wishes. Their compatibility was almost perfect. In Vegapunk's research, the cause behind the formation of Sunstone was even very likely influenced by the power of wishes from so kind of living being.
Back when Elbaf's King Harald was still alive, he had relied on this special energy source, Sunstone, to trade with the outside world, bringing many things that Elbaf had never possessed before to the giants.
As the saying went, the limit of science was actually the limit of material science.
It was precisely because the pirate world had many miraculous materials like Sunstone that Vegapunk was able to create all sorts of powerful scientific products.
"So… the special situation in Heaven World is related to Sunstone?" Red asked curiously.
Moria hurriedly replied, "That is correct, Lord Red."
"As Elbaf's special energy source, Sunstone should have been incredibly precious."
"But according to Jarul and the others, starting three years ago, Sunstone in Heaven World began to gush out on a massive scale, like a spouting well."
"At first, the giants of Elbaf celebrated this, believing it to be a sign that Elbaf would beco glorious once again after their king's death."
"But very soon, they realized sothing was wrong."
"As enormous amounts of Sunstone appeared, a bizarre space actually ford throughout Heaven World. After entering that space, people would fall into a special dreamlike state. In that dream, people could fulfill all their wishes, and the dream world would beco so wonderful that they would not want to wake up."
"Over ti, it would cause people to remain imrsed in the dream forever until they died. Even if the drear accidentally woke up during that period, they would take the initiative to enter that space again because they could not forget the dream world."
"Infinite Tsukuyomi?"
When Red heard this, he truly could not hold back and suddenly spoke, interrupting Moria again.
Moria was also abruptly stunned. "Infinite Tsukuyomi? Lord Red, what is that?"
"No… nothing."
Red, whose expression had beco strange and complicated because of the inexplicable sense of déjà vu, shook his head, then said:
"So, it is because of this strange phenonon that the entire area above Heaven World has beco an uninhabited zone? Naturally, you cannot see the Road Poneglyph either?"
"That is correct."
Moria nodded in response, though he was secretly muttering the words "Infinite Tsukuyomi" in curiosity. He had no idea what exactly that thing was, to make Lord Red reveal such a surprised expression.
"I understand." After learning about the situation surrounding the final Road Poneglyph, a thoughtful light also flickered in Red's eyes.
The good news was that they no longer needed to run around the world searching for Poneglyphs. As long as they obtained this final Road Poneglyph, they would be able to find the most mysterious island in the pirate world—Laugh Tale.
But the bad news was that even Red did not know how to pass through or deal with the bizarre area Moria described.
"I should leave such troubleso matters to Vegapunk."
"A dream space that can make people enter sothing similar to Infinite Tsukuyomi? I wonder whether this is related to the pirate world's unique power of wishes."
After pondering for a while, Red decided for the ti being not to worry too much about Elbaf's Heaven World.
With Vegapunk's abilities, he should have a way to solve the situation over there.
Even if he could not solve it, he would at least be able to investigate the reason why such a phenonon appeared.
Only after they had more information could they carry out targeted counterasures.
However, just as Red was preparing to praise Moria for his recent actions and hang up, Moria on the other end of the Personal Terminal spoke again.
"Lord Red, aside from the situation Jarul explained to , Loki seems to know so additional hidden details as well."
"It's just that he is rather mad and incoherent, and his reputation among the giants has always been poor. On top of that, he committed patricide, so I am not certain whether what he said is true."
"Oh?" Red beca interested. "What did he say?"
"Loki said…" Moria recalled the conversation he had with Loki that day, then continued, "The situation that appeared in Elbaf's Heaven World is not the first ti it has happened in history."
"It seems that every thousand years, Elbaf experiences a situation like this. These matters were all recorded in the royal archives of Elbaf, and only those with royal blood were qualified to know of them."
"However, those archives were all destroyed during the battle between Loki and his father, so I cannot confirm whether he was telling the truth."
"But Loki said that his father, Elbaf's King Harald, was not as harmless as he appeared, nor was he a wise and benevolent ruler."
"According to Loki's account, the reason Harald carried out trade on such a large scale was actually to distribute this miraculous resource, Sunstone, across the world, and then use it to gather vast amounts of supplies to strengthen Elbaf's power."
"Harald's true goal was to rebuild Elbaf's glory and expand the territory of the giant race outward."
"And the special dream space ford by Sunstone, which appears once every thousand years according to those records, was the first step he prepared toward realizing his rule!"
"He seemingly possessed so thod of controlling Sunstone to manufacture dreams, and he intended to use the Sunstone resources sold across the world to create all sorts of dream worlds, drawing people into those dream worlds."
"However, dream worlds outside Elbaf's Heaven World would not last for very long. Once people beca addicted to the feeling of fulfilling their desires, Sunstone would beco sothing everyone in the world would desperately seek."
"Harald could then use that opportunity to control people and forces across the entire world!"
"..."
"..."
As Moria's voice fell, the entire communication channel also fell silent.
Only after a long while did Red reply with slight astonishnt:
"I never expected Elbaf to still be hiding such an interesting matter~"
As for the things Loki had said, Red felt that he probably had not lied.
First, there was no need for him to do so.
Slandering a dead man—even if Harald truly had ambition—would not change the fact that, for Elbaf, he had still been a king who fought for Elbaf's glory. It would not make Loki's reputation as a patricide any better.
Second, as Elbaf was an extrely important key location in the One Piece ani, Red felt that from the perspective of an ani work, there ought to be so hidden circumstances here.
If the dream space truly had similarities to Infinite Tsukuyomi, Red believed that Sunstone would definitely beco sothing akin to a drug, sothing people all over the world would spend their entire fortunes to obtain.
If Harald had not been beaten to death by his own son, his plan might actually have been perfectly realized.
However, if Loki was not lying, that ant there must still be sothing in Elbaf that could allow a person to enter Heaven World smoothly at this ti, or even control the dream space.
In the pirate world, where all kinds of strange and bizarre Devil Fruits existed, this was not particularly unusual.
But for Red and the Straw Hats, this was definitely good news.
At the very least, it would make Vegapunk's work much easier.
"I more or less understand."
After thinking for a mont, Red nodded in understanding.
"You guys did well this ti. You let the entire world witness the power of the Straw Hat Pirates."
"Next, Luffy and the others should still be in seclusion for a little while. If anything happens on the Straw Hat Grand Fleet's side, you can discuss it among yourselves and decide."
"Yes, Lord Red!!!"
Upon hearing this, Moria's eyes suddenly lit up, shining with brilliant light.
It could be said that with these words, all the running around he and the others had done during this period had beco more than worth it!
Red's aning was already very clear. For the next period of ti, the Straw Hat Pirates would have no ti to concern themselves with other matters, so he had delegated the authority of the Straw Hat Pirates to them.
Although that authority had not been handed solely to Moria, with the accomplishnt of subduing Elbaf in front of them, whenever sothing happened, the others would inevitably treat him as their sole backbone.
With the current sphere of influence of the Straw Hat Pirates, the weight of this authority was several tis heavier than that of any Emperor of the Sea pirate crew.
The call ended.
Red obtained information about the final Road Poneglyph, and Moria obtained the respect and position he wanted.
Everyone received what they wanted.
Over in the Pokémon Sea.
After ending the call with Moria, Red briefly explained the situation to his companions, then directly used the combined movent skill of Teleport and Hyperspace Hole to arrive on Science Island and find Vegapunk.
When Red explained the situation reported by Moria to Vegapunk, the scientist, who had recently been busy worrying over how to efficiently discharge seawater, could not help but feel a headache coming on.
"Red, my artificial fruit project only stabilized not long ago, and it has not even properly gotten on track yet. How did you already co up with sothing new?"
Although Vegapunk had six satellites to share various negative states for him, no matter how much they shared, they could only share burdens on the ntal level.
Vegapunk's physical body could still feel pain and fatigue.
Of course, for Vegapunk, who already possessed a Pokémon template, this bit of fatigue was actually not much at all.
"Don't say that, Dr. Vegapunk." Red smiled faintly. "Now that there is a new project to research, you should be happy."
"That is true." Vegapunk's expression shifted. "A dream world capable of creating what exists in a person's heart?"
"I truly didn't expect Sunstone to possess this kind of ability as well."
"But then again, with the power of Sunstone, it does not seem impossible."
As he spoke, Vegapunk raised his head and looked at Red.
"I more or less understand the specific situation. Once the projects on hand temporarily co to an end, I will imdiately bring Shaka and the others to Elbaf and establish a new research institute."
"As for the research institute, I have already asked Queen and the others to handle it. Doctor, if you have any requirents, just send them directly to Queen later!"
Because Drake had publicly promoted Queen's biochanical modification technology in front of the livestream audience, many forces had already found ways to contact the Straw Hat Pirates, wanting to purchase modification opportunities.
Whether it was Red or Queen, they naturally had to earn this money.
But with so many people, and so many eyes watching, Red could not possibly let them all gather on Science Island, a place so core to their operations.
Now that Elbaf had submitted to them, Red had simply taken the opportunity to have Queen build an entirely new modification base in Elbaf, specifically to handle business of this kind.
When the ti ca, they could use Queen's biochanical modification base as a cover to secretly build Vegapunk's research institute, preventing the World Governnt or other petty villains with special abilities from pulling any tricks.
"Queen, huh?"
Vegapunk nodded, indicating that he knew what to do.
After that, Red also asked him about the progress of the seawater backflow plan.
Logically speaking, this project did not really have much technical content. They only needed to make a large water pump, then store the seawater in the antimatter space.
The problem was that opening the antimatter space consud Red's electricity.
Although with Red's current strength, even if he stayed in the ga world twenty-four hours a day, he could still store quite a lot of electricity.
To Red, however, electricity was both power and strength.
If there were so thod to help him conserve electricity, that would naturally be excellent.
But no matter what, with the final Road Poneglyph discovered, Red and the Straw Hat Pirates…
Had taken another major step toward the secrets of this world!
(End of Chapter)
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