Chapter 3

"Would you calm down?" Sanji snapped at him. "You just ate half an hour ago! Wait until dinner."

Luffy pouted at him angrily before he caught sight of Brook with his guitar. "Yohohoho," Brook said happily. "What a peaceful place. It is so calming to the eyes… ah! Not that I have eyes. Yohohoho!"

"Well, the good news is that I think the storm is passing on," Nami called from on top of the hill, her telescope and papers in front of her as she kept looking through it to get the correct measurements. "Once we're sure of that, we only have to wait a few more hours before we can get the Log Pose reset and then we can move on."

"Hopefully somewhere with meat," Luffy pouted.

Nami rolled her eyes in a good-natured way as she put her eyes back to the eyepiece; but when she moved it slightly to get a better angle, she saw something. "Whoa, what's that?" she whispered to herself as she strained her eyes to make out what it was through the trees. "Hey, guys!" she called to them. "I think I see something!"

They all glanced up.

"See something?" Zoro called, having just woken up from his nap. He let out a long yawn as he asked, "See what? Something to eat?"

"Oh!" Luffy called eagerly. "Meat! Meat! Meat! Do you see any meat Nami!?"

"No, you idiot!" she called exasperated. "I can't tell exactly what it is, but from here it, looks like some old temple or something in the forest?"

Robin immediately looked up from her book. "What did you say?"

"I said that it looks like some kind of old house or temple in the middle of the forest," she called, finally looking up. "It doesn't look like anything special though…?"

Robin closed her book with a snap and stood up with gleam in her eyes. "Well, might as well go and check it out while we're here," she answered with a bright smile. "This is the New World after all, still unexplored territory so it might still be filled with tons of old relics. Who knows, it could be something valuable…"

Beri marks suddenly appeared in Nami's eyes and she called after her, "I'll come too!"

*Later*

"Nami!" Usopp complained from the back of the group. "Any reason why you insisted that we all go in a group?"

"In case there are some monsters of course," she shot back at him, wiping seat from her brow as they continued their march through the forest. They each had drawn straws back at the ship, and in the end, it was Robin, Nami, Zoro, and Usopp who had won and were part of the team. Luffy hadn't bothered drawing and came with them anyway as he looked around at the dense trees with a goofy smile. "Besides, I'm sure that Chopper, Sanji, Franky, and Brook can take care of themselves. The ruins I saw are small. In fact, it was hard to say for sure they were ruins."

"Either way, it's worth checking it out, if only for a few minutes," Robin said, leading the way. "You sure it was this way?"

"I'm sure," Nami said with certainty. "I may not be strong like you guys, but no one can read a map better than me."

Luffy, who had been swinging on vines through the trees, had caught Usopp's attention and he let out a loud cry of delight and went to find vines of his own.

"Don't see what's so fun about that," Nami said waving her hand dismissively.

"Shows how much you know," Robin laughed. "There are some things that little boys never grow out of!"

"That's for sure," Nami whispered as she watched the two swinging around like monkeys. "Well, just make sure that they don't hurt themselves Zoro."

"Why am I here again?" he demanded crankily.

After about an hour of walking, they soon came to a large clearing devoid of trees. Standing there was indeed a crumbling ruin, covered in green moss and vines. It looked like it had once been a large temple but was now falling victim to time. The walls were old and damaged—the whole building was an oval shape, almost like a mini coliseum, covered in ancient writing that was mostly worn away.

Eyes bright, Robin walked forward, tracing her hand along the stone wall.

"Wow," Usopp said gazing at it with interest, shielding his eyes with one hand so that he could get a better look at it without the sun's rays. "Look at it. It must be several hundred years old."

"More or less," Robin said, wandering around the other side, examining every inch. "And if I had to say, I would guess that this was, indeed, a temple."

"A temple?" Luffy asked, having found a few fruit trees on the way here and was now enjoying apples as he watched her examine it. "For what?"

"Hard to say," Robin answered, continuing to look at it. "But it's definitely seen better days. If I had to guess, I would say that this place is over eight hundred years old."

"Whoa!" Usopp cried out in shock. "It's that old?"

"So there really where people on this island at one point?" Zoro asked, looking up at the stone wall that showed pictures of the phases of the moon.

"Possible," Robin admitted. "However, this seems to be the only man-made structure on this island. If this was indeed inhabited at one point, either all other traces of buildings simply wore away with time, or this place was considered special and this was the only building here to begin with."

She studied the pictures of the full moon, the crescent moon, and all the way to the half moon until she noticed that there was something very strange. Running her hand over the picture of the half moon, she realized what it was. "Hey, you guys!" Robin called. "Look at this." They all ran around to join her at the stone wall as Robin was tracing the ancient words with a finger.

"What is it?" Zoro asked, walking forward to see what she was looking at.

"This appears to be some kind of door," she answered, moving back some of the moss to see. "Let's see," she said softly.

"What's it say?" Usopp asked as Luffy came jumping over.

"Is it something good?" Luffy asked, his cheeks full of fruit.

Robin frowned a little as she read out, "It says… 'Beyond these doors you will discover your greatest treasure… but to reach it, you must face the darkest shadows of your soul'."

"Treasure?!" Nami cried out, her eyes becoming beri marks again. "Did you just say our greatest treasure?! What are we waiting for?! Let's get it! It's right through this door right?"

"H-hold on!" Usopp yelled, waving his hands around dramatically. "Didn't you hear what Robin said? 'The darkest shadows of our souls?!' What the hell does that mean?"