335 Road

"Nami, what do you think of this?" Robin asked, handing over her translation of the red poneglyph.

"Huh?" Nami was momentarily confused as to why Robin came to her with it, but soon the reason became apparent. "This… this is describing a location?"

"That's what I thought as well," Robin agreed.

"Is it a treasure map?" Luffy's head stretched over and peered over Nami's shoulder at the pages. His adventure senses were tingling up a real storm, otherwise he wouldn't be distracted from nagging Raizo to show off more ninja moves.

"This is the reason we minks hold the Whale Forest to be sacred, and why we guard it so strictly." Cat Viper said, taking a puff on his pipe.

"The red poneglyphs are known as Road Poneglyphs. Its purpose is to guide those with the will and strength to seek the end of the Grand Line!" Dogstorm spoke with gravitas.

"The end of the Grand Line… you mean Laugh Tale?" Robin asked, shocked.

"Precisely. However-" Dogstorm meant to continue.

"""LAUGH TALE?!?!?!""" his listeners interrupted him, latching onto that particularly shocking piece of information.

The group exclaimed and shouted in their shock and excitement, making a big ruckus. Dogstorm managed to calm them down enough to finish what he was trying to explain to them.

"As I was saying, this isn't the only road poneglyph. In fact, there are a total of four," Dogstorm informed. "The road poneglyphs do not point directly to Laugh Tale, but rather point out four locations that you can use to pinpoint the true location of the island."

Whilst the others were ooh-ing and ahh-ing, Cherry raised her hand like a student wishing for their teacher's attention in a classroom.

"Er, yes, Cherry?" Dogstorm asked.

"Couldn't we just get three and travel in a triangle between those locations to find it?" Cherry suggested.

"No! We're not going to cheat!" Luffy immediately rejected, a clear look of distaste on his face.

Law didn't have the same aversion to 'cheating' as Luffy did though, and tucked that nugget away in his back pocket.

Dogstorm and Cat Viper smiled suspiciously, but said nothing about that.

'So that won't work, huh?' Cherry concluded inwardly, seeing the knowing looks on the two mink leaders' faces. 'Oh, well. Not like I'm in a hurry or anything. I'm just here for shits and giggles.'

"It's hard enough to navigate the Grand Line, and you expect me to keep us going in perfectly straight lines over who knows what distance?" Nami said, strangely agreeing with Luffy's obstinance. "There's no telling how dangerous that part of the sea is either!"

"Danger?" Luffy said, suddenly reconsidering.

"""No!!!""" Nami, Chopper, and Usopp rejected instantly.

Law took the idea out of his back pocket and discarded it like last week's left-overs. He wouldn't risk his crew over something that wasn't even a sure thing.

"Anyways, the One Piece is already so close! It'll be in our hands in no time, Shishishi!" Luffy cheered. "We just need to pick Sanji up from his wedding and we'll be good to go!"

"That's a good place to start, actually." Cat Viper said. "While one of the road poneglyphs' locations is unknown to us, the other two are in the possession of pirates. Big Mom and Kaido!"

"Shishishi! That's perfect!" Luffy laughed.

"Stealing them should be easy enough," Franky nodded.

"Easy, he says…" Law muttered doubtfully. These were two of the Four Emperors they were talking about, right?

"I gotta kick their asses anyways, so might as well! Shishishi!" Luffy was positively delighted at this outcome, whilst a few of the more "cautious" members of his crew were less excited at the prospect of going head to head against such big shots.

"You can just take a print of the road poneglyphs, you know? You don't have to take the whole thing." Cat Viper pointed out.

"Vetoed!" Cherry held her arms up in an X shape.

"That's right! Of course we gotta take the whole thing!" Luffy agreed with a firm nod.

"Don't be unreasonable, Luffy!" Usopp tried to persuade him, but he wasn't so easy to dissuade when he had backed up like Cherry's.

"You just want to take them to have more opportunities to snatch some material from them." Robin deadpanned at Cherry, somehow both amused and not at the same time.

"What? Little old me, do something so sneaky?" Cherry fluttered her eyelashes innocently.

Nami grabbed her by the cheeks like a naughty child. "You?! You, the one who pulled a fast one against my rival in thievery whilst she was pulling a fast one on me?! With all that gold in your pockets, you're pretending to be the height of honesty?!"

"Now that you mention it…" Cherry spoke through pinched cheeks. "All that gold is still in my pockets, which only I can access. It would be a shame if something happened to it."

"You wouldn't DARE!" Nami looked scandalized that she would even suggest such a thing about perfectly valuable gold!

"Of course, I wouldn't mind leaving a healthy portion in your hands for safe keeping…" Cherry added, eyes twinkling. "If I've got a pretty, red rock or two to fill the empty space with?"

Nami released her, spun around, and declared, "Let's steal the whole poneglyph!"

"We can't compete with the power of money, Chopper my boy. It's over." Usopp patted his furry doctor friend on the back consolingly.

"Don't worry, Usopp. I'll prioritize you!" Chopper promised.

Usopp teared up at that. "You're the best reindeer doctor a guy could ask for, Chopper."

"Aw shucks! Take that back, you bastard!" Chopper spoke delightedly, then paused. "Wait… I'm the ONLY reindeer doctor you know, you bastard!"

"That's not true! There's that cute reindeer mink nurse we met!" Usopp defended himself.

"First place out of two ain't half bad." Zoro confirmed.

"Shut up!" Chopper shouted in annoyance.

"More importantly," Cat Viper said. "Nico Robin. As far as I'm aware, you're the only one in the world that everyone on the sea knows for sure can read the poneglyphs. You've got a target painted on your back, so you'll need to be careful."

Robin smiled, looking at her friends and crewmates. "Let them try."

"Damn straight!" Franky shouted.

"They'll be so broke when I'm done with them, they'll never recover!" Nami was fired up too.

"They won't have a chance to reach her with me standing in their path!" Usopp spoke confidently.

"I'll pound 'em into the dirt! Shishishi!" Luffy declared willfully.

"I doubt she needs much help, though." Cherry said, fully aware how deadly Robin could be when she wanted to be.

"You have good friends." Cat Viper chuckled.

"How do you know so much about the poneglyphs, anyway?" Robin asked curiously.

"Ah, that has to do with Oden-sama. Do you mind if I tell them, Momonosuke-sama?" Cat Viper asked permission first.

"Go ahead. There need be no secrets between us," Momonosuke spoke pompously.

"Don't get full of yourself, brat!" Luffy admonished.

"I'm not full of myself! I'm important!" Momonosuke rebuked.

"Well, then…" Cat Viper settled in. "Allow me to tell you about Oden-sama and the Kozuki clan of Wano."