"They..."
"Are heading to Alabasta..."
Aokiji immediately thought of the enormous secret that must be hidden in Alabasta.
Because all these years, Aokiji had been keeping an eye on the little girl who survived the O'Hara massacre twenty years ago, and he knew that little girl was hiding in Alabasta!
Twenty years ago.
O'Hara was a world‑famous archaeological holy land.
The archaeologists of O'Hara studied ancient scripts in that holy land, trying to piece together history through the ancient texts and the Poneglyphs. This, of course, was intolerable to the World Government, which wanted to erase history forever, so they directly launched a Buster Call on O'Hara, ordering the Navy to destroy the entire island.
All scholars who studied ancient scripts perished in that Navy‑made catastrophe, and there was even the tragedy of a Vice Admiral ruthlessly attacking an evacuation ship in order to wipe out scholars hiding among the civilians.
It was in that very disaster that...
Aokiji gradually became lost and could no longer find the direction of his life.
However...
O'Hara was destroyed.
But the seeds of archaeology still stubbornly continued to grow in this world.
In that disaster, Aokiji let a little girl named Nico Robin go.
Yet from childhood, Nico Robin bore the title of "Son of the Demon" and a 79 million Belly bounty, leaving her unable even to find a job to keep herself fed.
Nico Robin chose to step into the dark Underworld, hiding and wandering between various powers, surviving by relying on betraying others.
However, all of this came to an abrupt end four years ago.
Four years ago, Nico Robin threw in her lot with the Seven Warlords of the Sea, Crocodile, who resided in Alabasta, and to this day she has yet to betray Crocodile.
Nico Robin is an archaeological prodigy, who mastered ancient scripts from a young age. She definitely wouldn't cooperate with Crocodile for no reason—Crocodile must be hiding something.
Or rather...
Crocodile knows Alabasta's secret.
Nico Robin definitely also wants to uncover the secret hidden in Alabasta.
That little girl is already twenty‑eight years old, has grown into a beautiful woman, yet she still persists in the dream of being an archaeologist.
The ancestors of Alabasta's royal family participated in the founding of the World Government. On that land where they have lived for generations, there must be history the World Government does not want the world to know. That history is very likely to be unearthed in Alabasta by Nico Robin!
The Konoha Pirates, the Seven Warlords of the Sea's Crocodile, and the archaeologist Nico Robin—once these people gather together and dig up the secret hidden in Alabasta by one of the former Twenty Kings, it will become an event big enough to shake the heavens!
Alabasta...
Very likely will become the point of origin for a future shift in the world's power structure!
The entire world will be affected by the secret hidden in Alabasta, and everyone involved will definitely be deemed by the World Government as a danger that must be eliminated!
Especially Nico Robin, the only surviving O'Hara archaeologist. She is bound to become a tool of the Konoha Pirates or Crocodile, unraveling those secrets the World Government has covered up for these dangerous figures. The World Government will never again allow her to live!
Likewise...
The whole world is bound to be thrown into turmoil because of Alabasta. No one knows how shocking those secrets truly are; perhaps what's inside will send the entire world berserk!
On Drum Island.
It was clearly still a land of ice and snow.
Aokiji was a Natural Type Ice‑Ice Fruit Ability user; he should have been the calmest man in this world, yet even he was stunned by the potential outbreak of this monumental incident.
If it were only Crocodile and Nico Robin, this matter might not be enough to draw Aokiji's full attention; he might have thought it couldn't cause too much trouble...
But...
The Konoha Pirates were going to be involved...
Just what earth‑shattering secret is hidden in Alabasta that would make a terrifying force like the Konoha Pirates want to get involved as well?
The Konoha Pirates can even contend with the Four Emperors!
Such a powerful force heading to Alabasta at this moment, they must know just how big a storm the secret of Alabasta can stir up on the seas!
Aokiji's expression gradually grew solemn, and he asked, enunciating each word, "Among the Twenty Kings who founded the World Government eight hundred years ago, the one belonging to Alabasta's royal family—just what secret did that king leave behind in his homeland..."
Aokiji did not doubt it.
No one could possibly doubt it.
Who would doubt one of the Twenty Kings who created this world order?
What's more, that king of Alabasta did not allow his descendants to move into Mary Geoise, and Alabasta's royal family has not, like the Heavenly Celestial Dragons in Mary Geoise, wantonly ravaged the world...
This also means...
That king was not someone who scorned all beneath him.
Aokiji's mind kept turning. Without a doubt, there must be information there about the "Void Century" the World Government has always tried to seal away. He just didn't know how much information there was, nor where exactly it was hidden...
"Is Admiral Aokiji also curious about those secrets?"
Akihara Kagura's lips curled up, his smile turning mysterious.
"Is there anyone who wouldn't be curious?"
Aokiji's voice was low and hoarse. He wanted to learn those hidden truths from Akihara Kagura's mouth, at least gather some information, so that the future wouldn't spiral into an uncontrollable disaster.
"I'm very sorry."
"We'll have to wait until we find the Underground Palace that king built."
"The information about that Underground Palace is extremely secret. Even the royal family of Alabasta doesn't know their ancestor built an Underground Palace in the vast desert. Eight hundred years of wind and sand have buried it, making that already hidden Underground Palace vanish completely from history..."
"However..."
"A few scattered bits of information have still been passed down."
"Among those scattered bits, just the few names that were erased from history by the World Government—any one of them, casually picked out, would be enough to shock the strong of this world..."
"..."
A hint of confusion flashed through Aokiji's eyes.
Just a few names...
Can they really shake the entire world?
It sounded like something almost impossible to comprehend.
Even Aokiji had trouble imagining it. It's just a name—no matter how much information it implies, could it really leave people that astonished?
"Nefertari D. Lily."
Akihara Kagura casually mentioned this name: "This is, as far as we know, the true name once used by that king who left the Underground Palace. This name seems to have been erased from history, and Alabasta's royal family has also abandoned continuing to use the hidden surname D..."
"..."
Aokiji's pupils suddenly contracted.
He didn't even hear what Akihara Kagura said afterward; he only felt as if his nerves had been struck by lightning in that instant!
As an Admiral, Aokiji had heard some things.
The D Clan stirs up tempests across the seas; time and again, people strong enough to overturn the world emerge from them, and the Heavenly Celestial Dragons have always regarded the D Clan as natural enemies.
The World Government has gradually erased many prominent figures of the D Clan from history; even some they could not erase—such as Pirate King Gol D. Roger, whose influence was too great—had their names altered by the World Government, changing his name to Gol D. Roger...
But...
How could Alabasta's royal house possibly be people of the D Clan!
Alabasta's ancestor was one of the Twenty Kings who founded the World Government, who could even, eight hundred years ago, have his descendants live as Heavenly Celestial Dragons in the Holy Land Mary Geoise, beings who style themselves as gods and creators!
The Heavenly Celestial Dragons and the D Clan have always seemed like mortal enemies, as incompatible as water and fire!
"..."
Aokiji's mind was in chaos.
At the very least, in this moment, Aokiji was completely certain of one thing.
This spy named Akihara Kagura was absolutely right: a single name alone is enough to shock the strong of the seas—let alone when that person also left behind an Underground Palace hidden for eight hundred years. The Underground Palace will definitely explain the relationship between the Heavenly Celestial Dragons and the D Clan...
"Looks like I have to hurry to Alabasta..."
Aokiji made up his mind. He thought of that little girl who once struggled to eke out a living amidst the world's suffering: "Don't go causing some huge trouble before I get there... Nico Robin... I don't want to have to kill you a second time."