The bat lanterns swayed in the wind, casting crimson light spots on the bluestone road.
The expressions of the local residents were far from friendly, giving Blake the feeling of having entered a Blake neighborhood.
Blake touched the golden revolver essential for Celestial Dragons in his arms, feeling an urge to empty its clip.
Suddenly, he stopped, looking down at his feet.
On the bluestone in the middle of the road, an inconspicuous bat pattern was carved.
Just then, a one-eyed old man emerged from the shadows, holding a dark red bottle:
"Guests, you must also be here for the Gate of Eternal Life, right?"
"Do you need the latest prophecy?"
His gaze was fixed on Rami, his canine teeth appearing crimson in the light of the blood moon:
"The blood of a sick child is the most effective!"
Rami was so startled by the one-eyed old man's words that she recoiled, and Perona and Koala had already shrunk into Stella's arms.
Blake toyed with a gold coin in his hand, a half-smile on his face.
He flicked the gold coin lightly, and with a whoosh, it accurately struck the dark red bottle in the one-eyed old man's hand.
The unknown liquid inside splashed onto the ground, covering the original bat pattern and revealing deeper carvings.
That was a distribution map of thirteen bat nests, each mark shaped like a miniature claw print.
Blake rubbed his chin:
"This should be related to the so-called Thirteen Bats, right?"
"Your Highness is amazing!"
Koala had just poked her head out to exclaim when she let out a scream, startled by a taxidermied bat hanging upside down on the street corner.
She immediately shrank back into Stella's arms.
Blake looked back, shaking his head and chuckling.
After memorizing the map, he was about to continue searching for clues nearby, but Robin gently tugged at his sleeve:
Following the direction of Robin's finger, they saw a stone zither hanging on a wall in the plaza ahead.
If it were a normal town, none of this would be strange.
But the appearance of a zither in Sleepy Ancient Town seemed a bit out of place.
Blake led everyone closer, and upon looking up, saw that the zither, as expected, had exactly thirteen strings.
Robin thought for a moment and activated her Devil Fruit ability.
Four hands simultaneously began plucking the strings, playing a melodious "Requiem for the Undead."
When the piece ended, the strings suddenly snapped, and the wall where the zither was embedded began to tremble. Wall plaster crumbled, revealing a mural that had been concealed.
The mural depicted a scene of thirteen bats surrounding a blood moon.
Below it was a line of Ancient Script.
Robin softly read it aloud:
"Live wing authentication must be on the third night."
"The third night? Does it mean the third night after the blood moon?"
Blake thought for a moment:
"In any case, the treasure's location should be where the bat nests converge. Let's go check it out first."
He glanced around at the townspeople in the plaza and was surprised to see them make no move.
Originally, he had expected these people to view them as outsiders trying to steal the treasure, and then attack en masse.
Now it seemed these people had other plans.
Blake didn't pay it any mind and, following the map's guidance, arrived at the temple, unable to help but complain:
"With such a large temple sitting here, even without a map, I'd know there's something wrong!"
They entered the temple and looked around but found nothing. Everyone could only return to the ship to await the arrival of the "third night."
Three days passed quickly, and Blake once again led the group of young Slaves to the temple.
After adapting to the island for these few days, Koala and Perona were no longer as scared as they had been initially and began to look around curiously.
When the Moonlight climbed to the exact center of the temple's dome, several cracks suddenly appeared on the temple walls, glowing with a dark red aura.
"These seem to be carefully designed star orbit carvings!"
Robin exclaimed, then commanded:
"Koala, stand on the bat relief in the southeast corner!"
"Perona, take out one of the bat teeth you bought earlier and place it in the northwest groove."
Perona enthusiastically pulled out a set of bat teeth and inserted them into the groove.
Koala, however, was a bit hesitant.
She tremblingly approached the relief, looked at the somewhat eerie bat, and dared not step onto it.
Mandy stepped forward, picked her up, and gently placed her on the relief.
After all this was done, the light and shadow cast by the dome formed a complete bat totem on the altar.
The tips of the totem's wings had thirteen glowing points, and Robin conjured thirteen hands, tapping each one.
As the last point was activated, Ancient Script suddenly appeared on the ground:
"The number of wings is the number of sacrifices, its eyes are the key, its blood is the guide."
Stella tilted her head, whispering:
"That means we need to find thirteen..."
Before she could finish, thirteen bats with wingspans of two meters crashed through the windows and stormed into the temple.
The giant bats flew directly towards the group.
Blake, grabbing Stella with one hand and holding Rami with the other, retreated behind everyone.
Mandy immediately drew her sword and thrust it towards the bats.
Koala, forgetting her fear, waved her small fists and joined the battle.
Perona jumped and dodged under the bats' attacks, letting out a series of squawks.
Robin, meanwhile, came to Blake's side and gave him a look:
"You're being too irresponsible!"
Blake tapped her head and scoffed:
"This is the task of you little Slaves. How can a noble Celestial Dragon adult do it personally?"
The battle upfront ended quickly.
Mandy and Koala's strength was more than sufficient even when facing the Hyena Pirates, let alone these bats that had no special abilities beyond their size.
After the giant bats were subdued, the previously still bat stone statues in the temple suddenly ascended, beginning to vibrate at a specific frequency.
"Ugh... so uncomfortable."
Rami frowned, covering her ears uncomfortably.
Robin scanned the area and immediately ordered:
"Koala, quickly adjust their positions!"
"Coming, coming!"
Koala ran forward, adjusting the angle of each bat stone statue as Robin instructed.
Once the statues were placed at specific angles, the vibration finally stopped.
The eyes of the stone statues suddenly shot out red light, projecting a blood moon scene onto the altar.
Another line of Ancient Script appeared in the blood moon.
"Living wings obscure the heavenly eye, true blood awakens eternal life."
"True blood? It must be referring to the bats' blood."
Blake rubbed his chin, looking at the groove that appeared on the altar, and commanded:
"Try pressing the wings of those giant bats into the groove."
As the wingtips of the thirteen bats were secured, their blood flowed along the grooves, gradually drawing a complex pattern in the center of the altar.
The original text also changed accordingly.
"With the might of a king, break the curse of eternal slumber."
"Might of a king?"
As he spoke, Blake's Conqueror's Haki erupted.
The Haoshoku, which he could now precisely control, steadily impacted the altar without affecting Robin and the others nearby.
When the Conqueror's Haki landed on the altar, glowing patterns began to appear on the temple walls.
The light gradually dissipated, and the stone slab in the center of the altar slowly opened.
A dark red fruit, shaped like a bat, floated in a bloody mist, its surface covered in mysterious spiral patterns.
It was precisely the Zoan-type Mythical Zoan Bat-Bat Fruit, Vampire Form, that Patrick Redfield had obtained here.
"Your Highness, be careful!"
Just then, Stella suddenly lunged forward, shielding Blake's back with her body.