Creak—
Inside the island, within the steel behemoth Pluton, a door of air appeared out of nowhere.
Link, possessing Violet's body, stepped out of the extradimensional space together with Nojiko and Robin.
Since the steel warship wasn't powered up, there was no light inside.
Before long, light flooded the compartment.
Nojiko took out a shell; it burst with dazzling radiance.
As the glow lit their surroundings, awe flashed in both Nojiko's and Robin's eyes.
The latter was stunned; the former found it oddly familiar and said, "This looks a lot like Vegapunk's lab!"
Link only smiled without answering.
Rather than Vegapunk's lab, it was closer to Egghead—brimming with futuristic tech.
The moment he surveyed Pluton through the Giro Giro no Mi, Link knew the seas eight hundred years ago had been a world of high technology.
Pluton was basically the pirate world's aircraft carrier.
One salvo could erase an island—a nuclear weapon of these seas.
No wonder the Three Ancient Weapons were said to hold the power to destroy the world.
Uranus for strikes from the sky, Pluton for strikes on land, and Poseidon for strikes from the sea.
Unless one's personal might surpassed them, anyone before the Ancient Weapons would be doomed.
Whoever held all three would have the power to conquer the world.
...
Suddenly, as if discovering a clue, Robin strode to a sleek wall that looked like it would glow with neon when powered. Staring at the script upon it, she breathed, "Ancient script!"
"What does it say?" Link asked, curious.
Robin's expression turned odd. "Crew regulations—things to observe in this compartment."
"I see."
Link nodded in realization, then headed in a direction. "Come on, I'll take a look around."
As the seas' aircraft carrier, Pluton's interior was vast, like a small island.
A single ship like this could ferry an entire nation's forces.
Neither Nojiko nor Robin had ever seen a "sailing ship" like this; their eyes were opened wide.
Everywhere, the bulkheads were lined with ancient script, and even the usually composed Robin found herself unusually absorbed.
After who knew how long, the three finally found the main control room.
From the inscriptions there, Link obtained disappointing—yet expected—news.
Pluton… could not be started!
More precisely, without the key it could not be activated.
And that key was, of course—
"Nika—the Warrior of Liberation from the legends?"
Robin was shaken. "Then the Sun God of the tales is real?"
Indeed—the key to activating Pluton was the Hito Hito no Mi, Model: Nika—the Nika Fruit.
Only one who awakened the Sun God's Nika power could wield Pluton.
Barring surprises, it should have been in Joy Boy's hands.
Or perhaps it was a contingency left by the Great Kingdom eight hundred years ago.
One not of the D., or one who had not awakened Nika's power, could not save the world—and thus could not receive Pluton's aid.
It was the final trump card Joy Boy—or certain others—left to those who would come after.
Such a card would appear only at the very end.
Unless fate truly rested upon you, even eating the Nika Fruit was no more than eating a Paramecia-type Gum-Gum Fruit.
Only one acknowledged by the fruit, who gained Nika's power—the chosen key to the Ancient Weapons—was worthy of their aid.
None of this surprised Link.
By every sign, without world-ending power, even with Luffy's fruit awakened, with his father leading the Revolutionary Army, his grandfather a Marine hero, Emperors as allies, and the backing of nations and races, toppling the World Government would be impossible.
The Government's foundations are too deep!
If the overlord holds nuclear arms, you need nuclear arms to stand as an enemy.
Otherwise, no matter your numbers, you're just a troupe of jumping clowns in their eyes.
It was for the same reason that Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara made Konoha the strongest village.
Either one alone could sweep the Four Nations and dominate the ninja world.
Had Hashirama not been so soft-hearted, and had Madara not been defeated, the three great ninja wars might never have happened.
Seeing Pluton couldn't be started, Link didn't linger.
Even so, this visit let him gauge the weapon's might.
Compared with the shinobi world, Pluton's power was on par with the Ten-Tails' Tailed Beast Bomb—perhaps even greater in raw physical destruction.
But in terms of realm, as a work of science it did not reach the Six Paths tier.
Which meant the Three Ancient Weapons could not contend with Six Paths–class power.
Imu having the might of a god in the flesh was not unlikely.
They had defeated a Joy Boy who possessed Ancient Weapons and Nika's power, becoming the victor of the great war eight centuries ago.
So wielding godlike power was hardly impossible.
This only steeled Link's resolve to have Violet keep watch on Mary Geoise.
Once Luffy rose in the New World, that "king of the world" who sees only Joy Boy as an enemy would, he believed, be unable to stay hidden.
Once they appeared, Link could measure their strength at once.
If it proved less than godlike, then Imu would simply be marked for death.
If it truly was god-tier, Link would probe first, then play it safe—using Luffy and Teach as bait to draw out the Government's full reserves and Imu's abilities.
Then, once his third template was loaded, he'd reap them in one sweep.
Upon returning to Wano, Link handled the aftermath—and began another long wait.
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