Journey to One Piece

111. The history

Robin was dumbfounded seeing this. She had been searching for Poneglyph for such a long time and she had been with Crocodile just so because she could read one and now here they were accidently landing into just so because they fell down a quick sand.

Destiny! It's tricky!

Robin had shaky legs as she touched the Poneglyph while Ken was a little surprised. In the anime there was an episode where Zoro and Luffy came across a slab of Poneglyph but this was not canon and people have forgotten about that. And Ken too had forgotten about that episode as it didn't matter.

But in this case, the truth was different. Despite the fact that it was not supposed to be at the canon, they had unintentionally discovered this ancient site. According to a rumor, Oda always gave the go-ahead for the creation of One Piece's fillers, which implied that he had no objections to including this element in the plot.

Luffy and others who were busy exploring the huge hall around came and looked at the huge square slab that Robin was reading very attentively.

"What is this?" Vivi asked.

"This looks so cool."

"What language is that? Never ever read about this."

While everyone was busy speculating what kind of thing it was, Luffy said

"This thing speaks about an ancient kingdom and the kinds of people that lived in that kingdom..." It was Luffy who spoke those words. Everyone was taken aback by this because Luffy was never able to read nor did he say that he had that talent. He did have the Voice of All Things, but it never allowed him to read it. This was the first time.

Robin, too, was surprised and looked at Luffy. She had questions just like Ken.

"How are you able to read this?" Ken asked.

"I don't know. I just can read them." Luffy also didn't know. Both Ken and Luffy had forgotten that the eyes of Jin Mori had allowed him to read and understand any text in the world in addition to allowing him to see through organic and inorganic matters.

Robin couldn't believe it and asked Luffy.

"What does this word say?"

"Uh... This speaks about three ancient weapons. Pluton, Poseidon and Uranus."

Luffy answered. Robin didn't believe him at first, but after hearing him, she was sure that Luffy could read the letters. But she didn't understand how this guy could read. Ohara was destroyed much earlier than his birth, so that meant there were other places where people could read the letters.

"Vice-Captain, can you read it?"

"Do I look like someone who can read?" Ken answered.

"But you did have a surprised look on your face when you saw this." Robin replied. Though she was taken aback by the Ponelglyph, it didn't mean that she wasn't paying attention to others. Only Ken had a surprise reaction, just like her.

"That doesn't mean that I can read. Ace was brought up with us as well, but he can't read it." Ken pointed at Ace to which he nodded. Robin could see that Ken was speaking was truth.

"I am sorry. There are too many memories associated with it." Robin apologized.

"I know." Ken said as it seemed she was in a little bit of tears. Everyone was perplexed as to why Robin had suddenly become agitated and had mood swings straight out of an ancient text. Ken went forward and hugged her. Chopper, who was a little bit close to her, came forward and also gave her a hug.

"Vivi, you wanted to know which organisation Robin belonged to. Didn't you?" Ken asked after he let go of Robin.

"Uh.. Yes..." Vivi had once asked Ken what Robin worked for since Ken trusted her, and at that time Ken had replied that she worked for something different.

"Robin works for this." Ken answered, pointing at the Poneglyph.

"Huh?"

"What?"

"Nani?"

"How do you know this?"

Everyone was confused except for Robin. She had a vague feeling Ken had always known about her, as he had always shielded her. even against Vivi, to whom all the crewmates were very close.

Ken always treated her as equal to Vivi which was very weird, assuming the fact that she belonged to the enemy camp. Ken didn't answer Robin but just took out a bottle of water and sat down.

"Sit down. This is going to be a good story."

Everyone was curious about what the had to say and thus sat down eagerly.

"There was once an ancient kingdom. But 800 years ago, it fell. We don't know what happened to that kingdom. All the history related to that kingdom was deleted from all the books, and whatever we have has been recorded in these square shaped slabs known as Poneglyphs and the century that we don't have knowledge about is known as the Void Century."

"Void Century?"

"What a weird name."

Robin was surprised that Ken here knew of the Void Century, because knowing about it was itself taboo, and a person would be arrested if they spoke about it.

"It was called so because we don't have any knowledge of that kingdom. These Poneglyphs are all we have right now. After the Void Century ended, 20 kingdoms came together to form the current World Government. The people belonging to those 20 kingdoms settled at Marijoa. And until now, their descendants enjoy the privilege of establishing the World Government and hold absolute power over the world. Over the course of time, 170 kingdoms joined the World Government and holding absolute power they did whatever they wanted and exploited people around the globe."

"I have heard of this somewhere. I don't remember where." Vivi replied.

"You have probably heard about this from your father. Because your father's ancestors too belonged to those 20 royal families who had established the world government, and for that reason your kingdom had special privileges in Marijoa."

"What?"