Golden Temple, Roger's Will and Time

__________ POV Narration __________ 

Robin furrowed her eyebrows as she looked at the walls around her with quite a bit of intrigue. 

Her eyes scanned each and every corner with curiosity, and the crew had already split up and started stocking up on treasures and whatnot.

Luffy had already eaten the strange fruit, his body emitted a golden light, almost as powerful as that of a miniature sun, but thankfully not causing any eye damage, and the young pirate captain fell to the floor.

Everyone was concerned for a few seconds, but Luffy's loud snoring assured everyone that he had just fallen asleep. 

Even after the golden glow had dissipated, their captain's skin had gained a youthful lustre, it was clear that the fruit had worked. 

Chopper remained by Luffy's side to make sure nothing happened to him, Zoro and Jinbei also remained by his side to protect him just in case.

They still didn't know what the tracks leading to the temple were about at the end of the day. Sanji decided to stick around Nami and Ussop to protect them, and Franky and Brook also trailed behind Robin. 

The temple was deemed otherwise safe for everyone else to start looking around. But they still decided to travel in groups regardless of that. 

The Archeologist of the crew was a lot less interested in the treasures, but she wanted to know more about the island itself.

'Who could build such a place...?'

"The more I look at this place the more -SUPER- it gets..." Franky muttered as he touched one of the golden pillars on the side. 

"Yohoho~ I tend to agree in this case... This place feels ancient, yet brand new at the same time..." Brook nodded as well, his bony fingers tracing one of the pedestals nearby.

Not even a speck of dust could be found within that temple. Not a trace. 

Robin had also found that quite amazing. There was either a group of people cleaning the place regularly or...

'Something is preventing dust from settling within these halls...' 

She didn't know what at that point, but the corridor she had taken was one that, going by the writing on the walls, led to a library.

The temple itself was seemingly a place that housed a lot of history, Robin had no doubt that it was older than the World Government itself...

The library was not as grand as she had expected it, unfortunately. Only a few dozen books were present, and to her delight, they were written in a common language. 

 It was a slightly more dated dialect, but it was still a lot easier to make out than Poneglyphs. 

Most of the books that Robin laid her eyes upon seemed to be about the Grand Empire that the Gods had led. They were all in mint condition, there was no blemish on them, almost as if they were just printed... 

But the book that interested Robin most stood in the middle of the library. Reset onto a golden pedestal was a book that was a lot thicker than the rest, it seemed to be already open as well.

Sunlight shone from the ceiling onto those pristine pages, it was like a spotlight, making the golden pedestal the very centrepiece of the library.

Robin walked forward whilst Brook and Franky seemed to take an interest in some books. 

Franky found something regarding mechanical contraptions that the Grand Kingdom had devised, and Brook had found a piece relating to the music that had been most popular during the 'Void Century'. 

Robin's slender fingers traced the pages of the large book, as her eyes shone with interest. 

The name of the book? 

"The Island Where Time Doesn't Exist....?!" 

Robin blinked a few times as she read the title out loud, immediately, she felt a few more eyes landing on her.

"... Is it referring to this island?" Franky asked as he rubbed his sharp chin.

"I would wager a guess that it does... In fact, I'd be willing to bet a liver and a lung on it... Not that I have any~" Brook's skeletal features shook a bit as he gave a hollow chuckle at his own boneless humour. 

Robin chose to ignore their antics, and instead, she immediately started reading the book. 

It spoke of an island without a name, a piece of the Red Line that had drifted off at some point in history, the place that Nika had chosen as his tomb.

Indeed, the island itself was meant to act as the final resting place of Luffy's predecessor... Yet there was never anybody to bury within it.

It was likely that his associates had amassed all that wealth, and had left in the temple to honour their friend, alongside the gift for the future descendant of Nika, the one to sound the drums of liberation...

In order to make sure that their gift for Nika's descendant didn't spoil with time, they used the power of an awakened 'Time Time Devil Fruit' user.

The awakening allowed the user to permanently change the laws of reality within a small place. And it seemed that he had chosen to create something akin to a dome around the island. 

It was a bit absurd, and the book didn't explain it in great detail either, but in simpler terms... Time on the island simply did not flow for objects... 

And the people that stepped on the island? Well, time didn't flow for them either. 

They were not going to get hungry, they were not going to grow older, and they were not going to get sick. It almost sounded too good to be true... Then Robin read out the warning on the last page of the book.

'To all that may visit the grand halls of the Golden Sanctuary, heed my warning.

Time is a frightful mistress, and should you spend too long outside of her embrace, then you will one day be unable to return to it at all...

Do not lose the warmth of her touch, or you will be forever stuck within these halls, nothing more than an object for future visitors to observe.' 

It seemed a bit cryptic, but at the same time, Robin could safely assume what the words meant.

The dome that the time fruit user had created stopped time for all objects. And if outsiders were to enter it they could technically still move, meaning their time was not stopped completely...

But the more time they spent within that dome, the more likely they were to be marked off as objects.

Robin shuddered at the thought of being stuck in time, it wasn't like they were going to become immortal if they stayed too long, no. They were going to become statues. 

Life could not function properly without time. And as soon as they lost the 'warmth' of the outside world's time, they were going to be stuck on Raftel forever.

Robin blinked a few times, as she remembered Enel had once called Bonney's fruit the 'Time Time' fruit... 

The archaeologist couldn't help but sweat a bit, she remembered Bonney to be a rather open and friendly woman. It was hard to imagine that she wielded such a scary power. 

But one thing was for sure...

"We can't afford to spend any more time here..." Robin muttered before turning around to Franky and Brook.

She wasted no time in explaining the situation to them, and their reactions were quite mixed. Franky did start packing some of the books to take with them, which Robin was all for.

Brook did have something to add too, something that she hadn't the chance to think about either.

"Now that I think about it... This may mean that the steps we saw outside belonged to the crew of the former Pirate King." The skeleton muttered as he patted his afro. 

Nico Robin couldn't help but blink a few times when hearing that. She had somewhat forgotten about the steps outside, but Brook's reminder surely made her think of the former Pirate King more.

'Gol D. Roger walked these halls before us alongside his crewmembers... The steps outside surely belonged to them...'

Robin slowly turned away from the library and started tracing her steps back to meet up with those who had stayed with Luffy.

Brook and Franky both went off to get the other teams. They needed to leave as soon as they could after all. 

As she walked, she couldn't help but remember the story... 'Laugh Tale'. The way that Roger had burst into laughter upon finding the One Piece. 

And for the first time, Robin believed she had a concrete answer to the question she had asked previously... 'Why exactly did Roger laugh?' 

Well, upon further consideration, and after reading the message he had left behind, it all became quite clear.

To put it simply, fate had played a prank on him.

Although he was strong, and although he had made it to the end of the line, he was simply not fated to be the one to free the world. 

In a sense, Robin couldn't help but feel thankful that it was someone like Roger who found the Fruit of Immortality first.

After all, anyone else would have jumped at the opportunity to eat such a fruit even if they didn't take part in any prophecy.

But it seemed that Roger, more than anything, hoped for the world to be free.

He wanted the prophecy to come true, and if he couldn't be the one to make it happen, then he was at the very least not going to impede it in any way. 

Still, tragically, one could say that Roger's journey had all been in vain... Or it would have been. 

But because he was a great man, he had decided to give his life meaning. Or rather, his death. 

With his death, he sparked the fire that was the Golden Age of Pirates. He instilled into others the desire for freedom, through the promise of great treasure to be found at the end of the line. 

Roger had been born a few dozen years too early to fulfil the prophecy. But it was his will that many had inherited, and that lived on through Luffy as well. 

And in the end, Roger's will was going to manifest and make way for the new age that was to come.

Robin's mind was filled with thoughts as the Straw Hats gathered up and left the temple behind them.

Nami had stuffed her coffers with as much as she could, and she had already pleaded with everyone to do the same. 

Finding Raftel was a miracle in the first place, so she wanted to take as much as she could from the countless treasures within. 

Luffy was being carried by Jimbei, still sleeping heavily. By the time they arrived at their ship, they felt as if plenty of time had passed, they were quite tired even.

But the time outside didn't seem to have changed... The sun was still up in the sky, making many quite confused.

But what Vegapunk told them on the ship was even more surprising.

"Oh? You guys are already back?! You just left a few moments ago..." 

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Hope you liked the chapter!

Bit shorter(at least the one on Patr.eon is), but I am a tad more tired today. Had to go to the dentist and didn't feel half my face for half the day :))

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