Venturing To The Mines

We soon gathered all the materials that we needed to head off to the mine.

I made sure to let Tom know of our departure before we set off. Tom had already started working on the blueprints of our soon to be ship. However, it was apparent that he was going to need the materials on the list if he was going to build it. 

Soon, the two ships could be seen sailing towards a particular empty island. The island in question wasn't too large, but it wasn't small either. It was pretty decent for an island, I would be willing to wager that it would have been somewhere decent to settle. 

However, as we got closer and closer to the island, the thoughts of settling slowly began to vanish as I began to notice the state of the island. 

The World Government had done quite a number on the state of the island. 

I used Observation Haki to check for any signs of life, but there wasn't any. Hell, even seagulls avoided the island like the plague. I could clearly see why they were doing so, the island was in shambles. 

We slowly docked the ships near the shore, and I flew and landed on the island. 

Looking around, it looked like some pirates had raided the area. There were remnants of destruction everywhere I looked. Broken rocks, used bullets, broken weapons, and cannonballs was littered around the island. 

Ken and Stussy promptly landed next to me, and we slowly began to walk around the island. 

We saw a bunch of tree stumps in the distance, indicating that they had also deforested the island while they mined. However, what was even more surprising was the fact that we managed to stumble upon a deserted village.

The village looked semi-modern, they had modern houses, but I could tell that they weren't a modern like village because of all the wooden items that they had in toe. Looking at all the already decomposing bodies, it was obvious that the World Government had forcifully claimed this land as their own, and killed the villagers who tried to resist. 

Stussy looked down at the corpse of a child, her expression didn't look fazed, but I could tell that she was sad. Ken only had his mouth agape as he kept looking at the lying corpses of other villagers. The other pirates were uncomfortable with the scene, but now wasn't the time to ponder on the villager's plight.

"Let's keep moving, we don't have time to mourn over strangers," I said aloofly as I trudged towards the direction of the mine.

Though the mines couldn't be seen by the naked eye, I could sure as hell smell the scent of rocks and smoke. It was that smell that took me right to the mine, it wasn't even that far from the village. 

We finally reached the cave that directly led to the mine. 

"Sir, what exactly did we come here to do? There's nothing here other than corpses," one of my crew members asked.

I didn't reply and I slowly walked deeper into the mine, I had been keeping a close eye towards the walls of the mines. One reason was because I question the integrity of the mine's foundation, I wasn't sure how long it would keep holding up. The other reason was because I had a strong feeling that the copper was probably within the walls of the mines.

As I kept walking, I slowly noticed a faint dark brown like substance glowing in the dark. 

I immediately stopped and gave the substance a closer look before I grabbed it, the thing was stuck, I had to use a bit of force to pull it out. the substance was like a line. It slowly ripped through the walls as a dark brown glowing line began to show itself through the walls.

"What the hell is this?!" One of the crewmembers exclaimed.

"This," I replied, "is what we're looking for. There should be a lot more of this from deeper within the cave. Look for it and pull it out just like I did, I don't think it should be this stuck, but if it is; feel free to ask Ken, Stussy or me to help out."

The crew nodded in correspondence and immediately set off to find more of the copper. I had Ken keep an eye on them, and I slowly began to walk out the cave, I wanted to see what else the World Government pillaged while they were on the island. 

"It's sad to see things like this," Stussy commented, suddenly appearing next to me.

"Were you here?" I asked.

"No, I had read through the reports of other CP members one time, that's how I came to know about it," she remarked.

I hummed quietly as I looked around. I could see cobwebs covering the majority of the houses that we passed. 

"What are you looking for?" Stussy asked curiously.

"Anything, really," I replied, "though I doubt the World Government can easily leave valuables behind, there is always a possibility."

I found a huge pile of bones piled up in the center of the village. It looked as though they had burned the majority of the corpses of the villagers just as a method of insurance, but they had some stragglers that had managed to escape from their sights. It was too late for them to escape, unfortunately.

I ignored the pile, and went to the house that was closer to the pile of bones compared to the rest. It was there that I managed to find a book that laid on the table. Its contents were written in a language that I couldn't understand, so I decided to pocket it just in case there was something important written within. 

After looking around a bit more, Stussy and I made our way back to the mines.

We soon met the crew, who were exhausted after pulling out a shit-ton of those minerals, and gathered them all up.

"You guys did a great job, now we have to take all this copper back to the ship," I remarked.

The crew groaned in complaint after hearing me, Ken immediately scolded them and had them start taking the minerals back to the ship. 

Another thing that the World Government had left was the carriages they used to take the minerals from the mine.

"By the way," I asked, "What were they mining here for them to kill off a whole village?"

"Celestial gold," Stussy immediately responded, "Sometimes, the World Government would hire scouts to locate some islands that have valuable minerals. When they get word of an important commodity, they immediately send agents to lay claim of it. With or without the consent of the original land owners."

I could only look on at the crew who were currently huffing and puffing to get the copper back on the ship.

"You know," Stussy began, "You could quicken their paces by actually helping them out with the load."

"Why don't you do it?" 

"That is no job for a fair lady," Stussy smiled.

"Let them suffer, they need a workout after getting their asses handed to them by Sakazuki," 

"Speaking of which, what did you do to him after we left?" Stussy asked.

"I sent them to the sea,"

"Are they dead?" Stussy inquired.

"Maybe? I never bothered looking into the matter, if they are still alive. I wouldn't care either way,"

"Don't you want to take revenge on them for hurting your precious little brothers?" Stussy teased.

"I'm not that over-protective, sometimes, tough love is needed for growth,"

"Are you saying that the crew has potential?" Stussy asked.

"Maybe,"