176. City of Gold

"Why are you so sure? Have you found the city?" asks Buggy.

"More or less. I find a lot of gold-coated ruins along the way. There's only one place with such characteristic that I can think of, the City of Gold, Shandora," says Cricket.

Buggy smirks and says, "Calls everyone. Let's meet near the Giant Jack. I will tell you everything I know there."

"Understood," replies Cricket.

Buggy closes the call and orders the snake to go to Giant Jack. The group reaches it fast because the snake can move very fast. The area around Giant Jack is covered fully by a white cloud.

While waiting for the other groups to come, Buggy trains the 2 kids to kill time. Brook's team plays some songs to entertain the others. Ruff is inspecting the cloud to understand how it becomes solid. Jude is just enjoying her time lying lazily on the soft cloud.

Sometime later, the other groups start to come one by one. They are surprised by the giant snake's presence. But Buggy's group doesn't have any problem with it, so they also think that it's fine.

When Cricket's group arrives, the snake suddenly starts to act strange. It looks at Cricket and cries before hissing to the sky. Then it moves around Cricket and rolls around like a pet. It makes everyone stunned, but Buggy just smiles.

'Cricket must've reminds it of Noland. That chestnut-like hair is really unique, after all. I think only Montblanc family that has that kind of hair in the world,' thinks Buggy.

The snake gets very happy seeing Cricket and becomes a very docile pet now. Cricket doesn't know what to do and just let it be. Then the happy snake just stays still behind Cricket as he sits on the cloud.

The normal members feel quite scared of the snake. But they know they are safe with Buggy & Cricket here, so they try to stay calm while waiting for the other groups. After the last group arrived, Buggy finally start to explain what he knows.

"So, Captain, can you tell it now?" asks Cricket impatiently.

"Sure. You are correct, the City of Gold that your ancestor, Montblanc Noland meant is here," says Buggy while grinning.

Everyone widens their eyes in surprise and Cricket has his hands trembling.

"Before you say anything, let me tell you what I know. As you know, the story about Noland's adventure indicated that the City of Gold was located on Jaya Island. However, no one finds it until this day in Jaya. Noland thought that the city was sinking, but that's wrong. The city wasn't sinking, it was shot up here. So this Upper Yard was part of Jaya in the past," says Buggy.

Everyone's eyes get even wider in disbelief. They can't believe it but also can't deny it because the proof is here. Still, it's a very difficult thing to accept.

"If that is true, then how could this Upper Yard got shot to the sky in the past?" asks Deon.

"!? Knock-Up Stream!" says Ruff in realization.

Buggy smiles and says, "That's right, the Knock-Up Stream has sent this place here. Its power was very great in the past that it could be sent half of an island to the sky. If you place the map of Upper Yard beside Jaya's map, then it will get connected."

Jude takes out Skypiea and Jaya's maps that she has and places them side by side. She widens her eyes when she sees the Upper Yard and Jaya can really get connected. The 2 maps created an island that shaped like a skull.

"Does this remind you of something, Cricket?" asks Buggy.

"The skull's right eye! That's where the City of Gold, Shandora, is located. Where is it, Jude?" asks Cricket.

"Hmm, right eye. Huh? Isn't it here? This place is the Skull's Right Eye," says Jude as she looks at the span of white cloud.

Everyone looks around to find the City of Gold, but they don't see it.

"Sigh, I thought you have better brains than this," says Buggy tiredly.

"What do you mean, Captain?" asks Magnus confusedly.

"What Captain means is that you won't see the City of Gold from here. Have you forgotten that this place was from down there?" asks Ruff.

"Of course, not. He has just explained it to us," says Palu.

"Then, do you think that there is cloud down there?" asks Ruff.

"No, there's no way that- Ah!" says Palu in realization, followed by the other idiots.

"That's right, the City of Gold is located below this cloud," says Ruff.

They all get excited and immediately dig the cloud below them. Some executives like Enel, Palu, Deon, Magnus, and of course, Cricket are also digging the cloud excitedly. The rest are just watching them from the side.

"Captain, will we just watch?" asks Jude.

"You can help if you want, but I don't think they'll need your help. They will finish digging in no time because digging the cloud is far easier than digging the earth," says Buggy.

Just like what Buggy says, the crew digs the white cloud very easily. It gets even easier when Cricket & Palu use their attack moves imbued with Hasshoken. Enel doesn't want to lose and uses his devil fruit ability.

Finally, a very big hole is created on the cloud and they all can see below it. They widen their eyes before they smile stupidly and cheer happily. The City of Gold is really there and it looks really beautiful for them.

They immediately jump down and land on Shandora. Buggy also jumps down and orders Enel to remove the remaining cloud that covers this place. Enel shoots a lot of lightning bolts to destroy the remaining cloud and now the City get revealed completely.

The crew members are getting very happy and immediately run around to check the gold. They are pirates and will always love gold. Seeing this much gold is something that will surely make them happy.

But while the others are cheering and laughing, someone is crying. Cricket is crying silently as soon as he stands on this City of Gold. He is very happy that he cries.

Cricket always said that he doesn't care whether Noland is right or not. He just wants to find out the truth because his childhood life has been destroyed by the story about Noland. But deep in his heart, he is still happy that his ancestor isn't a big liar and an honest person instead.

"Finding this place might not change people's opinion about your ancestor and your family. But this will surely give you the answer that you've been searching for," says Buggy as he stands beside Cricket.

"Yeah, now everything that I want to know has been answered. Who cares if people said Noland is a liar, he is just an unlucky honest person. As long as I know the truth, I don't care about people's opinions. The City of Gold is here, and I've seen it myself. No word will change this fact," says Cricket.

"You're right. But this is not the end yet. Have you forgotten something important in this City?" asks Buggy.

Cricket looks around and has a realization, "The Golden Bell."

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You can read up to 35+ chapters ahead of this fanfic novel & the other one on my Pa_treon page if you are interested.

Clicking that power stone/like also seem to be a good choice, hehe.

I've uploaded:

1. Chapter 200 of Fairy Tail: Sun Eater

2. Chapter 211 of Transcended as Lord Buggy

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