Invitation, Hidden Temple and Writings

_________ POV Narration _________

Now Enel could've tried digging out the temple by himself.

He could've rained lightning pillars down on it to create an entrance, but doing so would also damage the temple, which he wanted to avoid.

In the end, he decided to call upon the person that would be best fit for unearthing the temple in its entirety.

After all, why should Enel have to struggle to do it alone while a Sand Sand Devil Fruit user rested on a random ship?

The Lightning Emperor first went to his ship and decided to fly it over to Crocodile, who seemed to have already arrived at his ship.

The Former Warlord's ship was untouched, despite the rage of the people of Alabasta being directed towards him.

It was only untouched because it was hidden between some rocks. Had it been left at the port, it would have already been burnt and sunk by the righteously angry people of Alabasta.

Enel's ship took off rather quickly, it didn't take longer than 30 minutes for him to reach Crocodile once more, who seemed to already be expecting him.

The former warlord turned his head to the sky, only to see a large white Viking ship descending while parting the clouds around it.

The man took out another cigar, lit it and took a puff out of it while filled with unease.

'I'm assuming he found it already... Though it's a bit hard to believe. Let's just hope he doesn't change his mind about letting me go...'

Crocodile really thought he was getting off easy.

Even if he was technically in his domain, on a desert island, he knew that if Enel truly wanted him dead, then there was nothing he could do to stop him.

'I have to get stronger...' The former warlord's mind couldn't help but jump to that.

In a weird sense, his thoughts were now very similar to that of Vivi... He was nothing more than a sitting duck to Enel, a fish in a barrel. Much like Vivi and her father were to him...

'Ironic, how the presence of one man flipped the table in such a way...

Might as well forget about Alabasta for good. Any pirate that aims for this place might as well kill themselves to save Enel the trouble...'

Enel's ship seemed to stand in place for a bit, as the Emperor jumped onto Crocodiles' and looked around for a few seconds.

"Did you find it already?" The former warlord took another puff of smoke into his lungs as he addressed the emperor.

"Yes. But I'll need your help unearthing it. It's in a temple, and I don't want to damage the temple.

It appears to be in decent condition, it appears to be an ancient relic, so I want to study it as well." Enel nodded as he gestured for Crocodile to get on.

The Former Warlord simply huffed and nodded, his legs turning to sand as he propelled himself upwards and onto Enel's ship.

The Emperor then turned into a flash of lightning and reappeared on his metallic ship, flying straight for that special spot in the middle of the desert.

"So... You're also an archaeologist?" Crocodile asked as the wind blew on his hair.

"Yes, I take pleasure in discovering such antique sites. This world is thankfully littered with them...

I can't wait for my issues with the World Government to be over, so that I may go on a long journey to find them all..." Enel smiled as he responded kindly.

He didn't ignore Crocodile, nor did he have any hatred for the man. To Enel, he was just a petty and vindictive pirate, strangely tied to the Revolutionaries in some way...

"That's nice... I guess..." Crocodile huffed a bit, as the boat picked up speed and his cigar was put out by the wind.

He just scoffed and threw it overboard. Enel chuckled a bit as his earlobes swung with the wind.

"What is your dream, Crocodile?" The Emperor asked as he looked forward.

Crocodile raised an eyebrow at that, looking quite confused as he opened his mouth slightly, before closing it tight.

'... Why would he suddenly be interested in my dreams?...'

The Former Warlord was contemplating whether or not to respond to Enel. The Emperor noticed his struggles.

"... I believe only ignorant fools proclaim their grandiose dreams to the world..." The former warlord didn't give Enel a straight answer, looking to the side, seemingly trying to avoid the Emperor's gaze.

"Heh... So you have a grandiose dream, huh?" Enel's smile receded as he turned his head to look straight at the former warlord.

"..." Crocodile didn't answer, only continued looking to the side while grumbling for a few seconds.

Enel sighed a bit as he flashed and appeared directly in front of Crocodile's line of sight. His appearance seemed to startle the former warlord, not because of his speed, but because of the look in his eyes...

Crocodile had seen those eyes in the past... Emanating power and authority which resembled that of a king.

"Crocodile... I'll be blunt with you." The Emperor's stone-cold gaze studied the former warlord without any prejudice.

"I'm building an army." Enel's words made Crocodile raise an eyebrow.

"An army?..." Crocodile couldn't help but remember that the Emperor was already allied with the Revolutionaries...

The Former Warlord also assumed there were more pirates under Enel as well, especially since Crocodile knew that Whitebeard also owed Enel a favour...

"Yes... One so large and overwhelming that it would take down the current government in one fell swoop... I need powerful allies and powerful weapons..."

Crocodile couldn't help but scoff when hearing that.

'So he has similar goals to the Revolutionaries, huh?'

"Well, I won't jo-" Crocodile didn't get to finish his sentence, as Enel interrupted him right away.

"A war is coming, Crocodile. There's nothing that you, or anyone else, can do to stop it.

You either choose a side or get swept up by it while trying to remain neutral..."

"..." Crocodile scoffed a bit as he gulped and wondered if Enel was trying to force him to agree... The Emperor was certainly putting quite a bit of pressure on him...

Thankfully, Enel's next words calmed Crocodile down effectively.

"I'm not forcing you to take a side now. But you will have a choice to make in the near future... Consider it well." The heavy atmosphere broke as Enel's smile returned.

The rest of the journey passed quickly, the ship coming to a halt and landing relatively close to something that Crocodile could recognise... The marking that he had read about, was the large stone in the middle of the desert.

"Be careful with the temple, And unearth it in its entirety, create a more solid dome of sand around it if needed, I don't want it being buried again too quickly..." Enel didn't really need to give Crocodile any instructions, the man seemed to already know what to do.

With a wave of his hand, the sand around them rose and shifted, and a tornado seemed to form, which parted all of the sand from around the temple.

Crocodile then carefully plucked out the sand from inside the temple and spread it all around the desert nearby.

He then compressed the sand around the edges of the hole he had created, making a sturdy wall to prevent the temple from being buried anytime soon.

Enel just smiled as he looked at his handiwork.

The two of them then looked at the temple in its full glory, both landing at its entrance.

"... Looks quite strange, surprisingly whole." Crocodile narrowed his eyes as he studied the pyramid-like temple in front of him.

Enel raised an eyebrow as he finally realised something...

'This looks eerily similar to the ruins found on the Sky Islands... The remains of Shandora, the ancient city of gold...'

"Whole... It seems that the desert treated these stones well..." Enel then walked over and touched the entrance, which seemed to be unmoving, the door mechanism was unlikely to still work after all...

Enel's raised an eyebrow once more as he realised what the temple was actually made out of...

"Stone from the Red Line?" Crocodile also seemed a bit surprised when hearing that. He also walked over and touched it, seemingly wanting to confirm it for himself.

After a few seconds of studying the exterior, the two of them finally decided to enter it...

They forced the door open, carefully breaking it off its stone hinges and placing it to the side near the entrance.

The temple itself only had one large room inside, pillars of stone seemed to hold up the ceiling, and at the end of the temple, on a rather large pedestal, stood the Poneglyph.

The two of them walked forwards without any care. Knowing that any traps that could be present wouldn't work on them.

Logia users always had that confidence when walking into ancient sites after all... Besides that, both pirates had haki, so they were even less worried.

The two of them reached the Poneglyph quickly enough, Crocodile immediately pulled out a notebook and started copying its contents.

Meanwhile, Enel just started outright deciphering it right away. He still didn't consider himself as good as Robin, but he was able to make out the words written on the Poneglyph rather quickly...

"..." The Emperor narrowed his eyes as he finally finished reading the ancient stone.

Crocodile also seemed to have written down the contents by then, and the former Warlord looked at Enel with a strange expression.

'Why is he staring at it so intently... Don't tell me...'

"Enel... Can you read it?" Crocodile asked as he hoped for the best.

"Yes..." Enel answered as he still pondered on some of the words in front of him.

Crocodile also narrowed his eyes at that, putting his booklet down as he digested that information for a few seconds.

An Emperor that knew how to read Poneglyphs... Now that was a rather scary concept. It did make sense to Crocodile since Enel had already claimed to be an archaeologist...

But that also meant that Enel was closer to becoming the Pirate King... Most likely closer than all of the other Emperors.

"This isn't talking about ancient weapons or history in general..." Enel scowled as he decided to tell Crocodile a few things about the contents written within the Poneglyph.

Crocodile was immediately disappointed when hearing that... He did consider the fact that Enel was lying to him for a second, but he shook that thought out of his head rather quickly...

'He's got no reason to lie to me... He can easily kill me any time he wants.'

"It's a message, to a future generation." Enel blinked a few times as he took out a notebook from his coat and started writing down said message.

"A message?" Crocodile raised an eyebrow when hearing that, gaining some of his interest back.

"To those who will read this message in the future,

We have failed... Miserably so..."

Enel started reading out the Poneglyph as he wrote it down, word by word.

"The power of three gods was unable to win over fate...

Yes, indeed... It was fate that killed us in the end.

The one with red eyes is but a messenger... A puppet controlled by something else...

Be wary of the one that stands upon the empty throne."

Crocodile blinked a few times as he tried to make sense of the message.

'Three gods failing in something... Is this a message about religion? But the empty throne... I can't help but feel it sounds familiar...'

Enel didn't go on, as he believed Crocodile had understood that the Poneglyph wasn't of interest to him...

But the rest of the writing was the most intriguing part...

'But who knows? Maybe you will be the one to defy fate.

Maybe you will be the one to make all of this suffering worth something in the end...

Free our world of its predestined future.

Give us our freedom back.

Signed

Thunder God Raijin'

Enel couldn't help but tremble a bit as a mystery only deepened before him... But he knew that thanks to it, he was now one step closer to unravelling it all.

'So he wasn't actually killed in the war that seems to have occurred during the Void Century... Or at least he didn't die instantly...'

Enel then sighed as he closed his booklet.

he then walked a bit to the side, noticing something quite strange... Lines seemed to be all around the stone, a mechanism of sorts...

In the middle, there was the shape of a palm.

Crocodile also blinked a few times as he noticed that, walking near to it and trying to study the Poneglyph closer.

'... This looks much too different from other Poneglyphs...' "Maybe we should take this with us? Study it properly..." The former Warlord said as he scratched his chin for a few seconds.

Enel didn't answer, he only blinked a few times as he placed his palm on the side of the ancient stone. Nothing happened at first, but then the Emperor decided to try something else...

His palm sparked with lightning... And in that instant. the whole ancient stone seemed to become alive...

The message that Enel had read seemed to morph entirely, unfolding on itself as pieces of the poneglyph fell apart.

Enel immediately retracted his hand, and Crocodile only looked on in shock, as the seemingly indestructible stone had broken itself...

But it seemed to be designed that way... Now it displayed a different, much shorter text.

Enel immediately started reading it, his eyes wide open in shock.

'Ah! I see you are my successor... It's strange how fate plays with our lives, isn't it?

If you wish to know more about us... If you wish to unlock your full potential...

Then seek out my grave. On the island of eternal lightning.'

Enel smiled widely, as he read out the passages in his mind.

'A new journey, huh?'

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Hope you liked the chapter!

sorry about yesterday again! Had a lot of shit to do around the house, managed to pump one out today tho ;)) Lazy Sundays are nice

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