261. Trial

The crew holds the party until the next day because they are too happy. Reaching Laugh Tale is a feat no one achieved in more than 2 decades after Roger Pirates. Every pirate in the Great Pirate Era wants to find Laugh Tale although not all of them were serious about it.

The next day, they are going to the right side of the poneglyph from where they came from. A White Zetsu has found something that looks like a door there. If it's truly a door, then Jon's assumption of the giant poneglyph being a building is true.

They finally arrive in front of the "door" which doesn't have any frame. There are only straight lines that form a pair of long squares. Then between those squares is a very unusual lock, that's why White Zetsu was sure this is a door.

The door was made very tightly with the building that not even air can pass through the gap. Even Jon can't see any gaps between the door and the building with his eyes. He even assumes that they made the lines visible just so they could find the door easier.

But the most eye-catching thing about this door is the lock. The lock is actually something like a braid knot that tied the 2 door panels. But it's not made of metal or even rope. It's made of the same materials as the poneglyph itself.

Then on that door is something that also catches their eyes. There's a cutlass being tied to the door lock and a metal plate with words is tied on that cutlass. All of these are incredible, but they decide to check the cutlass and the metal plate first.

[We have found this place that no one has visited for a very long time with the hope of getting the treasures. But we can't even enter this safe because we are not fated. All our efforts to be here were like jokes worth laughing at. Hence we will call this place Laugh Tale. We hope that you are the one fated to be here and get what's placed inside. But if you aren't, then my beloved sword, Ace, will be the reward for your effort.]

[Pirate: Gol D. Roger of Roger Pirates]

"Wait! This is Ace? Gol D. Roger's sword?"

"I never heard he left his sword here."

"But we also never heard about his sword since he became the Pirate King. Not even the Marine got his sword when they caught him."

"I thought he kept his sword somewhere or gave it to one of his crew members. But he actually left it here."

"But this message. This means Roger Pirates couldn't open this door to get whatever inside. Though to say fated and not fated. I never thought they were people who would believe in fate."

"I don't think the fate they mean is the same as what you're thinking. Roger was severely ill at that time and neither he or his crew have what it takes to open this door. There must be something needed to open this door, something they didn't have. But because of Roger's health, it was impossible to get what they needed before Roger's illness killed him. That's why they said they weren't fated."

"Make sense. But this means we also need that thing to open this door, right?"

"Yeah, but what is it? I don't think we can cut it because it's made of the same materials as the indestructible poneglyphs."

"Well, I don't think that cutting it is the correct way even if we can do it. Look at how the parts that are inside the door panels are smaller than the ones outside. There's no cut on the lock, so it is just 1 long item being bent and pressed as if it's a very soft & elastic rope."

"Hmm? Elastic? Like a rubber?"

Everyone looks at Luffy who doesn't understand anything they've been talking about from the beginning. He just keeps playing with Roger's cutlass happily. Not only is it the heritage of the Pirate King, it also shares the same name as his deceased brother.

"What is it? Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Luffy, you've mastered your Gear 5, right? Your awakened ability. It can turn anything to be like rubber, so why don't you try using it on this lock?"

"Oh, okay."

Luffy approaches the door and touches the lock.

"Gear 5!"

Luffy's hair & clothes become white, his eyes become red, and a cloud shawl appears around his neck. He grabs the lock knot and the super hard poneglyph materials become soft & limp like a rubber band.

Then Luffy unties the knot at the bottom before pulling the long material out of the holes on the door panels. Everyone else can only sighs seeing how Luffy easily solves the problem that made Roger Pirates give up.

"Luckily Luffy has awakened his devil fruit ability so he can open this lock."

"Well, if he hasn't or none of us have that kind of ability, then I would simply cut that lock using my space cut ability. Although I don't know if cutting that lock would cause a problem or not. Who knows what kind of trap or punishment these ancient people left here."

"Wait! Trap? Will there be traps inside? I don't think those ancient people would just make this door lock as this place's defense."

"Maybe it really is the only defense, you know. Just how many people do you think can open that lock? Maybe only if they have Luffy's devil fruit and the awakened one at that. I think that devil fruit was also owned by someone from the past and that person was the only one who could open this lock."

"But wouldn't people with awakened devil fruit have the ability to turn this thing into their power? If so, then I don't understand why Roger Pirates couldn't open this. Roger wasn't a devil fruit user, but I'm sure they would have an awakened devil fruit user as the strongest crew at that time."

"Stop thinking about that! The most important thing is that we can open this door now."

They all agree with what Franky says, but they are still being careful just in case there are really traps inside. To make sure nothing goes wrong, they let Jon's clones open the door while they hide quite far behind.

"Eh? We can't open it."

Surprisingly, Jon's clones can't open the door even after pushing it very strongly. Jon's clones aren't weak, they have almost half of Jon's power and there are 10 of them he sent to open the door. But they can't push the door even an inch.

The Straw Hats then try to open the door themselves and they also can't do it. It won't budge even with all of them and Jon's clones pushing. Now they find another problem just to open the door.

"Maybe it's actually still locked, but we don't know what kind of lock it is and how to open it."

"Luffy, can you straighten the long lock you took before? There seems to be words written on it."

Luffy does as Robin says and straightens the long poneglyph stick that was used as a lock before. But there aren't any words written on it, until Robin smears ink onto it. The ink gets repelled in some parts and the repelled ink parts form words of the same language as other poneglyphs.

"How did you find out, Robin?"

"The words on the door say that the true answer is the key. It looks just like a normal quote, but then I realized it might be a clue when we couldn't open the door."

"So what's written there?"

"Hmm, let's see. Only those who share the same blood and power as our King may open this door. Those whose blood comes from the clan that became the enemies of Gods and have the power to liberate oppression and free people. Your blood shall be the proof of your identity and worth for the King's legacy."

"Blood as proof? Is it like a DNA test? But how? It's not like we know who their King was and who his descendants are."

"You know, screw these damn procedures. Let me just cut this door."

Jon has enough of these complicated things. So he unsheathes his sword and activates his mangekyo sharingan. He activates one of his eyes' abilities to cut space and uses it through his sword.

*Swish swish* *Creak* *Boom*

The door that won't budge at all finally gets cut perfectly on the gap between the door panels and walls. There are words on the door panels and Jon knows Robin wants to read them, so he cuts the door right on the gap to not break the words.

"Done. Let's get in."