After Buggy and the others exited the docking port, they passed through a golden tunnel over a hundred meters long. The moment they emerged, they were greeted by a sight none of them had expected—a massive golden cavern.
The Golden Cavern stretched nearly two kilometers in diameter and soared over three to four hundred meters high. Its walls gleamed with radiant gold, but that wasn't what took their breath away.
Embedded into the walls, countless gleaming blue Poneglyphs.
Gasps rippled through the crew.
"…Oh my god."
"A golden mountain! Wait, wait—are you telling me Captain Buggy was right?! This really was cut out from the original Wano side?!"
"I don't care where it came from—we've struck gold! Literally!"
"Forget gold—our empire's set for generations! As long as we expand carefully, this treasure alone could fund a new age!"
"Wait… look closer. Around the entire cave…"
"…No way. Those are Poneglyphs?!"
"That can't be right. Aren't there supposed to be only thirty in existence? Four Road Poneglyphs, nine historical ones—"
A whoosh of air silenced the chatter. Buggy shot upward without a word, soaring toward the highest part of the cavern. He hovered in midair, eyes scanning the ancient stones embedded in the golden rock. His voice echoed down:
"Split up! Everyone, help check the surrounding walls—see if any of these stones have writing carved into them!"
Swish—the crew sprang into action.
But Gabban didn't move. Instead, he gave a tired shake of his head.
"No need," he said. "All of them have inscriptions. These are records left behind by the Great Kingdom… and the reasons why the Twenty Kings—those who became the Celestial Dragons—rose to destroy it."
Swish—everyone froze mid-step.
All heads turned toward Gabban at once, struck by the weight of his words.
It hit them—Gabban, Bullet, Doringo, Sunbell… they'd all been here before.
The Empress was the first to speak, voice steady but burning with curiosity. "Gabban-san… if you've been here before… can you tell us the truth? Why did the Celestial Dragons rise? Was the Great Kingdom really some kind of tyrant ?"
Gabban gave a long sigh and smiled faintly—wryly.
"To be honest… no one knows the full story. Not even us. Only the captain—Roger—and the original Kozuki Oden ever read through everything."
He folded his arms, eyes distant. "Even Kozuki Toki, who traveled with us… she wasn't allowed to read much. Roger brought Oden in specifically to translate the ancient text. But even he didn't share much with the rest of us."
Gabban paused. His tone dropped lower.
"All Roger ever told us… was what I just said. And after reading it himself, he just shook his head and muttered: 'We came too early.'"
The cavern fell into a hush.
Gabban looked down, voice tinged with sadness. "He was quiet for a long time after that. Then he and Rayleigh had a long, private talk."
He looked up at them again, serious now.
"Not long after that… Roger disbanded the crew."
Doringo let out a low sigh, his eyes distant.
"Yeah… none of us thought the Roger Pirates' journey would end so soon. Even with Captain Roger's illness, I didn't think it had to be the end. The world's huge. So many strange powers and Devil Fruits out there… If we had just searched harder, maybe—just maybe—we could've found something to cure him."
He scratched the back of his neck. "And it's not like Roger ever ate a Devil Fruit. His body still had potential. There were ways to save him… There had to be."
Bullet crossed his arms, tone more grave.
"But he didn't want to be saved. Not really. It was like… he was in a rush to die. Or more accurately—to leave behind a son, then go out on his own terms. It was all part of his plan. The damn 'Great Pirate Era'… it wasn't just born—it was made."
Sunbell exhaled, a soft breath of disbelief.
"None of us saw it coming. When Roger laid out his plan, we thought he was insane. Even Rayleigh didn't get it at first. But when his last words ignited the world… when pirates everywhere took to the seas… then we understood."
He gazed up at the wall of ancient texts. "Roger came here… and whatever he saw in these Poneglyphs, it changed him. Maybe it's what Buggy said once—that he was trying to rekindle the hope of the entire world. One that could break the mental shackles the World Government's held tight for eight hundred years."
From the side, even Dragon—silent until now—murmured with rare solemnity.
"Roger's final words… they shook me. It wasn't just about treasure. He was trying to awaken something in people. Stir their hearts. Inspire them to imagine something more than what the world told them to accept."
He narrowed his gaze, as if speaking to ghosts. "I didn't understand back then. But now… I think Roger himself didn't know exactly what he wanted. He wasn't trying to define the future—just open the door to it. That's what I believe. What about you, Buggy?"
Snap!
Buggy snapped his fingers with a grin, but his eyes were serious.
"You know what, Dragon? That's exactly it."
He strode forward, voice rising with a mix of theater and quiet conviction.
"The Captain never wanted to reshape the world himself. He just lit the flame—left it for others to carry. Whitebeard picked it up in the end… and passed it on."
Buggy's voice rang out, now carrying the weight of something deeper than luck or bluster.
"None of them tried to change the world alone. They knew better. A world that's been locked in place for eight centuries? That's not something you flip in a day—or a lifetime."
He turned, sweeping his gaze across the crew.
"They didn't want to be kings. They were pirates, chasing dreams across the Grand Line, not waiting to die on the same island they were born on, like the rest of the world. Lighting lamps for those who would come next. From Rocks, to Roger, to Whitebeard…"
Buggy paused, letting the names settle like echoes in the golden cavern. Then he smirked, hands on his hips.
"…And now, it's our turn."
The moment those words left his mouth, a strange tremor ran through everyone.
It wasn't physical—something deeper, harder to name. A stirring inside their very bones. As if a force older than time had just brushed past them, igniting something long buried beneath the surface.
Their faces shifted—uncertainty, awe, a strange anticipation.
Buggy stood at the center, unusually composed. His voice cut through the cavern like a blade.
"But me? I'm not like any of them."
His tone was low, but firm.
"Rocks was brute strength and madness—drunk on power, careless with control, and obsessed with domination. Captain… he charged ahead like a storm, blessed by fate and burning with that wild, stupid courage of his. But even he… was born too soon. And Whitebeard…"
Buggy's gaze lowered, just for a second—unusual softness flashing behind the usual bravado.
"…He didn't care about the world outside his family. He stood still for too long, and when he finally moved, it was already too late. He lit one last fire at Marineford… and then he was gone."
The crew listened in silence. Even Bullet narrowed his eyes. This wasn't the usual clown's monologue. There was steel behind it.
Buggy's eyes sharpened.
"But all three of them… they fell short. That's the truth. And that's why the Buggy Pirates are different."
His voice rose, cold and resolute now, every word laced with conviction.
"I've been waiting for this day. Thirty years of preparation. I don't care about proving anything to the world. I care about doing what none of them could."
He took a step forward, voice like thunder under gold.
"This world—rigged from the top down. Where power stays in the hands of the so-called gods, and everyone else is told to stay in their place."
He raised a hand, clenched into a fist.
"In Impel Down, I asked myself… What can a nobody do in a world like this? And I found the answer."
His voice now roared, echoing through the ancient golden cavern.
"If the system's frozen, then smash it to pieces! If the world's rotting from the top down—set it on fire! And if those so-called gods think they can rule us—Then let's send them their heads gift-wrapped in clown makeup!"
He spun on his heel, cape flaring behind him like he planned it, grin wild and eyes burning.
"This is my belief! Wipe out the old era—and give the world a better show!"
---
Enjoyed the chapter?
You can read 40k words ahead and gain exclusive access to even more content over at P*treon.c*m/Marioni! With over 128 chapters of exclusive content, there's plenty more for you to explore!