Pirate: It’s not a phantom beast, it’s a phantom god!

Chapter 334 Kingdoms Buried in History

Dr. Clover reached out and touched the darkness before him, feeling a cool sensation on his fingertips.

It is a stone, but not an ordinary stone.

The moment this archaeologist, who could almost be called the world's foremost, touched the object in front of him, his pupils involuntarily widened slightly.

"This, this feeling... could it be..."

My heart suddenly started racing, and my breathing became rapid.

Dr. Clover took another half step forward and pressed himself against the huge, cold stone wall. At the same time, he stretched out his other hand and began to stroke the stone wall with both hands.

[That's right! This feel...]
[And the shape and depth of this scratch!]
"There's no mistake, this is the Poneglyph!"

Even though the light source is blocked and the true appearance of the object in front of him cannot be seen at all, Dr. Clover can determine that this is one of the historical texts that have been scattered all over the world just by touching it!

As objects of research explicitly prohibited by the World Government, the existence of these historical texts is not exactly a secret, but very few people have the ability and willingness to attempt to decipher them.

It could even be said that the only people on the entire ocean capable of deciphering these ancient scripts, which are almost lost and engraved on historical texts, are the archaeologists of Ohara.

"Whoo~"

"That's it! A light! A light!"

After calming himself down a bit, Dr. Clover quickly opened his backpack.

The backpack contained various small tools that might be used during on-site archaeological work, including lighting equipment.

However, since it was daytime when he set off, he couldn't quite remember whether he had brought the lamp with him when he packed...

"Tsk, no, this isn't it either."

One by one, oddly shaped little objects were pulled out and thrown on the ground. Dr. Clover fumbled around in the dark for ages before finally finding his lamp.
It seems that they didn't bring it with them.

"Tsk~"

"This is bad. Where did I put that lamp? Did I really forget it?"

"If you don't mind, you can use mine."

"Oh, thank you!"

A ball of light, about the size of a marble, was held aloft and floated in mid-air, instantly turning the pitch-black underground chamber as bright as day...

Dr. Clover was finally able to see the object in front of him clearly thanks to the light that was just like sunlight.

"As expected, it really is this thing. And what's recorded on it is..."

He murmured, his voice still tinged with suppressed excitement.

"Oh? Doctor, can you read the text on this?"

"Uh... barely passable."

"Although historical texts have been discovered all over the world, they are almost always forcibly sealed away by world governments, leaving very few samples available for external research..."

"With those extremely rare samples, it is still quite difficult to completely decipher those lost ancient scripts."

"I can only barely recognize a few words right now. To accurately understand the full content of this text, I still need to make rubbings and decipher it bit by bit."

Dr. Clover said with a hint of helplessness, and he was not being modest.

At this point in time, the scholars of Ohara are still in the early stages of studying the historical texts, and it will take several more years before they can systematically decipher this ancient script.

Using the floating 'night light', Dr. Clover squinted and struggled to decipher the historical text before him.

"As for what this inscription records, let me see..."

"Hmm... So the city on this island is called ■■, uh... it was a religious city that was once under the jurisdiction of the ■■ Kingdom."

"Then, because the king and queen of the kingdom wished to carry out [something], they demanded that the subordinate countries [do something]... [something]? And then a rebellion broke out..."

"The enemy used [unclear] to destroy [unclear], leaving only one [unclear] to leave for [unclear]..."

Dr. Clover read out the main text with some difficulty, but many of the terms seemed to have specific meanings that he was unable to translate.

"Um……"

"I see. You mean this record contains the history of this city?"

"No, to be precise, this records the history of a certain kingdom."

Dr. Clover corrected.

"kingdom?"

"Yes, it's a kingdom whose name is still unknown... But judging from what's recorded here, it really does exist."

Dr. Clover's tone couldn't hide his excitement; this wasn't the first time he'd seen markings referring to that kingdom in the Poneglyphs.

"It seems my guess was right after all!"

After finding content in the historical texts that corroborated his conjectures, this usually venerable and mature archaeological giant beamed with childlike joy.

"Alright! Now we need to find more historical texts to piece together that history." "The truth of history is finally about to be revealed!"

Dr. Clover clenched his fist, but then immediately relaxed it.

He realized that Poneglyphs were something that could only be found by chance, and that finding them was almost entirely a matter of luck, with many already discovered ones still being held by the World Government…

"Sigh, there's still a long way to go."

"I wonder when I'll encounter the next Poneglyph..."

"I need to keep working hard. I must avoid arrogance and impatience!"

After some self-adjustment, this indomitable old man...
"In terms of the Poneglyphs, there is a piece of it in our Beasts territory."

"Huh? Really?!"

"Great! Then what about you beasts—eh?"

"A hundred, a hundred beasts?!"

It wasn't until Dr. Clover finally realized that someone had suddenly appeared beside him, holding a lamp for him.

"You you you you you...!"

"You're that little girl from the Hundred Beasts?!"

"La—that's my name. I introduced myself to you this morning, Dr. Clover."

La continued in the same tone she used during their casual conversation, and her words made Dr. Clover feel slightly embarrassed.

"Ahem~ Miss Lala, when did you arrive?"

"Ten minutes ago, you were looking for a light."

"..."

"Then, how did you end up in this place? This is clearly just a dark basement..."

"Why did you come here... because you were just calling for help?"

He answered with an air of self-righteousness.

"Me? Call for help? When did I... oh, back then."

Dr. Clover remembered halfway through his story that he seemed to have shouted for help when he first fell.

However, his voice wasn't loud, and he only shouted once before stopping. How did Ra hear him and find him in such a short time?
Dr. Clover became increasingly puzzled... but before long, he couldn't help but focus his attention on what La had just said.

It’s still business that matters.

"Miss Ra, you...you mean your Beasts Pirates have a Poneglyph...is that true?"

"Of course it's true. And it's not just us, other pirate crews in the New World also have Poneglyphs hidden in them... well, like the Big Mom Pirates."

La's gaze swept lightly over the text engraved on the special stone in front of her. She had actually memorized all the contents of the historical text when she first saw it six years ago.

However, at the time she did not understand what those complex symbols on the screen meant.

"So, Dr. Clover, would you like to go take a look?"

"..."

"you……"

"Ok?"

"Miss La, why do you so desperately want me to go to the territory of the Beasts? What exactly is your purpose?"

After much deliberation, Dr. Clover finally voiced his doubts directly. Scholars like them weren't inclined to use roundabout methods; it was better to be direct.

"The purpose... so that's what you were worried about?"

"You can rest assured that the beasts have no designs on you."

"And I approached you with goodwill."

"Goodwill? Why?"

"I'm just an ordinary archaeologist. Surely you pirates aren't also interested in history?"

Dr. Clover said this half-jokingly, but La nodded seriously.

"Ah."

"what?"

"you you……"

"You're right, I do have some interest in the history of this world."

(End of this chapter)