Nami then shouted at Luffy and Zoro to take the treasure in the deep hole.
Zoro and Luffy did go—though maybe it was also because they felt something precious, something they couldn't quite understand, about the beautiful goddess before them. That same feeling was what Nami had, which was why she chose to return to the deeper forest for the treasure.
Nami held Cry's soft hand and took the lead again.
"Hey! Come on!" Luffy shouted to Gaimon. "We're venturing inside!"
They walked into the forest once more, but this time Gaimon wasn't panicking at all. In his mind, the monster had been nothing more than a hallucination.
Along the way, they noticed how the animals were hiding deeper in the forest, how quiet the forest itself had become. Even the wind seemed afraid to move.
Finally, they reached the place where the pool used to be—where it had once been filled with water.
But now, it was gone.
"Huh? What happened to the water here?" Zoro asked, staring into the empty hole.
Luffy and Gaimon were also staring, speechless.
"Well… Cry drank all of it," Nami said simply.
That single sentence sent questions flooding through their minds.
Who is Cry?
Drink… everything?
The water? All of it?
But Luffy, who heard it clearly, tilted his head and said, "Oh… so your name is Cry?"
Then Luffy grinned wide and said his favorite line,
"Ore wa Monkey D. Luffy! Kaizoku ni naru otoko da! Shishishishi!"
This caused Cry to raise an eyebrow. She pointed her finger at Luffy…
then pointed her finger at herself.
With her heavenly voice, she said softly,
"Chraaay…
This made all of them stare at her small action. Even her voice was like a melody of perfection. But what truly caught their attention was how she moved—slow, curious, innocent—every gesture graceful and strange.
Nami then spoke quietly, "It seems like she's a kid… you know, a kid who doesn't know anything. She can't really speak or understand."
Zoro slammed his fist into his open palm. "Oh… I get it."
Then he frowned. "If what you're saying is true… then what is she doing in a place like this, all alone?"
No one answered.
But Luffy just laughed. "Shishishi! Who cares about that? Anyway—let's go deeper! Adventure!"
And they did.
Luffy used his ability to dive down, while Zoro jumped down casually after him.
Hey, Luffy! Zoro! Bring everything back here!" Nami shouted.
"Got it!" Luffy and Zoro replied.
Zoro looked around at what was inside. There were so many gold coins, gold bars, jewelry, barrels of gold, barrels of diamonds, and many more different kinds of expensive things anyone could find. This was definitely a fortune—enough treasure to sustain an entire generation.
"Wow… there are so many," Luffy said in amazement.
Zoro crossed his arms. "Hey… where are we even going to put all this? There's too much. We only have a small boat."
From the very bottom of the hole, Luffy shouted,
"Heeeyyy, Naaamiiiiii! Where are weeeee goooing tooooo puttttt alllll thiiissss?! There's waaaay toooo muuuuch!"
Nami froze.
Only then did she finally realize it—their boat was just a normal boat. There was no way it could carry all this treasure.
While Nami was trying to think of a way to solve this dilemma, Luffy shouted again,
"Heeeyyy, Cryyyyy!"
Then Luffy suddenly stopped talking and made an action. He opened his mouth, pretended to bite a piece of gold, then acted like he swallowed it.
Luffy laughed. "Hahahaha! Can you do that?"
Before he could continue—bang!—Zoro smacked him on the head.
"Are you an idiot?" Zoro said.
Cry heard Luffy and saw his actions. She seemed to understand what he meant. Cry kneeled down again toward the hole and slowly inhaled.
But something felt different.
It wasn't just air being sucked into her small mouth.
Luffy and Zoro suddenly felt a strong gravitational pull dragging them forward. They looked up and saw Cry's beautiful face as she continued inhaling. The pull became stronger and stronger.
Luffy grabbed onto a big rock formation while holding Zoro, who stabbed his katana into the ground to keep himself from being pulled in.
They watched as the treasure began to rise. Gold coins, gold bars, boxes, barrels full of gold—all of it was being sucked upward toward Cry's small mouth.
Then they saw it.
The large and small treasures began to shrink, becoming smaller and smaller until they were tiny enough to enter Cry's mouth, like grains of salt.
All of the treasure was now moving upward.
They watched in complete astonishment as Cry swallowed everything. They couldn't even begin to understand what kind of power this was.
Nami and Zoro both thought the same thing.
It must be a Devil Fruit power… just like Luffy's.
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To be continued