"Run away?"
Hearing this, Crocodile's gaze flickered, not understanding Robin's meaning.
Was she saying for the people in the room to run away?
No, it wasn't like that.
Crocodile clearly heard Robin's words.
The archaeologist, who was skilled in ancient writing, was saying that the text on the walls of this room had only one meaning—
Run away!
Thinking of this, Crocodile suddenly turned his head and looked around.
Once the exact meaning was known, it wasn't difficult to deduce the meaning of the text from its meaning.
The truly difficult part of studying ancient writing is starting from scratch with no foundation.
Of course, that's impossible. That's why the World Government took action and used a Buster Call to completely erase Ohara.
Once the "foundation" is erased, later generations cannot build "houses" on it, and research on ancient writing and Poneglyphs cannot continue.
This is why Nico Robin became a thorn in the World Government's side.
In this world today, the only person capable of building the "foundation" for historical research is Nico Robin!
…
And now.
This top archaeologist, capable of rebuilding historical research, was trembling in fear from the "ancient writing" she had been studying day and night.
Although she could still maintain an elegant expression, Rowan's Conqueror's Haki could no longer give Robin a stable sense of security.
Her body trembled slightly, and combined with the effect of Seastone, she appeared even weaker.
This feeling was something others could not fully comprehend.
Imagine locking someone in a room full of carved patterns and markings. That person might not feel anything.
But if you lock someone in a room that is otherwise empty, but the walls are covered with the words "I will kill you," that person might descend into madness after being alone for just a short while.
For Nico Robin, she was currently enduring such torment!
But… the situation seemed to be far from over.
To be honest, Nico Robin had roamed the seas since she was young and had experienced many hellish situations. Ordinary psychological pressure could not shake her.
The reason she was reacting so strongly now was partly due to the suppression of her Devil Fruit ability by the large amount of Seastone, and partly due to the text itself etched on the Seastone walls.
Text—has power.
This power existed in two aspects: one was the information conveyed by the text, and the other was the emotion conveyed by the "patterns" formed by the text.
This is because the essence of "text" is nothing more than patterns with special meanings, which share the same origin as painting.
Just as painting can convey emotions, so can text.
Of course, text found only in printed newspapers does not have this function.
In short, the scribbled text etched on the Seastone walls was all carved by hand, thus faintly revealing the emotions of the carver at the time.
Was it… fear?
No.
Fear is something that can be overcome, but the carvers' feelings were despair after realizing "that fear was insurmountable"!
"What did these people… what did these people go through?"
Robin's body trembled more violently. Even under Rowan's Conqueror's Haki, she could not withstand the mental pressure emanating from the room.
Perhaps influenced by Robin, even others around them, including Crocodile, were starting to feel something was wrong.
It was as if something in this place was subtly affecting everyone's emotions.
"Damn it, is it those messy writings?"
Crocodile never liked this feeling. He waved the sand in his hand and slashed at the wall.
Boom!
Sand swirled.
And when the dust settled, the original wall appeared intact before their eyes.
It made sense, of course. This was a Seastone wall, and it seemed to have been specially treated. A mere Devil Fruit user could not do anything to it.
"Tch, this place is really unpleasant…"
Crocodile frowned and lit himself a cigar to relax.
But to his surprise, Rowan suddenly walked past him and approached the wall.
He endured the intense pressure that the Seastone wall exerted on Devil Fruit users and forcefully placed one hand on the wall, then the second hand.
His left hand touched the scribbled text, while his right hand touched the neat text.
Gradually, Rowan's expression became strange.
"These scribbled writings were indeed carved on later, while those neat questions probably existed on the Seastone originally."
Crocodile nodded slightly and mused, "This room looks like it was maliciously damaged by someone, and whatever was stored inside might have been taken."
This inference was not unreasonable.
If the scale of this Seastone passage was one thing, there was also this secret room built from Seastone.
With such an undertaking, whatever was placed inside must have been extraordinary.
But now the room was empty, and even the remaining text was covered with scribbled markings of various sizes.
From the fleeting words left on the walls, it might be difficult to understand the whole picture…
This was undoubtedly a regrettable thing.
But Rowan continued to observe the surroundings.
After a moment, he slowly deduced, "Perhaps, this room was originally intended to preserve these neat texts?"
"Huh?"
Crocodile didn't quite understand Rowan's meaning.
Meanwhile, Robin was at her limit. She instinctively placed her hand on Crocodile's shoulder, gasping for breath.
She was about to go out to rest when she suddenly felt the reassuring aura around her intensify, greatly alleviating her discomfort.
As expected, it was Ryan Rowan's doing.
Under Rowan's control, more Conqueror's Haki poured out, suppressing the uncomfortable feeling in the room.
Rowan turned to look at the two of them and explained:
"The people of Shandora from 800 years ago built this Seastone secret room and carved those neat texts into it."
"But after the texts were carved, the people of Shandora discovered that these texts would cause unimaginable pressure."
"So, they sealed this place and used scribbled scratches to deface the complete texts."
"How's that for a theory?"
After listening to Rowan, Crocodile shook his head, "Not great, it has many flaws."
"But…"
Crocodile's tone shifted as he realized the crucial information in Rowan's words.
The oppressive feeling in this room did not come from the seemingly terrifying scribbled text, but from the neat text covered by the scratches!
Those texts were the key to this room!
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