As they headed deeper into the Sea Forest, Roger was talking with Sunbell over a Den Den Mushi.
Before long, at the boundary between the ship graveyard and the forest, a burly fish-man with light blue skin, wearing a floral shirt and holding a trident, walked toward them.
"Oh! Sunbell, it's been five or six years, hasn't it? You've gotten even more muscular, haven't you?" Roger greeted him with a loud laugh.
Sunbell laughed as well and said, "I'm still growing, you know. You guys sure took your time—I've been waiting here for you for three whole years…"
"Yeah, a lot of things came up and delayed us. Sorry about that," Roger replied, a hint of apology in his tone.
They were friends to begin with, and Sunbell had already contacted them three years ago. Making him wait this long really wasn't great.
But clearly, Sunbell was just complaining a bit—he had no real intention of blaming them.
He looked over the Roger Pirates, observing them for a moment before saying, "Quite a few new faces…"
"Perfect timing, let me introduce them. This is Valthior, our ship's scholar. This is Petermoo, our new gunner—his aim is incredible. And this here is…" Roger began introducing the new members one by one.
Valthior and the others smiled kindly and greeted Sunbell.
As for Sunbell joining, Valthior welcomed it wholeheartedly. In fact, he was probably the one who most hoped for a fish-man powerhouse to join the crew.
After all, he was currently the only Devil Fruit user on the ship. Back when they hadn't entered the New World yet, it wasn't too risky—the opponents they encountered were basically pushovers.
But from here on out, they would be fighting in the New World. The great battle at Linderland Island was already foreseeable.
There would be monsters like Whitebeard and the Golden Lion there. If he ever got knocked into the sea, having a fish-man companion nearby would significantly reduce the danger.
As for Sunbell's strength, Roger had already given a general introduction. While he was somewhat inferior to his older brother Babel, that gap was due to differences in age and combat experience. Aside from that, he was absolutely a formidable fighter.
If Valthior remembered correctly, in the original story, a few years later, the Roger Pirates would clash with the Whitebeard Pirates.
In that battle, Sunbell's opponent was "Flower Sword" Vista.
And as known, during the Paramount War, Vista fought fiercely against Dracule Mihawk, the world's greatest swordsman, and for a short time, neither could gain the upper hand.
So if Sunbell was still active at that time, his strength should have been roughly in that same tier.
Of course, this was only a rough comparison. Valthior didn't believe that Vista and Sunbell truly had strength equal to Mihawk during that era.
Otherwise, it would be a complete disregard for the title of the world's greatest swordsman.
"My brother has mentioned you quite a few times, Scholar Valthior," Sunbell said with a smile.
"Hahaha, you could say we became acquainted through fighting," Valthior replied.
After some casual chatting and getting reacquainted, Sunbell quickly led the Roger Pirates toward the location of the Poneglyphs.
After walking a few hundred meters and passing through an undersea forest, two square Poneglyphs appeared before them.
Unlike before, one of them was crimson red—a Road Poneglyph.
"It's said that this ordinary Poneglyph has been on Fish-Man Island for several hundred years. Anyway, I've seen it since I was a kid, but no one ever paid it much attention," Sunbell explained. "As for this red one, a pirate ship brought it down from the surface a few years ago. Unfortunately, their luck ran out—they were destroyed before even reaching the Sea Forest. Some ship dismantlers found it while scavenging wrecks in the graveyard. No one understood what it was, and somehow it ended up being placed here."
In truth, the Roger Pirates did similar things themselves—relocating overly conspicuous Poneglyphs.
For example, after discovering one on an island, they would take a rubbing, load the stone onto their ship, sail for a while, then dump it somewhere remote.
Not all Poneglyphs had been moved by them, but quite a few had.
"Maybe this is just fate favoring us," Valthior smacked his lips.
With this, the four Road Poneglyphs in his memory were now completely accounted for. The most mysterious one was here, while the other three were located in Wano Country, Zou, and Whole Cake Island.
As long as they found all of them, they could reach the Final Island.
Of course, according to Roger, they intended to gather all the Poneglyphs first.
Otherwise, they wouldn't be able to decipher the truth of the Void Century.
But in reality, the Roger Pirates' progress was incredibly fast.
The total number of Poneglyphs was estimated to be around thirty—four Road Poneglyphs and twenty-six regular ones.
This estimate was based on content analysis, and over the years, Valthior had come to agree with it.
There were likely only thirty Poneglyphs in existence.
Before Valthior joined the crew, the Roger Pirates had already sailed as far as Lodestar Island. They were an experienced crew that had traveled across multiple seas.
Although they didn't understand the significance of Poneglyphs back then, they had still collected quite a few rubbings during their journey.
After organizing everything, Valthior confirmed that before his arrival, the Roger Pirates had nine Poneglyph rubbings.
After he joined, they found two in the West Blue, three in the South Blue, one in Alabasta, one in Skypiea, and now two here at Fish-Man Island—making nine more.
Altogether, that brought the total to eighteen Poneglyphs, including one Road Poneglyph.
There were still twelve Poneglyphs they had yet to encounter.
Excluding the three Road Poneglyphs whose locations were already known, that left nine Poneglyphs whose physical forms they hadn't seen.
But not seeing them didn't mean having no information.
Valthior had spent three years chasing after Professor Clover across the seas, capturing him three times. Only the last time had Clover failed to find a Poneglyph.
The first two times, he had successfully located multiple Poneglyphs, and Valthior had already obtained the contents of four from him.
Thus, at present, the Roger Pirates only lacked five unknown Poneglyphs to fully piece together the Void Century.
Of course, with his experience, Valthior could now determine that the so-called Void Century wasn't recorded in detailed, comprehensive accounts.
Instead, it was more like a broad, fragmented narrative.
From the Poneglyphs they had gathered so far, only small portions of the content could be connected. The rest each described different aspects.
At best, the Void Century could be reconstructed through linking these fragments together into a general outline—there was no single, detailed record written in thousands upon thousands of words.
Considering the size of the stones and the likely urgency and tension under which they were carved, this was entirely understandable.
"Valthior, your turn. Translate these two Poneglyphs!" Roger said eagerly.
Valthior didn't delay and quickly began translating.
"I failed to uphold the promise. And due to my negligence, Poseidon has perished. I no longer have the face to return to Fish-Man Island…" Valthior read softly.
Rayleigh stood beside him, recording everything.
A moment later, Valthior finished reading the contents of that Poneglyph.
The entire Roger crew wore expressions of utter confusion.
"The hell is wrong with this Joy Boy?!" Roger suddenly exploded. "Rambling on with all this nonsense—I thought it'd be something important, and it turns out to be a damn apology letter? What the hell was he thinking? He was being hunted down back then, wasn't he? Instead of leaving behind crucial information, he's pulling this kind of crap? If he wanted to apologize, couldn't he just write a letter and send it over? Why carve it onto a Poneglyph?!"
The others shared roughly the same sentiment.
Out of all the Poneglyphs they had found, this one was by far the most ridiculous.
Frankly speaking, they were more interested in that earlier Poneglyph they'd uncovered—the one detailing how a certain ancient kingdom's king had been cuckolded.
In short, the Roger Pirates had obtained a completely useless Poneglyph at Fish-Man Island—to the point that Roger didn't even feel like reco rding it in their logbook.
...
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