Chapter 129: Chapter 129: The laboratory
Dialogue "sample"
Thoughts 'sample'
Author notes -sample-
Disclaimer: One Piece and all of its characters belong to Eiichiro Oda.
Chapter 129: The laboratory
She spotted a metal hatch near the base of the tree.
'That has to be the one that the old hag was talking about' thought Vivi.
After giving the tree one last look, she opened it and went inside.
She descended a set of stone stairs and the place started to get dark real quick.
"Where are the lights?"
Vivi wondered if she had missed some sort of switch at the entrance when she heard a buzzing noise.
Small domes of glass that were stuck to the stone walls started to shine, illuminating the entire area.
"Thanks?" She wasn't sure if those lights turned on their own or if someone was controlling them.
The light allowed Vivi to see her path ahead.
"Uhggg" She groaned after seeing what looked like an endless set of stairs.
She had to walk for 15 more minutes before she spotted a metal door at the end of the stairs.
"How deep into the island is this place? Shouldn't it be hotter down here?"
She was sure that whatever the Lunarians did at the end of the war, had left the core of the island filled with magma and fire.
This place descends deep into the core of the island, so it should be extremely hot here. However, that was not the case.
The entire area was just slightly warm. Much better than the surface that must have been over 70c(160f).
She shook her head. This was not the time to think about pointless stuff. After arriving in front of the door, she noticed something peculiar. There was a row of big symbols with square shapes running through the middle of the door.
"Why are there poneglyph symbols here?...ah!"
Vivi was startled as the door suddenly opened by itself.
She looked inside.
"Wow…what is this place?"
She found herself in a huge room made of grey rock. There were electrical devices everywhere. She had no idea what they were for, but everything looked very futuristic like it was something taken from a sci-fi movie.
In one corner of the room, there were some very big glass containers filled with green liquid.
Right in the middle of the room was a cylindrical column made of metal with many little flashing lights of different colors. On the top part of this column was a giant screen, or something that looked like it.
Vivi heard steps and stopped her inspection of the room to address, what she assumed was the old lady that brought her to this place.
"You finally show yourself! You have soo many things to ans-....huh?"
The one who appeared before her may not have been the last person she expected, but Vivi certainly did not see that coming.
A beautiful blonde girl with emerald eyes was walking in her direction while holding something in her hands.
"You!. I know you!"
She was the girl from the vision. The blonde girl who was with the King, the one that shot down the lunarian leader.
'But how?...surely those things must have happened a very long time ago. She looks exactly the same!' Vivi was shocked and did not know what to do.
The blonde girl looked distracted like she did not hear anything that Vivi said and was instead focused on something else.
She turned towards the giant screen and pointed the object in her hands to it, then she pressed a button and the screen lit up.
After a few seconds, an image appeared on the screen. It was the already familiar face of the old lady.
"I told you not to disturb me, you useless doll! Unless…" The image of the old lady turned her gaze from the blond girl to Vivi.
"Oh, you already made it…I thought it was going to take at least a month to get here."
"What kind of welcome is that? You have a lot to answer for!" Shouted Vivi.
Her gaze turned for a moment to the blonde girl. She was not moving and staring at the ground.
The images of the girl from the memories that the tree had shown her floated to the front of her mind. That girl looked strong and domineering, compared to that, this girl looks very meek and quiet.
It made Vivi wondered if they were actually the same person, despite being physically identical.
"You are in no position to demand anything, little girl. But I did promise some explanations…and you!" The old lady looked at the blonde girl.
"Go do something useful and get a chair for our guest!" The hag shouted.
The blonde girl nodded without saying a word and walked away.
"Oi!, don't talk to the lady like that!" Exclaimed Vivi. She may not be Sanji, but she still, would not let a young lady be treated like that.
The old lady on the screen laughed.
"That 'doll' is not a lady, I assure you. Just another failure…"
"Who is she? She looks so similar to the one that the giant tree showed me…" Asked Vivi.
The expression on the old lady changed quickly to shock.
"What?!, the giant tree you say?...that old thing was still alive after all…"
"Well…no anymore. I don't think so at least." Admitted Vivi.
"And tell me, what did that old thing show you? what did it spend its last breath of life on? I am very curious."
The blonde girl came back with a comfortable-looking desk chair and place it in front of Vivi.
"Thank you" Vivi smiled at the girl but she did not react and just walked away.
"Humph, don't bother with 'that'. Now, tell me" The old lady demanded.
Vivi just wanted to show her middle finger to this rude old hag, but she would never get answers like that.
So she decided to relax a bit, sit down and explain to her what she saw in those visions the best she could muster.
After she was done, the old lady looked became silent and pensive for over a minute. She then rose her face and looked directly at Vivi.
"Well, this will save us a bit of time. Let me tell you about the island of Ixtal."
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