As the Straw Hats continued their journey, Moonlight stood on the observation deck, tirelessly practicing. The Pheasant Sword became a blur in his hands, and with each swing, a notification echoed in his mind.
[Ding! You have drawn your sword and gained 100x100 experience points!]
[Ding! You have used Armament Haki and gained 100x100 experience points!]
...
[Ding! Sword Draw has been promoted to Lv. 3!]
[Ding! Armament Haki has been promoted to Lv. 3!]
Moonlight took a moment to review his progress. A level 3 sword skill was enough to cut steel, and with the boost from his Armament Haki, it could reach the power of a level 4 technique. He was making rapid progress, but he knew it wasn't enough. Shaking his head, he stared out at the calm sea, gripped the Pheasant Sword, and unleashed a new, ferocious technique.
"Raptor's Air Rend!" he thought, shouting the name of the skill in his mind.
In an instant, he vanished from the observation deck and reappeared on the surface of the sea. Man and sword became one, moving like a phantom as he teleported across the water, slashing continuously. The sea churned violently in his wake. Raptor's Air Rend was a high-speed slashing technique that wrapped him in an aura of sword energy. Because he was one with the sword, his speed was phenomenal, leaving multiple afterimages in his path. The blade cut through the air with such force that it produced a sharp, whistling sound that echoed across the ocean.
"What is that?" Nami said, startled. She had been studying her nautical charts when the strange sound caught her attention.
"Is a tsunami coming? We have to get away!" Usopp cried, his eyes wide with terror.
"Whoa! That's amazing, Moonlight!" Luffy shouted, recognizing Moonlight's silhouette amidst the churning waves and howling wind.
"It's Moonlight! What kind of sword skill is that? He can move on the sea!" Zoro exclaimed, waking with a start. He stood up immediately, his eyes wide with shock.
"What? Is that really Moonlight?" Nami asked in disbelief after hearing Luffy's shout.
"It is! He's not on the observation deck anymore!" Usopp confirmed, looking up. "My God, Moonlight can run on the sea! That's incredible!"
"Uh oh," Moonlight thought, a sense of panic setting in. It was his first time using this technique, and the speed was so immense that he couldn't control it. He was moving constantly, unable to stop, and was soon carried farther and farther away until he disappeared from his crewmates' sight.
"Huh? Where is Moonlight going?" Luffy wondered aloud.
"I don't know. Did he find something?" Nami guessed.
"Maybe it's an enemy! Let's get out of here!" Usopp suggested frantically.
"An enemy? Why would we run?" Zoro said, his hand resting on the hilt of his sword.
"Okay, let's catch up!" Luffy declared, his interest piqued.
"Usopp, full rudder to the left! Follow him!" Nami ordered.
"Hey, wait, you guys!" Usopp yelped, wanting to flee, but he found himself uncontrollably turning the helm to chase after their companion.
A short time later, Moonlight finally managed to stop his high-speed movement, finding himself in front of a dense, unfamiliar island. "That's embarrassing," he thought with a wry smile. He decided not to go ashore just yet, waiting for Luffy and the others, who he knew would surely follow.
Sure enough, it wasn't long before the Going Merry appeared on the horizon.
"Moonlight, you're amazing! What was that technique? It was so cool!" Luffy yelled from a distance.
"That guy..." Zoro muttered, his pupils tightening.
"You're unbelievable," Nami said, still in shock. "Besides the legendary Fish-Men, this is the first time I've ever seen a human swordsman move on the sea."
"Hey, Moonlight, did you discover this island and lead us here?" Usopp asked, ever practical.
"I found... well, yes," Moonlight replied, catching on to Usopp's line of thinking. He decided to go along with it. "I saw it from the observation deck and came to take a look." He certainly wasn't going to admit that he'd lost control of his own power.
"You're really amazing," Luffy said, not doubting him for a second. He touched his stomach. "That being said, I'm hungry. Is there anything to eat on this island?"
"There should be," Usopp replied, looking around. "It's an island, after all. There must be a lot of fruit."
"I've never seen such a small island," Nami remarked.
"Well, now that we're here, let's go ashore and have a look," Zoro suggested. The group followed Luffy onto the island. Moonlight, relieved, followed close behind.
The island was indeed very small, just as Nami had said. After a short walk, they had basically seen the entire thing. They headed into the forest to search for food.
"Halt!" a booming voice suddenly echoed through the trees. "Fools! This is the realm of a god! One more step and you will incur divine wrath! Stop where you are!" The surrounding forest shook as if a great beast was about to emerge.
"Ah, a god! Let's get out of here!" Usopp yelped in terror.
"Awesome! A god? Come on out and let me see what you look like!" Luffy, on the other hand, was ecstatic.
"Is there really a god in this world?" Nami whispered, her face pale with fear.
"What god? It's just someone pretending," Moonlight said coldly, drawing the Pheasant Sword. "Get out here, or I'll cut you down."
"You ignorant mortals, how dare you—" the voice boomed again, but Moonlight had already lost his patience.
"Get out!" he shouted, cutting through the air with his sword. A crescent-shaped wave of energy shot forward, cleaving a ten-meter-wide path through the forest. Trees, weeds, and earth flew into the air, revealing a bizarre scene behind them: a menagerie of strange animals—lions, cats, deer, and leopards—and among them, an even stranger man. His entire body, from the neck down, was stuck inside a treasure chest. He was short, fat, and utterly bizarre, and he was staring at Moonlight with a look of pure horror.
Luffy and the others were momentarily stunned.
"What kind of animal is that?" Luffy wondered aloud.
"I think it's a box," Usopp frowned.
"Strange. Is there a person on the box? Or was this person born from a box?" Nami guessed.
"Humans are born from mothers, monsters are born from mothers, so I guess boxes can be born from mothers too. Nothing to make a fuss about," Zoro said with a completely straight face.
"An excellent point," Moonlight said, giving him a thumbs-up.
Strangely enough, Luffy, Nami, and Usopp seemed to accept this logic, looking at the man in the box with newfound understanding.
"What are you talking about?! I'm Gaimon! I'm a human, but—" the man in the box began, furious at being talked about like a freak show. But then he saw the cold sneer on Moonlight's face and remembered the terrifying slash of his sword. His anger deflated, and he quickly adopted a respectful tone. "Distinguished sirs, I am a human, a real, authentic human. But one day, I accidentally fell from the mountain and got stuck in this box. My body was wedged in so tightly I couldn't get out, and after a long time, the box... well, it grew into my body. So, I became like this."
"What?"
"Something like that can happen?"
"Is there really someone this clumsy in the world?"
"Interesting!"
Luffy's crew stared at Gaimon, their expressions a mixture of shock and disbelief. Even Moonlight, who knew the story, couldn't help but be surprised seeing it in person.
"That's my story. Believe it or not, now please leave. This is my home," Gaimon said with a sigh.
"Well, in that case, we won't bother you," Luffy said, his sympathetic nature taking over. He was about to turn and leave.
"You're lying," Nami said, her sharp eyes seeing through his ruse. "I've already surveyed this island. It's tiny, with nothing but this hillside. And at the bottom of the hill, I found many footprints and signs of a battle. You're a pirate. You came to this island by accident, got separated from your companions, and then this happened."
With every word she spoke, Gaimon's face grew paler, until it was as white as paper. "You... you knew?" he stammered, looking at Nami as if his deepest secret had been exposed.
"Hey, so you were lying after all!" Usopp said, indignant. As a master liar himself, he hated being deceived.
"How dare you lie to us!" Zoro growled, his hand resting on the hilt of his sword.
"Hey, you don't seem like a bad person. Why did you lie?" Luffy asked, genuinely confused.
Moonlight simply snorted, his murderous aura surging, making the air around him grow cold.
Seeing this, Gaimon knew he had to tell the truth. He recounted his story: how he and his pirate crew had discovered the island and come searching for treasure. He had found the treasure chests on the cliff and, in his excitement to call his companions, had slipped and fallen, getting stuck in the empty chest he now wore. He had been living on the island for decades since, with the strange animals as his only companions, guarding the treasure he could never reach. As he finished his story, tears streamed down his face.
"So, there really is treasure here!" Nami's eyes lit up.
"I can't believe it. Your story is so bizarre, and so touching," Usopp said, wiping away a tear.
"Hmph," Zoro grunted, amazed that such a thing could happen.
"Uncle, you're so pitiful," Luffy said, his sympathy overflowing. "Don't worry, I've decided to help you get the treasure!"
The others had no objection. They were all curious about the treasure this strange man had guarded for decades. Nami, in particular, was hoping for gold, jewelry, or at least a pile of Berries. Only Moonlight remained serious, his gaze fixed on the hillside in the distance.
"This island is strange," he thought. "It's so small, it should have been visited by countless people. And that hillside isn't high. It's incredible that no one else has ever found those treasure chests." He kept his thoughts to himself, but his intuition told him there was more to this island than met the eye.
"Uncle, these treasures are all mine!" Luffy shouted from the top of the cliff. He had already climbed up, found the chests, and discovered they were empty. Looking down at the expectant Gaimon, he decided on a white lie.
"What?!" Gaimon, Usopp, Nami, and Zoro all froze. But Usopp, Nami, and Zoro, knowing Luffy, instantly understood the meaning behind his words. Gaimon trembled, the belief he had held onto for decades crumbling in an instant. But then, a sad smile spread across his face.
"Boy, you're a good person. There's actually nothing in those treasure chests, is there?" He had suspected this for years but had never dared to confirm it.
"Is that true, Luffy?" Nami asked, a glimmer of hope still in her eyes.
Luffy just smiled and threw down the empty boxes.
"So, there really is nothing," Usopp sighed.
"Then, Uncle, you've wasted all these decades," Zoro said with a wave of his hand.
"And all for nothing, you ended up in this state, not quite human, not quite a box," Nami added, shaking her head.
"Haha... it's actually nothing," Gaimon said, a newfound sense of peace in his voice. "At first, I was sad and felt it wasn't worth it. But then, with them," he gestured to the animals gathering around him, "I realized it wasn't so bad. If I hadn't lost everything else, I wouldn't have them. In a way, I'm more at ease now. Thank you, Straw Hat boy. I'm not sad, because I've found my real treasure."
"Huh? Moonlight, what are you doing?" Luffy suddenly asked, noticing that Moonlight had lifted his sword, a powerful aura exploding around him.
"Moonlight, what's wrong?"
"Is there an enemy?"
"Are you going to chop that mountain?" Nami and Usopp asked, surprised. But Zoro immediately saw where Moonlight's gaze was locked: the hillside itself.
A massive, crescent-shaped wave of sword energy shot out, splitting the hillside in two. Boulders rolled down as the hill crumbled, revealing a hollow interior.
"Just as I thought. The legends aren't groundless," Moonlight said to himself. He walked into the mountain's core and saw strange, ancient text carved into the rock. It was a language he couldn't understand.
"What is this?"
"Is this the real treasure?"
"Just a bunch of text?" Luffy, Zoro, Nami, and Usopp crowded in, looking on in confusion.
"I... I never knew this was here," Gaimon stammered, stunned.
"Nami, do you have any paper and ink? I need to make a rubbing," Moonlight asked.
"I do," Nami nodded, pulling the supplies from her bag. As a thief, she was always prepared.
"If I'm correct, this is the real treasure," Moonlight said as he began to make the rubbing. "These are ancient words. I can't read them. Luffy, when you recruit more crew members, make sure you find a historian. Only a historian can understand this."
"Yeah, for sure," Luffy nodded, looking around curiously.
When everything was finished, the group prepared to leave. Luffy looked at Gaimon and extended an invitation. "Hey, Uncle, come with us. Be our companion."
"No," Gaimon said, shaking his head with a firm expression. "I've spent too long waiting and have missed too much. The treasure is no longer my priority. They," he looked at his animal friends, "are my treasure now."
"Well, then, Uncle, take care!" Luffy said with a wave. The crew returned to the ship, weighed anchor, and set sail, leaving the treasure island behind.