Buggy's pitch-shifted shriek cracked across the deck of the Oro Jackson like thunder.
"An elephant."
"An elephant walking through the sea."
The first reaction was not fear but disbelief.
"Hey, hey, did the fog fry Buggy's brain."
"As if he had much to fry."
"What did you say, Shanks," Buggy howled down from the mast.
Two men did not laugh. Kozuki Oden lurched to the rail, eyes locked on the wall of mist. Beside him, Inuarashi and Nekomamushi froze mid-roughhousing, faces lit with a shock that was half awe, half joy.
"Zou," Inuarashi's voice trembled.
"It cannot be anything else," Nekomamushi's eyes went saucer-wide. "It is our homeland. We are home."
Roger's laughter rolled out, irrepressible.
"Ku-hahaha. It really is an elephant. Wonderful. Too wonderful."
He planted his boots at the prow, eyes glittering harder than when treasure was in sight. With a monster's sight, he could already trace the titanic silhouette through the thinning fog.
A long, low trumpet sounded. It was not loud, but it rang with a life so old and strong the Oro Jackson itself seemed to hum.
The fog heaved, then peeled away. Sunlight speared in.
Words failed.
A giant elephant walked the ocean floor.
Pillars for legs, sunk in the deeps. A back that rose into cloud, shaped with hills and rivers and forests of its own. Each step sent storm-sized swells combing the sea. In front of that living island, the Oro Jackson was a leaf bobbing in a bath.
Shanks and Buggy clutched each other and screamed again, this time a mix of terror and giddy delight. The crew stood stock-still, minds wiped clean. They had seen Sea Kings and monsters enough, but this was beyond anything the word creature could contain.
As they drew nearer, the slow lift and fall of the sea matched the elephant's tread. The Oro Jackson rose like a cradle toy and settled again.
"Your Majesty. It is us," Inuarashi cupped his hands and shouted toward the far-off country on the elephant's back. "Inuarashi and Nekomamushi have returned."
Kael Grylls laced the call with a clean pulse of sound. It carried far.
Zunesha answered. The colossal trunk swung down, and with a gentleness that made the mind reel, lifted ship and crew toward its back.
Shapes flashed over the rim of the whale-shaped forest. A reception party bounded in, led by a tall ram mink in ceremonial robes whose bearing had the weight of long stewardship.
"Inuarashi. Nekomamushi," the ram boomed, joy breaking his dignity. "You two runts finally crawled back."
He and the Mink guards landed on the deck in a chorus of thuds. What followed looked less like protocol than a family brawl after a long absence; the ram planted a heavy fist on each returnee, more release than reprimand.
"Where did you vanish to all these years. I thought the sea had eaten you."
"That is a long tale, my liege," Inuarashi said, rubbing his head and grinning. "We met Lord Oden, and then…"
His eyes slid to Kozuki Oden.
The ram's gaze followed. When he saw the paired swords and the distinctive mage topknot, his expression shifted. He bowed with grave respect.
"A retainer of the Kozuki of Wano. Welcome to the Mokomo Dukedom."
His look passed over Roger, Rayleigh, Gaban, and the others. The strength in these strangers was not something one could hide by slouching. Anyone followed by Inuarashi and Nekomamushi and walking with a Kozuki heir was no ordinary band.
"I am the steward of the Mokomo Dukedom, Yagi Shikan," he told Roger, voice formal though his eyes were still warm. "Welcome to our land upon Zunesha's back."
"Ku-hahaha. Gol D. Roger, pirate," Roger said cheerfully, thrusting out his hand. "Thanks for the trouble."
At the steward's invitation, the Roger Pirates set foot on Zou.
From the first step the place grabbed their senses. The Minks were exuberant hosts, their curiosity unfiltered, their smiles quick. They crowded Oden and the human crew alike, all bright eyes and twitching ears.
"Garchu."
A rabbit mink girl launched herself at Shanks, hugged him around the middle, and rubbed her downy cheek against his.
"So soft," Shanks yelped, delighted.
"Why not me," Buggy stamped, green with envy.
Where are the furries when you need them.
A feast rose beneath the Whale Forest's boughs. Inuarashi and Nekomamushi held the floor, telling of setting out with Oden and then falling in with the Pirate King-to-be. The Minks drank every word, gasping and cheering in turn.
After the third round, Roger set his cup down and came straight to the point. "Your Grace, we came for a Poneglyph. We heard a red Road Poneglyph is kept on this island."
At those words the steward's face sobered. He held the silence a beat, then nodded.
"It is true. Our people have guarded that stone for generations. If Lord Oden brings you, we have no cause to refuse."
He rose and personally led Roger, Rayleigh, and Kozuki Oden through the Whale Forest.
Within the Whale Tree was a vast hollow. At its heart stood a great red cube, lines of ancient script carved so deep the letters felt alive.
The fourth Road Poneglyph.
"At last," Roger's eyes blazed as if the stone itself threw off light. He lifted a hand, as if he could touch the outline of the final island.
Oden moved forward, throat tight, and began to read.
Then he stopped. On the wall beside the monolith a crest had been carved long ago.
"Our family sigil," Oden breathed.
The steward's smile held pride. "Yes. Since olden days the Kozuki and the Minks have been brothers-in-oath. That crest seals the bond."
The legend was true.
Oden's pulse hammered. The long story his father had hinted at but never finished found its proof in gold and stone and memory.
When he finished the rubbing and combined the four sets of coordinates, the map no longer suggested. It told. Four points, one crossing. The final island was not a rumor any longer.
"Make ready," Roger cried, lifting the four sheets high. His voice filled the Whale Tree, ringed with a certainty that made men stand taller. "Feast now. Then we sail to the last treasure in this world."
"Aye."
The cheer that went up seemed to ripple Zunesha's hide itself.
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