Returning to Shandora, the heart of the Golden City, the entire crew was in high spirits. Even those who usually showed little interest in wealth could not stay calm in the face of such overwhelming riches. It was not greed so much as shock. There was simply too much gold.
When Teach and the others arrived, what greeted them was a golden mountain rising hundreds of meters high, split clearly into two parts.
One side consisted of gold bricks embedded into the ground and fused into ruined buildings, as if the city itself had been cast from gold.
The other side was made up of finished artifacts. Inside the collapsed structures lay jewelry, daily utensils, and ceremonial items. One of the most eye-catching pieces was a massive golden water vat over a meter tall. There were bowls, cups, even chopsticks, all forged from pure gold. The sheer extravagance made it hard to imagine how lavish Shandora must have been at its peak.
Teach's eyes lingered on the artifacts. These items were four hundred years old at the very least, some perhaps dating back eight hundred years. Melted down, they would be worth a fortune. Sold as antiques, they would be worth even more. Collectors, nobles, and wealthy figures across the world would fight over them.
The craftsmanship itself was exquisite. Time had dulled their shine, but the designs were elegant and precise. Whatever the world had been like eight hundred years ago, it clearly was not primitive. A civilization capable of creating Ancient Weapons like Pluton would not lack refinement in its art or metallurgy.
Without further hesitation, Teach activated his power.
Boundless darkness spread out, swallowing the mountain of gold piece by piece. As it vanished into his dark space, Teach felt the weight press down on him, even through the ability.
Heavy.
Very heavy.
Using Observation Haki, he made a rough calculation. Excluding the Golden Bell, the gold alone weighed close to thirty thousand tons.
Thirty thousand tons.
On the seas, one ton of gold was worth roughly five billion Berries. That meant a total value of one hundred and fifty trillion Berries. The number itself felt unreal.
When Teach casually mentioned his estimate, Redyat froze, his usual calm cracking for the first time in a long while.
It took nearly half a day to strip Shandora clean. Teach's internal vacuum space was filled to its absolute limit. Even after deliberately expanding it during this period of training, there was still gold left over.
A final mountain of gold remained piled on the ground.
Using Nelson's ability, the remaining gold was transferred onto the deck of the flagship. The crew gathered around it, staring in silence.
This leftover portion was only about three percent of the total haul.
Only.
That still amounted to nine hundred tons of gold, worth roughly 4.5 trillion Berries. Even the World Government would not ignore a fortune of that scale.
The moment the gold landed on the ship, the deck sank visibly. The vessel descended slowly, groaning under the weight. The surrounding island clouds trembled as if they might give way. Worse still, the gold had piled up near the bow, causing the ship to tilt forward dangerously.
If left alone, it would capsize.
Teach immediately had Nelson divide the golden mass into five portions. Four of them were transferred to the other pirate ships in the fleet. With the pressure relieved, the flagship slowly rose back to a stable position, finally able to sail safely.
Once that crisis was handled, the crew got to work moving the gold into the treasure holds.
Teach did not forbid personal gains. He allowed each crew member to take a few artifacts or items they liked.
Compared to the mountain of gold, these pieces were insignificant. But on the high seas, each one was still a treasure worth fighting wars over.
Many preferred the artifacts to raw gold. After a bit of cleaning and polishing, their brilliance returned in full.
Some carefully packed them away. Others wore them openly, eager to show off.
One man carried a massive golden cross on his back. Another drank sake from a large gold bowl. Gem-studded necklaces and rings glittered on fingers and necks. Swords and sabers inlaid with jewels were swung about proudly, though at this point, the distinction between blade types hardly mattered.
There were even gold-framed paintings and ancient calligraphy.
On the deck, the Nightfall Pirates shimmered like walking treasure chests.
The journey was recorded using cameras and visual Den Den Mushi. Their adventures, battles, and discoveries were all documented.
Certain things, however, were deliberately left out.
The golden mountain was one of them.
Some sights were not meant to be shown to the world.
Even so, what the crew carried and wore was nothing compared to the total haul. It was less than a drop in the ocean.
At this moment, Teach controlled nearly all the gold of Shandora. In practical terms, he controlled a staggering portion of the world's gold itself. A future "Gold Emperor" ruling over twenty percent of the world's wealth would still fall short of him.
This was an inexhaustible fortune, and Teach had not even begun to decide how to use it.
As he looked at the stored gold, one question kept resurfacing.
Why was there so much gold on Jaya Island?
It could not have originated there. Jaya lacked the geological conditions for such vast gold deposits, and its fertile land and environment were ill-suited for large-scale mining.
The Shandorians were guardians of the Poneglyphs. And the Poneglyphs, at their core, were tied to the "D" clan.
After the Great Kingdom ruled by the D clan was destroyed by the twenty kings who would form the World Government, remnants of that civilization left behind records for future generations. They believed in inherited will, in missions that transcended time.
Teach believed in such things as well.
He had to.
Otherwise, the existence of someone like Monkey D. Luffy made no sense.
At sixteen, Teach was already a formidable figure on the seas. At fourteen, after mastering Armament Haki, he was no weaker than an average Marine Vice Admiral. After years of accumulation, relentless training, and mastering the Dark-Dark Fruit, his strength had undergone a qualitative leap.
And yet, Luffy.
By this point in time, Luffy had already grown into an Emperor-level figure. That title might have been exaggerated, but his strength was not.
In a short period, Luffy comprehended Future Sight. His Observation Haki reached its peak in battle. In rage, he grasped Ryuo, mastering internal destruction. While being beaten to the brink, he awakened Conqueror's Haki coating.
Not perfected, but enough to touch the threshold of true Emperor combat power.
It was monstrous.
Abilities that took seasoned veterans years to master, Luffy achieved in a single battle.
Even Teach, after fully grasping Ryuo during his fight with Bullet and then advancing it to internal destruction, had needed two and a half years.
As for Conqueror's Haki coating, Teach was still training it. It was unstable, difficult, and often unreliable. After witnessing the peak clash between Roger and Whitebeard, that level had become his benchmark.
Even for him, full mastery would take at least another year or two.
Part of the difficulty came from his own foundation. Teach's Haki quality was exceptionally high, which made refinement harder, not easier. Whether Armament or Conqueror's, each step forward required tremendous effort.
His Armament Haki reserves did not match monsters like Bullet, but they were still several times greater than those of ordinary top-tier fighters.
His Conqueror's Haki was even more troublesome. His overwhelming mental strength caused it to carry a strong mental attack component, making precise control extremely difficult.
Despite the differences between this world and the future he remembered, Teach remained cautious.
The only comfort was that Luffy's peak combat power was explosive but unsustainable. Once his Haki ran dry, or if he could not maintain that state, his threat level dropped sharply.
Still, Luffy's physique was absurd. Garp's hellish training had turned Life Return into instinct. The resilience of the Gum-Gum Fruit allowed him to recover at terrifying speed.
Teach cut off his thoughts.
Back to the gold.
His conclusion was simple. This treasure did not originate on Jaya. It was transported there.
Eight hundred years ago, the seas were different. Jaya's surrounding waters were already dangerous, plagued by storms and the Knock-Up Stream. Even Mont Blanc Noland, a powerful adventurer who was at least Vice Admiral level, had been lost in a storm before reaching the island.
If even he could get lost, the environment back then must have been far worse.
A remote, deadly sea. A place few could reach. Perfect for hiding secrets.
Teach believed this was the treasury of the Great Kingdom. Its gold and treasures were moved here during the chaos of its fall, with the Shandorians appointed as guardians to keep them from falling into the hands of the future World Government.
That led to another unsettling thought.
Had someone eight hundred years ago foreseen that Jaya Island would be launched into the sky by a super Knock-Up Stream?
After all, the world had never lacked prophets.
Observation Haki users like Katakuri and Teach himself could glimpse the near future. Enel's vast Observation Haki allowed him to hear voices and even thoughts across an entire island. His talent was undeniable.
Madam Shyarly could predict events decades in advance. Kozuki Toki foresaw events twenty years into the future. Hawkins divined outcomes. Even Usopp, in his own ridiculous way, seemed to stumble into prophecy.
Eight hundred years ago, there must have been individuals with even greater foresight.
But that was no longer relevant.
Whatever the truth of the past, the present was clear.
All of this treasure now belonged to Marshall D. Teach.