"I have nothing else to do, so I'll accompany you all!" Issho said calmly, leaning on his cane sword.
"Mhm!" Kōta nodded, not questioning Robin. Among them, Robin cared the most about the Poneglyphs, and she had been excited even when they were in the sky. Now, her face was flushed, and anyone could see her urgency.
After searching for a while, they found a secret underground chamber in the General's mansion. Upon entering, the first thing they saw was rows of dolls displayed on the wall facing the exit. To the left of the room was a metal pillar covered in chains, the slightly bloody rust on which indicated that someone had once been imprisoned here. On the far right of the room was a Poneglyph that occupied an entire wall.
Seeing the Poneglyph, Robin's eyes lit up, and she quickly went to examine it.
"How is it?" Kuina asked curiously, standing beside Robin. "What does it record?"
Robin looked for a while, then turned and smiled, "It records some legends of Wano Country, nothing major."
"Oh..."
Just then, Kōta's voice rang out. "Quick, over here!"
His voice immediately drew everyone's attention. They gathered around Kōta, who was standing before a thick stone slab inlaid in the floor, which he had just revealed. He pointed to the deeply hidden tunnel, obviously untouched for a long time, and said, "The Road Poneglyph we're looking for should be down here."
As soon as he finished speaking, Robin, eager, stepped onto the stairs and descended into the tunnel.
"Wait, no one will bother us, and the secrets down here are all yours," Kōta said with a amused smile, shaking his head. He then took Kuina's hand and followed Robin's footsteps. Behind them, Issho followed steadily, his steps neither hurried nor slow, despite his blindness.
As they ventured deeper, the tunnel gradually lost its light, becoming pitch black. Robin, at the front, pulled a glowing, transparent orb from her bag. Although the light wasn't as bright as an oil lamp or torch, it was enough to illuminate the steps beneath their feet. They continued downwards along the stairs. One minute. Two minutes. Ten minutes.
Just as they began to wonder if the passage was endless, light appeared ahead. Seeing the light, their pace quickened.
"Kōta, why is there a passage on this wall?" Robin asked Kōta instinctively, standing beside the glowing tunnel.
"If you want to know, why not go in and see?" Kōta smiled at Robin and then jumped into the passage, walking inwards. In the original story, Robin had to crawl, but in reality, he could walk because the passage wasn't short; they could stand up straight within it.
"Hmm! Glass." Robin, who came up behind, overtook Kōta and quickly reached the end of the passage. She then leaned on the glass and looked inside.
"Wow~" A gasp of amazement followed.
"What is it?" Kuina overtook Kōta and joined Robin.
Robin turned back, her eyes wide with shock, and gestured for Kuina to look inside. Like Robin, when Kuina leaned on the glass and saw what was beyond, she also let out a cry of surprise.
It was night, and although the moonlight was bright, it was difficult to penetrate the depths of the water formed by the rain. Thus, Robin and Kuina saw only a hazy, indistinct image. Yet, even these blurry glimpses were enough to make them gasp. It was a prosperous city buried deep beneath the sea. Mud and algae covered the surfaces of every building visible. But from the ruins they saw, they could tell that this city must have once been vast and magnificent.
"Kōta, what is this?" Kuina turned back and looked at Kōta, who was leaning against the wall of the passage, her eyes full of curiosity. Robin also looked at him with a questioning gaze. Throughout their journey, Kōta had seemed omnipotent and omniscient to Robin, and she didn't know why he knew so much. For this particular expedition, Kōta's objective had been clear from the start: the General's mansion in the Flower Capital, not Kaido's stronghold, "Onigashima." Moreover, upon arrival, Kōta had known about the underground passage, which was why they had found it in such a short time. However, despite her curiosity, she hadn't pressed him for details.
"Well!" Kōta stroked his chin, pondering, and then said, "The buildings here should be the remains of the original Wano Country."
"Original Wano Country?"
"Mhm!" Kōta nodded and continued, "This was Wano Country eight hundred years ago, a country completely different from the one we experienced, yet strikingly similar."
"What do you mean?" Not only Robin and Kuina, but even Issho couldn't help but ask with confusion.
"It means that Wano Country eight hundred years ago was completely unlike the present." Kōta explained, "The ruins we see now were at the foot of this great mountain called 'Fujiyama,' level with the sea. The Wano Country above was built later, on the mountainside of Fujiyama."
"That makes sense," Robin nodded, then asked again, puzzled, "Then why did they abandon it?"
"It wasn't that they wanted to abandon it, but that they had to," Kōta said, before anyone else could ask. "Eight hundred years ago, for reasons I don't know, Wano Country built high walls to enclose the entire nation."
"You're not talking about the cliff face where the waterfall is, are you?" Kuina asked in surprise at this point.
"Mhm! That's the place."
"I thought that cliff looked a bit strange; it turns out it was man-made!" Kuina nodded, indicating understanding.
Seeing that the others had no more questions, Kōta continued his narration. "When the walls were built, no consideration was given to an exit. Thus, in the following years, this isolated country gradually became submerged by rainwater."
"Consequently, the people of Wano Country had to abandon this prosperous city and build their homes again on the mountainside of Fujiyama, which is the current Wano Country."
"Oh~ So that's what happened!" The three of them suddenly understood.
"Then the Poneglyph we're looking for..." Robin said, as if remembering something, and suddenly looked up at Kōta.
"That's right, the Poneglyph has always been in a secret chamber within the original Wano Country," Kōta nodded at Robin and looked towards the outer passage. "And this passage was constructed by the Kozuki lineage of Wano Country; only they knew the location of the Poneglyph."
"Alright, let's go!" Turning around, Kōta led the way out of the passage and onto the outer corridor, then began to descend. Robin, Kuina, and Issho quickly followed.