As they moved forward, the surrounding buildings became fewer and fewer.
Coral and rotting ships, on the other hand, increased steadily.
The Sea Forest, an underwater forest located northeast of Fish-Man Island, was also known as the "Ship Graveyard" due to the many sunken ships carried to this spot by the currents.
Few fish-men usually came here.
This was also the burial ground of someone highly respected by the entire Fish-Man Island.
Jinbe stood outside a stone pavilion, gazing at the tombstone within, his eyes flashing with memories.
"Otohime."
Robin looked at the inscription on the tombstone and spoke softly.
"The person buried here must have been someone important!"
Looking at the fresh flowers placed before the tombstone, Robin continued, "And very respected by the islanders."
Jinbe withdrew his gaze, turned his head to look at Robin, and said, "This is the grave of Queen Otohime, the wife of King Neptune."
"Queen?"
"Yes!" Jinbe nodded, looked up at the false clouds in the sky, and recalled, "The Queen was a great person, just like Elder Tiger. She was dedicated to achieving peace between Fish-Man Island and humanity. However..."
"What?"
"Just a few years ago, when peace was within reach, the Queen was assassinated by humans during her final speech."
At this point, a rare trace of killing intent appeared on Jinbe's body.
"An assassination?" Robin said gravely, "No wonder Fish-Man Island is so hostile towards humans."
Most of the fish-men they had encountered on their journey had glared at them with disgust, and even the gentle mermaids had occasionally shown them aversion.
If not for Jinbe and Ace accompanying them, they might have been unable to move an inch on Fish-Man Island.
"Killed by humans?"
Kouta looked at the tombstone, his eyes filled with an unreadable expression.
He didn't recall incorrectly; Otohime was shot by that guy, Hody Jones, who then framed human pirates.
And he silenced the human pirates, leaving no witnesses.
The only one who knew the true killer of Otohime was himself.
"How insidious!"
But it had nothing to do with him. Regardless of what happened in the future, anyone who provoked him would have no future.
Such insignificant beings. It was better they didn't appear. Since they had, they deserved to be sent to hell.
"Alright, let's go!"
Continuing deeper into the Sea Forest, the surroundings became increasingly desolate. In the end, there were no signs of human activity.
It was evident that no one had visited this place in a long time.
After a short while, after rounding a coral mound, the area ahead gradually widened.
In the spacious clearing, a massive, unadorned stone block stood quietly on the ground.
The stone block was nearly 10 meters high, covered in green moss. Faintly visible on the side facing them were engraved characters.
Upon reaching this spot, Robin's pace clearly quickened.
She moved forward rapidly, stopping about five to six meters away from the stone block, and looked up.
As she looked, a strange expression gradually appeared on Robin's face.
"What's wrong?"
Gu Yina stepped forward, standing beside Robin. She looked up at what, in her eyes, was a historical text as complex as a heavenly script and asked curiously, "Are there any peculiar records?"
Robin did not turn around but looked at the Poneglyph and said, "Do you remember the Poneglyph we saw on Sky Island?"
"I do!"
Gu Yina lowered her head and smiled, "It recorded..."
She didn't continue, as Jinbe was present.
Robin had not hidden the matter of the ancient weapons from them, and they had no interest in ancient weapons, so they treated it as an interesting story.
Among their crew, only she, Robin, and Kouta knew what the Sky Island Poneglyph recorded. The others were completely uninterested.
Even if Robin talked about it, they wouldn't listen.
Just like this time, they hadn't wanted to come.
"Hmm... Poseidon, the Sea King, Fish-Man Island..."
Thinking of this, Gu Yina looked up at the Poneglyph before her, "Could this be recording Poseidon!"
If she remembered correctly, the ancient weapon recorded on the Sky Island Poneglyph pointed to Fish-Man Island.
With that thought, Gu Yina turned her head to Robin and asked, "Is this recording an extension of the Sky Island section?"
"No."
Robin shook her head.
"No?"
Gu Yina's expression became slightly stiff, then she asked curiously, "Then what is it?"
Just then, Kouta and Jinbe also arrived beside the two. Kouta looked at the Poneglyph with a calm, even bored, expression.
He naturally knew what was written on it.
If there was anyone in this world who understood Poneglyphs the most at this moment, it would be him.
However, there was one thing he couldn't quite understand. What was the point of people from hundreds of years ago building this? Was the Void Century truly that important?
He was not Robin; just as he couldn't understand Robin, he couldn't understand the pursuit of history by historians.
Therefore, he couldn't understand what the use of building this was.
The red Poneglyph recorded the coordinates of the final island, Laugh Tale, while the remaining Poneglyphs recorded ancient weapons and some trivial matters.
Within these, the Void Century history was not explicitly recorded.
Could it be that the history of the hundred years that was blank was at Laugh Tale?
But judging from the final laughter of the Roger Pirates upon reaching Laugh Tale, it clearly wasn't there.
The only place in this world that truly held the records of the Void Century would be the Holy Land, Mary Geoise.
Even the desert kingdom, Alabasta, one of the twenty kingdoms that formed the World Government, with thousands of years of history, did not possess that history.
Let alone other places.
"Forget it."
Kouta shook his head, withdrew his gaze, picked up his gourd, and sat cross-legged on the ground, drinking.
He would find out about these matters when he went to the Holy Land, Mary Geoise, and asked Imu directly. For him, who was about to stand at the pinnacle of the world, it would be simple to know that history.
Robin withdrew her gaze and glanced at Kouta.
She had a vague feeling that Kouta seemed to know what these Poneglyphs recorded.
It was as if he was more familiar with them than she was.
But this was just her feeling, with no evidence. And even if Kouta knew, it wouldn't affect his pursuit of Poneglyphs, his steps towards the true history of a hundred years.
She then glanced at Jinbe and said, "This is a letter of apology."
"A letter of apology?"
Gu Yina and Jinbe spoke simultaneously, their faces showing confusion.
"Yes!"
Robin nodded, turned back to look at the Poneglyph, and continued, "This records a letter of apology written by someone named Joy Boy to the Mermaid Princess from hundreds of years ago."
"It states that he is unable to fulfill the promise with Fish-Man Island and offers his apologies."
"Do you know what the promise was?"
Jinbe seemed to have thought of something and quickly asked.
He thought of the massive, unfinished ship that had been stranded in Fish-Man District for so long.
"As for what the promise was, it is not specified."
Robin turned and looked at Jinbe, shaking her head.
"Oh..."
Jinbe wasn't disappointed. These were ancient matters that had little to do with him or the current Fish-Man Island.
He had come here out of curiosity, curious about what this Poneglyph, standing here for so long, recorded.
"Since it's just a letter of apology, let's leave,"
Kouta stood up and glanced at the empty space to the right of the Poneglyph.
If he remembered correctly, there should have been a red Poneglyph with coordinates in that spot.
It was there during the Roger Pirates' era, but it was gone now.
And during this period, the most likely parties to have taken the Poneglyph were Whitebeard, or the World Government.
Shaking his head, Kouta picked up his gourd, took a drink, then withdrew his gaze and walked out with Gu Yina, who had come to his side.
Robin took one last look at the Poneglyph.
"Joy Boy, who are you?"
Then she let out a light laugh and followed Kouta and Gu Yina.
Who he was didn't matter. Being able to slowly approach history and understand it made her incredibly happy.
She believed that upon reaching the New World, the history of this world would be further unveiled to her.