This cave concealed gemstones of incalculable value.
The Stone Essences weren't very large, and most of their bodies were constructed of gemstone material.
The most valuable part was the stone core, the size of a quail's egg.
Law picked up a second Stone Essence. This time, he didn't use God Hand. After understanding the Stone Essence's body structure, he could extract the stone core without recklessly cutting it open.
Then, something happened that surprised both Law and Tonpa.
The second Stone Essence, from which the stone core had been removed, had its rat head and slender legs separate from the gemstone body.
The black legs were as thin as lines drawn by a black pen, attached to a small, delicate rat head, looking rather comical.
The rat head had no fur, and its texture resembled granite. After separating from the gemstone, it scurried on its thin legs toward a crevice in the rock wall.
Law let the rat head squeeze into the crevice. He only wanted the stone core… he didn't even plan to take the remaining gemstone body. There was no need to do anything extra.
Gemstones were always more portable than cash. Law had no objection to taking all the stone cores from the cave, so he began systematically collecting them from the cave's Stone Essences.
It was unclear what principle gave birth to the Stone Essence's life form.
That slender body and limbs could actually sustain normal life functions.
The rat heads, stripped of their gemstone bodies and stone cores, fled like lizards shedding their tails, scurrying away without looking back, never resisting from start to finish.
Humans with even a slight understanding of the Dark Continent would probably never imagine such a zero-threat existence could be found here.
Biscuit was still patiently polishing her Stone Essence, while Law and Tonpa had already collected quite a few stone cores.
With Law's promise, Tonpa worked with extra vigor, wishing there were even more Stone Essences in the cave.
Just thinking about returning to the Six Continents with a vast, inexhaustible fortune made Tonpa's mouth unable to close in a grin.
By the time Biscuit finished polishing her Stone Essence, Law and Tonpa had already acquired over two hundred stone cores from the cave.
The gemstone Biscuit polished hadn't had its stone core removed.
Through the semi-transparent crystal, one could see the even purer-colored stone core inside.
Held under a light, it became more obvious.
She stroked the gemstone, loving it dearly.
As for the rat head, it had long since slipped away to who knows where.
Law watched Biscuit, who was almost humming a little tune, and roughly understood why she was so happy.
Probably because the rat head could separate, preventing Biscuit from feeling uncomfortable about it.
He then glanced at Tonpa, who was clutching several stone cores in his hand, also grinning from ear to ear.
"They are both very, very happy." Bruna landed on Law's shoulder.
The Bruna Tribe was sensitive to the emotions of living creatures, hence the use of two 'verys' when speaking to Law.
"Every human who obtains something they love reacts like this." Law explained.
"Oh." Bruna responded, seeming to understand but not entirely.
After obtaining what they wanted, Law removed the luminescent algae, plunging the cave into darkness.
Should they leave the cave or continue deeper into the tunnel?
Biscuit advocated for continuing deeper, so Law decided to enter the tunnel.
The team continued forward, entering the narrow tunnel.
If humans walk in dark, narrow places for extended periods, their rationality can easily be gradually eroded by the oppressive environment.
Traveling together can greatly mitigate this.
With luminescent algae, oxygen algae, and Nen Abilities, they could enter this seemingly long tunnel without any worries.
They walked slowly for nearly two hours before seeing light from an exit.
Law didn't rashly exit the tunnel. Instead, he called out Kuro.
Without even needing instructions, Kuro knew what Law wanted him to do the moment he appeared.
He turned into a wisp of black smoke and slipped out of the tunnel.
"Oh?"
Kuro flew in the air, surprised by the sight before him.
It was a gigantic open-air mountain belly, roughly circular in area.
The rock walls were slightly uneven, its overall structure somewhat resembling a chimney.
Kuro looked up at the sunlight pouring down from above. His eyes roamed for a moment before settling on the numerous rocks suspended in mid-air.
The rocks were about the size of a Beetle car, varying in shape.
There were many of them, distributed irregularly in the air. Each rock was a different color, as if splashed with multi-colored paint.
Kuro suddenly looked down, his silver eyes flickering.
The tunnel exit was about a hundred meters high. The bottom of the open-air mountain belly was a pitted rocky ground with no visible plants.
Only countless lifelike stone sculptures were scattered casually about, along with many water pits of unknown depth.
'Those stone sculptures...'
A thoughtful expression appeared on Kuro's face.
The stone sculptures were incredibly lifelike, and it's hard to find any signs of artificial carving.
It's just that these sculptures, like the suspended rocks in the air, were dyed in various colors.
Staring at them for too long gave one the impression of someone splashing paint for debt collection.
With Kuro's eyesight, he couldn't make head or tail of it.
So, he circled the mountain belly once or twice, found no danger, then returned to the tunnel and reported his findings.
"Multi-colored stone sculptures, and rocks suspended in the air."
Law didn't hesitate long.
He directly stepped out of the tunnel, floating in mid-air, seeing with his own eyes everything inside the mountain belly.
Biscuit and Tonpa stood on the edge of the tunnel exit. From their height, they could only barely see the colors on the suspended rocks.
"Is it due to magnetic force?"
Law's attention was drawn to the floating rocks.
Maintaining vigilance, he stepped on the air, rising quickly until he was among the multitude of rocks suspended motionless high in the air.
Up close, he realized the surfaces of these rocks were exceptionally smooth, dyed in various colors, very much like candy wrapped in colored sugar coatings.
Law pressed his hand against one of the rocks. It felt icy cold to the touch, but the White Smoke Font showed no reaction.
'Can't it be appraised? How are these rocks suspended like this?'
Law thought silently. Then, standing on a rock, he stamped his foot slightly. The rock remained steady, as if frozen in place by time.
'Magnetic force alone probably can't achieve this level, right?'
Law pinched his chin. He wanted to stamp harder to see, but considering the rock might fall to the ground and possibly attract certain creatures in the mountain belly, he felt a bit hesitant.
'However, Kuro had already scouted around beforehand and found nothing, and Tonpa's detection hadn't picked up anything either, so it was probably fine.'
Thinking this, Law suddenly stamped again, producing a dull sound. Yet, the rock beneath his feet remained completely motionless.
This piqued Law's interest. But he didn't try stamping on the rocks again.
Instead, he descended to the tunnel, intending to first take Tonpa, Biscuit, and the others directly to the mountaintop.
None of them noticed that from the seemingly shallow water pits at the bottom of the mountain belly, strings of tiny bubbles were rising.
Those could no longer be called water pits. Given their depth, they should more aptly be termed deep pools.