"Foolish!"
Ares rose to his feet, and the pressure from his demonic musculature was enough to make breathing difficult. His entire body radiated the savage aura of a wild beast.
"The power of an Ancient Weapon should be used to protect Wano, not buried underground forever!"
Faced with that overwhelming pressure, Sukiyaki snapped back like an enraged lion.
"No... it won't work! That thing will only attract endless greed. Once it's exposed, Wano will never know peace again!"
"It will only bring Wano... disaster!"
"War!"
After unleashing that torrent of objections, he suddenly froze, dumbfounded, as realization hit him a beat too late.
"Wait... how do you know where the Ancient Weapon is?!"
Sukiyaki was completely stunned. His mind went blank.
He had never expected that Ares not only knew about the Ancient Weapon Pluton, but even knew where it was located.
...
With even the last secret laid bare, Sukiyaki, who had been furiously arguing moments ago, gave a sudden shudder. His momentum collapsed.
Ares snorted coldly.
"Hmph. Who said Pluton has to be exposed to the public? This is a trump card. It only needs to be used at the most critical moment, to decide victory in a single blow. And once it's used, every enemy who knows about it gets wiped out."
"Then who would know that it was the Ancient Weapon Pluton?"
Just like the World Government's "Mother Flame," that thing suspected of being Uranus, which could erase an island from the map.
As long as everything was cleaned up afterward, there was no need to worry about Pluton's existence getting out.
Ares said with absolute confidence, "Besides, with my power, I can make Pluton fly through the sky with ease. Hidden by clouds, no one would ever realize it was the Ancient Weapon Pluton!"
Those thunderous words made Sukiyaki's ears ring. He wanted to argue, but then he remembered that Ares already knew where the Ancient Weapon was.
Even if he refused to tell him, Ares would probably turn all of Wano upside down until he dug Pluton out.
With a bitter smile, he could only give in.
"If you insist on seeing it, then I'll take you there. But that thing has slumbered for so many years. It's not as if the Kozuki Family never tried before. Every single time... it failed."
"We simply couldn't activate it."
Following behind Sukiyaki, Ares ordered that no one else was to come along. Then he muttered to himself, "Could it be an energy issue?"
"Yes. Activating Pluton requires an enormous amount of energy. Our ancestors tried every method they could think of, but none of them worked. It simply lies beyond what Wano is currently capable of. For generations, Wano's task has only been to guard Pluton, waiting for the day it awakens..."
"And finally gets its chance to appear."
An enormous amount of energy...
The first thing that came to Ares's mind was Sun God Nika, and the "Mother Flame" that Vegapunk would create in the future.
The Mother Flame was an undying fire developed by Vegapunk, a fuel source capable of powering Ancient Weapons.
In the original story, part of it was stolen by Vegapunk's satellite York, allowing Imu and the Five Elders to activate the Mother Flame and wipe the Kingdom of Lulusia off the map.
Thinking of fire, could it have something to do with the Flame-Flame Fruit?
Who knew how Oda would ultimately design it?
The Flame-Flame Fruit was uncertain, but the Mother Flame definitely worked.
Ares could not quite make sense of it all, but one fact was clear.
If he wanted to activate an Ancient Weapon, he would need a colossal source of energy.
As for the Human-Human Fruit, Mythical Zoan, Sun God Nika form, that was out of the question. Only Joy Boy and Luffy could awaken that thing.
He held no illusions there.
But the Mother Flame...
That could potentially be accomplished through Vegapunk.
In an instant, Vegapunk shot to the top tier of Ares's recruitment list.
And more than that...
Ares also realized he held one major advantage. He had recruited Kozuki Oden early and had already taken control of Wano.
So long as he refused, Gol D. Roger would never be able to decipher the Poneglyphs, reach Laugh Tale, or become Pirate King.
Not only could Ares investigate the secrets of the Void Century first, he could uncover the mysteries of Laugh Tale as well.
Even the future balance of the seas...
No one could say what it would become now. Everything had become uncertain.
Following Sukiyaki down a long staircase into the depths below, Ares finally laid eyes on the Poneglyph.
The instant he saw it for the first time, his eyes lit up.
His arm turned blood-red in an instant, the swollen muscle looking like heated iron fresh from the forge.
Bulging veins crisscrossed over it like glowing chains wrapped around his massive arm.
"What... what are you doing?!" Sukiyaki exclaimed in alarm, instinctively taking a step back.
But then he saw Ares transform his arm into a great blade and slash violently at the Poneglyph.
Clang!
Sparks flew everywhere. The stone monument trembled, and a faint mark appeared on its surface.
Ares's eyes brightened, and he muttered excitedly, "What a hard material. Even harder than Seastone. If something like this could be forged into armor or weapons..."
"The power or defensive capability would be unimaginable."
Sukiyaki was dumbstruck.
Ares had actually set his sights on the Poneglyph itself now.
He hurriedly explained, "Ares, don't waste your effort. This thing cannot be destroyed..."
"Then why are there inscriptions on it, and why did I just leave a mark?"
Sukiyaki was left speechless.
Only after a long pause did he say quietly, "The technique for carving the characters onto it still remains in the Kozuki Family... but the method for forging the Poneglyph material itself..."
"Was never passed down."
"It seems to have involved... other things as well."
At once, Ares thought of the ancient high-tech kingdom that had been annihilated by the World Government. Someone from that civilization had definitely been involved. After all, the information carved into the Poneglyphs had been entrusted to the Kozuki Family by them.
This material...
As expected, he found the same substance inside the Ancient Weapon Pluton. The main body of the ship, known as the most evil warship in history, was made from Treasure Tree Adam.
But parts of it also contained the same material as the Poneglyph.
Stepping into the interior of the ship felt like entering the insides of a steel giant.
Yet everything was silent and lifeless.
And more than that...
It felt saturated with advanced technology, to the point that Ares's head started to ache. He could only admit he was completely out of his depth.
Ares shook his head helplessly.
"Looks like this thing can only be studied by a real scientist..."
"No matter what, I still have to try reproducing the material of the Poneglyphs and use it to make armor and weapons!"
If he could succeed, the combat power of the legions under his command would leap forward tremendously.
Sukiyaki could only repeat his warning again and again.
"Ares, you are Wano's shogun now. I hope you will think carefully before acting. Unless there is truly no other choice, Pluton must never be exposed. This secret has to die with you."
As for actually using it, Sukiyaki had no hopes at all.
The thing was enormous, a super-battleship in the truest sense.
Just moving it required a vast amount of energy.
And firing its cannons was even more difficult.
Not in a few years, not in decades, not even in a hundred years would it be possible.
That was why he was not worried about Ares activating it.
What he feared was that Ares would expose it.
"Fine. I'm not going to casually tell anyone about this thing. Let's go."
Ares left the underground chamber.
He returned alone to the shogun's palace in the Flower Capital.
Several of the daimyo had already been waiting there for a long time.
After Ushimaru had gone out to sea, only Shimotsuki Yasuie, Uzuki Tempura, and Fugetsu Omusubi remained.
After sitting down, Ares rubbed his temples and thought to himself, "There's so much to deal with next that it's getting irritating. Sukiyaki chose to retire into seclusion too, so there are even fewer people who can help share the burden."
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