Parker sprinted toward the treasury, moving with the urgency of someone who knew there was no time left. He rarely visited the place, but as the kingdom's heir he held one of the few keys capable of opening it. The key wasn't on him, so he first detoured through his private palace on the east side of the royal grounds.
Only after securing the key did he head for the core of the palace, where the entrance to the Kraken Kingdom's treasury waited behind a deceptively plain doorway.
A long corridor stretched ahead, almost a hundred meters of stone in an ancient brown tone. Normally it was packed with elite guards. Now every one of them lay collapsed on the floor. No blood, no signs of struggle. Just silent bodies.
The main door loomed at the end. It stood five meters tall, a flat slab of gray material that resembled iron but was far stronger. Even a Vice Admiral would struggle to break through. Parker stepped up to the door, inserted the key and twisted. The lock disengaged with a heavy click. He pushed. The door eased open only with considerable strength, and once he slipped inside, the doors behind him swung shut and locked automatically.
Three meters farther in stood a second door, this one lacking a keyhole. Instead, it presented a grid of sliding metal tiles, each painted with fragments of a picture. The blocks had to be rearranged into the correct image to release the mechanism. Most people in this world preferred brute force to puzzles, which meant this particular door stopped almost everyone. But Parker had practiced this design since childhood. His fingers moved with speed and precision, sliding pieces up, down, left, and right.
A final block clicked into place. The completed picture resembled a segmented octopus, deliberately confusing but ultimately solvable for someone familiar with the pattern. The lock sounded again, and the door parted on its own, revealing the royal treasury.
Light poured over stacks of gold bricks arranged into small pyramids. Precious relics sat in individual display stands, labeled and polished. The treasure of the Kraken Kingdom glimmered under the ambient glow, though its abundance was unimpressive for a nation once counted among the stronger kingdoms of the sea. Much of their wealth had been poured into scientific research and weapon development, leaving the treasury dusty and sparse compared to others of similar standing. Even so, the total value was at least ten billion Berries.
Parker ignored all of it. He walked deeper to the far corner of the vault. He tapped the wall twice. Both knocks gave off solid sounds. The third tap produced a hollow one. He pressed that section firmly. A small circular indentation formed under his finger. A hidden mechanism reacted, and a nearby floor panel lifted to reveal a dark stairway plunging into the depths.
He withdrew his hand. The wall returned to its seamless state, impossible to detect by sight alone. The craftsmanship impressed him even now.
Just as he prepared to descend, he paused. For a moment, he felt eyes on him. He scanned the room but found nothing. With a sigh he told himself he was overthinking, then stepped onto the stairway and closed the floor above him.
Someone actually had been watching.
Hidden near the ceiling was Nelson, who exhaled only after Parker disappeared from view. He had arrived earlier on a mission from Teach. Using his God's Eye and Substitution Teleportation, he bypassed traps easily and uncovered the existence of an underground treasury not listed in any intelligence reports. But he was stopped by a final obstacle: a sealed door reinforced with Seastone.
Nelson had tried everything. His ability let him view the inside, but the Seastone blocked him from slipping through even the smallest seam. Worse, it made him realize a dangerous flaw in his power. If surrounded on all sides by Seastone, he would be unable to escape. A room lined in all directions would trap him forever.
He had considered storing the door itself inside his spatial dimension, but the weight of the structure reminded him too strongly of the time he almost died storing a warship. One wrong move would reduce him to paste. Now that Parker was here, his crisis had a solution. Nelson stayed still, shifting positions just enough to avoid Parker's awareness.
Parker followed the long stone passage downward. The walls glowed faintly with the light-retaining mineral embedded throughout the structure. Once exposed to even minimal illumination, the stones emitted a soft radiance for several minutes. Rare and expensive, these minerals provided visibility deep underground where lamps could not.
The passage continued for over a hundred meters. At the bottom stood another massive iron door coated in an unbroken layer of Seastone. This was the final obstacle, the one Nelson had failed to pass.
Nelson watched from the shadows with growing anticipation. If Parker opened this barrier, Nelson could slip inside behind him and complete his mission. Their objective was simple: secure a Devil Fruit hidden in the royal vault. Without it, Teach would not be able to defeat the Kraken King quickly enough to avoid global attention.
Parker stepped forward and produced the same key he used earlier. After unlocking the first mechanism, he gripped the central handle. Six rotating rings circled the device, each etched with numbers. He spun them with practiced ease, aligning them into the correct password: kraken.
The door shuddered, then opened.
A cool white glow filled the chamber. A Moon Pearl hung from the ceiling, radiating a soft brilliance that made the space look like a night-lit sanctuary. Rows of chests lined the room, filled with valuables equal in volume to the treasures above. This was the royal family's private hoard, hoarded for generations as an escape fund.
Two more passages branched from this chamber. One seemed to run beneath the island, possibly stretching toward an exit beyond the kingdom's borders. The other led directly toward the king's residence.
Parker swallowed as he surveyed the wealth. Part of him knew that if the kingdom truly fell, he might flee with everything in this vault. But for now, his goal lay ahead.
In the center of the room stood a smooth white jade pedestal. Two boxes rested atop it. Inside them were two Devil Fruits. As heir to the Kraken Kingdom, Parker had been shown this chamber once in childhood. He remembered the layout but not the properties of the fruits. He approached the pedestal, lifted the lids, and examined the contents.
The left fruit was a pale shade of purple. The right one glowed green under the pearl light. Their names were carved on plaques in front of each box.
Dark-Dark Fruit
Ancient Zoan: Winged Tiger