Chapter 138: Truly Digging Up the Foundation
Underground in Wano Country, or rather, within the mountain ranges, Big Pan was swimming carefully.
Even in relatively shallow seawater, a little sunlight can still filter through. It's different inside the earth.
The Swim-Swim Fruit only allowed Big Pan himself to swim freely; essentially, the earth and rocks remained as they were.
Therefore, Big Pan had brought along a headlamp for illumination in this dim environment.
After diving down more than two hundred meters, Big Pan still hadn't encountered the situation Nereus mentioned, where he would feel drained of energy.
"How weird... Why isn't there any... Is it not deep enough, or is my direction off..."
Big Pan's thoughts were simple and unadorned. Since Nereus said it was down here, it must be down here. If he didn't find it, it was his own problem.
Holding this mindset, Big Pan continued his exploration work.
After swimming for a long time, right as the moisture content in the surrounding soil began to increase, Big Pan finally discovered rocks that his ability couldn't transform and even made him feel weak.
"So it's here... Such a big piece..."
Big Pan didn't understand the terrain here, nor did he use Observation Haki to perceive the external environment.
If one were to view this from a special perspective, they would find that Big Pan's current location was no longer within this mountain, but rather beneath the ruins of the original Wano Country.
Afterward, Big Pan swam a few more laps around the area. He found that a section of the Seastone vein in one particular area was closer to the surface where Nereus and the others were, like a pillar buried in the mountain.
That was the Udon region of Wano Country, which was exactly the location where Seastone was mined within the country.
After returning to the surface, Big Pan used a very simple child's drawing to illustrate what he had seen below.
"As expected. The exposed veins near the surface are only a portion of the easiest ones to mine. Beneath the entirety of Wano Country, there are much more abundant Seastone reserves."
If one is familiar enough with a person, they can still understand the meaning in their drawings. Besides, Big Pan's drawing wasn't abstract art; at most, it was the difference between a tourist map and a detailed exploration map.
Although it wasn't meticulous enough, the general situation could still be discerned.
"Old man, do you have some special plan?"
"Why don't you take a guess?"
"Let me think. This is a Seastone vein, and currently, all Seastone in the sea originates from here.
Seastone is something we can use too. You also said before that we cannot let others control our resources... Wano Country is in this isolated state, and having Big Pan survey the terrain definitely isn't to help them figure out the situation.
Under the sea... you plan to send people to establish a new excavation site underwater!"
Submarine resources are far more abundant than surface resources, and this is especially true for this sea. On the lands that have sunk over hundreds of years of history, there is countless wealth.
Previously, Nereus's subordinates didn't even need to mine or excavate. Utilizing their racial talents, strolling across the seabed was just like picking up money.
Sometimes, it was like those scavengers who stroll around construction sites with magnets; after one lap, the magnet would be covered with all sorts of screws and nails.
Limited by technological issues, most islands and countries lacked deep-sea mining capabilities. But Fish-men were different; as long as it wasn't something buried deep within the earth's veins, all they needed was a pickaxe.
It was exactly because of this near money-picking method of earning, coupled with the commercial taxes left by passing merchant and pirate ships, that Fish-man Island's economy was overall extremely affluent, able to maintain a standing army at an almost exaggerated ratio.
Those Neptune Army forces weren't just a military force; some also belonged to production corps, frequently undertaking tasks like submarine surveys and search operations.
Nanamo was no stranger to this and quickly guessed Nereus's plan.
Wano Country being isolated was their business. Digging directly from the nearby seabed accomplished the same thing.
"Old man, you're not planning to dig that thing out too, are you?"
"That's where you guessed wrong. That thing isn't a submarine mineral that can just be casually dug out. Without opening Wano Country's borders, it's basically impossible to extract.
And to open the borders here, the power of Zunesha is necessary.
But there's no rush for that thing. Digging it out early and not being able to use it wouldn't be a good thing."
"That thing" naturally referred to Pluton. Nanamo also knew what Ancient Weapons meant on the sea, so she didn't say it outright and used a pronoun instead.
Inuarashi and Nekomamushi nearby couldn't understand what they were saying, but they understood the word "Zunesha."
"Zunesha's power?"
"But Zunesha can't communicate. It just walks silently across the sea, ignoring us completely."
"It's also an intelligent creature, why wouldn't it be able to communicate? It's just that Zunesha's situation is very special, and ordinary people simply can't understand its words.
Alright, this operation is over, it's time to prepare to leave here. I'll catch the carp fry for you when we reach the outer sea, I won't forget."
Whether it was Zunesha or the Sea Kings, these massive creatures who had lived through countless ages possessed intelligence matching humans.
The reason they didn't communicate was simply due to language differences. Only those who possessed the "Voice of All Things" could understand these mysterious words.
Even if they could understand, the other party might not be willing to communicate. For example, Sea Kings generally only communicate with Poseidon. Even if someone else could understand them, Sea Kings might not respond.
Surveying the state of the mineral veins here and bringing Kawamatsu and his mother back was the original purpose of this trip. Picking up two Minks along the way was already an unexpected bonus.
As for Devil Fruits...
Wano Country did have quite a few Devil Fruits, but most had already been eaten. Although the Yamata no Orochi and the Okuchi no Makami were both Mythical Zoan abilities, no one ever said where these things originated.
Even Kaido said it took him a lot of effort to obtain the Okuchi no Makami fruit. If this fruit had been in Wano Country, Kaido wouldn't have had to go through so much trouble.
The Yamata no Orochi was also brought by Kurozumi Higurashi, and she had sailed the outside sea for a very long time.
The Onyudo and Dango (Millet Dumpling) Fruits were indeed discovered in Wano Country, but that was decades later. The rebirth of Devil Fruits is random on a global scale.
Unless the ability user experienced certain specific circumstances when they died, it is completely uncontrollable.
Most so-called inherited Devil Fruits were either never eaten by anyone, or people expended immense effort to retrieve the fruit after the ability user died. Technology to restrict the rebirth location of fruits was not widespread; at least Nereus had never heard of such technology.
What state these two fruits were in now was still unknown. Being able to find the Vampire Fruit back then was entirely credited to its location being explicitly recorded.
"Hermes, it's your time to shine again. Get ready, it's time for us to depart."
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