Chapter 41 Approaching the Truth

Gazing at the inscriptions on the stone tablet, Chu Yi and Mihawk exchanged a glance, both catching the shock reflected in each other's eyes.

What the hell?

This island is actually the legendary place?

Could it be...

This is the final destination of the Grand Line? Laugh Tale, the island once conquered by the Pirate King Roger?

Such a thought suddenly flashed through Chu Yi’s mind. He took a deep breath to steady his surprisingly shaken emotions and murmured to Mihawk beside him, “Mihawk, do you think this place... could it be Laugh Tale? The place rumored to hide the legendary treasure?”

“Huh? Laugh Tale?”

Mihawk was momentarily stunned upon hearing Chu Yi’s question, then shook his head and said, “This cannot be Laugh Tale. After all, this is only the second island we’ve reached on our way to the New World. Besides, from the clues I have, traveling to Laugh Tale requires gathering certain items.”

“So, Chu Yi, your assumption... must be wrong!”

Mihawk’s words sounded quite reasonable.

Almost immediately after Mihawk finished speaking, Chu Yi silently nodded to himself, thinking, “Hawk Eyes is right.”

According to the clues provided by the original Pirate series, Laugh Tale is far from the entrance to the New World. There’s no way Chu Yi and his companions could have arrived there after sailing such a short time.

Moreover, to reach Laugh Tale, as Mihawk said, one must collect certain things!

These items are called “Road Poneglyphs” in the original story. They point to four islands, and Laugh Tale lies at the “X” intersection of these four islands.

As for the locations of these four Road Poneglyphs...

Chu Yi knew that one was on Zou. According to the original series, two others were held by two of the Four Emperors: Big Mom and Kaido.

The last Road Poneglyph’s location was never revealed in the original story, so Chu Yi had no idea where it might be.

While Chu Yi quietly recalled the memories of Laugh Tale from the original series, Mihawk’s voice came again, snapping Chu Yi out of his thoughts.

“Hey Chu Yi, your shock just now—could it be because you suspected this place is Laugh Tale?”

“Why else?” Chu Yi asked innocently, staring at Mihawk.

“Ahh!” Mihawk sighed deeply, then covered his face with his hand, pointing helplessly at the stone tablet. “Didn’t you read the words behind it clearly?”

“Chris! Isn’t that your surname?”

“And the person who left this tablet is named Chris D. Tumo, just one character different from your name! Shouldn’t you be shocked by that instead?”

Oh...

Mihawk seemed to make a good point!

Chu Yi’s reflex was slow; only now did he realize that character.

Yet, as Chu Yi’s gaze fell once more upon the tablet, the handwriting emanated a faintly familiar aura...

Heh.

Chu Yi just couldn’t remember anything!

Though he had inherited all the memories of his former self upon transmigrating, and basically knew everything the original Chu Yi knew, perhaps the family memories were too ancient and had long been forgotten by the original Chu Yi.

When he absorbed the memories, it wasn’t just the number of people in the “Chris” family or who they were that eluded him; Chu Yi didn’t even understand what the “Chris” family was about. Who would have thought that there was a “Chris” family in the Pirate world, with a “D” in the middle of the name!

However, from what Zephyr revealed about the World Government sending the Navy to personally eradicate the “Chris” family, and the hesitation in Taige’s voice whenever he mentioned the “Chrisley” family, Chu Yi could grasp that his family might have been a formidable power in the Pirate world.

But...

After the crushing force of the World Government’s onslaught, the mysterious “Chris” family vanished from the Pirate world, leaving Chu Yi as the sole survivor.

Therefore, as Chu Yi stared at those faintly familiar characters, his first thought was that once he returned, he must ask Taige about the “Chris” family and unravel the many secrets within.

While Chu Yi was lost in thought...

“Hey!”

Mihawk patted Chu Yi’s shoulder and suddenly pointed off into the distance. “Chu Yi, look, it seems there’s more than one stone tablet on this island!”

“Hmm, just as I thought!”

Following Mihawk’s direction, Chu Yi activated his Observation Haki and indeed discovered another stone tablet. When they both hurried over, they saw the inscription:

“Journal, Day One.”

“We have just arrived on this legendary island and have already witnessed its mysteries. First, Lina disappeared, then that bastard Chu Fei vanished as well.”

“Heaven knows how they vanished into thin air! There’s no choice but to... search as thoroughly as possible!”

After reading the words, a bitter smile slowly appeared on Chu Yi’s face.

“Mihawk, it seems like this island, like the Dark Island, causes people to mysteriously disappear!”

“Don’t worry. You managed to return to us after disappearing on the Dark Island. It’ll be the same here.”

Mihawk comforted him slightly, frowned, and continued, “Also, it seems one of your predecessors really liked to keep records of their life on this island. So, let’s look for more stone tablets and try to learn as much as we can about this place!”

“Alright.”

Nodding to Mihawk, Chu Yi and Mihawk refrained from splitting up and began searching for the scattered historical tablets.

Mihawk had been right. The predecessor of Chu Yi genuinely loved keeping records.

Before long, Chu Yi and Mihawk found exactly thirteen stone tablets.

The inscriptions on these thirteen tablets detailed the life of Chu Yi’s predecessor on this island over thirteen days. The first ten days’ entries were mostly trivial, recounting who disappeared and how arduous the search was.

But starting from the eleventh tablet...

The content became far more intriguing!

“Journal, Day Eleven.”

“Do you know what we saw on this island? My God! It’s the legendary divine beast recorded in history. It... it truly exists!”

“Journal, Day Twelve.”

“Hahaha! The legendary divine beast isn’t that impressive. Just remember its weakness is the soles of its feet! Poor Chu Ming—he was eaten by the beast. I bet his survival now is as excrement!”

“Journal, Day Thirteen.”

“I have a bad feeling today, as if... as if I’m the one who should disappear today!”

After reading all the inscriptions, Chu Yi frowned slightly, feeling as though he was drawing closer to the truth, yet somehow it also seemed to be slipping further away.

And...

What exactly is the divine beast on this island?

Could it be the mysterious Black Tortoise conjured by that Navy officer during his second awakening with the Observation Fruit?

Perplexed, Chu Yi intensified his Observation Haki once more, hoping to quickly find the fourteenth tablet and, with its contents, draw nearer to the truth.

However, just as Chu Yi and Mihawk, having finally located the fourteenth tablet with their Observation Haki, were about to approach it...

“Whoosh!”

A shadow suddenly appeared, instantly darkening Chu Yi’s expression.

“Mihawk, someone else on the island is collecting the tablets. Let’s snatch that tablet first, then see... who our competitor is!”