Chapter 702: 702 The Knot
"This is the iron giant that attacked Mary Geoise two hundred years ago."
Aside from having Klee Meow help optimize the Mother Flame and wool-gathering technology from Vegapunk, Sherwin also had him take him and the Felynes to visit that ancient robot.
It had been hidden by Vegapunk in a corner of Egghead using a holographic projection. Normally, looking over, one could only see a wall, which was why Sherwin hadn’t been able to find it no matter how hard he searched before.
When the Mother Flame was swallowed by Klee Meow earlier, it had been temporarily exposed, but at that time, everyone attention was drawn away by the Labophase losing its barrier and the subsequent appearance of the two members of the Five Elders.
Even if any pirates caught a glimpse of it, its tattered posture, collapsed amidst a large pile of trash, failed to attract anyone attention.
"Can I dismantle it, meow? Check-it!"
(ゝω)~☆
Purah Meow looked at the huge robot in front of her with sparkling eyes, looking eager to try.
"Of course not!!!"
Vegapunk reaction was very dramatic, very much in the style of One Piece.
"Why, meow? This guy clearly can’t even move anymore."
(=ω=)
Little Dodo Advance asked, deeply perplexed: "And without taking it apart, how did you study it anyway? Haven’t you already made a replica robot, meow?"
"It not that I don’t want to take it apart, but this robot cannot be disassembled normally it can only be violently broken down," Vegapunk explained. "So I only scanned its internal structure using instruments."
Seeing that Purah Meow was still pouting with a reluctant look, Vegapunk continued to persuade her:
"Aside from its unknown power source and the relatively sturdy materials used, the technology used in this giant robot itself is nothing particularly extraordinary. Just through the internal structure diagrams I scanned, it enough to master its manufacturing method."
Just as Purah Meow calmed down, Klee Meow, who was crouching on Sherwin shoulder, twitched her little nose and mumbled, "But Klee feels like there something good on this big guy, meow."
(==)
Sherwin and the other Felynes put absolute trust in the judgment of the Investigation Team sole designated mascot.
"Are you sure it inside this big iron man body, and not the iron man itself?"
"Klee is sure~"
(=ω=)σ
The little Ragdoll Felyne pointed at the ancient robot lying in the trash heap, waving her arms to draw a circle. "And Klee can feel that it should be right in that area, meow."
Realizing that Sherwin and the others didn’t have a clear idea from her description, she immediately hopped down from Sherwin shoulder and dashed over to the robot abdominal area.
She jogged in a circle on top of it—a circle that looked tiny compared to the robot, but was actually over ten meters in diameter—and then bounced up and down inside the circle, saying, "It should be right in here, meow!"
(=＞＜=)
"Huh? That position..."
Vegapunk, who hadn’t taken it seriously at first and thought Klee Meow was just playing around, froze for a moment.
Because the spot Klee Meow circled was indeed a bit special. According to the scan results, a section of rope was supposed to be stored beneath that exact area.
Previously, Vegapunk couldn’t figure out the use of keeping a rope there. It wasn’t connected to any other mechanisms, and its overall length was only about the size of a palm relative to the ancient robot, making it unlikely to be used as a tool.
Therefore, Vegapunk could only guess that it was perhaps prepared for the robot "pilot" or rather, its "master"...
But looking at it now, did there seem to be other possibilities?
"Rope?"
Sherwin was also completely bewildered after hearing Vegapunk explanation...
Though completely bewildered, Sherwin, who firmly believed in Klee Meow treasure-hunting ability, still intended to extract the rope Vegapunk spoke of.
Since the rope would not affect the robot as a whole, and combined with Vegapunk own curiosity about what was going on with it, he agreed to Sherwin idea without the slightest hesitation.
That rope, which could potentially be a useful item, was hidden within one of the grooves of that full ring of recessed stripes on the lower skirt armor of the giant robot. Looking at it from the outside, it was impossible to tell that a small mechanism was concealed there.
However, since Sherwin and his group possessed Vegapunk scan, they easily pinpointed the location of the rope.
"Is this really something from nine hundred years ago? After all these years, you still can’t see a single gap."
Sherwin, who had climbed onto the giant robot, squatted beside the spot pointed out by Vegapunk and stroked the recess where no gap could be seen, muttering in disbelief.
He had seen plenty of videos on Earth showing two pieces of metal fitting together seamlessly.
It wasn’t hard to understand that nine hundred years ago, a civilization capable of creating ancient weapons would possess similar cutting technology.
What Sherwin actually found hard to believe was that even after nine hundred years, and with the exterior of this giant robot already covered in rust, this seam still showed no flaws whatsoever...
"So, even with all this, you didn’t feel like anything was off?"
Sherwin looked at Vegapunk in confusion.
As it turned out, the other party reasoning was just as exaggerated as the giant robot itself...
"Achieving something like this isn’t difficult, so why would I doubt it?"
"..."
Fine, you’re the genius scientist, so you call the shots.
Sherwin withdrew his gaze, speechless.
Even though the seam could neither be seen nor felt, opening it was still quite simple. With the powerful suction cup provided by Vegapunk, Sherwin managed to pull out the piece of metal—which was larger than himself—all on his own.
Sure enough, a rope even thicker than the Felynes was attached to this metal block.
He grabbed the rope and tugged it outward a few times, quickly pulling it all the way to the end.
The other end of the rope was connected to the inside of the robot body. According to Vegapunk, it wasn’t linked to any mechanism inside it was simply tied there.
Apart from that, the only special thing about this rope was a very ordinary slipknot tied on it.
Wait... a knot?
Sherwin suddenly remembered something related to knots in the One Piece world—the Wind Knot of the small sky island Weatheria, a magical "technology" that could release wind power by untying a knot.
"Don’t untie it yet!"
Vegapunk obviously knew about the Wind Knot as well. He shouted, "Something might be stored in this knot!"
"No... such a huge thing, and it runs on pneumatic power?"
Hearing Sherwin incredulous voice, Vegapunk instantly understood that the other party also knew about the Wind Knot.
Saving the trouble of explaining, he hurriedly said, "Impossible. Putting aside how strong the wind power would need to be to drive such a large robot, the Wind Knot needs to be untied before it releases wind power.
Furthermore, the Wind Knot cannot achieve a stable and continuous transmission of wind power, and I haven’t found any device for transmitting or converting wind power either.
There is also a decisive reason: if what is stored here is the backup energy for this robot, then why didn’t it use it two hundred years ago?"
After a flurry of analysis, Vegapunk arrived at a conclusion—
"So, either this knot stores an incredibly powerful wind force, powerful beyond our imagination, or what is stored inside isn’t wind at all, but something else."
Sherwin nodded thoughtfully.
Reasonable. Since even something as ethereal as wind could be stored in a rope, storing something else seemed quite normal.
"Then... what should we do now?"
Whether it stored wind power or something else, Sherwin and Vegapunk couldn’t just untie it directly before figuring out the secret behind it.
After thinking for a moment, Vegapunk said, "The Wind Knot is a unique technology of Weatheria, so I don’t really understand its principles... How about this, I will cut a small section of the rope to keep on Egghead Island for research.
If you get the chance, take this knot to Weatheria and ask the scientists there for help. Haredas and the others are very friendly people, so they shouldn’t refuse to help."
Sherwin naturally would not refuse this proposal, because he originally had plans to go to Weatheria anyway.
It was just that the sky island had always been drifting randomly without any pattern, and trying to find it was purely a matter of luck.
Due to various reasons before, Sherwin had never asked Klee Meow to help guide the way.
However, he didn’t even need to trouble Klee Meow now, because Vegapunk had a Permanent Pose for Weatheria in his hands.
