Chapter 9: Treasure!

Chapter 9 - 9: Treasure! As soon as the small door opened, Ryuen immediately stepped back to Nami's side. The two of them suppressed their excitement and carefully observed the doorway. After waiting for a while and finding no danger, Ryuen slowly walked over, and Nami quickly followed. "Hey? Ryuen, look, a small box!" Nami excitedly pointed to the small box behind the door. She felt that this small box must contain treasure, otherwise, why would it be placed in such a hidden spot! Ryuen didn't say anything. The moment he saw the small box, his heart started pounding. This looked too much like the kind of box that holds Devil Fruits. Was Nami really this lucky? "Ryuen, what's wrong? Is something off?" Nami asked, seeing Ryuen's stunned expression. "Huh? I'm fine, Nami. I'll take the small box out and have a look." Ryuen snapped out of it and suppressed his excitement. "Okay, Ryuen, be careful. There might be traps or something on the small box." Nami said seriously, looking at the small box. Ryuen listened to Nami and carefully took the box out. Once he had it in his hands, Ryuen felt something was wrong. The box seemed empty! "Nami, it feels like it's empty, there's nothing inside." After saying that, Ryuen opened the box. Sure enough, there was nothing inside. "Huh?" "Darn it! I thought we found treasure, but it was for nothing!" Little Nami said angrily. Her little mouth pouted, feeling as if she had lost billions of Berries. Even Ryuen felt tricked. He had thought they found a Devil Fruit, but when he opened it, it was empty! "Nami, let's search somewhere else. I can't believe such a big kingdom has been completely looted!" Ryuen said fiercely. "Yeah!" "Let's go, Ryuen!" Nami agreed with Ryuen. In such a big kingdom, even if it was destroyed, there should still be some valuable treasures left! The two kids regained their confidence and prepared to continue their treasure hunt. Just as they were about to leave the study, Ryuen stopped. "What's wrong, Ryuen?" Little Nami looked back at Ryuen, wondering why he stopped. "Nami, don't you think that statue was a bit strange? Such a small statue was too heavy." Ryuen pointed to the statue in the study. "Um? Maybe... maybe because it's made of stone, so it's heavy?" Nami tilted her head and said. Ryuen shook his head and said, "If it's made of stone, it shouldn't be that heavy. I think there's something odd about this statue. Let me check it again." After saying that, Ryuen walked back into the study and approached the statue. Nami's curiosity was piqued by Ryuen's words, so she quickly followed him. Ryuen squatted down in front of the statue and started examining it. He picked up the statue. "Nami, step back a bit, I want to take it outside to check." "Okay..." Nami quickly moved out of the narrow corner. Ryuen carried the statue to the desk in the study and placed it on top. "This weight isn't right. It's much heavier than a stone of the same size." Ryuen said seriously, clapping his hands. Little Nami circled the statue but couldn't figure out anything. At this moment, Ryuen drew the sword from his waist and lightly tapped the statue. Ding ding ding... The sound was crisp, and Ryuen felt it didn't sound like hitting stone. "Could this be made of gold?" Ryuen suddenly said. "Gold? Really? Is this statue really gold?" Nami got excited as soon as she heard the word "gold." "We can't be sure yet. Let me scrape it and see if there's gold inside!" Ryuen couldn't help himself. He started scraping the surface of the statue with the back of his knife. After scraping off a layer of stone, a dark color was revealed inside. "It doesn't seem like gold, it looks like iron, but this iron is too dark." Ryuen was puzzled. "Not gold?" Hearing Ryuen say it wasn't gold, Nami's mood dropped. She just wanted to make some money, why was it so hard... Ryuen ignored Nami and flipped the iron lump over and knocked on it again. Thud thud thud... "Is it hollow?" Ryuen called out as he heard the sound. "Hollow?" Nami looked up, full of confusion. "The inside of the statue is hollow! There might be something inside!" Ryuen said confidently. Hearing there might be something inside, Nami's face immediately lit up. "Hurry, Ryuen, open it and see!" Little Nami urged eagerly. Ryuen quickly scraped off the stone layer at the bottom, revealing the dark iron color, and knocked again. The hollow sound was even more obvious! Ryuen and Nami exchanged a look, both showing excitement. They had the same thought: there must be treasure inside! Ryuen then started scraping off all the stone layers on the statue, revealing its dark appearance, and found the switch to open the statue! There was a button on the back of the iron lump. Ryuen believed that pressing the button would open the mechanism at the bottom. "Ryuen, let me press it!" Nami's excited hands couldn't wait. "Okay, you do it." Ryuen turned the back of the iron lump towards Nami. Nami immediately stretched out her trembling little hand and gently pressed the button with her index finger. They heard a "click." Ryuen and Nami knew the bottom switch had been opened! Ryuen excitedly flipped the iron lump over, revealing its bottom. Sure enough, there was only a thin iron sheet! Nami carefully lifted the iron sheet. At this moment, they looked at each other, their little heads leaning together to look inside. "Huh??" "What is this? Where's my treasure?" "Waaah T_T~~" "Ryuen, there's no treasure inside! Waaaah~~" But Ryuen was already trembling with excitement. A Devil Fruit! There was a Devil Fruit inside. No wonder the small box was missing earlier; it was hidden in the iron lump disguised as a statue! "Nami... do you know... do you know what this is?" Ryuen's trembling hand took out the Devil Fruit from inside. Hearing Ryuen's question, Nami stopped crying and looked at Ryuen in confusion, not understanding why he was so excited. "Nami... this is the Devil Fruit I mentioned before! We're rich! This is real treasure!!" Ryuen said excitedly, holding the Devil Fruit. "Huh???" "Devil Fruit? The one worth at least a hundred million Berries!" Little Nami was so shocked that she jumped up on the spot!