We approached the chest, and I reached for it with my right hand, trying to unlock it, only to realize it was locked just as tightly as the captain's cabin's door, perhaps even more so.
I put more strength into my arm, trying to pry it open. However, Elly patted me on the shoulder, gesturing for me to make space and leave it to her, and I nodded as I moved back, letting Elly handle it her way.
Elly nodded at me as she picked up a bobby pin from one of her pockets, inserting it into the chest's lock as she proceeded to fiddle with it, turning the pin left and right.
And sure enough, the lock clicked open after a dozen or so seconds, prompting Elly to do a mini fist pump into the air, or water in this case, as she gestured for me to come closer.
I nodded at her and swam towards the chest as Elly reached for the lid, slowly opening it. Only to pause as Elly fully opened the chest, the sights of what was within it almost choking me.
Looking at the pink hue radiating from within the chest, I had an urge to slap myself for trying to pry it open with force earlier, snapping into action as Elly tried to reach for what was inside the chest.
I quickly gripped Elly's shoulder and pulled her back, much to her confusion and shock, as she stared at me with a dumbfounded expression.
I shook my head at her while pointing at the chest with one hand while gesturing an explosion with the other, and although it took Elly a moment to understand, she nodded her head in understanding after a couple of seconds.
However, she gave me an inquisitive look, which I took for her asking me what should be done about the chest's contents, so I raised my index finger, asking her to give me a minute to think.
I swam towards the chest and looked down at the oval-shaped pink rock floating in shiny pink liquid that was encased in a glass tube, with a thick metal casing covering it.
'A fucking Dyna stone, of all things...' I frowned as I promptly closed the chest's lid and carefully picked it up. I turned to look at Elly, gesturing for her to notify the others, and pointed towards the surface, only swimming back to the surface when she nodded at me.
Dyna stones were weapons of mass destruction, considered the Marines' trump card. Their sole purpose was to protect the endpoints from Pirates, each of them said to rival the Ancient Weapons in terms of destructive powers.
They are so powerful and destructive that Black Arm Zephyr, the main antagonist of One Piece Film Z wanted to destroy the new world in its entirety by blowing up a bunch of them on top of the red line.
Another testament to their destructive power was Kizaru, who always had that same lazy expression on his face even when facing people like Silvers Rayleigh and Whitebeard, flinching when Zephyr tried to use it against him.
'Fucking hell...' I grit my teeth as I carefully swam back to the surface, trying to move as slowly and gently as possible to avoid detonating the Dyna stone by mistake.
Sadly, I couldn't leave the damned thing in the bottom of the sea and forget about its existence as much as I wanted to do just that. There is no calculating the damage that could be done if this damned thing capable of destroying islands ended up in the wrong hands.
I quickly reached the surface, Elly and the others having already caught up with me because of the slow pace I was swimming at as we climbed back into the Black Pearl.
...
"What the hell is wrong with Johnny?" Wilson asked with a frown as he looked at Johnny was sitting cross-legged on the Black Pearl's deck for the past hour, glaring at a fancy-looking chest in front of him with a thoughtful expression.
"No idea," Elly replied with a sigh. "We found that thing in the shipwreck before you came back, and the captain has been acting weirdly since then," she added while gesturing towards the chest in front of Johnny.
"I think it's a weapon or a bomb of sorts..." Elly said as she proceeded to inform Wilson about what happened in the shipwreck, the latter listening with a frown as she did.
"...And that's when swam back to the surface, and the captain has been like this ever since..." Elly concluded, her eyes suddenly turning sharp as she turned to the side, glaring at an incoming ship.
"We've got company!" Elly exclaimed while gesturing in the incoming ship's direction, alerting everyone and snapping Johnny out of his daze as he quickly turned to look at the vessel.
"No matter what happens, we can't let anything happen to this thing, or we'll all be done for!" Johnny said in a hurried tone as he got up and protectively stood in front of the chest.
"Laffite, take Byron and Wilson and see what these guys want," Johnny instructed with a frown. "Sink them without a second thought if they look hostile!" he firmly concluded, waving his hand to the side.
Laffite frowned after hearing Johnny's words, his eyes alternating between his captain and the chest he stood protectively in front of, a hesitant expression on his face. But Laffite nodded nonetheless, gesturing for Wilson and byron to follow as he took off towards the incoming ship.
"Like I thought... I can't keep this thing in the Black Pearl..." Johnny muttered to himself while looking at the chest, making Elly and the rest, who heard frown with concerned expressions.
...
"The captain said to sink them if they looked hostile..." Laffite remarked with a sigh as they approached the incoming ship, sighing in exasperation as he did.
"These guys are pirates. What else could they intend to do by approaching us like this other than fighting?" Wilson replied while pointing towards the black flag flying over the ship.
The ship itself was massive, with a monkey striking two cymbals as a figurehead, rows of palm trees going along the vessel's sides, and two banana-shaped poles serving as pulleys.
"Whatever the case may be, we'll only know their intentions for sure once we talk to them, so try and keep your temper in check until then, will you?" Laffite said with a shake of his as they neared the ship.
"No promises," Wilson replied with a toothy grin, prompting Laffite to sigh.