"What do you mean?" Ben asked. He was curious. He thought this old man knew something.
"Why should I tell you?" Ko responded.
"You hurt my brother," Tei said.
Hei groaned in pain on the ground. He got up slowly.
"You attacked my love," Alvida said.
"We were just defending ourself," Zala said.
"It is true that Saphir, Rubis and Emeraude were once part of the Simon Pirates but they have left and joined the Love Pirates. We have fought them a number of times," Ben explained.
"Yes, he is right, Simon was always mean to us," Saphir said.
"He did not treat as equals, in fact he did not treat anyone as equals," Rubis added.
Ben and Ko looked at each other. Ko smiled.
"You seem to be telling the truth," Ko replied.
"Men stand down," Ko ordered. They all nodded.
"Girls, they are friendly, help them up please," Ben said.
Kaya, Emeraude nodded. Vivi also went to help. They looked at the men and found minor injuries and started putting bandages on them.
"You held back," Tei said.
"We did," Ben said.
"So what do you know about the Nanatsu Islands?" Ko asked.
"We know about six islands and there are six orbs on each," Ben said.
"There is a seventh island that used to be here," Marianne added.
Ko, Hei, Tei and Otsu looked at them. Their eyes brow raised.
"That each orb is protected by those monsters and there is a bigger one," Zala added.
"Shushibaruba," Robin commented.
"So you know?" Hei said and added, "You still purse." Hei was in pain as he tried to talk.
"Careful," Kaya said.
"It was worshipped by the people like a God," Nojiko said.
Ko laughed. "Worshipped? That creature can destroy an island and bring down this entire world," Ko said.
He looked serious. The smile was gone. "Shushibaruba is dangerous. The treasure guardian are meant to protect the Six Orbs," Ko said.
"In the ancient past, the Nanatsu Islands were all one single island. The island was broken into seven separate islands by the power of Shushibaruba. Shushibaruba was originally created by an ancient civilization. Its power knew no bounds and it was uncontrollable. It wreaked havoc on the people, almost driving them to extinction. Until a group of fighters came from the sea and they fought. Shushibaruba was injured. At some point, Shushibaruba became dormant on Na Island, reverting into an egg-like form. The ancient civilization then hid Na Island in the clouds, and made it so that it could only be summoned by using six treasures, which were hidden across the six remaining islands," Ko explained.
Kaya, Vivi and Emeraude were still treating the other men. Vivi was just supporting. Alvida, Mikita got closer to the Ben and leaned on his shoulder listening in. Honey and Marianne looked a little shocked from the conversation. Nojiko was nodding. Zala and Robin looked neutral. Saphir and Rubis looked in surprise.
"That is certainly interesting," Ben said. He thought about the Ancient civilisation and thought, does this have anything to do with the Ancient Kingdom or the Void Century.
"Who were the people who fought Shushibaruba?" Ben asked.
"We don't know, there were no details about them," Tei said.
"But they were strong," Hei added.
"So is Shushibaruba a machine or living creature?" Robin asked.
"It is both and neither at the same time," Ko said.
"Nothing is none about it besides how it looks and it was powerful," Ko added.
"Why did they create such a thing?" Mikita asked.
"Maybe to protect the island from other threats," Ko replied. Ben raised an eyebrow. What were the threats that needed such a monster to battle them?
"But could not control it?" Robin questioned.
"It is not something to control," Ko said.
[Ben, it can be controllable but you need to complete the quests.]
(It can Sweetie?)
[Yes Ben, trust me.]
Ben paused for a second. The system was not entirely helpful from the start but lately it has been really helpful. It has given useful rewards and very useful advice.
(Okay, I trust you my Sweetie.)
Ben could hear a giggle. [You wont regret it.]
Ben sighed. This system was a handful to deal with but she was there.
"Simon already has two orbs," Ben said.
Ko looked shocked. "Something tells me you know him?" Nojiko said.
"When Simon was a young boy, he was seriously injured in an accident that fed him a fruit. He turned into multiple sheets of paper, and when he reassembled, his injuries were cured. That boy started to believe that he had been special from birth," Ko explained.
"That man was you," Zala said.
"It explains his ego," Rubis said.
"We need to stop him," Saphir said. Ben smiled.
"Yes we do," Ben said.
"How do we know that you are not going to take his power yourself?" Tei asked.
"We just met each other but Simon has hurt my crewmates. He had made Saphir, Rubis Emeraude cry. He has made their life miserable. He attacked us. He injured Zala and Robin. All my crew are precious to me. I will protect them all. Simon will come after us. We have his orbs he wants. I am not going to wait round for him to attack us," Ben stated.
"The Simon Pirates will go down," Ben declared.
All the girls' hearts melted hearing the Captain's speech. It was loving and caring.
"He does have his way of word," Kaya said.
"My love always does," Alvida said. She whispered into his ear, "My love has something else up his sleeve," Alvida said.
Ben smiled. She does know him too well. He was lucky to have Alvida. No, he was lucky to have them all.
"So you can stop them?" Ko asked.
"Yes, we can," Ben stated.
"Simon is probably on his way to the next orb," Ben said.
"He might be, but he does not know where it is," Hei replied.
"No, he does," a voice in the right direction.
Ko and everyone looked in the direction. They saw a muscular man with a large, downward-pointed nose, a predominant jaw, small eyes, and short brown hair. He wore a black eye patch, short-sleeved shirt, brown pants, and brown shoes.
"They were over in town, looking for me and I overheard a conversation that they found the entrance with the arch," the pirate said.
Ko looked shocked. "Who are you?" he asked. Ko wanted to know who this person was and how they found it.
"I am Marc, a former member of the Simon Pirates. I left because I want peace and not this violence," Marc replied.
"They sent a small team there but I dont know what happened," Marc added.
"We need to get there," Hei said.
"We will go there, you guys are not in any shape to take them or anyone on," Ben said.
"You said, they were looking for you," Mikita said.
Marc smiled. "I told you, I wanted peace," Marc replied.
"He is lying. He stole money and jewels," Saphir said.
"So?" Marc replied.
"It was probably stolen anyway," Ben said. He did not care. He wanted the orb as his priority right now.
"Ko, where is the pathway?" Ben asked.
"I can tell you for a price," Marc jumped in.
Ben shot him a look. "Come on, we can be friends," Marc said.
"We don't want to," Marianne said. She stuck her tongue out.
"Brat, keep your mouth shut," Marc said.
Mikita had the Yellow Gun. She fired a dice shaped bullet behind Marc. An explosion was seen. Mikita smiled like a devil.
Marc looked surprised. Ben walked over and punched him in the jaw. Marc went down, his tooth broke. Ben shaked his hand. "Don't insult my crew," Ben said. The air around Ben got tense.
"What was that?" Tei asked.
"I don't know," Hei replied. They both were shocked.
Marianne did not care what he said but she was smiling ear to ear when Ben stood up and punched the living day out of him.
"Ben," she whispered.
"I would have broken his back," Robin calmly said. She smiled at Marianne.
"Thank you," Marianne replied.
"Ko, please tell us where it is, otherwise we can find it on our own," Ben said.
"It's near the north, there are the old ruins that look like an arch. There should be a cave near there and the orb will be there protected by a Treasure Guardian," Ko said.
"Thank you," Ben replied. The girls nodded. Ben and the girls left heading north.
"Why did we tell them?" Hei asked.
"Who knows," Ko replied. He smiled.