Author's note:

This chapter – indeed, this story – has been in the slowest gestation ever. I have never written anything much for the past three years, due to major changes in my life. I now am no longer a student; I am a working adult (sigh) and too much work stops my creative juices cold. But recently I caught up with the series again, and the gears in my head start to come to life. I am writing for the story's sake, but if you're a thoughtful reader, do leave your opinions when you're done. Criticism and praises are the same: they're what makes a writer tick and pushes him to write more. Okay, so here we go!

Robin stared around her dark, dank prison. It was not a prison in the physical sense - she could walk around, move about - but she was effectively cut off from outside by these thick walls of stone. The darkness was not complete - she could still see about her, and she could still see her hands. Robin shuddered and, after finding a corner among the rocky wall, sat down and hugged her feet, her head between her legs. The pain in her head lessened somewhat.

She felt tired, drained. Although her fingers had stopped shaking a few hours before, there was something inside her mind that felt absolutely helpless. In here, her power was suffocated somehow. Robin tried it before, but it only managed to drain her energies, and she had been forced to retire immediately to her sleeping spot, which was a proper hardboard bed and mattress. On the left side, there was a side table with a thick book lying on it.

She tried to recall the basic Ancient Words, visualising them in her brains. It used to calm her down, but now, simply thinking of the various forms made her very brain ache. And it was no ordinary ache: it felt like little needles being stuck at the most important points of her brains every time she tried to visualise the words.

"What have they done to me?" she asked, her voice hoarse; her speech almost incoherent. She was not even sure whether the words that she had just said were correct. "They can't - can't do this to me - it's wrong - I need my knowledge to read - the Ancient Histories -"

From a hidden alcove, a figure stirred, and moved toward her.

Nami found herself drawn into the maps that Luffy had brought aboard. It was amazingly detailed with small notes on climate variations, little things like the flora and fauna, the occasional sea monsters (whether purely for illustrative purposes or not Nami chose not to speculate); and cities, towns, even little hamlets marked in circles that increase in size to denote their importance. She could hear the ruckus outside - they were planning on how to attack Suppha Islanders. From what she had heard, their plans consisted of fine black pepper, chilli sauce, a strange plan that involved a dirigible - by then Nami had ceased listening to it all.

"Fascinating," Nami said to herself for the umpteenth time. She could stay in for days, not going out, become immersed in this map. Although the map legend used was rather uncommon, Nami slowly figured out most of them. "Why was this map stowed away? It's a complete masterpiece!" Then Robin's words appeared in her mind: '...they're all over the place because no one has use of them...'

She looked outside through a small round window. It was twilight. The sunset would have been romantic under different circumstances, with its orange streaks colouring the sky and blood red at the horizon. What little space her window provided was filled with the lavish display. Nami closed her eyes. If Zoro's words were true, it had been Robin's second day of capture. She never liked Robin very much. Nami always viewed her as a rival, in more ways than one. She was smarter, more mature and - let's face it, Robin had a better body shape than hers. That was enough to turn her green with envy. But after months of sailing together and going through so much, Nami felt a twinge of connection, one she never felt since leaving Cocoyashi.

Blinking back the tears, Nami rose on her bed, now seated. The thought of Bellemere often made tears spring in her eyes. She smiled, now knowing that her home was now safe and she was doing what she loved the most: map-making.

She leant back, stretched, and through her tears-sheened eyes, realised that a secret had been staring back at her after all these while.

In response, she could only let out a small 'Huh?'

"Nami's got something to announce," Sanji said as he pushed Luffy into the galley, who had a half-masticated ham sandwich in his maw. It used to sicken him, but now Sanji realised that was Luffy's way of appreciating food. "Go in."

"Are we going to have late night supper?" Luffy asked, finally swallowing the remainder of the sandwich. "Because if we do, I want steak again. With black pepper sauce and everything on it."

"Dream on," Sanji mumbled.

Luffy found himself seated in between Ussop and Zoro, who were eyeing a heap of familiar-looking papers. "Hey, those are the maps I found before! Have you found a treasure map, Nami? Have you? Have you?"

Chopper's eyes shone; they were wide as saucers. "Treasure?" Ussop asked. "What treasure? Where?"

Only Zoro stayed silent. He might still be feeling the pain from his wound.

Nami shook her head, much to the disappointment of Luffy, Chopper and Ussop. "But what I've discovered is worth more than any treasure you can imagine. In fact, it's priceless." She took one of the maps, laid it out on the table, took another one, did the same, and so on until there were six pieces of the maps laid either side-by-side or over each other. "Take a good look at that, everyone," she said triumphantly.

The four men and one creature stared at the papers. "What are we supposed to look at?" Luffy asked, spilling crumbs of the sandwich all over the maps. Some of his saliva also got splattered on the maps. Horrified, Nami quickly brushed him aside. "Hey, I wasn't finished..."

Chopper, the sharper tool in this Going Merry shed, had his eyebrows furrowed. "That seems pretty familiar..." his voice trailed off.

"What is?" Ussop leant forward.

"Everything," said Sanji, who was also leaning forward. His voice had a bewildered tone in it.

Zoro said with that firm, confident voice: "Of course it is. Nami?"

Nami gave them all a winning smile, a smile that was meant to dazzle. Ussop inwardly winced, because he had seen her smile like that before she went on to beat the life out of some leering pirate at a previous island. If he remembered it correctly, that unfortunate soul had commented on her fashion sense.

"Ussop?"

"Yes?" It was more like a whimper. "I did not peek into your room last night!"

Nami raised one amused brow. "Not exactly the answer I wanted, but thank you for that anyway. Actually I want to know whether you still remember the remains of a man we found the other day."

"That dead man?" Ussop's mind spun. "Of course I do. How can I not? You cursed me by putting a dead man's stuff inside my bag! Now I can no longer shoot as true as I used to!" Ussop was almost at tears. "I can't even snipe at Chopper's hat at two feet..."

"Nonsense! You're not cursed, stupid. You ate that sake cake Sanji gave around last night, of course your aim is off." She pulled out a bag from beneath the table and gave it to Ussop. "Here's a new bag to replace the one I used."

With that bribe, Ussop was more than happy. Nami resumed her announcement:

"I have solved the mystery behind these maps and the identity of this writer. But first, have you ever heard of the Great Journey?"

Five heads shook in the negative. Nami sighed theatrically. "Okay, I'll explain. There was this legend going around in Grand Line about an expedition, made hundreds of years ago, inside the Grand Line. The expedition, besides looking for new riches, was to map the entire Grand Line."

Luffy snorted. "That's a legend, right? So it can't be real."

"Nothing is impossible in Grand Line, Luffy. You of all people should know that," Nami chastised him. Sanji wagged his finger at Luffy while the latter sulked. "Anyway, the legend goes that the expedition managed to map the Grand Line completely."

Silence had settled on the group. They were all watching her carefully.

"There were five members of this expedition. The names vary from place to place, but two names remain constant: Mon Potience and Wonson Howke. Mon Potience was the leader of this expedition while Wonson Howke was the expedition's Cartographer. However, when the journey came to a close, the Blank Century had begun. The story began to vary from this point on. Some versions claimed there were cornered by those who laid to foundation the present Government, and in a last-ditch effort to escape, left their discoveries onboard their ships. The Government laid claim on the ships, sail and all."

Zoro's eyes widened. "Ships? How many were there?"

Nami could only shrug. "There could have been as little as three or as many as ten or more. Why?"

"Imagine how much knowledge they might have amassed, that it took several ships to contain it." Zoro sat back and reflected. "Heck, they could have found a better way to forge a katana..."

"Other version of the story claimed that they were betrayed by one of their own, who sold them out to the very people who - you guessed it, founded the current World Government. In exchange of his/her life, treasures of all sorts were surrendered, and Mon Potience was hanged to death."

"Wait a minute!" Ussop remarked, standing up all of a sudden that he knocked off his chair and surprised the rest of the crew. "No wonder this is familiar! Any of you ever heard of Brag Men?"

The men shook their head. Luffy asked: "Is that a new way of cooking steak?"

A resounding 'NO' came.

"The books (actually a series) were all about adventures of men in the Grand Line! Brave and wonderful men! I read it when I was small, and they became my most beloved books!" He sighed most sentimentally. "And most of what Nami had told us was almost similar to their adventures! In one book they defeated th-"

"What about the others?" Chopper asked, completely ignoring Ussop, almost breathless with excitement. "His loyal crews won't leave his death unavanged, right?"

"Not much was known of the rest of the crew members, even the betrayer. They all were assumed died, either by persecution or simply of old age in some backwater islands or towns. However, after the Blank Century had passed, and after the World Government had barely spread its fledgling reign, stories began to crop up all over Grand Line. Be reminded that what I am going to tell you are no legends, or perpetuated by old maids; instead, they were written by junior members of the Marines who systematically logged their journeys and wrote down everything in their diaries. I read them yesterday and discovered these."

Chopper turned to Sanji, who was giving Nami admiring looks that went ignored. "How does she manage to finish lots of books in one sitting?" he asked.

"I don't know," Sanji smiled appreciatively, "but she looks hot whenever she is so into something."

Nami went on:

"In their journeys to spread the propaganda of the World Government, they had brought along maps to show how knowledgeable this new rule was. However, what they got was ignorance and sometimes even jeers."

"I thought Marines were feared," Luffy said, his hand on his chin. "Not that I fear them, though." He made a face.

"Well, Luffy, apparently the maps that these Marines brought turned out to be obsolete and useless. Sure, they were rather accurate, but almost on each island that they stopped, they found out, to their irritation, the people had had already got maps, and of a better version. Since the World Government was relatively young back then, they knew it was better to use gentle persuasion instead of brute force, and they found out the creator of these maps almost by luck - one of the maps they found in an island named Higa contained a name."

Nami looked around her and was thrilled by the expectant looks on the faces. "Well?" they all chorused.

"It was simply - 'One Who Knows'. And look here," she said, producing one of the maps Luffy had found earlier and pointed to a corner of the yellowed paper. "Can you read the signature?"

Ussop, armed with a massive magnifying glass that seemed to come out of nowhere, took the paper and focused the glass at the corner. His eyes widened. "Nami! It's 'One Who Knows'! Does that mean he was here too?"

"Looking at the amount of these maps, I'd say he was here! Imagine how much time it took for him to complete this... amazing." She began laying out the maps on the table, a 3 by 4. When she was done, she stood up and asked: "Can you guys tell me what is this?"

Luffy, Sanji and Ussop looked at the small maps, and amazingly it was Luffy who exclaimed first: "Nami! Can it be the maps for Suppha Isles?"

Even Nami was taken aback for one moment. "Luffy! How did you manage to come to that conclusion?"

"Hey, remember I flew over the island the other day before I landed on your tangerines, so of course I saw the whole island from above. No wonder it looks so familiar..."

"Okay," Nami said, then pulling back the maps before replacing them with more maps. "And these?"

Sanji was the first to remark: "That looks like the broken part of Skypiea!"

Nami pointed at one part of the map. "Notice this? It says that the map was drawn 20 years ago. And there is also a small note here that says: 'I have seen the other part of Skypiea, but had no means to get there.'"

Ussop was agape. "Then – this guy must be very cool! Nobody else would have known about that, right? Unless those scavenging Monkeys told him about the legend."

Zoro turned to Nami. "What are you trying to say, Nami?" His voice had gotten even and cool, a sign he was taking things seriously.

Nami gave her most brilliant smile yet, and said with a flourish:

"Gentlemen, the heap of maps you see here are actually the full map of Grand Line, drawn by no other than Wonson Howke. It contains not only the location of places we've been before, it also contains the exact bearings, safe routes, climate changes, notes on the towns, islands and countries. In fact, it is a veritable Atlas."

"But you said the name of the person who drew these maps was simply One Who Knows," Luffy said. "Now I'm confused…"

Chopper came to Luffy's rescue. He held up on hoof to stall Luffy's train of thoughts. "Luffy, I think it is the same person."

"Huh?"

"See, Mr Howke's name and One Who Knows is actually the same. Let me write that down."

Wonson Howke

One Who Knows

"You see!" Chopper said excitedly. "When you rearrange Mr Howke's name, it will become One Who Knows, and vice versa!"

"It's an anagram," Sanji exclaimed. "So that means Mr Howke and One Who Knows is one and the same person. I guess he just doesn't want to be known, then. But tell me this, Nami."

"Yes?"

"If you're right, and these maps are made by Wonson Howke, how old do you reckon he is? Because from the time of the Blank Century until the present, that would have been – what, seven, eight hundred years?"

For a time, Nami was stumped.