"There are few separated areas on each floor, and we'll have fewer flights of stairs to climb and descend if we explore the building by floors rather than trying to divide each story into a west and east wing." Robin said.
"That's a good point. I'll call Nami up and tell her we're going downstairs."
Right as Franky made to lift the transponder snail to his face Zoro stopped him.
"Oi Franky, hold up."
The cyborg looked at the swordsman.
"What's the matter?"
"We should be the ones to go upstairs."
"Am I allowed to ask why?"
Zoro made an avoidant face of discomfort, reminiscent of a middle school boy who had just been asked if he has a crush on somebody.
"Ok," Franky gave up on waiting for him to open up about it.
"I suppose I don't care which way we go, and I trust your judgement. Even if this air of mystery is confusing to me."
Zoro spoke up, feeling his face heat up in embarrassment.
"I'm just sick of basements. Robin and I spent a whole day in one recently. It's not that deep."
"I dunno, I mean. Basements are pretty deep. YOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO!~" Brook held up an index finger to his hysterical laughing face.
Zoro was the least amused by this.
Robin knew Zoro had been lying about the last bit. Whether it was intentional lying or not was a different question. She also knew he abhorred admitting he could get scared, which was why she kept her lips sealed.
"Any other requests before I call Nami?" Franky asked.
"...No?"
He looked at his teammates.
"Good."
--
The upstairs-exploring party had covered half of the first floor they were on, when Robin noticed a large and dusty metallic plate which was not far from the elevator. This rectangular object appeared to be a sign of some sort. She procured her towel from her backpack and began wiping it skillfully. Her hunch had been correct, there were indeed embossed letters behind the thick layer of grime.
"Gentlemen, have a look at this." She called out.
"Hey, you found a floor plan!" Usopp smiled as he inspected the text.
"Nice one, Robin." Franky said.
"Where do you suppose we should go?" Zoro asked.
"Hmm… There's so much here! All of…"
Robin pointed at the top of the building plan.
"One hundred stories! Both ways! That's TWO hundred total."
She sounded like a child in a candy shop. The enthusiasm was infecting her friends.
"Celestial collection sounds fancy! The floor at the top of the building..." Usopp said.
"Supposing this elevator still works, maybe we could go all the way up there and make our way back down." Robin replied.
"I just remembered something! I don't think I mentioned it yesterday!" Brook cried out.
Everyone looked over at the skeleton.
"Those navy bigshots mentioned something about the celestial collection in their meeting! It's ringing a bell, I couldn't remember the name of it right off the top of my head when I was relaying what they said."
"Do you remember what they said about it?" Robin asked.
"Yeah, they said that's where important information about the island, and the world is located. Something about an intellectual cornucopia? Whatever the heck that means."
"You didn't think to mention this during dinner?!" Everyone but Robin cried out at Brook.
"Hey, you try and re-tell half an hour's worth of conversation off by heart!! I'm doing my best here alright?"
"Maybe we should start on the top floor and advance down the stairs. We need to stay focused, because the navy will be here in just a few hours." Robin said.
"Robin's right. We need a good game plan for when they arrive. We should convene with the others in about an hour. Start figuring out how we're going to fight them without destroying any of these texts." Zoro said.
"I'd offer to test this elevator for you guys, seeing as how I can fly and have an inbuilt laser in case I get stuck in there… Unfortunately I am too big to fit inside of it."
Franky was indeed a few heads taller and many heads broader than the elevator would allow.
"Brook, you're also definitely too tall for the job." Franky added, as he looked at the skeleton.
"How old is that thing anyway? Wait. Wait. Don't tell me, I don't wanna know." Usopp said.
"Judging by the architecture of this place, as well as the font used in this metal plate? We're looking at a building that is at least two hundred years old. Maybe three hundred." Said Robin.
She heard no response to the information and decided to keep talking as she looked at the elevator.
"The metal might be very rusted, it could be brittle. So if we're not careful we could plummet to our death for roughly a hundred floors below this story."
She looked around the area to find no sign of Usopp or Zoro. Brook and Franky grew confused at their absence as well.
After a few seconds, the swordsman's green head of hair reappeared in the gap in the floor above the stairs leading to the floor below the one they were on. He was dragging Usopp back up the stairs by his overalls.
"If you're too chicken to get in the elevator, I'll do it. Just quit running off on your own, ya idiot!"
He let go of Usopp once he got the sniper back to the others. Robin giggled at the situation, which was brotherly beneath the physicality of the horseplay.
"Where do you get off, lady?" Usopp directed a comically unforgiving expression at her.
"Zoro, if you test the elevator I'll be able to use my ability to keep you from falling down the chasm." Robin looked at him as she reassured him.
He walked up to the folding door of patterned-metal, which separated the elevator itself and the library floor they were on. It was putting up a bit of a fight due to rusting. He shoved it to the side with some force. Behind it was another door attached to the elevator itself.
He held onto both sides of the elevator entrance as he tested the floor. It looked sturdy enough, and it seemed to hold his weight safely as he allowed himself to push down onto one foot and step his other one inside of the thing. He let go of the entrance and tried bending his legs slightly, then tried jumping very lightly in place.
Robin held her arms across her torso, completely focused on him and the elevator. She had already grown several layers of few limbs below it as a precaution.
Her heart beat faster as Zoro tried jumping in place in a more forceful manner.
The elevator didn't swing one bit from the impact, remaining safely in place instead.
He closed the door, proceeding to push a button.
A rather ugly, rusty noise permeated the building as the elevator started up and began taking him one floor up.
Robin grew her custom-made arms and legs upward along the walls of the construction through which the elevator travelled. She ensured it wouldn't have much space to fall before she could slow its fall.
Zoro stayed inside of it for a few seconds before he finally made up his mind.
"Alright." He called out, his voice echoing across the chasm of the building.
"Seems like we can take this thing upstairs."
Robin pushed the folding door on the lower floor closed, and she called down the elevator again using a button nearby her.
Zoro opened the door in front of himself for her, as she pried open the folding-door on her side of the contraption again.
"Usopp, you taking the stairs?" He quirked his eyebrow at his friend.
Usopp made himself important, adopting a self-aggrandizing posture.
"I mean, Brook and Franky definitely need my help scouting all of these 100 floors before the celestial archive. My skills are far too numerous for me to be relegated to the top floor, so I hope you can understand if I stick to my duties down here."
Zoro grinned.
"Uh huh."
He looked at Robin flirtatiously.
"Guess it's just you and me then."