Enel's temple is located in the center of Jaya Island, now known as the Holy Land, beside a sky-piercing green vine.
The temple, built purely from hewn stone and various white clouds, is covered with a thick layer of gold on its surface, reflecting dazzling golden light under the sun.
Even from thousands of meters away, its reflection can be seen.
At this moment, in the great hall of this temple, on a spacious golden throne, a barefoot Enel is lounging, holding a bright red apple in his right hand, crunching into it.
On the hall floor below, a man lies sprawled out, eyes rolled back, with a shocking, massive indentation on his chest.
"Ohm was actually taken down by that War Demon Wiper of Shandora. How disgraceful. Lord Enel, why don't you let me take the God's Guard and directly invade Shandora village to capture that Wiper?"
A corpulent man, as round as a balloon, mumbled grumpily.
"Mm-hmm, ah-ah..."
Across from him, a man with a dozen dreadlocks on his head bit his lower lip, mumbling incoherently, occasionally pointing towards outside the temple.
"Idiot Gedatsu, how can you talk with your lip bitten!" The fat priest Satori angrily rebuked.
"Ah! I forgot I have to open my mouth to talk, sorry!"
Gedatsu scratched his head and chuckled foolishly a few times, then pointed towards the outside of the temple, saying to Enel on the throne, "Lord Enel, I have news for you."
"Speak."
Enel remained with his back to the two throughout, lounging on the golden throne and eating his apple, showing no intention of turning around.
Gedatsu and Satori were puzzled, but dared not question him.
"Shura and the three hundred God's Guard he took out were defeated by a group of Blue Sea people."
"What? Shura was also defeated? Where did these Blue Sea people come from?" Satori was surprised.
Hearing the words "Blue Sea people," Enel, who had been facing away from the two, finally sat up from the throne and turned around.
Holding an apple in one hand, he said coldly, his face somewhat grim, "What Blue Sea people? Explain in detail."
Below the platform, the last two of the Four Priests, Gedatsu and Satori, both changed expression dramatically when they saw the scorched scar on Enel's chest.
"Lord Enel! Your injury..." Satori tentatively began, but then shivered at Enel's cold eyes, not daring to continue.
Gedatsu cleared his throat, calming his shocked mind.
"It's like this: we received news from Heaven's Gate earlier, saying a large Blue Sea ship had landed on the White Sea. So Shura took his God's Guard to investigate the situation."
"After that, I received a message from Shura's Transponder Snail, saying that someone on the Blue Sea people's ship used lightning power to impersonate Lord Enel.
Not only did they evade the Heaven's Gate toll, but they also damaged the white cloud road.
Just now, my subordinate priests scouted again and found that those Blue Sea people had plundered a large amount of golden artifacts in the Holy Land and brought them onto their ship."
Enel's expression grew darker and darker as he listened to Gedatsu's account.
"Among those Blue Sea people, was there anyone who could use fire?"
He suddenly asked.
"Fire user?" Gedatsu paused, then shook his head. "I'm not sure. Shura and his men were defeated too quickly; they didn't get a clear look at the enemy's fighting style. All they knew was that there was a giant on the Blue Sea people's ship, along with a beast, and a swordsman."
"Alright, I understand."
Enel stood up from the throne, tossed the apple core, and somehow pulled out another bright red apple, which he bit into.
"Evasion of tolls, damaging the white cloud road, plundering my gold—these are nothing. But to dare impersonate even me, these Blue Sea people are truly audacious! I suppose that fire-using Blue Sea person is also part of their group. In that case, dispatch all God's Guard to the Holy Land forest and eliminate them all!"
"As you command, Lord Enel!"
Gedatsu and Satori below bowed respectfully, taking their leave.
Enel, barefoot, paced to the temple entrance, his eyes fixed on a certain direction in the forest.
"Let me see who dares to impersonate the great God."
Zzzzzzt...
Tiny, almost imperceptible electrical arcs erupted from his body, rapidly spreading into the sky.
Soon, Enel "saw" Rorschach and the others, dozens of miles away.
The moment he saw the Qilin, Enel's eyes suddenly lit up, and he couldn't help but murmur to himself.
"What a magnificent treasure ship! If I could coat it with a layer of gold and slightly modify its propulsion system with Ark Maxim's blueprints, using my lightning to power it, I could ride it to the boundless land of my dreams.
I wouldn't even need to build another golden treasure ship; this ship is perfectly tailored for my abilities! It's marvelous!"
"Wait... why is that old geezer Gan Fall on that Blue Sea people's ship? Are they trying to bring Blue Sea people to fight me?
Hmph! Naive! Let me show you what the true power of a god is, yehahaha, yehahahahaha!"
Meanwhile.
Dozens of miles away, in the forest, Rorschach, who was talking to an old man in armor on the Qilin, looked up towards Enel's location, a slight smile playing on his lips.
Enel's Observation Haki range was truly immense.
Even from dozens of miles away, the opponent could easily perceive Rorschach's situation.
Rorschach himself could barely manage this, and certainly not with Enel's effortless ease.
Perhaps it was because he could also control lightning, but Rorschach used the tiny electrical arcs spreading from Enel in the sky to, in turn, perceive Enel's situation.
Thus, he heard every word of Enel's monologue at the temple entrance.
"What a magnificent Ark Maxim propulsion system!"
Wasn't that just electric propulsion?
Much more convenient, cleaner, and swifter than wind power, cola power, or steam power!
Didn't you expect this?
My Wind and Thunder Qilin is truly custom-made for you.
I'm just waiting for you to come pilot it for me.
Replacing the ship's steam power with electricity, driven by a Logia type Rumble-Rumble Fruit user—just thinking about it felt luxurious.
With two hundred million volts of electricity, wouldn't the Qilin break the sound barrier?
Once his advanced Armament Haki matured, he could directly apply an advanced deep-blue armament coating to the entire ship, charging at supersonic speeds and smashing enemies, ship and all, to smithereens.
Speaking of which, could Armament Haki even turn a ship into a supreme black ship?
Rorschach himself was startled by this sudden thought in his mind.
In this world, only he and Kuzan possessed Armament Haki in quantities large enough to easily cover ships and islands.
Such a fantastical idea was something only someone like him would dare to contemplate.
Having Enel sit on the flying Qilin and unleash Raigou from above—wasn't that unequivocally an island-destroying attack?
"Young friend Rorschach, you seem to be a bit distracted. Hehe, I see you're smiling very happily. Did something joyful come to mind?"
Suddenly, Gan Fall's aged voice reached Rorschach's ears, pulling him out of his reverie.
"Haha, nothing, just wondering how much all this gold I got is worth," Rorschach chuckled, brushing it off.
The old man in knight's armor holding a spear was Gan Fall, the former God of Sky Island.
Fifteen minutes earlier, while Rorschach was here, guiding Hibari to familiarize herself with her newly acquired Cloud-Cloud Fruit ability, Gan Fall arrived on his strange bird, which had eaten the Horse-Horse Fruit.
Upon seeing the God's Guard lying scattered around the Qilin, and Shura tied to the mast, Gan Fall immediately struck up a warm conversation with Rorschach.
Rorschach and his group's displayed strength earned Gan Fall's approval.
The few of them sat on the deck, surrounded by Marine warriors listening to their stories.
After all, they had finally encountered a Sky Islander who could communicate normally; how could they not be excited?
Mont Blanc Cricket was the most excited.
Because he learned from Gan Fall that the Shandians and Shandora indeed existed.
This meant that his ancestor Noland had not lied back then.
Mont Blanc Noland was not a liar; he was a great adventurer!
What Cricket wanted to do most now was to personally visit the Shandian village and meet the descendants of the great warriors his ancestor had met.
"I never thought that young friend Rorschach, at such a tender age, is already a Marine Rear Admiral. Truly awe-inspiring."
Gan Fall held a cup of hot tea, brewed by Hibari, and smiled at Rorschach.
Rorschach was slightly surprised. "Do people on Sky Island also know about the Marines? Has Mr. Gan Fall been to the Blue Sea?"
Gan Fall shook his head.
"I haven't been to the Blue Sea. But people occasionally come up here via weather balloons, the ascending currents of the West Heaven Peak, or the Knock Up Stream that you used.
Most of them are pirates; we haven't encountered many Marines. These pirates were the ones who told us about the power divisions in the Blue Sea.
I never imagined there were so many vast powers in the Blue Sea. It truly is a dangerous place."
"Indeed, compared to the peace up here on Sky Island, our home is like a living hell."
Rorschach wholeheartedly agreed with Gan Fall's assessment of the sea below.
Gan Fall, hearing this, smiled bitterly. "There is only superficial peace here."
He pointed to Shura tied to the mast. "Enel rules the entire White-White Sea and all the Sky Islands within it through fear, making it seem peaceful and serene. But he orders his Four Priests to initiate corresponding trials every so often."
"Trials? What are those?" Hibari stood behind Rorschach, gently kneading his rock-hard neck muscles with her soft hands.
"The trials involve selecting a group of people from both the Skypieans and the Shandians to enter designated locations with one of Enel's Four Priests and their God's Guard, and fight to the death. Only the final victors are allowed to live. To put it plainly, it's just a series of bare-faced killing games."
At this point, Gan Fall sighed.
"That guy Enel is so despicable! Haven't you ever thought of resisting him?" Hibari pressed.
"We can't resist; his power is too immense. Not only does he have the ability to elementalize into and control lightning, but he also possesses a powerful and unpredictable Mantra. This makes countless of our carefully planned sneak attacks useless. Even when we acquired Seastone, which can counter his ability, from Blue Sea pirates, it's useless if we can't get close to him."
Gan Fall's face was full of unwilling resignation. He looked up at Rorschach, about to ask him to help fight Enel.
A Transponder Snail in his pocket suddenly rang.
Gan Fall pressed the button and held the Transponder Snail to his ear.
"Gan Fall, this is Wiper. I want to cooperate with you to take down that Enel. He's currently on the Blue Sea people's ship in the Holy Land forest. This is an excellent opportunity to take him down. What's your intention?"
Gan Fall's hand, holding the Transponder Snail, paused. He looked bewildered at the Marine warriors on the deck.
Enel is on this ship?
Where is he?
(End of Chapter)
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