"No."
"...Huh?"
Aisa had eagerly presented a gift she made with her own hands to the god, only to be outright rejected on the spot.
The little girl's mouth hung open in shock as she stared blankly at Storm, unsure how to react.
Just then, Storm repeated his words once more.
"I don't want it."
Storm raised his right hand and activated the power of the [Clay-Clay Fruit]. Lifelike clay sculptures materialized out of thin air.
"Aisa, this is how you play with mud!"
Clay-Storm, Clay-Robin, Clay-Aisa, Clay-Gan Fall…
Even the sickly-looking Sky Point Bird (Sky Point Horse?) Pierre that had just appeared…
All were perfectly replicated by Storm in exact detail.
With just the [Clay-Clay Fruit], such vivid recreations wouldn't have been possible.
But after integrating the "illusion" ability of the [Nine-Tailed Fox Fruit], the only flaw in these clay sculptures was that they were too perfect.
"This is how you play with mud!"
Storm looked at the clay sculptures with satisfaction.
"You still have a long way to go!"
Aisa was too young to understand complex words, but she could clearly see the difference between her mud figures and Storm's.
If the gap were measured in terms of strength…
It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that Storm's clay figures were like "Enel," while the mud figure Aisa had spent all night making was like "Kamakiri."
The former was the God of Skypiea;
The latter was Aisa's friend, a spirited Shandian boy with a rooster-comb hairstyle.
Aisa's young heart couldn't handle such a crushing blow. Tears instantly welled up in her eyes as she turned and ran away.
"Waaah…"
A sound like a sea train's whistle echoed through the air.
"Two Blooms."
Robin crossed her arms over her chest and activated the power of the [Flower-Flower Fruit].
Two slender arms sprouted from the clay figure Aisa had thrown into the air in her distress.
They gently cradled the mud sculpture, ensuring it wouldn't be damaged.
Then, the arms carefully carried the abstract clay figure over to Robin.
"Captain, I think this sculpture is actually quite cute…"
Robin picked up the clay figure and admired it in her palm before turning to Storm.
"Don't you think what you said just now might have hurt Aisa's feelings?"
Sunny Mud Toe!
Storm shot Robin an exasperated glare.
"Your aesthetic standards are completely different from normal people's!"
He openly retorted.
"Besides, why should I force myself to pretend just because someone else meant well?"
"I do whatever I want!"
"...Truly the Marine's greatest disgrace."
Robin fell silent for a moment before muttering those words.
Captain, you still claim your home is Marine Headquarters?
Would a normal Marine ever say something like "I do whatever I want"?
Robin gave a pitying glance at Aisa's retreating figure in the distance.
She gently placed Aisa's clay figure of Storm on top of Little Godzilla's head.
At a glance, it looked like an abstract Storm was riding a Godzilla…
Robin held up the adorable little creature in her hands, her cheeks flushing with excitement.
"So kawaii..."
Storm paid no attention to Nico Robin, who was becoming increasingly unrestrained.
Come to think of it, when he first met this woman, she had been gloomy and aloof.
But how many days had it been since then?
Now all she did was gush about how "kawaii" everything was!
Her once cold and dignified demeanor had completely vanished.
Storm muttered to himself before turning to the other Shandians and waving.
"Everyone! Are the food supplies still plentiful? Let's keep the party going!"
To be honest,
Storm wasn't the type who particularly enjoyed parties.
But his favorite foods always ended up piled high in some corner of the feast.
The Shandians, taking Storm's cue, immediately sprang into action, preparing for today's celebration.
In a place no one could see,
Storm summoned the six-star [Diamond Trophy] he had obtained from defeating Grizly and applied it to his [Haki].
[Observation Haki: ★★★★★★☆] (Six and a half stars)
"Robin, I'm going to train. I'll be back later."
After giving Robin a quick heads-up, Storm vanished from Skypiea.
The next moment,
he appeared in the vast, endless expanse of the White-White Sea.
Crackling lightning erupted.
Whitebeard III, Edward Teach, appeared.
BOOM—
Thunder roared.
Storm began his daily training regimen.
By the time he had fully mastered the enhanced abilities of the [Rumble-Rumble Fruit] and [Armament/Observation Haki],
the preparations for the feast on Skypiea were nearly complete.
Even deep within the White-White Sea,
Storm's [Rumble-Rumble Fruit] allowed him to clearly hear every conversation happening on Skypiea.
For instance, he could hear little Aisa sniffling while playing with clay.
Near Aisa were Robin and Laki, who had somehow ended up together at some point...
Storm stopped monitoring Skypiea and turned his attention to the White-White Sea below.
Several bolts of lightning shot into the sea, homing in with pinpoint accuracy on a few Skyfish.
Zap—
Faint, twisting arcs of electricity spread through the Sea Cloud as several massive Skyfish slowly floated to the surface.
Storm returned to Skypiea with the enormous Skyfish in tow.
The feast began!
The Shandians gathered together, singing, dancing, and reveling in joy.
Meanwhile, Gan Fall, the former god of Skypiea whom Storm had tossed out earlier, reappeared with his pet bird.
Storm merely glanced at Gan Fall before ignoring him entirely.
He didn't bother keeping tabs on what happened to the old man afterward.
In fact,
Gan Fall and his pet Pierre had been flung into the White-White Sea by clay tentacles.
Though they hadn't encountered the "Sky Lampreys" Storm had mentioned,
they had still faced a life-threatening crisis.
Gan Fall, known as the "Sky Knight," couldn't actually fly.
He owed his title entirely to Pierre, the bird who had eaten the [Horse-Horse Fruit].
And the White-White Sea had a suppressive effect on Devil Fruit users.
Even birds that have eaten a Devil Fruit can have their abilities affected by the White-White Sea.
Pierre was thrown into the White-White Sea and turned into a flightless land bird (or should we say, a "dry bird"?).
At that critical moment,
if Gan Fall hadn't swiftly pulled out a Wind Dial to stabilize himself with its thrust,
he might have plummeted straight from the White-White Sea down to the ocean below!
A ten-thousand-meter freefall without a parachute—now that's a thrilling thought.
But Gan Fall narrowly escaped disaster and eventually made his way back to Skypiea.
Storm didn't pay much attention to Gan Fall.
Yet the old man clung to him like stubborn glue.
And it wasn't just him—the Shandian Chief also approached.
"Lord Storm."
The Shandian Chief raised his glass toward Storm. It wasn't filled with alcohol but with the Shandians' specialty—pumpkin juice.
"The old man and I have come together to discuss an important matter with you—"
But before the Shandian Chief could finish,
members of the Shandian warriors, led by Wiper, arrived in a group.
"Lord Storm."
Wiper first bowed respectfully to Storm, then glared furiously at the Shandian Chief and Gan Fall.
"Old man! We've already reclaimed our homeland! Stop trusting Gan Fall!
"He's useless!"
Gan Fall raised his right hand toward the Shandian Chief, signaling him to stay silent.
Then he turned to Wiper—clearly, the two knew each other.
"Wiper, this time, I truly come in peace—"
"Cut the nonsense, old man!"
Wiper's attitude toward Gan Fall was far from "gentle"—he harshly interrupted him.
"What have you Skypieans done to the Shandians for generations?! And now you pretend not to know?!
"This island, once called God's Island, is now Skypiea—given to us Shandians by Lord Storm!
"And you Skypieans dare to come here talking about 'peace'? What a joke!"
Four hundred years ago,
due to the Knock Up Stream, half of Jaya was launched into the sky, landing in the White-White Sea.
In the skies ten thousand meters above, "soil"—the precious resource needed to grow crops and plants—was more valuable than any treasure.
So the Skypieans of that time launched a war, invading Jaya and seizing it from the Shandians.
As for the Shandians, they were forcibly driven out of Jaya.
The island was then renamed "Upper Yard" by the Skypieans—also known as "God's Island."
For the next four hundred years,
the Shandians fought relentlessly to reclaim Jaya from the Skypieans, but they never succeeded.
About two years ago,
Gan Fall, then still the God of Skypiea, entered the Shandian village, proposing a peace treaty between the Skypieans and the Shandians.
But Wiper immediately rejected the idea.
And then…
Nothing came of it…
Because Enel arrived…
The people of Birka couldn't care less about the war between "Skypieans" and "Shandians."
In the eyes of their god, all other living beings were mere insects.
Under the oppressive rule of Enel's lightning,
the peace negotiations between the Shandians and Skypieans fell apart.
Now, Enel is dead.
Gan Fall could no longer bear to see the continued bloodshed between the Skypieans and the Shandians.
The Shandian chieftain, too, wished to prevent his young tribesmen from being completely blinded by the hatred of the past.
Both had intended to seek Storm's help—the man who had defeated Enel—to mediate the conflict between the Shandians and the Skypieans.
But Wiper, as always, rejected Gan Fall's plea for peace.
"An eye for an eye! A tooth for a tooth!"
Wiper glared at the two elders of the old era, while his fellow warriors stood united behind him, sharing their leader's resolve.
"If you want peace, pay for it with the heads of your Skypieans!"
--Support me in Patreon for more chapters 35+ chapters in there
patreon.com/LegendaryTL
Thanks!