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"Did you really think you could eliminate me?" Enel let out a hearty laugh before suddenly stopping. "Do you have any idea who you're talking to?"
I gripped my whip tighter, staring down the so-called god.
"The old man fighting for Skypiea, the warrior fighting for his homeland, and pirates from the Blue Sea who want nothing more than to steal gold—everything here is full of sin," Enel declared.
"Enough nonsense!" Gan Fall yelled, his voice full of anger. "Tell us what you want!"
"I simply wish to return to where I belong—to a place fit for a god. They call it the Fairy Vearth," Enel replied, a smug look on his face. "This dismal piece of land is not worthy of me. This whole island defies nature."
Could he mean… I thought to myself, a pit forming in my stomach. "You wouldn't," I whispered.
"I am a god. I can do whatever I want," Enel boasted, a cruel smile on his face. "I'll be sending all of you back to where you belong!"
"You want to destroy this place!" Gan Fall shouted, his face a mask of disbelief. "Do you think that highly of yourself, Enel? 'God' is nothing but a title used to refer to the ruler of Skypiea!"
"That was before I came along," Enel gloated.
This guy's insane. He really thinks he's surpassed humanity, I thought, my mind racing. "This world doesn't need a god!" I yelled.
"If you're worried about your militia, former God Gan Fall, you should know that after they lost to my army, I put them to work," Enel explained. "This morning, they finished their 'job.' As I said earlier, the only people still standing on this island are the seven of us."
My eyes darted to Nami and the unconscious Rose and Chopper. "Please be alright," I muttered under my breath. As their captain, it was my job to protect them. I wouldn't let this guy near them.
"I didn't want to do it," Enel said with a mock sigh, "but when I told them my plan, they got a little… let's just say upset."
Gan Fall kept muttering to himself about how he was supposed to bring his people home to their families.
"Oh yes, I suppose the families will want burials," Enel mused. "Too bad there isn't much to give them."
Gan Fall thrust forward with his lance. "Gan Fall, don't!" I tried to stop him, but I knew it was useless.
This man wasn't a god. He was nothing but a psychopath.
Enel placed a finger on each side of Gan Fall's head, and as he counted up, lightning began to gather.
"30 MILLION VOLT VARI!"
Gan Fall fell to the ground. There was a huge, burnt hole in his helmet.
Holy shit.
"It's a Devil Fruit!" Zoro pointed out.
"It's most likely the Rumble-Rumble Fruit," Robin said calmly.
Someone read the Devil Fruit encyclopedia, I thought. "He's a Logia, just like Crocodile. He's a lightning human," I explained.
"Good. Now there are six survivors, just like I predicted," Enel said, a wide grin on his face. "Come! I shall now travel to the Fairy Vearth, and you'll all come with me!"
"What if we choose not to go?" Robin asked, her voice steady.
"Why stay? Then you'd fall into the abyss with everyone else in this country," Enel scoffed.
"True, you do possess the power to destroy this country, but doing so would also destroy that," Robin replied, a faint smile on her face.
"Oh, you mean the Golden Bell," Enel said. "Judging from our earlier talk, I already know where it is."
Well, there goes our only leverage.
"You really thought you could trick me? How deceptive," Enel sneered. "I hate deceptive women." In the blink of an eye, Enel's arm jolted out, shooting through Robin's forehead.
"ROBIN!"
I ran and grabbed Robin before she hit the ground. I had made it in time, but she was in bad shape and needed help right away if she was going to make it.
I turned and shot Enel a death glare. "She's not yours to touch. She's mine."
"Yes, I could tell," Enel said simply.
"I'LL KILL YOU!"
I heard Nami scream for me to stop, but I kept going. I needed to test this. I needed to see if we only had one hope.
I ran forward and swung at the man, but my whips went right through his torso. However, I was able to step on his toes with my boots.
Just like I thought.
"You need to be taught a lesson about God," Enel said as he grabbed my whips and wrapped them around his hands. "Losing love and dying are similar, aren't they?"
I felt the sting shoot through the whip cords and into my hands. My whole body felt like it was on fire, and my heart felt like it would explode from the pain.
"AHHHHH! GAAAHH!"
Well, I guess the two are similar.
Nami's POV
Everyone's dying. Rose, Robin, Zoro, even Steve is on the ground. He's going to kill everyone.
"Why do you keep getting up, Wyper? Why are you still fighting?" Enel asked, a hint of genuine curiosity in his voice.
Wyper was barely breathing, covered in blood, but he kept getting up. "For my ancestors and the people who believed in me," he said, blood dripping from his arms. "I… I walked over the bodies of my allies to get here… if I don't kill you… their sacrifices mean nothing…"
"What a ridiculous answer," Enel scoffed. "EL THOR!"
Steve's POV
I don't think I died.
I tried to open my eyes, but they just wouldn't respond. I heard someone. I reached out and grabbed what I was pretty sure was someone's ankle.
"Steve!"
Luffy…
"Luffy, listen, I'm sorry, I couldn't protect everyone," I said, my voice weak.
"It's fine, I'm still here. You don't have to do stuff like that alone," Luffy replied.
"Enel is a lightning man, understand?" I squeezed his leg tighter.
"I get it, I gotta go," Luffy said, gently putting my hand down.
"One last thing," I said, feeling myself slipping away again. "We owe that Bazooka guy… his name's Wyper."
Good luck, Rubber Boy.
Later
I managed to open my eyes and saw that we were no longer in the ruins. We were at the bottom of the beanstalk.
"How'd I get down here?" I mumbled.
"I moved all of you," I looked over and saw Robin sitting not too far from me.
"Oh, thanks."
"Thank you for catching me," she said out of nowhere.
"How'd you know?" I asked.
"I wasn't dead, you know," she replied with a faint smile.
"Then I guess you heard my little exchange with Enel," I said, feeling my cheeks flush with embarrassment.
"Yes, I did," she said, looking away from me.
It keeps getting more awkward.
"Listen, I didn't mean it like you were some kind of property or something," I explained, trying to find the right words. "I just meant you're in my crew, so I have to protect you."
Robin didn't answer. She just nodded her head.
"STEVE! ROBIN!" We looked over and saw Luffy run past, throwing a little girl and a bird at us. "Watch these two!"
"Luffy, what the hell is that thing on your arm!" I asked, looking at the golden ball stuck to him.
He ignored me and headed up to the top of the beanstalk. The little girl, Aisa, told us that Nami was supposed to be on the ship, but she couldn't hear her 'voice' up there.
"We're here!" We looked back and saw Nami and Usopp on the Waver.
"Where's Luffy?" Nami asked, worried.
"He went up there to save you," Aisa told Nami.
"We're running out of time," Usopp said, his voice full of panic. "This place is going to be destroyed!"
"I'll take the Waver and get Luffy. The rest of you go back to the ship," Nami told us.
"No," I told her, looking up the beanstalk. "Nami, you can go help Luffy, but the rest of us will be waiting here."
"What are you talking about? We have to go!" Usopp yelled.
"We won't be going anywhere," I said, my voice firm. "Luffy is going to fight Enel. Whether we wanted to or not, we will have to save this place. We owe him that much." I pointed at Wyper. "Rose told him to get his home back. Since he can't do it, we'll have to do it for him. The only one capable of stopping Enel and freeing this place is Luffy."
"This is ridiculous! We have no reason to die for this place!" Nami exclaimed.
"NAMI! Are you going to disobey my order?" The girl was taken aback by my tone. "We will wait here for Luffy to stop Enel, but you will go help him since he can't catch up with that thing on his arm. Besides, now that Luffy knows that bell is up there, he won't leave until he rings it."
"What are you talking about?" the little girl asked.
"Luffy wants to ring that bell and tell our friend that the City of Gold was up here, not under the sea."
Nami still hadn't left to go help Luffy. "WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR!"
Aisa grabbed the Waver and sped off after Luffy. Lightning struck the ruins around us, but I refused to go back to the ship.
"Fall back a little. It's dangerous to be this close to the beanstalk. Let's back up and wait."
Get the job done, Luffy, or we're all dead.
Wyper just stood there while the rest of us moved back. Aisa kept trying to get him to move back with us, but he just stood there. He ignored the girl and turned to me. "You said something about a Golden Bell."
"It's probably somewhere near the top of the beanstalk," I replied.
A piece of the beanstalk fell from the sky, and I grabbed Wyper, pulling him back.
"I'm so close! The bell is just past there," he stared off. "I'm so close to fulfilling Kalgara's wish. The world will know we're here…"
The sky parted to reveal a huge ball of thunder descending toward the ground. It touched the nearby Skypiea and exploded, leaving nothing behind.
"We're gonna die!" Usopp yelled. "Why won't you let us leave?!"
"Because Luffy will win. We just have to wait for him to ring the bell like he said he would," I told them.
"You mean Luffy wants to ring the bell?" Usopp asked.
"Yes. And once he puts his mind to something, there's no changing it," I said. "Nami can try and go behind my back all she wants and tell Luffy to leave, but he won't go. I know it!"
A leaf fell from the top of the stalk.
"It says to cut the beanstalk," Robin said, looking at the large leaf. "And make it fall west."
The sky opened again, and another ball of lightning began descending. This one was twice as big.
"Come on, we have to hurry," I told them.
Zoro threw Chopper and Rose to Usopp. Then he and I went to cut the stalk. Zoro cut a piece out of the stalk, only to get shocked by lightning.
It's too strong, it won't fall.
That huge snake ran up and slammed into the plant, but even that wasn't enough; it only managed to tilt the stalk.
"I have to ring that bell. Your stupid friend can't do it," Wyper said, lumbering past me.
"Four hundred years ago, a man from our sea found the City of Gold, but no one would believe him," I explained, running after him. "So to this day, his descendant risks his life every day trying to find that city. 'If I can ring the bell, he'll hear it.' That's what my 'stupid' friend thinks. He's going through all this just to deliver a message."
"A message…" Wyper looked confused. "What is this descendant's name?"
"Montblanc Cricket."
"Then that explorer… what was his name? Was it Noland?"
"Yes."
Wyper sprinted past me and pushed Usopp out of his way. He jumped up to the stalk and placed his hand against it.
"REJECT!"
The beanstalk exploded and began to tilt. I wrapped my whips around part of the stalk and pulled.
"Come on, fall! Fall, dammit!"
This damn thing better fall.
The stalk started tilting. I decided that it was a good time to get out of its way. I ran through the ruins, past all the lightning. When I found Zoro, Wyper wasn't far from him, standing there looking at the stalk.
"Come on, we gotta go or we'll be crushed!"
"Shandora will never crumble before you, Enel," Wyper glared. "This world is too vast to be hidden away by you!"
I looked around and saw that only the clouds were being destroyed by the lightning, not the ground itself.
"The strength of this earth will never be destroyed!" Wyper took one last look to the top of the beanstalk. "Now go, Strawhat! Ring the bell!"
The clouds at the top of the stalk suddenly dissipated, and the light shined through.
"GO! Come on, Luffy!"
"Light it! Relight the fire of Shandora, Strawhat! Tell the world we're here!"
BONG
I hear it! Nice job, Luffy.
"Incredible," I whispered, falling back, exhausted.
"Can you hear it, Noland… Kalgara…" Wyper said, looking to the sky with tears in his eyes. "I'm sorry it took so long. I hope this reaches your descendants."