Top-tier level… and far from the only one…
So he, Enel, wasn't any kind of god at all—just someone who'd happened to obtain a powerful ability and then drowned himself in his own delusions… a pathetic fool!
"Ha… hahahaha…"
Enel let out a strange laugh, full of self-mockery and bitterness.
If… if there really are that many strong people in the Blue Sea…
If… he couldn't even defeat the woman in front of him…
Then what was the point of staying on this Sky Island, clinging to this self-deceiving dream of being a "god"?
He had to get stronger. He had to become even stronger. Strong enough that he would never be defeated by anyone again. Strong enough to truly be worthy of the name "god"!
At the very least, he couldn't keep being someone who could be casually beaten down like today—a laughable existence!
That thought suddenly surged up in Enel's heart. He lifted his head and looked at Teresa.
"Hey! Woman!" Enel's voice was a bit hoarse. "Down there in the Blue Sea… are you the strongest?!"
Teresa finally turned around to look at him properly. Faced with that question, she only gave a faint smile; she neither admitted it nor denied it.
Enel drew in a deep breath, as if making some firm decision, and locked his gaze tightly onto Teresa.
"I… I want to go to the Blue Sea with you!" He practically roared the words. "Take me away from this sky! I want to go to that great sea! I want to become stronger—so strong that I'll never be beaten by anyone again! So strong that I can crush the 'many' people you talked about!"
In that moment, Enel abandoned the dignity he once had as a god. He wanted only one thing now: to become stronger.
If Ronan were here, he would definitely be shocked by Enel's attitude. Perhaps because Enel was still young, he still had the desire to grow stronger, rather than, like more than ten years later, getting defeated by the Straw Hat crew and then running off to hide on the moon.
Tesoro stared at Enel in surprise. He hadn't expected this arrogant "god of Sky Island" to change his stance so much in such a short time.
Teresa quietly looked at Enel for a few seconds.
"Follow me?" The corners of Teresa's mouth lifted slightly.
"Fine. But I don't need dead weight by my side, and I definitely don't need someone who spends all day calling himself a god. If you want to follow me, be ready for defeats ten times more painful than today. You might even die."
Her tone was very calm. At first, she hadn't thought much of Enel at all.
But the fact that this guy could overturn the mindset he'd cultivated for years in such a short period—that, in Teresa's eyes, was very impressive.
Besides, he was a Logia-type Devil Fruit user. If he learned Haki, and on top of that received her training, he would definitely become a powerful aid to Ronan-sama in a short time.
Enel clenched his teeth and gave a heavy nod, with not the slightest hint of retreat in his eyes.
"I won't lose again! At least… I won't lose this miserably ever again! Take me with you!"
Teresa said nothing more and simply turned away. Seeing this, Enel immediately followed after her, not showing even a trace of reluctance toward the Sky Island behind him.
Tesoro watched Enel staggering to keep up with Teresa's footsteps, shook his head, and followed as well.
He knew this sea was about to welcome another incredibly troublesome figure with huge potential. After all, the guy was a Rumble-Rumble Fruit user. Across this entire sea, Logia-type users were very few, and every single one of them was a top-tier powerhouse whose name shook their territory.
"You came to this island chasing that legend about gold, didn't you?"
Trailing behind Teresa, Enel suddenly remembered how they had been asking around about that matter all over the village.
"That's right. We followed this map to get here! But what we saw looked nothing like what's on the map."
As he spoke, Tesoro pulled out the map of the Golden City and handed it to Enel.
After looking over the map, Enel finally understood where they had been trying to go.
"This is Sky Island Birka. The island on your map is Angel Island—you've come to the wrong place."
"The wrong place?" Tesoro finally understood why this island looked nothing like the one on the map.
"The place you want to go, I know where it is. I'll take you there."
As Enel spoke to Tesoro and Teresa, he led them toward the direction of the ark he'd built.
After all, Angel Island was not exactly close, and they were in the sky. Over the years, on Birka, Enel had spent a long time building an ark that could sail through the air, driven by his own power.
When she saw Enel's ark, Teresa remained quite calm, but Tesoro was a little speechless.
On the side of the vessel was a huge character for "god." Tesoro couldn't help feeling that this guy's obsession with being a god ran way too deep.
"So hung up on it, huh…"
Enel led Teresa and Tesoro aboard the ark. Under the drive of his lightning, the ship slowly started up and headed toward the Golden City marked on the map.
Lulusia Kingdom, inside the royal palace
Through a Den Den Mushi, Ronan also learned that Enel had joined up with Tesoro and the others. When he heard the news, he was stunned.
He hadn't expected Tesoro's group to have gone to a Sky Island, much less that they would encounter a young Enel and even fight him.
"That arrogant guy actually lowered his head for the sake of getting stronger?"
In Ronan's impression, Enel's personality was extremely nasty. Was it because he hadn't yet become the "god" of that Sky Island from the story?
Still, whatever the reason, the man was a Logia-type Devil Fruit user, and the destructive power of the Rumble-Rumble Fruit was enormous. Ronan could understand why Teresa would consider bringing him back.
Ronan's mood, however, didn't shift much just because of the news about Enel.
Right now, he was in the middle of training his Observation Haki under Beth and Alicia's guidance.
Everything that had happened recently had given Ronan a strong sense of crisis. He couldn't rely on Beth and the others for everything. There were far too many powerful people in this world; Ronan needed some ability to protect himself. He couldn't depend on others for every little thing.
Ever since the panel had raised his Armament Haki to Proficient, Ronan had been thinking about how to use Observation Haki.
But no matter what type of Haki it was, it had to be developed through one's own effort.
So whenever he had time, Ronan asked Beth and the others to coach him.
Calling it "coaching" was one thing, but in reality it was just him and Beth fighting. In Ronan's mind, even if his comprehension wasn't on the level of the story's main character, as long as he kept training without stopping, he would eventually learn Observation Haki. Once he learned it, he could use the panel to raise its level and quickly push his Haki usage up to the level of those New World powerhouses.
Of course, Conqueror's Haki was the one exception. That was something effort alone couldn't get you; it was something you were born with in your blood.
Even though he was a member of the royal family, there had never been a single recorded case of anyone in this kingdom's royal line Awakening Conqueror's Haki.
Ronan had never really expected himself to possess Conqueror's Haki anyway. In this whole world, only a few people had that ability, and every one of them was a powerhouse whose very name shook the New World.
(End of Chapter)
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