"Monster? You can just call me that!" Yasa yawned and scratched his ear. "Where's the Ark Maxim blueprint?"
He scanned the area and spotted a box on the raised platform before the temple, crafted from the rarest material on Birka Island—gold.
Zzzt!
Electricity crackled in his hand, the electromagnetic force pulling the golden box toward him.
Click!
The treasure chest opened at his command, revealing a stack of thick blueprints inside. Yasa flipped through them, his eyes lighting up.
"Hahaha, the design plans for my Thunder God!" He claimed the blueprints without hesitation, naming his creation the Thunder God.
Though he couldn't read the diagrams, he recognized some components, like the electric engine.
"I've obtained the Rumble-Rumble Fruit and the blueprint. It's time to leave this barren land of Birka," Yasa mused.
He recalled his painstaking preparations—five years of waiting, over a year spent searching for the Rumble-Rumble Fruit. Now everything was in his grasp...
"The sea is where a man belongs, the place where my dreams take flight. Farewell, Birka!" Yasa murmured.
Electric arcs danced around him, crackling with energy. With a stomp of his foot, he shattered the temple roof and soared toward Angel Island.
The blue lightning streaking across the night sky left villagers in awe. Guards who had been frozen in fear now knelt before the villagers, who prostrated themselves and cried out, "Thunder God!"
Enel, hiding behind his cloud house, watched the departing figure in a daze. He couldn't shake the feeling that something precious had been taken from him.
Yasa flew swiftly at low altitude, his speed akin to teleportation. He left only a fleeting blue streak across the sea before vanishing completely.
Long-distance flight really wastes stamina, he mused, sensing his energy drain. And maintaining this velocity doubles the expenditure!
Though exhausting, Yasa remained unconcerned. He knew precisely how enhanced his Electrode-boosted physique had become.
If I returned to the Blue Sea now, I could rival—no, surpass—a Great Pirate with a 300 million bounty! The thought filled him with exhilaration.
This Fruit, worth risking his life for, amplified his power to terrifying heights. It was undoubtedly the Devil Fruit that granted the fastest strength enhancement among all known types.
His gamble had paid off handsomely.
As he raced across the sky, Yasa mentally traced his route from a year ago when he first reached Birka. At this speed, he'd reach Angel Island in about half an hour.
While lightning could travel at near-light speed, Yasa had tested his limits and found his body couldn't withstand such velocities—even in Elemental Transformation form.
If he forced himself to accelerate, his entire body would collapse. He imagined Vice Admiral Kizaru was facing the same dilemma right now.
Speed too fast, physique too weak—reflexes can't keep up, it's all for nothing.
Yasa slightly reduced his speed, conserving energy so he wouldn't be captured immediately upon reaching Angel Island due to exhaustion.
"Ang!"
Unexpectedly, shortly after he slowed down, a Sea King immediately targeted him like a glowing beacon. It opened its massive mouth and intercepted his path.
"Idiot!"
With Yasa's advanced Observation Haki, he had naturally detected the Sea King long ago. He completely ignored it, and a bolt of lightning instantly struck the Sea King's gaping maw.
"Boom!"
The fifty-meter-long Sea King, with its fish head and serpent tail, was blasted through. The part struck by lightning turned to charcoal and fell into the water.
This minor interruption didn't bother Yasa at all. Without even changing expression, he had already left the dead Sea King far behind within seconds, continuing his steady advance toward Angel Island.
As he continued to develop his Rumble-Rumble Fruit ability and maintained his constant training in Observation Haki, the two abilities began to complement each other. Over the past month, his coverage range had reached ten kilometers.
In other words, as long as he activated his Observation Haki, he could perceive every detail within a ten-kilometer radius with perfect clarity.
He would never miss even the slightest change in water currents. This meant that when he ventured into the unpredictable Grand Line and New World, he could use his ability to sense wind patterns and sea currents to act as his own navigator.
"Right now, my Observation Haki is rapidly advancing through its fusion with electromagnetic waves. Within a year or two, my detection range should cover the entire Sky Island. The title of 'Greatest Master of Observation Haki'... I'll claim it without hesitation! Haha."
Yasa felt utterly content. While others risked their lives through decades of grueling training, hoping to become renowned Great Pirates someday, some people could enhance their strength even while sleeping.
Such was the gap...
The world truly had no fairness to speak of. Sometimes, a single stroke of luck could surpass what someone achieves through a lifetime of effort.
Yasa had only awakened his Observation Haki a little over a year ago, accidentally gaining it after arriving on Sky Island. But after consuming the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, his ability multiplied tenfold, then a hundredfold. If word spread, it would make most people on the sea green with envy.
At dawn, sunlight rose to shine upon God's Island Upper-Yard—the only land in the world.
Within the resplendent temple!
"So after sealing off Angel Island's entrances and spending over a year searching every corner, we still haven't found that madman who slaughtered my people?"
Gan Fall, the current God of Sky Island, sat motionless on the divine throne. Clad in silver armor and wielding a knight's spear, his voice held neither joy nor anger. His beard, now streaked with white, hung down as a pink Ten Point Bird perched beside him, lazily preening its feathers.
"Please forgive me, God!" Merrickin, Captain of the God's Guard, knelt on one knee, his voice trembling with fear. "That madman likely has only two paths left. Either he ventured into the depths of the White White Sea to find other cloud islands, or... he aligned himself with the damned Shandia. The killer might even be one of them."
"It couldn't be the Shandia. If it were them, how could they have evaded our surveillance, bypassed Angel Island, and killed Amazon, Abel, and Urouge?" A glint of wisdom flashed in Gan Fall's eyes.
"This..." Merrickin lowered his head further, overwhelmed with shame for failing to identify the culprit despite a year of investigation.
"Intensify patrols and deploy the God's Guard to investigate. We must find this madman who dares defile the wings we Sky Islanders cherish most, and punish him with the Cloud Float Current!" Gan Fall's hand swept through the air as he issued his command.
"Deploy the God's Guard? But what about the Shandia..." Merrickin stammered in confusion.
"That's not your concern. Now go!"
"Yes, sir!"