The group walked carefully around the rugged mountain ridge, keeping a close eye on their surroundings. Once they completely bypassed the massive rocky structure, thunderstorms began to appear in their path once again. However, the weather in this specific area was noticeably different from the deadly coast. The lightning strikes here were sparse and scattered. They only struck the ground from time to time, lacking the endless fury of the main storm. If the terrifying thunderstorms they saw earlier at the front of the island were considered a torrential downpour, the lightning in this hidden area could only be described as a light, annoying drizzle.
Suddenly, a stray bolt of lightning shot down from the dark clouds above, aiming straight for the group. Carl reacted instantly. He raised his massive, door-sized giant sword and manipulated the heavy weapon to block the falling strike. The bright white lightning crashed violently against the flat surface of the blade. Electric arcs crackled and sparked non-stop across the metal, illuminating the dark path. The raw power behind the strike was actually quite decent, easily enough to seriously injure an ordinary person. But as the electricity faded into the air, Carl could not help but frown. There was something very strange about this lightning. It gave him a weird, unnatural feeling, as if something fundamental was completely wrong with the energy. However, in that short amount of time, Carl could not figure out exactly what the problem was. He decided to temporarily put the complicated question aside and focus on their current pursuit.
The bright flash of the thunder provided a sudden glimmer of light in the gloomy environment. Through that brief illumination, everyone in the group managed to see a familiar figure in the distance. The old woman who sold them the umbrellas was still staggering forward on the uneven dirt path. She held one of her special umbrellas high above her head to shield herself from the occasional strikes. The Straw Hat crew and the Heart Pirates followed her quietly, making sure not to make any loud noises. As the old woman continued to walk deeper into the island, the density of the thunderstorms in the sky began to slowly increase. The light drizzle of lightning was gradually turning into a heavy, dangerous storm once more.
After walking for an unknown amount of time, the old woman finally passed through a dense wall of thunderstorms. Beyond the curtain of deadly lightning, she entered a small, hidden settlement.
There was an actual village located in this terrifying place.
This small village, much like the grand castle on the distant mountain peak, was completely surrounded by a dense ring of violent lightning. However, there was a major difference in how the electricity behaved. The castle on the mountain seemed to be actively protected by the lightning, keeping the strikes away from its stone walls. In contrast, this poor village seemed to be trapped and blocked by the lightning, as if the storm was a prison wall meant to keep the poor residents inside.
Chopper stood behind Carl and peered at the dangerous wall of electricity. He tugged nervously on his own fur and looked up at the older man.
"Mr. Carl, are we really going to go in there? It looks incredibly dangerous."
"Of course we have to go in. If we turn back now, wouldn't our entire trip be in vain?"
As he spoke, Carl took the lead and walked forward with confident steps. After moving forward a short distance, he reached the exact spot where the lightning strikes were the absolute densest. Without any hesitation, he raised one of his hands high above his head. The violent lightning descending from the sky seemed to answer a silent command. All the electrical energy immediately shifted its course and surged directly into the palm of his hand. He absorbed the deadly strikes effortlessly.
Because of his actions, a completely safe road leading straight into the village was formed. The deadly barrier of electricity was broken.
Zoro and the rest of the group did not hesitate for a single second. They trusted Carl completely and hurried through the safe passage he created, stepping onto the muddy ground of the hidden village.
As soon as the group set foot inside the settlement, a sudden commotion broke out. The wooden doors of the small houses banged open. People rushed out from their homes into the muddy streets. There were men, women, the elderly, and young children. Every single one of them was holding some kind of crude farming tool. They carried iron pickaxes, rusty shovels, and wooden pitchforks. Moving quickly, the large group of villagers surrounded Carl, Zoro, and the others.
An old man stepped out from the front of the crowd. He had a thick white beard covering his face and leaned heavily on a wooden cane. His tone was highly vigilant and filled with deep apprehension as he shouted at the intruders.
"Who are you people? What are you doing entering our village?"
Although the villagers all looked incredibly menacing with their weapons raised, the pirate crew quickly noticed the truth. If they looked closely at the angry crowd, they could easily see that the hands holding the pickaxes and shovels were trembling violently. The people were obviously very scared of the outsiders.
This reaction surprised everyone in the group. The Straw Hat crew did not think they looked particularly vicious or evil. Furthermore, these isolated villagers did not seem to recognize the pirates or know anything about their famous bounties. Yet, the villagers were still deeply frightened. It was obvious that there was something very wrong with this island and the people living on it.
However, the pirates had to respect the courage of these people. To dare to come out with simple farming tools in such a frightening situation proved their determination. It was clear that the villagers desperately wanted to protect their home, even if they were terrified.
Before Carl or anyone else could introduce themselves to the angry crowd, a familiar voice called out. The old woman who sold them the umbrellas earlier pushed her way through the villagers and recognized the group immediately.
"Are you the people who bought my umbrellas just a little while ago? Since you purchased the umbrellas, you could have safely gone directly to the main island from the front coast. Why did you come all the way to this hidden area? Besides, you were secretly following me the entire time. What exactly is your purpose?"
Hearing the old woman's words, the surrounding villagers became even more agitated. They took another step forward, tightening their circle in a desperate attempt to intimidate Carl and the other pirates.
Carl simply shrugged his shoulders in a relaxed manner and spoke slowly to the frightened crowd.
"A few members of our crew did indeed land on the island from the front coast. But I personally thought your actions were highly suspicious, so I decided to follow you. I honestly did not expect that there would be so few lightning strikes on this specific side of the coast. And I definitely did not expect to find an entire village hidden away in this place."
The villagers suddenly became much more nervous. Their eyes darted around in panic, and they took another aggressive step forward, gripping their shovels tightly as if they were about to attack.
Fortunately, the bearded old man leaning on the crutches raised his free hand high in the air. The simple gesture immediately stopped the villagers from moving forward. He then turned his intense gaze back to Carl and asked a direct question.
"Are you people pirates?"
"Well, yes, we are pirates."
"Are you planning to rob this village and hurt our people?"
"You guys are really overthinking this entire situation. If your village is this incredibly poor, what could we possibly find here to steal? Even if we wanted to commit a robbery, we would just go and loot that massive castle on the mountain instead. Does that make sense?"
The old man was completely choked by the blunt response.
Carl's words were extremely direct and a bit heart-wrenching. The truth was that the village was so incredibly poor that even the most greedy pirates in the world would not bother to rob them. It could only be said that their living conditions were in a truly miserable state. Just looking at the crumbling, rotting wooden houses and the patched clothes of the residents showed exactly how deeply poor this settlement was.
However, when Carl casually mentioned the large castle on the mountain, the old man flinched. He was visibly startled for a brief moment before he immediately forced his face to return to its previous stern look.
The exact same reaction occurred among the rest of the villagers. When they heard the word castle, all of them immediately lowered their heads in silence. Not a single person dared to speak.
Carl knew immediately that there was a massive problem regarding that specific location. He decided to press the issue further.
"Old man, my crew and I want to go up to that castle on the mountain. I do not know if there is a convenient path to go directly to the peak. Could one of you be kind enough to show us the way?"
This simple request completely terrified the villagers.
With a collective gasp of sheer panic, the majority of the villagers dropped their shovels and pickaxes. They turned around and sprinted back to their crumbling houses as fast as their legs could carry them. The sounds of heavy wooden doors slamming shut and wooden windows being locked echoed rapidly through the muddy streets. They acted as if a deadly plague or a terrible monster was about to descend upon their homes.
Within seconds, the muddy street was completely empty. Only the old man with the thick beard leaning on his crutches and the old woman who sold the umbrellas remained standing in place.
Tashigi stepped forward, her eyes wide with genuine confusion as she looked at the empty street.
"What exactly is the situation here? Is that castle really that scary to your people?"
"Stop talking! Please, you must stop talking immediately! The god of this island lives up there in that castle. The god absolutely cannot be profaned. If you anger him, everyone here will be brutally killed by his divine wrath! I am begging you on my knees, please leave this place quickly. Do not involve our poor village in your reckless actions!"
It was this exact situation all over again.
Carl and Zoro slowly turned their heads and looked directly at each other. They had both experienced this kind of intense religious fear before. There was a very strong feeling of returning to the sky island of Skypiea. Back then, the innocent residents of the sky island did not dare to say anything bad or commit any blasphemy against the false god Enel. They were absolutely terrified of even speaking casually, always fearing that their words would be heard by the tyrannical ruler who controlled the lightning.
The current situation in this hidden village was almost completely identical.
However, there was a major logical inconsistency that Carl could not easily ignore. Within the rules of their world, the terrible power of the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, the Logia Devil Fruit that controlled thunder, had been eaten by Sanji. Furthermore, the power of the Electric Fruit had been eaten by Carl himself. So, what exactly was causing the endless lightning on this specific island? Could a storm of this massive scale truly be formed entirely by natural weather phenomena in the New World? Or was there some other kind of unknown Devil Fruit ability that could produce such powerful, endless lightning?
Carl could not understand the mystery at all.
But because it was so mysterious, the situation seemed to be getting more and more interesting by the second. Everyone in the pirate group now wanted to visit that mountain castle more than ever.
If there really was a so-called god sitting up there, they would just climb the mountain and knock him down directly. Anyway, it would definitely not be the first time the Straw Hat crew had done something like this. In the eyes of Luffy's crew, the so-called gods of the world were nothing more than ordinary people who possessed a great amount of physical strength or a powerful Devil Fruit ability. There was absolutely no enemy in the world that could not be defeated with enough willpower and strong fists.
Zoro placed his hand casually on the hilt of his swords and made a straightforward proposal.
"In this case, let us just go directly to the castle. Once we get inside, everything will be clear."
"Yes. Then let us head directly to the castle."
There was absolutely no objection from anyone in the group.
When the old man on the crutches and the old woman selling umbrellas heard those words, their eyes widened in total shock. They simply could not expect these strange outsiders to be so incredibly bold. Even after hearing about the deadly god, they still wanted to march right up to that dangerous castle. To the two elders, these young pirates seemed like a group of completely desperate, suicidal fools.
It was just that it was not easy for the two old villagers to meddle in the affairs of these powerful outsiders. They knew it was not safe for them to say too much and risk bringing the pirates' anger upon themselves.
However, before the group departed for the mountain, Carl turned his attention back to the two elders. He asked a simple question with a polite smile on his face.
"You two elders, before we leave, I really want to know what exactly is going on with those special umbrellas. Why are your umbrellas able to completely keep the lightning away?"
The expressions on the faces of the old man and the old woman instantly turned bitter. They knew deep down that they would eventually be asked this exact question by the outsiders.
The two elders truly did not want to answer the question or reveal the secrets of their island. But they could clearly see that these powerful pirates were not easy people to mess with. They were a group of fearless, desperate fighters who were willing to challenge a god. If the elders refused to answer or gave a bad explanation, the pirates might become angry, and that anger might severely affect the safety of the entire village.
The old man let out a long, heavy sigh and leaned on his cane.
"It is a very long story. If you do not mind, please come inside my house, and I will tell you everything slowly."