A sharp whistling sound cut through the distant sky.
"Hm?"
Sanji and Rhen looked up at the same time, instantly shifting into guarded stances.
Several figures were rapidly approaching, flying from the Upper Yard.
At the front was an elderly man in knight's armor, riding a massive spotted bird.
Close behind him was a Shandian warrior with a huge Burn Bazooka strapped to his back, eyes sharp and fierce!
There were also several small boats propelled by Wind Dials, carrying a few familiar faces.
"It's them!" Nami jumped up in delight.
The elderly knight let out his peculiar laugh, spotting Nami immediately.
"Oh! It's the Straw Hat crew's navigator!"
"Sir Gan Fall!" Nami waved excitedly.
Soon, everyone landed on the Weatheria's deck.
Leading them were none other than Gan Fall, the current "God" of Skypiea, and Wyper.
Behind them followed Conis and her father, Pagaya, as well as the little girl Aisa, who could use Mantra, all of them looking tense.
"Navigator! Are you all right?"
Gan Fall asked anxiously. "That terrifying lightning just now… that presence…"
"It was Enel!"
Wyper cut him off, his hawk-like eyes already locked onto the "rice dumpling" hanging from the mast.
"He's back!"
Wyper's muscles tensed instantly as he gripped the Reject Dial at his waist, bracing for battle.
"Ah!"
When Conis and Pagaya recognized the face, they clutched each other in terror and screamed.
"It's Him! H-He… why is he here?!"
"D-Don't… don't be afraid!"
Though Aisa was trembling too, her powerful Mantra told her something unbelievable.
"That… that scary voice… it's gone!"
She pointed at Enel. "He… he seems… silent!"
"Silent?" Wyper froze.
Gathering his courage, he approached the mast step by step.
He saw the Seastone chains glimmering with a strange light.
He saw Enel's mouth taped shut, his face turning slightly purple from suffocation.
He saw the clear fist and boot marks all over Enel's body.
Wyper reached out and, very carefully, poked Enel's face.
Soft.
No resistance.
"…."
Wyper fell silent.
Slowly, he turned around to face the two unfamiliar men on the deck,
A curly-browed cook wearing a "gentlemanly" smile, and a fat man expressionlessly polishing his glasses.
"H-He…" Wyper's voice trembled faintly, "…you did this?"
"Oh, you mean this long-eared bastard?"
Sanji flicked his ash away and struck what he thought was his coolest pose, especially angled toward Conis.
"He claimed to be some kind of 'god' and was disturbing the ladies' rest, so we casually… took care of him."
"C-Casually… took care of…?"
Wyper, Gan Fall, Pagaya, froze.
The tyrant who had plagued Skypiea for years.
The unstoppable natural disaster.
The "god" who nearly sent all of Skypiea crashing down…was described as something they'd "casually taken care of"?
"Hahahahahaha!!"
Gan Fall was the first to react. He suddenly threw his head back and laughed, tears streaming down his face.
"Wonderful! This is wonderful!!!"
Pagaya and Conis followed, bursting into tears of joy. "We're saved… we're really saved!"
"Waaah… waaah!" Little Aisa broke down crying outright.
"The light… it's back!"
Even Wyper, the iron-blooded warrior, had tears welling in his eyes. He turned sharply and dropped to one knee before Sanji and Rhen, the highest salute of a Shandian warrior.
"I am Wyper of the Shandians! I thank you both… for bringing true peace to our homeland!!"
"H-Hey! What are you doing?!"
Sanji panicked and rushed to help him up.
"Please accept our bow!"
Gan Fall and all the Skypieans bowed deeply to Sanji and Rhen in unison.
"You are the saviors of Skypiea!!"
This sudden display left both Sanji and Rhen completely at a loss.
"N-No… we just… wanted to protect Miss Nami…" Sanji scratched his head awkwardly.
"We were merely executing 'efficiency,'" Rhen added coolly, adjusting his glasses. "Ensuring navigational safety by eliminating all unstable factors."
"No! This is different!"
Gan Fall straightened, his voice shaking with emotion.
"Heroes! The people of Skypiea cannot repay this debt!"
He waved his hand. "Men! Quickly, bring up all the 'gifts' we prepared!"
Soon, Shandian warriors carried several large chests onto the deck.
"These are Skypiea specialties!"
Conis wiped her tears and smiled. "Cloud Sea dried fish, pumpkin noodles, and our sweetest Skypiea fruit wine!"
"Ohhh! Brand-new ingredients!" Sanji's chef soul ignited instantly, eyes blazing.
Rhen nodded as well, these supplies were classified as A-grade rare items on the G-5 logistics list.
"No. This is not enough."
Gan Fall shook his head. He stepped forward and exchanged a look with Wyper, both seeing the same resolute gratitude in each other's eyes.
With unprecedented solemnity, Gan Fall spoke:
"Heroes. Previously, Navigator's companion, Straw Hat Luffy, rang the Golden Bell and ended a four-hundred-year war. For that, they took a massive golden pillar as the rightful spoils of adventurers."
Hearing this, Nami subconsciously touched the Log Pose on her wrist, feeling a wave of nostalgia and a tiny bit of pride.
"But today!"
Gan Fall's voice suddenly rose. He pointed at Enel on the mast, fear and fury mingling in his tone.
"This tyrant's return was not 'war', it was annihilation! If not for your intervention, our people, our homeland that had just found peace, would have been completely erased today!"
Wyper stepped forward, his voice hoarse.
"What you saved was everything in Skypiea. This debt cannot be measured by mere 'spoils.'"
Gan Fall took a deep breath, as if making the most important decision of his life.
"We have jointly decided!"
"We will take the Golden City that has slept for four hundred years beneath."
"And gift half of all its gold reserves… to the two saviors!!"
"..."
"..."
"..."
The deck fell into a deathly silence, so still that even the wind seemed to stop.
The cigarette slipped from Sanji's mouth and hit the deck with a clatter.
Rhen's hand froze mid-wipe on his glasses.
Even Nami, who had been lost in memories of adventure, went completely blank.
She… she had heard what?
"G-G-Gan-sama…"
Sanji's voice was utterly distorted as he picked up his cigarette with shaking hands, unable to put it back in his mouth.
"H-Half… of the… Golden City…?"
Rhen pushed up his cracked glasses, lenses flashing dangerously. Slowly… he pulled out a small notebook and pen.
"Um… Sir Gan Fall."
For the first time, Rhen's voice was violently trembling.
"Could you… estimate the exact tonnage of the total gold reserves? We… need to calculate transport 'efficiency'…"
Before he could finish,
"WAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!"
A scream that pierced the clouds, sharper even than the collapse of Thunder God Amaru, exploded across the deck!
It wasn't Sanji.
It wasn't Rhen.
It was Nami.
Her beautiful brown eyes had completely transformed into wildly spinning, golden Beri symbols ($o$)!
It was as if two hundred million volts had struck her soul; her body went rigid, hair standing on end, mouth stretched to its limit!
"H-H-Half???"
"The… the… Golden City???"
"T-That… that's HOW MUCH MONEY IS THAT, AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!"
At that moment, Nami's brain was utterly annihilated by the number.
She wasn't happy for Sanji and Rhen.
She wasn't jealous either.
She was simply a navigator with Beri engraved into her soul, and upon hearing such an astronomical figure, her body had… instinctively… crashed.
"Nami-san!!!"
Seeing Nami about to faint from happiness, Sanji instantly turned into a whirlwind and caught her in the most gentlemanly manner.
"Nami-san! Did you hear that?! Half of the Golden City! My half, no! My entire half, is yours!!!"
"S-Shut… shut up… curly-brow…"
Using the last shred of reason she had left, Nami pushed Sanji away tremblingly and teleported in a zombie-like hop right in front of Gan Fall.
She grabbed the old knight's armor with both hands, her eyes glowing with inhuman golden light!
"Gan… F-Fall… Sir…"
"What you just said… was… half… right?"
"F-Fifty percent… right?"
"That entire… underground… Golden City… that we saw with our own eyes… right?!"
"Y-Yes… yes."
Gan Fall retreated repeatedly, terrified by Nami's aura. "That is our unanimous decision…"
"KYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!"
Upon receiving confirmation, Nami could no longer hold on. She let out a cry of blissful despair, rolled her eyes back, and collapsed straight backward, an angelic, utterly satisfied smile on her face.
Sanji, Haredas, and the others rushed over in chaos.
Only Rhen retained the final shred of sanity.
.....
If you enjoy the story, my p@treon is 30 chapters ahead.
[email protected]/DaoistJinzu