At the same time—Sabaody Archipelago, Area 43: the specialty goods and tourist district.
A sea of bustling crowds, bubbles drifting in every color, and bizarre merchandise from all corners of the world came together to form a scene of overwhelming liveliness.
Yet amid all this noise and color, two figures stood out as profoundly out of place.
Bartholomew Kuma—his massive frame nearly occupying an entire custom-made bench—sat quietly with a Bible in his hands. He was utterly still, a stark contrast to the flowing tide of laughter and joy around him.
Beside him sat Enel, his expression openly irritated. One leg was crossed over the other, his golden staff casually resting against his shoulder as he listlessly swept his gaze across the surrounding crowd—"inferior" and "noisy" mortals, in his eyes.
"Hey, big guy."Enel finally lost his patience and jabbed Kuma's arm with the tip of his golden staff."Do we really have to sit around here waiting? This god's time is extremely valuable, you know!"
Hearing Enel's complaint, Kuma slowly withdrew his gaze from a nearby shop overflowing with plush toys—especially bear-shaped ones—and gently turned his head, lowering his eyes to look at the short-tempered "god" beside him.
The moment Kuma looked over, Enel instinctively dispersed into lightning, flickering away in elemental form. Only after confirming that Kuma made no further move did he exhale in relief and flash back into place.
"There's no need to be so tense," Kuma said calmly. "We're already at Sabaody."
That only made Enel angrier.
"Tense?!" Enel snapped, jerking his head up as he glared at Kuma."Why the hell do you think I'm tense—don't you have a conscience?!Damn it, on the way here alone, you tried to slap my head with that freak hand of yours one hundred and twenty times!If this god hadn't had fast reactions, strong Observation Haki, and instant elemental escape, wouldn't you have succeeded by now?!You'd better explain yourself today—what the hell are you trying to do?!"
Faced with Enel's furious interrogation, Kuma's usually unreadable face remained gentle—though to Enel, it looked utterly fake—as he replied seriously,
"I just saw a mosquito."
Enel: "..."
He felt his blood pressure spike straight through the roof.
A suffocating pressure clogged his chest, and he nearly burst out with a full-blown Thunder God's Roar on the spot.
"A… a mosquito?!" Enel exploded."What kind of lunatic swats mosquitoes with a palm that gathers a repulsive force strong enough to deflect everything—with a whistling shockwave, and enough power to smash someone's head into their chest?! Huh?!"
He pointed at Kuma, his finger trembling violently. He stammered for a long moment, yet still failed to assemble any coherent words to refute such an outrageously absurd excuse.
"Could you at least try when you make up excuses, you bastard?!"
"…Swatting a fly."
"..."
At that moment, Enel understood.
This big guy might look honest on the outside—but cut him open, and he was definitely pitch-black inside.
Fuming, Enel turned his head away, hugged his golden staff to his chest, and sulked in silence. He decided that until Straw Hat and his crew showed up, he would not say a single word to this "scheming" giant.
Kuma watched Enel puff up like an angry pufferfish and smiled faintly.
Then he once again shifted his gaze toward the plush toy shop, seemingly giving serious thought to whether he should buy a new gift for Bonney—or perhaps pick up an apple candy skewer to ease the one-sided tension with his colleague.
And so, just as Kuma's massive body rose from the bench—about to head toward a nearby stall to buy an apple candy skewer and slightly calm the "god's" rage—
"Silence! Clear the way!"
A sharp, authoritative shout echoed from both ends of the street.
Immediately afterward, two squads of World Government guards in ornate armor, halberds in hand, jogged in and swiftly sealed off the street, brutally driving the crowd away.
The once-noisy avenue fell deathly silent in an instant.
Every merchant and passerby—locals and visiting pirates alike—turned pale as fear seized their throats. One after another, they dropped to their knees, foreheads pressed tightly against the ground, not daring to lift their heads even slightly.
In that instant, the entire street was left with only two figures still upright.
Kuma, who had just stood up—
And Enel, still sitting arrogantly on the bench, his face full of impatience.
They stood out like a pair of glaring blemishes.
Then, a cold and haughty female voice rang out.
"You two…"
A woman clad in the signature white attire of the Celestial Dragons, a bubble helmet enclosing her head, approached slowly amid a retinue of deferential guards and slaves.
She wore sunglasses that concealed the upper half of her face. Beneath the oxygen mask, however, an exquisitely made silk scarf unusually covered her mouth and nose, leaving only a pair of cold, scrutinizing eyes exposed.
She was none other than the current head of the Roswald family—Saint Charlia.
Years ago, when she was still young, her father and elder brother had been pushed forward by the World Government to quell the fallout after Gern Reginald Sigmar's battle with Saint Figarland Garling forced the Government into concession—and were subsequently executed.
As the only remaining direct heir of the Roswald family aside from her mother, Charlia had naturally inherited the position of family head.
That experience had granted her privileges even greater than those enjoyed by ordinary Celestial Dragons.
As a result, she harbored an especially deep hatred—and killing intent—toward anyone who dared challenge the authority of the Celestial Dragons.
Now, as she stared at the two "filthy commoners" standing boldly in the middle of the street—who had not knelt, and who even dared look directly at her—
Especially the man who remained seated, whose eyes showed not a trace of reverence but instead blatant irritation—
Her brows knitted tightly beneath her mask, a surge of displeasure boiling within her.
"You see me," Saint Charlia said coldly,"yet you do not kneel. Why?"
Enel had already been in a foul mood. Seeing this inexplicable woman appear and instantly force all the "mortals" around him to their knees—then question him from a position of lofty superiority—sent his irritation straight past the breaking point.
He was the god who commanded lightning, who looked down upon all beings!
What was this woman with a glass dome over her head, hiding behind layers of coverings?!
The moment Saint Charlia's words fell, Enel snapped his gaze upward, staring straight back at her without the slightest retreat. His voice dripped with absolute contempt as he shot back,
"What about us?"
He even tilted his head deliberately, twirling the golden staff once in his hand, producing a faint slicing whistle through the air.
"Kneel? To you?"
"Believe it or not, give me three seconds, and I'll have you kneeling and calling me Daddy, trash."