Pirates: Your emperor has returned!

He was holding a long golden staff in his arms, which was probably his weapon.

"call……"

The man let out a long breath, reached into his pocket, and took out a fresh apple.

He took a bite, and the sweet and sour fruit, mixed with juice, slid down his throat and into his stomach.

That was a delicacy that very few people could enjoy during the war.

But after taking a bite, the man threw the apple away, then yawned boredly and looked towards the distant beach.

There, three people were standing.

"How boring! When will they find me?"

The man's name is Enel. He is the current de facto ruler of Birka and the main initiator of the continuous small-scale wars between Birka and Skypiea.

But he preferred to be called by another name—

god!

……

God is always all-knowing.

Enel had been observing the two Qinghai people for quite some time.

Enel had already discovered their existence from the moment they rode the surging ocean currents to the vicinity of the Sky Island, and then glided to the White Sea in an extremely bizarre way.

After all, one's own "mind network" knows everything!

Not only what happens inside Bika, but even the Sky Island itself can be enveloped within it; nothing can escape its perception.

At first, Enel thought that the group of people were just relatively wealthy adventurers from Qinghai.

He could have ignored it, but out of boredom, Enel unleashed a bolt of lightning from a great distance.

The lightning transformed into a pillar of light, its blinding rays enveloping the ship.

Enel has done this many times before. Most people from Qinghai are blasted into dust on the spot, and the few who are lucky enough to survive are terrified and flee back to the ground in a panic.

But this time Enel miscalculated.

The group easily blocked the first bolt of lightning.

Enel found it strange, so he unleashed another lightning storm, which was again neutralized.

Then, Enel finally got a little serious and summoned countless Thunderballs, wanting to test those Qinghai people.

But something even more surprising happened to Enel.

Two people—just two people.

One person charged into the midst of the thunderstorm and shattered the sky full of lightning.

The other person transformed into countless golden grains of sand, shielding the other people of Qinghai from the aftershocks of the thunderstorm explosion.

Enel finally realized that this group of Qinghai people seemed different from those he had casually gambled away before.

Bored and needing to visit Skypiea, Enel decided to come and meet them in person.

……

The net of the heart unfolded, covering the entire sky.

"Um……"

Enel on the rooftop silently sensed it.

"Most of the people on that ship are far away from here. Have they gotten separated?"

Looking up at the beach, Enel's face lit up with an interested smile, and he muttered to himself:

"It doesn't matter. We don't need to care about that kind of trash. But when will they find me?"

Enel, with a cat-and-mouse mentality—no, more accurately, a "god" fooling "mortals"—continued to observe silently.

……

Crocodile didn't turn around, but instead glanced at the figure on the distant rooftop as if he were an idiot.

No way, someone can really be standing on the roof spying on others!

Crocodile was certain that the man wasn't some idiot with a screw loose, he was just...

Thinking of this, Crocodile glanced at Rowan beside him out of the corner of his eye.

Just like this guy who "clearly sensed it but pretended not to notice," he's a complete megalomaniac!

……

Rowan reached out and gently stroked the tree trunk beside him.

The erosion ability, originating from Crocodile, was activated, but instead of destroying the entire tree, it eroded one of the trunks.

Rowan picked up the tree trunk and used gravel to grind it into a handy spear.

Then, aiming at the sea surface, he threw it with all his might.

call out!

A few seconds later, a giant octopus slowly rose to the surface of the sea, with the wooden gun still stuck in its head.

The octopus, which is considered a "monster" by ordinary people, was killed with a single blow!

Rowan used the sand to form a rope, which stretched out and pulled the octopus back to the shore.

Hab's concerns about food were resolved.

He happily called over many people and asked them to divide the octopus as a temporary food reserve.

No one believed that this sickly-looking young man could catch such a huge octopus, but with the food readily available, they couldn't worry about that now.

Among them were several children that Habu was looking after.

"They either got separated from their parents, or their parents went to fight in the army."

Habu ruffled the hair of one of the little girls and explained to Rowan:

"If it were a teacher, she would also lend a hand."

……

Enel is waiting.

He was waiting for the moment when he would be discovered by those mortals and make a grand entrance.

He was very patient with this.

He watched as the giant octopus was devoured by the mortals. The two Qinghai people and the sky islander then walked along the beach, talking to each other.

"Yehahaha..."

Enel chuckled softly.

That's about enough; it's time to get their attention.

Then, in a flash, he appeared silently behind a tree.

That tree was located right by the sea, on the path that Rowan and the others always took.

After all, he's a capable person from Qinghai. I'm so close to him, there should be some difference between us, right?

Enel is waiting.

After a long while, there was still no movement.

"Ok?"

Enel used his Psychic Sphere to sense what was behind the tree and discovered that the three people simply walked straight past it, seemingly without even noticing him!

Only one person from Qinghai turned his head to look at the tree he was in, but did not investigate further.

"Are those guys idiots?!" Enel thought.

……

"Is that guy an idiot?!" Crocodile thought.

Are you standing so close because you want to be discovered?

Crocodile was very annoyed. He wanted to slash at him with his gravel scimitar, but Rowan still didn't react. He continued to chat and laugh with Hab, exchanging knowledge about Professor Hab and meteorology.

……

Enel continues to wait.

He was getting a little impatient.

Ultimately, he decided to rely on God's mercy, based on the most obvious clues from those three fools!

A flash of lightning appeared, and Enel appeared in front of Rowan and his companions, only a dozen meters away.

There were no obstructions during that time.

Enel stood quietly on one side of the path the three of them had to take, holding his long staff.

He was all alone on the empty beach!

Although this way of making an entrance was somewhat different from what I had expected, there was nothing I could do about it.

……

Enel, wait and wait.

When Rowan got close, he was no more than a meter away from him.

Something Enel never expected happened.

Even though the sky islander looked at him with curiosity, the man in the light golden armor seemed not to see him at all and walked straight past him!

They didn't even glance at it!

Another man from Qinghai, wearing a fur coat, was smoking a cigar and blew a smoke ring as he passed by.

"call!"

The smoke rings drifted slowly, eventually landing on Enel's face.