One Piece: Rayquaza of the Beasts Pirates

The magnificent, timeless chimes, seemingly traversing four hundred years of history, rang out one after another, steady and powerful!

The sound of the bells spread outwards in concentric circles, piercing through the sea of ​​clouds, resounding across the sky, and reaching the unknown distance.

Hidden Cloud Village.

The secret villages of the Shandians.

A dark-skinned, muscular soldier, weapon in hand, is conducting a routine pre-battle mobilization.

This was a tradition of the Shandians before they recaptured Apayado and Shandora. Countless ancestors embarked on the battlefield after such a ceremony, with the determination to die, never to return.

"Today, we will embrace..."

His words came to an abrupt end.

A distant yet clear bell tolled, seemingly from the depths of the soul, piercing through the clouds and reaching the ears of every Shandian.

"That...that voice is...?!"

An elderly Shandian, his hair and beard white, his wrinkles etched with the marks of time and battle, suddenly raised his head, his cloudy eyes widening instantly.

He looked in the direction from which the bells were coming, and tears welled up in his eyes uncontrollably: "It can't be wrong, it can't be wrong. That's the sound of the Golden Bell! It's the light of Shandora!!"

Although he had never heard the bell ring in his life, the melody was already like a brand, deeply engraved in the blood and soul of every Shandian!

He had no regrets at being able to hear the bell before he died.

Coast of Gaya Island.

Montblanc Kulik, a middle-aged man with a diamond-shaped head, was about to go diving with two of his men to continue his daily, much-mocked quest for the golden city.

Suddenly, a melodious bell rang out from the sky, echoing between the sea and the sky.

The man's movement to dive suddenly froze.

He suddenly looked up, listened carefully, and his eyes quickly changed from initial doubt to disbelief, and finally to a bright look of ecstatic joy!

"Could it be... no, it must be like this!"

He suddenly realized something, and his body trembled slightly with excitement.

The next second, he collapsed to his knees on the beach with a thud, tears streaming down his face like a burst dam.

He faced the sky from which the bells rang, and with all his might, he cried out in a sob, “My ancestor, Noland, he was not a big liar!”

"Shandora really exists!!"

Four hundred years of injustice and family disgrace were completely washed away at this moment!

Naval flagship in the waters near Jaya Island.

On the deck, the CP0 agent wearing a clown mask also heard the bell.

He turned his head slightly, but paid no attention to any noise in the sea that was unrelated to the mission, and just waited attentively for Kane and his group to arrive.

Not far away, Aokiji, who was lying on a recliner with his eyes closed, slowly pushed off the blindfold covering his eyes upon hearing the sound and glanced in slight surprise at the direction of the sky from which the bell was ringing.

He seemed to be thinking about something, but after a moment, he just muttered "Ah la la..." in an ambiguous tone, then pulled his eye mask down again and continued his afternoon nap.

Chapter 151 The Bet, Leaving the Sky Island

The sightseeing tour of Shandora soon came to an end.

After all, apart from gold and historical texts, there really isn't much else worth exploring in this lost city.

Adhering to the basic professional ethics of pirates, Kane had his crew members each choose some gold ornaments or small gold crafts as souvenirs before the group left the golden land.

As for those massive amounts of gold...

Kane is not short of funds at the moment, so let this city, a symbol of history and promises, continue to sleep at this altitude of 10,000 meters.

"So, your dream is to go to that so-called infinite land, which is what we call the moon?"

Kane examined the half-finished product in front of him with great interest—no, it wasn't even half-finished.

The Ark Maxim before us is not even fully built yet; only part of its keel has been completed.

Enel, now awake, gazed at the Ark he had poured his heart and soul into with a complex expression.

No one expected that Enel, who considered himself a god, had such a simple and unpretentious dream.

"Hmph, how could you mortals possibly understand my grand ambitions!"

Enel spread his arms wide, a fanatical expression on his face, and declared, "Only the infinite earth high above is the true promised land of this god! It is the kingdom of the gods!"

Kane glanced at Enel, who wanted to go to the moon, and smiled slightly: "Alright, I'll take your dream. It just so happens that I'm also a bit interested in the universe and want to go and explore it."

If nothing unexpected happens, the moon is very likely the origin of technology on this planet, and it must be very interesting.

"Going to the moon? That's awesome! I want to go! I want to go!"

Yamato was the first to raise his hand excitedly, his eyes sparkling with a longing for adventure.

"I want it too, I want it too!"

Bonnie also raised her little hand and jumped around in place, trying to attract Kane's attention.

"Don't worry, there's no limit to the number of spots. Anyone who wants to go can go," Kane chuckled, readily agreeing.

Looking at the simple ark skeleton, Hiyori Kozuki asked softly, "Should we take this ark with us and continue building it?"

Kane shook his head decisively, his gaze falling once more on the ark, his eyes filled with undisguised disdain, as if he were looking at a pile of unrecyclable garbage: "No need. We'll redesign and build a better one. This original design is just rubbish."

Such a huge ark, yet its power source is Enel himself.

What if he runs out of energy halfway through the journey, or something happens to him? Wouldn't the whole crew be adrift in space forever, never able to go home?

Of course, given Enel's extremely self-centered personality, he probably didn't consider the safety of his companions at all when he first designed it.

"What did you say?!"

Enel was so angry that he jumped up and down, forgetting even the pain in his chest, when his painstakingly revised blueprints and perfected the design were dismissed as worthless.

This represents a whole year's worth of his hard work!

"It is the crystallization of my divine wisdom! It is a masterpiece! Do you know the level of technology involved in its creation?"

"If I'm not mistaken, after you got the original drawings, you made quite a few 'simplifications' and 'replacements' yourself, right?"

Kane's single sentence froze Enel in place.

Although he had never seen the original blueprints for the Ark Maxim, he knew with his bare hands that the ship in front of him was definitely a severely scaled-down "Enel special edition".

The reason is simple: the ancestors of the Bica people were lunar people who migrated from the moon.

Given the technological level of the lunar people back then, how could they possibly use a jet shell for propulsion? Besides, jet shells are a specialty of the Sky Island, and the lunar people couldn't find them even if they wanted to on the Moon.

Clearly, the existing technology and materials on Skypiea are simply insufficient to support Enel's complete reproduction of the blueprints. He can only adapt to local conditions and make various "modifications".

"What do you know?!"

Enel blushed and began to defend his actions: "Using the Wind-Breathing Shell wasn't cheating... Modifying and replacing it... was a display of my divine wisdom!"

Then came a string of incomprehensible phrases, such as "clean energy" and "reducing construction difficulty," which drew laughter from the crowd.

The air was filled with a cheerful atmosphere.

"okay."

Kane confidently interrupted his rambling: "Don't worry, I'll build a better ark."

In fact, he could have gone directly to the moon without even building an ark.

Like Dr. Tsukimi's little robot, it can fly to the moon by pulling a balloon.

In this world, going to the moon isn't that difficult.

The ark was built primarily for the comfort of the journey and to carry more people and supplies.

Furthermore, the moon, and even the universe, in the world of One Piece have oxygen, so there's no need to prepare spacesuits.

Just look at space pirates; their so-called "spacesuits" are mainly for regulating air pressure and providing protection, and they don't actually need to provide oxygen.

(Don't get hung up on what would happen if the universe were filled with oxygen.)

Seeing Enel's indignant expression, Kane chuckled and said, "How about we make a bet?"

He held up five fingers, his tone calm: "Five years. For the next five years, you will obey my orders. After five years, I will personally take you to the boundless land."

Kane knew perfectly well that Enel was only following him obediently because of a promise he made after his defeat. Deep down, Enel was still the same unruly "god" who refused to be subservient to anyone.

Forcing him to go on a mission could lead to him disobeying orders, which would be a real headache.

The best outcome is to get him to put in the effort willingly.

"What about five years from now?" Enel's eyes flickered.

"You can choose to challenge me. If you win, you'll be free to go wherever you want. If you lose, we'll make another five-year agreement, how about that?"

Kane raised an eyebrow: "Don't worry, I won't give you any pointless orders like being cannon fodder."

"Hmph! Why would I care about such things!"

Enel sneered.

Even if such an order were given, wouldn't he run away? He's not stupid.

As a user of the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, he is absolutely confident that he can escape from most dangerous situations.

"Of course, you can also choose to refuse."

Kane's smile remained unchanged, but the temperature in his voice suddenly dropped, "But in that case, I can't keep a bomb with me."

The chilling killing intent pierced Enel's heart like a tangible needle.

If he can live, he certainly doesn't want to die.

Enel didn't hesitate for long and agreed immediately.

"I hope you keep your word."

"Excellent."

Kane smiled and said, "Welcome to the crew, Enel. From now on, you will be the trainee crew member of the Rayquaza."

"Internship?" Enel's expression froze instantly, and his voice rose several decibels: "With my strength, am I not even qualified to be a full-fledged crew member?!"