Enel, Be My Subordinate!

Sky Island - Birka.

In the woods, sunlight filters through the leaves, casting dappled patterns of light.

"Hurry! These goods need to be delivered back to the village before dark!"

Several Sky Island residents carrying baskets were hurrying along the path. Although it was a bright sunny day overhead, a crackling sound of electricity suddenly came from the forest.

Boom!

A bolt of lightning struck without warning, instantly snapping a tree over ten meters tall in half, sending charred wood chips flying everywhere!

"Ahhh! It's thundering again! Run!"

The crates rolled all over the ground, and the people didn't even dare to pick them up; they turned and ran away.

After running quite a distance, someone finally turned back and cursed, "What on earth is that Enel up to lately?!"

Deep in the woods, a blond youth slowly lowered his right hand.

He was rather thin, with slightly narrowed gray-blue eyes, and Drums with three tomoe painted on each of its four sides was fixed to a ring on his back.

Looking at the fallen tree, Enel couldn't help but grin, his laughter growing louder and louder.

"Yay! So you can chop like that with just one finger!"

Sizzle--

Blue-white arcs of electricity leaped from his fingertips, spreading upwards along his arm until his entire arm was transformed into lightning.

Enel examined it from all angles, then tried to pass his other hand through it; his fingertips simply passed right through the lightning without any damage.

"Haha! Even his body can turn into lightning!"

Just two weeks ago, he was merely a Birka man whose senses were a little more acute than others.

Since eating that fruit, even he himself didn't know just how powerful he had become.

He suddenly looked up at the fleeing group, his smile growing even more unrestrained.

His figure crackled and scattered into lightning, and a bolt of Inazuma struck a rock dozens of meters away, where he was already standing with his arms crossed.

"So fast!"

Enel tried twice more, becoming increasingly excited.

Just then, a cacophony of sounds suddenly flooded into my head.

"This guy is getting crazier and crazier..."

Who will pay for the damage to the tree?

"He really is an oddball."

Enel paused, the voice coming from a distant village.

Previously, he could at most detect people moving around nearby, but now, if he calms down, he can hear conversations from so far away.

He closed his eyes, and tiny arcs of electricity danced along the edge of the Drums.

To the east, there are three people carrying things; to the west, at the village entrance, a group of people are arguing; and further away, someone is sitting inside a house counting money...

Enel opened his eyes and laughed even harder.

"Interesting! I didn't know it could be done like that!"

At the village entrance, two residents were huddled together, whispering amongst themselves.

"I heard they chopped down several more trees today."

"Shh! Keep your voice down. They used to only chop down trees, now they're even shocking people."

"So he somehow obtained that mysterious power; how could he hear us from this far away?"

Boom!

An Inazuma suddenly struck right in front of them, blasting a large, charred crater into the rocky ground.

The two were so frightened that they sat down abruptly, unable to speak coherently.

A flash of lightning, Enel appeared beside them, looking down at them.

What are you talking about?

"E- Enel?! Weren't you in the woods?!"

"What, just because we're separated by half an island, you assume I can't hear you?"

Enel bent down, lightning crackling at his fingertips, and grinned. "Next time you talk behind someone's back, keep your voice down."

An Inazuma struck right in front of the two men, startling them so much that they scrambled backward.

"Yehaha!"

He laughed and vanished in a bolt of lightning, leaving behind two trembling people.

Back in the woods, Enel looked down at his hands, growing more and more satisfied with them.

"They don't even have the courage to face me anymore, so what makes them think they can be my equals?"

He looked up at the clouds higher up in the sky.

God.

The thought suddenly popped into my head.

At first it seemed like a joke, but the more he thought about it, the more he felt that the word didn't seem so wrong when applied to himself.

"It actually suits me quite well."

As he was smiling, Enel suddenly frowned.

Two unfamiliar presences, one large and one small, suddenly entered my senses and stopped at the edge of the distant clouds.

But before he could get a good feel for them, the two auras suddenly vanished.

"Um?"

He closed his eyes and laid out the Mantra again.

What's going on?

"Can a person just disappear into thin air?"

A moment ago, at the edge of the cloud island in the White Sea.

Luo was supporting himself on his knees, his face still pale.

"Master... we've reached heaven, can you let me rest for a while?"

"Sit down first."

Ron stood on high ground, his Observation Haki spreading out into the distance.

Soon, a strong sense of aggression swept over from a distance, as if someone had reached out and "touched" him from afar.

Ron raised an eyebrow.

"Wow, the Mantra has spread this far already?"

"Mantra? What's that?"

Luo looked up, panting.

"The Sky Island's name for Observation Haki."

Ron looked in the direction where the lightning had struck; the trees and rock walls of the distant cloud island were already faintly visible.

"Moreover, this guy's senses are clearly intertwined with lightning."

"Master, have you found the person?"

"Pretty close."

Ron glanced at his apprentice, who was still not recovered, and reached out to lift him up.

"Come on, let me introduce you to a new colleague."

"Who agreed to be your colleague?"

Luo rolled her eyes, too lazy to struggle anymore; it was pointless anyway.

Ron smiled and slashed open an Air Door in front of him.

Deep in the forest of Birka, Enel was still staring at the arc of electricity dancing on his fingertips, pondering.

He clearly sensed the presence of those two people just now, how could they have vanished in the blink of an eye?

Suddenly.

Click.

A very soft, crisp sound came from behind.

Enel suddenly turned around.

A thin vertical line suddenly appeared in the air and then stretched out to both sides.

A three-meter-tall, black-haired man came out first, carrying a little boy wearing a spotted hat.

"Arrive."

Ron casually put Luo down.

Luo's knees buckled, and he had to grab onto a nearby tree to keep from falling to the ground.

"Master... next time there's a trial like this, please find someone else."

"Look at you, so pathetic. Weren't you jumping around so much just now?"

"He jumped over thirty times! Anyone would be exhausted!"

The two bickered as if no one else was around, and the Air Door behind them clicked shut.

Enel's eyelids twitched; he hadn't noticed it beforehand, and what was this door...?

"Hello!"

Enel crackled with electricity from his fingertips, instantly scorching a patch of leaves nearby.

"Who are you? How did you get in?!"

Ron sized him up.

Blonde hair, Drums, and that arrogant attitude that everyone owes him money.

"Oh, you haven't started calling yourself a god yet?"

Enel's smile froze instantly.

"What did you say...?"

"Weren't we just thinking about this?"

Ron gestured with his chin at him.

Enel's pupils contracted sharply. This thought had only just popped into his head, and he hadn't even told a single person about it!

"You can read minds?!"

I don't have that ability.

"How did you know?!"

"Just a guess."

Do you think I'm an idiot?!

Ron laughed.

Luo, standing beside him, slowly straightened up, glanced at the blond man radiating electricity, then at his own master, and sighed silently in his heart.

Here it comes; he's all too familiar with that expression.

Enel grew increasingly annoyed by Ron's intriguing expression.

I'm asking you a question!

Sizzle--

Blue-white lightning surged up along his arm, and the surrounding air began to heat up.

"If you don't answer, believe me, I'll turn you all to ashes!!"

Seeing his agitated state, Ron chuckled and instead extended his right hand towards him.

Enel.

How do you know my name?!

"My name is Ron, Marine Headquarters Vice Admiral."

"Navy?"

Enel frowned.

What is that?

"It's such a waste to leave your Rumble-Rumble Fruit up in the sky to chop down trees. Come with me to the Blue Sea..."

"Become my subordinate!!"

There are plenty of guys on the high seas stronger than you; it'll be much more interesting than staying here!

Enel stared at the outstretched hand, then at Ron's smiling face, and remained stunned for several seconds.

He was initially bewildered, then it was as if he had heard the biggest joke in the world.

"Ha???"