God

"Damn it! Foolish people, show proper respect to a god!"

Enel climbed out of the ruins once again, clearly having lost his composure. He had never imagined that Cifer could actually move faster than lightning.

In truth, Cifer was merely faster than him.

"200 Million Volts: Thunder God!"

All the lightning in Enel's body erupted and wrapped around him, transforming him into a massive Thunder God.

Judging purely by offensive power, Cifer sensed that Enel now possessed strength comparable to some of the Whitebeard Pirates' commanders.

No matter how powerful a Devil Fruit was, without physical prowess and Haki to support it, only the fruit itself was strong.

"Impudent wretch, accept the judgment of a god!"

A massive palm came crashing down, and a colossal bolt of lightning hurtled from the sky toward Cifer. This attack was enough to make Cifer take it seriously.

"Cero!"

Cifer unleashed his full-strength attack. Spiritual Pressure compressed and stabilized to its absolute limit burst from his fingertips, colliding with the enormous lightning bolt in midair.

After only a brief stalemate, Enel poured all his strength into trying to suppress Cifer's attack. Instead, the lightning was blasted to pieces, and the Cero struck his Thunder God body head-on.

The Thunder God body shattered!

Bleeding from all seven orifices, Enel fell from the sky and collapsed onto the ground like a lump of mud, already unconscious. Had Cifer not dispersed the Spiritual Pressure at the last moment, he would have long since been reduced to ashes.

Seeing Enel unable to rise, the three Priests conveniently chose to faint. At that moment, the Skypieans who had finished dealing with the rabble also arrived at the shrine one after another.

"Enel has been defeated!"

With that shout, everyone threw their weapons into the air. The war that had lasted four hundred years finally came to an end at this moment. They could finally go home!

"You can deal with these three however you like. I'm taking Enel with me."

Cifer pointed at the three Priests lying nearby and playing dead.

"So he's the companion you were looking for? He doesn't seem like a man willing to submit to anyone."

After everything that had happened, Hina could guess that Enel was the companion Cifer had been seeking. His potential was immense.

"I naturally have my ways of dealing with someone like him."

For someone so proud, all he had to do was crush the thing he was proudest of. Of course, Cifer also understood the importance of leaving some room for mercy.

After all, he was looking for companions, not slaves.

No one should be anyone else's slave.

This world was twisted. Cifer was not.

He returned the Golden Bell Enel had hidden away to Wappa. Then, with him as witness, Wappa, KureKke, and Gan Fall rang the bell together.

The deep, resonant chime echoed across the entire Sky Island. Whether they were native Sky Islanders or Skypieans, everyone could not help but burst into tears.

Before Enel arrived, Sky Island had been trapped in endless civil war. The Sky Islanders and Skypieans had shed countless blood and tears fighting over that land.

After he came, they realized how laughable their war had always been. Once one side occupied the land with absolute dominance, the other side did not even have the right to set foot on the island.

After an unknown number of years, they finally heard this voice steeped in history once more. This bell had been the origin of every war, and from this day onward, the wars would end with its ringing as well.

Jaya was returned to the Skypieans!

Of course, after four hundred years, the Sky Islanders and Skypieans had actually become intertwined in many ways. At Cifer's suggestion, Wappa agreed to govern the entire Sky Island together with Gan Fall.

The Sky Islanders and Skypieans would truly become one family.

News of their liberation quickly spread throughout Sky Island, and everyone celebrated Enel's downfall.

Aisa sat on Kamachi's shoulders as he ran across the land she had dreamed of for so long. The bonfire feast even drew the giant snake from the forest to poke its head out.

Seeing KureKke and Wappa drinking together at the center of the feast, it seemed to see the days of four hundred years ago. Two streams of tears welled in its eyes.

Hina and Wright joined Conis and the others in cooking, asking them about all kinds of shells.

Cifer leaned back against a large tree, holding a flatbread in his hand. Food was spread out before him as he watched them in the distance.

"Why didn't you kill me?"

At some point, Enel had opened his eyes and sat up beside him. The arrogance had vanished from his face.

"You have great potential. You shouldn't die in a place like this."

An apple was tossed into his hands.

"Become my companion. How about sailing back to the Blue Sea with me?"

"Is this a threat? Or pity?"

His invincibility all these years had made him somewhat conceited. After suffering such a crushing defeat at Cifer's hands, he began to feel lost. Could I still be considered a god?

"If possible, I'd prefer it to be salvation."

Cifer met his eyes directly.

"Haven't you always called yourself a god? Are you interested in doing the things a god ought to do?"

Enel looked toward the people at the feast. Waves of joy flowed through his Mantra, something he had never felt since becoming the god of Sky Island.

When had I become so cruel and heartless?

After eating the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, the people of his hometown began to reject him, calling him a monster. But he had also been a resident of Sky Island. Why did they all call him a monster?

All his Mantra carried to him was people speaking ill of him. He did not know why things had become this way. Why had I become an outcast?

Until one day, someone told him that he was not human at all, but a god! Then he heard the legends of the Infinite Land.

His thoughts began to change. That's right. They think I'm a monster because I'm a god!

How could a god be the same as the other people of Sky Island?

He broke off his own wings and replaced them with distinctive drums.

He destroyed his hometown of Bika, came here, defeated Gan Fall, and became Sky Island's new god.

Since he was a god, he had to be respected and feared. Thus, he sat high in his shrine, spreading his Mantra across all of Sky Island. Anyone who dared speak ill of him would receive divine judgment.

Over time, everyone came to hate him, yet they had no choice but to maintain respect and obedience toward him. Deep down, he felt that a god should not be like this, but he did not know what was wrong.

He increasingly longed for the Infinite Land. That was where gods should live. Perhaps there were gods there like him, and only they would not reject him.

So he ordered everyone to devote everything to building the Ark Maxim, intending to travel to the Infinite Land and fulfill his dream of becoming a god.

Yet just as it was about to be completed, he was brutally defeated by someone, and cracks began to appear in his dream of godhood.

Feeling the emotions carried through his Mantra, he unexpectedly felt joy again after so long. It was not the joy of toying with others, but joy that came from the depths of his heart.

"What should a god do?"

For the first time, he completely let go of his hostility and his identity as a god, asking Cifer for guidance.

"What a god should do is, of course, save the people."