Birka

One day later.

The enormous airship arrived near Birka.

However, the local residents did not notice the airship, because it was currently in camouflage mode, a common ability of biological vehicles.

About a kilometer from Birka's edge, the airship hovered silently in the sky. Wang Gao released his Observation Haki over a wide area, carefully investigating something.

Suddenly, he spotted a young man whose face was battered and bruised. His thin body resembled a tall pole, and with those distinctive long earlobes, his identity was immediately obvious—he was the young Enel.

Enel was actually the same age as Shanks. By the time he encountered Monkey D. Luffy in later generations, he was already thirty-seven years old.

At this moment, Enel was hiding in a small grove outside the city, like a wounded lone wolf licking his wounds alone in a corner.

Wang Gao did not sense the unique fluctuations of a Devil Fruit user from him. It seemed Enel had not yet obtained the Rumble-Rumble Fruit.

Birka Island was not large, yet Wang Gao's powerful Observation Haki scan found no trace of the Rumble-Rumble Fruit. He even thoroughly searched Birka Temple, discovering only some books and records.

These books recorded that the ancestors of Birka's Indigenous People had come from the "Infinite Land"—the moon. They possessed advanced mechanical and biological technology, and had come to Blue Sea Star because the Infinite Land's resources had been exhausted.

Then, after arriving on the sky islands, internal disagreements of all kinds, coupled with wars against Blue Sea Star's Indigenous People, caused the Moon People to split into three factions: the Sky Island Faction, the Conquest Faction, and the Return Faction.

Wang Gao merely skimmed through these historical materials before turning his attention to the remaining technical records.

Floating Cloud Processing Technology... Sky Island Shell Cultivation Technology... Ark "Maxim" Manufacturing Technology... Robot Manufacturing Technology (incomplete)... Human Modification Technology (incomplete)...

After reading through these technologies, Wang Gao gained a deeper understanding of the Moon People's level of civilization.

At the same time, he understood that during the Void Century, the Moon People had suffered internal division while facing a fierce counterattack from the allied Indigenous People of Blue Sea Star. The Conquest Faction among the Moon People had basically been wiped out eight hundred years ago.

This incident also caused much of the remaining Moon People's technology to either be lost, become incomplete, or be scattered across various places on Blue Sea Star.

The uneven technological levels now found among the islands of Blue Sea Star were the result of technologies left behind after the catastrophe of the Void Century.

Not finding the Rumble-Rumble Fruit on Birka was within Wang Gao's expectations. If it had been that easy to find, someone would have eaten the fruit long ago.

After copying the scriptures of Birka Temple, he considered where the Rumble-Rumble Fruit might be.

According to intelligence Lucifer had gathered from various places around the world, the previous user of the Rumble-Rumble Fruit could be traced back to the Vinsmoke Family of three hundred years ago—Germa 66.

Many people did not know that the later Germa Super Sentai was not actually Vinsmoke Judge's original creation, but rather a recreation of the Vinsmoke Family from three hundred years ago.

Some might find that extremely puzzling.

Yet Lucifer's intelligence analysis report presented plenty of evidence. For example, Sea Warrior Sora, a comic that had been popular throughout North Blue for at least two hundred years, was a very obvious piece of evidence.

Brook had read that comic when he was young. At that time, Judge had not even been born, much less Reiju, who was only born this year, or Sanji and his three brothers, who had not yet been born.

Yet that comic clearly described the abilities of the Germa Super Sentai, proving that such a superpowered squad had existed within the Vinsmoke Family long ago.

A few decades ago, Vegapunk, Judge, and the others had either not been born yet or had not reached adulthood. Naturally, they could not have possessed Life Design Blueprint Technology or the Lineage Factor Technology derived from it.

Therefore, the Germa Super Sentai in that comic could not possibly have been created through Lineage Factor Technology.

If so, where had the abilities of that superpowered squad come from?

The answer could not have been more obvious.

They came from the sea's secret treasure—the Devil Fruit.

According to the comic's descriptions, the Germa Super Sentai's abilities were: Poison Powder, Spark Red, Electric Blue, Invisible Black, and Winch Green.

The Devil Fruits corresponding to those abilities were very likely the Venom-Venom Fruit, Mera Mera no Mi, Rumble-Rumble Fruit, Suke Suke no Mi, and Mori Mori no Mi.

It was precisely through these abilities that the Vinsmoke Family had successfully unified all of North Blue three hundred years ago. Although their rule lasted only sixty-six days, such a feat would have been virtually impossible without overwhelming strength.

And ever since the previous Electric Blue died, the Rumble-Rumble Fruit had vanished from the seas for nearly three hundred years.

Based on the Devil Fruit's property of randomly reincarnating, Wang Gao deduced that the Rumble-Rumble Fruit might have been quietly waiting in some corner of the sky islands for three hundred years.

Since it was not here in Birka, how had Enel obtained the Rumble-Rumble Fruit? That was a question worth examining.

Suddenly, Wang Gao's heart stirred. He reopened Birka's records and considered them alongside the fact that Enel later destroyed Birka before leading people to occupy Angel Island.

The key point was "led people." In other words, before occupying Angel Island, Enel already had subordinates such as the Four Priests.

Those Four Priests definitely were not natives of Angel Island. They could only have come from Birka.

But if they were Birka locals, why would they watch Enel destroy Birka? Do not talk about submitting to military strength—normal people would find it difficult to submit to a murderer who had slaughtered their friends and family.

Wang Gao found the answer in the records as well.

It was "criminals."

The natives of Birka Island and Angel Island were both descendants of the Moon People. Since the two islands were so close to each other, many of their systems were broadly similar.

Those who committed serious crimes would be sentenced to Flowing Cloud Punishment: exiled deep into the cloud sea, where there were no plants, animals, or island clouds, and left to starve to death amid the clouds.

According to Birka Temple's criminal punishment records, two of Enel's Four Priests had already been sentenced to Flowing Cloud Punishment. The remaining two were also in Birka and were typical thugs.

"Asmodeus."

"Father God, your orders?" Asmodeus appeared behind him.

"Adjust our course. Fly southeast."

"Yes."

The airship came quietly and left quietly, without alerting the people of Birka, heading toward the southeastern White White Sea where Birka exiled its criminals.

Entering the White White Sea southeast of Birka, there were not only no island clouds here—even the sea clouds had grown much thinner.

Although Sky Sea Beasts lived in the White White Sea, they too disliked parts where it was too thin.

Just as whales could run aground when they entered shallow waters, large Sky Sea Beasts would be dried out by the intense sunlight if they entered the thin White White Sea.

About 134 kilometers from Birka lay the true Sea of Flowing Clouds. Within the White White Sea, so thin it was almost imperceptible, there was nothing but the occasional white cloud and gentle breeze.

As far as the eye could see, there was nothing around them but emptiness.

Of course, that did not mean there was necessarily nothing here. The White White Sea flowed, after all, and things sometimes washed up here from the seas of Blue Sea Star.

Wang Gao fully unleashed his Observation Haki, carefully searching every corner of the Sea of Flowing Clouds.

Along the way, he saw quite a few dried corpses, likely prisoners who had been exiled here in the past.

Thank you all for your support (ω｀)