Expansion

Angel Island was not too far from Birka Island. In less than three days, Mammon's Airship Fleet arrived at Angel Island.

At this time, the priest faction of Angel Island was still led by God Gan Fall.

Gan Fall and the others, who had been fighting the Shandia People, abruptly stopped. Lis, the Shandia Great Warrior fighting Gan Fall, also halted.

Gan Fall and the Priest Guard, along with the Shandia Guerrillas led by Lis, remained wary of one another while watching the distant White White Sea.

Beneath the morning light of the rising sun, an Airship Fleet made up of twelve Combat Airships rapidly approached.

Seeing the unfamiliar flag on the airships, Gan Fall revealed a grave expression. Such a massive fleet reminded him of an old acquaintance—the Golden Lion Pirates.

Lis, the Shandia Great Warrior, likewise became highly alert.

Amid the heavy atmosphere, the Airship Fleet finally arrived before the two sides and stopped roughly three hundred meters away.

Mammon led two hundred soldiers directly out of the Cargo Hold, formally meeting Gan Fall's and Lis's sides. The three parties formed an invisible standoff.

Looking at the formidable Sky Cloud Army before him, Gan Fall asked neither humbly nor arrogantly, "I am Gan Fall, God of Angel Island. May I ask who you are?"

"Ha ha! This little scuffle of yours hardly looks like a battle!" Mammon mocked directly.

Gan Fall could endure it, though his expression did not look good.

However, Lis, the hot-tempered Shandia Great Warrior beside him, had no intention of swallowing the insult. The Slash Shell equipped on his hand immediately unleashed a fierce slash wave.

"Who do you think you are?"

Yet Mammon did not move at all, as if he did not take the attack seriously. Lewen, the Battalion Commander of Sunset Camp, stepped directly in front of the slash wave.

Lewen's muscles swelled all over his body, and a layer of pitch-black Armament Haki covered him as he directly withstood the slash wave.

Seeing that Lewen had emerged completely unscathed from the slash wave, Lis raised his hand with a fierce expression.

But before Lis could launch another attack, Lewen's figure instantly leaped before him. Without giving him a hint of time to react, he drove a fist straight into Lis's lower abdomen.

"Ugh... Pfft..." As though struck by lightning, Lis's body bent like a cooked shrimp. He collapsed to the ground, coughing up blood.

"Bastard!"

"Captain Lis?"

The surrounding Shandia Guerrillas were horrified. They all charged madly at Lewen, as if they wanted to tear him apart.

They had simply chosen the wrong opponent.

"Flowing Cloud Hundred Strikes!" Lewen's hands spread like a peacock's tail as he forcibly punched out over a hundred shockwaves.

Bang bang bang...

"Ahhh..."

"Pfft!"

"It hurts!"

More than thirty Shandia warriors immediately fell to the ground in agony, their bodies nearly crippled from the blows.

Gan Fall and the Priest Guard, who had been facing a great enemy, were now also utterly terrified. Lewen's pressure was simply too immense. That extreme sense of oppression filled the surrounding air with chaos and savagery.

"This is what you call a battle." Lewen spoke calmly, as though he were stating something insignificant.

The Veterans of the disciplined Sky Cloud Air Force were not particularly surprised by this, but Recruits like Enel once again experienced the formidable strength of a regular army.

Enel clenched his fists, his blood beginning to boil. I'll gain this kind of strength too!

"Mr. Gan Fall, do you understand what a real battle is now?" Mammon asked with a smile.

Cold sweat beaded on Gan Fall's forehead. He swallowed hard before answering with dry lips, "How does your side intend to deal with Lis and the others?"

"Ha ha ha! I am Mammon, Governor of the Sky Cloud Federation. I came to Angel Island today with sincere intentions of friendship."

Uh! Even more cold sweat formed on Gan Fall's forehead. This was the first time he had seen such friendship.

Mammon did not explain further. He tossed a treaty to Gan Fall, then constructed a pavilion from stone, complete with a marble table inside.

"Come in and talk."

"..." Gan Fall nodded. He turned his head and quietly instructed the priests beside him to wait where they were. He himself entered the stone pavilion with only two others.

On the other side, Lewen directed the Recruits to send the thirty-odd Shandia People away for treatment.

Mammon's adjutant gave Gan Fall a detailed explanation of the friendship treaty and told him that they had also signed this treaty with Birka Island.

Gan Fall and the two priests carefully read every clause of the treaty as well. Like Kahn, the god of Birka, he did not discover the hidden intentions behind it.

In truth, he had already prepared himself mentally to accept some rather harsh conditions. He simply had not expected that the Sky Cloud Federation truly seemed to bear no ill will.

After carefully reviewing it for more than two hours, Gan Fall nodded and said, "Lord Mammon, I am willing to represent Angel Island and sign a friendship treaty with your side."

"Very good. We of the Sky Cloud Federation love making friends the most, but..." Mammon's tone suddenly shifted.

Gan Fall's heart immediately tightened.

"However, to ensure normal exchanges between us and Angel Island in the future, the matter between you and the Shandia People needs to be settled once and for all." As Mammon spoke, he took out a document and handed it to Gan Fall.

After taking it, Gan Fall discovered that it was not a proposal for a solution, but an investigative report. It detailed the relationship between Angel Island, God's Island "Upper Yard," the Ancient City Shandora, Gaya Island in the sea below, the Sky People, and the Shandia People.

"This..." One of the priests found it hard to believe.

Gan Fall, who controlled the temple on Angel Island, had learned some things through the legacy left behind by the previous generation of gods. He sighed.

"This was indeed the mistake of our forebears, which led to four hundred years of hatred."

Mammon presented his solution. "Your God's Island is actually Shandora, the homeland of the Shandia People. If you are willing to return the ruins of Shandora to the Shandia People, I can represent the Sky Cloud Federation and compensate you with an Earth Rock Island of equal area."

"This... There doesn't seem to be a sky island of equal size nearby, does there?" Gan Fall was somewhat doubtful and uneasy.

Mammon merely smiled. "There is no need for me to deceive you. You may wait until that Earth Rock Island appears before returning Shandora."

"Alright! I agree!" Gan Fall accepted. After all, things had already been said to this extent. Refusing any further would be a blatant lack of respect.

Both sides signed the Sky Cloud–Angel Island Friendship Treaty and the Treaty of Exchange Regarding Apayaado.

Elsewhere, inside the treatment chamber of the airship, Lis, whose internal injuries had been healed, was dejectedly led by Lewen to the stone pavilion.

After reading that investigation report, he too became even more convinced that the Sky People had occupied their homeland.

"Lis, according to the treaty, the Ancient City of Shandora is now territory of the Sky Cloud Federation. If you Shandia People are willing to join the Federation, I can designate Shandora as a reservation for your tribe."

Though Lis had a violent temper and was impulsive, he was not a fool upon hearing Mammon's terms.

Lewen's strength just now had already filled him with a sense of despair. If he refused, the Shandia People would likely never have another chance to return to their homeland, Shandora.

"I agree! But I need to return and persuade the Chieftain."

Mammon waved dismissively. "Fine."

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