Temple: Rumble-Rumble Fruit!

The fist-sized fruit was covered in spiraling lightning patterns, and approaching it gave one a tingling shock... It was the legendary Rumble-Rumble Fruit!!

Devil Fruits were miraculous products unique to the One Piece World, divided into three types: Paramecia, Zoan, and Logia. The Rumble-Rumble Fruit was a Logia Devil Fruit representing the lightning of the heavens, and in Ron's mind, it was the most perfect fruit in the One Piece World!!!

In terms of speed, its ability to Teleportation through an Electromagnetic Field rivaled the Glint-Glint Fruit of Marine Admiral "Kizaru," Borsalino. Though the latter claimed lightspeed, he definitely could not actually move at lightspeed. The laws of the physical universe simply would not allow it!

At lightspeed, an object's mass would become infinite!

If one moved at lightspeed, setting aside factors such as burning and wear, the impact energy generated by a Glint-Glint Fruit User launching his own mass could effortlessly destroy a continent or even shatter a planet!!

If Kizaru were that powerful, what the hell would pirates even be playing at!

He could overturn the World Government with one hand!

In terms of offense, the power of lightning was no weaker than any other ability. Before terrifyingly high temperatures and flexible electromagnetic manipulation, whether it was Whitebeard's world-destroying Tremor-Tremor Fruit, Shanks's Haki, Hawk Eyes's sword slashes, or anything else, it was all the same!

As for weaknesses, electric currents were affected by electron transitions, and Earth had many ways to interfere with them. Yet in the One Piece World, aside from Rubber-Rubber Fruit Users who could directly neutralize it with their Fruit Ability, the Rumble-Rumble Fruit had virtually no natural enemy!

Ordinary rubber could easily be burned away by the heat generated by lightning, so it could not be called a weakness at all! At most, like liquid against the Sand-Sand Fruit, it merely allowed someone using rubber to touch a Rumble-Rumble Fruit User's physical body.

In the original story, although Enel, as the Rumble-Rumble Fruit User, had been cleverly defeated by Luffy, Oda still officially set his bounty at "500 million." Even in the New World, he would have been one of the strongest among the strong. That showed just how terrifying the Rumble-Rumble Fruit was!

Enel's defeat had been laughable and stifling, making Ron curse him as trash.

So Ron had fantasized more than once: if he obtained the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, how would he use it to defeat Luffy, the natural counter to it?

Simple!

He just could not rely on his Fruit Ability and had to crazily strengthen his physique, as he always had!

With absolute speed and power, he would crush Luffy head-on!

Thus, after arriving in the One Piece World and cleverly appearing on Sky Island, Ron's first thought had been to seek out that legendary fruit. But since he had been unable to determine the current time and location, it had remained only an idea.

However...

After discovering Enel, that idea instantly became an opportunity, transforming into the purest greed!!

He wanted that fruit!!

No excuses!

No reasons!

Anyone who dared stand in his way was an enemy to the death!

Because he had no wings, Enel had suffered constant bullying in Birka.

He had been beaten again today and called a freak and an outcast, forcing him to flee to the forbidden shrine for refuge.

But that had merely been bullying. There had been no intent to kill.

The naked malice radiating from Ron was something Enel had never seen before. He felt that the man before him was not human at all, but a beast that chose its prey and devoured it!

A beast guarding its captured prey, refusing to let any living creature approach its food!

Squeak, squeak...

The sound of rushing water rang out. A sharp stench reached Ron's nose, and he looked down to see the inner side of Enel's trouser leg darkening. Drops of liquid trickled down his pants and fell to the ground.

The future "Thor," Enel, had actually been scared into wetting himself by Ron!

"...Tch. Useless trash, just as expected!"

Frowning, Ron tightened his grip. His knuckles turned white as he stretched Enel's earlobe long. Blood even appeared along the edge of his ear, and the pain made Enel struggle frantically.

At this rate, Ron would tear his ear clean off!

Humans in the One Piece World generally possessed powerful physiques, and Sky Island's unique environment was an ideal place to forge the body. Thus, even skinny, scrawny Enel possessed strength no weaker than Ron's battle-hardened body, and his struggling made Ron's arm ache.

Yet Ron stood like an iron statue. No matter how Enel struggled, he held on tightly without loosening his grip. He wrapped the earlobe once around his hand, pulled Enel closer, and spoke face-to-face once more. "I don't want to say the same thing a third time... Have you seen that fruit or not?!"

"It... it's in the temple..."

Tears and snot covered his face. Clutching his ear in agonizing pain, Enel screamed, "I've seen the fruit you're talking about. It's in the statue's hand!"

The temple Enel spoke of was the only building in this shrine. There was no soil, no trees, and no stone on Sky Island; all buildings and roads were piled from Island Cloud. Beside them stood a house entirely made of Island Cloud and painted with an unknown red pigment. Strange murals covered its walls, depicting people with huge wings and beak-like mouths soaring amid a sky full of lightning.

"It's in there?!"

Ron's eyes blazed with ferocity. He flung Enel aside and charged forward.

The soldiers outside the shrine panicked upon noticing his movement.

"Oh no! He's going into the temple!"

"Where are the Divine Servants? Hurry and summon the Divine Servants!"

"The Divine Servants are out on patrol! They won't return until this afternoon!"

The shrine was the Holy Land of all Birka people, its status comparable to the Shandia people's City of Gold, Shandora, or the Celestial Dragons' Holy Land, Mary Geoise. Without permission, they absolutely dared not step even half a foot inside; the king would chop off their heads! Only priests and Divine Servants could enter after bathing and changing clothes, to clean the place and offer worship to the gods...

Ignoring the weeping Enel and the cursing Sky Island soldiers behind him, Ron kicked open the doors with a BANG, swept his gaze across the interior, and instantly could not look away.

"Found it!!!"

The temple enshrined a statue that looked both like a bird and a man. It was forged entirely from gold, with three heads and six arms, holding a golden trident, prayer beads, and a golden lance. Before the statue stood a table draped in red cloth, with a golden incense burner on each side and offerings placed atop a golden platter in the center.

Yet Ron's attention was not on the enormous quantity of gold, but on the naturally outstretched palm of the cross-legged statue.

A round, sky-blue fruit rested there, its exquisite spiraling lightning patterns occasionally flickering with electricity. As light flowed across it, the golden statue emitted an awe-inspiring glow, majestic beyond compare.

That fruit was precisely the Devil Fruit he had dreamed of...

The Rumble-Rumble Fruit!!!

"The power of a Logia, here I come!"

Ron pounced forward excitedly, stepped onto the offering table, and stretched out his hand.

At that moment, a soft sigh echoed through the empty temple.

"Blasphemer, step back!"

BANG!!!

In stark contrast to that soft sigh, a terrifying sonic boom erupted in an instant, deafeningly loud!

Ron's fingers were only three centimeters from the Rumble-Rumble Fruit. He was just about to seize it and could even feel the numbing sensation of the electric current, but then an incomparably powerful impact struck his waist and sent him flying!

"Puh—!"

Ron vomited a mouthful of blood in midair and was blasted backward without the slightest ability to resist. He slammed heavily into the wall, remained stuck there for a second, then fell down. The pain made him curl into a ball, his forehead smashing against the ground.

This was a power he had never experienced before!

When he had fought others in the past, taking a punch, a kick, or a bullet had hurt only one spot at most. But this time, every bone in his body creaked, making his eyes bulge as cold sweat streamed down his forehead. Saliva and blood dripped uncontrollably from the corners of his mouth.

"...The gods left behind an oracle. While this fruit grants great power, it also brings irreparable disaster."

An elderly man in a gray robe, bald-headed and with chicken wings on his back, stepped out of the corner one step at a time, his expression neither sorrowful nor joyful. He was neither angered by Ron's offense nor delighted that his attack had succeeded. He was calm as water, steady as... an old dog.

As he spoke, the old man walked over to Ron, who was curled up on the ground, and raised his palm toward him. A vermilion shell was tied to his palm with a cord. The impact from earlier had been fired from it.

This was one of Sky Island's specialties: an Impact Dial.

It could absorb external impacts into the shell and release them when its switch was pressed. It was truly miraculous!

Judging from how the soldiers outside did not dare approach, the shrine held an extraordinary status. Since the old man could carry an Impact Dial within the shrine, his position was beyond question... Correspondingly, the Impact Dial he used had to be among the finest, capable of releasing an impact far more powerful than an ordinary Impact Dial!

The fact that Ron had not been directly blown to death by the impact was already proof that his physique was beyond ordinary.

"You came here with your sights set directly on that fruit, which proves you know very well what it is... But it does not belong to you, man of the Blue Sea. So..."

"Hmm?!"

"Heh heh heh..."

While the old man was speaking at length, Ron suddenly chuckled. His laughter was mad and delighted, giving the old man an ominous feeling. His previously calm expression changed at once, and he frowned as he shouted.

"What are you laughing at?!"

"I'm laughing at what you said... old bastard."

Ron raised his head, blood staining the corner of his mouth, and spat out a bloody glob. "That fruit you just mentioned? Is it... this one?"

Thump, thump, thump-thump-thump...

As he spoke, he loosened his hand. A sky-blue fruit fell to the ground and rolled all the way to the old man's feet. There was a distinct bite mark on it, with streaks of blood between its flesh.

"Oh no!!"

The old man's pupils suddenly contracted, and he spun around.

The statue still sat cross-legged, its expression unchanged. But the Rumble-Rumble Fruit in its palm had already vanished!

There are only two and a half chapters for now, so I'll post two chapters first, then write tonight for tomorrow. Tomorrow, Big Tree has already been thoroughly arranged by someone. If I can make it back to my room standing, I lose.