Whirlwind Storm (Seeking Votes)

Second Awakening.

Morning light stretched for miles.

Only then did Hancock and the others realize that they had once again arrived ten thousand meters in the beautiful sky.

As far as the eye could see, the boundless expanse was filled with thick beds of clouds, like cotton candy, making one want to lie down on them and take a few bites.

The group had even taken the opportunity to watch a different kind of sunrise.

The moment was somewhat romantic and beautiful.

"Ha ha ha..."

Norse suddenly burst into laughter. "Interesting. That Golden Lion Shiki is mine!"

"Why? He's such a bad man, so ungrateful. What do you want him for?"

"Exactly! What charm does a bald old man have?"

"So what if he was a great pirate from Roger's era? He's no pirate hero—he's just a man!"

"Look, he sent us up ten thousand meters into the sky again. I'm so mad!"

Sonia and Gorud had their lips pursed the entire time, thinking that it was over—what were they supposed to do now? How could they get back to the sea?

That said, after several days of stuffing themselves with food on Long Ring Long Land, where ingredients were abundant, the two of them seemed to have put on a little weight. Certain areas had grown especially large, and their waists had begun to thicken as well.

Hancock, on the other hand, rested one hand against her brow as she secretly peeked at Norse. Her face and eyes were utterly enchanting, like a devoted fangirl of Norse who could never get enough of looking at him.

"Ahem, ahem~~"

Norse coughed awkwardly. "What I mean is, I already have an idea for getting him onto the Kuja Pirates' ship."

"Huh—have him join our Kuja Pirates' ship? Would he agree?"

"I don't think so! But if he really does agree to join the Kuja Pirates, then it's not like we can't forgive what he did."

In truth, Sonia and Gorud were rather hopeful about it.

They believed Golden Lion Shiki was extremely powerful. If he truly joined the Kuja Pirates, and considering that Shiki himself was dissatisfied with the World Government and the Marines, he could absolutely join them in overthrowing the world ruled by the Dragon People!

"There's no such thing as unwillingness, and nothing is impossible. Everything depends on what people do."

Norse suddenly became cold and confident. "The next time he meets me, he'll have only two choices: board my ship, or take his dreams and ambitions straight to hell."

"Even though, even though we all know that you still haven't shown all your strength and methods, we're ten thousand meters in the sky right now. What should we do?"

"Don't worry. There'll always be a way! The food in the cabin is enough to last us a week. It's just that the ultraviolet rays up here are very strong and will harm your eyes and bodies, so when there's nothing to do during the day, stay inside the cabin."

A smile appeared on Norse's face, seemingly magical as it instantly calmed the two of them down.

They even felt that, with Norse around, they would definitely escape this predicament. So they treated this as a trip in the sky instead—it was better to stay happy.

Over the following days.

The Kuja Pirates' ship drifted freely and aimlessly atop the cloud bed ten thousand meters above the ground.

After cooking each day, Norse spent all his remaining time training.

For example, he strengthened his Observation Haki, attempting to sense meteors in the universe and then use the gravity he controlled to pull them down to Earth.

Recently, however, Norse had focused on developing his Devil Fruit ability. How could he turn ordinary light into colorless ultraviolet rays that harmed the human body?

This question had made Norse sit at the bow and stare at the sun for five whole days before he finally found a clue. It essentially required precise control over the reaction values of light within an invisible magnetic field—a complicated and difficult operation to control.

All along, Norse had developed the Sun-Sun Fruit from the two main branches of light and heat.

Yet on the branch of light, all he had developed were abilities involving visible light. He had never expanded into ultraviolet energy, which could not be seen with the naked eye.

Now that he had come ten thousand meters into the sky, he finally understood that the ultraviolet light hidden within visible light possessed terrifying destructive power.

If he faced an enemy head-on, suddenly releasing ultraviolet light might silently cause nearby enemies to go temporarily blind in an instant.

If exposed for too long, it might even permanently blind their eyes and cause malignant changes to their skin. The most terrifying danger was that it could give enemies skin cancer.

It seems that developing ultraviolet or infrared rays invisible to the naked eye won't be easy.

Norse thought it over, but did not dwell on it too much. He then thought, Maybe once my Devil Fruit awakens, those abilities will naturally come with it!

Rumble—!!

Suddenly, as though countless streams of air were grinding and tearing through the thick cloud layer, a thunderous boom rang out.

Norse immediately snapped back to his senses.

Ahead of him was a thundercloud layer stretching for tens of thousands of miles. Dark clouds pressed down heavily, while thunder and lightning flashed everywhere within it.

Even more terrifyingly, at its very center was a storm vortex hundreds of miles wide, devouring everything around it.

"What's going on?"

Hancock and the other two walked out of the cabin, as the commotion was simply too great.

"Ah?!!"

"Th-This is... what?"

The three were instantly shocked and terrified. The dark cloud layer spanning tens of thousands of miles was not only ravaged by thunder and lightning—far more terrifying was the enormous storm vortex, like a gigantic mouth swallowing everything around it.

"That should be a rotating airflow within the storm, also known as storm devouring. It's an extremely dangerous meteorological disaster."

Norse frowned. There were violent bolts of lightning within it—no, the storm vortex at its center was the real danger. If they were swallowed into it, they would likely face certain death.

"Then what do we do? Our Kuja ship is rapidly drifting toward that giant mouth. It's obviously being dragged by that force!"

"Can we turn the ship around now?"

"It's useless. Our ship has already entered the storm's airflow. Even if gravity returns to normal, it won't change the situation."

"Is there really no way? That enormous vortex in the middle feels terrifying. It looks calm inside, but it gives me an incomparably dreadful feeling."

"Yes, I feel the same way. It's making my scalp tingle."

Sonia and Gorud were frantic, their voices trembling the entire time, filled with the fear brought on by the threat of death.

"Norse, will you really let me and Sonia die like this?" Hancock asked calmly.

In truth, Hancock would have been lying if she said she was not frightened at this moment. The three sisters had fought so hard to survive—how could they die in a place like this?

Of course, she liked the man before her. She believed Norse would certainly have a way.

Seeing the absolute faith in Hancock's eyes, Norse could not help but smile. "As long as I'm here, I won't let anything happen to you!"

Those words seemed to possess infinite magic.

The three Hancock sisters froze instantly, feeling themselves drawn even more deeply to Norse. From that moment onward, all their fear vanished.

"I'll go ahead and carve out a safe path for you. But you must hold tightly to something secured on the ship. Passing through that vortex may be rough the entire way, but as long as the ship is sturdy enough, you'll all be fine."

Norse rose into the air and flew away from the Kuja Pirates' ship, heading toward the storm vortex that stretched over a hundred li across.

"What about you? Will you be in danger?"

Hancock was incomparably worried about Norse. Her eyes reddened as she said, "I don't want you to face any danger either. If you get hurt, my heart will ache!"

Hancock did not know when this feeling had begun—perhaps yesterday, or perhaps only at this very moment!

"There's no danger! Believe in me. I am the most arrogant sun in this world; no darkness can swallow me!"

Norse gave the three women aboard the ship a solemn look, then turned around and elementalized his body. The next instant, he completely transformed into a massive sun that expanded without limit and flew directly toward the swirling storm vortex.

Along the way, countless violent lightning bolts struck at him, only to be completely swallowed by his light and heat.

The scorching temperature he released continuously evaporated everything in his path. Even the thunderclouds and lightning feared it. Part of that intense heat even transformed into terrifying heat waves, rapidly shoving the thunderclouds and lightning to both sides, leaving them unable to close back together for a long time.

The visible light he released instantly illuminated the cloud cover for thousands of li around, completely swallowing the light and fire of countless lightning bolts. It was like bringing the first dawn after a storm.

The Kuja Pirates' ship followed behind. Though they could not resist the airflow affecting an area spanning tens of thousands of li, with Norse clearing the way ahead, they sailed forward smoothly, as if he had forcibly opened a safe path for them within the storm.

Before long, the Kuja Pirates' ship vanished into the guiding light ahead.