Shandora

At that moment, Ye Mu still had a sliver of hope in his heart. He kept telling himself that if, perhaps, he could still find another Devil Fruit, then he would not have to shamelessly take away the future that had originally belonged to Enel.

Enel looked somewhat strangely at Ye Mu's conflicted, struggling expression, not understanding why Ye Mu had suddenly become like this. Still, after thinking it over, he answered.

"No more."

"Don't answer me so quickly. Think carefully. It doesn't have to look exactly like this fruit. As long as it has strange patterns like this, or something similar, that's enough."

Ye Mu pointed at the Devil Fruit he was gripping tightly in his hand as he spoke.

Enel raised his head and put a finger to his temple, thinking for a moment before slowly saying.

"Now that you mention it, there does seem to be one. But it's not quite the same as this one. Its pattern looks a little like flames, and it's red."

"Really?"

Flames, and red. Could it be the Flame-Flame Fruit?

When Ye Mu heard Enel's words, his eyes instantly lit up. His whole body trembled with excitement, as if he had swallowed some all-powerful tonic, and in an instant all his strength returned. He lunged to Enel's side.

"Quick... take me there... take me there..."

Enel was startled by Ye Mu's actions. After hearing Ye Mu's words, though he found it strange that Ye Mu wanted him to take him somewhere, that was not what he was torn over. What he was struggling with was whether or not he should take Ye Mu to the place where he had found the fruit.

Because at this time, the people from the village who had gone out hunting should have returned. If they discovered that he had escaped from the village, he would probably be in for a beating. Besides, the place where he had found the fruit was also extremely dangerous.

But the moment he thought of Ye Mu putting an arm around his shoulders, that feeling of being acknowledged by someone else—something Enel had never experienced before—Enel instantly threw everything else out of his mind and said to Ye Mu.

"All right, follow me!"

In a certain valley of Upper Yard, there was an extremely hidden place, like a mountain stream, surrounded by huge rocks, with a very small brook running through the middle.

Enel and Ye Mu were hiding there at that moment, cautiously watching the soldiers of Sky Island flying back and forth through the sea of clouds.

"Hey, Enel, are you from Sky Island?"

Ye Mu asked Enel during the spare moment while they were hiding. This was also a question Ye Mu had always been hung up on when he watched the anime.

"I don't know."

After hearing this, Enel's expression dimmed a little.

"But ever since I can remember, I've always lived on Sky Island!"

"Oh. I saw that you don't have wings, while those soldiers all do, so I was a little curious."

Ye Mu drew back a little and used the shade of the trees to hide himself.

When Enel heard this, his expression became extremely ugly. Perhaps Ye Mu's words had touched a sore spot. Because he had no wings, Enel had suffered no small amount of discrimination and abuse on Sky Island.

Since Ye Mu had asked this, he had naturally guessed a little about how Enel was treated on Sky Island.

He asked it, of course, to stir up the resentment Enel held toward Sky Island.

So he continued, pretending not to care at all.

"Maybe you're like me, and you came from the Blue Sea?"

Enel's body trembled when he heard this, and he looked at Ye Mu in disbelief.

"Look, you don't have wings, just like me. And people from the Blue Sea don't have wings either."

At this point, seeing a hint of interest in Enel's eyes, Ye Mu continued tempting him.

"So, what do you think? Do you want to return to the Blue Sea like me?"

"Return to the Blue Sea!!!"

Enel widened his eyes in surprise. Ye Mu's words had indeed made him think of leaving Sky Island and going to see that human world filled with people exactly like himself. But...

"How do we get back?"

"Heh, I don't know that either."

After all, Sky Island was tens of thousands of meters above the Blue Sea.

Ye Mu scratched his head awkwardly. Right now, he had no clue either. However, he could not let the idea of going to the Blue Sea that he had just stirred up in Enel be snuffed out, so he continued, "Although I don't know how to get back right now, I absolutely will not give up on the idea of returning to the Blue Sea. After all, that is my homeland."

After saying this, Ye Mu looked at Enel, whose face was full of thought and hesitation, and said, "More importantly, you're here. If it were just me alone, maybe it wouldn't be very possible. But with your help, there'll be no problem at all."

"I..."

Enel pointed at himself with a finger.

"What can I help you with?"

"Right now, maybe not much. But in the future, who knows? For now, let's wait until you take me to the place where you found that fruit."

In his heart, Ye Mu still could not overcome his own greed. He did not have the courage to tell Enel the truth about Devil Fruits right now.

"All right."

Enel was also very puzzled, not knowing what Ye Mu was talking about.

Fortunately, at this moment, the two of them looked up at the sky and saw that the people of God's Guard had already left. Only then did they sneak away from that place.

Ye Mu followed Enel, walking forward along the winding path. Along the way, they ran into people from God's Guard several times, but fortunately, because the two of them were small, they were not discovered.

This did not seem to be Enel's first time sneaking in here, so he knew the way well and did not encounter any danger.

After more than an hour, Enel finally brought Ye Mu to a place that resembled ancient ruins. Broken buildings were everywhere, bearing remnants of an ancient civilization.

Looking at the scene, a thought popped into Ye Mu's mind.

"Don't tell me this is Shandora from the story."

"Hey, hurry up and follow me."

Enel shouted at Ye Mu, who was standing there in a daze. Clearly, Enel was extremely nervous right now.

"Oh... oh..."

Ye Mu snapped back to his senses and immediately followed.

The two of them walked back and forth through the ruined remains until Enel brought Ye Mu to a building hidden beneath the sea of clouds, then finally stopped.

"We're here. This is the place."

Enel said excitedly.

"Here???"

Ye Mu looked around. There was nothing here—nothing but broken bricks and shattered tiles.

Enel looked at Ye Mu's puzzled face, his expression full of pride, and said boastfully, "It took me a lot of effort to find this place back then. Come with me, I'll show you something."

Enel stepped into the sea of clouds. It wasn't too deep, only just past his knees. Ye Mu watched as Enel felt around in the clouds, then seemed to touch some treasure, a flash of excitement crossing his face.

"Found it. This is it."

Then Ye Mu saw Enel straining to shift something under the sea of clouds, his face turning bright red.

Seeing this, Ye Mu seemed to guess something too. He also stepped into the sea of clouds and walked to Enel's side.

"Together..."

Then, following Enel's hand deep beneath the sea of clouds, he discovered that sure enough, he had touched a large stone.

"All right, if we push together, we can move it."

"Mm."

Enel glanced at Ye Mu, then said nothing more.

The two of them strained together. In an instant, the large stone loosened slightly, and a crack opened beneath it. Ye Mu immediately felt a vortex-like pull.

"Come on, harder!"

Enel roared.

"The place where I found the fruit is right underneath this."

After hearing Enel's words, Ye Mu's eyes seemed to already see the Devil Fruit waving at him, and he instantly used every ounce of strength he had.

With a furious roar, the large stone was moved aside all at once. At the same time, a massive whirlpool current sucked Enel and Ye Mu into a pitch-black hole.

The reading experience for VIP members has been optimized. Tap the middle of the screen to call up the menu, making it easy to "Settings," "Previous Page," "Next Page," and "Back to Top."