Just Found the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, and Enel Comes Running to Deliver His Head

Inside the dark and damp tree hollow, the air seemed to freeze.

That Devil Fruit, exuding a faint blue glow, lay quietly in Lei En's hand, as if pulsing with some mysterious heartbeat.

"Hey, hairless monkey from the Blue Sea, put down the god-given fruit in your hand!"

This sudden voice was extremely arrogant, carrying a sick kind of madness, and echoed in the empty tree hollow, sounding particularly harsh.

Lei En's hand holding the Rumble-Rumble Fruit paused mid-air.

He slowly turned his head to look at the entrance of the tree hollow.

Amidst interlacing light and shadow stood a sixteen or seventeen-year-old youth.

He wore a white headscarf, his upper body bare to reveal sturdy but not exaggerated muscle lines, and loose baggy pants on his lower body.

On his back, bound by a rough rope, were four small taiko drums carved with tomoe patterns, looking comical and bizarre.

Most eye-catching of all was his rebellious face and... the pair of ears that should have had long lobes, which now only featured two extremely ugly, flat scars.

It was none other than the future God of Sky Island, who was currently still a delinquent youth on Birka Island, Enel!

At this time, Enel possessed a natural awakening of Sky Island's extremely rare Mantra (Observation Haki), allowing him to hear the sounds of the entire island.

This superhuman talent made him regarded as an ominous monster by the people of his hometown, Birka.

He suffered long-term ostracism, insults, and even his signature earlobes were cruelly cut off by thugs during a violent conflict.

Long-term bullying and isolation made his personality extremely twisted and extreme.

He began to loathe those weak yet ignorant human beings, and began to style himself as a high and mighty "god".

Today, relying on his sharp Mantra, he had sensed an extremely violent and special energy fluctuation coming from deep within this huge ancient tree, and had tracked it all the way here.

He had a strong intuition that as long as he obtained the thing radiating that energy, he could gain the power that truly belonged to a "god" to destroy that sickening hometown of his!

Unexpectedly, despite hurrying as fast as he could, he had been beaten to the punch by a Blue Sea kid who looked only about eight years old and didn't even have the small wings on his back that were the mark of the Sky Islanders!

"Is something fancied by this god also something a lowly Blue Sea monkey like you can touch?"

Enel leaned lazily against the trunk, extended a pinky finger, and picked his ear with extreme disdain.

His slender eyes were filled with contempt and scorn for Lei En, completely not taking this brat seriously.

"Now, kneel immediately and offer up that fruit with both hands."

Enel raised his chin and spoke in a tone akin to bestowing charity.

"This god is in a good mood today, so perhaps I can show mercy, leave your corpse intact, and let a monkey like you die with some dignity."

Faced with this overwhelmingly arrogant provocation, Lei En was stunned for a moment, and then he lowered his head, his shoulders beginning to twitch slightly.

Pfft... hahaha!

Lei En couldn't hold it in any longer, clutching his stomach and bursting into unbridled laughter.

What did you call this?

This was truly finding a place after a fruitless search, without exerting any effort at all!

He had been worrying that after taking the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, the Heavenly Court's huge battleship, the Thunder God, lacked a night watchman who understood electricity and could do odd jobs.

Wasn't this excellent, durable top-tier labor force with its own innate Observation Haki jumping right into his bowl?

"Blue Sea monkey?"

Lei En stopped laughing and slowly straightened his body.

Not only did he not put down the Rumble-Rumble Fruit in his hand, but right in front of Enel, he tossed it casually back and forth between his hands like a playball.

He looked Enel up and down, his gaze resembling that of an experienced slave owner inspecting a piece of merchandise about to enter the warehouse.

"With your scrawny, half-grown monkey appearance, carrying a few broken drums, you dare call yourself a god in front of me?"

The corners of Lei En's mouth hooked into an extremely dark and arrogant sneer.

"Didn't your family teach you to be polite when you go out and face someone stronger than you? Oh, sorry, I forgot, you seem to be an unwanted stray dog."

This pinpoint-accurate, venomous retort was like a poisoned dagger, piercing fiercely into the most sensitive and vulnerable part of Enel's heart!

In Birka, although everyone ostracized him, after he used his Mantra and formidable physical strength to teach a few bullies a lesson, who didn't tremble and detour around him upon sight?

Today, he was actually being despised to his face by a lowly Blue Sea brat?!

And called a stray dog?!

"You... courting... death!!!"

Enel's originally pale cheeks instantly flushed purplish-red like a pig's liver, the veins on his forehead bulging like twisting earthworms.

He felt that his supreme dignity as a "god" had suffered an unforgivable and severe provocation!

"Since you refuse a toast only to drink a forfeiture, this god will personally take action and send you to hell to repent for your ignorance!"

Enel let out a roar like a wild beast.

He reached out abruptly, drawing a golden staff from the gaps of the four small taiko drums on his back—over two meters long, made entirely of gold, and extremely heavy.

Although he hadn't eaten the Rumble-Rumble Fruit yet and couldn't transform into lightning, his own physique was trained far beyond ordinary people due to years of fighting, coupled with his cheat-like Mantra prediction. In the eyes of ordinary Sky Islanders, he truly counted as a top-tier expert.

"Prepare to die, you lowly monkey!"

Enel kicked off the ground fiercely, shattering a protruding tree root.

He shot toward Lei En like a cannonball, carrying a violent gust of wind!

Mid-air, he gripped the golden staff tightly with both hands, exerting force from his waist, and brought it down toward Lei En's head with a piercing whistle and the force of Mount Tai!

This strike was heavy and powerful, mixed with all of Enel's anger and murderous intent.

If it landed solidly, let alone an eight-year-old child's head, even a hard Sky Island rock would be smashed to pieces, brains bursting!

Yet...

Faced with this fatal, violent blow, not even a trace of panic could be seen on Lei En's face.

He didn't even make a dodging motion.

Neither did he draw the iron-cutting famous sword Yubashiri from his waist.

Lei En simply stood quietly in place, raising his head slightly, his obsidian-deep eyes calmly watching the golden staff rapidly expanding in his field of vision.

In his eyes, there was only deep disappointment and disdain.

Too weak...

Lei En shook his head inwardly.

In the eyes of someone possessing Roger's Peak Swordsmanship and Advanced Observation Haki, Enel's current attack was practically moving in slow motion.

The speed was too slow.

The force generation method was too crude.

Over a dozen vulnerabilities where he could be killed with a single strike were exposed across his entire body.

This was simply no different from a three-year-old child waving a plastic toy in an attempt to attack an adult strongman.

Just as the golden staff, accompanied by a harsh wind shriek, was less than ten centimeters away from the top of Lei En's head, at the very critical moment when it was about to smash his skull!

"With just this level, you dare come out to play god and scare people?"

Lei En sneered, his tone filled with mockery.

Immediately following, very casually—or one might even say somewhat nonchalantly—he raised his left hand.

Without using Armament Haki hardening, nor employing any sword techniques.

He simply used that somewhat fair and tender little hand, which still retained a bit of baby fat, to meet the descending golden staff.

Clang—!

An extremely dull, loud impact resembling two pieces of solid raw iron colliding echoed violently within the narrow tree hollow!

Airwaves rolled, blowing Lei En's short black hair slightly upward.

Enel's eyes, which had been widened in anger, almost popped directly out of their sockets at this moment!

His face was painted with extreme disbelief and shock, as if he had seen a ghost.

His golden staff, swung with all his strength and enough to shatter rock...

Was actually caught with one hand by this eight-year-old Blue Sea brat in a casual manner!

Moreover, the opponent's palm was like an indestructible iron vise, gripping the base of the staff tightly.

Lei En's body didn't even sway, his feet remaining firmly nailed to the ground like an unsurpassable mountain!

"How... how is that possible?!"

Enel screamed in absolute shock and horror.

He felt his common sense being completely shattered at this moment.

He gritted his teeth desperately, putting the strength of a milk-drinking infant into his hands as he tried to pull the golden staff back from Lei En's grasp.

Yet no matter how hard he tried or how red his face became, that staff was like it had grown roots, cast dead inside the palm of Lei En's hand—unmoving!

"Is... is this your so-called 'divine' power? With just this bit of strength, it's not even enough to scratch my itch."

Lei En held the golden staff in one hand and slowly raised his head.

Those pitch-black, abyss-like eyes stared fixedly at Enel, who was suspended in mid-air with a flushed face.

A terrifying sense of oppression far exceeding Enel's scope of understanding, substantial like physical matter, erupted suddenly from Lei En's tiny body, instantly enveloping the entire tree hollow!

Under the oppression of this presence, Enel felt as though he were facing an ancient fierce beast with its bloody maw wide open, making even breathing difficult.

"You disappoint me so much, Enel."

The dark, teasing smile at the corner of Lei En's mouth grew thicker, his eyes flashing with the playful light of a hunter viewing his prey.

"Since you like this fruit so much, to the extent that you ran over here to throw your life away..."

Lei En raised his other hand, holding the glowing Rumble-Rumble Fruit.

"Then today, I'll let you open your eyes and see how this thing is actually supposed to be eaten!"

With that said.

Under Enel's terrified, eyeballs-splitting gaze.

Lei En didn't hesitate at all as he brought the fruit covered in lightning patterns to his mouth and opened wide.

Crunch!

He took a bite!