Over the next four years, Sky Island entered a new era blessed by fate.
The roar of war was gone, along with a century of bloodshed and resentment. In their place came an unprecedented age of unity, rebirth, and progress.
The Sky Islanders and Shandia warriors, once bitter enemies, now carried boulders side by side to restore the ancient city;
They exchanged fighting techniques beneath the giant trees;
They even danced around the same bonfire during the harvest festival.
The Shandia could finally return openly to their ancestral land. They no longer had to approach the ruins of Shandora bearing weapons and hatred.
For the first time, the Sky Islanders sincerely acknowledged that God's Island was not their sacred ground alone. It was the homeland the Shandia had been separated from for centuries.
During those four years, a long-forgotten name rang out across the Cloud Sea once more:
Jaya Island.
At Rock's urging, everyone embraced the name that had once been buried,
For it stood not only for the land's rightful heritage, but also for a future shared by both peoples.
When the people of Birka Island later joined them, it felt as though a path to the future had opened in the skies above Jaya.
—They brought a technological revolution.
Knowledge from Rock's memories, combined with Sky Island's unique shell resources, carried the entire island into a new age.
Flying boats crossed the Cloud Sea;
Cloud Wings let warriors glide above the forests on patrol;
Thunder Communication Dials spread news across the island in seconds;
Shock Dial Armor doubled the warriors' defenses;
Flame Dial Furnaces, Wind Dial Pumps, Thunder Purifiers...
In just four years, Jaya Island had grown from a collection of primitive tribes into a modern city in the sky.
For the first time, the Shandia felt the power of civilization;
For the first time, the Sky Islanders realized technology could change their lives;
And the people of Birka took pride in seeing their knowledge respected across the island.
Children ran down clean cloud streets, flying boats cruised across the sky, and laughter from all three peoples filled the air beneath the giant trees.
As time passed, one belief gradually took hold among all three peoples:
Rock was more than a symbol of strength. He was the true architect of their peace.
Without him, there would have been no peace among the three peoples;
Without him, there would have been no Dial technology revolution;
Without him, this land would have remained mired in hatred and misunderstanding.
And so, at the end of the third year, beneath the Golden Bell's glow, representatives of the three peoples declared:
"Let Rock become the true 'god' of the Kingdom of God."
The Shandia called him "our great benefactor, Lightning Roar."
The Sky Islanders called him "the true lord of the heavens."
The people of Birka Island called him "the divine child who changed our fate."
Rock had wanted to refuse. But when he saw the trust and hope in thousands upon thousands of eyes...
He understood: a new era needed a figurehead. It needed a guardian, too.
And so he nodded.
That day, all of Jaya Island erupted in celebration.
Tens of thousands from the three peoples gathered before the Golden Bell. Lightning descended from the sky and illuminated the young man standing there.
"Thunder Emperor, guardian of the Kingdom of God—Rock, leader of the three peoples."
The proclamation echoed across the Cloud Sea.
From that day on—
Whenever flying boats sailed across the Cloud Sea, a silver-white arc of lightning would flash overhead;
When Shandia children prayed before the altar, they would secretly look up at the young man who seemed nothing like a god, yet surpassed one;
When Sky Island warriors patrolled the borders, they could not help looking skyward—
High above, a silent flicker of lightning was always watching over all of Sky Island.
Everyone knew it:
The boy cloaked in thunder had been quietly guarding this kingdom ten thousand meters in the sky all along.
The great hall of the temple was quiet and solemn. Light through the cloud windows seemed to gild Rock in a soft golden glow.
The young man sat with his eyes closed, his long recollection at an end. When he opened them again, he was the "god" chosen by Sky Island's peoples.
Rock let out a slow breath, tapped the armrest, and muttered to himself:
"Hmm... a king at sixteen..."
"And with everyone in the kingdom training under blasts from Lightning Dials, on top of living year-round in the thin air ten thousand meters up..."
"Every last one of them can fight..."
He raised an eyebrow, looking rather pleased with himself.
"Their bodies must be in much better shape than those so-called pirates down below, right? Isn't this the legendary 'entire nation under arms'?"
Rock rubbed his chin and thought for a moment. "Looked at that way, have I casually achieved the goal Crocodile spent his whole life chasing?
—Building a nation with ridiculously powerful armed forces?"
He remembered how frustrating it had been to watch that sand crocodile lose to the protagonist's plot armor in his previous life, and chuckled.
The two rows of guards below had long since grown used to their "god's" easygoing, talkative ways. One by one, they struggled to hide their smiles:
"Lord Thunder God is talking to himself again~"
"It's kind of comforting to hear him."
"But... just sitting there is enough to make you tremble. That presence doesn't feel sixteen at all..."
Rock's ears twitched, and his face reddened. "Hey! I can hear you!!"
The guards immediately looked away with perfectly straight faces. "We didn't say anything—"
Rock sighed helplessly and raised a hand. A delicate arc of lightning danced across his fingertip.
After mastering the power of the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, Rock had once silently turned into a bolt of lightning and descended ten thousand meters to explore the real "world" below.
It was a realm utterly unlike Sky Island—
A true azure sky, no longer hidden by the White-White Sea;
A boundless ocean stirring up salty sea winds;
Crowded ports alive with the calls of merchants;
The smell of earth on land, mingling with the restless desires and ambitions of humanity.
Most importantly—
Through his far-reaching electrical senses, Rock had pieced together one crucial fact from intelligence, rumors, and people's conversations.
The era he lived in was the year 1480 of the Sea Circle Calendar.
An old era of true chaos and splendor, where mighty figures rose in droves.
—The Rocks Pirates ruled through fear, and the sea trembled before them;
—Shakuyaku, the pirates' greatest prize, had just retired from piracy and was preparing to open a bar on Hachinosu.
—The Celestial Dragons lived in savage luxury, treating the world as their plaything;
—The balance between the Marines and the pirates shifted constantly, while order teetered on the brink;
—Powerhouses emerged in dazzling numbers, each a towering figure capable of shaking the age.
Most crucially, the world-shaking God Valley Incident was only four years away.
Lightning danced at Rock's fingertip, pulsing steadily like a heartbeat.
Deep in his chest, the restless, untamed spirit that years of peaceful living had buried began to wake.
"The old era..."
"Powerhouses everywhere, chaos rising like a tide..."
An eager smile tugged at his lips. "What an irresistible time to be alive."
Rock rose from the throne and slowly descended the steps.
A wind high above the clouds swept through the windows, setting his black hair and cloak fluttering alongside the arcs of lightning around him.
He lifted his head toward the vast, deep-blue sky beyond the cloud windows.
Beneath that sky lay the magnificent sea, a stage where countless legends would rise and fall.
An irrepressible edge gleamed in his eyes:
"Rocks..."
"Garp, Roger..."
"And all those great pirates about to shake the world..."
He chuckled softly, a low rumble before the thunder:
"Let me, the Thunder God, witness the storms of the old era for myself."
He held out his hand. Lightning of dazzling purity quietly gathered in his palm.
Like the break of dawn, its light bathed the entire temple in silver-white.
It was time.
The world below.
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