Upper Yard, the ancient city of Shandora.
The enormous Golden Bell stood in the center of the city, thirty meters tall and cast entirely from pure gold, its surface covered in Ancient Script and sun motifs. Four hundred years had left mottled traces on it, with vines entwining it and moss covering it, yet it still exuded a solemn, sacred air.
At that moment, two forces faced off beneath the Golden Bell.
On one side were Enel and his surviving Divine Soldiers; on the other were the Flame Emperor Pirates led by Lin Yan, along with the Shandia warriors.
"You do have some skill, Blue Sea dweller." Enel sat cross-legged on the Golden Bell's crossbeam, his tone still arrogant. "But this is as far as you go. This is my territory-all of Upper Yard is filled with thundercloud iron. It conducts my lightning, forming a lightning field that covers the entire island. Here, I am invincible."
He spread his arms, and the four drums behind him sounded at once:
"Two Hundred Million Volts: Raigo!"
Boom-!!!
The dark clouds overhead began to rotate, forming an enormous vortex. At its center, lightning continuously gathered and compressed, finally forming a massive sphere of lightning a hundred meters across! The sphere slowly descended, ionizing the air and tearing apart the clouds in its path. Its destructive aura made everyone's hair stand on end.
"That's..." Wyper, the Shandia war chief, went deathly pale. "The legendary Raigo! One strike can destroy all of Upper Yard! Enel's gone mad! Does he want to destroy himself too?!"
"No." Robin looked up at the sphere of lightning. "He wants to force the captain to take this attack head-on, then seize the chance to take his body-his Mantra can hear the 'power of the sun' inside the captain that he craves."
Sure enough, Enel licked his lips. "Flame Emperor, I give you two choices. First, take Raigo head-on, then die by my hand. Second, surrender and offer me your body. I'll preserve your consciousness and let you live as part of my 'collection.' Well? Merciful, aren't I?"
Lin Yan did not answer.
He simply walked toward the Golden Bell and reached out to touch it. The red-gold pendant began to grow hot, resonating with the bell-hidden inside were the Sky Shard and information left behind by the Sun God Nika.
"Enel," Lin Yan finally said, "have you ever heard the Golden Bell ring?"
"What?" Enel frowned.
"Four hundred years ago, Mont Blanc Noland, an explorer on Jaya Island, became close friends with the great Shandia warrior Calgara. When Noland left, Calgara told him, 'When my friend returns, I'll ring this bell and let its sound echo through heaven and earth, telling you we're here.'"
Lin Yan's voice was calm, yet it carried throughout Shandora:
"But Noland never returned. Half of Jaya Island was carried up to Sky Island by the Knock Up Stream, and after Noland returned to the Blue Sea, he was executed because he 'couldn't find the City of Gold,' branded a liar."
"For four hundred years, generations of Shandia have died fighting to reclaim their homeland and ring the Golden Bell to fulfill that promise. And the Skypieans, fearing an 'invasion by the people of the earth,' have guarded that divide for generations too."
He turned to look at Enel:
"And you, Enel, what have you done? You call yourself a god, yet you use lightning to spread fear. You rule Sky Island, yet you never care about your people's happiness. You possess Mantra, which lets you hear the voices of all things, yet you use it only to satisfy your desire for control."
"Do you deserve to be called a 'god'?"
For the first time, Enel's expression twisted viciously.
"Shut up!" he roared. "What do you know?! The voices of these insects are nothing but tedious noise! My lightning, my power-that is true 'divine authority'! I'll cleanse this world with lightning, take the Ark Maxim to Endless Vearth-the moon-and build a divine kingdom that belongs to me alone!"
He pointed at Lin Yan:
"And you, along with these foolish mortals, are nothing but stepping stones on my path to godhood!"
Raigo accelerated downward, leaving only three hundred meters between it and the ground.
The terrifying ionizing radiation began to make the ordinary warriors dizzy, and even Ace felt his skin sting.
But Lin Yan remained calm.
"Since you refuse to see reason..."
He raised his right hand, palm up.
"Then I'll show you-"
"What a true 'miracle' is."
Crimson-gold flames poured from his palm.
It was neither attack nor defense, but "creation."
The flames split and took shape in the air, finally becoming three things: a burning greatsword on the left, a flaming shield on the right, and in the middle... a small, beating heart of flame.
"Genesis Furnace: Trinity Release-"
"Sun God Nika: Pseudo Form, Full Deployment!"
Boom-!!!
The flaming wings behind Lin Yan spread fully, every feather burning with searing light. His eyes turned pure gold, his hair moved without wind, and golden divine markings appeared around his body.
Even more astonishingly, the Golden Bell began to resonate.
The Ancient Script on its surface glowed gold. The tangled vines and moss turned to ash in the heat, revealing the complete images beneath-a sun, flames, a smiling face, and a huge line of Ancient Script:
[When the sun rises again, the bell will awaken the sleeping promise. -Left here by Nika]
"This is... an inscription from the Sun God?" Robin was stunned. "So the Golden Bell itself is a 'beacon' left behind by Nika!"
Enel also sensed something wrong-his lightning began to "fail" as it approached Lin Yan. It was not being absorbed, but "negated," as though lightning as a form of energy did not deserve to exist before the Sun God.
"Impossible!" he howled. "My lightning is invincible! Three Hundred Million Volts: Thunder God, Maximum Output!"
His entire body turned into a lightning giant, swelling to fifty meters tall, and he clenched both fists and smashed them toward Lin Yan! The power of that strike was enough to wipe all of Shandora off the map!
Lin Yan merely raised his right hand.
In his palm, the heart of flame began to beat.
Thump... thump... thump...
Each beat was accompanied by the Golden Bell's resonance. The bell's sound did not travel through the air, but through "some higher-dimensional connection," ringing directly in the depths of everyone's souls.
"The Golden Bell's true purpose is neither to tell time nor to uphold a promise."
Lin Yan's voice overlapped with the bell:
"It is a 'key,' a 'coordinate,' a 'lighthouse' the Sun God Nika left for those who came after him."
"And now-"
"The lighthouse is lit."
The heart of flame burst apart.
It became countless specks of light that merged into the Golden Bell.
The Golden Bell began to vibrate on its own.
It had not been struck-it had come "alive."
The sun motif on its surface began to rotate, the flame patterns began to flow, and the smiling face began to... smile.
Then.
The bell rang.
Not once, but four hundred times-with resonance accumulating once every hundred years, four hundred years of waiting, four hundred years of longing, and four hundred years of promises were all released at that moment!
Clang-!!!
The ringing became golden sound waves, spreading like ripples. Wherever they passed, Raigo dissipated, the lightning giant crumbled, and Enel's screams were drowned out by the magnificent tolling.
"No-!!!" Enel struggled wildly. "My power... my lightning... why?!"
"Because your lightning is merely a 'phenomenon.'" Lin Yan's voice was like a divine oracle. "But the Sun God's flames are 'rules.' Before rules, phenomena are meaningless."
He raised his hand and pointed at Enel:
"Now, it's time to end this."
"Sun God Nika: Pseudo Secret Art-"
"Dawn Fist."
He threw a punch.
There were no flames, no explosion, only "light."
Pure light, warm light, light filled with hope. Like the rising sun, that light illuminated Upper Yard, Angel Island, and all of Sky Island.
Enel was swallowed by the light.
His lightning dissipated within it, his body disintegrated within it, and his consciousness was... purified within it.
When the light faded, Enel lay on the ground, his eyes empty. He was not dead, but he had lost all his power-the Rumble-Rumble Fruit's abilities had been forcibly stripped away, his Mantra had been utterly destroyed, and even his memories had developed vast blanks.
"I... who am I?" he asked blankly.
"A wretch who needs to learn how to be 'human' again." Lin Yan turned away and no longer looked at him.
The Shandia warriors erupted in cheers, and the Sky Island residents emerged from their hiding places. Tears filled their eyes as they looked at the sky, clear once more.
The four-hundred-year war was over.
The Golden Bell had fulfilled its mission.
Lin Yan walked beneath the bell and retrieved the second shard from inside it-the "Sky Shard," a silver-white badge engraved with clouds and lightning.
[Obtained: Sky Shard (2/3)] [Sun God Nika Legacy Unlocked: 4/5] [New Ability Awakened: Thunder-Fire Resonance (can simulate some of the Rumble-Rumble Fruit's abilities)]
He put away the shard and looked at Robin:
"Now, it's time to decipher the information inside the bell."
Robin nodded, pressed both hands against the Golden Bell, and closed her eyes. Her Flower-Flower Fruit ability resonated with the bell, and the Ancient Script became streams of information pouring into her mind.
Ten minutes later, she opened her eyes, filled with shock.
"Captain... what's recorded inside the Golden Bell isn't just a promise."
"There's also... the exact location of the Ancient Weapon Poseidon."
She drew a deep breath:
"Poseidon isn't a weapon, but a 'person.'"
"She is the mermaid princess, Shirahoshi."
"And her current location is-"
"Fish-Man Island, Hard-Shell Tower."
Before you continue