After Noah opened their eyes, the Shandia People finally came to see Noland in a new light.
Although Noland had helped resolve the tree plague that afflicted the Shandia tribe, he had later let the whole world know that Shandora held a vast amount of gold.
If the Knock Up Stream had not carried Shandora up to the Sky Island, the Shandia People would most likely have been wiped out.
By now, the Shandia People had become less concerned with the so-called promise and had given up on ringing the Golden Bell.
As for the even older Poneglyph, the Shandia People handed it over to Noah as well. Such a thing was simply too dangerous. If the World Government discovered it, they would try every means to seize the Poneglyph, even on a Sky Island.
After settling the Shandia People, Noah appointed the Shandia chief, Gan Fall, and the winged village chief as advisers at the governor's mansion on Lion Island, where they would help him govern the Paradise Sky Governorate.
With all that taken care of.
Noah once again set off with Shiki and Ray for the Sky Island of Birka, while Tomani stayed behind at the governor's mansion on Lion Island as acting governor.
Birka lay south of Angel Island, and the two Sky Islands were approximately 322 kilometers apart.
The Nautilus headed toward Birka at full speed.
After just over ten hours, Birka came into view.
Birka was much smaller than Angel Island, with a population of fewer than 1,500. It was a barren Sky Island, with no Knock Up Stream from the waters around Jaya Island below it. Instead, it was close to the Calm Belt in the South Blue.
When the people of Birka saw the Nautilus, they immediately surrounded it.
Noah unleashed a blast of Conqueror's Haki.
Birka's god and his priestly forces were instantly pinned to the ground by the Conqueror's Haki. They had paid the price for their greed.
Looking at the trembling people of Birka, their wings were noticeably larger than those of the Skypieans on Angel Island.
"Ray, go bring Mary here."
"All right, big brother." Ray opened a wormhole and disappeared from the deck.
Before long, the wormhole opened again.
Ray appeared before Noah with Mary.
"Mary, I'll leave their screening to you."
Mary nodded helplessly. "What a hassle. Another thousand-plus people."
The Noah Family soon took control of all Birka and began a comprehensive overhaul of the island.
Of course, they also searched for the Rumble-Rumble Fruit hidden on Birka.
Noah did not find the Rumble-Rumble Fruit in Birka's temple. Instead, he found a number of technological blueprints left by the ancestors of Birka's people, the Moon People. Among them were the designs for a spaceship called the Ark Maxim.
Noah placed great importance on those plans.
Although the Ark Maxim required an enormous amount of electricity for power, and only the Rumble-Rumble Fruit could maximize its capabilities.
That did not mean the Noah Family could not use it. Jay had developed the Graphite-Graphite Fruit further and had now created graphene batteries with a tremendous capacity for storing electrical energy per unit.
If they built a medium-sized Ark Maxim instead of a large one, graphene batteries, wind turbines, and gasbags could essentially make long-distance flight possible.
This was a more comprehensive solution than a single Ark Maxim, and safer than buoyant wooden ships kept afloat by the Float-Float Fruit.
After all, the Float-Float Fruit's levitation was an effect of its power. If anything happened to Shiki, those floating wooden ships would be rendered useless immediately.
Therefore, mass-producing medium-sized Ark Maxims as the family's main means of transport for controlling the Sky Islands was something they had to prioritize.
Three days later.
Inside the temple, Noah looked at the defiant Enel.
Enel had remained extremely resentful ever since the sky cavalry captured him two days earlier.
At twenty-three, Enel's worldview was already more or less set. If not for the fact that he had yet to commit any evil and was the one being bullied on Birka, Noah would have cut him down long ago.
He looked at Mary. "Give him a chance. Send him to the training camp to be retrained. If he still refuses to change his ways, send him off to be reincarnated!"
Enel was startled when he heard Noah's words.
Mary nodded, then reported on the screening work of the past few days. "Big Brother Noah, all the truly wicked people among Birka's population have been purged. There were twenty-eight in total, and all of them were executed."
Noah glanced through the screening report and found that Birka's god was among those purged. He was not surprised.
After all, the prevailing attitude on Birka was hostility toward outsiders, especially those without wings. Without Birka's god leading the way, the other people of Birka would certainly not have acted so brazenly.
Mary's screening revealed that Birka's god had not only oppressed those without wings, but had also expelled Birka residents over the age of fifty on the grounds that resources were limited. This policy had been in effect for over thirty years.
Although Birka was barren, it was not so poor that it could not support a few dozen elderly people. But as the ruler, the god naturally needed to enjoy himself, so he could only obtain resources from the other people of Birka.
That was reality.
Noah felt neither remorse nor pity over killing those people.
Mary carried Enel out of the temple.
Ray, who was in charge of the search, entered the temple looking a little embarrassed.
"Big Brother Noah, we haven't found the Rumble-Rumble Fruit these past few days."
"Not on Birka?" Noah pondered for a moment. Suddenly, he remembered something. "Go investigate the area where Birka carries out the Cloud Drifting Punishment. Focus your search there."
"The area where they carry out the Cloud Drifting Punishment? I'll go right away."
Noah believed the Rumble-Rumble Fruit was in that area because Enel was an unwelcome figure on Birka. The only places where Enel could have obtained the Rumble-Rumble Fruit were Birka and the surrounding White-White Sea.
Since they had not found the Rumble-Rumble Fruit around Birka, the place where Enel later obtained it was most likely the area where he underwent the Cloud Drifting Punishment.
Two days later.
Ray appeared in the temple carrying a small box.
"Big Brother Noah, the Rumble-Rumble Fruit really was in the area where they carry out the Cloud Drifting Punishment. I found a wrecked sailing ship from two hundred years ago there. The Rumble-Rumble Fruit was in a hidden compartment aboard the ship."
Noah opened the small box and looked at the golden-yellow Rumble-Rumble Fruit. A hint of delight appeared on his face.
The Rumble-Rumble Fruit was a Logia Devil Fruit whose power ranked among the best of its kind.
It had super speed like the Glint-Glint Fruit's, but with greater maneuverability, terrifying offensive power, and exceptional support capabilities.
If Enel in the original timeline had known Armament Haki and paid attention to physical training, his strength would certainly not have been limited to that level.
As for Enel being defeated by King Luffy, that was really protagonist's halo.
Without Armament Haki or Observation Haki, even if King Luffy were immune to lightning and extreme heat, he would have had no way to attack Enel.
After all, Enel had exceptionally powerful Observation Haki and could use Elementalization. Lightning was not countered by water like the Sand-Sand Fruit, so he was essentially unbeatable.
King Luffy's defeat of Enel was purely due to protagonist's halo.