After finding the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, Noah did not put it into storage. After all, the fruit was too important.
Noah had Ray bring Joshua to the Sky Island.
Before long, Ray brought Joshua through a wormhole to the temple in Birka.
"Brother, what is it?"
"Something good, of course." Noah handed him the Rumble-Rumble Fruit. "This is the Rumble-Rumble Fruit. Go ahead and eat it!"
"This is the Rumble-Rumble Fruit?!" Joshua looked at the golden fruit in the small box, a hint of delight appearing on his face.
Among the family's core members, everyone except Vic, who was a dedicated physical-training fanatic, had already eaten a Devil Fruit. So Joshua did not hesitate or try to refuse; he picked up the Rumble-Rumble Fruit:
"Thank you, brother!"
Joshua then took a big bite of the flesh. His face instantly twisted into a hideous grimace, as though his soul were about to leave his body. Even so, he fought back the nausea and ate the remaining flesh bite by bite.
Noah had already taken a large bottle of watermelon juice, Joshua's favorite drink, out of a card. "Have some watermelon juice to settle your stomach."
"Thanks, brother." Joshua picked up the big bottle and gulped it down. After drinking more than ten liters of watermelon juice in one go, he let out a long breath. "Phew... I'm alive again!"
"Try out your powers!" Noah reminded him.
"OK." Joshua closed his eyes and concentrated. Soon, dense currents of electricity were coursing over his body, and his palm began turning into bluish-purple lightning.
Crackle, crackle, crackle...
A sound like a thousand birds chirping at once echoed through the temple.
From that moment on, the power of the Rumble-Rumble Fruit began to reveal itself. After three hundred years, its thunder and lightning were finally going to resound through the world once more.
Noah released a huge pile of iron sand from a card.
Joshua had long since read Noah's ideas for developing the powers of various Devil Fruits. Noah had compiled those ideas together with the Devil Fruit Encyclopedia into the "Book of Devils."
Moreover, Joshua's strength was already approaching that of a Marine Headquarters Commodore. After he obtained the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, his strength soared in an instant.
Electricity generated magnetism, and magnetism controlled iron.
Drawn by electromagnetic force, the several tons of iron sand in the temple quickly wound around Joshua, soon encasing him in a black cocoon.
"Lightning Metallurgy!" The electric current transformed into intense heat, instantly melting some of the iron sand.
"Magnet Shaping!"
"High-Frequency Vibration Sword!"
"Railgun!"
"Magnetic Levitation!"
"Magnetic Field Detection!"
"Thunder God Mode!"
"Plasma Cannon!"
"Forced Magnetization!"
"High-Heat Demagnetization!"
"Magnetic Field Shield!"
"Electromagnetic Mutual Generation!"
"..."
It was too powerful. If Joshua had not deliberately restrained the Rumble-Rumble Fruit powers he was displaying, destroying Birka would have been effortless.
In a sense, the Rumble-Rumble Fruit was a superior version of the Magnet-Magnet Fruit, a natural counter to the Paramecia-type fruit. High-temperature demagnetization alone would leave the Magnet-Magnet Fruit completely unable to fight back.
"What's the maximum range of your Observation Haki?"
Joshua sensed his surroundings carefully for a moment. "About 200 kilometers in every direction, or about 1,000 kilometers in one direction."
"Not bad. You're already about on par with me." Noah was very satisfied.
With the Rumble-Rumble Fruit and the foundation he already had, Joshua could now rival an Elite Vice Admiral of Marine Headquarters, and he would soon reach the level of an Admiral.
The Noah Family had become very powerful by now.
It had a bizarre Paramecia user, three Logia users, and a considerable number of mid-level members. It was not impossible that the family's overall strength might one day reach the level of Marine Headquarters.
Lilian's Flame-Flame Fruit could match Sakazuki's Magma-Magma Fruit, and it had even greater potential.
Joshua's Rumble-Rumble Fruit could match Borsalino's Glint-Glint Fruit, and the Rumble-Rumble Fruit had slightly greater potential.
Monet's Snow-Snow Fruit could match Kuzan's Ice-Ice Fruit, though its potential was clearly inferior. Fortunately, Noah could provide scientific guidance to help Monet develop her powers further.
In terms of temperature, the Snow-Snow Fruit certainly could not compare with the Ice-Ice Fruit, but that did not mean there were no other ways to increase its power.
Conceptually speaking, snow was a state, not a substance.
In other words, snow could be formed from water, but it could also be formed from other substances.
For example, oxygen snow, hydrogen snow, nitrogen snow, carbon dioxide snow, and the like.
That was the key path for developing the Snow-Snow Fruit.
Competing with the Ice-Ice Fruit over low temperatures meant pitting one's own weakness against the other side's strength, with no possibility of victory at all.
But taking a different approach with various snow substances could increase the Snow-Snow Fruit's strength and potential to a certain extent.
For example, oxygen snow would allow Monet to turn the oxygen in an enclosed space into snowflakes in an instant, causing a localized lack of oxygen. Against opponents other than Logia users, it would be an almost overwhelming blow.
At the same time, oxygen snow could produce pure oxygen gas, which could also be tremendously useful for treatment and intensifying combustion.
Carbon dioxide snow could be used to induce artificial rain in clouds, and it could also poison enemies.
All in all, as long as one's thinking did not go astray, there were always more solutions than problems.
After trying out a few applications of his powers in Birka, Joshua returned to the Rum Kingdom to train in secret.
Noah, meanwhile, transferred Monet from the temporary headquarters in the Rum Kingdom to replace Tomani as the acting head of the Paradise Sky Governorate.
After all, the Snow-Snow Fruit was a stronger deterrent on the Sky Islands.
Tomani's Art-Art Fruit, on the other hand, was not suited to direct combat. He was now the deputy head of the Department of Supervision, responsible for the Distillery's intelligence work, and the Art-Art Fruit had promising applications in intelligence.
Meanwhile.
Noah used the power of the Float-Float Fruit to relocate all the Birkans from the Sky Island of Birka to Field Island, beside Angel Island.
Noah did not completely abandon Birka, however. It was one of the nodes on the Sky Islands' Westward Sky Route and a place anyone traveling from Angel Island to High West had to pass through. It had no development potential, but it would serve well enough as an observation post and outpost.
Noah had Monet arrange for a squad of ten air cavalry to be stationed in Birka, preventing other Skypieans from entering Angel Island directly.
The guard squad would rotate once a month.
After returning to Lion Island, Noah drew up new plans for five Sky Islands and stepped up surveillance of Jaya Island, especially during the monthly eruptions of the Knock Up Stream, to prevent anyone from sneaking in.
It was therefore essential to establish several fixed outposts in the White Sea below.
Noah left all these matters to Monet, Chief Karei, Gan Fall, and Usha, the village chief of the winged people.
Noah himself secretly headed for the surface of the Grand Line's Paradise with Shiki, Ray, Wyper, and the others. Their first stop was Jaya Island below.
In the quiet sky late at night, Noah and his party descended from above, appearing not far from Mock Town on Jaya Island.
This marked the Noah Family's first official entry into the Grand Line.