"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
A violent gust roared outside the temple, followed by the voices of the divine soldiers.
"Lord Luo Chen, you're back. Have you completed your mission?"
The soldiers respectfully asked Luo Chen.
"Yes, it's been taken care of. Are God Enel and the other priests inside?"
Luo Chen nodded in reply and asked them.
"Baa! Yes, Lord Enel and the others have been waiting for you for a long time. Would you like to go in now? Baa!"
A divine soldier in a white uniform answered.
"Yes, I'll go in now. Get back to what you were doing!"
With that, Luo Chen withdrew his ability, pushed open the doors, and strode inside.
"Yes, good luck!"
The divine soldier saluted him, then returned to his post and resumed his duties.
"Ah la la la! You've finally returned, my subordinate... Luo Chen, how did it go? Have you completed the mission?"
Enel rose and spread his arms to welcome Luo Chen back, while also asking how his mission had gone.
"Since I'm back, naturally I've completed the mission. The Shandia warriors returned empty-handed, and after this battle, I believe they won't come looking for trouble with you again for a long time."
Luo Chen told him how he had handled the mission, almost mechanically.
"Hahahaha! That's good. After all, if bugs kept coming to bother me during the considerable time I'll serve as god of Sky Island in the future, I'd find it very troublesome."
Hearing how Luo Chen had handled things, Enel expressed his approval.
"If they bother you again, just use your ability to wipe them all out. That's easy for you, isn't it?"
Luo Chen gave Enel a meaningful look before speaking to him.
"Uhahahaha! That won't do. Getting rid of them before the Ark Maxim is finished would take away a lot of the fun."
Enel laughed as he rejected Luo Chen's proposal, shaking his head as he explained.
"Ark Maxim? Is there something you're still hiding from me?"
Even though he knew about the golden ship Enel would successfully build years later, Luo Chen pretended not to know and asked him about it.
"Since you've become one of us, Luo Chen, it's time we told you about these things, including our true purpose in coming here."
Enel spoke to him with a mysterious look on his face.
"Lord Enel, isn't it a bad idea to tell him our true purpose so soon? We don't even really know what kind of person he is yet."
Shura, who had an impulsive temperament, spoke anxiously to Enel.
"That's right! Shura is right, Lord Enel. If we tell Luo Chen our purpose just like that, could it be bad for our plans?"
Ohm also stood up, adjusted the sunglasses on his face, and spoke mildly.
"Hahahaha! It's all right, Shura, Ohm. Luo Chen is already one of us. Isn't that right, Luo Chen?"
Enel waved off their concerns and asked Luo Chen.
"Yes, I'm the fifth priest under God Enel now, and I'm your companion too. What could there be that you can't tell me?"
Under Enel and the others' gazes, Luo Chen showed no sign of panic. Instead, he spoke to them in a carefree manner.
"That's right. In that case, let me tell you, Luo Chen. Our true purpose in coming here is simply to build an ark that can sail to the Endless Vearth-the Maxim."
"An ark-the Maxim? Then why didn't you have the people who were originally Kado's subjects build it for you in Birka instead of coming all this way?"
Luo Chen was also puzzled by this. Why had Enel come to Sky Island to build the Ark Maxim instead of building it in his hometown of Birka? By rights, Enel, who had been born on a Sky Island, shouldn't have known that this was the former site of Jaya Island, with countless treasures and riches in gold.
"Hahahaha! I came here for the City of Gold in Upper Yard. Only an ark forged from its countless stores of gold would be worthy of my status as Thunder God Enel."
Seeing the confusion in Luo Chen's eyes, Enel explained again.
"I see. Then, God, how did you hear about the City of Gold? Isn't that something only people in the Blue Sea know about?"
"Of course, I learned about it from an ancient book in Birka. It recorded the experiences of the great adventurer Noland when he traveled to Birka four hundred years ago. Upper Yard was sent up to Sky Island by a huge ocean current several hundred years ago. Its original name was Jaya Island, the homeland of the Shandia, and it contained the City of Gold that people longed for."
Enel's words finally cleared up Luo Chen's confusion, and he understood why Enel had known there was gold here and traveled such a great distance to come.
"Now that you know our purpose, follow me. I'm going to announce your succession publicly before my subordinates."
With that, Enel brought Luo Chen before the fifty divine soldiers and, with the Tone Dial and Visual Dial activated, formally announced Luo Chen's position. From that day on, everyone on Sky Island knew of him. Of course, their impression of him wasn't very good.
Meanwhile, Laki caught up with her companions and returned to the Shandia village with them.
"Wyper, Laki, you're all back! Are you all right?"
The chief stood at the village entrance to welcome the returning warriors and asked them with concern.
"Grandpa Chief, we're all right, and we brought Wyper and the others back too."
Laki hurried over, supported the chief, and answered him.
"I'm back, Chief."
Wyper replied dejectedly, not daring to meet his eyes.
"You... sigh! It's good that you're back, good that you're back."
Seeing Wyper's injuries, the chief swallowed the words he had intended to say and could only shake his head and sigh.
"I'm sorry, Chief. I shouldn't have taken it upon myself to lead my companions to confront Enel. I ended up causing our people such heavy losses. It's all my fault. If you want to blame someone, blame me. There's no need to scold the others. Please punish me alone."
Wyper presented his battered body before the chief and begged for punishment.
"Sigh! Get up! As long as you're all right, what is there for me to blame you for?"
The tribe's most troublesome rebel, who was also its strongest warrior, had bowed his head and admitted his mistake like this. What more could the chief say? Helplessly, he helped Wyper to his feet.
"No, what happened today was all my fault. I can only blame myself for being too weak to keep my companions safe. From now on, I'll work twice as hard, and I'll definitely defeat him."
After being helped up, Wyper spoke resolutely. Today's battle had made him realize how weak he was. He decided not to continue like this, but to train harder, grow stronger, and defeat that man.
"We'll talk about that later. Go and recover first, then think about how to defeat him."
Seeing the firm resolve in Wyper's eyes, the chief, who had watched him grow up, knew he couldn't persuade him otherwise. He could only tell him to go and heal his injuries before thinking about revenge.
Suddenly, the village's Tone Dial and Visual Dial, linked to all of Sky Island, activated and formally announced Luo Chen's succession.
"Is that so? Have you completely become Enel's lackey? The next time we meet, I won't lose to you again. Just wait, Luo Chen."
Wyper naturally heard the news as well. He wasn't discouraged by it; instead, his resolve not to lose to Luo Chen again grew stronger.
When news of Luo Chen's succession spread, the people of Sky Island reacted in different ways, but more of them worried about their future fates.
Luo Chen himself, meanwhile, returned to the territory Enel had assigned him in the holy land of Upper Yard after Enel announced his succession, and continued training his Haki.