"Eek!!! That's terrifying!"
Chopper was frightened by his words. A moment later, he came to his senses and hurriedly scrambled forward, trying to escape the terrifying place.
"Whew, whew!!! I should be safe now that I've run this far, right? He shouldn't chase me anymore. I'd better look for the others first."
After running for a while without stopping, Chopper finally paused and looked around, speaking in relief.
"Honestly, he really ran far. He wouldn't obediently let me save him, so I'll do it myself!"
Ohm got up and went in the direction Chopper had fled. Looking at the buildings blocking his view, he spoke in a somewhat displeased tone.
Then he drew his sword and slashed downward. The Iron Cloud formed from a Cloud Dial stretched out before him, cutting across Chopper as he prepared to leave.
"Boom!!!"
A tremendous sound rang out. Caught completely off guard by the Iron Cloud, Chopper instantly lost consciousness and collapsed.
"This must be the place. As long as I follow the giant vine straight up, I can reach Enel's Shrine of God."
Down below, Wyper arrived at the base of the giant vine and spoke as he looked up at it, towering endlessly overhead.
With that, he accelerated swiftly up the giant vine on his surf skates. Just as he rushed up to where Ohm stood and prepared to continue forward, a slash came sweeping toward him. He had no choice but to stop and drop back to the ground.
"You can reach the Shrine of God by following the vine, but who gave you permission to go up there, Wyper?"
Ohm walked over, sword in hand, and spoke to him calmly.
"Tch, it's you, Priest Ohm."
Recognizing one of the enemy's leading officers, Wyper showed him no friendliness. Instead, he raised his rocket launcher, aimed at him, and fired.
"Boom!!!"
The gas blast roared toward Ohm. He jumped from where he stood, dodged the attack, and landed off to one side, looking at Wyper as he spoke.
"How rude, Warrior Wyper. These are the ruins of your homeland. Aren't you afraid of damaging them?"
Wyper's only response was to roll his eyes. Clearly, he didn't care about this place; he only wanted to deal with Ohm as quickly as possible.
"Aah!!!"
Suddenly, a cry came from the sky, and they both looked up.
Bang!!!
"Ow, that hurt! That damned South Bird, next time I see it, I'll make it pay..."
Zoro had fallen from the sky and landed beside Wyper. He struggled to his feet, clutching his head as he cursed.
"Huh! It's you, that unreasonable warrior..."
Zoro quickly noticed something was amiss beside him and looked at Wyper as he spoke.
"Tch, if you dare get in my way, I'll take you out too."
Wyper shot back, regarding Zoro as a threat as well.
Several hours earlier, in the courtyard where Gan Fall lived in seclusion, Conis suddenly put down the watering can in her hands and looked toward Upper Yard, her mind heavy with worry.
"What's wrong, Conis? Are you worried about them? It's all right. They don't look like they'd be defeated so easily, so don't worry!"
Seeing how troubled his daughter looked, Conis's father knew what she was worried about and tried to reassure her.
"Yes, Dad, I'm still very worried about their safety. I want to go and see how they're doing now."
Conis made the suggestion. Ever since Gan Fall had rescued her and brought her here after she told them the truth, she had been blaming herself. She was the one who had dragged them into this, so she couldn't escape the guilt in her heart.
"Sigh! All right, I'll go with you. You'll be a little safer with me there. I'll go get the Waver at home started right now."
He sighed, then decided to go with his daughter to look for Luffy and the others.
Conis's father then turned and went to start the Waver, and the two of them rode it toward the Sacred Land Upper Yard.
On the way, they rescued Aisa, a little girl who had set out alone to look for Laki and the others. After riding for some time, they arrived in front of the Going Merry, where Nami and the others were.
By then, Luo Chen had just dealt with the brothers Kotori and Hotori. As he prepared to take the injured Usopp and the others into the cabin for treatment, he saw Conis and her father arrive on the Waver.
"Nami, thank goodness! I'm so glad you're all right. I'm really sorry, it's all my fault. If it weren't for me, you wouldn't have been dragged into this. I'm sorry!"
After boarding the ship, Conis saw that Nami was safe and spoke excitedly. Then she sank to her knees on the deck and apologized to Nami over and over.
"It's all right, Conis. Get up. I understand what happened now. Even without you, Enel wouldn't have let us go, so don't blame yourself."
Nami walked over to Conis, helped her up, and spoke to her.
She had originally been furious because she thought Conis had deceived them, but after Sanji and Usopp explained what had happened, she understood the whole story and had already forgiven her in her heart.
"How touching. It seems the laws Enel made really have caused people to suffer. That's just how he is. He wants to create weaknesses in the hearts of the Sky People and use them to-"
Luo Chen walked over and spoke to them as well.
"Um, you are..." Conis found Luo Chen's figure somewhat familiar and asked him in confusion.
"Come to think of it, aren't you the same? You used to be one of his subordinates too, didn't you? Didn't you persecute the people here just like Enel?"
Nami challenged him.
"No, I never persecuted the people here. In fact, I helped them with quite a few things."
Luo Chen hurriedly waved his hands and denied it.
"Really? I still don't believe you!"
Even though he said that, Nami remained doubtful and didn't quite believe him.
"Ah! I remember now! It's you, the person who saved me a few years ago. Thank you so very much for saving me. I can't thank you enough."
Conis finally remembered. Two years ago, when a group of pirates from the New World had come here, Luo Chen had saved her, so she kept thanking him now.
"I saved your life a few years ago? Hmm... Oh, it was you. No need to thank me. I just helped you out on a whim. It was no big deal."
Upon seeing Conis, Luo Chen recalled the little girl who had been nearby after he rescued Hogg two years ago. He then waved it off, indicating that it had meant nothing to him.
"Listen up, I'm a Shandia warrior, and I'm not afraid of you pirates at all."
While Luo Chen and the others talked, Nami was having a conversation with the little girl Aisa. Aisa held a Gas Dial pointed at Nami
and spoke loudly.
"Fine. I have an Impact Dial too, and I'll blast you first with a bang!"
Nami crouched down and spoke to Aisa, wearing the Sky Knight's bracer on her right arm.
"Hey!!! I've bandaged them up and taken them into the cabin to rest. Next, let's check the ship and see if it can move. If it can, we'll sail straight out of here."
Conis's father opened the cabin door and called out to them.
While they had been talking, he had taken Usopp and Sanji into the cabin and bandaged their wounds so they could rest and recover. Only then had he come out to call everyone over to inspect the ship, so they could leave as soon as possible.
"That's great. Thank you so much. We'll go check the ship right now."
Nami thanked Conis's father, then pulled Luo Chen along to inspect the ship.
"Hey, hey, hey, why do I have to go with you too?!"
Luo Chen protested as Nami pulled him along.
"Quit complaining. If you want to ride our ship down, you have to work. Otherwise, we won't let you aboard."
Ignoring his complaints, Nami snapped at him.
Just as Luo Chen reached the place Nami had assigned him to check the ship's condition, the sound of a Waver engine starting interrupted their work.