Enel stared at the City of Gold below, his eyes shining. Though it lay in ruins, gold was everywhere, and clear drool trickled from the corner of his mouth.
Lin Yuan shot him an exasperated glance, a faint smile appearing on his lips. There was even more gold here than he had expected.
Fortunately, the Skypieans regarded this place as cursed. Otherwise, he would never have gotten such a bargain.
In the original story, Enel had used the gold here to build a massive golden airship, the Ark Maxim. Even then, he hadn't used it all, which showed just how much gold there was.
Lin Yuan looked into the distance, where an enormous tree rose straight into the sky, countless vines hanging from its branches.
"Looks like the Golden Bell and the Poneglyph are up there. The Roger Pirates came here and didn't take any gold, or maybe they took a little but couldn't take it all."
Thinking about how Roger had been here and left a message, Lin Yuan had a lot on his mind. For now, though, he didn't go looking for the Golden Bell. Instead, he turned his gaze elsewhere.
A huge dark shape had appeared there. Perhaps sensing Lin Yuan's aura, it didn't charge over, though Lin Yuan could still hear it hissing.
"Enel, go down and take a look!"
Lin Yuan spoke to Enel with a wicked grin.
Enel, already dazzled by the gold, couldn't wait any longer. His body turned into a bolt of lightning, and he rushed straight down.
"Yahahahaha, so much gold! I'm rich! It's all mine!"
Enel ran wild through the City of Gold, touching this and that, unsure for a moment which piece to take.
There were quite a few enormous pillars and bell towers here, all cast entirely from gold. Enel wrapped his arms around one, reluctant to let go.
Lin Yuan didn't go down. He covered the area below with his Observation Haki, then concealed his aura.
As soon as Lin Yuan hid his aura, a tremendously long body as thick as a water barrel suddenly shifted beneath the towering tree in the distance.
In the darkness, a green eye with a vertical pupil snapped open, staring fixedly in Enel's direction. It belonged to a giant serpent a full hundred meters long.
Though the serpent was practically a tiny thing compared to the Zhu Jiuyin Lin Yuan transformed into, compared to anyone else, it was a terrifyingly huge monster.
Lin Yuan's aura had alarmed it just now, but the suppression of his bloodline had kept it from daring to move at all.
Only after Lin Yuan's aura disappeared did the giant serpent open its eyes in confusion and spot Enel.
As the Lord of Shandora, the giant serpent hadn't seen another living creature in a long time. Seeing Enel wandering around now was an outright provocation.
The enormous figure slowly slithered forward. Lin Yuan watched the Lord of Shandora; despite its immense size, it moved with extraordinary agility and didn't make a sound.
Before the Lord of Shandora, Enel was just a tiny morsel. If it swallowed him whole, it probably wouldn't even feel him go down.
As the Lord of Shandora drew closer, Enel sensed that something was wrong. Though he wasn't very skilled at using his Observation Haki, his innate sense of danger put him on guard.
"Roar..."
As Enel looked around, an enormous head suddenly rose behind him, more than thirty meters off the ground.
To Lin Yuan's amazement, even as the Lord of Shandora raised its massive body, it didn't make a sound.
It let out a roar, then lunged at Enel.
Enel naturally noticed the giant serpent behind him as well. Looking at the enormous serpent blotting out the sky, he couldn't help thinking of the Zhu Jiuyin Lin Yuan had transformed into not long ago.
Fear burst forth from within him. The hairs all over his body stood on end, and cold sweat broke out on his forehead.
"What kind of monster is that?"
Enel didn't sense how strong the giant serpent was, or perhaps he automatically neglected to probe its aura.
The dragon god Lin Yuan had transformed into overlapped with the giant serpent before him, making his body stiffen.
"What are you standing there for? Do you want to die?"
Just then, a voice reached Enel's ears, making him jolt.
The giant serpent, the Lord of Shandora, had already brought its terrifying maw right in front of Enel. It seemed ready to swallow him whole the very next second.
"Crackle..."
At that critical moment, Enel's body suddenly turned into a bolt of lightning, and he vanished from the spot.
"Boom..."
The Lord of Shandora had been moving too fast. Though its bite missed, its momentum sent it crashing into the ground. A tremendous boom rang out, and all of Shandora seemed to tremble.
Enel was already in midair, lightning flashing around him as bolts of electricity rampaged through the air.
"Damn you! How dare you sneak up on me! I'll fry you to a crisp!"
Enel's face was flushed with shame and anger. He hadn't expected to be frightened by the creature in front of him.
It's all that guy's fault. If it weren't for him, I wouldn't have been scared by this monster.
But Enel only dared think it; he didn't say it aloud.
He could still fight the terrifying giant serpent before him, but if he pissed Lin Yuan off, things definitely wouldn't end well for him. Recalling the scene of falling into the dark abyss, Enel couldn't help shivering.
Soon, he vented his anger on the giant serpent.
"Hmph, damn you! Take this! 1 Million Volt: Discharge!"
Blue lightning spread continuously over Enel's body, and surges of electricity blasted straight toward the Lord of Shandora below.
"Roar..."
The giant serpent, the Lord of Shandora, had just smashed its head into the ground and was still somewhat confused about why there was nothing in its mouth when the terrifying current struck its body.
Its body stiffened and ached, and it suddenly roared toward the sky.
Although Enel's discharge had hit it, it had only made its enormous body stiffen for a moment and hadn't caused any real damage.
But the pain enraged the Lord of Shandora. It opened its bloody maw and roared repeatedly at Enel, raising its serpentine body another twenty-odd meters.
The raised portion of the Lord of Shandora's body was now nearly twenty stories high, like a colossal beast holding up the sky. Its blue-black scales gleamed with a chilling aura in the sunlight.
Lin Yuan stood on his Flame Clouds, clicking his tongue in amazement.
"As expected of the world of pirates, every animal is more formidable than the last. If this snake were in my previous life, it would be a real anaconda disaster."
Though he said that, Lin Yuan felt no stir in his heart. The Lord of Shandora looked terrifying, but if he made a move, it would only take one slash.
For Enel, however, it was still somewhat troublesome. From what Lin Yuan could sense, Enel had only just gained the power of the Rumble-Rumble Fruit. Even if he was stronger than the giant serpent, he wasn't much stronger.
Enel, who had been feeling rather pleased with himself, was shaken when he saw that his attack had only made the serpent's body stiffen for a moment.
"Damn monster, die!"