"Clang..."
Just as the Lord of Shandora launched his final attack before dying, Lin Yuan stood before Enel, his face utterly calm. The Famous Sword at his waist flashed from its sheath.
Under Enel's astonished gaze, a terrifying black-and-red slash swept between the Lord of Shandora's eyes, then shot into the distance without slowing.
The Lord of Shandora's hundred-meter-long body abruptly stopped, and a fine crack appeared along it.
A terrifying fissure also appeared in the Sea Cloud ground of Shandora, stretching who knew how far.
At last, the Lord of Shandora's vertical pupils slowly turned deathly gray, and his hundred-meter-long body abruptly split down the middle.
"Boom..."
His enormous body crashed down on both sides, and a flood of blood engulfed everything within a hundred meters.
As Lin Yuan had expected, countless pieces of gold fell from the Lord of Shandora's body when he died.
Enel's eyes bulged once again. He had thought Lin Yuan was already incredibly strong, but he had never imagined his swordsmanship would be this terrifying too.
The monstrous serpent that had nearly killed him had been split in two by a single stroke from the man before him-and split lengthwise, at that.
And that wasn't all. After cleaving the serpent apart, the slash had carved a horrifying gash through Shandora, seemingly splitting the entire city in two.
How strong is this guy? I thought I knew how powerful he was, but I never expected his swordsmanship to be so impressive too!
Enel was growing numb to it all. He even had the illusion that he would never catch up to him.
If Lin Yuan knew what Enel was thinking, he would surely laugh and say, "You're right. That's no illusion, kid. You'll never catch up to me. Keep working at it, young man!"
"Rest here for a while and make some roast meat while you're at it. I'll be gone for a bit."
Lin Yuan spoke to Enel, who was lying on the ground. Though Enel was injured, none of his wounds were fatal, and he would recover after some rest.
Enel didn't ask where Lin Yuan was going. He struggled into a sitting position and slowly let out a stale breath. When he looked up again, Lin Yuan was already gone.
By then, Lin Yuan had arrived before the towering tree that rose into the clouds. Looking up at its cloud-shrouded trunk, he pushed off lightly and shot upward at tremendous speed.
Lin Yuan didn't summon Flame Clouds. Though they were convenient, they were considerably slower than his own instantaneous speed.
As he continued upward, Lin Yuan activated his Observation Haki, steadily scanning the vines wrapped around the giant tree.
At last, among the vines on the giant tree, he found a massive Golden Bell, with a Poneglyph text not far away.
A smile appeared on Lin Yuan's lips. He instantly appeared before the Golden Bell, looked it over, then drove a fist into its body!
"Clang, clang, clang, clang, clang..."
The resounding peals immediately rang throughout the entire Sky Island, even reaching Jaya Island ten thousand meters below.
Everyone involuntarily looked up. The people on Jaya Island were bewildered and uncertain, while the Shandia People, who had already moved their entire tribe to Upper Yard, all froze the moment they heard the bell.
Then, with Saga at their head, they all looked toward the sound with tears in their eyes and knelt on the ground.
The Golden Bell was a sacred relic to the Shandia People, and generations of them had searched for it. They had thought it was lost forever, yet the moment their tribe returned to its homeland, the relic rang out.
Saga and the others bowed repeatedly to the ground, murmuring unknown words.
Unaware of any of this, Lin Yuan threw nine punches before stopping, and the Golden Bell rang nine times.
Only then did Lin Yuan withdraw his hand. He flashed over to the Poneglyph, which served as the Golden Bell's base.
He couldn't read the writing on it, and there was a line of the same writing beneath the Golden Bell, but Lin Yuan didn't care about any of it.
He had no intention of concerning himself with the history of the Void Century, nor did he want to find Laugh Tale and become the Pirate King.
Those paupers in the Roger Pirates couldn't have had any real treasure. He reckoned that any random chunk of gold from Shandora would make him richer than they were.
Though he didn't care about it himself, nothing stopped him from giving it to Robin as a gift. Over the years, Robin and her mother, Olvia, had finished reading all the books he had collected.
They had asked more than once to search for Poneglyphs, but Lin Yuan had rejected every request. Though they hadn't brought it up again afterward, he knew how much they wanted to go.
Lin Yuan raised his hand and stepped forward. Looking at the supposedly indestructible Poneglyph text, he felt an itch to try his hand at it.
But remembering that it was the Golden Bell's base, he abandoned the idea. He summoned Flame Clouds, set the entire Golden Bell and its base on them, and slowly flew downward.
A few minutes later, Enel saw Lin Yuan descend from the sky with an exquisite Golden Bell, and a trace of curiosity appeared on his face.
"Were those nine peals your doing? What a beautiful sound."
Lin Yuan was a little surprised. It was just a bell, and he hadn't felt much about it. It was simply louder than most.
"That's right. This bell is something special. It's connected to one of this world's secrets!"
Before Enel could ask anything else, Lin Yuan waved a hand and spoke.
"How are your injuries? I'm planning to return to the Blue Sea."
He had been on the Sky Island for some time now. Though he had spent most of it traveling, he had accomplished everything he came to do.
Now Lin Yuan planned to return to Upper Yard first and see how Gan Fall and Saga were governing the Sky Island. Once everything there was in order, he would head back to Cocoyasi Village.
Now that he had found the gold, some of his plans could finally be put into action.
"I'm fine. You're going back to the Blue Sea? Are there lots of powerful people there? Can I fight them?"
Lin Yuan smiled, a playful look in his eyes. Honestly, with Enel's current strength, he could sweep aside the small fry, but he probably wasn't yet a match for those who had awakened Haki.
"Of course you can. But first you'll need to learn Haki and train your body. With your talent, I reckon you could become the unrivaled master of a region within ten years or so."
Hearing that he still needed ten years, Enel couldn't help feeling a little discouraged, but he said nothing.
"All right, since you've rested, use your ability to gather all the gold and smelt it into cubes. You can consider it the start of your training."
"Hey, I'm only out of danger. My stamina and injuries haven't recovered yet!"
Enel's face darkened. Though he liked gold, looking at the entire City of Gold, he knew smelting it all into cubes would exhaust him to death in his current condition.
Lin Yuan paid him no mind. After remarking that his recovery was too slow and his body too weak, he went straight over to the Lord of Shandora.
He casually sliced off a piece of tender meat, set it over a fire, and began roasting it.
Enel's face darkened at the sight.