Although Vic knew a few key pieces of information, he was able to locate the island where the Rainbow Mist appeared in advance through Ban's intelligence network.
But finding it beforehand wouldn't have mattered. If he had come here more than ten years earlier and actually started training, perhaps before he even had a day to train, a Straw Hat boy named Monkey D. Luffy would have followed him in, caused a series of crazy incidents that blew up the Eternal Space, and then everyone inside would have been thrown out.
Given the flow of time inside and outside the Rainbow Mist, such a thing is very likely to happen. As long as Luffy doesn't change his course, he will eventually arrive at this island.
Furthermore, the ten-odd years outside the Rainbow Mist correspond to less than a day within the Eternal Space, which would yield almost no benefit for Vic. Therefore, even if Vic entered more than ten years earlier, it would be futile, and he would most likely still be sent back to more than ten years ago by Luffy.
Furthermore, what Vic is least certain of is whether the Rainbow Mist will reappear after the balance within the Eternal Space has been disrupted once.
Even if it happens again, will the ability to go back to the past still exist by disrupting the balance?
No one can answer these questions, so they are all uncontrollable factors. As long as they are uncertain, Vic will treat them as non-existent. Therefore, Vic can only seize this one and only opportunity to come with Luffy.
After entering the Rainbow Mist, he sent everyone inside away to prevent the balance of the Eternal Space from being disrupted, and then he cultivated peacefully alone inside!
In any case, the time spent training in the Eternal Space is negligible in the real world, so Vic doesn't need to come early; staying by Luffy's side is enough!
Having figured everything out, Vic didn't stay on the Going Merry any longer. He flashed to the shore and pointed a finger at Dr. Henzo's nape.
Dr. Henzo fainted without uttering a sound, and was then held in the arms of a nervous Usopp. No matter how hard Usopp tried to call him, he couldn't wake him up. Usopp thought that he had made the old man faint, and felt very guilty!
Robin sensed that Henzo's unconsciousness was somewhat abnormal, and alertly released her Observation Haki to try and sense her surroundings, but unfortunately, she found nothing.
Before she even realized it, the book she was carrying disappeared—it was the biography that Rapanui had written after emerging from the Rainbow Mist.
It contained many accounts of what he had seen and heard in the Eternal Space, including a great deal of treasure. Nami couldn't see this book, otherwise she would definitely want to go in and search for treasure, so Vic simply took the book away.
After knocking Henzo unconscious and obtaining the biography, Vic pointed to the sky again, a streak of red lightning flashing across his fingertip. Then, the sky above the entire island underwent a dramatic change. Dark thunderclouds quickly gathered, and streaks of silver arcs raced through the clouds, indicating that a storm was imminent.
Usopp and Robin thought so too, so Usopp carried Henzo on his back and went with Robin to find Luffy.
However, the storm never came; instead, four thunderbolts resounded across the island, and the thunderclouds in the sky gradually dissipated.
Where did these four bolts of lightning strike?
A slash was aimed at Philip, who was standing in front of Luffy and his crew, collecting an extra tax on Luffy's large plate of noodles. This Philip was the son of Mayor Wetton, or you could say the son of the pirate Wetton.
Wetton had ruled the island by force for nearly fifty years, serving as mayor and exploiting the islanders for just as long. Philip was one of his accomplices. With a single bolt of lightning, Philip was reduced to ashes, which piled Luffy next to Luffy and his crew's table leg, emitting wisps of smoke. Luffy and his friends were dumbfounded!
The other civilians, who had just had their taxes forcibly collected, cried out in their hearts, "Retribution! Good riddance!"
As for Philip's men, they were terrified and fled the restaurant in a panic, fearing that if they committed too many evil deeds, they would be the next ones to be punished.
The second bolt of lightning struck Rake, who was confronting Sanji. Rake is Wetton's grandson and an accomplice in the oppression of civilians. He has a suit of armor that can generate electricity, and ordinary civilians are no match for him and cannot resist him.
Even Sanji suffered losses at his hands, getting shocked several times. By this time, the armor had been pierced by real lightning, and Rake inside was completely destroyed, with no hope of survival!
Nami looked at the thunderclouds in the sky with a sense of familiarity, as if she had seen them somewhere before. Sanji, on the other hand, looked at the tattered armor on the ground with disdain. A guy who played with electricity had actually been electrocuted!
The third bolt of lightning naturally struck the culprit, the pirate Wetton. Before being struck, he was leisurely drinking tea at home, thinking about how to plunder treasure from the Rainbow Mist.
He thought it was too slow to plunder money from ordinary people; after fifty years, he had only made so little. If he could plunder from the Rainbow Mist, he would definitely become rich in one go!
Of the three, Wetton was the most heinous. Not to mention the people he killed when he was a pirate, when he came to Ruluka Island to rob it, he burned down all the houses on the island, and countless people died that time!
Then came the forced appointment of the mayor, inevitably resulting in the deaths of many who opposed it. Finally, there's the forced taxation of the past fifty years, with all sorts of bizarre taxes that have likely driven many ordinary people to the brink of starvation! The taxes collected here are heavier than Heavenly Tribute, and it's unknown how many people have been indirectly killed!
So a bolt of lightning struck, and Wetton, who had just been sipping tea, instantly turned into a wisp of smoke and vanished. The guards who heard the sound went inside and found only a hole the size of a bucket in the roof, and the room was covered in charred remains from the fire. But Mayor Wetton, who had been drinking tea, was nowhere to be seen!
The final bolt of lightning struck the Rainbow Tower directly, instantly causing Rainbow Tower to collapse into ruins. This Rainbow Tower was something Vic had to destroy; it could connect to the Eternal Space through the Rainbow Mist Space Passage, something Vic would not allow to exist!
Knocking Henzo unconscious was also to prevent him from revealing too much information about the Rainbow Mist. He would rescue the children inside, but there was no need to involve others. The more people involved, the more variables there would be, and of course, the biggest variable was Luffy himself.
Luffy and Usopp were still in shock at what had just happened. A living person had been struck by lightning and turned into a pile of ashes right before their eyes. This was something they had never heard of before!
Lightning is incredibly destructive; turning people into charred corpses is not uncommon, but they had never heard of anyone being struck by lightning and reduced to ashes. Did such powerful lightning even exist in this world?
Only Robin seemed lost in thought, recalling the book that had mysteriously disappeared from her arms and the absurdly powerful lightning. She suspected that Vic hadn't left and had been secretly protecting her all along.
Because Vic does indeed possess the ability to make himself invisible, something she's witnessed several times before, this explains the book's disappearance. As for why she believes it was protecting her rather than the entire Straw Hat Pirates...
Because Robin has only been Straw Hat Pirates for a short time, she is unaware that everyone else knows Vic, and several of them even have close relationships with Vic. Since the others haven't discussed this with her, this has led to her misunderstanding.
The thought of Vic watching and admiring her while she showered and changed in the cabin made her blush. She wondered if Vic might actually have fallen for her. What about her mother?
Robin was both happy and guilty, her expression changing rapidly. She didn't notice Luffy, who had just been looking on in surprise, falling asleep on the table after finishing his noodles.
Like Dr. Luffy, Henzo had fallen into a deep sleep. No matter how much Usopp tried to wake him, he couldn't. He quickly called Robin to help, but no matter what they did, they couldn't wake either of them.
Luffy's face was swollen from Usopp's beating and he still didn't wake up. Robin and Usopp had no choice but to stay at the restaurant to take care of the two of them, unable to go anywhere else. However, Robin was even more convinced that Vic was here!
She looked around and around, using her Observation Haki to sense everything, but she couldn't find Vic anywhere, nor did she know why Vic was doing this.
However, thinking about the book Vic took, Robin vaguely guessed that it might be related to the Rainbow Mist. Did taking the book mean he didn't want others to know the legend of the Rainbow Mist?
Was knocking Dr. Henzo unconscious also for this purpose? Dr. Henzo did mention the rainbow mist before, Robin felt that she had vaguely guessed Vic's thoughts.
And then there's Luffy's unconsciousness. Robin has gotten to know Luffy's personality quite well through their time together. Vic is probably worried that Luffy will cause trouble!
Having guessed all this, Robin decided not to tell anyone else what he had read in the book!