Seeing Gan Fall leave, Luo Lan didn't plan to do anything more.
As long as they behaved, he couldn't be bothered to care.
If they didn't...
Then he'd simply find a new god for Skypiea.
One who listened.
"Sister Hina, I'll need you to lead a team to the southeastern part of the island. Stop the Skypieans trying to rush into Upper Yard."
"Oh, and while you're at it, find those three idiots."
Hina nodded, then gently patted the giant python, Nola, on the head.
Nola immediately understood and slithered away without hesitation.
Now, only Luo Lan, Robin, Ian, Baby5, and the Shandians remained.
"Wyper, your chief didn't come with you?"
"No. He's old now. Not suited for rapid movement like the rest of us."
"I see. Ian should've already told you my offer. What do you think?"
"Before I answer that, can I ask you something?"
Wyper didn't answer immediately, instead throwing a question of his own.
"Go ahead."
"Then I'll be blunt—what if we Shandians refuse?"
"Refuse?" Luo Lan raised a brow. "That would be unfortunate. But it's fine. We'll just take a portion of the gold as compensation and leave."
He wasn't bluffing—that really was the plan.
After all, Luo Lan's goal was to bring justice to the world. He had no interest in seizing the Shandians' land like the Skypieans had.
As for the gold?
As he said, it would be payment.
Payment for defeating Enel and helping them reclaim their homeland.
Completely reasonable.
"You're serious?"
"With your strength, wiping out the entire Shandian tribe wouldn't be difficult, right?"
"True. Honestly, not even me personally—several of my subordinates could take out your whole tribe alone."
"Then why..."
"Because it's different. We of Jun Lin follow justice. Seizing someone else's land—do you think that counts as justice?"
Wyper finally began to understand their logic.
They were nothing like the Skypieans, who spoke of kindness but turned greedy the moment their interests were involved.
This... this might be an organization the Shandians could actually trust.
"Before we came, the chief gave me full authority to make decisions. And now, I've made one."
"The Shandians are willing to form an alliance with Jun Lin. Additionally, a portion of Upper Yard will be set aside for your forces to station."
"Beyond that—excluding the Golden Bell—all the gold in Upper Yard will belong to Jun Lin."
"In exchange, however, we Shandians have two requests."
Wyper was firm—he gave everything he could without hesitation.
It surprised Luo Lan a bit, to be honest.
"Let's hear it."
"First," Wyper said seriously, "Jun Lin must help us defend Upper Yard."
The Shandians weren't foolish.
Without help from Jun Lin, they wouldn't be able to protect it.
After all, Upper Yard had been under Skypiean control for four hundred years.
The truth was simple.
The Shandians had too few people—just over two hundred in total.
Of those, fewer than a hundred were able-bodied fighters.
The Skypieans, on the other hand?
Even under Gan Fall's reign alone, his divine army outnumbered the entire Shandian tribe.
That wasn't counting the rest of the Skypiean military.
Their total population? At least ten times greater.
So, if they wanted to hold Upper Yard, they needed Jun Lin's support.
"Agreed. And the second?"
"To strengthen our alliance further," Wyper said, "we want to send some of our warriors to join Jun Lin."
What a pleasant surprise.
Luo Lan had just been thinking about how to recruit from the Shandians...
And now, they were offering themselves.
This was like free pie falling from the sky.
"Fine. I accept your second condition too. And I'll guarantee this—any Shandian who joins Jun Lin will receive the same treatment as all our members. No discrimination whatsoever."
"Oh, and one more thing—you might not know this, but within Jun Lin, members can earn military merit to exchange for Devil Fruits. Enel's thunder powers? They came from eating one."
Luo Lan added that last part casually.
The Shandians, however, were stunned.
Wait—did they hear that right?
Jun Lin members could earn Devil Fruits through merit?
And Enel's so-called godly powers... came from one?
"For real?"
"Of course," Luo Lan said. "Maybe Devil Fruits are unknown in Skypiea, but in the Blue Sea, they're not rare."
"So... the Blue Sea has tons of strong people?"
"Absolutely. There are plenty of people in the Blue Sea who could crush Enel with one hand."
Gasp...
The Shandians drew sharp breaths.
The Blue Sea was that powerful?
To them, Enel had been the strongest being in existence.
But now...
---
That very day, the Shandian tribe held a meeting and reached a crucial decision.
All adult men would join Jun Lin.
And their strongest warriors would be taken to the Blue Sea by Jun Lin.
Because they understood—if they wanted to protect Upper Yard, they needed to become stronger.
And the fastest way to gain power was—
Devil Fruits.
Yes, they'd join Jun Lin, earn military merit, and exchange it for a Devil Fruit.
Honestly, their thinking made sense.
For one, Enel's overwhelming strength had made them equate Devil Fruits with divine power.
They believed Devil Fruits were the world's greatest source of strength.
And secondly, well...
Devil Fruits were the fastest shortcut to power in the early stages of the pirate world.
Luo Lan didn't mind.
After all, the super cloning facility would be ready in a month. Once that was done, they could mass-produce Devil Fruits anyway.
---
The next day, Ian brought Luo Lan some good news.
The Ark Maxim had been found.
But currently, the ark was only about 50% complete.
They also recovered Enel's original schematics.
However...
After reviewing them, Kairo discovered a major issue.
Many of the components had to be crafted from gold.
In other words, they either had to transport the gold down to the Blue Sea to finish construction—or—
They needed a user of the Rumble-Rumble Fruit.
Because without the Rumble-Rumble Fruit's powers, even making molds and basic parts in the sky would be near impossible.
But that didn't matter.
Luo Lan had already decided who the fruit would go to.
The only downside was... they couldn't save it for future cloning.
"Since we have both the ark and the blueprints, Enel's no longer of use."
"Ian, send him to the Wind Sail frigate. Extract the Rumble-Rumble Fruit from him."
"And also..."
"Bring Ace to me."
Yes.
Luo Lan had decided—the Rumble-Rumble Fruit would go to Ace.
He'd originally given the Flame-Flame Fruit to Ian for one specific reason: he believed fire was a bad match for Ace.
So now, although there would be no more "Fire Fist Ace"...
A "Thunder God Ace" sounded just as good.
"Yes, Captain!"
---
I just realized that every time I typed "Carina," my autocorrect kept changing it to "Karina." 😅 I didn't notice this until recently, so most chapters may still have the wrong spelling. Please bear with it for now—I don't have much free time to go back and edit everything immediately. Thank you for your patience and understanding! 💙