The death of Enel changed Skypiea almost too quickly.
The god who had ruled above the clouds, the thunder no one dared to defy, the judgment that fell from the sky without warning—
All of it had ended in a single instant.
For the people of Angel Island, it was something they could not accept right away.
For Shiki, it was barely worth remembering.
After dealing with the priests and the confused Divine Soldiers who still tried to cling to their dead god's authority, Shiki had already left the scene with the others, leaving the people to digest everything themselves.
After that, whatever they thought or decided to do had nothing to do with him, as long as they kept to themselves and did not trouble him.
Deep within the ancient ruins swallowed by the jungle, beneath broken stone pillars and vines that had grown for four hundred years, Robin stood before the Poneglyph.
The massive stone stood silently in the ruins, untouched by time.
Its surface was carved with ancient text, each symbol carrying the weight of an era the World Government had tried to erase.
Robin's expression had become completely serious, different from the usual elegant smile she often wore.
Reaching out, she placed her hand against the surface. Her fingers gently brushed across the carved letters, her eyes moving over them one by one.
After a long while, Robin finally opened her mouth. She turned slightly, her gaze landing on Shiki.
"This Poneglyph records the location of another Ancient Weapon."
"Poseidon."
"It says that the Ancient Weapon Poseidon lies deep beneath the sea."
Nearby, Nami, who had been staring at the thing in Shiki's hand, swallowed.
"Deep beneath the sea…?"
Vivi lowered her eyes in thought.
"Another Ancient Weapon…"
Robin's voice remained calm, but there was a seriousness in her eyes.
"Captain, what do you intend to do with this inform—"
Shiki stood not far away, one hand resting lazily at his side while the other held the Devil Fruit. Even after hearing such enormous news, he did not react much.
"I already knew. Things are different from what you're expecting, didn't I say? When we get there, you'll be surprised."
Robin was almost dazed.
She had expected amusement, interest, greed, or at least some visible reaction.
After all, this was an Ancient Weapon.
A power capable of shaking the world.
Yet, as always, this man was still so proud of himself that he would not lower himself to rely on a weapon outside his own power.
With that amused thought, a faint smile returned to her lips.
"Captain."
"Hm?"
"Are you sure you can't read these?"
Shiki glanced at her, the corner of his mouth lifting slightly.
"I wouldn't lie about something like that."
Robin stared at him for a few seconds, her eyes narrowing just a little, as though she were trying to see through him.
Then, with a soft laugh, she winked.
"Alright. I'll believe you."
Shiki said nothing after that and tossed the fruit in his hand once more, fully aware of the greedy gaze coming from the side.
Nami's eyes followed it up and down without blinking.
The moment the fruit came down, Shiki caught it and casually said,
"Eat it."
"..."
Nami slowly raised one finger and pointed at herself.
"Me?"
"Who else?"
Nami caught the fruit Shiki tossed to her and fell silent, not knowing what to do.
She held the fruit so carefully that it looked less like food and more like a sacred treasure.
Or, knowing Nami, an entire mountain of Berries compressed into one strange, spiral-patterned fruit.
Seeing her stupid look, Shiki's voice sounded again.
"Eat it already."
Nami froze.
Her smile stiffened.
"Eh?"
"I said eat it."
Shiki looked at her calmly.
"We won't be selling it no matter what."
Nami clutched the fruit harder.
Her face turned pale, as if she had just heard someone announce that a treasure vault was being burned to the ground.
"No matter what…?"
"No matter what."
"Nami."
Shiki's golden eyes settled on her. His tone did not rise, but Nami still flinched, almost jumping in place.
"With that power, you can gain the strength to help me."
Nami was caught off guard by those words.
This was the first time Shiki had actually said something like this.
That he wanted her help.
Normally, he was capable of doing anything on his own.
The joke she had been about to make vanished before it could leave her mouth.
She looked down at the fruit in her hands with more seriousness than before.
The Goro Goro no Mi.
The power of lightning.
If sold, it would be worth more money than she could even imagine.
It was a treasure beyond treasure.
But…
Nami slowly tightened her fingers around it.
From the moment she had boarded this ship, the enemies they faced had only become more ridiculous.
Crocodile.
The World Government.
Even the former user of this fruit, Enel.
Each time, Shiki stood at the front.
And each time, she could only stand behind him.
She could think faster than most people around her, but when real monsters appeared, there was always a wall she could not cross.
Would it stay that way?
Would she keep being protected for the rest of the journey?
Would she become someone who could only hide behind Shiki, Robin, and Vivi when the sea grew truly dangerous?
Nami bit her lip and exhaled deeply.
Then, without giving herself time to regret it, Nami bit into the Goro Goro no Mi.
The next instant, her entire face changed. First, her eyes went wide open, and then she felt as though her soul had left her body.
"Ugh—!"
The taste was beyond terrible.
Although she had heard Devil Fruits tasted bad, she had assumed the compromise would simply be something bitter or sour.
But this was as if every disgusting thing in the world had been mashed together, fermented, cursed, and then disguised as fruit.
Seeing Nami's face twist violently, her knees nearly buckling, Vivi hurried forward.
"Nami-san! Hold on!"
Nami raised one shaking hand, refusing to stop.
"No… I paid nothing for it, but I'm not wasting it…"
Then, under the stunned gazes of Vivi, Robin, and Shiki, Nami forced herself to take another bite.
Then another.
And another.
By the end, her face had gone completely blank.
When the last piece disappeared, Nami swallowed with the expression of someone who had just endured a tragedy.
Then she stood there, swaying slightly.
"I…"
Her voice was hollow.
"I survived."
A strange silence followed.
Robin covered her mouth, turning her face away, her shoulders trembling.
Then she spoke in an unnaturally gentle, teasing tone.
"Ara, Nami-chan… why did you eat the whole thing?"
Nami, who felt like a soldier who had just survived a war, froze at once.
Slowly, very slowly, she turned her head toward Robin.
"…What?"
Robin tilted her head and asked knowingly.
"Ara~ Didn't it taste awful?"
Nami's expression cracked.
Still, she answered, even as a terrible feeling welled up inside her.
The unmistakable feeling of betrayal.
"Wasn't that how it works?"
"No. One bite was enough… you went overboard, Nami-chan."
Nami's bad feeling became reality.
Her entire body turned into a statue almost comically.
The wind passed, ruffling her short orange hair and hiding her expression.
Then her lips slowly curved into a smile.
It was the kind of smile that made Vivi take half a step back.
"So…"
Crackle.
A faint spark appeared near Nami's hair.
"You all knew?"
This time, it was Shiki who answered.
He nodded without the slightest guilt.
"Yeah."
Robin nodded as well.
"Yes."
Vivi, who felt Nami's terrifying gaze fall on her, immediately panicked.
"I-I'm sorry, Nami-san! I only found out from them, and they told me not to say anything!"
Nami laughed.
"Hehehe…"
Lightning began leaking from her body, crawling over her shoulders, arms, and hair like living snakes.
"Nami-san?!"
Vivi jumped back in alarm and hid behind Shiki.
Meanwhile, Shiki's attention had been caught by the system notification that appeared after Nami ate the lightning Logia fruit.
[Ding!]
[Detected that the host has helped a crew member become stronger.]
[Yami Tsukihiro template progress increased by 5%.]
[Current template progress: 45%.]
Shiki's eyes shifted slightly.
So it could work like this.
He had considered the possibility before.
After all, this new system template had never been limited to his own battles alone.
His crew was part of his power.
Strengthening them meant strengthening the force under his command.
But expectation and confirmation were two different things.
A faint smile appeared on Shiki's face.
"It really worked."
Nami, who was no longer as angry now that her attention had shifted to the ability she had gained, was still testing the sparks between her fingers. She looked over suspiciously.
"What worked?"
"Nothing."
Nami narrowed her eyes.
"You all just wanted to watch me make a fool of myself, didn't you?"
Nami let out a breath, deciding she had no energy left to deal with them anymore. Instead, she focused on the power she had just gained and tried using it again.
Surprisingly, her control was actually better than Shiki had expected.
But that much was only natural.
After all, Nami did have that strange affinity with lightning.
Her potential with this Devil Fruit was immense.
In the future, she might truly be able to draw out the full power of the Goro Goro no Mi.
...
A short while later, after Robin finished reading the text of the Poneglyph and the group prepared to leave the ancient ruins.
Enel's death had spread faster than anyone expected.
The god who once ruled from Upper Yard was gone. The priests who carried out his will had fallen. Even the Divine Soldiers had scattered into confusion, unsure whether they should keep fighting, surrender, or pretend they had never served him in the first place.
For the people of Angel Island, it should have been a day of liberation.
For the Shandia, it should have been the end of four hundred years of blood and hatred.
But people were not always so simple.
Gratitude was easy to speak of from afar. Once fear vanished and greed had room to breathe, even those who had just been saved could begin to think about what they deserved.
By the time Shiki and the others returned from the depths of the jungle, a group had already gathered near the edge of the ruins.
Wyper stood at the front, his expression as fierce as ever. Behind him were several Shandia warriors, their weapons still in hand. Farther back, a number of Skypieans had also gathered.
Some looked ashamed. Some looked uneasy.
Some looked at Shiki and the others with fear.
Wyper's demand was righteous and forceful. In his eyes, the power of lightning had belonged to the sky. Enel had used it to dominate Skypiea, so now that Enel was dead, that power should be returned to the people of Skypiea rather than taken away by outsiders from the Blue Sea.
Shiki did not know exactly how the news had spread, but he could guess the general reason. When he had extracted the Goro Goro no Mi from Enel, someone must have witnessed it and passed the rumor on.
The power of the lightning god had not vanished.
It had become a fruit and that fruit can be eaten, inheriting the power of god.
That alone was enough to make certain people lose their sense.
The moment those words were spoken, the expressions of Vivi and Robin changed in two completely different ways.
Vivi's face showed open disgust.
She had seen greed before. She had seen nobles clinging to power, pirates baring their fangs, and the World Government covering up ugliness beneath clean words. But seeing people who had just been saved immediately stand in front of their saviors and demand compensation still made her feel sick.
Robin, on the other hand, was much calmer.
There was even a faint, unreadable smile on her lips.
To her, this was only natural. People did not always thank those who helped them. Sometimes they feared them. Sometimes they envied them. Sometimes, after realizing they could no longer be harmed by the old tyrant, they immediately turned their eyes toward what the tyrant had left behind.
The world had always been like this.
Conis, who had hurried over after hearing what was happening, went pale the moment she understood the situation. She stepped forward at once and tried to stop them, desperately telling them that Shiki and the others had saved Skypiea, saved Angel Island, and ended Enel's rule.
But her voice was too small in front of the crowd.
Several Skypieans behind Wyper lowered their heads, but they still muttered that the power should not belong to Blue Sea pirates. Some said it was too dangerous. Some said it had to be sealed away. Some said that if anyone was to inherit the lightning god's power, it should be someone from Skypiea.
The words grew more and more shameless the longer they spoke.
Shiki listened for a while, then suddenly laughed.
He had killed Enel, destroyed the priests, ended the rule of a false god, and left these people alive. He had not asked for treasure, land, worship, or even thanks.
Yet they had still come to stand in front of him and talk about what belonged to them.
To Shiki, it was almost funny.
He glanced sideways at Nami, who had been standing beside him with her arms crossed and an increasingly dangerous smile on her face.
"Well, Nami. Looks like your training partners are here."
Nami's smile became even brighter.
The irritation she had barely managed to suppress after eating the entire Devil Fruit finally found a place to go. Her orange hair began to lift slightly as static gathered around her body. Thin threads of lightning crawled over her shoulders and fingertips, crackling in the air like restless snakes.
The crowd immediately quieted.
Fear spread through them almost instinctively.
They had lived under Enel's thunder for too long.
They knew better than anyone what lightning meant. Even if Nami was not Enel, the sight of that power appearing again made their bodies remember terror before their minds could respond.
Some Skypieans stepped back.
A few turned and fled on the spot.
Wyper, however, did not retreat.
His anger only burned hotter.
To him, Nami's use of that power was proof that they had stolen what should have remained in the sky. With a furious shout, he rushed forward without hesitation, his weapon aimed directly at her.
The attack tore straight through her body.
For an instant, it looked as though Wyper had pierced her. Then Nami's figure scattered into bright blue-white electricity, her body breaking apart around the weapon before reforming unharmed a step away.
Not a single drop of blood fell.
Nami looked down at herself, then at Wyper, and the corner of her mouth twitched.
"So this is what being a Logia feels like…"
Her voice was soft, but the lightning around her suddenly grew more powerful.
Before Wyper could pull back, Nami raised one hand.
A flash burst across the clearing.
It was not as overwhelming as Enel's judgment from the sky. Nami had only just eaten the fruit, and her control was still rough. But lightning was lightning. Even an unpolished strike carried terrifying speed and force.
Wyper's body convulsed as he was blown backward, smoke rising from his shoulders and arms.
The Shandia warriors behind him shouted and rushed in, but the result did not change.
Their weapons passed through Nami's body one after another. Spears, shells, and blades cut only lightning. Every time they thought they had struck her, Nami's figure scattered apart and reformed somewhere else, her expression growing annoyed with each exchange.
Lightning flashed again and again through the clearing.
The Shandia warriors collapsed one by one, their bodies twitching, their weapons falling from numb hands. Nami carefully held back enough not to kill them, but she did not show enough mercy to let them stand again.
Then she walked up to them slowly.
The lightning around her had not disappeared. It curled around her body, lighting her face from below and making her smile look almost demonic.
The Skypieans who had demanded the power earlier had already scattered far away. Those who remained did not dare to speak.
Nami looked down at Wyper and the fallen Shandia warriors, then swept her gaze across the crowd.
Her warning was simple.
They could hate her. They could be afraid of her.
They could call her a thief if they wanted.
But if they caused trouble for Shiki and the others again, she would not be this gentle next time.
Only then did Conis step forward.
Her face was pale, and her hands trembled slightly, but she still lowered her head deeply to Shiki, Nami, Vivi, and Robin.
She thanked them for saving Skypiea.
She thanked them for sparing the lives of those who had offended them and she apologized for the ugliness they had been forced to witness.
Nami's expression softened a little, though the sparks around her hair still had not completely vanished. Vivi looked at Conis with sympathy, while Robin only gave a faint smile.
Shiki did not care much either way.
Whether they thanked him or hated him made no difference.
Weak people could speak as they liked. As long as they did not stand in his way, he would not bother remembering their faces.
A few Shandia warriors eventually struggled up and carried Wyper away. Even as he was dragged off, his eyes remained fixed on Nami, filled with unwillingness and anger.
...
A few months passed after that.
The Golden Lion Pirates stayed in Skypiea, training, resting, and enjoying the sky island's strange scenery.
Nami trained with the Goro Goro no Mi until lightning stopped leaking from her every time she got angry.
Vivi also grew much stronger after eating the Devil Fruit Shiki had brought back for her. Robin spent her days reading whatever new she got her hands on, smiling more often than before.
By the time they finally prepared to leave, the three of them had changed.
Robin had become calmer and more graceful.
Vivi had become gentler, but also more composed.
And Nami carried a confidence she had never shown before.
Of course, before leaving, Shiki did not forget to collect his "thanks" from the sky island.
The gold of Skypiea was not spared.
The gold hidden in Shandora was not spared.
Even Enel's massive flying ship, the Ark Maxim, was dragged away as spoils of war.
And finally, under the horrified, speechless gazes of the Skypieans and Shandia, even the enormous Golden Bell of Shandora was taken by Shiki.
The bell that had waited four hundred years in the sky, the symbol of Shandora, the light that once guided a promise across the sea—
Shiki took it away without the slightest hesitation.
In his words, it was payment for the hospitality he had received on the sky island.
Nami felt a little ashamed.
Because the moment she saw the mountain of gold stacked on the ship, that tiny bit of shame was immediately swallowed by overwhelming happiness.
She stood before the treasure with tears in her eyes, trembling as though she had witnessed a miracle.
Her dream had come true.
From this day on, she would never have to worry about money again.
Never.
Absolutely never.
The Golden Lion Pirates left Skypiea under complicated gazes.
...
With the power of the Fuwa Fuwa no Mi, the ship descended from the White Sea and returned once again to the Blue Sea.
The moment the clouds parted and the vast ocean appeared beneath them, the journey of the Golden Lion Pirates resumed.
Not long after they set sail, they encountered a pirate ship. Nami and Vivi immediately became interested.
It was a perfect chance.
After months of training, both of them wanted to test how much they had changed.
The pirate ship came closer and closer.
The flag was unfamiliar, but the crew on deck looked vicious enough. Their captain was a large man with a scar across his face, holding a curved blade and shouting orders.
Shiki watched with faint amusement, waiting to see how the two would handle their first opponents after Skypiea.
But when the pirate ship saw their flag clearly, the entire enemy crew froze.
The pirate captain's face went pale at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Before Nami or Vivi could make a move, the enemy ship raised a white flag.
Then, under the confused gazes of the Golden Lion Pirates, the pirate captain personally crossed over, climbed onto their deck, and dropped to his knees with a thud.
"Please let us go!"
His voice trembled so badly it almost cracked.
"We surrender! We surrender completely! Please, spare our lives!"
Even the crew behind the pirate captain knelt one after another, trembling as if they had accidentally sailed into the territory of a monster.
Nami, who had already prepared herself to show off her new strength, stood there silently for a few seconds.
Then she turned to the others with a stiff expression.
"What is this?"
Vivi was just as confused.
They were pirates now, and they were not unknown. After Alabasta, Shiki's name had indeed spread across the sea again. But no matter how famous they had become, this reaction was still too much.
Shiki sighed helplessly from behind them.
Nami pointed at the pirate captain kneeling on the deck.
"Why are you this scared of us?"
The pirate captain trembled even harder when he heard that question. He secretly glanced at Shiki, then immediately lowered his head again, swallowing nervously.
"How could we not be afraid…?"
His voice was almost a whisper.
"After what happened in the Taya Kingdom of the South Blue, how could anyone on the sea not know your captain's name?"
"Taya Kingdom?"
Nami and Vivi looked equally puzzled.
They had never gone to such a place.
At least, they had no memory of doing so.
But Robin's eyes flickered thoughtfully.
After a moment, she seemed to realize something. Her gaze shifted toward Shiki, and a faint smile appeared on her lips.
"Captain."
"Is this related to the Devil Fruit you brought back for Vivi-chan?"
Shiki paused for half a beat, surprised that Robin had seen through it so quickly. Then he grinned.
Since it had already been mentioned, he had no intention of hiding it.
"Yeah."
His tone was casual, as though he were talking about buying supplies at a port.
"I did cause a bit of a ruckus back then."
A bit of a ruckus.
The pirate captain kneeling on the deck nearly fainted when he heard those words.
At that moment, something fluttered out from the trembling pirate captain's coat.
A bounty poster.
Shiki raised his hand and caught it between two fingers.
On the poster was his own face.
The image captured him with that arrogant, fearless smile, his golden hair wild beneath the light, as though the entire sea existed beneath his feet.
Below the name printed in bold letters was a number that made Nami, Vivi, and even Robin pause.
GOLDEN LION SHIKI
Bounty: 900,000,000 Berries
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