Rain stood off to the side, calmly watching everything unfold. He understood exactly how everyone felt—both the scholars' reverence for history and the Shandians' stubborn devotion to their homeland and their ancestors' vow.
His eyes swept over the Poneglyph stone Dr. Clover and the others were gathered around, but he lingered for only half a second before looking away.
As a transmigrator, he already knew what was written there.
Compared to a past that had long been written in stone, he cared more about what had to be done now. His gaze passed over everyone and locked firmly onto the enormous Golden Bell.
"Rain-san…" the chief wiped his tears and pointed with his still-usable left arm at the massive pendulum. "This is our vow. Please—"
Rain nodded. He knew his first objective here was about to be completed.
He walked calmly to the giant Golden Bell, stopping in front of the pendulum—so huge it could have served as a battering ram.
"Hey, Rain," Smoker frowned, "that pendulum is massive. Need a hand?"
Before he even finished—
Rain drew in a breath.
He placed both hands against the cold, heavy pendulum.
Under everyone's held breath, the muscles in Rain's arms slowly swelled as he poured his strength into it without holding back.
"Crr—crrrk—"
The pendulum, silent for four hundred years, groaned with teeth-grinding strain as Rain dragged it—inch by inch—with unstoppable force.
BOOOOM!!!!!!!
A roar, as if from the ancient world itself, exploded across the sky.
So loud. So clear.
It felt as if golden sound waves—visible to the eye—burst from the Golden Bell in expanding rings.
That golden resonance became a shockwave that cleansed the soul, blasting away the fog that had shrouded Upper Yard. Even the cloud sea trembled as the bell's sound rolled outward, as if the world itself were paying tribute to a promise delayed for four hundred years.
The chief and the Shandians listened to the bell they had waited four centuries to hear. They no longer wept in grief—what poured out now was release.
They raised their spears and pounded their chests with all their strength, roaring through tears and pride, as if declaring to their ancestors Kalgara and Noland—
We did it!
Gan Fall circled in the air atop Pierre. He removed his helmet, closed his eyes solemnly, and listened to the bell that announced peace—the end of four hundred years of war between two peoples.
…
Down below, on the Blue Sea—Jaya.
Mock Town's pirates were so startled by the sudden bell that some fell over.
"What was that?! Did something fall from the sky?!"
On the other side of the island, the man known as the descendant of the "Great Liar"—Mont Blanc Cricket—was drinking beside his ship-house.
When the bell pierced down through the clouds into his ears, the bottle slipped from his hand and clattered onto the sand.
He snapped his head up, listening in disbelief to that familiar toll.
"This sound… it can't be wrong…"
"He… he didn't lie…"
Cricket's legs gave out. He dropped to his knees, and this stubborn man finally broke, screaming through sobs:
"Ancestor!! The City of Gold… it really is in the sky!!!"
…
When the bell finally fell silent, Rain stepped calmly down from the bell's base.
He watched scholars and Shandians embrace, celebrating a reconciliation and redemption delayed by four hundred years.
Their problems were solved.
Now it was time to think about his own.
Without drawing attention, Rain slipped away from the celebrating crowd. With a few flickers of movement, he crossed to the other side of Shandora's ruins alone.
"Where the hell did Enel even get that fruit…?" Rain stood atop a broken wall, overlooking the vast golden city. "Upper Yard is huge. I'm not going to search it inch by inch."
He closed his eyes and pushed Observation Haki to its limit.
His perception spread like an invisible net across every patch of ground, every ruin, every layer of cloud—
He heard Shandians cheering, scholars shouting in excitement, and even the ancient "voice" of the Poneglyph stone murmuring about "Poseidon."
But after ten full minutes of searching, he still couldn't sense any Devil Fruit.
"…Can't find it," Rain opened his eyes, frowning. Then he remembered a tool in the system shop.
[Devil Fruit Compass]
Description: You may specify a Devil Fruit; the compass will point toward it.
Price: 100,000 Sin Points
"…One hundred thousand?" Rain calmly closed the shop. "Too expensive. I need my points for upgrading a [Peak] skill."
He decided to try the oldest method first: information.
He jumped down from the ruins and found Gan Fall, who was discussing the details of the truce with the chief.
When their talk paused, Rain pulled out the [Devil Fruit Encyclopedia] and flipped to the page for the Rumble-Rumble Fruit.
"Have you ever seen a fruit like this?" Rain asked Gan Fall, pointing at the illustration. "It might have been kept somewhere as a sacred item."
Gan Fall studied it for a long time, then shook his head regretfully.
"I'm sorry, Rain-san. I've never seen this fruit anywhere in Skypiea or Upper Yard."
"Even he doesn't know…" Rain's brow tightened. "So it's not here? Or… it simply hasn't 'spawned' yet?"
The search stalled.
Rain swallowed the disappointment and decided to settle the scholars first, then plan again.
That afternoon, they returned to the ground level of Upper Yard.
Under Rain's firm mediation and witness, the Shandian chief and Gan Fall formally declared a truce.
The scholars were granted the right to live beside Shandora's ruins and research the Poneglyph.
Rain handed the nearly 30 million Berries "borrowed" from the Great Bull crew to Dr. Clover as startup funding to rebuild their home and library.
With money, land, and safety secured, the scholars' passion ignited.
In the next few days, Upper Yard turned into a construction site buzzing with life.
Saul used his enormous body to lift and place felled giant timber as building material, setting the frames for houses and a library with ease.
Smoker, at Rain's insistence, was dragged into manual labor too—using smoke to hoist heavy loads to high places. He complained nonstop, but his hands never stopped working.
Rain spent those days continuing to search for the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, but found no new leads.
After several days, with everyone's combined effort, the outline of a new—simple but hopeful—"New Ohara" finally rose beside Shandora's ruins.
That evening, Rain stood at the edge of the new settlement, looking at the lights flickering in their fresh home. He was about to discuss returning with Smoker when—
"Rain-nii!"
Robin's clear voice called out. She ran over holding her mother Olvia's hand.
"Rain-san," Olvia stepped forward and bowed deeply. "I truly… don't know how to thank you. You didn't just save us—you gave Ohara… gave Robin… a real home."
"Mom's right!" Robin copied the bow, then looked up with big eyes shining in admiration. "Thank you, Rain-nii! Everyone here—the Shandians and Gan Fall-san—they all say you're the benefactor who brought peace!"
Rain laughed softly and ruffled Robin's hair again.
"I'm no benefactor," he said, then looked at Olvia. "Olvia-sama, from today on, you're completely safe."
He spoke calmly:
"You can research your history here as much as you want. There will be no more Buster Calls. No one will come to disturb you again. Live in peace… with Robin."
Olvia met Rain's steady, powerful gaze, eyes reddening again, and nodded hard.
As Rain watched mother and daughter head toward the new wooden house being built in the distance, the system notification chimed in his mind.
Ding!
[Side Quest: The Tree of Knowledge's Lament has been completed. Ohara's flame has reignited on the Endless Land.]
[Calculating reward…]
[Distributing reward…]
~~~
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