Cloud Bay Village Market.
Near a small building, someone can be heard humming softly.
"Hmm... hmm~ um, hmm..."
It was a very lazy tune, coming from the roof in fits and starts.
A young man was leaning against a flagpole on the roof.
He wore a headscarf and baggy pants, with his upper body and feet bare. He had gold rings on his hands and feet, and thunder drums on his back.
Most noticeable were his extremely long earlobes, falling past his golden sideburns down to his chest, with two gold earrings attached.
He was holding a gold staff in his arms, probably his weapon.
"Phew..."
The man sighed, reached into his pocket, and took out a fresh apple.
He bit into it with a snap. The sweet and sour flesh and juice ran down his throat into his stomach.
It was a delicious treat that very few people could enjoy in times of war.
But after one bite, the man threw the apple away. He then yawned boredly, looking out at the beach in the distance.
There, three people were standing.
"How boring! When will they notice me?"
The man's name was Enel. He was the current leader of Birka, and the main person behind the small wars between Birka and Skypiea.
But he preferred to be called by another name—
God!
…
God always knows everything.
Enel had been watching the two people from the Blue Sea for a long time.
From the moment they rode the rising ocean current to Skypiea, and then glided to the White Sea in a very strange way, Enel had noticed them.
After all, his "Observation Haki" knew everything!
Not only what was happening in Birka, but even Skypiea itself, he could cover it all, and nothing could escape his senses.
At first, Enel thought they were just some rich adventurers from the Blue Sea.
He could have ignored them, but because he was bored, Enel sent a bolt of lightning from a great distance.
The lightning turned into a pillar of light, and the blinding light covered their ship.
Enel had done this many times. Most people from the Blue Sea would be turned to ash on the spot. The few who survived by chance would be scared out of their minds and run back to the ground with their tails between their legs.
But this time, Enel miscalculated.
The group easily blocked the first bolt of lightning.
Enel found it strange, so he sent another lightning storm, which was also stopped.
Then, Enel finally got a little more serious and summoned countless thunderballs to test the people from the Blue Sea.
But something even more surprising happened.
Two people—only two people.
One person charged into the lightning storm and blew up the thunderballs in the sky.
The other turned into countless grains of gold sand, protecting the other people from the Blue Sea from the aftereffects of the thunderball explosions.
Enel finally realized that these people from the Blue Sea were different from the ones he had casually attacked before.
He was bored anyway, and he also needed to come to Skypiea, so Enel set out to meet them in person.
…
Observation Haki spread out, covering the entire sky.
"Hmm..."
Enel on the roof sensed something.
"Most of the people on that ship are far away from here. Did they get separated?"
Looking down at the beach, Enel smiled with interest and said to himself:
"It doesn't matter. I don't need to worry about that trash. But when will they notice me?"
Enel, with the mindset of a cat playing with a mouse—no, more accurately, a "God" mocking "mortals," continued to watch quietly.
…
Crocodile didn't turn his head, but looked at the figure on the roof in the distance with a look like he was looking at an idiot.
No way, would someone really stand on the roof and watch other people!
Crocodile was sure that the person wasn't a fool with a hole in his head, or else...
Thinking of this, Crocodile glanced at Rowan next to him.
Like this guy who was "acting like he didn't notice even though he sensed it," he was a complete arrogant maniac!
…
Rowan reached out and gently touched the tree trunk next to him.
The erosion ability from Crocodile was activated, but it didn't destroy the entire tree. Instead, it eroded one of the branches.
Rowan picked up the branch and used sand to grind it into a handy spear.
Then, he aimed at the sea and threw it with all his strength.
Whoosh!
A few seconds later, a huge octopus slowly floated to the surface of the sea, with the wooden spear stuck in its head.
The octopus, which would be considered a "monster" by ordinary people, was killed with one blow!
Rowan used sand to make a rope, extended it, and pulled the octopus back to the shore.
Habu's concerns about food were solved.
He happily called many people over to divide up the octopus as a temporary food supply.
Everyone didn't believe that this seemingly sickly young man could catch such a huge octopus, but with the ready-made food right there, they didn't care.
Among them were the children that Habu was taking care of.
"They either got separated from their parents, or their parents went to war."
Habu patted one of the little girls on the head and explained to Rowan:
"If Teacher was here, she would have helped too."
…
Enel, waiting.
He was waiting for the moment when the mortals would discover him, and then he would make a grand entrance.
For this, he was very patient.
He watched as the huge octopus was divided up by the mortals. The two people from the Blue Sea traveled with the person from Skypiea, walking along the beach and talking to each other.
"Yahahaha..."
Enel chuckled quietly.
It's about time. It's time for them to notice me.
Then, he flashed and silently appeared behind a tree.
The tree was located by the sea, on the road where Rowan and the others had to pass.
After all, they were people from the Blue Sea with some ability. They should notice him, right?
Enel, waiting.
After a long time, there was still no movement.
"Hmm?"
Enel used his Observation Haki to sense behind the tree, and found that the three people had just walked straight past, as if they hadn't noticed him at all!
Only one person from the Blue Sea turned to look at the tree he was behind, but didn't investigate further.
"Are those guys idiots!" Enel thought.
…
"Is that guy an idiot!" Crocodile thought.
He was so close. Did he want to be discovered on purpose?
Crocodile was annoyed. He wanted to slash him with a sand blade, but Rowan still didn't react, and continued to chat and laugh with Habu, talking about Habu's teacher and meteorology.
…
Enel, continuing to wait.
He was getting a little impatient.
Finally, he decided to use God's mercy, based on the most obvious hint to those three fools!
A flash of lightning, Enel appeared in front of Rowan and the others, only a dozen meters away.
There was nothing blocking them.
Enel just stood there quietly with his staff, on the side of the road where the three people had to pass.
He was the only one on the empty beach!
Although this way of appearing was a little different from what he had imagined, he couldn't do anything about it.
…
Enel, waiting, waiting.
Waiting for Rowan to approach, only one meter away from him.
Something happened that Enel never expected.
Even though the person from Skypiea looked at him with curiosity, the man in the gold armor still acted like he didn't see him and walked straight past him!
He didn't even look at him!
The other person from the Blue Sea, wearing a fur coat, puffed out a smoke ring as he passed him.
"Phew!"
The smoke ring floated slowly and eventually landed on Enel's face.
Enel, angry.
Veins were bulging on his forehead.
In an instant, a blinding lightning bolt fell from the sky, into the gold staff in his hand.
Then, Enel raised the staff high and slammed it down at Rowan's head!
Boom!
A deafening thunderclap erupted along with the blinding blue light.
And at that moment, Rowan suddenly turned around, and his black gun blocked the gold staff.
Rowan looked at Enel's angry face and smiled gently.
"In the Blue Sea, when you meet someone for the first time, you say—'Hello'."
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