Chapter 260: New World, Dressrosa and Next Stop
____________ POV Narration ____________
Boa and Reyligh didn't take as long as Enel expected, and in the end, they left the island within 30 minutes.
Francisco and Shiki did try to invite Gloriosa abroad, but she obviously refused.
She didn't seem to want anything to do with the war at all, she only really cared about the safety of the Kuja Tribe, and she was going to ensure that they stayed safe through it.
At the very least they were in good hands. Shakky was also there on the island, all that Rayleigh did when Boa prepared for the journey was to hug her one last time before heading off to war and speak to her.
Enel decided explicitly not to eavesdrop on their conversation, however, as he felt it would've been quite rude. He tended not to do so during tender moments anyway.
It was quite clear that Shakky was concerned for Rayleigh's safety. But Enel didn't have that many worries regarding that.
Especially since he knew that Rayleigh returned to his prime and was easily going to be able to hold his own during the war.
As long as he did his job properly and held back IMU, everything was going to go smoothly.
For now, however, the journey continued. The New World had quite a lot to offer, and the very first stop that Enel would make was going to be, of course, Dressrosa.
The very first allies he made within the first half of the New World. All the way from back when he was a marine.
'Oh, how the days pass by...' Enel slowly stretched on his throne, happy at not being bothered by others for a short few minutes.
They had passed by plenty of kingdoms, and Enel had already gotten the chance to fry plenty of agents to sate his boredom.
But currently, boredom was not really at the forefront of his mind. As his flying archipelago approached Dressrossa, his mind was mostly clouded by one thing... Confusion.
But the thing that unnerved him the most was that Kasa, the old shrine maiden of Raijin Island, was not there.
He hadn't told that to anybody, but plenty had noticed his unease.
The fact of the matter was that the old god's tomb was missing in its entirety. It looked like it had been plucked right out of the ground, and a gigantic tree grew in its place.
The Sky King was concerned that it was the doing of the World Government for a second, But at the same time, it didn't make sense for them to make a move on Raijin Island.
Not only had he already awakened, a fact that they were surely already well aware of, but the island itself housed nothing that the World Government might have been interested in.
'Unless... Are they planning to use Kasa to threaten me or something? They shouldn't be aware of anything relating to the shrine maidens though, they also shouldn't even have known of her existence...'
There were very few explanations for how Kasa could have vanished. The last time he had used his awakened he had felt her there, and the shrine/tomb was still untouched.
But the truth Enel had to face was that the World Government had somehow gotten to her. They certainly took the tomb. Enel knew for a fact that wherever the tomb was, Kasa would also be there.
After all that giant tree could only have been done by one person that Enel knew of... Aramaki.
And the current Fleet Admiral was still very much within the World Government's control.
Akainu did tell Enel at some point that Aramaki was loyal to him, but the Sky King hadn't gotten the chance to verify those claims.
If true, it could prove very useful during the war. But for now, Enel just had to face the fact that he had one more thing to worry about during the war.
'Well, it's not the end of the world... If anything, Kasa would sooner kill herself than allow herself to be used as a chip against me.'
'I guess I'll have to see about the Tomb when I get to the Holy Land. I wanted to grab some gold from it, but I can easily do that as the fight starts or during it...'
The gold from the Tomb was enhanced by the old god's haki over centuries. Enel had not taken it out of respect before and had somewhat forgotten about it afterwards due to being too busy with other things.
But he needed a good weapon for the war, and what better weapon to skewer IMU besides one made of gold enhanced by Raijin's own haki?
It was the best way to honour the old lighting god's legacy since he completely despised IMU.
Enel also didn't have any other ideas for what weapons he could use. His gear and staff were currently made mostly out of gold and aluminium. He hoped to get some more seastone dust from Egghead when he got there, but that was still further into their journey.
For now, he needed to focus on what was in front of him. And that was, of course, the island that housed the Kingdom of Dressrosa.
The revolutionaries had set up a rather intricate cave system underneath the city, there were still plenty of revolutionary agents left there, running operations and gathering as much intel as possible.
Some were set to leave with the war party, some were to remain and keep up front there.
The people of Dressrosa had managed to survive up to that point. Through the rise of piracy as the World Government and Marines stopped holding them back, through the various revolts that were likely incited by Government Agents in the first place.
Still, the people were tired. And when they started hearing the drums of war, many seemed to break down.
King Riku Doldo the III looked up at the sky with a smile, and as the drums got a bit quieter as they approached the island, he couldn't help but slowly get out of his throne and walk out of his palace.
His family followed him, and Kyros's gaze also turned to the smaller patches of dirt that lowered towards their kingdom.
So did Rebecca's and Viola's. The two princesses stood hand in hand as they watched the cluster of islands slowly shifting and unveiling itself to them.
Then, the Royal Family watched with curiosity as hundreds of people proceeded to start jumping and climbing onto the patches of dirt, which acted as a makeshift staircase.
The brave watched as men climbed up to the heavens, to many it felt as if those soldiers were leaving thier world completely.
"King Doldo! Riku Family! It's a pleasure to finally sense you all again!"
In an instant, a figure formed in front of them, one that towered over all of them. A man wearing a formal royal blue suit, paired with a pair of golden gauntlets and greaves.
His long earlobes were also adorned with white earrings. He was almost twice the height of normal men, and he smiled warmly at them.
There was none amongst the Royal Family that didn't recognize him instantly.
"Enel!" The King responded with a smile of his own. "I was expecting something of this magnitude to be your work."
He sounded beyond impressed with the sight, and he wasn't the only one, of course.
"It was about time you showed up again! The Tontatta Kingdom has missed you quite a lot, 'Enel-land'." Viola smiled mischievously as she remembered the Emperor's nickname among the dwarves that lived within Dressrosa.
Rebecca also smiled and nodded, recounting a few tales of how the Dwarves had been patiently awaiting their return and even preparing to join the war.
Princess Mansherry had also ultimately decided to join the war, and many other dwarves were joining in just to guard her. Her healing abilities were still going to prove quite useful, especially since there were quite a lot of people to heal.
Chopper, Marco and any other doctors that Enel was going to be able to gain weren't going to be quite enough to cut it, just due to the sheer number of people in the army.
And the numbers were constantly increasing it seemed, as Kyros seemed to want in on the action.
"I can't exactly stand idly by while you and everyone else go off to war, now can I?" That was his reasoning.
Rebecca was obviously against it, stating that she was either joining her father or he wasn't allowed to go.
But her cries did fall on deaf ears, as Doldo was strongly against Rebecca going off to fight in a war.
In the end, the one-legged father grabbed his daughter's hand and smiled at her.
"I wouldn't want you to be put in harm's way either. But there are some things that a man must do.
If I can help move the tide even by a hair's width, then I must join, to help build a better future for you."
It was a heartwarming speech, and with that, the one-legged warrior departed, jumping off to join the revolutionaries and dwarves that climbed the 'ladder' towards the Sky Archipelago.
Enel didn't stick much longer after that, he merely shook Doldo's hand one last time, and then waved goodbye to the two princesses with a smile.
Whether or not that was going to be their last goodbye had yet to be discovered, but only time could answer that question.
And for now, Enel set his sights on the next stop in his journey... Karai Bari Island, where Enel was to find out whether or not Cross Guild had actually come into existence.
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Hope you liked today's chapter!
While I may be back, I don't quite have the same grit to churn out 3k-word chapters ))) Don't want to stress myself out again with that sh. I'll try to keep them above 1.5k words tho, so it's at least a sizable bit to read.
Story Shoutout: Hell Difficulty Tutorial (haven't read many stories lately)
Discord, again: https://discord.gg/xQTK8caFEQ
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