Two months had passed since Bardock's crew arrived on Sky Island.
Because the Shandians were now enthusiastically ringing the Golden Bell every single day, it only took a month for the first wave of Blue Sea pirate invaders to arrive.
These pirates weren't actually looking for the Golden City. They had simply taken the dangerous High West route to the sky, heard the beautiful chiming of the bell, and mindlessly followed the sound straight to Upper Yard.
In a very literal sense, the Golden Bell truly was the 'Light of Shandora'. It acted as a massive, shining beacon in the dark, attracting countless curious flies and moths. And occasionally, it attracted venomous insects and wild beasts.
After effortlessly crushing this initial pirate crew, the Sky Island alliance encountered several more batches of 'adventurers'. They were essentially just armed thugs who had skipped paying the Heaven's Gate toll and snuck onto Upper Yard. They were swiftly captured by the joint Skypiean and Shandian patrols. Currently, these trespassers were doing forced manual labor to help rebuild the island's infrastructure.
Because these Blue Sea invaders had been so incredibly weak, the local warriors began to severely underestimate the Blue Sea's overall combat power. Consequently, they started slacking off on Bardock's Haki training program. After all, they had been practicing for over a month without a single person showing signs of awakening it; to them, it felt like a waste of time.
Only the Chief and Gan Fall truly understood the danger. They knew that the global underworld hadn't even heard the rumors of the Golden City yet. If this many pirates were showing up by accident, what would happen when the real monsters started hunting for the gold? But at the same time, ordering the Shandians to stop ringing the bell was completely out of the question.
The two leaders severely reprimanded their respective warriors. To drive the point home, Sai and Daz Bonez stepped into the sparring ring and absolutely humbled the proudest fighters of both tribes. Thoroughly beaten and convinced of the massive power gap, the warriors swallowed their pride and wholeheartedly dedicated themselves to mastering the two forms of Haki.
"Gan Fall, do you happen to know the exact coordinates for the sky island Birka?"
Now that he had firmly established the Haki training regimen and the island was relatively stable, Bardock was getting antsy. He was ready to go hunt down Enel.
"Lord Bardock, the warriors haven't even awakened their Haki yet! Are you truly leaving us so soon?!" Gan Fall panicked slightly. He thought Bardock was completely abandoning them. The Skypieans and Shandians were currently in the most fragile, critical stage of their social integration. Without Bardock's overwhelming presence keeping everyone in line, Gan Fall was genuinely terrified that racial tensions would flare up and reignite the war.
Bardock patted the old knight's shoulder, his tone serious. "Relax, Gan Fall. We're just taking a quick detour to Birka. We'll be back. But you need to understand something: my crew and I are ultimately just travelers passing through. We aren't going to hold your hands forever. You and the Chief need to figure out how to govern your people and solve these societal issues yourselves. You are both wise men; I have absolute faith you can maintain this peace without me."
"I... I understand," Gan Fall sighed heavily, accepting the reality. "Birka is located far to the southeast of Upper Yard. Many years ago, we had established trade routes with them. But in recent years, Birka has gone completely radio silent. We haven't received a single piece of news from them."
"An entire island goes radio silent for years, and you didn't send anyone to investigate?" Bardock asked, though he already knew the reason. Enel had likely already taken over and established his tyrannical rule.
"Well, Lord Bardock... the various Sky Islands rarely interact much to begin with," Gan Fall admitted sheepishly. "And with the endless, bloody war over Upper Yard consuming all of our resources, we simply didn't have the manpower or energy to worry about the affairs of distant islands. If you are heading to Birka, I have an old nautical map in my study that should help you navigate the cloud currents."
"Perfect! Thanks for the map!"
With the coordinates secured, Bardock and his crew bid farewell to the two leaders. Before setting sail, they paid a quick visit to Nola, the Master of the Sky.
The colossal blue python loved the sound of the Golden Bell far too much to ever leave, so Bardock had decided against taking it with them. Instead, he officially designated Nola as the ultimate Guardian Beast of Upper Yard. He also sincerely hoped the giant snake might accidentally awaken Armament Haki one day.
As a brilliant security measure, Bardock took the massive hoard of gold he had claimed from Shandora (the portion he couldn't easily carry) and temporarily stored it inside Nola's massive stomach. Let's see a petty thief try to steal that.
During their downtime, Robin had also managed to sit down for a long conversation with the Shandian Chief. While she couldn't extract any new information regarding the Poneglyphs, she officially informed the Chief that Pirate King Gol D. Roger had already found their stone twenty years ago and successfully carried its passage to the final island. Hearing that their ancient duty had finally been successfully fulfilled, the Chief let out a massive sigh of profound relief.
"Captain, when are we going to officially announce to the world that we found the City of Gold?" Leo asked as the White Dragon sailed away from Upper Yard, voicing the question everyone was thinking.
"Let the bullets fly for a bit longer," Bardock grinned. "Once we drop back down to the Blue Sea, I'll immediately contact 'Big News' Morgans and blast the headline across the front page of the World Economy News Paper. For now, let's give the Skypieans and Shandians a little more time to build up their defenses."
Bardock had already meticulously planned this out. During their time in the West Blue, he had even managed to secure a direct contact number for Morgans' underground network.
"That's wonderful!" Mansherry cheered happily. "Even though we already called the Tontatta Kingdom via Den Den Mushi to tell them the good news, the rest of the world still thinks Noland is a liar! I can't wait for the truth to come out!"
"Don't worry, Mansherry. Very soon, the entire world will know that Mont Blanc Noland was telling the truth. His descendants will never be mocked again," Bardock said. He briefly thought of Mont Blanc Cricket. In the original timeline, Cricket would have spent years diving into the ocean and ruining his lungs looking for the sunken city. Now, the man would be spared that miserable fate.
BOOOOOOM...
"What was that sound? Is that thunder?" Perona asked, looking out toward the horizon in confusion. They were currently sailing on the White-White Sea, 10,000 meters in the air. This altitude was well above the standard rain clouds of the Blue Sea; logically, they shouldn't be hearing thunderstorms up here.
"It was definitely thunder. I just saw a flash of lightning a few seconds ago," Sai confirmed, standing at the bow of the ship.
Bardock looked toward the flashing horizon, his eyes narrowing. "Yeah, we're almost at Birka. Listen up, everyone. From this moment onward, absolutely no one is allowed to discuss our secrets or our combat strategies out loud. The ruler of this island has eaten the Logia-type Rumble-Rumble Fruit. He can combine his massive Observation Haki with his electromagnetic waves to literally eavesdrop on every single conversation happening across the entire island."
"The Rumble-Rumble Fruit?!" Robin gasped, her eyes widening. "But that's widely considered to be one of the most overwhelmingly powerful Devil Fruits in existence!"
Robin hadn't expected to find such an apocalyptic power in the sky. The Rumble-Rumble Fruit was undeniably on par with the terrifying Logia abilities wielded by the three Marine Admirals. The person who controlled lightning was bound to be an incredibly lethal opponent.
"Barring any unforeseen circumstances, we're definitely going to end up fighting them," Bardock instructed. "All of you will likely have to engage in combat. Watch each other's backs, coordinate your attacks, and do not underestimate them. As for the lightning user himself... I'll handle him."
Enel's Divine Priests were fairly strong for Paradise standards, but they weren't overly complicated to deal with. His crew could easily handle them.
As for Enel himself... Bardock was honestly quite curious to test exactly how strong the Rumble-Rumble Fruit truly was in a real fight. 'In the original manga, despite its insanely flashy destructive power, it couldn't even kill a single named character. Hell, it had a lower kill count than the Supreme Grade Sword: Down D. Stairs,' Bardock joked internally.
"U-um, Captain..." Chopper raised a hoof, looking incredibly nervous. "I don't know how to fight yet!"
Bardock slapped his forehead. He had completely forgotten. Chopper had only been doing basic physical conditioning; he hadn't learned any actual martial arts or combat techniques yet.
"Alright, new plan," Bardock quickly adjusted. "Chopper, you and Mansherry are going to form our designated Combat Medevac Team. You transform into your full Reindeer form, put the Princess on your back, and stay highly mobile. Your only job is to rescue any crewmate who is critically injured and get them to Mansherry for immediate healing. Can you do that?"
Chopper was trembling slightly, but he nodded firmly. If everyone else was fighting, he couldn't just sit back and do nothing!
The White Dragon sailed closer, and the island of Birka finally came into full view. Architecturally, the city looked very similar to Angel Island, built upon a dense foundation of Island Cloud.
However, the atmosphere was entirely different. The entire island felt incredibly bleak and oppressive. The streets were practically empty, and the few locals shuffling around moved with their heads down.
Birka, the hometown of Enel—the island he was destined to completely obliterate in a few years—already felt like a city of the walking dead.