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Layer upon layer of white clouds spread out like a vast ocean, rising and falling like endless mountain ranges.
Brilliant, multicolored light shimmered above the cloud sea, blooming into dazzling cloud-rainbows.
There was no doubt about it. This was the place closest to the sun, where all kinds of surreal beauty could exist.
Kyle took out the Devil Fruit detector, shaped like an orange. A green light blinked steadily.
He sped across the cloud sea, heading forward.
For nearly two hours, he encountered no one in the boundless White Sea. Eventually, he landed on a white island.
Along the shore were winged people everywhere.
The women were gentle and beautiful. The men handsome and mild-mannered.
All of them stared at him with open curiosity.
Kyle didn't spare those people a second glance. He took a step forward and vanished.
His purpose for coming to Skypiea was simple: find the Rumble-Rumble Fruit.
"There are three places where it's most likely to exist," he murmured to himself."Angel Island, Birka, and the holy island, Upper Yard."
A sharp light flickered in his eyes.
His figure flashed rapidly across Angel Island, moving without concern for stamina. Unfortunately, he found nothing.
Two days later, he left Angel Island and entered the land of the gods, Upper Yard.
The island wasn't large, only about half the size of the original Jaya. Kyle strolled across it, soon coming upon ruins long buried by time, and the massive beanstalk vine that twisted upward toward the sky.
He climbed to the top and saw the golden bell.
On the way back down, he also saw the poneglyph engraved with Gol D. Roger's words.
But still no sign of the Rumble-Rumble Fruit. The detector in his hand continued to glow green.
In the end, he asked around for Birka's location and reached it the very same day.
By then, it was already his fifth day on Skypiea.
That was when a thoughtful look crossed his face.
"Compared to other places, Skypiea would be an excellent base. Its concealment alone is on another level."
"But if I want to connect it to the seas below, I'd need some kind of flying ark."
That thought reminded him of Golden Lion Shiki, the man who lived among floating islands and used his Devil Fruit to keep entire landmasses suspended in the sky.
On Birka, Kyle never ran into Enel.
He didn't particularly care either. Compared to Enel himself, the Rumble-Rumble Fruit was what truly mattered.
On the afternoon of the seventh day, the detector in Kyle's hand finally flashed red. A smile spread across his face.
Moments later, he was holding a blue fruit shaped like a pineapple, its surface traced with strange lightning-like patterns.
There was no doubt about it. This was the Rumble-Rumble Fruit.
It lay quietly in his hands, like a flawless work of art.
He stared at it for a long moment, then, without hesitation, lifted it and took a bite.
Crunch.
An indescribably awful taste exploded across his tongue. Even someone who was used to facing death felt his expression twist in that instant.
The next second, he forced himself to swallow the pulp.
"Technically, one bite is enough," he muttered."But still…"
He opened his mouth wide, his distorted expression bordering on feral.
"If I can't even endure this much pain, what right do I have to wield power?"
He took several more large bites, devouring the entire fruit. Only then did he let out a long breath.
The strange taste faded quickly. After just two or three breaths, Kyle could clearly feel his body changing.
Crackle, crackle.
Blue arcs of electricity burst to life around him. In that instant, an enormous amount of information flooded into his mind, merging with his soul and becoming pure instinct.
At the same time, the Seastone gloves on his fists slipped off.
They had taken effect almost immediately, sapping his strength.
He carefully picked them up and tucked them into his clothes.
"A Logia fruit. The Rumble-Rumble Fruit."
A smile appeared on Kyle's face.
He brought his hands together, fingers lightly twisting as he slowly pulled them apart.
Crackle, crackle, crackle.
Electric arcs snapped and leapt, blue lightning dancing between his palms.
Then he bent his legs and leapt lightly, settling into a cross-legged position in midair. Lightning flared around him, radiating a cold, explosive aura.
Flight.
This ability had already become instinct.
He extended a finger and pointed forward.
Boom.
A deafening thunderclap echoed as a massive bolt of lightning roared forth, striking a tree over a kilometer away and instantly reducing it to charred remains.
Kyle slowly closed his eyes, fine arcs of electricity crawling over his body.
In the next moment, tiny sparks flickered throughout a radius of a thousand meters.
Almost instinctively, every movement in the surrounding area flowed into his awareness.
"So this is the Rumble-Rumble Fruit's innate perception," he murmured, smiling.
It seemed to be a special field created by lightning itself. Within its range, he could sense everything in the environment.
It wasn't as sharp as Observation Haki, but it was an excellent auxiliary ability.
If he awakened Observation Haki and combined it with this field, he could probably map out an entire island, or even farther, with absolute clarity in his mind.
"An incredible power," he said softly."I can take my time developing it."
In just a few minutes after eating the fruit, he already understood several abilities he now possessed.
He could unleash lightning attacks with voltage scaled to his own strength.
He could create vast fields to perceive everything within them.
He could transform into lightning itself and move at incredible speed.
"It's time to head back."
Kyle sat cross-legged in midair, stretched lazily, and smiled.
Crack.
In the next instant, a bolt of lightning flashed, and his figure vanished.
Traveling through the clouds as lightning was a bizarre sensation. The speed was unbelievable, not far from light itself, and he could feel the constant pulsing of electromagnetic waves in the void.
With a single thought, he could agitate the normally calm positive and negative charges in the clouds, creating massive lightning strikes and brewing storms beyond imagination.
That meant he could summon colossal tempests over the open sea.
"Logia fruits really are unfair," Kyle sighed."They're practically winning at the starting line."
"And if you're creative enough and keep developing them, their potential is downright absurd."
He moved swiftly, and with the field active, he could clearly perceive everything around him.
That very day, a bolt of lightning struck the highest point of Marineford.
Wrapped in blue arcs of electricity, Kyle appeared.
The sight made Douglas Bullet and the others, who were in the middle of training, turn back in shock.
There he was, lightning coiling around his body, head tilted slightly, chin resting on his right hand. He hovered cross-legged in midair, smiling faintly at them.
In that moment, Kyle finally understood why Enel went barefoot.
Because he didn't need shoes at all.
After all, he practically never touched the ground.
"..."
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