Chapter 176: The Serpent's Shocking End!
"You lot handle the cleanup and announcements. Gion, escort them to Angel Island and wrap things up."
With the essentials sorted, Ross had zero interest in sticking around for the bureaucracy. As for the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, once things settled on Angel Island, he'd have Gion ferry Gan Fall over to Birka's Sky Island. Time to claim that territory—and snag Enel's old power in the process.
"Yes, sir!"
The group nodded sharply, though Gan Fall and Conis still held a wary respect around Ross, like sailors eyeing a storm cloud.
Gion, ever the cool-headed swordswoman, shot him a curious glance. "And where are you off to? You've got that secretive glint again."
She could read between the lines: Ross was ditching for solo fun.
"Found a spot worth a look. Catch you later."
Ross grinned, scooping Sora into his arms before vanishing in a blur of speed.
Gion sighed, shaking her head. "Always so damn mysterious."
She shrugged it off. If Ross was keeping her sidelined, it wasn't battle-related—and that suited her fine. Better to sharpen her blade than chase his whims.
"Lord Gion," Gan Fall ventured, his voice steady but thoughtful. "If I had to guess, Lord Ross headed straight for the Land of Gold."
He knew every inch of Upper Yard like the back of his hand. The only thing here that might hook a guy like Ross? A city gleaming with the stuff.
"Land of Gold?" Gion's eyebrow arched as she turned to him, intrigued. Conis leaned in too, ears perked like a kid at storytime.
"It's smack in the island's core—a whole city forged from solid gold. But the Sky Lord's den is right there. No one's supposed to get close."
Gan Fall shook his head, awe etching his features.
"Sky Lord?" Conis blurted, eyes wide. "You mean that monster everyone's whispering about? I heard it took out the last god in one swipe."
The tales on Angel Island painted a grim picture: the previous god felled by the beast. But Conis had been too young to know the gritty details—it was ancient history by her time.
Gan Fall bowed his head, shame flickering in his eyes. "To our regret, the Sky Lord isn't some mindless killer. It's just... colossal. Over two hundred meters of pure mountain-sized muscle. The old god got caught in its path by accident and was crushed flat."
No glory in a "god" dying to a wild beast's blunder.
"That big, huh?" Conis murmured, worry creasing her brow. Ross might be a Celestial Dragon with a mean streak, but she didn't relish picturing him snake food.
Gion's interest piqued, her hand drifting to her sword hilt. "Sounds tough. How's it stack up?"
"Formidable..." Gan Fall started, but his gaze snagged on the massive crater Ross's earlier strike had gouged into the earth. He swallowed hard, backpedaling. "Though if Saint Ross unleashed that kind of power again? The Sky Lord—and ten more—wouldn't last a heartbeat."
Gion snorted, interest evaporating. "Figures. You've cheapened 'god' with that pitch."
She'd hoped for a real scrap, not some oversized Sea King knockoff. Two-hundred-meter bruisers were rare on land, but the Grand Line's oceans were crawling with them. Against her? One Rankyaku would end it.
Gan Fall fell silent, smart enough not to push, and led Gion and Conis toward Angel Island. Duties first—Ross would expect order when he looped back.
Meanwhile, Ross and Sora materialized in the heart of the Land of Gold.
The sight hit like a thunderclap: a colossal serpent sprawled across the ruins, blood oozing from its eyes, nose, and mouth. Still as death.
"It's gone," Sora confirmed, kneeling for a closer inspection. After a beat, she glanced up. "Fresh kill, too—within the hour. Your strike was a full kilometer off. Advanced Conqueror's Haki packs that much punch?"
Her eyes sparkled with genuine surprise. The snake hadn't been in the blast zone, yet here it lay, wrecked.
Ross had half-suspected some fluke, but the wounds screamed Haki overload. No other explanation fit.
"Nah, not quite that wild on its own."
He chuckled, tweaking her cheek affectionately. Sora was sharp—let her puzzle it out.
"But it dropped from the shock," she pressed, undeterred. She'd pored over medical texts and seen Ross's Haki drop Sea Kings cold. The symptoms matched to a tee.
"Spot on," Ross admitted, grinning wider.
Sora shot him an eye-roll, then her gaze sharpened—a faint glow in her eyes as she pieced it together. "You followed up your infused strike with a remote Haki burst. Knocked it out from afar and finished the job."
"Bingo."
Ross nodded, pleased. A field test for his limits: three kilometers, give or take. Decent range—not Joy Boy levels, but enough to stun fodder like this fragile brute from a distance. A solid E-rank human might just black out; anything tougher would shrug it off.
Sora's expression shifted to something odder, a mix of awe and that familiar spark. But she reined it in, standing and scanning the surroundings. Golden spires and walls glittered under the eternal Skypiea light, though bite marks scarred the structures—the serpent's handiwork.
"Jackpot," she breathed. "Gold everywhere."
Her Heal-Heal Fruit let her sense life... and death. This haul was massive, but the Sky Lord's maw had chomped a good chunk already.
Ross stepped closer to a pillar, rapping his knuckles against the solid gleam. "All flash, no substance. Pretty, sure—but the real value's in the melt-down."
Sora nodded, her assessment quick and clinical. Several million tons, easy. At a thousand Berries a gram, that tallied to tens of trillions. A pirate's dream windfall.
But to Ross? Pocket change. He wasn't hurting for cash; Berries couldn't buy what he craved most—power, secrets, the next horizon.
Still, free gold never hurt. With a casual wave, he summoned a storage ripple, the metal vanishing into his dimensional pocket. Time to claim Shandora's legacy.
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