Pain.
It hurts so much...
Ever since he ate that strange fruit and got the power of a god, Enel had never felt pain like this.
What am I doing?
Oh, I think I'm fighting that Blue Sea person.
What power did that Blue Sea person use to be able to attack a god's body?
And he seems to have a power similar to my "Mind Net."
Are there people like this in the Blue Sea?
Ugh... my body hurts so much, my ribs seem to be broken by that black spear.
...
That Blue Sea person, is his name Ryan Rowan?
Enel could still hear Rowan's last words echoing in his ears.
In the human world...
Heh, boring!
He clearly has the power to destroy the world, but he insists on hanging out with those mortals, it's just asking for trouble.
...
Enel's consciousness gradually surfaced from the deep darkness.
He opened his eyes, his vision going from blurry to clear.
The first thing he saw was a hand reaching out to him, as if to pull him up from the ground.
"Heh heh heh, the mercy of the victor? I don't need it!"
Enel was about to slap the hand away, but then he noticed that the hand was very slender, completely different from Rowan's.
A woman?
He couldn't help but be surprised, and looked up along the hand, seeing an unfamiliar face.
It was a girl holding a fruit basket, and Enel had never seen the style of clothes she was wearing.
At this moment, the girl was looking at Enel with a puzzled expression, seemingly not understanding what he was saying.
Enel was even more confused.
He only remembered being defeated by Rowan, being forced to undo his Thunder God form and falling to the ground, so why was he appearing in front of this girl?
...Wait!
Looking closely, the "girl's" skin was made up of countless tiny grains of sand, giving her whole body the golden color unique to sand.
Did Rowan do this?
Enel wanted to stand up on his own, but because of the sharp pain in his chest, he grabbed the girl's hand.
I'll see what you're trying to do!
"Umm..."
Enel was pulled to his feet by the girl, and looked around, only then noticing that there were many more "people" made of sand around him than just the girl.
Countless people of all shapes and sizes filled the long-lost "Golden City" of Shandora.
After observing for a while, Enel suddenly had a strange sense of familiarity.
They were—living.
Although Enel had melted a large amount of gold during his final attack, the time was too short to affect most of the rest of Shandora.
The markets, streets, shops, and most importantly, the "people" themselves.
Apart from the marks that had appeared over time, such as vines, dust, ruins, and the absence of voices, this city from four hundred years ago was now truly appearing before Enel's eyes!
That Rowan actually used sand to simulate the ancient city of Shandora?!
But then, Enel noticed something was wrong.
The people living in it had very distinct styles of clothing, but they were very different from the style of Shandora itself, creating a strong sense of separation between the two.
Enel carefully observed the girl in front of him, and couldn't help but stroke his chin.
"This is..."
"This is the clothing style of Alabasta eight hundred years ago."
Rowan's voice came from the side, "I haven't seen the original Shandora, so I can only temporarily replace it with the Alabasta style."
Enel looked around and saw Rowan sitting cross-legged not far from him, looking up at the ancient city that had been "temporarily revived" with sand.
"Is this the confidence of the winner?"
Enel sneered, reached out and touched his golden staff, ready to retreat, "Aren't you afraid I'll run away?"
"Run?"
Rowan thought for a moment, "If you want to desperately escape, few people in the world can stop you."
Indeed, the supreme development of Mind Net, combined with the Rumble-Rumble Fruit's near-light-speed mobility, could possibly only be matched by Marine Admiral Kizaru's Glint-Glint Fruit.
The reason Rowan was able to gain the upper hand before was entirely because he had launched a fierce attack, catching Enel off guard.
After all, in terms of combat experience, Enel was quite lacking, and the lack of experience made his ability to handle unexpected situations very weak.
"If I really had to catch you, I'd probably have to put sea stone chains on you first, and then lock you up in a prison on the bottom of the Blue Sea."
Rowan looked at Enel and smiled kindly, "Want to try it?"
Enel suddenly shivered, but then he thought that what Rowan said seemed to make sense, so while maintaining a certain distance, he continued to observe Shandora.
For Enel, Shandora's astonishing reserves of gold were undoubtedly the most suitable metal for a "god," so he had coveted it for a long time, and had secretly infiltrated Upper Yard many times to observe.
This was why Enel was able to choose to come here as soon as possible.
But at this time, Shandora felt a little unfamiliar to Enel, as if it was completely different from the ancient city he had seen before.
It was a feeling full of life.
Was it because the sand recreated the people who lived in it?
Enel looked at the girl who had pulled him up, leaned in slightly, and looked at her.
The girl made a slightly shy expression, her appearance very lively, causing Enel to be stunned, and he asked Rowan curiously, "Did you revive them?"
"No."
Rowan shook his head, "I'm just trying to recreate Shandora's past through simulation."
Enel paused, "So..."
"So, this scene is just a mirage, there are only two of us here." Rowan said slowly.
At the same time, the girl tilted her head slightly, looking at Enel.
Enel immediately shifted his gaze, while his heart couldn't help but become even more curious.
"Why are you doing these strenuous things, just to see that Golden City that was destroyed long ago?"
This wasn't just filling the huge city with sand, each person made of sand, their appearance, movements, and clothing were all different!
Enel didn't know how Rowan had done such an exaggerated thing, but he was also sure that it took a lot of effort.
The proof was that Rowan could only sit on the ground at the moment, letting the sand he created pull him up.
Rowan stroked his chin, his eyebrows slightly frowned, "There are some things I'm curious about, so I tried to simulate the former Shandora, wanting to see if I could find any clues."
Enel thought for a moment, "If you want to find a strange stone, it's in the northwest."
Of course, Rowan knew what Enel was talking about, which was the Poneglyph located on Sky Island, which should still contain Roger's information.
But what Rowan wanted to find was not that.
Nefertari had included the following sentence in the information she left for Rowan——
Although some very noteworthy 'things' have been discovered, the investigation can no longer continue.
What exactly did Nefertari and the others discover?
The Five Elders? The World Government? Ancient weapons? Or something else?
Unfortunately, after the Void Century, there were very few historical records about eight hundred years ago left.
If you want to figure out what Nefertari left behind, you have to start from the directions that the World Government "cannot erase" and try to investigate the clues from hundreds of years ago.
For example, the ancient city in front of you——Shandora.
Rowan re-simulated the city in operation, hoping to discover something useful.
Before long, Rowan felt some doubts in his heart.
This city... is too much like a city.
Its functions are quite complete, even to the point of being cumbersome.
If allowed, Rowan even felt that Shandora could take the initiative to isolate itself from the world and be self-sufficient!
This doesn't look like a lost ancient city at all.
"It"—is too complicated.
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