Chapter 27 – Thunder Over Sabaody
Shakky did not look back when she took the ship. The pirates she had "borrowed" it from were still unconscious on the shore, victims of a single, precise burst of Haki. After parting ways with Ren and Toki, she sailed alone from the New World toward the Grand Line, the wind heavy with salt and memory.
The journey was long and quiet, and Shakky preferred it that way. Weeks passed beneath open skies and storm-torn horizons, her thoughts occupied with Ren's plan and the dangerous promise he had placed in her hands. When she finally reached Jaya Island, she did not linger among the rowdy pirates and lawless dreamers.
From Jaya, she made her way upward to the sky. The Knock Up Stream roared like a furious god, but Shakky stood steady at the helm, her coat snapping violently in the wind. The ship was hurled toward the white sea above, disappearing into the clouds as though swallowed by heaven itself.
When she stepped onto the cloud-covered soil of Skypiea, the air felt different—thin, charged, and humming with something ancient. She asked around quietly, dropping coins here and there for information, until she found whispers of a ruined sky island called Birka. That was where she needed to go.
Birka was older than Skypiea, its forests thick and its ruins scarred by time. Shakky stayed for weeks, combing through ancient stones and overgrown paths. She searched temples cracked by lightning and caverns hidden beneath drifting clouds.
It was during one of these searches that she met a strange boy. He had sharp eyes, pale hair, and no wings on his back. The other children mocked him openly, calling him cursed and incomplete.
His name was Enel.
"Why are you staring at me, old lady?" the boy snapped, gripping a crude spear.
Shakky exhaled smoke lazily. "Because you're glaring at me like you want to kill the sky itself. That's interesting."
"I'll kill anyone who laughs at me," he said coldly. "One day, they'll kneel."
She studied him carefully. "Power without control makes you pathetic. Want to learn how to fight properly?"
His eyes narrowed. "Why would you teach me?"
"In exchange, you help me look for something," she replied. "A Devil Fruit. The Rumble-Rumble Fruit."
Enel tilted his head. "And if I refuse?"
Shakky's lips curved faintly. "Then you stay weak."
That was enough.
She taught him self-defense, correcting his stance and sharpening his reflexes. She showed him how to cook properly instead of burning everything he touched. She taught him how to hunt without wasting arrows and how to fight without losing composure.
"Balance your weight," she said one evening, tapping his ankle with her boot. "You fight like you're angry at the ground."
"I am angry," Enel muttered.
"Good. Then learn to use it."
In return, Enel guided her through Birka's forgotten corners. He knew hidden paths and collapsed chambers others avoided. Together they searched ruins etched with strange carvings and scorched walls marked by ancient lightning.
Weeks passed. Then, in a crumbling sanctuary split down the middle, she found it.
Resting atop a broken altar was a fruit patterned with swirling designs like crackling thunderclouds. The air around it vibrated faintly, as though the sky itself were breathing.
Enel stared at it. "That's it?"
"Yes," Shakky said quietly. "The Goro Goro no Mi."
She did not hesitate. She picked it up and bit into it.
The taste was foul—worse than anything she had ever experienced—but she forced it down. The moment she swallowed, the sky answered.
Lightning exploded around her in blinding arcs. Thunder roared across Birka as if the heavens themselves had declared war. Enel stumbled back, shielding his eyes.
Shakky stood at the center of it, electricity wrapping around her body like a living cloak.
She remained in Birka afterward, just as Ren had suggested. Training. Experimenting. Mastering the power instead of letting it master her.
She combined her Observation Haki with her new ability, stretching her awareness outward. At first, it covered the forest. Then the ruins. Then the entire island.
Her perception expanded until Birka felt small beneath her senses. If she wished, she could monitor every whisper across an island the size of Alabasta.
"Is this… godhood?" Enel asked once, watching her vanish and reappear in a bolt of lightning.
Shakky gave him a sharp look. "Don't let power rot your brain. It's a tool."
She trained in thunder teleportation, dissolving into lightning and reappearing miles away in an instant. She learned to fly, her body carried effortlessly by electrical propulsion. The sky no longer restricted her; it obeyed her.
After a week of focused mastery, she made her decision.
"I'm leaving," she told Enel.
His jaw tightened. "You found your power. So you're abandoning me?"
She flicked his forehead lightly. "You're not helpless anymore. Keep training. Don't waste what I taught you."
"Will I see you again?"
"Maybe," she said. "If you survive your own arrogance."
With that, she vanished in a crack of thunder.
Shakky arrived at Sabaody Archipelago like a storm contained within human form. She chose a secluded grove and remained hidden, refining her control.
Her Observation Haki blanketed the entire archipelago. Every auction house whisper, every Marine patrol shift, every Celestial Dragon movement—it all reached her senses.
"If the Boa sisters are brought here," she murmured to herself, "I'll know."
She clenched her fist as lightning danced across her fingers. "And I'll be there in an instant."
The Thunder Logia was absurdly powerful. It was considered one of the strongest for a reason. Mobility, destructive force, and unparalleled speed—it had no equal in versatility.
Her strength now brushed the peak of Admiral tier.
"Those new kids…" she muttered with a smirk. "Kizaru, Kuzan, Sakazuki. If they came together, they still wouldn't stop me from leaving."
She leaned back against a tree branch. "Even Garp would only be able to watch."
The thought lingered. If she attacked the Holy Land itself… no one could catch her.
Lightning sparked unconsciously along her arm.
She shook her head sharply. "Dangerous thoughts."
Ever since she had eaten the Goro Goro no Mi, such ideas crept into her mind. Power whispered temptations.
Then she froze.
A familiar presence entered her Observation range.
Her eyes widened slightly. "That aura…"
She disappeared in a burst of thunder.
Reappearing atop a tall tree near Grove 13, she looked down quietly. Beneath the shade stood a woman she had not seen in years.
Her old captain. Her friend.
"Gloriosa…" Shakky whispered.
Gloriosa had aged. The beauty that once rivaled the fiercest warriors of Amazon Lily had begun to fade, replaced by lines carved by time and regret.
Gloriosa adjusted her cloak, unaware she was being watched. Her posture was still proud, but there was loneliness in the way she moved.
Shakky exhaled slowly. "You really did leave everything behind for him."
Gloriosa had suffered lovesickness for Gol D. Roger. She had abandoned Amazon Lily for the Pirate King, chasing a love that was never returned.
Roger had not loved her. And now the Rocks era was long gone, scattered like dust in history's wind.
"Rocks are gone…" Shakky murmured, remembering the chaos of the old days.
Gloriosa had been cast out, unable to return as empress. She wandered alone now, a former queen without a throne.
From what Ren had told her, Roger had fathered a child before his execution.
Shakky's gaze softened slightly. "Poor Gloriosa…"