The idea was bold. No one had ever considered such a possibility before.
After all, the Red Line had existed for thousands of years, rooted deep beneath the sea. How could it possibly be transformed into a planetary ring to protect the central planet?
According to Imu's original plan, another moon was supposed to crash into the planet, bringing about an extinction-level disaster. Floodwaters would engulf everything, and in the end, only the Celestial Dragons would be able to enter the next era with the help of advanced technology.
They would still be the gods ruling from above. In fact, with the planet becoming larger, their power would increase as well.
That should have been how things developed. But after hearing Ren Kurogane's new theory, Imu felt that it might actually be feasible.
After all, leaving the moon in the sky and ruling the world from above would obviously be more convenient.
And much more impressive.
As someone with an extreme hunger for power, just imagining that lofty position was enough to excite Imu.
Her subordinates had been killed by Ren Kurogane with a single slap, but as long as she remained alive, it didn't matter. She could simply recruit another group.
Of course, before that, she had to get rid of this anomaly called Ren Kurogane.
With that thought, Imu asked him, "When are you planning to leave this planet?"
Ren Kurogane rubbed his chin and nodded.
"Sure enough. Even after killing all the Five Elders, I still feel pretty pissed off."
As he spoke, he looked at Imu's face, which resembled Hancock's by ninety percent.
"Hancock came to me before and asked to join my crew, but I turned her down."
"Hm?"
Imu looked at Ren Kurogane in confusion. She didn't understand why he had suddenly brought up Hancock.
She had paid some attention to that junior. The Devil Fruit she had eaten was also a particularly rare type of Twin Fruit, one that could either be consumed entirely by one person or split between two people.
Most importantly, she looked very much like Imu herself.
Both were extraordinarily beautiful.
While Imu's attention wandered for those few seconds, a huge golden energy hand reached toward her and grabbed her in its palm.
"Goodbye, ruler of the world."
As his voice fell, streaks of golden light formed a cage around Imu, trapping her inside.
As Imu screamed in panic, the golden cage gradually shrank until it became a tiny metal cube, which landed in Ren Kurogane's hand.
"Science-fiction technology really is useful. Add sealing techniques on top of that, and Imu, you'll be staying inside this seal for the rest of your life! That's what you get for spreading rumors about me!"
Ren Kurogane had already figured out a few things. For example, why had the Sea Kings given him such special treatment before he even entered the New World?
It had to be this rotten Imu's doing.
Back then, he had nearly died at Reverse Mountain!
Ren Kurogane gave the golden cube in his hand a toss before returning to the spaceship.
By then, the crew was completely stunned.
They knew their captain was powerful, but his opponents had been the Five Elders, two Admirals, and the Commander-in-Chief of the World Government's three military branches!
And they had all been wiped out with a single slap?
Then there was that enormous black serpent that had seemed capable of covering the entire sky.
At first, everyone had thought they were about to witness a world-shaking battle. Instead, Imu had transformed back into human form.
And then came the scene of Ren Kurogane instantly defeating her.
When their captain returned, Law looked at the small cube in his hand and asked, "Captain, what are you planning to do with Imu?"
Olga grinned mischievously.
"What else could he do? She's practically carved from the same mold as the world's most beautiful woman. Do you really think a lecherous fiend like our captain would let her go?"
Duang!
After receiving a punch of love, Ren Kurogane placed the golden cube in the spaceship's display cabinet.
"Lady Shirley! Set course! We're heading into space!"
"Got it. Sit down first!"
Everyone returned to their positions. Shirley took the command seat and directed everyone as they operated the spaceship.
A few seconds later, the spaceship slowly rose into the air. Its speed continued to increase until, several minutes later, they had reached the moon.
This was the route Ren Kurogane had decided on from the beginning.
First, they would tour the nearby satellites and see if they could find anything useful.
The spaceship landed safely on the moon's surface. After investigating the area and confirming that there was enough oxygen for humans to survive, Ren Kurogane and Olga rushed out first.
"Whoa! We're flying!"
Olga hopped around the moon, running all over the place.
The moon's gravity was far weaker than that of the Blue Planet, so a light jump was enough to send the little girl ten meters into the air.
When she slowly came back down, Olga was overjoyed.
Ren Kurogane was experiencing this strange sensation of weightlessness for the first time as well, and he found it incredibly fun.
Suddenly, two ropes were fastened around their waists.
Then Shirley's voice came through.
"The gravity on an alien planet is different from that of the Blue Planet. This is to prevent you from leaving the planet and drifting into space."
Ren Kurogane turned around and saw that Shirley and the others had ropes tied around their waists as well.
Bonney had even been fastened with a chain, just in case the little troublemaker managed to snap the rope.
These ropes were another piece of advanced technology developed by Vegapunk. Within a range of one thousand meters, they could extend and retract freely.
Bonney's chain didn't have that function, of course, so she could only move within twenty meters of the spaceship.
Bonney was extremely unhappy about this. She pointed at Olga and shouted, "Why can that girl Olga go out and play?!"
"Because she's fast," Law said with a faint smile. "She's already more than twenty meters away. The chain can't reach her anymore."
"Arghhh!"
Bonney screamed in frustration, bitterly regretting that she had been one step too slow.
Ren Kurogane came to a cave and curiously poked his head inside.
Enel, who was inside the cave, was staring back at him in confusion.
For a moment, the two simply stared at each other.
Awkward.
Clap!
Ren Kurogane slapped his hands together and exclaimed happily, "I knew you'd be here!"
Before Enel could figure out what was happening, Ren Kurogane grabbed him and hopped all the way back, shouting toward Shirley and the others,
"Everyone! Look what I caught!"
The people who had been playing with the little robots turned around curiously.
Ren Kurogane had manifested a huge golden hand, with Enel struggling in its palm and cursing him for disrespecting God.
Once he reached the others, Ren Kurogane introduced him.
"This guy is a Goro Goro no Mi user. He can provide us with an endless supply of electricity. Even if he refuses to cooperate, we can just kill him and extract the Goro Goro no Mi. From now on, we'll never have to worry about running out of power."
Hearing that they would never have to worry about electricity again, everyone became excited.
Shirley suddenly said, "I remember now! You're the God of Skypiea! Nami told me about you!"
"Nami?"
Enel still had some impression of that woman. After all, she was an extremely capable navigator. He had even wanted to bring her over and make her one of his subordinates.
Enel looked arrogantly at everyone.
"Since you know I'm God, why haven't you released me yet?"
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Ren Kurogane slammed Enel into the ground and mercilessly rubbed his face against it.
"God? The God of the Blue Planet is currently sitting on my ship as a display piece. You're nothing but a little god from Skypiea who happened to get lucky and eat the Goro Goro no Mi. And you dare act arrogant in front of me?"
Before long, Enel's face was swollen and bruised.
By now, even Enel had stopped talking back.
He remembered that black serpent coiled above the Blue Planet that he had seen while relaxing earlier.
Even though he was on the moon, he could still sense the terrifying aura coming from that giant serpent.
After arriving on the moon, with the help of the little robots, Enel had already completely mastered the Three Types of Haki. He had also learned everything there was to know about various matters from ancient times.
But that giant serpent on the Blue Planet was something he knew absolutely nothing about.
He had deliberately searched for information about it, only to discover that part of the little robots' database was missing.
At that point, Enel understood.
The moon was probably something that person had already played with and abandoned.
His feelings at the time had been complicated.
So he had returned to his cave and decided to sleep for a few days to calm his nerves.
And then Ren Kurogane had dragged him out.
Krillin looked at the strange Enel and asked, "This guy really flew to the moon using that Ark Maxim?"
"That's the Goro Goro no Mi for you. Even a useless guy like this can become a major power after eating it."
Brook sighed in genuine admiration.
Ren Kurogane silently glanced at him.
Enel is useless? He relied entirely on his own development to push his strength to the level of a near-Admiral. His Mantra can even monitor an entire sky island. If not for Luffy, the Sun God, being so ridiculously overpowered, even an Admiral might not have been able to defeat this guy.
Enel was furious as well.
Being toyed with by Ren Kurogane was one thing, but who was this foolish-looking man? How dare he insult a god like him?
If he weren't currently unable to do anything, he would definitely have a proper fight with this guy.
But he was powerless now.
Especially after hearing Ren Kurogane say that he intended to imprison him and use him to generate electricity, Enel suddenly felt a wave of despair.
He had thought that after fully mastering Haki, he would be a major power even on the Blue Sea.
Instead, he had once again encountered some inexplicable monster who defeated him with ease.
And this time, his opponent had no intention of letting him go.
"This is miserable!!!"
Unfortunately, Ren Kurogane didn't care what Enel was thinking.
Before Vegapunk had been kicked off the spaceship, he had specifically reminded them to pay attention to the ship's fuel, especially its electricity supply.
Ren Kurogane had been worried about it before, wondering whether he should connect the spaceship to the Dark Plane system and set it on the path of never having to worry about energy again.
But now, it seemed he didn't need to worry about it himself.
They spent another few days playing around on the moon before returning to the spaceship.
After locking Enel up, Ren Kurogane was just about to go sleep with Shirley when he suddenly noticed the small golden cube on the display platform shaking violently.
"Hm?"
Curious, Ren Kurogane looked over.
His consciousness entered the seal, where he saw a huge black serpent.
The serpent was frantically slamming itself against the seal, green flames bombarding the barrier without having any effect.
After a while, Imu grew tired. She transformed back into human form and sat cross-legged on the ground, seemingly deep in thought.
Seeing this, Ren Kurogane asked curiously, "Hey! What were you doing just now?"
The sudden voice startled Imu.
Recognizing Ren Kurogane's voice, she angrily shouted, "Let me out! I'm the God of this world! You can't treat me like this!"
"No! Of course I can!"
Ren Kurogane's voice came from above Imu's head.
"First, you're the one who kept targeting me. I'm just getting revenge. Second, you're weaker than me!"
Imu fell silent.
How had she ever sensed Nika's presence from this guy in the first place?
If she hadn't provoked him, then even if Nika had grown stronger by now, what could he have done to her?
A Nika who had no intention of building an organization posed no threat to her.
As for that Revolutionary Army, Imu had never taken them seriously. They were nothing more than a rabble.
Seeing that Imu had quieted down, Ren Kurogane withdrew his consciousness.
However, when he saw that the small cube had nearly reached the edge of the display platform, he took two ropes and hung the cube up.
That way, no matter how much Imu struggled inside, the box outside would simply swing back and forth like a swing instead of falling to the ground.
Inside the seal.
Imu felt that the seal had stopped shaking. Knowing that Ren Kurogane had put her down again, and that he might have left, she began trying to break through the seal once more.
Ren Kurogane watched the little cube swinging back and forth.
More than an hour later, Imu finally settled down.
Ren Kurogane turned his gaze away from the cube and looked outside the spaceship.
The moon was covered with rows of ruined buildings, while the little robots were orderly making their way into the spaceship.
Vegapunk's technology was impressive, but compared to these little robots, there was still a gap.
Because Ren Kurogane had forced Enel into working for him, he had also forcibly made the little robots work for him. Upgrading the spaceship, maintaining it, and even piloting it no longer required him to do anything himself.
Ren Kurogane glanced at the locked-up Enel again.
His eyes were closed, apparently resting.
Ren Kurogane spoke.
"Enel, do you want to join my crew?"
Enel opened his eyes and looked at Ren Kurogane coldly.
"God does not submit."
"Don't be so stubborn. You can't leave this place anyway. Why not become one of us? You'll have all the fruit you can eat. Isn't that better than being a prisoner?"
Enel fell silent.
There were plenty of things he could ignore.
But fruit…
Especially the apples sitting on the table.
To be honest, he wanted them.
And Ren Kurogane was strong. Even after mastering all three types of Haki, Enel still wasn't his match.
Remembering the feeling of being held in Ren Kurogane's hand earlier, Enel struggled even more.
Two and a half seconds later, Enel opened his eyes and decisively said,
"Captain!"
Snap!
Ren Kurogane snapped his fingers, and the restraints around Enel instantly disappeared.
"Welcome aboard!"
Ren Kurogane smiled.
But Enel didn't even acknowledge him. He walked straight to the table and began eating an apple.
Crunch.
Crunch.
Only after finishing several apples did Enel speak.
"Those little robots will obediently listen to you as long as you provide them with electricity. Their database is also incredible. It contains all kinds of things I've never even seen before."
"I know, I know."
Ren Kurogane waved his hand dismissively with a smile.
"Their technology isn't important to me. Just have Shirley and Olga take over the database."
Enel didn't reply.
Through the window, he looked outside.
The little robots were rapidly gathering resources from the moon's surface, bringing everything they could carry back to the spaceship. Anything they couldn't move was welded directly onto the ship's exterior.
To deal with the additional weight, the little robots had even installed several more propulsion engines on the spaceship.
A month later, they finally finished modifying the spaceship.
Ren Kurogane and the others set off once again.
This time, their destination was another satellite approaching the planet.
A crimson-red planet.