Raiden Ei instantly sensed the ill intent from the receptionist; perhaps the room price she quoted was also inflated.
It seemed like everyone in Birka cared deeply about the little wings on their backs. Seeing her without wings, their eyes carried looks of disdain.
Was this racial discrimination by the Sky Island people?
No!
Janice and the people on Angel Island also had little wings, but she had never seen them show her that kind of look for being wingless.
This probably wasn't a form of racial discrimination held by all Sky Island people, but only by the people here in Birka.
What was the difference between them?
It must be their living habits. The people of Birka were all devout Buddhists; perhaps they believed that people without wings were imperfect!
Thoughts raced through Raiden Ei's mind, but she didn't forget where she was. She took out 100,000 Berries from her system backpack and placed it on the counter.
If the other party only asked for a little extra Berries, and hadn't provoked her, she wouldn't have cared too much. She still had plenty of Berries; giving a little more was no issue.
Anyway, surviving in this world depended not on how much money you had, but on how strong your power was.
The receptionist didn't hesitate to take the Berries. After counting them and confirming the amount was correct, she casually took a key from the rack behind her and handed it to Raiden Ei, her tone still somewhat reluctant:
"Second floor, 212. Take the key and go up yourself."
Raiden Ei saw that the receptionist didn't continue to make things difficult after taking the Berries, and she breathed a sigh of relief. She was genuinely afraid she wouldn't be able to resist tearing the place apart!
She took the key handed over by the receptionist without saying anything and turned toward the stairs to the second floor. Along the way, she encountered a few Sky Island people residing there.
Raiden Ei reached room 212 on the second floor and unlocked the door with the key. Inside was indeed an ordinary room—a small room containing only one bed and some daily necessities.
She hadn't come here to sleep, so she didn't mind the situation. This was the kind of room she wanted. It seemed the receptionist hadn't continued to hassle her.
She closed the door. It was only seven or eight in the evening; it wasn't time for action yet. She needed to stay in this room until midnight at least!
She planned to meditate for a while and then act in a few hours.
...
Raiden Ei jumped out of the room's window. It was very late now; it was time for her to make her move.
Her figure quickly darted through the alleyway toward the town center. Most of the street lamps had been extinguished, and in the darkness, almost no shadow of her movement could be seen.
She hadn't stayed in the room for several hours in vain. She had carefully analyzed where the trace of the Goro Goro no Mi was most likely to appear in this town.
If the Goro Goro no Mi was indeed in this town, the most likely place for it to be was the temple in the town center; that place was almost the most special location in Birka.
She planned to start searching from there first. Even if she couldn't find it, she could change course and search elsewhere; it wouldn't waste much time anyway.
She hoped the Goro Goro no Mi was right there. Birka was quite large; finding the Goro Goro no Mi wouldn't be an easy task.
Unless it could truly choose its master and proactively appear before her.
The town wasn't too big. At Raiden Ei's speed, she quickly arrived at the temple she had seen earlier. Along the way, the sparse Sky Island people they passed noticed nothing of her movement.
Raiden Ei looked at the towering temple before her. The several Buddha statues enshrined inside, illuminated by lamp shells, their golden bodies glittered, emitting an aura of solemn majesty.
"I hope you won't disappoint me!"
Raiden Ei whispered, no longer hesitating. She stepped out of the darkness of the alley, swaggered across the street, and walked through the temple's open main gate.
The moment she stepped through the gate, her Observation Haki perception instantly enveloped the entire temple. She intended to resolve everyone remaining here in one go to prevent them from causing a major disturbance.
Instantly, she sensed how many people were still here and their exact locations. She immediately locked onto them, and Conqueror's Haki surged out of her body, transforming into an imposing aura that rushed toward them.
"Buzz"
This was something Raiden Ei had learned in the last few days. Her control over Conqueror's Haki had now reached a level of precise mastery, allowing her to use it individually on a person without affecting those around her.
The monks scattered throughout the temple were suddenly struck by the Conqueror's Haki attack and couldn't react at all.
One by one, they rolled their eyes back and collapsed to the ground, unconscious, including those who were sleeping.
Raiden Ei walked deeper into the temple while saying, "Twenty-four. Solved them all, not one left."
She bypassed a monk collapsed at the entrance and entered the main hall where the Buddha statues were enshrined.
Her gaze first fell upon the three enormous Buddha statues. Under the illumination of the lamp shells, their golden bodies shone brightly, radiating a solemn and majestic aura.
"I wonder if they are all made of gold."
As Raiden Ei spoke, she walked up and pinched the foot of the Great Buddha. As soon as her words fell, her hand deformed the statue's foot. She retracted her hand, no longer looking at these three fakes, thinking she had found another big haul!
Raiden Ei rummaged around the hall but couldn't find the Devil Fruit. However, she wasn't disappointed and turned toward the backyard.
This was just a place she wanted to check out of caution. It was obvious the Devil Fruit wouldn't be placed in the main hall for people to admire!
Raiden Ei first searched through the monks' residences, storerooms, and kitchen in the backyard but found no trace of the Devil Fruit. She then walked into a study.
"Haven't found it yet, so there's only one last place left to check."
Only then did she turn her attention to the secret room she had perceived with her Observation Haki. However, she didn't know where the mechanism to open the secret room was. She walked to the floor where the secret room entrance was located and stomped her foot, but the floor didn't move in the slightest.
This study was packed with many items; testing each one would waste too much time. If she didn't find the Goro Goro no Mi underneath, all her time tonight would be wasted here.
Raiden Ei thought that she could only resort to brute force to break it open. Smashing it open with her fist wouldn't work; it would cause too much noise. It was better to use kusanagi!
She would cut it open directly. She didn't believe a door could withstand a single slash from kusanagi. As long as she controlled the force slightly, she could avoid making a big commotion.
Having decided how to break open the secret room, Raiden Ei took kusanagi out of her system backpack and instantly wrapped it in Armament Haki.
She raised kusanagi with one hand and slashed down toward the secret room door on the floor.
"Swish swish swish"
kusanagi slashed rapidly three times, cutting a large hole in the thick iron door.
"Bang"
Raiden Ei retracted kusanagi, stepped forward to inspect the breached secret room, and peered inside. It was pitch black, and she couldn't see or hear anything.
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