Upper Yard, the edge of the Scorched Crater.
Enel lay amidst the rubble. Though his body was a map of burns and bruises, his face still held a trace of resigned defiance. He stared at the black-haired young man before him, finally accepting the impossible: he, the "God" of these skies, had kicked an iron plate thick enough to overturn the world.
Swish.
The rustle of footsteps emerged from the surrounding thicket.
"Looks like your dance is over, Captain."
Sabo was the first to step into the clearing. His tailored coat was shredded in several places and he reeked of acrid gunpowder, but his blue eyes shone with the quiet satisfaction of a job well done.
Immediately after, a heavy mechanical chugging echoed through the ruins. Jeno, shoulder-mounting his massive hydraulic power hammer, strode over the broken walls. His exoskeleton was now conspicuously "field-modified" with several high-grade Dials looted from the priests, giving him an aura of industrial violence that screamed for a wide berth.
Leona followed, her twin bone-cleaving knives still dripping. Far from being tired, her slit pupils pulsed with the predatory afterglow of a successful hunt.
Finally, a sweating Buggy appeared with Carina perched leisurely on his shoulder, a nautical chart in her hand. The parrot, Berries, circled above them as a living radar. (Ace had summoned Buggy via Carina's "Avis-Net" communication).
"Everyone's here." Ace turned, his gaze sweeping over his crew. Their auras had grown noticeably sharper. A hearty smile tugged at his lips. "It seems the 'Ordeals' weren't much of a hurdle for you."
"Tch, just a bunch of hicks who leaned too hard on their toys," Jeno sneered. His gaze fell on the defeated Enel. When he felt the residual static still humming off the fallen priest, his eyes lit up with a terrifying, scientific fanaticism.
"So this is the lightning-freak?" Jeno leaned over the pit, staring at Enel like he was a rare piece of scrap metal. He rubbed his grease-stained hands together. "Captain, is this the guy who built that moon-ship? Where are the blueprints? My wrench is already starving!"
Enel looked at the white-haired brute—covered in gears and looking at him with the eyes of a vivisectionist—and his eye twitched. These Blue Sea people are all absolute lunatics.
"No rush on the Ark, Jeno. We'll be resting on Skypiea for a while. You'll have plenty of time to dismantle it," Ace said, patting Jeno's broad shoulder. He then turned to Carina. "Did we find the payload?"
At the mention of gold, Carina and Buggy both surged with a sudden, frantic energy. Buggy's eyes literally transformed into the shape of Berries symbols.
"Locked on. And Captain... I found the Golden Bell!" Carina pointed to the massive, sky-piercing vine in the center of the island—the Giant Jack.
"According to Berries' bird's-eye view, when Jaya was launched into the sky, the core of the legendary Golden City, Shandora, was pushed by this vine into the highest cloud layer!" Carina's voice trembled with excitement. "Up there... there's a bell tower made of pure, solid gold!"
"The Golden Bell..." Buggy was vibrating, drool nearly escaping his mouth. "Captain Roger didn't take it back then—he told me to get it myself one day. And now, finally... pure gold..."
Sabo looked up at the vine. He thought of Wyper, the Shandia warrior who would rather be pulverized than fail his ancestors. "So that's it. The 'Light of Shandora' they've been killing each other over for four centuries."
Ace stood silent, a trace of profound longing in his eyes. Down in the Blue Sea, Cricket was risking his life every day diving into the dark ocean to prove his ancestor wasn't a liar. Up here, the Shandia had bled for generations just to ring a bell and tell the world they were still there.
A bell that carried four hundred years of lies, war, romance, and a man's promise.
"Buggy, Jeno—bring the 'God' along." Ace signaled them to hoist the injured Enel. He turned toward the Giant Jack, the Tower of Babel of the Sky. "Let's go, boys."
Ace's voice was a rallying cry that set their blood on fire. "Let's go see the gold that's driven the world mad for four hundred years."
The climb was effortless for the Eclipse Pirates. Ace and Sabo led the way, while Jeno clamped Enel under one arm, using the hydraulic thrusters in his legs to leap between the rough ridges of the vine.
They pierced through layer after layer of the White Sea clouds until, finally, the world opened up.
"We're here," Carina whispered, vaulting onto the highest cloud platform. She froze, her breath hitching.
Sunlight pierced the thin atmosphere, spilling unreservedly over the summit. At the very peak of the vine stood an ancient bell tower that defied description. Lofty pillars, intricate carvings, a massive base—all cast from pure gold, untarnished by the millennia. At the very top hung the legendary Golden Bell.
"This is the truth of the Golden City," Buggy whispered, his legs giving out as he knelt on the clouds, tears streaming down his face. "It's... it's too beautiful."
Even Leona sheathed her knives, stunned by the sheer majesty of human history.
Ace walked to the space directly beneath the bell. His figure was tiny against the relic, yet his kingly aura resonated with the silent gold. He didn't look at the base, which was worth more than a dozen kingdoms. He looked only at the bell itself.
"You must have been lonely up here for four hundred years," Ace whispered.
He slowly clenched his right fist. No Devil Fruit. No Haki. He simply gathered every ounce of his raw, physical muscle into a single point.
"For the diver in Rumble Ball Town... and the warriors in the forest below."
Ace took a deep breath and lunged. He shot toward the top of the tower like a meteor.
"Today, I end the lie!"
He twisted his waist, his arm pulling back like a recurve bow. He unleashed the punch with everything he had—heart, soul, and muscle!
"DONG——!!!"
A magnificent, distant chime—a sound that seemed to span the river of time—exploded across the sky. The note was so crisp it turned into a visible golden sound wave, shattering the surrounding clouds. The chime pierced the White Sea, tore through the thickest thunderheads, and carried four hundred years of longing and proof down, down, down toward the Blue Sea below.
Ace landed steadily on the golden base.
Listening to the echo, a rare softness appeared in his eyes. In his memories of a past life, this was one of the most extreme romantic legends of the sea. Now, he was the one ringing it. No fairy tales. Just a bond that spanned death and a man's promise.
To live again—to personally cross the boundaries of time and unveil this miracle with his own hands...
"This sea..." Ace felt the long wind of 10,000 meters altitude on his face. He listened to the bell chime spreading across the world, a look of pure, unbridled joy on his face.
"...it really makes a man never want to stop."
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