Pirate: I was just slacking off, do you really think I'm bad?

That said, rocket artillery is indeed incredibly powerful.

Enel, who had been acting as if nothing had happened, suddenly had his upper body blown to pieces, leaving him standing on his two legs.

Seeing this, Raleigh's expression became somewhat unnatural; this move seemed very familiar to him.

Do all Logia-type Devil Fruit users use this kind of show-off move?

Raleigh didn't quite understand, but since he had used this trick before, he didn't have much to say.

Shhh!

The whistle blew out from the mouths of the Shandians ahead, quickly relaying the information to the others.

At the same time, the two Shandians loaded their rocket launchers and then blasted them at Raleigh.

Raleigh didn't want to get entangled with them any longer. He drew his famous sword from his waist with his right hand and casually twirled it.

With a single slash, golden sword light shot out from the blade.

A golden, semi-circular sword beam streaked across the sky like a crescent moon, cutting through the rocket and the many trees blocking the village's path.

Click?

Trees were continuously severed by the sword's edge, and a series of thunderous sounds echoed.

"Do you even know what you're doing?"

He revealed our location. Kill him.

The two Shandians dodged the terrifying sword light emanating from Raleigh, and should have been thankful to have escaped death.

But when they saw the trees behind them that Raleigh had cut down, their eyes seemed to spit fire; they desperately wanted to kill Raleigh.

You destroyed the Shandians' hiding place; the Shandians will not let you get away with this.

Apart from that sentence, Raleigh didn't understand anything else, because his opponent was no longer speaking the Qinghai language, but had switched to the tribal language.

He charged toward Raleigh with a loud roar.

What a hassle. I should have just lay down quietly.

Raleigh appeared behind the two men in an instant. The two men, who had just pointed their guns at each other, felt a heavy knock on their necks.

Seeing the Shandian guard lying on the ground, Raleigh didn't continue attacking. Instead, he took out a box of cigars from his pocket, lit one, and waited for the other Shandians to arrive.

You brat, aren't you going to recover yet?

Looking at the two legs standing beside him, Raleigh was speechless. They had already finished fighting and they still hadn't recovered.

"Oh dear, Lord Raleigh, I'm so sorry, I thought there was still a battle going on."

Enel's upper body suddenly opened its eyes, looked around at its surroundings, and then turned into electric ions and returned to its body.

"As expected of Lord Raleigh, he's incredibly strong."

Enel saw the two Shandians lying at Raleigh's feet and praised them repeatedly.

"Okay, if you ever make me do this again, I'll punish you by making you do two two-finger push-ups and deducting your salary."

Raleigh said indifferently, "Anyway, he's the one who did the violence."

"Have those Sky Island people arrived?"

"Take up your weapons and fight them."

"Where are they? I don't see any people from the Sky Island."

In the distance, the village was filled with the sounds of rummaging through chests and cabinets, the clash of swords, and the clamor of the villagers.

Because of their innate talent, Raleigh and Enel possessed an exceptionally wide range of Observation Haki, allowing them to hear everything happening in the village clearly. Enel scratched his head and asked:

"Lord Raleigh, the people in this village all seem to be battle maniacs to me. Will they even listen to us?"

Raleigh closed his eyes, listened intently to the sounds coming from the village, and then said:

"It doesn't matter. As long as we have the strength, they will naturally listen to us."

Soon, small teams of Shandians, armed with spears and carrying rocket launchers on their backs, assembled in the village.

"Chief, where are they? Where are those people from the Sky Island?"

They actually dared to come to our door; this time I'm going to smash them to pieces.

Looking at his indignant tribesmen below, the chieftain said with a somewhat unnatural expression:

"This time it's not someone from the Sky Island, but a powerful stranger, possibly from Qinghai. Everyone must remain calm."

"What Qinghai people? What is the leader saying?"

"Yeah, are people from Qinghai really that strong? In my mind, people from Qinghai are as weak as the people from the Sky Island."

After hearing the leader's words, everyone began to discuss them. At that moment, a sharp-eyed Shandian spotted two figures walking towards them from the cleared forest.

"Chief, there are two people over there. Are they the Qinghai people you mentioned?"

The Shandians who had discovered Raleigh and Enel ran up to their leader as if to claim credit and earnestly told him what they had found.

"Okay, let's not act aggressively yet, let's talk first."

Raleigh and Enel walked along the cleared forest path toward the village, having overheard the villagers' conversations clearly.

Enel looked somewhat angry, perhaps because he was young and inexperienced and hadn't yet gotten used to being someone else's prey.

Raleigh, on the other hand, seemed indifferent. He thought it was just empty talk; everyone would say something like that. But people with real substance don't care about such rumors.

The distance to the village seemed very short, but it was actually very difficult to walk there; it took a full twenty minutes.

Raleigh and Enel finally arrived at the Shandian settlement.

What comes into view are rows of sturdy houses full of ancient charm, many of which have been renovated multiple times, creating several different layers of texture.

In the center of the village is a wide road. Sometimes, you really can't judge a book by its cover.

Although these Shandians carried spears and wore traditional animal robes, the central road in the village was beautifully constructed.

The entire eight-meter-long gap was paved with very fine stone slabs.

Although it wasn't as bustling or lively as the places Raleigh had seen, it was still quite astonishing that such a village had such a fine stone-paved road.

Raleigh could sense that the people around him weren't exactly friendly, but he didn't care.

Step lightly with your right foot, then follow with your left.

Raleigh is now also a traditional step across the threshold of the Shandian village.

On both sides of the road stood men holding long guns and carrying rocket launchers and bombs on their backs. Raleigh, who had just arrived, was already being watched by the entire village.

Raleigh and Enel stopped there without hesitation, waiting for the person among the Shandians who meant what they said to appear. At that moment, the man who had just been called the leader slowly emerged from the back of the crowd.

He was the leader of the Shandians, dressed in ancient Shandian clothing and various bone ornaments, which gave him an unusual beauty!

Judging by age alone, Raleigh felt that this Shandian chieftain might not be much younger than Ganford.

After the leader stepped forward, everyone focused their attention on him.

Outsiders, what are you doing?

The leader asked calmly.

Raleigh and Enel slowly walked towards the leader, saying as they went:

"I'm doing this on someone's behalf. A big shot from a sky island wants to have some communication with you through me."

"But don't worry, I only agreed to pass on the message to him, I won't get involved in anything else."

As the two people walked towards them step by step, the villagers' hearts were in their throats.

Although this was his own village, surrounded by his fellow villagers whom he lived with day and night, there were only two people opposite him, one of whom was a teenager.

But the atmosphere now felt strange, as if two people were surrounding an entire village.

Perhaps the young man walking in the middle was putting too much pressure on people.

I know you might not believe me, but I genuinely have no ill intentions towards you; otherwise, you would probably have been defeated by me by now.

Although Raleigh's words sounded somewhat rude, surprisingly, no one present objected to them.

"Friends from out of town, I'm sorry, but we have a sworn enemy, so everyone who comes to visit us must be investigated."

The leader was relieved to see that Raleigh and his men didn't seem inclined to make a move.

Raleigh shrugged and then said,

Do you know Noland's story?

When Raleigh uttered the name Noland, everyone present gaped in astonishment.

How do you know—what exactly did that Ganford guy tell you?

The leader seemed genuinely shocked and revealed what he already knew.

How did he know Noland?

How did Ganford know about our connection with Noland?

"Now we can't let them go; we have to keep them here."

As soon as Raleigh uttered the name Noland, everyone erupted into a frenzy of discussion, like fish in a boiling cauldron.

However, the leader was, after all, a leader. After realizing that he had said the wrong thing, he did not have any other negative emotions. Instead, he turned around and asked again!

Now that you know, I want to ask you, what do you want to get from us?

The leader's words were very straightforward, the meaning was very clear, and the surrounding threats were also very obvious.

If Raleigh's answer is anything amiss, then the people around him will raise their muskets and start a fight with him.

Raleigh pulled a cigar from his pocket, lit it, took a deep breath, and said:

"This matter didn't start with Gan Fall on Skypiea, but rather I discovered it while I was on the Grand Line, what you call the Blue Sea."

The golden land of Shandora, hundreds of years ago, was located in that sea area, but since Noland brought the message back to the North Sea, a full four hundred years have passed, and no one has discovered Shandora again. Thinking about it, it's quite an incredible thing.

Near the island of Jaya, I met a child who, according to him, was a descendant of the Noland family, whose generations had struggled to find Shandora, as Noland had described.

Our research suggests that it is highly likely that around 400 years ago, a massive upwelling current flowed from the bottom of Jiaye Island, washing part of the island into the White Sea.

This part is the island where Shandora is located. If I'm not mistaken, then Shandora should be the present-day Island of the Gods, Apayado, and you Shandians are the ones who were brought to the White Sea back then.

"If you still don't believe me, then I can take you to Noland's descendants on my ship to verify this."

After listening, the leader gently shook his head and said;

According to ancient records, many years ago our ancestors lived in Qinghai, but one day, a sudden earthquake shook the earth, and the surrounding environment underwent drastic changes.

"After everything calmed down, the ancestors realized that they had arrived in an unfamiliar environment, which was the White Sea."

Furthermore, the land of our ancestors was so vast and fertile that the inhabitants of the Sky Islands became extremely envious, and under the guidance of their gods, they drove our ancestors away.

We Shandians dream of returning to life on Shandola.

After listening, Raleigh nodded seriously, then took out a very old notebook from his pocket. Judging from its appearance, it was clear that it had been carefully cared for by many generations of owners, otherwise it would have been broken long ago.

This is Noland's notebook, recording his travels around the world.

"If I'm not mistaken, you must be descendants of the great warrior Calgara."

The leader nodded seriously and said;

Yes, our ancestor was Calgara, the most powerful warrior among the Shandians, who once fought Noland.

The leader carefully accepted the notebook from Raleigh, as if he were holding a fragile piece of crystal.

At the same time, the leader issued instructions to those around him:

Those who don't have anything to do, please leave. Those of you who have things to do, please go about your business; those of you who don't, please bring out your best to serve our guests.

After the misunderstanding was cleared up and they learned that Raleigh had not come for Ganford, the Shandians showed great enthusiasm.

At the dinner table, many Shandians, claiming they had never seen people from Qinghai before and wanted to toast their guests from afar, all came up to Luo Li to offer a toast. Luo Li picked up the full glass in front of him, drank it all in one gulp.

"Well, Mr. Raleigh is a very generous man."

Mr. Rowley's drinking style was truly that of a grand master.

"Mr. Raleigh, you've already had a drink with him, it's my turn now."

The scene gradually reached its climax amidst the back-and-forth toasts, with the multi-talented Shandi people singing their folk songs and performing bonfire dances.

Raleigh watched the expressions of the Sandy people in the arena with a grin until late at night!

At two o'clock in the morning, Raleigh was still awake, but now there were two figures in front of him.

One of them is that the leader of the Shandians during the day was named Kronin Jim, and everyone usually called him Uncle Jim.

The other one was someone Raleigh hadn't seen during the day, but he claimed to be the most powerful warrior among the Shandians and a pure-blooded descendant of the great warrior Calgara.

The leader spoke first:

Mr. Raleigh, I doubt that the purpose of your actions is solely to verify Noland and Shandora's story.

"I know, Ganford contacted you. I wonder if you could tell us about it too."

Raleigh nodded and readily said:

"Ganford did contact me. He wanted to ask if a reconciliation could be reached to end the four-hundred-year war between the two races."