One Piece Gunslinger

Seeing Gan Fall's admiring expression, apart from Luffy and Chopper, no one else was happy. What was there to admire? They should have said there were other routes! Nobody wanted to ride that giant ocean current!

Chapter 361 The Mind of God

Afterwards, everyone surrounded Gan Fall, the elderly and knowledgeable local, and chatted for quite a while, asking him many questions about Skypiea and learning about Enel and his powerful abilities. However, Gan Fall did not mention that he was the previous generation's god.

This made Luffy very eager to try. After defeating two Logia-type Devil Fruit users, he became a little arrogant. After hearing about Enel's glorious deeds, he decided to personally take action and defeat him.

However, things are not that simple. To see Enel, you need to climb to the top of God Island. However, under Gan Fall's leadership, the Straw Hat crew can only come to the foot of the mountain. The rest of the journey is up to them.

Furthermore, Luffy and his crew didn't find any Leon. After Gan Fall brought him to them, they only found a letter left on the ground. In the letter, Leon told them that Enel's Ark was completed and would soon destroy the entire Sky Island, and so on.

I've already gone ahead, so I'll tell them to hurry up and catch up.

However, this matter was too shocking, so in order to convince everyone of this fact, Li Ang used two whole pages to describe the cause and effect and to analyze Enel's twisted personality.

Well, once they learned that Skypiea was about to be destroyed, everyone present couldn't sit still and rushed forward with shouts. Among them, Luffy and Zoro, who were obsessed with fighting, ran the fastest.

Regardless of the innocent people on board, if Skypiea were destroyed, the Straw Hat Pirates would be finished. Not to mention Gan Fall, the previous god who loved his people dearly. He certainly wouldn't stand idly by and watch Skypiea perish.

In fact, Li Ang didn't go ahead at all. Instead, he and Waver hid on the other side, waiting for Luffy and the others to clear the way. This was also to allow the Straw Hats to grow through the trials of the priests. Li Ang didn't want to steal the spotlight.

However, it is true that Enel wanted to destroy this sky island. After discovering the gold in the Golden City, Enel used a large amount of gold to build a pure gold spaceship. The power source of this extremely heavy spaceship was Enel's Rumble-Rumble Fruit.

Before leading them away, Enel suddenly had a mental breakdown and started a survival game. Survival of the fittest. Even his priests had to pass this survival game, and only the winner could board the ark and follow him to the infinite land (the moon).

This led to the absurd tactic of the four priests splitting up and setting up four trials halfway up the mountain, only to be defeated one by one. It also resulted in Enel having to fight Luffy's crew, Gan Fall, and the Shandian warriors alone after he lost his subordinates.

To be honest, in a team battle, Enel and the four priests would absolutely crush the Straw Hat crew plus Gan Fall and Shandaria. It just goes to show their incompetence is beyond redemption.

“But why should we hide in the back and let them go first? The Shandians aren’t cowards,” Weber said, puzzled.

Li Ang watched Luffy and the others walk away before explaining, "Yes, yes, the Shandians are the bravest. But, Waver, you need to understand one thing: not everything in this world can be solved by bravery. Otherwise, Shandya wouldn't have been silent for four hundred years."

Even if we're unwilling, we still have to admit some facts, such as the fact that we are no match for Enel.

You need to understand, Enel's ark is now complete, and he's at his weakest point, selecting qualified individuals to board and testing the strength of his soldiers and priests. This is our opportunity, because it means that even if the loyal priests are defeated, Enel won't help them, since they've been eliminated in this survival game.

But this also presents certain limitations for us. This self-proclaimed god, having caused such a mess, do you think he'll let his survival game fail?

Of course not. If we were to join forces with them now, we would be defying the will of God. In a one-on-one battle, it would be understandable if the priests lost, but if we were to get involved, turning it into a multi-on-one situation, Enel would attack us prematurely. After all, from his higher-level divine perspective, fairness is the key point of this survival game.

So even if we show ourselves, we can't help; we can only watch from the sidelines. Since we're going to be watching anyway, we might as well stay hidden, out of Enel's sight, and then jump out at the end to give him a big surprise.

Then another question arose. After hearing Li Ang's explanation, Waver frowned and said, "If that's the case, can they defeat that group of priests? Enel's four priests are not easy to deal with."

Hearing this, Lian Guo looked at Waver with disdain. "You still have the nerve to say these four priests are powerful? You yourself came to challenge them with a whole team!" Among this group of Shandian warriors, only Waver himself possessed priest-level strength. In the original work, there was even a priest who was defeated by Waver. The rest of them had almost no hope against the priests.

However, Li Ang couldn't dampen the confidence of this group of Shandian warriors, so he could only say, "Don't worry, this Straw Hat Pirates is a well-known pirate crew even in the vast Blue Sea, and their strength is considerable. Especially the three combatants leading the way, they are all about the same level as you. With the addition of the experienced old man Gan Fall, passing the trials of the Four Priests shouldn't be too much of a problem."

Waver is the strongest in Shandaria, so it's hard to believe that three people of similar strength would suddenly appear after hearing this. However, given the existence of strong individuals like Leon and Enel, it's not surprising that such things happen in this vast world.

Similarly, encountering so many powerful individuals in a single day had a significant impact on Waver, planting the impression that the Sky Island was vast and teeming with powerful beings, thus sparking his longing for the world beneath the Sky Island. But that's a story for another time.

As expected, the warriors of Shandiya, along with Leon, witnessed the entire battle between Luffy and his crew and the priests. Although it appeared difficult and close, Luffy and his crew ultimately defeated them.

Just as Li Ang had predicted, Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji each took down one of them, while Gan Fall took over the role of Waver and finished off the other.

Moreover, thanks to Li Ang's prior warning, the Straw Hat crew did not panic when they discovered that the priests could use a nerfed version of Observation Haki. They quickly found a way to defeat them.

After Enel combined the powers of the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, he could extend his Observation Haki throughout the entire Sky Island using radio waves; however, the portion extended by radio waves was not entirely accurate. Similarly, these priests themselves did not actually fully awaken their Observation Haki; they also created a weakened version of Observation Haki with Enel's help and by relying on the radio waves that permeated the entire island.

A strong person who knows how to use Haki is not so easily defeated. The Straw Hat crew has not yet grown up, so it would be difficult to fight a weakened version of them.

After defeating the Four Priests, this group of people were still a little unsatisfied, muttering that it would be great if they encountered real Observation Haki. They felt that this kind of Observation Haki, which is generated by radio waves, still has considerable flaws, and they thought it would be great if they could fight against a master who has truly mastered Observation Haki.

Well, if that's the case, then so be it. After Luffy and his crew passed the four trials, they arrived in front of Enel's palace, where Enel himself was waiting at the gate.

“Very good, very good.” Enel laughed happily. “You have passed my four trials so quickly. You are fully qualified to come with me to the Infinite Land.”

"Um, is he an idiot? He's so happy that his comrade got knocked down." Luffy whispered to Gan Fall beside him. To be called an idiot by this fool Luffy, well, even Leon wanted to laugh.

Sigh, this left Gan Fall unsure how to answer. It seemed a bit off regardless of whether Enel was an idiot or not.

"Hmph, how rude! But God will forgive you. After all, mortals are foolish, and you have not yet truly experienced the power of God." Although Luffy spoke softly, Enel and Leon, both of whom possessed Observation Haki, heard him clearly.

It seems Luffy and his crew performed exceptionally well this time, even their disrespect towards Enel was easily forgiven. Compared to the original story, they broke through all four trials and defeated all of his priests with relatively little effort. This made Enel think more highly of them, and in his excitement and joy, he even came out to personally greet them.

At this point, Enel no longer saw himself as human; the concept of hostility simply didn't exist in his mind. Everyone else was just an ant, and Luffy was the strong ant that had won his favor.

As for those priests, in Enel's eyes they were now nothing more than obsolete ants; not strong enough, they had no right to survive. Tsk tsk, they were all acting in accordance with the laws of nature.

This is precisely Enel's purpose in organizing this trial; wasn't he just trying to select the strongest ants? So, of course he was happy to see Luffy and the others perform.

Alas, it's a pity that Enel's godhood is a narrow-minded one. He only proclaimed himself a god because of his unparalleled strength. This mentality is completely understandable. If he were to travel to the New World and witness even stronger beings than himself, his worldview would be completely reshaped in no time.

God? What god? Whitebeard, the universally acknowledged strongest man, had no rivals after Roger's death, and he wasn't even that old then. He never claimed to be a god or to rule over all living beings.

Enel was happy, but someone was even happier than him: Leon.

Chapter 362 Useless Lightning

Leon hadn't expected Enel to be so reckless as to escape from inside. If the battle were to begin after entering the palace, Enel possessed a formidable weapon: the Ark.

The so-called Ark Maxim is not only a spaceship, but also a weapon. However, only Enel, the user of the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, can use this weapon; others cannot.

The core of its ark is an engine that can only be powered by the Rumble-Rumble Fruit. This engine can propel the ark, which weighs several thousand tons, into the sky and even to the moon. This means that the engine can enhance Enel's abilities to an outrageous degree.

The fact that Enel is here means that he's at his weakest point right now, and this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. If we can intercept him, the threat will be greatly reduced.

So how could Li Ang hold back? Seeing this opportunity, he told Webber, "Get ready to make your move!"

Then he jumped out from the side and threw what he was holding toward Luffy: "Luffy, catch it, don't drop it."

Luffy was just about to deliver a punch when Leon jumped out faster and threw something at him.

"What's this?" Luffy reached out and caught the thing Leon threw at him, asking in confusion, "What's this for? It looks like a stick."

"It doesn't just look like it, it's a stick, to be precise, a 1.5-meter-long iron rod." Li Ang said, running behind Luffy and kicking him towards Enel. "Now it's safe. Go! Take him down!"

The second half of Li Ang's sentence was clearly directed at Weber.

As soon as he finished speaking, another squad of Shandia warriors rushed out from behind and charged towards Enel. At the same time, the remnants of the divine army who were with Enel also took the initiative to meet them, and they engaged in a fierce battle with the Shandia warriors.

Luffy was completely bewildered. He was kicked by Leon and didn't realize what was happening for a moment. He ended up falling face-first to Enel, about three or four meters away.

Not only was Luffy bewildered, but everyone else was equally confused, having no idea what Leon was doing. Why did he just kick Luffy right in front of Enel?

Although Enel didn't know what Leon was up to, he still had to do what he had to do. He gathered a large amount of lightning in his palm and hurled it at Waver, who was coming from the opposite direction.

"Divine retribution!"

That's how confident he was; he could easily annihilate them with a single move. Especially those like Weber who didn't pass the trial—they weren't worth taking with them.

Webber had seen this move not long ago, but back then it was an upward, vertical fall; this one was coming horizontally. If you were to run into this move head-on, you'd be dead for sure.

However, just as Li Ang had predicted, the move took a turn as soon as it was made, heading straight for Lu Fei, who was lying on the ground pretending to get up.

In an instant, Luffy's location became a huge source of light, and no one could see what Luffy looked like when he was enveloped in lightning.

"Huh??!!"

Why does this move curve outwards? It clearly looks like it's shooting out in a straight line, so how did it curve?

"It's the iron rod in Luffy's hand." Robin, with her extensive knowledge, was the first to react and answered everyone's questions. "Luffy holding the iron rod is like a lightning rod, actively attracting the lightning."

Everyone suddenly realized that the principle seemed simple, and almost everyone understood it, but no one had ever implemented it before. Gan Fall thought to himself how great it would have been if he had thought of this method a few years earlier. Although some people would have been sacrificed as a result, Enel had killed quite a few people for no reason over the years.

Wait, sacrifice??

Ganford asked doubtfully, "Aren't you even a little bit sad? He's your captain."

This trick can guide the direction of lightning, but the person acting as a human lightning rod will also perish.

"It's alright, because our captain is a Gum-Gum Fruit user," Robin said with a slight smile. Now she completely understood Leon's plan: to use an absolutely sturdy shield to block all of Enel's attacks.

However, the large shield that can resist lightning 100% has one problem: it is not very big and cannot completely block Enel's attack route.

But if Luffy wields a blacksmith's rod, it's a different story. Even if Luffy doesn't actively intercept, as long as they're not too far apart, the lightning will come to him and forcibly neutralize Enel's lightning attacks. Once Enel loses his most powerful weapon—lightning—he's essentially a toothless tiger.

That's right, right after he finished speaking, the lightning subsided, and Luffy stood unharmed in the same spot, casually dusting himself off and saying with dissatisfaction, "Seriously, why did you kick me, old man?!"

Sigh, it seems Luffy still hasn't grasped Leon's tactics.

To be honest, I can accept that Luffy can ignore lightning, but why can his clothes, pants, and straw hat also block lightning? Shouldn't they turn into black charcoal? What's the principle behind this?

After confirming that Luffy was safe, the rest of the Straw Hat Pirates went to fight the God Army. As long as they didn't stay near Luffy, they were safe. They let Luffy go play with Enel and deal with the others first.

"Impossible!! How are you completely unharmed?" Enel stretched out a trembling hand, pointing at Luffy, and cried out in terror.

Enel's confidence and godlike mentality were all built on his immense power. Others worshipped gods because of their great abilities, but Enel went even further, believing even more in his powerful lightning. And when that lightning failed, that was when his worldview would be severely shaken.

"Because I'm a rubber man," Luffy kindly answered Enel's question.

Then Enel revealed his classic expression: his mouth wide open, snot flying from his nose, and eyes bulging out.

"Huh??!!"

Enel suffered a setback at Luffy's hands, but Waver wasn't idle. With the help of the Shandian warriors and the Straw Hat Pirates, the remnants of the God Army couldn't stop him at all, and they were now very close to Enel.

Yes, Waver completely disregarded how dangerous it was for Luffy and insisted on personally punishing Enel.

Enel quickly reacted, habitually raising his hand to unleash two more bolts of lightning at Waver. However, unfortunately, these attacks were all absorbed by Luffy, rendering them useless.

Enel was unhappy. In order to prevent his inner worldview from collapsing, he became stubborn, just like in the original work, and surrounded himself with lightning. He then activated his ultimate move and transformed into an elemental form.

"Two hundred million volts? Thor!"

In this state, Enel's entire body transformed into lightning, and he became even taller and more powerful, which also elevated his control over lightning to a new level.

In his current state, Enel could strongly feel the attraction of the iron rod in Luffy's hand to him. If it weren't for Enel's strong control, the lightning on his body would have been sucked in.

He's truly stubborn and won't turn back until he hits a wall. Or rather, even if he does hit a wall, Enel's values ​​and personality, shaped over the years, won't allow him to turn back. He'll either break through the wall or die on it.

However, Waver was also a warrior. Enel did not turn back, and Waver, with an indomitable spirit, pounced on Enel, even though Enel was still surrounded by layers of electricity.

The brave prevail when paths cross, and that's exactly what this saying means.

On the other hand, Luffy still doesn't understand what's going on. When he saw Enel transform into Thor, he was completely mesmerized, his eyes turning into little stars.

"Hmph, you're really overestimating yourself." Enel shouted, "Then let me show you my current strength! I'll let you know how insignificant you are."

After saying that, Enel, in his Thor form, threw a punch at the two who were pouncing on him.

Although the punch was entirely composed of lightning and had no physical form, it still gave off a powerful and imposing feeling. No one doubted that Webber, who was just a tiny speck of lightning in comparison, would be sent flying by this punch.