One Piece: The Cryo Doctor on the Straw Hat Ship

The coordinates provided by Enel pointed precisely to the central area of ​​the island—the Sanctuary.

As the altitude decreased, the sacred site, entwined with enormous vines and towering with ancient buildings, gradually came into view.

However, the scene that came into view was completely different from the sacred and solemn scene they had imagined.

Within the sacred domain, the buildings that should have been decorated with pure white marble and gold were now a shocking mess.

The ground was covered with charred marks, as if it had been subjected to a violent baptism of thunder and fire.

Some of the massive stone pillars were cut in half, and the broken edges showed a glassy appearance, as if they had melted and then cooled.

The ruins still bear remnants of rubble and metal fragments that were not completely cleared, indicating that someone had tried to clean up the site, but the scale of the disaster far exceeded the capacity to handle it, making the repair work seem like a drop in the ocean.

"Enel!"

V shouted into the depths of the divine abode.

A moment later, under the careful and attentive care of the goddesses, Enel lay on a bed with delicate curtains and was carried over by four burly men from the Sky Island.

Click!

Enel took a big bite of the apple.

Although he had eaten all kinds of fruits in Qinghai, in his opinion, only the apples grown on this island could best represent his noble status.

"You really managed to fool me."

Looking at the trembling servants around him, who were even careful with their breathing, his gaze behind the V-lens remained calm and unwavering.

Considering that Enel's "Kamui" would still be needed later to maintain order on Skypiea, he didn't publicly expose or reprimand Enel's pretentious act, but instead went straight to the point:

"What about those Shandians? You should have followed my orders properly, right?"

"of course."

Enel leaned back on the soft couch and greedily took another big bite of the apple, juice dripping down his chin.

This behavior of maintaining a facade of freedom, even a hint of provocation, in front of V seems to bring him a twisted sense of pleasure.

Although he was fully aware of it, all his actions were still firmly under his control.

Enel swallowed the fruit in a few bites and stopped putting on that "god-like" air.

During the days when he was repeatedly modified in the control room, yet remained fully conscious and aware of every bit of pain, he had already developed an almost instinctive physiological fear of V.

Even a fleeting glance sent chills down his spine.

"Those unruly Shandian warriors were severely injured by my lightning strike and have temporarily lost their ability to resist."

Enel wiped the fruit stains from his lips with his fingertips, his voice still carrying the coldness of a superior, yet he deliberately restrained his usual arrogance.

"As for the ordinary Shandian residents in other areas... they were all imprisoned in the Divine Prison."

"Not a single person was killed, nor were they crippled—as you requested."

He paused, his dark blue prosthetic eye glancing at V, as if observing the other's reaction:

"However, if you intend to control the Sky Island in the long term, I suggest you completely eliminate the Shandians."

"These guys have been fighting with the Sky Islanders for four hundred years. They're incredibly stubborn and will never truly submit..."

"I have my own plans on how to deal with them."

V interrupted him, her tone calm yet carrying an undeniable determination.

"You just need to continue playing the role of 'god' and maintain superficial stability."

"As for the rest, others will naturally take care of it."

Enel remained silent for a moment, then merely twitched the corner of his mouth and offered no further rebuttal.

He knew better than anyone else that in this land above the clouds, the true "god" had long since been replaced.

Chapter 146 The Shandians (Seeking monthly votes~)

Led by Enel, V, Robin, and Brook traversed the ruined corridors of the Sanctuary, descending a hidden spiral staircase.

The steps are made of ancient marble, covered with a thin layer of moss, and the air is filled with the smell of accumulated dust and damp cloud.

As they ventured deeper, the light gradually dimmed, and Enel's thunder drums behind him flashed with a ghostly blue electric light, illuminating the path ahead.

After descending about thirty meters, a heavy stone door came into view.

"This is it."

Enel raised his hand, a tiny arc of electricity leaping from his fingertips, and gently touched a recessed spot on the side of the stone gate.

click-

The sound of the mechanism turning was particularly clear in the silence as the stone door slowly slid open inward, kicking up a cloud of dust.

What comes into view is an extremely spacious underground space.

It's less of a prison and more of an ancient underground sanctuary that has been converted.

The space is rectangular, about ten meters high and fifty meters long, with dozens of cells made of thick cloud wood and iron bars arranged on both sides.

Each cell was about three or four square meters, the locks on the doors were rusted, and the bars were covered with cobwebs.

On the ceiling, where lighting fixtures should have been installed, there were only empty recesses and a few broken metal chains. A few rays of light slanted in from the direction of the stairs, barely outlining the contours of the space.

"Tsk."

Enel stood at the doorway, surveying the desolate prison cell, his tone filled with undisguised contempt:

“If you hadn’t told me to spare their lives, I wouldn’t have known that there was such a filthy place in the God’s Abode.”

After all, ever since Enel became a god, anyone who made a mistake was instantly electrocuted by him, and there was no chance of them being imprisoned in the God Prison.

As a result, this divine prison, built by the previous generation of gods, remained empty and stagnant throughout his reign.

The thunder drum trembled slightly, and arcs of electricity leaped in the cell, illuminating the figure huddled inside.

The prison houses more than twenty cells containing ordinary residents of Shandia—men, women, young and old.

Most of them were dressed in rags, covered in dust and with minor burns, but as Enel said, they had no fatal injuries.

Upon seeing Enel appear, suppressed gasps and whispers of fear erupted in the cell. People instinctively shrank into corners, and children were held tightly in their mothers' arms, their mouths covered.

"Quiet."

Enel's voice wasn't loud, but it carried a thunderous pressure that instantly silenced all other sounds.

Only pairs of eyes, filled with hatred, fear, and despair, stared intently at the three figures in the doorway in the dim light.

V stepped into the prison of gods.

His footsteps echoed in the empty underground space as his Eye of Greed and Eye of Valuation operated simultaneously, scanning each Shandian.

The golden light flowing in his vision caused his pupils to contract slightly.

As he had guessed...

Under his dual gaze of "eyes of greed" and "eyes of valuation," every Shandian—from the white-haired elders whose eyes remained sharp as eagles, to the women who, though trembling, stubbornly straightened their backs, and to the children who, though clearly terrified, clenched their teeth and refused to cry out—

The uniform golden glow emanating from them became increasingly clear in the vision of the Eye of Greed.

The light was not intense, but it was exceptionally even and solid, like gold dust that had settled for hundreds of years, buried deep beneath its seemingly ordinary exterior.

“Hatred can make people stronger…” V murmured to himself, confirming his earlier speculation.

"Four hundred years of exile, the pain of losing their homeland, the obsession with reclaiming their homeland... these emotions are like an invisible whetstone, constantly sharpening their spirit and body, making 'fighting' itself etched into their blood and becoming an instinct for survival."

Although the Shandians don't have much potential, after so many years of hard work, only one person, Waver, has turned out to be somewhat decent. However, Waver is actually just a pirate with a bounty of over 100 million on the high seas.

But their willpower is absolutely beyond the imagination of ordinary people.

"What a rare warrior," V murmured to himself, his voice echoing softly in the underground space.

As is well known, the more powerful and sophisticated the prosthetic body, the higher the mental burden it places on the user.

The Straw Hat Pirates are able to easily control their cybernetic bodies not because these bodies are burden-free, but because their mental strength and willpower are already at the pinnacle of this world.

V had already discovered this when the soldiers in the Kingdom of Alabasta were being cybernetically modified.

Although those soldiers possessed considerable willpower, they were at most armed to the level of pirates with bounties of millions of Berries.

They may seem powerful, but to true powerhouses, they are nothing more than more small fry.

And these Shandians before us...

Their physical bodies may not have reached the pinnacle due to scarcity of resources and interrupted inheritance, but the collective will forged through four hundred years of blood, fire, tears, and hatred is probably far more pure and resilient than most of the so-called strongmen in Qinghai.

This is an almost "instinctive" fighting will, a survival resilience engraved deep in one's blood and soul.

If we can guide, transform, and systematically arm this force...

V's eyes flashed intensely, his brain-computer interface was operating at high speed, and he processed a massive amount of information in an instant.

Judging from the intensity of the golden glow emanating from them, even the oldest members of the clan possessed a mental capacity sufficient to match the level of cybernetic implants possessed by pirates with bounties of tens of millions of Berries.

The potential displayed by the Shandian warriors in their prime is even more astonishing.

The golden light flowing around them became more concentrated and substantial. If they could be guided and stimulated with suitable prosthetic bodies, the power they unleashed would likely far exceed that of a "strong person" in the conventional sense.

Furthermore, if we can actually use the shellfish of the Sky Island to research and develop powerful bio-technological prosthetics...

This force should not be underestimated!

"I was wrong."

V suddenly spoke in a low voice.

Robin and Brook, who were standing nearby, immediately turned their gazes toward the Shandians, looking on with curiosity.

V didn't continue explaining to them, but instead strode towards a cage.

That was the cage in his sight where the golden light shone the brightest!

This level of golden light is extremely terrifying; its brilliance is almost comparable to that of the Straw Hat Pirates.

Finally, V stopped and looked at the cage.

The prisoner imprisoned in the cage was not Waver, the strongest warrior of Shandia.

Instead, it was a small, thin figure being held tightly in the arms of a female warrior.