"As they say, the power of a rocket launcher is truly formidable."
Enel, who had been standing there unscathed just moments before, suddenly had his upper body blown to smithereens, leaving only his two legs standing upright in place.
Seeing this, Raleigh's expression turned slightly unnatural.
This move seemed all too familiar.
"Do all Logia-type Ability Users know this flashy trick?"
Raleigh didn't quite understand, but since he had used this specific method of dodging himself in the past, he had no room to criticize.
Whoosh!
A whistle sounded from the Shandia warriors ahead, quickly relaying information to the others hidden in the dense foliage.
Simultaneously, two Shandia warriors reloaded their Burn Bazookas and abruptly fired at Raleigh.
Not wanting to prolong the engagement, Raleigh drew the famous sword at his waist with his right hand, casually twirling it in a flourish.
With a single slash, a golden Flying Slash shot forth from the blade.
The golden, crescent-shaped energy blade arced through the sky like a curved moon, slicing through both the incoming explosive shells and the dense forest blocking the village entrance.
Crack—!
Ancient trees were continuously severed by the Flying Slash, accompanied by rumbling crashes as they toppled over.
"Do you have any idea what you're doing?!"
"He's revealed our location—kill him!"
The two Shandia warriors dodged Raleigh's terrifying slash, fortunate to have escaped with their lives.
But when they saw the forest behind them cleaved apart by Raleigh—exposing their hidden village—their eyes burned with rage, filled with an intense desire to kill him.
"You've destroyed the Shandia people's hiding place. The Shandia will never let you go!"
Apart from this sentence, Raleigh couldn't understand anything else they said, as his opponents had stopped speaking the common language of the Blue Sea and switched to their tribe's unique dialect.
Screaming and shouting war cries, they charged at Raleigh.
"What a nuisance. Wouldn't it have been easier to just stay down quietly earlier?"
Raleigh's figure instantly appeared behind the two men.
Sensing something amiss, they swung their weapons toward their backs, only to feel a heavy blow to their necks.
Thud.
Looking at the unconscious Shandia guards on the ground, Raleigh didn't press the attack further. Instead, he pulled a cigar case from his pocket, lit one, and waited for the other Shandia people to arrive.
"Hey, kid, aren't you going to recover yet?"
Raleigh glanced exasperatedly at the pair of legs standing beside him.
The fight was over, yet they still hadn't reformed.
"Ah! My apologies, Commander Raleigh! I thought we were still in combat."
Enel's upper body suddenly materialized from the air, glanced around at the surroundings, and then transformed into electrical particles, rejoining his legs.
"As expected of Raleigh-sama, you're incredibly powerful."
Enel looked at the two Shandia warriors lying at Raleigh's feet and showered him with praise.
"Hmph. If you make me handle something like this again, I'll punish you with two thousand two-finger push-ups each time, plus a deduction from your salary."
Raleigh spoke indifferently, unbothered by the threat since he was the aggressor anyway.
"Have those Skypieans arrived?"
"Pick up your weapons and fight them!"
"Where are they? Why don't I see any Skypieans?"
From the distant village came sounds of cabinets being overturned, swords clashing, and the clamor of villagers preparing for war.
Due to their innate talents, Raleigh and Enel possessed exceptionally rare range in their Observation Haki (Mantra), allowing them to hear every commotion in the village clearly.
Enel scratched his head and asked, "Commander Raleigh, why do I feel like everyone in this village are battle maniacs? Will they even listen to us properly?"
Raleigh closed his eyes and focused, carefully listening to the village sounds before responding.
"It doesn't matter. As long as we have strength, they'll naturally listen to us properly."
Soon, small squads of Shandia warriors gathered in the village square, holding spears and carrying Burn Bazookas on their backs.
"Chief, where are they? Where are those Skypieans?"
"Daring to come to our doorstep—this time I'm definitely going to smash them to pieces!"
Looking at his furious tribesmen below, the Shandia Chief spoke with some discomfort.
"This time it's not Skypieans, but an unfamiliar powerful individual, possibly someone from the Blue Sea. Everyone needs to remain restrained."
"What Blue Sea person? What is the Chief talking about?"
"Yeah, since when are Blue Sea people this strong? The Blue Sea people I remember are as weak as the Skypieans."
After hearing the Chief's words, everyone began discussing animatedly.
At that moment, a sharp-eyed Shandia tribesman spotted two figures approaching from the cleared forest area.
"Chief, there are two people over there. Are they the Blue Sea people you mentioned?"
The Shandia tribesman who discovered Raleigh and Enel ran to the Chief like he was reporting a great merit, speaking earnestly.
"Hmm, don't show any intention to attack yet. Let's talk first."
Raleigh and Enel walked along the cleared forest path toward the village, having heard every word of how the villagers had been discussing them via Mantra.
Enel looked somewhat angry, likely because of his youth and lack of experience—he hadn't yet grown accustomed to being treated as someone else's prey.
Raleigh appeared completely unbothered. Empty boasts were just that; anyone could spout a few words, but those with real capability didn't care about such idle chatter.
The distance to the village appeared quite short, but the walk proved surprisingly strenuous, taking a full twenty minutes.
Only then did Raleigh and Enel truly arrive at the Shandia People's settlement.
Before their eyes stood numerous dwellings full of ancient character and sturdiness, many of which had undergone multiple repairs, creating layered variations in their appearance.
The village center featured a broad road.
"Sometimes, you really can't judge by appearances," Raleigh remarked.
Though these Shandia people all carried spears and wore traditional animal hide robes, the central road of their village was remarkably well-constructed.
It was a full eight-meter wide clearance, all paved with exquisite stone slabs.
While not as bustling or lively as other places Raleigh had seen, the fact that such a small village had built such an excellent stone road was truly astonishing. It was a remnant of a glorious past—the ruins of Shandora.