Chapter 96 The Golden Bell Rings! The Sky Island Treasure AppearsThe ape was so excited he danced around like a giant, atavistic monkey.
Kurik covered his eyes tightly, tears streaming down his face through his fingers: "Our ancestor wasn't lying! Roland wasn't a big liar! Shandora really exists! The Golden City is in the heavens!"
The melodious chimes echoed in everyone's hearts, as if cleansing the impurities of their souls.
Luffy activated his Hearing of All Things, and vaguely heard some ancient whispers.
"What a cleansing chime..." Robin murmured, her eyes glazed, staring in awe at the swaying golden bell.
Enel, who was crunching an apple beside her, scoffed, "Tch, what's so great about this broken bell? If I didn't have enough gold for shipbuilding, I would have melted it down for materials long ago."
"Enough gold?"
These two words instantly triggered Nami's keen senses. She turned sharply, her eyes gleaming. "You mean... there's other gold?"
Enel nodded matter-of-factly, giving her a look of utter disdain. "How much gold is in this bell? You know, when I found the Shandora ruins, the entire city's floor tiles and walls were coated with a thick layer of gold!"
"You bunch of Qinghai people went through all that trouble to climb up here, just to find the Land of Gold?"
"Then... what about all that gold?" Nami's voice trembled.
"Melted it down."
"And then?" Nami felt breathless.
Enel, somewhat impatient, glanced at Nami, thinking to himself, "Why is my brother's maid so talkative?" "It's for building a ship, isn't it?"
After the Shandians finished ringing the bell, they excitedly prepared to bring all their people, still suffering in the White Sea, back to their homeland, Shandora.
Enel led Luffy and his crew into a hidden, enormous cave.
The cave was sweltering inside, where hundreds of divine soldiers from the previous god, Gan Fall, were busy performing the final smelting and assembly of a massive airship.
Enel excitedly pointed at the colossal vessel, showing it off to Luffy like a child presenting a treasure: "Big brother! Look! This is my divine vessel—the Ark of Truth—that I spent six years crafting, using up all the gold in Shandora!"
"Originally, I planned to take it to the Infinite Land, but now that you've dragged it down, this ship seems pretty useless. If you like gold, how about we dismantle it and melt it down?"
Enel looked at Luffy with a fawning expression, his tone as casual as if discussing disposing of a pile of scrap metal.
The divine soldiers below nearly coughed up blood upon hearing this.
Damn it! We worked tirelessly for six years to create this miracle, and you haven't even lit a single fire before planning to melt it down and rebuild it? Are you kidding me?!
Luffy waved his hand with a smile, a glint of shrewdness in his eyes: "No need, keep it. This thing can maximize the power of your Rumble-Rumble Fruit; I have a great use for it!"
You see, the lightning strike unleashed by Enel in conjunction with the Ark Maxim is a map-wide attack capable of easily wiping out an entire island.
From a strategic deterrent standpoint, this ship combined with Enel is absolutely comparable to the three legendary Ancient Weapons.
At this moment, Luffy's mind was filled with vivid images: In the upcoming Marineford War, delivering such a "Thunderclap" to the Whitebeard Pirates or Marine Headquarters would be an incredibly satisfying spectacle.
Trying to run? Run my ass!
Akainu's Meteor Volcano is nothing! I'll just conjure a ball of lightning and flatten the entire Crescent Bay, land and people!
Thinking of this, a wicked, incredibly annoying smile crept onto Luffy's lips.
"Keep the truth in your heart, remain silent. We are the ones who write history."
"With the tolling of the bell tower."
Robin stood before the inscription on the base of the Golden Bell, looking at the Poneglyph that originally belonged to Shandora, her hands trembling with excitement as she frantically jotted down notes in her notebook.
Beside her, Luffy yawned boredly; he had absolutely no interest in this kind of archaeology.
In the days following their capture of Enel, the Straw Hat crew completely let loose, embarking on a luxurious Skypiea vacation.
Zoro and Sanji were dragged into manual labor, helping the Shandians move back to Shandora.
Usopp and Chopper, the two lovable goofballs, went to Angel Island's shopping district and went on a shopping spree.
Impact Shells, Heat Shells, Flame Shells—all sorts of strange and wonderful shells dazzled Usopp.
Most outrageous of all, he used rubber bands as currency, practically sweeping through the entire shopping district. After all, for the simple-minded Skypiea people, these things were rarer than gold.
On the contrary, the Skypiea people didn't even give a second glance to his hard-earned gold stash, regarding it with utter contempt.
With Enel, the local bigwig, protecting them, these two were practically untouchable in the Land of God.
Meanwhile, the situation in Birka, the lunar city Luffy forcibly dragged down from the moon, was far from optimistic.
Due to the impact of the hard landing, many of its facilities were severely damaged.
C.C., an ageless witch who had lived for thousands of years in the world of Lelouch, possessed a keen eye; this so-called lunar technology was, in her eyes, child's play.
Therefore, for the past two days, C.C. had been leading Enel and the priests in excavating the buried interior of the lunar city, repairing the burned-out wiring.
Once this thing was activated, coupled with Enel, the infinite energy source, Luffy could acquire a high-tech base for free, along with an countless mechanical army.
Although the individual combat capabilities of these little robots still needed to be tested in actual combat, their loyalty was absolutely unquestionable; they would attack wherever they were told.
As for Nami and Vivi, Luffy took them into the belly of the Sky Lord.
That giant serpent, which had lived for hundreds of years, had swallowed many valuable things, all of which were the gold lost by Shandora.
When Nami saw that pile of golden things, she was so excited she almost offered herself to Luffy.
These two money-grubbers tirelessly went in and out of the mouth of the giant snake, which was filled with stomach acid, for two whole days.
Finally, even Usopp couldn't stand it anymore and came over to earnestly persuade her, saying that the Going Merry was really going to sink, and if they continued loading, it would really capsize. Only then did the still-enjoying Nami stop her wicked little hands.
Of course, before leaving, Nami specifically gave the Sky Lord a death order through Chopper: Protect the remaining gold at all costs; if even one piece is missing, have Luffy return and stew it into snake soup.
The 400-year-old giant python, terrified, nodded repeatedly, tears welling in its eyes.
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