__________ POV Narration__________
The islands in the Sky Continued to drift, as Cake Island continued to stir with uncertainty.
An emperor randomly showing up and eating sweets from street stalls was far more than enough to make the residents wary.
The members of Big Mom's crew were instructed not to act though, so Enel was mostly left to his own devices as he pondered on his situation a bit more.
He wasn't the only one doing so. Big Mom herself was quite befuddled by the entire situation.
If she hadn't felt that God's eyes on her, she would've thought that Enel was simply feeding her some bullshit.
But it was quite clear that wasn't the case.
And now that she heard Enel's explanation, things became a lot clearer, and she became a lot calmer.
'Why should I be afraid of something that can barely interact with my world? I rule these lands, I am an emperor of my own realm, so why should I be afraid of some ghost?'
Until now, she actually found Enel's experiment to be interesting. She especially enjoyed learning which parts of the soul-powered each type of Haki.
Learning more about Haki in itself was a huge bonus to her, as she had felt as if she had hit a roadblock at some point.
'As minimal as it is, progress is still progress. And I do have him to thank for that...'
Still, Big Mom wasn't daft. She was well aware that now, as long as Enel agreed for her to try and pull out the green mist around his soul, she had a great opportunity to also kill him.
Now, this was absolutely in line with Big Mom's usual self, as she was ruthless, brutal, cold and calculating.
But she somehow struggled a bit with the concept as she was now. She herself found it odd. Had being humbled really changed her perception of the world to that extent?
In truth, it did help her with her previously inflated ego. It helped pour some water on the raging fire that was her pride.
Now the flame still burned, but it was a lot more discreet than before. Even now that she learned that meeting such a being was unlikely, she still choose to remain cautious.
'If one such being exists, then there might be more...'
She didn't for one second believe that whatever Enel had met was actually a god.
And a part of her mind was still wary about its presence in the world, and at the same time, she now had become aware that being a Yonko wasn't enough...
As she stood on her throne and pondered more and more on her situation, two of her children were doing much of the same thing.
"Do you think he'll go through with it?" Oven said as he clenched his mechanical hand.
"Hard to tell. I wouldn't blame him if he doesn't, I don't really know how much he stands to gain from learning more about his soul either way..." Katakuri shrugged a bit, burying his nose into his scarf for a few seconds.
"It has got to be pretty important if he's that conflicted about it..." Oven simply shook his head, trying to think about any reason why Enel would find such a thing truly necessary.
Katakuri looked at his younger brother for a bit, his deep red eyes scanning him for a few seconds before he opened his mouth once more.
"Why do you care this much about him anyway?" Katakuri asked, his arms crossed and eyes narrowed.
"... It's difficult to tell. I guess it's because he treated me like a human?" Oven scratched the back of his head with his metallic arm as he spoke.
His older brother seemed a bit confused by that, his gaze asking Oven to elaborate a bit.
"When I was captured, I was treated no better than a dog. That much was to be expected. I expected much the same from Enel when first meeting him, honestly...
But in turn, he actually treated me better than most of my other siblings... I don't know, he was unnaturally considerate, almost as if it was second nature to him."
Katakuri couldn't help but smile a bit underneath his scarf.
"Hmph... I guess he was just there when you needed help. I had somewhat figured that was the case from our first meeting.
For a man that's been titled as a cruel emperor and a cold-hearted pirate, he sure doesn't act the part..."
Katakuri looked to the side for a bit, towards the Sweet City where he guessed Enel was likely terrorizing some citizens with his mere presence.
"Bah! The world government can kiss my ass! They always get to decide and do whatever they want..." Oven spit on the ground in disdain, making his older brother roll his eyes.
"That's always been the case... Lately, they've been a lot bolder though... The marines have also been reduced to what is essentially a shell of their former glory.
I wonder if Mother plans to capitalize on that..."
"She likely does plan on doing something. Normally, I'd say she's planning a raid on the holy land, as a display of power. But it's getting harder to guess with Mother nowadays."
The two brothers continued to talk into the night, both spending a while theorizing and just hanging out together, as regular brothers would.
Perospero wanted at some point to ask them some questions, likely about Enel's dealings with their Mother. But they both somewhat dismissed him and went to sleep.
Enel was also following them in their steps, metaphorically, as he managed to find lodging somewhere in the Sweet City.
In truth, he didn't really have much or any cash on him. But he found that people weren't exactly asking him to pay for anything either.
'Ah... The props of being a feared Emperor...' Enel thought to himself as he lay down on a comfortable king-sized bed.
__________ POV Enel __________
So here I am, in a random room at the largest inn I could find inside Cake Island's main city.
I can't help but ponder how exactly to go ahead in the future.
If I do put my life in Big Mom's hands, the probability of dying is honestly still quite high.
I do like to think that I can take Oven's word, and trust him. One can never call an Emperor predictable, after all.
At this point, the only real problem here is if this will even help me in any way...
No, that's quite stupid to consider.
If I get a clear image of my situation, I will be able to at the very least think of a way to fix it. I won't get anywhere if I never even catch a glimpse of my soul.
Maybe I'll be able to handle the world without Conqueror's Haki? That's a nice thought, one that was sure to blow up in my face back on Baltigo.
I was not really rushing to fix this issue, with good enough reason. There was simply nothing in the world that I thought I couldn't really fight using my Devil Fruit.
At the very least, I was confident enough to think that I'd be able to escape from everything in this world if I truly put my mind to it...
But what if I run into another situation like the one at Baltigo? What if running away also means killing some of the people that I care about...
What if the next time Im does a move, it's on the Sky Islands? Will I really just run away and abandon everything?
As I am now, I clearly can't stop whatever that was... Devil Fruits in general seemed to have little to no effect on it, none of the admirals was in a much different position from me.
Only Sengoku was able to stop it best, and that is likely because of his Conqueror's Haki.
This might just be speculation for now, but it really is the only advantage that he has over the other marines and me, and he was able to put up with that strange Red Light the best, though he ultimately lost as well.
Point is, if I want to face that red light in the future, I need to train my Conqueror's Haki. And to do that, I need to hurry up and patch my soul up.
... I guess I never really had a choice, did I?
It's either I try and possibly die trying. Or not try at all, and just die in the future.
I could always just give up. Go into hiding and live the rest of my life just twiddling my thumbs...
But can I really just break every promise I've made and disappoint every single person I've met along the way?
It's already far too late to back out anyway. The World Government will hunt me down till the end of this planet.
I'll have to visit Big Mom tomorrow again... Hmm, I think I'll bring Oven and Katakuri with me, she might be less likely to do something with the two of them there...
Or she might be more likely, as they are the children.
Oh, whatever. I'll see to it... After some well-deserved rest.
__________ POV Narration__________
Enel went to sleep, all these thoughts pilling up in his mind, forming something akin to a pile of dirty laundry that the Lightning Emperor chose to ignore and simply rest.
He needed rest, both mentally and physically.
And as he rested, his home and main base still drifted... Carried by the wind and basking in the sun.
This time, it was on a direct course to crash into something.
Something large, made of earth, and also floating in the sky.
As a twist of fate would have it, the world's only flying islands would come close to crashing into each other, allowing old friends and enemies to meet once more...
__________________________________________________________________
Hope you liked the chapter! Delay or not, still uploading ;))
If u want to support me look up VeganMaster(Vegan Cult) on Patre_on, you'd also get 10 chapters in advance (or 5 depending on tier)
__________ POV Narration__________
The islands in the Sky Continued to drift, as Cake Island continued to stir with uncertainty.
An emperor randomly showing up and eating sweets from street stalls was far more than enough to make the residents wary.
The members of Big Mom's crew were instructed not to act though, so Enel was mostly left to his own devices as he pondered on his situation a bit more.
He wasn't the only one doing so. Big Mom herself was quite befuddled by the entire situation.
If she hadn't felt that God's eyes on her, she would've thought that Enel was simply feeding her some bullshit.
But it was quite clear that wasn't the case.
And now that she heard Enel's explanation, things became a lot clearer, and she became a lot calmer.
'Why should I be afraid of something that can barely interact with my world? I rule these lands, I am an emperor of my own realm, so why should I be afraid of some ghost?'
Until now, she actually found Enel's experiment to be interesting. She especially enjoyed learning which parts of the soul-powered each type of Haki.
Learning more about Haki in itself was a huge bonus to her, as she had felt as if she had hit a roadblock at some point.
'As minimal as it is, progress is still progress. And I do have him to thank for that...'
Still, Big Mom wasn't daft. She was well aware that now, as long as Enel agreed for her to try and pull out the green mist around his soul, she had a great opportunity to also kill him.
Now, this was absolutely in line with Big Mom's usual self, as she was ruthless, brutal, cold and calculating.
But she somehow struggled a bit with the concept as she was now. She herself found it odd. Had being humbled really changed her perception of the world to that extent?
In truth, it did help her with her previously inflated ego. It helped pour some water on the raging fire that was her pride.
Now the flame still burned, but it was a lot more discreet than before. Even now that she learned that meeting such a being was unlikely, she still choose to remain cautious.
'If one such being exists, then there might be more...'
She didn't for one second believe that whatever Enel had met was actually a god.
And a part of her mind was still wary about its presence in the world, and at the same time, she now had become aware that being a Yonko wasn't enough...
As she stood on her throne and pondered more and more on her situation, two of her children were doing much of the same thing.
"Do you think he'll go through with it?" Oven said as he clenched his mechanical hand.
"Hard to tell. I wouldn't blame him if he doesn't, I don't really know how much he stands to gain from learning more about his soul either way..." Katakuri shrugged a bit, burying his nose into his scarf for a few seconds.
"It has got to be pretty important if he's that conflicted about it..." Oven simply shook his head, trying to think about any reason why Enel would find such a thing truly necessary.
Katakuri looked at his younger brother for a bit, his deep red eyes scanning him for a few seconds before he opened his mouth once more.
"Why do you care this much about him anyway?" Katakuri asked, his arms crossed and eyes narrowed.
"... It's difficult to tell. I guess it's because he treated me like a human?" Oven scratched the back of his head with his metallic arm as he spoke.
His older brother seemed a bit confused by that, his gaze asking Oven to elaborate a bit.
"When I was captured, I was treated no better than a dog. That much was to be expected. I expected much the same from Enel when first meeting him, honestly...
But in turn, he actually treated me better than most of my other siblings... I don't know, he was unnaturally considerate, almost as if it was second nature to him."
Katakuri couldn't help but smile a bit underneath his scarf.
"Hmph... I guess he was just there when you needed help. I had somewhat figured that was the case from our first meeting.
For a man that's been titled as a cruel emperor and a cold-hearted pirate, he sure doesn't act the part..."
Katakuri looked to the side for a bit, towards the Sweet City where he guessed Enel was likely terrorizing some citizens with his mere presence.
"Bah! The world government can kiss my ass! They always get to decide and do whatever they want..." Oven spit on the ground in disdain, making his older brother roll his eyes.
"That's always been the case... Lately, they've been a lot bolder though... The marines have also been reduced to what is essentially a shell of their former glory.
I wonder if Mother plans to capitalize on that..."
"She likely does plan on doing something. Normally, I'd say she's planning a raid on the holy land, as a display of power. But it's getting harder to guess with Mother nowadays."
The two brothers continued to talk into the night, both spending a while theorizing and just hanging out together, as regular brothers would.
Perospero wanted at some point to ask them some questions, likely about Enel's dealings with their Mother. But they both somewhat dismissed him and went to sleep.
Enel was also following them in their steps, metaphorically, as he managed to find lodging somewhere in the Sweet City.
In truth, he didn't really have much or any cash on him. But he found that people weren't exactly asking him to pay for anything either.
'Ah... The props of being a feared Emperor...' Enel thought to himself as he lay down on a comfortable king-sized bed.
__________ POV Enel __________
So here I am, in a random room at the largest inn I could find inside Cake Island's main city.
I can't help but ponder how exactly to go ahead in the future.
If I do put my life in Big Mom's hands, the probability of dying is honestly still quite high.
I do like to think that I can take Oven's word, and trust him. One can never call an Emperor predictable, after all.
At this point, the only real problem here is if this will even help me in any way...
No, that's quite stupid to consider.
If I get a clear image of my situation, I will be able to at the very least think of a way to fix it. I won't get anywhere if I never even catch a glimpse of my soul.
Maybe I'll be able to handle the world without Conqueror's Haki? That's a nice thought, one that was sure to blow up in my face back on Baltigo.
I was not really rushing to fix this issue, with good enough reason. There was simply nothing in the world that I thought I couldn't really fight using my Devil Fruit.
At the very least, I was confident enough to think that I'd be able to escape from everything in this world if I truly put my mind to it...
But what if I run into another situation like the one at Baltigo? What if running away also means killing some of the people that I care about...
What if the next time Im does a move, it's on the Sky Islands? Will I really just run away and abandon everything?
As I am now, I clearly can't stop whatever that was... Devil Fruits in general seemed to have little to no effect on it, none of the admirals was in a much different position from me.
Only Sengoku was able to stop it best, and that is likely because of his Conqueror's Haki.
This might just be speculation for now, but it really is the only advantage that he has over the other marines and me, and he was able to put up with that strange Red Light the best, though he ultimately lost as well.
Point is, if I want to face that red light in the future, I need to train my Conqueror's Haki. And to do that, I need to hurry up and patch my soul up.
... I guess I never really had a choice, did I?
It's either I try and possibly die trying. Or not try at all, and just die in the future.
I could always just give up. Go into hiding and live the rest of my life just twiddling my thumbs...
But can I really just break every promise I've made and disappoint every single person I've met along the way?
It's already far too late to back out anyway. The World Government will hunt me down till the end of this planet.
I'll have to visit Big Mom tomorrow again... Hmm, I think I'll bring Oven and Katakuri with me, she might be less likely to do something with the two of them there...
Or she might be more likely, as they are the children.
Oh, whatever. I'll see to it... After some well-deserved rest.
__________ POV Narration__________
Enel went to sleep, all these thoughts pilling up in his mind, forming something akin to a pile of dirty laundry that the Lightning Emperor chose to ignore and simply rest.
He needed rest, both mentally and physically.
And as he rested, his home and main base still drifted... Carried by the wind and basking in the sun.
This time, it was on a direct course to crash into something.
Something large, made of earth, and also floating in the sky.
As a twist of fate would have it, the world's only flying islands would come close to crashing into each other, allowing old friends and enemies to meet once more...
__________________________________________________________________
Hope you liked the chapter! Delay or not, still uploading ;))
If u want to support me look up VeganMaster(Vegan Cult) on Patre_on, you'd also get 10 chapters in advance (or 5 depending on tier)
