Chapter 22: Journey to Angel Island!

"Monster? Just think of me as one!" Asa yawned, picking at his ear. "Where's the Ark Maxim' blueprint?"

Looking around, he spotted a box enshrined on a high platform in front of the temple. It was made of gold—an extremely rare material on Birka Island.

"Zizzizi!"

Thunder crackled in his hand as an electromagnetic force pulled the golden box into his grasp.

"Crack!"

The chest opened instantly, revealing a thick stack of blueprints inside. Asa flipped through them, his eyes suddenly lighting up.

"Hahaha, my design for the Thor!" Without hesitation, he claimed the blueprint as his own and gave it a name—the Thor.

Though he didn't fully understand the schematics, he recognized certain elements, such as the electric engine.

"I've obtained the Thunder Fruit, and now I have the Ark Maxim' blueprint. It's time to leave this barren land of Birka," Asa murmured with a hint of emotion.

Reflecting on his careful planning, five years of waiting, and over a year searching for the Thunder Fruit, he had finally acquired everything he needed.

"The sea is where a man belongs, where my dreams will set sail. Birka... goodbye!" Asa whispered to himself.

Arcs of electricity crackled around him as he stamped his foot, shattering the temple roof before soaring toward Angel Island at high speed.

The brilliant blue lightning streaked across the night sky, catching the attention of the villagers who had been alerted by the frightened temple guards. They lowered their heads in reverence and cried out, "Thunder God!"

Meanwhile, Enel hid behind a cloud house, staring in a daze at the figure disappearing into the distance. He couldn't shake the feeling that he had just lost something important.

Asa flew low over the sea, his lightning speed making him appear to teleport. A streak of blue light flashed across the water before vanishing once more.

"Long-distance flying really drains energy. If I maintain high speed, my stamina will be depleted even faster," he noted, silently assessing his energy consumption.

Despite the strain, Asa wasn't overly concerned. His body, strengthened by electricity, was far beyond ordinary limits.

"At this moment, if I returned to the Blue Sea, I could probably rival—or even surpass—any great pirate with a bounty of over 300 million berries," Asa thought, feeling a surge of confidence.

The Thunder Fruit, capable of pushing a person to terrifying levels of power, was undoubtedly one of the fastest-acting Devil Fruits in terms of strength enhancement.

His gamble had paid off.

Flying low and fast, he mentally retraced the route he had taken to Birka over a year ago. If he maintained this pace, he estimated he'd reach Angel Island in about thirty minutes.

Although lightning could theoretically travel at near-light speed, Asa had tested it and found that his body couldn't withstand such extreme velocity—not even in his transformed lightning state.

"If I accelerate too much, my body will completely disintegrate. I imagine even Vice Admiral Kizaru must struggle with this limitation."

Speed alone was meaningless if his body wasn't durable enough to keep up with it.

To conserve energy and avoid exhaustion upon arrival, Asa slightly slowed his pace.

"ROOOAAARR!!"

Just as he did, a massive Sea King locked its eyes onto him like a predator spotting a beacon. The colossal creature opened its maw, attempting to intercept him.

"Idiot."

Asa had already sensed the creature long before it attacked, thanks to his keen Observation Haki. Without sparing it a second thought, he unleashed a concentrated lightning strike straight into its gaping mouth.

"BOOM!!"

The fifty-meter-long serpent-like Sea King was obliterated on the spot. The areas struck by lightning were instantly charred to ash, its massive body falling lifelessly into the sea.

Asa barely spared it a glance. Within seconds, he had already left the carcass far behind, continuing toward Angel Island without hesitation.

With his Thunder Fruit abilities reaching deeper levels of mastery and his Observation Haki undergoing relentless training, he had now achieved a sensory range of ten kilometers.

In other words, as long as he maintained his focus, everything within ten kilometers was laid bare before him in perfect clarity.

Naturally, this included subtle changes in ocean currents, making him capable of predicting weather patterns and sea conditions. Even in the treacherous Grand Line and the New World, he could potentially serve as his own navigator.

"Right now, my ability to combine Observation Haki with electromagnetic waves is growing at an astonishing rate. At this pace, it won't be long before my detection range covers the entire Sky Island."

"A future master of Observation Haki… I'll gladly accept that title! Hahaha!"

Asa felt elated. Many people trained for decades, tirelessly honing their skills in the hopes of gaining recognition.

Yet some, like him, could grow stronger just by existing.

That was the difference.

There was no real fairness in this world. Sometimes, a little luck could surpass an entire lifetime of hard work.

It had been only a little over a year since Asa awakened his Haki—something that happened purely by chance after landing on the Sky Island. But after consuming the Thunder Fruit, his strength had skyrocketed by tenfold, maybe even a hundredfold—enough to make most of the sea's strongest warriors envious.

Early Morning – Upper Yard, the Land of the Gods

The first rays of sunlight illuminated Upper Yard, the only island with solid land among the Sky Islands.

Inside a magnificent temple, an imposing figure sat upon the grand throne.

"So… after sealing off Angel Island and searching every corner for over a year, you still haven't found the lunatic who murdered my people?"

Gan Fall, the current God of the Sky Islands, spoke with an unreadable expression. Clad in white and silver armor, his hand rested lightly on a knight's spear. His long beard had begun turning gray, and a pink-spotted bird stood lazily beside him, preening its feathers.

"Please forgive me, Lord God!" Maeljin, the captain of the God's Guard, knelt on one knee, his voice trembling. "I'm afraid that madman had only two possible escape routes. Either he fled into the deeper parts of the White Sea to seek refuge among the other cloud islands... or..."

His voice hesitated before lowering. "He may have joined the damned Shandians. There's even a possibility that the murderer is a Shandian."

"It wasn't the Shandians," Gan Fall countered, his wise gaze sharp. "If it were them, how could they have evaded us so thoroughly? How could they have slipped past Angel Island's defenses to slaughter the Amazons, Abel, and Urouge?"

Maeljin remained silent, bowing his head in shame. A whole year had passed, and he had nothing to show for it.

"Increase surveillance. Deploy the God's Guards and uncover this madman who dared to disgrace the sacred wings of our Sky Islanders! Punish him with the Cloud Burial execution!" Gan Fall ordered, his voice firm.

"Deploy the God's Guards…? But what about the Shandians?" Maeljin asked hesitantly.

"Forget about them for now. Just do as you're told!"

"Yes, Lord God!"

(End Of Chapter)

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