Chapter 282: Baal
"Amit..." Louis took in the old muscle man's current state, his lips barely moving. He had never seen Amit look so fragile, as if a strong gust of wind could knock him over.
Once, Amit had been towering and powerfully built, more like a small giant than even Charlotte Linlin. Even seven years ago, during the battle at the entrance to the New World, Amit's strength had declined, but he still possessed the formidable physique of his prime.
Now, before Louis stood an old man, withered and frail, radiating an aura of twilight. A decaying tree, nearing its end.
Compared to Louis's complex emotions, Amit himself seemed quite serene about the changes. His cloudy eyes looked past Louis to the young Lunarians in the training ground, who were finally managing to gang up on one of the beasts. A gentle expression softened his features. "This is something everyone must face. There's nothing to be sad about. Get over it, kid."
"I've done everything I needed to. I have no regrets about the latter half of my life."
In those later years, Amit had witnessed the birth and growth of Arcordon with immense joy. His existence meant that even after Amit's death, the Lunarian race would have at least one top-tier warrior to protect them. Just when Amit thought he could relax after raising Arcordon to take his place, the tribe gave him another surprise.
A child far surpassing Arcordon, one who could be called naturally powerful—Artus.
Now, both of them had fully matured and gathered considerable strength. The counter-attack, originally planned for centuries later by future generations, had been moved up, and victory was just one final assault away.
Given this unprecedented situation, Amit felt he had no regrets left. Even dying tonight would be worth it.
"It's not time for you to rest yet, old timer," Louis frowned. "There are so many kids here now. You need to at least raise them all. I might even take all the adults stationed here back with me to prepare for the war."
Amit: "..."
Louis glanced at him. Seeing no response, he pressed on, "Not just them. Perhaps you'll have to return to the battlefield too."
Was Louis short on forces? Absolutely. While he might not annihilate every Marine or disarm every World Government affiliated nation, he would prepare forces capable of doing so. He had spent years building up Terra's strength for this very reason.
The war against the World Government would inevitably cause massive global chaos. Louis intended to end it quickly, minimizing the turmoil and swiftly taking control. He needed a force strong enough to crush everyone in Mary Geoise except Imu, an army capable of wiping out the Marines (even if they didn't actually do it), and mobile units deployable via Avant Heim to suppress uprisings worldwide.
If it weren't for wanting to avoid disrupting this precious preparation time, Louis would have already gone to Mary Geoise to test Imu's strength.
"..."
"Is that so?" Amit sighed.
Louis relaxed internally. He raised his hand, forming a warm glow woven from countless golden threads—his life energy—and pressed it into Amit's body, revitalizing his aging organs. After this, Louis thought, I need to start searching for Pure Gold to keep this old man alive. Then, find the Vampire Fruit I've been ignoring, restore his youth. The Vampire Fruit only reversed aging, it didn't extend lifespan. Without Pure Gold first, Amit would still die.
Just then, the Lunarian children finally managed to take down one of the beasts. Amit checked the time. "Alright, that's enough for today!"
Instantly, the ferocious beasts stopped their attacks, their wildness vanishing. They sat down like trained dogs, wagging their tails.
The kids realized Amit was there and cheered.
"Whoo! We survived!"
"We're so strong!"
They ran towards Amit, bruised and chewed-on but ecstatic.
"Yeah! Time to go home and eat!"
"Hey, old timer, why'd you let us off early today?" one kid yelled defiantly.
A little girl, maybe four or five but already over 1.8 meters tall, pointed at Louis. "Old timer, who's this next to you?"
"Artus," Amit said, grabbing a few kids and heading towards town. "The one the adults call Louis."
"Louis?" The kids looked up at him thoughtfully.
"So pretty!"
"Those white wings are beautiful! I want them too!" Several kids reached out tentatively to touch Louis's wings, their faces full of envy.
"Old timer," Louis asked, looking at the mix of skin tones among the children, "what's the deal with the kids whose skin looks... normal?"
The kids giggled. "Because our moms aren't Lunarians!"
"We're half-breeds!"
"Half-breeds..." Louis's expression shifted. A strange thought occurred to him. Perhaps... this is what true Lunarian-Skypiean hybrids look like. He knew his own unique appearance had nothing to do with being a simple half-breed.
Amit, letting the kids climb onto his shoulders, explained, "They're hybrids, just like you. After you left, the others started following your parents' example, pairing up with Skypieans. These are the first generation after you. But they aren't special like you. Their skin tone is just closer to normal. Their defense and flame abilities are the same as the other kids."
Louis saw the undisguised disappointment on Amit's face but said nothing. It would be stranger if these kids were like him.
As they entered the town, more people spotted Louis and gasped.
"Huh?!"
"Is Louis really back?"
"Someone said they saw you earlier, we thought they were mistaken!"
"Lord Louis!" A group of Skypiean girls rushed over, cheering. Older women holding children watched from the sidelines, their eyes filled with memories and wistful regret.
Louis was incredibly popular on Baal, among both races. To the Lunarians, he was the hope for their counter-attack. To the Skypieans, his birth symbolized their true integration into the island community, a guarantee against expulsion or death.
Louis quickened his pace, dodging the crowd and heading for the center. Amit, having dropped the kids off, and a grinning Arcordon were waiting for him at Baal's core structure.
Arcordon looked Louis up and down. "Yo, the big star is back! Still as popular as ever, eh, Louis?"
Louis ignored him and walked into the white building.
The three descended a spiral staircase into Baal's vast interior. It was a cavernous white space, like being inside an ocean of cloud. Strange, derelict instruments lay scattered across the mirror-smooth floor. Louis walked past several massive, cracked, dark screens and entered a maze of hidden passages. After navigating past a dozen turret-like platforms, they finally reached the core.
In the center of the several-hundred-meter-wide space stood a pillar-like console covered in buttons and levers. This was Baal's propulsion system, the true difference between it and other sky islands. Aside from the empty weapon platforms, it was essentially a sky battleship.
The Lunarians had found it decades ago in a sky ruin. Realizing its power source was surprisingly compatible with their own physiology, they had excavated it and used it as a mobile base ever since.
"We're still dozens of kilometers from Shandora. Can't you speed this thing up?" Louis asked Arcordon.
Arcordon rolled his eyes. "You want to drain the guys in the engine room dry? Besides, this thing is at least eight hundred years old, maybe thousands. We're lucky it moves at all. Any faster, and I'm worried it'll fall apart!"
"..." Amit sat silently in the control chair, seemingly detached.
Seeing they still had time, Arcordon excitedly ran to a storage area and dragged out a battered-looking machine. "Louis! Guess what I fixed?" He stood proudly beside it, patting its casing.
"Not guessing. Spit it out or don't." Louis sat down, unimpressed.
Arcordon wasn't fazed. "It's an Island Cloud generator! I was bored, so I tried zapping all these machines with my Rumble-Rumble power. Nothing happened, except this thing spat out a tiny piece of Island Cloud!"
"..." Louis raised an eyebrow. "So that's why Baal is bigger?"
"Yep!" Arcordon puffed out his chest, clearly expecting praise. "I used it to expand Baal!"
Louis just said flatly, "So, it wasn't broken, just out of power. You recharged it. How is that 'fixing' it?"
"..." Arcordon deflated.
"However..." Louis mused, "Baal is possibly thousands of years old... and it has an Island Cloud generator... Could it be... that Baal was one of the first Island Clouds created by the Moon People? They installed a propulsion system and used it to travel the world, creating other sky islands with the onboard generator?"
"..." Arcordon looked baffled. Amit turned his chair around, equally confused.
Louis explained his theory, combining what he'd seen in Elbaf and Shandora.
Arcordon sat on the floor, rubbing his chin. "Skypieans, Shandians, Lunarians... sharing a common ancestor? That's a bold theory. So... Baal completed its mission, ran out of energy, and was abandoned in that ruin with the decaying warships?"
He had previously assumed Baal was a prototype warship, left behind when its intended weapons were installed on newer models. But Louis's theory also made a lot of sense.
Amit, however, was less interested in Baal's origins and more in the Moon People connection, lost in thought.
Just then, seven or eight tall Lunarian men and women entered the core.
"Long time no see, Louis!" a woman with a few wrinkles greeted him.
"Twelve years... you've grown from a kid barely over two meters tall into a real adult," another man remarked, crossing his arms.
After looking him over, the others offered similar comments. Louis managed a faint smile for these familiar faces. "Long time no see." Twelve years... some were now middle-aged, showing signs of aging. Others, who were just adults back then, had matured, ready to take on the responsibilities of the previous generation.
They didn't chat long. After assessing Louis, they walked to another chamber and descended stairs. Minutes later, the door opened again, and eight different Lunarians emerged, looking utterly drained, radiating residual heat. Unlike the group that had just gone down, these eight barely had the energy to greet Louis. They managed weak smiles before staggering out.
Louis shook his head, extending his hand. A golden surge of life energy split into eight shimmering dragons that flew into their backs, restoring them. He looked towards the core's power system.
When Alina had found Baal, its energy source was long dead. She had searched the ruins for residual power but found none. Then, by chance, she discovered an alternative: fire. Specifically, Lunarian fire. She had piloted Baal out of the ruins, named it, and established a system where adult Lunarians took turns fueling the core. It was a heavy burden, even for them.
Louis had hoped the Rumble-Rumble Fruit could replace this "human battery" system. But when he actually obtained it, the Lunarians hesitated. Their knowledge was limited; bluntly, they were mostly illiterate. If they broke the core, they couldn't fix it. It was irreplaceable. So, they reluctantly continued their duty. Over the years, as more reached adulthood, the burden eased, and they adapted.
"... "
Finally, Baal's massive shadow fell over Angel Island, Cloud End village, and Upper Yard, stunning everyone below.
"Is that... another sky island?" Zoro muttered, kicking aside an unconscious priest.
Elsewhere, the old knight on the winged horse stared, aghast. "Could that be... the same moving island from twenty years ago?"
Deep in the forest, warriors dressed like primitives looked up, jaws dropped.
High on the giant vine, two figures clashed, blurring across the clouds. After one collision, they broke apart, panting. Luffy glared at the bare-chested Enel. "This guy's strong."
Enel, likewise breathing heavily, glanced warily at the colossal island settling nearby. "It's them..." He frowned. He recognized the aura, but the old woman who had helped him... she wasn't among them.
Under countless eyes, a winding road of white Island Cloud extended down from Baal, landing softly at the edge of Shandora. It solidified, expanding into a platform hundreds of meters wide.
Near the altar, Hajrudin's eyes widened in recognition. "Baal... the one I saw in the Calm Belt. So this is what it truly looks like." He remembered seeing its silhouette as it picked up the Buccaneers and Lunarians.
Everyone watching now understood: this island was here for the gold, allied with the giant creature near the altar.
Figures with black wings and white hair, wreathed in flame, descended from the sky, landing throughout Shandora. They exchanged nods with Hajrudin and, without a word, began efficiently moving the gold towards the cloud road.
On the vine, Enel watched the powerful figures below, his expression dazed.
Robin emerged from the forest, backpack on. "The Lunarians... the legendary 'Race of Gods'?" she murmured, seeing the figures with black wings, white hair, and brown skin. "Just like the books described..."
Zoro miraculously appeared beside her, raising an eyebrow at the powerful newcomers.
Suddenly, Robin looked up into the trees, her expression changing. Hidden in the branches, a small figure with the same Lunarian features was peeking at them. Robin saw the tiny hands and feet, the young face, and smiled faintly.
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