Chapter 13: The God, the Gold, and the Sky-Piercing BellThe Going Merry didn't sail to Skypiea; she ascended.
Using the Vibranium Concept in her hull, the ship didn't just ride the Knock-Up Stream; she absorbed the violent vertical kinetic energy, converting the massive pressure into a stabilizing field of violet light. While other ships would have been splinters, the Merry rose through the clouds like a silver elevator, her sheep figurehead's blue gem eyes reflecting the thinning atmosphere of the White-White Sea.I stood at the prow, my white hair shimmering with the unfiltered solar radiation of the high altitude. I had traded my aviators for a pair of pitch-black circular sunglasses,
my Jujutsu-style suit perfectly regulating my body temperature as we reached 10,000 meters."Luffy! Stop trying to eat the clouds! They're just frozen water and salt!" Nami screamed, though her own eyes were wide with a navigator's greed as she looked at the "Sea of Clouds.""BUT THEY LOOK LIKE COTTON CANDY!" Luffy roared, his mouth full of fluffy white vapour.We arrived at Angel Island, and eventually, the forbidden Upper Yard—the legendary Vearth. We met God Enel, a man who possessed the Goro Goro no Mi (Rumble-Rumble Fruit) and a "Mantra" that allowed him to hear every thought on the island."I am God," Enel sneered, sitting on his golden throne, sparks of blue electricity dancing across his drums.
"Your movements, your thoughts, your very heartbeats... I see them all before you even conceive them. You are but ants beneath the lightning.""Mantra is just a frequency, Enel," I said, walking into the "Shrine of God" with my hands in my pockets. "And I'm the one who controls the dial.""Hah! Die in the light of 200 Million Volts... Amaru!"Enel transformed into a massive, thunderous avatar of pure electricity.
He struck with the speed of light, his golden staff aiming for my throat.I didn't move. I didn't use a shield. I simply looked at him through my sunglasses, the Six Eyes-like clarity of my vision seeing the "electrons" before they even moved.[Primordial Art: Neutral Infinity—The Static Void.]The 200 million volts hit the "Infinity" an inch from my skin. The electricity didn't just stop; it became stationary. The blue lightning hung in the air like a frozen sculpture, crackling but unable to bridge the gap. Enel's staff was held fast by the absolute space between us."Impossible!" Enel shrieked, his "Mantra" screaming in his head that I wasn't there—that I was a hole in the universe. "My lightning... it doesn't touch you?! Who are you?!""I'm the concept of your obsolescence," I said.I reached out and gripped the golden staff."Concept: The Lightning Rod."I didn't just hold the staff; I molecularly alteredits golden lattice to become a "Perfect Siphon.
" All of Enel's 200 million volts were sucked out of his body and into the staff, which I then threw into the center of the giant Golden Bell of Shandora.BOOM.The sound was a physical wave that cleared the clouds for a hundred miles. The Golden Bell didn't just ring; it ignited. Using the Silver Superman's power, I turned the bell into a "Conceptual Beacon."[Sacred Art: The Song of the Stars—Universal Resonance.]The bell's ring wasn't heard just in Skypiea. It resonated through the atmosphere, travelling down the Knock-Up Stream, across the Grand Line, and into the four blues.
In Jaya, Mont Blanc Cricket heard the ring and wept, knowing his ancestor wasn't a liar. In the Holy Land of Mary Geoise, the Five Elders looked at the sky in terror as the sound vibrated through their very bones."The bell... it's ringing for everyone," Vivi (who was still with us for the ride) whispered, her eyes full of light.As the "God" Enel was sent flying into the "Fairy Vearth" (the moon) by a single flick of my finger, the news reached the World Government.
The Mass Healing of Alabasta, the Continental Oasis, and the Ringing of the Sky-Bell had forced a new meeting of the Admirals.Nami spread the new posters on the golden floor of the Shandorian ruins.MONKEY D. LUFFY: 300,000,000 BERRIES
(Increased for the defeat of Crocodile and the invasion of Skypiea.) [1, 2]RORONOA ZORO: 120,000,000 BERRIES
(Increased for the defeat of Daz Bonez and the Skypiean priests.) [1, 2]NICO ROBIN: 79,000,000 BERRIES
(Standard bounty, now officially a Straw Hat.) [1, 2]SANJI: 77,000,000 BERRIES
(First bounty, for the defeat of Mr. 2 and the Skypiean forces.) [1, 2]But then, she pulled out the silver-steel leaf. It was vibrating so hard it was humming.WANTED: DEAD OR ALIVE
MONKEY D. SILVER
3,000,000,000 BERRIES"THREE... BILLION?!" Usopp shrieked, his eyes popping out like springs. "That's... that's an Emperor's price! That's more than Blackbeard! That's more than almost anyone in the world!""The description..." Nami read, her voice shaking.
"'The Celestial Monarch. For the unauthorized terraforming of a kingdom, the resonance-strike that disrupted the global communication network, and the confirmed negation of Logia-class God-Tier attacks. Classification: World-Ending Threat. Priority: Fleet Admiral Sengoku has ordered an immediate Buster Call if sighted near a Marine Base.'""Three billion," I mused, looking at the poster. "I suppose I'm starting to get expensive.
"I looked at the Golden Bell. I reached into the air and "Created" a small, glowing seed of light, which I placed into the bell's center."Concept: The Eternal Song," I whispered.
"This bell will never stop ringing for those who seek the truth."I looked at the crew—Luffy, who was currently trying to eat a gold bar; Zoro, who was napping on a pile of treasure; and Robin, who was staring at me with a look of terrifying fascination."Silver," Robin said, her dark eyes reflecting the gold of the bell.
"You aren't just a pirate. You're the one the Poneglyphs were written for, aren't you?""I'm just a man with a concept of freedom, Robin," I said, sliding my sunglasses back on. "And the Grand Line is a very small place once you learn to see the stars."