Chapter 462: The Head-Hunting Dog Ian
"Why did he run away like that?"
Ian was a bit frustrated. Although he wasn't worried about where Enel could escape to, he had been all set to take him down in one go. But this guy just didn't follow the script!
Where was your dignity as a god!?
Enel's instantaneous movement ability wasn't weak in terms of travel distance. If he really wanted to run, Ian couldn't stop him without being prepared. However, Ian had a vague idea of what this guy was planning to do. He was definitely heading back to his residence!
According to what the pirate had told Ian earlier, Enel's palace was at the top of the vine. That should have been the original homeland of the Shandians, the island that had been carried up into the sky by the Knock-Up Stream and hung on the vine. Four hundred years ago, after this island was blasted into Skypiea, it was seen as a divine gift by the Skypieans, who rarely saw "solid ground." So they drove the Shandians off the island, took it over, and built a palace on it to serve as the god's dwelling.
And that was where Enel was building his ark, "Maxim."
On this sky island, even if Enel fled, he would only go there. Because the Ark Maxim was built by Enel based on his own Devil Fruit ability. It wasn't just a flying ship; it could also use its onboard devices to amplify his power to the extreme. It could be said to be Enel's true weapon and trump card.
If what he said before leaving was true, then he was most likely going back to use the Ark Maxim to deal with him.
Rubbing his chin as he thought this over, Ian landed on the ground. He felt that Enel might be planning to launch his island-destroying plan early. So after landing, he said to the pirate, "You should leave here quickly. If possible, find a way to escape this sky island. It might not be safe here anymore!"
"Y-yes, sir!" The pirate was stunned for a moment, then bowed to Ian with reverence and said, "Thank you for saving me. I will never forget this life-saving grace!"
Ian didn't pay it much mind. He nodded and then flew off in the direction of the vine. The pirate watched him leave before quickly turning around and heading back the way he came.
Meanwhile, as Ian set off toward the vine, Enel had already returned to his palace.
There were two other people there: one was the remaining Sky Guard, the Guardian of the Sky, Nirvana, and the other was a massive fat man who served as the captain of the Divine Soldiers, managing them for Enel.
In fact, when Ian had taken out the three priests at the edge of the forbidden land, Nirvana had also been participating in the hunting chase. But he had gotten lost at the time and couldn't make it there in time. That had saved him from the same fate. Otherwise, it wouldn't have been three priests Ian killed, but four!
Nirvana had been summoned back by Enel, who had sensed something was wrong. Enel had then gone personally to confront Ian.
But now, when Enel returned to the palace, Nirvana and the others immediately noticed the long, scorched wound on Enel's chest and were greatly alarmed.
However, Enel wasn't about to explain anything to them. He directly asked, "Can the Ark Maxim be launched?"
The fat Divine Soldier captain replied, "It can be launched, but, God... the ark hasn't been tested yet!"
"Forget it! I need to launch it immediately!" Enel said coldly, lifting his leg and walking toward the back of the palace.
But just then, Enel suddenly paused and stopped in his tracks.
"Hmm!? So many rats have come!" Enel sneered. Through his Mantra, he detected that quite a few people had already approached and entered the forbidden island.
So he immediately gave orders: "You two, go out immediately and take care of all those rats who have trespassed into the forbidden land."
Enel knew that Nirvana and the others were no match for Ian, so he simply sent them to deal with the other intruders.
One Ian was enough. Enel couldn't tolerate a stream of intruders entering his divine forbidden land.
Nirvana and the others didn't dare to be careless. They immediately set out with the Divine Soldier unit, while Enel headed straight to the rear hall, to where the Ark Maxim was located.
There were still many workers there. Most of them were Skypieans, and some were Blue Sea criminals who had been captured. But they all had one thing in common: they were gaunt and listless, clearly having been heavily exploited.
"Get out of here, all of you! You're useless now!" Enel drove all the workers away.
He had already made the decision to use the Ark Maxim to destroy this sky island. In his eyes, these people were going to die sooner or later anyway, so he couldn't be bothered to kill them himself.
After being driven out by Enel, the workers quickly realized what Enel was planning to do. In panic, they fled for their lives.
They had been building the ark for Enel here for many years, always wondering what he intended to do with this massive vessel. Enel didn't usually shy away from talking about his "ideals," so these people had some inkling of his intentions.
Now that they had finally gained their freedom, the first thing they thought of was to rush back and warn their families to escape this sky island.
It was easy to imagine that when these people escaped, a massive panic would sweep through Angel Island...
...
The "rats" Enel mentioned were Luffy and his group, who had just entered the forbidden land. Of course, there was more than one group of rats. There were also the Shandian guerrilla fighters led by Wiper. But the two groups hadn't entered the forbidden land through the same entrance.
The Shandians didn't hold back. Under Wiper's leadership, as soon as they reached the edge of the forbidden land, they launched an attack. A bazooka shot hit the forest of the forbidden land, the explosion announcing their arrival to Enel.
Unfortunately, Wiper didn't know that Enel was now too busy to deal with them.
Luffy's group was a bit quieter. They had entered the forbidden land through the trial entrance. It was a cloud path. They sailed the Merry along this path, encountering some traps along the way, but they managed to handle them all.
When they reached the end of the cloud path, they were faced with four entrances, labeled [Ball Trial], [String Trial], [Iron Trial], and [Swamp Trial].
After discussing for a while, they chose the entrance to the Ball Trial and went in.
Luffy, ever since hearing Nami's account of what had happened, had been looking forward to the adventure in the so-called God's Forbidden Land. But when he excitedly led the group into the trial ground, he found it eerily quiet.
Apart from the many ball clouds floating in the sky, there was nothing else.
Although they were curious and touched some of the ball clouds, getting a few scares from the traps inside, that was about it.
"Man, is this what a trial is supposed to be?" Luffy had found it interesting at first, but after seeing so many, it got old. He pouted, sat on the deck with his arms crossed, and said childishly, "This is way too easy! And I was so looking forward to it..."
"Isn't it better that nothing happened?" Nami poked Luffy's forehead with her finger and said, "Do you really want a bunch of enemies waiting for us just to call it an adventure?"
At this moment, Nami didn't know that the three priests Ian had killed at the edge of the forbidden land were actually the trial bosses. By taking out three priests, Ian had left all four trial entrances without enemies. Even the last trial's gatekeeper, Nirvana, had just been sent out by Enel to ambush them, the intruders.
With no enemies, Luffy naturally found it boring. If he knew that the one responsible for his boredom was Ian, he might have pointed at him and shouted, "Head-hunting dog!"
The Merry sailed on. Robin and Reiju were naturally on board as well. Since entering the forbidden land, Robin had been observing the scenery.
"These trees are so tall. Without a thousand years of history, they couldn't have grown this big, could they?"
Perhaps due to her historian's mindset, Robin noticed this right away. The ancient ruins that occasionally flashed by also piqued her interest.
So she spoke up: "When we get to shore, I plan to go on land and take a look."
Reiju, standing beside her, asked, "Aren't we going to find Ian?"
Robin smiled slightly and said, "I think he'll be fine. I have faith in him."
"Alright then," Reiju nodded. "I'll go with you."
Nami, overhearing their conversation, immediately raised her hand and shouted, "Big sisters, count me in too! I want to go!"
Zoro asked with some confusion, "Why are you going? Why split up? I wanted to go help Ian fight!"
"Is that green algae head of yours full of nothing but muscle!?" Nami angrily poked Zoro's forehead too. "Didn't Ian say there might be ruins of the golden city of Shandora here? If we can confirm that, we might find a lot of gold! Robin is a historian; going with her is the best way to verify this. There's so much treasure waiting for us to discover, and you're telling me you want to go help Ian fight!?"
"Wah!" Sanji, seeing this, couldn't help but fall to his knees in tears, pounding the deck. He knew it! Whenever Ian was around, nothing good happened! Just because of one comment from him, Nami-san was now completely obsessed with money! Couldn't she see that her eyes were sparkling with gold right now? At this moment, no one would dare to stand in Nami's way!
"But still, a Nami-san like this is so cute..." After pounding the deck for a while, Sanji thought this and started daydreaming again...