Chapter 475: Prophet!?
Why would he say that?
Because on this Sky Island, there was a very strange atmosphere, a "worship of the earth"!
Scattered throughout the streets of Angel Island were strange statues. They weren't depictions of gods or anything like that, but rather a spiritual faith. The object of this faith was the earth itself. Moreover, when the golden city of Shandora was blasted into the sky, the Skypieans, in order to fight over this miraculously bestowed land, didn't hesitate to wage war against the Shandians, a conflict that lasted for many years.
This wasn't just the case for the residents of Angel Island. Enel and his followers, who came from the outer island of Birka, were the same. Enel even thought about "returning" to the infinite earth.
Every one of these actions was related to the word "earth," showing just how much the Skypieans yearned for land.
Under these circumstances, one could imagine the situation of the Moon People who had migrated to this planet back then. Although it was possible to live on Sky Islands, with solid land just over ten thousand meters below their feet, there was no way they would give that up!
Ian suspected that the Barron Gray Terminal was abandoned by the migrating Moon People after they discovered land on the sea surface below. The buildings at the Barron Gray Terminal were almost perfectly preserved, with no signs of war or disaster. Many houses were empty, suggesting that the Moon People at that time had evacuated in an orderly fashion.
After arriving in the Blue Sea, the Moon People tried to survive there. Just like the Shandians' golden city of Shandora, they even created brilliant civilizations on these islands.
In this process, they inevitably came into contact with the Blue Sea people. Since their forms weren't much different except for their wings, they could even intermarry with them.
But then... it happened again. These Moon People probably didn't survive on the ground for long before a major catastrophe struck.
This catastrophe was highly likely related to the blank one hundred years of history!
Ian didn't yet know exactly what happened back then, but based on the content of the Poneglyph he had obtained and Robin had deciphered, it seemed a massive war had occurred, one that also involved these Moon People.
In this war, the Moon People suffered heavy losses, and their cultural heritage was nearly severed. Forced to seek survival, some of them had to leave the land of the Blue Sea once again and return to the Sky Islands.
But this time, the Sky Island they found might not have been the original Barron Gray Terminal, but a new one. After experiencing the trauma of war, these Moon People began to miss their homeland, so they named this Sky Island after their home: Birka!
After settling on this Sky Island, they did some other things. For example, they later returned to the Barron Gray Terminal once more, placed a Poneglyph there, and stationed robot soldiers to guard it...
Thinking this far, Ian suddenly turned and asked Enel, "Enel, that Ark Maxim of yours wasn't designed by you, was it?"
Enel was startled, then said, "Of course not. I just found the blueprints and built it according to them..."
"And the name was on the blueprints too, not something you came up with yourself, right?" Ian asked again.
This time, even Enel was surprised. "How do you know that?"
Ian nodded, thinking to himself that it was just as he suspected.
Ian guessed that the Moon People, forced to return to live on the Sky Islands, weren't content to just stay there. They thought about returning to their homeland, but the question was how. So, they came up with the idea of building a flying ship to take them back to the Moon.
At this point, the Moon People probably still retained some of their original lunar technological knowledge. Driven by their eagerness to return, they quickly and smoothly completed the blueprints.
They named the flying ship they were about to build the "Ark"!
The word "Ark" wasn't used casually. Usually, the word "Ark" implies salvation. It was precisely because the Moon People were desperate and fearful of the massive war raging on the Blue Sea below, afraid that their civilization would be wiped out, that they named the ship "Ark." The idea was to ride this ship, which could save them, back home.
However, when the blueprints for the Ark were completed, the Moon People realized they couldn't actually build it. Besides material issues, they lacked the most important thing: energy!
The Moon People had originally migrated from the Moon to the Blue Sea due to resource depletion. Now, forced to relocate to the Sky Islands, they still couldn't obtain the energy they needed from the Blue Sea below.
And Ian estimated that this energy was electricity!
Because when he found the technological relics left behind at the Barron Gray Terminal, he used lightning to restart them...
That must have been something from hundreds of years ago. Ian thought they probably hadn't discovered mineral deposits like Thunder Stones yet, so even if they could build the Ark, they couldn't power it.
So, the Moon People had to temporarily shelve the plan to build the Ark, store the blueprints safely, and first look for a solution to the energy problem.
They took a different approach and came up with a unique idea: Devil Fruits!
Devil Fruits were a specialty of the Grand Line. There was definitely none on the Sky Islands. Even if there was a possibility that Upward Currents could carry Devil Fruits into the sky, the chances were far too low.
Of course, there was another possibility: Blue Sea people might have brought Devil Fruits to the Sky Islands on their ships, but this was even less likely. That era wasn't like the current Great Pirate Era with so many explorers. Back then, the Blue Sea was too busy with wars everywhere.
So, reluctantly, they had to send people down to the Blue Sea, risking danger, to find a specific Devil Fruit: the Rumble-Rumble Fruit!
They wanted to use the power of this fruit to start the Ark.
However, when they found this fruit, they were probably discovered by their enemies. Following the Moon People's trail, the enemies came to their island and launched a final war of annihilation against them.
The Rumble-Rumble Fruit they had sought was finally hidden away as their only hope, along with the blueprints. Most of the Moon People on the Birka island probably died at that time. Those who survived might have been too young to inherit this civilization, leading to a break in Birka's cultural heritage, leaving later generations unable to understand the past.
The place where the blueprints were buried wasn't found by their enemies, so it was preserved until Enel coincidentally discovered it. He not only got the blueprints and ate the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, but also learned a phrase from the stored materials: "Infinite Earth." That was probably how the Moon People described their homeland.
Otherwise, Ian couldn't figure out why, among all Skypieans, the residents of Angel Island never thought of seeking land on the Moon, but Enel did.
If Ian remembered correctly, Enel used the word "return" to describe going to the Infinite Earth! This showed that he definitely knew where his true homeland was. Or rather, he had learned it from the materials he found. The materials stored with the blueprints must have mentioned the purpose of building the Ark.
After eating the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, Enel gained extraordinary power. His confidence swelled, and at this point, misled by the fragments of information he found, he began to believe that it was wrong for Skypieans to live on Sky Islands. This wasn't their home. Additionally, because he was a half-breed without wings, he thought he was different from the Skypieans. So, he destroyed his home Sky Island, seeking a chance to return to the Infinite Earth.
Later, to find materials for building the Ark, he and a group of like-minded followers came to the Angel Island Sky Island, overthrew Gan Fall, took the position of ruler, and collected the gold scattered from the golden city of Shandora after Jaya was blasted into the sky. He then began building the Ark Maxim according to the blueprints he had found.
Because Ian had destroyed the Ark Maxim, he had seen its internal structure. The technology inside the ship was clearly completely different from the current Shell civilization on the Sky Islands. It was more like the technology Ian had found at the Barron Gray Terminal. This was the basis for Ian's speculation.
To verify whether his guess was correct, he just needed to ask Enel about his past...
Thinking of this, he acted. When Ian laid out his speculation to everyone, Enel stared at him, his eyes growing wider and wider!
It was exactly as he had said. His Rumble-Rumble Fruit was indeed found in a secret room. Placed together with the Rumble-Rumble Fruit were the blueprints for the Ark Maxim. So, after obtaining the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, he became the only Devil Fruit user on his Sky Island, Birka, at that time, which was when his confidence began to swell.
"You... you...!" After Ian finished his speculation, Enel was truly shocked. He looked at Ian with disbelief and said, "Are you a prophet!?"
Ian had almost perfectly recounted his past just through speculation. How could this not shock and terrify Enel?
At that moment, his fantasy of being a "god" was completely shattered by Ian. He felt that Ian was truly unfathomable...