"Bastards, who are you? What are you trying to catch me for?"
Bellamy got up and looked at Shin and the others with gritted teeth, then cast a fearful glance past Charlotte Pudding.
Bellamy felt completely wronged. He had been enjoying a meal, drinking rum, and relaxing when this beautiful young woman walked into the tavern.
Pirates… well, it's normal to get a little talkative after drinking, isn't it? But then, the girl smiled slightly, and her eyes turned red.
After that? Bellamy shuddered. His companions, along with the pirates in the tavern, were all mesmerized by the young woman's gaze. The moment she finished asking a question, she drained the vitality from everyone present. One by one, they withered into old men in their seventies and eighties. Aside from a few lucky women who managed to escape, only he was left without aging drastically.
Then, the young woman grabbed him, transformed into a massive bat, tore through the tavern, and flew away with him.
Who was Bellamy? He was a notorious pirate, known as the "Hyena"! Of course, he resisted. He struggled fiercely and finally managed to catch the attention of the three-eyed bat.
The massive bat tilted its head, and with a slight increase in pressure from its claws, it snapped a few of Bellamy's bones. Just like that, Bellamy stopped struggling.
"This guy looks a little familiar," Shin muttered to himself but didn't dwell on it. Instead, a black mist swirled out from his palm, extracting Bellamy's Devil Fruit.
Frowning, Shin realized he had no idea what kind of Devil Fruit it was, so he asked, "What Devil Fruit did you have?"
Bellamy's eyes widened in shock, and he coughed up a mouthful of blood. "M-My Spring-Spring Fruit! Give it back!"
"Oh, so it was the Spring-Spring Fruit." Shin nodded, recalling that this guy was a crazed admirer of Doflamingo and had been ultimately deceived by him.
Seeing Bellamy, his eyes red with rage, lunge at him, Shin casually kicked him, sending him flying straight into the sea. Only then did he suddenly realize something.
"Oops! I forgot to ask where the knock-up stream is."
"I know, Captain Shin." Charlotte Pudding smiled and pulled out a chart she had snatched from the tavern. She had even marked a red circle on it, indicating exactly where the knock-up stream would occur.
"It's very close," Shin remarked as he examined the topographic map of Jaya Island, recalling some details from his memory.
The shape of Jaya Island resembled a skull, and the missing eye had been carried into the sky by the knock-up stream. In other words, if they ascended through that gap, they would certainly reach an island in the sky!
And since all the knock-up streams were near that missing eye socket, Shin's memory of the location became even clearer.
"Alright, let's go." Paying no mind to Bellamy floundering in the sea, Shin let out a mighty roar and transformed into an eight-headed dragon. Layers of flaming clouds swirled beneath the ship, lifting it into the sky.
Bellamy, still struggling in the water, was stunned when he witnessed the scene unfolding before him.
Then, as the realization hit him, he shuddered violently. His Devil Fruit had been stolen!
"That guy… That guy is the Plunderer! The strongest pirate of the new generation!"
With that thought, Bellamy abandoned any hope of reclaiming his Devil Fruit and swam desperately toward Jaya Island. As he swam, he muttered to himself, "A monster of that level… What the hell is he doing in the first half of the Grand Line?! Whatever, there are too many freaks like him. I need to find my crew fast."
"I just hope that aging thing wears off… Damn it!"
Shin, of course, was completely uninterested in Bellamy's plight. Soon, the Azure Dragon had reached the White Sea.
[Reminder: The ship is named Azure Dragon.]
Ignoring the locals of Skypiea, he focused his gaze on the distant fragment of Jaya Island floating in the sky—land that had been blasted upwards by the knock-up stream.
At that moment, a deafening crack echoed through the sky, and a lightning bolt descended upon him from above.
Shin, in his eight-dragon form, had greatly increased strength but somewhat reduced flexibility, making it harder to evade such an attack.
However, his body was already unbelievably strong. Even without using Armament Haki, the lightning merely served as a minor muscle relaxant.
"Is it Enel, the Rumble-Rumble Fruit user?" Shin sneered. Even with his hazy recollection of One Piece, he could never forget the self-proclaimed god of Skypiea—the man who would one day travel to the moon.
More importantly, the infamous "invincible" Rumble-Rumble Fruit had been thoroughly countered by Luffy, a rubber man, providing one of the best demonstrations of Devil Fruit's weaknesses.
Well, even though Luffy later awakened his fruit and it turned out not to be the Rubber-Rubber Fruit… Shin wondered what Enel would think if he ever found out.
It just went to show, that no matter how mighty you claim to be as the "God of Thunder," you're still nothing compared to a real Sun God!
Of course, while Luffy's victory over Enel had been due to fruit-type advantages, the truth was that Enel, as a boss from the first half of the Grand Line, didn't even know how to use Armament Haki. His actual strength was rather mediocre.
If Luffy had fought him after two years of training, even without a Devil Fruit, he probably would've beaten Enel into the ground. Let alone someone like Shin.
As another bolt of lightning struck, Shin nonchalantly continued toward the floating remnants of Jaya Island. His lack of concern seemed to enrage Enel, who unleashed a furious barrage of lightning from above.
Yet for Shin, who had integrated the power of the Azure Dragon Fruit, controlling lightning was second nature. Instead of harming him, the lightning wrapped around his body, forming an electric armor that radiated an intense glow.
At that moment, the people of Skypiea gazed skyward in awe. A colossal, majestic dragon wreathed in crackling thunder—how could they not be stunned?
To them, if Enel was a god, then this dragon was a true divine entity descending in fury.
Meanwhile, on the remnants of Jaya Island, Enel's expression darkened. His mantra, empowered by the Rumble-Rumble Fruit and Observation Haki, had detected an unimaginably terrifying presence approaching.
Now that Shin had reached the White Sea, Enel's senses were overwhelmed by the sheer intensity of his aura.
It was so overwhelming that for the first time in a long while, Enel felt a tinge of fear.
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