Zzt—!
In the blink of an eye.
The beady-eyed, mustached military adviser who had just declared that he would ascend the throne and become the new god also fell.
Ren raised his hand and seized him by the neck.
A million volts of electricity surged into his body in an instant.
The new god with the mustache stiffened on the spot.
Terrifying currents coursed through his body, destroying his internal organs and blood vessels, turning his bones black and charred.
In the end, his muscles, skin…
and even his entire body were carbonized under the baptism of high-voltage electricity.
Bang!
Ren tossed him onto the ground like a dead dog.
With a crisp crack, the charred body of the new god shattered into pieces.
The horrifying sight caused everyone present, whether ordinary islanders or members of God’s Enforcement Squad, to stumble backward in terror before collapsing to the ground.
Every face was filled with extreme fear.
“The power of God…!”
“This is divine punishment from God…!”
“The man who killed God has inherited the power of divine punishment!”
The islanders of Little Western Sky recognized the power of the Goro Goro no Mi.
One after another, they fell to their knees and bowed their heads, terrified that they might anger the “new god.”
Seeing this, Ren couldn’t help being stunned.
Although he wanted to collect Reputation, he had never intended to become a “god.”
As a good young man who had grown up under the red flag in the new era, Ren wasn’t particularly accustomed to having other people kneel before him.
“I’m not a god.
I’m a human being, just like all of you!”
Ren spoke seriously.
“No, you are a god!”
The islanders responded just as seriously.
“All people are born equal.
There is no distinction between high and low, noble or lowly.
You don’t need to do this.”
Ren tried to reason with them.
“People may have no distinction between high and low, but you are a god.
That represents nobility!”
The islanders stubbornly insisted.
After several rounds of back-and-forth…
“Fine.
I am God!”
Ren accepted his new setting.
After becoming God, the first thing Ren did was purge the former God’s Enforcement Squad.
This immediately won the hearts of all the islanders.
They had suffered under God’s Enforcement Squad for far too long.
The divine old man had certainly inspired fear and awe in them, but he usually remained high above them and rarely appeared in person.
God’s Enforcement Squad, on the other hand, had used God’s name to bully and oppress people, making life miserable for countless islanders.
Now, the former god and his Enforcement Squad—the two great cancers that had plagued Little Western Sky—had been eliminated in a single day.
This was an enormous blessing.
The islanders were overflowing with excitement.
They brought out the best food their families had kept hidden away and celebrated this historic day, as well as the arrival of their new god.
That night, a grand island-wide banquet was held.
The natives of Little Western Sky gathered around bonfires, singing and dancing in celebration.
As the center of the banquet, Ren was forced to meet one “subject” after another.
Only now did he finally have a chance to drink.
“My divine vice-captain, you’re certainly quite impressive now.”
Rocks sat down beside Ren with a teasing smile.
“Don’t make fun of me, Captain.
I was forced into all of this.”
Ren shook his head with a bitter smile.
“Isn’t this great?
You’ve become a god in their eyes and the new ruler of this island.
You don’t need to work hard anymore.
All you have to do is move a finger, and you’ll get anything you want.
Wouldn’t that be a wonderful life?”
Rocks asked.
“It certainly sounds pretty good.”
Ren raised an eyebrow.
“But that’s not the kind of life I yearn for.”
If this had been his previous life, and someone had told Ren that pressing a button would make him the ruler of a small island nation in the Pacific Ocean, allowing him to live a carefree life, he would have smashed that button without hesitation.
But this was the vast world of pirates.
Naturally, Ren’s choice had to be different.
“Oh?”
A hint of amusement appeared between Rocks’ brows.
“Then, my divine vice-captain, what kind of life do you yearn for?”
Ren stood up.
He raised his head and gazed at the sky before pointing toward the distant horizon of the White-White Sea.
“I yearn for the stars.
I yearn for the sea.”
“The sea at the end of the Grand Line is the true destination for people like us!”
“Wahahahaha!”
Rocks couldn’t help bursting into laughter.
“Well said!
As expected of a cultured man from Ohara.”
Rocks raised his cup.
“Vice-captain, let us drink to the sea!”
“Cheers!”
Wine splashed in every direction.
Late into the night.
The islanders had either collapsed from exhaustion or passed out drunk, and the vast Little Western Sky finally fell silent.
“Wahahahaha!
Keep going, keep going!”
Rocks, who had no idea how many people he had already drunk under the table, turned his attention toward Ren.
“Captain, stop drinking.
It’s time to get down to business!”
Ren snatched the wine cup from Rocks.
“Business?
At a pirate banquet, drinking is the business!”
Rocks answered seriously.
Ren scratched his head.
“Don’t you want treasure anymore?”
“Treasure?
Where’s the treasure?”
Rocks immediately became interested.
“I just asked around.
Over the years, quite a few pirate crews have managed to survive the Knock Up Stream and reach the Sky Island.”
“Without exception, those pirates were all defeated by that divine old man!”
“The things aboard those pirate ships were also taken by the divine old man as spoils of war and stored in the treasury of the divine temple.”
“Gold is useless on a Sky Island, so…”
Ren didn’t need to say the rest.
“Then what are we waiting for?
Let’s go!”
Rocks immediately stood up.
With the help of an enthusiastic local, Ren and Rocks soon arrived at the divine palace in the center of the island.
However, when the two entered the treasury, the sight before them left them dumbfounded.
“Where’s the treasure you promised me?”
Rocks looked toward Ren.
Ren was equally confused.
He turned his head toward the young man who had led them there.
The boy was one of the few surviving members of God’s Enforcement Squad.
He had been spared because he had done good deeds.
“God, there really was a huge pile of treasure here before!”
The boy hurriedly fell to his knees, trembling as he waited for death.
Rocks released his Observation Haki and swept it across the empty treasury.
Suddenly, his expression changed.
“He isn’t lying.”
“There are marks from wheels here.
Someone got here before us and emptied the treasury?”
“Who did it?”
Ren frowned.
Gold was hard currency on the sea, but it was completely useless to the people of a Sky Island.
At most, it could be used as decoration.
“Ah!
I remember now.
Could it be them?”
The boy suddenly recalled something and hurriedly said,
“Those divine servants who came from the Blue Sea are missing.
It must have been them.”
…
…
At this very moment.
On the coast of Little Western Sky.
“Second brother, put some more effort into it!
Think about the beautiful life waiting for us in the future!”
“Big brother, once we get out, I want to eat honey cake!”
“Sure!
Once we get back, you can eat as much as you want!”
Two burly men, each standing eight chi tall, were dragging a cart loaded with treasure as they raced across the island clouds.
They were the “divine servants” the boy had mentioned—the Twin Bear Brothers of the former Twin Heroes Pirates.
A year ago, after hearing rumors about Sky Islands, they had eagerly signed up for the journey.
Fortunately, they had survived the Knock Up Stream, which had a survival rate of only 0.01 percent, successfully reaching the White-White Sea seven thousand meters above sea level.
Unfortunately, after arriving at Little Western Sky to rest, they had caught the attention of the divine old man.
Not only had all their belongings been confiscated, they themselves had also been captured and turned into slaves.
Even worse, the divine old man had a deep prejudice against outsiders like them.
It was bad enough that he exploited their labor every day.
Every few days, he would even give them an electric treatment.
Their lives had practically become hell.
They had suffered beyond words.
They had thought about resisting, but someone had tried to resist before them and had been electrocuted into charcoal.
They had also thought about escaping, but someone had escaped before them and had been electrocuted into ashes.
In the end, relying on their thick skin and sturdy bodies, the two brothers had successfully endured the tortures of the Thunder and Lightning Executioner and regained their freedom.
“I don’t know which great benefactor helped us, but whoever you are, you solved that lightning old man for us.
Thanks a lot!”
The Twin Bear Brothers’ elder brother grinned.
“Big brother, look!
There’s a ship by the coast!”
The Twin Bear Brothers’ younger brother cried out excitedly.
“Hahahaha!
This is heaven’s gift!
We’ve finally turned our luck around!”
The elder brother shouted excitedly.
The two brothers quickened their pace and reached the coast, where they put in tremendous effort to haul the treasure aboard the ship.
Suddenly, at that very moment—
Crack!
A crisp sound rang out, as though someone were biting into an apple.
The elder brother of the Twin Bear Brothers abruptly looked up.
Only then did he realize that, at some point, a young man had appeared sitting atop the mast.
“You two went to all that trouble to help us load the treasure onto the ship.”
Ren smiled.
“Thanks for your hard work!”