2 Years
It has been 2 years since his arrival in Skypiea.
The young man has grown much powerful since then. He now felt like he could take on a God compared to his previous state when he woke up 2 years ago. He couldn't help but chuckle.
His body has increased in strength and defense by many levels. The constant pressure and strain put on his muscles for the past 2 years has strengthened his body capable enough to take a powerful punch head on without any major injuries.
He perfected Soru, Geppo and Rankyaku to a certain level where he could use them with ease without causing strain on his legs. He also had improved his Observation and Armament Haki.
He had mastered the basic techniques of Observation Haki. The techniques being Aura/Presence, Strength, Emotion, and Intent Sensing. The young man wanted to know how it would feel trying to sense emotions. So, he tried to sense the emotion of the fishes that he was catching and the experience was jarring to say the least. Although, he would have to concentrate to use them. He can also lower the intensity of his aura to match that of a normal person to not make Enel feel suspicious.
He had put in a lot of effort in practicing his Armament Haki and after months of strenuous effort, he has achieved Armament: Hardening. After achieving Hardening, he forwent his battered spear and used his fists to hunt which increased his proficiency in using Hardening.
Hardening is just the tip of the iceberg of what he could achieve and Observation Haki can be even more freakier in the future.
Since he has perfected some of the Six Powers and has achieved an incredible progress in Observation and Armament Haki, the young man thought to himself, 'I think it's about time I face God alone instead of waiting for the Straw Hats. I'll be bound to face the Divine Soldiers and the Four Priests along the way which should help me increase my battle experience. For now, I have to make preparations for the trip to Upper Yard.'
The young man went into the forest and collected some sturdy looking leaves. He then tied them together to make a substitute sack and went back to the shack. Holding the sack in one hand, the young man gathered all the fruits he had collected and began to dump them into the sack. After that, he put the sack over his shoulder and tied the sack onto his back.
Walking out of the shack, he took one last look at the shack and slowly smiled.
'Well, I'll surely miss this place. Anyways, it's time to leave and get my Devil Fruit.'
The young man walked away from the shack and after a few minutes, he spread out his Observation Haki to find someone in hopes of leading him to Lovely Street. He'll need to get a Dial boat and sail across the Milky Road to reach the Upper Yard.
He sensed someone quite far away from his location. Using Soru, he quickly reached the vicinity of the person. It was a Skypiea citizen. The citizen was walking along the island clouds following the white steps. After following the citizen for a while, the young man stopped and finally could see Lovely Street.
It had one main road centered between the island clouds. Many kind of shops could be seen lined up with the road. There were even some shops in the air due to the island clouds. He decided he would wait for nightfall before going to the wharf.
Nightfall descended and it was time to move. Using Soru, he quickly breezed through the street and reached the end of where lies the wharf. Hopping into a random boat, he quickly activated the Breath Dial and went past the Gate towards the Milky Road.
The boat was going wherever the Milky Road was taking it. The young man layed down and thought, 'Enel should be little suspicious on what I'm doing. I'll have to be ready at all costs.'.
*Thud*
His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of someone bumping into the boat. He stood up and saw few shadows beneath the milky road swimming ominously around his boat. He went into a combat stance ready to protect himself and the boat.
One of the creatures jumped out with it's giant jaws wide open ready to chomp down the boat. The young man seeing this lifted his leg.
"Rankyaku!"
Kicking his leg in a wide curve, a wind blade shot out and cut the giant creature in half, killing it back into the clouds.
"Those are Sky Sharks. Seeing it in person is on a whole new level." said the young man in a surprised tone.
The other Sky Sharks rushed to the boat as soon as they saw the death of that Sky Shark. The young man took quick care of them as they posed no threat to him. After that short "trouble", he sat down spreading his Observation Haki to avoid unnecessary delay.
"Hmm?" he lifted up his eyebrow and sensed an aura rapidly approaching his way.
"It seems to be flying. I think I know who it is." smirked the young man.
After a few seconds, the sounds of flapping could be heard above the young man. He could see an old man with a long mustache and beard. The old man is wearing a metal armor and a cape that is yellow on the inside and dark blue on the outside. In his hand, a lance could be seen being wielded by him. The old man is sitting on a horse-looking animal with wings of what could be identified as a Pegasus. The Pegasus is pink in colour with a dot pattern on it's body.
"I am the Knight of the Sky, Gan Fall. Who are you and what business do you have here, blue sea dweller?" asked Gan Fall.
'So, he is indeed Gan Fall. I guess I can trust him.' thought the young man.
"Nice to meet ya, Gan Fall. My name is Zeph, Zeph Raiden. As to why I'm here on this boat, I'm here to visit the Upper Yard for a business."
"UPPER YARD?! T-That is the residence of God and his soldiers. Nothing good will come out of that place. I advise you to turn back, blue sea dweller." exclaimed Gan Fall with a heavy voice.
Zeph laughed in response and said, "It's alright, Gan Fall. I wouldn't have done this without knowing the consequences and I can protect myself."
Gan Fall stared hard at Zeph trying to judge him. He then sighed and threw a whistle at Zeph.
"Here, take this. If you are in any danger and need any help, blow the whistle. I will come to your aid."
"Thank You." smiled Zeph having caught the whistle.
Gan Fall nodded and rode away to a far away place, presumably to his home in the outskirts of Skypiea.
Having sailed for a long while, Zeph finally could see the huge trees that covered Upper Yard. He could see the Giant Beanstalk behind the dense forest.
"I'll have to go towards the Giant Beanstalk to conduct my business."
He decided that he'll avoid going the path of the Milky Road because he didn't want to get caught up with the useless traps and he'd rather face all the priests at once.
So, he banked the boat near the land and got off. Locating the Giant Beanstalk, he quickly took off towards it.
____________________________________________
On an island cloud not too far away from Zeph, a shrine could be seen resting on the island cloud near the Giant Jack.
Four Skypieans could be seen kneeling outside the shrine. The first one was bald, wearing sunglasses and had tattoos on his right arm. The second one had long red hair, wore yellow sunglasses and a white full-body jumpsuit. The third one was wearing some kind of aviator hat on his head accompanied with a pair of goggles. He's also carrying a lance. The fourth and the final one had dreadlocks that were pointing outwards from his head, was wearing a blue scarf and a pink shirt.
These four were precisely the Four Priests in charge of guarding and protecting the Upper Yard.
"Why do you think we were called here?" asked Shura in an angry tone.
"Ho, ho hoooo, I don't know. Ho, ho hoooo!" laughed Satori.
"..." Gedatsu was struggling to talk with his lower lip stuck in his mouth.
"Oi fool, your lower lip is stuck again." sighed Shura.
"How careless!!" frowned Gedatsu.
Ohm plainly stared at the front waiting.
"Now, now! I've sensed an intruder in Upper Yard and it looks like he's coming this way." said a man in a bored tone inside the shrine.
The said man is seen laying on a plushy throne with his left arm propping his head up and his right arm holding an apple. The man has pale skin, blonde hair, a straight nose with horizontal lines covering the nose in intervals and a well defined long earlobe extending itself to the level of his chest with a gold earring.
This man is the God and Ruler of Skypiea, Enel.
"Interesting, I want all of you to capture him and bring him here. Failure will not be tolerated, Understood?" ordered Enel while eating an apple.
"Yes, Enel-sama", the Four Priests answered respectfully. They stood up and jumped down through Giant Jack ready to capture the criminal but they were all thinking 'Why all four of us?!".
"Pitiful blue sea dweller" smirked Enel before indulging in eating served by two beautiful Skypiean women.