Arthur scoffed at the villagers' whispers, ignoring their judgments. he continued onward, navigating the winding, narrow alleyways.
Several hours crawled by. The dazzling sun, which had risen in the east, now hung directly overhead. The islanders began preparing their midday meals, yet there was still no sign of Enel.
His Observation Haki was fully active. He scanned each person he encountered, only to find more winged Skypieans.
"Could my assumption be wrong? Is Enel not even born yet?" A sense of unease washed over Arthur. The joy he'd felt upon reaching Birka began to sour.
It was 1493, a full 27 years before the start of the main storyline. There were too many unknowns.
"No, maybe he's just holed up at home," he reassured himself.
Enel was often subjected to scorn, beatings, and abuse from the villagers. It was entirely possible he was hiding at home.
Arthur's Observation Haki still had a limited range. He couldn't sense into some of the cloud houses, and he certainly couldn't penetrate the buildings to hear the "voices" of those inside.
"If Enel isn't born yet, I'll just have to search for the fruit myself for a while." He was already preparing for the worst-case scenario.
He had to rely on himself; he couldn't count on anyone else.
If the Rumble-Rumble Fruit was somewhere on Birka, these villagers might actually have a hard time finding it. Otherwise, why would Enel have been the one to eat it?
Arthur rubbed his temples, trying to ease the headache brought on by his Thoughts. "First, I'll go to the coast, catch some shellfish and fish for lunch. Then I'll look for the Rumble-Rumble Fruit and Enel at the same time."
With a plan in place, Arthur's headache subsided. He slowly walked towards the other side of Birka's beach. The smoke from cooking fires, carrying the aroma of food, made his stomach rumble.
As he approached the White-White Sea, ready to address his hunger, he suddenly heard the sounds of children playing, a group of seven or eight-year-olds.
He was too far away to hear clearly what they were saying, but he could make out snippets.
"Beat him up! Beat up that wingless freak!"
"That freak, he wants the village's 'ship' blueprints."
"Hmph! He wants to get us all killed. The adults won't do anything about him. We can't let him off easy."
The noisy clamor faded into the sea breeze. If it weren't for Arthur's enhanced senses from his rudimentary Observation Haki, he wouldn't have caught those faint whispers.
"Ship blueprints?" Arthur's heart skipped a beat. His eyes lit up. "Could it be the Ark Maxim? The wingless freak? Could it be Enel? Haha, this is too good to be true!"
He suppressed his excitement and moved closer, hiding behind a tree to listen carefully.
"Huh? The freak's not moving?"
"Useless. He's out after just a few hits. Let's go home and eat!"
The group of brats had beaten Enel. Seeing that he wasn't moving, the kids, being kids, were a little scared. They scattered, running away.
Before they left, they didn't forget to mock him.
"That useless trash. He's a waste of food. He should just die."
"Let's go, let's go. Ignore him. Let's go home and eat!"
In an instant, the group vanished, leaving only a small figure lying on the ground, twitching.
With the kids gone, Arthur could easily see the beaten and bruised child.
The child was lying on his side, curled up on the island cloud. The most noticeable feature was his long earlobes, which drooped down to his chest.
He was clutching his head, his arms showing a spiky, unkempt haircut. His face was young and tender, but his flat nose was visible. He looked somewhat like the future Enel.
Arthur was certain. This was the person he was looking for. Besides Arthur himself, only Enel was wingless on Birka. And who else could have those long earlobes besides Enel?
Enel slowly got up from the ground. He was numb, expressionless. Only his eyes held a burning, deep-seated hatred.
The seeds of hatred had been sown. One day, they would sprout and grow into a towering tree.
Arthur didn't pity him. It all came down to power. Only those with power could avoid being bullied, only they could control their own destiny.
His form flickering from behind the tree, Arthur instantly appeared in front of Enel. This was the perfect chance to gather information, and he wouldn't miss it.
However, before Arthur could speak, Enel, who was wiping away his tears and not looking ahead, seemed to have grown a third eye. He walked right past Arthur, as if avoiding an obstacle in his path.
"Observation Haki?" Arthur's pupils contracted. He was shocked.
He had originally thought that Enel's Observation Haki was powerful because of the Rumble-Rumble Fruit's electrical wave amplification. Now, it seemed that might not be the case.
Enel looked so young, only six or seven years old. Yet, he had awakened Observation Haki? It was unbelievable. No wonder he could use the fruit's power to blanket the entire Sky Island and monitor everyone's conversations!
"He's got potential. Too bad, I'm here to steal your destiny!" A cold glint flashed in Arthur's eyes. But his face remained calm as he asked, "Why didn't you fight back? You could have easily dodged their attacks, right?"
Enel didn't speak. He continued to stumble forward. Maybe he was in pain. He occasionally gasped.
Arthur wasn't annoyed that he was being ignored. He continued, "Kid, why aren't you talking? You and I are both wingless. Maybe we're from the same place!"
"Huh?" Hearing this, Enel stopped. He turned around. He looked excitedly at Arthur for a long time. After confirming that Arthur also lacked wings, he asked eagerly, "Are you a Moon Person too?"
He sounded hopeful. It seemed like he was lonely and desperately wanted a companion.
"Moon Person?" Arthur was taken aback. He knew the Skypieans were originally from the moon. They had come to the world of One Piece because the moon's resources were depleted. Because they still longed for the moon, they had evolved wings. But this wasn't the time to dwell on that.
"You could say that," he answered vaguely. "By the way, why didn't you fight back just now? dodging their attacks would have been easy. And where did you learn this ability to 'See' others?"
Arthur was extremely curious about that last question!