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Arthur submerged himself in the White-White Sea, using the water pressure to train his strength. Day and night, he never stopped training.
Even though his current strength was vastly different from before, he didn't slack off.
In the world of One Piece, relying solely on Devil Fruit's powers was not enough. A powerful physique and extraordinary stamina were needed to use a Devil Fruit's powers continuously.
Most fruits required physical strength to be used to their full potential.
Moreover, the stronger the body, the faster a Devil Fruit's powers would develop.
When a fruit was eaten, it took effect immediately. But those with stronger bodies developed their powers faster than those with weaker bodies.
Luffy could stretch his body immediately after eating the Gomu-Gomu Fruit. But he couldn't control it well. He would often hit himself by accident. But when Sabo ate the Flame-Flame Fruit, he could use fire attacks right away. This was proof.
Therefore, physical fitness determined the use of most Devil Fruit powers.
Arthur climbed out of the sea, shaking the water off his body. He casually put on clothes he had taken from a villager and began his breakfast.
After searching all of Birka for a whole year, finding nothing, Arthur realized that maybe the Rumble-Rumble Fruit wasn't on Birka at all.
After eating breakfast, Arthur began to recall his memories about Enel's life.
Enel destroyed Birka. Then he led his men to attack Upper Yard. He drove out the God, Gan Fall. He took over God's Land and became the new God. He then began to use the God Squad to build the Ark Maxim. This was in the year 1514.
The blueprints for the Ark Maxim were, needless to say, taken from Birka. But before he destroyed Birka, he must have already obtained the power of lightning, which he called "God." How did he get the Rumble-Rumble Fruit?
Or rather, Enel had no strength to speak of. His Observation Haki was immature. His physical skills were notoriously poor. The villagers of Birka could have easily beaten him. How could he destroy Birka?
From this, it could be deduced that before he destroyed Birka and attacked Upper Yard, he must have already obtained the Rumble-Rumble Fruit.
Since that was the case, the Rumble-Rumble Fruit was definitely not on Angel Island or Upper Yard. It had to be near Birka.
However, Arthur had searched every corner of Birka and found nothing.
Therefore, it could be inferred that Enel had obtained the Rumble-Rumble Fruit from elsewhere, or from the White-White Sea.
Thinking of this, Arthur's furrowed brow relaxed. This was indeed a possibility.
Devil Fruits were the treasures of the sea. They appeared randomly in some corner of the ocean.
According to this, did that mean that Sky Island didn't produce Devil Fruits? Were they brought up by the rising current or by people who entered Sky Island?
It made sense. Looking at the whole of Sky Island, besides Enel's Rumble-Rumble Fruit, there was only the current God Gan Fall's mount, that pink-winged bird that had eaten a Devil Fruit. The Zoan-type Horse-Horse Fruit, Pegasus Form.
Sky Island could not produce Devil Fruits. So far, only these two examples had appeared. Then the probability that the fruit was brought up by the rising current from the Blue Sea was very high.
Having sorted out his thoughts, Arthur's heart pounded. Even taking deep breaths couldn't calm him down. He thought this was very likely.
But although Birka was small, the area of the White-White Sea was huge. It wasn't something Arthur could search in a short time.
"Enel was often bullied by the villagers. He couldn't stand it. One day in the future, he might build a boat and leave Birka. Although the village cut off contact with Angel Island, everyone knows the direction of Angel Island. In that case, the Rumble-Rumble Fruit must be between Angel Island and Birka!"
Arthur's mind began to clear. His analysis sped up.
"That's not certain! Another possibility is that the blueprints for the Ark Maxim were available for anyone on the island to see, except for Enel. He must have secretly gone to look at them because he wanted to go to his dreamland—the moon, the Endless Vearth."
"This violated Birka's laws. The villagers had long wanted to execute Enel but didn't have an excuse. This act of secretly looking at the blueprints for the Ark was their excuse to kill him!"
"The method of execution on Sky Island is called Cloud Drifting. They put Enel on a drift cloud and let him float around, to fend for himself. By luck, he obtained the Rumble-Rumble Fruit!"
He thought it over. These were the only two possibilities. Arthur didn't believe that Enel found it in the waters near Birka.
Because he had already searched the nearby waters. He hadn't found any fruit. There weren't even any shipwrecks. Not even the nearby marine life had escaped Arthur's belly. They had long been digested into nothing.
"First, I'll ask around the village. I'll find out where they carry out the Cloud Drifting executions. Then I'll search in that direction. If that doesn't work, I'll search in the direction of Angel Island."
Having made his decision, Arthur didn't want to delay any longer. He was eager to eat the Rumble-Rumble Fruit.
Dressed neatly, Arthur rushed towards the village. Before long, he encountered a villager carrying a fishing net, about to go fishing.
He stopped. He put his long hair behind his head. He gave what he thought was a kind smile. He asked.
"Excuse me—where on Birka do they carry out the Cloud Drifting executions? I'm curious—"
But the villager ignored Arthur. He walked right past him. He muttered to himself.
"A wingless freak, asking about Cloud Drifting? Does he want to try it? What an idiot."
Arthur's Observation Haki was now quite advanced. His five senses were extremely sharp. How could he not hear this muttering? His smile froze on his face. A cold glint flashed in his eyes.
"It seems, only by showing strength, by beating them until they're scared, will they choose to communicate normally. In that case—"
He turned around. He suddenly reached out. He grabbed the back of the fisherman's neck. He lifted the old man, who weighed less than a hundred pounds, off the ground.
"If you don't want to talk, I have plenty of ways to make you talk!"
Arthur grinned coldly. He couldn't stand this disrespectful old man any longer. He carried him and strode back towards the beach.
"What do you want to do? You freak, do you want to kill someone? I'm going to report you to the village chief. You'll be sentenced to Cloud Drifting. Freak, let go of me—Ah!"
"Shut up. If you keep talking, I'll make you regret it!"
Arthur slapped him. The fisherman quieted down. He looked at Arthur's cold, emotionless eyes. He looked at him fearfully.
Back on the beach, he casually tossed the old man onto the island cloud. He said coldly.
"Tell me—where do you carry out the Cloud Drifting executions on this island!"
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