Chapter 134: Chapter 134: Smoke and Mirrors

_________ POV Narration_________

"That didn't go quite well last time you were here. Also, you only asked for information regarding souls... I already told you I couldn't see your soul." Big Mom said as she scoffed a bit.

"Indeed, I still remember it. Quite annoying if I do say so myself..." Enel shrugged, tapping his chin as he continued speaking after a short pause.

"However, this somewhat ties into your request for me."

"Oh? You're ready to give me information on that 'thing'?" Big Mom perked up almost immediately.

"Indeed, our last experiment did help prove that you are a trustworthy business partner. Now, I will tell you everything I know, and everything I've theorized about that 'thing'"

Enel then started pacing around the room, as he felt it was easier for him to express himself while doing so.

The Prisoner they had used for experiments was still in the room, but neither Enel nor Big Mom paid him any mind, he was already unconscious due to their experiments anyway.

"Now, I've spoken to that thing in the past. It claimed to be a god, it spoke of having been worshipped in many forms in the past." Enel said as his cane rhythmically hit the ground.

"... That I can somewhat believe. No normal being would ever be able to affect me in that way..."

"Indeed, but lately I've been thinking that its influence on this world is... Rather limited.

More specifically, it can't really get involved in certain things, not as much as it wants to, anyway."

Enel smiled confidently as he spoke, unafraid of divulging any of his findings regarding the strange being or 'god' that had brought him to that world.

"And how exactly does that work?" Big Mom asked with a scowl. All sounded well and good, but to her, it seemed like Enel was mostly grasping at straws.

After all, that 'god' seemed perfectly capable of scaring her off when she tried to look at Enel's soul previously.

Though... All it truly did was scare her off. It didn't injure her in any way, and it certainly didn't affect the real world in any way.

'Wait... If that thing is against me being able to see Enel's soul, then it's likely against Enel finding out more about his situation as well... So why is it just letting him run around and do research on his own?'

The more she thought about it, the more sense it made.

"The last time that thing spoke to me was in a dream. It was of no consequence, it was mainly complaining that I wasn't acting like it wanted me to.

Well, more specifically it was trying to make me think that all of my actions were irrelevant and that I was better off not acting at all... Espousing the boring mantra of an uninteresting and unambitious creature. "

Big Mom raised an eyebrow. 'So he's even been talking to it? I guess Enel already knew about that thing when he came to deliver Oven then...'

"It's honestly rather confusing. In my first conversation with it, it seemed to only want to give me something. It actually even seemed somewhat interested in my future actions.

But now it looks like it wants me to stop completely. It's possible that one of my decisions, or something I did along the way changed its curiosity towards me with something else entirely."

"I see... But do you have anything concrete on it not being able to affect the world properly?"

"... Not exactly. It seems to be able to somewhat affect the world in a spiritual sense. But this doesn't apply to all cases."

Enel sighed as he thought more and more about the world and his conversations with the 'God' that had brought him to it.

The more he looked into things, the more he realised that the entire world seemed to revolve around a prophecy.

Where Enel truly felt the gaps in his knowledge started showing was when he attempted pinpointing what exactly that prophecy was.

He did know some things though. He realized that Luffy was one of the main actors in that prophecy, and by extension his crew as well.

Another thing he realized at some point, was that he had inadvertently become an actor in that prophecy as well.

At first, things seemed normal, but Enel quickly realized that the world itself had made some changes to it, in order to accommodate his actions.

'I arrived in this world as a character with no consequence, one only loosely tied to the story. A one-off villain that mattered so little he was barely mentioned by anyone afterwards...

And from that, I turned into what I am today... Whatever this prophecy is, it either morphed to accommodate my existence, or never existed in the first place.'

One such change that Enel observed was at Marineford, where Luffy would have surely died to Kizaru without his interference.

It felt odd to him, as he had resolved himself to no longer care about prophecies, but the way the world moved made him think that not caring about prophecy was counterintuitive.

'This prophecy, it isn't just some age-old story... It's the very fate of this world. All tied together by a string.

I inadvertently tied myself to this mess as well, becoming a person that shifted the world completely.'

"It is my theory, that this god does not have the ability to act against certain people in this world. Or at least the price it has to pay in order to do so simply isn't worth it."

'The more it interferes, the more things change. My presence should already be enough of an annoyance to this world.

That 'god' probably thought I'd just run around and explore the world, reading about history and spending my days leisurely, enjoying this second life of mine.

But things changed when I got here... My personalities combined, my will changed, my ambition grew.'

"I see... I guess it would have stopped you long before you reached me to make this deal if it truly could. It's clear enough that it cares or cared about your soul enough to hide it from me initially..."

Big Mom scrunched her nose a bit as the scowl on her face deepened.

"It still feels like I don't know the full story... But fine, I'll take a look at your soul. If something were to happen to me, it likely would've happened the first time anyway."

And so Big Mom stared at Enel, looking through his flesh, trying to find the familiar white substance that she often pulled from others.

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She expected that strange 'god' to show itself to her, to stop her once more. But that wasn't the case. Instead, she only saw a strange green mist all around his soul, barring her from seeing any further.

"This... Complicates things a little?" Big Mom said as she then told Enel exactly what she was seeing.

'A cloud of green fog shrowding his soul, a precaution made to prevent her from looking at his soul.'

And just like that, Enel was met with yet another roadblock.

"Are you able to tell what this mist is even?" Enel asked as he crossed his earlobes and heaved a frustrated sigh.

He just about had it with the amount of shit he had to deal with thanks to that god and his stupid 'rewards'.

For a second, a certain thought even reached his mind. 'All of this trouble could've been avoided if I just ignored that stupid messenger...'

But Enel ended up shaking that thought away.

'Only in this world did I get to make any meaningful connections with others... Relationships that feel more than the superficial garbage I had in my past life.'

In the end, all of that trouble was also what gave him the opportunity to make those connections.

Still, that didn't mean the troubles were something to look forward to.

Big Mom pondered on Enel's question for a bit, staring at that fog a bit more before she finally spoke out again.

"If I am correct... This seems more like a fragment of a soul. It's hard to tell, and it's a lot different from any soul I've ever seen. But at this point, that shouldn't surprise me anymore..."

Enel immediately perked up at that. If the fog was simply a fragment of a soul, then that solution was rather simple.

"Then can you just pull it out?"

"... I can try..." Enel smiled when hearing that, but not for too long, as he realised that a 'But' was coming.

"But I have no assurance that I won't just pull out your soul along with it." Linlin's words made Enel roll his eyes into the back of his head.

He was about to tell her to just do it anyway. But then he stopped himself.

'Can I really trust her to put my soul back in my body if it does get dragged out?'

The obvious answer was a large NO.

Big Mom, although feeling a bit more mellow than what Enel remembered, was still a cruel pirate emperor. And he was technically a rival to her, vying for territory in the New World.

Even if Enel wasn't interested in territory, that didn't matter. What mattered was 'potential threat', and the Lightning Emperor knew better than to simply trust Linlin with his life.

Their business deals ended at the point where her interests were even slightly threatened.

Now, this didn't mean he expected Big Mom to attack and try to kill him. He simply didn't trust her to not take the opportunity to dispose of him as his soul floated in the palm of her hands.

"I'll have to think more about this," Enel said as he shook his head a bit.

'I guess I'll stay a few more days on this island... I doubt the Sky Islands are in any danger with Bonney, Garp and Francisco there. If anything, it's probably one of the best-defended places on this planet...'

"Fine, I can understand your hesitation. We are stepping into the unknown a bit, and it is your safety which is ultimately put at risk here." Big Mom seemed to take his apprehension rather well, misunderstanding his reasons in the process, but that didn't matter much to Enel.

"We shall continue this talk at a later date. I'll share any other information I have then as well..." Enel then started walking towards the door, placing his notebook in the inner pocket of his furred jacket.

Enel was greeted by Linlin's children the second he left the throne room.

"Talks have concluded for now. I'll be hanging around Cake island for a bit, nothing major." Enel said, looking at Perospero with cold eyes as he kept thinking about how to approach the situation.

Perospero nodded, heading into the throne room with Smoothie to meet his mother.

Smoothie gave Enel a disappointed look as she passed him, making him raise an eyebrow.

'That sadist probably wants to turn me into a smoothie...' He simply scoffed at her antics, turning his head to Katakuri and Oven, who were both looking at him with tilted heads.

'I think I'm starting to understand why Big Mom said I befriended two of her children...

Though I have no clue how the hell Katakuri reached this point.'

"I can tell the two of you are probably confused. Let's talk for now, as we walk, of course." Enel's walking stick tapped on the ground as the three of them made their way outside of the Whole Cake Chateau.

"I'm guessing there's quite a bit to talk about... We can do that while sparring, I guess." Oven's smiled as he spoke, making Enel raise an eyebrow.

"Sparring huh... Fine, I guess that's a good enough way to catch up..."

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