Chapter 17: Chapter 17: Exploration of the Mind

_________ POV Enel_________

It didn't take me long to find one of the locals nearby. This island did still have people besides pirates after all.

I met a barkeep, he was a bit snarky about losing business, but he was also somewhat thankful to me for getting rid of all of the troublemakers at the same time.

He contacted a nearby marine base for me, after he explained the situation to the dispatcher, they said they'd send a fleet here to collect the pirates.

So there I am, sitting on a golden chair in the middle of the bloodbath I had created.

People in this world are really resilient, it's surprising enough that this many people survived. Apparently, only a hundred or two died in this confrontation, the rest are either unconscious or too injured to move.

Well, there are also those that are too injured, and most likely won't last until the marines arrive to arrest them.

In a sense, I should feel a bit more discontent about taking these many lives. But I can't help feeling satisfied, as if I just finished a hard day at work.

Did that god do something to alter my thoughts? Or is it truly Enel's memories that affected me?

I remember being a bit more... Lenient with others.

There were times when I was mad at others, there were even times when I got into fights... But nothing to this extent.

I remember the numerous times my students called me out on my cynical nature. There were many points in my life where I acted out of instinct, I let one emotion take over my thought process and ended up in uncomfortable situations.

Even my research, the part where others started calling me a genius, it all felt unwarranted. I was only leaving one single emotion to rule my mind. At the time it was curiosity, it drove me to find out more about the world.

I put a lot of time and dedication into that, with countless hours spent toiling over books in dimly lit rooms.

In retrospect, it wouldn't be surprising if I were to wake up one day in a mental institution. If all of this was a dream in my deluded mind.

But the ones I met in this world, Gan Fall, Wyper, Aisa, and even the Straw Hats, are all real. Not exactly as I remember them from the show, at least not in all aspects, but they are all real.

The days I spent training and the pain I forced myself through were also real. Still, paranoia is present in my mind when I think of what exactly sent me here... That God didn't seem outright well-intentioned.

It's also odd how he seemed to be targeting me. He made his messenger follow me all over the earth until I finally had the courage to stand up to him.

I find this entire situation to be somewhat suspicious.

The god also said Enel's memories wouldn't affect me in any bad way... Well, from the way he said it, I guess it mostly depends on me.

Thing is, I don't feel like Enel's memories and arrogance affect my decision-making or thought process, but they certainly affected me to some extent.

Even with Doflamingo, it felt like I wasn't truly myself when fighting him. A conflict of personality perhaps.

The old Enel wasn't much of a fighter intellectually, he was smart, but not really experienced or all that talented in fighting. But he was a cold-blooded killer that looked at others like they were insignificant.

Maybe I inherited that trait from him? Or maybe it's just my mind trying to rationalize its actions through different means.

Perhaps I am just adapting to this world to the best of my ability. This world is extremely brutal, and being weak is a mortal sin.

One might be able to live peacefully on an island, but peace is nothing but temporary. One pirate crew passing by is all it takes for a peaceful island to be turned upside down.

The pirates on this island were exactly that type, pirates that started sailing the seas just to do whatever they wanted, to fulfil their every desire in a mad spree of decadence and degeneracy, and that was regardless of the wishes and wants of others.

The world won't miss them, but I still shouldn't feel this comfortable taking their lives...

As I stand here, pondering the truth, the sky rang in a melodious chime... On the sea, I could see a projected shadow, an arm stretched, hitting a bell.

I guess Luffy did keep his promise in the end... Ringing the golden bell to tell the people below that the Sky Islands truly existed.

It won't be long before the marines get here, it's good enough that he did that before they arrived, I don't want the world government to know about the sky islands yet...

_________ POV Narration_________

As Enel stood on in his chair, contemplating the situation a bit more, the sky islands were extremely busy.

More specifically, the Shandia Tribe was currently throwing a party, they were rather pleased to learn that they no longer needed to guard the poneglyphs, that they had finally served their purpose.

This only happened after they had greeted the newcomers on the island. Wyper was also there to welcome them, he had received a call from Gan Fall regarding their arrival, and was told not to attack them for no reason and that they meant no harm.

The Straw Hats ended up befriending the tribe after Robin translated the poneglyphs in the city of gold. She didn't expect the tribe to be so accepting of them, in the end, she wasn't able to put Enel's transcribed texts to good use since she was able to study the originals.

But that didn't really matter. She still wanted to speak with him and apologize once more before leaving the island. Thankfully his cabin was also where they had left their boat...

At least that was what she thought before Sanji and Usopp came back with Chopper. They had gone to the ship in order to invite their doctor to the ensuing party.

They were both shocked when they failed to see any trace of Enel's cabin there. Chopper said that it just disappeared at some point when he took his eyes away from it for a minute or two.

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The crew also managed to learn more about Enel...

"He's a complicated fellow... He used to be the ruler of these islands, he was a tyrant for a long time..." Wyper started telling the Straw Hats after a few drinks.

People of the Shandia tribe also gathered around them.

"He didn't feel like a bad person though..." Aisa said from the side.

The little girl did receive an earful for the mess she pulled. She was young, and she lost her concentration and started panicking in that forest, which made her unable to use her Mantra properly.

"What truly happened, Wyper? From my understanding, only you and Gan Fall know..." Rika asked as she sat down beside the Straw Hats.

"He's not the Enel we used to know, that much should be obvious from your small encounter with him..." Wyper decided not to lie to his fellow tribesmen, he also knew that Enel wouldn't truly care about this.

"I guess that's true... Enel would've killed all of us, not before toying with us, by the way." One of the Shandia warriors presents said while scratching the back of his head.

"Yeah... He's not really Enel. Not sure who he is. He said he is an archaeologist or something like that, he had the ability to swap things. He was close to dying in a desert, so he swapped his consciousness randomly and ended up with Enel... At least that's what he told me and Gan Fall."

Wyper didn't hesitate to give them the whole story.

"... How does that make any sense..." Aika said as she scratched the back of her head. Her bewildered face seemed to be replicated by the vast majority of the Shandians watching.

"Who knows? Devil fruits are weird. Even if he's lying, we have no way to tell. But the Enel we knew is dead and gone, that much is for sure."

At this point, the straw hats were also getting a bit confused.

"So... The old Enel used to be some type of tyrant?" Nami asked, she was a bit intrigued by the whole situation.

Luffy just silently listened to everybody. Same for Robin, who was feeling even worse about the misunderstanding she created now...

"Yeah, he was a sadistic son of a bitch. He even destroyed an entire island, which was also the island he was originally from.

He enslaved a lot of our people and prevented us from taking back our homeland for almost 8 years..." Rika said as she looked down a bit, her anger was stirring just remembering what Enel had done.

"Yeah... And the current Enel needs to live with those facts, he probably already moved house since you guys discovered him." Wyper said as he took another swig of his drink.

"That's... Not fair." Aisa said as she looked down with sadness.

"Well, it's true that it's not his fault for the actions of past Enel, but he also is mature enough to understand that trying to repair his reputation is a waste of time."

"So that's why he's just been in hiding for the last few months?" One of the other Shandia Warriors ended up asking.

"Well, yes. Enel now has different goals, he's a lot more driven. We trained a few times, and I can tell with certainty that he's a better fighter than Enel used to be, that's without even using his devil fruit..."

Wyper laughed a bit as he remembered the many times he was beaten to the ground by a golden staff. Even barehanded, Enel was able to deal with him rather easily after a while.

"This would've been nice to know beforehand..." Rika said, the irritation in her tone making Wyper rise his brow a bit.

"Well, not like he would blame any of you for attacking."

"That just makes it worse." One of the warriors said with some sweat on his brow.

The straw hats also started feeling a bit bad about judging Enel so quickly.

"... But he still made our crewmate really uncomfortable! Isn't that right Robin?" Sanji ended up bringing it up. Wyper looked a bit confused at that.

"Actually... He didn't do anything bad... I was mostly like that due to my own inadequacies. Enel is really similar to me, I guess that made me a bit emotional..." Robin said while looking at the ground in shame.

"... So that was also a misunderstanding? Why didn't you tell us sooner?!" Luffy said with a frown.

"I was going to tell you all about it, and more, when we got back to the ship... I figured we'd still have time to talk to him again... Who knows where he ended up now though..." Robin said with a sigh.

"... I guess it was just bad luck then," Zoro said as he took a sip from his drink.

Luffy also smiled when hearing his first mate. He seemed to be filled with a strange amount of determination.

"Yeah! I'm sure we'll run into him again. I'll have him join my crew next time." Luffy's usual smile returned as Nami sighed in exasperation.

The party continued after that.

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Eyy, the first chapter of the day! I will upload a second one a bit later, currently am at work (but I slack a lot so I have time to write stuff).

If u want to support me look up VeganMaster on Patre_on, you'd also get 10 chapters in advance (or 5 depending on tier)

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