Ron had no idea what was happening outside the shrine. Currently, his hand was the only thing left of his body which was grabbing the old man's neck. The restless lightning that was surging outside was actually created after his body scattered. This was the result of him losing control over the excessive power which was flowing within him.
Very soon, this strange appearance of Ron disappeared as threads of flickering lightning twisted and entwined together to form an outline of his appearance. Finally, the overflowing lightning that was scattered outside returned to him and once again formed his body.
And such, there was not a trace of lightning left anywhere; except for one area.
ZiZi!
"...Ah!!"
Ron's arm that had been transformed into thunder, surged with intense lightning once again.This action of Ron caused the old man to twitch uncontrollably from the effect of the lightning; at the same time, his mouth also opened wide and his skin started effusing a burnt smell.
Being able to persevere for so long without dying, this old man was undoubtedly qualified to be the first guinea pig for Ron's power.
"The ability of Logia users to transform into any specific element was unexpectedly a passive skill. No wonder they were called invincible in the early stages. Not only that, but this skill could also be fully controlled by the user. Using it, they could easily turn into a material existence as they desired," Ron slowly pondered as he rubbed his chin with his hand.
"Furthermore, if the user could not control their ability properly, it would indeed become a problem; as assembling back together after being scattered over a large area also ate stamina. After all, assembling back together was also an ability of the fruit, and as a result, would eat up the user's stamina. Therefore, even if I have the ability of elemental transformation, I still cannot let my guard down."
Ron had plenty of time to avoid that frontal attack after he got the Goro Goro no Mi. Even if he hadn't learned the ability to teleport within the electromagnetic field that Enel had in the original work, the speed of lightning itself was not to be underestimated.
But he still faced the attack head-on. It was to test out some of the issues that he was curious about before. Everything was for the sake of gathering data that he needed to further develop the fruit's ability someday.
If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.
As a person who had crossed over, Ron had already achieved the 'know your enemy' part. But as someone who had just acquired the Devil Fruit's ability, he still hadn't achieved the 'know yourself' part.
ZiZiZi!
The unconscious old man could only let out a passive scream as Ron increased the power of lightning in his hand once again. At this point, the old man had no ability to resist as foam started coming out of his mouth. As Ron saw this, he once again gained some new data.
"…..A fruit's power not only depends on the degree of development it has but also on the user's physical strength. I have just received the Goro Goro no Mi, and the degree of development is basically zero. So at the moment, the power of lightning is all from my body's strength."
"At the present time, even fifty percent of my power is not enough to kill this person. After all, this is a superhuman who withstood the recoil force from an attack of that extent with sacrificing only one arm. An ordinary person, on the other hand, would only be able to endure at most a ten percent of my power….."
Although the Impact Dial was not as good as the legendary Reject Dial, its recoil was still very frightening. This was the reason that this Dial was classified as a supervised weapon in Birka.
While it was able to release a huge destructive power, it was also extremely harmful to its users. Just one use of this Dial could destroy the body of any ordinary person, and could make them disabled for life.
Adequate proof of the old man's strength was the fact that he had survived the recoil force from the 'MAX' attack with only one crippled arm.
Only...
"Ten percent of my power...."
Ron sighed.
"My words might make it seem like I could dominate the world, but I still have a long way to go if I want to catch up with to Enel's level from the original work."
There were an innumerable amount of monsters inside the One Piece World. A force that would be regarded as fatal for a person back on Earth could only be considered common in the Blue Sea. In fact, it would be considered common even in the East Blue, the weakest amongst all of the Four Blues. As for the gap between the East Blue and this world's summit, it was self-evident,to say the least.
Crunch!
Ron slightly loosened his grip as he let go of the old man who had already transformed into charred coke. Arcs formed between his fingers as he then used a burst of lightning at a hundred percent of his powers on the old man's brittle corpse. As a result, the lightning disintegrated the corpse into pieces as it fell onto the ground and turned into ash.
"MAX? I thought that little girl from the Keikain House took a wrong turn!" [TL Note: This is a reference to the Yura MAX from the Nurarihyon no Mago.]
A disdainful smile appeared on Ron's face as he patted the dust off his clothes, and then lifted his head to look outside.
"...Tch, they sure ran away fast."
All of the Skypiean soldiers who had seen that strange lightning believed that it was the result of their Thundergod getting angry. Therefore, they all abandoned their weapons without any hesitation and ran away. By the time Ron came out after dealing with the old man, not a single soul was left outside. As he was not familiar with anyone in this world yet, he could not recognize any of the soldiers. So, unless he wasted time killing all of the soldier squadrons, he had to let them go!
As for why it was a waste of time...
GuGu!
A deep and low sound of thunder resounded in the ruins. This sound was not from the Goro Goro no Mi but from Ron's stomach instead. He hadn't eaten anything for one whole day, and on top of it, he did all that large amount of movement and physical work; the grumbling of his stomach was an expected result, to say the least...
"I am starving!"
As he swept his eyes inside the shrine, he noticed the golden dish full of offerings placed on top of the table. The offerings were a bunch of thumb-sized purple fruits that looked very fresh, tender, and tasty. Ron's stomach was already empty, so he did not care what the fruit was as he picked up the golden dish and poured all its contents in his mouth.
The fruits going in his stomach eventually made him sated as he finally let out a comfortable sigh. Done with filling his stomach, he then started thinking about his next course of action.
"I am full. Now, what should I do?"
Stay in Skypiea and become like that Dugu Qiubai character? Imitate Enel and rule Birka, or even the whole Skypiea, using the power of Goro Goro no Mi?
This way of thinking was very childish and was definitely not something that Ron would consider, given his nature. Although he had the tendency to constantly challenge himself, sitting around just waiting for death to come was something he would never do.
"Oh, that's right! I can go to the Blue Sea!"
Ron's eyes lit up as he thought of that. Skypiea was merely a small corner in the One Piece World. Even the total area of the Birka 'Kingdom' was not comparable to some of the second-rate cities on earth.
So, it could only be the vast and wide Blue Sea!
The Great age of Pirates; the age which was known for the pirates surging forward with their thousand sails unfurled was something that had piqued Ron's interest.
"But how do I get to the Blue Sea?"
Ron frowned as he looked down towards the hole in the shrine while floating up high. His decision was already made; the only thing left now was some technical issues.
Skypiea was at least 5000 meters above the sea level. This altitude made it impossible for any ordinary person to arrive here.
Although Ron could disregard the physical damage because of his Logia ability and jump down, he was still afraid of the seawater down below. He might not die from falling, but he would definitely die from drowning.
"Enel didn't have any wings and was suspected to be a Blue Sea person. Perhaps, he knows what to do….."
Ron lifted his head as his body started changing rapidly, and soon, he disappeared with a flash of lightning.
Enel was currently sitting outside the perimeter wall of the shrine with both his hands hugging his knees. The lightning earlier had scared him so much that he was completely shivering from up to down.
Just at this moment, thunder and lightning started twisting together with a crackling echo and formed a human shape in front of Enel. A very small amount of lightning even hit his hand as he stood up in pain and stared at Ron's figure with a stupefied expression.
This was not teleportation. This was merely the speed of the Goro Goro no Mi ability user after the elemental transformation. Yet, for an ordinary person, this speed was not any different from teleportation.
Ron, with his upper part as a human and the lower part still as lightning, started talking with an indifferent expression on his face.
"Let me ask you Enel, do you know how to get to the Blue Sea?"
Enel was still staring at Ron with a blank expression like his soul had not returned yet. Compared to the other two types of fruit, Logia was something that people could not accept easily. For them, the Logia user seemed very similar to a devil. Ron was well aware of this fact, and that was why he did not care about Enel's expression.
The only thing was that he didn't consider the amount of pressure Enel's heart was enduring because of his actions. His sudden appearance in the empty sky, as well as the killing intent that Ron had revealed earlier; these were things that Enel just could not bear!
Just a second later, Enel's eyes opened wide and his pupils constricted as he stared at Ron with the corner of his mouth twitching in a frantic manner. Then, under Ron's stupefied gaze, he opened his mouth and started laughing like a crazy fool.
"Ha…..Hahaha! Monster, I saw a monster!"
"I'm not a freak. He is! Hahahaha!"
Soon after, he started jumping and making threatening gestures.
Enel was not really a cold-blooded and a heartless person. His brutal behavior in the future was actually the result of being oppressed and bullied for years before getting the Goro Goro no Mi. Everything that he had experienced at that time had slowly accumulated and pushed him towards the dark side.
In other words, his mind was very fragile and unstable. One bit of deviation, and he could either become a saint or a butcher.
At this moment, Enel did not run away like the soldiers earlier. It was not that he couldn't find a place to run to, but rather, his mental state had already collapsed. There was only a difference of one line between him and a madman right now.
Unfortunately, Ron's exaggerated figure became the last straw that broke the camel's back. The majestic "Thundergod" Enel of the original work first ended up peeing in his trousers, and then, was scared senseless by Ron again…..
"This black pot….."
Ron's both feet condensed back from lightning as he stepped onto the clouds and looked at Enel's stupid appearance. Ron then silently turned his gaze at the sky: "Sorry, Enel's fans on earth."
"Not good!"
Just at this moment, Ron felt a sudden burst of heat rising from his stomach which made him feel like he was standing beside a furnace. At the same time, he also started feeling a sharp pain in his heart and lungs.
"Shit! Were the fruits poisonous?!"
They even used the poisonous stuff for God's offerings???
Ron grabbed his stomach hard as his body curled up and his skin started turning red.
The heat that had suddenly engulfed his body made him sweat like he was standing under the intense sun of the summer season. The pain became so unbearable that Ron had to lean against the walls on the island clouds for support. His eyes were already bloodshot as he panted hard, breathing in big mouthfuls of air.
To flare up this fast, it must have been extremely poisonous!
But at this point, there was no way to stop it. The only thing Ron could do was to resist it with his body.
Pi Ka!
As the heat tormented his body, a lightning bolt of an arm's thickness suddenly burst out of his skin and scorched the ground in front of him; resultantly, it created a charred hollow area which gave out a foul smell. The pain in Ron's stomach was becoming much worse and was increasing even more as he suddenly pulled open his zipper and crouched down.
Hua La La!