CHAPTER 66: 66 RETURN TO WATER 7, NEW ARMOR

"Lightning Smelt—Gold!"

Bzzzzz...

One day, amid the ruins of the Upper Yard temple.

Standing before the half-finished Ark Maxim, Carl used the Rumble-Rumble Fruit’s electrothermal power to melt parts of the ark into lumps of gold, then condensed the gold into spheres and set them out across the plaza among the ruins.

"Wow... that ability is so convenient. I’ll never need to buy gold jewelry again!"

Watching Carl use Lightning Smelt, Nami’s eyes sparkled.

"True. If we want jewelry, we can just have Carl cast it for us," Karina nodded in agreement.

"Don’t worry. From now on, gold jewelry won’t need me to lift a finger—nor Little White."

Though he was focused on melting Ark Maxim, Carl’s ever-open, newly heightened Observation Haki heard Karina and Nami. He turned and gave Karina a meaningful smile.

His gaze lingered the longest on Nami.

The black stone coffin’s ability to force a Devil Fruit’s power to reincarnate within a certain area had been confirmed.

So had Carl’s wager—he and the Little Dragon had both become Rumble-Rumble Fruit users.

Next came boosting the weakest fighter in the crew, Nami.

If Carl and the Little Dragon didn’t share a bond, the perfect user for the Rumble-Rumble Fruit would, without doubt, be Nami with her world-best talent for weather.

But now, with Carl and the dragon sharing it at more than double effect, that fruit was taken.

Beyond the Rumble-Rumble, Carl knew of another Devil Fruit that fit Nami perfectly—

Perhaps an even better fit.

That fruit already had an owner, somewhere in the New World.

With the black coffin in hand, Carl made that person his next target.

"Carl, should we take the Golden Bell too?"

After all the gold spheres were hauled onto the large three-masted ship, Karina asked.

"...Take it. I’ll have a ship of island size someday—the Golden Bell can be a decoration."

"Great! The Golden Bell is the true priceless treasure," Nami cheered.

"But it’s so huge—can we even fit it?"

Robin spoke up softly. "If we melt it down, that would be far too wasteful."

"Just put it on the deck."

Leaping onto the enlarged Blue-Eyes White Dragon, Carl looked at the four women and smiled with confidence. "As I am now, even being high-profile is nothing to fear."

Zzzap—

In a flash of lightning, Carl and the dragon vanished from sight.

"What a cool teleport."

"No matter how many times I see it, that looks like cheating."

"With Carl’s godspeed plus that ’teleport,’ isn’t he the fastest man on the sea now?"

"Pfft... as expected of you. Perona, if Carl hears this, he’ll definitely show you tonight just how strong he is."

"He probably heard it... our captain really is like a god now—omniscient."

"Ufufufu... welcome aboard, Perona!"

"???"

Perona was all question marks.

Soon, Carl and the Blue-Eyes White Dragon returned, carrying a bell cast entirely of gold.

Boom!

They dropped the Golden Bell on the deck, and the entire ship shuddered.

It stood about twenty meters tall, its width even more astonishing, occupying over half the deck.

Compared to the bell’s bulk, the Poneglyph slab at its base—taller than Robin and Carl—looked tiny.

Its tonnage was immense.

Just as Nami said:

The Golden Bell was truly priceless.

And now that priceless treasure belonged to them.

Sailing away from Upper Yard, the crew headed straight for the cloud route off the sky island.

During the thirteen days Carl searched the sky island, Karina had visited Angel Island and bought loads of sky island specialties.

Now they were returning fully laden.

At the end of the cloud route, Carl bought a whistle from a gatekeeper like the one at Heaven’s Gate—a whistle that could summon an octopus balloon.

As their ship left the end of the cloud road and began to fall—

Carl blew the whistle, and an "express octopus" shot out of the clouds.

Its massive tentacles gripped the large three-masted ship tight, turning a plummeting fall into a gentle, hot-air-balloon descent.

They pierced the cumulus and, in just over ten minutes, settled onto the blue Blue Sea.

When the sky-island octopus exhaled, shrank, and hopped into the sea, Nami took out the Log Pose for Water 7 and set course for the shipwrights’ holy land.

A few days later.

The large three-masted ship returned to the island of its birth.

As the ship bearing the Golden Bell sailed into Water 7’s port, it caused an instant sensation on the docks—

And the commotion swiftly spread through the whole city.

"Hey, hey... is that for real? Is that bell made of gold?"

"Q-quit joking. How much gold would it take to cast a bell that big?"

"With a bell like that, who are those people?!"

"Th—the dragon. I know it! The owner of that bell is the Dragon Knight, Carl!"

"The world’s number one bounty hunter—why would someone like him be in Water 7?!"

...

Under countless stares, Carl’s crew disembarked and headed for the central street of Water 7.

"Carl, shouldn’t we leave someone to guard the ship?"

On their way to a Yagara-bull rental, Nami fretted.

"Relax. The Rumble-Rumble Fruit is even stronger than you think."

Like a noble scion, Carl draped an arm over Karina’s and Nami’s shoulders and smiled.

Though he was a warrior who’d become a Rumble-Rumble user, he wasn’t going to walk Enel’s path.

Still, he didn’t mind playing ’mage’ now and then.

If anyone got greedy for the Golden Bell on their deck and made a move—

They’d be greeted by God’s Judgment.

Clearly, the world isn’t short on fools.

Even knowing the ship belonged to the world’s number one bounty hunter, some dogs would do anything for money. Seeing a twenty-meter bell, they charged the ship, eyes green with envy.

Crack... RUMBLE!

Before they reached the hull, bolts the size of a man speared down from the sky, turning the greedy into charred husks.

Carl didn’t even make them witness the true God’s Judgment at the docks.

Even so, a weakened Storm of a Hundred Thunders from above was enough to cow the rest—their greed intact but their courage gone.

Thunder shook the air; fear sobered their hearts.

Riding Yagara-bulls to the city center, the crew skipped the hotel and went straight to a well-reviewed blacksmith.

"Boss, is my armor finished?"

"Sir, you’re finally back! Your custom set was completed months ago."

New armor.

Carl’s old knight armor had been shattered in his fight with Rayleigh.

So before heading to Long Ring Long Land, he’d commissioned a batch of new sets at a famous Water 7 forge.

When Carl put on the new armor, his aura shifted again—Perona’s gaze turned dreamy.

In her eyes, he was a fairytale prince on a white horse—sunny and handsome.

The new knight armor differed from the old.

The materials and craftsmanship were better, and Carl had a little dragon emblem engraved on the chest. The blue cape was lengthened and thickened slightly.

"Good thing I kept the smith’s number, or these suits would’ve gone to waste."

Karina elbowed him, grinning. "In half a year you’ve grown to nearly one-ninety. We didn’t need so many suits—another year or two and they won’t fit."

"No matter. I’ve memorized the pattern."

Carl grinned. "If it stops fitting, I’ll reshape it with Lightning Smelt."

"Logias are just too convenient!"

The girls all looked at him with envy.

After picking up the armor, they restocked food and fresh water and left Water 7 that same day.

At Carl’s insistence.

News of the Golden Bell had spread through the city.

If they didn’t leave, the CP9 agents embedded at the Galley-La Company might start digging.

If they tried to examine the Poneglyph beneath the bell, they might investigate Carl.

Those flies had sharp intelligence networks—they might uncover Robin’s identity, maybe even pick up rumors of the Rumble-Rumble Fruit.

Blueno, with the Door-Door Fruit, might even make a move on the gold inside the large three-masted ship.

Carl didn’t care about those flies—

But he didn’t want the Navy and Mary Geoise hounding them before they reached the Sabaody Archipelago.

Once they reached the New World, his next plan would unfold.

Shifting from bounty hunter to pirate didn’t bother Carl at all.

For now, though, he wouldn’t stir up trouble needlessly.

He didn’t know this yet, but even if he didn’t cause trouble—

Trouble would come to him.

Fools are endless.

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