Upon hearing this.
Nao's gaze froze for a moment, his expression turning a little strange.
He quietly turned his head and exchanged a peculiar look with Gion, Shia and the others beside him.
A blue dragon that could control lightning?
The seas were vast and full of wonders. On remote, sparsely inhabited islands, many ancient and mysterious races still survived. For example, Little Garden was home to all sorts of dinosaurs.
So, encountering a flying dragon on the seas wasn't that unusual.
But this dragon could control lightning—and with such terrifying power that it could kill two Sea Kings…
Only the Rumble-Rumble Fruit (Goro Goro no Mi) could explain that.
Sometimes fate really was strange… Nao looked at Seven, who was still lost in nostalgic memory, and couldn't help but feel a twinge of emotion.
Originally, he thought that even if the Rumble-Rumble Fruit truly existed on Enel's home island, finding it would take a long time—and most likely he would return empty-handed.
But who could have guessed that, in the distant Spring Queen's City, thousands of miles away—
By sympathizing with a little beggar, and launching an investigation from that incident, he would accidentally pinpoint the exact whereabouts of the Rumble-Rumble Fruit?
Perhaps this was what people meant when they said good deeds bring good fortune.
"Do you know where that dragon went after saving you all?"
Nao asked again.
The fruit's owner was basically confirmed, but if the flying dragon was just passing by and didn't have a permanent residence, it would still be quite difficult to find it.
"Where it went?"
Seven froze, then shook his head. "It didn't leave. It stayed on that deserted island. The locals there said the dragon only flew in from somewhere else about a year ago. It drove off a group of invading pirates for them, so they worshipped it as a god. Since then, it's been settled there."
"As for now, I can't say. After we settled in Spring Queen's City, we never went back. Haven't seen it in over half a year."
He racked his brain to recall, then hesitated before adding:
"But the dragon was pretty solitary and quiet. The locals said it usually just stayed holed up in its nest, didn't like seeing outsiders. Only occasionally did it go out for a flight. So it probably hasn't left…"
"A shut-in dragon, huh…"
Nao mused. That was, without a doubt, the best possible scenario.
Even if half a year had passed and the dragon might have left, the trail was clear enough. There was no way he wouldn't go take a look.
"Do you remember the approximate location of that deserted island?" Nao looked at him and said. "A sea chart would be even better."
"I don't remember."
Seven shook his head.
Nao's brow furrowed slightly.
"But I have an Eternal Pose." Seven scratched his head again. "We stayed on that island for a few days, and the magnetic field just happened to fill up the Pose's record. If you want it, I can go get it for you now."
Can't you just say it all at once? You have to take a big breath... Nao's eye twitched. He almost couldn't hold back the urge to beat the guy up again.
"Go get it."
"Yes, sir."
Seven quickly nodded, but as he got up, he couldn't resist asking curiously:
"You're looking for that dragon… is it because you're bored of sightseeing here in the city, so you wanna find it just to have a fight for fun?"
"That's not something you need to worry about."
Nao chuckled, giving him a light pat on the cheek. "Go get the log pose. The sky's almost bright. Be sure to catch up on some sleep during the day—if everything goes smoothly, by this time tomorrow, you'll already be at a Marine base, starting your delightful new recruit training."
Huh? We still have to do recruit training?!
Seven's expression instantly collapsed, turning into a bitter melon face on the spot.
Noxia couldn't help but chuckle.
This guy might have been born a pampered rich second-generation, but in terms of organizational skills, he was quite talented. If he joined the Marines and truly reformed himself, shedding that lazy, gluttonous attitude…
Mm, he'd actually make a pretty good seedling—perhaps even capable of leading a strong unit at some local branch in the future.
———
In the original travel plan, Noxia and the others were supposed to spend at least three or four days enjoying Spring Queen's Citybefore heading to their next famous tourist destination—Water 7.
But now that they had unexpectedly discovered the whereabouts of the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, Nao decided to change the plan on the spot to avoid letting the opportunity slip away.
"Brother Issho, until fate brings us together again!"
At dawn, on the docks, a few figures waved with smiles, while the blind swordsman on deck turned his head and returned their gesture with a kind, honest smile.
After seeing off Fujitora, who was taking the children to the orphanage, Nao swam out to sea, taking Little Luo with him. The man and the eagle headed toward the deserted island at top speed.
The women, meanwhile, split off for the moment, taking Sadaharu ahead to Water 7 to wait for him there.
Speaking of which—
The distance between these two famous cities wasn't far. The round trip would only take about a week.
And in the near future, after the sea train is opened, the Spring Queen's City will become one of the first pilot routes, and that number will be halved.
———
Relying on the Eternal Pose, Nao arrived at the deserted island that Seven had mentioned four days later, without any trouble along the way.
That speed was far faster than any speedboat… after all, master-level swimming wasn't for show.
The island was much larger than Nao expected, its coastline stretching beyond sight. Even with his current Observation Haki fully expanded, he could only cover a small portion of it.
After changing clothes on the shore, slurping down five large bowls of snail noodles and gnawing on over a dozen pieces of fried chicken, Nao restored his stamina and stepped onto the island with great interest.
"Now, where exactly does that dragon make its nest…"
As he walked into the island, all around him was dense forest, towering ancient trees everywhere.
Thick roots and vines tangled together, the air heavy with moisture. Everything here seemed untouched for ages—even the earthy smell in the soil carried a trace of ancientness.
"Mushrooms taller than me… beehives big enough to stuff a person inside… dragonflies the size of helicopters…"
Leaping through the forest, Nao clicked his tongue in wonder. It really felt like walking into Jurassic Park. He was gaining all kinds of new sights. "Everything here is in its most primitive state—kinda reminds me of Little Garden."
But there was a difference. Little Garden had no humans, only two giants still clashing after a hundred years of battle.
Here, Nao hadn't gone far before being blocked by more than ten spear-wielding, dark-skinned natives, their heads adorned with grass crowns.
"Jili… hasta guru…!"
A completely unintelligible tongue. The dark-skinned natives glared up at him with eyes full of suspicion. Clearly, they were patrol warriors from the local tribe, and they saw Nao as a hostile intruder.
"Wakanda forever?"
Nao looked down at the tribesmen, raising his hands to show he bore no malice. He flashed his straight white teeth and tried to smile his way into communication.
Unfortunately, his charm seemed useless here—their sense of beauty was… different. All he got back were fiercer growls and spears pressing ever closer.
Well… no choice, then.
Nao shook his head. It looked like they wanted him to kneel and surrender. He didn't want to waste too much time here, nor did he wish to hurt them.
So, with a thought, he prepared to unleash his Conqueror's Haki to knock them out.
But just then—
In the distance within the forest, thick smoke suddenly rose. Through the gaps in the trees, faint flickers of firelight could be seen…
A fire somewhere?
Nao's eyes flickered with surprise. He was just about to sweep the area with Observation Haki when the dark-skinned tribesmen surrounding him suddenly changed expressions. After chattering among themselves in their strange tongue, the patrol captain gave Nao a fierce glare, then quickly led the others rushing toward the column of smoke.
That urgent, huh…
Watching their backs disappear, Nao arched a brow. After a brief thought, he decided to follow closely.
About two kilometers later, the surrounding trees gradually thinned, and a winding stream appeared before his eyes.
On both sides of the stream stood rows of old, dilapidated huts. Now, flames soared into the sky, and the cries of women and children echoed through the air.
The men of the tribe were desperately carrying water in containers from the stream, trying to fight the fire. The patrol team that had just returned also rushed to help.
But the fire was too strong—the water scooped from the stream couldn't even suppress the blaze.
"This is a bit troublesome…"
Nao frowned slightly. As a master swordsman, if there weren't people inside the huts, he was confident he could extinguish the fire completely using his Wind Sword techniques, no matter how fierce the blaze.
But with people trapped inside, swinging his blade was bound to risk harming someone…
Should I help save people first?
Hmm, wait a minute!
Nao suddenly remembered something. He slapped his forehead as his eyes lit up. How could I have forgotten about that thing?
With a thought, he pulled open his system inventory and glanced at the inventory slot—where he had tossed aside the Boruto manga after skimming a few chapters and finding it boring.
Forty-five chapters, more than six hundred pages. Nao quickly pulled out two chapters—around thirty pages—held them in his hand, and shredded them to bits.
Then, in a blur of motion, he scattered the shredded manga pages over the fiercest flames. At the same time, he swooped in and rescued several wailing children trapped inside the huts.
Zzzt—
The effect was immediate. By the time Nao carried the kids back out, the fire throughout the village was already shrinking visibly, and within two minutes it had died down completely.
"Phew…"
As expected of a rule-level non-flammable item. Even though Nao had anticipated this, seeing it with his own eyes still left him impressed.
Damn, this fire-extinguishing effect is too good.
He jokingly thought the Whitebeard Pirates should immediately contact him, buy up a bulk supply, and by the time of Summit War, have every man carry a page on his head as a shield against Akainu's Meteor Volcano.
His intervention had been perfectly timed. All the elderly and children trapped in the flames were rescued. Aside from a few huts collapsing, not a single life in the tribe had been lost.
The rescued children collapsed on the ground in shock, only for their families to rush over, hugging them tightly, laughing and crying with tears streaming down their faces.
The children pointed at Nao and said something. Their mothers blinked in surprise, then quickly crawled forward, kowtowing to Nao again and again.
That kind of reverence made Nao uncomfortable. He hurriedly helped the women back to their feet. But as soon as he stood up, he saw the patrol warriors, led by those spear-wielding brutes, approaching and surrounding him.
Their faces were filled with complex emotions—reverence mixed with shame. After a deep look at him, they too knelt down one after another, pressing their foreheads to the ground.
It was clear that they had seen Nao follow them and put out the fire to save them.
There are too many of them.How can I help a few hundred of them up? Nao was in a difficult situation. He was about to quietly slip away when an old voice suddenly came from behind him.
"Young benefactor, let them kneel. This is how they show gratitude, and you are worthy of such respect."
Turning his head, Nao saw a white-haired elder with dreadlocks slowly walking over with the aid of a cane. His body was stooped, his face covered in deep wrinkles—he must have been eighty or ninety years old.
"And you are…?"
Nao was slightly surprised.
"I am the elder of this tribe, Ampu. Do not be surprised, benefactor. In my younger years I once sailed beyond the sea for several years, so I know a little of the outside world's language."
The white-haired old man placed his hand on his chest and bowed to him shakily.
"Thank you for your righteous actions. If it weren't for you, half of the children in the tribe would have gone to see the God of the Sky and Forest today..."
"It was nothing. I just happened to be there. There's no need to take it to heart."
Nao smiled. Inwardly, things became clearer. He had wondered earlier—if the island's natives were so isolated and their language so different, how had Seven learned those details?
It seemed clear now that it must have been from this Elder Ampu.
By then, the tribesfolk had finished showing their gratitude according to their custom of kneeling. At the elder's instruction, they brought out the best food the tribe had to offer to honor their guest.
Nao had already filled his stomach earlier and intended to politely decline. But when one of the women respectfully set down a container brimming with food, his eyes caught something on its surface—faint markings that had been scraped and smeared away.
Though blurred, with his keen eyesight it wasn't hard for him to make out the design: a massive dragon with its wings spread wide.
"This must be the God of Sky and Forest you just mentioned, Elder Ampu?"
He turned curiously to the stooped, white-haired old man and asked, puzzled:
"My friend passed through here before, and told me your people revered this god greatly. Why, then, has the image been wiped away?"