"Kid, you win!"
"Hmph! Who exactly are you? Why aren't you wearing wings?"
"I'm from the Blue Sea. I don't need wings!"
"Blue Sea? What's the Blue Sea?"
'Uh...'
Hammer fell silent again.
'This really was still just a clueless child.'
'Forget it.'
Once he, Hammer, took away the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, Enel would lose the foundation needed to destroy Birka and seize Upper Yard anyway.
Thinking this, Hammer no longer bothered with him and turned around to head toward Birka's harbor.
"Hey! Get back here!"
"Damn it! You barge into my territory and think you can just leave?!"
The hot-blooded young Enel leaped forward with his wooden stick and charged toward Hammer.
"Tekkai!"
Sensing the incoming attack, Hammer didn't even bother turning his head as he muttered softly.
Illusionary tekkai activated!
CRACK!
Faced with hardness like iron, the wooden stick shattered instantly upon impact.
Enel froze in shock.
"How is that possible..."
"How is it not possible? Kid, there's a lot in this world you still don't know."
Hammer slowly turned around, a mocking grin appearing at the corner of his mouth.
"Sleep, kid."
Duang
Hammer Hypnosis activated.
The rhythmic hammering instantly surged into Enel's mind.
Very quickly, Enel fell asleep.
Looking at the unconscious Enel collapsed on the ground, Hammer turned and left without another glance.
...
After waiting for quite a while, the Warhammer finally approached Birka.
pururu puru
"Hey, Lance, have you arrived yet?"
"Good! I'm heading over right now!"
Hammer didn't want to wait even a second longer.
He immediately pulled out a flying sword and shot toward the Warhammer.
The moment he landed on deck, a crowd surrounded him.
"Hammer, are you alright? That slash from Roger?"
Lance immediately voiced the question everyone had been wondering about.
After all, that had been a full-power attack from Roger.
"Hmph, that bastard Roger! That slash hurt like hell."
"Look, there's still a mark on my chest!"
As he spoke, Hammer exposed the now-scabbed-over slash wound on his chest.
Roger's strike had already been weakened multiple times before reaching him.
And the Cloud Armor had also defended him at the end.
Ultimately, the injury wasn't too serious.
"Alright, enough about me."
"Lance, change course. Head toward the deep White-White Sea behind Birka."
Hearing this, Lance was shocked.
During their month in the Skypiea, he had learned just how dangerous the White-White Sea was.
It was an endless sea of clouds.
Venturing into it recklessly was extremely dangerous.
"I know what you want to say."
"But the thing I'm searching for should be somewhere deep within the White-White Sea."
Hammer sounded extremely certain.
After all, he had already explored Birka itself.
There was no moon ship there nor the Rumble-Rumble Fruit.
Which meant the ship was most likely stranded somewhere in the White-White Sea.
And the Rumble-Rumble Fruit had to be aboard it.
"Fine. Your call."
"Besides, with you acting as the engine, we can always rush back out."
Thus, the Warhammer began advancing toward the White-White Sea behind Birka.
Their speed was very slow.
....
Hammer stood at the bow.
"Shirley, keep a close watch on the surroundings."
"If you spot anything large, report it immediately!"
Besides Hammer himself, Shirley also served as lookout.
No one knew how much time passed.
Eventually, everyone became numb from staring endlessly at nothing but white clouds.
"FOUND IT!"
Suddenly, Hammer's shout snapped everyone awake.
"Found what??"
Lance quickly rushed to Hammer's side.
Meanwhile, Hammer pointed forward while laughing wildly.
Within the vast White-White Sea, a gigantic ship silhouette appeared faintly amidst the clouds.
The moment everyone saw it, they were stunned.
'A was a ship?'
'It was way too huge!'
'And its design looked incredibly strange.'
"Lance! Move toward that giant ship!"
The Warhammer slowly approached the colossal vessel.
"That's it!"
Looking at the giant ship before him, Hammer's lips curled upward into a grin.
The ship was unbelievably massive.
Even the Warhammer looked tiny beside it.
The Marines simply couldn't imagine such a ship existing in this world.
"Everyone except the remaining guards, board the ship!"
"Be careful while exploring. Don't trigger any traps."
"Lance, Shirley, Gion, Tokikake, you each lead a team and protect the soldiers."
"Hina, you're with me."
Soon, hundreds of Marines boarded the giant vessel and began exploring.
The interior space was enormous, large enough to hold thousands of people.
What was suspicious was that despite the ship's immense size, there wasn't a single person aboard.
Hammer, however, remained completely calm.
This was just a wrecked ship.
There was nothing here.
Well, nothing except the supposedly strongest Logia Devil Fruit: the Rumble-Rumble Fruit.
Hammer quickly led Hina through the main hall and deeper into the ship's interior.
The moment he pushed open a large door, golden light nearly blinded them.
"My god... so much treasure!"
Hina's eyes also hurt from the overwhelming shine, but once she adjusted, she was utterly stunned by the treasure before her.
The entire room was filled with gold and jewels.
Hammer had absolutely zero interest in any of that wealth.
His gaze locked directly onto an exquisitely crafted treasure chest sitting amidst the gold.
Step by step, he walked across the treasure piles toward the chest.
"HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"
"What gold and jewels?! Worthless trash!"
"THIS is the true treasure!"
The treasure chest opened.
Inside lay a lightning-patterned Devil Fruit.
"A Devil Fruit? Something like this exists in a place like this?"
Hina was instantly drawn over by Hammer's laughter and also saw the fruit.
Hammer grabbed the fruit in one hand.
The next second, he dragged Hina and sprinted out of the room.
"LANCE! YOU BASTARD! WHERE ARE YOU?!"
"GET OVER HERE RIGHT NOW!"
"HAHAHAHAHA! I FOUND SOMETHING AMAZING FOR YOU!"
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
Hammer's crazed laughter echoed throughout the entire giant ship.
Lance helplessly shook his head, then saw Hammer sprinting toward him.
One hand held the bizarre fruit.
The other dragged Hina along.
"Hammer, what are you doing?!"
"Let go of Hina already! Look at her-"
"BLEEEEGH!"
"@#!$!@%!#"
"What the hell is this?! It tastes horrible! Like shit!"
"PTUI!"
Before Lance could even understand what was happening, Hammer suddenly stuffed the entire Rumble-Rumble Fruit straight into Lance's mouth.
Then, using brute force, he helped him chew it before clamping his mouth shut and forcing him to swallow.
Lance's face instantly turned the color of a bitter melon.
Bent over, he dry-heaved violently.
Hammer's actions immediately drew every Marine soldier nearby.
"Hammer... what exactly did you do to Lance? Never expected you to be into this kind of thing."
teased them shamelessly with a smug grin.
Hammer ignored him completely.
Under everyone's stunned gazes, he pulled out a Marine saber.
"WAIT, HAMMER! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"
"OH MY GOD!"
The next second, everyone was horrified.
SHNK!
Without even hesitating, Hammer drove the saber straight into Lance's chest all the way to the hilt.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"
That insane laughter rang out once more.