(Sss—damn, it hurts. Am I... injured?)
(No, how could I possibly be injured? I am the invincible "God"!)
(But if that's the case, why does my body feel like it's in so much pain?)
(What happened?)
(What the hell happened back then?!)
Plagued by these questions, Enel—who had been unconscious for an unknown amount of time—dizzily opened his eyes. The first thing he saw was an unfamiliar ceiling.
"Where is this?"
Enel was stunned. He scanned his surroundings and found himself in a small, strange room. The décor couldn't even begin to compare to his magnificent shrine, and judging by the furniture—which was styled completely differently from anything in Skypiea—this place was clearly not the Sky Island.
"What exactly happened? How did I end up in a place like this?"
Enel tried his best to recall the events leading up to this, but his brain felt like total mush. He couldn't grasp any useful information; in fact, he couldn't even remember what he had been doing in Skypiea.
"Why can't I remember anything?"
Scratching his head in frustration, Enel was in a foul mood. It was so bad that his first instinct was to destroy everything in sight.
(Wait, why do I suddenly want to destroy this place? Was this how I used to vent my emotions?)
Though he didn't understand why such a mad thought had surfaced, Enel followed the muscle memory ingrained in his body and slowly raised a hand. Pale blue lightning began to dance between his fingertips.
Just as Enel was about to let his destructive lightning loose...
Creeeeak—
The wooden door to the room swung open. A petite figure carrying a cup walked in, and Enel reflexively dissipated the electricity.
It was a young girl, about fourteen or fifteen years old. She wore a checkered sundress with white straps and had flaxen hair wrapped in a red bandana—the typical look of a farm girl.
While she wasn't exceptionally beautiful, she had a pleasant, charming face. Her most striking feature was her skin; it was exceptionally white, white as milk, which created a sharp contrast with her large, bright, dark eyes.
"Oh! You're actually awake!"
The girl let out a small cry of surprise. She hurried to the bedside and looked the bewildered Thunder God up and down, her dark eyes filled with joy.
"I was so scared when you fell out of the sky! You left such a huge crater in the ground, and the scariest part was that you landed head-first!"
"I thought you were a goner for sure, but then I found out you were still breathing. My goodness, your life force is incredibly stubborn..."
Listening to this strange girl chatter away, Enel felt more awkward than he could put into words. He simply had no idea how to handle a situation like this.
Subconsciously, he wanted to strike this noisy girl with a bolt of lightning to shut her up forever, but after hesitating again and again, he didn't do it.
"Oh, I've been talking so much I forgot to introduce myself."
Utterly unaware that she had just been flirting with the gates of hell, the farm girl gave a bright smile, revealing two cute dimples.
"My name is Moda, and I'm the manager of this ranch. Oh, here—try this. It's delicious." As she spoke, Moda handed him the cup.
Enel took the cup and stared at the milky-white liquid inside, his face full of suspicion.
(What is this? It smells pretty good, though.)
Having lived his whole life in Skypiea, the "God" had never seen such a thing. Intrigued by the strange yet mellow aroma, he hesitated for a moment before taking a tentative sip.
(This is delicious!)
The moment the strange liquid hit his tongue, a rich, creamy flavor exploded across his taste buds. Enel's eyes lit up, and he proceeded to down the entire cup in several large gulps.
"Hee-hee! Well? The milk here tastes great, doesn't it?"
Enel's reaction made the milk girl, Moda, beam with pride. She handed him a handkerchief to wipe his mouth and then continued, "Alright, now isn't it time you told me where you came from?"
"You fell from the sky earlier... are you some kind of 'God' from the heavens or something?"
"God?"
Enel, still savoring the taste of the milk, froze. Then, a strange radiance suddenly flared in his eyes.
"That's right. I am God! The Great God Enel!" After having his brain rattled by the fall, the only thing Enel was currently certain of was his identity.
Moda seemed stunned by his exaggerated reaction. She blinked a few times, then burst out laughing.
"Pfft—hahaha! You're such a funny guy!"
The milk girl pointed at Enel's long earlobes and waved her hand dismissively. "How could a God have such weird ears? And those four drums on your back—what are they for?"
(This brat...)
Enel's face darkened. If his brain hadn't been scrambled by the fall, he would have shown Moda exactly what "Divine Retribution" felt like.
After laughing for a while, Moda calmed down. Seeing Enel's sour expression, her pale little face flushed with embarrassment.
"I—I'm sorry. I shouldn't have made fun of your ears." The milk girl lowered her head, but her eyes were still peeking at Enel to gauge his reaction.
"Huh? Uh... it's fine."
Moda's apology made Enel even more uncomfortable. He had never received an apology before; more accurately, this "God" had never given anyone the chance to apologize.
Both fell silent, and for a moment, the atmosphere in the room became incredibly awkward.
Finally...
"Um, Enel?"
Moda broke the silence. "How did you fall from the sky? I heard the doctor's diagnosis... he said it looked like someone had given you a real thrashing."
"About that..."
Enel tried to remember again, but it was futile. He could only shake his head helplessly and say with a hint of melancholy, "I don't remember."
"Aside from my name and my identity, I can't remember anything—what I did, what I was doing at the time, or what I planned to do next."
"You poor thing. Did you get amnesia because you landed head-first?"
Moda looked at the God—who had forgotten so many important things—with pity. Then, she said indignantly, "But honestly, that guy who beat you up is just terrible! Not only did they hurt you so badly, but they also threw you down from such a high place. That is so, so... so barbaric!"
The kind-hearted Moda, who was as pure as her own milk, expressed her strong condemnation of this "barbaric act." However, she completely overlooked the question of what Enel might have done to get such a massive beatdown in the first place.
"Here, let me get you another cup of milk." Taking the cup, Moda flashed a big smile. "If you can't remember, then don't think about it. Just stay here and recover. Don't be a stranger—just treat this place like your own home!"
With that, she pushed the door open and left.
(Home?)
Enel was stunned. He looked at the handkerchief Moda had left behind and felt a certain chord deep within his heart being struck.
(By the way... where was my home before?)
The moment the thought occurred, an image flashed through Enel's mind: high above the clouds, amidst thunder and lightning, an island both familiar and strange was being ruthlessly consumed by endless bolts of lightning, vanishing into nothingness in an instant!
(What... what is this?)
His chest heaved violently, and Enel's expression suddenly turned distorted and grim.
For some reason, the thought of that nameless hometown made him feel an inexplicable sense of oppression—so heavy he couldn't breathe, so heavy he wanted to destroy everything around him!
But just as the Thunder God was about to put those thoughts into action...
"This is bad! Enel, come help!"
Moda's anxious voice approached from a distance. A second later, Enel saw the milk girl dragging a soaking-wet stranger into the room.
"I saw him in the river; he must have drowned." Moda placed the unconscious man on the rug. "Honestly, that river is so shallow... is this idiot unable to swim?"
"Ack! He doesn't have a heartbeat! What do we do, Enel?" Moda looked at the man with the long earlobes with pleading eyes. "Didn't you say you were a 'God'? Can you save him?"
Under the girl's hopeful gaze, Enel felt incredibly restless, but for some reason, he couldn't find it in himself to refuse.
(Am I possessed? Or did the fall really turn me into an idiot?)
Getting out of bed, Enel grumbled internally before looking over the drowning man Moda had picked up.
Black hair, freckles on both cheeks, a red bead necklace around his neck, and a bare upper body with well-defined, powerful muscles. On his left arm was a tattoo that read "ASCE" with the "S" crossed out—though Enel had no idea what that was supposed to mean.
(This guy is no ordinary person.)
Enel raised an eyebrow, then knelt down and reached a hand toward the drowning man's chest.
"That's right, I am God."
Enel gave Moda a confident smile. "And I am an omniscient and omnipotent God!"
—Electrotherapy!
Snap! Pale blue lightning erupted instantly!
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