For Enel, Upper Yard was merely a stepping stone.
His sole reason for coming here was the gold of Shandora. More specifically, he intended to use that gold to construct a vessel compatible with his abilities—one capable of carrying him to the Fairy Vearth.
In the original story, he succeeded in building that ship and reached the Fairy Vearth, which was actually the moon.
But now...
Based on the timeline, the ship had only recently begun construction. Consequently, the ruins were still littered with golden artifacts, predominantly craftsmanship and jewelry. Almost any piece of wreckage one overturned revealed a glimmer of gold.
The claim that Shandora was a land of gold was certainly no exaggeration.
Vivi excitedly pulled Robin along, searching the area to pick out gifts for their sisters.
Sean left them to their search and casually picked up a large basin crafted entirely of gold.
"Kaku, give it a try!"
"Yes, Rear Admiral!"
With a nod, Kaku pressed his palm against the object. Suddenly, the basin—which would have normally required two hands to carry—began to shrink at a visible pace. Within seconds, it had shrunk to a mere five or six centimeters, becoming a tiny, miniature version of itself.
Sean caught it in his palm and weighed it. Although its size had diminished, its weight remained unchanged.
"How long can you maintain this?"
"It depends on the size of the target. For a specification like this, the consumption is minimal. Unless I fall asleep or lose consciousness, the effect won't be interrupted."
"I see..."
Sean frowned slightly.
If he transported all of Shandora's gold back to the branch, it would be far too much. He doubted all their warehouses combined could hold it. Originally, Sean had considered using Kaku's ability to compress everything for easier storage.
Now, however, that seemed unrealistic. He couldn't exactly demand that Kaku never sleep. If the ability were to lapse, all that gold would instantly snap back to its original size, and the resulting chaos would be catastrophic.
Furthermore, keeping all that gold at the branch was a liability. No matter how careful he was, he couldn't guarantee it would remain a secret forever. If the Celestial Dragons found out his branch was stockpiling gold worth trillions of Belly, it didn't take a genius to guess the outcome.
The best solution was to leave the gold in Upper Yard and simply come back whenever he needed it. With Blueno and Kaku by his side, transporting any amount of gold would be a trivial task.
At the same time, he would establish a base in Upper Yard and deploy a company of Marines specifically to guard the hoard. They could also take the opportunity to train the ordinary Shandora warriors. This had already been agreed upon with the Shandora Chief, making it easy to implement.
"Kaku, stay here and look after Vivi and Robin. Blueno, come with me to Shandian village!"
"Yes, Rear Admiral!"
'''
To the northwest of Upper Yard, on a small Island Cloud, lay Shandian village.
At the edge of the Island Cloud, the Chief and a large number of Shandora warriors stood gazing toward Upper Yard in the distance.
About an hour ago, they had witnessed massive bolts of lightning striking Upper Yard. To anyone living on Angel Island or in Shandian village, the meaning was clear.
It meant Enel was attacking someone—or something.
As for who the target was, there was no need to guess. It had happened shortly after Sean and his group had entered Upper Yard.
But... who had won?
Was it the Marine Rear Admiral, Sean, or... God Enel?
Right then, a door resembling a barrier of energy suddenly materialized behind them.
"Yo, everyone's here?"
Stepping out from the energy door, Sean glanced over and saw the Chief and the warriors staring intently toward Upper Yard. He let out a light chuckle.
The sound startled everyone, and they whipped around instantly.
"Rear Admiral Sean! How... how did you appear?"
The Chief stuttered, staring at Sean and the energy door behind him. Just as he spoke, Blueno stepped out from the portal, and the door vanished rapidly, as if it had never existed.
The Chief was completely floored. From a certain perspective, Blueno's ability was even more shocking to him than Enel's.
"Don't worry about that. I've come to tell you something."
"Enel has been dealt with. The people of Shandora can come home!"
Silence fell over the group. Everyone held their breath, struggling to process Sean's words.
Enel was gone. They could go home?
Was... was he dreaming?
"Rear Admiral Sean... is this true?"
"Of course. You can return to Upper Yard now, but I'll need your help with a few things once you get there."
"What would that be?" the Chief asked nervously, fearing Sean might make an unreasonable demand.
"As we discussed before, the Golden Bell stays with you; I won't go back on that. However, I'll need manpower to help me collect and transport the other spoils of war. Is that a problem?"
"That's all?"
"Yes, that's all!"
The Chief let out a massive sigh of relief and quickly agreed.
He knew exactly what the "spoils" were. In reality, that gold wasn't the most important thing to the Shandora people. For the Chief, it was virtually meaningless. Only the Golden Bell was the treasure the people of Shandora had protected for generations.
He would never refuse. A bit of manual labor was a small price to pay.
"But Rear Admiral Sean, what about the people on Angel Island?" the Chief asked suddenly, remembering something. "Now that Enel is gone, they might still..."
The people of Shandora and the inhabitants of Angel Island had been at war for four hundred years. The conflict had only paused when Enel appeared. With Enel out of the picture, it was entirely possible that Angel Island would resume the war. After all, Upper Yard was a sacred land to them as well.
"You don't need to worry about that. I'll settle things for you before I return to the Blue Sea."
"Additionally, as agreed, I will arrange for a group of instructors to come and train the Shandora warriors to make you stronger."
"As for whether you'll allow Sky Islanders to enter Upper Yard for residency or tourism after peace is established, that decision rests solely with the people of Shandora. I will not interfere."
"However, the area where the instructors I've sent are stationed is strictly off-limits to everyone."
"Are there any other questions?"
Sean knew exactly what the chief was worried about, so he outlined his subsequent arrangements.
Regarding Angel Island, it wasn't a major issue. He simply needed to bring back Gan Fall, allow him to resume ruling Angel Island, and establish a peace treaty with Shandora.
Following that, the branch would dispatch instructors to train the Shandora warriors, ensuring their combat strength far exceeded that of the people of Angel Island.
Additionally, Sean planned to deploy a squadron of Marines in Upper Yard. With them stationed there, they wouldn't have to fear attacks from other Sky Islands or pirates.
If an emergency did occur, Blueno could quickly transport high-level combat power into the area.
Of course, the primary mission of the Marines stationed here remained guarding the gold. Unless they encountered trouble that the Shandora people couldn't handle, they would not intervene.
As for whether the people of Shandora would—as they did in the original story—allow Sky Island residents to live in or visit Upper Yard after all this... that would be left for the Shandora people to decide.
However, one thing was absolute: the base area Sean intended to establish in Upper Yard was strictly forbidden to everyone.
'''
A day later.
Hundreds of Shandora people—men, women, and even many children—were searching throughout the ruins.
A massive amount of gold artifacts and jewelry were continuously hauled out of the ruins and moved to the location Sean had designated.
Mountain after mountain of gold... it was a sight that would blind anyone who looked at it.
As for the construction of the base and the warehouses to store the gold, Sean had already thought of a solution.
He would use the Tokaf Construction Company.
The only catch was that he couldn't let the workers realize they had left the East Blue.
The method was actually quite simple.
He would blindfold everyone and have Blueno transport them.
Since the base was located within a forest, he just needed to station Marines to ensure the workers stayed within a limited area. Given the restricted range and the surrounding dense forest, the Tokaf Construction Company's crew wouldn't be able to see the outside world, nor would they realize...
...that they were actually on Sky Island.
Once everything was finished, he would use the same method to send them back.
Simple as that!
With that thought, Sean picked up the Den Den Mushi and called Mansour.
'Purupurupurupuru...'