_________ POV Narration _________ 

A month passed swiftly, and it wasn't long before the Sky King's army had the Red Line on its horizon once more. 

They were on the cusp of floating over the Sabaody Archipelago, a cluster of islands with tall trees and air bubbles constantly floating to the sky.

On their way through Paradise, the first half of the Grand Line, they had not gathered all many allies as one might expect.

In fact, except for recruiting Vivi and Pell, they had mostly just passed over the island whilst announcing their presence and the start of the war to the world. 

Enel, as promised, also took that opportunity to strike down any government agent or Pacifista that was unfortunate enough to not have been called back to the Holy Land.

As a result, the revolts in the few kingdoms on the first half of the grand line were now gaining more steam, as there was no longer anyone strong enough to stop them there. 

But there weren't too many kingdoms in the first half of the grand line anyway. Most of the revolts were happening on the other 4 seas. 

But the Sky King was confident enough that all of the bloodshed would stop with their final fight. 

It was only a matter of weeks at that point, and Enel was, at that point, expecting it with bathed breath. 

He wanted to do it. To put an end to everything, to finally be able to share the real history of the world with the people of said world.

To finally cut the veil that shrouded the Void Century from the rest of the world. 

But that in itself required him to be able to defeat IMU and end his reign. Enel needed to force the personification of the sea down from the empty throne of the world. 

And he was going to do just that, even if it was going to end with his death, he was going to make sure that IMU followed him into the underworld. 

But before that, he still had quite a few people to reach out to and gather.

Most of his allies resided within the New World, so things were bound to get busier as he started traversing it. 

There was also another growing concern.

That the World Government was going to try and pull something funny now that they were close to Sabaody.

The Archipelago was, at the end of the day, relatively close to the Holy Land. 

They were bound to hear the drums of war as their army passed by.

And yes, the plan was to pass it by now, then turn around after reaching the other side of the Reverse Mountain, and traverse the New World again.

There was more work to do within the New World anyway, so Enel deemed it necessary to pass twice, to make sure that they hadn't missed anything. 

Everything needed to be ready, Enel had become somewhat obsessed at that point. He needed perfection, otherwise, his confidence would also wane. 

Even if he had resolved himself to win, and was doing everything in his power to not even think about losing, he still tended to overthink the situation. 

"Do you think those rats will try something now?" Garp sat by Enel's side, his arms crossed and his gaze sharp.

Behind him stood his students, Helmeppo and Coby, who Garp was still training despite them technically marching off to war. 

Enel training was mostly internal, he kept trying to strengthen his will constantly, but this time the exercise was to not allow it to leak outside even one bit.

Garp, and the more experienced people at the table, could still feel whenever the Sky King was training, so they were all quite understanding when he went for prolonged periods of time without engaging much in conversation. 

It was difficult to sense the Emperor's progress, and even harder to quantify it.

But Francisco had mentioned at some point that Enel seemed to be growing by the day. It was progress that the Emperor found hard to achieve in the past, but it seemed that his resolve was further enhancing his willpower. 

But resolve alone wasn't enough, Francisco knew that better than anyone. What it most obviously came down to, at least in Francisco's eyes, was the Emperor's awakening.

It was clear that it had transformed his body and mind to some extent, and it went far beyond just enhancing the power of his devil fruit. 

Of course, the old swordsman was not the only person to notice the changes.

Just about everyone who knew Enel well enough noticed this change.

Especially people who had known him for the longest time. Like Wyper, who had a history of sparring with Enel constantly. 

The tribal warrior had joined the Sky Army in their march. He didn't remain behind with the other Skypeans and Shandians, although half of the Sky Guards did stay back to protect them in case something happened. 

He decided to march with his friend, but the more he trained, the more he tried, the more he realized that he wasn't marching by the Sky King's side, but behind him. 

It just felt humiliating. 

Wyper still remembered a few years back, how Enel used to be slightly weaker than him when it came to body strength. 

Even though Wyper never stopped training, he had still fallen behind in all aspects.

When he discovered that his talent for Conqueror's Haki surpassed that of Enel, he was ecstatic. As if he had found a way to finally reach his 'rival', to step onto the same stage as him. 

But the stronger he grew, the further the gap between him and Enel widened. It was disheartening, to say the least.

It had all culminated during their last spar, where Wyper had once again lost, not even able to force the Emperor to put his devil fruit to use properly. It was shameful. 

Even now, as he did his best and trained alongside Francisco on one of the islands in the extremities of the flying cluster, he knew that his chances of catching up to Enel were infinitesimal. 

His brows furrowed once more as he remembered how swiftly he had been defeated, the ease with which Enel had done so...

His frustration was so great, that it was almost impossible for Francisco not to notice it.

"What's wrong, Wyper...?" The old swordman's voice rang out, forcing the Tribal Warrior to pry his eyes open and heave a sigh of frustration. 

"I think you know what's wrong..." Wyper shook his head towards his master. 

Wyper knew that Francisco's question was more of a formality if anything. The Sky King's right-hand man was quite perceptive, and he knew of his captain's history with the Shandians and Wyper. 

"I may have an inkling, but I want to hear it directly from you." The young-looking old swordsman responded in an understanding tone, almost as if he was anticipating the Tribal Warrior's words.

"Fucking fine... It's about Enel. I just can't seem to wrap my head around it.

The gap between him and everyone else keeps growing wider, and I am stuck here walking whilst he is sprinting." 

Wyper's tone was laced with frustration, his eyes seemed to almost become bloodshot.

Francisco simply shook his head in disappointment.

'I guess he's been up at night constantly thinking about this, I can somewhat relate... Well, it is my task to guide him as his master.' 

"Heh... I certainly know the feeling." Francisco's tone sounded quite melancholic as he spoke out, his gaze becoming unfocused for a moment.

"Huh? What, you're competing with Enel too? Didn't seem like that to me..." Wyper's tone seemed confused, but also curious.

He knew only bits and pieces of Francsico's past. Pieces of the puzzle that could never quite make out a full story. 

"Before, when I was still part of the Rocks Pirates, I was constantly competing with Xebec. The two of us butted heads in many situations despite my loyalty to him.

I liked to think that I was as strong as him, but that was never the case. No matter how much I grew, he only seemed to become stronger as time passed."

The old swordsman just shook his head with a wry smile on his face.

Many memories were rushing through his head, but in essence, he could remember the distinct feeling of falling behind, and constantly being surpassed by Xebec.

Now it went without even needing to be said that their situations were vastly different. At no point was Francisco stronger than Xebec, as was the case for Wyper and Enel.

But they were at a similar level at some point. And Xebec had proven himself to be the more talented of the two. Especially when it came to haki. 

Xebec's haki was so powerful that he had turned the blade he had held occasionally into a dark blade. But Francisco hadn't managed to turn Gryphon into a black blade despite holding onto it for decades. 

It was simply absurd. To the point where Francisco took years in captivity to train his willpower to match Rocks. Even if the conditions weren't optimal, he had still trained as best he could whilst trying to preserve his strength and not starve to death. 

Even then, Francisco realized that he had at most matched his captain at the moment of death. And that, had Xebec survived, he would have grown much more over the years. 

And it wasn't just in terms of haki... 

"Were it not for God Valley, he would have eaten a devil fruit, and he would have become even stronger... And I would have fallen behind even further."

Francisco still remembered Xebec gaining a sudden interest in devil fruits, it was only a matter of time before he chose and ate one.

Shiki had gone to try and find a God Fruit, but Xebec would have likely eaten a Mythical Zoan too, if he had the opportunity. 

"Huh... I didn't know you were the competing type..." The corners of Wyper's mouth rose slightly as he took whatever he deemed most important from his master's words.

"Maybe when I was younger!" Francisco flashed his student a cheeky smile before he continued speaking.

"The point is, I understand how you feel. It feels almost as if your efforts are not being rewarded in a way.

You have set yourself an impossible goal to reach. Enel is not someone anyone can touch at this point, even Xebec, the one I idolized, would likely be a toy in front of Enel." 

The old swordsman sighed as he thought more and more about the situation both in the past and in the present. 

In his eyes, Enel had long since surpassed Xebec, even before his awakening. Just the power of his non-awakened devil fruit was absurd enough to the point where it almost made Enel unmatched. 

The only ones who stood a chance against Francsico's new captain were those who could also be called gods at that point. And of course, the so-called 'personification of the sea'.

So, in a sense, Wyper had it quite a bit worse than Francisco did. 

"... But I can't help it, you know? I feel that, at one point, he was actually within reach..." Wyper sighed and shook his head, still quite inconsolable.

"Hey, I felt that too at one point. Honestly, there ain't much I can say at this point besides the fact that those feelings fade with time.

Right now, focus on what's in front of you and the road that you yourself have to walk on." 

Francisco laughed heartily at first, but his tone became rather serious as he urged Wyper to continue with his training. 

It was clear that the tribal warrior still had plenty of words to say, but he also knew that he had work to do as well.

He had already fallen far behind Enel, but maybe there was hope for him to be of help during the upcoming war.

It was going to be a long journey still, but that didn't mean they had the time to sit down and relax. 

Every moment they needed to spend in preparation. Francisco knew that, and he trained his students the best he could.

Garp also knew that, and he, much like Francisco alternated between being by Enel's side and drilling the marines. 

Enel's senses spread across the entirety of Sabady as their ship passed over it.

His lightning made quick work of any stragglers once more, clearing up the streets of Sabaody swiftly before continuing on with his journey.

The government had also seemingly decided to keep its silence for the time being, which was all the better for Enel, who now only had to look forward to his journey into the New World.

'Let's see... The first stop in the New World should be Fismen Island... But I think we'll have a slight detour and go on the calm belt.'

And so, Enel clapped his hands and shouted out an order, giving Shiki a call to steer their Flying Archipelago towards the Amazoness Kingdom. 

No one questioned him in doing so, and he had a rather clear goal. 

'Reyligh wasn't on Sabaody where you'd expect him to be, so this is my best guess...' 

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Hope you are all doing well!

I was going to upload it yesterday, but I ended up writing a longer chapter for Patr_eon :)) 

Anyhow, Imma go and try to write a bit more for the next story as well, may as well try to get back on track properly 

Story Shoutout : Hell Difficulty Tutorial

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