No matter how hard Enel tried to get his trident back, Sid managed to keep it in her possession until, in a moment of desperation and panic, she had no choice but to throw it over the edge. With every throw of a lightning bolt, Luffy would intervene and take it for her but even on the few that did hit her, the effects of it seemed to disappear with the steam it created.
Without his weapon, Enel was at a disadvantage against Luffy but even then, there was the huge hurdle of landing a punch on him due to his Mantra ability. However, it was a hurdle that took little time for the Blue Sea pirate to get over. He stretched his arms longer than Sid had ever seen them go and flung his fists straight into the metal walls of the ark. They ricocheted off of the hard surface and flew behind him in every direction. Without Luffy controlling where his punches went, Enel's Mantra gave him no indication of how to avoid them.
Punch after punch came at Enel from every angle and soon the fake god was on his knees.
"I won't let you get away anymore!" Luffy roared, turning to face Enel directly and running at him at full speed.
"Wait...Wait just a minute," Enel protested as Sid came up from behind him, hauled him up to his feet, and held him in a full nelson.
"Don't worry about me," Sid said to Luffy despite the small shocks of blue energy emitting from Enel's skin, "Give him all you got."
"Gum-Gum....Bazooka!" Luffy yelled.
His fists hit Enel hard directly in the stomach and as soon as Sid let go of him, he doubled over with his eyes rolled to the back of his head and blood dribbling out of his mouth.
"Hmm," Sid sniffed. She made a point to step over the fallen god and then nodded at the Blue Sea pirate, "All you now. He's not going anywhere."
"Ah," Luffy nodded and then ran backwards to the wall, keeping his eyes on his target, "Gum-Gum..."
Enel's head looked up. Sid had no doubt his Mantra was screaming at him for what's to come but there was nothing he could do.
"RIFLE!" Luffy screamed. With just one punch, he sent Enel spinning and flying towards the golden wall. He landed hard even managed to create a minor dent in it.
"You did it! You defeated Enel!" Nami cheered while Sid's blackened skin receded and she returned to normal.
It was the healer's turn to fall to her knees and both she and Luffy were heavily out of breath.
"Who knew it was this hard to sustain this?" Sid panted.
"Sid! What was that?! What did you do? Was that some sort of dial or something?" Nami asked as she rushed over to help her back on her feet.
"We call it God's Armor...It's something I once used as a kid but...that was only once...No matter how hard I tried I could never get it back...until now," Sid said in between labored breaths.
"Does that mean you can control it now?" Nami asked.
"I...don't know," Sid said with a grin.
"What?! Why are you saying it like that's a good thing?!"
"Because I know how much it bothers you that I don't know."
"What?! Why you..." Nami said. She let go of Sid and was crestfallen to find that the healer had regained her footing and could stand just as well without her. Of course that only made the healer's mood that much better.
"Now that's done, how do we get down?" Sid asked, peering over the edge and looking down at the trees.
"Wait! More importantly, why are we still up?!" Nami demanded, "The engines should've stopped when Enel went down!"
"Oh no," Sid murmured. She whirled around to face her fears.
Enel slowly pushed himself up to standing position. "You...you fools," he coughed, "Is that all you've got? Once you're gone, the world will be mine. Once again, everyone will fear me, worship me, and revere me. This is my world and you vermin are no match for me! To me...nothing is impossible! I am the Almighty God!"
Whatever air he was breathing seemed to be vastly different from Sid's because he regained his strength with every pause in his sentence.
"Feast your eyes, rubber boy, on the falling island's despair," he taunted, "Listen, Shandian, to the cries of your people."
Sid's fist clenched and her skin started to turn black again but it didn't go any further than her knuckles before retrieving back to its normal state. I...I need to stop him...Please...Great Warrior Cagara...Grandmother...Someone...help me bring God's Armor back...
"The lives of the angels will be terminated. No one can stop it any longer. Of course, that includes you!" Enel continued. He raised his hand, covering it with sparking electricity.
"Stop it!" Luffy clenched his fist once more and ran towards Enel, who smirked and put his hand behind him.
"Grom Puddling!" Enel yelled. He melted the metal behind him using electric heat and then molded it into a golden ball right in front of him. It happened so fast that Luffy couldn't even pull back in any way. His fist went right through the center of the hot metal.
"LUFFY!" Sid and Nami cried.
"HOOOT! OW! Damn it. It burns! AHHHHH!" Luffy screamed. He fell the ground and his whole body writhed with pain while he tried to pull his arm out of the metal, which had already hardened, "It doesn't come off! Dammit!"
"Yahahhaha," Enel laughed as he walked over to Luffy, "In honor of the good fight you put, I'll give you this gold."
"What?" Luffy asked.
With a hard kick to the ball, Enel sent it sailing right over the edge of the ship. The weight and force of the ball was too much for the rubber boy and even though his arm continued to stretch behind him, he was pulled right to the side of the ship, no matter how hard he fought against it.
"AHHHHHHH!" Luffy roared. He threw his free hand over the side and used all his strength to keep himself upright and on the ship.
"Yahaha. Once I get rid of you," Enel laughed, "The world will be mine just as it was before. There will be no one in the world who can defeat me!"
"No one in the world?" Luffy repeated with sweat dripping down his face, "There are lots who can! In the Blue Sea, there are tons of monstrous fighters. Someone like you is-"
"Enough!" Enel yelled. He came at Luffy with lightning speed and used the force of it to punch the railing right under Luffy's arm.
"Someone like you is-," LUffy tried again as the railing splintered into bits and sent him tumbling out of the ship.
"LUFFY!" Sid and Nami screamed.
"Damn you!" Luffy's voice echoed through the air.
"He should be fine, right? Cause of that..rubber thing?" Sid hissed at Nami.
Nami nodded numbly while she clutched Luffy's hat to her chest. "Ah...The fall shouldn't hurt him but..."
"THAT'S LUFFY! Boo! Horsey-Bird! Luffy's falling!"
"Son of a-" Sid growled as she raced towards the railing and poked her head over the edge. "AISA! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU STILL DOING HERE?!"
The little girl seemed to shrink even smaller against the glare of the healer but she kept her hold on Pierre's neck firm while a now awakened Boo was draped on her shoulder. Then she gulped and looked defiantly up at Sid. "I...I AM A WARRIOR!"
"Ugh..." Sid slumped against the railing, "Your teenage rebellion phase is going to be a real delight..."
"So that's who it was...that sly voice I've been hearing..." Enel said, finally locking eyes with the Shandian child.
"Luffy! We're coming to save you!" Aisa shrieked as she and Pierre swooped forward towards the falling rubber boy.
"How annoying. You're wasting your time!" Enel jeered. He rapped his knuckle against the drum behind him.
"Oh no!" Nami gasped as she joined Sid at the railing, "Aisa! Pierre! DODGE IT!"
"God's Judgement!" Enel cried.
Sid took a deep breath. "Please, ancestors...Just...one more time...That's all I ask...Let me protect them."
"Eh?" Nami turned to face the healer but the healer was already stepping onto the railing and taking a big leap over the edge. "SID?!"
Sid kept her arms pinned to her side, streamlining her fall and she reached Aisa, Pierre, and Boo within a second. She wrapped her now blackened body around Aisa and firmly tucked Boo below her chin. "Got you!"
"EL THOR!" Enel yelled as he struck them down with lightning so thick and powerful, it was more a pillar of energy than a mere bolt.
-The Shandian Village-
"Abandon the village?! What are you saying, Chief?!" a tribal man demanded, "What about the warriors? They're still not back from Upper Yard!"
"There is no need to wait for them," Chief Urepo replied.
"What?" his people gasped.
"But...But your own granddaughter is out there!" someone else protested.
"And she's got a good head on her shoulders, along with the rest of them," Chief Urepo said, "Those warriors are not children. They will avoid their own dangers on their own. Have faith in them."
He tightened his hold on his staff and he thumped it for emphasis. "We need to focus on us here. You heard the warnings from the Skypieans and you saw those ominous clouds. Most likely Enel will destroy us along with Skypiea. No doubt he intends to repeat here what he did to his own homeland of Birka. Now hurry and set sail! Focus on keeping these people alive!"
His people gulped, looked at each other, and then scattered in every direction.
Chief Urepo casted a long look at the statue of Cagara. It's all over...Wyper...Sid...It's all right. You did everything you could.
He lowered his gaze and headed towards the center of the village.
"Ah! Chief. Aren't you going to evacuate too?" a young teenage boy asked when he passed by.
Chief Urepo nodded solemnly. "I'll leave when everyone else has. In the meantime, I'm going to collect a few things."
"But...But your tent is in the other direction."
Chief Urepo let out a rare smile. "Not for me...For Sid."
"Horsey-Bird! Sid! Horsey-Bird! Sid! I'm so sorry! You guys hurt yourself from protecting me! Wake up...Please...wake up!" Aisa cried. She ran from body to body while a blackened Boo floated in frantic circles around her head, "Horsey-Bird! Sid!"
Sid winced and she slowly sat up from the rubble. Her whole body ached in a way she never thought humanly possible. Her body felt numb but her other senses seemed to be heightened to a sensitive degree. The sun was too bright. The smell of dirt was too stifling and the sounds...Oh, the sounds...
"SID!" Aisa cried, which made Sid flinch.
"Ugh...I'm glad I don't have God's Voice. Hearing just you is enough to give me a migraine," Sid groaned as Boo shoved himself between her neck and her chin and began to rub himself frantically against her, "I'm fine, Boo...I'm fine..."
"What happened to you?" Aisa cried, "You turned all black when you were in the sky and then...and then it disappeared when we landed. What was that?"
That made Sid smirk despite how much it ached her whole face just by that slight movement. "You're not the only person with a divine power."
"Huh?"
"It's called God's Armor, Aisa," Sid said and then her smirk turned into a genuine smile, "And I think I just got the hang of it."
"Aisa! Sid?! " Luffy shouted from a distance, "Anybody?!"
"Luffy? You're alive?!" Aisa called out, "Where are you?"
"Here! Over here! Hey! Help me! Here! Over here!"
"You go first," Sid groaned and waved Aisa off, "I'll be there in a second."
"What about Horsey-Bird?" Aisa asked tearfully.
"AISAAAA! I'm over here!" Luffy cried.
Sid rolled her eyes, which somehow managed to cause her eye sockets to ache. "You go to Luffy. I'll tend to 'Horsey-Bird', alright?"
"Okay," Aisa said with a hesitant nod and then ran to the still screaming Blue Sea captain.
Sid dragged herself closer to the horse and put two fingers to it's pulse. She held it there for a minute and then lifted her hand. "Okay. Piere's still alive. My work is done."
She leaned back against the rubble, ignoring any jagged stones jutting into her back. Her body was already so uncomfortable that any additional annoyance could be ignored. She stared up at her surroundings and stifled a disappointed groan when she realized she was right back where they had started. At the cave where the ark was built.
Well, at least I'm in Shandora.
Boo laid down on her chest and blinked his big eyes at her. "Boo..." he said softly.
"I know..." Sid sighed as she scratched him behind the horns, "You didn't want to leave me behind. I get it."
"Oy! Sid! C'mon!"
Sid didn't even bother to sit back up. She kept her eyes right up at the darkening skies. "What do you want, Luffy?"
"C'mon! We gotta get to Robin and that big vine!" Luffy shouted, "I know where Enel is going and I'm going to stop him."
"And save Nami!" Aisa added.
"Annnnd Round 2 starts right now..." Sid sighed. She sucked in a breath and sat back up, ignoring the screaming pain shooting down her spine. Her hand moved and it bumped into something hard and warm. She looked down and saw Enel's trident resting next to her.
"Boo!"
Boo expanded to the size of a mattress and floated right by Sid's hand. Sid smiled. She picked up Enel's trident and draped herself over the sheep. "Thanks, Boo," she said as he floated up in the air with her.
"You're taking that?" Luffy asked, eyeing the trident.
Sid shrugged. "MIght come in handy. Alright. Let's go, Luffy. Towards Wyper and the others, right?"
"What about Horsey-Bird?" Aisa asked.
Sid peered over the edge of her sky sheep and grinned at the child, who did not like her expression at all.
"Wh...what?" Aisa asked quietly.
"You figure it out."
"What?!" Aisa shrieked, "What do you mean?"
"He carried you, didn't he? It's only fair you carry him now."
"But he's too heavy!"
"Then drag him."
"WHAT?!"
Sid's smirk turned into a full on malevolent grin. "Didn't you say you were a warrior? So now I'm treating you like one. An adult warrior."
Aisa's shoulders slumped and her lower lip jutted out. "You're punishing me for coming back instead of going to the village, aren't you?"
"Hey! Now you're thinking like a warrior. Good for you," Sid said and then returned to laying flat out onto Boo, "Alright. Luffy, you ready? Luffy?"
"Ah! He's gone already!" Aisha yelled.
"Ugh, i knew it was too quiet," Sid sighed and then she scowled when she spotted the rolling golden ball, "OY! LUFFY! YOU'RE GOING THE WRONG WAY!"
"Shishishi. Whoops."
Luffy and Aisa ran out of the cave and down the streets of the lost city with Sid and Boo flying over them. If Sid had even a smidge more energy, she would've looked around her and taken in the sights a bit more but she didn't have anymore to give. Her focus was solely on keeping Luffy from rolling off in another direction.
"Left, Luffy! LEFT! What part of 'left' do you not understand?!" Sid yelled down.
"I'm sorry!" Luffy said, "It's really hard to turn with this giant ball!"
"AH! Watch out!" Aisa warned from behind and safe distance away from the ball, which was starting to bounce.
"What?" Both adults turned to look.
Neither of them were aware that Luffy was running a downward slope and at that angle, the ball's trajectory changed. It bounced higher and faster until it caught up with Luffy and sent him hurtling down the street at a rapid pace.
"AHHHHHH!" Luffy screamed, "It's so fast!"
"Oh no!" Aisa screamed.
"LEFT! TURN LEFT!" Sid yelled.
"Gum-Gum Hook!" Luffy's arm shot out to the side and he grabbed to the edge of the building, hoping it would help veer the ball in the right path. However, the building was not as sturdy as the captain hoped and the brick he held to broke off from the building, "AHHHH!"
The ball barreled through three buildings and sent them crashing into piles of rubble.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
"AHH! Don't destroy our hometown!" Aisa and Sid seethed.
"I know but-" Luffy started to protest.
Boom!
"Stop!" Aisa yelled.
"Oh, forget it," Sid said and sat up on Boo, "Aisa, if anyone asks, Enel and his priests damaged this town. It was like this when we got here."
"What?!"
Boom!
"Just go with it!"
"Okay..."
By the time they reached the heart of the city, where they had left their nakama, Luffy had demolished five different city blocks and Sid's patience had gone down with it. She was fully aware that she was exponentially more outraged than she should be when they realized that Wyper and the others were gone.
"Where the heck did they go?!" Luffy asked.
"They probably went up Giant Jack," Aisa replied quietly.
"Oh. Got it. Let's go then," Luffy said and headed for the vine while Sid hopped off of Boo, went straight to the nearest building, and punched a hole in it.
Bam!
"Enel did this, Aisa...Not me...," Sid mumbled angrily. When the girl did not give her usual obedient response, Sid's anger lowered and the healer turned to the girl. "Aisa?"
Aisa stood solemnly at the edge of the crater that Wyper was once at the center of. Pierre was slung over her shoulder and her head was lowered so that her hat covered her eyes. Sid walked over to her while Luffy stopped and looked over at them.
Aisa's jaws clenched tightly together and her lips began to tremble. "S...Sid?"
"Yeah?"
Tears streamed down her cheeks and she finally looked up at the healer. "Are...are the sky islands going to disappear?"
Sid remained silent while the girl's tears poured out even harder. Sid knew she could easily say that it would all be fine and to tell Aisa not to worry but the words were stuck in her throat. She didn't want to give the child any false hope and she didn't want to tell her anything she didn't believe. She never lied to Aisa before and she didn't plan on starting today.
Instead, Sid turned Aisa towards her, bent down so they were eye level, and then rested a hand on her shoulder. "I don't know, Aisa," Sid admitted point blank, "Enel will probably take the sky islands...and he'll take the village...Hell...he can even take Shandora for but guess what?"
"What?" Aisa replied in almost a whisper.
Sid pinched Aisa's cheeks and stretched it to the sides. "He won't take you," Sid said with a grin.
"Owwww," Aisa squealed and then glared at Sid when the healer let go, "Quit playing around, Sid. I'm serious."
"So am I. Now get on Boo and let's go," Sid replied. With that, she stood back up and swiftly lifted Pierre with one hand and tucked him under her arm like he was a bag of rice. She whistled as she walked away from the child and she only stopped when she was just about to pass the Blue Sea pirate, who was watching their exchange solemnly.
She locked eyes with him and matched her expression to his. "To the bell?"
Luffy nodded. "Ah...and Nami."
"Yeah," Sid said and continued on her way, "Her too."