Shandian Reprieve and Work

_________ POV Narration_________

When Enel opened his eyes the next day he realised that the room he was sleeping in was a bit different than what he remembered...

Namely, there was another person in the room with him. One that his half-asleep brain didn't recognize instantly.

The Emperor blinked as he didn't think anyone would sneak into his room. Or did he go into the wrong cabin while sleep deprived?

Enel looked at the foot of his bed, only to see a small figure staring up at him with large eyes...

It was a little girl with red wearing a fur dress and cap. She had short brown hair and eyes.

She blinked a few times when seeing Enel woke up, before opening her mouth and saying.

"Good morning Big bro Enel..."

The emperor rubbed his eyes for a few seconds as he then recognized the girl in front of him...

"Little Aisa... Good morning indeed! It's been a while, hasn't it?" Enel slowly stood up as the little girl walked to the side of his bed and sat on it.

"It's been around a year already... Why are you avoiding us?..." Aisa looked at Enel as her eyes shined a bit.

The emperor showed her a strained smile as he had somewhat forgotten about ever visiting the Shandian Tribe.

He only really spoke to Wyper, who did inform him that the tribe had forgiven him, but he had never gotten around to actually visiting them...

"I wasn't avoiding you..." Enel patted the little girl on the head as he stretched his shoulders and smiled warmly.

"I was just very busy with different things. I haven't had much time to relax in the past year." The Emperor was quick to reassure the little girl in front of him, although he was unsure why she had gotten so attached to him...

"... You're lying. You could have still visited us while you were on the island..." Aisa looked down with teary eyes as she spoke.

Alas, Enel had forgotten that the little girl was a human lie detector and emotion reader. There was no use in trying to fool her now that she was concentrating and using her Observation Haki in full force.

"... I just wanted to avoid a possible awkward situation. I did use to rule over the Sky Islands in a rather tyrannical fashion...

Going out of my way to speak to residents always puts pressure on them and makes them uncomfortable..."

Yep, despite Enel's plans to slowly repair his reputation on the island, most people were still not quite welcoming to his presence.

No one would dare to tell him off, of course. But the fear that the former Enel had instilled into them was deep-seated.

The fear of the citizens had only vanished in the original thanks to Luffy's efforts, which proved that Enel wasn't so invincible at the end of the day... But that had never happened.

Instead, the ending of Enel's rule felt a bit inconclusive and sudden to just about everyone, even if Gan Fall was able to transition everything successfully.

Even worse, thanks to recent developments, most Skypieans saw the current situation on the island as it being under Enel's control.

Many forces and powerful people had moved in suddenly, all seemingly led by Enel. Even if Gan Fall still had jurisdiction over the Sky Islands, he didn't have any real power over the islands.

Thankfully, nothing bad had happened to them, even better, Enel's men had worked together and trained their troops. They even repelled a group of pirates that had tried to take over the islands...

Those all helped raise Enel's reputation a bit, but not by much.

All those factors combined did make the Emperor a bit less willing to visit people like the Shandians... Especially since the previous Enel's actions had affected them the worst.

"... But you're a good person Big Bro, you had nothing to do with 'that' Enel... I waited for you to come and visit us, but since you didn't, I decided to take matters into my own hands!"

Things, however, developed differently for the Shandian Tribe. Especially since Wyper was able to testify for Enel's character.

They had learned of his background as well, which gave them more perspective on who he was and allowed them to understand that they had no right to point their spears at him.

Many had wanted to apologize for how they had antagonized him that day, but he did avoid them all...

Enel just looked at the little girl sitting on his bed with a bemused expression on his face.

"... Well, ok. So... Did you have any plans for this meeting?..." Enel scratched the back of his head while he showed the little girl a strained smile.

Aisa opened her mouth, before closing it instantly and puffing her cheeks, turning a bit red.

'... I guess that's a no... Hah! I guess she's still a kid, even after a year... In all fairness, I think she's only like, 10.'

Enel then laughed slightly while patting the little girl on the head and getting out of bed.

"I guess I can spare a few moments to visit your tribe today. Let's go right now." Enel picked up the little girl and placed her on his shoulder, before making his way out of the cabin with a smile on his face.

The little girl didn't even get to respond, by the time she came to her senses, they were already out of the house.

"S-sure..." That was all she managed to whisper as she adjusted her little hat.

'Seems she wasn't expecting to get this far...' Enel smiled once again when sensing how flustered the little girl had become.

When sensing his amusement, Aisa pouted and lightly kicked Enel's chest with the heel of her sandal.

The Emperor just ignored her small strike and kept walking through the woods. Any wildlife he ran into seemed to turn away from him like he was the plague.

Enel and Aisa spoke a bit more as they walked, the Emperor asking the little girl how she had fared in his absence, and how the members of the tribe were doing.

The little girl was happy to speak to him. It seemed that his interactions with her had left quite the impression, which did manage to slightly warm his heart.

She went on to tell him stories of how her people managed to easily reintegrate into what remained of the city of gold. Of how they were happily living there.

She also told him that plenty of the Shandian Warriors now joined the Sky Guard, and were training with the tutelage of 'Grandpa Garp'.

It seemed that Garp had also left quite the impression on the little girl. She even went as far as to say that he went out of his way to train her a bit as well, though he was a lot gentler with her than with the adults.

Enel's eye twitched when he heard that... He had no idea that Garp was kind to children, his way of raising his grandsons was certainly not hinting to that...

Or was he just kinder to children that weren't his own? Or maybe he had a soft spot for little girls, and treated them differently?

Whichever it was, Enel was sure that Dragon would've been ripping his own hair out in jealousy if he knew. Hell, even Enel was slightly jealous.

After all, anyone that trained with Garp received the 'Fist of Love', while she only got the 'Love' without the fist.

Eventually, the two of them reached the Shandian Tribe's village. Which had progressed quite a bit. They had rebuilt a few structures in the city of gold, and they were proudly livings in the places that their ancestors had lived in.

Enel was sure that they had used plenty of gold to rebuild parts of the city, even then they had enough gold reserves to drastically lower the value of gold in the entire world.

The City of Gold wasn't a legendary place for no reason after all...

Enel's meeting with the Shandian Tribe was a lot more pleasant than Enel had expected...

He was thinking of many things, but he didn't expect them to throw a party for his arrival as an apology for the time they pointed their spears at him.

The Shandians didn't seem to really care about there being more residents on the island, they only really cared about the City of Gold, the land of their forefathers.

The Revolutionaries also joined in for their party, at the very least some of them did.

Sabo decided to drink and sing with them, that was really the only member Enel recognized, the rest were just soldiers or officers that he didn't remember the names of.

Aisa stuck to Enel's side for most of it, not even climbing down from his shoulder at all.

She drank and ate whenever Enel handed her refreshments, she sang a bit and just revelled in the light of the positive emotions that she could feel all around the Golden City.

Unfortunately for Enel, he didn't get to drink for much longer, as Akainu decided to come out of his room and drag Enel back into speaking about more important matters.

"Glad you're enjoying yourself, Emperor. But there are plenty of things that require your attention right now..." The former Fleet Admiral seemed to have taken it upon himself to help Enel with administrative matters at the very least.

That also meant that he was working with and assisting Gan Fall, so the two of them would have to go to the old man's office to talk more together.

Enel sighed as he realised he needed to get back to work.

Still, the few hours spent with the Shandians were a nice reprieve from all of the rush and work he constantly had to do.

Aisa remained in the City of Gold, reluctantly getting off of Enel's shoulders. The emperor wanted to help her, but she refused, saying she was a big girl and that she could handle herself now...

Enel remained unmoving the entire time. Aisa just used one of his earlobes as a rope and climbed down to his legs and jumped off.

The little girl waved at Enel with a large smile on her face before joining her people and continuing with the party.

After so many drinks, the original purpose of the celebration was all but forgotten, so Enel was able to leave without any issues.

Enel and Akainu both flew towards Skypea, going directly to Gan Fall's office where the others were also waiting for them.

Enel decided to go at the former Fleet Admiral's pace, but the two of them didn't exchange too many words.

Akainu was not exactly too talkative after all... Still, as they Sky Walked their way to the other island, they also saw the recruits training once again.

It was a daily thing, but Enel still liked to see their progress. It made him proud to see how much the Sky Guards were growing.

It was only a matter of time before they would become an actual force to be reckoned with. Although his Army's main power still remained on the shoulders of all of their powerhouses...

Really, the number of powerful people on the Sky Islands was simply unprecedented. Kaido had all to feel threatened by them.

Enel sighed as he eyed Garp, who was still training the recruits with a sadistic smile on his face.

The Emperor didn't linger though, he still had work to do, unfortunately...

'Still... I wonder what matters need my attention to the degree that Akainu has to interrupt my free time...

Did that clown finally call us back? Or is it something related to our other allies...'

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Hope you liked the chapter!

Sorry for the lacking uploads the past few days, been feeling a bit less motivated. Didn't want to force it out since that never goes well

This was a slower chapter, a bit of a relaxing one I guess.

Btw, Aisa won't be joining the army since she's a kid :)))

If u want to support me look up VeganMaster(Vegan Cult) on Patre_on, you'd also get 10 chapters in advance (or 5 depending on tier)