Chapter 287: Daily Life - The Golden Staff Moved First

After Takumi returned to the cabin, Enel followed his instructions and performed the blood-binding ritual with the golden staff.

As soon as the staff absorbed his blood, Enel immediately felt an indescribable connection between himself and the golden staff.

When he rotated the staff again, he found it much more responsive than before.

"How does it feel?" Kaku asked curiously. "Any strange sensations?"

Enel shook his head. "It's hard to describe... it's like I've become more... connected with the staff."

"Uh?" Kaku was confused. "More connected? What's that supposed to mean? Does this staff have a mind of its own or something?"

"No idea," Enel said, pressing the staff's end against the deck. He mumbled, "It's just that this staff is a bit short. It'd be nice if it were a bit longer..."

Just as he finished speaking, the staff suddenly grew in size. In a matter of seconds, it expanded to a one-meter diameter and reached over ten meters tall, right before Enel and Kaku's astonished eyes.

"Huh?! The staff can get bigger?" Kaku asked, shocked.

Beads of sweat appeared on Enel's forehead. "Can it get even longer?"

And indeed, at Enel's words, the staff expanded threefold again.

"Whoa, whoa, stop! That's enough!" Enel shouted.

Only then did the staff cease its growth.

Wiping cold sweat from his forehead, Enel muttered, "At least its weight didn't increase... Wait—what the heck!"

A loud crack echoed. The now-massive staff suddenly grew heavier, instantly crashing through the deck and destroying a good portion of the operating gears inside the ship's hull.

The ship came to an abrupt stop, and it began sinking vertically...

"Uh, what just happened?" Kaku immediately activated Moonwalk, barely managing to stay in the air.

Enel had no time to react—the golden staff, now weighing tens of thousands of kilograms, plunged the entire ship into the sea.

Before the ship sank, Takumi also used Moonwalk, avoiding getting submerged.

Enel, having transformed into lightning, hovered in the air, bewildered as he looked at the sea below, where bubbles were still rising to the surface. His feelings were mixed, to say the least.

Seeing Takumi look at him, Enel quickly said, "I didn't mean for this to happen! It wasn't my fault—it was the staff that moved first..."

Suddenly, Enel realized something and panicked. "Oh no! My new weapon is gone!"

Takumi stepped closer to Enel and smacked him on the head. "Good for nothing."

Enel was on the verge of tears.

Kaku, his face grim, spoke up, "I can maintain Moonwalk for a while, but it's exhausting. And who knows how far away the next island is... Captain, what now?"

Takumi unleashed his Observation Haki, quickly locating a fishing boat only about a kilometer away.

"Follow me," he ordered.

With that, he used Moonwalk and headed swiftly toward the boat.

Kaku followed right behind, while Enel took one last, sorrowful look at the sea—where even the bubbles had vanished—sighed heavily, and then zoomed after Takumi and Kaku.

Enel was once again engulfed in a cloud of gloom.

Kaku teased him, "It's bad enough you sank the ship, but you even lost the weapon the Captain gave you. You're in big trouble now, you know that, right?"

"Shut up, long nose!" Enel snapped, glaring at Kaku.

"Enough," Takumi said, his voice displeased. "If the ship sank, we'll just buy another one. Stop arguing."

"But buying a ship is expensive..." Kaku said hesitantly. "If I have enough parts, I can build another one, but it'll take time. The intricate gears inside the ship's structure aren't something you can buy off the market—they'd need to be custom-made. And if we go by normal timelines, it'll take at least three months to build a new ship..."

Takumi fell silent.

Three months—too long.

And their next destination was quite far. If they followed Kaku's suggestion and built a new ship, even in the best-case scenario, it would take them half a year to reach Germa 66's domain.

But without a ship, if they bought a boat and sailed, given the unpredictability of the Grand Line, even if Takumi pointed out the direction, without constantly keeping watch, they'd easily drift off course due to ocean currents and other variables. Correcting their course would be a hassle, and sailing on water was naturally much slower than flying.

Thinking of this, Takumi shot Enel another dark look—he was beginning to regret giving him the golden staff...

Seeing Takumi's look, Enel grimaced. "Don't look at me like that. I feel terrible too, okay? That stuff was just impossible to handle! Out of nowhere, it got bigger and heavier. I didn't even have time to react before it sank the ship. And now it's gone, the staff's gone, everything's gone..."

"Captain," Kaku interjected, "what's the story behind the golden staff you gave Enel? I've never seen a weapon that could change its size and weight so drastically."

"The golden staff responds to its wielder's intent," Takumi said in a calm voice. "Since Enel bonded with it by blood, a mere thought from him is enough to summon it back."

"What? That's possible?" Kaku was taken aback.

Enel, previously sulking, suddenly perked up. "Really? If I think about it, the staff will come back to me?"

The moment he said that, the sea behind them suddenly churned, sending up waves.

From the center of those waves, the enormous golden staff shot out, locking onto Enel and speeding toward him.

"Uh, huh?" Enel gasped in shock.

"Oh, come on..." Kaku looked back at the incoming staff, half-amused, half-exasperated. "Big guy, you'd better make that staff shrink down, or it'll be a joke if it ends up knocking us all away."

By this point, the three of them were close to the fishing boat that Takumi had spotted earlier.

On the boat, a middle-aged man named Gewo, who was in his forties, had just emerged from the small cabin, ready to set sail back home.

When he reached the deck and saw the three men running through the air in the distance, Gewo froze.

"No way, am I seeing things?" Gewo rubbed his eyes and looked again. Once he was sure he wasn't hallucinating, his face went pale. He turned and yelled back toward the cabin, his voice trembling, "Ane, get out here quick! There are three guys being chased by an enormous staff!"

P.S. This marks the end of the Baltigo arc. 

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