After a week of surveying Sky Island, Noah once again descended to the sea.
The Nautilus didn't drop from the waters around Gaya Island, but instead chose to descend into the voracious seas where they'd previously encountered Baron of the Stomach.
Since its covert renovation, the island of gluttony now permanently housed a medium-sized ark that regularly visited the Baron's Petal Island to harvest ingredients and replenish Sky Island's food stores.
During these days, the Nautilus also underwent upgrades, adding cloud shells and wind shells to enhance its stealth and mobility.
As the ship descended from the skies, it was shrouded in fixed clouds to avoid detection from passing ships or news birds.
Kro glanced at the log pose and immediately ordered, "Proceed northeast at 42 degrees."
"Understood." The temporary crew busied themselves with their tasks.
On the large nautical map in the cockpit, a magnetic four-pointed star was marked on an island labeled "Stuka Island."
Stuka Island was Noah's destination this time.
This island was located on the second route of Paradise, close to Holy White Poplar Island.
Four days later, in the afternoon
The Nautilus arrived in the waters near Stuka Island.
After stowing away the Nautilus, Noah and his team, now in disguise, used Ari's wormhole to dig a tunnel and sneak into Stuka Island from underground.
The reason for such caution was simple: this island belonged to Dalia, the terrifying weapons master and user of the Arms-Arms Fruit.
Noah had originally planned to eliminate this individual in the New World but had been sidetracked by the pursuit of the Hot-Hot Fruit, allowing Dalia to escape.
However, a few days ago, this same Dalia was severely beaten by Katakuri of Big Mom's pirate crew in the New World and had retreated, battered and bruised, to his lair in Paradise. The intelligence agents on Sabaody Archipelago had picked up on this news.
Naturally, Noah wouldn't miss this opportunity.
The entirety of Stuka Island had been converted by Dalia into a mechanized fortress, packed with numerous factories devoted to arms production.
From all available intelligence, Dalia's mastery of his Arms-Arms Fruit seemed decent—certainly no waste like Baby 5.
Through the black market, Dalia had acquired various advanced weapons, which he replicated and improved, allowing him to quickly understand the structure and function of any weapon. This talent was the reason he was dubbed the "Terror Weapon."
Weapon development in this pirate world is incredibly erratic: some places still use flintlocks, others wield machine guns and rocket launchers, and some even use laser cannons.
Individuals like Queen, Judge, and Caesar, who were once affiliated with Vegapunk, had developed a slew of weapons, many of which eventually found their way onto the underground market.
Take, for instance, the rocket launcher dog later owned by the Barrack Workshop, likely a creation of Vegapunk's circle.
Dalia had amassed an arsenal of powerful weaponry, enhancing his abilities significantly.
Moreover, according to underground sources, Dalia wasn't acting alone. He commanded a skeleton army recruited from the war-ridden Nation of Endless Conflict (Barrett's homeland) and had three competent subordinates.
The reason Noah's group avoided a direct entry to Stuka Island was one of Dalia's subordinates, a superhuman Devil Fruit user named Syl, who wielded the Slow-Slow Fruit, later associated with Silver Fox Foxy.
This fruit could emit a unique slow beam that, upon contact, would slow down any person or object for 30 seconds.
For a minor character like Foxy, the fruit's potential wasn't fully realized. But in Dalia's hands, combined with his relentless bombardment, it could vaporize enemies in seconds.
A 30-second slow effect was indeed deadly.
Noah had no intention of getting hit by such an ability.
After infiltrating Stuka Island, Noah immediately summoned Shiki, instructing him to use his powers to seize control of the entire island—but not yet to make it float.
Since Noah intended to target a Warlord of the Sea, he decided not to use his previous alias. Instead, he planned for the "Golden Lion" to make a comeback, while he himself would pose as the Golden Lion's subordinate, just in case their cover was blown.
Given the nature of his Steel-Steel Fruit ability, he intended to rely solely on the Fungus-Fungus Fruit this time. Similarly, Ari and Kro were to avoid direct involvement as much as possible.
However, Daz and Robin, who had not been in action before, were free to participate.
Using the tunnel dug by Ari, the group arrived directly beneath the mechanical fortress where Dalia and his subordinates resided.
Noah didn't act immediately, choosing instead to wait until nightfall.
When the night was at its darkest.
Combining his Observation Haki with electromagnetic waves, Noah quickly locked onto the life forms within the fortress.
"Found them…"
After sharing the detection information via electromagnetic signals, Shiki broke into a sinister grin. He picked up several pairs of Seastone handcuffs and clouds of Seastone dust stored in cloud shells. Using his Float-Float Fruit, he manipulated iron sand to carry the handcuffs and cloud shells.
Shortly, with the power of the Float-Float Fruit, the rocks above parted, revealing a small passageway leading straight to Syl's room.
Syl, who was sleeping, suddenly sensed danger through his Observation Haki and woke up instantly.
But it was too late.
The Float-Float Fruit's abilities made dealing with enemies in confined spaces all too convenient.
The walls and ceiling began to close in on Syl from all directions.
He immediately fired a "Slow Beam!" at the walls.
However, he didn't notice a small hole in the floor emitting a mist of Seastone dust into the room.
Soon, Syl felt his strength draining. "What…what's happening?"
As he inhaled more of the Seastone particles, his body weakened further. With his slow beam effect dissipating, he was unable to fire another shot and could only watch helplessly as iron sand handcuffed his hands with Seastone.
Syl, captured!
In the next room, the Zoan-type Devil Fruit user Wood was similarly subdued as the walls closed in, locking him in Seastone restraints.
Only Dalia, the last Devil Fruit user, remained in the fortress.
Sensing that something was wrong, Dalia realized his situation was grim.
However, in the enclosed environment of the fortress, his fate was sealed.
Noah's Conqueror's Haki blasted him with an oppressive force. The walls and steel panels closed in under Shiki's control, and in the split second of disorientation, Dalia inhaled a large quantity of Seastone dust, trapping him in a vicious cycle of weakness.
Within seconds, Dalia, now as helpless as a beaten dog, was restrained with Seastone handcuffs and bound by iron sand.
As for everyone else in the fortress, they were immediately immobilized by objects manipulated with the Float-Float Fruit, awaiting Mary's interrogation.
Those outside the fortress had no idea that Dalia and his core subordinates had already been completely defeated.
As for communication snails, Noah had also used his electromagnetic interference abilities. Although his range was smaller than Joshua's, blocking an entire fortress was no issue.
Seeing how smoothly everything went, Noah didn't even need his backup plan.
Even Shiki's true identity remained hidden.
This wasn't too surprising, though. After all, Dalia wasn't part of the later Warlords of the Sea—clearly, his ambitions were cut short, indicating his strength was fairly average.
Noah had initially planned to eliminate Dalia under the Golden Lion's name and loot Stuka Island.
But now, he needed to amend his plan; placing an ally within the Warlords might be more valuable than the industry and weapons on Stuka Island.