At the exact moment Luffy and his group rode the upward current and reached the White Sea, at the peak ten thousand meters above sea level, on the island of Skypiea above the White-White Sea, amid a holy glow, a figure stood quietly at the very top of the Poneglyph.
It was a girl with snow-white wings on her back.
Soft daylight poured down, coating her body in a hazy golden outline. Her long wings gently spread in the breeze, her white feathers flawless as snow.
She lowered her eyes, her expression peaceful and detached, like an angel stepped out of a painting.
Conis, Rosse's third daughter, the ruler of this island among the clouds.
Her long eyelashes trembled slightly, as if she had seen something interesting.
She slowly lowered her head, looking toward the end of the sea of clouds, toward that distant direction far beyond the reach of her gaze.
A gentle, knowing smile curled at the corners of her lips.
She lightly raised her arm, letting the wind pass through her fingers, and murmured in a soft voice that only the clouds and wind could hear, "Welcome to my kingdom."
"You lucky ones watched over by the gods."
As her voice fell, a breeze brushed past.
That holy figure silently faded away into the spreading glow, like a thin morning mist.
———
[Elsewhere]
"Cough! Cough! Spit! This place is full of water!"
Crocodile awkwardly poked his head out of the white cloud-water that came up to his waist, spitting out mouthfuls of water.
The sea they had reached was a boundless White Sea.
Although it was different from the real ocean and did not suppress Devil Fruit users as strongly, being submerged in it still left him with a sense of helplessness.
At this moment, they were already floating more than seven thousand meters above sea level.
Looking around, there were bizarre and magnificent cloud formations everywhere.
The pure-white sea of clouds rose and fell like waves, with islands made of clouds scattered throughout.
The air was thin and crisp, while the sunlight was more intense and dazzling than it was on the ground.
Just as everyone was marveling at this unimaginable sight, the sea of clouds beneath them suddenly began churning.
Splash!
A group of strange creatures, entirely translucent and shaped like enormous carp yet possessing sharp fangs, suddenly leaped out from deep within the clouds, opening their enormous mouths and fiercely lunging toward the Merry.
Their scales gleamed with a cold light beneath the sunlight, and their huge bodies sent the ship rocking violently as they crashed into it.
"Whoa! What kind of weird fish are these? Can we eat them?", Luffy cried out.
"Sky Sharks."
A lazy voice sounded.
Shanks could not even be bothered to raise his eyelids. He casually swept out his one arm.
Clang!
A slash shot out.
The entire group of Sky Sharks, baring their fangs and claws, froze simultaneously the instant they touched the slash. Then they split in two and fell back into the sea of clouds with a series of splashes, becoming bloody corpses.
"Taken care of," Shanks clapped his hands.
"As expected of you, Mr. Shanks," Robin smiled and flattered him.
"The creatures in the White Sea may look frightening, but they're actually nothing special."
Looking at the familiar yet unfamiliar scenery before him, Shanks slowly spoke, taking on the role of guide for these companions who were visiting the clouds for the first time, "Come, let me tell you about it."
"The sea beneath us is called the White Sea, at a height of around seven thousand meters."
He pointed toward the higher, brighter layer of clouds overhead, "And above the White Sea, there's another sea closer to the heavens, called the White-White Sea. The real Sky Island, Angel Island, and Upper Yard are all located above that White-White Sea."
"Upper Yard?", Robin looked thoughtful.
"Yeah," Shanks nodded, a look of remembrance appearing in his eyes, "When we came up here back then, we observed it carefully. The terrain and rock layers of Upper Yard were practically identical to those of Jaya Island. We could almost be certain that it was originally part of Jaya Island."
"It was probably torn out by the roots in some extremely ancient era by a terrifying upward current and forcibly shot up to this ten-thousand-meter-high sky."
He paused, lowered his voice, and said each word, "And that Land of Gold you've been thinking about is hidden deep within Upper Yard. The Poneglyph is there too."
Everyone's spirits lifted at those words.
"Let's go, don't waste any time," Shanks called out, "To reach the White-White Sea, we have to pass through a specific Heaven's Gate. If I remember correctly, that gate was guarded by people sent by the god of Skypiea. According to the rules, you just pay a small entrance fee, give them a little something extra, and you can pass."
Thus, under Shanks's guidance, the Merry parted the layers of clouds and slowly sailed toward that legendary passage.
However, when everyone reached the ornate "Heaven's Gate" standing among the clouds, the scene before them was completely different from what Shanks remembered.
The priest guarding the gate was doing far more than merely collecting an entrance fee.
He was a fat man with a shifty, beady-eyed appearance, leaning against the gatepost as he greedily looked them up and down, scanning the Merry and everyone aboard it.
"Oh! Another shipload of people from below who don't know how high the heavens are."
He grinned, revealing a mouthful of yellow teeth, and extended a hand with a fake smile, "Want to pass through this gate? Sure. I'll give you a chance to gaze upon our god."
"The rules are simple. Leave everything valuable on your ship. Gold, silver, jewels, women... Oh, especially those pretty girls. Leave them here to keep me company for a few days. If I'm in a good mood, maybe I'll let you pass..."
"Annoying."
He had not even finished speaking when a golden hook gleaming with a cold light had already swept through the air.
Slice!
A thin line of blood suddenly opened across the priest's throat.
The greedy, lecherous expression on his face froze.
Then his head separated from his body and rolled across the clouds, blood splattering and staining the white sea of clouds beneath them red.
From the moment he opened his mouth to extort them to the moment he was separated from his head, it had taken only a single sentence.
Crocodile's sand-transformed and solidified hook hand had not shown even the slightest unnecessary hesitation.
"Tch!"
He coldly withdrew his prosthetic hand, looking down at the still-twitching corpse with undisguised disgust, "Since Shanks knows the way, there's no need to waste words on trash like this."
He put the cigar back in his mouth and took a deep drag, slowly exhaling smoke between his lips and teeth, his face filled with impatience.
He had no interest in the Sky Island. The only thing he cared about was that Poneglyph.
Anyone who got in his way along the road, as long as he could beat them, he had no problem killing them all.
The people on deck looked at the corpse on the ground, recalling the greedy and ugly face the man had shown just now, and not a single one of them felt that there was anything wrong with what Crocodile had done.
Except Nami and Zoro.
The two people who knew the truth quietly exchanged a glance, and the ominous feeling in their hearts grew heavier.
In theory, Skypiea belonged to the World Government and was managed by Conis.
Since it was managed by the World Government, why would someone like this appear here?
Only Sanji and Usopp remained silently speechless.
Nothing strange happening in a place where that woman was could be considered unusual.
Besides, this passage to Skypiea had been abolished long ago.
After all, ever since all the Sky Islands had been conquered by the World Government, there was no need for anyone to collect extra fees here.
The reason anyone was still here was probably simply to satisfy Shanks's memories.
There were no further obstacles along the way.
Following Shanks's directions, once the Merry passed through the gate, it headed straight for the higher White-White Sea, climbing upward with all its might.
They passed through the final layer of dense clouds.
The view suddenly opened up.
The two legendary twin islands, Angel Island and Upper Yard, finally burst fully into everyone's view.
Upper Yard occupied the larger of the two islands.
It was a land ruled by primitiveness and wildness. Dense jungle layered upon itself, lush giant trees reaching straight into the clouds, vines hanging down, birds flying through the forest, a scene of wild, vigorous life.
Yet right in the center of this primitive jungle stood a magnificent palace.
The palace was built from pure gold and white jade, with sweeping eaves and elaborate brackets, its towering dome reaching high into the sky. Under the sunlight, it reflected dazzling, ostentatious light, forming an extremely strange and jarring contrast with the primitive wilderness surrounding it.
Angel Island opposite it presented an entirely different scene.
White buildings stood densely packed across the island, streets crisscrossed one another, and crowds of residents came and went among the clouds.
The noise of the markets, shop signs, children's laughter... everywhere was filled with the atmosphere of an ordinary human town.
"Wow! This is amazing! There really are islands in the sky! And cities too!"
"This is unbelievable..."
Even those who had seen plenty of the world were left dumbfounded by this first glimpse of the miraculous scenery in the sky, unable to speak for a long time.
Only Sanji, cigarette in his mouth, leaned against the railing and slowly exhaled a cloud of white smoke, looking completely uninterested.
"Don't rush to make a big fuss."
He glanced sideways at everyone, his tone indifferent, "They're just a few Sky Islands. What's so impressive about that? You guys should take a good look farther out to both sides."
Everyone froze at his words and instinctively followed his advice, turning their eyes toward the distant horizon.
And right at that moment, Luffy, standing on the eastern side of the bow, and Crocodile, standing at the western stern, shouted almost simultaneously, "Look over there!"
"Look, look!"
At the horizon at the far end of the unreachable sea of clouds, they could each vaguely make out the phantom of an enormous city.
Everyone hurriedly followed their gazes.
On the side Luffy was looking toward was a gigantic metropolis filled with skyscrapers soaring into the clouds and densely packed high-tech buildings.
Even from this enormous distance, its hazy outline alone was enough to let them truly feel the prosperity and grandeur of that city.
"That's Reverse City," Shanks's voice became low, "The Red Line is already ten thousand meters above sea level, and we're currently at an altitude of ten thousand meters as well. Looking into the distance from a high place and seeing the phantom of Reverse City at the mountaintop isn't particularly strange."
On the other side, Crocodile stared intently toward the direction he was looking. His usually unreadable face was now filled with gravity.
"Seeing Reverse City isn't strange."
He spoke slowly in a deep voice, then raised his hand toward the distance and pointed in the direction he was looking, "But why? Why can we see that place too?"
Everyone looked over together.
At the end of their vision stood a holy and imposing city.
Right in the center of that city stood a towering spire that seemed to pierce the heavens. Five snow-white towers surrounded it, while farther out, nine enormous towers stood guard, nearly as tall as the central tower.
The entire city bathed in holy light, radiating an oppressive majesty that allowed no desecration.
Even though he had never personally been there, Crocodile recognized the place at a glance.
"That place is Mary Geoise."
Robin, who had remained silent until now, gave the answer for him, her expression complicated.
She looked at that holy city, emotions impossible to describe churning in her eyes, "The center of the World Government, and also the center of this entire world."
Without exaggeration, nearly the entire latter half of her childhood, filled with painful memories, had been spent enduring that cold holy city little by little.
"I'm not asking what kind of place that is."
Crocodile irritably cut her off, his brows knitted into a tight knot, "I'm asking how we can see it at all. This makes no sense!"
According to geography and ordinary line-of-sight principles, there was absolutely no way they should be able to see Mary Geoise from so far away.
"Because that's Mary Geoise."
Sanji casually held his cigarette in his mouth, his tone flat, "That's where the sun rises."
"As long as the height where you're standing reaches a certain specific limit, then no matter where you are in this world, you'll be able to see the phantom of Mary Geoise, forever hanging above the horizon in the east."
"You World Government people," Shanks could not help sneering coldly, "You really do think you're above everyone else, treating this whole world as a stepping stone beneath your feet."
Mockery aside, deep down, he could not help being secretly shocked by such unbelievable power.
The World Government was stronger than him. He knew that.
There were many powerful people among them who far surpassed him. He knew that.
Rosse's eyes could appear in every corner of the world, watching all of them at any time, and he knew that too.
But even so, he could never have imagined it.
That artificial city, Mary Geoise, what kind of ability could make it visible to everyone from different heights?
What an arrogant mindset, and what a terrifying ability.
"That's nothing."
Sanji still wore that same indifferent expression. He slowly raised his hand and lightly pointed toward the sky above, "Now, look up again. Look at the sky."
Everyone's hearts tightened. Though they did not understand why, they still all raised their heads.
Because they were already ten thousand meters high, the sun overhead appeared much larger and more intense than it did from the ground.
However, that was not the main point.
What truly made everyone's pupils contract and their breathing stop for a moment was... there were actually two suns hanging in that deep-blue sky.