The yellow sand churned, silently.
Crocodile walked at the front, his arms moving as though commanding thousands of troops, controlling the sand around them and turning the cloud-stone foundation ahead into sand inch by inch.
A deep underground passage slowly extended out before him.
This time, the two of them went extremely deep.
"We need to go farther down."
Crocodile said in a low voice, "There are too many people on the surface, and the strength of the Sky Knight and the Sky Island god is unfathomable. Who knows how far his Observation Haki can cover? The deeper we go, the less likely we are to be detected."
"Good point," Shanks followed closely behind, his expression solemn, "That old man can take Usopp and the others down with one move, so his Observation Haki probably isn't ordinary either. Better to be careful."
Thus, the two of them continued downward, burrowing deeper and deeper.
Ten meters.
Thirty meters.
Fifty meters.
The temperature around them gradually dropped, and the air also became damp.
The originally dry and solid cloud-stone foundation had, at some point, begun to give off a faint damp chill.
"Something's wrong."
Crocodile suddenly stopped, his brows slightly furrowed.
"What is it?", Shanks cautiously placed a hand on his sword hilt.
"The farther down this foundation goes, the wetter it gets," Crocodile reached out and grabbed a handful of the fragments that had just been turned into sand, narrowing his eyes as he examined them, "And my sand seems to be getting a little hard to control."
Shanks also noticed something strange.
A salty, fishy smell spread through the air around them. It was the scent of seawater.
At that realization, Shanks suddenly slapped his forehead.
"We're on Angel Island, floating above the White Sea. There wouldn't be a very deep foundation here to begin with. The White Sea is right underneath us, so of course it's wet."
Crocodile did not answer. He only knitted his brows tighter.
"Wet... Wait, I think I vaguely figured something out. Keep going down."
"It's fine. Keep going down."
Shanks casually shrugged, but kept his hand on his sword.
With him here, even if Crocodile fell into the cloud sea, he could easily fish him back out.
The yellow sand surged again, turning the increasingly damp layer of foundation beneath their feet into sand.
Boom!
At this moment, a sudden change happened.
The layer of foundation beneath their feet that had been turned into sand suddenly collapsed, and a surging white ocean appeared beneath the two of them.
The seawater was entirely snow-white, like solidified clouds, yet it had the flow and buoyancy of seawater, giving off a strong salty, fishy smell.
The White Sea.
The ocean floating ten thousand meters above the ground, formed from condensed clouds.
"We broke through!", Shanks' pupils contracted.
"Damn it! This cloud sea is just like the ocean. It can completely nullify my ability."
Crocodile shouted.
But it was already too late.
At the opening pierced through by the sand, the surging white cloud sea, like a beast breaking free of its restraints, suddenly poured into the passage the two had dug, carrying enormous buoyancy and a salty, fishy smell.
Crocodile swept both arms out, and yellow sand surged up like a huge wall, trying to block the incoming cloud sea in front of them.
However...
Sizzle!
The moment the yellow sand touched the white cloud sea, it melted away like snow under the blazing sun, disappearing completely.
The roaring white waves were about to swallow the two of them completely.
"Fall back!"
Shanks stepped forward and drew his sword.
Black Armament Haki suddenly wrapped around the blade.
Without thinking, he swung horizontally.
Boom!
A massive slash, carrying a fierce force, struck the surging cloud sea.
That seemingly ordinary slash actually forced the pouring cloud sea back.
Shanks grabbed the powerless Crocodile and retreated rapidly, swinging his sword several times and repeatedly forcing back the cloud sea that kept surging toward them. At last, they stabilized their footing and retreated to a safe high point.
The two of them took several heavy breaths and looked at the cloud sea beneath them, which had returned to calm. Their eyes both flashed with a sharp light.
Almost at the exact same moment, the two raised their heads and looked at each other.
In their eyes was the light of sudden realization.
"I know!"
"I know too!"
The two shouted almost in unison.
"That lightning barrier around the outside of Skypiea," Shanks' eyes shone, "It guards the sky, the outside, and all the routes approaching from the air and the water! But it can't guard below!"
"This White Sea!"
Crocodile picked up the thought, speaking rapidly, his excitement plain to see, "It can nullify all Devil Fruit abilities. In other words, that lightning barrier can't function in this cloud sea at all."
In their understanding, that lightning barrier had to be the power of a Devil Fruit, so naturally it would have no effect in the sea.
"We can completely..."
"Go underneath it!"
The two looked at each other and simultaneously broke into smiles of realization and relief.
Above the sky, there was the lightning barrier blocking them.
Around the borders, there was the sea of lightning sealing them off.
But beneath this cloud sea ten thousand meters in the sky was a blind spot capable of cutting off all abilities.
As long as they entered this cloud sea and quietly passed directly beneath Skypiea, that lightning barrier in the sky that had left them helpless would no longer be able to stop them.
"Hahahaha! We searched everywhere without finding it, and here it is," Crocodile laughed freely, which was rare for him, "After going around such a huge circle, it turns out the road to that island is right beneath our feet!"
"However," Shanks' smile slightly faded, and his expression became solemn again, "We still need to think this through."
He looked at the vast cloud sea and slowly said, "This White Sea will nullify Devil Fruit abilities, which means you can't use your ability inside it. If we're really going to sneak in, we need to plan carefully and make full preparations. Besides..."
He paused, "We know nothing about the situation inside Skypiea. Sneaking in recklessly might instead be asking for death."
"You're right."
Crocodile nodded, putting away the excitement on his face and returning to his cold expression, "The priority now is still to rescue Straw Hat and the others."
Even to Crocodile, Luffy's importance was greater than the Poneglyph.
There would always be more Poneglyphs to find.
But if Pluton and Nika were gone, there would be nowhere to find a second one.
"Let's go."
Crocodile gathered the yellow sand again and continued digging from the other side of the passage toward the place where Luffy and the others were being held, "Rescue them first. This cloud sea isn't going anywhere."
"Mm."
Shanks nodded and followed closely behind.
With their new hope of breaking through the situation, the two quickened their pace and quietly made their way beneath the three-story building.
———
Inside the small building where Luffy and the others were being held, the atmosphere was dull.
Calling this place a prison would be less accurate than calling it a vacation villa with its doors and windows sealed.
Everything that should be there was there.
The place was also spacious enough and did not feel cramped at all.
Luffy and Lucky Roux were even chewing on meat. Robin leaned against the window, holding an old book she had found somewhere and quietly flipping through it. Sanji leaned against the wall, bored, smoking and exhaling white smoke.
Suddenly, Robin's fingers holding the page suddenly stopped.
Almost at the same moment, the motion of Sanji's cigarette also froze.
The two turned their heads in unison and looked toward the ground beneath them.
There was a trace of surprise in their eyes.
However, Sanji was pretending, while Robin was genuinely surprised for a moment.
This slight movement naturally did not escape Usopp, who was nearby. He raised his brows and asked suspiciously:
"What happened? Why did you two suddenly look at the ground?"
Everyone in the room was also drawn by the movement and turned their gazes over.
Everyone present knew that Sanji and Robin were the truly strongest among them.
As for Usopp.
In fact, he had also noticed the movement underground long ago.
It was just that, in the eyes of the others, his strength had always been nothing special, so no one paid attention to his reaction.
He was happy to keep his abilities hidden, simply shrinking into a corner and quietly pricking up his ears.
"Your captain is here," Sanji slowly exhaled a mouthful of smoke, his tone flat, "He's underground, coming to see this group of prisoners we're with."
Speaking of which, their current situation could not really be considered imprisonment in the strict sense. At most, it was house arrest.
As long as they did not leave this building, they could move around freely inside, and they could even enter the basement freely. No one stopped them.
It was almost as if... the Skypiea side was not worried at all that they would dig a tunnel and escape.
That composure itself was somewhat strange.
"Captain's here?"
Usopp was happy when he heard this.
At this moment, his Observation Haki finally caught the two rapidly approaching presences.
They were Shanks and Crocodile.
He quickly scrambled to his feet.
Before he had even finished standing steadily...
Creak!
The door leading to the basement was slowly pushed open from the outside.
Then, a hearty and familiar laugh came through:
"Sorry to keep you waiting."
"Shanks!"
Luffy, who had still been listlessly eating meat, instantly brightened up.
He grinned and rushed forward, bumping fists hard with Shanks. The dejected look on his face disappeared in an instant.
"You're this useless?"
Crocodile came crawling out behind him, patted the sand and dust off his body, and glanced at the fierce wounds on Usopp, Lucky Roux, and the others' chests. He could not help letting out a merciless scoff:
"How long have we even been gone? In that little bit of time, you all got captured?"
"You! We!"
Usopp was left speechless by those words, his face flushed red. He opened his mouth but did not know how to argue back for a moment.
After all, at the port just before, when they faced that Sky Knight, they really had been completely unable to fight back.
One thrust per person, pinned to the ground, without even room to struggle.
That was a fact.
An ironclad fact.
No matter how quick his tongue was, he could not be tough at this moment.
"Ah, we're weak. Isn't that only natural?"
Usopp, however, spoke up casually from the side, looking completely justified, "Isn't Shanks the only strong one in the entire Red Hair Pirates? Oh! There was also someone called Beckman who seemed pretty good at fighting before, but didn't he surrender to the World Government later?"
As soon as he said this, the atmosphere in the cell suddenly froze.
The faces of the Red Hair Pirates, Lucky Roux, Usopp, and the others, all darkened, showing displeasure.
To them, the betrayal of their vice-captain, Beckman, was undoubtedly a wound they did not want reopened.
That man who had once fought alongside them and whom they regarded as their backbone had ultimately sided with the World Government.
This matter had always been a heavy weight on the hearts of the Red Hair Pirates.
The smile on Shanks' face also faded almost imperceptibly.
In fact, only he knew the truth best.
Beckman had not betrayed them at all.
It was merely an understanding between him and Beckman.
But this sort of thing obviously could not be revealed in front of Sanji in the slightest. Even Usopp and the others could not be told.
Even if the World Government might already know perfectly well, and might even be secretly doing everything it could to truly turn Beckman to its side, this sort of thing obviously could not be put out in the open either.
For a moment, the atmosphere that had become lively again because of Shanks' arrival suddenly cooled once more because of that thoughtless remark from Usopp.
Everyone looked at one another, speechless for a moment.
Usopp, however, seemed not to realize that he had said anything wrong and simply kept laughing there.
Seeing the atmosphere become awkward, Crocodile stepped forward, a cigar between his teeth, and slowly spoke to smooth things over, "Beckman, is it? I've heard a thing or two about that guy's ability."
He exhaled a mouthful of smoke and raised the corner of his mouth, "As for fighting one-on-one, I might be a little behind him. But..."
He raised his chin and gestured toward Robin beside him, as well as the members of the Straw Hat Pirates, "Add this woman, then add you Straw Hat brats, and put us together. We might not be much weaker than that Beckman."
The words sounded arrogant, but in reality, they gave everyone a way out.
Comparing all of them to Beckman alone both praised himself and quietly brought everyone into it, indirectly easing the awkwardness caused by Usopp's remark.
Sure enough, the expressions of the Red Hair Pirates eased considerably.
"Hmph! Crocodile's right!"
Usopp was the first to pick up the conversation, even giving a thumbs-up and praising him seriously, "If you ask me, whether it's character or strength, you're way stronger than that traitor Beckman!"
When he said the name Beckman, he even spat heavily, his face full of disdain and contempt.
In his view, a coward who had betrayed his captain and his comrades was no longer worthy of even a shred of his respect.
Forget praising him, even mentioning the name made him feel that he had dirtied his own mouth.
As for the real culprit, Usopp.
Usopp glared at him.
If Captain Shanks had not already instructed him not to touch this brainless brat, then just based on the nonsense he had spouted, Usopp would have long since done the right thing and dealt with his own relative.
Usopp gave a scoff and ignored him, simply sitting back down beside Zoro, completely unafraid of him.
Sanji was here on the ship now, so if Usopp had the ability, he could come and try.
When that time came, even if Sanji did not reveal his strength, Usopp would not get the better of him.
And if Usopp were the one to attack first, Shanks might even take the initiative to stop him.
These past few days, Usopp had been calling himself vice-captain every day and ordering the others around, and he had already offended everyone else in the Red Hair Pirates.
If Shanks abandoned him on top of that, he would truly end up in a situation where everyone had turned against him.
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