Delta Island.
Donner Modirat, standing on the performance stage, lowered his head to check the time on his watch and realized it was time for the grand finale of the celebration to begin. So, he immediately spoke in a passionate tone:
"Pirates, there is a reason why Delta Island was chosen as the stage for this Pirate Expo... It is said that before the Great Pirate Era began, Pirate King Gol D. Roger discovered this island, buried a large amount of treasure here, and left behind this message:
'Our answer is buried in the profound darkness!'
Go! Pirates, solve this mystery and get your hands on the treasure!"
As his words fell, a massive whirlpool immediately appeared in the Central Lake at the island's center, sweeping in some ships that were very close to the Central Lake, crushing them into pieces, and sinking them to the bottom of the lake.
Immediately after, a 'rumble-!' tremor came from the depths of the lake, causing even the entire island to tremble.
Amidst the cheering and shouting of the Pirates in the audience, a huge water column suddenly rose from the lake. Accompanied by a 'bang-!' sound, the water column immediately shot up into the sky, forming a sky-piercing ocean current that went from bottom to top, straight into the clouds.
At the same time, a small island that rose from the bottom of the lake was also pushed high into the sky, encased in bubbles.
Seeing this scene, Donner Modirat, holding the amplifying Den Den Mushi, timely feigned an excited expression and shouted:
"What is that!? Why is an island appearing!? There's no mistake, Roger's treasure must be hidden there! All contestants, quickly find a way to rush onto that treasure island!"
Huh!?...
As for why Donner Modirat could guess that Pirate King Roger's One Piece was hidden there...? Hilarious! He didn't need to guess at all; this was just the script the event organizers had prepared for him in advance!
After all, most Pirates are illiterate and idiots; if no one explained it clearly to them, they probably wouldn't be able to figure out the answer to the riddle even if they scratched their heads.
Hearing this, Luffy, who had eaten his fill and returned to the Thousand Sunny, immediately had his eyes sparkling and said excitedly:
"This is great! We finally found the Pirate King's One Piece! Brothers, let's go!"
As his words fell, Usopp, Franky, and the others immediately took their positions, raised the anchor, lowered the sails, turned the rudder, and excitedly steered the Thousand Sunny, heading towards the location of the sky-piercing ocean current.
Because the archaeologist Nico Robin had long been kidnapped by Sephiroth, the Straw Hat Pirates, after entering the New World, had no idea that four red Poneglyphs were needed to go to Laugh Tale, so they could only wander around like headless flies.
It wasn't until the current Pirate Expo that they finally found clues related to Pirate King Roger's One Piece.
After the competition officially began, Donner Modirat immediately started the live commentary, continuing to stir the emotions of the audience:
"Wow! Among the numerous Pirate crews, taking the lead is the recently quite famous Captain Kid…"
"Captain Kid…?" Hearing this, Sephiroth, who was originally lying on a beach chair sunbathing, immediately stretched, stood up, and looked ahead.
As his gaze passed through the Pirate crews ahead, he quickly saw a sailboat with a yellow Arlong skull-shaped figurehead.
The reason Sephiroth cared about Captain Kid was that this guy, just like in the original story, seemed to have obtained the Magnet-Magnet Fruit somewhere, and using the advantage of his ability, he had previously extensively destroyed the Marines sent to encircle and suppress him.
As for the Magnet-Magnet Fruit, it's not exceptionally strong, nor is it weak; its power mainly depends on the user themselves. But…
Just based on the fact that the Magnet-Magnet Fruit can easily crush mass-produced robot troops, since Sephiroth encountered Kid today, it's impossible for him to let him continue to grow.
Although the mass-produced WM robots, due to the use of a large amount of cheap materials, have reduced the cost to around ten million Berries, their price is far less expensive than the previous mass-produced and experimental models, but they still cost money!
Once this guy fully matures, the Marines might lose who knows how many robot soldiers in the future…
At the edge of the Central Lake, a sailboat with a child-like scribbled face on its sail suddenly soared into the air, surpassing the Pirate ships on the lake surface, directly shooting up into the sky-piercing ocean current, and rushing upwards along the current.
Donner Modirat, standing on the commentary platform, couldn't help but be stunned for a moment when he saw the slightly comical Pirate flag, but he quickly reacted and began explaining the situation to the audience:
"Huh!? A ship actually overtook Captain Kid — it is!?... It's... one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea... Tyrant Kuma!"
Bonney, who had used her Devil Fruit ability to transform herself into a woman in her twenties with a mature appearance, stood at the side of the ship's bow, hands on her hips, and said excitedly:
"Go, Daddy! We must get Pirate King Roger's One Piece today."
"Okay, Bonney! Daddy will definitely do his best to get it."
Kuma, standing at the stern of the ship, nodded with a smile while casually creating air paws with his Paw-Paw Fruit ability, swatting away the cannonballs flying towards his ship.
Sephiroth had summoned the Shichibukai this time to assist in the encirclement and suppression of the Pirates on Delta Island, so Kuma originally intended to adopt a cautious strategy, waiting for the opportune moment on the outskirts of the island before launching an attack.
However…
Kuma couldn't resist his daughter Bonney's pleading and coaxing, so he had to take his daughter to the celebration venue to play. When Bonney heard that there was the Pirate King's One Piece on this island, she immediately pulled Kuma to participate in this treasure hunt competition.
Thus, at his daughter's willful request, Kuma, being a doting father, decisively cast aside his previous cautious plan and prepared to first let his daughter have her fill of fun.
Luffy, sitting on the bow of the Thousand Sunny, looked at Kuma's Pirate ship that was already riding the sky-piercing ocean current high into the sky, and couldn't help but make a bitter face and mutter:
"Ah! Damn it, we've been left so far behind… Franky, quickly think of a way to catch up!"
Hearing this, Franky, who was steering the Thousand Sunny from behind the helm, raised his right hand and gave a thumbs-up, saying confidently:
"Leave it to me! The cola is already refilled, everyone hold on tight to the ship, we're about to take off… Coup! De! Burst!!!"
As he pulled down the lever next to the helm, the Thousand Sunny's internal air compression device immediately started operating.
The next moment. Boom!
A highly compressed air current burst out from the Thousand Sunny's stern thruster.
The resulting enormous thrust caused the entire ship to leap up from the lake surface and fly directly into the sky, crashing into the middle section of the sky-piercing ocean current, forming a parallel situation with Tyrant Kuma's ship on the sky-piercing ocean current.