Sss!
The warriors of the Shandia tribe were gliding across the Sea of Clouds on their cloudboards when, at a great distance from the Going Merry, they suddenly came to a stop.
Raki, who was leading the group, was the first to turn back, gazing toward the direction they had just come from with a complicated expression.
A guerrilla unit member slid his board over to her side, his face full of confusion as he asked,
"Raki, what on earth is going on!?"
Raki covered the still-bleeding wound on her head and shook her head in confusion, saying nothing.
Before Wyper made that speech, everyone thought he had truly lost his mind!
But…
After he said that line, everyone realized:
This wasn't as simple as they had imagined!
Because Wyper might curse people, he might hit people.
But he would never—
Say something like "leaving the Shandia"!
The moment he added that line to his seemingly illogical speech, everyone understood—Wypert must have his own plan.
And so, once they realized this, Raki and the Shandia warriors didn't hesitate and directly left the Going Merry.
A cold wind swept past, blowing Raki's loose clothes tightly against her body.
"Wyper…"
She whispered his name softly once more, then steered her surfboard and headed toward the Shandia territory.
...
On the Going Merry, no one paid any more attention to Wyper, who was still bound at the stern. Everyone gathered at the bow instead.
Before them stood a massive arched gate.
Luffy and the others paid a toll to a wrinkled old woman and were officially granted entry to Angel Island.
After passing through an aerial cloudway that felt like a raging whitewater ride, they arrived at the largest region of Skypiea—the Land of God.
...
Boom…
Not long after passing through the streamway, the Going Merry suddenly crashed into a strange cloud formation and came to an abrupt stop.
"Wow!!!"
The moment they entered the Land of God, a vast stretch of cloud islands appeared before their eyes.
Usopp stared at Skypiea he had once bragged about, now actually standing right in front of him.
So excited, he immediately dragged Koby along and began jumping on the clouds.
Nami placed her hands on her hips and sighed as she watched the two of them act like children.
"Ah…"
"So immature."
"What a fascinating place!"
Zoro laughed loudly and took a big step, leaping straight onto the cloud island.
Sanji lay down on the snow-white surface, opened his mouth wide, and sank his sharp teeth straight into the cloud.
"Ptoo! Ptoo! Ptoo…"
The moment the cloud dirt entered his mouth, Sanji immediately spat it out in agony, as if he had eaten something filthy.
"Ahahaha!"
Seeing Sanji suffer, Luffy explained,
"This cloud island is made of Rock Salt Crystals, formed when underwater volcanoes erupted and rose up into the clouds along with the updraft!"
"Rock Salt Crystals are an important component of seastone!"
"If you want to eat this cloud island, the first thing you have to overcome is seastone's suppression of Devil Fruit powers!"
"Suppression of Devil Fruits!?"
The moment Luffy finished speaking, all the Devil Fruit users on the ship looked at him with curiosity.
They had never heard of Devil Fruit users being able to overcome the sea's restrictions!
Perhaps when their strength reached the level of the Four Emperors, they would finally understand.³
Luffy merely smiled faintly and didn't say anything more on the topic.
These things were still a bit too early for them.
...
"Merry, you and Wutian wait here for a while!"
"We'll go find a place to rest, then come back and bring you over!"
At Skypiea's wilderness harbor, Luffy said this to Merry.
He planned to stay on this quiet, interesting island for a short while and also give the Starry Sky crew a proper round of training.
With their current strength, they could be considered powerful on the seas.
But if they truly entered the New World, this level of power still wouldn't allow them to act recklessly.
Especially Chopper!
Since leaving Drum Island, the Starry Sky Pirates had been constantly busy and hadn't had time for proper training.
As a result, Chopper wasn't much stronger than when he first joined, aside from the bonuses gained through digital evolution.
His intensive training had to begin as soon as possible.
Otherwise, he would fall behind the pace of the Starry Sky crew!
Chopper wasn't like Wutian.
Wutian was a pet who could use gold coins to purchase stat points.
So Luffy wasn't worried about his combat power.
What's more…
Wutian's talent skill!
That terrifying technique capable of "kicking out the ending"—the Eight Gates Release!
However, Wutian's Eight Gates Release was slightly different from the one Luffy knew.
[Eight Gates Release]: The ultimate taijutsu that unlocks the body's limits.
Through training, open the body's various meridians and ultimately unlock the human limiter.
Current progress: First Gate, "Gate of Opening" (6/100).
This was the system-version of the Eight Gates.
By constantly training to increase the body's endurance, one could open the body's limiters with no side effects at all.
This skill depended purely on Wutian's own effort.
Which meant… the Merry's training room was about to get lively again!
Luffy decided to first find a temporary base on Skypiea.
And since the Going Merry couldn't sail on cloud islands, she could only wait here for a while until they found a suitable location and moved her over.
Merry gave a sweet smile, stood at attention, and saluted Luffy.
"Understood!"
The Starry Sky crew exchanged smiles. Merry was becoming more and more obedient.
Then they turned and walked into the cloud island.
In such a massive capital, finding a base would be easy.
...
...
After a short while, the Starry Sky crew had already left the shore.
Only two of their pets remained on the Going Merry—Merry and Wutian.
If the clouds had more buoyancy, Luffy would have released Laboon as well, letting the three pets interact properly.
Merry watched Luffy and the others until they completely vanished from her sight.
Suddenly, she threw her arms into the air.
"Woohoo!"
"The grown-ups are all gone!"
"Now this place belongs to us, Wutian!"
"Hahahaha!"
Recently, Robin and Brook had been teaching Merry how to be a polite, well-mannered child.
Although Merry studied seriously and listened well, a child's nature made her hate all those rules and restrictions deep down.
And today, the grown-ups were finally gone!
She was going to the game hall to play to her heart's content!!!
"Chirp chirp…"
Just as Merry was about to go wild, Wutian—who was also still a child—suddenly poked her shoulder and pointed toward the stern of the Going Merry.
Merry immediately nodded in realization, as if remembering something, and looked toward Wyper, who was still bound at the back of the ship.
...
Having witnessed everything just now, Wyper revealed a wicked, uncle-like grin and said to the little girl Merry,
"Little girl from the Blue Sea, want to play a game with me?"
"Sure! Sure!"
At the mention of a game, Merry immediately hopped over happily and asked,
"What game are we playing?"
Wyper chuckled and said,
"Come shout with me!"
Suddenly, Wyper threw his head back, his face instantly twisting with fury!
He roared toward the sky,
"ENEL!!!!"
"YOU STUPID BASTARD!!!!!!!!!!"
=============
Completed version available on Patreon P@treon(.)com/Veltoria