The dark clouds amassed overhead touched the towering pillar reaching into the sky, dissolving and disappearing, leaving the dark sky clear again.
The rain curtain dissipated, clearly revealing the body of the Black Ship as it gradually approached a massive skyward pillar.
Compared to the Navy's large battleships, the enormous Death Star appeared quite small within this increasingly close and enlarged column.
It gave the impression of a slightly larger black insect, touching upon human legs and feet, always on the verge of being squashed.
On the deck's front end, Lily pressed down on the sword hilt with one hand, looking at this enormous pillar with a slight tremor, and said, "I can't feel... is this really a living creature?"
Observation can't detect any aura from this thing; it feels no different from a typical dead island.
"Lily, concentrate your Observation more."
Sage walked past her, directing his gaze to the pillar's side front, where there seemed to be a slightly smaller pillar visible.
"It's not that you can't feel it; it's just too big, covering your range of perception, making you think it's dead... Look, that should be the nose."
He smiled and said, "But such a thing is no different from dead. Don't bother with it, let's get up there."
"From here?"
Renedia curiously looked up at the pillar, resembling stone in texture and pattern, and said, "The ship can't go up there, can it?"
"Ha! The sky is hardly a challenge for me now; we'll take it all up!"
Saying this, Sage leapt forward, and as he fell into the air, black clouds arose beneath his feet. He hovered at the ship's bow's front end, pressing with both hands as two arms exposed veins, and with white steam ejecting from his nose, his whole body expanded.
"80%! Rise up!"
Rumbling...
The ship started rising from the sea under Sage's fierce muscular form, gradually lifting from the bow.
Whitebeard could press down a ship with one hand, and Sage could do the same, but that applies to typical ships. The Death Star is inherently large, exceeding his normal strength limit.
For now, Sage wasn't interested in challenging his limits, for fear of ending up like Oven; 80% transformation was just right.
As the ship left the sea, the cloak behind Sage fell off, merging into the black clouds beneath his feet, turning solid.
"Momo Hundred Times!"
The cloak became larger than the ship, slowly lifting the Death Star upward.
Sage then reversed the transformation, returning to normal, and jumped onto the deck.
"That's it, no need to stay below."
He grinned, "At this height, it's easy to rise."
This cloak could easily lift a ship and two thousand people.
Homiez belong to Homiez, but the entity is his cloak; enlarging it is easy.
"Sage, if you can take the ship, can we go to Sky Island?!" Renedia asked with stars in her eyes.
Sage waved his hand, "I'm not interested in such barren places. If you're interested, go find Urouge later; he'll know how to get home."
Sky Island is where land is propelled upward by rising ocean currents onto the White Sea, its island rooted due to unique gravity, but it doesn't change its barrenness.
The only place with wealth should be Paradise, where half of Jaya Island was pushed up, which Sage remembers had quite a lot of gold, but how to get there is unclear.
If Renedia wants to go, she can take on the task of fetching the gold back.
Though Sage has moved beyond pure monetary pursuits, who hates having more money? Moreover, it's not Belly, it's hard currency gold.
The enormous black cloak lifted the Death Star slowly upward along the elephant-leg-like pillar, broke through to the upper clouds, revealing land-like edges along with a vast forest ahead.
Being at a high altitude allowed Sage to see more clearly; at the forest center stood a giant tree resembling a whale.
"What thoughts do you have, Faust?" Sage asked, looking at Faust, the black cat dressed like an ancient noble.
"No thoughts, I don't have any memories here, meow."
Faust licked his black paw, showing disinterest.
Hawkins didn't come, so Sage brought Faust from the Treasure Vault's entrance, sleeping, to take a look at his ancestral home.
"Captain, do you want me to do something here?" Faust asked, "If you want me to be the Fur Race leader, I'm not interested, meow."
Sage laughed aloud, "Hahaha, just bringing you here; as for Fur Race's leader... you're still lacking."
The Fur Race isn't weak.
In his impression, there are probably a cat and a dog, both leaders with considerable battle prowess.
The Fur Race is a special tribe that, under a cloudless full moon, can transform into 'Moon Lion,' a fact Faust has proven to him.
Earlier, Sage was keen to witness it and had Faust transform, with their battle strength's increment being astonishing.
Faust's prowess in the current Disaster Pirates could occupy a 'New Star' position, and transforming into a 'Moon Lion' gets him infinitely close to 'Seven Stars' level.
He should be on par with Bellamy and others, with significant battle power improvement.
However, Faust couldn't control this aspect; once transformed, he would battle fiercely to the death, and it was Sage who personally intervened to settle it.