Chapter 281: There's a Noblewoman Who Pulls the Strings of the World...
Crocodile had never been opposed to utilizing underhanded, treacherous methods. If he were an honorable man, he wouldn't be entrenched in Alabasta, secretly slaughtering rookies while covertly searching for the Ancient Weapon Pluton.
Even after being violently beaten awake by two kanabo strikes to the head, he had absolutely no intention of abandoning his ambitions regarding Pluton.
Those two little girls, and the terrifying woman who appeared at the end, were far too dangerous to deal with personally. However, Crocodile could simply manipulate someone else to deal with them on his behalf.
Accepting the title of Warlord of the Sea was his own pragmatic choice. But in the eyes of the global pirate community, that choice essentially meant he had become a lapdog for the World Government.
Since he was already bearing that humiliating stigma, failing to exploit the World Government's massive intelligence and military networks for his own gain would be a total waste.
Operating under the assumption that the World Government still held an absolute, global kill-on-sight order for the Lunarian race, Crocodile directly contacted a high-ranking Cipher Pol official via his secure Warlord channel.
However, the moment he provided specific physical descriptions of Amphelite, the official's attitude drastically shifted.
[There are plenty of people with white hair in the world.]
[As for brown skin, anyone who spends enough time baking in the sun can get tanned. Doesn't your precious Alabasta have plenty of dark-skinned citizens?]
[What? You're saying she had wings on her back? They were probably just a decorative costume accessory! As for the fire, she's likely just a Devil Fruit user—perhaps someone who ate the Flare-Flare Fruit—which would explain her ability to fly and generate flames.]
Finally, the official explicitly laid their cards on the table, bluntly stating: This individual is absolutely not a Lunarian. Stop wasting our time and your own energy investigating her.
There was a very good reason the World Government officials were desperately trying to dissuade Crocodile. Although the Seven Warlords system hadn't even fully recruited all seven members yet, the title already projected a formidable global deterrence, proving highly effective at suppressing the escalating chaos of the Great Pirate Era.
Suddenly losing a Warlord because he provoked the wrong person was absolutely not a desirable outcome for Mary Geoise.
It wasn't that the government officials completely lacked faith in Crocodile's strength. But if his opponent was truly someone connected to Nereus, calculating the outcome of a battle was entirely unnecessary. The only thing they would need to calculate was where to bury Crocodile's corpse.
"Who exactly is that woman...?" Crocodile muttered, staring at the disconnected Den Den Mushi. "What kind of terrifying background does she have?"
Having isolated himself in Alabasta for years, Crocodile was severely lacking in up-to-date, top-tier intelligence. The only thing he could deduce from that bizarre conversation was that the woman was clearly some untouchable, omnipotent figure capable of pulling strings at the absolute highest echelons of the world.
However, speaking of individuals capable of pulling the strings of the world... there actually was someone else making a move right now.
In the first half of the Grand Line, the Red Force was sailing steadily through the waves. Its captain was a man named Shanks.
Ever since parting ways with Buggy in Loguetown years ago, the two had embarked on vastly different paths. Buggy remained in the East Blue, clinging to his small slice of territory and striving to be a "true pirate" obsessively hunting for treasure.
Shanks, on the other hand, had gathered a formidable crew of loyal companions. Surprisingly, he also hadn't entered the New World yet; his crew primarily sailed back and forth across the first half of the Grand Line, the East Blue, and the South Blue.
"Beckman, I plan to leave the ship for a while," Shanks announced one day.
"Shanks! Where are you going?!"
The question wasn't asked by Beckman, but rather by a little girl with split red-and-white hair standing nearby.
"I'm heading to a very special place," Shanks smiled warmly, kneeling down to pat her head. "I might be gone for quite some time. While I'm away, Uta, you have to promise to listen to everyone else, alright?"
Three years ago, Shanks and his crew had raided a rival pirate ship. Among the plundered treasure chests, they discovered a two-year-old toddler—Uta.
The entire scenario was strikingly identical to how the Roger Pirates had found a baby Shanks at God Valley decades ago. The Red Hair Pirates formally adopted her, raising Uta as the beloved daughter of the entire crew.
As for the "special place" Shanks was heading to? It was Mary Geoise.
Now fully aware of his true heritage, Shanks felt the time had come to return to the Holy Land to accomplish certain deeply personal objectives.
"When I come back, I'll be passing by Fish-Man Island," Shanks offered, trying to cheer her up. "How about I bring you an autographed record from Nanamo?"
While holding concerts and singing was merely a fun hobby for Nanamo, for Uta, singing was her absolute greatest passion. Practically everyone on the Red Force spent time indulging her musical games.
The deck of the Red Force was essentially Uta's very first stage.
Nanamo's singing voice might not have been objectively the absolute best in the world, but among those capable of holding massive, global-scale concerts, she was undeniably the one with the most terrifyingly powerful background.
Having successfully hosted a few massive concerts, Nanamo's fame had spread considerably. Naturally, Uta, who avidly collected records from across the globe, was a massive fan.
Shanks didn't know much about other global pop idols, but he definitely knew who Nanamo was. He had formally met her a few times back when he sailed as an apprentice on Roger's ship. Securing an autograph using the pretext of being a fan would be effortless.
If all else failed... he could just buy one.
"Really?! It's a promise!" Uta beamed, holding out her pinky finger.
Shanks hooked his pinky around hers with a warm smile before turning back to Beckman to finalize the crew's orders for his absence.
Shanks's return to Mary Geoise—specifically to assume his birthright as Saint Figarland Shanks—was a highly classified secret.
The outside world knew absolutely nothing about his heritage. And internally, the Holy Knights of Mary Geoise certainly weren't going to broadcast the humiliating fact that Roger had stolen one of their infants at God Valley, and despite hunting him for years, they had utterly failed to retrieve the child.
While Shanks was meticulously planning how to properly execute his role as a Celestial Dragon in Mary Geoise, Chloe and Yamato had successfully arrived in the waters near Jaya.
Centuries ago, this island had been the site of the legendary City of Gold, Shandora. However, a catastrophic phenomenon known as the Knock-Up Stream had violently blasted the entire golden city high into the sky, resulting in Mont Blanc Noland being universally branded as "Noland the Liar."
Once a ship entered these specific coordinates, the Log Pose would inexplicably point straight up into the sky.
"Is there really an island up there...?"
Yamato squinted, staring hard at the sky, desperately trying to spot something. But after staring for a long time, aside from an endless expanse of azure blue and fluffy white clouds, she couldn't see a single speck of land.
The weather in the Grand Line was notoriously erratic, making navigation purely via compass impossible. The only thing a navigator could absolute trust was the Log Pose. This was a universal truth known to anyone who sailed these seas.
But a compass pointing straight up into empty space was still a concept that severely challenged common sense.
"Of course there is! There are plenty of Sky Islands up there!" Chloe chimed in cheerfully. "Though some of them drift aimlessly with the wind, so their locations aren't fixed. There used to be a Sky Island hovering right above Dressrosa, but the second time I flew up there to check, it had drifted away.
"Before we left, Big Sis checked our navigational route. She asked me to bring back some local gold and unique Sky Dials on our way home."
Chloe was perfectly familiar with Sky Islands. After all, flight was her innate, biological ability. Although Sky Islands were typically located 10,000 meters above sea level, that altitude was absolutely nothing to a Lunarian.
Whenever she got bored as a kid, she would occasionally just fly up into the stratosphere for fun. However, this was indeed her first time visiting the specific Sky Island located above Jaya.
"You guys drop anchor and wait for us here," Amphelite instructed the Fish-Man crew. "Barring any unforeseen accidents, we should be back within twenty-four hours."
"Understood, Princess Amphelite! Please go safely! We will guard the ship with our lives!"
There was a safer, albeit incredibly tedious, method of riding specialized ocean currents up to the Sky Island via the High West. But since flying was so much faster and effortless for Lunarians, they opted for the direct route.
Chloe wrapped her arms firmly under Yamato's armpits and easily hoisted the older girl into the sky. Yamato displayed absolute, unhesitating trust in Chloe; as they rapidly ascended thousands of meters into the air, she showed absolutely zero fear of heights. Her eyes merely sparkled with boundless curiosity and excitement for the unknown world waiting in the clouds above.
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