"The… the sky?"
"How is that even possible?!"
"You can't seriously be talking about a Sky Island, right?!"
"That place is only a legend!"
"It's impossible!"
Mont Blanc Cricket stared at Saint Roselith Seraphina in disbelief, utterly unable to accept the outrageous conclusion she had casually proposed.
Yet the more he thought about it, the less absurd it sounded.
After all, legends about islands floating above the heavens had circulated throughout these waters for centuries. Sailors whispered about them in taverns, pirates chased them like dreams, and adventurers gambled their lives pursuing them.
The stories had never truly disappeared.
So when Seraphina mentioned the sky, the first thing that came to Cricket's mind was naturally the legendary Sky Island.
Even so, the idea remained unbelievable.
"Is there a possibility…" Seraphina spoke calmly as sea wind brushed through her silver-white hair, "…that the island was blasted into the sky by the Knock-Up Stream from earlier?"
Her tone remained composed, but inwardly, even she could not fully confirm the theory yet.
Still…
The enormous mass she sensed high above them would not lie.
"The Knock-Up Stream?"
Cricket froze for a moment before quickly reacting.
"That pillar of water from earlier?"
The gigantic column of seawater that had erupted toward the heavens was a natural phenomenon unique to this region of the Grand Line.
The Knock-Up Stream.
A violent oceanic eruption formed by massive pressure accumulating beneath the seabed before exploding upward with devastating force.
Cold seawater flowed into deep underwater fissures, where geothermal heat generated overwhelming steam pressure. Once the pressure exceeded its limit, the ocean itself would erupt skyward.
"Yes. The Knock-Up Stream."
Seraphina nodded slightly.
This was the first time she had witnessed the phenomenon personally. She had only read vague records about it in books before, and even then, most descriptions sounded exaggerated beyond reason.
But now she had seen it with her own eyes.
The sea really could ascend into the heavens.
If that was possible…
Then perhaps people could as well.
Perhaps islands could too.
Which meant Sky Islands were no longer merely myths.
They truly existed somewhere more than ten thousand meters above the sea.
"And why are you so certain?!" Cricket demanded.
"This kind of thing is beyond common sense!"
"Because…" Seraphina slowly lifted her head toward the darkening sky, "…I can sense something massive moving above us."
Her Kenbunshoku Haki had spread across the surrounding seas long ago.
When Cricket was speaking earlier, she had already scanned most of Jaya Island and discovered no traces of the so-called City of Gold.
However, the atmosphere had gradually changed afterward.
The humidity increased.
The sunlight dimmed.
At first, she thought storm clouds were gathering overhead.
But now she realized the weight above them was far too immense to be ordinary clouds.
If her perception was correct…
Then what floated above them was not merely land.
It was an ocean.
An actual sea resting upon the clouds.
A Sky Island.
And perhaps…
The truth Mont Blanc Noland had failed to prove four hundred years ago.
"I once read records regarding Sky Islands," Seraphina continued. "Most people dismiss them as fairy tales, but legends do not appear without reason."
Cricket clenched his fists tightly.
"It's still unbelievable…"
"The Sky Island is only a myth!"
Seraphina's lips curved faintly.
"And wasn't 'Noland the Liar' considered a myth as well?"
Cricket immediately fell silent.
"But even if the Knock-Up Stream is real…" he argued stubbornly after a moment, "…it could have blasted gold into the sky. What about the people? What about the island itself?"
His voice trembled slightly.
For more than a decade, he had desperately searched for answers. Now that the truth seemed close enough to touch, fear began creeping into his heart instead.
He wanted certainty.
Absolute certainty.
"The entire island was blasted upward."
Seraphina's voice remained calm and unwavering.
"That particular Knock-Up Stream was likely far stronger than normal. Powerful enough to launch a portion of Jaya itself into the sky."
She turned slightly and looked toward the coastline behind them.
"Even now, the terrain of Jaya still shows signs of violent separation. The missing landmass is too unnatural."
As she spoke, fragmented clues gradually connected together in her mind.
The missing half of Jaya.
The Knock-Up Stream.
The legends of gold.
The Sky Island above them.
Everything aligned perfectly.
Cricket's eyes widened.
"Although this is still only a hypothesis," Seraphina said softly, "you believe in your ancestor, and I trust what my Observation Haki senses."
She looked upward once more.
"So isn't this already the most likely truth?"
Cricket's breathing became ragged.
He could no longer refute her.
Because deep inside…
He already believed it.
"The gold wasn't buried beneath the sea…" Cricket muttered blankly. "It was sent into the sky…"
"And if it never fell back down…"
"Then it must still exist on the Sky Island!"
His entire body trembled violently.
For four hundred years, the Mont Blanc family had been mocked as descendants of liars.
Children were ridiculed.
Families were ostracized.
Generations suffered humiliation.
And now…
The truth finally stood before him.
"My ancestor wasn't lying…"
"He really wasn't lying…"
Cricket suddenly burst into loud laughter mixed with tears, unable to suppress the overwhelming emotions flooding his chest.
"Noland was right!"
"The City of Gold really existed!"
"He was a true adventurer!"
The years of obsession, ridicule, loneliness, and persistence finally seemed worthwhile.
Seeing him like this, even Masira and Shoujou became emotional.
"Boss…"
"So the old story was real after all…"
Seraphina watched quietly.
In truth, she admired people like Cricket.
People who stubbornly pursued truth despite being laughed at by the entire world.
That kind of determination was rare.
"So," Seraphina said at last, "are you interested in going to the Sky Island with us?"
Cricket's excitement slowly cooled.
Then his expression became serious once more.
"But the Knock-Up Stream is extremely dangerous."
"The strength of every eruption is different."
"Countless people have tried to ride it into the sky chasing the legend of Sky Island."
"Most of them died."
"Ships shattered."
"Crews vanished."
"Not even corpses remained."
Cricket had stayed on Jaya for years. He understood better than anyone how terrifying the Knock-Up Stream truly was.
It was not a road to dreams.
It was a gamble with death.
"I'll handle that part."
Seraphina's answer was immediate.
Her calm confidence carried an almost overwhelming sense of certainty.
Then she stepped forward slightly and looked directly into Cricket's eyes.
"What I want to know is…"
"Do you dare?"
Silence fell.
Cricket clenched his fists tightly.
This was the truth his family had sought for generations.
If he backed away now…
Then what was the meaning of all his years searching beneath the sea?
Leaving such proof to someone else…
That would be pathetic.
A long moment later, Cricket suddenly grinned.
"I dare."
Far above the White-White Sea, deep within Skypiea
"Eneru, are we finally moving against Gan Fall?"
A bald man wearing sunglasses and small white wings on his back spoke excitedly.
Before him stood a tall figure with elongated earlobes, bare chest, and thunder drums mounted behind his back.
Blue lightning crackled endlessly around his fingers.
The power of the Goro Goro no Mi.
A Logia Devil Fruit said to possess invincible destructive power.
Eneru slowly raised his head.
"God?" he said with cold amusement. "Do you really think that old man still deserves that title?"
Lightning flashed violently across the room.
"At the very least…" Eneru spread his arms slightly as electricity roared around him, "…I look far more like a god than he does."
His gaze slowly shifted toward Upper Yard, the sacred land known as God's Island.
Within those eyes burned humiliation, resentment, and ambition.
Ever since childhood, he had been treated as an outcast among the people of Birka.
Unlike normal Skypieans, he possessed no wings.
He had been mocked.
Rejected.
Despised.
Until the day he obtained the power of lightning itself.
And from that moment onward…
Eneru stopped believing in gods.
Because he intended to become one himself.
"I've waited long enough," Eneru declared coldly.
"It's time for the fool sitting upon the throne to wake up."
A terrifying bolt of lightning exploded from his palm, illuminating the dark chamber in blue-white light.
"I will make all of Skypiea understand…"
"…who the true God of Heaven really is."
WE ARE CURRENTLY ON CHAPTER 110 ON PATREON.
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