The process of searching for the Rumble-Rumble Fruit went unusually smoothly.
After leaving Shandora, Valthior and his group spent three days arriving at the Sky Island known as Birka.
To their surprise, Birka was an extremely backward slave-based society. The island was divided into four classes: at the very bottom were the slaves, above them were the Divine Servants, then came the "Divine Race" (nobles), and at the very top was the ruler—the "God."
For a moment when Valthior arrived at Birka, he was dazed—he almost thought he had returned to Mary Geoise.
Due to their isolation, Sky Islanders were often arrogant, and a slave-state like Birka was even worse.
The moment the Roger Pirates arrived, they were immediately declared slaves. Right after that, a large number of Divine Servants came to capture them.
And, well… they got exactly what they asked for.
Roger didn't tolerate any of that nonsense. He directly led the crew into battle across the island. In just half an hour, Valthior and the others slaughtered Birka's "God" and so-called "Divine Race" to the last one, then looted the sacred object they worshipped in their temple—the Rumble-Rumble Fruit.
By the time they left, Birka had descended into chaos. The Divine Servants and slaves were locked in fierce infighting. The old order would likely collapse entirely, and a new one would emerge from the flames of war.
Maybe they would break free from slavery.
Or maybe it was just the beginning of another cycle.
Either way, none of it had anything to do with the Roger Pirates anymore.
...
Two days later, on the vast, boundless White-White Sea.
The Oro Jackson drifted alone across the sea of clouds.
Beneath the mast, Valthior sipped fruit juice while flipping through several books he had taken from Birka.
Most of them weren't worth much—just propaganda praising the so-called glory of the gods, clearly meant for indoctrination and control.
Fortunately, there were a few gems. Like the one in his hands now—a compiled volume on Sky Island culture and records of aerial adventures.
It even contained some notes about Angel Island that matched certain details from Valthior's memory, lending them some credibility.
"Still reading? You've been at it for two days already," Rayleigh said, stretching as he walked out of the cabin and greeted him.
Valthior smiled. "I've always wondered—given how difficult communication is between islands in this era, how did the world end up with a unified language and writing system? It wasn't until I learned from the Poneglyphs that, before that great war, the world was once a continuous continent that I understood… But these past two days, I've fallen into a new puzzle."
Rayleigh, being sharp, immediately caught on. "You're wondering why Sky Islands—which barely interact with the Blue Sea—also use the same language and writing?"
"Exactly," Valthior nodded. "Is it possible that Sky Island culture itself only developed after the world underwent that massive upheaval? I'm trying to find clues in these books…"
Vegapunk had massively developed and utilized technologies related to Island Clouds and Sea Clouds on Egghead.
And according to him, many of his technologies were actually reconstructions of those from the Ancient Kingdom. That meant these cloud-based technologies were already highly advanced centuries ago.
Perhaps when the world changed drastically back then, some people abandoned the seas entirely and chose the sky instead. Over time, that gave rise to the various Sky Island cultures.
"Found anything useful?" Rayleigh asked, sitting beside him.
"A bit," Valthior said. "Look here—according to the travel journal of an adventurer named Gulliver, over five hundred years ago, he visited many Sky Islands, including one called Faron Island. That island practiced a form of Buddhism. Gulliver conducted detailed studies and found that its Buddhist culture shared the exact same origin as that of certain nations in the Blue Sea—only with minor differences. That could support the idea I just mentioned: Sky Island civilization likely emerged after the upheaval over eight hundred years ago."
This world was strange, but it did have many religions.
For example, Bartholomew Kuma's family were missionaries, and Charlotte Linlin had once been raised by a nun from a church.
As for Faron Island, it was very likely the homeland of Urouge, one of the Worst Generation—the "Mad Monk."
Although Sky Islands had unique cultures, when you traced their roots, they were still closely connected to societies in the Blue Sea.
"Setting your theory aside," Rayleigh said after a moment of thought, "I actually think it's possible that Uranus—the Ancient Weapon known as the 'King of the Sky'—might be hidden somewhere in this vast sea of clouds…"
"Wouldn't be surprising," Valthior smiled. "But more likely, even if it were right in front of us, we wouldn't recognize it."
As they chatted, Gaban—who had been up on the mast keeping watch for the so-called "Cloud's End"—suddenly shouted:
"Hey! I see it! The 'Cloud's End' marked on Valthior's old Sky route map! As long as we pass through there, we can return to the 'Blue Sea'!!!"
"Blue Sea" was what Sky Islanders called the ocean below.
At Gaban's shout, Roger immediately popped out of the cabin, yelling excitedly, "Then what are we waiting for?! Let's get down there, drop Shakky off at Amazon Lily, and then go find that bastard World and steal his Poneglyph!"
Before Roger could celebrate for long, Shakky stepped out of the cabin and said, "No need to go that far. Just sail normally and drop me off at Sabaody Archipelago. I've already contacted Gloriosa—she'll come pick me up."
"Huh?" Roger blinked in surprise. "We're not going to Amazon Lily? I've never been there!"
Up on the mast, Gaban added in disbelief, "Me neither! I've heard outsiders aren't allowed there—especially men. This was such a rare chance…"
Hearing them, Valthior's expression twitched slightly as he muttered to Rayleigh, "They're seriously repressed…"
"I'm used to them," Rayleigh said with a sigh. "Honestly, I'm more impressed by you. You're a Celestial Dragon who lived in Mary Geoise for eighteen years, yet you've managed to stay on this ship for three years. That kind of restraint is rare."
As the saying went, it was easy to go from frugality to luxury, but hard to go from luxury to frugality.
Guys like Roger had been pirates from the start—nothing strange there. But Valthior, who had clearly enjoyed a life of excess in Mary Geoise, managing to live like this? That was impressive.
"I just haven't met a woman who fits my taste yet," Valthior replied calmly.
Amid their banter, the Oro Jackson gradually approached the so-called "Cloud's End."
As the ship passed through the boundary and the bow began tilting downward past the edge of the White-White Sea, the crew could already see glimpses of the true sky beyond the clouds.
At that moment, Gaban slid down from the mast and extended his hand. "Roger, give me that octopus. We need to inflate the balloon."
To descend from the Sky Island to the Blue Sea, they needed a special Sky creature—the Balloon Octopus—to act like a hot air balloon, greatly reducing the ship's falling speed so it could land safely.
As Gaban said this, the Oro Jackson's bow had already begun tipping forward due to the lack of clouds ahead.
And then—
Roger stared at him blankly. "What octopus?"
"…Huh?" Gaban froze, then his expression turned horrified. "The one I gave you last night while we were drinking—the Balloon Octopus!!!"
At the same time, the Oro Jackson completely left the White-White Sea, and the entire ship began plummeting rapidly.
Everyone turned to Roger in panic. "Don't screw around at a time like this, Roger!!!"
Roger himself was completely dumbfounded. In utter disbelief, he said:
"…Wasn't that the snack you secretly prepared for me to go with my drinks? I ate the whole damn thing with wasabi last night!!!"
"WHAT!?"
...
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