Three days after the Guardian incident, the Dawn encountered little danger. In truth, the Guardian's combat abilities were already weak—it was only its Devil Fruit power that made it so troublesome.
Along the Sky Route, they saw mostly sea beast attacks and various ships and people exiled onto the floating clouds. Rosen's group even ran into a pirate crew that had been banished but hadn't yet perished—and they were quite formidable.
One of them could even engage in short-range aerial combat, though they were quickly beaten down by Daz Bones and the others.
All of this showed that while Skypiea remained a legend in some seas—largely considered a myth—there were still plenty of people who believed in it and searched for it. Even if only one in a thousand pirate crews believed, that was still a sizable number.
"Boss, that looks like a huge cloud, and there are buildings on it. Could that be Skypiea?!" Robin gazed into the distance along the Sky Route, spotting a massive solid cloud shaped like an island with tall buildings on it.
As the Dawn approached, Rosen and the others saw pirate ships docked near where the Sky Route met the island.
They also noticed multiple branches of the Sky Route diverging ahead, seemingly leading to different destinations.
"This should be a sky island, though only a small one—and not our final destination. Still, since we're passing by, we might as well take a look. Judging by the ships docked here, it seems that many pirate crews from various places stop here briefly. Clearly, this Sky Route is more complex than we thought," Rosen said.
He was reminded of something Sky Knight Gan Fall had once said to Luffy and the others—he thought they had taken another route and asked if they had passed a few islands.
From that, it was clear the Sky Route wasn't completely uninhabited. There were scattered islands along the way, though probably not many.
And over time, as fewer people ventured to find Skypiea due to high mortality rates, the belief that it didn't exist took root.
But now, it seemed that in ancient times, Skypiea and the Blue Sea were once closely connected, with a fully developed route between them.
"We'll make a brief stop on this island and ask which route leads to Angel Island," Rosen decided.
After days traveling the cloud rivers, a sighted island was too valuable to ignore.
"You think this could be heaven? With angels?" someone joked.
"No idea. But if they live in the sky, what else could they be? Maybe they look like that priest we saw before—wings and all?"
"If they're beautiful women with wings, doesn't that make them angels?" another chimed in.
"Wonder if there's a casino on the island..." The crew was clearly excited about this first foray into a sky island.
Robin, Hathaway, and Natalie leaned over the ship's edge, curious. No one among them had a concrete idea of what Skypiea would look like—but legends always stirred curiosity.
At the docking point, there didn't appear to be any formal authorities or fees. When Rosen and the others stepped onto the cloud island, they only saw scattered pirates—no Skypieans.
Some pirates resting nearby immediately grew alert. Rosen glanced at the ships docked nearby—three different Jolly Rogers were visible, indicating three pirate crews from different parts of the world were present.
"That's the former Shichibukai Crocodile. After causing chaos in Landis, he's come to the sky too? Doesn't seem like the brutal type," a pirate inside a building muttered while peering through a telescope, clearly tempted.
A 648 million bounty, plus the bounty still active from the Kingdom of Andea—that was a fortune.
"Sure, the money's tempting, but can you spend it if you're dead? Haven't you heard? Everyone who went after him in Lantis died—some of them even from the New World," another pirate warned.
"Yeah, but even tigers nap sometimes."
"Go ahead, then. Just don't drag us into it."
"Haha, never mind. I'd like to live a few more years."
"Daz Bones has a bounty of 150 million, and the others aren't exactly lightweights either. Best not to mess with them. But who's that woman? She's beautiful…"
"Captain, this isn't the time to get distracted."
"Retreat, retreat. We're heading to Wills Sky Island. That tavern guy said to take the third left. Ready the ship and avoid Crocodile!" the pirate captain ordered.
They had only just made it up the Sky Route after years of trial and error. If they got into a fight with Crocodile now, they'd be wiped out—he was the demon who destroyed a kingdom, after all.
"What's going on with this island? Where's the most reliable source of information?" Rosen left a few crew behind to guard the ship and brought Daz Bones and others to a nearby building.
Inside was another pirate crew—the only one that hadn't reacted to Rosen's arrival.
"Go straight for a kilometer, then turn right and continue five hundred meters. You'll reach Angel Tavern. It's the only place on the island where Skypieans are known to show up. If you've got money, you can buy anything there," said the slouched pirate captain, not even bothering to sit up.
He didn't want trouble. Among pirates, trouble started easily—sometimes with just a word.
The lack of action now was largely due to the precarious nature of traveling the Sky Route. Everyone was being cautious, preferring to avoid unnecessary conflict. Everyone had their own agenda.
Otherwise, if this were the Blue Sea, a fight would've broken out already. Piracy was all about competition and plunder—backstabbing was common.
"Thanks." Rosen got the information he needed and turned to leave, not bothering with the other pirates.
As long as they didn't provoke him, Rosen didn't like wasting energy. Besides, the man had answered him—there wasn't even a good excuse for a fight.
"Captain, was that really a Shichibukai?" a crewman asked as Rosen walked away, clearly relieved.
He had feared an immediate battle—the pressure from Rosen's group was overwhelming.
"Former Shichibukai, actually," the slouched captain corrected. "I heard someone mention earlier that he lost the title after destroying a kingdom. His bounty's about 640 million."
"640 million?! That's over 200 million more than you, Captain!" the crewman exclaimed.
They were pirates from the New World. Though unaffiliated with the Yonko, they were still strong enough to survive in such a harsh place. With a bounty of 390 million, their captain was no pushover.
"He's dangerous—but that beautiful woman beside him seems even more dangerous. The killing intent around her is intense… But it doesn't concern us. We're probably not heading to the same place," the captain said with a lazy smile.
"Boss, that pirate crew just now was likely the Flashfly Pirates from the New World. Their captain, James, has a bounty of over 300 million. Two of his subordinates have bounties over 100 million too. They're quite formidable," Robin whispered to Rosen.
"As long as they don't mess with us, let them be. They even gave us directions… So, this is the Angel Tavern?" Rosen said as they arrived at the spot James had indicated.
(End of Chapter)
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