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"To be exact, it's not the island that floats… it's the sea."
Luffy froze for a second… then a wide, excited grin took over his face.
Suddenly, he clapped his right fist into his left palm and shouted:
"A sea that floats in the sky?!"
"That's so cool!!!"
"I've decided! I have to go there!!!"
Acting like he'd just found a new adventure, Luffy hopped to the front of the Going Merry and, holding one arm high, announced:
"Alright, everyone! Turn the rudder UP! Full speed ahead!!"
BAM!!
"Like hell we will!!"
Nami flew in with a kick that sent Luffy flying off the front of the ship, fuming as she snapped:
"You idiot! Ship rudders don't point up!!"
"And floating seas? Seriously? That's just nonsense!"
"As for Sky Islands—that's just a fairy tale!"
But just as she finished her rant, a voice interrupted—White Night's.
"Not necessarily," he said.
Clearly talking to Nami, but now the whole crew was listening.
White Night casually pointed up at the sky and shrugged.
"Well… if a ship fell from the sky right now, wouldn't that prove—"
"—that Sky Islands are real?"
And on that very day, the entire Straw Hat crew did see a ship falling straight from the sky!
"W-Wait, you've gotta be kidding!"
Usopp stared up. A ship, way bigger than the Going Merry, was plummeting from above—its wreckage crashing toward the ocean!
"AAAAAH! Are we gonna get crushed?!"
Chopper completely freaked out—his antlers and hat nearly flew off his head.
"That thing's headed…"
Zoro had already drawn Wado Ichimonji.
"…straight for the Merry."
Sanji lit a cigarette and casually started stretching.
Yep, these two were planning to take on a falling ship.
"Hey, pervy kappa!"
Zoro readied his three swords and shouted to Sanji.
"Huh?"
Sanji looked over and instantly got the message from Zoro's eyes.
[Kick me up there!]
After all, between the two of them, Sanji had mastered Sky Walk—he could run through the air.
Zoro, on the other hand, was still stuck on land.
"Alright, let's go!"
Sanji raised his right leg and called out.
Zoro narrowed his eyes, then started sprinting—
But the next second—
[Fleur: One Bloom!]
A hand suddenly sprouted from the deck and grabbed Zoro's ankle.
"What the hell?!"
Zoro's face twisted in shock. Still holding his sword, he tripped and slammed right into the deck.
THUD!
"You crazy woman!!"
Zoro clutched his forehead, glaring at Robin—only to find her smiling sweetly.
"Instead of chopping up a giant falling ship," she said calmly, "isn't it smarter to just move the Merry out of the way?"
She was honestly worried about his intelligence at that point.
The wreck above was several times bigger than the Going Merry. Did he seriously think he could slice that thing into pieces mid-air?
"You…"
Zoro was about to lose it again—
But Nami's voice rang out:
[Wind—Rise!]
Suddenly, a massive gust of wind surged through, catching the Merry's sails and pushing the ship out of the falling ship's shadow.
BOOM!!!
The huge wreck slammed into the ocean, creating a giant wave that soared into the sky.
The Merry was still in the splash zone.
Seeing that, Zoro braced himself again.
Robin gave him a look like, Seriously, again?
But actually, she misunderstood.
Zoro wasn't just being reckless—he was chasing a breakthrough.
Back in Alabasta, he'd learned to cut steel, officially stepping into the realm of sword masters.
But he knew that in the Grand Line, that was just the beginning.
His next goal: surpass "sword master" and become a Great Swordsman.
And a big sign of reaching that level… was unleashing airborne sword slashes.
Just like Mihawk did back in the East Blue—slicing Don Krieg's ship in half from a distance.
Ever since Alabasta, Zoro had been training like crazy.
He even asked White Night for some tips a while back.
Now, Zoro could feel it—he was close to breaking through.
That's why he wanted to slice everything he saw.
Unfortunately, he didn't get his chance this time either.
[Trigram Formation—Ice Storm!!!]
White Night suddenly stepped up to the ship's edge, formed a seal with one hand, and pointed his sword toward the oncoming wave.
Cold.
An intense wave of freezing energy burst forth in front of him—
And like a plague of frost, it rapidly spread—
In mere moments, it froze the entire tsunami into a massive, shimmering ice sculpture.
If a certain blindfolded Admiral happened to walk by, he'd definitely be shocked—because White Night's move looked almost identical to Ice Age.
White Night turned around and said casually,
"There. Problem solved."
Zoro, still holding his three swords: Just kill me already. I give up.
"Hahaha, that was amazing!!"
Luffy ran up to White Night, buzzing with excitement. He stretched his arms and shouted:
[Gomu Gomu no… Pistol!]
He grabbed onto the frozen wave and then flung his hands toward the floating shipwreck.
Yup. Luffy's curiosity had kicked in again—he was off to explore.
Seeing that, White Night had no choice but to use his Qimen techniques to move the Merry closer to the wreckage.
Just then—
"AHHHH!!"
A sudden scream rang out from the ship.
Nami stared in horror at her wrist—at her Log Pose.
"The Log Pose… it's broken."
Nami looked up at everyone and said slowly:
"The pointer is actually pointing up into the sky."
"It's not broken," Robin walked over to Nami and explained calmly.
"When a Log Pose suddenly changes direction like this, there's only one possibility."
"It's being pulled by an island with an even stronger magnetic field."
Nami's eyes widened as she realized:
"So you're saying… there's an island above us? In the sky?"
Her feelings were all over the place. Just a moment ago, she had insisted sky islands couldn't exist…
And now, one had basically shown up right over their heads. She was seriously questioning reality.
"Whaaa?! Right above us?!"
Right then, Luffy came back from his little adventure, looking all hyped up.
"Then let's go already!"
"Hold on, let's deal with this first," said Ba Ye, walking over and grabbing something from Luffy's hands. "Why don't you explain why you're bringing this weird stuff on board?"
Everyone turned and finally noticed that Luffy was carrying a bunch of random things.
Ba Ye picked one of them up, and just as he did—
"HEY, HEY, HEY—WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!"
Usopp jumped back, completely freaked out.
"A human skull!!!"
"....."