The group landed on the edge of a large cloud in the center of the giant vine, just as two factions were locked in a fierce battle in the forest below.
The leader of one side was a knight riding a strange-looking pegasus. With a spear in hand and clad in armor, he continuously dived towards the ground. Using the momentum, his sharp spear could easily skewer several enemies at once.
His soldiers, dressed in neat uniforms, appeared to be a regular army.
In contrast, their enemies looked much shabbier. Most of their clothes were ragged, and they were covered in various tattoos, like primitives from a forgotten tribe.
However, aside from their clothing and appearance, there was no difference in their weapons and equipment. Both sides used white weapons, seemingly made of clouds, such as swords and various special seashells that could unleash fire, gales, slashes, and even shockwaves.
The battle was a sight to behold, and neither side noticed the uninvited guests overhead.
"Is there war even in the sky?"
The melancholic Amatsuki Toki looked down at the battle, her mood complicated.
Whether in the era she was born in or the one she was in now, conflict and chaos remained the main theme of the world.
"Where there are people, there will be conflict,"
Roa said leisurely, a smile on his face, "Humans are a species that can only climb by stepping on the bones of their own kind."
Amatsuki Toki pursed her lips and said nothing.
She had long understood how twisted Roa's beliefs were.
There was no point in arguing with him.
"Fuffuffuffu! The essence of this world is survival of the fittest!"
Doflamingo laughed loudly.
Everyone looked at him in surprise.
He was making such a fuss; a person who didn't know him would think he was a big deal.
"Let's go. Don't mind them."
Roa turned back, losing interest. The Angels who stole the island and the Shandians who were driven out of their homes had been fighting for almost four hundred years; a little while longer wouldn't matter.
They had more important things to do first.
Roa looked toward the central area of the cloud.
Nearly four hundred years ago, a massive Knock-Up Stream had sent half of Jaya Island into the sky.
Just as the entire island was about to fall from ten thousand meters, a great coincidence occurred: a giant vine growing in this sea pierced through the falling island!
With the vine's support, the island was able to stay in the sky.
And another great coincidence was that the vine pierced through the area where the ruins of the Golden Kingdom were located.
As a result, this area was torn from the ground by the vine and brought up, finally and conveniently hiding in a thick layer of clouds in the middle of the vine.
This was the very cloud Roa was standing on.
His Observation Haki had scanned every inch of the cloud.
This was definitely the place.
It was quite interesting. For four hundred years, the Angels had regarded this island as a divine land and forbade anyone from entering freely.
So, even after four hundred years, they had not discovered the ruins of the Golden City.
It wasn't until the self-proclaimed god Enel occupied Skypiea in the future that this guy, who loved causing destruction, accidentally discovered the existence of the Golden City.
However, in this sky, gold was not a hard currency. That spendthrift used all the gold he found to build his ark.
Speaking of Enel, his home island, Birka, shouldn't be too far from here, right?
He wondered if Enel had already eaten the Rumble-Rumble Fruit. If not, given how isolated Skypiea was, there was a high probability that the fruit was on Birka.
Hmm, it seemed very necessary to pay a visit.
As Roa pondered, he casually flicked his right index finger. Sharp whirlwinds suddenly formed. The scattered whirlwinds directly tore apart the surface of the clouds, exposing everything below to everyone.
"This is!"
Moriah was stunned.
"Ancient ruins?"
Teach's eyes lit up.
Beneath the torn clouds was a huge space!
Within this space lay an ancient city!
A wide road divided the city in two. At the end of the road was what should have been a tall pyramid, but it had already collapsed. The ruins were now overgrown with weeds.
Spreading out from both sides of the road were rows of houses. These stone houses, worn down by time, were also wrapped in vines, and their corners were covered in moss. Even so, the strange patterns on the walls could still be vaguely distinguished.
The edges of the houses were supposed to be tall tower-like structures, but they had also completely collapsed.
But of course, what attracted everyone's attention the most was the immeasurable amount of glittering gold decorating these buildings!
"Boss!"
Teach said excitedly, "Is this the Golden City Shandora that Mont Blanc Noland mentioned?"
Seeing Roa nod slightly, the chubby man excitedly clenched his fists, "It's in the sky! Who would have ever thought of that!"
"Golden City?"
King's expression was also excited, "It truly lives up to its name!"
Everywhere he looked was a glittering golden expanse!
At first glance, it really felt as if the entire city was a city of gold.
"With this gold and the golden bell we saw earlier, our financial pressure can finally be greatly relieved."
The financial manager of the Calamity Company, Dylan, also breathed a sigh of relief.
Judge's research was simply a money-devouring beast. Even with the Calamity Company's profitability, things were a bit tight.
Now that the boss was adding several more research projects, the financial pressure was immense.
But with this gold, a lot of that pressure could be relieved.
"So, Doffy, what are you waiting for?"
Roa snapped his fingers, "Go and separate all the gold."
"By myself?"
Doflamingo's face instantly soured.
These ruins were not small!
Roa simply smiled, "Your ability is perfect for this."
"Yes!"
Doflamingo could only nod helplessly.
As Roa said, his ability was indeed perfect for this.
He just needed to casually use his ability to merge with a corner of the ruins. In the blink of an eye, he could separate the gold from the ruins.
Behind him was Bege. The gold Doflamingo separated was immediately stuffed into his stomach. Their cooperation could be said to be perfect.
However, even with such perfect cooperation, it would still take some effort to collect all the gold from the entire ruins.
So.
"While we have the time, let's go and ask for directions."
In the forest beneath the giant vine, the two sides' battle had reached a fever pitch.
"Gan Fall!"
A muscular man with a rocket launcher was bleeding from his head, and the blood almost covered his eyes. But he still jumped up and aimed at the pegasus knight in the sky, pulling the trigger.
"Give our hometown, give this island, back!!"
Boom!
The cannon roared.
Completely different from the logic of rocket launchers in the Blue Sea, the Fire Dial in this rocket launcher spewed out scorching flames. After being constricted by the sturdy barrel, the flames instantly turned into a surging beam.
But unfortunately, the target of the flame beam was a nimble pegasus. With a cry, the ugly pegasus with strange red spots desperately flapped its wings, dodging the attack while carrying its master down!
The man on the pegasus's back, the current God of Skypiea, Gan Fall, had already aimed his spear at the gritting man.
"Pascal! No matter how many times you come, I will only have one answer! The Island of God is our sacred land!"
The Spiral Lance of the Horseback Rider!
The man named Pascal roared, using the heavy cannon in his hand as a club to swing at Gan Fall, "Shameless thieves! You all deserve to die!!"
The two were about to collide.
But at that very moment, accompanied by jumping black lightning, a terrifying pressure they couldn't even imagine suddenly descended from the sky.
"Waaahhh!"
Gan Fall and Pascal both instantly screamed.
Faint black lightning sparked from their bodies. They were directly struck down from the sky by this violent force, crashing heavily onto the ground.
It wasn't just them; everyone who had been fighting was now smashed to the ground. Many were even buried in the earth.
For a moment, screams of agony echoed through the dense forest.
What in the world was happening?
Gan Fall's mind was blank. He had never experienced anything like this in his life!
"First, never act rashly!"
"Second, never miss a single act of righteousness!"
"Third, the absolute impartiality of a beautiful judgment!"
At this moment, a clear voice descended from the sky, "OiOiOi, handsome referee Roa has arrived! If you have any disputes, let Captain Roa be the one to arbitrate!"
Gan Fall saw a figure descend from the sky and land on a branch of a large tree in front of him.
It was a young man, smiling happily.
But who was he?
Gan Fall's pupils contracted.
Was he a Blue Sea person like Roger and his crew?
Roa looked down at the people lying on the ground and nodded in satisfaction.
Using Conqueror's Haki combined with the willpower techniques he learned from Wang Zhi greatly increased the physical destructive power of a direct release of his Conqueror's Haki.
He could directly use Conqueror's Haki as a fly swatter.
"But before the arbitration,"
Roa retracted his aura and asked with a smile, "Can anyone tell me where Birka is?"
Gan Fall suddenly felt that he could move again, but he didn't dare to act rashly.
If this young man was from the Blue Sea like Roger, then was he as powerful as Roger?
"Who the hell are you, you bastard!"
Gan Fall didn't dare to act rashly, but his enemy, the leader of the Shandians, Pascal, felt insulted!
He didn't know what methods this guy used, but daring to insult a Shandian warrior meant he had a death wish!
The heavy cannon in his hand was instantly aimed at Roa.
"You dare to challenge the referee?"
Roa raised an eyebrow.
"Death sentence."
Before he even finished speaking, the flames from the rocket launcher in Pascal's hand suddenly surged out.
But the flames didn't head toward Roa. Instead, they instantly enveloped Pascal, turning him into a giant torch.
"Waaahhh!!"
Screams once again echoed through the dense forest.
Gan Fall's pupils contracted sharply.
Pascal, who had been fighting with him for so many years, was killed just like that, without any resistance?
For a moment, everyone fell silent.
"Pascal!!"
The Shandian warriors screamed in horror the next moment.
Was the strongest warrior in the tribe, the descendant of the great warrior Calgara, their leader, killed just like that?
"Alright,"
Roa clapped his hands and smiled, "Now, can anyone answer my question?"
"To the east!"
Gan Fall took a deep breath and spoke in a deep voice, "Birka is to the east of the Island of God. It will take about two days to sail there!"
A Blue Sea person like Roger, so was he as terrifying as Roger?
He should observe first!
"Oh! Thanks,"
Roa nodded in satisfaction, "Now, let's begin the official arbitration."
"You bastard! How dare you kill Pascal!!"
The Shandians who had finally realized what happened seemed to have no intention of letting him arbitrate. They all raised their weapons and aimed at him.
But thankfully, not everyone was blinded.
"Wait!"
A Shandian warrior stood in front of the others, his eyes filled with solemnity as he looked at Roa.
"Don't act rashly! Something's wrong with this guy!"
He was able to make everyone fall to the ground without any resistance!
A single glance was enough to burn Pascal, the strongest among them, into a charred corpse!
Fighting this guy would probably not end well!
"Saka!"
The Shandian warriors looked at the man's back, their faces filled with unwillingness.
"Just wait!"
The man named Saka stared at Roa, "What is your purpose!"
"Didn't I say?"
Roa was a little helpless. Who did this guy learn this habit of not listening to people from? Ichigo Kurosaki?
"I'm here to arbitrate your dispute."
"Our business doesn't need an outsider like you to interfere!"
Saka gritted his teeth, trying his best to control the anger in his heart, "What right do you have to say you'll arbitrate!"
"Don't say that. There's a saying, 'Those who are in the game can't see, while those who are watching can see clearly'."
Roa said earnestly, "Sometimes, an outsider can make a more rational judgment."
'This guy is crazy, right?'
In a rare moment of agreement, the Angels, represented by Gan Fall, and the Shandians, represented by Saka, both came to this conclusion.
"So,"
Gan Fall propped himself up with his spear. Looking up at Roa, he spoke in a solemn tone, "How do you plan to arbitrate?"
Roa smiled and clapped his hands, "I've heard it all. You're fighting over this island, right? Both sides believe this island belongs to them."
"The Island of God has been our territory since ancient times!"
Gan Fall said as if it were a matter of course, "We will not give up even an inch of land!"
"You're full of it!"
Saka immediately erupted in anger, "This is our hometown! Four hundred years ago, your thieving ancestors stole it from our ancestors!"
"And now you shameless bastards are going to blame us instead, is that it!"
"I'm tired of this foolish rhetoric,"
Gan Fall said coldly, "It's obvious that your ancestors failed to take the Island of God and got angry, constantly attacking us for hundreds of years! Who's really shameless here!"
Roa couldn't help but click his tongue.
Too much time had passed, and the original Angels had deliberately hidden the truth. Gan Fall and his people had no idea what the true origin of this island was.
They truly believed it was a legitimate territorial defense war.
"Gan Fall! You're asking for it!"
After almost four hundred years of fighting, the contradictions between the two sides were already sharp and irreconcilable. In just two sentences, they were about to start fighting again.
"Alright, alright, I completely understand now!"
Roa clapped his hands, attracting the attention of both sides.
A proud smile appeared on the young man's handsome face, "I've already figured out how to solve your dispute!"
Both sides were stunned, and then they couldn't help but feel a little curious.
Although they didn't think this guy could do it, they were genuinely curious about how he planned to mediate.
"In short, all of your conflicts are because of this island, right?"
Roa said with a grin, "As long as we solve the root cause, everything will be fine, right!"
Gan Fall and Saka were both stunned.
The root cause?
"As long as we destroy this island, you won't have any more disputes!"
That's what Captain Roa said.
'I'm a genius!'
This was the so-called, 'seeing the essence through the phenomena and grasping the main contradiction!'
The absolute impartiality of a beautiful judgment truly lived up to its name!
Gan Fall and Saka were instantly dumbfounded.
Did they hear him wrong? What was this guy saying?
"Well, let's begin now!"