"What..."
"Ten thousand meters!" Hearing this, everyone opened their mouths and looked down together. They saw a vast, endless sea of clouds, like a bottomless abyss. The Going Merry was shooting down like an arrow. Though it was impossible to imagine just how high ten thousand meters was, if they fell at this speed, even if it was the sea below, they would be smashed to pieces. And what's more, it might not even be the sea.
"Well, if this goes on, we're dead," Usopp yelled first and looked at Luffy. "Luffy, you're the captain! At a time like this, you have to find a way!"
"Hmm... is this... a problem?" But Luffy was just sitting on the bow, looking down, touching his head with a dazed expression.
"Hey, Luffy, have you not figured out the situation yet?" Zoro jumped up immediately.
"Forget asking him. Let's figure out our own way," Sanji said, shaking his head.
"What can we do? This is ten thousand meters in the sky," Usopp cried out in horror.
"We can throw Luffy down first," Chopper suddenly had an idea. "Isn't he rubber? We can just make him bigger and have him support us underneath."
Hearing this, Usopp's eyes lit up and he clapped his hands. "Good idea!"
Zoro nodded. "I agree."
Sanji exhaled a puff of smoke. "I have no objection."
Luffy nodded, standing on the bow, eager to try. "Okay, then I will go down first."
Nami was speechless.
"Mr. Captain, what if it happens to be the sea below?" Robin asked, dragging her cheeks and smiling at Luffy.
"It's okay. I have always been lucky," Luffy said, shaking his arm confidently.
"Captain, you can only rely on you at this time," Usopp said, patting Luffy and encouraging him.
"Go well," Zoro also said, patting him.
"Take care," Sanji said, doing the same.
"Then I will pat too," Chopper said, stepping forward and wanting to learn to pat, but he was too short and could only pat his legs.
"Don't worry, everyone. I will definitely let the Merry stop," Luffy nodded, serious, about to jump down.
BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!
Five violent shudders sounded, and five people with blue noses and swollen faces, standing in a row, said hello to the iron-faced Nami, "Hi, Nami!"
"You five idiots, shut up!" Nami's eyes burst into flames, and she roared sharply. Then she looked at Moonlight and threw something over. "Moonlight, put this on top of the boat." Moonlight was taken aback. It was an octopus.
"I remember Conis said that this is not an ordinary octopus," Robin chuckled. "On the Sky Island, this is called an octopus balloon. If it is heated, its body will be filled with air and then violently inflated into a balloon. We can use the power of the air to land safely."
"An octopus balloon?"
"With the power of air?"
"When did you bring this thing in?"
"Does Sky Island really have such a thing?" Hearing that, the five of them were full of question marks and looked blank.
"Heat expansion and contraction?" Moonlight's heart moved. This was the simplest truth, but at a critical moment, it could be fatal. Nami deserved to be a navigator.
"Why am I on such a ship?" upon seeing this, Nami burst into tears.
At this time, Moonlight lifted the octopus and leaped to the top of the boat. He then lit a candle for heating. The next moment, an oversized octopus hot air balloon unfolded, and its eight tentacles firmly grasped the Merry. Suddenly, the downward trend of the Merry slowed down, and finally, it floated lightly in the air.
"Saved?" Zoro breathed a sigh of relief.
"This is the octopus balloon?" Usopp's eyes widened, curious.
"So big," Chopper was surprised.
"In addition to cooking, can octopus be used like this?" Sanji's eyes lit up, as if he had discovered a new world.
"Amazing," Luffy cheered. Not only them, but Robin also looked on curiously. The octopus hot air balloon... only the Sky Island could have such a magical species.
After a while, after stabilizing, Luffy finally couldn't restrain his curiosity, jumped up, and, curious as a baby, fumbled and explored on the octopus's back. Finally, he rolled around directly. "So soft, so comfortable!"
"I want to play! I want to play too!" upon seeing this, Chopper cheered for joy, then climbed up, and after a while, rolled around like Luffy. Seeing this scene, Usopp was delighted by the hunt and wanted to go up too.
"Hey, Luffy, you guys, that's enough," Zoro couldn't help but frown. "We're not out of danger yet." Even if there were octopus hot air balloons, who knew where they would fall? Nami kept looking down, judging where she might fall. She could see the sea now.
"Not good," Moonlight looked up and saw that as Luffy's trio played, the octopus's body began to shrink. The octopus expanded due to heat expansion and contraction. However, the weight of Luffy, Chopper, and Usopp was constantly squeezing the air in its body, which was very dangerous.
"Hey, what's the matter? That octopus's body seems to be getting smaller?" At this time, Sanji also seemed to have discovered the anomaly and couldn't help exclaiming.
"It seems to be sweating," Robin saw it too.
"What?" Upon hearing this, Nami looked back quickly. Sure enough, they saw that as they jumped and played, the size of the octopus was getting smaller and smaller. When Usopp also succeeded in going up, the octopus made a muffled sound, and the air in its body was compressed extremely fast. Then it shrank and fell from the sky. The three of them also yelled and fell together. Fortunately, Luffy's eyesight was quick, and he stretched his arms to hold the two of them, otherwise they would fall into the sea. However, after losing the big octopus balloon, the Merry was miserable and fell straight down. Although the sea could already be seen at this time, there was still a distance of hundreds of meters. If this went on, everyone, connected to the Merry, would definitely be broken.
"What a good thing you did," Nami burst into tears. Can't she just land well?
"No, because of the air, the direction of the Merry is erratic. It's... a mountain," at this time, Robin suddenly pointed to the sea below, and several sword-like peaks were faintly visible. The Merry was falling towards the mountain.
"If this goes on, we'll crash into it," Zoro couldn't help being solemn.
"Moonlight, what should I do?" upon seeing this, Chopper quickly looked at Moonlight.
"Escape," Moonlight shook her head and looked at Nami. "Chopper, Nami, Robin, you come to me. Luffy, you bring Usopp. Sanji, Zoro, you'll be alright. We can only jump." Now there was no other way but to abandon the ship and escape.
"That's the only way," upon hearing this, Zoro and the others nodded. Luffy also got serious, grabbed the octopus, and stuffed it into his clothes.
BOOM!
A hundred meters high in the sky... fleeting. The Merry slammed into the sea like a cannonball that had pierced the sky. The sea rolled, causing huge waves. Under the huge recoil force, the hull was destroyed. Fortunately, they had avoided the mountain, otherwise they would have been crushed. But the worst thing was, looking down from a hundred meters high, the surrounding mountains were just a black spot. When they got closer, they found that this was a circular, closed fortress formed by islands. The logo of the Navy on the island was extremely prominent. It was a naval fortress.
They had just left the Sky Island and had fallen into a naval fortress. It could be said that it was a case of "when it rains, it pours." Almost the moment the Merry landed, harsh sirens immediately sounded throughout the fortress, and countless lights gathered on the Merry, which had landed alone in the center of the fortress. Then, countless Marines swarmed to take away the Merry.
At this moment, behind a mountain peak, Moonlight and the others quietly poked their heads out, watching the Merry being dragged away, but they could do nothing. "Did we fall into the hands of the Navy? This is really bad luck," Nami couldn't help but sigh. The Merry was damaged, and now it had fallen into the hands of the Navy. For a pirate, was there anything worse than this?
"In terms of scale, this should be a naval fortress," Robin looked around and then made a judgment. "Surrounded by islands, forming a circular, closed space, like an iron barrel. We can't escape even if we want to."
"What do we do?" Nami couldn't help but get anxious. "The Merry was taken away by the Navy, and the gold on the ship will definitely be taken away."
"And Luffy, Usopp, and the others... we're separated," Chopper also said.
"Then let's meet Luffy and the others first," Moonlight frowned. Indeed, there was nothing worse than the present situation. This was a naval fortress. Although it seemed a bit old, there must be a large number of Marines stationed in it. If the situation was not clear and the group was separated, it would be very bad. If it was a forcible impact, he was afraid it would be set on fire immediately. Even he would be very uncomfortable. After all, this was a naval fortress. And it was completely closed. No matter what they did, they would be completely exposed to the enemy's guns. Not to mention who knew how many warships there were in this fortress. They wanted to leave, but it was not easier than going to the sky.
"At this point, there is no way," after speaking, Nami took the lead and killed herself single-handedly. "Everyone split up to find out the situation of this fortress, then retake the Merry and the gold, waiting for the opportunity to flee." She was going to find her gold. Whoever dared to touch her gold, she would kill her. She had forgotten that this was a fortress of the Navy. Moonlight couldn't help but sigh. Gold was Nami's life.
"Okay, split up," upon hearing this, Robin also nodded. "This is the most suitable right now. Moonlight, I am in this direction. You and Chopper are in this direction. And everyone meets in place at last."
"Okay," Moonlight had no objection, and Robin also left.
At this time, in the fortress center, in the office of the commander, a middle-aged man with brown hair, a Navy shirt, and a brown mustache had just returned from fishing. At this time, with the intrusion of Luffy and the others, the fortress was already in a mess, but he didn't seem to notice anything. He just looked at the fish in the bucket with a meaningful expression. At this time, the door opened. A man wearing a Navy justice coat walked in, sprinting, resolutely, and immediately reported, "Commander Jonathan, a pirate has broken in. The opponent should be the most famous Straw Hat crew..."
"Are you the Straw Hat crew? It's a headache. It looks like a big man is coming," hearing this name, Jonathan couldn't help but frown. This was not an unknown little pirate, but his eyes remained on the barrel, and he calmly said, "Immediately issue a first-level alert to make everyone on high alert. Since there is no one on the ship, then they must have gone ashore. Commander Drake, immediately mobilize everyone to search the coast."
"Yes, sir," Drake responded immediately, but seeing that Jonathan just kept looking at the fish in the bucket, a trace of contempt flashed in his eyes. His own boss only fished and played chess all day long, and now the Straw Hat crew had broken in, and he looked like this, which made him very upset. Although their G-8 fortress was called "impenetrable," he had never thought so, but he just couldn't find a chance to show his skills. Now that the Straw Hats were here, it was their chance. That was a well-known pirate with a bounty of over 100 million. If he could catch them... thinking of this, he decided to do things according to his own ideas. Then he left eagerly.
Only Jonathan was left in the room. He still didn't care, just looking at the fish in the bucket, he seemed to be muttering to himself, and he seemed to be communicating with the fish. "Fish, fish, you were caught by me after all..."
G-8 fortress. As the Straw Hats broke in, all the Marines were mobilized. Drake personally led people to search along the grass and trees of the fortress in a carpet style. Finally, traces of the Straw Hat group were finally found.
"Found a gang of Straw Hats in the kitchen..."
"Found the Straw Hat gang in the dock..."
"Found the Straw Hat gang in the infirmary..."
Pieces of news were constantly reported to Jonathan. He was enjoying dinner leisurely at this time, and today's dinner was extremely comfortable.
"Is that so?" hearing these news, Jonathan smiled lightly and ordered all soldiers to narrow down and investigate again. After his subordinates immediately began to execute it, he looked at the chess on the table, picked up one, and placed it in the middle. I saw the chess in that position. After the position was blocked, the movement space was further reduced.
"Found the Straw Hat Crew!"
"Sure enough, they got mixed into the kitchen, the hospital, the dock..." Soon, news came again. Drake walked in.
With a confident smile, Jonathan continued to order, "All the troops are concentrated on the dock, ready for the general."
"Commander Jonathan..." seeing that Jonathan was still idle, Drake's dissatisfaction was almost overwhelming. His face sank, and he said hard, "Commander, we have found them. Shouldn't we try our best to arrest them?"
"Okay, the fish has taken the bait and started to collect the net," Jonathan didn't care, but took another move, and saw that the activity space of the place was reduced to a minimum. Upon seeing this, he was very dissatisfied, but the military order was like a mountain and could not be disobeyed.
After two hours, the news spread again. The G-8 Navy had a fierce battle with the Straw Hats in the dock, but lost to the Straw Hats and lost miserably. Fortunately, there were no casualties.
Drake walked in again, but this time he looked even more ugly. "Commander, we did encounter the Straw Hat crew in the dock, but they were really powerful, and they let them escape."
However, when he heard this, Jonathan suddenly laughed and smiled softly. "Good escape. Drake, you immediately activate that and go to the weapon store to intercept." With that, he picked up the chess on the table and took another step. But this time, it was checkmate. The net had been set up, and then the net would be closed.
"Go to the weapon store? Do we have to activate that? But Commander, they have already escaped," hearing this, Drake looked puzzled and broke out completely. "Commander, what exactly are you going to do and why do you always issue such strange orders? It's because of your inexplicable order at the beginning that made the Straw Hats..."
He was talking excitedly when a cold voice suddenly sounded from the window, interrupting him. A boy in black was on the wide open window at this time, not knowing when.
"It really is here," the boy said, leaping in and looking at a screen in the room that had been pulled up at some time. He gently pulled it, revealing a lot of gold. These golds were exactly what they had gotten on Sky Island. But Jonathan had put them in his room right from the beginning. This commander was very cunning.
"The Straw Hat Crew... Vice-Captain, Moonlight," seeing the boy in black, Drake narrowed his eyes, staring at Moonlight, every word.