"You can handle it!" Fleet Admiral Sengoku declared, his voice brimming with a confidence Smoker certainly didn't feel. "You single-handedly wiped out over a hundred pirate crews and erased an island from the map! What's one Yonko fleet compared to that?"
"Fleet Admiral, I truly can't handle it!" A cold dread prickled across Smoker's scalp. The Transponder Snail perfectly mimicked his expression of utter despair. "Fleet Admiral... if I told you it was all a... fortunate accident... would you believe me?"
"No explanations necessary, and no false modesty! I... BELIEVE IN YOU!!!" Sengoku boomed, then issued his final, insane instruction. "Remember, just... improvise. Do not engage in a direct confrontation if you can avoid it!"
Tsuru, standing beside Sengoku, watched him with deep skepticism. "Are you absolutely certain sending Smoker alone to delay Whitebeard is a sound tactical decision?"
Sengoku: "I have a... reasonable degree of confidence."
"And you're sending him based on a 'reasonable degree' of confidence?!"
"..."
Seeing the stubborn set of Sengoku's jaw, Tsuru let the matter drop. She then voiced the other, more pressing question on her mind. "There is still the matter of Jaya Island. Where did it go?"
Sengoku frowned, stroking his goat beard. "I don't know. I'm equally baffled. A perfectly good island, just... swept away by an ocean current!"
He paused.
Wait.
"Knock Up Stream?"
The two veterans locked eyes, a simultaneous, sharp intake of breath hissing between them.
....
The sea wind howled, whipping spray across the warship's deck.
Smoker held the now-silent Transponder Snail, standing as motionless as a statue. The long ash on his cigar finally broke off, scattering into the wind.
"Vice Admiral...?" Tashigi approached cautiously, noting that his face was several shades paler than his signature white hair.
"Tashigi..." Smoker's head turned slowly, his voice a dry rasp. "Do you believe in miracles?"
"Pardon?"
Smoker took a final, deep drag and snuffed the cigar out on the railing. "Fleet Admiral Sengoku has ordered me... to intercept the Whitebeard Pirates. Alone."
"..." Tashigi's glasses slid down her nose with a soft clatter.
Every Marine on deck froze mid-task. The air solidified. A young recruit polishing a cannon fumbled in his shock, the cannonball landing with a heavy thud and rolling across the deck.
"Th-this is more than just 'a bit'..." Tashigi fumbled to right her glasses, "...this is a suicide mission!"
Smoker stared at the distant horizon, suddenly recalling Fire Fist Ace's cryptic words back in Alabasta: that this whole venture should, probably, not end with him getting pulverized.
The memory sparked a strange, subtle shift in his expression. He stroked his chin, lost in thought. "Perhaps... it will be alright..."
"Vice Admiral? Are you feeling well?" Tashigi asked, her worry mounting. "Shouldn't we first explain the actual situation to Headquarters...?"
"No." Smoker suddenly straightened his shoulders, his Justice Coat snapping in the wind. "Prepare a speedboat. I'm going alone."
"What?!" Tashigi exclaimed. "At least take a squadron of battleships for support—"
"More ships would just be a liability. And ultimately, useless." Smoker's face was grimly resolute. "This time... I go alone."
He turned to head for his cabin, then paused. "Oh, and find that bottle of aged rum I've been saving."
"Rum?"
"A meeting gift." Smoker said without looking back. "Let's hope Whitebeard has a taste for it."
....
Skypiea,
The dust from Jaya Island's landing began to settle. The Straw Hats and the mass of stranded pirates finally got a clear look at their new surroundings.
"This... this is Skypiea?!" Usopp's jaw hung open, practically unhinged.
As far as the eye could see, the world was a vision of pure white. The ground beneath their feet was a springy, cotton-like cloud mass. In the distance, shimmering rivers of cloud meandered, glowing with a pearlescent sheen in the sunlight.
Towering giant beanstalks rose from the sea of clouds, water droplets still glistening on their leaves and vines.
"I'm gonna get a better look!" Luffy yelled, stretching his arms out to grab the highest vine and swoosh upwards.
Standing atop the vine, Luffy's straw hat flapped wildly in the high-altitude winds. His eyes widened as he took in the sight of cloud-formed islands floating in the distance, and buildings of strange, whimsical architecture—
"Hey! There's a town over there!" he shouted down.
The news sent an electric wave of excitement through the crowd.
"A town?!"
"A Skypiean settlement?"
"There's gotta be treasure there!"
The Bellamy Pirates were already scrambling in that direction. "Move it! Don't let the others get there first!"
The other pirates began to surge forward, some even using pieces of wreckage as makeshift paddleboards on the cloud sea.
Nami stood still for a moment, her vision blurring slightly as a system prompt appeared—
[Ding! New island detected: Skypiea. Treasure map auto-generating...]
[Skypiea Treasure Map complete!]
Nami excitedly snatched the newly materialized map from the air, unrolled it, and let out a sharp gasp!
"This is..." Nami clapped a hand over her mouth, her eyes instantly transforming into glittering Berry symbols. "The Golden Bell?!"
Ron noticed her shock. "What is it?"
Nami grabbed Ron's arm, her words tumbling out in an excited rush. "The treasure map! The system made a map for Skypiea! And it says that at the top of that vine, there's—" she dropped her voice to a conspiratorial whisper, "—a bell made of solid gold!"
Robin's eyes sparkled with academic and adventurous fervor. "The Golden Bell of Shandora? I thought that was merely a myth."
"Not a myth anymore!" Nami declared, already stashing the map securely. "Let's go! The treasure is right under that bell!"
Just then,
Usopp suddenly pointed skyward and shrieked. "Wait! Look! What are those?!"
Everyone looked up. Several figures with white wings on their backs were soaring towards them on peculiar-looking skates, their weapons gleaming coldly.
"Intruders!" the lead Skypiean warrior bellowed. "You will face the judgment of God!"
The Skypiean guards, who had been approaching with aggressive intent, suddenly froze in mid-air as the scene below came into clear focus—
Hundreds of battered, bloodied, and heavily armed Blue Sea pirates were glaring up at them. Cutlasses were hefted, flintlock pistols were checked, and others were busy hauling cannons out of the wreckage.
Even more terrifyingly, on the newly arrived landmass in the distance, even more figures were stirring.
"Th-this many intruders?!" the guard captain stammered, his Impact Dial nearly slipping from his sweaty grip.
But remembering his divine mandate, he stiffened his spine. "By... by the order of God Enel! This sacred land of Skypiea is forbidden to you Blue Sea dwellers! You will leave at once! Or else—"
"Or else what?" a scar-faced pirate sneered, cutting him off. "You gonna call your so-called 'God' out here to shine my boots?"
The pirate horde erupted in mocking laughter:
"Bwahaha! What kind of pathetic god is that?!"
"Back when I was brawling in the New World, you lot were still playing in the clouds!"
"Listen up, you winged pigeons! We're taking this island! Now scram before we pluck your feathers!"
....
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