"War... is it an extreme outburst of emotion?"
Crocodile pondered Rowan's words, remaining silent along the way.
Under the guidance of the old man's small, speedy shrimp, the small boat climbed along the cloud waterfall, and the surrounding light gradually dimmed.
Finally, after circling around a few times, the small boat burst out of the thick cloud layer.
Swish!
Suddenly, the surrounding view opened up, and the sky became brighter.
Crocodile squinted, adjusting to the harsh light, then looked into the distance.
He saw a dozen small houses sitting on a white sandy beach, with many small tents pitched around them.
"Ho ho, we're here."
The old man patted the small speedy shrimp's pincers, and the wonderful creature swam the small boat towards the shore.
"Hesso, honored guests, welcome to Cloud Bay Village."
The so-called "Hesso" is a special greeting used by sky island people.
The old man said with an apologetic smile, "I'm really sorry, I should have entertained you properly, but the situation is very special right now. There are too many people in Cloud Bay Village."
Without further explanation, Rowan and Crocodile understood what the old man meant.
Because of the constant war between the two sky islands, the people who originally lived near the border were forced to move and became refugees.
Cloud Bay Village is located where the border meets the inner island of the sky island, making it the most suitable place for refugees to settle.
Some of the refugees stayed temporarily, while others simply came to Cloud Bay Village to seek relatives.
In short, this seaside village, with only a dozen small houses, is now overcrowded.
Those big and small tents are proof that the refugees can no longer live in the houses and can only set up a small tent to live in temporarily.
"This is actually not bad here. At least you can go out to sea to fish. There are many villages like Cloud Bay Village, and some of them have already run out of food."
The old man sighed helplessly. He had been full of anger, but when he talked about this situation that he was powerless to change, he couldn't help but feel depressed.
"When will this damn war end!"
...
The three of them came ashore.
They arrived in this small village that had managed to remain stable amidst the war.
"I need to go find my daughter. Make yourselves at home."
The old man packed up his small boat and pointed in a direction without looking up, saying, "There's a market over there. Everyone buys and sells things that might be useful to each other. There are many people coming and going. You can go there to find out information."
Speaking of this, the old man suddenly realized something and said with some surprise:
"By the way, how did you get to the sky island?"
The old man recalled that he had not seen the two Blue Sea people's ship from the beginning.
Rowan replied, "We became separated from our companions and are going to find them."
"Then you need to go to the market even more."
The old man explained, "You might be able to buy a Waver there, which will make it much easier to find people. But you need to find someone who knows how to operate a Waver. People from the Blue Sea can't use that thing."
The so-called "Waver" is a type of transport produced on Sky Islands, powered by a special type of shellfish called Wind Shells.
Its shape is similar to a small speedboat, but its operation is far more complicated than a speedboat. The driver must simultaneously master the wind direction and the flow of seawater.
Rowan said goodbye to the old man and set off for the market, with Crocodile following beside him.
Suddenly, Crocodile's eyes moved slightly. He saw the tall, thin figure from before again.
He was holding a long staff, standing in the distance in a back lit position, still unable to see his face clearly.
That person was "observing" Rowan and Crocodile.
"Hey..."
Crocodile signaled Rowan to pay attention to that side, but the latter walked straight towards the market not far away, seemingly oblivious to that figure.
"Tch!"
Crocodile clicked his tongue and had no choice but to follow.
...
Strictly speaking, the "market" in Cloud Bay Village could hardly be considered a market.
It was merely a place where a group of refugees and locals took out things they might need to sell, thus helping each other.
Most of them were fish caught from the White Sea, which is the main food source for the people of Cloud Bay Village nowadays.
Another part of the stalls sold all kinds of special shellfish.
These are necessities for sky island residents to maintain their daily lives.
Crocodile showed considerable interest in these small trinkets.
Sky Island specialty shells are also circulated in small quantities on the Grand Line, but they are very expensive.
He didn't expect that in Sky Island itself, the price of this kind of thing would be quite cheap!
Among them, there were many special shells that could be modified into deadly weapons, which suited Crocodile's desire for military power.
If that was true for Crocodile, it was even more true for the country of Alabasta.
"This is a pretty good place."
Crocodile said to Rowan beside him, "If we use this stuff to arm the army, it would probably raise whole army's fighting power a level, right?"
"..."
There was no reply.
Crocodile frowned slightly, feeling somewhat displeased.
He turned his head and saw that Rowan was squatting in front of a stall, carefully looking at something, not hearing his words at all. He felt even more displeased.
"Hey, what are you looking at?"
Crocodile went over and saw that it was a book stall.
The stall was very small, even extremely unnoticeable. The stall owner seemed to intentionally make the stall so inconspicuous.
The stall was looked after by a skinny sky island youth, who was sadly sorting through the piles of books in front of him.
Rowan and Crocodile were from the Blue Sea, and their appearances were quite conspicuous, so they immediately attracted the attention of the skinny youth.
"You two!"
The skinny youth's eyes lit up. "Do you have any food? I can trade it for a book."
Crocodile casually tossed out a bag of dried food, but he did not accept the book that the skinny youth handed over.
He said in a deep voice, "I don't need it."
Upon hearing this, the skinny youth reluctantly handed the dried food back.
Crocodile said with slight surprise, "You don't want it if it's free?"
The skinny youth smiled. "Sir from the Blue Sea, I'm not a beggar."
A stall owner, an older woman, chimed in, "This guy is weird. He used to live on a small island. You never see him normally. Just take a book, otherwise he won't accept the food!"
"Heh..."
Crocodile chuckled a few times, tossed the dried food to the youth, casually picked up a book, and said disdainfully, "This kind of thing can't feed people during war."
Rowan took the book from Crocodile's hand.
Crocodile: "..."
I didn't get it for you.
"..."
Oh well, I didn't want it anyway.
But Rowan opened the book and looked at it carefully for a long time.
It wasn't until Crocodile was impatient that Rowan closed the book. "This is a book on meteorology, and it's very technical. Are they all yours?"
The skinny youth nodded with a wry smile. "Yes, I understand some..."
"There are also notes on it. Did you mark them?" Rowan asked.
"Yes, I usually mark some things when I read."
The skinny youth nodded and quickly said, "If you're not satisfied, I'll give you a different one... No, I don't think I have any books that I haven't made notes on..."
Rowan smiled at the skinny youth. "Are you a meteorologist?"
"No, that... no one has ever called me that, not even my teacher."
The skinny youth waved his hands repeatedly.
But Rowan gently stroked the pages of the book and continued to asked:
"Then, have you heard of the Four Seas Alliance?"
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