Half an hour later, Mock Town harbor.
As a famous lawless zone in the first half of the Grand Line, there were no Marines stationed here. The streets were choked with drunken pirates and black-market merchants openly fencing stolen goods. The air was a thick, stagnant cocktail of cheap rum, gunpowder, and the sour stench of unwashed bodies.
When Portgas D. Ace pushed open the double doors of the largest tavern in town, flanked by Sabo, Carina, and Buggy, the sheer volume of the place was enough to rattle the floorboards.
Over a dozen ferocious-looking pirates sat around a cluster of wooden tables. In the center stood a burly Captain with a face full of scar tissue and a tattoo of crossed cutlasses on his chest. He was standing on a stool, shouting with spittle flying from his lips.
"Listen up! The Grand Line is no place for playing house! I've got a bounty of 38,000,000 Berries! What kind of storm haven't I weathered?" The Captain took a massive swig of ale and let out a thunderous burp. "Last week, I personally sank a Marine patrol ship! Two more years, and I'll be storming the New World to take territory from the Yonko!"
"Boss is a legend!"
"The future Pirate King!"
The surrounding lackeys roared in sycophantic laughter, raising their glasses.
Ace walked in, turning a deaf ear to the low-grade boasting. He found a spot at the bar; Sabo and Carina took seats beside him.
"Give us four of your best," Carina said, tapping the counter and sliding a gold coin across. "Also, I have a question. Does anyone here know the way to Sky Island? Or if there's a Knock Up Stream due soon?"
The bartender, reaching for a bottle, froze. His expression turned from professional to pitying. The rowdy pirate table also fell into a sudden, dead silence.
Then—
"Pffthahahahaha!"
The 38-million-bounty Captain spat out his drink, clutching his stomach as if he'd just heard the funniest joke in history.
"Sky Island? Hahaha! Hey, boys, did you hear that? A group of rookies who don't even know which end is up came to Mock Town to ask about bedtime stories!"
The tavern erupted into malicious mockery.
"Hey, little girl! Are you that desperate for gold? There's no such thing as islands in the clouds!"
"Exactly! That's a lie told by that fraud Norland hundreds of years ago. I can't believe idiots still believe it!"
"Go back to the Blue seas and drink your milk! Hahahaha!"
The laughter echoed, the clashing of glasses sounding like shards of glass.
At the bar, Carina's brow furrowed. Sabo kept his hat brim low, his eyes calm—he didn't have the energy to care about frogs in a well. Ace remained indifferent, propping his chin on his hand and tapping the counter in boredom. If he got angry at the buzzing of ants, his heart would be too small for the New World.
However, one person in their group completely snapped.
BANG!
Buggy slammed his palm onto the bar, making the glasses jump.
"You bunch of East Blue bumpkins! You don't even know where the gate to the New World opens! How dare you laugh at Sky Island like it's a fairy tale?!"
Buggy spun around, stepping onto the bar rail, his Red Nose flushed with fury. He pointed at the leading Captain. "When this great man was sailing with Captain Roger over twenty years ago, I personally set foot in the City of Gold! There was enough gold there to blind you pathetic bastards! Not only is there a Sky Island, but I've been to Fish-Man Island ten thousand meters below! You losers picking up scraps in Paradise have no right to mock the real ocean!"
The tavern went silent for three full seconds.
"Captain Roger? Twenty years ago?" The pirate Captain squinted, then saw Buggy's comical nose and flashy attire. His eyes turned cold. "Damn it, a clown with a red nose dares to use the Pirate King's name to play the fool?"
The Captain drew a heavy broadsword and kicked over his table, shattering bottles and meat across the floor. "You call me a frog in a well? I'll chop that clown face into pieces and feed it to the fish!"
He roared, leading a dozen men as they aggressively closed in on the bar. Facing the drawn steel of a 38-million-bounty pirate, Buggy's bravado vanished instantly. He squeaked and dove behind Sabo.
"Too noisy."
A low, flat voice that chilled the very marrow of those present sounded through the room. Ace didn't even turn around. He simply mixed a trace of the violent aura of the Vermilion Bird Divine Fire with a concentrated pulse of Conqueror's Haki. He didn't unleash a shockwave; he "pressed" the pressure along the floorboards toward the men behind him.
Hum—!
The pirate Captain, less than three meters from Ace, felt like he had collided with an invisible, white-hot iron wall.
Clang!
His heavy broadsword slipped from his nerveless fingers, clattering to the floor. His muscles began to spasm uncontrollably. Breathing became as difficult as drawing air through a straw. Faced with Ace's abyss-like aura—deliberately restrained yet terrifying—his biological instincts overrode his pride. His psychological defenses shattered.
"Who... who are you..." The Captain's eyes were bloodshot, cold sweat soaking his shirt in seconds. He struggled to look at the man's back, but his gaze fell on a piece of an old newspaper Carina had left on the bar.
On the front page, he saw that cold, deep face and the string of red numbers that made his heart stop.
"Seven... 770,000,000 Berries... Portgas D. Ace?!"
A distorted scream tore from his throat.
Thump!
The "powerhouse" of Mock Town, a man with a 38-million-bounty, felt his legs give way. He knelt on the floor, trembling so violently he couldn't form a sentence. The lackeys behind him saw the poster and followed suit, falling into a dead, terrified silence.
Only then did Ace slowly turn half his body. He leaned against the bar, looking down at the kneeling man.
"Be quiet," Ace said softly. "I'm asking for directions."
The Captain covered his own mouth, nodding frantically, terrified that even a whimper would anger this 700-million-bounty god of death. Ace looked back at the bartender, who was swallowing hard.
"Clues for Sky Island. Now."
The bartender pointed toward the door with a shaking hand. "On the... the east coast. A diver named Mont Blanc Cricket. He's been searching for the City of Gold his whole life. He has the charts for the Knock Up Stream."
"Good." Ace flicked a gold coin onto the bar.
It wasn't until the Eclipse Pirates' silhouettes vanished from the street that the pirates in the tavern collapsed, gasping for air as if they had just walked through the gates of hell.
The East Coast of Jaya.
In front of a bizarre building that was half-castle, half-shack, Mont Blanc Cricket sat shirtless on a log, smoking. His body was covered in the pressure scars of a veteran diver.
Thud.
Heavy footsteps stopped in front of him. Cricket looked up at the black-haired man and frowned. "Another boring pirate here to mock the descendant of 'Liar Norland'?"
"Mock?" Ace looked down at him, a natural, overbearing smile curling his lips.
"Your ancestor wasn't a liar. The City of Gold was indeed washed into the clouds."
Ace's dark eyes locked onto Cricket's shocked expression. "Tell me exactly when the next Knock Up Stream erupts. I'm going up there to prove the truth of that legend to the world."
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