High Noon. The waters south of Jaya.
The sky had been utterly extinguished.
The massive Cumulorebus cloud hung over the ocean like a boundless curtain of black iron, devouring every stray photon of sunlight. In this realm of artificial night, the Eclipse forged ahead, its black hull nearly invisible against the obsidian waves.
"Squawk! Straight ahead! Don't let the wheel slip! Squawk!"
Above the wheelhouse, Berries the Macaw flapped his wings frantically. He was reporting the orientation of the South Bird—lashed to a wooden frame—with surgical precision to Carina at the helm.
Carina gripped the ship's wheel until her knuckles turned white, beads of cold sweat stinging her eyes. In this chaotic magnetic graveyard where compasses died and the sea screamed, the South Bird was their only North Star.
"According to Uncle Cricket's coordinates, we've hit the center of the eruption zone!" Sabo stood on the deck, his tailcoat snapping like a whip in the gale. He gripped his alloy staff, his eyes scanning the churning, ink-black water.
Below deck, the furnace glowed a hellish red, illuminating Jeno's sweat-streaked face. He was shirtless, the indicator lights on his mechanical exoskeleton strobing in the dark. He shoveled high-combustion coal into the twin boilers with rhythmic, manic intensity. The pressure gauges were vibrating against the red line.
"Power system preheated! The second that stream hits, I'm giving this ship wings!" Jeno's roar echoed through the speaking tubes.
Rumble...
The entire sea area emitted a dull, bone-shaking groan. It wasn't the sound of crashing waves; it sounded like the earth's crust was snapping in half.
Suddenly, the water around the Eclipse began to vibrate.
"Captain! The sea is falling!" Leona shouted, clutching the rail. Her vertical pupils constricted in dread.
The seawater for miles ahead was collapsing into a bottomless void. A super-giant whirlpool formed with a roar, the centrifugal force trying to drag the Eclipse into the black abyss of the sea floor.
"Maintain course. We go in with the current," Ace's voice was a pillar of absolute calm amidst the apocalypse. He stood at the bow, an iron tower nailed to the deck. "Head for the center."
"I don't care how many times we do this—this is INSANE!" Buggy wailed, hugging the main mast. His Chop-Chop powers reflexively triggered, his hands and feet detaching to clamp onto the deck and railings like vice grips to keep him from being flung overboard.
Just as the Eclipse reached the center of the dark abyss, a sound louder than a thunderclap erupted from the seabed.
Geothermal heat flash-boiled the ocean. The resulting water vapor turned into a destructive thrust that defied physics. A sky-piercing pillar of water, hundreds of meters wide, erupted from the depths like a dragon, screaming toward the black clouds above.
"NOW! JENO! FULL THROTTLE! CARINA, STEADY THE SHIP!" Sabo roared.
"TAKE OFF!!" Jeno pulled the throttle to the stop.
The Stellar Obsidian paddle wheels on both sides of the Eclipse erupted into a violent blur. The thrust, combined with the lifting force of the Knock Up Stream, allowed the steel giant to change its trajectory. The Suzaku Ram bit into the vertical wall of the rising water column, and the Eclipse went vertical.
The ship was now sailing up a 90-degree waterfall.
The wind tore at the sails. Mist whipped faces like shards of glass.
"Hold on! If you fall now, you're red mist!" Leona gripped the iron cables, her eyes wide with shock at the miracle of nature.
The water pressure was immense, the air chaotic. The ship groaned, teeth-grinding creaks echoing through the hull. But the Stellar Obsidian keel held. Jeno's steam system provided the "grip"—the paddle wheels churned against the surface of the rising column, providing the stable upward momentum needed to keep them from being flung out by the turbulence.
"The cloud layer! We're hitting it!" Carina screamed over the roar of the water.
"Break through it," Ace commanded, his gaze a torch locked onto the dark sky.
The Eclipse let out a high-pitched mechanical shriek. Driven by steam and the fury of the ocean, the Suzaku Ram slammed into the Cumulorebus.
Darkness swallowed them whole.
Inside the cloud, the pressure spiked. The sensation of weightlessness and the feeling of passing through a physical barrier made everyone hold their breath. The sound of the water became muffled, as if the world were wrapped in wet cotton.
One second. Two. Three.
BANG!
The barrier snapped. The howling wind and the roar of the water vanished in an instant. In their place was a silence so profound it felt heavy, and a sunlight so brilliant it was blinding.
Ace slowly opened his eyes.
There was no more blue sea. No more jagged waves. Beneath the Eclipse lay an endless sea of clouds, soft as fresh snow and glowing with a dreamlike luster. The ship surged into the high altitude on the last of the current's momentum, then landed softly on the White-White Sea, throwing up huge plumes of cloud-mist.
"This... is this even real?" Carina let go of the wheel, her clothes soaked in sweat, staring at the mythical landscape through the porthole.
Buggy's body parts reassembled with a pop. He slumped onto the deck, eyes wide. Jeno pushed open the hatch and climbed up, gasping for air. The entire crew stood in stunned silence at the sight of a world 10,000 meters above their heads.
Ace walked to the rail, inhaling the thin, crisp air. The thrill of mastering a natural disaster to conquer the heavens made his blood boil.
"Hahaha! HAHAHAHA!"
His wild, hearty laughter broke the silence, echoing across the white expanse. He looked at the pure white sea—not with wonder, but with the burning desire of a conqueror.
"Beautiful! The perfect base for the Eclipse Pirates to rebuild and upgrade!"
Ace turned to his crew, his voice booming with the arrogance of a man who had just claimed the sky.
"Set the sails! Head into the white!"
"Let's show the people of Skypiea who has come to take over their heaven!"
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