Let the sky and the sea bear witness to such a legend: a ship that sailed through the sky as if it were the sea, heading toward the legendary island in the heavens, something that, to most people, existed only in fairy tales.
No...
There were witnesses.
Out in the middle of the sea, Aokiji was riding his bicycle in pursuit of Allen. As he looked up, his eyes widened in shock, the kind of surprise that should have been impossible for a man nearing fifty who had already seen everything the sea had to offer.
"What?!"
Elsewhere, Teach's eyes filled with disbelief. Whether by coincidence or sheer bad luck, he also happened to be close enough to witness the moment the Black Pearl stopped being a ship and became a legend.
"Captain, look!" Laffitte shouted.
"It can't be real, right?!" Teach exclaimed.
Meanwhile, Allen and his crew couldn't have cared less about the witnesses. Their eyes were fixed on the sky in utter amazement.
Once again, following this eccentric captain had led them to an experience unlike anything else in the world.
....
Sailing through the sky, if it could even be called that, was a one-of-a-kind experience, but the girls adapted surprisingly quickly.
"Be careful," Hina said with a serious look. "The higher we climb, the thinner the air will become."
The Pearl continued to gain altitude.
"Well, now my legend will become even more incredible! Hahaha!" Allen laughed.
"That's assuming we survive!" Tashigi exclaimed.
A scroll suddenly appeared in front of her.
[Hey, are you implying that something I made could fail?!]
"Huh?! What's this?! A ghost?!" Tashigi's eyes widened in disbelief at the sight of the magical scroll.
Hina and Mikita also stared at it in surprise.
Allen laughed. In the end, it seemed Lenalee's existence could no longer remain a secret. Of course, just because they knew she existed didn't mean he was going to tell them what she was actually capable of.
One thousand meters.
At that height, Mikita ducked as a seagull nearly hit her.
"Are you okay?" Allen laughed.
"Mou!" Mikita puffed out her cheeks.
Two thousand meters.
Uta pointed into the distance, where they could still see Jaya Island.
"How high are we?!"
"This is nothing! We still have to reach the clouds!" Allen exclaimed with an arrogant grin. "It's time for the heavens to witness my perfection and absolute greatness!"
Uta laughed at her captain's ridiculous antics.
"Sure..." Nojiko said.
Three thousand meters.
Vivi had to calm Karoo down, while Allen had to hug Kaya after she became frightened by how far they had gotten from the sea.
"Don't worry. I'm here, so nothing bad will happen."
"Hehe~"
Rather than being scared, the girl seemed to take advantage of her proximity to Allen and hugged him tighter, earning cold stares from Robin and Nami.
Four thousand meters.
Robin almost lost the hat she was wearing, but Allen caught it and placed it back on her head.
"Thank you."
The woman smiled at Allen before gently caressing his cheek.
"Don't worry about it," Allen smiled as he wrapped an arm around her waist.
Their intimacy stirred jealousy in several of the girls, while others were shocked by how shamelessly those two acted so close in front of everyone.
Five thousand meters.
The sea was now so far below that the waves had completely disappeared.
At this point, even Tashigi felt a little nervous.
"It's so high..." the girl murmured.
"Want me to hug you?" Allen asked shamelessly.
"In your dreams!" Tashigi snorted, her face bright red.
Six thousand meters.
Nami reached out, trying to touch the clouds like a little girl, prompting Nojiko to tease her.
"Ara, our Nami is still just a little girl~"
"Shut up!" Nami growled in embarrassment.
....
As they drew closer to the clouds, Allen decided to investigate with his Observation Haki.
"This is impossible," Allen said.
The enormous mass of clouds they were approaching was so dense that he couldn't see through it, but what truly astonished him was its composition. It completely defied the natural water cycle.
"Everyone, get ready to hold your breath!" Allen ordered.
The girls were startled for a moment, but seeing how serious he was, none of them questioned him.
The moment the ship touched the clouds, it felt as though they had plunged into the sea. In other words, it was water... no, more accurately, they were clouds with a liquid composition, if that somehow made any sense.
It was as though the clouds existed in both a gaseous and liquid state at the same time.
As a precaution, Allen embraced Robin, Uta, and Mikita.
Since those girls were Devil Fruit users, there was a risk they would weaken upon touching this "sea in the sky."
A full minute passed before they finally emerged from the surface, and as surreal as it seemed, this place truly behaved like an ocean made entirely of clouds.
Several of the girls dropped to their knees from the effort of holding their breath for so long.
"What's going on?! Why is there a sea in the sky?!" Mikita complained.
"Well, there had to be some way for there to be an island in the sky," Allen smiled. "Most likely, there are solid clouds you can walk on too, right?"
Hina nodded.
"I'm no expert, but it should be possible to walk somewhere."
While the existence of people living in the sky could be explained by individuals who could simply fly, for something to be called an "island," there had to be a habitable surface.
Looking around, all they saw were clouds, which was only natural, but they could distinguish between the liquid clouds and the ordinary ones. Together, they created the illusion of an ocean—a white ocean.
"So what now?" Kaya asked as she looked at Allen.
"There's no one here to witness my glory. Nami, where's the Log Pose pointing?" Allen asked.
Nami checked the compass and, unexpectedly, it was still pointing upward.
"I guess we have to climb even higher..." Nami said.
Allen nodded and was about to order the Pearl to ascend again when he sensed a presence. Turning toward it, after a few moments, a man dressed in a tribal skirt and mask appeared, looking like someone straight out of an Amazon tribe.
He wore a pair of jet skates that allowed him to glide across the White Sea.
"He doesn't look friendly," Robin said indifferently.
"Uta..." Allen said lazily.
"What am I, the cleanup crew?" Uta complained. Even so, she walked over to the railing, cleared her throat, and began humming a lullaby.
Halfway there, the man stumbled and sank into the White Sea.
[Well... that was anticlimactic.]
Robin rested a hand on her chin.
"I wonder... does this place have a bottom?"
Sinking into the Sea of Clouds had a different meaning than sinking into the Blue Sea. Once you reached the bottom, you simply fell.
"Well, the guy had a bazooka, so we probably shouldn't worry about it," Allen said with a shrug.
The girls felt a little uncomfortable.
It was true, but they still couldn't help feeling sorry for the man in the leaf skirt who had been unlucky enough to attack their ship.
"So, straight up?" Nojiko asked.
If the Log Pose was still pointing toward the sky, they had to keep climbing. Besides, there didn't seem to be anything else here.
"Actually... let's see," Allen said as he activated his Observation Haki and looked in a certain direction.
"We're going there!"
"What's that?" Nami asked.
"Good question. It looks like a waterfall," Vivi replied.
"Nothing makes sense anymore. A waterfall in the clouds... Hina is confused," the pink-haired woman said as she lit a cigarette.
"It doesn't matter what it is. It's something, and that's enough!" Allen declared as he appeared atop the figurehead. "Reaching Skypiea is the goal, but we're in a fantastical place. There's no reason to ignore the gift this magical world has given us!"
Allen wasn't the kind of pirate who loved adventure for its own sake, but neither was he a killjoy. He was in the sky, standing on clouds. There was no reason not to enjoy it.
As they approached the waterfall, they passed through several clouds along the way. Unlike the White Sea, these clouds remained completely still.
Filled with curiosity, Allen jumped onto one, and to his surprise, he was able to stand on it. Kaya, equally curious, jumped after him. Allen didn't catch her because he already knew the surface of the solid cloud was like a soft, springy cushion.
"Uwa! Hahaha!" Kaya bounced around while laughing.
"She's such a child," Mikita said indifferently.
"Don't be such a spoilsport," Uta said as she shoved Mikita, sending her off the ship and onto the cloud, where she comically bounced several times.
"Kyah! What are you doing?!" the girl shouted angrily.
Uta laughed and jumped onto the cloud herself, happily bouncing around.
"Incredible. The clouds seem to have a semi-solid state. How is that even possible?" Robin analyzed.
Nami shrugged.
"I guess we can only chalk this up to another one of the Grand Line's great mysteries."
Allen smiled.
"I've been thinking about it. The way the Grand Line exists completely breaks the laws of known physics. It makes me think that eight hundred years ago, some weird guy with reality-warping powers, like something out of Looney Tunes, created the Grand Line. Hahaha."
The girls were left speechless. Setting aside the fact that none of them even knew what Looney Tunes was, the idea that someone had created the Grand Line was utterly absurd. Even if the Grand Line was just a single belt of sea, it still encircled the entire world. What kind of power could affect the world on that scale?
Allen wasn't in any hurry, so he lay down on the clouds to rest.
"Wow, you really seem to be enjoying yourself," Uta smiled as she lay down beside him on his left. "Or are you just tired, Captain?~"
Seeing this, Kaya felt jealous and tried to do the same, but Mikita beat her to it, lying down beside Allen on his right before sticking her tongue out at Kaya.
The girl became annoyed but refused to give up. Looking at Allen lying there with his eyes closed, she overcame her embarrassment, made a bold decision, and lay down on top of him.
"Kaya?!" Nami exclaimed from the deck.
"Oh... looks like someone's becoming bold," Robin said expressionlessly.
"How daring," Tashigi murmured.
"Youth," Hina said with a smile.
Uta watched Kaya with an amused grin, while Mikita's eyes widened. She felt jealous and silently cursed herself for not thinking of doing something like that first.
As for Allen himself, he opened his eyes and saw the shy blonde girl resting on his chest. Smiling, he gently patted her head.
He didn't mind the situation at all.
Feeling that Allen had given her his "permission," Kaya's eyes sparkled, and she began laughing happily.
Despite the complaints, jealousy, and dissatisfaction of the other girls, since Allen had allowed it, they could only force themselves to accept it.
"As for your question, Uta, I really am a little tired. First Garp, then Ace, then Crocodile, then Garp again, and now Aokiji. The Grand Line really is terrifying," Allen laughed.
The girls felt a lump in their throats because the truth was, it really wasn't.
Most pirates wouldn't even encounter one of those people in many years, yet Allen had fought them one after another. It was ridiculous.
At first, the girls hadn't believed Allen when he claimed he had congenital bad luck, but now it seemed even worse—as if the goddess of fortune genuinely hated him.
With that in mind, the girls exchanged glances before making a decision.
Nojiko went to the kitchen and prepared some snacks, while Robin fetched beach towels. Once they were done, everyone got off the ship and had a picnic.
A picnic in the sky!
It was an incredibly relaxing experience. Even the wall Tashigi always kept around herself seemed to soften as she chatted with the others.
Hina and Robin also seemed to start talking more with one another, which was remarkable considering Robin's poor opinion of the Marines.
The pink-haired woman felt conflicted. At this point, she no longer knew what to think about the Marines. The organization that was supposed to protect ordinary people had become little more than the World Government's thugs, capable of massacring an entire island simply because its people had begun investigating the Void Century.
An hour later, everyone returned to the ship and headed toward the waterfall.
As they approached, they spotted a massive arched gate with a sign.
— Heaven's Gate —
"What's that?" Vivi asked.
"It gives me the creeps. Are we dead?" Mikita joked.
"Nonsense. For me to be dead, someone would actually have to be capable of killing me," Allen smiled with absolute confidence. "It's obviously just some kind of performance or something."
As the Black Pearl approached, an ordinary door within the mysterious gate opened, and a small wrinkled old woman stepped out carrying a camera.
The old woman immediately began taking pictures of everyone.
"Hey, what are you doing?" Mikita said angrily. Who did this old lady think she was, taking their pictures without permission?
"Relax, Mikita. It's only natural that people want pictures of me," Allen said, shaking his head before looking at the old woman with pity. "Don't worry, you decrepit old lady. Bathe in my glory as much as you want."
The old woman's mouth fell open. Who did this young man think he was?!
She was just doing her job!
The old woman cleared her throat.
"My name is Amazo. I'm neither a warrior nor a guard. I'm only here to hear your intentions. The entrance fee is 1,000,000,000 Extol—"
"Don't worry," Allen interrupted with a smile of understanding. "You don't have to pay me anything. I'll let all your people witness my glory, perfection, and absolute greatness for free."
The Black Pearl sailed through the gate without listening to another word. Amazo remained frozen in shock.
By the time she came to her senses, Allen was already gone.
....
The girls aboard the ship all reacted differently. Some smiled awkwardly, others covered their faces with a hand. Naturally, Uta and Mikita were laughing, while Robin and Hina simply sighed.
It was obvious that the money was the entrance fee to Skypiea.
Why would they pay Allen for entering?
Allen himself had already stopped paying attention to the old woman and focused on the waterfall. Now that they were close, they realized it was actually a path made of clouds leading even higher.
An ordinary ship could never sail through something like that, but Allen only laughed and ordered the Pearl to continue along the path.
The old woman, who had been mocking Allen because she believed they could never ascend without her help, was left speechless when she saw it happen.
"Impossible!"
A ship that could sail against gravity...
However, Amazo quickly regained her composure and cleared her throat.
"This is Gatekeeper Amazo. Honorable Priests, I report that ten people will be taking God's Trial!"
....
At the highest reaches of the sky stood a blond man with long, oversized earlobes.
"What a beautiful voice..." the man said.
He had managed to "hear" Uta's singing as it accompanied Allen's journey through the heavens.
"I wouldn't mind keeping that voice for myself," the man smiled before vanishing in a flash of lightning where he had been standing.
Here, he considered himself a god.
Here, the man was the law.
Here, he was the ruler, and his will was absolute.
He was Enel, and he called himself God!
====
A/N: If Enel ever asks why his reign came to an end, tell him his prices were too high 🍷🗿
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