"Wow!!"
"This is too crazy, too spectacular!"
At the bow of the Going Merry, Gin and the others were all gathered.
The sea ahead was like two worlds compared to the sea behind them. The waves surged violently, and the thick clouds in the sky churned incessantly. From afar, the sky looked like the sea, and the sea could also be said to be the sky.
If they hadn't been sailing on the sea.
Just by looking with their eyes, it would be hard to tell which was the sea and which was the sky.
And where the sea and sky met, a giant, towering mountain, like a colossal sword, pierced the heavens.
On the giant sword, a thin white streak, flowing from the sea, followed the sword into the clouds. From afar, the streak looked as if it split the giant sword in two.
Looking at the white streak through the telescope, they realized it wasn't a white streak at all!
It was a massive river.
If they changed their perspective and looked at the giant mountain from an angle, they would see that the mountain resembled a right-angled triangle ruler.
One side of the mountain rose at a 75-degree angle, and the ascending river flowed along this side.
The other side dropped down at a 90-degree vertical angle.
On this side, a colossal waterfall, continuously plummeting from the clouds, cascaded down.
It was likely that the waterfall was the endpoint of this river.
And half of the mountain's peak disappeared into the clouds, unseen.
The Going Merry, catching the wind and waves, plunged unhesitatingly into this incredibly turbulent sea.
The ship swayed and pitched with the waves.
The entire Going Merry was as tiny as a grain of dust in this sea, and the tilting of the ship made it seem as if it could be capsized by the waves at any moment and sink into the ocean.
Although the ship was violently rocking, the people standing at the bow felt no fear, only excitement.
"Haha!! Are we really going to ride this thing up there?"
A Tao laughed heartily, removed the cigarette from his mouth, elegantly held it between his fingers, and exhaled a puff of smoke, saying with a smile, "This thing is much more dangerous than the upward current of Reverse Mountain!"
While the upward current of Reverse Mountain was dangerous, its peril lay before entering the artificial channel. Once inside the artificial channel, it was relatively easy to reach the Grand Line.
This was because the upward current there was only about 30 degrees.
A 30-degree angle was only the danger level of medium-sized waves.
But the heavenly path ahead was different.
This thing clearly looked like a natural formation. Nature didn't consider human safety!
The river had an inclination of over 70 degrees. If it weren't for that slight slope, it would be practically vertical.
At this degree of inclination, and so rapid, a single mistake could lead to the destruction of the ship and loss of life.
And...
A Tao looked up, his eyes flashing with a hint of solemnity as he gazed at the shimmering white lightning that crisscrossed the mountain in the distance, along the river in mid-air.
The river itself was manageable. As long as the ship was sturdy and the direction was maintained, it could still be navigated despite the steep slope.
But the awesome power of nature was not something anyone could withstand!
However, for ordinary crews, this might be a perilous path, depending on whether heaven smiled upon them and whether Lady Luck blessed them.
But for them, this heavenly path was merely an ordinary river with a slightly swift current and a dangerous sky.
After all, their captain was Kong Tai!
A Tao's lips curled upwards, the solemnity in his eyes vanishing. He shook his head, raised his hand, bit down on the cigarette holder, took a deep drag, and then, holding the cigarette, lowered his hand, opened his mouth, and blew out a smoke ring.
"Huh!"
Just then, A Luo, who was leaning on the left railing, let out a sudden exclamation, drawing everyone's attention.
A Luo lowered the telescope he was holding, swept his gaze over everyone, and stopped on Kong Tai.
He pointed in the direction he had been looking and said, "Kong Tai, in that direction, there's a ship."
"Oh..."
Kong Tai put down his wine gourd, turned his head to look in the direction A Luo was pointing, a flicker of surprise in his eyes.
He hadn't expected to see other adventurers challenging this "heavenly path to paradise" on the same day as them.
Through the constantly rolling waves, a small black dot was rapidly breaking through the giant waves, heading towards the distant heavenly path, just like their destination.
Judging by the ship's direction, it must have come from another route, but he wasn't sure if it was Route Two or Route One.
Because it was still a bit far, he couldn't see clearly, only a small black dot. Therefore, he couldn't tell who was on the opposite ship.
But it didn't matter who they were. Whether they were pirates or anyone else, anyone who dared to challenge this heavenly path must be someone with dreams!
People with dreams, he didn't dislike them, even if they were pirates.
Because such people were not interested in civilians, so they generally wouldn't harm civilians. They only wanted to adventure in various places.
Of course, it wasn't impossible that the ship carried a group of true pirates, pirates whose goal was to find treasure.
Such pirates, while having dreams, were actually like most pirates – a bunch of villains, a bunch of damned souls!
Kong Tai hoped that the other party was a group of pirates driven by dreams, not others.
Because they had encountered quite a few pirate crews, big and small, since they set sail, but they hadn't met a single pirate who sailed out for the sake of a dream.
Kong Tai gazed at the small black dot in the distance, starlight swirling in his eyes.
"I hope it's not evil, but pirates driven by adventure!"
After all, the sea was too boring. He also hoped to have more people like them, whom they could befriend, have feasts with, and sing loudly together.
This was the true romance of the Pirate King!
Not just sailing, sailing, and more sailing.
When Kong Tai and his crew spotted the other ship, the other party had naturally also spotted them.
Zooming in on the scene, on the bow of a large sailing ship.
A burly, imposing man was staring with a look of grim concentration at the towering mountain in the distance.
If Route Number Three allowed them to choose whether to come here or not, then...
Route Number Two absolutely required them to pass through here.
Because their Log Pose pointed to this place.
Of course, they could also choose not to go to Sky Island, but to stay on the island of this towering mountain and wait for the Log Pose's magnetism to be full before continuing their voyage.
But this was not the burly man's purpose for coming here.
He had come here to search for treasure on Sky Island.
They hailed from the North Blue.
In the North Blue, he had raided a small island inhabited by nobles. In that noble's collection, he had found a historical treasure map.
After much inquiry, he learned that the treasure map's target pointed to the legendary Sky Island above the sky. According to the treasure map, on that island above the sky, there was an island with soil.
On that island, there was countless gold.
And his goal was this gold.
Looking at the scene before him, identical to the heavenly path described on the treasure map, his eyes flashed with infinite brilliance.
Treasure, gold, status, power...
All of this would soon belong to him.
Clearly, he was not a pirate driven by dreams as Kong Tai had imagined, but a pirate driven by treasure hunting. And before he obtained the treasure map, he was already an utterly wicked pirate.
...