After the initial violent eruption, the Going Merry finally caught the rhythm of the Knock Up Stream and began riding it upward.
Nami gripped the railing, watching as they approached the point where the massive column of water would run out. They were sailing at a ninety-degree vertical angle, the ship's bow pointed straight at the sky.
If they lost the stream's support now, they might survive the fall, but the Merry would shatter into kindling.
She felt the howling updraft beneath the hull and glanced at the ship's newly reinforced form. She knew exactly what she needed to do.
"Hold on! I'm raising the sails!"
The crew scrambled to brace themselves as she worked the rigging. The moment the sails caught the violent updraft, the Merry lurched forward.
They punched through the cloud layer like a cannonball.
She had expected crushing pressure, maybe even difficulty breathing. Instead, it felt like sailing through thick fog. The air was thinner up here, making everyone breathe a bit harder, but nothing unbearable.
Marcus, meanwhile, was checking his status bar.
He wanted to know, could clouds be mined into blocks? Could sea clouds be collected with a bucket like regular water?
The best way to distinguish normal clouds from sea clouds would be checking for status effects. If a Weakness debuff appeared, that would confirm they were in sea cloud territory.
But his status bar remained completely clean. No debuffs.
Even after the Merry burst through into the White Sea area, nobody felt weakened or sluggish.
Apparently the Knock Up Stream had punched through the cloud sea so violently and quickly that the "ocean" properties hadn't had time to affect them during the transition.
The Straw Hats gradually became aware of their surroundings. They were floating on clouds. Actual clouds. The kind that were supposed to be intangible vapor.
"Holy shit," Usopp whispered, staring over the railing. "We're really... on clouds."
"Is this Sky Island?" Nami asked. She couldn't quite believe what she was seeing, their ship was floating on what looked like solid white cotton.
The rest of the crew snapped out of their daze and rushed to the railings, staring down at the surface beneath them.
"We're really floating on clouds! This is amazing!" Chopper's eyes sparkled, and he looked ready to dive in immediately.
Luffy and Usopp locked eyes, and identical grins spread across their faces.
"Last one in is a rotten egg!"
Before anyone could stop them, Usopp executed a perfect 360-degree flip and dove off the side of the ship.
"Wait, you idiots!" Nami shrieked. "We don't know if—"
Too late. Luffy, already wearing a swim ring he'd pulled from somewhere, launched himself after Usopp with a whoop of joy.
The rest of the crew rushed to the railing. Sure, the ship was floating, but who knew if that was some special property of the Merry?
But then Luffy's head popped up through the cloud surface, grinning like an idiot.
"It works! The clouds are like water!" Usopp called out, already doing a backstroke through the white fluff.
Everyone let out a sigh of relief.
"I'm coming too!" Chopper didn't hesitate, leaping off the deck with a splash that sent cloud spray everywhere.
"This is so weird!" Luffy laughed, paddling around. "It's super light, like there's almost no resistance at all! And I don't feel weak!"
Swimming in the cloud sea felt exactly like being in one of the constructed pools.
"Really? Let me try!" Sanji was already pulling off his jacket.
One by one, the crew members who were wearing protective equipment started diving in.
"Then I shall join you as well~" Bon Kurei announced. He'd somehow changed into his swan-pattern swimsuit and struck a pose before spinning off the ship.
The dive lasted about two seconds before he started flailing and shouting for help.
At first, everyone thought he was hamming it up for laughs. But when his head went under and didn't come back up, several crew members panicked.
Sanji was the first to react, diving in and hauling the sputtering okama back to the surface.
"I thought I was dead for sure..." Bon Kurei sprawled on the deck, staring blankly at the sky.
"You moron!" Sanji smacked him upside the head. "Everyone else went down there wearing gear. You forgot to put yours on, didn't you?"
"I may have gotten distracted while changing outfits... teehee~"
Sanji's eye twitched. "Don't try to act cute."
"But what if I do this" Bon Kurei transformed, not into anyone on the crew, but into a beautiful woman with long dark hair and an innocent smile. "Oopsie I'm so sorry, I forgot~"
Sanji's resistance crumbled instantly, hearts exploding from his eyes. "No worries at all! These things happen!"
The rest of the crew could only sigh and shake their heads. He really wasn't picky when it came to pretty faces, even artificial ones.
Marcus watched the whole scene with amusement. He'd tested Bon Kurei's Clone-Clone Fruit abilities before, back when he had possessed him, curious to see how they worked.
The experience had been enlightening.
When someone used the Clone-Clone Fruit, it wasn't just a cosmetic change. The user's entire body physically transformed into a perfect replica of whoever they'd touched, right down to the cellular level.
The transformation captured the target at the exact moment of contact. If Bon Kurei touched an eighteen-year-old woman, he would always transform into her eighteen-year-old self, even if decades passed and she aged into her forties. Unless he updated the template by touching her again, his transformation would remain frozen in time.
The same principle applied to copying someone like Whitebeard. He would gain Whitebeard's incredible physical build and raw strength. He wouldn't get the Emperor's Haki or combat experience, those were products of training, not biology, but the sheer physical prowess would be there.
When Marcus had experimented with transforming into himself using Bon Kurei's powers, something strange had happened. He could still access his Minecraft abilities. His inventory worked. He could even use Haki at his normal level.
But when he transformed into other people? Nothing. Complete power loss.
After extensive testing, he had developed a theory: the combination of his specific body and his specific soul equaled his complete power set. Change either variable, and the equation fell apart.
This had huge meanings for understanding Devil Fruits in general. The physical body wasn't the sole vessel for a Devil Fruit's power, but it was an indispensable component. Body and soul had to coexist for powers to manifest properly.
This also supported his working theory about Blackbeard's dual Devil Fruit situation: an abnormal body structure combined with multiple souls.
While the crew continued their splashing and playing, he grabbed an empty bucket and jumped down into the cloud sea himself.
He scooped up a bucketful of the white substance and examined it carefully. It looked like milk, flowed like water, but had a texture that was somehow lighter than both.
Climbing back aboard the Merry, he decided to test whether Sky Island's clouds followed Minecraft water physics.
He used his pickaxe to create a four-block depression in the deck, then poured the cloud water into it.
The white liquid settled calmly into the carved space.
Alvida wandered over, curious about what he was doing. She reached down and ran her hand through the white substance.
Marcus scooped up a handful and let it pour through his fingers. When the liquid hit the deck outside the carved area, it behaved like Minecraft water, it couldn't remain on a solid surface.
But unlike Minecraft water, which would instantly disappear into pixels, this cloud water slowly evaporated into white mist before vanishing completely.
The important part? The total volume in his carved pool hadn't decreased at all.
It truly shared the same property as infinite water.
He scooped up another bucketful of cloud water from his carved pool, and the empty space instantly refilled itself. The infinite water mechanics were working perfectly.
A grin spread across his face. "Jackpot."
He immediately accessed his inventory's sell function and offloaded the bucket of cloud water to see what it was worth.
The result? 648 EMC.
The purchase price for three irons was 1,296 EMC, which meant that selling the cloud water was a loss. In other words, it was about as valuable as regular Minecraft infinite water, which is to say, practically worthless.
Still, having access to unlimited water in the sky was pretty damn useful, even if it wasn't worth much in the abstract.
He pulled out his fishing rod next, curiosity getting the better of him. Could you fish anything out of cloud water? Only one way to find out.
He cast the line into the white substance and watched as the familiar bobbing animation appeared. Even in the cloud sea, the little air bubbles were clearly visible beneath the surface.
Less than fifteen seconds later, the bobber dipped sharply.
He yanked back on the rod, and a book came flying into his hands, no, directly into his inventory.
"A treasure drop!"
He was surprised. Since starting his fishing adventures in this world, enchanted books had been rarer than hen's teeth. The drop rate was practically zero.
More than the actual value, it was the SSR-tier rarity that made him excited. This was like hitting the lottery.
He pulled the enchanted book from his inventory and examined it:
Loyalty II
Curse of Vanishing II
Curse of Binding II
"What the hell?"
He stared at the book in disbelief. Not only was it carrying two different curse enchantments at once, but they'd somehow broken through the normal level cap. Curse enchantments weren't supposed to go above level one.
"Well, that's useless," he muttered, immediately selling it through his system. Cursed or not, an enchanted book still fetched a decent price in EMC.
While Marcus was conducting his experiments, the rest of the Straw Hats were still splashing around in the cloud sea, enjoying their break from the stress of the Knock Up Stream.
That's when a figure came flying toward them at high speed.
Marcus' Observation Haki picked up the hostile intent before anyone else. Someone was approaching fast, riding what looked like... cloud-propelled boots? And their intention was clearly aggressive, the attacker was planning to fire a weapon directly at the Going Merry.
"We've got incoming!" he called out, his hand moving to the Shichiseiken at his waist.
The Shandian warrior Wyper came rocketing toward the ship on his Jet Dial-powered boots, a large bazooka already aimed at their hull.
In the original timeline, this guy had taken on three of the Straw Hats' heavy hitters simultaneously and knocked them all down. He was not someone to underestimate.
But this wasn't the original timeline anymore.
The moment Wyper came into range, Marcus drew the Shichiseiken just enough to expose its cursed blade. Ghostly energy immediately began seeping from the weapon, swirling around him.
Then he released his "Conqueror's Haki."
The combined pressure of the cursed sword's aura and his willpower slammed into Wyper. The "first strike" effect of Conqueror's Haki was effective.
Wyper's eyes rolled back in his head. He lost all motor control mid-flight, and his trajectory turned into a nosedive straight toward the White Sea below.
Luffy, who'd been about to jump back into the water, immediately stretched his arm out and snagged the unconscious warrior before he could disappear into the clouds.
"Got him!" He hauled Wyper up onto the deck like he was reeling in a heavy fish.
The crew members who'd been playing in the cloud sea quickly scrambled back aboard, sensing that playtime was over.
Chopper, acting in his capacity as ship's doctor, immediately rushed over to examine the unconscious attacker. After a quick check of his vitals, he looked up with relief.
"Just a brief cardiac arrhythmia from the shock. He'll recover soon."
"Cardiac what now?" Luffy tilted his head.
"His heart got startled and stuttered for a second," Chopper simplified. "He's fine."
Zoro, meanwhile, was staring at Marcus. He'd been holding back this question since that sword slash, but he couldn't contain himself any longer.
"That move you just pulled... what was it? That energy coming off your blade, and that pressure... I've never seen anything like it."
Marcus glanced down at the Shichiseiken, then back at Zoro. "Honestly? Most of what you saw comes from this sword, not from me. My own strength hasn't increased that much, the blade's just doing most of the heavy lifting."
Zoro's expression became complicated. There was clearly a lot he wanted to ask, but he seemed to recognize this wasn't the right time or place for an extended conversation about power and training.
The crew's attention shifted to their captive as Wyper began to stir.
The Shandian warrior's face was hidden behind a tribal mask that revealed no emotion, but his eyes flickered when he looked at Marcus. There was something odd in his gaze.
Most of the Straw Hats didn't notice this peculiar detail. They were simply curious about their surprise visitor.
"A Sky Island native?" Vivi studied Wyper's appearance and equipment. "His clothing and weapons seem quite primitive. Not what I expected from people living in the clouds."
The tribal aesthetic reminded her of the islanders they'd met on Asuka Island during their journey, that same isolated, self-sufficient cultural vibe.
"You're pretty strong."
The voice didn't come from the bound Wyper. Everyone's heads snapped around to find an elderly man in iron armor, looking every bit like a medieval knight, now standing calmly on their deck.
"Who are you?!" Usopp yelped, jumping backward. "And how long have you been standing there?!"
"Me?" The old man seemed amused by their reactions. "I'm Gan Fall, the Knight of the Sky. I'm currently working as a mercenary-for-hire up here in the clouds."
"A knight?!" Luffy's eyes immediately lit up with stars. "That's so cool!"
Gan Fall couldn't help but smile at the enthusiastic praise. "You folks must be from the Blue Sea, yes? I must say, I didn't expect Blue Sea visitors to be strong enough to take down a Shandian warrior so easily. You must be among the elite fighters down there."
"We're pretty tough!" Luffy declared proudly, puffing out his chest.
"I can see that," Gan Fall replied.
Marcus, however, wasn't participating in the mutual compliments. He was staring at something only he could see, his minimap interface.
A new marker had appeared on the display: "God."
Enel.
It wasn't that he had been actively searching for that guy. He simply kept his enemy detection mode running at all times as a precaution.
Initially, Enel's marker hadn't been visible. But the instant Gan Fall appeared on their ship, the god of Skypiea's icon suddenly popped up on the minimap.
And he wasn't far away at all.
Marcus turned his head, looking in the direction the map indicated. Through several white cloud mountains in the distance, he felt like his gaze was meeting someone else's across the space.
---
Several cloud mountains away, Enel felt something unsettling.
He'd been maintaining his standard surveillance ability, the Mantra that let him monitor everything happening across Skypiea, when suddenly, he felt it. A gaze. Someone was watching him.
But that didn't make any sense. Mantra didn't work that way. You could sense presences, intentions, movements, but the concept of being "stared at" shouldn't exist within its framework.
Yet here he was, feeling exactly that sensation.
Curious, he followed that strange feeling back to its source. That's when he found the man, standing on a ship made of wood, looking directly at him.
What was more alarming: no matter how he shifted his position using his lightning powers, teleporting from one location to another, the man could still locate him precisely and maintain that stare.
The sensation sent chills down his spine. In his years as the self-proclaimed God of Skypiea, nothing and no one had ever made him feel this way.
This man cannot be allowed to live.
But before he acted, he wanted to know, who was this person? What kind of ability could allow someone to track his movements so precisely?
Hostility and curiosity warred within him. Finally, curiosity won out.
In a flash of lightning, Enel appeared directly on the Going Merry's deck, manifesting in a crackling burst of electrical energy.
His eyes met Marcus' immediately, just like the strange sensation from his Mantra, but this time real.
He had somewhat adjusted to that creepy "being watched" feeling by now. Marcus, on the other hand, was just confused.
Wait, why'd this guy suddenly show up? What's he playing at? Did he sense something through his Observation Haki? But what could he have sensed?
Hold on... in the original story, didn't Enel already know about Luffy's group arriving? Is he just checking us out before leaving?
A flood of thoughts raced through Marcus' mind, but he didn't have time to sort through them all.
Because in the next instant, blue-white light began gathering in the sky directly above their ship.
"El Thor."
Enel's signature attack, a massive lightning bolt called down from the sky.
Marcus' eyes narrowed. This wasn't reconnaissance, this was a fucking execution!
Everyone aboard the Going Merry sensed the danger simultaneously, their heads snapping upward to stare at the gathering storm of electricity.
Wyper's masked face went pale beneath his bindings. For reasons no one could understand, he suddenly executed a backwards flip, still tied up, and threw himself overboard into the cloud sea below.
But the lightning didn't follow him. It remained locked onto the Going Merry.
He surfaced briefly. Why wasn't the god's attack targeting him, the known rebel?
Gan Fall's eyes went wide. He leaped onto his mount, Pierre the bird-horse hybrid, clearly preparing to flee. Then he froze, realizing the attack wasn't aimed at him either.
His gaze turned to the Straw Hat crew. "You just arrived and you've already angered Enel? How? Why?"
There was no time for defense. El Thor couldn't be blocked, only dodged.
"Scatter! This attack can't... wait, what?!"