Jaya Island, the lawless island, a pirate's paradise in the Grand Line.
Knock-Up Streams were already a common sight for Jaya's residents, and only newly arrived pirates on the island felt any curiosity. Unlucky pirates would end up being torn apart by the occasionally emerging Knock-Up Streams, swallowed by the sea. No one, not even those who feared no death, would dare to throw themselves into one.
But today they saw something different.
The residents of Jaya Island watched from afar the gigantic Knock-Up Stream rising to the heavens, persisting for a long time—a magnificent scene. Nature was truly impressive. However, when one sees many beautiful things, they lose their novelty, but today's current was different. They saw a pirate ship following the Knock-Up Stream, flying towards the sky.
Incredible! Yet, no one believed they would survive.
The crew of the Donquixote Pirates, who were ascending with the current, were also shocked by the scene. The ship moved further and further away from the sea's surface. The Marine below seemed minuscule, like ants.
"We're really flying!"
"We're flying!"
"It's so thrilling! It feels like a dream!"
Everyone was extremely excited; flying had always been a dream of humanity, and today they could say they had achieved it. Doflamingo was also very emotional and immersed in this joyous atmosphere.
The sailing ship followed the current in an orderly fashion, climbing higher and higher, while the surrounding landscape constantly receded.
"Is this what adventure is like? It's truly exciting! No wonder everyone in this world wants to go to sea."
Doflamingo clung tightly to the ship's hull, his eyes hidden by his sunglasses, but his excitement was evident. Since coming to this world, Doflamingo had only enjoyed the luxurious life of the World Nobles as a child. After that, he lived through hell. Even after finally escaping hell, he couldn't relax, as the weak would sooner or later be dragged into the swamp of damnation. Because of this, he lived a monotonous and tedious training life. Looked at this way, Doflamingo's life was truly quite lonely.
The ocean was everyone's dream; it was no wonder people continued to throw themselves into its embrace. Although Doflamingo had already seen this scene in anime and manga and had no great expectations, thus he didn't have an exaggerated reaction. But now, experiencing it personally, the feeling he had never had or experienced before was indescribable. At this moment, Doflamingo felt very complex. Who would have thought he would go through something so magical?! For an outsider, this was once just a fantasy and a wish, but now it was different... This world allowed Doflamingo to experience such beauty.
At this moment, Doflamingo leaned calmly against the ship's hull, ignoring the others, observing the surrounding landscape, feeling an unprecedented peace in his heart. Beautiful things could truly make people happy. This feeling was really good!
The strong air currents blew the sails, which fluttered noisily, carrying Doflamingo and his crew towards the end of their dreams.
"Attention, everyone! Up ahead is the Cloud Barrier! Hold on tight!" Cricket's voice broke the atmosphere on the ship.
The cloud layer made intimate contact with everyone's faces, and the strong pressure made it difficult to breathe. With a thud, the ship finally broke through the cloud layer and entered the Sky Sea, violently landing on the cloud layer. The Donquixote Pirates completely disappeared from sight. The Knock-Up Stream continued to gush. The Marine also stopped observing and began to retreat.
On the ship, everyone was gasping. The sudden suffocating sensation caught them off guard. After a while, those who recovered looked at the world outside the ship, seeing a vast white expanse, like snow, very beautiful.
"Is this the Sky Sea?"
"It's so beautiful! The blue sea and the White Sea."
Doflamingo also looked around. The clouds flowed like waves, and a vast white expanse obstructed the view. However, he saw something stirring ahead of the ship.
"Roar!" Suddenly, a sound startled everyone. A huge flatfish attacked the ship at high speed. Surely, both in the sea and in the Sky Sea, there would always be these creatures. Doflamingo was very curious about how they survived in this vast sea of clouds.
"Half-Moon Funeral!" An intense wave of sword energy cut the flatfish in half, without causing much impact.
"Doffy, what is this place? The dangers are not few," Diamante asked, confused. For Diamante, who felt uncertain about everything around him, when in doubt, he would ask the Young Master; he would certainly be able to resolve everything.
"This must be the White Sea, 7,000 meters above the blue sea. Above it, at 10,000 meters, is the White-White Sea," Doflamingo recalled.
Everyone was shocked to hear this. There was even more sea above? However, what they saw and heard today was, without a doubt, the most thrilling they had experienced in their lives. Observing the surrounding environment, in Doflamingo's memory, there should be a waterfall here. Below the waterfall cloud was the Gate of Paradise. Indeed, after a careful search, the location of the waterfall cloud was finally found, proving that this was the same area where Monkey D. Luffy would be twenty-odd years later.
"Towards that waterfall cloud!" Doflamingo could barely contain his excitement. The goddess of luck still favored him, Doflamingo. The sailing ship headed towards the waterfall cloud. Shortly after, they finally arrived below the waterfall cloud, in front of the Gate of Paradise.
"So this is the Gate of Paradise? It's truly magnificent!"
"No wonder it's called the Gate of Paradise, the scenery is unique."
Doflamingo looked at everything in front of him, and his heart, which had been calm before, began to burn with excitement. The Gate of Paradise stood before the floating waterfall cloud, imposing. The sailing ship slowly sailed into the Gate of Paradise.
Suddenly, an old woman appeared at the entrance. She had a pair of small wings on her back, looking like an angel, which piqued everyone's interest. However, the old woman wasn't interested in them. She just acted professionally, frantically taking pictures with her camera, as if she were a fanatic fan!
"I am Amazon, the surveillance officer of the Gate of Paradise. Have you come for tourism or to fight?" Amazon said professionally.
"We want to go to Sky Island for tourism. This gate must be the way to Sky Island, right?" Doflamingo asked calmly.
"To go to the upper level, please pay the entrance fee to Paradise: 100 million Extols per person. It's the law," Amazon said, without any emotion, like a robot without feelings.
"What? 100 million Extols? You're robbing us!" Everyone was shocked by Amazon's words. This was blatant robbery! Doflamingo already knew about these things, so he wasn't surprised. He even suspected that this rule had only emerged after Enel's appearance, but now it seemed it already existed before. Nevertheless, being robbed in this manner still made Doflamingo a bit annoyed.
"Fufufufu, I've never heard of paying to go somewhere, and no one has ever dared to charge me money!" Doflamingo exhaled his Haki, laughing loudly. Upon hearing Doflamingo's words, everyone agreed. The Young Master was truly dominant. What's more, they were pirates! To charge them money? That was provoking a bull!
"Alright, I understand what you mean," Amazon remained impassive. Suddenly, a creature emerged from the depths of the White Sea, and two enormous shrimp claws gripped the ship's hull. Everyone was surprised by the sudden scene, thinking that Amazon was setting them up and not allowing passage. Diamante made a move to cut the giant shrimp.
"Wait, Diamante," Doflamingo stopped him.
"This is the Express Shrimp, a special creature of the White Sea," Amazon explained. With a whistle, propelled by the Express Shrimp, the sailing ship shot forward like a rocket. And off they went, on the circular aerial route, an Express Shrimp carrying the pirate ship, invincible on the aerial path.
"The surveillance officer of the Gate of Paradise, Amazon, informs the Almighty God and all the priests: a group of illegal intruders have invaded God's Country. Please grant them divine judgment," Amazon smiled mysteriously.