"How can there be a ship here?"
This wasn't just Tsuru's thought, but the thought of most people on the ship. After all, Wano Country's isolationist policy wasn't a secret.
So-called isolationism not only prevented foreign ships from entering, but also prevented domestic people from leaving. Combined with the natural barrier formed by this great waterfall, whether pirates or Marines, it was very difficult to easily break into Wano Country.
However, this wasn't difficult for Silas. After all, he could easily freeze water surfaces—even freezing an entire waterfall was no problem.
But what was going on with these people before him? A shabby wooden raft trying to cross a waterfall hundreds of meters high? It would fall apart upon impact!
Vaguely, Silas saw a girl with long seaweed-green hair on the raft. Despite facing a waterfall drop, her face was filled with excitement.
"Once we cross the great waterfall, we can leave Wano Country!"
"Ohhhhh!!!"
"Then we'll be free to do whatever we want!"
"Ohhhhhh!!!"
"And finally find a good husband!"
"Ehhhh!!!"
The girl looked at her reluctant retainers around her and puffed up her cheeks.
"What do you mean? Do you really want me to marry that Kozuki brat?"
"Of course not!"
"But Miss, if you run away like this, Master will definitely be very angry."
The samurai around the girl muttered. For these people who had lived in Wano Country their entire lives, unauthorized escape from Wano was simply treasonous behavior.
"Well, we've come this far—there's no reason to turn back now, right?"
A samurai in wide robes grinned.
"I was just thinking of seeing the outside world and what kind of swords people there can forge!"
"Exactly, that's right!"
The girl cheered, showing a brilliant smile.
"Let's set off!!"
The massive wooden raft, capable of holding dozens of people and loaded with food barrels, tilted toward the great waterfall. But just as they were about to fall, a voice suddenly rang out.
"Frost Breath!"
Only then did they see that not far from them stood a "ship" countless times more refined and massive than their raft, standing upon the sea surface. And a man leaped down from the ship, stepping onto the water surface.
No, not onto the water surface. Because just before the man landed, the rushing sea suddenly froze, terrible cold spreading from beneath his feet.
Then in an instant, the sea surface within thousands of meters below the great waterfall was completely frozen. And the freezing effect didn't stop there—it even began spreading upward along the water flow, reaching beneath their feet.
"You've got to be kidding!?"
Everyone standing on the raft stared wide-eyed at this scene, because the waterfall—hundreds of meters high, over a hundred meters wide, and continuously cascading down—had instantly become a solid ice river.
Then they witnessed an even more incredible scene.
The man who had frozen the water surface returned to his ship and lifted the entire vessel from the ice surface. Right—one person, with one hand, lifted the dozens-of-meters-long ship. Then held it above his head.
Next, using "Moonwalk," the man, carrying the dozens-of-meters ship, stepped on air step by step upward, finally passing over them.
Thud!
The ship landed on the ice surface with a dull sound. The people on the raft were dumbstruck.
Silas found this quite interesting. Though he didn't know how these people planned to cross this great waterfall, he had no patience to wait for them to come down before going up. He simply swept with Observation Haki.
The strongest person on the raft barely reached 100-million-level combat power, at best equivalent to an ordinary great pirate.
Though Silas had come up, the people on the raft couldn't get down, since while Silas could freeze ice surfaces, he couldn't thaw them—his freezing ability was ultimately just a byproduct of his Mythical Zoan fruit.
This drew dissatisfied voices.
"Hey, who are you? Why did you freeze the great waterfall? How are we supposed to get down now?"
The girl standing on the raft puffed her cheeks, shouting at Silas in displeasure.
"And you froze Fish Ball too!"
Fish Ball? Hearing the girl say this, Silas finally noticed that after freezing the waterfall, he had not only frozen the raft but also a large carp beneath it carrying the raft. These people dared to cross the hundreds-of-meters-high waterfall, relying on this carp beneath them.
Silas immediately laughed embarrassedly.
"Haha, sorry sorry, I confused the big carp under your raft with other carp. But don't worry, I just simply froze the water surface—if thawed in time, it shouldn't be hurt."
Speaking thus, Silas suddenly drew his sword and slashed forward. Seeing this, the samurai beside the girl immediately became alert.
"Miss, be careful!"
"This is someone from outside!"
"That flag—could it be the legendary pirates!?"
Among them, the young samurai who had wanted to see outside swords tried to counterattack the moment Silas drew his blade, but just having this thought, he saw Silas look toward him. Heavy pressure descended, instantly making him feel incredibly suffocated.
Silas's sword draw naturally wasn't for attack. With one slash across dozens of meters, he easily cut through the ice beneath the raft, freeing both the raft and the large carp beneath it from the ice layer's constraints, about to fall toward the great waterfall.
At this moment, Silas called out, "Ripley!"
Everyone on the raft immediately saw a huge shadow appear above their heads. A beautiful female giant suddenly appeared before them, catching the falling raft.
"Hold tight!"
Amid everyone's exclamations, Ripley laughed and lifted the raft overhead, placing it on a more stable ice surface nearby.
Only then did she ask, "Captain, didn't you say Wano Country was isolationist—not allowing outsiders in or insiders out? These people clearly look like they're planning to set sail."
"How would I know?"
Silas shrugged. He wasn't omniscient.
However, looking at these people's decorations, they didn't seem like commoners. Until the girl's voice rang out.
"Wano Country is indeed isolationist, which is why we want to leave Wano Country!"
The girl spoke, puffing out her chest.
"My name is Shimotsuki Shinko. Since childhood, my wish has been to leave Wano Country and see the broader world."
"Pirates from outside, quickly state your names!"