After the strange old man rode away on his unusual Pegasus, everyone in the Black Star Pirates immediately began discussing what had just happened.
"Eh? He just left like that?"
"So in the end, he only wanted to give us this whistle?"
"He's a mercenary working to support himself, right? It's really tough for an old man that age to not be retired yet. Although I'm not exactly young myself, yohohoho," Brook observed.
"Oh! Maybe he's very busy and doesn't have time to explain Sky Island matters to us," Carrot suggested optimistically.
"I just want to know—how much is five hundred million Extol worth?" Carina asked with obvious concern about the exchange rate.
A few minutes later, Deuce interrupted their discussion with a frown: "In any case, where do we go next?"
"Deuce, you're slacking off, aren't you? Isn't navigation your responsibility?" Jerry teased.
Before Deuce, whose forehead was now flushed with indignation, could respond, Jerry instantly expanded his Observation Haki's range. He locked onto a direction in the distance and pointed there confidently.
"It should be over there. Let's go."
After arriving at the White Sea, Jerry had secretly tested his abilities and discovered that the sea clouds beneath their feet might have been formed by absorbing water, so he could still control them.
It was slightly more difficult than manipulating pure water, but the difference wasn't significant.
Furthermore, although the air was thin at this altitude, it still contained moisture. The cumulus clouds and sea clouds seemed different from ordinary clouds, so Jerry concluded that his abilities weren't greatly affected.
During their westward journey, they encountered attacks from strange creatures that resembled flying fish, but they easily dealt with all of them.
Soon, everyone arrived at a towering gate. Through the tall doorway, they could clearly see a waterfall-shaped sea cloud passage behind the gate that led upward.
Deuce looked up at the words inscribed on the gate's lintel and couldn't help but whisper: "Heaven's Gate?"
"Someone's coming out over there!" Carrot pointed excitedly.
They saw a short elderly woman slowly walking out from a small door beside Heaven's Gate.
"Are you here to fight or to sightsee?" she asked in a monotone voice.
Click, click, click.
The old woman took photographs while speaking. Perhaps her facial recognition system failed, because she continued expressionlessly: "It doesn't matter. According to the laws of God's Kingdom, if you want to proceed upward, each of you needs to pay one billion Extol."
Upon hearing this, everyone was shocked and exclaimed in unison: "One billion?! That old guy only wanted five hundred million!"
Carina refused directly: "No way! Why are you charging us entry fees?"
Without waiting for anyone else to respond, the old woman nodded slightly and took over the conversation: "You don't need my permission to enter. I'm not a gatekeeper or guard. I'm just asking as a matter of routine procedure."
Skull put his hands on his hips and laughed: "Yohohoho! Granny, why didn't you say that earlier? If it's free, who would pay for it?"
"Very well. The eight of you, including the two pets, are certain you want to enter, correct?"
"Go ahead—that's the White Sea Express Lobster. It will take you up."
With that announcement, a massive lobster larger than their ship emerged from the sea clouds. It quickly maneuvered to pick up the pirate ship, place it on its back, and head upstream toward the waterfall channel.
"Wow! What is this incredible creature?" everyone shouted excitedly. Everything they saw and heard along the way consisted of new experiences they'd never encountered before. They felt as if they'd entered a strange world completely different from anything in their past.
Deuce thought for a moment and said: "Jerry, do you think there was something suspicious about that old woman?"
But Jerry looked amused and grinned: "Haha, of course there was something wrong! She reported our situation after we left. Now everyone has officially become criminals who entered the country illegally. Congratulations."
After they'd departed, the old woman had secretly sent a message using some kind of shell communication device, but Kotatsu had overheard it by accident.
Jerry was surprised to discover that Kotatsu seemed to have developed an alternative form of Observation Haki through his mythical abilities, allowing him to communicate with Jerry's special Observation Haki across distances and clearly convey meaning.
When everyone heard Jerry's explanation, they all shouted in outrage:
"What? She set us up? She's ignoring my overwhelming charm!"
"Let's go back and settle the score with her! She actually tried to scam money from us first!"
"Forget it. There's no point confronting her. Besides, we're pirates to begin with. This is just another time we're being hunted—no big deal," Deuce said pragmatically.
"Yohohoho! Boss Deuce is very aware of our situation," Skull agreed.
"But backstabbing us like that really makes me want to bite someone, even though I don't have teeth... Wait, I do have teeth! Yohohohoho!" Brook added with his characteristic laugh.
After their brief discussion, Jerry leaned casually against the ship's railing, looked forward, and said: "Alright, it looks like we've reached the exit. Anyway, this won't have much impact. You didn't think we could search for gold without anyone objecting or trying to stop us, did you?"
Everyone looked in their direction of travel and indeed found an exit above with the words "God's Kingdom - Sky Island" written beside it.
As the Express Lobster moved forward at tremendous speed, they quickly passed through the passage and emerged into the outside world.
"God's Kingdom?"
"That's an island! A real sky island!"
"Wow! Quick! Let's go up and explore!"
After landing smoothly on the upper sea of clouds—the "White White Sea"—the group's eyes were instantly drawn to the islands floating among the clouds ahead of them.
Under everyone's eager urging, Jerry maneuvered their ship onto the soft, sandy beach of the cloud sea.
Before them stretched a beach lined with coconut trees and other tropical plants. Looking into the distance, buildings and clouds were interwoven and scattered in an orderly fashion above the cloud layer, forming a surreal dreamscape.
Surrounded by this picturesque scenery, everyone felt that the long, tedious journey had been perfectly rewarded at this moment.
Amid the crew's laughter and excitement, suddenly, melodious and beautiful harp music drifted from nearby, as moving as flowing water.
Jerry didn't seem surprised at all. He turned his head toward the other side of the beach, his eyes flickering with soft light, and the corners of his mouth curved upward in a warm smile: "She still loves music so much..."
Everyone stared wide-eyed at Jerry, surprised by the gentle expression they'd never seen before, then turned to look at the blonde girl playing harp on the beach not far away.
She was a young woman with blonde hair styled in two distinctive braids that were formed into balls pointing skyward. She wore a mini dress and had two small white feathered wings on her back, making her look like an angel.
"Captain Jerry, do you know that angel?" the crew speculated privately. Jerry had mentioned Sky Island and the Golden City from the beginning with clear purpose. He'd come here from far away—could it be that he wanted to secretly meet an old lover?
But Jerry responded with a puzzled expression: "Huh? I don't know her."
"You're sighing like you know her even though you claim you don't!" everyone shouted in unison.
After the song ended, the angel girl called to the small fox at her feet, then turned around and greeted the group: "Hasso! Are you from the Blue Sea? Have you just arrived here?"
Jerry narrowed his eyes and took a step back defensively: "You want to eat yogurt too?"
The girl looked confused by his strange question, while his crewmates shook their heads at Jerry's increasingly bizarre habit of offering food to everyone they met.
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