Chapter 119: Gate of Heaven
BOOM!!
The mosasaur burst up from beneath the White Sea and splashed down again, kicking up a spray of white cloud-water.
Buzz!!
Beside it, the Quetzalcoatlus shot out of the cloud-sea, sending ripples rolling across the surface.
"Wind God, check if there's any structure nearby," Jiang Qize said to the great pterosaur.
"Ya~" It answered with a cry, beat its wings, rose sharply, and began circling outward in search.
To get to the White White Sea, they needed to pass the Gate of Heaven and let an Express Lobster carry them up.
More accurately—he simply didn't know the way up on his own.
Buzzz…
The Quetzalcoatlus soon returned.
It called out to him, then banked toward the rear.
"Set sail!"
Buzz!
The Dragonflame began to move, turning slowly to follow behind it.
Half an hour later—
A structure resembling a checkpoint came into view, with a massive white gate standing beside it.
Click!
A sudden flash of light went off.
Everyone looked over. At the checkpoint stood a short old woman, looking like a mulberry with wings on her back and holding a camera.
"The sightseeing fee… ten billion extol per person," Amazon said in a thin, barely audible voice.
If one didn't listen carefully, they wouldn't hear a thing.
"Captain, they're actually charging a sightseeing fee? Ten billion? That's insane!"
Buck and the others cried out.
"That's a Sky Island unit. Ten billion extol is only a hundred thousand berries," Jiang Qize said calmly.
He had no intention of paying it, though. Sky Island… would belong to him soon anyway.
They approached the Gate of Heaven just as a colossal shrimp burst through the water at high speed.
It stopped beneath their ship. Its massive body was almost the same size as the Dragonflame—actually a bit larger—and its enormous claws clamped onto both sides of the hull.
"That's a shrimp?" Buck stared, wide-eyed. As a chef, he had never seen one this size. If you wanted to boil it… what kind of pot would even be big enough?
"Hold on tight," Jiang Qize said lightly.
He had originally wondered if the Express Lobster might be unable to move with the Dragonflame's weight. Clearly he had overthought it.
The Express Lobster's body tensed, then shot forward, racing up the skyward river.
…
"Waaaa—so fast!"
"This feels amazing!"
On the heavenly river, the Dragonflame—clamped to the Express Lobster—zoomed upward while Karmon and the others cheered, gripping the railing and gawking at the scenery.
But Jiang Qize's mouth was twitching.
In the show, the Express Lobster shot Luffy's group to the White White Sea almost instantly. But this one… still let them enjoy the scenery on the way up.
Which meant it was slow. Very slow.
Karmon and the others might think it was fast, but—
If he could see the Express Lobster beneath the ship right now, he'd see its legs trembling.
Express Lobster: Sob sob sob… why is this ship so heavy…
A few minutes later—
Buzz!!
They burst out of the bright white sea of clouds and into a vast new world.
BOOM!
The Express Lobster dropped them onto the sea's surface, then bolted away, fleeing at incredible speed.
"The air… feels a bit tight here…" Robin murmured.
"Yeah… I'm getting a little dizzy," Karmon added.
One by one, they began displaying signs of discomfort.
"You'll get used to it," Jiang Qize said calmly.
They were now more than ten thousand meters above sea level. Naturally, the air was thin—mild oxygen deprivation was expected.
But with their physical stamina, they only needed a bit of time to adjust.
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