Jotaro came straight to the point, asking for an outrageous price.
"Ten billion per person! That's the exchange condition!"
There were dozens of people on his ship. According to the fee standards here, if they wanted to pass through the Gate of Heaven, they would need to pay at least hundreds of billions of exes.
He didn't have that much money, so he could only let the Shandia tribe help solve the problem.
Of course, he also knew he was asking too much.
There were more than ten Shandia warriors on the ship, adding up to several hundred billion already.
There was no way the other side would agree.
But in the negotiation, he was playing the role of the hard face. Asking for a higher price didn't matter, it was only to better set up Nami, who played the softer role.
The two of them echoed each other, working together, wanting to quickly break through the Shandia chief's psychological defenses.
Unexpectedly, the other party was not an easy opponent.
Even when the price had been negotiated down to five billion per person, he was still unmoved.
Nami grew a little impatient. "Five billion and you still won't agree? They're your tribe's finest warriors, this price should be quite reasonable, right?"
"Enough," the chief raised his hand to stop her. "Even if it's one billion, it's still not possible."
He spoke with some embarrassment. "To tell you the truth, we don't have that much money."
Nami asked suspiciously, "I heard your tribe has existed for hundreds of years, and you still can't scrape together this much money?"
Her disdainful gaze made the chief feel uncomfortable, bitter inside.
Back then, their people had possessed a glorious city, Shandora, the City of Gold.
Inside, gold and jewels had been everywhere.
What was a mere hundred billion compared to that!
And yet now, as a descendant of that tribe, he was being looked down on by a little girl. Truly a sigh-worthy thing.
"Could we perhaps write an IOU?" the chief asked pitifully. "Once we take back the Island of God from Enel's hands and reclaim Shandora, the City of Gold, I will return the money to you."
"City of Gold? What's that?" Those four words carried endless temptation for Nami.
The moment he mentioned this glorious city, the chief's face showed a trace of pride.
"It's said this was a holy city, the whole city cast in gold, and at the very center hung a giant golden bell. Whenever it was struck, its sound echoed across heaven and earth.
"Beneath the golden bell stood a great stone tablet, engraved with the Historical Text. Our tribe's mission, passed down through generations, has always been to protect that tablet!
"But ever since our homeland was swept up into the sky island by the sea currents, those damned angels began seizing our land and slaughtering our people…"
As he spoke, the chief glared fiercely at Gan Fall, who guiltily looked away.
At the mention of the Historical Text, Jotaro slowly opened his eyes, which had been closed.
He had no interest in the old grudges of Sky Island, and interrupted the chief.
"Old man, the City of Gold, Shandora, where is it now?"
The chief didn't hesitate.
"On the Island of God. Once you arrive there, you can take as much gold as you want."
Hearing this, golden light already glimmered in Nami's eyes.
Jotaro, however, wasn't interested in the gold.
His target was the Historical Text.
Now that he knew the location of the Island of God, he immediately prepared to depart.
As for the Shandia raiding party, he simply threw them all off the ship.
"The Island of God is not so easily entered," the chief muttered as he watched Jotaro and the others leave, a sly smile tugging at his lips.
He had deliberately revealed the existence of Shandora, the City of Gold, to stir up Jotaro and the others' greed.
That way, he could drive wolves to devour tigers and rid himself of trouble.
———
"An entire city of gold…"
On deck, Nami was so excited she danced with joy.
She simply couldn't imagine how magnificent such a sight would be.
"You really intend to go there?"
Gan Fall thought it was better to tell the truth.
He couldn't just watch Jotaro and the others walk to their deaths.
"That old man hid many things from you. Do you know why that place is called the Island of God?"
Jotaro glanced at him and said slowly, "Is it related to that Enel you mentioned earlier?"
"That's right. That place is Enel's domain, the forbidden land of Sky Island. If you trespass, the god will punish you."
Gan Fall spoke with all seriousness.
Jotaro didn't understand why he was so afraid of Enel, but still thanked him for the warning.
"We'll be a little more careful."
The islands in the sky were mostly made of clouds, a boundless white. At first, Jotaro and the others found it novel, but after seeing too much, it became dull.
The Island of God, however, was different, it was the other half of Jaya Island that had been blasted into the sky by the Knock Up Stream four hundred years ago.
Here the soil was fertile, the vegetation dense, a rare paradise on the Blue Sea, and even rarer still upon Sky Island, a once-in-a-century marvel.
After hundreds of years in the sky, Jaya Island and Sky Island's soil had been covered by a thick layer of cloud, an extraordinarily rare phenomenon.
When they neared Jaya Island, everyone was drawn to the unusual sight.
"Don't go any further!" Gan Fall shouted in a low voice. "Where we are now, Enel can clearly sense us.
"If he discovers someone has trespassed into his territory, he will surely bring down divine punishment."
Jotaro had already heard the words "divine punishment" from Gan Fall several times.
"This divine punishment you speak of, what exactly is it?"
Just thinking of Enel's terrifying power made Gan Fall shiver all over.
"Divine punishment is..."
Bzzz~
The sound of current crackling in the air made Gan Fall's body jolt violently.
He lifted his head to the sky and saw that directly above them, dark clouds had gathered, thunder rolling, all the lightning concentrating together.
"Not good! Enel has found us! Run, quickly!"
As his words fell, a massive bolt of lightning struck down from the sky.
This was divine punishment.
"Star Platinum!"
Time stopped flowing.
How could human speed ever surpass lightning? The moment the bolt fell, there was no escaping it.
Jotaro glanced upward, at the lightning frozen in space, its destructive power radiating even through stillness.
Though the ship was mostly made of wood, an insulating material, the lightning above far exceeded wood's breakdown voltage.
The instant it touched, the ship would burn, char, and instantly become conductive.
If they stayed on the ship, they'd all die.
"Yare yare!"
At his fastest speed, Jotaro moved everyone off the ship, outside the lightning's range.
BOOOOMMMMM!!!
The lightning crashed down, and in an instant, Jotaro's ship turned to charcoal. The immense voltage even pierced straight through the clouds beneath it.
At the same time, Jotaro landed upon the nearby cloud bank. To save the others, he hadn't even had time to care about his ship.
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