Two flowers bloom, each showing their own branch.
A certain little fool who managed to blow herself up again somehow landed safely on the ground, thanks to a pile of thick leaves and a conveniently soft patch of sky island cloud that appeared out of nowhere.
"Meow—ugh… my head spinning…"
(=@﹏@=)
Klee Meow sat on the ground, clutching her little head and trying hard to steady her spinning vision.
Fortunately, this wasn't the first time the little plush Felyne had been in such a situation.
She first moved her head to follow the wobbling scenery in front of her, syncing up the movement little by little until both matched rhythm.
Once that happened, she finally felt herself recovering.
Then, Klee Meow got up, patted the dust off her fur, and looked around.
(°ω°≡°ω°)(=ω=)
"Eh? Where did Sherwin-nii and that long-eared bad guy go, meow?"
Not sensing anyone presence through her Observation Haki, Klee Meow scratched her head in confusion.
Then she picked a random direction and began walking, calling out Sherwin and the other names as she went—
"Sherwin-nii! Where are you, meow?! Sister Huamei! Klee wasn't being naughty, meow! Klee just got lost, meow… Eh? That fruit looks really tasty, meow…"
After calling out just a couple of times, the little plush Felyne attention was already stolen by the things around her.
Every so often she'd pick a fruit, catch a bug, or blast a wild monster that tried to eat her with a bomb—sometimes even digging up a few scattered gold nuggets from the exploded ground.
And so, walking, calling, and playing all at once, Klee Meow suddenly stopped in her tracks. She tilted her head back and started sniffing the air all around her…
"Sniff sniff sniff…" The little plush Felyne pink nose twitched as she quickly locked onto a direction. "Klee smells treasure, meow!"
She raised her little paw to her forehead and looked toward where the "treasure" was.
"Waaah—! Such a tall beanstalk! There must be something really good up there, meow!"
(==)
Klee Meow, who had originally been hesitating about whether to look for Sherwin and the others or to go after the treasure, immediately made up her mind.
"This beanstalk is so obvious! Sherwin-nii and Sister Huamei will definitely come looking for Klee here, meow!"
The little plush Felyne convinced herself as she ran on all fours toward the direction of the beanstalk.
"If Klee finds the treasure first, Sherwin-nii will definitely praise Klee, and Sister Huamei won't have any reason to lock Klee up anymore, meow!"
Very soon, Klee Meow arrived beneath the enormous beanstalk. However, instead of climbing it right away, she tilted her head and looked down at her feet in confusion...
"That strange, why does it feel like there treasure underground too, meow?"
Moreover, through her Observation Haki, Klee Meow could sense a group of people underground nearby—people whose moods and conditions seemed quite terrible.
Being a kindhearted little plush Felyne, she immediately decided to check underground first to see if those people needed help—and, of course, to grab any treasure buried down there—before coming back to climb the beanstalk.
So Klee Meow lifted her tiny backside and started digging into the island cloud beneath her...
"Hmm, feels like this might be a bit too close, meow."
After digging for a while, Klee Meow stopped, turned to glance at the beanstalk that was just a few steps away, then scampered more than ten meters to the side.
Crossing her arms, she gave it some serious thought, then decided to retreat over a hundred meters farther before finally nodding in satisfaction and starting to dig a new hole.
Digging holes was practically second nature to a Felyne, and since island clouds were much softer than soil, Klee Meow quickly made a narrow pit—deeper than her own height, just wide enough for a Felyne to crawl into.
Next, Klee Meow pulled out a Boom Bomb from her little backpack, squeezed it tightly for a moment, and tossed it down into the pit.
Then she scrambled out as fast as she could, ran back beneath the beanstalk, and hid behind it, peeking out with half her furry face.
|ωΦ=)
BOOM—!
The violent explosion blasted a huge hole through the cloud island ground, revealing the ruins buried beneath it.
The little plush Felyne peeked out from behind the beanstalk, stretched her neck, and peered down from the edge of the crater.
After a moment of observation, she suddenly realized, "Ah! This must be the Shandora Ruins Sherwin-nii mentioned before, meow! Klee found it before Sister Robin did, meow!"
＜(=`=)＞
Feeling quite proud of herself, Klee Meow put her paws on her hips for a while, then ran over to a nearby broken tree trunk caused by her explosion.
She broke off a piece of wood, and with her small knife and claws, she shaped it roughly into a sign.
Then, pulling out her colorful drawing pens, she clumsily scribbled on it:
"The thing Sister Robin is looking for is here ↓"
Once she was satisfied, she planted the sign at the edge of the newly blasted hole.
"Mm-hmm! That should do it, meow!"
Klee Meow admired her "masterpiece" with satisfaction, then leapt boldly down through the opening.
Following her Observation Haki, Klee Meow soon passed through the Shandora ruins and arrived at the underground factory where Enel had built the Ark Maxim.
Inside were a large number of Gan Fall former subordinates, along with Blue Sea dwellers who had wandered into Skypiea over the past three years, and several convicts from Angel Island.
Perhaps because Enel had been overly confident in his ability to observe all of Skypiea through his own Observation Haki, he hadn't stationed many guards here—only two divine soldiers acting as overseers.
"Baaah—! How did you find your way here?!"
"Aren't you one of those Blue Sea people who just came to Skypiea recently? Baaah—!"
Enel divine soldiers not only liked to imitate sheep noises but also had two "horns" sticking out of their heads.
"Meow?" The little plush Felyne twitched her ears at their questioning and answered honestly,
"Klee blew open the cloud layer above and came down here, meow. Also, Klee is a Felyne, not a Blue Sea person, meow."
"Baaah—! You're the one who caused that explosion just now?!"
"So you're an intruder! Take her down! Baaah—!"
The two divine soldiers bleated loudly, then charged toward Klee Meow from both sides.
"Waaah! So you're bad guys too! Klee gonna blow you up, meow!" The little doll belatedly realized what was happening and quickly pulled out two Boom Boom Bombs, tossing them toward the two divine soldiers.
"Explosion Style: Boom Boom Meow!"
"BOOM—!"
Both Boom Boom Bombs exploded at the same time, easily taking down the two divine soldiers.
Klee Meow didn't bother with the two "goat-headed men" who had collapsed instantly, nor did she talk to the laborers staring at her in confusion and shock.
Instead, she lifted her head to look upward. Fine dust drifted down from above, accompanied by faint cracking sounds…
"This place is way too fragile, meow…"
The experienced little doll sighed helplessly, then cupped her small paws around her mouth and shouted toward the group of laborers in the distance,
"You all better run! This place is about to collapse, meow! Klee didn't mean to blow it up, sorry meow!"
=(==(=ω=(=ω=)
After shouting her warning, Klee Meow didn't wait to see if they listened. She turned and sprinted toward the exit.
The laborers captured by Enel glanced at each other for a moment—but none of them moved.
The fear of Enel had already been carved deep into the very bones of the Skypieans.
So even though the two overseers had been taken out, they still didn't dare to flee.
However, among this group were not only Skypieans — there were also Blue Sea people who had accidentally been carried here by the Knock-Up Stream.
Most of them were pirates, so after a brief moment of silence, they gritted their teeth and were the first to rush out.
Once someone took the lead, the situation changed immediately. Besides, more and more dust was falling from above — if they didn't run now, they'd be buried alive.
Seeing that, the remaining Skypieans also started running for their lives.
"Rumble—!"
As a massive section of earth and island cloud collapsed, the half-finished Ark Maxim and the entire underground shipyard were completely buried beneath it.
"Awuuu… the treasure got buried, meow…"
Klee Meow looked regretfully at the now-buried underground factory, then quickly sprinted toward the upper level.
The treasure underground couldn't be retrieved for now. To avoid being locked up by Lord Tiger, the brave Spark Knight had to hurry and claim the treasure on top of the beanstalk first!