Dressrosa, the Palace Heights.
"Fufufufufufu... How utterly shameful, Crocodile!" Donquixote Doflamingo, another Warlord of the Sea, looked at the newspaper and let out his characteristic strange laugh. "To have planned for so long, only to be taken down by a rookie!!"
He had initially thought only Gecko Moria was a failure, but it seemed Crocodile was just as useless.
Loguetown, East Blue.
The Straw Hat crew was taking a break, resupplying for their upcoming voyage.
"Huh?! This guy... 500 million Berries?!" Sanji caught a bounty poster floating down from a News Coo, tossing a couple of Berries back to the bird. The string of zeros on the poster immediately caught his eye.
"Who is it? Who has a bounty that high?!" a curious Usopp asked, crowding in. "L-Leo?!!" Usopp shrieked, his face turning pale.
"Who's Leo? Is he strong?!" Luffy asked, tilting his head in confusion.
"You idiot!" Zoro's face darkened. "He's the one who took my Wado Ichimonji."
Usopp looked at Luffy, his voice trembling. "Luffy, he's that monster who cut you and Zoro back at Syrup Village!"
With their reminders, Luffy finally remembered. It was the first time he'd been so badly injured since setting sail.
BAM!
Luffy slammed his fist on the table, furious. "That bastard! Next time I see him, I'm gonna punch him into the sky!!"
Zoro grunted in agreement. "And I'm getting my sword back!"
Meanwhile, thanks to Morgans' efforts, the events in Alabasta continued to ripple across the world. Countless News Coops flew to every corner of the globe, reaching even the most remote towns, ensuring everyone saw the shocking news.
As for Leo, the man who had caused all this commotion, he was currently incredibly busy.
The flying ship was on autopilot. For the past few days, Nami and Tashigi hadn't been training. Makino hadn't been brewing. Kaya hadn't been reading medical texts. Robin hadn't been studying historical texts. None of the girls were doing their usual tasks. Everyone was busy taking turns.
While the girls were enjoying themselves, they were also puzzled. Hadn't the number of these... navigation lessons... been a bit excessive these past few days?
Leo's explanation was that they were in a new environment, and he wanted to fully enjoy the novelty while it lasted. The girls found this exasperating, but they couldn't deny his seemingly boundless energy.
In the spacious ship's lounge, Valentine, Goldenweek, and Sarah were busy at the counter, preparing different coffees for everyone.
"Leo," Nami began, lying across Leo's lap on a soft sofa and lazily munching on an apple. "What's this 'Skypiea' place you mentioned?"
Robin closed the ancient book in her hands and interjected, "I've heard of Skypiea, but isn't it just a legend?"
"Captain, does such a place really exist?!" Vivi asked, resting her chin in her hands, already imagining what it might look like.
Leo nodded slowly. "Skypiea is a real place. It's just an island that's difficult for ordinary people to reach, which is why many think it's a myth. Aside from the islands that are naturally there, part of Skypiea is actually a section of Jaya from the Grand Line. Four hundred years ago, an upward stream hit Jaya, carrying part of the island into the sky, forming a section of Skypiea."
The girls fell silent, listening intently as Leo explained Skypiea's origins.
"Leo~" Vivi, who had been leaning on his shoulder, sat up and looked at him with her big, dark eyes, a knowing smile playing on her lips. "What I really want to know is... why are you going to Skypiea?!"
Her words were a wake-up call. The other girls' expressions instantly turned knowing.
Right! Leo wasn't one to act without a benefit. They didn't believe he was going just for the scenery!
"Captain," Tashigi said, pretending to adjust her glasses even though they hadn't slipped. A glint of insight shone in her bright eyes. This scenario felt all too familiar. If they weren't mistaken...
"Alright, fine," Leo admitted without denial. "There are indeed two beautiful women on Skypiea."
Just as they thought!
"But~" Leo quickly added before the girls could tease him, "Besides them, there's another very important purpose for this trip."
This time, the girls were confused. It was rare to see Leo so serious about something other than recruiting beauties along the way.
"Captain," Robin's eyes lit up as she thought of something. "It couldn't be... the legendary City of Gold, could it?" She recalled reading about it in an ancient text, which stated the City of Gold was on Jaya. For some reason, it had later vanished, becoming a story people told their children. According to Leo, part of Jaya was sent into the sky. If the legend was true, the most likely location was that very section.
Leo shot her an appreciative glance. That was Robin for you.
"Exactly. The entire city was made of gold. Hundreds of years have passed, and it's fallen into disrepair with much of the treasure lost, but a significant amount of gold remains. We're going to collect it all."
"What?! Gold?!"
The magic word triggered a extreme reaction. Nami shot up from the sofa, her pupils morphing into the shape of Berries.
"Le... I mean, Captain!" she threw away her apple and clung to Leo's chest like a meek kitten, her voice dripping with sycophantic sweetness. "Considering how well I take care of you every day, could you maybe... give me some of the gold?"
The other girls' reactions, while not as dramatic as Nami's, were equally captivated. Faced with such immense wealth, few could remain indifferent.
A smirk tugged at Leo's lips as he gently lifted Nami's chin with his finger. "If I give you gold, will you be obedient from now on?"
"I'll be obedient! I'll definitely be obedient!" Nami nodded like a woodpecker. Even if he didn't give her any, she wouldn't dare disobey. This was a win-win!
"Good," Leo nodded, satisfied. Nami's eyes shone even brighter.
"Be obedient," he said, his tone softening. "We don't need that. What's mine is yours, isn't it?"
Nami froze, the smile wiped clean off her face. It instantly transformed into a shark-like grimace as she snapped at Leo's arm. "Leo, you bastard!!"
Pfft—
Pfft—
The other girls couldn't hold back their laughter. Nami had been tricked again.
Amid the laughter and playful banter with his crew, the ship soared unhindered to an altitude of ten thousand meters, arriving at Skypiea.
The Sacred Land, Angel Island.
The place where God resided.
The moment the ship entered Skypiea's airspace, Enel, who had been resting on his bed, snapped his eyes open.
"What is that?!" The sight of the ship, something beyond his understanding, made him frown. As the God of Skypiea, his Mantra, combined with the power of the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, allowed him to easily envelop the entire sky island, detecting any movement anywhere. Now, the faint hum of the ship's engines reached his ears, irritating him. Clearly, they were Blue Sea dwellers.
Enel closed his eyes to listen more carefully, but soon opened them again. The ship seemed to have a membrane that blocked his Mantra from penetrating.
"How interesting," Enel's lips curled into a mocking smile. This was the first time his Mantra had failed. Intrigued, he slowly rose, silvery-white arcs of electricity crackling across his body.
Meanwhile, the ship broke through the clouds, emerging above a vast, white sea of clouds.
"Wow... it's so beautiful!!"
"Is this Skypiea?! It's so pretty!"
Looking at the picturesque scenery below, the girls' eyes sparkled, unable to hold back their praise. The scene before them was like something out of a fairy tale. As far as the eye could see, everything was made of island clouds and sea clouds.
"This is Angel Island. Let's go down and have a look," Leo said, using a patch of island cloud to gently lower everyone down.
"It really is beautiful," Leo also sighed in admiration, gazing at the pristine white scenery. While his primary goal everywhere he went was to recruit the beautiful women of the story, not taking the time to appreciate such beautiful scenery would mean missing out on a wonderful experience.
"Leo, the clouds here are so soft to walk on!" Kaya called out, happily bouncing on the cloud beneath her feet.
The other girls followed suit, and for a moment, exclamations of wonder were endless.
"Captain, I've never seen a fish like this before!" Carmen exclaimed, pulling a strangely shaped sea fish from the water.
"Leo, come here quickly! This cloud chair is so comfortable!" Nami waved from not far away.
"Leo~"
"Captain~"
The girls acted like they'd discovered a new world, calling for Leo every time they found something novel. Watching the girls enjoying themselves so thoroughly, Leo felt a sense of relaxation and indescribable contentment. If their intimate sessions were more about physical pleasure, then this was a deeper, more heartfelt joy.
"Huh?!"
Just as Leo was about to rest on a cloud chair, a melodious sound drifted from the distance.
"What's that sound?" The girls also looked in the direction of the music.
"Leo, there's someone over there," Nami said, her Observation Haki already locking onto an unfamiliar presence.
"Let's go take a look." Leo took the lead; he already knew who it was.
Not far away, they saw a beautiful young woman with golden hair standing on a cloudy rock. More accurately, a beautiful angel, as she had a pair of small, pure white wings on her back.
The girls, who had never seen an angel before, stood frozen in place, muttering in a daze, "An angel... a real angel!!"
"What a beautiful angel!"
Leo looked the angel over. A high-collared mini-dress, a light yellow braid, skilled at playing the harp. Yep, it was her.
Conis!
Noticing their gazes, Conis stopped playing and looked over at the group with a soft smile. "Hello," she said, her voice gentle.
"Wow~ She's so gentle!!"
"So cute!!"
The girls held their cheeks, their eyes mesmerized as they looked at Conis. Her heartwarming smile perfectly embodied the image of a pure, holy angel.
"Hello, Miss Angel! I'm Nami!"
"I'm Kaya!"
"I'm Tashigi!"
The girls, snapping out of their daze, quickly introduced themselves.
"Are you all from the Blue Sea?" Conis asked, walking towards them with graceful steps.
"Yes, we're all from the Blue Sea," Makino replied gently. Before coming here, Leo had explained that Skypieans referred to anyone from the seas below as 'Blue Sea Dwellers'.
"Hello, I'm Leo, captain of the Leo Pirates. They are all my crewmates." Leo finally stepped forward and introduced himself with a smile once Conis was closer.
"All your... crewmates?" Conis was taken aback, her eyes scanning the group of women from left to right. Eleven beautiful women. What a lucky man. "Hello," she responded, still very polite.
As the two conversed, Nami and the others exchanged glances and nodded in默契 (tacit understanding). While Leo hadn't told them which two women he was here for, without a doubt, this Conis was one of them. Don't ask how they knew. Intuition. A woman's intuition! The intuition of eleven women!
"Conis, we're new here. Could you show us around?" Leo asked, a warm smile on his face, his voice soft.
"Of course," Conis agreed immediately, her gentle smile never fading. "I haven't seen people from the Blue Sea in a long time. There are many interesting things here." For her, this was a chance to make more friends and also learn about many interesting things from the world below from Leo and the others.
Hearing that Conis would be their guide made the girls even happier, and they immediately followed her, officially beginning their tour of Skypiea.
Time passed quickly. Whenever they reached an interesting spot, Conis would proactively stop and answer the curious girls' questions, earning their admiration. As they walked, they witnessed the unique customs and culture of Skypiea.
After a full two hours of touring, both Conis and the girls were getting tired. They found a small pavilion to rest.
"Conis," Nojiko began after taking a drink of water. "You mentioned earlier that there's a place here we absolutely must not set foot in, right?"
Hearing this, Conis fell silent for a moment before speaking in a low voice. "Yes. Because God lives there, no one is allowed to enter."
"Pfft— God?!" Nami couldn't hold back, spitting out her water. "There's no such thing as God in this world!"
"Don't say that!" Conis waved her hands frantically, cautiously looking around. "Please don't say that. God sees everything we do. If we offend God, we will be punished." The fear on Conis's face made the other girls' hearts ache. The previously enthusiastic angel now had only terror on her face when mentioning 'God'.
"What God? He's just a guy pretending to be divine," Leo said with a dismissive laugh. If Enel could be considered a god, then the title had truly lost all meaning.
"Big Brother Leo, please don't say that!" Conis pleaded, her pretty face turning pale with fright as if recalling something horrific. "If God hears, we'll all be punished!" She could never forget that scene, like a natural disaster had descended. Everyone who defied God had died.
"Leo, who is this guy? Is he really that powerful?" Nami asked, feeling indignant seeing the angel so terrified. Who was so despicable, bullying such a beautiful angel?
The other girls felt the same anger. If they were strong enough, they'd definitely teach that guy a lesson.
"He's not powerful," Leo explained patiently. "It's just that he's a Rumble-Rumble Fruit user, and no one on Skypiea knows Haki. That's why he's been able to act like a tyrant here."
The girls instantly understood. A Logia-type Devil Fruit user? No wonder. Without Haki to counter it, he might as well be a god.
"Tch, and I thought he was something special," Nami scoffed, pursing her lips. "He just uses one of the elemental forces I've already mastered."
"Right, his strength really isn't that great," Leo said. He then slowly raised his head, his gaze turning cold as he looked into the distance. "Enel! With your arrogant personality, since when do you enjoy peeping?! Get out here now!!"
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T/N :
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