"Yes… I can feel it. Please don't touch them randomly—our wings are even more sensitive than skin!!"
Conis knew she had encountered a truly dangerous man. But surrounded by several tall, powerful pirates, she didn't have the slightest ability to resist.
She could only endure Xiao's repeated contact with her sensitive areas—namely, her wings—answering his questions in a low voice filled with shame and irritation.
"You… you bad people… what are you trying to do to Conis…!"
The speaker hadn't even appeared yet, but his voice rang out first.
It was Conis's father—Pagaya.
Seeing his daughter surrounded by a group of vicious-looking pirates and being touched against her will, the old man charged forward without a moment's hesitation.
Bang—!
Van Augur fired a shot that struck the ground right in front of him and coldly warned:
"Take one more step, old man, and I'll blow your head off."
"Dad, don't come any closer—I'm fine!"
Conis hurriedly reassured her father, then turned to Xiao and pleaded:
"Please… don't hurt him."
Her cheeks were still damp with tears as she spoke.
"Don't worry," Xiao replied calmly.
"I'll let you go once I'm done with my research."
He continued examining Conis's body, fully immersed in studying the physiological structure of the Sky Islanders, completely indifferent to everyone else's emotions.
"A completely natural genetic structure—no signs of artificial modification at all. Is it too perfect… or was it truly born this way? This makes no sense scientifically."
Xiao was genuinely surprised.
The wings of the Sky Islanders were innate, not artificial.
From Xiao's perspective, Sky Islanders should have been genetically modified humans from an ancient civilization.
After all, once an advanced civilization mastered powerful technology, altering their own genes to gain the ability to fly would be entirely reasonable.
Especially in a world like this.
The world of One Piece already had the Lunaria race—a winged, flying species.
The Lunarians once lived atop the Red Line in what was known as the "Land of the Gods," before the rise of the Celestial Dragons.
In ancient times, the Lunarians—much like the Celestial Dragons today—were revered as gods by the world, effectively serving as the previous generation of "Celestial Dragons."
But after the fall of the Ancient Kingdom, the Lunarians were replaced.
For eight hundred years, they were hunted and exterminated by the Celestial Dragons, to the brink of extinction.
Today, only a handful might still exist.
The Lunarians were known for their striking appearances, white hair, and enormous black wings—wings that were not decorative, but fully functional, granting true flight.
They could even generate flames from nothing, adapt to the harshest environments on the planet, and possessed astonishing vitality.
In Xiao's view, this was the textbook example of a race engineered for space exploration.
Their internal flames could counter the cold vacuum of space, and their adaptability would allow them to survive extreme cosmic environments until reaching another planet.
By comparison, the Sky Islanders seemed like incomplete prototypes—failed transitional forms created during the process that eventually produced the Lunarians.
Otherwise, there was simply no evolutionary logic behind the existence of those absurd, decorative flesh wings.
They violated every principle of efficiency and practicality.
But Xiao soon realized—
He was wrong.
The Sky Islanders were not artificial constructs.
They were pure, native lifeforms.
Their wings had always existed in this form, generation after generation. Their genetic sequences showed no trace of artificial interference whatsoever.
Xiao searched his memory for information about Sky Island, trying to recall where this biological anomaly originated.
Suddenly, a forgotten image surfaced—
A cover page from the One-Piece manga, part of the side story released after Enel's defeat.
And then he remembered.
The Sky Islanders and the people of the Blue Sea were not the same species.
According to that cover story, the ancestors of the Sky Islanders came from the moon.
They were extraterrestrial immigrants.
They once lived in a near-zero-gravity environment. When lunar resources were exhausted, they migrated to the Blue Planet and established Sky Island.
Under lunar gravity, even a weak flap of the wings would allow sustained flight.
They never needed massive wings like the Lunarians.
In space—or on the moon—gravity was so low that minimal force could allow long-distance gliding.
Thus, their wings naturally evolved into this seemingly deformed form.
"I see… that explains it."
Xiao withdrew his hand and released Conis.
His analysis of the Sky Islanders was essentially complete.
To be honest, they were almost useless to him.
If the Sky Islanders had been cyborgs or genetically altered beings, Xiao might have extracted valuable technological principles from them.
But as pure natives, they held little research value for him.
"Is… is it over?" Conis asked hesitantly.
"Can we leave now?"
She let out a breath of relief. Her fair face was flushed crimson from Xiao's handling, but at least the ordeal seemed to be finished.
"Over?"
Xiao smiled faintly.
"No. This is only the beginning."
He stopped her once again.
"W-What else do you want?" Conis asked nervously, unconsciously stepping back—only to be stopped by Van Augur's gun.
"I have a gift for you."
Xiao opened his arms slightly.
The cyber aura surged violently into Conis's body.
Crack—!
The sound of bones colliding and snapping echoed from within her.
"Ahhh—!"
Conis collapsed to the ground screaming.
Her snow-white skin was pierced as ribs burst outward, fully exposed to the air.
Yet—
Not a single drop of blood flowed.
The torn flesh writhed and repaired itself at astonishing speed.
Her bones transformed visibly, reshaping themselves in real time. When the changes in her chest were complete, the force spread to her back.
Bone spurs erupted from her spine, tearing through her back with a sickening squelch and unfolding outward.
The next instant—
Her wings began to expand violently, as if injected with a flood of hormones.
Snow-white feathers peeled away, layer by layer, transforming into silver-white metal.
"Yes… that's it."
Xiao's voice echoed faintly.
The pain receded like a retreating tide, replaced by an unprecedented surge of power reverberating through Conis's body.
When the fragile flesh wings were completely replaced by a pair of gleaming platinum metal wings, Xiao finally smiled in satisfaction.
"Stand up, my angel."
The wings behind Conis lifted her effortlessly.
"Fly."
At Xiao's command, Conis rose into the air against her will.
Her metallic wings flapped just once—
And she broke free from gravity, soaring into the sky.
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