Rolan's eyes narrowed the instant he lifted his gaze.
He already knew whose work this was.
"The Golden Lion… Shiki."
Robin was slightly startled by the name.
"Rolan, are you saying this falling island is Shiki's doing?"
By now, the town below had already descended into complete chaos.
"Run, something is falling from the sky!"
"An island is dropping!"
"Mama, I do not want to die yet!"
"My child, my child!"
Rolan looked down at the rapidly unraveling streets and turned to Nami.
"We stop that island first. If we fail, this entire town will be wiped out."
Nami nodded without hesitation.
She and Rolan shot upward into the sky almost at the same time.
Below, terrified citizens pointed upward in shock.
"What are they doing?"
"Why are they just standing there, why are they not running for their lives!"
"That is Emperor Rolan and White Fist Nami!"
"Did they throw the island down themselves?"
"Damn it, a pirate is still a pirate after all!"
"Rolan sama, we have no grudge with you, why do you want to kill us!"
For a moment, misunderstanding spread like wildfire.
Most of the citizens assumed Rolan was the one behind the disaster, and curses echoed through the streets.
"It is not Rolan sama!" a trembling shop owner suddenly shouted.
"He was just buying clothes in my shop, and he even paid for them."
Rolan ignored all the noise below.
His focus never wavered.
Electromagnetic forces surged as he adjusted the magnetic polarity of the falling island and the land beneath it, repelling their attraction.
The descent slowed noticeably, but the sheer mass of the island meant gravity still pulled it downward relentlessly.
At that moment, Nami raised her hand.
A massive island cloud rapidly formed beneath the falling island, expanding at an astonishing speed until it completely covered the entire underside.
She continued thickening the cloud without pause, veins standing out on her arm as sweat slid down her face.
Only when the island finally came to a halt three hundred meters above the town did she stop.
Her chest rose and fell as she wiped the sweat from her forehead and nodded toward Rolan.
In an instant, Rolan appeared beside her and gently pulled her into his arms.
"You did well."
Nami waved her hand weakly and shifted the suspended island several thousand meters to the side before carefully lowering it into the sea.
Down below, stunned silence followed by roaring cheers erupted.
"It really was Rolan sama who saved us!"
"He saved the entire town."
"Rolan sama, thank you!"
Rolan showed no reaction to the cheers.
Instead, he placed a senzu bean into Nami's mouth.
Holding her securely, he descended slowly back to the ground.
Robin and Lina hurried forward at once.
"Rolan, Nami, are either of you hurt?" Robin asked.
Law, Bepo, Penguin, and Shachi also rushed over.
Robin then asked again, "Rolan, you said this was the Golden Lion's doing?"
"Yes," Rolan replied calmly.
"Shiki, the user of the Fuwa Fuwa no Mi."
"He is one of the very few in the world of one piece capable of making entire islands float."
Law's pupils shrank slightly.
The Golden Lion was a legendary figure, a pirate once standing on equal footing with Roger and Whitebeard.
Rolan activated the Super Heart Net, his perception spreading across the sky like an invisible web.
Even with advanced Observation Haki layered into it, he still failed to detect any trace of Shiki.
"He is not here," Rolan said with a faint frown.
By now, the surviving citizens had finally realized the truth.
They rushed toward Rolan in a wave.
"Rolan sama, thank you for saving us!"
"Rolan sama!"
Rolan found scenes like this deeply irritating.
"I am a pirate," he said coldly.
"Not your hero."
"Go back to your lives."
With that, he turned and led Nami, Robin, Lina, and the others away as if escaping from the crowd.
Law watched his back quietly.
He could not help but think that his decision was the right one.
A man with a bounty exceeding three billion berries, yet he had no interest in glory or worship.
For just a moment, Rolan almost looked like a young man barely out of his teens, not an Emperor who ruled the seas.
Rolan led everyone onto the newly fallen island.
"We have been targeted by Shiki," he said flatly.
"We do not know where he is for now."
"But since he has chosen to attack us, he will not stop with just one island."
"If we remain near populated areas, more civilians will die."
Everyone nodded.
Even Bepo, Penguin, and Shachi did not show fear in their expressions.
Rolan relocated the Polar Tang and the ship of the Ion Tempest onto the new island.
With a flick of his power, the island itself began to drift slowly away from the town and out toward the open sea.
Before long, the sky darkened once more.
Another massive shadow fell.
Rolan and Nami repeated the process, intercepting the second island and merging it smoothly with the first.
Rolan once again shot into the sky, spreading his Super Heart Net to search.
Still nothing.
A third island fell.
Then a fourth.
Only after stopping the fourth island did Rolan finally sense an abnormal fluctuation within his perception.
His eyes sharpened.
"I have found him," he said.
"Prepare yourselves."
"This will not be easy."
Lina clenched her pink fists, her expression filled with confidence.
"What is there to fear?"
"We broke through the encirclement of three Admirals and countless Vice Admirals before."
"What is one Golden Lion compared to that?"
Robin spoke next, her tone more serious.
"I once read that Shiki has been researching enhanced creatures."
"If we are captured carelessly, we may become test subjects."
Nami tightened her grip on Rolan's arm, her voice lowering uneasily.
"Robin chan, do not make it sound so horrifying."
Law rested his hand on Kikoku, his eyes filled with battle intent.
"Facing the Golden Lion as my first true battle on the Grand Line, that alone makes my blood boil."
Following Rolan's direction, Nami controlled the massive island and ascended rapidly.
Soon, they reached an altitude of ten thousand meters above the sea.
The sight before them was surreal.
Dozens of floating islands hovered freely in the sky, unsupported by clouds.
Seawater wrapped around many of them like shimmering rings.
Each island differed in size and scenery.
Lush primeval forests spread across their surfaces like emerald mirrors of the earth itself.
Brilliant rainbows arched between the islands, and drifting clouds added a dreamlike haze to the entire skyborne world.
Lina could not help but exclaim, "What a beautiful place."
"That Golden Lion actually has good taste."
Nami guided their island to a temporary stop as everyone followed Rolan onto one of the floating lands.
Rolan's expression turned cold.
"There are many strange presences here."
Nami, Robin, and Lina all nodded.
They sensed it too.
Law and the others looked confused.
Bepo tilted his head.
"Rolan sama, what do you mean?"
Rolan raised a finger slightly.
"Quiet."
"They are coming."
The instant his words fell, violent rustling erupted from the jungle to their right.
Bang!
With a thunderous impact, a gigantic crimson octopus burst out from the forest.
"So… so big!" Bepo gasped, covering his mouth.
The octopus stood over thirty meters tall, its massive tentacles stretching more than two hundred meters across the ground.
Lina stared at it with interest.
"That is a huge octopus."
"It could make a lot of takoyaki."
"Enough to eat for a long time."
"But if it is that big, the meat must be tough."
"Forget it."
The octopus clearly understood her words.
Two of its enormous tentacles curled into fists and smashed violently toward Lina.
Just as Lina was about to move, a calm voice rang out.
"ROOM."
A massive spherical space enveloped everyone.
Cold flashes of light slashed through the air.
In the next instant, the towering red octopus had already been reduced to scattered chunks.
---
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