It's been five days since I left Cocoyasi Village.
Arthur was lucky to find a large, wandering cloud island that could easily hold the orange orchard, so the next step was just guiding it along.
But the island where Cocoyasi Village is located, in the East Blue, isn't very close to the sky island. Arthur didn't push the island at full speed, so after about five days, they entered the sky island's territory.
Pointing towards a distant island, Arthur said to Nami and Nuo, "Three hundred and ten kilometers from here is the sky island! We've been in the Kingdom of Angels' territory for two hours now.
"And over there is the center of the Kingdom of Angels."
"Is Shandora, the City of Gold, there too?" Nami, always thinking about gold, had Shandora's treasure on her mind.
"Uh... yes, Shandora is in Upper Yard, and Upper Yard is the central point. But the gold isn't in Shandora anymore," Arthur replied with a sigh. He was starting to wonder if appointing Nami as treasurer was a good idea.
Would this miser drain him of everything? Will she ever stop being so obsessed with money?
Shaking off those thoughts, Arthur sped up a bit. After being away for so long, it was time to get back.
He needed to return quickly, secure the bubble technology, and master it as soon as possible, so he could move forward with the next part of the sky island plan.
An hour later, Nami and Nuo stood before the Gates of Heaven, speechless. "Heaven... Gate. Is this really the entrance to heaven?" they murmured in awe.
"God!" The gatekeepers weren't the old lady Pagaya from the original story. Instead, it was a squad of angels, strong ones, with wings.
In recent years, all the Angel Legion reserves had grown wings, and the IQ Grass resource had been made available to the main army.
The guardian angels, to maintain their image, had also grown wings in the past year.
Arthur nodded under the admiring gazes of the angels and entered through the Gates of Heaven.
"Those are angels! All with wings! It really feels like we're in heaven!" Nami was still looking back at the angel squad.
"I feel the same way..." Nuo smiled softly, squinting her eyes.
"You don't look like an angel!" Nami muttered to Arthur.
Arthur had only shown his wings once in private, keeping them hidden most of the time. Nami, who wanted to examine them closely, was getting frustrated.
Arthur shrugged. "But didn't you see? They call me a god! On this sky island, that's what 'king' means."
"Hmph," Nami snorted playfully, before looking around with Nuo in excitement. "It's unbelievable that there's a white sea in the sky. Is this the Grand Line?"
Ten minutes later, both women stared in awe at the transformed Jaya Island. Over the years, under Arthur's leadership, Jaya had changed completely.
Now, it was a beautiful, dreamy place, like something out of a fairy tale. Everywhere you looked, there was art in the scenery.
"Is this Upper Yard?" Nuo asked Arthur with a joyful expression.
Arthur shook his head. "This is Jaya. We'll go to Upper Yard later. Four hundred years ago, the island was shot into the sky by a massive Knock Up Stream. Upper Yard is even more beautiful than this place!"
Another ten minutes passed, and Nami and Nuo were overwhelmed by the beauty.
Apayado had different islands surrounding the Cloud Mountains. The well-designed, stunning cloud rivers floated in the sky like white ribbons.
Luxury yachts transported people along the cloud rivers, while smaller motorboats sailed smoothly in their designated lanes.
In the middle of it all, three cloud islands of various sizes surrounded a massive vine, looking like layers of a cake.
"This is... Heaven...?" Apart from their shock, Nami and Nuo didn't seem to feel anything else.
Unlike in the original journey, where Nami traveled through the Grand Line and saw many strange islands along the way, this time, she wasn't mentally prepared.
Now, coming straight from the East Blue and seeing a sky island far more beautiful than what was described in the original story, she was completely captivated.
"There! That's my palace!" Arthur said, pointing to the cloud island above the vines.
Hearing this, both women looked up. Nuo, surprised, said, "You actually live that high?"
"Of course! I'm a god, the king of this place! Naturally, a king has to be above everyone else," Arthur responded casually.
The real reason for building it so high was to create an image of superiority, making himself seem majestic and untouchable to the people here.
Arthur guided the floating island to the shrine, and before they even arrived, Jessica flew out to meet them.
From a distance, she saw two beautiful girls—one with orange hair, the other with blue hair—and immediately pouted, looking a bit unhappy as she flew over.
But as she got closer, Jessica's expression quickly changed to a smile.
Arthur introduced everyone, and though Nami and Nuo greeted her, they looked a little down after hearing Arthur mention that Jessica was one of his wives.
Jessica, acting like an older sister, quickly arranged for the orange orchard to be set up in a clearing outside the shrine, then left with Nami and Nuo.
Seeing this, Arthur couldn't help but smile wryly. This reminded him of how Raki had reacted when he brought Jessica back years ago.
However, that wasn't his main concern right now. After settling the sisters in the shrine, Arthur vanished and reappeared in the conference hall.
He had already notified some officials using radio waves. Now that he was back, it was time to resolve the matters with Visalia and the old scientists.
This issue was urgent for Arthur, especially since it was now the end of 1518 in the Sea Calendar.
During the meeting, Gang Cole informed Arthur that the two bubble technologies he had been seeking were finally secured, but more time was needed to fully study them. However, with the help of the astronomers, they could master the manufacturing process within a month.
The technology was already mature, so they just needed to learn the production method, without needing additional research.
The other issue was where to place the astronomers.
After some consideration, they decided to hide them in the sky near Bika Island, at an altitude of 18,000 meters, shielded by clouds.
Once the bubble technology was mastered, the astronomers would be taken to the moon.
One by one, resolutions were proposed and passed.
Suddenly, Arthur looked to the northeast, sensing a strong, cold aura of ice and a weaker but still powerful presence. There were also others approaching with energy comparable to that of the legion reserve angels.
"This is..."
Arthur frowned, sensing the strongest aura—it was almost as strong as his own.
Three hundred kilometers away, a massive warship sailed carefully through the White Sea.
An elderly woman stood at the bow, gazing at the white ocean with a calm expression.
In the center of the deck was a lounge chair.
A tall, thin, middle-aged man with a wild afro slept under an eye mask.
Just five days earlier, Vice Admiral Tsuru and Admiral Aokiji had arrived from Mary Geoise using advanced technology.
Suddenly, both Vice Admiral Tsuru and Aokiji looked in the same direction.
Aokiji, who had been dozing, lifted his eye mask with a finger and looked southwest. "Oh my, oh my, what a terrifying range of observation Haki." His casual tone didn't hide the seriousness of the situation.
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