Sakazuki had just ordered Doberman to send out several small fleets to the area around Jaya Island to search for the Saruyama Alliance Army, which was made up of the Shoujou Pirates.
"We have found the main stronghold of the Saruyama Army, which is in a half-sunken house on the shore, but there is no trace of cricket."
Montblanc Noland was the main character in the story "The Great Liar Noland,". Cricket was an older man with a diamond-shaped face and a chestnut on his head, just like Noland.
Even Cricket himself did not fully believe in the existence of Sky Island. But, in his quest to prove the existence of the Golden Land and break the "curse" on the Montblanc family, he was willing to risk his life to fight against fate.
Noland had believed that the Golden Land had sunk into the sea. That's why Cricket often took risks and dived for long periods to search for it. Now, he couldn't find any trace of the other members of the alliance. They were most likely still diving underwater, searching for treasures.
"Lieutenant Admiral Doberman! Fleet Admiral Sakazuki! Cricket has been found!" A soldier suddenly came to the deck to report. A group of soldiers had just returned to the warship after running into Cricket, who had emerged from the sea to catch his breath. He was immediately taken into custody.
...
"Are you Montblanc Cricket?" Sakazuki, who was concealing his identity, asked the older man in front of him.
"Marines! We in the Alliance haven't done anything illegal!" Cricket, who was being detained by the soldiers, did not recognize Sakazuki and continued to struggle.
In the world of pirates, salvaging treasures from sunken ships was common and not against the World Government's laws.
"It's not illegal? I remember you once helped a pirate group escape, right? The Straw Hat Pirates, wasn't it?" Sakazuki said.
Cricket was shocked and stopped struggling when he heard that.
"What do you want? Take us to jail?" Cricketdid not expect that his past actions would be known.
"Take me to the location of the upwelling current!" Sakazuki ordered in a tone that left no room for argument.
When Cricketheard the mention of the upwelling current, he understood what the Marines were after. He never thought there would be Marines who believed in the existence of Sky Island. Since he was already caught, he could only lead the way.
The group soon arrived at an area of the sea that looked calm. Just as everyone wondered how an upwelling current could be found there, suddenly, the sky turned dark.
A huge ship fell from the sky, stunning everyone.
Sakazuki smiled inwardly; this was the right place.
"Everyone, get out of the way!" Cricket shouted as he looked at the Marines staring at the falling ship in shock.
But the Marines did not move. With Sakazuki on board, they had nothing to fear. Even if an island were to fall, they believed Sakazuki could handle it.
"It's over! It's over! We're dead!" Cricket thought as he watched the ship sinking closer to the sea. Despair filled him, and he closed his eyes.
A loud roar rang out, making Cricket nearly jump in fear. But after what seemed like a long time, there was no pain. He slowly opened his eyes and saw burning shipwrecks surrounding the warship.
The Marines looked at the tall figure at the front of the warship with admiration. Cricket's eyes widened as he realized something.
This man was terrifying!
Sakazuki had confirmed that this location could lead to Sky Island. He turned around and spoke sharply to Cricket, who was lying on the ground.
"Your mission is complete. I thought your alliance was only interested in salvaging treasures from sunken ships, and they haven't committed any crimes like other pirates."
"Go and disband the name of the pirate group today. Change it to an adventure team or something else. If you are connected to pirates in any way, you will end up like that ship—destroyed to ashes!"
Cricket nodded quickly.
"Marine, the upwelling current hasn't formed yet. It might take about another half month," Cricket reminded cautiously.
"No need to wait!" Sakazuki waved his hand.
He then spoke to Doberman, instructing him to take the group the Shells Town on Jaya Island and wipe out all the pirates there. If he didn't return within a week, Doberman and the others were to head back to headquarters first.
Sakazuki did not plan to let the warship ride the upwelling current, known as the "Monster Current," directly to the White Sea. The survival rate was too low, and if something went wrong, the warship could fall from an altitude of 10,000 meters. Even Sakazuki couldn't guarantee that every soldier on board would survive.
Cricket listened to Sakazuki's words.
He couldn't help but feel sympathy for the pirates in Shells Town.
But then he became confused again.
How could they reach Sky Island without waiting for the rising tide to arrive?
But in the next second, Cricket felt like his worldview was about to be overturned.
What kind of god did I meet today?
After Sakazuki explained everything, Cricket no longer hesitated.
He pushed his feet hard on the deck and flew directly into the sky, stepping on air.
A series of sonic booms followed.
Countless airwaves rippled through the sky.
In the blink of an eye, Sakazuki disappeared into the clouds.
Cricket was left stunned, with a bewildered look on his face, his hair whipping in the wind.
...
Tens of minutes later.
Sakazuki, who was thousands of meters above the ground, started to feel the air becoming thinner.
Above, he could vaguely see the White Sea, as he remembered.
This place should be around 7,000 meters high.
Further up was the path to the White Sea.
Sakazuki pushed through the thick white sea clouds with slight effort.
He felt the air beneath his feet begin to thicken again.
Then he pushed harder and sped up.
He headed straight towards the sky island above.
In just a quarter of an hour, Sakazuki successfully reached Sky Island, the Kingdom of God.
The Kingdom of God mainly consists of Angel Island and upper yard.
The island of gods, Upper Yard, where the gods lived, was called the "sacred territory." It had originally been part of Jaya Island.
It had been brought to the White Sea by the massive sky current 400 years ago.
For over 400 years, the native residents of Sky Island and those of Jaya Island had fought long-term wars to compete for territory.
400 years ago, the "god" Gan Fall was in power at that time.
Six years earlier, Enel had destroyed his hometown, Birka, an empty island, and arrived at the Kingdom of God.
With his great power, Enel defeated Gan Fall.
He became the new god of the Kingdom of God and ruled with fear.
After being defeated by the Straw Hat Pirates, the political power of the Kingdom of God returned to Gan Fall's hands.
The battle over Sky Island, which had lasted for over 400 years, came to an end.
So after Enel was defeated, if one wanted to take a spaceship to the infinite continent, they would need to go to a place with abundant gold to build their ark.
That place was most likely Shandora!