While Smoker and Tashigi were wounded and their Marine warship was violently flung into the sky, Vivi was chatting with Johnny and Yosaku aboard a merchant vessel over ten nautical miles ahead.
"Big Sis, is the Grand Line really that dangerous?"
"Big Sis, what's the highest bounty of a pirate you've defeated? Is it over 10 million?"
Sea navigation can be mind-numbingly dull, and Johnny and Yosaku passed the time either by playing paper games with Karoo the duck or peppering Vivi with endless questions.
Though they had never left the East Blue, the two fancied themselves knowledgeable. They spoke of the Warlords of the Sea and even mentioned the Fish-Man Knight of the Sea, Jinbei, which, to Vivi's surprise, indicated they weren't as uninformed as most East Blue folk.
To them, Vivi, who had traveled the Grand Line, was unquestionably a legendary figure. After all, even Don Krieg—who boasted 5,000 men and had been dubbed the East Blue's "Overlord"—had needed extensive preparation to venture into the Grand Line. Compared to that, the idea of Vivi casually traveling that sea seemed absurd.
Vivi chuckled and waved off their awe. "You're overhyping it. There are plenty of normal people living on the Grand Line. If you want, I could bring you there myself. What's Don Krieg? A complete idiot. We went in without needing years of planning or a massive armada."
But Johnny and Yosaku immediately shook their heads like maracas. "Nope! Nope! No way! That's suicide!"
They were looking for reference points to ground their fears.
Vivi might think of herself as competent, and she certainly acted the part, but to them, she was just a teenage girl—barely fifteen. Even if she seemed tough, there were far more dangerous figures out there. If she could beat them, what would real pirates and bounty hunters be like? Terrifying.
While they chatted idly about myths and monsters, Vivi suddenly "heard" the ship speaking to her—a vague sixth sense tingling, warning of something incoming.
"Hm? Something valuable flying over on its own?" She turned toward the window, curious.
The sea sparkled peacefully, the skies clear and deceptively calm. Then—something flashed.
A gleaming sword spun rapidly through the air, closing in fast.
Quick as a flash, Vivi caught it. The moment she held the blade, she could tell from its weight and curvature—it was a Meito, a named blade.
A famous sword… falling from the sky?
She blinked. What kind of absurd luck was this?
She turned instinctively in the direction the sword had come from.
What she saw stunned her.
A Marine warship was being lifted violently into the air by some overwhelming force. The pull wasn't subtle; it was raw, brutal. The ship rolled midair, and marines, rifles, sabers, and wreckage spilled into the sea below like marbles from an upturned jar.
Golden Lion Shiki?!
Vivi's expression darkened. She had heard of the notorious pirate—once rival to the Pirate King Gol D. Roger and Whitebeard himself—who escaped from Impel Down by cutting off his own feet and who possessed the fearsome Fuwa Fuwa no Mi, the Float-Float Fruit.
She had even sold his stolen sky-cable recently, wary of any residual traces of his power. The thought of running into him never crossed her mind.
But it wasn't just the Marine ship. Her own vessel was beginning to rise.
"No way…" she muttered. The sensation beneath her feet confirmed it—they were being lifted.
There was no time. She had to abandon ship.
Vivi gritted her teeth, quickly calculating the drop. Within seconds, they had already ascended nearly a kilometer. Her eyes darted to the sea below—dizzying. Could she survive the fall? In her past life, this would have exceeded even extreme bungee jump heights. A fall from here, without gear, would be lethal.
But there was no other choice.
"Jump... I have to jump!"
She drew a dagger and began hacking at the window and nearby wooden planks. In a second, she created a makeshift escape hatch two meters wide.
"Karoo! Let's go!"
Her escape plan? Ride the duck. Karoo couldn't fly, but with a few desperate flaps, he might cushion their fall long enough to reach the sea safely.
Bad luck struck again.
As she climbed atop Karoo, six other merchant ships, now also floating in the air, began smashing into each other under Shiki's control, twisting into a heap midair. One of them collided directly into the very gap she'd carved.
There was no time or strength to stop the oncoming hull. These weren't steel dreadnoughts, but a 100-meter-long wooden ship carried enough momentum to obliterate her route. She couldn't punch through or defend against that.
She had to abort.
"Damn it! Change of plan!" she cursed. "Johnny! Yosaku! On deck! We're evacuating the cabin now!"
She grabbed them and dragged them forward without hesitation.
Just three seconds later, the merchant ships collided violently. The chaotic wreckage floated and tangled, and Shiki's maniacal laugh echoed above as he raised a hand, hurling the merged wreckage—along with hundreds of screaming passengers—toward a floating island.
"Grab the rigging! Hold tight!"
"Let go! Move to the right stay line! Fast!"
"The stern's breaking! Get to the mainmast! Now!"
Thanks to her fast reflexes and natural leadership, Vivi climbed atop Karoo and shouted orders. Her clear voice helped snap the shocked crew out of paralysis.
Johnny and Yosaku followed her instinctively, along with other surviving passengers.
The normal voyage had turned into a sky disaster, and no one questioned her age or status now. In a crisis, decisive leadership mattered more than anything.
Wielding two swords—her new Meito and her usual weapon—Vivi slashed through fallen rigging, obstructing debris, and loose chains.
Karoo, despite his lack of combat skill, proved agile and nimble in escaping danger. Vivi darted across the chaotic, rotating deck, cutting through obstacles and shouting guidance. As their ship neared impact with the floating island below, Karoo gathered strength and launched her off the ship just in time.
Vivi flew through the air, crashing through a tree with a trunk the width of a bowl, then tumbled hard into the dirt.
"ARGH! That hurts like hell!" she groaned, clutching her back.
Ignoring her own pain, she stumbled toward the wreckage.
Her first thought: Karoo.
"Karoo! Don't worry, I'm coming!"
"Karoo! Please be okay!"
She clawed through the broken boards, overturning timbers. But instead of Karoo, she found an old woman—terrified and trembling, likely in her seventies.
"Hang on, I've got you," Vivi muttered, steadying the woman before continuing the search for her beloved duck.