Yasa, being bold and skilled, had long anticipated that newcomers to Sky Island would struggle with the Island Clouds. This knowledge eased his concerns.
One certainty remained: he stood on either Angel Island or Birka Island. "God's Island" Apayado, part of Blue Sea Jaya Island, possessed the precious resource Sky Islanders craved—land!
Currently occupied by Gan Fall, the god of Sky Island, the place barred outsiders from entry.
With no solid ground beneath his feet, he could only be on Angel Island, Birka Island, or one of the surrounding Island Clouds.
After walking for about fifteen minutes, the scene before him finally changed. A hexagonal structure emerged from the sea of white clouds. Squinting, he strained his vision until recognition dawned.
The Gate of Heaven—the mandatory entrance to Sky Island.
"So I haven't truly reached Sky Island yet," he realized. "I'm still floating above the White Sea at 7,000 meters? Must I take that circular cloud path to Angel Island?"
As he approached, Yasa frowned at the elevated road leading upward.
He'd been so certain he'd conquered Angel Island, only to discover he'd missed the final step.
Shaking his head, Yasa continued walking across the soft clouds. Suddenly, his steps halted as his keen spiritual senses alerted him to being watched.
Within the hexagonal Gate of Heaven, a tunnel about a hundred meters long stretched out. The door of a room on the side suddenly opened, and an old woman about half Yasa's height emerged.
The old woman's face resembled a sour plum, grotesquely ugly. She wore pink clothes, and two small white wings protruded from her back—a pure-blooded Sky Islander.
She held a Sky Island specialty, the Image Shell camera, and began snapping photos at Yasa.
Yasa's vision remained abnormal. Though he couldn't clearly see the newcomer from this distance, he already had his suspicions.
"I am Amazon, the Gate of Heaven's supervisor," the short, sour-faced old woman said expressionlessly. "You're here to sightsee on Sky Island, aren't you? If you want to go up, pay 100 million Extol first!"
She wasn't as old as she would be in twenty years, but her voice still carried a slight hoarseness.
"100 million Extol?" Yasa frowned, unconsciously touching the crystalline blue sapphire hanging around his neck.
When Yasa was eight and stranded on Jaya Island, he'd already planned his escape route. Naturally, he knew the currency for entering Sky Island was Extol, with 10,000 Extol equaling one Beli from the Blue Sea—quite cheap.
But how could he get in without money?
The original Yasa had considered using the Shibole Family's ancestral blue sapphire he wore around his neck to pay, but now he'd changed his mind.
He vaguely remembered the Shibole Family saying this gem was the key to unlock their island's treasury.
What treasures could a small family possibly have? Gold? Silver? Yasa sneered at such material wealth. On the high seas, true power matters. With strength comes freedom and everything else.
Yet handing over this precious stone for nothing? That was unthinkable.
He'd live life on his terms—when others demanded payment, he'd refuse!
Yasa smiled casually, his tall frame and handsome face radiating charm as he approached Amazon. "Which direction is Birka Island from Angel Island?" he asked. "Can you tell me?"
"Ah, Birka... It rings a bell. Southeast of Angel Island, I think... But you'll know once you get there," Amazon replied after a moment's thought.
"Thank you. Goodbye!" Yasa received the answer he'd expected. He turned and stepped onto the cloud at the center of the Gate of Heaven, knowing he'd need a Super-Fast Shrimp to reach Sky Island.
These creatures lived up to their name—speed demons that could save him precious time.
"Only those who pay the toll can ascend Sky Island! This is unauthorized entry!"
Old Lady Amazon, angered by Yasa's departure, drew an Impact Dial weapon and swung it viciously.
The Amazon of twenty years later, under Enel's oppression, would have no patience for conflict. But this wasn't that future yet.
Impact Dials were Sky Island's unique bivalves, capable of unleashing devastating shockwaves rivaling Yasa's strongest attacks.
Though Yasa's back was turned, he sensed the danger behind him. His body moved instinctively, dodging the strike that could have felled a 30 million-bell Pirate.
"What just happened? That attack came out of nowhere..."
A fierce wind whipped past his ears, scattering his hair. Yasa stood frozen in shock.
His reflexes should have been too slow to dodge such a sudden attack, yet his body had reacted with extraordinary speed—as if he'd grown an eye at the back of his head, "seeing" the assault before it struck.
"Is this Observation Haki?" he thought, heart swelling with unexpected hope. He'd never imagined his Haki could awaken without rigorous training.
It was widely known that innate Observation Haki, awakened naturally, was far more powerful than that developed through training.
Among pirates, many masters of Observation Haki existed. The closest to him was Aisha, a girl from Sky Island, who belonged to the Shandia people—descendants of Jaya Island natives washed up on the island. She'd been born with innate Observation Haki, able to hear the sound of death, though she hadn't yet been born at this point in time.
Princess Otohime of Fish-Man Island could sense others' thoughts through her Observation Haki. What difference was there between this and mind reading?
Katakuri, son of Charlotte Linlin and future pirate with a bounty over 1 billion, had overdeveloped his Observation Haki to the point where he could predict short-term futures.
During the Marineford War, the world's greatest swordsman, Hawkeye Mihawk, used an Observation Haki similar to Katakuri's future-predicting ability to foresee himself severing Luffy's arm. (Regarding this point, I'll keep my own thoughts and won't change them! When Hawkeye swung his sword at Whitebeard, he said "Within range." But what about Luffy before that? Did he have Observation Haki? There were no signs of awakening. Thinking about how he later went to Rayleigh to learn from the basics of "hearing" after this battle, I can only chuckle. His future Observation Haki will undoubtedly be strong, but trying to predict the future now? That's simply unrealistic.)
Isshō the Blind Swordsman smiled, having lost both eyes, yet his Observation Haki was terrifyingly powerful. Using his Gravity Fruit, he could sense the trajectory of meteors from beyond the heavens, then pull them down for attacks. While the Gravity Fruit might have amplified his abilities, his Observation Haki remained formidable in its own right.
Everyone assumed Enel was the true master of Observation Haki, but in reality, without the Rumble-Rumble Fruit's electromagnetic capabilities, his Observation Haki might not have been particularly strong.
Hearing every conversation on Sky Island was a power granted to Enel by electricity, making his Observation Haki appear supernaturally strong.