East Blue, a certain sea area, clear skies
The sunlight penetrates the mist, casting fine golden rays on the calm sea.
The G-5 warship "Iron Wall" cut through the blue waves, and the ferocious wolf head statue on the figurehead reflected a cold light.
Rogge leaned on the bow rail, the hem of his white cloak swaying gently in the sea breeze, gazing at the distant horizon.
"Hey, Rhett, you're disturbing my sunbathing."
Enel leaned lazily against the mainmast, the golden staff casually draped over his shoulder.
The sunlight danced on the thunder drum tattoo on his earlobe, casting a faint halo.
Lei Te was slapping the railing excitedly, shaking the whole boat slightly: "See! This is the kingdom that Laozi and the boss have built!"
His nostrils curled up and he waved his arm:
"The entire East Blue, from Windmill Village to Cocosia, from Alpine Island to Sea Cat's Nest—Pirates? Not a single one! Hahahahaha!!!"
Enel raised an eyebrow, looking unconvinced: "Oh?"
"Look for yourself—East Blue is as peaceful as a hot spring bathhouse!"
Enel narrowed his eyes, a hint of sarcasm on his lips: "Look over there, what's that?"
His golden staff suddenly pointed to starboard.
Suddenly, a huge splash of water exploded on the sea surface, and a merchant ship was rushing towards them at an almost crazy speed.
The sails were already tattered, and the people on the deck were waving white flags hysterically: "Marine! Save us! There's a—"
Before he could finish his words, three huge monsters emerged from the water.
Leading the way was an upgraded giant lion, its scarlet eyes bloodshot, saliva dripping from its fangs corroding the deck;
Following closely behind was a crocodile with bone spurs on its back, which created a three-meter-high wave wall with a sweep of its tail.
Rhett's expression froze instantly.
He slowly lowered his head and looked at the railing he had just hit - there were still five fingerprints on the metal railing where he had pressed it excitedly.
"boom!"
Without any nonsense, the deck under Rhett's feet exploded.
He transformed into a streak of black lightning and soared into the sky, Armament Haki condensing into a spiral black storm on the tip of his fist.
"Armament Haki Entanglement - Meteor Fall!"
The first punch directly smashed the giant lion's head into its chest cavity, and the shock wave created a vacuum zone with a diameter of 20 meters on the sea surface.
The second punch hit the crocodile's back, and the bone spurs that were said to be able to withstand artillery fire shattered like fragile glass.
"Bang!"
When Leiter landed heavily on the deck of the merchant ship, the entire ship sank half a meter.
"This, this... is this... that... Lei, Leit-sama from G-5!?"
"It really is him!! We survived!!"
He looked at the shivering merchants on the deck and asked, "What's going on?"
"It's a monster that suddenly fell from the sky!"
The captain stammered, "We were transporting wine when suddenly the clouds..."
Before they could cheer, Enel's gloating laughter came from the distant warship:
"Ahahahahahaha, from Pirates to Monsters, what a big change. Rhett, didn't you say there wasn't even one?"
"Shut up!!!"
Veins popped out on Rhett's temples.
He ripped off his cloak, revealing his muscular upper body—the scars left by countless battles now glowed red. "Stay here and don't move."
After he finished speaking to the merchants, he stomped on the deck and jumped up again.
This time, he rushed directly towards the last monster - an upgraded albatross with a wingspan of more than ten meters.
A black, domineering air current formed a tornado on his right arm, with faint flashes of lightning.
"To Laozi—die!"
In a rage and humiliation, Rhett broke through his limits and launched a series of domineering attacks!
"boom!!!"
The wind from the fist tore through the air, directly blasting the giant bird into a bloody mist.
The aftermath plowed a hundred-meter-long gully on the sea surface, which took a long time to calm down.
Rogge stood at the stern, the telescope in his hand pointed somewhere in the sky, and the abnormal airflow Uzumaki was reflected on the lens.
He gently lowered the telescope, his eyes narrowed dangerously behind the lens: "It seems our cleaning work..."
"We still have to develop higher."
At this moment——
[Beep…Crack—]
Inside the warship's command tower, a specially modified black-and-gold Den Den Mushi opened its eyes, its eyeballs glowing red, its mouthparts opened, and it spewed out electric-like noise ripples.
Rogge's eyes flashed, and he slowly stepped into the cabin, tapping the insect shell with his fingertips.
"...G-5 Branch Chief, Rogge."
An extremely cold voice came from the other end of the Den Den Mushi, as if it were a machine operating without any emotion:
"CP0 has completed analysis of Sky Island monitoring results over East Blue."
"Based on the data you provided, including the magnetic disturbance map, high-altitude wind belt breakup points, and abnormal migratory bird migration trajectories, the Sky Island group has been successfully located."
"Area code: EAST SKY-03."
"Location: 5,500 meters above the East Blue high-altitude cloud belt. The density of floating rocks is over three times that of a normal floating island belt."
"Traces of fruit power were detected on the core island, consistent with the Lion Fruit energy field structure."
"Over three thousand biothermal signals were detected simultaneously, all highly aggressive—suspected to be artificially bred 'biological weapons.'"
"The traceable source... is most likely Golden Lion Shiki, who escaped from Impel Down eighteen years ago."
There was dead silence in the cabin.
Rogge lowered his eyes and slowly closed the Den Den Mushi. His expression was terrifyingly calm, as if a strong wind was gathering in his eyes.
He walked out of the cabin and looked up at the cloud-covered sky above his head.
At this moment, Rhett was carrying a giant beast bone and jumping back to the deck with a gloomy face.
"Believe it or not, the skins of those two monsters are thicker than the Sea Kings I smashed before!" he muttered.
Enel, leaning against the railing, was laughing uncontrollably. "Didn't the great hero Rhett say, 'I won't see a single Pirate!' Hahahaha, but we ended up seeing a monster."
"Have you laughed enough?" Rhett stared at him with a dark face.
"Well, I'm just telling the truth." Enel shrugged, lightning flashed, and his aura did not diminish at all.
While they were joking, Rogge walked to the bow of the boat.
"…East Blue is my territory."
He spoke calmly, and although his voice was not loud, it was louder than the noise on the entire deck.
"This is the pure land we have cleared from the sea of blood and corpses. I will not allow any fishy smell or stray dogs to cause trouble here."
"But now, someone dares to raise a monster on my 'head'?"
He looked up at the sky, his gaze seeming to penetrate the sea of clouds.
"How dare you throw the failed experiment product into my waters?"
He took a sudden step forward, his cloak rustling fiercely, and his cold voice was like a wrath from heaven:
"...It seems that it's time to clear out this layer of the sky."
Lei Te clenched his fists, his fighting spirit burning: "So it's in the sky... I was wondering why we couldn't even find the culprit."
Enel's lightning flashed, and a warlike smile appeared on his lips: "Thor... I've waited too long for this day."
Rogge turned around: "Leit, Enel."
"—prepare to ascend."
Lei Te put on the Seastone brass knuckles and said: "It's been a long time since I last went all out."
A wave of air suddenly exploded on the sea surface!
Before the sailors on the merchant ship could recover from the fear of the ferocious creatures, they saw the huge black steel ship, G-5's "Judgment", slowly rising without any sails or propellers!
"Hey, hey, hey... the warship... is flying?!"
The ropes at the edge of the deck suddenly taut, and Rogge's cloak fluttered in the strong wind.
He pressed his hand lightly, palm facing downwards—
"Rising Dragon!"
Buzz——!!!
The atmosphere of the entire sea area seemed to be grasped by an invisible hand. The sea surface below the Judgment instantly sank into a hemispherical vacuum with a diameter of 100 meters, and the wave wall solidified in mid-air.
The warship itself was lifted up by the Ultimate compressed air, like a sword lifted by the hand of God, and it rose into the sky!
A stream of blue and white light gushed out, and the entire warship rose into the sky like a flying dragon!
The storm swept through, and ordinary people on the merchant ship were shocked and speechless, watching the Judgment break through the clouds and soar into the sky!
At the bow of the ship, Rogge stood with his hands behind his back, his figure tall and straight, like a pillar of heaven, his eyes as cold as a blade.
Whisper like a Shinigami pronounces judgment:
"Shiki... you even crawled out of a legend."
"Don't even dream of putting down a drop of blood on my world."
——The battle to clear up the Sky Island has officially begun!