Under the protection of the Bubbly Coral, Carina successfully crossed the White Sea.
Just after breaking through the cloud layer, El suddenly shouted,"Carina, keep flying upward! I've sensed fluctuations of human activity!"
"Yes!"
Carina responded immediately.
Her massive wings beat powerfully once more. Even at extreme altitude, the thinning air had no effect on her speed or stability.
In only a few minutes, she pierced through another layer of clouds.
As Nami and Kuina created another large bubble, the Bubbly Corals in their hands were finally exhausted.
Fortunately, El still had more than a dozen of them stored in his backpack.
When Carina burst through the white clouds again, an entirely new scene unfolded before them—
A clear blue sky.
Floating islands.
And land suspended among the clouds.
"Is… that Sky Island?"
Carina stared ahead in disbelief.
Amid the vast sea of white clouds, islands of various colors floated peacefully, bathed in sunlight.
"I never imagined that islands—and people—could exist ten thousand meters above the ground," she said softly, awe filling her voice."It's… unbelievably romantic."
"Carina, take us down first," El said calmly.
"Okay, Nii-san."
Carina descended and landed gently on the pure white sand.
Bang.
As the three climbed off her back, a burst of white steam erupted from Carina's body.
When the smoke cleared, she had returned from her five-meter-tall pterosaur form to her original human height.
Opening her mouth, she released the pterosaur from Baku Baku Space, just as easily as she had swallowed it earlier.
"You fly in that direction," El said, patting the pterosaur's head."There's an island there."
He pointed toward the distant Upper Yard, the former land of gods.
"Wait for us there. Don't even think about running," El added lightly."If you do, I'll stew you."
The pterosaur nodded frantically, pecking the air like a chicken, then flapped its wings and fled in the indicated direction.
"Let's go," El said."We'll gather some information first."
After watching the pterosaur leave, El led the three girls toward Angel Island.
Although he claimed they would gather information—
El had already fully released his Observation Haki, instantly enveloping the entire island.
Excluding the Upper Yard and the ruins of Shandora, Angel Island itself was relatively small.
Even back in East Blue, El's Observation Haki had been strong enough to cover an island of this size.
Within his perception, all the fluctuating auras across Angel Island appeared as points of light.
The brighter the light—
The stronger the individual.
Not here…
After a brief scan, El withdrew his Observation Haki.
Among the stronger auras, he did not sense Gan Fall, the current God of Sky Island.
Which meant—
Gan Fall was likely not on Angel Island.
He was probably in the Upper Yard, or somewhere else entirely.
With that in mind, El decided to first ask around about Birka.
If that failed, he would simply read Gan Fall's memories directly.
The most prosperous area of Angel Island was a street called Lovely Street.
The four had landed on Angel Beach, at the edge of the island, and had to pass through Lovely Street to reach the main marketplace.
Along the way, they encountered many Sky Island residents.
"Heso! Welcome to Angel Island, Vearth people!"
"I haven't seen Vearth people in a long time. May your journey be safe and joyful!"
Seeing that El and the others had no wings—and that their skin was lighter than that of the Shandians—the Sky Islanders immediately recognized their origins.
Unlike the era of Enel's rule, Sky Island at this time was extremely friendly toward people from Vearth.
There was no entry fee.
As they passed, residents greeted them warmly and openly.
"Nii-san," Nami whispered,"Do they all know we came from the sea ten thousand meters below?"
"So 'Vearth people' is what Sky Islanders call us…" Carina murmured.
"It looks like we're not the first ones to reach Sky Island," Kuina added."Plenty of people must have come before us."
The three girls sighed softly.
The friendliness of the Sky Islanders far exceeded their expectations.
By the time they reached the main marketplace, they had already grown used to the warmth.
After casually purchasing a local map from a stall, they finally understood why the Sky Islanders were so enthusiastic.
"Is… is this heaven?"
Holding the map in one hand and a purse in the other, Nami stared blankly.
"Fifty Belly coins," she said in disbelief."He exchanged this much money for them."
Carina also let out a quiet sigh.
"I didn't expect Sky Island to use a currency called Extol instead of Belly."
"And one Belly here is worth ten thousand Extol."
"The most common fifty-Belly coin is worth half a million Extol."
She paused.
"Even if we didn't withdraw all our money from the bank… we're probably among the richest people on Sky Island now."
"The Grand Line really is unbelievable," Kuina said quietly.
Following the directions on the map, the four soon arrived at a sailing tool shop.
As soon as they stepped inside, Nami's worldview was shattered once again.
Unlike ordinary shops on the Blue Seas, this store specialized entirely in Sky Island goods.
Mounted neatly along the walls were strange shells—
Dials.
The remains of special shellfish unique to Sky Island.
The girls' eyes sparkled with excitement.
To them, it felt as though they had entered an entirely different world.
El, however, ignored the novelty.
He went straight to the counter and asked the shop owner calmly:
"Do you know… about Birka?"
PS :
Extol – Currency used on Sky Island; extremely high exchange rate compared to Belly.
Dial – Special shellfish remains unique to Sky Island with various functions.
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