Three days later—less than a week in total—the Pegasus returned to its birthplace and docked once again at Water 7.
The five disembarked and headed toward Center Street for shopping.
They had gone on a shopping spree not long ago and didn't actually lack supplies—but this time was different.
They were about to enter closed-door training.
The next time they returned to Water 7 would be three years later.
And more importantly, Perona, who had just joined the crew, owned nothing beyond clothes and shoes.
To take care of the newest crew member—who was technically the oldest among them but looked the youngest—Carina and Nami dragged Perona straight into Water 7's clothing district.
They custom-ordered outfits for all four seasons, then matched them with bags, shoes, and jewelry.
Thanks to the pirates they had hunted around Water 7 earlier—and the emptied Gecko Pirates' treasury—money was no longer an issue.
Under the relentless "money offensive" of Carina and Nami, Perona—who had never experienced such extravagance—remained dazed the entire time, like a doll being dressed up at their mercy.
Custom tailoring took several days, so the group stayed in Water 7 a little longer.
During that time, El focused on one thing:
Where should they train for the next three years?
Before long, he realized—
There was no real choice at all.
First, the reason for retreating was simple:
to deny World Government and Marine Headquarters any opportunity to prepare an ambush and eliminate them in advance.
Second, after three years, their strength had to reach a level where—
Even if they couldn't defeat a true powerhouse,
they could escape without question.
Third, El and the four girls were still in their growth phase.
Without the nutritional supplement, it would be impossible to reach that level of power within three years.
Three years' worth of supplements meant:
massive quantities of medicinal herbs
and an astronomical amount of Belly
Money was actually the easier problem.
As long as the City of Gold in the sky still existed, Belly would never be an issue.
The real problem was medicine.
Only two types of places could supply those herbs in sufficient quantity:
large pharmacies on major islands
or the black market
Even then, many prosperous islands still lacked certain key herbs.
In the end, there was only one place that could fully meet their needs.
Drum Island.
Which meant—
If they wanted to train uninterrupted,
their retreat location had to be near Drum Island.
Otherwise, once their supplement ran out, there would be nowhere to restock.
"Nii-san, what are you thinking about?"
Seeing El frown slightly, Carina—lying beside him and flipping through a magazine—asked curiously.
"I've already chosen our training location," El replied slowly, coming back to himself.
"But before we go there… we need to return to the Sky Island and take some gold."
"Okay!"
Nami immediately raised both hands and cheered.
"The Sky Island… really exists?" Perona asked, eyes wide.
"Hehehe—of course it does," Nami said proudly.
"And the City of Gold from fairy tales is real too."
She patted Perona on the shoulder.
"The gold decorations in our cabin? Carina made them using her Devil Fruit—but the raw gold came from there."
"That's incredible…" Perona murmured, eyes shining with longing.
Then she asked eagerly,
"So… how do we get to the legendary Sky Island?"
Nami turned to El at once.
"Yeah, Nii-san—what method are we using this time?"
Carina also looked over, curious.
"Are we going back to Little Garden to catch another pterosaur?"
"It won't be that troublesome," El said, shaking his head.
"When I was shopping on Jaya, I secretly read the memories of the locals."
"Every year, there's a Knock Up Stream—a massive water column that launches seawater ten thousand meters into the sky."
"One of the Sky Islands was sent into the air by it hundreds of years ago."
"And this year…"
El smiled slightly.
"We're arriving right on time."
"So this time," he continued, eyes gleaming,
"we'll take a more exciting route—and enjoy a real adventure."
Seeing the dangerous smile on El's face, the four girls—who had no idea how terrifying the Knock Up Stream was—felt a sudden sense of foreboding.
Half a month later, after Perona's custom clothes were finished, the Pegasus sailed to Jaya.
They successfully caught this year's Knock Up Stream.
Kuina, Carina, and Nami felt as though they had returned to their first days in the Grand Line—
an experience no less intense than Reverse Mountain, if not worse.
Perona, who had just joined, passed out on the spot.
If El hadn't caught her in time, she would have fallen straight off the ship.
After reaching the White Sea, only El looked unaffected.
The faces of the four girls were pale, and it took them a long while to recover.
Then—almost simultaneously—they turned to El with bulging cheeks and resentful expressions.
El responded with the same wicked smile he had worn half a month earlier.
Seeing this, Carina and Nami rushed over and unleashed their signature attacks on him.
After surviving the thrill of the Knock Up Stream, the rest of the journey went smoothly.
They passed through the Gate of Heaven, and with the help of Jet Dials, guided the Pegasus into the White-White Sea, ten thousand meters above the ocean.
Under Perona's stunned gaze, El led the ship to the Upper Yard—
And brought her to the ruins overflowing with gold.
Using the Baku Baku no Mi, Carina devoured an enormous quantity of gold.
Converted into Belly, it amounted to at least 100 billion.
Considering that 300 billion Belly could buy a small kingdom,
100 billion suddenly didn't seem like that much.
After taking the gold, they returned to Angel Island, bought Perona a Waver, and picked up various Sky Island specialties.
With nothing left to do, they left the Sky Island using octopus balloons.
Another half month passed.
El and the four girls arrived back at Drum Island.
Once ashore, they went on a true shopping spree.
They emptied:
the largest pharmacy
multiple smaller pharmacies
and even the hospital
Anything that could be used for nutritional supplements was bought and packed into double-digit giant backpacks.
Afterward, El signed a three-year long-term contract with the largest pharmacy.
They would stock and deliver herbs continuously—
El only needed to provide a location via Den Den Mushi.
After Carina stored the backpacks in Baku Baku Space, the group visited local weapon shops and bought all available ordinary swords.
With preparations complete, they began searching for the island closest to Drum Island.
Theoretically, Little Garden was the most suitable choice.
But El wanted absolutely nothing to do with its poisonous insects.
So he crossed it off immediately.
Before long, they found a small uninhabited island not far from Drum Island.
Because its Log Pose was completely overshadowed by Drum Island's, it had been abandoned and excluded from major routes.
Much like the minor islands near Water 7—
Overshadowed, undeveloped, and empty.
After landing on the island, El looked at the four girls and smiled.
The three-year retreat—
Had officially begun.
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