An Unexpected Incident on the Journey

"One should be more carefree in life. If I like flowers, I don't necessarily have to pick them. If I like the wind, should I ask it to stop so I can smell it?"

"When you're unhappy, take a ride in an airship, clear your mind, and your worries will naturally disappear."

Awooo!

Nefertari Vivi flashed her pearly white teeth and bit down hard on the arm of the smooth-talking scoundrel, leaving a deep tooth mark.

It's really strange. Even though Ma Qiao's physical strength has surpassed that of steel, when Garp's iron fist hits him now, it only produces a clanging sound like metal clashing.

But how could a little girl with such poor fighting ability leave teeth marks? This puzzled Ma Qiao.

But after thinking about it, seeing King Luffy and Liu Zoro getting covered in bumps from a certain Cat Burglar, Ma Qiao felt relieved.

In this world, the critical hit bonus that women provide to their teammates is terrifying.

Vivi raised her head, her rosy cheeks puffing out like goldfish:

"I don't care about your weird reasoning. I just want to know why, when it's supposed to be a journey for the two of us, Nami and Yamato are on the airship?"

"Let me explain!"

Ma Qiao pulled his arm away, dodging Vivi's second attack:

"This is the first public flight of the Fathead Fish Airship. Many test flights have already been conducted in the laboratory. Piloting this kind of airship is no easy task, and Nami has an amazing talent for it..."

"Okay, I'll assume you're right for now."

Vivi also knew that Nami held the Need for Speed championship on the Big Bird Network with an absolute high score of 5.6 million points, while her own score had never exceeded 10,000 points.

The two men's driving talents are indeed worlds apart.

"But..."

Vivi pointed to Yamato, who was wearing Big Bird Airlines flight attendant uniform and sitting on the floor in an unseemly manner, eating beer and Yamato chicken:

"Nami is one thing, but why is this woman on the airship?! If you need flight attendants, I can easily work part-time. Besides, this white-haired woman is completely unqualified to be a waitress, okay?"

Ma Qiao explained frankly, "Well... Yamato is a very important fighting force for us..."

"That's right, that's right, I'm not a flight attendant, I'm a combatant!"

Yamato sucked on his greasy fingers, then raised the spiked club resting on his lap to show that he was a formidable fighter.

"Combatant?"

Vivi said suspiciously, "We're tens of thousands of meters in the air, how could we possibly encounter enemies? As for the Goa Kingdom, aren't there three naval captains there..."

Bang!

Before Vivi could finish speaking, the Fathead Fish Airship's gondola suddenly shook violently, as if it had hit a reef.

"Nami, what's going on?"

Ma Qiao shouted loudly towards the driver's seat.

"I don't know! There seems to be something in the clouds!"

Nami remained remarkably calm in the face of the crisis.

While piloting the airship, Nami even grabbed Dr. Heimerdinger Head's messy curly hair and tossed it accurately into the engine room. "Heimerdinger, go check the rudder!"

This vacuum airship embodies the hard work of many scientists from Piltover.

Dr. Heimerdinger even accompanied the ship on its voyages to inspect and repair the equipment at any time.

To be honest, although it has undergone many test flights, and vacuum airships are far safer than hydrogen airships.

But after all, this is a vehicle flying at an altitude of tens of thousands of meters, so the risk factor is still very high.

If it weren't for amazing abilities like Teleport and Flash, Ma Qiao wouldn't have dared to try it.

Under Nami's "Strike My Teammate" superhuman strength, Heimerdinger rolled all the way from the cockpit to the engine room.

Upon inspection, it was confirmed that something had indeed damaged the airship's rudder.

After intensive repairs, the airship was finally back to normal.

"Strange, what exactly did the airship collide with just now?"

In the cockpit, Nami lay on the chair, stretching out her two long, slender legs, and using her nimble toes to control the airship.

"So this is how you pilot an airship?"

Ma Qiao shouted, "This is dangerous driving! You're treating the lives of so many of us like a joke!"

"Hey, you who failed your driving test five times in a row, stop nagging."

Nami's words pierced Ma Qiao's heart like a sharp sword.

Zoro is right, this woman is definitely going to hell.

Nami ignored the injured Boss Ma Qiao, using her feet to control the airship while scribbling on the aviation chart and occasionally taking out a magnetic needle to compare the data.

"It's confirmed! That place was definitely an unmarked Sky Island!"

"Our vacuum airship was flying in the stratosphere, above the cloud layer, which is why the bottom of the cargo hold crashed into the mountain peak of the Sky Island!"

Listening to Nami's analysis, Ma Qiao fell into deep thought.

It wasn't that I was confused about entering the stratosphere at an altitude of just over 10,000 meters; after all, the meteorological physics of the One Piece world simply couldn't be judged by common sense.

Ma Qiao was pondering where this Sky Island actually was.

Like the Blue Sea, the sea of clouds in the One Piece world is dotted with countless floating islands.

However, theoretically, there shouldn't be any unmarked Sky Islands in the airspace from Ma Qiao's Shandora Sky Island Factory all the way to the East Blue China Sea.

Although they don't have much interaction with the Blue Sea, the Skypieans of the Sky Island have a relatively high level of technology and have conducted extensive exploration of the surrounding waters.

The aviation chart that Nami has was bought by Ma Qiao from the Skypieans.

"Perhaps, like Jaya Island, it's an island that was recently swept into the sky by ocean currents!"

Nami carefully marked the location of the island on the aeronautical chart and wrote on it:

"In the year 1519 of the Sea Circle Calendar, Captain Nami discovered this island and named it Cat Cat Island..."

Seeing Nami's smug expression, Ma Qiao suddenly realized something.

As a seasoned One Piece fan, Ma Qiao had read some Pirate King fanfiction in his previous life.

In the world of One Piece, there are also many people who build airships.

However, there seems to be a mysterious law at play: whenever the protagonist travels in an airship, they are bound to encounter a legendary great pirate...

That's right, it's Golden Lion, the great pirate who, like Whitebeard, was a remnant of the old era.

As Devil Fruit User, after severing his own legs and escaping Impel Down, Shiki the Golden Lion began plotting to destroy the East Blue.

However, in Ma Qiao's opinion, the Golden Lion's plan was rather ridiculous.

Using the power of his Float-Float Fruit, he artificially created a Sky Island and conducted biological hybridization experiments on Sky Island, preparing to destroy the entire East Blue with a beast tide.

It would be one thing to devise such a pointless and absurd battle plan, but what left Ma Qiao speechless was that the Golden Lion's motive for destroying the East Blue was also utterly ridiculous.

He believed that the East Blue was the Weakest Sea, an obscure place, unworthy of being the final resting place of heroes like Roger.

In short, he believed that the East Blue had tarnished Roger's reputation.

But Roger is from the East Blue.

Leaves fall and return to their roots, dying in their hometown—isn't that the most normal thing? Who gave you, a demon, the right to object?

However, on the other hand...

Today's East Blue, thanks to the butterfly effect of Ma Qiao's actions, has been transformed into a Category 10 typhoon and is no longer the obscure East Blue depicted in the original novel.

The East Blue today is a riotous and chaotic place, a veritable den of monsters.

Ma Qiao wasn't entirely sure if that guy, Golden Lion, still had plans to destroy the East Blue.

Of course, it's too early to say these things now.

Ma Qiao's side still couldn't even confirm whether the island they had just bumped into was actually the Golden Lion's Floating Sky Island.

However, regardless of the circumstances, the island is too close to the Big Bird Consortium's Shandora production base, posing an uncertain and dangerous factor.

Due to its unique geographical location, the Shandora production base is home to various core technology production lines of the Big Bird Consortium, and absolute security must be guaranteed.

Ma Qiao planned to investigate thoroughly after he had dealt with matters concerning the Goa Kingdom.

Of course, like Golden Lion, Zephyr is one of the top-tier fighters who died unjustly in the movie.

If that island really is his territory, then Ma Qiao must be fully prepared.

Otherwise, if they alert the enemy but fail to eliminate them, Shandora's Sky Island Factory will face a very passive situation in the future.

Just as Ma Qiao was lost in thought, the view outside the window turned into a vast expanse of white.

The Fathead Fish vacuum airship began its descent into the clouds.

After leaving the stratosphere, the airflow begins to turbulent.

Fortunately Nami truly lives up to her title as the World's Strongest navigator.

She tucked her two small, white feet in and began to manipulate them with her hands.

The turbulent airship immediately became docile, like a soothed foal.

Soon, the scenery outside the window changed again.

Looking down at the future sea, it shimmered under the sunlight.

A huge island, slightly smaller than Wano Country, appeared before them in the distance.

Wow, is that the legendary model country?

Vivi stood on tiptoe, looking up at the Goa Kingdom, a look of anticipation on her face.

Ma Qiao patted her on the shoulder with a smile:

"I'm afraid you'll be disappointed. Our first stop is a place called the Uncertain Substance Terminal. Trust me, you definitely won't like it there!"

"It can't be that bad, can it?"

Vivi shook her head and said, "Could it be that it's worse than the desolate Alabasta Kingdom of two years ago?"

"Ma Qiao is right. Compared to the Goa Kingdom, even the arid Alabasta is a paradise on earth."

Nami sighed and explained to her best friend in the tone of a seasoned East Blue native:

"Let me put it this way: compared to those disgusting nobles of the Goa Kingdom, even the incompetent and mediocre King Cobra of the Alabasta Kingdom could be considered a wise ruler..."