Sky Island

"Admiral Sakazuki, Fleet Admiral Sengoku wants you in his office."

"Got it!"

Akainu walked along the roads of Marineford, while Joni, every bit the socially anxious child, clung tightly to his pant leg as she followed behind him.

Then she watched as every Marine they passed greeted Uncle Sakazuki.

"Akainu, you bastard!"

The moment he pushed open the Fleet Admiral's office door, Sengoku's furious curse and a stack of documents came flying at him.

"Mr. Sengoku, there's no need to get so worked up!"

Akainu caught the documents and strolled over to sit down. Joni waited outside the door.

Looking at the reports in the documents, they were nothing more than an account of how much impact his fight with Cifer on Rexeno had caused.

"Do you know that the two of you changed the entire terrain of Rexeno with that fight?!"

Sengoku rose to his feet and walked toward Akainu, stopping in front of him.

"If Jonathan hadn't called to tell me, and if I hadn't sent people to suppress the news beforehand, reports about the two of you would have already been everywhere!"

"I just happened to run into that guy and couldn't hold myself back."

Akainu looked utterly unconcerned. So what if the news got out? That guy was his colleague.

Sengoku was equally helpless. Of the three Admirals he had, not one spared him any worry, and that old bastard had even gone to the East Blue for a vacation.

It would be great if Cifer could become one of the Shichibukai soon. The seas urgently needed a pirate like him—someone intimidating, yet with justice in his heart—to join the Shichibukai.

Once the outside world saw that even such a powerful man was willing to stand with the Marines, the Marines' authority would naturally be strengthened.

"Little Joni, come in!"

As Akainu's voice fell, a pretty little girl hurried in from outside and stood beside him.

"Nani~ Where did you kidnap such a cute little Marine from..."

On the shores of Sky Island.

"Silk~ Silk~"

"What a cute little fox~"

At some point, a snow-white fox had wandered over to Hina's side, instantly melting her heart.

"That's my pet. Her name is Silk!"

A lovely young woman with a pair of small white wings on her back walked out of a house by the shore with a smile.

"An angel!"

Wright and KureKke's eyes went wide. In the Great Pirate Era, beautiful women were not rare, but this was their first time seeing an angel.

"My name is Conis. I'm a resident of Sky Island~"

"No need to say more. I'm going to God's Island to see Enel."

Cifer interrupted what she was about to say. He had only one purpose in coming to Sky Island: deal with that guy first, then take his time looking around, so Enel would not continue his slaughter.

"Sir! That man is the god of Sky Island!"

Conis trembled all over in fright. After arriving on Sky Island, everyone else desperately avoided Enel and tried every possible way to return to the Blue Sea, yet this man wanted to find him right away!

"Hahahahaha! Kid, gods aren't people you can meet just because you want to!"

A squad wearing white berets came down the stairs leading to the town.

Just as Conis was about to salute the beret-wearing man at the front, their eyes rolled back and they collapsed to the ground.

"Gan Fall, how much longer are you planning to watch from the sidelines?"

After Cifer exposed him, the armored old man who had been hiding nearby emerged as well, leading Pierre.

"The former god?!"

Conis felt as though her brain could no longer keep up. The man before her had first entered illegally, then somehow taken down the beret squad, and now he had even called out the former god!

A storm also raged through Hina's mind. Cifer did not seem particularly respectful toward the islanders. He had come straight here looking as if he wanted to fight their god.

"Could it be that Mr. Cifer also possesses Mantra?"

Gan Fall truly could not figure out how he had been discovered. The only possibility was that Cifer knew Mantra.

"Just assume I do. Take me to the descendants of Jaya's original inhabitants."

Cifer thought it over carefully. Simply dealing with Enel would not be enough. Even without Enel and his subordinates, the conflict between Sky Island's natives and Jaya's original inhabitants would remain unresolved.

Since he was already here, he naturally intended to settle everything in one go.

Gan Fall looked into Cifer's unyielding eyes and recalled his overwhelming strength before finally asking,

"What do you want with them? If you mean to harm them, then even if it costs me this old life, I will stop you!"

During his time in office, he had always advocated resolving the conflict between both sides peacefully. The Shandia were also his people. How could he lead such a powerful man of unknown origins to them?

Elsewhere, in Shandia's Hidden Cloud Village.

"Aisa, are you saying more illegal intruders have arrived?"

The man with a tattoo over his left eye and a cigarette in his mouth looked at the child beside him.

"Yes! Their presences seem to be with Gan Fall's, and it looks like they attacked the berets! In an instant, my Mantra could no longer hear those berets' voices!"

Aisa hid behind a girl, staring fearfully at the man before her—Wappa, the "War Oni"!

"Has that guy finally decided to resist Enel?" Wappa pondered as he smoked.

He disliked anyone called a "god." In his eyes, Enel and Gan Fall were both enemies to be defeated. It was only because Gan Fall had always pursued peaceful measures that he had never truly clashed with him.

Ever since Enel became Sky Island's new god, the entire island had been shrouded in his shadow. Wappa had wanted to defeat him and reclaim his homeland for far more than a day or two.

If Gan Fall and those Blue Sea people could take down one or two Priests, perhaps the time for them to rise up and fight back had arrived as well!

"They seem to be heading this way!"

For once, Aisa did the opposite of what she usually did and hid behind Wappa, whom she normally claimed was "scarier than a ghost," because among those approaching was someone who felt terrifying!

Wappa immediately gathered every Shandia warrior. Seeing his grave expression, everyone knew something major was about to happen.

"What a lively place. You don't mind if we add a few more people, do you?"

A sudden voice rang out, and Cifer's group appeared in Hidden Cloud Village.

"Gan Fall, what is the meaning of this?!"

Wappa drew his Burning Cannon.

"Some people here want to meet you."

Gan Fall stepped aside, and Cifer's group of four slowly walked up to Wappa. After their earlier conversation, Gan Fall had discovered that Cifer knew quite a bit about both Sky Island and the Shandia.

Moreover, after Cifer displayed his terrifying power, Gan Fall believed that he could surely resolve the problem that had plagued Sky Island for four hundred years!

"I'm here to help you resolve the conflict between the Shandia and Sky Island. And this man is here to verify a rumor from four hundred years ago."

Cifer pointed at KureKke beside him.

"Four hundred years ago? Could you be..."

Wappa had clearly recalled one of his ancestor, Great Warrior Calgara's old friends.

"I am Mont Blanc KureKke. I came here to prove that my ancestor once reached the Golden City!"

KureKke was already in tears. The reason Cifer had specifically introduced him was obvious—these people were Jaya's original inhabitants! Some of their ancestors must have known his own ancestor!

Wappa did not doubt him. The chestnut atop KureKke's head matched the descriptions left behind by their ancestors almost perfectly. Let them fulfill the promise their forebears had failed to keep!

"This time, we will definitely light the fires of Shandora!"