A Sudden Barrier
"Eh? Why are there two suns in the sky?!"
Luffy's eyes widened as he cried out, "That's amazing!"
"That isn't two suns." Crocodile stared fixedly at that spot, his expression darker than ever before.
With eyesight far beyond that of an ordinary person, he could make out more details. "Only one of them is the sun. The other is a palace floating high in the heavens. The light emanating from that palace is almost as radiant as the sun itself."
The palace was bathed in boundless holy light. Even he could not see its full form clearly.
Yet even from such a great distance, he could distinctly sense it.
An oppressive aura that made it hard to breathe, as well as a supreme sense of holiness, emanated from there.
It was as though that place were the dwelling of gods.
"That's Cloud Palace." With a cigarette dangling from his lips, Sanji casually gave the answer. "It's Dad's residence."
To be honest, he had personally set foot there before.
But when he had been inside, it had instead felt unreal and ethereal, as though he were lost amid clouds and mist, as if the entire palace floated weightlessly above the clouds.
It had been nothing like now, when gazing up from so far below. Now he could see it so clearly, and it was so awe-inspiring.
That sacred majesty, shining alongside the sun and dividing the light of heaven with it, had stirred even someone as calm as him with the urge to fall to his knees in worship.
And such a miraculous sight could not be seen in the Four Blues.
Only by climbing to a height like the Red Line could mortals barely catch a glimpse of Cloud Palace's holy visage.
In other words—
When a