Cloud Realm

A moment later.

A massive airship appeared beside the treetop.

Wang Gao took Mammon, Asmodeus, and a group of Ghost Soldiers responsible for piloting the airship, boarding it as it flew toward the high skies.

Clouds and mist swirled around them, reducing visibility to less than One Hundred Meters.

Only after the airship broke through a certain boundary did everyone feel a blinding glare. Then they saw an endless expanse of blue sky, with a white sea of mist beneath the airship.

This was the White Sea at an altitude of 7,000 meters.

More precisely, this was condensation cloud formed when water vapor encountered cold air at high altitude, not a true White Sea in the strict sense.

To form a White Sea, a prerequisite was required: special keratin particles erupted from underground volcanoes had to combine with substances in the clouds to form the "sea clouds" and "island clouds" of the White Sea.

Through the roots of the Mist Sea Tree that had penetrated deep underground, Wang Gao had already separated those special particles—N-Hydrogen, also known as Neutron Hydrogen.

It could combine with water molecules to form a special cloud mass with extremely powerful buoyancy.

However, the sea of clouds formed by the Mist Sea Tree above the Devil's Triangle did not actually contain N-Hydrogen. Therefore, the clouds here were merely ordinary clouds. Ordinary ships could not float or sail atop them, and airships were the only way to reach them.

This airship had also been created by Wang Gao using N-Hydrogen particles. It could use the particles' immense buoyancy to ascend, descend, and hover in flight.

Through the Shadow World, Lucifer had already collected the molecular structures of sea clouds and island clouds from other Sky Islands.

When the airship rose to an altitude of 10,000 meters, the area was vast and empty, with no Sky Islands formed from island clouds.

In truth, the formation of the White Sea and White White Sea required volcanic eruptions. Ideally, they needed frequently erupting active volcanoes to form.

Otherwise, Sky Islands would not be so rare.

Wang Gao ordered, "Asmodeus, have Black Mist erupt water vapor at full force."

"Yes, Father God." Asmodeus nodded.

A moment later.

The Mist Sea Tree—Black Mist—frantically absorbed the surrounding seawater and produced vast quantities of water vapor. The vent at the treetop changed shape as well, transforming from its previous honeycomb structure into a single large opening.

At this moment, however, the large opening remained sealed. As time passed, more and more water vapor accumulated inside the Mist Sea Tree, and the pressure grew increasingly immense.

At last, the steam pressure exceeded the large opening's limit. It erupted in an instant, blasting upward into the high skies.

The precisely calculated eruption pressure allowed the water vapor to successfully reach an altitude of 10,000 meters, where it dispersed in every direction.

The airship immediately launched a large number of rockets. They exploded within the steam cloud, releasing vast quantities of N-Hydrogen.

After the water vapor and N-Hydrogen successfully fused, they formed island-cloud matter.

Three Days Later, a Sky Island with an average thickness of 300 meters and an area of 300 square kilometers had formed at an altitude of 10,000 meters above the Devil's Triangle.

Wang Gao named this place "Cloud Realm."

Elsewhere.

On the Red Line between South Blue and West Blue, within the perpetually Ice-bound Antarctic Circle, everything appeared calm and peaceful.

In truth, beneath the ice cap covering the Red Line, Lucifer opened a Shadow Tunnel, while Mammon used the Crystal Mecha's ability to extract crystalline matter from the Red Line on a Large-scale, then stuff it into the Shadow Tunnel.

Lucifer transported the crystalline matter sent through the tunnel to Cloud Realm.

Once the transported crystalline matter reached 50% of Cloud Realm's load-bearing capacity, the two stopped extracting it.

Mammon returned to Cloud Realm. Looking at the mountain-like pile of crystalline matter, he took out a prepared blueprint. One hand pressed against the blueprint while the other rested on the crystal mountain, and his ability immediately activated.

Countless crystalline substances began to transform, forming the buildings shown in the blueprint across Cloud Realm.

First came Sky Ladder City at the center of Cloud Realm, a city shaped like concentric circles.

Then came the air port cities in the four directions: East Port, West Port, South Port, and North Port.

In the future, these ports would serve as home ports for the HIA Air Force Fleet, Air Transport Ships, and Air Merchant Ships.

Next came the internal buildings, roads, sewers, and the like, followed by the highway and railway networks connecting the five cities.

Finally came the crucial part of Sky Ladder City.

In Sky Ladder City's concentric circular layout, all the buildings were concentrated along the outer ring. The inner city at the center was not actually intended for habitation.

Mammon constructed four cables there, each made entirely of carbon nanotubes. The four cables extended downward from the inner city and connected to the Mist Sea Tree.

They did not connect to the treetop, but to the tree's trunk at a height of roughly 2,000 meters, where there were four specially modified platforms and a circular passageway.

The platforms on the trunk were connected through elevator shafts to the areas near the sea surface, including the internal base and the like.

Mammon busied himself modifying the Sky Ladder.

Meanwhile, Wang Gao arranged the remaining Large Areas of open land in Cloud Realm. For example, the open land around North Port was designated for use as an Industrial Zone.

The open land around East Port was planned as farmland.

The area around South Port was designated for forests and lakes.

The area around West Port was set aside as an Air Force Training Ground.

At the same time, Lucifer began secretly taking in refugees from various war-torn regions, settling them in Gourmet Island and Cloud Realm through the Shadow Tunnel, while assigning a small portion to the Black Reef Archipelago.

After construction in Cloud Realm was complete, Wang Gao took Asmodeus aboard an airship and headed for Birka, a Sky Island 836 kilometers away.

The airship was not particularly fast, but an airship that used N-Hydrogen for buoyancy was quite different from conventional hydrogen airships. At the same temperature and pressure, the buoyancy of the same volume of hydrogen and N-Hydrogen differed by a factor of 12.4.

As a result, N-Hydrogen airships had an enormous carrying capacity. The airship Wang Gao was aboard had a maximum payload of around 8,500 tons.

Inside the airship, every kind of living facility was available, along with a small laboratory.

Flying at an altitude of ten thousand meters, gazing at the clouds and blue sky below, he naturally felt a sense of tranquility.

Suddenly, Wang Gao's gaze sharpened, as though it had pierced through the layers of clouds to see an island on the sea of the Grand Line below.

A Marine warship was docked beside the island.

The giant Marine officer looked at the White-haired Woman before him and waved expressionlessly. "Take her away."

The White-haired Woman was in great pain. There was grief over the deaths of her companions, helplessness at being unable to continue researching the Poneglyphs, and worry for her homeland mixed in as well.

Several Marines placed handcuffs on the White-haired Woman and escorted her onto the warship.

High in the sky, Wang Gao witnessed the scene through Observation Haki, but he had no intention of rescuing her. Mainly because he had seen several members of the CP Organization inside the warship.

It was not that he feared them. Rather, according to Lucifer's intelligence data, two of the CP members possessed Observation Haki.

Trying to silently rescue someone right under the noses of people proficient in Observation Haki would be quite difficult.

Moreover, Wang Gao did not want to provoke the World Government too severely for the time being. The Poneglyphs were precisely their sore spot. Ohara's destruction had likely already begun its countdown.

That Marine warship had no idea it had inadvertently escaped a disaster and continued sailing toward Enies Lobby.

Wang Gao's airship also continued onward toward Birka in the Sky Island.

Meanwhile, undercurrents were stirring within Impel Down as well.

Of Columbus's three old subordinates, one had died and one had been wounded and retired. Dra, the user of the Curse Fruit, was also loaned to the CP Organization on January 7th, Year 1500.

Although Magellan, Shiryu of the Rain, and the others had intensified their training after the previous Grizzly Boom incident, their strength had not improved explosively.

At this time, Cook was the true backbone of Impel Down.

Thank you all for your support (ω｀). Thanks to readers "Simple deng," "Zhi Xing He Er," and "Ao Netherworld" for the rewards!