Paradise, waters near Jaya Island.
Mihawk held a chilled sweet drink in one hand and a white porcelain teacup in the other. Hearing laughter faintly echoing from above, he looked up at the night sky.
"What an enviable ability."
As a Great Swordsman who hadn't eaten a Devil Fruit, Mihawk couldn't fly for extended periods.
And the source of the laughter—
Seven had leaped down from Skypiea. When he was about a hundred meters above sea level, he transformed into a bolt of lightning and landed safely on the deck.
His long silver hair was standing straight up, every strand.
At that moment, Seven finally understood why Kaido liked jumping down from sky islands. It was incredibly thrilling.
Not only did it send his adrenaline soaring, it also left him feeling refreshed and free of all worries.
From the moment Seven landed on the deck, Mihawk's gaze had been drawn to the Dream One Heart hanging at Seven's waist.
"That sword..."
Like a beast protecting its food, Seven quickly turned sideways to shield Dream One Heart. "Mihawk, this is my beloved. I won't lend it to anyone."
Mihawk: "Let me take a look."
Seven: "No."
Mihawk drew Black Blade Night from behind him and pointed it at Seven. "Come on, Captain. Let me see how much you've improved with all that training."
Mihawk also wanted to find out what qualified Seven to be acknowledged by such a mysterious blade.
"Hey, you two." The Doctor mustered his courage and stepped between them. "Before you spar, could you please unlock my handcuffs?"
"And our ship won't survive one of your Flying Slashes."
Mihawk put away Black Blade Night and returned to the cabin. This kid had gotten stronger again, while he himself had made no progress. After seeing Shandora, it was time to resume his training.
Seven yawned.
"Doctor, stand watch tonight. Tomorrow, your Captain will unlock your Seastone Handcuffs."
"Yes, Captain."
As if remembering something, Seven grabbed the Doctor. "Mihawk just called me Captain, didn't he?"
"Yes, Captain."
Hearing that, Seven looked so pleased with himself that it practically showed. He waved a hand and laughed. "Go on. If you spot a Maelstrom, remember to wake me."
"Yes, Captain."
Having successfully recruited his first crewmate, Seven was in high spirits. With his hands in his pockets, he hummed a tune as he returned to his cabin. "Next, I need to keep building a bond with Mihawk."
Before going to Skypiea, Seven hadn't been strong enough to be a worthy opponent for the Great Swordsman Mihawk.
Now, with Dream One Heart—a Supreme Grade Blade that boosted his Haki by 100%—and the training experience from Thoughtless Sword, Seven had just barely earned the right to call himself a swordsman.
After washing up, Seven hugged Dream One Heart, flopped into bed, and soon drifted off to sleep.
In his dream, Captain Seven led Vice Captain Hawk Eyes Mihawk, helmsman Jinbe, fighters Kuma, Fujitora, Rocks, Roger, Whitebeard...
He pummeled Hero of the Marines Garp, trampled Fleet Admiral Sengoku, and took down the Three Admirals—Akainu, Aokiji, and Kizaru—with a single slash each.
In the end, he defeated Imu, overthrew the World Government, and built a world where everyone could eat their fill. He ascended the throne and filled his harem to the brim.
"Captain! Captain!"
Just as he was filling his harem in his dream, King Seven was woken by urgent knocking.
Seven sat up in bed and cursed, "Couldn't you wait until I finished my dream?"
He hung his beloved Dream One Heart at his waist and opened the door, looking annoyed. "Did you spot a whirlpool?"
"Captain, a Maelstrom."
Seven hurried to the helm. "Go wake Mihawk right away. If the whirlpool doesn't erupt into an Upward Sea Current, we'll have to rely on Mihawk."
Why had Shandora gone nearly undiscovered for over four hundred years?
For one thing, Upward Sea Currents erupted very rarely. For another, sailing into one carried a fifty percent chance of the ship being destroyed and everyone aboard dying.
"What?!" Cold sweat poured down the Doctor's forehead.
"What are you waiting for?" Seven had already turned the ship around and was steering toward the enormous Maelstrom, nearly a hundred meters wide.
The Doctor rushed into the cabin, but before he could knock, Mihawk opened the door and cut through the Doctor's Seastone Handcuffs and ankle cuffs with a single slash.
When the two of them reached the deck, Seven was gripping the helm with both hands, grinning.
"Mihawk, hold on tight!"
Men who laughed easily usually had better luck.
The pirate ship raced into the Maelstrom and, for one brief moment, seemed to float above it.
As the Doctor screamed hysterically, a hundred-meter-wide cylindrical Upward Sea Current burst from the bottom of the Maelstrom and shot straight into the sky.
The pirate ship landed on the surface of the current. Carried by its force, it shot straight upward along the flow at a speed even Newton couldn't have explained.
"Mihawk, hoist the sails!"
Though there were only two crewmates aboard, Captain Seven directed them calmly and methodically.
The Upward Sea Current surged higher and higher, but the three aboard wore very different expressions: Seven whooped with excitement, the Doctor was deathly pale, and Mihawk's gaze was sharp.
"If you don't want to fall to your death, use your ability to teleport the ship some distance."
The Doctor didn't think much of it. He assumed Seven believed he had eaten the Space-Space Fruit.
"Give me a moment, Captain."
"Hurry up, don't waste time. The Upward Sea Current might not take us all the way to Skypiea. You don't want to fall to your death, do you?"
Thinking of the gruesome death that awaited him if he fell, the Doctor finally overcame his fear. A white ring of light surrounded his right hand, enveloping the entire ship.
With a whoosh, the pirate ship teleported dozens of meters.
"Again."
And so, the pirate ship continued riding the Upward Sea Current, bolstered by the Doctor's Devil Fruit ability, until it was about to reach the White Sea, ten thousand meters above the ground.
"Give it one more push. We're almost there."
When they were still a few hundred meters from Skypiea, the Upward Sea Current seemed to lose its momentum and plunged vertically downward.
Seeing this, Mihawk pushed off from the pirate ship and soared upward, landing on Skypiea after a series of leaps and bounds.
The Doctor went nearly mad, using his Devil Fruit ability to teleport onto the island by the narrowest of margins.
Seven transformed into a bolt of lightning and landed beside Mihawk as calmly as could be.
As for the pirate ship they had stolen from Loguetown, without the Upward Sea Current to propel it, it fell straight down. It was sure to be smashed to pieces.
The Doctor knelt on the ground, bent over with his hands supporting him, his backside sticking up. It was impossible to tell whether the wetness on his face was drool or tears.
"People are going to die... Captain."
Seven gripped the hilt of the sword at his waist and swept a hand forward. "Come on. We're going to Shandora."
Two days later.
Near the waters around Jaya Island.
A streak of yellow light sped past. As it passed the wreckage of a ship floating on the sea, a figure in a yellow-and-white striped suit gradually took shape.
It was none other than Marine Vice Admiral Kizaru—Borsalino, who had set out from Marineford and circled around Lodestar Island and Jaya Island several times.
"Even the ship was destroyed?"
Kizaru took out a Den Den Mushi and snapped several photos of the wreckage. Then he fell into thought.
"Who could've done this?"
The World Government? Or pirates?
After searching all around for a long time without finding either target's body, Kizaru had no choice but to contact Sengoku.
Den Den Mushi: "Borsalino?"
"Sengoku, the target's ship has been destroyed. I couldn't find either target's body nearby. It looks like someone got to them first."
Den Den Mushi: "Thanks for your efforts. Come back."
"Understood."
As soon as he hung up, rumbling echoed through the sky. Kizaru looked up at the stormy heavens, lit by flashes of lightning.
"Sora wa Inai."
"So they were up there?"
Before you continue