Sky Island Birka

This was a magical land.

The clouds were level with the eye, and the azure horizon seemed close enough to touch. Beneath his feet was not earth, but fluffy white clouds. A warm, gentle breeze brushed against his face, bringing a pleasant coolness. Oddly shaped coconut trees stood on white sandy beaches, while several flat fish burst out of the white clouds, scattering droplets of water. Residents with happy smiles and angel-like wings on their backs busied themselves in the small town, greeting everyone they met with "hasso."

Other than constantly challenging his limits, Ron's only hobby was watching anime, so it took him just three minutes to sort out the situation.

He had transmigrated.

The reason was unknown.

This was the One Piece World, Sky Island.

And then...

"I told you it was a misunderstanding! Why the hell am I being executed, you bastards?!"

Tap tap tap!

In the unprosperous little town, a figure fled in panic ahead, pursued by several strangely dressed soldiers wielding spears. Ron knocked over roadside vendors, shoved aside pedestrians blocking his path, and charged forward with his head down.

"Ah! A Blue Sea person!"

"Stop! If you've got guts, don't run!"

"Get him! Catch him and Lord will reward you handsomely!"

For a moment, cries of alarm rang through the streets, sending chickens flying and dogs barking. It was utter chaos!

Ron was also quite helpless about those soldiers behind him wanting to capture and execute him.

Fine, transmigration was transmigration. Hundreds or thousands of transmigrators appeared on Earth every day. The transmigrator army had long since conquered the multiverse. One more or one fewer made no difference.

But who could stand being dropped straight from the sky after transmigrating?!

He was just an ordinary person. Falling headfirst from five meters up, with his spine taking the impact, he would be crippled even if he did not die!

The good news was that Ron had not died from falling headfirst. But the bad news was... he had landed on a fat man dressed lavishly, surrounded by guards, and clearly not someone to be trifled with!

Ninety-kilogram Ron had crashed down from five meters above, and under the acceleration of gravity, his head collided squarely with the fat man's crown.

After a resounding "Duang!", Ron only felt dizzy and disoriented because of his unusual physique. The fat man, however, let out an idiotic laugh before collapsing to the ground with a thud. Blood quickly dyed the white cloud-covered ground red, and after a few moments, he stopped breathing.

It was not as though he had never killed anyone.

When he caught poachers hunting illegally, he had been forced to kill five people over three days. When he discovered a rainforest treasure, he had also killed the others and kept it for himself, though they had attacked first.

But who would have expected someone to be killed by him falling out of the sky?

What a novel experience!

And in front of so many people, too...

Looking at the stunned guards around him, Ron scratched the back of his head and smiled awkwardly. "Would you believe me if I said I didn't do it on purpose?"

"He... he killed Lord Sisco! Capture him!!"

"Capture the Blue Sea assassin and sentence him to Cloud Drifting Flow!"

Ron knew exactly what the winged Sky Island people meant by "Cloud Drifting Flow." It was a unique Sky Island execution method: the criminal would be placed on a small patch of Island Cloud and left to drift through the sky. With nothing around to grab onto and ten thousand meters of open air beneath their feet, they could not reach land and would eventually die of hunger and thirst. It was similar to the maritime punishment used by coastal nations and pirates in the Middle Ages, where criminals were exiled at sea.

"No, listen to my explanation... Holy shit, you're serious?!"

He had wanted to explain himself, but an arrow whistling past his ear made Ron realize that reason was no longer an option. He just had to run!

Thus began a chase. Relying on the powerful physique he had gained by constantly challenging his limits, Ron fled madly.

Sky Island was barren and sparsely populated. Once he passed through the town and entered the White Sea Cloud region, the soldiers no longer feared missing and drew their bows to fire in volleys.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Arrows came flying one after another, their shrill whistles tearing through the air. Terrified, Ron kept weaving unpredictably and narrowly avoided being hit.

"Pant... pant... I can't... There isn't enough oxygen... I'm exhausted!"

Ron ran while gasping for breath. His vision began to darken, and every time he lifted a foot, it felt as though he were dragging it out of a swamp.

In the One Piece World, naturally formed Sky Islands were at least five thousand meters above sea level. The oxygen concentration was outrageously low!

If an ordinary person suddenly came to such an altitude from around sea level, even without altitude sickness, continuous running would leave their blood cells unable to carry enough oxygen, causing cerebral hypoxia, breathing difficulties, and other symptoms.

If he had not often traveled into Tibet before, and even climbed Mount Everest once, allowing his body to adapt somewhat to the environment—combined with his physical fitness—Ron would have collapsed halfway already.

This was running on Mount Everest!

Never mind whether the conditions even allowed running; at that altitude, going without an oxygen tank could kill someone!

Yet the Sky Island people had long grown accustomed to the oxygen concentration here. Under such harsh conditions, even without training, their bodies were far stronger than those of Earthlings once they reached adulthood. Just as Ron was about to collapse from oxygen deprivation, every one of the pursuers behind him remained full of vigor.

"Not good! The shrine is ahead!"

"Stop him! We can't let a Blue Sea person enter the shrine!"

Suddenly, the soldiers behind him began shouting, rousing Ron from his half-conscious state. He forced himself to open his eyes, and at the end of the road ahead stood an Island Cloud structure that looked more like an altar than a shrine.

"Huh, what's that? A human?"

Ron gave a quiet cry of surprise. Through the low wall, he noticed a figure sitting on the ground in a corner of the shrine, hugging his knees with his head buried between them. And...

Unlike the Sky Island people chasing him, this person had no wings on his back either!

"I've finally found one of my own kind... Brother, save me!"

Ron cried out in delight. Dragging trouble onto someone else had always been the best way to escape.

It was not that Ron could not die on Sky Island. He simply did not want to die at the hands of a bunch of nobodies.

That would be an insult to everything he had stood for!

The sudden shout startled the man into raising his head in panic. He seemed to have been asleep, and his eyes were still somewhat unfocused when he opened them.

But upon noticing the Sky Island people behind Ron, he immediately jumped up.

"N-No... it wasn't me... I didn't mean to..."

Seeing that, Ron suddenly had a bad feeling. He had wanted to drag trouble onto someone else, but this guy seemed to be a coward. And besides that, the man looked very familiar! Even though he had an afro and looked somewhat different from Ron's memory...

The next second, the soldiers behind him roared in fury.

"Enel! It's you again, you bastard!!!"

"Get the hell out of the shrine, freak!"

"You defiled the shrine! Unforgivable!"

"We can't spare him again this time! Sentence him to Cloud Drifting Flow!"

Crackle crackle crackle...

Ron braked hard with his heels, kicking up a trail of dust as he stopped before the afro-haired man with a bewildered expression.

"Wait a second? You're Enel?!"

The afro-haired man looked about the same age as Ron, perhaps only one or two years older. His earlobes were so long they could reach his chest. Judging by his appearance, he really was Enel, the "god of Sky Island" who had appeared in the original story.

But compared to the arrogant, wild, life-disdaining Haki "Thor" he would become in the future, Enel was now timid and weak-looking. Hearing the soldiers say they would sentence him to "Cloud Drifting Flow," he was so frightened that tears and snot were nearly running down his face. He had not even heard Ron's question clearly.

But Ron did not care about Enel's rudeness at that moment. A glint flashed through his eyes, and the corners of his mouth slowly curled upward.

"This is Birka. It seems to be long before the original plot, and Enel hasn't obtained the Rumble-Rumble Fruit yet. In other words..."

Smack!

Ron grabbed Enel by one of his long earlobes. Caught off guard, Enel cried out in pain as Ron yanked him closer. He stared at Ron with a face full of terror and confusion.

Seeing that, Ron smiled faintly. "Enel... right? Tell me, do you know of any strange fruits around here?"

"F-Fruits?"

Exhaustion was written across Ron's face, yet his expression was as fierce as a beast's. Adrenaline surged through his body. His racing heart and oxygen deprivation made his face flush crimson, giving him the appearance of a demon.

That naked malice and greed were things Enel had never seen in his life.

Ron's snow-white teeth gave off an icy chill like grim bones. He pulled Enel closer, his breath striking Enel directly in the face. Suppressing his rupturing alveoli made that breath reek of blood, and his voice trembled slightly. "Ah... that's right. A fist-sized fruit with spiral lightning patterns. You feel an electric shock when you get near it. Have you... seen one?"

A new book was underway. Rolling around cutely and begging for saves. I had originally planned to wait a few more days, but after being gone for so long, Dashu felt too ashamed, so he chose to upload it as soon as he got off the plane.