First Arrival at Skypiea

"Hoist the sails, Robin! Grab the ropes!"

"Thirty Fleur!"

The Holy Sword was thrust into the sky by the ocean current and the rising air current. Lu Zhuo, Nami, and Robin had prepared in advance, and quickly steadied themselves.

Nami and Robin busied themselves dealing with one problem after another, while Lu Zhuo, the great captain, sat quietly at the bow as if none of it concerned him.

"God Enel, huh? An interesting fellow. He's powerful, but unfortunately, the protagonist's plot armor beat him down."

Caressing Kitetsu in his hand, Lu Zhuo smiled as if he were speaking to the sword.

"Can you handle lightning?"

He gently drew Kitetsu and gave it a slight swing, slicing through a stream of water that fell from the sky. Lu Zhuo smiled.

As if sensing its master's intent, Kitetsu trembled of its own accord and rang out with a clear, crisp note!

"Good!"

Lu Zhuo laughed heartily and sheathed the sword. His expression slowly turned serious as he stared at the clouds drawing ever closer above them.

"Lu Zhuo, we're going up!"

Nami and Robin had gotten ready. Seeing how unconcerned Lu Zhuo looked, they quickly called out to him.

Lu Zhuo smiled, then his expression sharpened. The sword in his hand suddenly flashed from its sheath.

Meteor—Pierce!

A huge, cone-shaped blade of light shot upward from below, plunging deep into the White Sea above!

Since the White Sea was made of clouds and wasn't very thick, Lu Zhuo's strike punched a massive hole right through it!

"S-so amazing!"

Nami and Robin watched in shock. Lu Zhuo leaped lightly to their side, but beads of cold sweat had appeared on his forehead. He gave a wry smile.

"It's only because the White Sea is unusual. It's not that impressive. But seven thousand meters up is really hard to endure!"

As he spoke, Lu Zhuo slowly sat down, his body weak. He watched the Holy Sword surge upward through the hole he had made until a glimmer of light appeared. The ship had reached the sky above the clouds!

"So this is the White Sea, seven thousand meters up? What an unbelievable place." Robin marveled at the scenery around them. Although Lu Zhuo had described the White Sea to her, experiencing it firsthand was still breathtaking.

Nami gazed at the scenery too, looking utterly enchanted. But then her eyes fell on Lu Zhuo. Seeing him still panting, she couldn't help worrying.

"Lu Zhuo, are you all right?" Nami hurried over to help him up.

Looking at Nami's little face, filled with worry, Lu Zhuo laughed between breaths. "I'm fine. That last strike took almost all my strength, so... huff... I just need a little time to adjust."

"You two had better not move around too much yet, either. Give yourselves some time to adjust to the conditions here."

He glanced at Nami and Robin and spoke between a few more labored breaths.

"Mm."

Nami gently wiped the sweat from Lu Zhuo's forehead and sat quietly beside him. Seeing this, Lu Zhuo wrapped an arm around her, and the two of them enjoyed the scenery together.

But the next moment, the White Sea below them churned violently. A flat sea monster, twice the size of the Holy Sword, suddenly surfaced, glaring menacingly at the ship.

"Oh no!"

Lu Zhuo's heart skipped a beat. He hadn't recovered yet. This was bad!

"Ah!" Nami was even more horrified. She covered her mouth and collapsed into Lu Zhuo's arms. Without thinking, Lu Zhuo gave her bottom a few squeezes. Round, lifted, soft, and springy...

"Robin, it's up to you!" Exhausted, Lu Zhuo watched the sea monster charge and waved to Robin beside him.

Robin gave him a teasing look and chuckled. "So even the great captain can get himself into a mess."

"Ugh." Lu Zhuo panted a few times and gave Robin an annoyed look. This woman was nowhere near as sweet as Nami. The moment she caught him looking helpless, she wouldn't stop mocking him.

As the sea monster leaped high and lunged with its jaws open, Robin turned around and raised an eyebrow.

"Thirty Fleur, Gigantesco Mano!"

Countless arms sprouted and intertwined, forming a gigantic arm in midair. With a light punch, it sent the sea monster flying.

Robin wasn't supposed to learn this technique until about five years later in the original story. But with a cheat like Lu Zhuo by her side, things were naturally different. With a few pointers from him, she had learned it in no time.

After a while, Lu Zhuo felt much better. He held Nami close and slowly stood up. After taking several deep breaths, he finally calmed down.

If he were still the shut-in he'd been back on Earth, suddenly finding himself seven thousand meters above sea level would have left him gasping for air—and probably killed him outright.

But in the world of One Piece, although he was a swordsman, his body had grown stronger along with his swordsmanship, even if the change wasn't all that obvious.

So it didn't take him long to adjust to the conditions seven thousand meters up.

Just then, Lu Zhuo looked ahead and furrowed his brow.

Three masked men were gliding across the White Sea directly in front of the Holy Sword, rushing toward them.

"Why did these guys find us as soon as we got up here?" Lu Zhuo wondered.

He knew these people were the so-called Guerrilla Force, who targeted Blue Sea People arriving on Skypiea and attacked newcomers while their bodies were still struggling to adjust.

In the original story, Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji had been defeated in an instant because they hadn't adapted to the high-altitude environment.

Looking up at the sky, Lu Zhuo guessed that Gan Fall, the former God and Sky Knight, was somewhere in the clouds above them.

Nami nestled against Lu Zhuo without a hint of worry. Her cheeks were a little flushed because his hand was caressing her.

"Lu Zhuo... who are those people?"

"Who knows?" Lu Zhuo smiled. Then his expression turned cold. He wrapped his left arm around Nami and gripped his sword with his right hand, drawing it with a powerful slash!

In the next instant, a massive blade of light swept across the ground, carving a trench more than a hundred meters long in front of the three men!

The men's faces beneath their masks were grim. Just as they were about to charge, the blade of light startled them.

"How is that possible...!"

"Th-this is a human? That's the power of a god!"

The three members of the Guerrilla Force stared at the man standing at the Holy Sword's bow in horror, at a loss for what to do.

Above them, an old man with a white beard sat astride an unbelievably ugly pegasus, his small eyes opened wide.

"What a powerful man. I can't believe there's someone like him among the Blue Sea People! I was hoping to save them and earn a little extra money..."

Lu Zhuo looked at the men and casually glanced upward, making Gan Fall, the Sky Knight, shiver.

"Don't mess with me."

After coldly spitting out those four words, Lu Zhuo sheathed his sword. Noticing that Lu Zhuo looked unsteady on his feet, Nami understood and held him back in return. The two of them walked away from the bow.

The members of the Guerrilla Force exchanged glances and silently withdrew.

They didn't want to be cut in half by the powerful swordsman! Just looking at the trench beneath their feet, which had yet to fully close, made them shudder.

Gan Fall, riding his pegasus above them, sighed. "I wonder whether it's a blessing or a curse for someone so powerful to come to Skypiea. Ah, never mind. I'll leave everything to that fellow Enel..."

After muttering to himself, he rode his pegasus away at speed.