Witness

Grand Line, first half, Jaya Island.

Under the bright sun, a miniature two-masted sailboat drifted across the vast, boundless sea.

Grrr, grrr... An embarrassing sound kept ringing out.

Sitting at the bow, Reg glanced at the Log Pose in his hand, then at the island ahead... The rows upon rows of red buildings lining the island's western side signaled that his destination was close at hand.

A journey that had originally been expected to take five days had been delayed by two days due to a storm.

If the ship, the "Empty Number," had not been sturdy enough, Reg would have long since become fish food... Even so, parts of the ship had suffered minor damage.

"A landlubber, huh..."

Reg muttered to himself, his brow twitching... The mere thought of losing the ability to swim after eating a Devil Fruit made his skin crawl.

The Grand Line's climate simply could not be judged by his pitiful amount of common sense... Even though books had mentioned that more than once.

For example, one second it could be calm and sunny, and the next... darkness descended.

As if the end of the world had come, the sudden darkness swiftly devoured the light... Reg looked up and narrowed his eyes, yet could not see the slightest trace of light.

Other people might have been terrified by such an inexplicable phenomenon, perhaps even instinctively praying.

But Reg's lips curled upward in the darkness instead... Good. He had truly reached Jaya Island.

The darkness overhead was a phenomenon unique to this region... a Cumulate Cloud.

It was a type of cloud that accumulated high in the sky. No matter how thickly it piled up, it would neither create air currents nor bring rain.

Because the cloud layer was too thick for sunlight to penetrate, "daytime" often became "night"... It was a common name for a sea of clouds, known to people as the fossil of clouds.

"Island weather, huh... That thing won't show up, will it?"

Splash, splash... After stuffing the last few pieces of cured meat into his mouth, Reg began rowing hard, picking up speed.

On the Grand Line, every island had its own unique climate in the surrounding waters.

The climate around Jaya Island was relatively mild... Otherwise, there would not be a town in the distance that looked like a resort.

The Marines did not avoid this place because they feared the pirates on the island... Rather, this was a town built by pirates, their vacation paradise. Pirates were like wheat—cut down one crop, and another sprang up.

No matter how many times this place was destroyed, it would rise again from the ashes and gather a great number of pirates once more... Over time, the Marines had completely given up on it.

A few minutes later, the darkness overhead drifted into the distance... With the light restored, Reg turned the boat toward the eastern side of the island.

Mock Town was on Jaya Island's western side, and he had no intention of going there... The undeveloped southern forest had plenty of food and fresh water.

Blackbeard had encountered Luffy here... Nami had never understood why Luffy and Zoro neither fought back nor talked back when facing Bellamy.

In Reg's view, Bellamy represented power, wealth, and status.

Luffy, meanwhile, represented dreams and freedom.

At that moment, the two could be seen as a clash between "reality" and "ideals."

To Reg, the combination of the two... was what he wanted.

If one blindly pursued reality and did not even dare to dream... then what difference was there between living and being a salted fish?

If one blindly pursued dreams without considering reality at all... then one would surely end up battered and exhausted in both body and mind.

Since he knew Sky Island truly existed, Reg would not go to the island to endure the mockery of those pirates... He could not remain as "unmoved" as Luffy.

"As long as you lock onto your goal, let people laugh if they want to!"

"You don't necessarily have to use your fists to fight!"

"People's dreams... never end."

Recalling Blackbeard's three lines in Mock Town, Reg naturally spoke the last one aloud... Those words were truly deafening.

Splash, splash... The sea began to churn in irregular waves.

Reg looked up, stopped rowing, and moved to stand at the stern... He had actually run into the day the Knock Up Stream was born.

The sea's current turbulence was the "foreshock" that came when the Knock Up Stream formed... During this process, the ocean surface began to heave and surge irregularly.

Caw, caw... The seagulls before the storm cried out, as though they wished to bury their fear of the tempest in the depths of the sea.

The gale began to roar. In an instant, a flash of lightning tore through the sky, followed by a tremendous boom.

The waves were no longer gentle as they usually were. They surged in like the jaws of a black beast, while lightning occasionally slashed through them like sharp blades, driving the seawater upward to come crashing down from all directions with an overwhelming force.

Reg's face turned pale as he gradually moved away from the storm. So this was the so-called Knock Up Stream... Even from this far away, the roaring waves made him feel as if he stood on the edge of danger at every moment.

Gradually, a massive whirlpool began to form... Splash!

A gigantic Sea King with zebra-like stripes burst from the water... It struggled, roared, and twisted, but to no avail.

These usual overlords of the sea were utterly helpless before the current that was about to form... Reg had encountered Sea Kings during the past few days at sea, but this was the first time he had seen one so desperate.

Faced with this earth-shaking sight, Reg slowly clenched his fists and pressed his lips together... He knew that he absolutely could not allow fear to take root in his heart at a time like this.

Once the seed of fear took root... whenever he faced such natural disasters in the future, he would hesitate and think of retreating.

Reg could never accept such an outcome... If he wanted to take that crucial step forward, he had to overcome the despairing calamity before him.

"Bastard, you can't scare me... Let the storm rage even harder!"

Reg, unable to keep it bottled up any longer, blurted out those words... As if hearing his resolve, a streak of black lightning appeared.

It was a type of seabird, with tubular nostrils located atop its upper beak and connected on both sides—it was called a storm petrel.

Watching the storm petrel soar through the sky, Reg's eyes widened to their fullest... Its cry reminded him of echoes in the mountains, brimming with strength.

That cry... was filled with a yearning for the storm!

"The dark clouds hear the power of anger, the flames of passion, and faith in victory..."

"Look, it dances through the air like a sprite..."

"A proud, black sprite of the storm..."

Ancient memories awakened within him, and Reg began to murmur, his eyes growing brighter and brighter.

"Storm! The storm is coming!"

As if it had heard Reg's murmur, the brave storm petrel charged into the sky.

"Let the storm rage even fiercer!"

With his arms spread wide, Reg embraced the "waves"... Rumble!

The vortex, like the eye of a storm, slowly vanished. The next instant, an immense pillar of seawater surged upward, linking the sky and the horizon until the two could no longer be told apart.

Throughout it all, enormous Sea Kings, tiny fish, and wreckage from all kinds of ships were flung down from within the vast pillar of water.

"Thank you."

Reg sincerely thanked the storm petrel flying toward the heavens... Some things could only be understood after seeing them with one's own eyes.

Like that storm petrel soaring through the tempest just now... it filled one with longing.

The torrential rain had come abruptly and departed just as freely... 58 seconds.

Not even a full minute had passed before the Knock Up Stream that had blasted skyward vanished without a trace, leaving him feeling as though a lifetime had gone by.

Reg took up the oars again, his expression resolute... Next, he needed to fill his stomach first, then wait for the next Knock Up Stream, and the one after that.

Only by thoroughly investigating the signs before a Knock Up Stream formed, the area it covered when it erupted, and its precise location... would he be qualified to board this "sky train."