The Lie of First Encounters

April 8th, Sea Circle Calendar 1494.

Above the vast sea of clouds, a lone skiff drifted with the wind... From afar, the image of that solitary boat should have been filled with poetic charm.

Yet the tattered sail, damaged hull, and the raggedly dressed boy wearing a serious expression made it look somewhat pitiful... Over the past few days, Reg had finally experienced the climate of the White Sea firsthand.

This ocean made of white clouds became utterly outrageous whenever it encountered fierce winds and torrential rain... Calling it a swarm of demons and monsters dancing wildly would not have been an exaggeration.

It was not like the rolling waves of the Blue Sea, merely tilting and swaying... It was more like riding a roller coaster, getting flung around at all kinds of shameless sixty-degree angles.

The churning sea of clouds alone would have been one thing... But why did all sorts of cloud beasts have to come out and join the fun?

If the boat had not been small and nimble, if Observation Haki had not helped him avoid danger, if he had not been quick-witted enough... Even though quite some time had already passed, whenever Reg thought of those bizarre cloud beasts flying everywhere while baring their fangs and brandishing their claws, his entire face could not help but twitch... What a goddamn scam!

"It finally stopped shaking..."

Reg took the Log Pose from a box and fastened it around his wrist... He had brought several in total. One had shattered when the White Sea had its "epileptic fit," leaving him with two.

A torn sail was no big deal; he had spares... He also had oars to increase his speed!

Taking out his tools, Reg began making his final preparations... No matter what, Messenger Island was already "right before his eyes."

Ooooh... The sound of a horn came from the distant sky.

Reg, who had been about to take out a spare sail, blinked and looked toward the source of the sound... The maximum range of his Observation Haki was around five hundred meters, and he could not maintain it for long.

Both the source and tone of that horn carried a strong sense of aggression.

In his memories, only a group styled after Native Americans—the Shandians—used something like that.

"Ah-woo... Ah-woo..."

Reg took out the last of his spare food and began preparing for battle... He did not apply poison. He did not want to kill anyone.

During these past few days of travel, Reg had also considered how he should deal with Shandians if he encountered them... Deception.

That was right... To get close to those exceptionally xenophobic, stubborn people, unless there were special circumstances, lies were the only way.

Reg had already planned the lie... He would put the prefix "Mont Blanc" before his name and borrow some of Mont Blanc Cricket's past: because his ancestor Noland had been exiled, his descendants had inevitably suffered ridicule.

Having grown up amid mockery and scorn, he had angrily left home and, by chance, arrived on Jaya Island... He wanted to prove that the wonderful bell sound Noland had once heard, and the City of Gold known as the "Light of Shandora," truly existed.

In the end, he had stumbled upon this path leading to the sky... Of all these lies, only his true identity was false. Everything else was real.

It could be said to be nine parts truth and one part falsehood. As long as he did not do anything stupid... Sky Islanders, who had little contact with the Blue Sea, had no way to verify it at all.

Whoosh, whoosh... Following the sound, Reg spotted two warriors wearing wide, oversized masks, grass skirts, colorful patterns painted across their bodies, and white wings on their backs.

Beneath their feet were crescent-shaped boards resembling skateboards. Their boots contained four Sky Island Dials in total, and jets of air from their left feet carried them rapidly toward him.

As the distance between them closed, the Shandian warriors, moving ahead and behind each other in crossing paths, also got a clear look at the person they intended to attack: it was actually a child.

The discovery slowed them down... Now flying side by side, the two exchanged a glance: this was their first time encountering such a situation.

Whenever Blue Sea people had arrived in the past, they had never seen children among them... So they had always attacked without restraint.

But today, not only had they encountered one, the size of the boat made it obvious... There was only one person and two birds.

But could a child really reach the White Sea alone? Was he one of those Devil Fruit users?

The South Birds on his boat were birds that existed only in Upper Yard... The two met each other's eyes again and nodded slightly: this was a Blue Sea pirate coveting their homeland, "Upper Yard"!

"Hello..."

Reg raised his hands to show that he meant no harm... Being a child had its advantages too; at least, he would not have to fight first and then let his fists do the talking.

Click, click...!

The man holding a weapon resembling a round rocket launcher aimed it at Reg.

"Shameless thief..."

"Regardless of age... die!"

The black shell that shot from the barrel made Reg's mouth twitch... How had he become a thief? Had he opened it the wrong way or something?

Chirp chirp, chirp chirp... The two South Birds cried out, sounding both gleeful at his misfortune and panicked.

"I'm close to Messenger Island now, and there are birds found only on the Island of God aboard my ship..."

Reg understood it all in an instant. Naturally, he would not let the shell hit the boat. Using Moon Walk, he instantly stomped the shell into the sea of clouds and shot forward.

The two Shandian warriors who had attacked did not relax their guard even against a child like him... After firing the shell, the cannon warrior released a blue arc from his right foot and leaped into the air.

At the same time, one of them drew a spear... Air burst from his left foot as he swiftly charged in.

Bang!

After kicking up a violent gust in midair, Reg vanished from before their eyes... When he reappeared, he was already in front of the cannon warrior.

Crack... Worthy of Shandians raised as warriors, he instinctively brought his shield up before him.

Reg's kick dented the shield. With a casual twist of his body, he dodged the spear thrust from the other warrior... Yet he did not continue attacking, instead retreating immediately.

Whoosh... Flames suddenly erupted, making the airborne Reg's expression turn grave: the object tied to the tip of that spear was actually a Flame Dial.

Moving at high speed, Reg kicked toward the spear warrior... The result was that the other man abruptly released the spear and met Reg's foot with his palm.

"An Impact Dial..."

Reg vanished once more with Moon Walk, reappearing beside the cannon warrior.

Click... A pistol suddenly appeared, and its trigger was pulled.

Under the cover of Observation Haki, the other warrior turned his head and closed his eyes at the same time.

"A Flash Dial..."

Knowing exactly what it was, Reg foolishly charged straight at it... The next moment, a burst of light erupted.

Having landed a hit, the two of them simultaneously unleashed their full strength in a killing attack against Reg... Sure enough, he was no simple foe.

The cannon warrior took out the round blowpipe hanging around his neck... Reg naturally noticed it. There was no doubt that it contained needles, and poisonous ones at that.

The spear warrior held his spear in his right hand while pushing the other end with his left... Pfft, swish!

What should have been a simultaneous killing attack missed completely... Reg, who had been hit by the Flash Dial, neither fled in panic nor chose to widen the distance. Instead, he appeared behind the spear warrior... Smack!

After delivering a heavy blow to the back of his opponent's head, Reg did not continue his attack. Instead, he placed his palm against the spear warrior's neck.

"Let Gar go!" The cannon warrior finally called out his companion's name.

"I wasn't certain just now... I never expected that after all these centuries... you people still haven't improved at all. What a disappointment."

Reg spoke with his eyes closed... If he had truly wanted to kill them, he could have ended the fight with a Tempest Kick just now.

"Huh?! Who exactly are you?" The cannon warrior's voice turned much harsher... A Blue Sea dweller actually knew the history of his people's survival here.

"Mont Blanc Reg." Reg spoke as he hung behind Gar like a monkey.

"Mont Blanc..." The cannon warrior began to think... Why did that name sound so familiar?

A few seconds later, a startled cry came from beneath the mask. "Mont Blanc Noland!! What are you to him?!"

Now it was Reg's turn to be speechless... Was this guy genuinely stupid or just pretending?

Yet he still had no choice but to answer seriously, though his tone carried some self-mockery. "An ancestor from centuries ago... Though the blood relation between us is already as thin as mosquito blood."

"Noland's descendant? How do you prove it?!" The cannon warrior still did not let down his guard.

Reg glanced at him and spoke directly. "Although I have no most direct proof, I know exactly what happened back then... I never expected to find you lot here—people who can't even keep an agreement!!"

"..."

The cannon warrior did not respond, but his grip around the cannon tightened considerably... The Golden Bell had not rung for nearly four hundred years. That promise was the pain in every Shandian warrior's heart!