Heavenly Tribute

High above the sky, the massive Twin Goddesses plummeted rapidly under the pull of gravity.

The two of them were not especially lucky. Their descent had originally been going just fine, smooth as could be.

But then, without warning, a gigantic Knock Up Stream suddenly appeared in front of them.

Although five years of training had awakened Observation Haki in both of them—and Enel's Observation Haki, with the aid of the Rumble-Rumble Fruit's power, covered a range far beyond Ye Mu's—the might of nature was simply too terrifying. From the moment they sensed something was wrong to the moment the Knock Up Stream appeared before them, only a dozen or so breaths had passed.

Even though the two of them reacted early while steering the ship, the terrifying range of the Knock Up Stream still caught the Twin Goddesses.

The entire Twin Goddesses was blasted off its planned course, and the octopus balloon had flown off to who knew where.

But that did not affect the two standing on the deck beside the helm in the slightest.

If anything, the two of them grew even more excited.

As they plummeted at high speed, feeling the wind howling past their ears, both of them burst into laughter.

"Hahahahaha, this is way too thrilling..."

"Now this is an adventure..."

"..."

Of course, this was not because the two of them were idiots. The main reason was that they trusted the Twin Goddesses's capabilities.

Besides that, whether it was the flight ability brought by Ye Mu's Flame-Flame Fruit or the teleportation ability of the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, both left them unafraid of this rapid fall.

Soon, after passing through layer after layer of clouds, a vast blue ocean appeared before them.

That beautiful blue ocean, like the Milky Way spread out in full view, left both of them somewhat stunned. They could not help exclaiming in admiration.

"So this is the Blue Sea? It's so beautiful!!!"

"A world like this is worth conquering!"

"Hahaha..."

The two of them sighed in wonder, but their hands did not slow in the slightest. When Ye Mu felt the distance was about right, he pressed the switch for the flight power.

With a clicking sound, around twenty cannon-barrel-like objects emerged from the lower waist section of the Twin Goddesses's hull, and two pairs of wooden wings appeared on either side of the ship.

A blue shock wave visible to the naked eye appeared. The powerful counterforce instantly halted the Twin Goddesses's downward momentum, and with the aid of its wings, it began gliding through the sky. After tracing a graceful arc through the air, it landed steadily on the surface of the sea.

"It's so beautiful..."

What appeared before Enel was scenery he had never seen before. The boundless sea before his eyes made one unable to resist forgetting all worries and troubles, and Enel truly felt the charm of the Blue Sea.

Ye Mu was not much different. In his original world, he had barely traveled far, and even when he traveled, it had been to inland cities. How could he have ever seen such a beautiful sea?

But just then, a question Enel suddenly raised made his expression change slightly.

"Where are we going next?"

Enel spoke with energy brimming in his voice, as if he could no longer wait to conquer this world.

But Ye Mu froze slightly. It was not because he did not know where he was.

This had been within his expectations.

The reason he froze was that he realized he seemed to have forgotten something extremely important: a Log Pose.

One had to know that on the Grand Line, whether it was geomagnetism, celestial phenomena, ocean currents, or air currents, everything was in chaos. Even confirming one's own location was extremely difficult, let alone finding an island.

Only a Log Pose and an Eternal Pose could help and guide a navigator toward the correct island.

But right now, he had nothing...

Enel's question still rang in his ears. Ye Mu felt he could not let Enel, who had just arrived on the Grand Line, notice the embarrassing predicament of him being the elder brother and captain. So he could only force himself to remain calm and say, "We're on the Grand Line right now. We've only just come down, so we still don't know our exact location. Once we encounter an island, we'll be able to figure out where we are."

After saying that, Ye Mu also looked out at the distant blue sea, but a different thought was running through his mind.

"Looks like a navigator is the most urgent thing right now..."

Otherwise, with Ye Mu's half-baked skills, he might be defeated by the sea before he ever even encountered an enemy.

After thinking it over, although he did not know what year it was right now, judging by Enel's age, Nami had probably only just been born. There was no hope of snatching the future One Piece's navigator, so he could only hope that the heavens would let the two of them encounter a reliable navigator companion.

Although the Twin Goddesses had been drifting on the sea the entire time, Ye Mu was not too worried. On one hand, the food aboard the ship was sufficient to support them for a month or so without issue, and there were also Sea Kings in the sea. On the other hand, although he did not know whether the Great Age of Pirates had begun, he imagined there should be many pirates on the Grand Line. So Ye Mu was not worried that they would be unable to meet people.

And so, after drifting on the seawater for three days, Ye Mu really did run into them...

On the deck of the Twin Goddesses.

After their initial amazement at this blue ocean, the two of them became extremely calm, even bored.

There was no helping it. The sea looked the same no matter where you were.

Fortunately, over these three days, everything had been calm and peaceful. They had not encountered any major storms, nor had they encountered any overly extreme weather. Otherwise, the two of them absolutely would have suffered badly.

But what was equally unfortunate was that, up to now, the two of them had not seen a single island, nor had they seen a single ship.

Fortunately, the two of them were not too bored. Over these ten years, training day after day for a decade had long since formed a habit in their bodies.

On the deck, Ye Mu held a barbell weighing ten tons in each hand and was doing squats, while Enel lifted a ten-ton barbell and performed upward push-pull motions.

After about an hour, the two of them finally stopped. Then they pushed a cart of food and wine out from the cabin and began to feast heartily.

"This can't go on. Looks like we'll have to figure out how to fish something out of the sea to eat. I wonder what the Sea Kings of the Blue Sea taste like compared to the ones on Sky Island..."

As Ye Mu wolfed down food, he mumbled complaints through his mouthfuls.

Enel, however, acted as if he had not heard him at all and just kept stuffing food into his mouth.

There was nothing to be done about it. After all, for the past ten years, Ye Mu had been in charge of food. Enel had never worried about it, and it had already become a habit.

But just then, Enel suddenly stopped eating. He turned his head toward the sea and wiped away the red juice lingering at the corner of his mouth.

"What is it... Did you notice something?"

Ye Mu naturally knew Enel would not make a move like that for no reason. He stopped swallowing and looked in the same direction Enel was staring.

Unfortunately, the sea was still perfectly calm. Aside from the seawater, there was nothing at all.

But Ye Mu knew Enel had seen something—or rather, sensed something.

Sure enough, Enel pointed in the direction he was looking and said, "There's a ship coming from over there... Mm... I heard them... It seems to be a ship transporting some kind of Heavenly Tribute..."