Was Yake strong now? He truly was.
The disaster-class Rumble-Rumble Fruit gave Yake immense destructive power and unfathomable speed, with attacks that covered an area like a map-wide bombardment. The Mythical Zoan Azure Dragon Fruit was an even rarer and more precious Devil Fruit than a Logia, granting incomparable vitality and recovery. The gap between Yake and the monsters of the New World had already shrunk infinitely.
What Yake lacked were advanced applications of Conqueror's Haki and extensive combat experience. He could not be called invincible; the sea still held all sorts of unreasonable Devil Fruit abilities.
"All right, girls, we're not going to Gold City!" Yake clapped his hands to get their attention.
"Huh? Captain, why? I really wanted to see it..." Perona said pitifully.
"Is it because of your new ability?" Robin analyzed calmly.
"Uh... I plan to take you all to Skypiea in my dragon form, then turn it into the base of my pirate crew," Yake said confidently.
"Skypiea? Isn't Skypiea just a legend, Captain? I heard the story of Big Talker when I was little!" Reiju said in surprise. Born in the North Blue, she was clearly no stranger to the name Skypiea. The tale of Big Talker Noland was known to every child in the North Blue.
"Big Talker Noland? That's right. He didn't lie. Skypiea truly exists," Yake said with certainty.
"How... could that be possible!" Reiju found it hard to believe. In the North Blue, nearly everyone knew Noland as a dim-witted fraud.
"Because the captain came to the Blue Sea from Skypiea." Robin spoke in Yake's stead. Yake had only told her about his childhood.
"The captain is a Skypiean?" Perona looked utterly incredulous.
"Ever since I could remember, I lived on Birka in Skypiea... I was an orphan... Until I found the Rumble-Rumble Fruit at the age of eight, then jumped down from Cloud End and was adopted by Rayleigh and Shakky."
Yake told Perona and the others about his childhood. Apart from Robin, who had already heard Yake's story, everyone was absorbed in his vivid account. They gained a basic understanding of Skypiea and learned about Yake's past as well.
"Boohoo, Captain, you were so pitiful as a child! You were even an orphan... Captain, keep it up!!" Perona's eyes were full of encouragement.
Yake: Are you being polite?
With an icy expression, Yake grabbed Perona and pinched the tender spot on her shoulder.
"Ah, it hurts, it hurts, Captain! I was wrong..."
"What were you wrong about?"
"I was wrong because... I... I didn't do anything wrong!"
Yake gave Perona a proper lesson. She rubbed her aching shoulder vigorously, still unable to recover.
"All right, back to business. Everyone, climb onto me later." As soon as Yake finished speaking, his body underwent a drastic change. He slowly rose into the air, preparing to transform into his dragon form.
"Wow, I still can't believe this is what the captain looks like after transforming." Reiju could not help but marvel.
A few breaths later, an enormous dragon hovered over the sea.
Yake grabbed the ship and set it atop his head, then had Robin and the others come down first.
"Robin, watch over them. You need to hold tightly onto my mane, or you'll fall." Yake's voice in dragon form was deep and imposing, echoing through the heavens and earth.
"Don't worry, leave it to me, Captain!!!" Robin shouted loudly, or Yake would not have heard her at all.
"Is everyone off the ship?"
"Yes! Captain! We can depart!!"
Upon hearing that, Yake stored the Eternal Truth in his inventory and prepared to depart!
Robin and the others sat behind Yake's horns, which at least blocked some of the wind. From a distance, it was nearly impossible to spot them. Compared to Yake's massive body, ordinary humans were far too tiny.
"All right, hold tight. We're leaving!!!"
┗|｀O′|┛ Awoo~~
Yake roared excitedly.
In the distant sea.
"Captain, isn't that Kaido?" Benn Beckman watched the giant dragon flying toward the sky. As everyone knew, Kaido was the only one on this sea who could transform into a dragon.
"It really is. Forget it, leave him alone. As long as he doesn't cause us trouble." Shanks spoke without concern.
"Boys! Time for a feast!"
Yake had no idea that the Red-Haired Pirates had already spotted him. At the moment, he was focused on finding Skypiea's location.
With Flame Clouds, Yake could freely fly up to an altitude of seven thousand meters without much effort, but his speed was a little slow. He therefore elementalized the rear half of his dragon body to accelerate. Still, he did not dare fly at full speed. He himself did not mind, but he was mainly afraid his crew would not be able to endure it.
The main problem was that everything before his eyes was a vast expanse of white, making it truly difficult to distinguish anything.
"Everyone, how are you feeling? Are you having any trouble breathing?"
Robin: *************
Robin had indeed heard Yake's voice, but the wind was too loud and drowned out her own. She could only ask Perona for help.
So Perona summoned a ghost and had it hide inside Yake's ear, allowing them to communicate with him normally.
"We're fine, Captain. Nothing serious."
Only when a rustling sound came from his ear did Yake realize the ghost was speaking. Hearing that everyone was fine, he relaxed. He still had not escaped the constraints of Blue Star knowledge. In the anime, Luffy and the others had only been slightly uncomfortable.
"Everyone, I'm going to keep ascending. Let me know immediately if anything happens!"
As he spoke, Yake broke through the clouds and reached the sky above them. Beneath him lay nothing but white clouds, making the search much easier.
Yake was flying toward Gaya Island in the first half of the Grand Line, a landing point he knew of. He had abandoned the other route because it was too far away.
Before he knew it, Yake had already crossed the Red Line and reached Water 7 in the first half of the Grand Line. However, Yake himself had no idea where he was and could only continue in one direction with his head down.
"So this is what it feels like to be in the sky? It's amazing, meow!" Anna shouted excitedly as she watched the clouds continually recede behind them.
"Yes, no wonder it was a fruit the captain specifically sought out. What terrifying power." Robin brushed back the hair the wind had blown out of place.
"I really don't know what else the captain can't do."
After spending so long in the sky, they gradually grew tired of it. Apart from Anna, who remained excited, Robin and the others had begun discussing Yake's abilities.
To be honest, after flying for nearly an entire morning, Yake was starting to get anxious. If it came to it, he could only land on a nearby island first. It would not be too late to fly back up after finding Mock Town, which he had reduced to ruins.
"Wait, that is... Heaven's Gate!" Yake only came to a sudden realization when he saw the familiar sign. He had already arrived; he had merely mistaken the clouds beneath his feet for ordinary clouds and paid them no attention.
"Everyone, we've reached Skypiea! Get ready to land!" Yake shouted excitedly.
"Really? We've already reached Skypiea!!"
"Heaven's Gate? Are we dead already, meow?"
Yake flew directly past Heaven's Gate, intending to head straight for Angel Beach.