Heavenly Tribute

High above the sky, the massive Twin Goddess plummeted rapidly under the force of gravity.

The two of them had not been very lucky. Their descent had been going smoothly and without a hitch.

But suddenly, a massive Knock Up Stream appeared before them without warning.

Although five years of training had awakened Observation Haki in both of them, and Enel's Observation Haki had a range far beyond Ye Mu's with the help of the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, nature's power was simply too terrifying. From sensing something amiss to the Knock Up Stream appearing before them took no more than a dozen breaths.

Even though the two of them were piloting the ship and had reacted early, the Knock Up Stream's horrifying range still caught the Twin Goddess.

The entire Twin Goddess was swept off its intended course, and no one knew where the octopus balloon had flown off to.

But this did not affect the two of them standing on the deck beside the helm in the slightest.

In fact, they grew even more excited.

As they plummeted rapidly and felt the wind howl past their ears, both of them burst into laughter.

"Ha ha ha ha ha, this is so thrilling..."

"Now this is an adventure..."

"..."

Of course, this was not because the two of them were idiots. It was mainly because they trusted the Twin Goddess's capabilities.

Besides that, whether it was the flight ability granted by Ye Mu's Flame-Flame Fruit or the teleportation ability of the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, neither of them feared the rapid descent.

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

The beautiful blue sea stretched as far as the eye could see, resembling the Milky Way. Both of them were stunned and could not help exclaiming in admiration.

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

"A world like this is worth conquering!"

"Ha ha ha..."

Although they exclaimed in wonder, their hands did not slow down at all. When they sensed that they were close enough, Ye Mu pressed the switch for the flight propulsion system.

With a series of clicks, around twenty cannon-like devices appeared below the middle section of the Twin Goddess's hull, while two pairs of wooden wings unfolded from both sides of the ship.

Visible blue shock waves erupted. The powerful recoil instantly halted the Twin Goddess's descent. With the wings assisting it, the ship began to glide through the sky. After drawing a graceful arc through the air, it landed steadily on the surface of the sea.

"How beautiful..."

The scene before him was something Enel had never seen before. The boundless ocean made him forget all his troubles, and he truly felt the charm of the Blue Sea.

Ye Mu was no different. In his original world, he had rarely traveled far, and even his trips had only taken him to inland cities. He had never seen such a beautiful ocean.

But just then, a question suddenly raised by Enel caused Ye Mu's expression to shift slightly.

"Where are we going next?"

Enel spoke with overflowing enthusiasm, as if he could not wait to conquer this world.

Ye Mu, however, froze slightly. It was not because he did not know where they were.

This had been within his expectations.

The reason he froze was that he had discovered he seemed to have forgotten something extremely important: the Log Pose.

Everyone knew that in the Grand Line, the geomagnetism, celestial phenomena, ocean currents, and air currents were all in chaos. Even determining one's own location was extremely difficult, let alone finding an island.

Only Log Poses and Eternal Poses could help and guide navigators to the correct islands.

But now, he had nothing at all...

Enel's question still rang in his ears. Ye Mu felt that he could not let Enel, who had just arrived in the Grand Line, notice the predicament of his big brother and captain, so he could only force himself to remain calm and say,

"We're on the Grand Line now. We just landed, so we don't know our exact location yet. Once we encounter an island, we'll be able to figure out where we are."

After saying that, Ye Mu also looked at the blue sea in the distance, though his mind was occupied with another thought.

It looks like finding a navigator is the most urgent matter right now...

Otherwise, with Ye Mu's utterly amateurish skills, he would probably be defeated by the sea before they even encountered an enemy.

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

Although the Twin Goddess continued drifting across the sea, Ye Mu was not too worried. For one thing, the food aboard the ship was enough to last a month or two, and there were also Sea Kings in the ocean. For another, although he did not know whether the Great Pirate Era had begun yet, there should be many pirates on the Grand Line. Therefore, Ye Mu was not worried that he would fail to encounter anyone.

Thus, after drifting on the sea for three days, Ye Mu really did run into someone...

On the deck of the Twin Goddess.

After their initial astonishment at the blue ocean had faded, the two of them grew extremely bored.

There was no helping it. The ocean looked the same everywhere.

Fortunately, everything had remained calm over the past three days. They had not encountered any major storms or overly extreme weather. Otherwise, the two of them would definitely have suffered badly.

But their luck was also bad in one respect: they still had not seen a single island or ship.

Luckily, the two of them were not excessively bored. Ten years of training day after day had long since turned it into a habit for their bodies.

On the deck, Ye Mu was doing squats while holding a ten-ton barbell in each hand. Enel, meanwhile, was lifting a ten-ton barbell, performing upward presses.

About an hour later, the two of them finally stopped. Then they pushed a cart loaded with food and wine out of the cabin and began feasting.

"This won't do. It looks like we'll have to find a way to fish from the sea for food. I wonder how the Sea Kings in the Blue Sea taste compared to those on Sky Island..."

Ye Mu stuffed food into his mouth while mumbling and complaining indistinctly.

Enel acted as though he had not heard him and continued shoving food into his mouth.

There was nothing to be done about that. For the past ten years, Ye Mu had been responsible for preparing the food. Enel had never needed to worry about it and had already grown accustomed to that arrangement.

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

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

Ye Mu naturally knew that Enel would not make such a gesture for no reason. He stopped chewing and looked in the same direction as Enel.

Unfortunately, the sea remained utterly calm. Apart from the seawater, there was nothing to be seen.

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

Sure enough, Enel pointed toward the direction he had been watching and said,

"There's a ship coming over there... Hmm... I hear... it seems to be carrying some kind of Heavenly Tribute..."