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"Please take a look at our current strength before making your judgment."
Their spirit certainly deserved praise, but this was not a question of strength-
"Hmph, who's backing down?"
Nami raised her eyebrows, the heavy axe in her hands already lifted overhead.
"Let's have a match!"
Suspended high above, Rossi fell into silent self-examination.
Had the changes he brought been too drastic, turning a once-timid girl into a berserker who swung an axe at the slightest disagreement?
Meanwhile, above this layer of clouds known as the "White-White Sea,"
several figures raced along on skateboards.
They wore loose black coats over rough hide skirts; their weapons ranged from precision devices gleaming with cold light to crude, simple spears, while the skateboards beneath their feet blasted howling jets of air behind them.
This mixture of primitive and technological attire was truly hard to describe.
"Wyper, two ships ahead-people from the Blue Sea."
"Drive them away.
If they're pirates, eliminate them outright."
"Understood!"
These Sky Island Warriors had good reason to be wary.
How could anyone who reached this sea high in the sky be an ordinary traveler? The vast majority were marauders of the seas.
And how pirates conducted themselves... needed no explanation.
What was more, this area inhabited by Skypieans had once been hailed as a land of gold.
Although that "Great Demon King"
had carried off most of the gold years ago, every pirate crew that discovered this place simply threatened the natives with guns and cannons, demanding treasure and refusing to hear any explanation.
Over time, the patrols' first response to anyone intruding from below became expulsion or extermination.
Just as this mixed unit of Shandia People and Angel Island residents approached the ships, a sharp sound suddenly erupted, tearing through the air.
Clang-!
The thunderous clash of