At this moment, outside the Altar of Sacrifice.
"Ugh."
With a sword between his teeth, Zoro used both swords to block the Sky Shark's ferocious attack.
" Zoro!" Nami and Chopper shouted anxiously.
The Sky Shark used its momentum to slam Zoro into the vast sea of clouds.
Chopper's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets as he yelled, Kog'Maw, " Zoro lost to Sky Shark!"
A brief silence.
Chopper and Nami both covered their cheeks with their hands and exclaimed, "They haven't made it up yet... are they going to get eaten by sharks?"
"Oh no! Zoro's been eaten!"
Chopper screamed, completely disregarding whether it was true or not.
Retsu Unohana smiled and said, "It's alright. If I were really eaten, the cloud would be stained red with blood."
" Sister Hana, please don't make it so scary."
Nami shouted.
"You guys are so noisy!" Zoro abandoned his sword and punched Sky Shark away.
"Ha, ha," Zoro slowly walked up the stairs of the altar, pushed his goggles up his head, and said with a helpless expression, "This is a headache. Swimming to the other side is impossible. Where am I?"
Robin spread his hands and said, "This should be an inland lake on Island of God. Looking at where we are, it looks like an altar."
"Look, there's another Sky Shark circling around."
Robin calmly pointed.
Zoro took off his wet clothes, wrung them out, and asked, "Why did that shrimp bring us here?"
Retsu Unohana smiled and said, "He's clearly a swordsman, yet he sent a shark flying with his Riot Games."
Chopper, ignoring what it was made of, looked at Zoro with adoration and said, " Zoro is so strong!"
Robin, hands on his hips and a hint of doubt in his expression, asked, "Is going hungry here Heaven's Judgment?"
Zoro pretended not to hear Retsu Unohana's teasing and turned to Robin, saying, "Would a god do something so pointless?"
Robin shrugged and said, "I don't know, I've never seen a god."
Zoro frowned, deciding to fulfill his duties as first mate, and commanded, "If the hull is like this, we can't go into the water. Chopper, you find a way to fix the ship."
Chopper paused for a moment, then said, "Huh? Me? I know!"
Nami immediately asked, "Your name is Chopper, what do you want to do?"
Zoro put on a white t-shirt and said, "I'm going to try to get into the forest. This will be our temporary base. Luffy and the others will definitely come looking for us here."
At this point, Zoro remembered something serious and said solemnly, "Remember, if you get lost, stay where you are."
Nami, speechless, said, "You're the one who should remember that line the most."
Zoro smiled slightly and said, "There must be a god on this island, right? I'll go see him."
Nami shouted in a panic, "Don't go looking for trouble! Why are you going to see such a terrifying guy?"
"Let's see how that guy reacts."
Zoro stood with his hands on his hips, a wicked expression on his face.
Chopper looked at Zoro with admiration. "Wow, Zoro seems even greater than a god!"
Seeing Zoro's attitude, Nami panicked and cried out, "There are priests on the island! You absolutely mustn't offend the gods; that's common sense!"
Zoro looked at Nami and said, "Sorry, I don't believe in gods or Buddhas."
"I don't believe in God, so why should I be afraid of angering Him?"
Zoro's words made Chopper's eyes light up. "Wow!"
Nami cried, clasping her hands together in a prayerful gesture towards heaven. "Oh God, I have absolutely no relationship with this guy!"
Zoro looked up and around, finally finding a vine. Pointing at it, he said, "That vine seems usable."
Robin also stepped off the boat and chimed in, "Hmm, good idea. Can I come along too?"
Zoro nodded and said, "Sure, but don't hold me back."
Nami asked, somewhat surprised, "Hey, wait, Robin, you're going too?"
"Um."
Robin nodded and explained, "This altar is at least a thousand years old. Seeing such historical artifacts makes me really curious."
If we find any gems or something, it would be of some help to us.
Upon hearing the word "jewel," Nami completely forgot about gods and danger; all she saw was money. She raised her hand and shouted, "I'm going too!"
Chopper looked at Nami with surprise and said, "Weren't you scared just now?"
Nami's eyes had turned into money-grubbing expressions as she said to Chopper, "What's there to be afraid of when exploring history?"
Chopper looked at Nami and thought to himself, "Your eyes have turned into the shape of Belly."
Zoro removed the vines, held them in his hands, and then cleared his throat. "Hmm! Ah, hmm! Cough cough!"
Then, "Ahhh~", Zoro, holding onto the vines, swung from the altar to the land on the other side.
Nami, seeing Zoro's expression, remarked, "What is he doing?"
Robin swung across calmly, saying, "Be careful, it's about fifty meters high here. If you fail, you're dead."
"Don't talk about death or anything like that, don't say such terrifying things."
Nami replied, closed her eyes, and swung across the vine, but she was going too fast and couldn't stop. In the end, Robin used her powers to help Nami down.
"You've got guts!"
Robin laughed.
Nami lay on the ground, panting heavily, and said, "Huff... huff... thank you for saving my life."
"Oh, it was nothing... This forest is really huge."
Robin looked up at the towering tree that stretched as far as the eye could see and sighed in awe.
Zoro shouted at Chopper on the altar, "Well then, Chopper, you'd better take good care of repairing the ship."
Nami waved and said, " Sister Hana, aren't you coming along?"
"No need, I'll stay here and watch the ship. Chopper would be scared if he were left alone."
Retsu Unohana waved her hand. From the moment she stepped onto the island, she had a feeling of being watched, which she suspected was the work of that god.
It would be better for her to stay.
"Really? We'll be right back."
Nami waved goodbye and left with Zoro and Robin.
Chopper waved to the three of them and shouted, "Okay, everyone be careful on the road, and come back safe and sound!"
After watching the three walk away, Chopper took out his tools from the room to prepare to repair the boat.
Retsu Unohana went to the kitchen to help brew a pot of tea.
Since entering Island of God, Luffy, Shiraishi, Usopp, and Sanji have been subjected to various attacks.
After a series of close calls, the four of them arrived in front of a giant stone statue.
Below the statue are four openings, each inscribed with one of the following: The Ordeal of Balls, The Ordeal of String, The Ordeal of Iron, and The Ordeal of Swamp.
"What is this?" Usopp asked, his face full of confusion.
Before Shiraishi could explain, different sounds came from each cave entrance.
"You've committed a second-degree crime! What do you take God for?"
"Choose the trial, and let us punish you ourselves."
"Evil stems from ignorance!"
"If you want peace and stability, you can't go against the will of Heaven."
"Swamp!" "Iron!" "Rope!" "Ball!"
"You can only choose one trial!"
Usopp asked in a panic, "What do we do?"
Luffy smiled and pointed to the hole in the Ordeal of Balls, saying, "Alright, let's Ordeal of Balls. This looks like a lot of fun."
"A ball? Yeah, maybe they just want us to play ball for fun."
Shiraishi smiled and said that in his eyes it was just for fun.
"This is a trial, there's nothing fun about it," Usopp shouted, though he didn't have the monstrous strength of the three.
However, after careful consideration, Usopp realized that this trial did seem quite good compared to the other three. "Hmm, I also agree with choosing the ball; it's the only one without any violence, but it feels a bit awkward."
Sanji, "Alright, let's decide on that. Don't let your guard down. This is the Island of God, ten thousand meters above the ground. If anything happens, it's no laughing matter."
"Forward!" Luffy clearly didn't listen.
"Waaah."
After entering the cave of the Ordeal of Balls, Usopp kept his eyes tightly closed.
Luffy looked inside, his heart filled with anticipation.
"Hey, don't compare your eyes, helmsman."
Sanji shouted at Usopp.
"Even if I open my eyes, it'll be pitch black..." Usopp replied in a trembling voice, terrified.
Luffy suddenly realized something and said to the others, "Ah, right, right, this isn't that..."
"Huh? Which one?" Usopp asked, puzzled.
"Aren't there four entrances? Only one is correct, the others are wrong."
"Huh?! Why are you only telling me now? What if I guessed wrong?"
Usopp shouted in a panic.
"What should we do? We've fallen off Sky Island!"
Luffy answered casually.
"Oh dear, what nonsense are you spouting?"
Usopp said in a trembling voice, "How could I possibly fall? This is ten thousand meters above the ground! Just the time it takes to fall is enough to relive several lifetimes."
"Don't worry, it won't take as long as you think."
Shiraishi offered a word of comfort.
Terrified, Usopp hugged him tightly, tears streaming down his face, and said, "You have to save me then!"
"Hey, you three, don't say things like that. Get out of here right now. I don't think that's even possible..."
As Sanji speaking, the Crow set sail, finding no road ahead and no bottom to be seen.
His eyes widened in disbelief. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. Luffy had actually been right—he was falling from a height of ten thousand meters?
"Ugh..." Usopp collapsed unconscious on the deck.
"How could this be? It can't be real, right?!"
Sanji shouted.
Bang!
With a loud bang.
The Crow landed on the Cloud River below.
"Huff... huff... huff..." Luffy, Usopp, and Sanji gasped for breath, saying with relief, "We're... we're saved..."
Usopp, exhausted, lay on the boat and said, "I thought I really fell from a height of ten thousand meters."
Sanji kicked Luffy on the head and shouted angrily, "You were just talking nonsense, you bastard! You scared me half to death!"
Luffy laughed loudly, "Hahahaha, ah, I was so scared! I thought I was going to die!"
Shiraishi sat there, laughing, "Hahaha, just as I predicted, we couldn't possibly fall from ten thousand meters."
Sanji glared at Shiraishi and said irritably, "If you had the guts, you should have said that before you fell. It's all over now, so why are you still saying that?"
After a few complaints and grumbles, the four of them continued forward along the Cloud River into the dense forest.
"But where is this?"
Sanji looked completely puzzled.
Luffy looked at the ball in the sky and shouted in surprise, "Ball!!"
"It should be a small Island Cloud sphere," Shiraishi stroked his chin, recalling what Pagaya had said.
"Haha, that's really great, just like a giant snowflake."
Luffy laughed loudly as he spoke.
" The Cloud River flows through the middle of the trees."
Sanji looked somewhat surprised.
Luffy looked at the balls and asked in confusion, "What kind of trial is this?"
"Who knows? If there's nothing at all, that would be ideal, but that's unlikely."
Sanji subconsciously lit a cigarette and took a puff.
"Could it be... could it be that we've chosen the right path? If we had chosen another entrance, we would be in deep trouble now."
Luffy suddenly thought of a possibility.
"Maybe we'll have to attack those balls, and a reward will fall out."
Shiraishi encouraged Luffy to unleash his full power.
"How could that be? What if we attack those balls and make things worse?"
Sanji quickly stopped Luffy, who wanted to try it out, "Anyway, let's stay vigilant and keep going!"
Luffy up to Shiraishi and said, "Let's have a cookie feast now, Usopp, take the cookie out of your bag."
Upon hearing that a banquet was to be held, Usopp abandoned his fear of his surroundings and immediately began making arrangements.
Then, he joined Luffy and Shiraishi in drinking tea, eating cookies, and playing around.
"Hey, you three!"
Sanji shouted angrily.
He was having a real headache. Luffy and Usopp being so carefree was one thing, but he hadn't expected Shiraishi to be so relaxed too. Did he really think he was on vacation here?
Drinking tea and eating pancakes?
Sanji felt helpless and could only become more vigilant. Looking into the dense forest, he thought, "Strange, I clearly heard there were four priests. I thought the four entrances must lead to the places each priest guarded... Was I wrong?"
"Hey, Usopp, watch the game."
"Okay, no problem." Usopp started playing.
Sanji into a rage, turning around and yelling, "I told you to watch your surroundings, not to watch the ball!"
As they were speaking, a snake lunged at Usopp from the clouds, "Waaaaaah!"
Luffy kicked the snake away, yelling, "Get out of the way!"
"Hey, Sanji, up ahead!" Usopp shouted.
Sanji kicked the Ball Cloud that was floating in front of him, thinking that there was a snake hidden inside, but the Ball Cloud exploded.
"Bang!"
They all ended up with explosively styled hair.
Shiraishi stood up from behind Luffy. "That was dangerous."
Usopp retorted, "You should at least have shielded me from that!"
Sanji shouted angrily, "What the hell is going on?! These balls!!"
"Haha, I'm really looking forward to seeing what appears in the clouds."
Luffy said excitedly.
Shiraishi nodded and said, "Just as I said."
"You described it as a reward, but this doesn't look like one at all!"
Usopp's spot-on commentary.
Just then, a voice came from not far away.
"That cloud is called the Surprise Cloud, hehe, hehe, thank you for choosing my Ordeal of Balls, hehehe~"
A Sky Island priest who looked like a ball appeared before the four of them, sitting on a Ball Cloud.