The Ark Maxim flies steadily above the clouds.
The golden hull pierced through the sea of clouds, leaving a long white trail behind it.
The sunlight streamed onto the deck, warm and inviting, a stark contrast to the unpredictable Grand Line below.
After Luo's Amber Lead Disease was cured, the atmosphere on the ship became noticeably more relaxed.
Yamato the most outrageous; he simply moved several barrels of sake out of the warehouse and kept clamoring to throw a banquet to celebrate.
Roy dismissed her with "still on the way," but allowed her to have a couple more drinks with dinner.
At this moment, Yamato was sitting on the ship's railing, his legs dangling over the edge, holding the medical book Kureha had given him, and looking at it with a swaying head.
But clearly his mind wasn't on the medical book at all, but rather on Luo, who was quietly reading a book to the side.
"Luo!"
Yamato leaned closer. "What are you looking at?"
"Medical books." Luo didn't even look up.
"I know they're medical books! I'm asking you which one you're looking at!"
Luo flipped the cover over to show her—"Toxicology and Mechanisms of Cellular Pathogenesis".
Yamato glanced at it; the dense text paired with the complex molecular structure diagram made her feel dizzy after three seconds.
"You little brat, the books you're reading are harder to understand than my homework on Onigashima back in the day."
Luo glanced at her. "You've been to school?"
Of course not!
Yamato was perfectly justified.
"How could Kaido possibly let me go to school! He doesn't even know what textbooks look like!"
Luo's lips twitched, too lazy to reply, and he continued reading with his head down.
Pea was squatting in the corner of the deck, tending to the snow lotus she had brought from Drum Island.
The petals were as white as snow, shimmering faintly in the sunlight, and bloomed even better than they had on Drum Island.
"It looks so cute..." the Pea murmured, gently brushing the dust off its leaves with a small brush.
Enel floated in mid-air, his eyes closed, his Observation Haki covering an area of dozens of nautical miles.
Ever since Kureha pointed out his problem of "wide enough range but not enough precision," this guy has become unusually serious, spending several hours every day practicing perceiving details.
"Thirty nautical miles to the southeast, there are three Sea Kings."
He muttered something under his breath.
"Its length... is about fifty meters, and it's swimming north."
"Twelve nautical miles to the southwest, there is a merchant ship. On board... fifteen people, and the cargo is... grain and cloth."
He opened his eyes, a hint of smugness on his face. "My accuracy is much better than yesterday."
"Yes, yes, you're the strongest." Tesoro leaned against the mast, toying with a gold coin in his hand, his tone perfunctory.
Enel glared at him. "You don't believe me? I can even sense how many Beli you have in your pocket!"
"Oh? How much?"
Forty-seven thousand three hundred and twenty Beli.
Tesoro paused, looked down at the money in his pocket, and his expression changed slightly. "How did you know?"
"Hmph." Enel raised his chin. "This is precision!"
Tesoro's lips twitched, he silently buttoned up his pocket, and took two steps to the side.
Savi and Bar practiced together in the middle of the deck.
Both men were shirtless, their muscles gleaming bronze in the sunlight.
Savi's punches were faster than in the Little Garden, each punch accompanied by a subtle sonic boom.
Instead of simply enduring the force head-on, Bar began to learn to use his footwork to deflect the impact and his body rotation to neutralize it.
Although the movements are still a bit clumsy, there is already obvious progress.
" Bar, your stance isn't stable enough." Savi threw a punch, and Bar staggered back two steps, his footing making a loud thud on the deck.
"I know."
Bar scratched his head sheepishly.
"Boss Bullet said the same thing, and I'm still practicing."
Jesus Burgess, watching from the sidelines, was itching to join in and clamored to do so, but Lafitte stopped him.
"Save your energy."
Lafitte sat to one side, wiping his sword.
"What if something happens later?"
"Who dares to mess with us on this high seas?" Jesus Burgess said dismissively.
Lafitte didn't reply, but he didn't stop wiping the sword.
Kazami sat alone at the stern of the boat, eyes closed, her fingers gently gesturing on her knees.
After returning from the Little Garden, he had been processing the sword techniques he had secretly learned from Dorry.
That bold and unrestrained style was completely different from his fast sword, but something within it made him vaguely grasp something.
He pondered Kureha's words, "Pushing too hard can backfire," many times, and gradually gained some new understanding of them.
Charon and Van Augur are playing chess—on a makeshift board made of seashells and pebbles.
Both players remained expressionless, making extremely slow moves, each requiring considerable thought.
Two hours had passed and the game was still undecided, Yamato, who was watching from the sidelines, had already taken a nap and then woke up again.
"You two... can you hurry up?" She yawned.
"No rush," Charon said calmly.
"Calm down," Van Augur added.
Yamato silent, clutching his spiked club, and closed his eyes again.
Roy lay on the bow of the boat, squinting as he quietly savored the tranquility of the moment.
The Log Pose beside him was pointing directly at the Sabaody Archipelago.
At the current speed of Ark Maxim, it should arrive in a few more days.
He was planning his arrangements after arriving at the Sabaody Archipelago — Fish-Man Island, the New World... and Red-Haired Shanks who was about to enter the New World.
Just then, Van Augur suddenly put down his chess piece.
His movements were very light, but everyone noticed—because this man usually didn't even blink when playing chess.
"Captain." Van Augur stood up, walked to the ship's side, raised his sniper rifle, and looked out at the distant sea through the scope.
There's a boat below.
Roy's Observation Haki activated simultaneously.
Sure enough, about ten nautical miles below the Ark Maxim, a fleet was sailing.
"What ship?" Tesoro walked over.
Van Augur was silent for a few seconds, then carefully observed through the scope.
" World Government ships. Flying the World Government flag."
He paused,
"And... three more Marine warship are escorting it."
The atmosphere on deck changed instantly upon hearing this.
Yamato opened his eyes, his hand already gripping the spiked club. Savi and Bar stopped their sparring and walked to the ship's side. Enel landed from mid-air, his golden staff held horizontally in front of him.
Everyone was waiting for Roy's orders.
Roy didn't rush to speak. His Observation Haki locked onto the fleet below, carefully sensing the presence of each ship.
The three warships each carried several hundred naval soldiers. The officers on board were of considerable rank, at least lieutenant commanders or higher.
The World Government's ship had several auras inside its cabin—not strong, but very capable, like specially trained guards.
But what really caught Roy's attention was the most powerful aura emanating from the first warship.
He was very familiar with that aura.
Powerful, composed, and carrying a sense of weight and experience gained from long battles.