At the same moment Sherlock's group was advancing eastward, ten thousand meters below in the Blue Sea, a blue-haired traveler—the very one who had provided excellent cover for the Straw Hat Pirates—was finding himself in a bit of a predicament.
"This really is a terrible trip!"
Aboard a somewhat weathered, small sailing vessel, Rovick shaded his eyes with his hand and scanned the horizon, his expression shifting between frustration and uncertainty.
"With my speed, I should have spotted a small island by now after sailing for this long. Why isn't there even a shadow of one?"
The calm, vast sea stretched out endlessly. The water rippled gently under a pleasant breeze, and beneath a cloudless, brilliant sky, it was the kind of perfect weather that countless navigators dreamed of.
However, this beautiful weather did nothing to pull Rovick out of the gloom of being lost.
"Could I have been sailing in circles this whole time?" The blue-haired traveler, whose sense of direction was admittedly poor, scratched his head in extreme irritation.
"It's all that smoke-spewing, white-haired Marine's fault for chasing me so hard. If he hadn't, I wouldn't have picked such a piece-of-crap boat in a panic. It doesn't even have a damn Log Pose, and I have no idea where I dropped mine. Argh! This trip is just pure bad luck!"
Ever since escaping Captain Smoker and the other Marines on Jaya, Rovick had been drifting aimlessly across the ocean. To be honest, it was incredibly boring.
"I heard there's a punishment on Skypiea called the 'Ordeal of Cloud Drifting,' where criminals are set adrift on the sea of clouds until they die. How is that any different from my current situation?"
At the mention of Skypiea, the blue-haired swordsman sighed and muttered to himself, "Right, the President and his companions already headed up there, didn't they? I wonder how they're doing or if they arrived safely. That Straw Hat kid is truly reckless, actually daring to take the Knock Up Stream to reach the sky..."
Just as Rovick was lost in thought, his Observation Haki suddenly sensed something "big" slowly approaching from beneath the sea. It was about to break the surface!
(This size... a Sea King?) Rovick's expression hardened. His right hand quickly moved to the hilt of his precious blade, Zetsuki, as he secretly circulated his fruit powers. He looked ready to cleave the "Sea King" in two the moment it showed its head.
A gust of wind blew past, and the atmosphere grew inexplicably tense.
However, as the object drew closer, the traveler's expression became increasingly strange, and he slowly relaxed his grip on his sword.
(No, that's not a Sea King. It's...)
Splash! Water sprayed everywhere, reflecting the colors of the rainbow under the sunlight as a uniquely designed, pale-yellow submarine emerged. Printed clearly on its side was a grinning, skull-like emblem.
"No way! I just ran into the President the day before yesterday, and now I've run into him? When did the world get so small?"
Fate works in mysterious ways. Seeing that familiar emblem he hadn't laid eyes on in years, Rovick suddenly felt that the world was full of wonders.
Creak— With the metallic clang of a hatch opening, a mysterious creature with a bear's head and a human body, wearing an orange jumpsuit, poked half its body out of the cabin.
The creature was truly peculiar, looking for all the world like a polar bear that had attained enlightenment.
"Hey! Hey! Rovick, long time no see!"
The white bear waved a paw energetically at the blue-haired swordsman, its adorable face filled with excitement—completely forgetting the golden rule of "don't block the doorway."
"Now, Bepo, don't block the hatch." A lazy, magnetic, and deep male voice sounded from behind the bear.
"I'm... I'm sorry..."
The white bear, Bepo, immediately lost its spirit. Hanging its head, he slunk to the side like a wilted eggplant. Evidently, the little guy's mental fortitude was not very strong.
Next, a man stepped out of the hatch, carrying a large nodachi over his shoulder.
He wore light blue trousers and a yellow-and-black hooded sweatshirt with the same grinning skull emblem on the chest as the submarine. He sported a fluffy winter hat with leopard spots, which, paired with the tattoos on his hands, gave him a very wild appearance.
His distinctive dark circles made him look somewhat lethargic. But when his gaze landed on the stunned blue-haired youth, his usual smirk—often filled with contempt and provocation—softened with a rare hint of goodwill.
"Long time no see, Rovick-ya."
Meanwhile, on the Island of God, Upper Yard, the Shandia warriors were rapidly advancing toward the shrine.
"Wiper, it's too quiet. How have we not encountered a single Priest or Divine Soldier yet?" a large man carrying a rocket launcher asked the leader of the campaign.
"It's normal. Two of the four Priests are down. They must be concentrating their forces in one place."
Wiper spat out his cigarette butt. He looked down at the Reject Dial wrapped in his left palm, and his resolute face was clouded with a murderous intensity.
(Enel, even if it costs me my life this time, I will kill you!)
To fulfill the final wish of his ancestor, the Great Warrior Kalgara, the warrior known as "Berserker" had long since prepared himself for death.
Rumble—!
Suddenly, a commotion erupted from the distant woods. Judging by the intensifying noise, the source of the disturbance was approaching rapidly!
(What's happening?)
The Shandia warriors froze, but before they could react, a massive, hideous serpent's head lunged out from their flank! Its mouth was wide open, its crimson tongue flickering out to an exaggerated length as if trying to snap at something.
"It... it's the Master of the Sky!"
"Damn it, doesn't this giant snake usually sleep?"
"Argh! It's charging at us!"
Faced with the sudden appearance of the monstrous serpent, the Shandia warriors fell into a panic. They scrambled to scatter, aiming their weapons at the giant snake that had grown to such an impossible size.
(Strange, is the Master of the Sky chasing something?)
The keen-eyed Wiper quickly noticed something unusual: the giant snake's attention wasn't on his group at all. Instead, it seemed to be pursuing an "invisible" prey.
(Fine by me. we can't afford to waste time and energy on this right now.)
With that thought, Wiper was about to warn his teammates not to fire, but he was a second too late.
BOOM!
A bomb appeared as if out of thin air and exploded against the Master of the Sky's head. Though it didn't leave a single mark on the snake's toughened hide, it acted like a starting pistol for the others.
A signal to open fire...
Wiper's expression instantly froze.
After a chaotic scramble.
Wiper fired another shot from his Burn Bazooka at the giant snake's head. The weapon, a powerful combination of a Breath Dial and a Flame Dial, was formidable, but against a beast of this magnitude, it only caused a stinging sensation.
"Scatter and retreat! We'll regroup at the Giant Jack!" Wiper shouted, left with no other choice.
"Right!" the Shandia warriors roared in response before fanning out in all directions.
Hiss—! The enraged Master of the Sky's aggression shifted again. It flicked its long tongue and gave chase in the direction Wiper had retreated.
Once the dust had settled...
Shimmer—
From behind a towering ancient tree, a handsome young man wearing silver-rimmed glasses slowly materialized. His face was somewhat pale; he clearly wasn't in top form.
"Phew... Lucky I ran into those shields. Otherwise, in my current state, facing that giant snake that ignores invisibility would have been troublesome."
Feeling not even a shred of guilt for leading the trouble toward strangers, Sherlock leaned against the tree trunk and adjusted his glasses, muttering gloomily:
"If I could use Mirror Fusion right now, why would I fear such a beast? And why is that snake only chasing me? Does it think I'm the easiest target?"
"But with that giant snake stirring things up, Luffy and the others have definitely been separated. How stupid..."
Thinking about the navigational skills of the other three (excluding Robin), the Enchanter's face darkened, and his headache seemed to worsen.
(Searching for Zoro and the other two is unrealistic. I can only continue east and try to rendezvous with Robin early. Given her personality, she'll be very interested in the ruins of that ancient city...)
Just as Sherlock made up his mind to set off, his Observation Haki picked something up.
Mirror Image Transmission! The distant scene was instantly projected into the Enchanter's mind.
It was a young girl, roughly eight or nine years old, wearing a light orange dress and a brownish-yellow hat. She was currently running in terror, pursued by a massive Sky Bear. Her situation was extremely dire.
(Why is a little Skypiean girl out here?)
Sherlock frowned slightly, then without hesitation, he sped off in the direction where the girl was fleeing.
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