Chapter 91 No need to look for the bird, you dug out the rushing ocean current!
Every eye on the island swiveled to focus on Teach.
The schemer, who had been content to observe from the shadows, was now thrust into the glaring spotlight. The sinister smile on his face froze, clearly caught off guard by the sudden identification.
Luffy slowly turned. The moment his gaze landed on Teach's face, he ignited like a barrel of gunpowder. "So you're Teach!! You were the one in the tavern!"
His knuckles cracked as he clenched his fists. "You're the traitor who made Ace chase you all over the Grand Line! I'm gonna send you flying!!"
Teach's expression darkened, annoyed at being recognized so easily. "Zehahaha... You've got some nerve, you little brat..."
"Gum-Gum—!"
Luffy gave him no time to finish. His rubber arm stretched back a hundred meters in an instant!
"ROCKET!"
BOOM!
The massive fist, breaking the sound barrier, shot straight for Teach's face! Van Auger immediately raised his rifle, and Doc Q's sick horse, Stronger, reared back, but no one expected—
Teach didn't dodge.
He took the punch square on the jaw.
CRUNCH!
Blood and fragments of teeth sprayed through the air. The pirate who had roamed the treacherous New World was sent flying dozens of meters, crashing through seven or eight ancient trees before skidding to a halt.
The onlookers stared, utterly dumbfounded.
Ron's brow, however, furrowed even deeper. "Something's not right... With Teach's power, there's no way he couldn't dodge a simple punch like that..."
From within the cloud of dust, Teach staggered to his feet, spat out a mouthful of blood, and revealed an even more ferocious grin. "Zehahaha... That stung!" His eyes gleamed with a manic light. "But now... you're all MINE!!"
Just as Luffy coiled his arm for another strike, suddenly—
RUMBLE!!
The entire island convulsed like a tiny skiff in a typhoon. The ground buckled and rolled like boiling water, rocks split apart, and ancient trees were uprooted. Everyone lost their footing, scrambling for anything to hold onto.
"Wah!" Luffy stumbled, his rubber arm slapping against the ground to keep himself upright. "What's happening now?!"
Robin's face suddenly paled. She crossed her arms over her chest. "Mille Fleur: Ojos!" Dozens of eyes instantly bloomed on the highest treetops, giving her a panoramic, bird's-eye view.
"The sea... the sea is pulling back!" Robin's voice trembled with uncharacteristic shock. "The water level has dropped three meters... no, four! And it's still receding!"
Ron's pupils constricted. A terrifying realization dawned on him. "It can't be..." He looked up at the sky, then at the rapidly disappearing coastline. "No way... It can't actually be that, can it?!"
Nami clung desperately to a shaking tree trunk. "Ron! What in the world is going on?!"
"Uh... Nami," Ron said, his voice a mix of awe and dread. "We don't need to look for the South Bird anymore. You didn't just dig near the Knock-Up Stream..."
He took a sharp breath.
"...You dug up the Knock-Up Stream itself."
"WHAT?!?!"
"NANI?!"
"THE KNOCK-UP STREAM?!"
A chorus of shocked screams erupted from the crew!
As if to confirm Ron's terrifying hypothesis, the surrounding sea level plummeted once more, forming a colossal whirlpool hundreds of kilometers in diameter!
The vortex expanded monstrously, the sea draining away so rapidly that the base of the island was exposed for over ten meters! The surrounding seawater was violently sucked into the abyss, forming an even larger, more terrifying maelstrom!
"What the hell?!" Usopp shrieked, his nose stiffening with pure terror. "We were just digging for treasure! How did we dig up the apocalypse?!"
"Robin! Is the Sunny okay?!" Chopper cried, his eyes wide with worry.
Robin shifted her gaze. "The sea level has dropped, but the Sunny's automated anchor chains have deployed. It's secured itself to Jaya. The sails have retracted automatically."
A collective sigh of relief passed through Chopper and the others. "Thank goodness..."
Nearby, Zoro finally found his footing, driving his three swords deep into the earth for stability. "Hey, Cook! You ever see anything like this at the Baratie?"
Sanji took a long, deep drag from his cigarette. "Hell no! In all my years on that floating restaurant, I never saw the sea try to abandon an entire island..."
His words were cut off by a sound that defied description.
KABOOOOOOOM—!!
A deafening, earth-shattering explosion tore the very air apart. For a moment, everyone's hearing was obliterated, replaced only by a high-pitched, ringing roar.
In the next instant, an indescribable, immense force erupted from beneath their feet. It felt as if an invisible giant had seized the entire island in its fist. Everyone's legs turned to lead, impossibly heavy.
"W-What's happening now?!" Usopp screamed, finding his feet momentarily lifting from the ground before being slammed back down and held fast, as if welded to it.
The entire mass of Jaya shuddered violently, and amidst the cataclysmic roar—
It shot into the sky.
"AHHHHHHHHHH!!"
The combined screams of thousands of pirates ripped through the air.
They were all pinned to the rapidly tilting ground like nails, watching in horror as the forests, rocks, and buildings hurtled away from the sea below. A violent gale tore at their clothes and skin. The clouds rushed toward them at a visible, terrifying speed.
"Holy shit! The island's flying!" a pirate shrieked, clinging to a tree trunk for dear life, his eyes bulging.
"We're gonna die! We're gonna be smashed into paste!" another wailed, a dark stain spreading across his trousers.
Bellamy collapsed to the ground, his face ashen. "W-What kind of nightmare..." His golden hair whipped wildly in the gale-force wind. "I just wanted to mug someone! I haven't even gotten to join up with my idol yet!"
Chaos reigned among the Straw Hats.
Luffy stretched his neck out excitedly. "WOW! This is amazing! We're flying!"
Zoro and Sanji stood back-to-back, bracing themselves, their expressions grim. "This is no joke, Luffy!"
Nami clung to Ron's arm, her whole body trembling. "R-Ron! What do we do?!"
Ron's Kenbunshoku Haki was stretched to its limit, his gaze locked on the thick layer of storm clouds rushing toward them. "Hold on! We're about to punch through the cumulonimbus cloud layer!"
Chopper had shifted into his Heavy Point, digging his powerful hooves deep into the soil. "I don't wanna die! I haven't become a world-class doctor yet!"
Robin suddenly pointed downward, her voice cutting through the chaos. "Look at the sea!"
Everyone looked down. The vast, blue ocean was shrinking at an alarming rate. They could even make out the shapes of other, distant islands!
And that kilometer-wide Knock-Up Stream, a colossal pillar of shimmering blue energy, supported the island from below, glowing with an almost dreamlike radiance in the sunlight.
"We... we're not actually..." Usopp's lips trembled, unable to finish the horrifying thought.
"That's right." Ron took a sharp, steadying breath. "We are currently reliving the exact process that sent a part of Jaya Island skyward... 400 years ago."
...
A moment of stunned silence was broken by Usopp's petrified shriek.
"WE'RE NOT GONNA FALL AND DIE, ARE WE?!"
....
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