At the port of Warship Island, the Twin Goddesses slowly pulled alongside the dock.
But the closer they got to shore, the more deeply everyone frowned. A pungent, choking stench spread across the deck.
The smell was clearly coming from Warship Island ahead of them. The entire island was visibly shrouded in filthy black fog. Nighttime visibility was already poor to begin with, and now it was even harder to make out what was happening on the island.
Ayala sniffed the air and said analytically, "This gas is probably poisonous!"
"Poisonous?!"
"Yeah. It smells like waste gas from metal smelting, the kind that contains all sorts of toxic fumes. If we're going ashore, we should bring gas masks and some medicine with us."
"Then I'll leave the preparations to you, Ayala."
After saying that, Yemu turned to Enel.
"Keep monitoring the situation on the island."
"Got it, leave it to me. What about the pirate ships following us from behind? Ignore them?"
Enel turned his head and looked at the pirate ships shadowing them from both sides.
Yemu shook his head.
"No need to bother with them. Today, everything comes second to finding the Kumo Kumo no Mi."
As the Twin Goddesses docked, the Sky Pirates, fully prepared, disembarked and headed deeper inland.
…
Just as Yemu and the others entered the island, the Whitebeard Pirates and the Silver Axe Pirates also approached the shore.
"What's wrong with this island? What is that smell?"
Even Diamond Jozu could barely stand it and covered his nose. The others were in even worse shape.
As the Whitebeard Pirates' doctor, Marco came to the same conclusion as Ayala. The troublesome part was that they hadn't brought any gas masks with them on this trip.
Still, Marco had a solution.
"Leave some men behind to guard the ship. The rest of you, find some cloth, soak it in water, and cover your mouths and noses."
Once the arrangements were made, Marco and Jozu led more than fifty men onto the island, leaving Flower Sword Vista and the others behind to guard the ship.
Over on the Silver Axe Pirates' side, after seeing what the Whitebeard Pirates were doing, John copied them and had his men cover their faces with wet cloth.
But under the night sky, the grunts looked at the dim, deathly silent island ahead of them and asked nervously,
"Captain John, are we going in too?"
John glanced at his underlings. He didn't say anything too harsh. Instead, he spoke meaningfully.
"If the Sky Pirates came all the way here looking for something, it must be something extraordinary. Maybe treasure. If you're not interested, then forget it."
In an instant, every grunt's eyes lit up with excitement, and they started shouting eagerly.
"Treasure... treasure..."
…
In the gloomy forest, the Sky Pirates were dressed like explorers, wrapped tightly in brownish-yellow clothing, wearing gas masks with Lamp Dials mounted on top.
"This is strange. It's way too quiet."
The entire way through the forest, there wasn't a single sound, not even the wind.
Ron, one of the Tontatta, flew beside them in midair, gently touching the tree trunks one by one. His expression turned ugly as he spoke.
"The trees here are suffering."
Everyone froze for a moment. They all knew about the Tontatta's affinity with plants.
His younger brother, Gaos, flew over anxiously and added, "My brother's right. Everything here is struggling to breathe. Plants can purify the air, but the air here is already far beyond what they can endure. If this keeps up, every plant on the island will wither and die."
Hearing that, Yemu looked at Tiger in confusion.
"Tiger, didn't you say this place was one of the World Government's warship-building bases? The environment here is awful."
Tiger hesitated slightly, then said after a moment's thought, "Warship Island is indeed one of the World Government's shipbuilding bases. But unlike Water 7, the workers they use here are different..."
"Huh?"
Everyone was taken aback, not understanding what he meant.
Tiger explained, "I only heard this secondhand, but there are too many pirates on the seas. Even Impel Down can't hold all of them. So every year, the World Government sends some pirates to various places around the world to carry out different kinds of work. Warship Island is one of those places. Most of the hard labor here is done by pirates captured by the Marines. So naturally, no one cares whether they live or die, much less what kind of conditions they're forced to live in."
That made everything clear. Everyone finally understood why the island's environment was so terrible.
Just then, Enel seemed to sense something and pointed in one direction.
"There's movement over there. Someone's there."
"Let's go check it out."
The group quickly crossed through the forest.
What came into view left everyone stunned.
The interior of the enormous island had practically been turned into one giant factory. Massive shipyards and a tall building filled their field of vision. The ground all around was littered with discarded tools and materials, along with the corpses of prisoners still wearing prison uniforms and shackles.
Flies and mosquitoes circled above them, filling the silent night with an irritating buzz.
"What a miserable sight."
Marco, who had also emerged from the forest, looked at the scene in surprise.
Then, glancing at the Sky Pirates, whom they had finally managed to catch up with, he said, "I'd heard about this place a long time ago, but actually seeing it in person is still enough to make your skin crawl."
Yemu didn't respond to Marco at all. Instead, Jozu looked over the empty island, which resembled a living hell, frowned, and asked,
"Does this island still have any value to us?"
Marco scratched his head and thought it over before replying, "It's worse than I imagined. Looks like the World Government really didn't plan on leaving us much. And with the environment here... well, that's not a big problem. The shipyards left behind and the island's mineral deposits are still worth a lot of money. And with the Sky Pirates showing up here, this island's value has gone up even more..."
Those words finally drew the Sky Pirates' attention.
Even though everyone was wearing gas masks and their expressions couldn't be seen, Marco could easily imagine them glaring at him.
Unfortunately for him, it only lasted a moment. Yemu and the others quickly refocused and turned to Enel beside them.
"Have you pinpointed the exact location?"
"Yeah." Enel nodded. "Want me to bring them over?"
"Bring them all here."
Meanwhile, among the ruins outside the large central building on Warship Island, two pitch-black figures chased each other like ghosts.
They were wrapped from head to toe, with only their eyes exposed.
From their eyes alone, it was obvious that one of them was frantic, while the other was toying with him like a cat playing with a mouse.
Apparently done playing, the black ghost pursuing him glanced at the time on his watch.
"Only one hour left. Time to withdraw."
As soon as the words fell, the black ghost vanished in an instant, shocking the one being hunted, then reappeared right in front of him as if he had blinked through space.
In that instant, the hunted man's pupils shrank sharply, and unmistakable despair filled his dark green eyes.
In the darkness of night, a peal of thunder flashed past, and he instantly lost consciousness.
"Boom..."