High in the sky, the wind howled like a wounded beast.
Having left the ruins of Merveille in the East Blue, the Eclipse—under the precise control of its automated navigation matrix—cut through the upper stratosphere ten thousand meters above the Calm Belt at an impossible, unyielding pace.
Since Ace had left the vast majority of his vanguard on the floating islands for special training, the massive warship was unusually empty, the hollow whistle of the wind the only constant presence across the main deck. Because the chemical research on the SIQ serum had completely hit a bottleneck, Ace had ordered Chopper and Indigo to temporarily halt their frantic formula deductions and come above deck to let their frayed nerves recover.
"Wow! It's beautiful! Looking down from up here, the entire ocean looks like a giant sapphire, and the clouds look exactly like soft cotton candy!"
Chopper was perched precariously on the primary brass railing, clutching an oversized stick of pink cotton candy he had engineered from the galley supplies. His large, round eyes sparkled with pure excitement as he took a huge, blissful bite of the sugar, his small face beaming with joy.
"Phew... taking a diagnostic pause is an absolute necessity for the brain."
Dr. Indigo, sporting massive dark circles beneath his spectacles, slumped like a discarded sack of flour across a nearby beach chair. "Thank goodness this steel monster can fly. We didn't have to slowly force our way through Reverse Mountain; we simply bypassed the geometry of the Calm Belt entirely. Doctor Chopper, once we extract those ancient texts from the South Blue library, we'll definitely balance the equation for that perfect enhancement serum!"
"Eh? Even if you use such flattering clinical terms, it won't make me happy, you jerk~" Chopper's face instantly transformed into a series of wavy stripes, his small body twisting in a comical dance of total embarrassment as he cradled his cheeks.
Ace leaned back in his leather chair at the bow, his eyes closed in comfortable repose. Listening to the rhythmic banter between the reindeer and the scientist, a light smile touched his lips. Though his ship was populated by some of the most violent outlaws on the sea, the daily routine was undeniably more interesting with their mascot ship doctor on the deck.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
The automated control panel at the prow emitted a sharp, rhythmic notification chime.
"Vessel has entered the designated coordinate matrix within the South Blue. Colossal biological signatures detected directly below. Initiate descent profile?"
Ace opened his eyes, pulling himself up to look over the side. "Little Eclipse. Dampen the velocity. Activate the gravity adjustment arrays for a controlled drop."
Boom!
The ventral thrusters spewed a controlled reverse cyclone of blue-white fire, and the massive black hull sheared through the thick canopy of clouds like a falling meteor. As their altitude decayed, the vast, unbroken blue of the South Blue opened beneath them, and dozens of nautical miles ahead, a colossal landmass teeming with primal life broke the horizon.
"Chopper, drop the sugar and come look at your laboratory," Ace said, pointing toward the approaching shore.
The reindeer tossed his skewer aside and scrambled to the rail, his big eyes widening instantly.
Rising from the absolute center of the island was a tree so immense its trunk exceeded several thousand meters in diameter, soaring into the upper atmosphere like a living pillar of the world. Its dense, sprawling canopy was so vast it cast a shadow over half the island's topography, and along the ancient bark of its trunk, one could discern the faint, weathered carvings of prehistoric civilizations.
The famous primitive sanctuary of the South Blue: the Torino Kingdom.
"Wow, it's monolithic! Is there truly a library hidden inside that trunk?!" Chopper's antlers trembled with a sudden surge of academic excitement.
"There is," Ace said, his gaze sharpening as he looked toward the high branches. "But it looks like we need to clear customs with the local security first."
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
As the Eclipse closed within a few nautical miles of the canopy, three bizarre, prehistoric giant birds—their wingspans so massive they rivaled the structural length of the warship itself—burst from the dense foliage of the world tree. Their enormous, hooked beaks clicked with aggression, their eyes fixed on the black steel hull with hostile intent. Clearly identifying the hovering behemoth as a lethal threat to their territory, they let out piercing, sky-tearing shrieks, opening their razor-sharp talons as they dove from three separate vectors.
"Waaah! Monster birds! Giant predators! They're ten times larger than the Lapins on the Winter Island!" Indigo shrieked, instantly diving behind Chopper and clamping his arms around the reindeer's short legs. "Captain! Ace! Use your Haki to drop them! Otherwise, they'll shred our rigging to splinters!"
"Quiet," Ace said flatly.
He didn't lift a finger, nor did he unleash a wave of his Haki. Instead, a subtle, supremely majestic crimson light radiated silently from his chest—the Divine Fire Resonance of the Vermilion Bird.
As the sovereign presence among avian lineages, the bloodline signature of the Mythical Zoan carried an absolute, primitive authority over every bird that flew. It was a systemic, biological hierarchy that completely transcended standard mental intimidation.
The three giant birds, which had been closing the distance with terrifying velocity, froze instantly the moment the crimson radiance brushed their feathers. The raw ferocity and territorial bloodlust in their eyes vanished like a receding tide, replaced by a deep, almost human expression of absolute awe, as if they were looking upon an ancient deity.
The creatures flared their massive wings, braking hard in mid-air. Letting out gentle, low-frequency trills, they retracted their talons and began to circle the Eclipse like a phalanx of loyal sentinels, using their heavy plumage to shield the warship from the biting crosswinds of the high altitude.
"What happened?" Chopper blinked in confusion. He possessed the unique gift of animal translation, and a second ago, those creatures had been screaming bloody execution to protect their nests.
"I hold the blood of their sovereign," Ace remarked simply, waving a hand toward the bridge. "How can common birds flex their claws before the lineage of the flame? Little Eclipse, anchor us in that clearing within the upper branches. Let's go down."
Accompanied by the low, industrial hum of the engines, the black warship drifted down, respectfully escorted by the three giant avians, and settled smoothly onto a massive branch within the world tree. The timber was so thick it was wider than a city square.
However, the true friction of the island was waiting on the bark.
The moment Ace, Chopper, and Indigo dropped from the boarding ramp onto the giant branch, the foliage rustled violently.
"Gibberish! Ulabah!"
Dozens of short, round natives dressed in crude animal skins and armed with primitive spears and blowguns burst from the hollows of the trunk and the dense leaves, completely encircling their position. Their faces were masked with hostility, and the tips of their ironwood weapons gleamed with a ghostly green glaze—a neurotoxin designed to stop a man's heart the moment it touched blood.
Having spent generations enduring the predations of passing pirates and the constant attacks of the giant birds, these isolated humans held an absolute, deep-seated hatred for any foreign presence. In this territory, a long, historical cycle of blood and misunderstanding had locked the humans and the avians in a war of attrition.
"Hey! What are those things?! They look like aggressive meatballs! Why are they pointing poisoned needles at us?!" Indigo whined, scrambling backward to use Ace's long trench coat as a shield.
Ace surveyed the line of snarling natives, then glanced up at the giant birds circling anxiously above the canopy. A thin smile touched his lips. Instead of unleashing his fire to clear the branch, he looked down at the blue-nosed reindeer beside him, whose little hooves were twitching with nerves.
"Chopper, it looks like we need to resolve a local race war before we can start turning pages in that library." Ace patted the top hat gently. "The floor is yours, Doc."
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