Slowly, the view ahead darkened as the Freedom sailed into the arched giant gate.
Kong Tai turned to look at the excited crowd, a hint of amusement playing on his lips.
They wouldn't have imagined that beyond this point lay a vertical passage, would they?
Putting down his fruit cup, Kong Tai cast one last glance at the sea of clouds behind him, vaguely able to see Angel Island, Abalonia, the Golden City Shandora, that Poneglyph containing information about the ancient weapon "Pluton," and the words carved by Roger.
Of course, he also saw the words he had carved there.
"Kong Tai's Adventure Group, paying a visit."
"Hahaha!!"
A silent chuckle in his heart, he withdrew his gaze and turned his head, looking at the boundless sea of clouds ahead, his eyes once again filled with anticipation.
What else awaited them next?
This sea!
It was vast, boundless, and never disappointed those with dreams.
As long as you had the strength, you could witness sights unimaginable to ordinary people, experience all sorts of adventures and civilizations, and taste countless unique delicacies...
This was the unique charm of the Pirate King's planet!
Before long, everyone's eyes brightened as sunlight dispelled the chill in the passage, once again enveloping them in warmth.
Looking ahead, the Freedom, amidst the crew's excitement, unhesitatingly plunged into a downward cloud passage.
"Yoho~"
A sudden sense of weightlessness struck, causing everyone on the ship to grip onto nearby objects as they roared with excitement.
From a small door beside the archway.
Conis and her father ran out.
Conis stood by the door, watching the rapidly descending Freedom, raised her hand, and shouted, "Everyone, you are falling, please be careful!"
Then, she and her father raised their hands and shouted loudly, "Hahaso!"
"Swoosh~"
"Falling?"
"Careful?"
Hearing Conis's shout, a string of question marks flashed above the heads of the crew.
Just then, the Freedom shot out of the passage and into the air.
Then...
A familiar feeling, along with an unparalleled sense of weightlessness, made everyone understand what Conis meant by falling.
It turned out there was no downward cloud passage below as they had imagined, but a direct vertical drop.
But what did it matter?
They hadn't fallen from a great height vertically before.
So, instead of panic, the crew's reaction was even more excited.
This was a height of 7,000 meters!
The thrill made everyone roar again.
Hearing the crew's excited voices, Conis shook her head and turned to her father with a smile, "I told you! With Kong Tai's crew's strength, how could they be afraid of a mere 7,000 meters of high altitude?"
"Hehe!! I've been by Kong Tai's side these past few days, and I've seen so many of Kong Tai-san's wonders."
"Mhm, mhm, mhm!! You're right."
Conis's father nodded repeatedly, then tilted his head and said to Conis, "Is this why you're not blowing your whistle quickly?"
"Whistle?"
Conis seemed to remember something, her face flushed as she quickly took out a long, slender whistle from her embrace, looked down at the cloud passage, and smiled, "I'm going to blow it! A specialty of the sea of clouds..."
"Octopus Hot Air Balloon!"
Shouting loudly, Conis put the whistle into her mouth, and then... Swooosh—!
The sound was not loud, but it was extremely penetrating, instantly piercing the sea of clouds and landing in the ears of a giant octopus hiding in the falling cloud passage.
Upon hearing the whistle, the octopus, as if receiving an order, immediately sped towards the rapidly descending Freedom.
Bang—!
From the cloud passage next to the Freedom, a huge dark shadow approached, then broke free from the constraints of the cloud passage without hesitation. Six massive tentacles enveloped the Freedom and then tenaciously attached themselves to the outer hull of the ship.
From a distance, it looked as if the octopus was hunting.
However, the crew on board felt no fear looking at the octopus; instead, they were filled with curiosity.
After the ship stopped and the feeling of weightlessness disappeared, the crew finally saw clearly that this giant octopus was actually a special mode of transportation for the sky islands, like a hot air balloon.
It was likely the tool for descending to the Blue Sea from here.
After all, not everyone possessed the ability to fly.
Without this hot air balloon, to descend from a sky island, apart from relying on luck, one could only walk, along the sky path they had taken to ascend.
"Dong~"
"Dong~"
"Dong~"
Just then, a low, pleasant chime suddenly sounded from the horizon.
It involuntarily drew everyone's gaze towards the end of the clouds above, their vision seeming to pass through the sea of clouds and see the giant golden bell housed in the former Enel's shrine, nestled on the giant vine, and the countless people below the golden bell.
Everyone smiled simultaneously.
They knew this was the final farewell from the residents of Angel Island and the Shandians to their group.
Because in the sound of the bell, they could hear countless blessings.
"Mmm! Beautiful."
...
Sunset!
The sky was filled with red clouds.
The Freedom, without anyone controlling it, followed the wind, chased the wind, and drifted, drifting to a place none of the crew knew.
They didn't drift to the Marine base where the Straw Hat crew landed.
Nor did they land directly on Gaya Island below.
Instead, they drifted to an archipelago.
Looking at the numerous small reefs below, surrounding the islands exuding an ancient aura, the crew quickly stood up and leaned on the railings, gazing with curiosity.
These islands gave off an ancient feeling.
"Kong Tai, look quickly."
Guina seemed to have discovered something, pointing towards the middle of a jungle on the central island.
"Look, isn't that an altar over there?"
"Mmm, let me see."
Kong Tai's gaze followed Guina's hand towards the island ahead.
Vaguely, they could see a river there. On the riverbank, there seemed to be an altar, and further in, they could vaguely discern tall stone structures.
Due to the distance, if not observed carefully, one would not notice the altar and the distant buildings.
And the direction they were drifting was precisely towards the altar.
"Mmm, it is indeed an altar."
Kong Tai withdrew his gaze, glanced at the crew, and a smile played on his lips, "Now there's an adventure! Everyone, cheer up. Judging by the ancient nature of this island, perhaps there's something very interesting here!"
"Hehe!"
A Tao exhaled a puff of smoke and chuckled, "Don't worry, Kong Tai. We're always ready!"
"Huh?"
Arro, holding a telescope, paused as he looked at the distant scene, seemingly having discovered something. He suddenly exclaimed in surprise, "Kong Tai, come quickly, there are Marines on this island."
"Marines?"
Kong Tai took the telescope from Arro and looked in the direction Arro pointed.
Indeed, on a cliff, he saw an ancient structure.
The distance was too great to see the entire structure clearly, nor could he see any actual Marines, but on top of the building, the high-flying flag was not it the seagull flag of the Marines?
"I didn't expect that even a random island we arrived at would have Marines."
He withdrew his gaze, returned the telescope to Arro, shook his head, turned around, and leaned his back against the railing, smiling at the crew, "Who cares about them! We're just here to play. Even with Marines around, they shouldn't bother us, right?"
"After all!"
"We're quite famous among the Marines, aren't we?"
After saying that, he couldn't help but laugh.
"Hahahahaha!!"
The crew looked at Kong Tai and couldn't help but laugh along.
In an instant, the Freedom was once again filled with a cheerful atmosphere.