Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, two days had passed.
On this day, the Log Pose on Nami’s wrist finally pointed in another direction!
Everyone gathered on the ship.
They all knew—it was time to set sail!
Over the past two days, Nami had practically gathered all the remaining gold from this place!
Robin and Chopper had studied the Poneglyph here.
Meanwhile, Luffy, along with Zoro and Sanji, had found the enormous Golden Bell!
It was atop the giant vine that Vir had cut down.
Luffy struggled quite a bit to prop the bell back up.
After Zoro and Sanji, who were both speechless, helped stabilize it, Luffy struck the enormous Golden Bell with all his might!
The sound of the bell resonated throughout the heavens, reaching everyone’s ears.
That, of course, included Mont Blanc Cricket on the Blue Sea.
At this moment, he stood on the coastline, gazing up at the sky.
On the surface, he seemed calm, but his tears had long since flowed uncontrollably.
“My ancestor… was not a liar…”
“Thank you! Luffy! Vir!”
…
“Yo ho! Let’s set sail!”
With Luffy’s excited command, the ship rode the cloud current and passed through a massive arch!
And with that, the cloud current came to an end!
The ship was about to free-fall!
“AAAAAHHHH!!!”
“Ah!!! Are we really going down like this? We’re going to die!”
“Luffy! Did you even think about how we’re going to land?!”
The ship was already filled with panicked screams.
Only Luffy and Vir remained calm, waving to the people they left behind.
“We’ll come back next time! Everyone, wait for us!” Luffy shouted cheerfully.
But behind them, Raki and the others turned pale.
“Come back?!?!”
They all exclaimed in unison, turning in sync to stare at the ever-calm Vir.
Please, no!
We’re begging you!
If we’re really brothers, don’t come back!
Brothers are in the heart, not in the face!
Soon, they vanished from Luffy’s sight.
Luffy, looking puzzled, muttered, “Why do they look so unhappy? Are they reluctant to part with us? Vir, let’s come back to Skypiea someday! This place is amazing!”
Hearing this, Vir could only admire Luffy’s thought process…
They were practically ready to shove a gun barrel in his mouth to make sure he never came back, and yet he couldn’t tell.
As the ship continued to descend and was about to pierce through the clouds, a giant octopus suddenly wrapped itself around the Going Merry.
Its massive head ballooned like a hot air balloon.
The rate of descent visibly slowed.
“Phew~ I didn’t expect Skypiea to have a descent mechanism. That was terrifying!”
Still shaken, Nami let out a sigh of relief as she watched the Going Merry’s gradual descent.
Five minutes later.
“Hey, doesn’t it look like this octopus is shrinking?”
Usopp stared uncertainly at the massive octopus above them.
“No way… that must be your imagination!”
Nami responded with a sense of dread.
Fifteen minutes later.
“AHHHHHHHHH!!!!”
“!!!”
“HELP! The octopus is gone! How did it deflate so fast?!”
Amidst the screams, Vir walked toward the storage room.
Raising his hand, he touched the massive pile of gold that Nami had brought back.
In just a few seconds, the Going Merry’s descent finally came to a halt!
A massive glider was now set up above the ship, replacing the octopus.
The Going Merry started gliding forward smoothly.
“W-We’re saved…”
The weak and exhausted duo hugged each other in relief.
“Wow! Vir, you’re amazing! Wings made of gold! That’s so cool!”
Luffy looked excitedly at the gliding device above them and gave Vir a big thumbs-up.
Vir, seeing that the ship was now stable, nodded in satisfaction.
Not bad. It worked well.
At this rate, there was no way they’d accidentally land in a Marine fortress or anything.
After slightly adjusting the direction so the Going Merry was flying toward the log pose’s destination, Vir returned to his room to space out.
He was still browsing the store.
That’s right. He had been browsing for two days and hadn’t finished yet.
This store was enormous.
There were tons of bizarre and outrageous items.
He was almost done checking out the section for items that could render an enemy powerless.
He had reached page 953 out of 999.
But nothing so far was quite right.
Either the effects were too weak to take down an Admiral, or the price was way beyond his budget.
If he couldn’t find anything in these last few pages, he’d have no choice but to lay low.
954, 955, 956…
As time passed, Vir finally reached the last page.
999.
Alright, this is it. Let’s see if there’s something useful here.
He browsed carefully, but his frown deepened with every item he checked.
Nothing… Nothing… Still nothing!
Don’t tell me there’s really nothing?!
What kind of garbage system is this?!
I demand a refund!
But suddenly—Vir froze!
His expression of anger shifted!
In just a second, it transformed into one of pure joy!
He found it!!!
The very last item on the last page!
But just at that moment—a loud explosion echoed!
A violent tremor followed.
Caught off guard, Vir was thrown to the ground.
“What the hell?!”
Vir rushed out.
On the deck, Luffy and the others had taken a hard fall.
Seeing Vir, Chopper, clutching his aching rear, shouted:
“Big bro! Y-Your wings didn’t slow us down properly! We almost crashed into the sea!”
Vir instantly realized his mistake.
Right… He forgot about that part.
With that kind of impact, the Going Merry might’ve been damaged!
“Don’t just stand there! Check if the Merry is okay!”
At his words, everyone grew concerned.
Yeah… That was a hard fall. What if the ship was damaged?
A worried Usopp rushed into the cabin first!
Luffy and the others scanned their surroundings.
Before long, Usopp returned, his previous worry replaced with relief.
“No leaks at the bottom!”
“No obvious damage to the hull!”
“Everything looks fine here!”
“No problems on my end either!”
As everyone reported one by one, their worries finally eased.
But only Vir sensed something off.
The keel… is probably broken.
He could feel the ship’s pain.
Oh well. They’d have to wait until Water 7 to get it checked.
He wasn’t a shipwright, so he didn’t understand these things well.
After turning the gliding device back into gold and storing it in the warehouse, Vir returned to his room.
With the ship stabilized, Nami directed them toward their next destination.
Meanwhile, Vir grinned as he stared at the item in the store.
‘Soul-Soothing Incense’
Price: 45,000
Function: Releases a scent that induces unconsciousness!
Note: The stronger the target, the shorter the duration.
Description: “Oh~ A must-have for every martial arts world’s flower thief. Are you sure you don’t need it?”
Yes!
This is it!
The moment he saw it, Vir had a plan!
If the duration was too short?
No problem!
He’d just add some extra ‘medicine’!
He didn’t need to knock Aokiji out forever—just for an instant!
As long as he entered an unconscious state…
The brick would teach him a lesson!
‘Anesthetic Brick’
Effect: Striking a defenseless target will induce “anesthetic” status.
Anesthetic status: Conscious mind, paralyzed body.
Defenseless targets weren’t just those who had been defeated!
Unconsciousness also counted as being defenseless!
As long as he landed a hit…
Wouldn’t Aokiji be in for a nice little welding session?
He wondered…
Could an Admiral handle this little combo?