The sky islands were located above the White Sea in the first half of the Grand Line.
The Naglfar had departed from Hachinosu in the New World.
To reach the first half of the Grand Line, they first had to cross the Red Line.
In the world of One Piece, there were two conventional ways to cross the Red Line.
The first was to travel over it, passing through the Holy Land of Mary Geoise at its summit.
The second was to coat the ship, dive ten thousand meters beneath the sea to Fish-Man Island, and pass through the massive opening beneath the Red Line.
Obviously, neither method was particularly suitable for the Naglfar.
Coating a thousand-meter-long ship would take an absurd amount of time and effort.
So Thor chose a third option.
Fly straight over it.
Thousands of meters above the ground, the entire Naglfar soared through the sky, passing directly over the Red Line.
“As expected, Big Brother Shiki, your ability really is incredible. I knew I picked the right person.”
“Hahaha! You’ve got a good eye, brat. With my power combined with the strength of you Giant warriors, conquering the world won’t just be a dream.”
Standing at the bow of the Naglfar, Golden Lion Shiki used the power of the Float-Float Fruit to carry the enormous vessel high into the sky.
This was by far the simplest way to cross the Red Line.
“Let’s just keep flying until we reach those sky islands you mentioned.”
“Sounds good.”
Thor nodded.
Although he was curious about all the islands scattered throughout the One Piece world, traveling around the entire globe could wait until later.
First, he needed to get his hands on the Rumble-Rumble Fruit.
With the help of the Float-Float Fruit, the Naglfar’s journey proceeded smoothly.
The only thing they needed to watch out for was stormy weather.
Storms were a natural weakness of the Float-Float Fruit.
Whenever one approached, Shiki had to either lift the Naglfar above the storm clouds in advance or lower it back onto the sea.
After all, during Golden Lion Shiki’s battle with Roger, the reason he lost to the Roger Pirates was precisely because of a massive storm.
That defeat ended with a ship’s wheel lodged in Shiki’s head.
Later, when Shiki witnessed Nami’s extraordinary ability as a navigator to predict weather conditions, he immediately decided to abduct her and force her to become the navigator of his crew.
That was how the events of Strong World came about.
And as everyone knew, in a One Piece movie, even if Thor himself showed up, he would still have to take a couple of punches from Straw Hat Luffy.
After roughly a week of uninterrupted aerial travel, Thor stood aboard the Naglfar and looked upward.
He could already see the Cumuloregalis looming overhead.
The Cumuloregalis was essentially a fossilized mass of clouds.
It accumulated high above the Grand Line, and no matter how thick it became, it produced neither air currents nor rain.
Its immense cloud layers blocked out sunlight, often turning broad daylight on the surface into sudden darkness.
Occasionally, the silhouettes of people from the sky islands would be projected down onto the sea, creating the illusion of gigantic figures tens of thousands of meters tall.
That was exactly what had terrified Luffy and the others when they first saw the enormous projected silhouettes of the Shandia warriors.
Inside the Cumuloregalis lay the White Sea.
And above the White Sea—
There were even theories that the Cumuloregalis of the One Piece world had somehow been formed by attacks from the Ancient Weapon Uranus.
Thor had no idea whether that was actually true.
“We’re here.”
Looking at the vast cloud layer overhead, Thor felt his blood begin to stir.
The sky islands were right before him.
The thing he had wanted for so long was finally within reach.
“All right! Let’s go up.”
At Thor’s words, Shiki activated the Float-Float Fruit and sent the Naglfar soaring above the Cumuloregalis.
The enormous ship circled around the cloud layer and crossed the White Sea.
Before long, Upper Yard appeared before them.
“So the sky islands really do exist…”
The cigar hanging from Shiki’s mouth fell onto the deck.
He had believed Thor, but actually seeing a sky island with his own eyes still made his blood boil.
It reminded him of how he had felt when he first set sail.
“Huff… Prince Thor… We can’t use our strength…”
Unfortunately, the moment they arrived in the sky, the Giant warriors aboard the Naglfar collapsed onto the deck.
They were having difficulty breathing.
“The sky islands are ten thousand meters above sea level. The air is thin up here, so don’t exert yourselves too much.”
Thor hurriedly warned the Giant warriors.
But there was something he had overlooked.
Giants possessed bodies far larger than humans and naturally required much more oxygen.
As a result, their symptoms of oxygen deprivation were even more severe upon reaching the sky islands.
“Lack of oxygen? That’s a small problem. Watch this.”
As the user of the Float-Float Fruit, Shiki frequently flew at high altitudes and had encountered situations like this plenty of times.
He clenched his right hand.
“Lion’s Might: Heavenly Dominion!”
The Float-Float Fruit was an incredibly powerful ability.
It could lift the earth, manipulate blizzards, and even control seawater.
Anything Shiki physically touched could be manipulated through the Float-Float Fruit.
Naturally, that included air.
The thin atmosphere ten thousand meters above sea level began gathering under Shiki’s control.
The air pressure aboard the Naglfar rapidly returned to something close to sea-level conditions.
The Giant warriors immediately regained their energy.
“That’s incredible, Big Brother Shiki! You can even do something like this?”
“Hahaha! Who the hell do you think I am?!”
Next, they would conquer the sky islands and turn this place into their territory.
“Whoa! What a huge ship!!”
As the Naglfar sailed across the White Sea and descended into the circular inland sea at the center of Upper Yard, the sky island residents who saw the thousand-meter vessel were completely stunned.
“Warriors of Elbaph, I shouldn’t have to tell you what comes next, right?”
“OOOOOOOH!”
The war horn sounded aboard the Naglfar.
Thor didn’t need to say another word.
These Giant warriors, veterans of the Giant Warrior Pirates, immediately sprang into action with practiced familiarity.
What was a pirate’s oldest profession?
Plundering, of course!
Twenty-meter-tall Giant warriors leaped from the Naglfar one after another.
Weapons in hand and wearing extremely “friendly” smiles, they began walking toward the sky island residents.
The moment the residents saw the Giants, they froze.
Then they scattered in terror.
Demons from the Blue Sea had invaded the White Sea!
With their horned helmets and enormous bodies, the Giant warriors really did look rather demonic to ordinary humans.
Every Giant warrior also carried a waterskin.
The water inside had been completely emptied and replaced with compressed oxygen gathered by Shiki using the Float-Float Fruit.
Whenever they felt short of breath, they could simply take a breath from the bag.
That allowed the Giant warriors to remain active on the sky islands.
“Big Brother Shiki, can you take me over there?”
Thor pointed toward a certain part of Upper Yard.
At first, Shiki didn’t think much of it.
Then a gust of wind swept past, dispersing the clouds and mist surrounding that area.
Golden Lion’s eyes nearly popped out of his head.
“That—that’s?!”
“The legendary Shandora,” Thor answered.
An ancient city appeared before Thor and Shiki.
Under the sunlight, dazzling golden light reflected from every direction.
It was a city built of gold.
The legendary City of Gold.
“So the story of Noland the Liar was actually true…”
Golden Lion Shiki muttered to himself.
His eyes began shining.
So much gold!
Wealth enough to rival an entire nation.
Combined with the power of the Giant warriors— conquering the world suddenly felt closer than ever.