Pirates: Your emperor has returned!

It's too dazzling.

Sky Island... So this is such a dazzling place?

It was so dazzling, it was almost blinding!

It's so bright!

My eyes hurt so much!

It's a bit hot...

Click!

Why is there a roaring sound?

It wasn't until Crocodile frowned, leaped to the bow of the ship, and his right hand transformed into a sand shield that everyone realized what had happened.

That wasn't dazzling sunlight.

Instead, a huge blue pillar of lightning descended from the sky!

Click!

A deafening thunderclap resounded throughout the White Sea!

[Chapter 53: The Welcoming Ceremony]

Previously, Crocodile had repeatedly emphasized that Skypiea was nothing special compared to other routes on the Grand Line; it was just a common geographical phenomenon.

But for Dalton, Bell, and others, their expectations remained as high as ever.

After all, Sky Island was just a legendary island to them!

Before they actually arrived at the Sky Island, they had imagined many different scenarios.

You might be warmly welcomed by the hospitable inhabitants of the Sky Island, or suddenly attacked by them, or simply find yourself alone on an empty island...

But no matter how much imagination you use, you can't avoid the common situations that arise when landing on an unknown island.

Therefore, they had made thorough preparations and were prepared for anything that might happen.

...Yes, something that "might happen".

But now, something that "could not have happened" has suddenly occurred.

The moment the ship broke through the clouds and officially arrived at the White Sea, a huge pillar of lightning with a diameter of over a hundred meters descended from the sky!

Click!

A blinding blue light filled my eyes, and a deafening roar echoed in my ears.

No one expected this to happen, so they all instinctively closed their eyes.

Of the entire ship, only two people took action!

Crocodile frowned, almost bursting into a tirade.

But the current situation doesn't even give him time to swear.

Once the ship is destroyed by this inexplicable pillar of lightning, Crocodile, a Devil Fruit user, will fall into the White Sea, which is no different from the ocean.

I can't swim at all!

Perhaps the fish-men could come to his rescue in time, but Crocodile doesn't like to entrust his fate to others.

Therefore, he had no choice but to take action.

In a flash, Crocodile appeared at the bow of the ship.

Centered on his right arm, the gravel began to stir restlessly.

Suddenly, countless grains of sand poured out, forming a huge sand shield in front of the bow of the ship!

Gravel is non-conductive when dry, so Crocodile doesn't need to worry about getting electrocuted; he just needs to do his best to withstand the impact of the falling lightning.

That being said, the enormous pillar of lightning still carried astonishing destructive power!

boom!

In an instant, Crocodile felt as if his conjured shield had been struck head-on by a massive iron hammer, the impact sending numbness through half of his body.

However, the bombardment of the lightning beams did not dissipate, but continued to exert pressure on the sand shield!

"who!"

Crocodile, with his extensive combat experience, immediately noticed the clues.

Ordinary lightning dissipates in a short time, and even thunderstorm clouds cannot continuously discharge from a single point.

The only explanation for this situation is that the pillar of lightning was not an unusual extreme natural phenomenon, but rather something deliberately created by someone!

Enemy attack.

The moment they entered the White Sea, they encountered an unknown enemy attack!

"I've really been looked down upon..."

Crocodile's face was extremely grim. He took a deep drag on his cigar and suddenly exerted force with his right arm, which had transformed into a giant sand shield.

"drink!"

With a loud roar, the sand shield slammed to the right, directly slamming the pillar of lightning towards the white sea not far away.

Click...

The pillar of lightning disappeared into the white sea and vanished without a trace.

Crocodile transformed his shield back into an arm, turned around, and was about to curse a few more times when a blue light suddenly flashed before his eyes again.

Looking up, one could see countless bolts of lightning gathering again in the sky, forming a huge ball of lightning far larger than the previous pillar of light!

One second later.

The terrifying ball of lightning, hundreds of meters in diameter, condensed to its maximum and fell once again toward the ship where everyone was!

Crocodile took the cigar out of his mouth, shook off the ash, and then put it back in.

"This is so troublesome..."

He muttered something, and his legs transformed into two sandstorms, gathering power.

Crocodile planned to jump into the sky and use his sand shield to slam the troublesome thunderstorm away again.

But just as he was about to make his move, Rowan's voice suddenly rang out from behind him.

"Elementalization!"

The instant Rowan finished speaking, Crocodile transformed into a sandstorm and desperately dispersed his body.

It was an almost subconscious reaction, because intuition told Crocodile that he would not "lose out" by doing this.

As expected, after Crocodile transformed into his elemental form, a golden line suddenly sliced ​​through the gaps in the sand and headed straight for the lightning bolt in the sky.

call out!

As the line passed by, Crocodile suddenly had the illusion that the world was divided in two by that line, and he immediately realized what was happening.

"Was it that move on Drum Island?"

Crocodile's eyes flickered slightly as he tried to reassemble his body, only to find that Rowan's actions behind him were still ongoing.

Looking up, Crocodile was met with a scene that sent chills down his spine.

Countless thunderstorms, each over a hundred meters in diameter, were gathering in the sky. Their immense power transformed the calm white sea into a sea of ​​lightning!

Crocodile had seen similar sea conditions in the New World.

But the nature of "nature" is that it treats everyone equally, and the current situation is far from that.

Those countless thunderstorms were highly targeted, clearly intended to destroy their ship and kill everyone on board!

"Hehehe, what a nice welcoming ceremony."

Crocodile chuckled coldly and said to Rowan behind him, "Hey, we've been underestimated!"

At the same time, the ship finally landed completely on the White Sea. The ship shook violently, but at least it had something to hold onto.

Rowan suddenly clenched his right hand, pulling the sand that made up the surrounding feathers back into the cabin.

He took a deep breath and moved his slightly stiff fingers.

Raising an eyebrow, Rowan suggested to Crocodile:

"Go up there and resolve this completely?"

"It should have been done a long time ago!"

Crocodile, fed up with the endless lightning, nodded.

Bell stepped forward and said in a deep voice, "I'll take you two to heaven!"

Crocodile was about to agree when Rowan stopped him.

For Zoan-type Devil Fruit users, the electricity contained within the lightning is undoubtedly deadly.

Crocodile frowned slightly. "How do we attack?"

Rowan flicked his finger and used the gravel to create a gravel tree trunk that stretched straight to the sky.

There were few places to stay along the way, but that was enough for Rowan and Crocodile.

The thunderstorm was about to strike from a higher point, but the two didn't say much. Instead, they leaped up and jumped one after another along the "tree trunk".

Once they reached the air, level with Thunderstorm, Crocodile's pent-up frustration finally erupted.

He desperately wanted to know who had attacked him, and he desperately wanted to chop that guy into countless pieces!

"Get out here!"

Crocodile roared, and a huge sand-sand scimitar appeared at his elbow.

As fellow users of the Sand-Sand Fruit, this knife couldn't harm Rowan, so Crocodile didn't hesitate and swept the blade with maximum force!

Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish...

The gravel blade sliced ​​through clusters of thunderstorms, cutting them straight in half.

"Hehehe, that's really easy!"