At that moment, all five pirate ships were swallowed by the massive vortex.
The scene unfolded clearly before countless onlookers.
"What's going on? Did the Nightfall Pirates wait all this time just to sail into a giant whirlpool?" someone blurted out, completely baffled.
Despite the shock, no one dared mock them.
The gap was obvious. Whatever the Nightfall Pirates were doing, it was far beyond the understanding of ordinary pirates. All they could do was watch in silence.
The vortex continued to expand, roaring like a living thing, before finally stabilizing.
Then, without warning, the sea went still.
The whirlpool vanished.
"What happened? It's gone?" someone asked nervously.
"The vortex sank," Wallace said in a low voice. "Stay alert. Don't relax yet."
His warning came just in time.
The sea surface where the vortex had been began to bulge upward, swelling unnaturally, as if something enormous was pushing from below. The water rose higher and higher, lifting the five pirate ships along with it.
From afar, the sight was unmistakable.
News Coo birds circled overhead, snapping photos nonstop. This was undeniable headline material, centered entirely on the Nightfall Pirates.
"H-hey! Isn't that the Knock-Up Stream?" a local pirate from Mock Town shouted, eyes wide. "It's about to erupt!"
The locals knew exactly what that meant.
Once caught in the Knock-Up Stream, most ships were annihilated. Survivors were rare. The phenomenon was infamous, unpredictable, and lethal. Even experienced pirates avoided these waters.
Except, of course, when outsiders wandered in without knowing better.
The locals had never bothered warning such people. Watching powerful pirate crews get wiped out by the sea itself was a grim sort of entertainment.
"Everyone, hold tight!" Teach's voice boomed across all five ships. "The Knock-Up Stream is coming. If you slip, you'll fall from thousands of meters up."
The crew reacted instantly.
Thick ropes crisscrossed the decks, tied into a web. Every member grabbed hold. They trusted their comrades to save them if something went wrong, but no one wanted to experience free fall from the sky, especially not with an audience.
A Rope-Rope Fruit user stepped forward, unsatisfied with the preparations. He produced even more rope, binding crew members together and weaving an enormous net around the ship's keel and mast.
Even if someone lost their grip, they would not be flung away.
"Raise the sails!" Teach ordered. "Helmsmen, steady yourselves. This is still water. Do not lose control."
"Yes, Captain!"
Teach felt the violent tremors rising from deep below the sea.
"Hahaha… just wait," he muttered.
With a wave of his hand, black mist surged outward, spreading like clouds and wrapping around the hulls of all five ships. The dark energy reinforced the vessels, reducing the brutal impact that was about to come.
At the same time, the black clouds connected the ships together. Combined with Teach's control over gravity, none of them would drift off course.
Even with full confidence, this was his first time leading an ascent like this. He had prepared thoroughly.
"It's coming!"
The sea exploded.
With a thunderous roar, the swollen surface burst open, and a colossal pillar of water shot straight into the sky. The five pirate ships were carried upward instantly, riding the Knock-Up Stream like arrows fired from a bow.
The surrounding sea churned violently. Waves rolled outward, nearly capsizing nearby ships.
All eyes were fixed on the sky.
The unmistakable black mist marked the Nightfall Pirates' ascent as their ships climbed vertically, soaring higher and higher.
Even from a great distance, the sight was overwhelming.
Never before had anyone seen a fleet ascend the Knock-Up Stream so openly, under the gaze of so many witnesses.
The five connected ships, sails fully unfurled, rose continuously until they shrank into tiny black specks against the sky.
On board, laughter echoed.
"Hahaha! We'll be in Skypiea soon!"
The fierce wind generated by the ascent howled across the decks. Some crew members clung tightly to ropes and fixtures. Others, strong enough to withstand the force, stood firm.
Pito even leaned over the side, peering downward in fascination.
"Hey, what's that?"
Objects began falling toward them from above.
"Ship wreckage," someone shouted. "And Sea Kings!"
"They must've been dragged in by the vortex," laffitte said calmly. He pressed down on his hat to keep it from flying off, standing casually against the ship's side.
The Nightfall Pirates showed no fear.
Debris, wreckage, even Sea Kings posed little threat to them. The weaker crew members stayed put, while the executives were more than capable of handling it.
"I'll take care of it," Redyat said with a grin. "There's too much. It's annoying."
He leapt from the ship, carried upward by inertia.
Midair, his body expanded and transformed completely. In an instant, a massive black dragon unfurled its wings, beating powerfully as it shot upward, overtaking the rising ships.
Redyat opened his jaws.
"Dragon's Breath."
A terrifying black beam roared into the sky, slicing cleanly through everything above the fleet. Wreckage, Sea Kings, and debris vanished, leaving a clear passage beneath the pillar of water.
Moments later, Redyat returned to the ship, reverting to human form as if nothing had happened.
The observers below were stunned.
That beam alone was enough to shake them. But by then, the Nightfall Pirates had vanished into the clouds.
Speculation exploded.
Their destination was obvious now.
The sky.
Could the legendary Skypiea truly exist?
In Mock Town, where Skypiea had long been treated as a joke, this event hit like a thunderbolt. If the Nightfall Pirates were heading upward, what else could they be aiming for?
Elsewhere in the world, a handful of people already knew about routes to Skypiea, such as the High-Speed Sky Roads. Compared to the Knock-Up Stream, those paths were safer and more stable.
The Red Line itself towered tens of thousands of meters high. The Treasure Tree Adam, whose branches alone could build entire ships, grew to unimaginable heights. To obtain its branches, Skypiea was unavoidable.
Even so, knowledge of the Sky Islands had been limited to a tiny fraction of the world.
Now, that secret was breaking open.
Above, the towering cumulonimbus cloud drew closer and closer, its sheer thickness pressing down on the senses.
Finally, the five ships plunged straight into it.
The Knock-Up Stream ended.
Carried by momentum alone, the ships reached their apex, hung suspended for a heartbeat, then began to fall, slamming down onto a vast sea of clouds.
Gasps echoed across the decks.
After several tense moments, the crew realized they were safe.
White stretched endlessly in every direction. Clouds above, clouds below. Their ships rested atop the clouds as if on solid ground.
"This is Skypiea!" someone shouted in disbelief.
Teach smiled faintly. "Not yet. This is the White Sea, seven thousand meters up. Skypiea lies at ten thousand meters."
He pointed ahead. "The Gate of Heaven is there. We'll head up soon. Get used to the altitude first. The air is thinner here."
As expected, some crew members soon felt dizzy.
Still, their training paid off. Within minutes, most adapted. For the executives, the altitude posed no issue at all.
Suddenly, the cloud sea churned.
A massive shape rose from below, revealing a giant crab-like creature.
"A Sea King?" someone asked, stunned. "It came out of the clouds?"
"It's a Sky Fish," Pouf said calmly. "Creatures adapted to cloud seas."
The giant crab swung its enormous pincers toward the fleet.
laffitte vanished.
A flash of steel cut through the air.
The creature split cleanly in two and sank back into the clouds.
Teach had already sensed their destination.
Ahead loomed a colossal waterfall, cascading upward into the sky. At its base stood a massive gate, carved with four bold characters:
Gate of Heaven.
The five ships passed through.
"This is the entrance to the real Skypiea," Teach said.
An old woman stepped out from a nearby room. She appeared to be around fifty, with small white wings on her back. Holding a camera, she snapped photos rapidly.
But when she took in the five massive ships and the sheer number of pirates aboard them, her expression tightened.
"I am Amazon," she said stiffly. "Supervisor of the Gate of Heaven. To pass through, each person must pay one billion Extol. This is the law."
Her voice was calm, but her fear was obvious to anyone with Observation Haki.
"One billion Extol," Redyat said, chuckling. "That's about one hundred thousand Berries per person. For over a thousand of us, that's roughly one hundred twenty million Berries."
Silence.
Then laughter erupted.
"We're pirates!"
"You expect us to follow your laws?"
Teach laughed as well, then looked at the old woman.
"I'm sorry, but you've seen my crew's attitude. We won't pay a single Berry," he said evenly. "Let us pass. You can inform your God if you want. This has nothing to do with you."
His gaze sharpened.
"Unless you want to die."
A cold shiver ran through her body.
"O-okay," she said quickly, nodding. "Okay."
She stepped aside without another word.
Some people were better left to the Skypiea authorities.
She had no intention of dying here.