The skylark continued its voyage across the boundless sea of clouds; the concept of time became blurred in this world of pure white.
After an unknown amount of time, the Crew Member on lookout duty suddenly shouted.
"Captain! The clouds ahead... they look a bit different!"
The crew resting on the deck perked up at the news and gathered at the bow one after another.
"What do you see? Are we about to reach Aramuk Island?"
"Yes! It looks like we're almost there! I can see the outline! There... there really seem to be many houses! Houses built on clouds! And... a pier! Yes, it's a pier! There are quite a few ships docked there!"
Sammy quickly walked to the front. In the far distance, the texture of the sea of clouds seemed to change, revealing undulating outlines and patches of varying shades. Faint geometric shapes were visible.
"Brothers!" Sammy turned around. "We're about to reach the Sky Island! Get ready!"
"Ohhh—!!!"
Expectations and excitement that had been suppressed for a long time erupted instantly, cheers echoing across the sea of clouds.
As the skylark drew closer, the island's appearance became clearer.
It wasn't an island made of rock or soil as they had imagined, but a giant cloud formation where numerous buildings indeed stood.
The skylark slowly approached the area designated as a pier.
The cloud surface here looked unusually solid, and its color was darker than the sea of clouds they had been sailing on, almost milky white.
"Wait, let me check the situation first!"
A cautious Crew Member took out a spare long pole, carefully leaned over the gunwale, and poked the seemingly solid cloud surface ahead.
The pole hit bottom, sending back an elastic feedback that was entirely different from the flowing sea of clouds beneath the ship.
"It's so elastic! But very sturdy! It feels like... we can really walk on it!"
Sammy was the first to walk to the gunwale. After a brief deliberation, he unhesitatingly stepped onto it.
The sensation from the soles of his feet was strange, as if he were stepping on cotton; the slightly sinking cloud supported his entire weight.
"Come on! Get down, we've docked! Let's go explore this Sky Island!"
The others had been waiting impatiently and jumped off the ship one after another, jumping on the cloud-like ground with novelty and letting out bursts of amazement.
They had just tied the ropes and hadn't had time to look around carefully when two Sky Islanders in light blue uniforms quickly walked over.
One of them held a registration board and said to Sammy, the leader, in a businesslike tone, "Docking fee for foreign vessels: 20 million currency."
"20 million?!"
Aldo, who was closest, had the sharpest ears. Upon hearing this number, his eyes instantly bulged like copper bells, and his voice rose an octave.
"Nani?! Are you guys robbing us?! It costs 20 million to dock a ship?!"
Although they weren't sure exactly what the currency unit currency was, the amount of 20 million sounded like a huge sum of money anywhere.
The crowd on the ship was suddenly in an uproar. Several hot-tempered ones were already glaring and rolling up their sleeves; the atmosphere turned tense instantly.
The Sky Island pier administrator was startled by this sudden fierce reaction, especially seeing Aldo's burly physique and menacing mace, and subconsciously took half a step back.
"Wh-what are you... going to do?"
One of the administrators seemed to realize something suddenly. His gaze quickly swept over the backs of Sammy and the others, which clearly had no wings, and the streamlined design of the skylark, which was very different from local ships.
"Wait! Wait! Y-you are Blue Sea people?!"
"Yeah! What, because we're from out of town, you're going to rip us off?"
Aldo retorted crossly, his mace already planted on the ground.
"No! No! It's a misunderstanding!" The administrator with the registration board waved his hands hurriedly and explained quickly, "If converted according to the Berries you use in the Blue Sea, the ratio is about 1 Berry to 10,000 currency! So 20 million currency is actually only... only 2,000 Berries!"
"..."
The anger that had just flared up felt as if a bucket of cold water had been poured on it, extinguished with a hiss, leaving only awkward smoke.
Aldo's action of rolling up his sleeves froze in mid-air, and the other Crew Members who were itching for a fight also stood there stunned.
"...Huh?" Aldo blinked, counting on his fingers and muttering to himself, "20 million... divided by ten thousand... equals... 2,000?"
"So it's only 2,000 Berries!" A Crew Member sighed in relief and patted his chest. "Scared me, I really thought it was 20 million!"
The atmosphere eased instantly, and everyone didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
Aldo scratched his head and grumbled, "What the heck... should've said it clearly earlier. Made me get all worked up for nothing."
"But then again," Fitch said with his arms crossed, looking with interest at the price list full of astronomical figures in the administrator's hand, "what kind of place uses such large denominations as 20 million for daily transactions?"
"This country's money sounds so worthless. Isn't that almost the same price as scrap paper?"
"Alright, alright, that's enough."
Sammy spoke up to stop his subordinates' discussion, took out a small bag containing Berries from his pocket, counted out 2,000 Berries, and handed them to the shaken administrator.
"Respect the local culture. Here, this is the docking fee."
After receiving the money and confirming the approximate stay duration, the two Sky Island administrators clearly breathed a sigh of relief. They left quickly after a hurried registration, seemingly not wanting to deal much with this group of aggressive Blue Sea people.
As soon as their figures were far away, the Crew Members immediately began discussing excitedly again.
"Hey! Did you guys see that? He really has wings on his back! White ones, they look like real feathers!"
"Are Sky Islanders and us ordinary humans not the same race? Are they angels?"
"Probably not? I remember the Captain mentioned during a chat before that besides humans, there are Fishman, Mink Tribe, Giant Race, and many other races in this world! Sky Islanders with wings are probably one of them, right?"
"Those ships are also very strange; they look so small, not like they can sail long distances."
"They look more like sightseeing boats; maybe they just travel around the nearby sea of clouds?"
Sammy didn't join the discussion. His gaze swept across the strange pier and the buildings with a completely different style, finally landing beside him.
Old Barry also got off the ship with Hiriluk's support, stepping onto this land that he had dreamed of all his life.
But he didn't look around curiously like the others. Instead, he walked aside alone, trembling, and then... slowly knelt down on that milky white ground.
He buried his face deep into the soft cloud-like ground, his shoulders shaking slightly.
Sammy walked to his side, crouched down, and gently patted the old man's thin shoulder.
"Old man, is your body okay? Can you handle it? Do you need to rest a bit more?"
Hearing the voice, Old Barry slowly raised his head.
His face was already covered with crisscrossing tear marks.
"I'm on... Sky Island..." he choked out. "I've also... come to Sky Island... really... I'm up here... Grandpa, Father... did you see... the craft of the heaven-ascending boat has not been lost!!!"
Sammy didn't speak, just pressed his shoulder reassuringly.
He could understand the old craftsman's feelings at this moment.
A moment later, Sammy helped him stand up, a relaxed smile appearing on his face as he pointed to the peculiar buildings in the distance.
"Alright, old man, don't cry. You should be happy when dreams come true. Come on, let's go explore the interior of this Sky Island with us! It looks like..."
He looked around at the orderly pier, the brightly colored buildings, and the winged figures passing in the distance.
"...It doesn't seem as dangerous and mysterious as the rumors say! At least, the way they collect docking fees is quite similar to those port administrators down below."
His words drew a burst of knowing chuckles from the Crew Members.
The tension and sense of strangeness upon first arriving at Sky Island dissipated quite a bit in this small interlude and Sammy's relaxed tone.