Chapter 455: Forbidden Land
Riding a Waver requires skill; not only must you go with the wind, but you also need to understand the flow of the sea currents. However, this wasn’t a problem for Nami. In just a short while, she had mastered the Waver’s controls. At least, when Ian stood behind her, he felt the ride was very smooth.
“Yahoo!” Nami joyfully felt the rushing wind against her face and couldn’t help letting out a loud shout. She even pulled off a few stunts with the Waver.
This made things tough for Ian behind her. The Waver had no seats, and even the driver, Nami, stood with both feet in the small boat-like cabin. Nami’s stunts nearly threw Ian off balance. Reluctantly, Ian had to reach out and wrap his arm around Nami’s waist.
Nami was wearing a bikini—basically just a top. So when Ian hugged her, his arm naturally rested on her smooth stomach.
“Hehe, Ian!” Nami turned her head, grinning with her white teeth showing, and said to Ian with a laugh, “Are you trying to take advantage of me?”
“No! Not at all!” Seeing her smile, Ian suddenly felt wary and quickly shook his head in denial.
But Nami didn’t let him off. With her right hand steering the Waver, she reached her left hand back and traced circles on Ian’s chest, putting on a shy act as she teased him: “It’s fine, you can touch wherever you want!”
Ian looked at her feigned shyness speechlessly and said, “And then you’re going to say, ‘That’ll be 100,000 Berries per touch,’ right?”
“How could that be?” Nami said with a pitiful look. “That’s the price for others. For you… it’s 1 million Berries per touch!”
“Why!?” Ian’s eyes widened. “Why is it ten times the price for me?”
“Because you’re a rich guy!” Nami said with a giggle.
Ian was utterly speechless. That twist in her words was incredible. He had even fantasized that she might say it was free for him! Looks like he was overthinking it. With Nami’s money-grubbing nature, how could she ever be that generous?
“You little brat! Just keep your eyes on the road!” Ian poked her forehead, turning her head back, and said, “If this little ship of friendship capsizes, don’t blame me for docking your share of the profits!”
“Profits!?” Nami’s eyes lit up at once. “You’re going to give me money!?”
“Hehe! I’ve got some special intel!” Ian pinched the smooth skin on Nami’s waist and winked at her. “Up here in Skypiea, there should be the ruins of the golden city, Shandora!”
“Re… really!?” Nami’s eyes instantly turned into Berry symbols, and she quickly pressed, “Is your intel reliable?”
Ian smiled and said, “You came to Skypiea because you heard the legends about it in Jaya, right?”
“Yeah, that’s right. In Jaya, we met a guy named Montblanc Cricket!” Nami explained. “According to him, he’s the descendant of the Great Liar Norland. 400 years ago, his ancestor Norland once discovered a golden city called Shandora, but later it mysteriously disappeared. Montblanc has been searching for Shandora’s traces all these years to clear his ancestor’s name. He’s the one who told us about Skypiea.”
“The Great Liar Norland you mentioned—that’s from the popular children’s picture book, right?” Ian asked her.
When Nami nodded, Ian smiled and said, “Have you ever considered that these so-called picture book stories might actually be based on real historical events?”
“What do you mean?” Nami asked, puzzled.
“Since you know the picture book about the Great Liar Norland, you’ve probably also seen the one about the evil army, Germa, right?” Ian said. “And I’m telling you, the Germa Group really exists because I’ve already encountered them!”
“You… you mean the story of the Great Liar Norland is real too?” Nami asked in surprise.
“Of course it’s real!” Ian nodded. “Based on my estimate, the so-called golden city of Shandora really existed, and it’s very likely up here in Skypiea!”
“Th… that’s impossible!” Nami still didn’t believe it. “According to Norland, Shandora was on the sea surface. How could it end up in the sky?”
“Have you forgotten about the Knock-Up Stream?” Ian said. “If even ships can be swept up into the sky, then if there was an unprecedented massive eruption, couldn’t an entire island be blasted into the sky too?”
Hearing Ian’s reasoning, Nami gasped and covered her mouth, utterly astonished. Honestly, she had never thought of this scenario before, but now that Ian mentioned it, it seemed very plausible.
Ian didn’t say more. In fact, the truth about the Knock-Up Stream sending Shandora into the sky would only be confirmed when they obtained Shandora’s map. When Shandora’s map was pieced together with Jaya’s current map, the skull shape would appear, and Shandora’s location would be exactly at the right eye of the skull.
This was what they meant by: “See the gold in the skull’s right eye.”
However, Ian hadn’t seen the logbook Norland left behind that Montblanc held. If he said it outright, Nami might get suspicious, so Ian let her think it was his deduction based on the Knock-Up Stream.
When Nami processed this, her whole face lit up. She felt Ian’s theory made a lot of sense. If the island where Shandora once stood was swept into the sky, no wonder Montblanc couldn’t find its ruins in the sea.
According to the picture book, Shandora was a dream city piled high with gold!
Gold = Money = Berries! Nami finally understood why Ian had come along on the Waver. He wanted to take her to find the gold and make a huge fortune!
Awesome! As expected of Ian, he was just too cool!
“Captain Ian! Tell me where to go, and I’ll follow!” Nami immediately saluted him and said.
Ian raised his hand to shield his eyes and looked ahead. In the distance, he saw a lake-island on the sea surface, covered in towering trees that were clearly visible even from far away.
That must be the so-called sacred land of Skypiea, right? Enel and his priests should be on that island…
So Ian pointed ahead and said, “Let’s go there!”
“Roger that!” Nami replied, and then she suddenly gunned it (?)—the Waver’s bow lifted high, and it shot forward with explosive speed.
“Slow down, slow down!” Ian nearly got thrown off again. Nami, upon hearing about treasure, threw all caution to the wind!
Soon, the two arrived at the so-called forbidden land. When they reached the island’s edge, Ian and Nami realized just how enormous the trees here were.
“Oh my god, how old are these trees?” Nami looked up but couldn’t even see the tops.
Ian was also amazed. In his view, if these trees had been growing on this island from the start, then Skypiea’s history was longer than he’d imagined—possibly stretching back a thousand years…
Was there any connection between this Angel Island and the Barron Gray Terminal?
As he thought this, Ian suddenly heard a strange sound coming from the forest.
Ian’s mind stirred, and he said to Nami, “Stay here for now. I’ll go check it out!”
With that, he leaped onto the island.
But just as Ian landed, a man in tattered clothes, panting heavily, ran out of the forest. He was covered in wounds and looked like a normal human, not a Skypiean with wings on his back.
When he ran out and saw Ian, he was startled and fell to the ground. But after getting a clear look at Ian, his eyes lit up, and he shouted, “Save me! Please, save me!”
As he yelled, he crawled on all fours toward Ian.
A pirate, probably? Ian guessed his identity from his appearance. But before the man could reach him, Ian frowned and swung the hilt of his Thousand Cherry Blossoms to the right, smashing it into something.
Woof! A massive dog had just lunged from the forest toward Ian’s position, but it ran headfirst into Ian’s sword hilt. The hilt struck the dog’s jaw solidly, and with a yelp, it was sent flying.
(37 Chinese Net)
Unable to Update Today
I’ve been taking medication for kidney stones these past two days, and it’s starting to work. But to be honest, don’t laugh—today it feels like the stone is about to come out, but it seems stuck in the tube, and it’s starting to hurt again. I’ve been chugging water, hoping to flush it out…
Right now, I’m restless and can’t focus on writing, so I’ll just let everyone know and take a day off. Hopefully, I’ll pass it today or tomorrow, and then I can get back to updating steadily in July. 8)
(37 Chinese Net)