Pirates: Your emperor has returned!

He came to a charred spot and reached into the sand to pull out a charred spear.

“These marks are not new; they have been there for a long time.”

Just then, an old voice rang out from the side.

"You two, are you travelers?"

Rowan and Crocodile turned their heads and saw an old man wearing a brown shirt.

He has two small wings on his back and is a native of the Sky Island.

"Hasso".

The old man greeted the two with a gesture reminiscent of an empty island, pointed in a direction, and explained, "There's no one here anymore. If you want to resupply, just go to the city on the upper level."

After thinking for a moment, the old man added, "However, it would be best to leave here as soon as possible."

Rowan asked curiously, "Why?"

"War has broken out!"

The old man sighed and said heavily, "A war broke out between the two sky islands. Although it did not spread to our local area, as you can see, beaches located on the border are often affected."

Upon hearing this, Krocdale immediately rubbed his forehead and sighed inwardly.

This is troublesome...

His "trouble" did not refer to what the old man said, but to Rowan.

Crocodile was certain that Rowan's eyes lit up when the old man mentioned the "war between the Sky Islands"!

[Chapter 55 Extreme Emotions]

The old man recounted his experiences as he searched for something on the beach.

He was originally an inhabitant of this cloud beach, but due to the war between the two sky islands, he was forced to move to the upper level of the Cloud of Accumulation.

He came back this time mainly to see if there was anything left in his old family home that he could take with him, but he never expected to find only a beach that had been completely destroyed by lightning.

"Sigh, I knew it..."

The old man shook his head repeatedly, his wrinkles deepening.

"If my daughter hadn't insisted that I move out, I'd probably be a pile of ashes on this beach by now!"

This area is located near the border of the Sky Island, making it highly vulnerable to the impact of war.

But the old man repeatedly insisted that he did not need help.

"Help me? No need, and besides, how can I help?"

The old man said with a wry smile, "Do you think you can stop that war that has been going on and off for several years?"

Rowan stroked his chin and murmured, "It's not impossible."

"Ok?"

The old man was taken aback. "What did you say?"

"Oh, just talking to myself."

Luo Wen smiled at the old man and said, "We also want to go to the upper level of Jidi Cloud, but we don't know how to get there. Would you like to come along?"

The old man searched through the rubble in front of him for a while, but only found a few broken planks. He sighed and cursed:

"Those brats, don't they know how to behave? This used to be a tourist hotspot for people from Qinghai!"

Qinghai is the name the people of the Sky Island use for the sea below.

Finally, having gained nothing, the old man dusted off the ashes in his hands and sighed deeply:

"Since we have nothing left, let's go together."

Rowan nodded, and Crocodile followed behind them.

As Crocodile was leaving, he smoked a cigar and looked back. Suddenly, he saw a tall, thin figure on a distant hillside.

"Ok?"

Crocodile squinted again, but the figure had vanished without a trace.

He didn't doubt that he was seeing things, but because of the backlighting, he couldn't make out the person's features at all.

Only a vague outline could be seen behind the person, which appeared to be some kind of decoration.

"Hey?"

Crocodile gestured to Rowan with his eyes, certain that Rowan had also sensed the presence of the mysterious figure.

To Crocodile's displeasure, Rowan ignored his hints and continued chatting and laughing with the old man, learning about the ins and outs of the war between the Sky Islands.

"Tsk, whatever."

Crocodile clicked his tongue and then ignored it.

Anyway, for him, all this nonsense doesn't affect him at all.

Anyone who dares to come, he dares to kill!

……

On the way to the upper level of the Jade Emperor Cloud.

"So, the one that went to war with Sky Island was another Sky Island called Birka?"

Rowan pondered the old man's words and asked, "How long has the war been going on?"

"It has been about five or six years since the first friction between the two sides."

The old man recalled: "At first it was just a normal conflict on the border, but later the scale of the fighting grew larger and larger, and eventually it turned into a war."

"They've been fighting all along?"

"Do not."

The old man shook his head. “It’s been intermittent, sometimes every few weeks, sometimes every few months, and the main battlegrounds are all around the border.”

At this point, the old man couldn't help but sigh, "There used to be many people living on that beach, but now everyone has left, and I'm the last one..."

The old man muttered to himself, while Rowan turned to look at Crocodile behind him.

"Little crocodile, what do you think?"

"..."

Crocodile didn't want to answer, but Rowan had already asked, so he could only say with a stern face, "This is not a 'pure' war."

Having dragged on for several years, and even intermittently, such a "war" clearly has ulterior motives.

But Rowan shook his head and said slowly, "There is never a pure war, never. Every war has its purpose."

Crocodile neither confirmed nor denied Rowan's point of view, but instead asked, "So, what else have you noticed?"

Rowan replied with a smile, "Someone was using that war to 'train troops'."

"Ok?"

This viewpoint was indeed unexpected by Crocodile, and he was taken aback.

"Training troops? Who wants to train troops?"

"Who knows? The leaders of the two sky islands, or even their generals, could be."

Rowan replied, "After all, war is the best rehearsal."

At this point, the old man beside him suddenly realized, "Oh, right, I remember now."

“A leader, yes, a leader.”

He turned his head and said, "About six or seven years ago, a young man named Enel appeared in Birka and took over the rule of Birka. That's when our war with Birka started!"

Upon hearing this, Crocodile fell into deep thought.

Enel? He had never heard of that name before; he shouldn't be a big shot in the Grand Line.

But Rowan's eyes narrowed.

Enel—Rowan was certainly familiar with this name.

Logia-type Rumble-Rumble Fruit user!

In the future, he will destroy his homeland, Birka, and then go to Skypiea. He will take Skypiea from the then leader of Skypiea, who is also known as "God" Gan Fall, and attempt to build the ark "Proverbs" in order to reach the infinite land of his dreams.

Unfortunately, this ambition was ultimately defeated by Luffy and his crew.

Let's go back to the present.

At this time, Enel was about twenty years old, the prime of his youth.

As for the destruction of his hometown, Birka, that will have to wait a few years, as Enel still lives there now.

In fact, according to the old man, Enel not only lived in Bika, but also wielded great influence there, and was the de facto leader.

After all, he's a Logia-type Devil Fruit user!

Enel, in particular, combined Observation Haki with the characteristics of his Devil Fruit ability to develop a special Observation Haki called Mind Field, which was powerful enough to cover the entire Sky Island.

"That guy named Enel is leading Birka in waging war against this sky island, is his purpose to train his troops?"

Crocodile silently memorized this information.

He has always preferred to plan carefully before taking action.

The three continued on their way and came to a white sea pier, where they saw the wooden boat the old man had come in on.

In the distance, there is a large white waterfall, which is the special section of the road that must be taken to reach the upper level of Jidi Cloud - Cloud Flow Waterfall!

Several enormous cloud waterfalls exist in various locations, connecting the middle and upper layers of the Cumulus Cloud.

The three boarded the wooden boat.

Crocodile looked at the old man's thin arms and legs with slight surprise.

He didn't believe the old man could row the boat up the waterfall by himself.

This is indeed the case.

The old man whistled, and suddenly a giant lobster grabbed the left and right sides of the wooden boat, then carried the boat at an extremely fast speed toward the Cloud Flow Waterfall.