"Captain, where are we going?" Mole asked nervously as they flew through the sky. After all, flying in the air gave him no sense of security. What if Shirakawa lost his grip and he plummeted to the ground?
"To a sky island."
Hearing the words "sky island," Mole's eyes lit up, and he looked at the Log Pose on his wrist.
"Not that sky island," Shirakawa said, seemingly reading Mole's mind.
"What? Are there other sky islands?"
"Of course. The Four Seas are vast, and sky islands aren't limited to just that one place. The one I'm taking you to now is a small sky island—an island that can move through the sky."
Hearing this, a hint of interest filled Mole's eyes. An island that could move through the sky? Not bad at all.
As for how Shirakawa could find this small sky island now, it was because he had already gotten someone to make a Vivre Card for Haredas. By tracking Haredas's location, he could pinpoint the location of the small sky island, Weatheria.
Having flown for quite a long time without spotting a single island, Shirakawa couldn't help but speed up a little.
"Jeez, these old geezers really know how to run. Where did they run off to this time?"
Shirakawa felt like he had already flown out of the Grand Line's range and was now somewhere over one of the Four Seas.
Finally, after another fifteen minutes, Shirakawa spotted the familiar shape of Weatheria.
"Is that the sky island?" Mole exclaimed in awe. Seeing it with his own eyes was completely different from just hearing about it.
Thus, Mole couldn't help but marvel at Weatheria's existence.
Afterward, Shirakawa quickly descended onto Weatheria's land. There was that familiar little path, that familiar house, though a relatively more luxurious house had now appeared next to Haredas's.
"Was this built for me?"
Shirakawa looked at the house next door and raised an eyebrow. He remembered asking these meteorologists to build a house for him before he left last time. He didn't expect them to actually finish it. It seemed money really was something else.
Knock, knock, knock. Shirakawa knocked on Haredas's door, and then, without even waiting for it to open, he just brought Mole right inside.
"Who is it? You couldn't even wait for me to open the door."
Haredas's voice called out from inside, but when he saw Shirakawa, his expression suddenly froze.
Then his face contorted in sheer terror as he screamed, "A ghost!"
The scream was so loud that the entire island probably heard it.
They had naturally seen the reports the Marines were spreading everywhere a few days ago. At first, they felt sorry for Shirakawa, but later, they felt lucky to have escaped his clutches.
Instantly, all the meteorologists rushed over upon hearing Haredas's scream, packing Haredas's tiny house to the brim.
Then, upon seeing Shirakawa, everyone wore identical expressions of sheer terror and shouted in unison, "A ghost!"
A few of the more timid meteorologists even fainted on the spot.
Afterward, the group panicked and ran around frantically inside the house, but for some reason, they just wouldn't go outside. Quite a few "traffic accidents" had already occurred from them bumping into each other.
"Hey, that's enough! A living, breathing person is standing right in front of you, and you're calling him a ghost? Is there something wrong with your eyes?"
In the end, Shirakawa truly couldn't take it anymore and loudly scolded them. This single shout immediately frightened them all into behaving.
"Are you really human?"
The scolded meteorologists obediently lined up in a row according to height, their eyes fixed firmly on Shirakawa.
It seemed like doing so would boost their momentum and give them a sliver of a sense of security.
"Nonsense. Here, feel for yourselves." Shirakawa held his arm out to them, scaring them so much they immediately took three steps back.
"Touch it," Shirakawa said loudly this time, using his sheer presence to intimidate them.
He then placed his arm in front of them and made them touch it one by one.
"Huh~ It's warm."
"It really is!" After they had all felt Shirakawa's body temperature, their wildly pounding hearts finally settled down.
"But didn't the Marines say you were dead?"
In the end, it was Haredas, who was relatively more familiar with Shirakawa, who voiced the doubt in his mind.
"That's a rumor. Just a rumor. The Marines weren't even sure if I was dead or not, but to show the world that their operation was a success, they announced that kind of news."
"Oh, so that's how it is."
After hearing Shirakawa's explanation, they were completely relieved. However, they still didn't leave Haredas's house. After all, with such a dangerous person here, they wouldn't feel at ease unless they figured out the purpose of his visit.
"Then what's your purpose for coming here?"
"Here." Shirakawa suddenly pushed Mole, who was standing beside him, forward.
"He's the navigator on our ship, so I plan to have him study navigational knowledge with you here."
"Oh, so that's how it is."
After hearing Shirakawa's answer, all the meteorologists of Weatheria felt completely at ease.
They saw that Mole was just a child and posed no threat to them whatsoever. As long as Shirakawa wasn't staying here, everything would be fine.
"Captain?" Mole turned his head and asked timidly. Was he really going to be handed over to these awful old geezers?
"Don't worry. They're the world's top meteorologists. If you follow them, you'll definitely be able to learn a lot more about navigation."
"Alright." Since the captain put it like that, these old geezers must have some real skills.
"By the way, if I'm not mistaken, that house next door was built for me, right?"
"That's right." The meteorologists all nodded seriously.
"Then please take care of me for the next five years."
"Please take care of us."
By the time they finished that sentence, Shirakawa had already vanished from their sight.
"What did he just say? Five years?"
"Yes, five years."
"What?!" everyone screamed in terror. They then frantically ran over to Shirakawa's house and pounded forcefully on his door.
"Hey, explain yourself! What do you mean, five years?"
"Scram." Shirakawa's single word instantly frightened them into not daring to move another inch.
However, they then turned their eyes toward Mole, simultaneously breaking into sinister smiles.
"Since your captain won't say it, you tell us."
"Nooo!" The image of these already weird old men instantly worsened in Mole's mind.
"Captain, you've doomed me."
Mole wailed in his heart. Having no other choice, he spilled the beans on everything the captain was planning to do.
"Oh, I see. Then there's no problem."
Just staying on this island for five years wouldn't cause them any harm. But he'd still have to pay them rent!
This group's next step was figuring out how to squeeze money out of Shirakawa.
/-\
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