Conqueror of All 21 Sky Island

In one of the upper rooms of the base was a room filled with paper stacking up from everywhere. Deep inside the room was a man in his middle-ages, he kept staring at the stack of papers while mumbling from time to time.

At the opposite side of the man, was another middle-aged man with grey hair. He had a buff body, he kept smiling stupidly as he kept on eating crackers.

"Bwahahaha, that kid got you in good." Garp laughed loudly as bits of crackers shot out from his mouth.

Sengoku's mood turned worse when he heard Garp mock him. "Don't you dare, Garp…!" Sengoku clenched his fist, but to no avail as he had no way against Garp the 'Hero of the Marines'.

"… What do you think we should do?" Sengoku sighed deeply as he asked Garp. But, before even Garp had answered, Sengoku knew what Garp would say.

"I think you already know the answer…" Garp's expression sharpened for a brief moment before he returned to his usual eccentric personality. "He is provoking us because he knows that he can deal with us in time. He merely wants to see our reactions and act upon them." Garp was smiling as he kept on eating crackers.

"We're the Navy, we can't let a Pirate threaten us!" Sengoku wanted to shout back at Garp.

"Don't tell me you forgot Smoker's report?" Garp squinted his eyes slightly as he gazed at Sengoku. "He is only calling himself a 'Pirate' because of we are labelling him as so…" Garp didn't let Sengoku speak as he continued. "As of now, he might not be strong. But, just from the pictures and the report, I am getting a more threating feeling from him than I had ever from Gol D Roger, Shiki and any other pirates in the past."

Sengoku lowered his head slightly before shaking his head. "We can use this as an opportunity. Sakazuki is currently running ahead in the New World, Borsalino is stationed on this base and Kuzan has to depart with the Celestial Dragons to the Grand Line."

Garp ate his crackers as he listened to Sengoku carefully. It took Garp a few seconds to think of something before he said it out loud to Sengoku. "Send Kuzan after his mission with the Celestial Dragons." When Garp thought of the Celestial Dragons, he had a frown on his face as he wanted to avoid them like the plague.

"That was my plan too." Sengoku nodded, he didn't bother with Garp's ugly expression as he did also have a bad impression of the Celestial Dragons, but they were the leaders of the world and they had to be protected.

"They don't often leave their homes, did they say why they are going to the Grand Line?" Garp asked a question as he seriously thought of why the arrogant Celestial Dragons would do so.

"…" Sengoku hesitated for a moment before he sighed and said. "They found one of the slaves that ran in the past. They want to reclaim the slave…"

The moment Sengoku finished speaking, a cold pressure enveloped the whole room. As suddenly it appeared, it vanished as quick. Garp coldly snorted as he stood up from his chair and started walking away. As much as Garp fought for Justice, what the Celestial Dragons were doing, wasn't Justice in Garp's eyes.

'Humph…! I hope that the Celestial Dragons will meet their counterpart in the end.' Garp's eyes widened as he thought of the pirate he spoke with Sengoku just about. 'Heavenly Izan… Will you really go against the whole world? Will you be able to do what Gol D Roger wasn't able to?' Garp clenched his fists as he strode past all the saluting marines.

On the Heavenly Pirate's ship; Defying

Izan, Jiutian, Nojiko and Robin were sitting on sun chairs on the deck of the ship.

"Nico Robin, I heard that you are a Devil Fruit user, is that right?" Jiutian asked after the four of them had settled down.

"Yes, I have the Flower-Flower fruit, it is a Paramecia which allows me to replicate and sprout parts of my body to a part of someone else or on objects." As Robin was explaining, several hands appeared on Robin's body. One of them holding a book, another one gesturing and many others making patterns.

A sigh escaped Jiutian's mouth as she watched Robin's ability.

Nojiko understood what Jiutian's silence was for. As they had already spoken about the large drawbacks of having a Devil Fruit whereas the possibilities Haki had.

As Jiutian and Nojiko were contemplating, Izan did think further of it as the Devil Fruit Robin ate had saved her life in the past. Izan could see that Robin was confused by the silence of Nojiko and Jiutian, therefore, he took it up to himself to speak.

"Robin, there's nothing to worry about. Devil Fruits are good for a variety of reasons, but the drawbacks of it is…" At this moment, Izan had his eyes widened up as he stood up abruptly.

"Izan! What is it?!" Jiutian vanished from her sun chair and stood in front of Izan. Jiutian had a deep frown on her face as she couldn't think of any reasons why Izan would act like that.

Even Nojiko and Robin were surprised by Izan's sudden change, they stood up and walked towards Izan with a concerned expression on their faces.

Izan didn't respond to Jiutian. Izan's eyes were hazy as he kept on staring in front of himself while deeply thinking of something. From time to time, a frown would appear, at other times, a smile popped up.

Slowly but surely, a grin started forming on Izan's face as he turned his gaze towards Jiutian, Nojiko and Robin in turn.

"Izan, what was that?" Jiutian asked as her eyebrows were furrowed while she squinted her eyes.

"Are you alright, Izan?" Nojiko asked in a concerned tone as she kept her eyes locked on Izan's face.

Robin didn't ask anything, she had cold sweat running down her back as she clenched her fists hard until they turned pale. 'Is it because I ate a Devil Fruit…' Robin tried her best in not showing her inner expressions, but she couldn't help but tremble in fear of being abandoned.

"I'm fine." Izan's grin turned into a gentle smile as he stroked Nojiko's face before he glanced at Robin then towards Jiutian. "There are no worries at all." Izan made sure not to tell them anything, but he would have a surprise from them for when they would leave this world.

Izan still saw that both Jiutian and Robin were worried, he could only sigh deeply inside of his heart as he stroked Jiutian's head and hair for a moment before he stroked Robin's face.

"I am serious. There is absolutely nothing to worry about." Izan kept smiling gently. But, Izan's gentle smile seemed to be a devilish smile which made the three women's heart beat faster.

"Hehe, as I said. It's nothing to worry about. What we should actually worry about is reaching our destination and the problems which may come from the Marines and the World Government." Izan sad with a laugh.

"Jiutian told me that we're going to the island – Jaya, why is that?" Robin placed cupped her shin with her hand while asking Izan.

"Because we are going there…!" With a grin on his face, Izan raised his right hand and pointed towards the sky.

"What?" Both Nojiko and Jiutian asked at the same time while being confused whereas Robin had a revelation.

"You're talking about a Sky Island?!" Robin's voice was filled with an intrigue tone.

"A Sky Island." Nojiko thought of a flying city high up in the air. A foolish smile appeared on Nojiko's face at the thought of traveling there with Izan, visiting all of its greatest views.

Jiutian wasn't surprised by hearing about a Sky Island, she wouldn't raise an eyebrow if she even heard of a whole country flying up high in the air. But what surprised Jiutian was that it existed in this world too, which is far behind in technology and power compared to other universes.

"Yes. I am talking about Skypiea to be more specific. There's a Poneglyph waiting for us there which is one of the reasons why we are going there." Izan said with a bright smile as he gazed towards Robin.

"You said one of the reasons. What are the other reasons?" Jiutian furrowed her eyebrows slightly as she did catch up on what Izan had said.

Izan hesitated for a brief moment before he sighed out loud as he said his other reason for going to Skypiea. "It might be a selfish reason. But, there is someone up there which I need to deal with. The faster I do it, the better it would be for the future of my plans."

Both Nojiko and Robin flinched at Izan's reply. Knowing that someone even Izan had to be careful with, was not someone they could easily provoke or deal with.

"Who's the person…!" Jiutian had her eyes squinted till the point of her eyes barely were showing as she spoke in a cold voice.

Another sigh escaped Izan's mouth as he explained to Jiutian. "If we're talking about him as a powerhouse or a force. Then, in the whole Grand Line, he should be the strongest. If he had learned Haki to a proficient level, he could become one of the strongest people on this planet if he's able to awaken his Devil Fruit and obtain Haki."

Chapter end