CHAPTER 48: CHAPTER 48: FIVE-STAR BLUE-EYES WHITE DRAGON

"Up it goes—the needle’s pointing up... Karl, Carina, Perona, look!"

In barely two days, the three-masted ship sailed into the sea where Sky Island lies.

Nami, who’d been in the chartroom drawing sea charts, spotted it and rushed out, shouting to Carina reading on deck and to Karl and Perona—who were fishing by the rail with the little dragon.

"It’s real. Does the sky actually have magnetism?"

Karl, Carina, Perona, and the little dragon gathered around.

Seeing the needle slightly tilted upward—just like when it points down toward Fish-Man Island—Carina looked up at the blue sky and murmured.

"The Log Pose rarely lies. If there’s a Fish-Man Island ten thousand meters below, why can’t there be a Sky Island ten thousand meters above?" Karl stroked the little dragon in Perona’s arms and, feigning casual interest, said, "Once the needle tilts a bit higher, Little White and I will go up and have a look."

"Wraaah..."

The little dragon let out a sound so cute Perona practically melted, echoing Karl.

"...Karl, be careful."

When the needle finally pointed straight up, Karl vaulted onto the back of the enlarged Blue-Eyes White Dragon.

Carina, a shade anxious, reminded him, "If there’s nothing up there, come right back. The oxygen up high isn’t the same as down here—don’t go playing around."

"Got it. Wait on the ship for good news."

Karl flashed an OK sign, then pointed to the sky and told the Blue-Eyes White Dragon, "Little White, let’s go!"

"Roooar..."

With a deafening roar, the Blue-Eyes White Dragon beat its wings, whipping up gusts that made the women’s clothes billow by the rail, then shot upward toward the heights ten thousand meters above.

By the way, a few days ago Little White’s star rating rose to five stars; its body had grown a lot, and its back was broad enough that four people could ride without feeling crowded.

The Blue-Eyes White Dragon was fast—very fast.

The "Bond: Shared Abilities" lets it share every ability except weapons.

It already shares Karl’s physique and Haki; now it also shares Life Return, several Rokushiki techniques, and special derivatives... so its overall power had surged.

Even if its body couldn’t perform things like Moonwalk or Paper Art, the first dragon to master the full Rokushiki and Life Return might soon be born.

Even so, with Shave, Iron Body, Finger Pistol, and Tempest Kick—and their special variations—the Blue-Eyes White Dragon was a super-boss for the first half of the Grand Line.

Though Little White hadn’t truly fought in this world yet, it was still the second-strongest combatant in Karl’s crew overall.

Why "overall"? Simple: aside from Nami bringing up the rear, no matter how strong Little White was, it couldn’t break Carina’s barrier and would be instantly floored by Perona’s Negative Hollows.

But now Karl’s Armament Haki had evolved; he’d mastered the highest application, Internal Destruction.

With Internal Destruction shared, even if Little White couldn’t break Carina’s barrier, it could still injure Carina inside it.

Without sharing Internal Destruction, the little dragon wouldn’t rank second by any measure except "overall."

Which just proves one thing—

Rules-type abilities are terrifying.

Back to the point.

Just as Karl’s smaller build gave him an absolute speed edge, the Blue-Eyes White Dragon—much smaller than Kaido—also had an absolute speed advantage.

In under five minutes, it punched through the clouds and reached the White Sea at seven thousand meters.

"That’s enough. Let’s head back."

With the ’surface work’ done, Karl patted the dragon’s neck and smiled.

"Wraaah..."

Linked in mind, the Blue-Eyes White Dragon answered softly, banked, and dove back into the clouds, arrowing down toward the Blue Sea.

"So—does Sky Island really exist?"

Not even ten minutes later, Karl and Little White were back on deck.

Nami looked up at him, full of expectation.

"Yeah... it exists."

Karl nodded, giving an answer that made all three pairs of eyes shine.

"Awesome, I discovered Sky Island!"

"And it means the legendary City of Gold might really exist!"

Their reactions were, as ever, different.

Then Carina seemed to realize something and frowned. "But... how do we get the ship up there? Do we abandon her and go on foot?"

"Doesn’t this sea get a Knock Up Stream once a year?"

Karl said, bold because he could back it up, "We can ride the Knock Up Stream up."

To patch the lie, Karl had spent days reading with Carina, going over geography books on this stretch of sea.

"That’s a good plan!"

Sure enough, Carina’s eyes lit again. "The Knock Up Stream is scary, but with my Barrier-Barrier powers we don’t have to fear shipwreck. Even if we drop out of the current mid-air, with Little White here no one will get hurt. It’s worth trying."

"Knock Up Stream?"

As navigator, Nami looked blank.

Used to being carried by an unbeatable duo, the little thief cat felt her navigator cred slipping.

Was she the fake navigator and Carina the real one?

"Nami, that’s embarrassing."

Perona mocked her mercilessly.

"Zip it, you oldest one here who loves reading fairy tales, ’old woman’!"

"...I’m sorry. If there’s a next life, I want to be a crab."

"..."

Watching Nami kneel on deck, aura of doom swirling after Perona’s Negative Hollow "lesson," Karl and Carina both shook their heads.

Even the little dragon cast Nami a pitying look.

Did she not know that aboard this ship, even Karl didn’t casually provoke Perona?

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