Chapter 74: Sky Island Army’s Formation and the Departure

After yesterday’s events, the Skypiea Martial Corps—Army was successfully established. There aren’t many Skypieans, so for now it’s set up as a single corps, even if the actual numbers are far from full strength.

But more recruits would join in time, and a regular army needed to look the part.

Gan Fall gathered all the eligible men between eighteen and thirty-five—over two thousand of them—and ordered them to assemble on a clearing on Skypiea the next day. This spot would become the military training base.

That night, Karl informed the crew they’d be setting out again in the morning. Even though everyone hadn’t had their fill of Skypiea, nobody dared object to the captain’s orders. Instead, their minds drifted to what last-minute shopping they needed to do.

As night fell, the crew blitzed Skypiea’s markets for specialties and trinkets, playing around until deep into the night before heading back to the ship. It’s not easy to make it to Skypiea, and nobody knew when they’d get another chance.

Karl stayed in his cabin sorting out things to hand over to Gan Fall the next day since he had no plans to stick around Skypiea unless he found that legendary flying island.

Dawn broke.

More than two thousand men stood quietly in the open clearing, waiting for Karl’s arrival.

“Has Lord Karl arrived yet?”

“I heard Lord Karl is leaving by ship today. Is that true?”

“No way, he’s leaving so soon?”

Karl had resolved the enmity between the two races, even granting the Shandians land. He promised to bring more soil in the future, and honestly, calling him the benefactor of all Skypieans wasn’t an exaggeration.

A boy standing at the edge saw Karl approaching from afar and whispered to his friend nearby.

“Karl’s coming.”

His words quickly spread and soon everyone was focused on Karl as he approached.

Where moments before there’d been a noisy crowd, the entire field went silent as Karl drew closer.

Karl stopped before the crowd and called for Gan Fall.

“This is a Video Transponder Snail.”

“Inside are the complete sets of Eight Extremities Fist and Five Elements Fist.”

“From here on, you’ll be the one to train them.”

“Don’t worry, Lord Karl. I’ll see it done.”

Karl handed Gan Fall the prepped Video Transponder Snail, which included videos of Karl performing every move, each broken down in slow motion to help everyone understand and master them.

Then Karl turned his gaze to the recruits.

“You’ll be proud of the choice you made today.”

“From this moment on, you’re the first members of Skypiea’s army…”

“You’ll form the First Regiment of the Skypiea Army.”

“Gan Fall will be your regiment commander.”

As he spoke, Karl glanced at Gan Fall, who nodded at the crowd.

“Since it’s an army, we’ll need some rules.”

“You’ll follow orders without question. Only the strong will lead.”

Seeing how confused the crowd looked, Karl explained further.

“Obeying orders means you do as I say—if I tell you to head west, you don’t go east.”

“As for only the strong leading, every position will be decided by duels. If you can win, you earn the spot.”

“But, if we find a winner doesn’t meet the standards, they still can’t keep the position.”

Not long after, four battalion commanders and twelve company commanders were chosen, along with some squad leaders.

Once each battalion got organized, Karl moved on to the next phase.

“Next, I need you to unite all the nearby Sky Islands.”

“Bring every bit of land you can see under Skypiea’s rule.”

Karl paused, letting everyone absorb the news before continuing.

“From now on, any stranger coming to Skypiea is under your watch. If they commit crimes, you’ve got the right to act first and report later…”

He trailed off, rubbing his head. Looking at the weak crowd, Karl realized if not for how hard it is for Blue Sea folks to reach Skypiea, pirates would’ve plundered all the gold by now. Then he tacked on another point.

“Of course, you need to complete three months of basic training before you can actually expand outwards.”

With that settled, Karl started instructing the officers on forming up the army.

It took over an hour to run them through formation drills and physical training routines.

Once the basics were understood, he dismissed the group, letting each officer teach the rest.

Soon, the grand military exercises began.

Truth was, Karl had no experience being a king. Now that he’d set things up, he didn’t really know what his next steps should be—Skypiea just wasn’t big enough to compare with the Blue Sea.

But at the very least, he would realize his vision—bring every Sky Island together, master the tech to let islands rise and fall at will, and turn Skypiea into a hidden stronghold.

After all, a mobile Sky Island is a trump card he had to keep in hand.

After wrapping things up, Karl had Gan Fall lead him to the City of Gold. Communication with the Blue Sea was tough and with so few people on Skypiea, hoarding gold wasn’t that useful anyway. Shells were their currency up here, and Berries didn’t circulate very well.

Gan Fall led Karl through dense jungle. Just as they broke through, dazzling golden light burst through ahead. They quickened their pace and found themselves staring at the ruins of a palace that gleamed with gold.

This was the legendary City of Gold—Shandora.

Most of Shandora’s buildings were made of pure gold. In the original story, Enel melted all that gold down to build his golden flying ship, Ark Maxim.

If I brought all this back to Blue Star, I’d be set for life.

Karl quickly collected himself. He didn’t let the vast sea of gold muddle his head, but a wide grin stretched across his face—he couldn’t even hide his teeth.

Then, right before Gan Fall’s astonished eyes, a large chunk of gold began to vanish.

Karl didn’t take all of it—just about two-thirds. It wasn’t that he didn’t want more, but his system inventory was already full.

The whole point of the system inventory was convenience, so it was never very large.

Karl couldn’t help feeling a little annoyed by that—his inventory was way too small to carry all this gold away.

Guess that’s what greed gets you.

“The secret your people have guarded for generations, the Golden Bell, is right up there.”

Once Karl finished dealing with the gold, he gestured for Gan Fall to look above the vines.

Thick clouds hid whatever was up there, but Gan Fall didn’t think Karl would lie about it.

“Alright, if you need anything, call me. I’ve got things to do, so I’ll head out first.”

Gan Fall was a little anxious. He wanted to see the Golden Bell—the thing his ancestors had protected for centuries—but he’d waited so long now, a few more minutes wouldn’t kill him. There were priorities, after all.

Gan Fall lingered for a moment, gazing up at the vines before following Karl back toward the ship.

…

Onboard the Azure Dragon, Notty and the others had been waiting so long, they’d already played several rounds of mahjong.

Notty spotted Karl from afar and immediately flipped the table—he’d drawn a terrible hand and was ready to stop playing even before Karl showed up.

But when the others glared at him, Notty sensed trouble and quickly called out to Karl.

“Captain, are we heading out?”

“Yeah, we’re about to set sail.”

The others seemed a little annoyed but didn’t say a word. They quickly tidied up the game, waiting for Karl’s orders.

“Call me if anything comes up!”

As Karl boarded, he called back to Gan Fall on shore.

“You have my word, Lord Karl.”

“I’ll do everything you asked to the best of my ability.”

Gan Fall saluted him from the shore as Karl’s ship sailed away, his left hand gripping a small medicine bottle that contained none other than the Shaolin Great Rejuvenation Pill.

As Karl’s ship faded from view, Gan Fall lowered his right hand and walked toward the Golden Bell.

“Thompson, set course for the Sabaody Archipelago.”

“Straight to the New World.”

The first phase was complete. Now it was time to return to Beehive Island. Whether these seeds could really take root would be up to Skypiea and its people.

“Aye, Captain.”

Thompson flashed a row of gleaming white teeth, then went to find Hunter and change the ship’s heading. The Azure Dragon slowly descended to the sea before heading straight for Sabaody Archipelago.

“Are we really going to the New World?”

“But I haven’t even explored the first half yet!”

Jennifer pouted, displeased that she never got to experience the earlier stretch of the journey. After all, she’d come all this way.

“Can’t do it now—our ship’s too big a target. If we draw attention in the first half, the Navy Headquarters will be all over us. With your strength, you’d be spending the rest of your life behind bars.”

“You don’t want me visiting you in prison, do you?”

Karl flashed Jennifer a teasing grin.

“No way!”

Seeing Karl’s mischievous grin, Jennifer imagined the scenario and shook her head vigorously.

GONG…

Just then, a booming bell rang out from the distant Sky Island.

Karl gazed back at Skypiea in the distance.

“Not bad at all!”

……