Chapter 95

Another day passed by swiftly. As the day for the Great Sprout race has begun, a majestic view, where the part of the Sprout burst open and started to gush out a large volume of water with incredible pressure, was unfold.

Now, with all the residents of the town having themselves excited for the Great Sprout race, many ships that were coated in bubble-like substance, including Prominence, were aligned horizontally, standing just outside of the rapid current of water that flowed in front of them.

"Hello, and good morning, everyone!!!" A voice boomed throughout the whole Spriggins, as a man with obese physique and a black-coloured hat, sluggishly walked to the platform just ahead of the aligned ships. "I'm Studious Bungalo, the current mayor of this town!"

Momentarily pausing, Bungalo cleared his throat, "Ahem! The Great Sprout race is a ritual that began in honour of the founder of this town, Jack Spriggins. It was noted that in the past, Jack Spriggins used to race with his rival, Jillian, all the way to the top!"

One pirate crew voiced their annoyance, "Shut up and just start the race already!!"

"Haha, I see that all of you are very eager for this." Bungalo laughed heartedly, "Alright then, I won't keep you long. As per the rule, whoever exits the current the fastest and reaches back to this starting point, will be awarded 10 million Beli as the winner!"

Listening to the explanations from the deck of Prominence, whose size towered over most of the other ships in proximity, Rowan grinned in excitement.

"Here it goes." Dan muttered while touching the surface of the bubble-coating, that covered Prominence, in curiosity.

"Hehe, 10 million!" Carina spoke up joyfully.

"Without further ado..." Bungalo raised the gun in his right hand.

*Bang*

"Let the race begin!!"

Under the cheers of the audience, all the pirate crews began to open the valve of the airbags underneath their ships. Instantly, the air began to fill and inflate the bubble coat around the ship. Immediately after, all the ships began to sink in water, before blasting off due to the rapid speed of the current!

Prominence was of no exception. Upon the gunshot that marked the start of the race, Dan immediately opened the valve. With the bubble coat fully inflated, Prominence too submerged into the current and shot forward.

"Huh." With his Haki, Rowan observed the surroundings of Prominence as the ship travelled at a rapid pace, and found a small-sized ship speeding past Prominence, with the pirate crew on such ship staring at him smugly.

"You may be known as the pirate wanted with 850 million Beli," One pirate said with confidence, "but your ship will forever be inferior to ours!"

Rowan chuckled before turning his head back to Carmen, who situated herself at the back of the ship, with her hand on top of a mechanism different from a normal engine that they use to fly.

"Carmen."

"Hmph, Prominence pales against no other ship!" Carmen exclaimed arrogantly as she began to fuel the mechanism with fire.

Subsequently, two large propellers under Prominence began to rotate at a blinding speed, before Prominence blasted off from its already-fast-speed, accelerating at a dangerous pace.

"See ya, suckers!!" Dan cried to the pirate crew, who were now staring at them with dumbfounded expressions, while raising his middle fingers at them.

As Prominence propelled like a rocket, Rowan and his crew found a large hole just ahead of them, which was the entrance to the Sprout.

"Gahaha, this is awesome!" Cavendish grinned upon witnessing the pitch-black hole of the Sprout. "Reminds me of the Luxury Coaster in Bourgeois Kingdom!"

Carina's eyes lit up in response, "Luxury Coaster?!"

On the other hand, Rowan raised his hand and aimed his index finger in a particular direction, "Bounce shot."

*BOOM* A quick burst of force was emitted from Rowan's finger, which harmlessly bypassed the bubble coat before blasting into a torpedo that was travelling towards them.

Carina turned to the site of the explosion with annoyance. She grabbed one cannonball with ease, and lit up the fuse by sweeping it through Carmen. Afterwards, with a flash, the cannonball disappeared from her hand, before the pirate ship, that shot the torpedo towards them, exploded into pieces.

*BOOOM*

"Nice one, mademoiselle Carina." Alfred nodded in appreciation.

"Pay close attention, guys." Rowan stated with his arms crossed, "This is where the real part begins."

Their surroundings immediately turned into a pitch-black, indicating that Prominence successfully entered the Sprout.

"One, two, three... four." Rowan spoke up within the dark, "Four ships ahead of us, but we're getting close."

Under Carmen's control, Prominence was rapidly travelling along the current within the tunnel. Within this confined space,

"AHHHH!!!"

*BOOM*

*W-what's going on?!!"

The loud noises echoed in every direction, creating a chaotic situation.

Robin made a twisted smile from the noises that came in all directions, "Hmm, the desperate screams within the absolute darkness. Countless number of lives must have been lost in this place."

Hearing Robin's comment, Dan's eyes hollowed out, 'I thought you were normal…'

"H-huh? Ghosts?!" Cavendish turned to his left and right from the continuous echoes that filled the whole surrounding, "Gahaha, time for the shining knight to save the day!!"

As Cavendish maniacally waved his swords, Carina was standing at the frontmost section of the deck, with her eyes closed and her hands gripping onto the rail.

"Right in front of us." Carina stated as she sensed the presence with her Observation Haki, to which Rowan nodded casually as he pointed his finger at a particular direction within the darkness.

"Huh?!!" A surprised voice was heard from above, "Someone managed to catch up to us?!!"

"No matter! Use-" Another voice was about to respond, before,

*Zoom*

Another fused cannonball left Carina's hand with a flash yet again, before the ship exploded into pieces.

*BOOOOM*

"Ahhhh!!! What the f*** is g- blarghhhabrughhh!!!!" One member from the exploded ship shouted before the high-pressure water current engulfed them.

Prominence continued to blast off within the current, and the Grimheart pirates began to notice the rapid acceleration of the ship, along with the increase in pressure with the bubble-coat beginning to shake in stress.

"This phenomenon doesn't make sense, if we were to explain it by a mere capillary action." Carina muttered upon witnessing such sight, "Pressure rising with altitude... it's as if something is sucking all this water from above."

Cavendish shrugged, "Does it matter? Even if we get to the sky, we won't understand what's going on."

"Guys." Carmen spoke up from the back with her left hand emitting flame into the mechanism, "Ahead of us."

The pitch-black surrounding began to lighten up, indicating that the gaping hole to the outside was near.

"One crashed before exiting." Rowan stated calmly, "Two at the outside, travelling along the high-pressure water."

Carmen grinned as she placed her right hand on top of the engine.

*Swoosh*

At the next moment, Prominence suddenly made an exit through the hole that lied in the middle of the Sprout, finding themselves flying in the clear air.

*Pop*

Subsequently, the bubble coat popped due to an abrupt change in pressure.

*BOOM*

A loud booming sound resounded underneath Prominence, and simultaneously, the engine at its back flared up, and the wings on its sides opened wide, propelling Prominence forward in mid-air under the watch of many whose jaws were opened wide.

""Whoaaaa, a wolf with wings!!!"" From the audience, Luffy and Bartolomeo expressed their amazement with their eyes sparkling.

Larch, on the other side of the audience, patted Karl's back, "I told you that joining this race would've been pointless."

"Damn it!!!" Karl, whose stomach was tightly bandaged, clenched his fists in anger.

"Don't worry. We can simply participate in the one next month." Larch said with a light smile.

*BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM* Prominence flew towards the starting point at a blinding speed, with the other two ships lagging far behind.

Eventually,

"Goaallll~ in!!!!" An excited shout was heard as many audiences cheered upon the arrival of Prominence. It was the first time they ever witnessed a ship flying, and at a size as large as Prominence. Simply put, they were unable to hide their awe.

"Congratulations!" Bungalo clapped his hands with a pleasant surprise on his face, "What a twist, for a flying ship to bypass the front-most ships in a single go!"

Excited, Carina immediately leapt and grabbed the stack of Beli that was showcased on Bungalo's right, while Dan and Cavendish were seen to be busy with retracting the wings back into the ship.

"Haha," Bungalo let out a chuckle, "very eager one, aren't you?"

"10 million..." Rowan placed his hand on his chin. "I used to fuss over a mere 5 thousand in the past, but now, even 10 million sounds so little."

"Well, captain Rowan," Alfred spoke from Rowan's right, "it was expected. After all, our crew absorbed master Cavendish's possessions and Crocodile's assets."

With a happy expression, Carina lifted up the whole stack of Beli and teleported back to Prominence with a flash, causing Bungalo to jolt up in a shock.

"Oi, Rowan!!" From the distance, Luffy waved his hand to Rowan, who waved back with a smile. Stretching his arms, Luffy propelled himself forward and landed on the platform right in front of the Prominence, before asking in excitement, "How did you make your ship fly? That was so cool!!"

"Magic. Glad you enjoyed the show." Rowan said jokingly, before taking a serious turn, "Anyways, Luffy, we're leaving now."

"Eh, already?!" Luffy said with a slight disappointment in his voice.

Rowan extended his right hand, to which Luffy grasped it firmly as a close friend would.

"Don't forget about the skills I told you of." Rowan remarked, "It's going to be especially important if you wish to continue sailing."

Prior to the race, Rowan passed down the generic information of Haki to the Straw Hat pirates, for Rowan knew the importance of preparation after having encountered many powerful foes. Additionally, what did he have to lose for passing that particular piece of knowledge, when it may save the lives of his acquaintances?

"Shishishi, don't worry!" Luffy replied with a smile, "Zoro and Sanji are already busy with training those!"

"Rowan, let's go!" From Rowan's behind, Carina spoke up as she lightly poked him.

"Well then, see you later, Luffy." Releasing Luffy's hand, Rowan spoke before turning back.

As Prominence remained floating in the middle of the water without showing any sign of moving out, the audience voiced their confusion. Simultaneously, the two ships behind were slowly entering the starting line dejectedly.

At the next moment,

*BOOM*

A large booming sound was heard as Prominence was blasted upwards, with water underneath erupting and splashing everywhere.

*BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM*

Everyone, although soaked in water, watched with a shock as Prominence began to fly vertically up without a stop, becoming smaller and smaller in their eyes.

"Don't tell me..." Bungalo's eyes widened, "They are going to the sky?! A feat that wasn't achievable for more than a hundred years, ever since the Sprout became unavailable?!"

"Shishishi!" Luffy laughed as he watched Prominence gloriously rising to the sky, with his right hand placed on top of his eyes to shield them from the sunlight, "Sky island, it sounds fun!!"

"Whaaattt?!!" Bartolomeo's eyes popped out comically upon coming to witness such a sight, "I thought they could only glide, not fly up like that!!"

Up in the sky, Cavendish leaned onto the rail as he stared down at the audience haughtily, "Gahahaha, praise me more!!!"

"Praise you?" Carmen raised her eyebrow, "Are you deaf?"

"What did you say, you woman?!!" Cavendish growled as he and Carmen locked their hands, struggling to push one another.

"Inside of the Sprout was quite interesting. Nothing could be seen, and pressure was rising, and..." Dan was seen muttering as he jotted down on the notebook he was holding onto.

*BOOM* *BOOM*

The propulsion upwards to the sky continued as Rowan lifted his head up to the clouds and slightly lifted up his blindfold, revealing his glowing amber-coloured eyes.

"Amazing..." Rowan muttered in awe as he stared at the vast clouds that shone brightly from the sunlight, "One above, is sky island really the one?"

""Perhaps."" Carina and Robin replied at the same time, before Carina stared at Robin with narrowed eyes, causing Robin to sweatdrop.

Lowering the blindfold back onto his eyes, Rowan grinned as Prominence bypassed the solid clouds through a gap in-between,

"Sky island, here we come."

"Neigh~!!!!!" Farul cried joyfully, expressing his excitement.