New Shining Star |『 Male Reader 』• One Piece

Page 76: Where the Sky Never Falls

"All pirates searching for the treasure One Piece must brave the second half of the Grand Line. These wild and dangerous seas are known as the New World."

"Gold Roger and his crew were the only men to chart these waters and learn all the secrets they held."

"For the rest of the pirates in the world, this has proven to be the end of the road. A graveyard of dreams."

"Now, Y/n L/n, a young man who ate the Ox Ox Fruit Model: Water Buffalo, set sail into the New World with his faithful crew."

'I'm gonna become the King of the Pirates!'

The city spread out before them in layers of carved stone, wind-scoured rooftops, and fortified terraces stacked like armoured vertebrae along the plateau's spine. Compared to the soaring, ethereal majesty of Skyborne, this place and this city, nestled against the howling cliffs, were not built to impress, but to endure.

Fuyuto walked a pace ahead, hands in his coat pockets as his eyes swept over the architecture. Behind him, Inoko's boots thudded heavily against the darkened marble, twin swords bouncing from her hip. Orion brought up the rear, a silent observer beneath the weight of the marine coat billowing slightly behind him.

Compared to Skyborne, the city lacked pageantry. No dancers riding wind currents. No streamers laced between towers. But it was far from lifeless. In fact, it pulsed with an energy that was more grounded and tactile...like a heartbeat beneath armour.

Massive stone bastions anchored the city's edge, their reinforced buttresses built to withstand gales strong enough to rip flags from towers. Wide open yards stretched along cliffside promenades, ringed by training dummies, weapon racks, and sparring lines.

Many buildings had terraces and open courtyards, which were used not for gardening but for combat drills. Every second block seemed to feature a training ground, its floors scarred by decades of boot prints, claw marks, and elemental impact burns. Warriors, both young and seasoned, practised under the raw sting of the high-altitude breeze.

Above, tall windcatchers rose like spines, channelling currents into turbines housed in their hollow cores. Lightning rods spiralled around their tips, absorbing and storing raw energy in sealed capsules marked with faint glyphs. It was wild, practical and beautiful in its own way.

Fuyuto exhaled softly through his nose. "So I noticed right," he murmured aloud, more to himself than the others. Inoko glanced up from inspecting a sparring circle. "Notice what?" she asked as Fuyuto's eyes trailed across the street. "The people," he replied.

Orion, who had been studying a nearby tower's rotating dial conduits, raised an eyebrow. "What about them?" he asked, always eager to understand the cultures around him. Fuyuto didn't reply instantly, but he nodded subtly toward a group of passing minks.

Inoko and Orion noticed the minks with darker fur tones and sharper features. Some had feather crests swept back like horns, others had tail tufts shaped like wind streamers. "Seems like we're in Groundborn territory," Fuyuto murmured.