"Who is that?"
Molly's gaze followed Ren's line of sight toward the sky, and indeed she spotted a black dot that was constantly enlarging.
It was the God of Skypiea, Gan Fall.
Ren could clearly see the man wearing silver armor and riding a strangely colored "Pegasus" approaching. Behind him, a blue cape fluttered in the wind, looking quite impressive.
"He should be the ruler of this Skypiea," Ren explained.
The other party came alone, but very fast. Soon the general outline of his figure appeared before everyone's eyes.
"A horse with wings?" Molly widened her eyes in surprise. But as that horse approached and its appearance gradually revealed itself, Molly's shocked expression immediately turned to disgust.
"So ugly..."
"Never seen such an ugly horse..."
Gan Fall: ...
Pierre: ...
The scene fell into brief silence because of Molly's disgusted words. But she was telling the truth—at this age, Gan Fall's appearance, if not handsome, was at least presentable. His attire made him look like a true Sky Knight.
But that "Pegasus" he was riding instantly made him look like a comical actor in a circus.
Pink fur with dense spots, combined with a ridiculous head and expression, was so ugly that Molly almost began to doubt her concept of the legendary Pegasus.
In fairy tales, Pegasus was supposed to be so beautiful...
However, seeing this ugly Pegasus that was actually a Spotted Bill, Ren suddenly had many ideas. He could also create some fantastical creatures to use as mounts.
Like winged giant serpents, dinosaurs, and griffins...
Although they would only be for show, at least they would look impressive.
"Ahem, who exactly are you people?" Gan Fall coughed lightly twice, breaking the awkward atmosphere, then asked, "Why did you trespass on our sacred ground and injure the guards?"
Gan Fall didn't like pointless fighting, but more importantly, he was somewhat wary of Ren and his group's strength. Looking around, those lying on the ground were all knights of the Skypiea guard. Meanwhile, on Ren's side, they couldn't even find a single injured person.
Under these circumstances, rashly starting a conflict with Ren's group was clearly unwise. He wasn't confident he could defeat them, and even if reinforcements from Angel Island continued to arrive, it would only increase casualties.
If it were ordinary enemies, Gan Fall would have struck to subdue them immediately, no matter how much he disliked fighting.
"Our purpose is only the gold in your 'sacred ground.' You're the leader of this Skypiea, right? As long as you're willing to give up the gold, we don't need to continue fighting." Ren said, though he knew this was impossible.
Gold was naturally currency. Even in Skypiea, a massive City of Gold still held immense value. However, because this City of Gold was in the center of the sacred ground and worshipped as a place where gods lived, they hadn't taken a single bit of it.
But now an outsider was directly saying he wanted to take all the gold from the sacred ground. This was something Gan Fall couldn't tolerate.
"You're pirates from the Blue Sea, right? Although I don't know how you learned this information, the sacred ground is not something you can touch!" Gan Fall's right hand gripped his knight's lance tightly, preparing for battle.
The sacred ground's position was more important to them than their own lives. They couldn't just let these mysterious people destroy it.
Gan Fall's eyes under the armor became sharp. He was wondering how the information about Skypiea's City of Gold had leaked to the outside world. Skypiea had had visitors from the Blue Sea before, but this secret had never been known to others.
'Could it be those people...'
He began to suspect the Shandians, but quickly dismissed the idea. Although those people had constant conflicts with his side, their feelings for the sacred ground should be the same. They wouldn't do such a thing.
"Are you going to oppose us for that gold?" Ren asked. "In that case, Molly, you're up. Everyone else, fall back."
"Yes!" Molly nodded firmly and was about to step forward, but immediately pulled back.
"But Lord Ren, he can fly in the sky." Molly whispered. Her Geppo training wasn't very proficient yet; she couldn't maintain it for long. And that man across from her was sitting on a "Pegasus," controlling the sky, which was very disadvantageous for her.
"Shiyado."
From the jungle of Upper Yard, a giant owl even bigger than a person dove toward the clouds and then swooped back down. When she flapped her wings, she stirred up air currents.
"Do you want to fly, Miss Molly?" Shiyado's figure stopped beside Molly. She opened her sharp beak and asked with a hint of pride.
As a human, she was somewhat unattractive, but after transforming into an owl, she was actually more impressive than an ordinary owl. The feather on her forehead like a horn was long and slender, adding quite a bit of heroic spirit to her, unlike ordinary owls that looked somewhat dull.
And her back was wide enough to accommodate a person.
"Hehe, thank you!" Molly quickly took off her shoes and lightly leaped onto Shiyado's back. Her back was very broad, and after bearing Molly's weight, it didn't show any sense of burden.
Shiyado's gaze lingered for a second on the shoes Molly had taken off. Her favorable impression of Molly increased quite a bit.
Molly's shoes weren't hard wooden clogs. Actually, wearing them wouldn't have affected her, and she wouldn't have minded if the other person stepped up with shoes on directly. But Molly's action still made her feel she wasn't being treated merely as a means of transportation.
"Sit tight, Miss Molly!" Her head turned 180 degrees, directly twisting around. She fixed her round eyes on Molly and instructed.
"If you can't stand steady, grab my feathers."
"You're making a little girl deal with me?" Gan Fall's expression was somewhat complicated. Deep in his eyes, he was even a bit envious that Molly had such a beautiful eagle to ride.
"Neigh!"
Seeming to detect his inner thoughts, Pierre beneath him uneasily pawed his hooves.
"Sorry, Pierre, you're my partner!" He reached out and patted his old companion, then chuckled. At the same time, he prepared for battle. Although the enemy was just a young girl, protecting the sacred ground was a serious matter for him.
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