___________ POV Narration ___________ 

At the very beginning of the Grand Line, on the precipice of 'Paradise', a ship had just managed to cross the boundary of the Reverse Mountain, crossing from one of the 4 Seas into the real world of piracy. 

It was a galleon-type ship with an exterior formed from a mix of wood, iron and stone. A tough ship that seemed near unsinkable, certainly not what one would usually see from a pirate just entering the Grand Line. 

"Haha! That was great boss!" A pirate's hearty shout rang into the ears of everyone on deck, sounding out louder than even the waterfall that still flowed behind them. 

"Heh... Of course, it was great! We are going to be the new Supernovas after all!" The captain crossed his arms and gave everyone a boisterous laugh. 

The big dreams of a pirate who was just taking his first steps into the greatest adventure that a man could go on.

Their goals were rather simple, they had great dreams and aspirations... Of stealing/finding great treasure, plundering as many villages as they could and finding the Pirate King's valuables, or the One Piece.

It was essentially the basic dream of most pirates. Nothing too complex, but certainly ambitious. 

But this ship's captain was different from the rest. He wasn't some unprepared fool! No, he was already assured of his success.

His name was Cob L. Stone, and he was sure that he would've gotten a large bounty before entering the Grand Line had the Government still paid attention to such things. 

 "Hah, that's right boss! We'll surpass those useless Supernovas!" His henchmen were mostly undistinguished, he hadn't even found a proper First Mate. 

But even then, Cob L. Stone was confident. 

He believed that he was next in line to carry on the legacy of a great man.

That he was the one to make the world remember the name of Rocks D. Xebec. A legend that had been passed down in his family for decades. 

And, unlike the other weakling pirates that came before him, he possessed a very specific and unique trump card!

Not only was he physically stronger and more durable than the vast majority of pirates on the four seas thanks to his passionate training, but he had also discovered a way to materialize and weaponize his will! 

It was something that had taken him around 20 years to grasp, but his diligent training had led to him being almost impervious to damage, regular blades couldn't stretch him, bullets couldn't even put a dent in him.

He had truly become superhuman. 

By mastering that spiritual power, he could cover himself in a thin layer and ignore all adversaries he faced in the North Blue. And now he was going to do the same thing for the Grand Line.

"Listen you bastards! Today is the day that the Cobblestone Pirates set foot into the Grand Line!"

He raised his fist and roared, and his men roared with him, overtaken by the atmosphere as their ship sailed further and further from the Reverse Mountain.

"Hell yeah!" "Long live the Captain!" 

The pirate then closed his eyes and took in that praise with a wide smile on his face.

"Let's drink till the sun has set!" "All hail Cob L. St-..." 

All of a sudden, silence seemed to descend onto the deck of the ship, irritating the upcoming supernova quite a bit.

He opened his eyes and was about to scold his men for their lacklustre responses, but his eyes immediately widened when he noticed that a shadow had been cast not only over his ship, but the entire Grand Line and Reverse Mountain for as long as his eyes could see. 

Instantly, he thought that a storm was likely coming, not uncommon from what he heard about the Grand Line.

But then he looked up. 

And upon looking up, he was greeted with the sight of something that could only be described as otherworldly.

"H-holy shit... Flying islands?!" One of the crewmembers muttered as he looked at the situation with a panicked gaze. 

"T-the heavens are falling on us?..." One of the more religious folks immediately got on his knees and started praying.

And the Captain only looked up, his hands trembled as he dropped his wine bottle and it rolled on the floor.

"T-that's..." 

He couldn't even react as he watched a piece of one of the islands crack, break and fall off.

His eyes widened once more and a sense of danger overtook his heightened senses as he ran to steer his ship away, but it was already too late.

That seemingly 'small' piece of rock got larger and larger the closer it got, and before long Cob L. Stone realised that an entire mountain was falling on top of them.

"... I wanna go home..." Was the only thing he could muster to say as his men panicked and his entire ship was sunken to the bottom of the sea.

Up into the skies, the Sky King's Army prepared as they finally reached thier starting point, Reverse Mountain. 

From then on, they were going to traverse the Grand Line until they reached the other end. And they were then going to head straight for the Holy Land. 

"Oi, Shiki, I think I felt some weight shifting below us..." Garp muttered as he sensed something happening below the moving archipelago.

The Golden Lion just shrugged. "Bah, must've been the wind or some small stones, no biggie!" 

"Still, let's try to keep that to a minimum from now on... Wouldn't want to drop mountains on civilians by mistake." Francisco smiled without much care as he 'reprimanded' his companion. 

All of the Army's Officials and Leaders were currently sat at a large metallic table, not a place for casual meetings, but a place for planning out wars. And at the end of the table stood the Sky King. 

"Hmm... It seems everything is prepared." Enel sighed deeply as he sat on his golden throne, from his back ran cables everywhere around him, and many islands were now upgraded with engines and large turbines, turning them effectively into flying ships.

"It took a bit of preparation, but with this at least I won't be dead tired by the time we reach our enemy..." Shiki muttered as he smiled. His task was mostly to float all of the islands and fly around half of them.

Meanwhile, Enel's task was to power the engines and turbines to keep the other islands afloat.

As measures of safety, they also had plenty of cloud dials prepared to create a cushion underneath the islands.

The robots that Enel had brought from the moon were very useful in setting up all of the engines and turbines. They worked as essentially factory workers, and they were happy to earn their keep. 

And thanks to them, and the Revolutionary Army and Marine scientists available working overtime, they were able to get plenty of islands up to snuff.

They had obviously left some of them behind, Shiki left plenty of men guarding them, but they were mostly the islands of unrelated civilians, either from Skypea or from other islands Shiki had grabbed at some point. 

"I believe it's time... Sound the drums!" Enel smiled widely as his back sparkled with electricity.

Immediately, the entire room, and then the island lit up with light.

The electricity travelled through lines of metal and wires, and each turbine seemed to turn on one after the other.

As soon as that happened, thousands of Revolutionaries and Marines on each island marched to the edge of the island.

With mufflers in their ears, they all walked over to strange devices and pressed on special Record Dials. Each dial sounded out with the drums of war, forming a symphony that could only be described as majestic and stressful. 

Instantly, the entire sea was filled with only that. The sound of rhythmic drumming. 

"Ah, music to my ears!" Zephyr smiled widely while Tsuru covered her ears and sighed in frustration.

"Brutes like you might enjoy this, but we'll be sleeping with ear muffs from now..." She and Gion didn't seem to be enjoying the new orchestral music.

"You'll get used to it." Sengoku scowled and shrugged, knowing that there was no helping it. 

"None of us should be having any issues. And the weaker soldiers were stationed as far away from the drums as possible, so it's going to be fine." Francisco also shrugged and slowly swayed on his chair, his sabre resting on the table as he looked at his captain.

Immediately, the First Mate clapped with a smile on his face. In an instant, some soldiers entered the room carrying barrels of Sake and cups of varying sizes.

They immediately placed a cup in front of everyone present and started pouring them the finest alcohol available.

"Let us toast..." The First Mate raised his glass, smiling as he did so.

And everyone joined in, even the Marines, although they were doing it out of respect.

In the end, everyone looked at Enel, who was the last one to lift his cup. But before he did so, he took a look at everyone present in the room, his gaze cold and calculating. 

Gion and Tokikake seemed to be quite solemn and brooding, knowing that a bloody affair was in front of them.

Momonga and Bonney both gave the Sky King a warm smile.

Tsuru and Fujitora seemed to be stoic and ready.

Kizaru and Aokiji were both exhaling slightly, also seemingly prepared. 

Akainu and Sengoku were both uncharacteristically silent, seemingly deep in contemplation, mentally preparing for what was to come.

Garp and Zephyr seemed a lot less bothered as if they were starting to go on an exciting road trip. 

Francisco and Shiki were much the same, unafraid and eager. 

Wyper was similar to them, he was also uncharacteristically silent now. But there was a determination in his eyes that few could match in intensity. 

As for the revolutionaries... Dragon, Sabo, Ivankov, Kuma and all of the others... They were excited. 

To them, it was as if they were finally succeeding in their mission. It was finally their chance to take down the Celestial Dragons that had done so much harm to them and their loved ones. 

Upon seeing all of them, feeling their emotions, expectations, resolve... Enel couldn't help but smile widely as he raised his cup in the air. 

"To a journey's start!" 

'Yes... This is it... The beginning of the end!'

__________________________________________________________________

Hope you liked the chapter! 

Took me a bit I know, still trying to fix my sleep schedule 

Also, need to give credit to Kim Jong Un on discord(now known as the GreatUnseenOne) for the scenario with good ol Cob L. Stone. He helped come up with some of that stuff :))) 

Story Shoutout : Hell Difficulty Tutorial

Discord, again: https://discord.gg/xQTK8caFEQ

If u want to support me look up VeganMaster on Patre_on, you'd also get 15 chapters in advance (or 10/5 depending on tier)