Cover
Color Spread. Luffy is sitting on a water lily with a cat on his head, meditating. Usopp is in the water with a rock in his hand. Chopper is steering a straw boat on which Nami is relaxing. Towers of clay can be seen in the background.
Storyline
Upper Yard: You can see the silhouettes of the 4 priests philosophizing about criminals. Luffy, Sanji and Usopp are faced with the decision of which trial to choose. Swamp, Iron, Strings, or Balls. They take the balls exam because it sounds the most harmless and fun. They head into the right of the four tunnels, where it is pitch black. Luffy speculates if only one way is right and the other three rivets and if they fall out of the sky if they rivet. They reach the end of the tunnel and fall off a cliff. After a relatively short fall, the Floating Crow lands on a sky road. It passes through a forest that is full of floating cloud balls.
Testing the Balls: Luffy and Usopp feel safe, so they play with one of the balls. When they touch it, a snake shoots out of it towards Usopp. A second ball, which Sanji tries to kick away, explodes on contact. A person, sitting on a ball cloud, welcomes them to the test, calling the balls surprise clouds. His name is Satori, priest of Skypiea. He jumps towards Luffy, who is about to hit him with a gum-gum gun. Satori seems to know beforehand that he can stretch, dodges the blow, and gives Luffy a single blow, knocking him away and seriously hitting him.
Sanji tries to attack Satori from behind with a right leg kick. Satori knows beforehand what Sanji is planning without seeing it and also hits him in the face with the flat of his hand, which has the same effect as Luffy. Satori mentions only a sage has the power of Mantora. As she also knocks Usopp off the ship in the same way, she calls the blow an Impact, destroying the body to the core. All three were thrown from the ship as a result. They are in the forest of the lost. There is only one exit, and they can’t find it without the ship. To get to the ship, they have to get past Satori. The chance of survival on the balls test is 10%.
| Manga volumes | Skypiea Arc (Manga) |
