"How's that, guys, how are you thinking about it?"

Overhead, there are soft white clouds, so close that they seem to be within reach. Surrounded by tiny green vegetation, this small island has a soothing and clean scenery. Without the slightest pollution and cluttered buildings, this small island, with its sparse population and not lush vegetation, forms a harmonious natural landscape.

In such a place, there is an anachronistic picture happening.

The tall man looked at the crowd in front of him with a lazy smile.

This is a group of elderly and middle-aged people as the core, and these people in front of them are all the residents of the island, adding up to no more than a hundred. Everyone was dressed in dressing gowns, clean or dirty, and everyone's face was full of anger!

The anger was not directed at the tall man in front of him who was threatening, but at the calm-looking old man behind him.

Although the years had added a lot of wind and frost to the old man's face, except that his hair was still black and white, his long beard was still inky. Judging from his dress, the old man was the same as the island resident opposite him, wearing the same dark robe and the same style of pointed hat.

What is happening here is a story of betrayal.

No matter what world, which nation, or race, no one likes the word betrayal, let alone forgives betrayal.

The tall man wears a burgundy smart suit with a sky blue undershirt, and a man with an equally burgundy ponytail with a rather mean face. The slender corners of the eyes and the thin lips seem to be the embodiment of the term meanness, as the saying goes, the face is born from the heart, and a person's appearance determines the person's character and destiny, etc., but Mr. Herodotus is notoriously kind-hearted, unlike the other devil-like person in charge of the organization.

Even if he was able to overturn all the opponents with one hand, he gave everyone present the right to speak, and tried to achieve his goal by peaceful conversation.

This is the Sky Island.

No, to be exact, it's the small empty island - Visalia!

Herodotus's organization, its leader de Ace has a strange interest in the legend of the Sky Island near Gaya Island, the leader seems to regard the unknown Sky Island as an unexplored treasure, even though countless people have proved that the Sky Island is just a nonsense legend with their lives so far, but the leader is like a crazy gambler, every year he arranges people to ride the monster current, if his people can successfully reach the Sky Island, it will be an indescribable great opportunity for him. It's just a pity that so far, only one murderer, Eugene O'Neill, has been lucky enough to go to Sky Island, and even more unfortunately, this murderous executioner also died at the hands of Ryuzaki Kazuki. Even the Golden Lion Shiji, who was invited at a great cost, has not been contacted due to unexpected factors.

Of course, the task that Mr. Herodotus accepted was not the suicidal monster current, and those who could be chosen to ride the current were all poor creatures whose lives had been restrained by the organization, and they would only go when they had no choice but to go. Mr. Herodotus' task is relatively safer.

In the first half of this great voyage, there was such information among the information that their organization had discovered.

In a country swept by drought, heavy rain fell in a single day, saving tens of thousands of lives across the country. Or maybe it's a country on a special shipping route that has been ravaged by storms many times, and after receiving the help of an old man, the country has never been hit by a storm again.

And there have been many sightings, and in these special information, the same characteristics are expressed.

The incredible old man descended from the sky on a magical prop, and in return for money, food or other resources, he cast a magical magic to solve these natural disasters!

Some people even saw that after the old man left, he flew into a cloud in the sky, and the cloud actually moved!

The leader of Herodotus, as if smelling a business opportunity from here, ordered Herodotus to track down the source of this information, the mysterious BOSS naturally does not believe in any magical nonsense, but above the sky, it is naturally related to the sky island, he thinks that the moving cloud must have something to do with the sky island, since the so-called old man in the intelligence can take an incredible prop back to the sky, then things are simple.

He sent one of his right and right men, Mr. Herodotus, to spend more than half a year tracking down all the way according to the last sightings, and the effort paid off, and they tracked it all the way, and finally came across the old man who was trapped by a torrential rain, and rode an incredible bubble down from the clouds in a country trapped by a torrential rain.

And this rumored magician has no power to fight back in the face of Herodotus's force, and it can even be said that this old man has no means of attack. Herodotus, as one of the second-in-command in the organization, did not threaten the old man at all, reached a consensus with the old man with words and conversations, and finally called the bubble-like prop with the old man, and returned to this small empty island - Visalia.

This is how Herodotus stood on this small empty island, Visalia.

The island is a meteorological country, and the whole island is made up of most of the clouds and a small part of the land. The islands are inhabited by meteorologists. The island's climate changes rapidly, sometimes windy and sometimes sunny, making it a great place to study the climate. The people of this country are all scientific madmen who are obsessed with research, and they will invite famous meteorologists from the blue ocean from time to time to work together on the great subject of studying the strange meteorology of the great sea route, with the consent of both parties.

On the way to the small empty island of Visaria, the meteorologist Tasu explained to Herodotus that the so-called magical magic was a by-product of their meteorological research, the so-called meteorological tools. And at the beginning, the boss of the organization wanted to figure out where the magical power that changed the weather came from, if it was the ability of the Devil Fruit, he would spare no effort to solicit it, and although the product of meteorological science was all different from the BOSS's expectations, it was obviously a better choice, compared to the personal power of the Devil Fruit, the props that could be mastered were naturally the most preferred choice. After talking to the boss on the phone, their course was changed.

Herodotus paid the island's meteorologists unimaginably rich, so much that almost no one could refuse. This organization with mysticism as its creed, for them, it is absolutely undesirable to trade with brute force, although it is undeniable that in this world where monsters are rampant, force is the greatest guarantee, but in this world, Bailey is the second most powerful guarantee, sometimes more powerful than force, which can be seen from the fact that De Ace invited the golden lion to make a move, and there is wealth to make the grinding ghost. Compared with brutal military conquest, the exchange of interests like a merchant is the greatest foundation of trust between the two sides.

You must know that the study of meteorological science is not a simple and simple matter, in addition to technical problems, the greatest difficulty is money.

Any research requires a large amount of funds as reserves, and the equipment and resources needed for experiments are all golden Bailey! Otherwise, the scientists of this small empty island of Visalia would not have traveled to the blue ocean every once in a while to exchange meteorological props for funds and the resources needed. The meteorologists on the island are a group of otaku who have no desire to do anything other than research topics, so they are not rich in money, but they are not short of money. Herodotus's offer was very lucrative, they were very excited, but it was not essential, and more importantly, they wanted to know what their research results would be used for.

Herodotus said with a straight face that he would use these techniques in various rescues that are beneficial to people's livelihood and so on, although the old men of the empty island are simple, but after all, they have not lived half their lives in vain, and they are not completely isolated from the outside world on this small empty island, and when they asked Herodotus to introduce the details of their organization and the use of weather props, things became embarrassing.

Herodotus's organization is a gray organization that believes in mysticism, and operates violent institutions including pirates, bounty hunters, mercenary groups, etc., through the loan of troops to various countries, inciting civil strife in the country, obtaining remuneration through effective means such as war, and even helping the world government to complete some shady things, and complete all kinds of gray transactions. On the surface, there is a low-key hotel and a few inconspicuous casinos.

What does an ordinary hotel need for weather props? Acrobatics? And it can offer such a huge and lucrative reward, is this a liar? Innocent but not stupid scientists are insensitive to such a deal that cannot even reveal the details, they know what the value of their technology is, and if it is misused, it can even cause great chaos and disaster, and they have even refused the invitation of the world government, let alone such a gray organization of unknown origin.

Therefore, in the absence of an agreement between the two sides, it was time for the old man who stood by Herodotus to come forward.

"Ta Clan! Let's make it clear what this is all about! ”

Although this small sky island of Visalia is a peaceful island, the number of people who spy on the technology of meteorological props has never decreased, so they are very forbidden to land here except for meteorological scientists, not to mention, the old man in front of him actually brought an organization of unknown origin to exchange for meteorological technology.

"What's going on? As the young man said, it's a good deal, Harad. ”

The old man named Ta Hao responded calmly to the grumpy middle-aged man Harda.

"No kidding, Ta Clan! If this guy of unknown origin abuses our weather props, you don't know what the consequences will be! ”

"Are you kidding? Who the hell are kidding! Harado! We are constantly researching new meteorological technology, but we don't put this technology to effective use and wait for mold in the warehouse?! ”

Ta Xuan, who had been indifferent before, responded angrily to the questions of Harada and his companions as if he had been ignited a powder keg!

It was not at this moment that the seeds of dissatisfaction took root in Ta's heart, on the small empty island of Visalia, Tatar did not know when he became incompatible with his companions, and this time, too, he was by no means afraid of Herodotus' force or tempted by money and other mundane things, so he agreed to bring Herodotus to this Visalia, he made this decision of his own will after consideration.

Some people in Visalia have thought that if the meteorological technology here is spread to the whole world, how many people who have been affected by natural disasters will be saved, and once this technology is popularized and spread, it will really benefit the people.

This assumption did not take into account the cost of the technology, and soon the scientists were divided into two factions.

One of them advocates that the technology of meteorological props be promoted to the world as a product, so that they can profit from it, and they will not run around because of funding and resource problems in the future, and they will do research wholeheartedly, but also because this technology can help more people, so why not?

The other group does not think so, they don't care about what kind of benefits their technology has, it doesn't matter if it can help others, and the concept of money is even weaker, the reason why they come to this small empty island of Visalia is that the magical environment here is conducive to them to do all kinds of research, they enjoy it, they are happy to constantly discover new things and research, as for the invented props, they will quickly leave it behind, and soon join the new discoveries, and live happily in it with a pure researcher mentality.

Their technology may be beneficial to the country and the people, but it is more likely to be used in wars or conspiracies, and Herodotus' boss de Ace wants to use these magical weather items to artificially create catastrophic weather and take advantage of the opportunity to make profits. Therefore, the other faction does not agree with the former's proposal, for them, as long as they are willing to research, occasionally go to the blue ocean in exchange for funds, and maintain such a stable daily life, they are scientists, scientists who mainly study the weather, and live happily in this space, they are not conspirators, politicians, businessmen, warmongers, they are just scientists, they don't need to make superfluous moves, their technology is not to serve anyone or benefit the people, they are just immersed in the ocean of knowledge.

Scientists led by Ta Tan ridiculed the idea that fear of the negative value of technology is not a reason not to advance technology is very reactionary. If we all think so, then we should still be monkeys in the trees by now.

The scientists led by Harada responded calmly: It is not good for the country and the people, just do your best, we who study the weather just want to get that knowledge, and those weather props are just by-products of this road of seeking the truth.

Ta Xuan dismisses this idea: acquiring knowledge for the sake of acquiring knowledge is a sign of stupidity! If it cannot be turned into practicality, then the role of knowledge itself can only be pretended, and this idea is even more reactionary!

Harada held up a chestnut, peeled it open and ate it, and said: For example, the magicians in the story may have been originally just searching for knowledge and roots, but in the process of exploration, many by-products were invented, which would explode and breathe fire, and gradually people regarded it as a means of attack and war, and magic was no longer a means of pursuing mystical knowledge, but was naturally used to harm others.

Ta Xuan nodded and ate a rice dumpling, and said: "No one stipulates that magic can only be used for war and destruction, can't water magicians help build irrigation circles?" Can't fire mages help improve the level of alchemy and make the level of craftsmanship stronger? To put it bluntly, the purpose of human beings in acquiring knowledge is to better exploit and utilize nature, and to gradually move from the kingdom of necessity to the kingdom of freedom. In addition, the sword can be recast into a plowshare, and it is not possible to stop moving forward because of the fear of the unknown.

Harada shook his head: "Tada, you are based on the idea that knowledge must be practical, otherwise it will be waste. We don't care if it's practical or not, Ta's, that's our fundamental disagreement. It is true that human beings have stepped forward from terror for thousands of years to the current society, and the use of weapons is also regulated by the government. Our technology may become a help to add color to the world after a hundred years and a thousand years, but in the process of popularization, how many people will use our technology to do good, and how many will use them to do evil, this world has never been in the hands of ordinary people, and the real control of this world will always be those small groups of powerful people, under their will, in order to consolidate their position, how many people will die under our technical knowledge?! How much blood will have to be shed for our technology to help everyone?!

In the years that followed, he lent his technology to a small, impoverished country for experiments, and he wanted to prove something, and with such technology, the country that had survived in suffering eventually began to bloom, and the people no longer lived in pain, everything went in a good direction, and everyone showed a happy smile that they thought they would never have in their lives.

The country has been destroyed, and the technology has been watched by the neighbors, and the war has naturally begun, and the weather is in control! That almost got the right of the gods' hand, who doesn't want to let their country be in good weather, and the enemy's country thunder and rain? The human dictionary never shares this word, some are just exclusive. Maybe there will be people sharing this or that thing now, but when there is an irresistible benefit or temptation in front of you, will you give it to someone else? The country that blossomed and bore fruit was unwilling to share the secret of controlling the weather with its neighbors, so it was destroyed, and the two sides lost a tragic battle.

This experiment doesn't say anything, that's what human nature is. If this skill had been acquired by a benevolent monarch, perhaps he would have shared it with his neighbors for free, so that the people of both sides could live a better life. But it was also a bad start, and in the end the scientists who followed Ta Hao shook their heads and sided with Harda, after which no one said anything again. Whether it is a mediocre king or a wise king, he will not be able to escape the prying eyes of others in the end, and even if you are willing to share it with others, others may not want this magical power to be in the hands of someone other than yourself.

Gradually, the practicality of this technology and the possible benefit space scratched Ta Hao's heart like a cat's paws, rich funds and resources, which he did not pay attention to before, and when he encountered an economic crisis, he was very eager to do so, and when he discovered the potential benefits that this research may bring, he transformed into a pragmatist, rather than a pure theorist at the beginning.

No one is qualified to meddle in the rights and wrongs between them, and no one can judge who is right and who is wrong. Who can say that Ta Xuan, who wants to benefit all people, is wrong, and who can say that Haradar, who is obsessed with the temple of knowledge, has a meaningless pursuit of his life? It is precisely because of this conflict that their contradictions continue to intensify, and they finally stand on the opposite side.

He even said that Ta Ming's psychology is more inclined to the thoughts and thoughts of a normal person, and he wants to show the results of his efforts to the world, be recognized by others, help more people, and accelerate the pace of human social progress. As for those who may die, will die, and will die in this process, they are all ignored by Ta Xuan, and the development of science means that there is a price, he only needs to prove that his things are useful, as for how to use them, whether to destroy mankind or benefit mankind, maybe his heart wants to help more people, but that kind of thing is not at all up to him as a small scientist can decide. At least for him, his name will inevitably go down in history as a great monument in the field of science, and for him it will be enough.

In the development of this world, if human beings want to do something without seeking fame or profit, they are regarded as heretical. Immersed in the ocean of exploration, Harada is not interested in anything other than this, but a person's conscience makes him reject Ta Hao's proposal, it may be a cowardly, fearful, and foolish decision, but for Harado, his own technology may be able to benefit mankind, but even if a person dies because of this technology, it is unforgivable for him, not to mention the technology of weather science, which is enough to affect the direction of the war in this world! Once abused, it will definitely be the end of life!

Herodotus smiled and watched these old men explode the pot, what these guys think, how to use technology, this is not what he cares, and even whether they want to or not is not up to these powerless old men to decide, for the organization, what you want, you can only choose to start, or destroy these two paths.

If the negotiation can be resolved, then naturally everything will go smoothly, if not, although it is not his will, but the means of force, threats, and some ways in the organization are to toss this group of stubborn old men. Even if they don't obey to the death, it doesn't matter much. Their boss De Ace may regret it for a second, but the next second he can not hesitate to order the execution of these old men who have magical technology, and those who are not used by him cannot let their technology fall into the hands of others even if they are all destroyed.

In the eyes of Mr. Herodotus, his task has been accomplished, and these old men or not, everything on this small empty island is already in the bag.

Therefore, his mood was also relaxed, the fresh air and scenery of this small empty island made him quite intoxicated to close his eyes, Herodotus, who had lived on the ship for most of the year, sniffed the sea breeze day and night, feeling that the whole person was not good. He did relax, and was even ready to take a good vacation for a while.

So he didn't find out in the first place......

A small black dot appeared under his feet, and this black dot grew bigger and bigger, and finally, with the whistling sound of breaking through the sky, a ship fell from the sky, just above his head, and directly crushed him to the ground!

With a great movement, a deep ditch was cut across the ground before it came to a depressing halt......

The cute little old men of the sky island looked at the scene in front of them in amazement, and even the previous dispute was ignored by this shocking scene. They could hear a cold voice ringing out of the ship.

"Hmm...... That's what it is...... What do you mean by a good way to go down to the island? ”

"Aha, ahahahaha...... Don't care about this kind of detail......"