Nate didn’t care about why the Warp Pipes were there; he just sent his Mario straight to them. He raced through Level 1-1, then broke a hole in the ceiling on Level 1-2 and ran full speed on top of the level, until he found the secret chamber with Warp Pipes to Worlds 2, 3, and 4.
There is nothing extraordinary about using warp zones. Especially in 2007.
