Brand New World
Ch. 4: Powers of Persuasion
The next day, I woke up feeling refreshed after my talk with Robin. I asked where we were headed, and I found out we were trying to go to an island in the sky. That triggered another memory, but this time it wasn`t painful. It was more like Déjà Vu, a bit distracting and nothing else. I remembered that there was an island name Jaya nearby and suggested we should go there for info on the sky island. Nami thought it was a good idea, and Luffy and Sanji agreed as we were getting low on food. Then another memory hit me as some wood was falling from the sky. Wasn`t a ship supposed to… and then I looked up. "Shit." The ship hit the water and barely missed us. My life would have flashed before my eyes if it weren`t for the whole amnesia thing.
After Robin analyzed the skull for its age, we decided to check out the wreckage of the fallen ship. Sanji, Luffy and Zoro went down to check it out while the rest of us stayed above. I was never a perfect swimmer anyway. A few minutes later, a ship pulled up with a captain named Masira. He looked like a big ape in a pair of overalls.
"What the heck are you doing here?" Usopp asked him.
"None of your business," Masira replied.
"What are you doing here?" I asked in a stern voice. A strange feeling ran through my body at that point, but I just shook it off.
"I have claim on all sunken ships that are in the vicinity of Jaya," he replied quite quickly. "I use my skills to bring them back up and examine them."
"Now why didn`t you answer when I asked?!?!" Usopp yelled, commenting this.
"Wow," Masira thought, "What`s with this guy? What was that feeling that hit me? I was compelled, no, more like ordered to tell him what he wanted to know."
"Wait, bring them back up?" Nami asked.
"Crap, the guys are still down there," Usopp whispered among us.
"What happens if he finds them?" Chopper asked.
"I think we`ll be alright," I said calmly. "If he tries anything, I can still wipe the floor with him."
"Yeah, but what about his crew?" Nami said worriedly.
"Good point," I said back.
"We should probably just play this out," Robin said with a good insight of wisdom.
"Right," the rest of us agreed.
"But we can`t let him know about the air pumps," Nami said.
"Right," the rest of us repeated.
After telling his crew basically to show off, Masira sent down a claw with a net attached to grab the ship. It must have caught it as they then sent their figurehead of all things down to retrieve it. Then, surprisingly enough, he blew air into it, and began to raise the ship. But when his crew yelled for help, he dove in after them. What loyalty. Then a giant sea turtle (much bigger than any one I remember) ate Luffy, Zoro, Sanji, Masira, and the ship.
"If we don`t cut the air pipes," Robin started as we were being towed by the turtle, "We`ll be pulled under along with the boat."
"Cut the ropes for our safety," Nami said almost coldly.
"How about I just make him spit them out?" I said winding up for a punch, as Chopper and Usopp were calling Nami a devil. Just then, the sky turned black as Masira`s crew was getting ready to rescue him. Then the turtle spit out Luffy, Sanji, and Zoro with their bags of treasure, and Masira quickly followed them out on his own power, hopping mad. Then we all looked and saw them: the silhouettes of three huge figures against the clouds. Then everyone but Robin and I flipped out, and we high-tailed it out of there. Somehow, Masira ended up on our ship, so we promptly gave him a first-class exit on the foot express. Luckily, Robin stole an eternal Log Pose from Masira`s ship for Jaya, which was coincidentally where I suggested going. Later, we saw some birds flying near our ship, but then they just dropped dead. Chopper analyzed them and discovered they were shot from in front of our ship.
"Shooting from an island we can`t see," Nami said ", that`s impossible."
"Not really," I said calmly. "You just need a gun that has a long enough barrel, a bullet which is more aerodynamic, and a larger amount of gunpowder to propel the bullet the longer distance. If one is lacking, you just need to make up the difference in either of the other two. I`d say maybe an inch or two of gunpowder in a packed casing with a gun barrel about four feet long ought to do it."
"You think so?"Usopp asked me as the rest of the crew was astounded by my knowledge of weaponry.
'Yeah," I said. "Some people can shoot a bullet a good mile or two away from a target and hit a bull`s-eye. Anyway, gunfire from that direction means there is an island that way, and not too far. Jaya must be pretty close."
"Agreed," Robin said in my defense. "We should get there very soon."
When we landed on Jaya at Mock Town, Luffy and Zoro went ahead to find info on Skypeia, and Nami soon followed them, as to prevent them from causing trouble. "Hey, Kakusei," Robin said to me aside, "let`s go get some clothes and try to find some info on Skypiea ourselves."
"Sure," I said with a big grin on my face. We snuck of the ship without Sanji, Usopp, or Chopper seeing us. After walking around a little, we soon noticed that many pirates were here, so we tried to keep a low profile. We stopped in a clothing store and I grabbed a few items I liked, and I had a tailor make some copies of my original outfit, without the mended holes.
Robin came out of the dressing room and showed off one of her new outfits. "What do you think?" I almost had a nosebleed which shot me through the wall. She looked amazing in that leopard print top and purple shorts , and I think my spirit left my body for a split second.
"It… it`s lovely," I said trying not to look at her straight on. She bought several outfits, and I ended up carrying the bags. They weren`t heavy, it was just hard to keep them all in order. I could tell where everyone in the crowd was, even though I couldn`t see through the bags. I dodged a large group of people and I recognized one of them as Sarquiss from Bellamy`s crew, from my memories. "Luffy better not fight, they`re coming for him," I thought to myself.
Later, we found a local informant after snooping around. He seemed a little seedy, but after we paid him with the rest of our money, he started talking. "I do remember something about a Sky Island somewhere, but I can`t remember what it was. I`m sure if I had a little more money, I`d remember."
"We gave you the last of your money," Robin replied calmly.
"Well then," our informant replied smugly, "I guess you`re out of luck, lady."
"Why don`t you tell the lady what she wants to know?" I said in a low voice almost glaring at him. That feeling from before came back. It was like it washed over me or surged through me, this time stronger.
"O…okay, OKAY, I`ll tell you what I know!" our informant said quickly, looking like he was ready to soil himself in fear. "There`s an old fairy tale that involves an island in the sky, and there`s a guy who knows more about it here on this island."
"Where would we find this guy?" I asked again, the feeling still there.
"He`s on the other side of the island," our informant said quicker this time. "I`ll give you a map and mark his residence. His name is Montblanc Cricket. He was exiled for talking about his dreams."
"Thank you for that info," I said, calmer now. That feeling had disappeared again.
"Thanks," Robin said, as we left for the ship.
"What the hell was that?" the informant asked himself as we left.