Author's Note: Special treat... two chapters in one day! This is to make up for being really behind!
Disclaimer: Don't own One Piece, get the point
Chapter Ten: A Road to the Sky
Nami read aloud from Norland's log. "'Year of Sea 1120, June 21st, clear weather. We've departed the cheerful town of Villa. Following the Log Post, we left port and headed northeast. We got a very curious artifact from a passing merchant this afternoon. It's called a 'Waver', a one-person ship that sort of looks like a ski. It is powered by its own wind, even if there is none on the sea. I could not control it well, as it requires a remarkable amount of skill. It's become the crew's favorite recreational activity.' Wow, I want one of those!"
"Nevermind that, keep reading!" Usopp, Luffy, Chopper, and Hoshi all exclaimed, crowding around the book.
Nami continued. "'I was told that the only place that has this kind of engine is Sky Island. Apparently, there are many strange things like that up there. Speaking of Sky Island, one of my explorers showed me a living Skyfish.'"
Sanji's ears perked up like little daisies. "Skyfish?"
"'I cannot tell you how surprised I was to see such a fish. It's a place our ship has never explored, but someday as a sailor, I want to visit this sea in the sky. –Montblanc Norland' A sea in the sky!" Nami exclaimed.
"Just like Robin said!" Hoshi celebrated.
"And he was talking like everyone knew about Sky Island back then!" Usopp sang.
"So it really does exist!" Chopper yelled.
"YAHOO!! YOSH, THERE'S A SEA IN THE SKY!! LET'S GO TO SKY ISLAND!" Luffy shouted. They all started dancing around with glee and shouting their heads off.
Cricket walked out of the house, a grin on his face as he listened to the crazy kids celebrating. He went up to the fighting monkeys.
"Oh, Oyassan! You're alright!" Masira greeted.
"Couldn't be better!" Cricket replied.
"That's great!" Shojo said. "Oyassan, this guy has be-"
"Listen up you two! Do you like those kids?"
The monkeys stopped fighting, surprised by the question. "What makes you ask that?" Shojo asked.
"It looks like they really want to get to Sky Island," Cricket grinned.
"Sky Island? Well if they're going, there's only one way to get there," Shojo remarked.
"But it'll be instant death for them if they try it alone!" Masira said, alarmed.
"That's why I asked you. What do you say to giving them a hand?" Cricket asked.
The monkeys cracked their knuckles and grinned widely. "LET'S DO IT!"
Inside, the chill grabbed Hoshi's spine again, and she suddenly shivered.
"What's wrong Hoshi?" Zoro asked. "You catching a cold or something?"
"No… but something's coming…"
"HEY YOU KIDS! C'MON OUT HERE A MINUTE!" Cricket roared from outside.
The Straw Hats obediently settled on a tree stump outside the house and prepared to listen… except Zoro, who had gone to sleep.
"Listen up," Cricket began. "I'm going to tell you everything I know about Sky Island. I don't know how much of it is true, and it's your choice if you want to believe me or not."
"YOSH. I believe you!" Luffy immediately said. Usopp hit him on the head.
Cricket continued. "There's something peculiar that happens in this part of the sea. Sometimes," he said, pointing out over the sea, "a portion of the ocean will suddenly turn as dark as night, even in the middle of the day."
Luffy raised his hand. "That happened to us!" he exclaimed. "Right?"
"Yeah," agreed Usopp. "And then suddenly these giants appeared out of nowhere!"
"The giants?" Cricket asked. "Well, there's a story about where they come from, but that's not important right now. The true nature of that sudden nightfall… it is the shadow of a massively dense cloud."
"Cumulonimbus?" Nami inquired. "But those clouds don't turn day into night!"
"Ossan, you're so stupid," Hoshi piped up. "On a day where there's lots of clouds, it's cloudy."
"That's right!" Luffy exclaimed.
"SHUT UP!" Cricket roared, stress marks appearing on his head. "Cumulorgalis. That is the name of that cloud. It forms high in the sky, and forms no air currents and never rains. Several accounts state that cumulorgalis clouds remain unchanged for tens of thousands of years… a sort of petrified cloud.
"But… that's impossible!" Nami exclaimed.
"What did I tell you about that word Nami?" Hoshi reprimanded. "On this sea, there is no such word."
Cricket shrugged. "You're free to think that it doesn't exist," he told Nami.
"So it's a Mystery Cloud," Luffy muttered.
"That's about right," Cricket said. "There's no rational explanation for its existence. Understand? If Sky Island exists, that's the only place it could be!"
"Oh, I see!" Luffy said standing up. "Thanks Ossan!"
Hoshi and Usopp and Chopper all started dancing around. "HARD TURN TO THE CLOUDS!" they sang.
"Zoro, wake up!" Hoshi said, playfully punching him in the head.
"Eh? Morning already?" he asked.
"HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU THAT WE DON'T KNOW HOW TO GET THERE?!" Nami roared. She punched Luffy and Usopp to a pulp, and Hoshi and Chopper just flattened themselves against the side of the house, trying to be invisible.
"Now the main problem," Cricket muttered. "There's a vertically flowing current, called the Knock-Up Stream. If you can get on that current, you'll get to Sky Island… at least, that's the theory."
"It's a current that'll knock our ship into the air, right?" Nami clarified.
"So we just have to get blown up to the clouds!" Luffy shouted.
A little thought bubble appeared over Chopper's head as he visualized the Going Merry being thrown up into the sky.
"But we've heard that ships that go up only fall back into the ocean!" Nami said. The Going Merry in Chopper's thought bubble crashed back into the sea and broke into a million pieces. Tears started to run out his eyes.
"It's all about getting the timing right," Cricket explained. "First, there's the problem of getting ON the current, and STAYING on it. It's not a nice, easy ride all the way up there. Meeting the Knock-Up Stream is a disaster. By its nature, it's actually a thing to be avoided at all costs." Luffy and Hoshi had stars in their eyes.
"But what makes it able to reach the sky? I've never heard anything like it before," Nami said.
Cricket blew out a smoke cloud. "It's not beyond reasoning, the principle behind that current. But no one's ever been stupid enough to dive down to investigate it. In theory, there are huge, cave-like pockets of air trapped in the ocean floor. Sometimes cool seawater leaks in. The geothermal pressure from below makes that seawater into a high-pressure steam, and an explosion occurs. The explosion up heaves the ocean water and blasts it into the sky. So for approximately one minute, the sea is connected to the sky." He paused for a minute.
"Yeah… Mystery Explosion," Luffy commented. Nami and Hoshi whacked him on the head.
"One minute!? What sort of insane explosion can cause that?!" Nami exclaimed, turning back to Cricket.
"The location of the explosion is different every time… and it happens about five times a month."
"That makes sense, since the pressure needed for that big an explosion needs to be built up over time," Hoshi stated.
"W-we'd be blown to smithereens," Usopp stuttered, eyes bugging out.
"Well, it's a magnificent natural phenomenon," Cricket shrugged. "Trying to reason it out with talk and theories is pointless."
"S-so this is really… the only way to get to Sky Island?" Usopp asked.
"Yeah, and you guys are the ones at a disadvantage," Cricket told him. "If there's nothing to land on, you guys come back crashing down and become bits of seaweed in the ocean."
"So the Knock-Up Stream has to be present at the same time the cumulorgalis cloud is there," Hoshi murmured. "That'll have to take a bit of luck."
"Yosh! Let's give up on Sky Island!" Usopp nervously laughed. Luffy was laughing, and Usopp's eyes went wide. "Y-you're not p-possibly thinking… THIS IS CRAZY! We'd have to be the luckiest of the luckiest of the luckiest of the luckiest to make it!"
"As I've said before though," Hoshi grinned, pointing to Luffy. "That guy has all the dumb luck we need."
"It'll be okay!" Luffy laughed. "Let's go!"
"I knew it…" Usopp cried, tears running down his face. "Don't say such groundless things! I mean, just look at the state of Merry! She'll never make it up there!"
"Even if that ship was brand new, it would never make it." Cricket blew another smoke cloud. "Speed, weight, size, power… it doesn't matter. That ship would be blown up right along with the current."
"See!" Usopp cried triumphantly.
"But you guys don't need to worry about that!" Cricket laughed. "I'll have Masira and Shojo refit your ship."
"Leave it to us!" the monkeys yelled from the windows of the house.
"Thanks you two!" Hoshi called, waving back. Nami and Usopp sweatdropped.
"But we can't stay on this island for that much longer!" Nami pointed out. "At most, we can stay here another day before the Log readapts."
"T-that's right!" Usopp said. "We won't make it in time! Hey, Ossan, when is the next Knock-Up Stream happening?"
"Tomorrow."
"See! I told you we wouldn't make i- hey wait, what did you say?"
"If you guys are going, you'd better get ready."
"YOU MEAN WE'LL MAKE IT?!"
Usopp put his foot down. "Just a second… there's something suspicious about all this! We just met you today! Why are you being so nice and sharing all this information with us? And how is it that we possibly got here in time for the next current? It's just all too convenient! What are you plotting?"
Dead silence. Hoshi thought back to her chills, and wondered if this was it… that Cricket had been lying to them all along…
"Oyassan! Lunch is ready!" the monkeys bellowed. Sanji pushed his way though them and out the door. Hoshi was surprised at how small Sanji seemed to be next to the monkeys.
"Ladies! I've made a special course just for y…" Sanji trailed off as he realized there was something happening.
Cricket sucked on his cigarette. "Masira's recorded that whenever sudden night falls on his territory, he sees a cumulorgalis cloud to the south. Also, simply based on it's regularity of occurring five times a month, I'm guessing that the Knock-Up Stream will occur tomorrow. That is also south of here. I'm not completely sure, but there's a high probability that those two events will coincide." Cricket started walking toward his house. Usopp started sweating.
Luffy and Zoro grinned. Hoshi smiled.
Cricket said with a smile on his face: "I'm glad to have met a bunch of idiots like you all."
Usopp started trembling.
"Now… it's time to eat. I want you all to enjoy yourselves at my home… my nakama."
"YOSH! Food! Let's go Usopp!" Luffy yelled.
"Chopper! Call Robin-chan!"
"Okay!"
Nami walked up to Usopp, who had fallen to his knees. "The best we can do is to try and befriend him if we want to get to the sky… but it just all boils down to luck in the end."
"That's true," Hoshi agreed with a laugh. "Lucky that we have the most simple-minded captain on the Grand Line who's just chock full of the stuff."
"Nami? Hoshi? Am I… just a miserable coward?" Usopp asked.
"And an idiot to boot."
"Nami! Be nice!"
"Now go apologize to the Ossan," Nami said, ignoring Hoshi.
Usopp clenched his teeth and got to his feet. He ran to Cricket and gave him a hug. "OYASSAN!! I'M SORRY!" he cried.
"Oi, what are you talking about!? Get off me! Disgusting, you're getting snot on me!!! Dumbass!"
Hoshi laughed until she cried.
That night, the Straw Hats partied with Cricket and the monkeys in Cricket's house. It was VERY crowded.
"Ah! The rum tastes great today!" Cricket bellowed.
"Eat up! Eat up! I'll keep the food coming! There's still a whole course of pike to come!" Sanji told the party animals. Chopper stuck chopsticks in his nose, and Hoshi was turning red in the face from laughing so hard.
"Here." Usopp gave Masira a little red ball. "Eat it!"
Masira ate it… and fire came out of his mouth. "AHH!"
"HAHA! You fell for it, you salvaging idiot! That was my Tabasco Bomber!" Usopp yelled, laughing.
"GET BACK HERE YOU IDIOT NAGAHANA (long nose)! YOU'RE GOING TO PAY FOR THAT!!!"
"Oi, nee-chan! Come and sit by me!" Cricket roared to Hoshi, throwing an arm around her shoulder and pulling her close, earning a polished shoe caving in his face... Sanji's. Zoro growled and slammed down his cup.
"Man, you're 100 years too late to be hitting on Hoshi-chan!" Sanji told him.
"Ossan, I think you're drunk," Hoshi informed Cricket, pulling away with a grimance. He laughed like a maniac.
"So I am!!"
Zoro and Shojo had a drinking contest… which Zoro won.
Hoshi looked over to the corner, and spotted Robin sitting there, not taking part in the festivities but looking through Norland's log book instead. Hoshi walked over to Robin and perched on the box Robin was leaning on. "What'cha doing here Robin?" she asked cheerily.
Robin looked up and smiled. She was about to answer when suddenly Cricket, seeing what page she was on, crouched in front of her and intoned, "THE SKULL'S RIGHT EYE IS WHERE I SAW THE GOLD!"
Everyone fell silent. "Blotted with tears, those are the last words Norland wrote in his logbook," Cricket explained. "'The skull's right eye is where I saw the gold.'… even after coming here, I still don't understand what he meant by that… Maybe it was a name of an ancient city here once, or a metaphor for his own death… The blank pages that follow tell us nothing. That's why we dive!!" Cricket finished, then chugged from his wine bottle.
"Ossan, you really ARE drunk," Hoshi said.
"Thank you!"
"Well, we're going to fly!" said Luffy through a mouthful of food.
"We're never going to fly if you keep eating so much!" Nami shouted.
Hoshi felt the chill again, only this time, it didn't creep up her spine, but it was like a lightning bolt though her whole body. She got up and half-opened one of the window blinds, but she couldn't see anything.
"Oi, Hoshi, what's wrong?" Zoro asked, noting the strange gesture.
"… Nothing…" Hoshi said, but not really sounding sincere at all. Zoro frowned, but he didn't say anything.
"NORLAND! NORLAND!" sang the monkeys, hearts in their eyes. The Straw Hats gathered around in a circle to listen to the narration.
Cricket took the book from Robin and was a random passage from it. "Upon landing on Jaya, we heard the call of a peculiar bird calling from the forest, and the sound of a very, very large bell striking. The sound of that great golden bell was carried far and wide, as if it was signaling the prosperity of an age long past. The fleeting sound that, upon this wide and vast sea, a prosperous civilization bloomed.
"'For us, who have lived but mere decades, there are no words fit to describe it. We were spellbound by the ringing of that bell!" Cricket stood up and roared to let out his feelings.
Hoshi sweatdropped. "You really ARE drunk."
The Straw Hats have found a way to get to the sky! They're going to get to the sky!! But will they survive the journey? And what is with the chill that keeps bothering Hoshi?