Chapter Twenty: "Chickens can't even fly. It should have been a pigeon."
Roronoa Sora turned out to be very similar to Roronoa Zoro, much to the relief of the crew.
She was still somewhat intimidating when she wanted to be, with a deadly glare designed to terrify the worst bandits of the East Blue. She would still keep up her insane training regime, lifting weights that by all rights should have crushed any normal person. She was still just as lazy, somehow managing to sleep through one of the Grand Line's typical instant-hurricanes (during which she did not respond to any of the names shouted at her, including 'Sora', 'Zoro', 'dumbass' and 'marimo'). She still had no sense of direction, almost prompting a search party when they'd docked at an island to restock on supplies.
There were slight differences between Zoro and Sora, but really, the change between the two hadn't been instantaneous. Everyone had an exact moment when they realised there was a difference, but the change in itself had been a long process.
Looking back, Zoro had been more defensive, more private. Sora was more relaxed, but that might well have been related to her knowing the crew now. Although Sora was more willing to take off her shirt in hot weather than Zoro had ever been, she'd first begun to give up the binders on Drum Island. Her voice had been more commonly switching to something that was now recognisable as female since before they reached Alabasta; occasionally she spoke in the fake-male voice out of habit, barely realising what she had done.
But as a whole, it didn't seem that different. Sora still argued with Sanae and grumbled about Namizo just as much as Zoro did. She was just as loyal to her captain as Zoro had been, and still cared about her nakama in the same way.
And when a ship dropped down from the sky, almost sinking their little Going Merry, Sora had been just as dependable in dragging their caravel safely out of the way.
Eventually, the falling wreckage and the subsequent waves had faded, leaving the Straw Hats safe. The Merry had taken on a fair amount of damage, but nothing Usoppa couldn't fix with a little time, and the injuries themselves were mostly superficial cuts and bruises.
Sanae sighed with regret as the multiple hands sprouting from the wall disappeared. She'd screamed for help when the Merry had started to rock so violently, and Roben had obliged by pinning her to the wall. The rescue had made the cook swoon, although she'd stayed conscious enough to keep track of what was going on. Now that Roben's hands vanished, though, the blonde stepped away from the wall lightly, her balance perfect.
"So why did a ship fall out of the sky?" Luffi asked, staring up at the clouds.
"Who knows?" Sanae asked, lighting a much-needed cigarette.
"There's nothing in the sky," Sora observed. "Where could it have come from?"
Usoppa and Choppa were clutching each other and shaking. "The Grand Line is a bad, bad place surrounded by death," Usoppa whined, hugging the reindeer close.
A high pitched scream echoed across the deck. All eyes turned to Namizo, who was staring at the log-pose in abject horror.
"Something else happen?" Sora asked.
"Namizo, my sweet, what troubles you?" Sanae crooned.
"The Log Pose! It's broken!" Namizo showed the Grand Line compass on his wrist as proof. "Look, it's just pointing to the sky!"
"It's not broken," Roben assured him, frowning thoughtfully. "On the Grand Line, you have to trust the Log Pose at all costs. This is one of the most steadfast and unbreakable rules."
"Then what could have happened to it?" Namizo asked incredulously.
"It's located an island in the sky," Roben said simply, although his eyes flickered with amazement.
"An island in the sky?!" The cry rang out over the ship.
"Are you serious?" Namizo asked blankly.
Luffi's face broke into a giant grin and her eyes started to twinkle. "There's a floating island?!" she said, almost giggling in delight. "That is so cool!"
"It's obviously full of death, then!" Usoppa said sharply, pointing at one of the skeletons that had landed on board as she hugged Choppa with the other arm.
"I can't see anything but sky," Sora pointed out.
"I'd say that it's not just an island above us, but an entire ocean," Roben elaborated.
Usoppa and Choppa stopped shaking, amazed and delighted. "Seriously?" Choppa squeaked.
"I'm still confused," Sanae said, pulling the cigarette out of her mouth to blow smoke.
Luffi punched the air in delight. "Raise the sails! Set a course for Sky Island!"
"Skyward-ho!" Usoppa agreed.
"How?" Namizo demanded. "We can't fly, remember?"
Luffi and Usoppa turned to him, pure disappointment and horror in their gaze. Namizo refused to feel guilty for their kicked-puppy expressions; it wasn't his fault they forgot how ships worked.
"Perhaps we can find clues as to how the other ship reached the sky," Roben mused, walking over to the fullest skeleton that had landed on the Merry. Without any hesitation he knelt beside it, carefully running his hands over the shattered skull. Several hands sprouted on the ground next to it, picking up the pieces of the cranium.
"You really think you can find something like that?" Namizo asked, interested as Roben started to piece together the skull.
"We won't know until we try."
Sora glanced around, noticing their missing captain. "Hey, where'd Luffi go?"
"Exploring, they said," Choppa pointed one hoof carefully at the other ship, where Luffi and Usoppa were leaping from deck to broken deck.
"Done," Roben announced. All eyes turned back to him. "There are still holes on the crown, which I believe were there in life."
"You mean that was the cause of death? Arrows or something like them?" Sanae asked, crouching next to him.
"No, I don't think so." Roben ghosted a finger over the neat circular holes. "I think it's from craterisation, a medical procedure in ancient times used to constrain a brain tumour. It hasn't been used for at least two hundred years, so we have at least an estimate of how long ago this may have been."
"That's amazing, Roben!" Namizo said, his eyes wide.
"Thank you." Roben smiled and accepted the compliment graciously. "But this does not help us discover how they reached the sky. We may have to study the ship."
"That could be a problem," Sora said, jerking a thumb over her shoulder at where Usoppa was frantically trying to haul Luffi up from the water. "It's sinking."
They waited patiently for a few minutes for Usoppa to drag Luffi onto the Merry. Eventually Sanae took pity and leaned over the deck, providing extra support to drag them up. Usoppa collapsed in exhaustion the moment they were there, but Luffi only beamed, excited. "Guess what I found!"
"What did you find?" Choppa asked, interested.
"It's so cool!" Luffi babbled, reaching into her vest and pulling out a map. The word Skypeia was titled over the top in big letters. "It's a map of Sky Island!"
Namizo curiously took the map. It had survived the plunge into the water rather well, not to mention the years since it was made. "Skypeia, huh?"
"See? See? It's gotta be real! We've gotta go there!"
"That doesn't mean we know how to get there," Namizo pointed out. "Plus, there are plenty of fake maps in the world-"
Luffi gave him the most horrified, heartbroken expression Namizo had ever seen in his life, including over a hundred pirates who had watched him sail off with all their treasure.
"Okay, okay, I'm sure it's real," Namizo hurriedly assured her. "But we don't know how to get there."
"You're the navigator! Navigate!" Luffi said heatedly.
"I can't fly a ship into the sky! We need more information! Like Roben said, we'll have to look through the stuff on that other ship. Our only option is to go down there and have a look."
There was a general murmur of agreement. Namizo grinned and turned to face the ship's sniper and unofficial handywoman. "Usoppa! Can you make some kind of diving suits?"
"Uh, I guess, sure. But, uh, who's going to go down?" Usoppa asked nervously, hoping very much that it wouldn't be her.
"I will! I will! I will!" Luffi bounced up and down.
"You can't swim," Sora reminded her.
"Yeah, but that won't matter if Usoppa makes a diving suit, right?"
"I'm sure I can make one that won't get you wet," Usoppa agreed hurriedly, ready to build anything that would let her stay safely on the deck of the ship.
"We'll probably need someone else…" Namizo said.
"If it would make my sweet Namizo happy, I would go to the ends of the Earth!" Sanae proclaimed with hearts in her eyes. "The bottom of the ocean is no trouble at all!"
"Excellent. I think three would be the best number," Namizo continued. He glanced at Sora. "Hey, Zoro – uh, sorry, Sora. Will you go?"
"Huh? Sure." Sora shrugged. "Better than waiting up here."
Usoppa beamed. "I'll get right on it!" she said cheerfully, incredibly relieved that she wasn't being asked to go.
Still excited about the prospect of going to an island in the sky, Usoppa started to whistle as she picked out what tools she would need for this task.
X
"Is there a pirate wearing a straw hat here?"
All heads in the pub turned to look at the blond man standing by the door, a wicked smile on his face. At the bar, Namizo, Sora, and Luffi looked around curiously, wondering why the other patrons seemed so terrified, the word 'Bellamy' tossed throughout the room.
"That's me," Luffi said finally, swivelling around on her chair. "Who are you?"
"So you're the pirate worth twenty-five million, huh?" Bellamy asked disbelievingly, walking through the door and approaching Luffi.
"Yeah, that's me. What's this about?" Luffi asked blankly.
"Looks like he's got business with you, Luffi," Sora said, taking a gulp of her drink.
"Isn't Bellamy the name of the guy who booked out the hotel?" Namizo asked.
Bellamy stopped next to Luffi. He looked down on the sitting girl, his wicked and slightly unhinged smile never faltering.
"How come this entire town is so tall?" Luffi asked, tilting her head to the side.
Bellamy turned to the barkeep. "I'll take a glass of your most expensive alcohol," he ordered. "And give that kid whatever she wants," he added with a smirk, sitting down confidently at the bar stool next to Luffi.
Namizo glanced around nervously as more people filed in, all wearing the same mark as Bellamy. Sora fingered Wadou's hilt. Most of the other patrons in the bar fled, with the few remainders whispering warnings to each other.
The barkeep handed down two drinks, one for Bellamy and one for Luffi. Bellamy gave the Straw Hat pirate a slightly larger smile. "Drink up."
"Uh, cool, thanks." Luffi picked up the glass experimentally, and glanced at Bellamy with a grin. "You're a pretty nice guy, huh?" She put the mug to her mouth and began to drink deeply.
Bellamy raised his huge hand behind her head. Before either Namizo or Sora had a chance to shout a warning, he slammed Luffi's head into the bar, shattering wood.
Luffi collapsed to the ground, her forehead having gone straight through the counter.
Before the wood had finished splintering Sora had Wadou Ichimonji placed against Bellamy's throat. "If you're looking for a fight, all you had to do was ask," she growled.
Bellamy looked amused, glancing at the blade against his neck. He burst into hyena-like laughter. "What are you planning on doing with that, girlie?"
Sora's eyes darkened. It was only Namizo's tight grip on her shoulder that kept the sword from tasting blood. "Zoro – Sora – whatever! Don't do it! We still need information, remember!"
Sora may well have stabbed the blond man anyway, but Luffi was already getting to her feet, brushing the splinters out of her trademark hat.
"So you got back up, hmm?" Bellamy mocked.
Luffi put the hat back on and growled. "Are you going to fight me or not?"
The pub, along with Bellamy, exploded into laughter. "You've got it all wrong, girlie," Bellamy taunted. "This isn't a fight; it's a test!"
"A test?" Luffi repeated, her fists still raised. "Why?"
"To see if you actually deserved that bounty or not! Now come on, give it your best shot."
"Luffi, Sora, don't!" Namizo shouted as both female Straw Hats tensed for a fight. She spun around to face the barkeeper. "We're looking for information on Sky Island and how to get there!"
The silence that proceeded that announcement wasn't the same horrified and anticipatory quiet that had followed the fight challenge. Rather, this one was amused, a precursor to the laughter that started to ring throughout the pub.
"An island in the sky?" Bellamy's follower Sarquiss hooted. "Oh man, you weaklings actually believe in that fairy tale?"
"What?" Namizo asked blankly. Violently he gestured to the Log Pose around his wrist. "Look, the needle's pointing upwards! It's locked onto the magnetic field of an island in the sky!"
The gales of laughter only increased.
"Oh, it's pointing to the sky, there must be an island there!"
"Who trusts Log Poses anymore? Those things break if you breathe wrong!"
"He actually thinks it's possible!"
Bellamy howled with laughter, supporting himself against the ruined bar. "I can't believe you idiots would actually put any faith in that old legend! Sailors used to theorise there were islands up there because ships sometimes fell from the sky, but that's been proven wrong a thousand times over. All that means is that there's the 'Knock-Up Stream', which is a current that hurtles into the air around these parts. It throws ships into the sky, and then they come crashing down later. Stupid people from the old eras came up with that theory, but I didn't think anyone still believed it!"
Luffi had dropped her arms, but her fists only tightened as he kept laughing. Sora's hands curled around her swords. Namizo was starting to look humiliated, which in turn was changing into fury.
"I was thinking of letting you join my crew, you know," Bellamy confided to Luffi. "But if you're so delusional, there's not a chance. The age of pirate dreams is almost over! The City of Gold, the Emerald Ruins, even the One Piece – none of them can compare to the real treasures that lie in the real world!"
Luffi didn't flinch as Bellamy unexpectedly hit her, slamming his fist heavily into the side of her head. The rubberwoman was thrown backwards, falling to the ground.
"Luffi!" Namizo cried.
Sora looked at her captain, lying still on the ground. Then she looked up, meeting Bellamy's eyes as she very deliberately reached for her swords.
"Forget what I said about not fighting," Namizo said sharply, his eyes blazing with anger. "Luffi, Zoro, tear these losers to shreds!"
"I was planning on it." Sora half drew Wadou and Kietsu from their sheaths, her eyes narrowing as she surveyed Bellamy.
Bellamy only howled louder. "You really think I'm scared of a little girl carrying around daddy's sword?!" he demanded, laughing.
Sora's entire body seemed to freeze as her face curled into an ugly expression. Namizo gave her a nervous look, but no-one else seemed prepared to take her seriously.
"I bet you can't even hold those swords," Bellamy laughed. "What, didn't you know that real swordsmen just use the one? Wherever you got those sharp little toys of yours from, you should probably know that you would have looked more realistic if you hadn't gotten three. Girls aren't swordsmen, so why don't you stop playing at it?"
Sora's entire body seemed to shudder under the hot rage that was welling in her chest. Some detached part of her remembered that, oh yeah, this was exactly why she had started acting like a boy to begin with. Somehow it hadn't quite registered that losing the binder would mean dealing with this again.
The unbridled fury seemed to adjust itself, turning into action. She'd already pulled Wadou out, moving it towards her mouth with the intention of proving just how well a real swordsman could use three swords, when Luffi's voice rang out across the din.
"Whatever happens, don't fight them."
Sora froze, the sword half-hanging in her hand as she turned to look at Luffi. Her captain was still sitting on the ground where she had been thrown, watching the swordsman with her jaw set.
She didn't understand, did she? Luffi had no idea what she was asking, how deep those familiar words cut her, of how many times she'd heard that phrase before.
Girls can't be swordsmen.
The rage renewed itself. Sora adjusted Wadou in her grip, moving it back up to her mouth when the expression on Luffi's face registered.
Sora lowered the sword slightly, turning to look at her captain again.
There was something in her eyes that made Sora realise that Luffi did know exactly what she had said. Luffi knew the full import of what Bellamy's insult had meant to Sora, and somehow she fully understood how much that had hurt her. And by the determined set of the captain's jaw, Luffi was standing firm by the order she had given.
"Sora. Do not fight them."
Every instinct told Sora to rip Bellamy to shreds for what he had said. But captain's orders were…
It took every scrap of loyalty Sora possessed for her to sheathe the sword. Her hand was shaking with the effort as she let the handle go again and dropped her arm.
If she had thought that Luffi didn't know what she was asking, she would never have obeyed. But somehow, Luffi had remembered the casual explanation that Sora had dealt with people telling her she couldn't be a swordsman. Luffi knew. She had her own reasons for holding back the fight, and Sora would trust them.
The actual beating they received wasn't so bad. In all honesty, casual spats with Sanae sometimes left her with worse bruises than the punches she took. Those of them throwing glasses had terrible aim – the shattered glass rarely ever grazed her, although a couple of times she received splashback from the alcohol inside.
The taunts about being a pathetic excuse for a pirate with no pride stung a little more than the blows, but Sora ignored them resolutely. After all, the only insult that could get under her skin was about her skill, not about her dignity.
Bellamy didn't insult her swordsmanship again directly. He mentioned a few times that she clearly wasn't a very good fighter, but that was in reference to her not fighting back instead of her gender. The older pirate might well have noticed the disgusted looks he had received from members of his own crew, male and female alike. Sora was glad he didn't repeat those insults, but she still would have simply taken them unless Luffi had said otherwise.
"What are you two doing?" Namizo asked in shock, stepping backwards away from his crewmates. "Come on. Wipe the floor with these guys."
He backed into one of Bellamy's men. Namizo cautiously looked around, seeing that the man was roughly twice his size.
The enemy pirate smirked, pounding a fist into his hand. "Instead of telling these two girls to do it, how about you fight instead?"
Namizo snarled, but his bravery was cut off when the pirate punched his stomach, sending him sprawling on the ground.
The navigator sat up woozily. His eyes widened with horror and he started to scramble backwards as he saw the large man pick up a shattered glass, about to crack it down directly on his head.
Luffi's hand curled around the man's wrist. Somehow the pirate captain had stepped in front of him, holding her hand up against his hand to stop the blow. Her arm was loose, like she was putting no strength into it, but the pirate's arm was frozen by her grip.
Without looking at the man she was holding, Luffi glanced at Namizo. "Come on. Let's go." She threw the man's hand aside and helped Namizo up, walking silently from the bar.
Sora walked after them, slipping into place next to Luffi as they exited. Jeers and laughter followed them, but no-one moved to stop them.
They had been walking for a full minute, with neither Luffi nor Sora moving to brush the blood off, when a casual voice caught their attention. "Sky Island does exist, you know."
"Huh?" Namizo turned to look at the man. It was the same man Luffi had met before Bellamy turned up, the one who she'd almost gotten into a fight with until Sora and Namizo pulled her back. "But everyone else said that it didn't."
"Bah. Who are they to decide what's real and what isn't?" the man challenged. "They say that the era of dreams is over. Well, guess what?" The man spread his arms and laughed. "Dreams don't ever die! The age of pirate dreams is going to last for as long as there are pirates!"
"Well, thank you for your advice," Namizo said dully. "Come on, Luffi, Zoro – dammit, Sora."
Sora didn't protest to the navigator's order, following him. Luffi gave one last final glance at the man eating his cherry pies, before hurrying after her crewmates.
Namizo rubbed his stomach where the punch had hit him. He'd escaped the most of the beating, since Luffi had known he wouldn't be able to handle as much and had intervened on his behalf. Still, Namizo looked indignant as he turned around to watch Sora and Luffi. "Why didn't you fight back?!" he demanded.
Sora's eyes flashed dangerously as she glared at him, warning the navigator to let it go. "Captain's orders," she answered, speaking for the first time since Luffi had given the orders in question.
Namizo didn't talk again until they reached the Merry.
Usoppa, Choppa and Sanae were repairing the ship from the damage it had sustained during the falling-wreckage incident. Usoppa swore as her hammer hit into her finger. "I know I say this a lot, but I'm not a shipwright."
"But you're so good at this stuff!" Choppa pointed out.
Usoppa grinned at the reindeer. "I know, right? That's what's so amazing about me."
"I still think we oughta scrap this old hunker," Sanae said absently, fitting a board onto the deck railing. "Next time we get a little gold we should get a new one."
"Are you insane?!" Usoppa snapped, jumping to her feet to glare at the unintimidated cook. "We can't trash this ship, this is Kaya's ship, do you know what this ship means?"
"Yeah, yeah. I've heard the story before a hundred times," Sanae said dismissively, waving a hand airily. The story in question changed somewhat with each retelling and Sanae highly suspected that Usoppa exaggerated her own part in it (surely she hadn't held off the entire super-powered crew of the Black Cat pirates herself while there were three other Straw Hats on the island), but certain aspects of the story never changed. "The most gorgeous girl at your village gave it to us, right?"
"Yes!" Usoppa snapped, stamping her foot on the ground. "And so it's very important that we take good care of the Merry."
"It's still dangerous to rely on a ship in her condition-"
"That's why I'm repairing it!" Usoppa snapped. "Give us a hand, would you, Sanae?"
Sanae rolled her eyes and was about to protest, when instead a smile broke out over her face as she looked at the harbour. "Namizo! You're back!"
Usoppa turned around and yelped. "Luffi and Zoro are all beaten up!"
"Aaah! Call a doctor!"
The three Straw Hats in question reached the ship and calmly climbed on board, with those who had stayed behind following after and shooting questions that were ignored.
Choppa nearly wrestled Sora into sitting on stairs to the balcony, before beginning to bandage up the wounds that Sora dully insisted were nothing to worry about. Luffi silently leaned against the wall to the cargo room, her expression uncharacteristically unreadable.
"What happened? Who did you fight?" Usoppa asked nervously, playing with her long black braid. "You did win the battle, at least, right? No-one's going to be coming after us in the middle of the night – you definitely won, right?"
"No, they didn't win, because they didn't even fight back!" Namizo snapped furiously, glaring at Sora and Luffi. "How can you call yourselves pirates if you allow anyone to walk all over you like that?!"
Sora jerked a thumb over her shoulder as Choppa climbed off her to start patching up Luffi. "The pub's that way; I don't think they'd have left yet. You should still be able to fight them if you want."
"Okay, first of all, the pub is that way." Namizo pointed in what was almost the exact opposite direction of where Sora had been pointing, and the swordsman tried not to flush when she realised she had been pointing at the ocean. "And secondly, we're pirates! They were asking for a fight, so we should have given them one! We should have blown that entire town to pieces! We should have done anything instead of standing there and taking it!"
"I know more about fighting than you ever will, so why don't you just shut up!" Sora snapped at her.
"Don't talk like that to Namizo!" Sanae ordered her.
"You can shut up too, dumbass love-cook!"
Sanae opened her mouth to reply, but was interrupted by the arrival of Roben onto the ship, carrying several shopping bags aboard. "Oh, Roben! Did you have a good trip? Would you like something to eat? What would you like?"
Sora snorted in disgust.
Roben smiled sweetly at the cook, putting her bag down and rummaging through it. "I'll have some coffee if you've already made some, Miss Cook, but please don't go to any trouble on my account."
"It's no trouble at all!" Sanae swooned, already manoeuvring around Sora to go up the stairs to the galley. "It'll be ready in a few minutes!"
"Where did you go, Roben?" Luffi asked curiously.
"Well, I went shopping for clothes and I found out some information about Skypeia."
"That's right!" Namizo shouted. "You're the one who brought it up, didn't you?! You made me look like an idiot!"
Choppa whimpered and grabbed one of her rumble-balls from the pocket of her dress. "Jumping point!" She leapt into the air, going overboard with a splash.
It only took a moment before Sora had leaped in after her, Namizo's ranting still hanging in the air behind her.
"If this place turns out not to exist I can guarantee you I will throw you overboard with rocks in your pockets!" Namizo continued.
Roben considered mentioning he would sink like a stone even without rocks in his pockets, but decided that it would only anger Namizo more.
"I think you should keep your distance from him," Usoppa warned quietly, glancing nervously at the fuming man next to her. "Just… don't rock the boat, you know what I mean?"
"I see," Roben said thoughtfully, holding a map out to Luffi. "Here, captain. I thought this might interest you."
"Huh? It's just a map." Luffi turned it upside down as if hoping that would reveal secrets. "Does the 'x' mark treasure?"
"No, it's simply a map of the island. I heard talk of a man named Montblanc Cricket, a man who lives where the 'x' is marked because his belief in dreams had kept him ostracized from Mock Town," Roben explained. "Perhaps he might shed some light on this situation?"
"Then I guess we'd better talk to him, then," Luffi agreed easily, righting the map again.
Usoppa glanced over to where Sora and Choppa were sitting, soaking wet. Sora had taken off her shirt and was wringing it out, showing a tan-coloured bra underneath.
Seeing her mostly shirtless was still surprising, although Sora had recently been seen training in nothing more than a sports bra or crop top. After all, it had only been a few days since they'd found out that 'Zoro' was 'Sora', and while Luffi never once seemed to mix up the names everyone else had more difficulty adjusting. However, the thing that caught Usoppa's attention was the ugly scar going across most of her upper body. Once the swordsman had stopped reacting to the injury, Usoppa had almost forgotten about the fight with Hawkeye, but the diagonal line must serve as a constant reminder to Sora.
Usoppa shook her head. "Why are you two soaking wet?"
"I thought I was dead!" Choppa gasped, taking huge gulps of air gratefully.
"You're a pain," Sora told her, shaking water droplets out of her ear-length green hair.
"But Namizo was being scary!"
"Doesn't change the fact you can't swim."
"What did you say about me?" Namizo demanded.
"Nothing!" Choppa squeaked.
"So, Mountblanc Cricket, huh?" Luffi said thoughtfully, rolling up the map and glancing at Usoppa standing next to her. "Reckon he'll help us get to Sky Island?"
Usoppa shrugged and grinned. "There's only one way to find out, right?"
X
As it turned out, Mountblanc Cricket had been more than willing to help them – at least after they got through the almost obligatory fight when he found pirates poking around his home.
Cricket was something of a scientist, whatever his reputation as a dreamer was. He'd explained about the Knock-Up Stream, which was most likely their only chance of reaching the sky. Since the Knock-Up Stream was due south and compasses didn't work in the Grand Line, the only way of finding it was to track down a bird with excellent directional instincts, leaving the Straw Hats to trawl through the forest. While they worked on that, Cricket and his friends (the Saruyama Alliance) had generously offered to help patch up the Merry to make it possible to survive flight.
The Straw Hats had made plenty of friends before. It didn't change the fact that they, their captain especially, treasured every one of them. So when the pirates returned from the forest, South Bird in tow, they were not pleased to discover the Saruyama Alliance to have been robbed and beaten bloody, Bellamy's mark painted onto the wall.
Sora kinda wished she'd gone with Luffi. She knew perfectly well that Straw Hat Luffi would be merciless in defending the Saruyama, but it would have been nice to have an opportunity to prove exactly how a female swordsman could fight. She would have settled for just watching Luffi destroy him. Still, she knew what was going on, and that in itself was enough.
There was one problem, which Sora in herself didn't care about but was making Namizo rant. Luffi had promised to take no more than three hours; it had been three hours and forty minutes since she sprinted for Mock Town.
"I don't believe she'd – no, scratch that, I can believe she'd be that stupid." Namizo was pacing up and down. "I bet when she ran off to collect the gold, it didn't even occur to her that it would weigh her down on the way back! Plus, she never considers that energy isn't limitless, and even she gets tired when the fight's over, especially if she has to run straight after it!"
Sanae was standing next to him, hearts in her eyes as she mouthed something, trying to gesture to elaborate. Despite her best efforts, she was completely incomprehensible and the navigator ignored her.
Whatever the blonde wanted to say, it was probably a reassurance mixed with a swoon. However, much to the vindictive pleasure of the rest of the crew, Sanae's love-cook tendencies were hampered by the fact her voice had disappeared.
During the hunt for a South Bird, Sanae had been one of the first to realise the forest had been absolutely crawling with spiders and insects, all with the odd compulsion to attack the Straw Hats. Sanae's screams had drowned out the South Bird's cry and grated on all ears from the entirety of the forest, leading to petty glee from everyone else when her voice finally gave out. Choppa had given her lozenges, but the only thing to do was wait for her throat to recover.
"Hey, you guys!" Luffi's gleeful voice rang out over Namizo's snarling. All eyes moved to the approaching girl, a clinking bag draped over her shoulders. "I did it!"
Namizo sighed in relief. "You got the gold back, then?"
"No. Well, yeah, I did, but that wasn't what I was talking about," Luffi said cheerfully, not noticing the navigator's frown. She reached the others and dropped the sack over her shoulders onto the ground, the gold clinking. Giggling, Luffi dug into her shirt and finally brought out a large beetle. "It's an Atlas! I caught a Hercules yesterday, so I have an Atlas and a Hercules! It took me forever to find it!" She waved the beetle enthusiastically, not noticing the furious glares from most of her crew.
Sanae scrambled backwards instantly, shaking her head violently. She started to wave her hands rapidly, mouthing 'keep it away'.
Luffi looked at her blankly, letting her arm drop. "You still can't talk?"
Sanae shook her head nervously, her eyes still focused on the beetle.
"You're late because you were searching for a bug?!" Usoppa shouted.
Luffi completely ignored her, stepping over the bag of gold. Her eyes lit up as she stared at the ship. "That looks awesome!"
Rage disappearing instantly, Usoppa beamed. "I know, right? They built it for us; I helped design it." She gestured eagerly to the Merry, pointing out the wings attached to the sides and the chicken-head figurehead. "I present to you, the Going Merry: flying edition!"
"That's amazing, Usoppa!" Luffi clapped her hands in delight. "Can we really reach the sky in that thing?"
"Hopefully," Namizo said eyeing the chicken-Merry. "It makes me uneasy just to look."
"Mm-hmm. For once I agree with you," Sora said, folding her arms as she looked at the ship. "Chickens can't even fly. It should have been a pigeon."
"You know, that wasn't actually my concern!"
"It's time to set sail!" Usoppa called.
The Saruyama Alliance and their crew, standing behind her, cheered.
Luffi reached behind her for the gold, left in the bag several meters away. She easily stretched to catch it, walking up to where Cricket was sitting. "Here, old guy." Luffi grinned. "Thanks for the ship."
Cricket looked at the bag for a moment, taking a deep breath of his cigarette. "You should be thanking them. They built it." He pointed over his shoulder at the two crews belonging to the Saruyama Alliance.
Luffi nodded, walking to the side and waving at the crews. "Hey, thanks for the ship you guys! Tell you what, you can have my Atlas!"
There was almost a surprising amount of gratitude in response.
"Hey, you guys! You'd better hurry up, there's not much time!" Masira shouted.
"Right!" Luffi cheerfully jogged to where the rest of her crew was waiting, and the Straw Hats boarded their new chicken-Merry.
The South Bird was already there, chained to the railing. Choppa had made certain that the chains weren't too tight, and it was only being kept still. The Saruyama Alliance checked which way it was facing before sailing off with them, apparently playing companions until the Knock Up Stream.
Just as they were drifting out to sea, Luffi leant over the side of the ship. "Did you say something, pops?"
"There's only one thing you've gotta remember," Cricket called to her, standing at the edge of the shore. His voice was clear despite the distance between them. "No-one has ever, in complete certainty, disproved the existence of Sky Island!" He grinned. "People can call us crazy, but romantics like us don't care!"
"Romantic," Luffi repeated, grinning. She decided she liked that description.
Cricket watched them go with a smile. "Thanks for the gold. And don't be falling from the sky now, y'hear?"
At the reminder that was a possibility Usoppa started shaking, but for her it wasn't significant panic. Safe on the sea, the prospect of Sky Island sounded more exciting than terrifying, filling her with the promise of adventure that had led to her leaving Syrup Village to begin with. Instead, the sniper waved at Cricket with the rest of the crew. "Hey, think of us when you find the city of gold, old-timer!"
Goodbyes said, the Straw Hats eagerly sailed off, the South Bird reluctantly pointing the way due south.
After a few hours, Namizo announced that the clouds had darkened and the cumuloregalis cloud was just south-west. "We must be getting close."
Shojo of the Saruyama Alliance sent divers into the water. Choppa and Luffi watched the black wet suits as they dove deep, until the Grand Line's waters obscured them from view. Then, after a few minutes, they surfaced, announcing which way to find the currents needed.
The waves grew to potentially dangerous levels as the Straw Hats followed the direction indicated. At some point, and with varying levels of subtlety, everyone glanced to see Namizo's reaction; the navigator's response to weather patterns was usually a good indication of how dangerous the situation was. In this case, he looked apprehensive, but not panicked. To the crew, that suggested they were reasonably safe for the time being, although the conditions may worsen.
As it happened, the water currents did grow more dangerous. In fact, Namizo was far from the only one staring in horror as they realised the Knock Up Stream was marked by what Usoppa shrilly termed as 'a giant whirlpool terror-vortex of doom'.
"I didn't sign up for this!" Namizo screamed, trying desperately to keep his balance.
"I'm not afraid because I know you'll protect me, Namizo!" Sanae said, the swoon overlayed by a slight crack in her voice that may not have been residual hoarseness.
"I've never seen a whirlpool that big," Roben commented, clinging to the railing to hold himself steady.
"I changed my mind! I wanna go back I wanna go back!" Usoppa shrieked, unsure if she wanted to go back to Jaya or Syrup Village as long as she wasn't here.
"Sorry, Usoppa!" Sora called, trying to adjust her weight to match with the violent rolling of the ship. "Too late for that. You-know-who is already excited."
"Yeah!" Luffi shrieked in delight, punching the air. She was being just as tossed by the waves as anyone on her crew, but that didn't stop her from celebrating. "Sky Island! Wha-hoo!"
The appearance of a Sea King at least distracted everyone from the prospect of the whirlpool. The Straw Hats stared in horror, watching as the beast large enough to swallow the Merry was sucked into the vortex.
"C-can we p-please g-go n-n-now?" Usoppa stuttered, looking at the unusually still captain.
"We're gonna die if we go in; we have to turn back!" Namizo agreed desperately.
"But we can't," Luffi said softly.
"Why not?" Usoppa demanded.
The Saruyama Alliance was backing up, escaping the pull of the whirlpool. They weren't leaving yet, waiting to see if the Straw Hats reached the sky.
Luffi turned around to face the crew. Her face was stretched into a giant grin; her eyes had turned bright with the promise of adventure. "Because it could be our greatest adventure ever!"
Namizo and Usoppa gave up at the same time. It only took one look at her expression to know there was no chance of changing her mind.
Sora leant over the railing to check on their progress. "We're being sucked in," she announced, moving back onto the deck. "We'll have to try and see what kind of control we can get if we want to make it to the centre."
The last part was directed to Namizo, since the navigator was the only one who could tell. But then they started to drop, and it became apparent the ship would have no chance of gaining any control.
And then abruptly, the sea quietened, becoming deadly still in a way the Grand Line never was.
"What – what just happened?" Sanae asked cautiously.
"What's going on?" Luffi asked blankly.
"I don't get it," Usoppa said. "That whirlpool was huge. Where'd it go?"
Namizo was silent, his face paling somewhat. When he spoke, his voice was hoarse. "It's not over. The whirlpool – it's still there, it just sunk underwater. It's coming. Everyone, get ready."
"Hold it right there!" someone shouted from over the water.
"Huh?"
Another ship was coming up to them. They were still at a distance, but the voice speaking to them was clearly carried over the sea. The only detail of the crew that the Straw Hats could register was a mass of knotted black hair, but a black flag was an unmistakable symbol.
"Sora?" Luffi asked her first mate. "Isn't that the guy we met in Mock Town?"
"Looks like it," Sora said cautiously, a hand brushing her swords. "What's he doing here?"
"Well, well, well! I finally caught up to you, Straw Hat Luffi!" the man shouted.
"What guy?" Sanae asked. "The one who stole the gold, out for revenge?"
"No," Namizo said simply, staring at the rapidly approaching ship. "Different guy."
"Don't be shy, Straw Hat!" the man shouted at them, laughing. "I've come out here to collect your bounty!"
Luffi only looked blank. They'd met bounty hunters before, although not one flying a jolly roger, but there was something weird about this situation. "Hey, you said you didn't even believe that I had a bounty of twenty-five million!" she yelled at him.
"That was before you took out Bellamy with one punch!" the man yelled back. "Besides, I wasn't talking about your old one – twenty-five million's nothing!"
"My… old one?" Luffi glanced at her crew for an explanation, but they looked as confused as she was.
"Says right here." The man held up both hands, showing something that they couldn't quite make out. Usoppa started rummaging in her satchel for her binoculars. "Monkey D. Luffi: ninety million berries. Roronoa Zoro: sixty million."
Usoppa found her binoculars and peered through them, leaning over the railing to get a better view. "Yeah, he's right! Looks like your bounty went way up, Luffi! And it looks like Sora – or, well, Zoro – got a bounty too!"
Sanae was next to her in a heartbeat. "You see one for me?" she asked, leaning over. Her voice was still a little damaged from the forest, which had not been helped when they'd fallen into the whirlpool, but she was understandable.
"Nope, sorry."
"Come on, look harder."
Luffi started to giggle, which quickly turned into full out laughter. "Wow! Ninety million berries! My bounty went up big time!"
"Sixty million's not too bad, either!" Sora said gleefully, grinning broadly.
"You two do realise that bounties are bad things, right?" Namizo demanded.
Handing over the binoculars so Sanae could check for herself, Usoppa ducked around the cook to look at the swordsman. "You know, Sora, technically the bounty is for a 'Roronoa Zoro'."
"So?" Sora asked cheerfully. "It's still my bounty, and it's still a high one!" She'd been well aware that four years of crossdressing would take a long time to go away, might never do, and she didn't care. She preferred 'Sora', but 'Zoro' would work too.
"Enough of this!" the black-bearded man snapped. "Straw Hat, you-"
"Guys, it's starting!" Namizo shouted suddenly, sprinting to grab the mast. It was a split second warning before everyone could feel the ship beginning to rise, the Merry lifting up higher than the other ships nearby.
"Everyone, hold on or get inside!" Sanae yelled through a scratchy throat, holding the binoculars loosely to her side as she vaulted onto the deck. The others scrambled to obey, sensing that being loose would be a bad idea.
For a long moment the world was dead silent. Then the tension broke when the water surface did, flinging the Straw Hats into the air on a giant pillar of water.
The other pirate ship was thrown violently away. The crew of the Merry didn't waste time thinking about them, clutching to whatever they had grabbed to keep safe.
After a long moment of screams and shouts, and of the roar of water intermingled with the gale blowing against them, Namizo's voice rose above, firm and in control, giving orders that could be understood by seafarers even in this impossible situation. This was an entirely new circumstance, but the navigator knew what he was doing, and the crew obeyed without question.
Luffi's laugh was carried around them on the wind as the sails unfurled. "Guys, we're going to the sky!"
Nice long chapter this time round. There were a couple of places where I could have split it, but then it was either too short or the next chapter didn't flow as evenly… so the long and the short of it is, you get a long chapter this time.
Reviews are absolutely, one hundred percent appreciated.