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"One Piece." – Speaking

'One Piece.' – Thinking

One Piece. – Flashbacks

One Piece. – Devil Fruits and Techniques

Deadly Drinking Pirate

Welcome To The Island In The Sky!

Previously on Deadly Drunken Pirate,

Then it happened. In the blink of an eye, in a split second. The water underneath the King's Gourd erupted worse than a centuries-dormant volcano. All that water shot up and formed truly a marvel of a geyser. At the base, the raft carrying the Blackbeard Pirates had collapsed under the impact and pressure. Meanwhile, the King's Gourd was riding along!

"Open the sails! Make sure everything is secure!" Luffy shouted out, rushing to the sails along with the others. "And get ready…for the adventure of a lifetime!"

"YEAH!" The crew cheered with all their strength and finally, they all vanished above the clouds. From there, no one on the sea surface can help them now. They truly are on their own, with hopes they made it to Sky Island.

As all this was happening, Cricket had already gone through ten boxes of his cancer sticks, still watching the Straw Hats ride the current far above the clouds to reach the sky. He didn't even see the Blackbeard Pirates try in vain to interfere with them. "Go for it, kid. For the both of us." He knew that he may never see Luffy again but Cricket still put all his hopes on that young pirate.

The sudden increase in attitude is actually more dangerous than one can assume. It can cause more than dizziness; it can lead to bloody noses, headaches and fevers. So, when the Straw Hats had finally escaped the clouds, they were hit with the light atmosphere pretty hard. They were either on the deck panting or struggling to get on their other leg. Luffy, as always, was the first one to get his barring and even hopped on the railings to his ship.

"…we're here. The White Sea." Luffy sounded like he had lost his voice and had to whisper. But everyone heard him perfectly. And they had to see for themselves. The girls had stars in their eyes, Usopp and Chopper were just as bad; even the stoic members such as Zoro, Kuro and Gin couldn't keep their jaws from opening in awe. Frank found himself holding the former Unlucky in his arms so they both could see; not even their sunglasses could keep their excitement from leaking out.

Of course, they knew it was a sea of clouds when a certain someone emerged from it. "Umi! I knew you will make it!" Luffy was excited to see the giant sea serpent from his home waters. Right now, Umi was trying to catch his breath after that nautical nightmare back there. Then he let out a growl with a certain pattern,

"He says 'I am clinging to your raft next time!'" Chopper translated for the crew and they tried to picture it, with varying results. Some were silly while the others were downright nasty. Nevertheless, Umi was able to swim in the clouds just fine.

"But the log pose…" Nami took a good look if the instrument was damaged in the flight; yet it was still pointing upward. "We still haven't reached our destination?"

"Probably." Luffy answered. "As we are surrounded by clouds, it means that we are still at bottom level of the White Sea. The Nokku Appu Sutorīmu (Knock-Up Stream) wasn't strong enough to land us in front of Skypiea, only to where we are in no danger of falling back to the blue sea."

"So how do we find our way to Skypiea? I seriously doubt that we can learn how to sail clouds even on the Grand Line." Robin brought up and Luffy just let out a hum.

"I am already picking up on living signatures in a good distance. We are bound to run into someone who does know." Then Luffy turned his neck loudly towards the front side of the ship. "Get on your guard, everyone. I am now sensing hostility coming at us fast." Luffy's seriousness was enough to convince his crew.

Chopper was already there and with binoculars to get some distance on the sea of clouds. He just spotted another vessel, right before it blew up. "AHHH! Someone attacked that ship!" He panicked for a little bit to inform the crew and looked again. "Oh! Someone is coming straight at us."

"Chopper, brace!" Luffy suddenly shouted and his little brother saw, with little time to spare, that this figure wasn't friendly.

"Gādo Pointo (Guard Point)!" The little reindeer bit down on his little yellow ball, turning him into a ball of fur to soften the blow. However, the figure still sent Chopper bouncing on the ship.

"What are you doing on my ship!?" Luffy demanded of the stranger, who dressed similar to Indians but with a strange mask on his face, wore strange skates and even had a shiny bazooka in right hand with some kind of shield in the other hand.

"I am going to reject you!" That was all the stranger spoke before landing a kick into Sanji's stomach, sending the cook into Gin and Usopp. Zoro tried to get a hit in but the stranger parried with another kick that left him staggering. Kuro moved in but also was lifted like a leaf and blown away.

But the stranger can go after anyone else, he was finally stopped in his tracks by a hand on his shoulder. "Get the hell…" Luffy spoke with calm anger. "Off my ship!" The captain tossed away the stranger with a mean shoulder throw. "And stay off!"

Before Luffy could even think, his girlfriend latched on his neck. "That's my Luffy, undefeatable~!" Nami purred in Luffy's neck before looking scandalized, facing the other men. "Which is more than what I can say about you boys, getting your ass kicked so easily!"

"Don't be too hard on them, Nami. They are still adjusting to the thin air up here, and I am too." Luffy responded gently and rubbed Nami's hair as if the fur of a house cat, which calmed down his girl a bit.

"You are not hurt too bad, right Usopp?" Kaya asked her own boyfriend who just rubbed his face where it landed on the deck.

"Just my pride, for not seeing something up close from coming." Usopp mumbled before Kaya played with his cheek, wearing a playful smile. But then came a most interesting man to greet them,

"It seems that you are in no need of my assistance." It was soft and aged, like that of a grandfather. But the Straw Hats never counted on seeing an old man dressed up armor and holding a lance. "Yet I feel like you need some help finding your way. I am…"

"Gan Fall or the Sky Knight if you prefer." Luffy cut him off and while his crew looked indifferent, the old man seemed to be disturbed. "And yes, we do. We are from the Blue Sea and our compass started to point up here. The only way we could get to the White Sea was the Nokku Appu Sutorīmu (Knock-Up Stream)."

The old man, now known as Gan Fall, finally got the color back in his cheeks and stroked his beard. "I see, then you folk are most lucky to survive such a dangerous current. And if your compass is still pointing up then you are still fortunate, there is an island nearby."

"Thank you, old man, and before you leave…" Luffy said and got the Gan Fall's attention. "My idol and mentor, Shanks, wishes to send his regards." Now the old man was really shocked, his eyes almost left their sockets. Not to mention that this was news to the Straw Hats too.

"Shanks got up here too!?" That was the collected response and Luffy nodded, not even flinching.

"He did. It was when he was a simple cabin boy, sailing with his old captain. Gol D. Roger." Luffy dropped the anvil before and now let loose a bomb on his ship's deck. Gan Fall then let out a chuckle.

"Ah yes, Roger. I hadn't seen him in twenty years." The old man had the look of reminiscence, thinking back on his youth. "How is he doing?" Then Luffy lost his smirk and looked like someone had kicked his puppy to death right in front of him.

"Not good, he became infected with an incurable illness so he conquered the Grand Line and became the King of Pirates. Then he turned himself in to be executed in his home town of Loguetown." Luffy answered and soon, the atmosphere was one of shock and confusion.

"But Luffy, didn't the Marines capture the Pirate King." Kuro spoke up this time and Luffy's expression didn't improve. This somehow made Kuro feel like a student answering a question wrong during class time.

"No. Like I said, Roger wanted to avoid dying of his illness so he settled for a painless death by execution. He practically took a dingy and walked up to the Marine's front door with his hands behind his head." Luffy responded. "They had hoped to kill Roger in front of the whole world and send a message to all sailors of what will happen if they turn to piracy. Too bad it had the opposite effect and instead caused the Great Pirate Era."

Gan Fall had a sad look about this, "It pains me to hear that. Roger and his gang were a lightly bunch. Still thanks for informing me about what happened to him and his crew. Are most of them still in prison?"

"No, only Roger was taken in." This thickened the plot and the atmosphere. "The marines couldn't care less about the Roger Pirates and just wanted the King himself to kill. Shanks left the crew still as an apprentice and even parted ways with another mentor of mine as well as his fellow apprentice, Buggy."

"And who is this Buggy?" Most the crew had no idea about the name while everyone from the East Blue remembered the literal clown from Loguetown.

"So that nobody with the big red nose sailed under the Pirate King!?" Zoro truly felt scammed by some divine prank but Luffy just shrugged.

"Yeah but he was the black sheep of the crew and it is best that you don't worry. He is still an egotistical weakling. I made it clear before and I will do it again when the two of us meet again." Luffy responded with clear determination in his voice. And for a little while, there was just silence along the White Sea until Chopper walked up to the captain.

"Um…Big Brother?" Luffy moved his glance to the little reindeer, "Why did the Marines say they caught the Pirate King when you said he turned himself in?" Luffy let out a sigh,

"When you mature and grow-up, you will be able to understand why people lie." Luffy responded and went on, "The Marines, along with a certain Vice Admiral I know, had tried and failed to capture Roger for years; simply for being a pirate. When they learned that Roger had conquered the World's Greatest Ocean, it was insulting to their skill in 'catching dirtbags'. That is why, when Roger appeared before them and surrendered without a fight, the Marines wanted to save face by stating that they finally captured the King of Pirates and killed off his crew. And at least, for them, the lie had saved their reputation."

"…" Chopper was silent and everyone just couldn't remove their glances at him, waiting for the little reindeer to respond. "Are there people like that other than the Marines, Big Brother?"

"Plenty."

XXXXX

Later,

The Strawhats found a flowing current of clouds which branch into streams between larger clouds, similar to icebergs. Only when they checked it out, they were nothing that cold or hard; instead it was like gigantic marshmallows. Luffy, Chopper and Usopp were excited as ten-year-olds and played on the large clouds while Nami had her own fun; seeing if the clouds bounced better than her boyfriend, and not in the bedroom sense. That was when Usopp spotted something interesting.

"A gate?"

"Yeah, a large one that is beyond these big clouds." Usopp responded. The Strawhats decided that it was a good place to go as any. Soon, they found the gate. It was even bigger than the 'cloudbergs' from before and it looked like it was made out of stone. Then there was the lettering at the top that spelled, "Heaven's Gate? Like the one you should see when you die?"

"Hardly." Luffy responded. "After all, we all felt the pain when we arrived here and when we were attacked. Dead men feel no pain." Luffy left it at that and no one asked anymore questions, and the King's Gourd sailed through the 'Heaven's Gate' all the while.

"Hey look! Over there!" The silence was broken when Frank pointed something out, to the left side of the gate's interior. There was a small door and it opened to reveal a rather…interesting character. It was a woman half the height of the boys, with wrinkles all over, wore a simple blue robe and appeared to have wings on her back.

"Greetings travelers. I am Amazon, keeper of Heaven's Gate and I ask that you all pay the toll." She spoke with an old woman's voice too. "For each passenger aboard your vessel, you must pay one million Extols. That's the law."

This shocked a few of the Straw Hats while the others were calmer and wondering what if 'Extols' were the currency up in the clouds. "Sorry madam, but have traveled from the Blue Sea below and we haven't heard of Extols? We do have treasure and funds in Berries."

"Very well. One Extol amounts to a thousand Berries." Now that almost broke through the atmosphere like a ball hitting a glass plane. "Unless you pay the toll then you will have to answer to the God Almighty."

"I am sorry madam but I am afraid that we are not going to pay the toll." Luffy spoke up. "Unless you were the one who sent some kind of giant shrimp to our ship." Before anyone could respond, a pair of large lobster claws emerged on each side of the ship. This caused the Straw Hats to tense and ready to fight when the claws gently clutched the sides of the ship, pulling it along the cloud stream. "Try to keep up Umi!" That voice echoed throughout the clouds, followed by screams.

All the while, Amazon didn't say a word and instead made a smirk. "Foolish sailors from the blue sea below, you will never survive the hand of God Almighty." But no one paid her any mind.

Meanwhile,

"Chopper! Can you talk to this thing!?" Usopp shouted to the little reindeer, hanging on for dear life on Luffy's leg. Everyone was envying that Nami gets to be in the captain's arms, the latter not even budging from his spot; even while the King's Gourd was moving as fast as a race car.

"If I can I don't think it can hear me! It is right under the King's Gourd!" Chopper responded. "Big brother!" The attention went back to the big man in the coat, standing firmly on the deck.

"All I can tell you is that this giant shrimp is taking us beyond the light…" Luffy pointed towards the literal 'light at the end of the tunnel'. And once the ship went through, "…Angel Island!"

The sight to behold was a beautiful one. There was a vast beach before a green forest and in the distance were some strange buildings stationed on various levels on more clouds. There was also a couple of giant plant stalks to be seen, the one on the right was connected to something higher up; it was even paved with clouds to look like a road slope.

Once the ship had drifted to shallow water, Luffy jumped off and landed on the beach. "Alright guys! Captain's orders are to relax and take in this beach before we start exploring Skypiea! Get going!" It was cute and amusing to see such a powerful character act childlike and fun-loving.

"Coming Luffy! I just need a quick change with the other girls!" Nami shouted off and practically shoved all the women back into the cabin. This left nothing but boys on the deck until Usopp and Chopper hopped off to get on the beach of clouds.

"Lets just get on with it and find a place to relax." Frank said and was followed along with the more serious Straw Hats. Finally, Umi popped on the beach, growling of the pleasured tone; the clouds were not like marshmallows but pillows as if made in heaven.

"Ouch! Cut it out!" The girls had gotten a change of clothes for a time on a beach until they received a rather unpleasant surprise. The Strawhats forgot that they still had the South Bird from Jaya in their cabin, right before they were sent soaring on the super current. And while Luffy scared it into be obedient, the bird still had a grudge for being manhandled in the jungle; needless to say, the girls had gotten its attention.

After giving them a fair share of picking with its large beak, the South Bird started to fly off to who knows where. The Strawhat girls didn't care for if it will return since they found their way to Skypiea and they forgot about it all over again to enjoy the beach.

Back on Angel Beach, Chopper was being cute in taking in the softness and 'squishiness' of the clouds before tumbling into Nami's leg. She ignored that and invited Chopper to check out a nearby hut with its own cloud pillows; Chopper said that it was different that on the beach. Usopp was elsewhere, working on something like a sandcastle in the cloud sand.

"Ah my maidens!" Sanji was back in his lovestruck mood and presented some kind of flower he picked near the forest's boundary. "For each lovely woman to behold~!" The girls didn't care for the flowers and they just dropped them when Sanji wasn't looking. Carol did accept a handmade bouquet of various flowers from Frank, for the times they spent as partners.

Georgia simply looked for a good spot for some painting and asked Alvida to help her out with the supplies from out of the ship. Robin wanted to do her own exploring of the beach, taking in the exotic wildlife; Nojiko came along to keep her company. Meanwhile, Zoro and Kuro and Gin were squatting down around something that looked like a fox; but with the mouth of a honeysucker and the fur was as white as the clouds themselves. That was when the sound of harp playing covered the entire beach.

This got everyone's attention and they all turned to where the music was originating, it was a harp indeed that was being played live. "An angel…" Sanji spoke as if he was in a trance, like he was possessed but no one responded. They all remembered the gate keeper Amazon and thought that all inhabitants were similar to her; not anymore.

"Heso! My name is Conis…" She has blonde hair which she wears in two braided pig-tails and two antennae sticking out at the top of her head. She wears a pink dress with black, flower shaped textures that goes to her thighs. She also wears red and pink striped sandals, that are white on the bottom. "And this is my pet cloud fox, Suu."

Before anyone could respond,

"OWW! That smarts!" Everyone turned to see an odd sight. Luffy climbed up one of the trees, like the monkey in his name, and apparently broke a tooth or two on a certain melon. "Shanks did tell me about a fruit which was tougher than steel but not on what it looked like. I guess that this was him getting even with me when…" Luffy's grumble soon got soft and none of his crew could make it out.

"That is because the fruit is indeed impenetrable on the top but it is actually softer on the bottom." Conis explained and Luffy handed over the large melon for the angel host to turn it upside down and cut it open with a knife she had on herself. "Here. The juice inside is delicious."

"Thank you." Luffy answered and did a big sip. His tongue wanted to escape his mouth and show how good the juice was. "Yum!" It should have been since Luffy's tongue suddenly had a mind of its own. "Here, Nami…" Luffy turned to his girlfriend but she was not in sights, "…try it?" Soon, everyone noticed and looked around for their navigator; they spotted her riding something on the sea of clouds.

"Ah! She is truly something special, riding a Waver on her first try!" Conis proclaimed. "It is a vehicle that we often use but it usually takes up to ten years to master its controls. For it doesn't move on wind, waves or even ocean currents, but a Breath Dial." That last statement had gotten everyone's attention.

"A what?"

XXXXX

Later, at Conis's House,

"So, this is a Dial. And I thought you guys just collect shells from the beach." Luffy said while holding what looked to be an ordinary large seashell. Conic giggled,

"Yes, at first glance you might. But that is a Dial, a Tone Dial." This didn't impress anyone just yet, "Simply speak something loud into the opening of the shell."

"Sure." Luffy placed the dial near his mouth and took in a deep breath, "Nami is the girl for my bed!" Somehow, Luffy said that with a stoic look on his face and even ignored Sanji's foot on his cheek.

"Watch that tongue of yours before I stomp it flat!" This only made the guests and their host to be amused. And Luffy looked so shameless and yet so comfortable about that statement regarding Nami.

"Good, now press the apex of the shell." Conis stated and Luffy pushed Sanji's foot out of his eye. After finding the centerpiece of the shell, Luffy pressed it good with his index finger. And out of it came,

"Nami is the girl for my bed!" "Watch that tongue of yours…!"

"Wow! That is exactly what we said!" Luffy was actually amazed by how the Tone Dial acted exactly like a recorder. And already, mischievous thoughts seemed into his head. "What else can Dials do?"

Conis pointed out various Dials used for household purposes; a Heat Dial used to cook, a Milky Dial to form clouds, a Lamp Dial for light during the night and a Thunder Dial for electricity. "Unfortunately, there are people who developed dials for warfare."

"Such as…?" Luffy beckoned Conis to continue. Their host looked haunted by something but she answered anyways,

"They created a Flame Dial, releasing fire instead of heat; an Axe Dial to inflict harm onto others. Then there is the Impact Dial." Conis said that last one like a monster from a nightmare she had. "It absorbs any impact that hits and releases with just enough to break the bones in a human body. But its inferior to the Reject Dial, the one used only for combat."

"And how is the Reject Dial superior to the Impact Dial?" Zoro asked, a little interested himself. Conis started to shake and answered with an uneasy voice,

"The Reject Dial is ten times more powerful than an Impact Dial. It is strong enough to kill the target and the user." A double-edged sword if there ever was an example of the term. Suddenly Luffy froze and hastily made his way to the window, sweat down his neck and his eyes filled with fear. His breathing was swallow and sharp, like he was trying to calm himself down but not making any good progress. "Something wrong?"

"It's Nami. I just felt danger and terror appear on my girlfriend's signature." Luffy tried to stabilize himself but the fear was also present in his voice. Then he pointed into the direction of dark and ominous clouds. "What's far over there? That was where I felt Nami to be at!"

"That's where God and his subjects rule and dwell. A forbidden place to those who live in the sky." This was another resident of Conis's house, her father to be exact, Pagaya. Pagaya is a Skypiean man of average height. He is almost bald but has the typical Skypiean hair antennae sticking out. He has a strange round beard covering his mouth, and he is always shown with closed eyes, however he seems fully able to both see and talk. His hair antennas and beard are dark brown, along with his eyebrows. He wears the typical Skypiean robes, in his case a brown yellow one with a light-yellow collar, and light yellow at the end of where the sleeves would be, if it had any, it also has a black leaf like design. "The home of God Almighty that slays trespassers, Upper Yard."

End of Chapter 36.

*Hello everyone! This week turned out great! I got half of my Midterms done and even passed the Police Application Exam, just in time for Spring Break! Still sucks that I have to study over the break but this is college, not high school. Wish me luck!*