36. How lucky we are

"Hey old man, we want to go to the Sky island!" Luffy asked cheerfully as Montblanc Cricket woke up from his nap. Cricket looked at him for a few moments and then started laughing.

"Hahahaha! Sky Island? You guys believe in the Sky island?" he asked.

"Well, actually I know there's a Sky Island up there!" Luffy told him. Cricket looked at him.

"And how would you know that, kid?" he asked.

"Because my friend Shanks was up there!" Luffy replied. Cricket looked at him for a few moments and then chuckled.

"Is your friend known as a liar?" he asked. Luffy shook his head.

"I don't think Red-Haired Shanks is particularly known as a liar." Robin interjected. The man's eyes widened.

"So, Norland didn't lie about that?" he asked. Luffy looked at him.

"Shanks seemed very clear about what he saw, old man." Luffy lied. In truth, Shanks hadn't told him anything at all about the Sky island, only that he was there once.

"The city of gold." Luffy concluded. Cricket's cigarette fell from his mouth. Everyone looked wide-eyed at Luffy.

"Of course, the Pirate king must have taken a lot of gold." Luffy continued. "But, if it's true and it's up there, we're still going to be the richest pirates in Paradise, maybe even in the New World."

Nami's eyes immediately turned into Berry signs and everyone else kept gaping at Luffy.

"Are you serious, kid? Red-Haired saw the city of gold up there?" Cricket asked. Luffy nodded.

"I didn't expect it to happen this way." Cricket said after a few minutes. "I've struggled and tried to prove or disprove my ancestor's claim for years now and you just come here and tell me."

He sighed.

"Thanks, kid." he said and smiled. "But I'll still need proof. I'll tell you how to get up there and I'll tell those idiots outside to give us a hand."

He glanced outside, where Masira and his brother Shoujou were arm-wrestling.

"If you get up there safely and you can find the golden bell, ring it." Cricket continued. "That will be all the proof that I need."

"Wait, you said your ancestor?" Sanji asked. "You mean Norland?"

Cricket nodded.

"He is my distant grandfather's grandfather's grandfather … or something like that." he told them. "Because of his lie, our family has always been laughed at. I wanted to have nothing to do with him, but when I stumbled upon this island, I thought: this is fate. I couldn't run any longer. I stayed to settle this with my ancestor."

Everyone nodded. Cricket sighed.

"But now after you've told me that, it seems Norland wasn't a liar after all." he concluded. Then he stood up.

"How do those two outside come into this?" Nami asked. Cricket shook his head.

"They're fans of the book." he told them. Everyone sweat-dropped.

"I was always alone, diving into the sea to try to find the lost city of gold." he continued. "And then they just barged into my life. Claimed Norland didn't lie. Honestly, I'd have died of loneliness if it weren't for those idiots. It seems they were right too."

He stood up.

"Listen up guys." he announced. "I'll now tell you about how you might be able to get up there."

A few minutes later ...

"So, basically, we need to get underneath the Knock-up stream precisely at the right moment and then it should blow us up in the air and we'll reach the sky ocean, if it's there of course?" Nami asked. Cricket nodded.

"That's the theory." he answered. "If the sky sea is up there, you'll reach it. If not, you'll die!"

Several straw hats cringed at this.

"Of course, even if it is there, you could still die if you do anything wrong." Cricket told them. "Also, that ship could never reach the sky."

He pointed at the Going Merry, which was anchored nearby.

"What's wrong with Merry?" Luffy asked. Cricket sighed.

"Even if it was brand new, it could never reach the sky." Cricket told him. Everyone looked at him in confusion. "Luckily, that's where we come in. Those guys will refit your ship, make it capable of flight."

Masira and Shoujou raised their hands in the air.

"Yep! Leave it to us, guys!" they announced.

'You didn't have to do that … ' Nami and Usopp thought gloomily. Nami stepped forward.

"Hey, do you even know what you're talking about, Luffy?" Nami asked. Luffy looked at her in confusion. "For starters, the Log-pose will set in about a day, so we can't stay here longer than that. After that, it will re-adapt to the next magnetic field."

"Right, right!" Usopp announced, a bit too cheerfully for Luffy's taste. "We won't make it!"

"The city of gold." Luffy interrupted and put a hand on Nami's shoulder. "One billion Berry might become a reality for us, Nami-san."

Her eyes instantly turned into Berry's and she stopped objecting. Most of the straw hats sweat-dropped.

'Damn. He's good.' Zoro thought.

"That's not the problem, Luffy!" Usopp yelled. "There's no telling when the Knock-up stream will come! It could be days, weeks, months, years even. You can't-"

"Tomorrow afternoon!" Cricket announced. "If you want to get going, you'd better get ready!"

Usopp's eyes bulged out.

"YOU MEAN WE'RE GOING TO MAKE IT!?" he yelled.

"Well, that's unusually convenient!" Luffy said.

"I was going to say that!" Usopp replied.

"Whatever! SKY ISLAND! YAHOO! ADVENTURE!" Luffy announced. But then he turned back to Montblanc Cricket.

"Oh, by the way, old man!" Luffy asked. Cricket quirked an eyebrow. "How will we know which direction to go? I mean, the Log-pose points directly to Sky Island and compasses don't work."

"Wait here!" the man replied and took a step back into his half-house. Nami stared wide-eyed at Luffy and took a step back.

Luffy sighed.

"What?" he asked.

"W-What did you do with Luffy?!" she asked. Robin chuckled.

"What do you mean?!" Luffy yelled.

"You said something smart, Luffy." Sanji announced. Usopp nodded furiously. Zoro face-palmed.

Luffy looked at Sanji with half lidded eyes.

"You're both jerks." he said. He heard Robin chuckle again.

"Well, at least someone's amused." he told her. She shrugged.

"I find the way they treat their captain quite amusing." she told him.

He sighed. At that moment Cricket came out of the house, carrying something covered with some cloth. He put the object on the wooden stump and pulled the cloth off it. Underneath was a small golden statue of a southbird.

Everyone came over to look at the statue. Robin sat down on the stump and looked at it from all directions.

"WOW!" Nami screamed out when she looked at it closely. Everyone sweat-dropped.

"Don't get any ideas, Nami." Luffy told her.

"I was just looking at it!" she screamed at him. He chuckled.

"Right." he answered. She sighed.

"This is a southbird." Montblanc Cricket announced. "No matter how large a stretch of land is or how much the sea tosses and turns, its head will remain pointed in a single direction. You need to capture one of those birds."

Luffy raised his hand.

"Yes?" Cricket asked.

"Are there northbirds and westbirds and eastbirds too?" he asked. Cricket nodded.

"I've seen a northbird once. I've never seen one of the other two, but they exist." he answered.

"So, let's not waste any time and capture one." Zoro said.

"Yes, have fun!" Luffy announced. Everyone looked at him.

"You're coming with us." Nami ordered. Luffy shook his head.

"Shishishi! No. I'll leave the boring stuff to you guys!" he told her. "It's also good training for you!"

"But Luffy-" Nami started.

"HAVE FUN!" he interrupted. "Jerks."

"Oh, so that's what this is about, shitty rubber?!" Sanji yelled. Luffy laughed.

"Shishishishi! Well, you shouldn't be mean to your captain, jerk!" he told him.

Everyone turned to leave, but when Robin tried to stand up, Luffy put an arm on her shoulder.

"You stay." he told her. Everyone looked at him in confusion. Luffy turned around to face them and was now sporting an evil grin. They cringed upon seeing it. "It'll be way too easy for them if you come along."

Robin chuckled as he waved at them.

"Have fun, guys!"

As they left, either muttering curses or sulking, Luffy let himself fall backwards on the grass. When he could no longer hear them, he turned to Robin and smirked. She quirked an eyebrow.

"Shishishi! This should be priceless." he told her.

"Again you seem to know something that we don't, Captain-san." she replied. He chuckled.

"I tried to catch a southbird once … " Luffy began and was then quiet for like a full minute. He spread his limbs over the grass.

"Well, like I said." he then continued. "It should be funny! Shishishishi!"

"You're right, kid." Cricket added, also sporting a grin of his own. "Those birds are devilish!"

She sighed.

"I hope they aren't in danger." she said. Luffy chuckled again.

"Naah! Not serious danger anyway!" Luffy answered. She shook her head.

"By the way, Captain-san. If you wanted Blackbeard gone so much, why didn't you just provoke him or something?" she asked after a moment. "Or you could have just attacked him anyway."

"Who is Blackbeard?" Cricket asked, as he sat down next to them. He was following their conversation.

"A traitor." Luffy answered. "Blackbeard or Marshall D Teach was part of Whitebeard's crew, but he betrayed them and nearly killed one of their commanders. He's a nakama-killing bastard, the worst kind of a man you can find on the sea."

Cricket's eyes widened.

"Whtebeard? What do you have to do with Whitebeard, kid?" he asked. Luffy looked at him.

"Both of my brothers are in his crew." he answered, much to Cricket's shock. "But even if they weren't, I'd still hate the guy. I can't stand to even be around people like that."

He pulled himself up and sat on the grass.

"I mean, I'd let go of anything else. But a man who kills one of his nakama, who basically put his life and trust into his hands … a man like that deserves to die on the spot."

Both of them looked at him with wide-eyes, shocked beyond belief at the words that came from his usually cheerful mouth.

"T-That's quite shocking to hear from you." Robin told him. He looked at her and sighed.

"Nakama aren't supposed to kill each-other." he told her. "When you join a pirate crew, you are hunted and hated by the world, so your nakama are often the only people you can turn your back to. To be betrayed by one of them … it's unthinkable."

He sighed and fell back on the grass.

"I don't know that much about Whitebeard, but I've heard that he has only one ironclad rule. Don't kill your nakama. Whatever the reason." Luffy continued. "But there had to be a reason for Blackbeard to betray his crew after years of loyal service. Something that outweighed the risk of betraying Shirohige."

He looked at Robin and sighed.

"My bet is on a devil fruit. Logia probably. And it has to be very powerful, even among the best of them." Luffy finished. He knew that was correct. Yami Yami no Mi was most likely a logia and it had the ability to disable any devil fruit on touch, even Luffy's, which was always 'on', even in seastone and water.

"T-That's quite an impressive deduction, Captain-san." Robin told him. He laughed.

"Thanks." he replied. "But even if he really wanted the fruit. He could always have stolen it. He didn't need to kill anyone. If he had stolen it, he'd probably get punished, but he'd live. So, I guess he was planning all of this somehow."

He sighed again and looked at the ground.

"And that's why I fear for Ace." he concluded. 'And in only a few weeks you'll see I was right. But, I'll prevent the worst. I swear.'

His arm blackened again. Robin looked at it cautiously.

"You're dealing with big-shots there, kid." Cricket replied. Luffy nodded.

"How strong do you think he is?" Robin asked him. Luffy shrugged.

"Seeing as he dared to betray Whitebeard, I'd say he's at least as strong as the average commander, but he could be even stronger." he replied. In all honesty, Luffy didn't know. When he met him in Mock Town, Blackbeard never showed his level of haki and Luffy was unable to sense it when they met in Impel Down in his first 'life'. He knew that he had managed to kill his former captain, but he also knew that Whitebeard was by then nearly dead, using most of his haki and strength just to remain alive, so he was fairly sure that he himself was stronger than Blackbeard as well, since he couldn't imagine Shanks for example having too much trouble with Whitebeard in such a state, but Blackbeard nearly died to him.

They were silent for a few moments, but then Robin remembered something.

"You haven't answered my question, Captain-san!" she told him. He looked at her. "Why didn't you provoke him or something like that?"

He sighed.

"When something like this happens, a crew's reputation is at stake. It's their job to deal with the betrayer. It'd be poor honor to do that for them. As much as I was tempted, I couldn't do that." Luffy told her. "Also, I don't break promises."

After a few hours ...

The modifications and repair of the Going Merry were nearly finished.

Sanji came running towards the three pirates, seated on or near the tree stump, followed by the rest of their crew-members. Zoro carried a southbird in his hands. All of them had plenty of bumps and small cuts on their bodies, but worst of all … following behind them was half the animals of the Jaya forest.

Luffy pointed at them and fell over, laughing his ass off. When Robin saw the scene, her eyes widened and she failed to suppress her own laughter.

"Fufufufufu! I see what you meant, Captain-san!"

"HEY, STOP LAUGHING!" Zoro yelled with an angry red face.

"Shishishishishishi! Sorry, sorry! Shishishishishishi!"

"QUIT THAT!" Nami yelled.

"Fufufufufufufu! Sorry, Navigator-san!"

Then as they reached them, Luffy stood up and released a wave of controlled conqueror's haki. All the animals following them fell down on the ground. Luffy looked athis crew-members for a few moments and then continued laughing.

"STOP IT!" Sanji yelled. "STOP LAUGHING, SHITTY RUBBER!"

Robin, on the other hand, stared at the fallen animals in shock.

'What did just happen?! Was that also haki?'

I'm not in the mood to write the author's comment, so if you've got something to ask concerning this chapter, ask in a review or PM and I shall answer!

Also, I didn't put Robin and Luffy together for the sake of any romantic bonding or anything. (Not that there was anything romantic in this chapter.) It's just like Luffy said: if Robin went with them,it'd be too easy and too fast. And that wouldn't be neither a good punishment for being a meanie nor good training, would it?

So thanks for reading and please review if you want. I appreciate it.

If you like my story and want to make me happy, then click this link (hopefully in massively overwhelming numbers :D ): adf(replace this with dot)ly/6qkpw