Thanks for all the reviews with the last chapter. I'm glad everyone was so supportive of my official start to the romance part of this story. And don't worry, I'm not going to drag out Zoro's pondering for ever. Zoro's not the type of guy to overthink things. But I want to make the building up part believable, as well as different from how most stories go. I tend to have unique views on romance that most people don't get.

Sadly my last update of this year doesn't have anything major happening just yet, but we're getting to the fun bits. Hope everyone has a safe Christmas, & if you don't celebrate anything enjoy the long weekend. See you guys next year.


Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece. I only own my original additions. This story is for entertainment purposes only.


Disclaimer: Language


That evening could have been an awkward affair had Abel allowed it. Abel could've been disappointed, but in truth, finally telling Zoro how she felt made her feel happy. Lighter. And honestly, things had played out exactly as she'd expected. Perhaps not how she wanted, but she wasn't so deluded as to think expecting Zoro to automatically return her feelings with the same confident vigor was realistic. And it went against her beliefs to worry over something she had absolutely no control over. She couldn't make Zoro love her. Well, not without his permission to let her try. She didn't need his validation to feel the way she felt for him. She would just like to be able to act upon them, but that was entirely up to Zoro.

Rather than worry over useless things, Abel found ways to occupy herself throughout the long vigil. Unable to actually help with the repairs, Abel took the bit of free time to get her sketchbook and make some rough drawings of the two sasquatch. But rather than drawing them as they were now, she drew them as they likely had been before whatever prompted their decision to adopt a human disguise. The same figures, just with more hair. In the end, Abel was rather proud of her work. Masira resembled a large gorilla, or perhaps a baboon, with coarse reddish-brown hair all over him. Abel drew him in several poses based on his personality, including throwing his fists up in the air to roar, standing with his massive knuckles on the ground and one where he rubbed his chin in thought. Shoujou was a little bit more difficult, because Abel couldn't decide if all of his hair should be as long as what he had now. If that was the case, he must've looked like a walking green mop before deciding to shave most of it off. In the end, however, she rationalized that perhaps the reason he took pride in his long mane was because it was the only part left of that life, and settled for drawing the Underwater Search King with silky but short hair.

"Oh, hey!" Abel jolted slightly when Masira's loud voice boomed behind her. She craned her neck up as the hulking man peered over her shoulder at her drawings. "You drew me as a monkey. That's pretty great!" The strange man beamed, once again taking a strange amount of pride in the comparison. "I didn't know you liked hairy men, sister!"

"What are you looking at, Masira?" Shoujou asked as he waddled over to see what had taken his brother's attention away from the job. Not that their workers needed constant dictation, but they couldn't afford distractions right now. Standing on the other side of Abel, Shoujou peered down with his squinty eyes. "What!?" he gasped. "Why did you draw me like a monkey!?" Unlike Masira, Shoujou apparently didn't like the similarities being pointed out. At least he grasped how to hide his identity better than his brother.

"It's all right," Abel placated gently. "Your secret's safe with me."

The two gawked down at Abel for a moment, unsure what "secret" she meant, before someone shouted, "Why are you yelling at Abel-dono!?" From out of sight, something struck Shoujou in the face. Was that a shoe? Whatever it was, it rocketed with enough force to stagger the green sasquatch.

"You two!" Cricket snapped. "Get back to work! And you!" He pointed at Abel, who merely stared back innocently. "Stop distracting them. Their simple minds are easily scattered."

While Abel couldn't care less about the scolding, as she hadn't encouraged their distraction, Sanji railed on the old man. "Don't you order Abel-dono around, old timer!"

"All of you knock it off and get back to work!" As usual, Nami had the final say, her fiery temper reigning them back in.

Seeing Cricket reminded Abel that she had something she wanted to discuss with him. Snapping her notebook closed, she sauntered over to the blond. Cricket glanced down when he noticed her in his periphery, scowling slightly. But as he always seemed to scowl, Abel paid no mind. "What?" he asked gruffly.

"You mentioned before that you had a hypothesis about the supposed monsters appearing with the darkness," Abel began, cutting straight to the chase. "I'm curious what it is."

Cricket eyed the hunter, removing the cigarette from his mouth to exhale a long string of smoke directly toward Abel. Abel gave him an unimpressed look, but didn't break eye contact. Cricket gave Abel a thoughtful, measured look. "You've seen them yourself. What's your impression on them?" He wanted to see what the woman said. Strange though she may be, she seemed to be at least smarter than the others.

Playing along, Abel responded, "It felt like they weren't really there. Despite their size, they didn't have any presence like a living being would. And how could not only one, but several, creatures that large sneak up on us?"

Cricket nodded before staring up at the night sky, thinking how to word his hypothesis. "We've established that the sudden darkness is caused by the Millennium Cumulonimbus blocking out light from the sun. But what would happen if there was something standing on top of that cloud when the sun shone down on it?"

Abel pondered this. If something denser than the clouds blocked out the sun even more then... "You believe they're merely shadows of the residents of the sky." When Cricket nodded, Abel turned to stare out at the sea, rubbing her chin in contemplation. Was that possible? Can something cast a shadow in the dark? Well, it's not dark where the shadow originates from, Abel rationalized. If the being is on top of the clouds that are blocking the sun, then it's being exposed to the sun. The Millennium Cumulonimbus may be dense, but it doesn't block out the light entirely, and is at least pliant enough for us to plan punching up through the bottom. A person or creature would therefore have a greater density, meaning it ought to block out even more light than the clouds, thus making it possible to cast a shadow despite the darkness. "That would mean they aren't necessarily giants," Abel concluded. It was common knowledge that shadows could be larger than the object causing them, depending on how far the object was from where the shadow was being cast.

"It's the best solution I've been able to come up with," Cricket replied. "I can't prove it, obviously, but it makes the most sense. The shadows' actions are never related to anything going on on the sea, suggesting they aren't actually present."

"Interesting..." Abel mused. It made sense. It would account for the shadows' ability to sneak up on them despite their size, and the lack of a living presence. Abel had compared them to shadows before when explaining her thought process to Zoro, but she hadn't thought it could be literal. "Nice to know we might not be facing giants up there. Though the spears and aggression aren't exactly comforting."

Thus how the night continued. Over the course of several hours, Abel watched in wonder as the two crews not only repaired their ship, but made some structural changes that should hopefully help it withstand the disaster they were deliberately going to subject her to. Aside from the obvious repairs, the biggest changes they made were the additions of wings. Striking white wings lifted from the sides of the ship, attached to reinforced metal plates patching the holes Usopp had tried to repair, along with a bowed white tail on the aft. But these weren't mechanical, meaning they didn't move. Rather, they would act as a glider to help the ship maintain lift in the air while adding stability.

It was a stroke of unconventional genius... but Abel couldn't help thinking that it made the Going Merry look a bit odd given that the figurehead was a ram. This made the overall image of their ship that of a winged goat. For some reason, the sight bothered Abel. Goat hybrids weren't unheard of in cryptozoology, the most famous being Capricorn, the half goat-half fish. However, the visage reminded Abel a little too much of Baphomet, a creature frequently illustrated with the head of a goat and the body of a winged human. Baphomet was a popular image in paganism and demonology alike, so it set Abel ill at ease to have that image superimposed with her beloved home. For the same reason Abel didn't use names lightly, one must exercise caution with iconography.

Fortunately, whether they were aware of this or not, the Alliance softened the connection with a final addition to the Going Merry: a headpiece on the ram complete with a waddle. Now the ship looked like a giant chicken that just happened to have horns. Abel could only stare blankly at their ship. While she found the chicken Going Merry very cute, a chicken would not be her first choice for the purposes of flying. It didn't really instill a strong sense of confidence in their plan.

Abel glanced down at Dogmeat. "Maybe we should dress you up as well." Abel chuckled when Dogmeat whimpered.

The sun had barely begun to rise from the sea when the Alliance wrapped up their work. With their men finishing up, the captains faced the Straw Hats with no small sense of pride. "Well? What do you think?" Masira eagerly asked.

"Awesome!" Usopp and Chopper cheered at the same time, in awe of the transformation.

The rest of the crew, however, was either neutral or skeptical. "Will this even help?" Nami asked, looking very unsure. She got the point, but...

"Our work will stand up to the force of the Knock-Up Stream," Cricket insisted, though he understood their reluctance. "Once you get out there, it'll all be up to your skill and luck." He'd given them the best chance he could.

Taking a drag off his cigarette, Sanji commented, "Well we do have strong luck when it comes to getting in and out of trouble."

"Then all we need is our captain," Robin added. Everything that could be done had been.

Sadly, waiting for their captain was turning out to be the hardest part. Despite Nami's warning to be back by dawn or they would miss their chance, as the sun continued to rise they saw nary a glimpse of Luffy. Sitting on the ground idly playing with Dogmeat in a game of tug-of-war with a spare bone from last night's meal, Abel kept an eye on her crew. The longer they waited, the more anxious everyone grew. Especially Nami. Abel could see her irritation building, like a beaker about to boil over. The redhead paced, checked her watch, glanced along the coastline, all the while her posture growing stiffer. Her movements more erratic.

It wasn't a surprise when Nami finally snapped. "Where the heck is he!?" she shouted to no one in particular, simply venting her anger. "That rubber-necked, bug-eyed idiot!" Nami groaned in frustration, flailing her hands around. "It's already morning! He's already forty-six minutes late! If this goes on we won't reach the Knock-Up Stream in time!" Nami huffed. "I'm sure the genius didn't stop to consider how all that gold would weigh him down. Why does he insist on making everything ten times harder!?" Nami knew better than anyone how heavy gold was. Although Abel found it both amusing and telling that Nami didn't suspect Luffy might've lost.

"No," Usopp agreed. "I don't think he ever considered the time at all."

"Yeah, that's one-hundred percent certain," Sanji added.

But Abel doubted this was the case. This was Luffy, after all. A little gold wouldn't weight him down. "It's more likely he got lost or distracted."

Nami glared at nothing, likely imagining their captain's face. "If he did, I won't forgive him!" Funny how Nami now seemed almost as eager as the boys to go. Perhaps it was a matter of navigator pride? To go somewhere everyone said was impossible?

Regardless, a familiar voice calling from the forest caught everyone's attention. "Hey!" Everyone's heads snapped around to find Luffy running toward them, a large sack slung across his back. Although slightly sweaty and out of breath, it appeared mostly from running. It was with no small amount of pride that Abel noted he didn't have a single scratch or bruise on him. Abel sincerely hoped he'd cleaned Bellamy's clock. Abel wasn't typically one to waste energy holding a grudge, but some people just deserved to have their asses handed to them. Especially those that ran their mouths.

"Great!" Marisa exclaimed. "He's finally back!"

Rushing toward them, Luffy yelled excitedly, "I did it!"

"Luffy, hurry!" Sanji yelled back. "We're already behind schedule!"

Ignoring them, Luffy held his hand up eagerly. "Check it out!" It was hard to see from a distance, but there was definitely something alive and moving in Luffy's hand. "It's a hercules! It took me forever to find one!" Abel just stared when she realized the source of Luffy's joy was a giant hercules beetle. Abel would've said she told them so, but...

"WHAT THE HECK WERE YOU DOING!?" the crew snapped. Was that the reason he was late? Looking for a beetle in the forest? How long ago did he finish the fight with Bellamy, then?

Thankfully, before a fight could break out, Luffy paused when he spotted the new and "improved" Merry. "Wow!" he gasped. "Amazing!"

Proudly, Usopp gestured to the ship as he announced, "Introducing the Going Merry Flying Edition!"

Luffy's eyes shined. "It can fly!?"

"I know, right!?" Usopp replied, equally ecstatic. He pointed to the proud salvager crews, looking very appreciative and Luffy's appreciation. "They did it for us!"

Not everyone in the crew was so thrilled with the source of inspiration. "Something about it makes me feel uneasy..." Nami admitted.

"For once I agree with you," Zoro commented, speaking for the first time since Abel'd given him something to ponder. "Chickens don't even know how to fly. They should've made it a pigeon."

Abel bit back a laugh, but couldn't help herself from correcting, "Technically chickens are capable of flight. They've merely been domestic to the point that they have no real reason to."

"That's not the main issue here!" Nami snapped, though neither Zoro nor Abel knew which one she was shouting at. Probably both. "Idiot!

Before Nami could rip someone's head off, Abel placed a placating hand on the redhead's shoulder. Calmly, she advised, "Let's not waste time being angry. We need to leave."

Nami frowned, but Abel felt her physically containing her wrath. Nami nodded sternly before barking, "Everyone load up! We need to get going!" A general chorus of agreements went out as both Masira and Shoujou's crew prepared their ships to leave. The Straw Hats, equally eager to set out as to avoid Nami's wrath, followed suit with little complaint.

Hoisting Dogmeat aboard, Abel glanced up when she heard a heavy jangle to discover Luffy proudly setting Cricket's stolen gold on the tree stump table in front of the old man. Actually, that was a little unfair. The man was probably in his thirties or forties. He was barely middle-aged, although Abel supposed to the teenage members of her crew that was "old." They certainly made her feel old sometimes, and she was just barely in her twenties. Regardless, Abel watched as Cricket eyed the sack with almost a look of contempt. She couldn't hear their exchange over the shouting of the monkey crews, but based on their expressions Abel suspected Cricket was trying to act like he wasn't worried about Luffy making it back in time. The giant pile of cigarettes in the ashtray next to him told another story. The man was even worse than Sanji when it came to dealing with stress. Whatever the man grumbled, Luffy just grinned in response. Cricket carelessly pointed behind him, directing Luffy's attention to the ship. Abel guessed he'd told Luffy to thank the Saruyama Alliance rather than him, because Luffy shouted cheerfully, "Yeah! Thanks, you guys!" He held up the beetle he still carried like a great prize. "You can have my hercules!"

Although this strangely excited the crews (seriously, it was just a bug) their captains at least attempted to be more serious. "We don't have time," Masira pointed out impatiently. "Get on the ship! Or we won't make it in time!"

"We'll lead the way," Shoujou added. "Just follow us!"

Abel checked herself as she heard Nami's heels clomping up behind her. Fortunately, it wasn't Abel that was in trouble. Stopping beside the hunter, Nami shouted, "Luffy! Hurry!" Snapping back to reality, Luffy jogged toward the ship, a beaming, excited grin on his face.

But before he was able to climb aboard, Cricket jumped to his feet while shouting, "Saruyama Alliance!" The monkey crews stood at attention, and Cricket leveled them with a stern look. Apparently even the minions viewed the blond as their ultimate leader. "Don't mess this up!" Cricket ordered seriously, passionately. "I don't care what happens, you give our friends everything you got!" Abel merely shook her head at the roundabout way of thanking them, but she supposed actions were better than words for some people.

Vaulting over the railing, Luffy cried, "Okay! Let's go!"

With their captain finally onboard, Nami issued the orders she'd been anxious for all night. "You heard him! Shove off!"

The crew swung into action, the guys running to get the ship ready to head out. Sanji and Usopp unfurled the sails while Zoro disappeared below to raise the anchor. Abel felt the ship give a little shake as the anchor dislodged from the shore, the gentle morning tide beginning to pull them away from the coast. Before they got out too far, however, a voice called from the ground, "Kid!" Abel turned her head to see Cricket standing before them, actually smiling. "This is where we part ways," he informed them. "There's one thing you need to remember over everything else." Despite the smile on his face, Cricket spoke with such conviction that they had no choice but the heed his words. "Not one person in history has ever disproved the city of gold or the sky island. People might laugh and call it foolish logic, but it's enough for me." Enthused, Cricket threw his arms out widely. "I'm a romantic, like you."

"Romantic?" Luffy repeated, not making a connection with the term.

Helping her captain out, Abel explained, "At its root, the term means idealistic."

"Really?" Luffy gasped, having never heard the term used that way before. Luffy thought about it for a moment before grinning. "I guess it really is!"

Chuckling, Cricket finally said, "Thanks for the gold. And don't be fallin' from the sky, y'hear?"

After the crew bid the eccentric explorer an enthusiastic farewell, the pirates followed the two salvager ships out into the sea, their much smaller ship dwarfed between the two larger ones on either side. "We'll head along the east shore then straight south into open water," Masira informed them as the tides picked up, a steady breeze urging them forward. Peering over the railing at them, he added, "Go ahead and get the south bird out so we can keep our heading." Following along the shore was simple enough, but once they left sight of the island they'd need its navigational instincts.

The whole rigmarole made Abel wonder if it wasn't possible to use the log pose or eternal pose, if they knew the location of the island it was set to in relation to where they wanted to go. For instance, could they not use the salvagers' eternal pose set to Jaya to ascertain south if they knew where the island was in relation to south? Essentially it would mean navigating by the log pose in reverse, heading away from the direction the needle pointed. If their destination was to the south of an island the log pose pointed to, theoretically they should be able to travel in that direction by sailing in a manner that kept the needle pointing north. However, Abel instinctively knew this would be difficult, as it would require them to already know the directionality of the island they were navigating by. Abel scratched the back of her head, mind already swirling with potential complications. Perhaps I'll suggest it to Red and leave it at that, she told herself. Best leave such things to the experts.

Blessedly, squawking broke Abel's train of thought before she could get even further into a conundrum. Glancing up, she watched as Zoro brought the angry south bird out, still holding it by its feet. Its reverberating call expressed great displeasure at the treatment. Abel wasn't sure where Zoro got the equipment from, but he pulled a set of shackles out from somewhere, clamped one end to the south bird's leg and the other to the railing, tethering it in place. It was on the tip of Abel's tongue to tease Zoro about what sort of things he might be into for carrying shackles, but she restrained herself. She didn't want to push him too far just yet. Instead, Abel turned her attention to safer avenues, such as watching the bird. Was it possible for a bird to huff? Abel got the sense watching the agitated creature that if it could fold its wings and sulk like a teenager, it would. Abel did feel a little bad for it, but only a little, after the others had told her what the creature put them through.

Abel idly watched the younger boys "play" with the bird. Although it was all good-natured, as they seemed fascinated by the bird's inability to face in any direction but south, the bird certainly didn't appreciate it. It was a wonder the bird didn't snap their fingers off when they got too close to its face. Without taking her eyes from their play, Abel tuned in to the salvagers talking to them. "All right," Masira was busy instructing. "It's currently seven AM. We should arrive at the destination area by around eleven AM. Like boss said, the spot where the Knock-Up Stream erupts is different every time. We need to get there as early as possible to pinpoint its exact location. Since we set sail later than our original plan..." Masira trailed off when he realized the guys weren't paying him any attention. They were too busy tormenting the bird. Currently, Luffy was physically turning the bird's head to face west rather than south. "Hey! Are you listening!?" Masira snapped. It was a sad statement that a man dressed like a monkey was more serious than their own crewmates.

Rather than apologizing or even making an excuse, Luffy just enthusiastically called, "Watch! Watch!" as he let go of the bird's head. Without Luffy holding it, the bird's head snapped back around to face south so fast Abel worried it would get whiplash. Luffy felt little sympathy, however, only laughing, "Look! He turned south again!" Angrily, the bird chirped at them, and Abel didn't need Chopper to translate its rage.

"There sure are some weird birds out there," Usopp observed.

Luffy held his sides as he laughed. Was it really that funny? "It's true! This guy really only faces south! It's like a compass! So funny!"

The south bird squawked a few times, and Usopp asked Chopper, "What did it say?"

"He said he's going to face a different direction and laugh at us when we get lost,'" Chopper answered.

Literally rolling on the floor, Luffy guffawed, "Go ahead and try!"

True to its threat, the south bird swiveled its head around like an owl, facing north. Initially it looked quite pleased with itself, but it soon became apparent that going against its nature wasn't an easy task. The bird began to sweat (since when did birds sweat?), groaned, and eventually it became too much. Its head snapped all the way back around, although based on the irritated expression on the bird's face, it wasn't happy about this. The brief bout of defiance set Usopp and Luffy squawking with laughter. "He won't feel right unless he faces south!" Luffy laughed.

Taking pity on the poor bird, which was essentially their prisoner, Abel chastised lightly, "Don't devil the bird." They'd have to let it go eventually, and Abel for one didn't want to get her eyes pecked out.

Unfortunately, the bird clearly hadn't forgotten that it was Abel who caught him, thus ultimately leading to its current situation, as it glared hatefully at the hunter. "Jiyo..." it hissed, almost like a cat, strangely.

A low, warning growl drew the bird's attention toward the hunter's feet. Dogmeat, who'd been contentedly curled against Abel's foot, raised his head and sent the bird a pointed stare. He didn't move anything other than his head, and past the initial growl didn't make a noise. Yet the south bird found itself unable to look away from that single, glaring eye. The bird felt paralyzed, a cold chill ruffling its feathers. After a few tense heartbeats, the dog lowered its head again, closing his eye as if to sleep. With the gaze broken, the south bird swallowed, allowing itself to relax a bit, but silenced from further complaint.

Noticing the odd, silent exchange, Usopp questioned, "What was that about?"

"A predator's stare..." Chopper whimpered, drawing their attention. The poor deer looked nearly as ruffled as the bird, trying to calm himself down. Sensing the others' stare, he elaborated for the humans, "Many prey creatures know better than to meet a predator's stare. It's said predators can paralyze their prey with just a look, making them unable to flee." Even though his herd never had much to do with him even before he consumed the Devil Fruit, Chopper had heard that much off-hand.

Before anyone could comment further, one of the divers on Shoujou's ship shouted at them, "Pay attention when the captain is talking to you!"

"Forget it," Shoujou dismissed in his usual way. "Their casualness is getting me worked up!"

Brushing the incident off, Luffy grinned and called up to them, "There's no point in being anxious! Try to relax!" He didn't get why everyone was so tense. They should be excited about the adventure they were about to have.

"And who put us behind schedule?" Sanji huffed. Although he guessed getting upset now didn't matter.

"But what he said is right," Masira reluctantly agreed. "There's no point in being tense for hours on end."

"I see..." Shoujou acknowledged. "All right, men! Full speed ahead... while relaxing!"

While Abel agreed with the sentiment, as worrying wouldn't make them go faster, she thought they might have taken this philosophy too far when even the ships seemed to sag. If an inanimate object could lounge, this is what it would look like. Clearly others were in agreement with her, as from across the deck Zoro mumbled, "Are we going to be okay?"

Leaning her head back to stare at the sky, Abel figured they had another three hours before the pressure mounted. With that in mind, Abel left her perch and headed for the storage room. As she passed by Nami, the navigator queried, "Where are you going?"

"To take a nap," Abel replied. Before Nami could bite her head off, she quickly rationalized, "We still have at least three hours before things pick up, and none of us slept last night. I think it's best to be refreshed and alert when the time comes to see how this disaster plays out, don't you agree?" Nami's mouth snapped shut, unable to argue with Abel's logic. Being sluggish of mind and body would certainly get them killed with what was to come. Nami briefly considered following Abel's example, but quickly decided she was too wound up to sleep. Continuing on her original path, Abel placated, "I'll be up before the fireworks start." She wouldn't want to miss the chaos that was about to unfold.


Despite Abel's rational idea, the majority of the crew remained awake, either too excited or too nervous to sleep. One could almost feel the tension rising with each tick of the second hand, counting down the time until glory or disaster. Some masked their apprehension with enthusiasm, others used their anxiety to be as prepared as possible. Likely the only one not directly focused on the impending path was the swordsman, who by all accounts had taken up his usual place to nap leaning against the side of the deck. In truth, Zoro was anything but restful. It might shock some of the crew, but just because Zoro's eyes were closed didn't mean he was sleeping. And despite the perfect napping weather, Zoro found his mind too wound up to rest.

Since Abel's confession, Zoro had been unable to think of little else. Although he had little doubt to the genuineness of her feelings, that she chose to direct those feelings toward him, of all people, continued to baffle Zoro. Of all the crazy, unplanned paths his life had taken, this was never a situation Zoro ever imagined himself being in. The swordsman didn't claim to understand women, but he knew enough to know he wasn't what most of them were interested in. He didn't care what people thought of him, and that certainly came across in his attitude. He was gruff, at times crass, and frequently accused of being insensitive. He just called it being decisive. Zoro knew what he wanted in life and how to work towards that goal.

Or at least he used to.

He couldn't deny the wisdom in Abel's statement that the mere fact Zoro was even expending energy thinking about it meant something. Typically the swordsman always knew what he wanted to do. He didn't spend a lot of time pondering or planning. He was definitely more instinctual. Then what did his instincts have to say on the matter?

...

Damn, this was tough.

Huffing slightly, Zoro tried to sit up a little straighter, hoping that adopting a more meditative posture would help him clear his mind. Maybe he was approaching this from the wrong angle. Maybe he should think about how he already knew he felt for Abel. She was a friend and comrade, that much was clear. Sometimes she aggravated him, but mostly because he never knew what she was going to say or do next, and seemed to really enjoy pushing him out of his comfort zone. He found he worried about her probably the least out of the entire crew, because despite her tendency to chase danger she was capable and resourceful, and fully able to take care of herself. For the most part he enjoyed spending time in Abel's company, whether they were working together, working on separate things in the same space, or simply doing nothing but existing. In a way, being around Abel was like being in the eye of a hurricane; if he could get through the chaos and even the woman's own barriers, she offered a peaceful respite.

Zoro could also understand why someone would be attracted to the hunter. She was smart, with as sharp a wit and tongue as any of his swords, with no qualms about telling people what she thought they needed to hear. She was a capable fighter in her own right. She could handle herself in a crisis, and conducted herself in a respectful, but not uptight, manner. She had a bit of tendency to be a bleeding heart, despite not always showing it, and would help someone without expecting compensation. She was hardly perfect, however. Abel could be standoffish and was annoyingly obtuse, but most people didn't realize this. In fact, it gave Zoro a strange sense of pleasure to know he was one of the few who could push Abel into being completely honest. And she wasn't bad looking. Yes, even Zoro could admit the woman was attractive. He might not choose to acknowledge it because a person's appearance rarely mattered to Zoro in the long run, but he wasn't blind. And Zoro had to admit, there was something about an older woman carrying herself with self-assurance that he found appealing. Abel was just Abel, and she made no excuses for it.

Tilting his head back, Zoro stared at the clear sky. It pained him to admit it, but the biggest thing he felt was holding him back from really being comfortable about the idea of... what would this be? Dating? The biggest hurdle was an unprecedented sensation of ugly insecurity. Zoro did not like that feeling at all. But it made sense, he rationalized. Zoro had absolutely zero experience with romantic entanglements. He'd never given much thought to it because, in his mind, working toward being the greatest swordsman took all his attention. Zoro could recall some girls back on the island he grew up on who would fawn over the boys at the dojo when they started reaching puberty, and his adolescent disgust for the boys getting distracted so easily. Even after he left to seek out Mihawk, the only female attention he received was from women looking to be paid for their company or those looking to stab him in the back. None of these had appealed to the swordsman. Most of the time he'd been too focused on his goal to even bother looking around and connecting with people.

But things were different with the Straw Hats. It was funny... everyone in the crew had such different dreams, it ought to lead to them feeling disjointed. Yet they all continued to move forward in the same direction while pursuing their own agendas. Somehow, they just fit together. No one's dreams were allowed to step over someone else's. At times, they even put their dreams on the line for a crewmate's dreams. Perhaps it was this difference that allowed him to connect more strongly with these friends... and potentially even more.

Hearing the storeroom door open, Zoro glanced over to watch Abel emerge from the cabin. Had he been thinking that long? Watching as the woman ruffled her hair, slightly mussed from her nap, Zoro found himself wondering what exactly Abel wanted from him. They already had companionship. Was it just the physical left to add? Isn't that what Abel said? To be allowed to express her affections? What did that mean, exactly? Sex? Zoro felt his heart beat a little faster as he stared at the woman straightening out her coat. He couldn't say he was opposed to the idea... But then that ugly insecurity reared its head again. What the hell did he know about sex? Sure, Zoro understood how it worked. Insert plug A into slot B. But he was pretty certain there was more finesse to it than that. He didn't even know how to approach the idea. How was this woman making him feel like a nervous student picking up a sword for the first time? Why did she torment him so? And why did he find he didn't mind it so much?

"What's that look for?"

Zoro blinked, Abel's question startling him from his inner monologue. Focusing on the present, Zoro gaped up at the hunter as she stared down at him, a single eyebrow raised in question. It was only when he noticed the slackening of his facial muscles that Zoro realized he must've been glaring at her.

Luckily for Zoro, before he could open his mouth and likely embarrass himself, one of the monkey salvagers shouted in a panic, "Bad news, Boss!"

The two directed their attention away from each other and toward Masira's ship. The sasquatch ran to join the panicking crewman at the bow. "What!?" he demanded.

The crewman lowered his binoculars. "Night!" he gasped, sweating profusely. "Approaching from the southwest! It's the Millennium Cumulonimbus!"

Leaving the grumpy swordsman to his issues, although Abel could make a guess about them, Abel hurried to the bow. Sure enough, a massive shelf cloud loomed over the horizon roughly forty-five degrees to the right of their heading. Seeing it from the outside was terrifying. Thick white clouds, almost solid, casting pitch blackness across the sea. It gave Abel a strong sense of foreboding, which Dogmeat must've sense as well, as he whimpered at her feet. Abel placed a comforting hand on his head, but felt she couldn't offer much support. It was like a visual representation of death approaching.

"Really!?" Masira gasped in disbelief, despite the obvious evidence. "What time is it!?"

"Ten AM! Much earlier than expected!"

"This is bad!" Masira growled, before shouting at the other ship, "Shoujou! Can we make it!?"

Wasting little time, Shoujou ordered his men, "Utan Divers! Into the sea immediately! Find the currents!" The men quickly complied, leaping over the sides into the choppy waves below.

"That's not ominous at all," Abel drawled before turning away and barking, "On your feet, gentlemen!"

Several doors snapped open as the crew rushed out onto the deck. "What? What is it!?" Usopp gushed.

"The Millennium Cumulonimbus appeared earlier than expected!" Nami explained in a rush, beating Abel to it. "But we don't even know where the current is located!" They needed to act fast to get into position before the roving cloud moved out of alignment.

Several hours of peace melted in an instant in a flurry of commotion. Shoujou pulled out his mic and started bellowing, but this time his soundwaves weren't strong enough to damage anything. The lower frequency allowed them to sink into the waves. The pirates could only wait in nervous anticipation. Everything was out of their hands at this point. This part was entirely up to the salvagers. After a few tense moments, divers began resurfacing reporting on various objects the sonar waves had reflected off of. A strong current dead ahead. A sea king off to one side. Finally, a diver nearly leapt from the waves like a fish as he shouted his report, "Waves going against the current detected at ten o'clock! I believe it's a giant whirlpool!"

"That's it!" Masira screamed, muscles twitching, ready for action. "Turn the ship to ten o'clock! That thing is the sign for the explosion! Catch the whirlpool! Don't back out!"

Going against common sense, the ships steered toward the whirlpool. Or they tried. But even at this distance, the waves began to rock the Going Merry fiercely. Reflexively, Abel snagged Dogmeat by the scruff before he could slide across the deck. She hooped her other arm between the railings. The water splashing onto the deck made the ground slick, though, and Abel's boots slid against the slippery wood. Quickly, Abel jammed her foot against the bottom of a rung and pressed her weight against it, helping her at least stand upright.

The rest of the crew struggled to find purchase as the waves tossed Merry around like a careless child with a toy. "The waves are getting higher!" Nami exclaimed, holding onto the bow for dear life.

"We're gonna sink!" Usopp bellowed, though his voice had been muffled with his face pressed into the mast.

"It's a pre-eruption tremor!" Masira concluded.

Leaning against the wall of the armory, Robin called, "Miss Navigator! What does the log pose say?"

Shaking her wet hair from her face, Nami held the log pose up. The red compass pointed almost directly above them. Following the line of the needle, Nami exclaimed, "It's pointing at that cloud!"

Usopp turned blue in the face as he peered at the dark clouds above them. Even the clouds appeared to move in a swirling pattern, reflecting the turbulent waves. "You mean the sky island is above that!?"

The crew didn't need to bother steering as the waves took their ship directly toward the looming cloud. The waves remained rough, but the ship became cradled within the chaos, riding along the surf as if on a fixed course. "The wind direction's perfect!" Nami gushed. "The clouds are lining up exactly at the center of the whirlpool!" As crazy as it was, this plan might just work. Assuming they could survive that long.

"What whirlpool!?" Luffy asked. "I don't see one..." He saw the raging tides, but little else. And he was positive he knew what one looked like.

Ignoring them, Masira congratulated his brother. "It seems like we guessed correctly this time, brother."

This time!? Abel thought. So this entire venture was pure speculation? Well, she of all people couldn't really justify getting angry.

"Yeah, the size of the explosion is perfect too!" Shoujou shouted back.

"Can we get there!?" Luffy shouted up at them. The smaller Merry was getting pushed off track.

"Yeah, yeah!" the brothers replied. "We can get there!" Both ships shot out hooks attached with rope that grasped onto the Merry's bulwark. The ship gave a sharp shake as it fell in line with the larger, less battered ships. So they were going to be towed in?

Peering down, Masira explained, "We'll take you to the track of the whirlpool!"

"... And then!?" Nami demanded, fighting back panic. "What do we do after that!?" Now was not the time to fly by the seat of their pants.

"Get on the flow! If you can get to the center, things should work out!"

For a second the crew thought they were joking. Go into the center of the giant whirlpool. That was suicide. But when no punch line followed, it became painfully clear this was no joke. "YOU NEVER SAID WE NEEDED TO GET SUCKED IN!" Nami shrieked.

Even Abel could admit to the cold feeling of dread that gripped her as she stared helplessly at the massive whirlpool, watching the ocean disappear into a black void. She couldn't even see to the other side, it was so gargantuan. "I guess we should have anticipated something like this with Cricket's hypothesis about the stream being caused by a massive current getting sucked into the earth." A large current getting sucked through a small opening would inevitably create a whirlpool, just like water going down a bathtub drain. It was oversight on Abel's part, but that didn't mean she had to like it. The whirlpool made her feel like Odysseus facing off against the sea monster Charybdis in the classic story. Actually, Abel would have preferred this to be from a massive sea monster sucking up water. She could fight a monster. She couldn't fight nature.

"Don't worry!" Sanji proclaimed. "I will protect Nami-san, Abel-dono and Robin-chan!" Abel held her tongue.

A bit too calmly, but with just a hint of apprehension in her voice, Robin mused, "I've never seen one quite this big before." Hopefully it wouldn't be the last thing she saw.

"NO!" Usopp squealed, in tears. "NO, NO, NO! GO BACK! I WANT TO GO BACK!"

"Just accept it, Usopp," Zoro grumbled. "It's too late. Somebody is already... hyper."

Oblivious to the fact that they might very well die, Luffy screamed to the heavens, "HERE I COME! SKY ISLAND!"

Abel ran her gaze along the swirling trail that promised to lead them to... something, when she noticed an odd little (in comparison) current trying to go against the tide. She watched it curiously for a moment, and jumped when a gecko-like sea king lunged from the water. It hissed and snarled, but despite the aggression it soon became apparent it wasn't after their ship. It was simply trying to escape the current. But not even a mighty sea king could overpower the fearsome current, and swiftly gave up the fight, its larger body zipping away with the waves. Around her, some of her crew watched on in abject horror. Abel read their expressions. If not even a sea king stood a chance...?

Dragging his attention away from their impending doom, Zoro noticed certain people were missing. "Where did they...?" The swordsman sweatdropped when he spotted their escorts a safe distance away, outside the pull of the whirlpool, suspiciously no longer towing them.
"All right then!" the two salvagers shouted over the roar of the waves. "The rest is up to you now!"

"Thanks for the lift!" Luffy carelessly called back, waving happily.

"I'm not certain 'thanks' is the proper salutation for this situation," Abel murmured, earning a nod from Zoro and Sanji.

Thinking along the same vein, Usopp shrieked, "WAIT!" The sniper began flailing his arms around widely, as if possessed. In a way he was: possessed by a spirit of fear. "LET US GO! THIS IS TOO TERRIFYING! LET US GO BACK, ASSHOLE! WE'LL DIE FOR SURE!"

"No one said anything about diving headfirst into a giant whirlpool!" Nami cried. "This is a scam!"

"Pretty sure Cricket made it quite clear how batshite insane this plan was," Abel disagreed. True, he left out the part about having to be sucked into a monster whirlpool, but it wasn't like that would've changed Luffy's mind.

As they neared the center of the beast, they passed under the Millennium Cumulonimbus, throwing them into a familiar darkness. As if things weren't eerie enough. Hopefully those "monsters" didn't show up. Directing her eyes away from the sky, Abel watched as their tiny ship grew closer and closer to the vortex of the whirlpool with each revolution. Just a few more minutes...

"Let's go back, Luffy!" Usopp tried pleading. "It's not too late!"

I kinda think it is... Abel thought, peering into the swirling ocean. Short of someone pulling a rocket engine out of their nether regions, they were not getting out of this monstrosity.

But fear and denial were powerful things. "Isn't it obvious? Just this whirlpool is enough to kill us! That sky island is just a dream within in a dream!"

"Dream within a dream..." Luffy repeated thoughtfully. "Sounds about right..."

Seizing the opportunity to try talking sense into Luffy (although that was a moot point now), Nami quickly added, "Yes! Luffy! I don't think we can do this, either!"

"An island in a dream within a dream." Their hope quickly turned to dismay when Luffy spun around to face them, grinning from ear to ear. His eyes sparkled with absolute delight. "If we miss the chance for a grand adventure like this, we'll regret it for the rest of our lives for sure!"

Usopp and Nami resigned to cry together. He is actually enjoying this!

"Hey," Zoro interrupted their moping, his calm voice completely not sitting well with their predicament. Catching the cowardly duo's eyes, he pointed at the sea. "While you guys are pointlessly trying to resist..."

"Yeah?" Usopp asked hesitantly. "What is it?"

Abel felt torn between looking away and keeping her eyes on the black void beneath them. Even her stomach dropped at the bottomless pit they were about to plunge into. Wisely leaning away before she lost her nerve, Abel snatched Dogmeat up beneath one arm and warned, "Gird up your loins like a man, Sparkplug."

Abel prepared herself right before the Going Merry took the plunge. Rather than going down the drain with the rest of the ocean into the vortex, the strong tide threw their ship into open air as the swirling water created an almost sheer vertical wall leading down into the darkness. A scream went out among the crew as everyone scrambled for something to hold onto, lest they fly off. As scary as falling into the abyss was, falling separated from the crew would be even worse. Over the shouts, she heard Sanji calling for Nami to lie upon his chest, as if that would help. The man couldn't be too scared if he had time to think of things like that.

Abel expected the sharp descent followed by the typical sensation of her stomach shifting into her throat. What she didn't expect, however, was how short the descent turned out to be. Didn't time usually slow during life-threatening situations? So why did barely a few seconds pass before the ship landed? Not only that, but the landing had been far more gentle than Abel would have expected, given the velocity they should have built up. They'd been barely jostled. Frowning in confusion, Abel stood straight again and gazed around them. She blinked, feeling her own confusion mirrored in Dogmeat limply hanging from her grasp. What? the hunter thought. They were still on the sea... the completely calm, non-threatening sea. As the crew murmured around her, Abel scanned the area. Not only were they still on the sea, but there wasn't a single sign of the massive whirlpool from just a few seconds ago.

"What!?" Sanji gasped, voicing everyone's thoughts. "It disappeared? How come?"

"What happened!?" Luffy demanded, actually sounding upset they weren't dead.

Feeling like she was in a haze, Abel set Dogmeat back on the deck. However, rather than being relieved, the dog continued to act antsy. He gave a low whine, ears laid back, pawing anxiously at the ground. His behavior did little to reassure the hunter. Abel had always heard animals were more sensitive to natural phenomenon, being able to predict storms and earthquakes. Was there something going on they didn't see?

Abel looked up as Usopp ran passed her, standing at the railing's edge. He gaped at the sea, strangely torn between relief and discomfort. "That whirlpool was huge! I don't get it. Where'd it go?" He ought to be happy, but the whirlpool's disappearance set him even more on edge. It felt like something even worse was coming.

"That's not it...!" Nami croaked, catching everyone's attention. Abel turned from the sea to stare at their navigator, who looked unhealthily pale. Her dilated eyes stared down into the sea, as if seeing something the rest couldn't. "It's started...!" she croaked again, sweating. "The whirlpool has only disappeared into the seabed!"

Abel's eyes widened slightly as she realized the implications. "Then the sea is about to explode." If the whirlpool was the sign of water rushing into an underground cavern, its disappearance meant the cavern was full and currently being heated by magma in the earth's crust. And that meant-

"Hold it!"

An unexpected shout broke Abel from her musings. Turning in the direction of the call, Abel stared, dumbfounded at the sight before them. An odd ship was currently rowing rapidly toward them, clearly intent on having a chat. The entire scene was a bit surreal to Abel, given both the oddness of the ship and the crew aboard. It was clearly a pirate ship, based on the black flags, but it resembled more of a raft than a proper ship. The "ship" consisted entirely of four huge tree trunks, somehow with cannons pointing out from inside the logs. A single mast with three black sails, the largest and middle of which proudly displayed the crew's Jolly Roger. Abel didn't recognize the design, three skulls surrounded by eight thigh bones, but she usually didn't with most pirate crews. Overall, the impression was more than a little half-assed.

Luffy stepped around Abel, eyes intent on the ship. "Zoro, Abel," he called lightly.

"Yeah?" Zoro replied.

"That's..."

It was the strange men they'd met at Mock Town. There was the big, hairy man who'd talked to them outside the pub after the incident with Bellamy. Helping row the strange ship was the fighting champ and the sickly man, ironically, with his horse behind him. There was a fourth man Abel didn't remember seeing. Abel's initial thoughts upon seeing his strange attire was "depressed jester." But the incredibly long rifle across his back was no joke. "Is this what you meant by 'they'?" Abel queried, recalling the guys' cryptic words. "So you weren't just being weird." Although maybe it was weird to meet someone for the first time and automatically assume they were part of the crew. Then again, logic said there were few solitary pirates.

Oblivious to his bad timing, the big man laughed proudly. "I caught up to ya, Straw Hat Luffy! I'm here to collect on your one-hundred million bounty! Prepare yourself!"

Bad timing? Abel wondered. They were kinda busy.

"My bounty?" Luffy instead chose to focus on. "What do you mean one-hundred million?"

"So you didn't know after all," the big man mused before finally wondering, "Why is it only dark here?" Ignoring the strangeness of the situation, as if it could get any weirder, the big man help up two pieces of paper. "There's a bounty worth one-hundred million berries on your head!" he shouted. "And Pirate Hunter Zoro! You're worth sixty-million!"

Rummaging in his pack for his binoculars, Usopp swiftly zoomed in on the papers. "It's true!" he gasped when he got a good glimpse. "They have new bounties! Zoro! You've become a wanted pirate!"

"What!?" Sanji snarled, racing over to Usopp. "Hold on! What about me? There's a bounty for me, too, right?"

"No," Usopp replied flatly.

"Look closer," Sanji growled, getting the sniper in a headlock.

"Still no." Abel just shook her head as Sanji stressed over not having a bounty. Was it that great a thing? Maybe he was just upset that Zoro had one and not him. But Abel recalled he'd been depressed when Luffy first got his. Maybe it was some weird male pirate rite of passage? Abel figured it wasn't worth thinking about. Men complained about not understanding women, but men did bizarre things for the sake of their egos as well.

"Really?" Nami gasped, a little stunned at the rapid increase. "Did the incidents in Alabasta dramatically increase their values?"

"A reasonable assumption," Abel replied. "I'm certain by now Captain Smoker's reported on what transpired, including Boss' role in Crocodile's demise. Even if they refuse to publicly acknowledge his role, Boss' bounty would inevitably be higher than the foes he defeats." It made sense. Defeating a Shichibukai demonstrated Luffy's strength, meaning he was more dangerous and thus warranted a higher bounty. As for Zoro... sixty-million was pretty high for a first-time bounty, at least Abel assumed given how the others reacted when Luffy's was first set at thirty-million. But Zoro had always had a dangerous reputation before, it just wasn't an illegal one at the time. Abel wasn't sure why they waited until after Alabasta, but she didn't claim to understand politics.

Abel grinned in bemusement as the two in question looked downright ecstatic. "Hear that!?" Luffy trumpeted. "One-hundred million!"

"Sixty-million?" Not too bad either," Zoro laughed, looking more than a little proud of himself.

"Congratulations?" Abel drawled.

"You two!" Nami snapped, clearly not amused. "Don't be so cocky!" Didn't they realize this made them bigger targets for more dangerous people? Actually, they probably did, and that's why they were so happy. It made Nami want to pull her hair out.

"Prepare to die!" the big man threatened, and Abel wondered how a pirate planned to turn in bounties. Or maybe it was less about the actual money and he just wanted to bolster his reputation.

Regardless, it didn't look like his motivations mattered, as Abel felt the ship heave upward. And not just from a wave. As the pirate raft aimed its cannons at them, the sea around the Straw Hats actually surged upward, bulging up from beneath the Going Merry. The other ship, at the base of the bulge, slid away, throwing their aim off. Not that it mattered, as their confusion at the sea's bizarre movements temporarily distracted them. But the Straw Hats knew what this meant. It was go time. "Everyone! Hold on to something or go inside!" Sanji warned.

As the crew scrambled, Abel wasted no time. Not giving Dogmeat time to react, Abel snatched him up and ran across the deck. She threw the storeroom door open and shoved the beast inside before slamming the door closed. "Sorry, boy," she apologized as she heard Dogmeat howl and bark distressingly inside, not liking being separated from his master when all hell was about to break loose. But Abel didn't want to risk him falling off the ship. It would probably take all of her focus not to fall off herself.

As their ship continued to raise, the sea bulging to distressing proportions, Abel grabbed onto the stair rail. The sea paused for a moment, creating a dramatic effect, and Abel felt the water trembling beneath their ship as the pressure building up below reached a breaking point. Clutching the wooden supports, Abel cast a quick glance around the ship. Everyone held onto something, as ready as any of them could be.

When the stream finally erupted, it was less like a pressure vessel and more like a rocket. A massive funnel of water shot into the sky, propelled into the dense clouds above them. And the Going Merry, caught up in wind and water currents, followed suit. The speed of their acceleration jarred Abel, knocking her back against the storeroom wall as the ship went completely vertical. Wind struck Abel's face fiercely, making it difficult to keep her eyes open. Honestly she wasn't entirely sure if she wanted to look. However, morbid curiosity soon took over, bolstered with the knowledge that they weren't dead yet, and Abel opened her eyes.

Shakily standing on the storeroom wall like the floor, Abel gaped in awe at the power of nature. The Going Merry sailed up into the sky, following the current as if this were completely normal. Nature truly was amazing sometimes. Staring out at the water flying into the sky, Abel remembered how amazed she'd been when they'd sailed up Reverse Mountain. This was on a whole 'nother level. For one, this was a lot more dramatic. The ship shook from the tumultuous currents forcing it to defy gravity.

"This...!" Usopp stuttered against the wind. "What is going on!?" He dangled precariously from the bow's railing.

"The ship's going straight up a pillar of water!" Sanji yelled over the wind, as if it weren't obvious. Abel thought Usopp probably meant "how" not "what".

Undaunted by this, Luffy clung to his usual seat at the figurehead. "This is so awesome!" His blasé attitude worried Abel slightly, main out of fear he'd accidentally let go and fall like a rubber ball down the stairs.

"How are we doing this!?" Usopp finally clarified.

Not waiting for a response, Luffy cheered, "All right! I can't believe it's finally happened! Go, Merry!" As if Merry had a choice.

Finally picking up the frantic barking from beneath her feet, Abel knelt to open the storeroom door. It was more difficult than usual thanks to the wind pushing against her, but Abel managed to swing the door all the way open with a loud crash. Peering inside, she noticing with chagrin that most of their supplies inside had been tossed about. A few boxes had broken open. But standing atop them was Dogmeat, who gave a chattering bark upon seeing her. He looked agitated, but unharmed. Whether from seeing Abel or having the door open to see a bit of what was going on, he calmed slightly.

Relieved he was okay, but still thinking it was best for him to stay inside, Abel turned from the door. Was it just her, or had the trip become slightly less bumpy? Pausing, Abel stood perfectly still. No, it wasn't just her imagination. The ship felt less turbulent. Abel felt a cold pit form in her stomach. "Shite..." she murmured.

Somehow having heard her over the wind, Zoro glanced her way. "What?"

Grabbing onto the bulwark, Abel tried to get a glimpse of the bottom of the ship. She strongly repressed the urge to look down. Abel frowned when the very thing she feared turned out to be true. "I guess we couldn't outrun gravity forever."

"Eh?" Luffy asked, staring at Abel as he hung upside-down.

"We're beginning to be pulled back down," Abel replied. "The initial force of the eruption was enough to counteract gravity, but now we're losing momentum. Gravity is pulling us off the stream." The ship was slowly starting to rise up, out of the stream. That's why it wasn't as rocky as before. It was touching less water.

"Speak normally!" Usopp shouted pleadingly.

Abel scowled. "What do you think will happen when we lose contact with the very thing that's allowing us to stay airborne?" she snapped.

As if the universe felt sorry for them, or perhaps wanted to taunt them, something large emerged from the stream ahead of them. Chopper screamed as he pointed to a sea king flying out of the stream and falling back to earth. "It's the one that got sucked in earlier!" Chopper gasped, recognizing the gecko-looking creature.

"That will be us soon if we don't find a way to regain momentum," Abel concluded. Ships weren't meant to fly, despite the Merry's unnatural penchant for it.

It finally seemed to sink in what Abel meant. "Hey now!" Zoro chastised, frowning at Abel, not in anger but in frustration at the situation. "We're riding up a powerful explosion. What can we possibly do?" They weren't exactly in control of the situation. It was hard enough surviving on the Grand Line on a normal day. This was as far from normal as they could get.

"So we just hold on and hope for the best?" Sanji questioned, though no one seemed to have the answer.

Chopper cried as he hung from the mast, watching as chunks of destroyed ships and small sea creatures began to rain down around them, falling out of the current. "Lots of stuff is falling! Other victims of the Knock-Up Stream!"

"We are done for!" Usopp wailed. "If we fall down at this height we'll be smashed to bits!" Abel wanted to snap at them all that panicking wouldn't help their situation, but she honestly had no idea what would help. This was so beyond her expertise.

Ironically, it was the one crewmember who ought to be panicking but wasn't that broke through the chaos. "Spread the sails! Hurry!" Nami's strong order snapped everyone to attention, and they stared unheedingly at their navigator. In a rush, but speaking with stubborn confidence, Nami explained, "This is the sea! Not just a pillar of water! It's a rising current! The wind blowing from below is a rising air current produced by geothermal heat and a steam explosion!" Nami smiled at the crew's shocked expressions. "If our opponent is the wind and sea, we'll sail on in their faces! After all, who's this ship's navigator?"

Abel grinned. She could tell part of Nami's confidence was bravado, but the rest was just her typical haughty attitude. In some way, Nami should want more than the rest of them to prove this was possible. An impossible current that no one could master? How could their redhead back down from such a challenge? Besides, when it came to the sea and wind, Abel would always listen to Nami's advice.

Swooning, Sanji crooned, "You are, Nami-san! All right men! Do what Nami-san says!"

Spurred into action, the crew scrambled to follow Nami's instructions. "Catch the starboard wind and pull the helm to point!" Nami instructed as Luffy shimmied along the mast to lower the main sail, while Zoro and Sanji ran across the walls toward the aft to direct the lateen sail. "Make the body of the ship parallel to the stream!" Steering didn't matter at this point. They just needed to catch the wind. If they could catch the updraft, they'd stay aloft even without the stream.

"Yes sir!"

Chopper let out a panicked squeak. "This is bad! The ship is starting to completely lose contact with the stream!" Abel staggered slightly as the nose of the ship tilted back, the ship preparing to tumble completely backwards and downwards.

"We're gonna fall!" Luffy yelled, feeling the ship slow. "We're gonna fall, Nami! Do something, Nami!"

"No," Nami said sternly. "We can make it!"

Abel gasped when the lowered sail snapped open, catching the updraft, jerking the ship completely into the air. But amazingly, they started picking up speed, literally flying up into the sky, riding the invisible winds still flowing strong from the Knock-Up Stream. Abel felt a giddy laugh bubble up in her chest, and she couldn't stop smiling. It seemed impossible, yet using the strange logic behind this improbable event allowed them to achieve it. Let those fool sit in their narrow, boring world. It was moments like this that Abel lived for. To defy expectations, and discover the truth behind legends and stories. This might not be a monster, but they were about to prove the legend of sky island one way or another. Even the normally stoic members of the crew couldn't erase the big smiles on their faces.

"So cool!" Luffy screamed, having resumed his position at the figurehead. "The ship is really flying!"

"I did it," Nami breathed shakily, almost having a hard time believing it herself.

"Nami-san, you're so cool!"

"With this wind and current, we can go as high as we want," Nami advised.

Leaning back, Luffy asked, "Hey, Nami! Are we almost to sky island!?"

"If it exists, it's passed those clouds," Nami replied, pointing at their approaching destination. The sea punched a hole straight through the floating fossil. They would have their answer in just a few moments.

Luffy snapped his head back around, beaming with unbridled anticipation. "I wonder what's on top of there...!"

We're about to find out, Abel thought as they neared the base of the clouds.

Abel felt her skin burst into goosebumps as soon as she hit the cloud cover. Plunging in, the odd consistency of the clouds took Abel aback. She'd never touched a cloud, but she expected it to feel a little like mist or fog: cold but essentially weightless. Or, given that this was a "special" cloud, perhaps a bit spongy. But this felt like neither. The Millennium Cumulonimbus felt a lot more water than vapor. It didn't feel exactly like being underwater. The vapor felt thinner... lighter. Almost slippery, but not what Abel would call oily. Whatever it was, the odd consistency allowed them to sail easily through it.

There was one major problem, however. There was no air. When she tried to breathe in, it felt like Abel had inhaled water. Quickly, Abel clamped her hand over her mouth and nose, as if to physically restrain herself from breathing in more. Above them, Abel spotted light streaming down from the surface, and prayed the light outran the gray crowding her vision. Normally Abel had excellent breath control, but she hadn't expected the cloud to be so watery, and thus hadn't taken a breath before entering. Light-headedness was beginning to creep up.

Just as her lungs began to feel like they were on fire, suddenly the sky opened up. The light, previously diffused by the clouds, nearly blinded Abel, turning her vision all white. Feeling warmer air around her, Abel released her hold on her face, sucking in glorious oxygen. It was only then that she realized they'd stopped flying up, and began to feel gravity pulling them back down. Abel felt a brief moment of panic before the ship crashed into something, but only hard enough to send her sprawling on the deck, not destroying the ship.

Abel laid there motionless for a moment, trying to catch her breath. It felt like no matter how hard she breathed, she couldn't get enough air, and she continued to experience some light-headedness. Hopefully that went away when she caught her breath. With her eyes closed, she heard the rest of the crew gasping and coughing, and felt a gentle, warm breeze brush across her skin. She felt a shadow fall over her before feeling something dry repeatedly brushing across her face, followed by plaintive whining. Cracking an eye open, Abel was greeted by Dogmeat's rough tongue brushing eagerly over her cheeks. Groaning, Abel rolled fully onto her stomach, and Dogmeat pulled back. With shaking arms, the hunter pushed herself up. Casting her eyes across the deck, Abel felt relieved to see everyone alive and intact, though slightly worse for the wear.

"Damn..." she heard Zoro pant somewhere off to the side. "What happened? Is everyone... all right?"

"Hey!" Luffy suddenly exclaimed, startling Abel. How was the boy so chipper already? And since when did he have a string attached to his hat? Smart, as it had kept it from blowing away, but that meant it couldn't have been Luffy who came up with it. "Hey, look you guys! Outside the ship!" he shouted excitedly.

Slightly envious of Luffy's recovery speed, Abel absently rubbed Dogmeat's head as he head-butted her (maybe he thought it was playtime since Abel was on the ground) before placing one shaking foot on the deck and heaving herself into a standing position. Abel instantly regretted getting up so fast, as she felt all the blood rush from her brain. Kneeling over, Abel held her head as her vision faded out for a second, fearing she might pass out. Abel chastised herself. Surely they were higher than most mountains by now, so naturally her body wasn't used to the change in elevation. If she wasn't careful, she'd end up with Acute Mountain Sickness. Fortunately, once her blood reshifted back to its normal position, the dizziness passed. But when she stood this time, Abel was very mindful to take things slow.

Finally examining where they'd ended up, Abel's mouth fell open slightly in awe at the scene awaiting them, any thought of physical ailments dissipating. Clouds... clouds all around them. Clouds in the distance, clouds above and clouds below. Just a solid landscape of puffy whiteness. It was beautiful. Pristine. But it also hurt Abel's eyes a little. It was hard to tell where one cloud ended and another began. Or did they end at all? Glancing up, Abel watched as light scattered through the clouds, creating a picturesque image. But if there were clouds above them, did that mean they were in the middle of the Millennium Cumulonimbus?

"What is this place?" Sanji asked, voicing everyone's thoughts as he gawked at the scene as everyone gathered to just stare. What else could they do? It looked so familiar yet so alien.

"It's so white!" Luffy laughed. It was even whiter than snow.

"Clouds!?" Chopper gasped, eyes sparkling. He thought it was even prettier than Drum.

Ever the logical one, Nami could only gawk in disbelief, despite everything they'd just gone through. "On top of the clouds...! How are we sailing on clouds!?" It should be impossible. Especially given that they'd just burst through them.

Undaunted, Luffy replied, "Clouds float. Boats float. It's the same thing."

"No, it's not!" the other guys protested. Boats floated in the water, not on the sky.

Turning her gaze from the surroundings, Abel noticed that the ship had taken a bit of a beating. The main sail was torn from its ropes, leaving it dangling uselessly in the light breeze (in the clouds) with several holes that would need mending. And the wings had broken sometime during their rough flight. But Abel couldn't find it within herself to care much at the moment. She noticed Dogmeat raising his nose, sniffing at the air. What did clouds smell like?

"This is bad!" Chopper's shrill cry interrupted, causing Abel's head to snap around. "Usopp isn't breathing!" Sure enough, the boy was the only one not up.

"What!?" Luffy shrieked, leaping over the railing to reach his friend. "Think of something! Do CPR!" Abel thought they were overreacting. She could see the boy breathing. He was just in shock.

That didn't stop Sanji from trying to take advantage of the situation. "Okay! I'll do CPR on Nami-san!"

Abel couldn't resist muttering, "Be like kissing a snake."

"What?" Nami growled.

"What?" Abel repeated innocently. The redhead scowled, but apparently wasn't completely convinced of what Abel had said. And in truth, Abel was referring to the fact that Nami would probably bite Sanji's face off if he tried.

"Hey..." Abel turned from one scowling face to another, though this time it was Zoro looking somewhat... concerned? It was hard to tell sometimes. Even his concerned face tended to veer toward angry. But it must've been concern, because he asked Abel, "Are you all right? Your face is red."

Abel blinked, caught off guard. "Is it?" she asked, not facetiously. Pressing her hands to her cheeks, Abel found that they did feel a bit warm. "Huh..." Abel breathed, moving her hands down to her neck. Now that she was paying attention, she did feel a little flushed. Not in the bashful way, but as if she'd been exercising. Testingly, she pressed her fingers into her carotid, measuring the beats. "My pulse is a little higher than normal, which would account for the flushing." With that mystery solved, Abel removed her hand from her neck. "It's fine."

Zoro's brow twitched. "How is that fine?"

Rationally, Abel explained, "I'd wager if we checked, everyone's blood pressure is slightly elevated currently. It's to be expected given our rapid ascent. Higher altitude equals lower air pressure. From a simplistic standpoint, there's currently less air pressing down on us from above." Seeing the blank stare the swordsman gave her, Abel chuckled and tried to say it as simply as possible. "Blood is mostly water, so it flows more easily at higher altitudes. My heart simply hasn't adjusted to the fact that it doesn't need to work as hard to move my blood efficiently. It will probably take us all some time to adapt."

After a moment, Zoro just nodded slowly, as if he understood. He thought he got the gist of it. Frankly, he was just glad Abel was talking to him normally. Well, "normally" for Abel. Awkwardness was something he strongly desired to avoid.

"So this is the sea of the sky." Abel turned away from Zoro at Nami's breathy statement. The redhead glanced down at her log pose, frowning when she noticed something. "But look." She held it up, pointing at the needle. "The log pose is still pointing up!"

"It seems we're in the middle of the Millennium Cumulonimbus," Robin mused, following Abel's thoughts.

Chopper hopping up onto the railing next to the archeologist drew Abel's attention. "We need to go higher?" Chopper asked, quirking his head cutely. "How?"

"That, I don't know," Robin freely admitted.

Glancing above them again, Abel commented half-jokingly, "Another Knock-Up Stream is clearly out." The smirked slightly when Nami glared at her.

"In swimming lane number one, Captain Usopp!"

Upon hearing his boasting, Abel turned away from one conversation to the next. Abel raised a brow as Usopp, clearly recovered from his shock (or perhaps covering it up), poised on the railing, striking a strong-man pose, with Luffy and Chopper cheering him on. Confused, Abel glanced back to where Chopper had just been. The spot where the little reindeer had been sitting was now vacant. How did he get over there so quickly? she wondered, turning around to watch this spectacle.

"Hey now," Sanji warned, not liking where this was going. "Don't be reckless. We still don't know anything about this place." They might have just burst through it, but that didn't mean Sanji trusted it. Who knew what might be swimming around?

With a bit too much self-confidence, Usopp scoffed, "A sea is a sea!" and before anyone could stop him, dived in. The rest of the crew could only watch in either excitement, dismay or irritation as white swiftly drowned out Usopp's shadow.

Everyone gathered along the side, waiting and watching. They expected Usopp to just swim around and pop back up, bragging about his bravery and telling them what it was like to swim in a cloud. But as the seconds ticked away, a sense of concern slowly took hold of the crew. "He's... not coming back up," Zoro pointed out.

Abel bit her bottom lip as she said slowly, "Pure speculation, but..." Her brow creased, and she kept her eyes on the sea. "If we were able to come up through this sea, how easy would it be to fall back down?"

Everyone gasped as the implications of Abel's question hit hard. "You don't mean...!" Sanji gasped, not wanting to say it out loud.

"Did that idiot fall off the cloud!?" Zoro shouted, concern expressing itself as anger.

With a cry of Usopp's name, Luffy was swift to respond, throwing his arm into the clouds in a frantic bid to catch Usopp before it was too late. "That moron! I tried to tell him!" Sanji snarled as they could only wait and trust Luffy.

"Stretch your arm as far as you can!" Robin instructed Luffy, not panicking, but very impassioned.

"But I can't see down there!" Luffy wailed, fearing for his friend.

With a firm expression, Robin replied, "Don't worry. I'll handle it." Luffy sniffled, but took heart at Robin's calm, confident demeanor and did as she instructed. As he did, Robin crossed her arms and closed her eyes. "Ojos Fleur."

The crew fell silent, all eyes on Robin as she focused. Abel couldn't see what the woman was doing, but she had a guess. As "ojos" meant "eyes," she suspected Robin had used her Devil Fruit to sprout eyes on Luffy's arm to literally look for Usopp. Abel wondered how difficult it was for Robin to coordinate so many different limbs and body parts. It must take a create deal of concentration. Being a scholar probably helped. Abel couldn't imagine how hard it would be to make sense of all the different views Robin was probably seeing right now and make sense of them.

After several tense minutes, Robin finally announced, "There he is!"

"Eh!? Where!?" Luffy demanded. Which way should he go?

Robin didn't answer directly. "Seis Fleur!" Abel guessed Robin had sprouted six of her own arms off Luffy's to catch their wayward sniper. Robin quickly confirmed Abel's hunch when she finally opened her eyes and gave a little smile. "Okay. Pull him up."

Luffy made an... interesting expression as he reeled Usopp in like a fish. It made Abel wonder just how far down the sniper had fallen. But at last, with a triumphant cry, Luffy's arms, Robin's hands, and Usopp emerged from the clouds. "You did it!" Nami cheered. "You pulled-" Nami's cheers quickly turned to screams of terror as Usopp wasn't the only thing that emerged from the clouds. Two sky beasts, a giant octopus and a giant barracuda-like fish chased after Usopp.

"They want to eat Usopp!" Sanji exclaimed as the fish snapped its sharp jaws toward the flying man.

He does resemble a lure, Abel thought, even as she whipped out her crossbow as the octopus raised several tentacles to smash them. In her periphery, she saw Dogmeat lunge at the beast.

Abel fired several bolts into the threatening limb, hoping to dissuade the beast. She didn't expect for the tentacle to explode in a loud pop of air as soon as the bolts pierced it, however. The loud noise, combined with the unexpected sight of an octopus' limb shredding to pieces, made Abel jump. A second pop quickly followed, with Dogmeat landing on the deck with a confused expression and a chunk of octopus in his mouth. He gave Abel a questioning look, surprised and confused, and maybe a little disappointed.

Leaving the oddness for another time, Abel swiftly focused her attention on the second beast, only to find Zoro and Sanji summarily handling it without problems. A few knocks to the head sent the half-fish/half-snake creature down for the count, its pointed teeth snagging on the side of the ship, leaving it dangling like a limp piece of fly paper. Feeling somewhat let down by the anticlimactic first encounter with sky monsters, Abel slid her crossbow back in place and moved closer to examine the damage.

Sanji scowled at the strange fish, kicking it slightly in the head. "What do you make of this?" he asked to no one in particular. "This is the strangest creature I've ever seen. I'm not even sure it's a fish." Were those feathers?

"That octopus popped like a balloon," Luffy added, looking slightly winded.

"It's still an animal," Zoro replied, sheathing his swords. "It was moving."

"I can't believe things live in the clouds!" Nami again reiterated, still having a hard time adapting to this weirdness.

Chopper quick ran over to examine Usopp where the boy had landed. In all the commotion, Abel had forgotten about him. Sparing him a brief glance, Abel saw he was once again unconscious. Abel couldn't say what was more annoying: his cowardice or his bravado. Seemed he was a magnet for trouble either way.

Staring out at the deceptively tranquil surroundings, Zoro mused, "Looks like it's better to think of this place as an ocean rather than a cloud." He figured it was probably best not to question how these animals existed here. Logically nothing ought to be in the clouds. Once that fact went out the window, anything went. Surreptitiously, Zoro glanced toward Abel. He found it odd that she hadn't given an opinion on the matter yet, what with her interest in odd creatures.

Curiously, Chopper asked, "What's this flat snake?"

"A flounder!" Luffy quickly answered, sounding very proud of himself. "Because it's flat!"

"So this is a flounder...?" Chopper murmured.

A sudden scream caught everyone off guard. "What is it this time, Usopp!" Sanji snapped, at the end of his patience with the sniper.

Usopp wiggled around in obvious discomfort before his hand flew down the front of his pants. Before Abel could tell him that was something best handled in private, Usopp pulled his hand back, bringing with it the source of his pain: a very alive, very toothy fish. Abel felt only the tiniest bit of sympathy, not wishing to imagine being a man and having something with teeth near her privates. Jeez... being a man was hazardous. Dropping the fish, Usopp curled into the fetal position on the deck and began murmuring almost deliriously about the dangers of sky island. "Not his day," Robin commented sympathetically.

"It's just Darwinism at work," Abel replied unsympathetically. The stupid didn't survive long simply because the stupid did stupid things that ended their lives early, thus preventing them from passing on their stupid genes. At least in theory. That didn't really explain why there were still so many stupid people around, but Abel blamed the safety net of society preventing them from suffering the full consequences of their stupid choices.

Ignoring the evolutionary dead-end, Abel instead chose to focus on the more interesting creatures. Whipping out her ever-present notebook and pencil, Abel decided to begin with the still living creature. Dogmeat, who'd been sniffing the writhing fish, stepped back just enough for Abel to examine it. With practiced precision, Abel drew a rough sketch of the small fish. Like the flounder-snake thing, its body was wide and flat, giving it a boxy shape. Its mouth was wide and full of sharp teeth, yet its eyes were set far apart, on either side of its wide head. Abel found this observation interesting because typically predatory fish, like sharks, had narrow heads with their eyes more situated toward the front. Granted fish tended to rely less on sight and more on specialized senses, but perhaps this suggested this species was more opportunistic, maybe even a scavenger, catching whatever happened to fall in front of it.

Moving on, Abel passed her hand over the wriggling fish. She hummed thoughtfully at the odd texture of its scales. Rather than being smooth, they felt rough. Feathery, almost. It even had powderpuff-like nodule at the end of each spine on its main fins. Curiously, Abel slid her hand under the fish to lift it, making note of how incredibly light it was. Abel was distantly aware of the rest of the crew watching and waiting patiently for her to finish her examination.

Turning from the small skyfish, as she'd decided, Abel glanced around the deck until she spotted the bit of balloon octopus flesh. ... it needed a better name. Octoloon? Balloonopus? No, Abel didn't like terms with "pus" in it because they quickly became vulgar jokes to the less mature due to sounding like a derogatory colloquium for certain female anatomy that Abel abhorred. Octoloon it was then.

Picking up the chunk of octoloon flesh, Abel was surprised at how it matched the gummy, malleable texture of regular octopus. Maybe it shouldn't have been so surprising, but Abel had expected something more rubbery, like an actual balloon. But the idea of them being filled with air lead to all sorts of questions for Abel. Normal octopi may lack skeletons, but they still had muscles. Yet Abel found nothing attached to the flesh in her hands. It was just... skin. And even creatures without real muscles, like worms, had chambers of fluid inside that they internally changed the pressure in to move. Did the air function the same way? Had the octopus simply evolved to have air instead of fluid to help with buoyancy? Glancing out at the water, Abel saw only discarded chunks of octoloon limbs, but not the creature itself, meaning she'd have to find another specimen to get her answer.

Leaving this as a mystery for now, Abel finally turned to the thing Luffy deemed a flounder. It was certainly flat like one, though long and skinny, resembling a snake. Actually the shape of its body made Abel think of a tapeworm, but with a fish's head. And similarly to the small skyfish, its scales were feathery, its fins closer to the wings of a bat than the fins of a fish.

With her notes and sketches made, Abel snapped her notebook closed, retying the string to hold it closed. As she turned, she blinked at the eager stares from the crew. When Abel merely raised a brow, Nami asked eagerly, "Well?"

"Well what?" Abel asked back.

"Well what did you find out!?" the redhead snapped impatiently.

"Nothing that you shouldn't have been able to learn with your own eyes," Abel replied. Seeing Nami's face turning the same red as her hair, Abel decided to elaborate, "There's nothing super- or preternatural about these creatures. They're the same as their counterparts in our ocean, except they've adapted to best live in this environment."

"So they turned all balloon-like and flat and stuff?" Zoro summarized, sounding a little skeptical.

"Correct," Abel replied without missing a beat. "As Sparkplug inadvertently demonstrated, this sea of clouds is less dense than our sea of pure liquid water. Therefore, anything that wishes to survive here had to evolve in ways to make themselves lighter and more buoyant. What's perfectly natural here only appears strange to us because it's not what we're accustomed to." "Strange" and "normal" are subjective terms referring to what we're used to and what we're not.

Abel's explanation seemed to make sense to the crew, or as much sense as any of this could be made. But not everyone cared to listen, or cared at all, as Luffy demonstrated when he randomly appeared shouting, "This is yummy!" with a plate of something just recently cooked.

"I sautéed it," Sanji added casually, lighting up as he sauntered down the steps from the galley.

It took Abel's brain a second to shift gears and realized they'd left a live skyfish unattended on the deck. A skyfish that was no longer present... at least not in its living form. "We weren't still examining that!" Nami snapped. Abel knew she should be annoyed as well at Luffy eating her specimen, but she was too busy wondering how Sanji managed to cook the fish so quickly. Either she'd taken a lot longer than she thought during her examination... or Sanji had a flamethrower tucked away in the galley.

Fuming, Nami snatched the plate from Luffy. She was fully prepared to berate both of them further, but the enticing aroma from the cooked fish distracted her. As much as she didn't want to be like Luffy, her curiosity was too much. What would skyfish taste like? Delicately, Nami brought a piece of the fish to her mouth. Her eyes widened at the heavenly flavor that enveloped her tongue. "Oh! It's really good!" she exclaimed, sending Sanji into a fevered pitch. "I've never tasted anything like it!" It was very light and delicate, almost melting in her mouth. Was it due to the fish having to be light enough to stay in the clouds?

"That's it!" Luffy declared. "Cook that big guy, too!"

Abel shook her head, but didn't bother getting anything other than bemused. She'd made her notes and sketches. The bodies were essentially useless now. Might as well not let them go to waste. Abel believed in responsible hunting, after all.

"Hey guys!" Chopper's excited voice squeaked. "There's a ship and..." Even though the deer trailed off, Abel still directed her attention his way. He sat cutely atop the bulwark, binoculars peering at something in the distance.

But before Abel could question what had his attention, she got distracted by Dogmeat jumping to his feet, ear perked. Abel watched as he stared off in the exact same direction as Chopper, sniffing the air before his lips curled back in a snarl. This automatically had Abel on alert. Even more so when Chopper made a scared, sputtering sound before dropping the binoculars with a loud clatter. "What is it?" Abel quickly asked. "You said you saw a ship?" Abel peered in the same direction, but whatever it had been was too far for her to see. However, Abel did see a small plume of black smoke over the horizon. Had the ship caught fire?

Staggering to his feet, Chopper tried to explain what he'd seen in his panicked state. "No... um, there was a ship... but the ship isn't there anymore!"

Hoping her attitude would rub off on the reindeer and make him more coherent, Abel calmly questioned, "What happened to the ship?"

Her hopes were in vain, however, as Chopper's next response was even less coherent. "There's a bull, and it's running on the clouds! It's coming straight for us!" It didn't help that Dogmeat kept snarling, and if he had fur it would've been standing on end.

By this point, the commotion had caught everyone else's attention. "I don't get it," Zoro grumbled, trying his hardest to make out what Chopper was on about. "Calm down!" As usual, telling someone to calm down seemed to have the opposite effect, resulting in Chopper squealing even more. Abel tossed Zoro a "way to go" look which he stalwartly ignored.

Coming up behind the two, Sanji murmured, "What's he tryin' to say?"

Sighing, Abel figured the only way she'd get to the bottom of this was for her to look herself. Ignoring Chopper, who had jumped onto the deck as he continued trying to make the others understand without success, Abel stood at the railing. A quick glance in the same direction quickly revealed what had the doctor in a snit. Something, or rather someone, was currently barreling toward them. Abel's eyes widened at the bizarre sight, but she didn't question it too much. "There's a person skimming across the clouds toward us," she warned.

This caught everyone's attention. "A person?" Nami repeated, sounding skeptical. "I hope they're friendly..."

"Given the weaponry, war mask and general haste, I'd say not," Abel retorted. At least now she understood why Chopper called him a bull, as his mask had bull horns protruding from the top. His general appearance made Abel think tribal warrior, with the grass skirt, dark skin, and tattoos, but the bazooka in his hand was most definitely not primitive. And how was he skimming across the surface like that?

Before they could react, the man leapt from the clouds toward their ship. "Hey, stop!" Sanji shouted. "What do you want!?"

"To eliminate you!" the man growled with single-minded hatred, and Abel caught a glimpse of dark eyes glaring wickedly from behind the mask.

"Oh, is that all..." Sanji complained, stepping back to ground himself for an attack.

"Fine by me," Zoro added, drawing his swords.

"Huh? What?" Luffy said in confusion, even as he followed the other two and took up a fighting stance.

Astonishingly, the guys never had a chance to make a move. The tribal warrior weaved through the air so quickly, it was as if they'd been standing still. In just a few seconds, he'd knocked all three men down. First sending Sanji flying across the deck, then catching Zoro under the chin as the man tried to draw his swords, and finally ending with a heel to Luffy's skull after some impressive flips. And when the others expected the three to swiftly recover, they instead lay winded on the ground, dazed. "What's wrong with you three!?" Nami demanded.

As the man seemed to hover over the deck, Dogmeat lunged at him, snapping his teeth. The man swung his shield at the dog's face, but unlike the guys, Dogmeat had little trouble dodging the attack. Sliding under the swing, Dogmeat's jaws clamped onto the man's leg, drawing blood and even more ire from the man. Taking the opportunity Dogmeat had given them, Abel drew her crossbows. She didn't want to give him the chance to fire that bazooka. Abel nearly dropped the crossbows when they fired, producing a much strong kickback than normal. This caused her bolts to miss their mark... just barely. And given that, for some bizarre reason, the bolts sailed through the air far faster than before, and with enough force to pierce all the way through the wooden railing they did hit, it was to the man's luck.

Using Abel's shock as an opening, the man kicked his leg out hard, forcing Dogmeat to let go, but not without leaving a gouge in the man's lower calf where the dog's teeth sheered his skin. Undaunted, he leapt into the air. Finally pulling her attention away from her misbehaving weapons, Abel looked up at the man. She briefly noticed the odd devices on his feet. They resembled ice-skating shoes, but the "blade" on the bottom was rounded. Was that how he managed to skim the surface? Probably not the most pressing question, as the man started to train his bazooka on them.

Luckily for them, before Abel could redirect her aim, a strong, regal voice declared boldly, "That's enough!" A figured zoomed in from the sky directly at the man. As it drew nearer, Abel realized it was a man riding on the back of a very large bird. The tribal warrior turned his attention to the new threat, dropping the bazooka in favor of raising his shield just in time to block a jab from a heavy lance. Even so, the force was enough to knock the warrior into the clouds. As the man landed on their ship, his impressive black cloak blocked a full view of their supposed savior. But Abel heard the distinctive sound of armor. Unsurprising choice of clothing for someone who wields a lance. The man had acted a bit like a jouster.

Not everyone was so thrilled with his sudden appearance, however. "What!? Who is it this time!?" Nami cried, nearly in tears. Hadn't they gone through enough already?

The man finally turned to face them directly. "I am the Knight of the Sky," he declared, and despite still having his lance out, he didn't show any aggression toward them. Abel was a little taken aback by the age of their savior. His strong features weathered by time and long white beard/mustache combo revealed him to be a bit long-in-the-tooth. Yet despite his age, he seemed to have no trouble carrying himself in that heavy plate armor he wore. And though he carried himself with an air of dignity, Abel caught little glimpses that suggested he wasn't without a sense of humor. For instance, Abel saw a bright pink shirt peeking out from beneath his armor.

Abel nose crinkled slightly as the Knight's heroic visage was somewhat undone by his trusty "mount" landing beside him. That had to be the most unfortunate-looking bird Abel had ever seen. What sort of terrible natural-selection process allowed a bird to be pink and polka-dotted? The thing was probably lucky a human had taken him in, otherwise predators would've eaten it. And was it wearing a jester's hat or was that just its natural plumage? As the bird gave a high-pitched, grating call, Abel decided it was the derpiest thing she'd ever seen. And that was saying something, given her crew.

Sensing that this man meant them no harm, and that the tribal warrior had either fled or had been knocked under the sky, the crew gave a sigh of relief. Well, some sighed. The guys were still busy catching their breath. Abel cast a worrying glance their way. They'd barely done anything, yet they panted like they'd run a marathon. Not everyone was so sympathetic, however. "You three are so useless!" Nami snapped. "Three on one and you still lost!"

Giving a lopsided smile at the signal that things had returned to normal, Abel turned back around to properly address their guest. "We appreciate your intervention," Abel thanked, bowing her head slightly.

"Don't mention it," the Knight dismissed, stepping down onto the deck proper, his metal boots clanking. "I'm just doing my duty. This one's on the house." His tone of voice suggested his outfit wasn't just some enthusiastic cosplay, but that perhaps he really was some version of nobility.

Before Abel could ask what he meant by service, she heard the guys shuffling behind her. "What gives...? I feel so weak," Sanji complained, although sounding slightly less out of breath.

"I can't move well... for some reason..." Luffy whined.

"It must be because of the thin air," Robin advised.

Abel nodded in agreement with Robin's assessment. "Of course. This high above sea level, the air is much thinner." She turned to face the trio fully. "Our bodies have to work harder to get the necessary amount of oxygen to our muscles. That's why strenuous activities are more difficult. I bet your bodies were still recovering from the fight with the sky beasts." Abel recalled how they'd all looked a little winded after the last fight. Muscles required oxygen to function. Exercise required even more oxygen. Thus fighting would be hard for them because their bodies weren't used to functioning in the thinner air. It was what made climbing mountains so dangerous, and it might also explain why they'd all blacked out upon breaching the sky.

"Why didn't it bother him, then?" Zoro asked, nodding to Dogmeat. He hadn't seemed to be affected. "Or you?" Although Abel hadn't done much, she'd managed more than the three of them, despite having responded to the sky beasts as well. Hell, the woman still looked a bit flushed.

"Because he doesn't breathe," Abel replied, smiling at the dog. "Technically his body already functions without oxygen, so the environment doesn't matter." Reaching down, she ruffled Dogmeat's ears. His tail wagged frantically at the affection. "You showed him what for, didn't you boy?" Dogmeat gave an excited back. "As for myself..." Abel thought about it for a moment before shrugging. She didn't really have an answer.

"Maybe because you have low blood pressure?" Chopper suddenly suggested. When everyone glanced his way, he clarified, "You're body might already be acclimatized to functioning with low oxygen, so you're not as impacted."

Abel hummed thoughtfully. "It's as good an explanation as any," she concluded. "The thin air would also account for the unusual amount of force my bolts experienced." She wandered over to the hole her bolts had accidentally put in the ship. Running her thumb along the hole, she continued, "Thinner air means less resistance, less drag, and thus they can travel farther faster without losing momentum." If they fought again, Abel would need to be extra mindful of what was behind her target, as well as correcting for the extra kickback.

The Knight, who up until this point had merely been listening in, voiced, "Ah... to be saying those words... are you Blue Sea people?"

Nami blinked, seemingly haven forgotten his presence. "What's that? And who are you?"

"As I said, I am the Knight of the Sky," he repeated patiently. "Blue Sea people is the term for those who live beneath the clouds. In other words, did you come up here from the blue seas?" Abel found the title interesting, but logical. If this was a "white sea" then their ocean would be a "blue sea." She idly wondered how much culture shock they were in for.

"Um, yes," Luffy replied, still lying on the deck.

The Knight nodded. "It can't be helped then... this is the White Sea, seven-thousand meters above the Blue Seas." Abel gave herself a metal pat on the back for her correct assessment. "The White-White Sea even further above reaches ten-thousand meters. Ordinary Blue Sea people can't possibly endure it here."

"Okay!" Luffy interrupted, sitting up while pounding his chest. "I've gotten used to it."

"Yup," Zoro added, still seated. "I feel much better now."

The Knight sweatdropped through his helmet. "Lies, lies. You're just faking. It's not possible." Abel wasn't sure. They might be acting all tough, but with those two it was entirely possible.

"But," Chopper quickly interrupted, staring up at the Knight. "That guy from before... How come he can walk on the sea?"

"This level..." the Knight began, but quickly paused. His mustache tilted, as if his mouth was screwed up in thought. "You probably have a lot of questions, right? First things first. I need to talk business with you." Climbing to the upper deck, the Knight seated himself on the railing, propping his lance over his shoulder as he gazed down at the crew. Gazing back up, Abel had the sense of being back in a lecture hall. Given the way the man made himself comfortable, this was probably going to be a long lecture.

"I am a freelance mercenary," he began. "These seas are fraught with danger. If you don't know how to fight in the sky, guerrillas like that one will come after you and turn you into food for the skyfish. For a five-million extol One Whistle, I will help you."

The crew waited for him to clarify several of those statements, but it swiftly became apparently he wasn't. He might as well have been speaking in Greek for all they understood of that. "What are you talking about, mister?"

"Quit acting like a fool," the Knight sputtered. "The price is quite reasonable! I can't afford to lower it a single extol more! I have to earn a living too, you know!"

Sighing impatiently, Sanji pointed out, "That's why we're asking you what extol is and what is the whistling thing?" He got the man was a mercenary and wanted to charge for saving them. It was all the strange terms they didn't get.

After a moment, the Knight's eyes widened comically beneath the visor of his helmet. "No way," he murmured, sounding almost in awe. "You came here via the summit of High-West, did you not? Surely you must have been to one or two islands, right?"

Luffy's brow furrowed. "We told you we don't know what you're talking about, mister."

Thoughtfully, Abel suggested, "It seems he's implying there are sky islands, emphasis on the plural, as well as multiple means of reaching them. Nor does it sound like visitors from below are as rare as we've been led to believe." Perhaps not common, but the Knight hadn't been surprised by their origin.

"Don't tell me you came here by way of that monstrous stream!?" the Knight gasped, giving the small crew a new look of appreciation. "I never thought there would still be people this brave..."

Upon hearing a hiccup, Abel glanced toward their navigator, who was in tears. "So it wasn't... the normal way to get..." As treacherous as her name, Nami switched from tears to rage, snatching Luffy by the shirt and shaking him furiously, all while yelling gibberish.

Luffy's head rolled around like a slinky, only his Devil Fruit preventing him from breaking his neck. "We're here anyway, right?" he pleaded, starting to get motion sick.

"We almost died!" Nami shrieked like a banshee. "If we patiently collected more information, we could have used a safer method!" They're risked their lives for nothing.

"You," the Knight called, breaking Nami from her tirade - much to Luffy's relief. "Did you lose one or two of your crew?"

"Nope," Luffy answered, subtly putting as much distance between himself and Nami as possible. "We're all here."

"That wouldn't have been the case with any other route," the Knight explained. "If one-hundred people want to go to sky island through the other routes, it would be a gamble with no way to predict how many will live to reach the destination. However, the Knock-Up Stream is more like 'either everyone dies or everyone gets there together.' Either zero or one-hundred. Not many dare to take this gamble, especially these days. Those who dare, I see them as great sailors who have both courage and skill."

We didn't really know there was another option, Abel thought, scratching the back of her head.

"Yeah!" Usopp's boisterous voice startled Abel. Clearly a desire to show off could overcome any amount of trauma, as the man had gone from fetal position on the deck to bragging in record time. "But it's all because of me! When these guys were crying and giving up, I said, 'I will show you my navigation skills!'"

"Hey!" Nami protested sourly, pinching the sniper's face hard.

Regardless, the Knight seemed to respect their "bravery" (ie. reckless abandon). Reaching into his cloak, he pulled out a regular-looking whistle. "One Whistle," he advised, pointing at where it landed on the deck. "One blow of this and I shall come to your aid. Each whistle would cost five-million extol, but your first whistle will be free as my gift for you." With his business seemingly concluded, the Knight stood. He turned, cloak billowing dramatically, but not before adding, "Use the whistle to call me at any time!"

"Wait!" Nami called. "We don't even know your name!"

Turning dramatically (Abel liked this guy's style), he told them, "I am Gan Fall, the Knight of the Sky!" Sensing his desire to leave, Gan Fall's bird fluttered down beside him, showing precision flying despite its albatross appearance. It let out a screeching call. "This is my partner, Pierre." Abel realized "pierre" was what the bird's call actually sounded like. Wasn't there an old comic series where the animals could only say their own names?

Abel pulled herself from her musings as Gan Fall jumped on Pierre's back, and despite how much additional weight the man in full armor must've added, Pierre easily got airborne. "I forgot to mention it, but my partner Pierre..." As if this was some magical phrase, Pierre's body began to shift. "... is a bird that ate a Horse-Horse Fruit and gained its powers." The crew watched on at the almost grotesque spectacle of the bird changing into a bird-horse hybrid. Its body elongated, from neck to tail. Its beak slowly morphed into a snout, while its legs stretched and shifted into hooves, a second pair sprouting from Pierre's chest. "Which means he can become a winged horse!" Gan Fall pronounced. "In other words..."

Pegasus! Abel thought with rapt attention, feeling a sense of child-like wonder overtake her. She was about to see one of her favorite creatures growing up.

Sadly, the world is a cruel place, and Gan Fall's pegasus fell far below Abel's expectations. The pegasus of legend was frequently pictured as a majestic stallion of pure white, wild and untamable in spirit. Pierre was a mockery. He looked more like an addled horse is ugly polka-dotted pajamas. Even Dogmeat looked embarrassed for the thing. Abel felt a little bit of her soul die at her dream being crushed so carelessly. She didn't even care if she pouted. Damn Devil Fruits ruining everything...

Around her, Zoro, Sanji and Nami sweatdropped at the dark cloud that had fallen over their hunter. Not that they didn't understand. It was just weird to see Abel acting childishly. Unable to think of anything else to do, Zoro awkwardly patted Abel's head. The woman didn't seem to notice.

"I wish you luck, heroes!" Gan Fall called as he rode off with the dream-killing abomination.

Good riddance, Abel thought. Looks like she was stuck cutting off gorgon heads to find a real pegasus.

"In the end, he didn't really tell us anything useful," Robin pointed out once the duo disappeared.

"Yeah... really... nothing at all," Usopp agreed.

"Now we're back to square one," Sanji murmured, feeling very underwhelmed.

Somewhat impatiently, Zoro asked, "Where are we supposed to go from here?"

Quickly coming to a solution, Luffy suggested, "I know! Let's call mister and ask him."

It took the crew a second to realize what Luffy meant, causing Nami and Usopp to lunge at their captain right before he could sound the free whistle Gan Fall had given them. "Wait, wait, wait!" Nami shouted, grabbing Luffy around the neck with one hand and the wrist holding the whistle with the other. "Wait a minute, Luffy! This is only supposed to be used in emergencies!" Asking directions didn't qualify as an emergency.

"If that weird mask guy comes again, what will we do without the whistle!?" Usopp added, pulling on Luffy's rubbery cheeks from behind. The result was Luffy looking like a fish, eyes bugging out as he struggled for air.

Unfeeling for their captain's plight, Zoro suggested, "For now let's keep moving."

"That's your philosophy in life, isn't it, Chief?" Abel asked only somewhat sarcastically, pulling a grunt from the man in question. Casting an eye at their surroundings, Abel questioned, "How can we even distinguish what is a proper destination?" Where did the sea clouds end and the regular clouds begin?

"Look over there!" Chopper called, pointing at something in the distance as he dangled from the side.

Coming up beside the doctor, Robin peered off in that direction. "What's that?" she questioned. "Looks like a waterfall."

"That cloud is weird, right?" Chopper asked.

Joining them, Abel spotted the landmark. It was still difficult to tell, but it did look like clouds were "falling" down from a higher level at roughly three o'clock from their position. Seemed like as good a place as any to start. Feeling a shadow behind her, Abel glanced to see Zoro looking toward the formation as well. With little thought, as no one had any other suggestions, Zoro announced, "Okay, that settles it. Let's check it out." Funny how in these situations, Nami didn't argue with the swordsman.

But first, they had to fix the sail. Fortunately, the damage was superficial, and once again thanks to Robin's Devil Fruit powers, they had the holes fixed in a jiffy. After reattaching the fixtures, the sail snapped out, catching the gentle wind that Abel wasn't even going to bother questioning. With Chopper manning the whipstaff, they set off for the destination. Thankfully, they didn't see any other ships or enemies around, meaning the crew could sit back and just enjoy the surreal landscape.

Pulling her eyes from the sheer whiteness, Abel glanced toward Robin. "Your powers have come in rather handy today," she mentioned, hoping to further encourage the mysterious woman's involvement in the crew's daily life. Robin merely smiled back, seemingly amused by Abel's unintentional pun.

The crew fell into idle chatter, openly commenting on what they thought the sky islands would be like once they actually found them. Abel herself was more curious about how different it would be to their own islands. Just like how the islands on the Grand Line developed in relative isolation from one another, sky island society might have evolved in completely unique, unexpected ways. That could be good or bad, as Usopp helpfully pointed out. "Do you think there are more of those masked guys?"

"What did that old guy called them?" Luffy asked. "Gorillas?"

Abel smirked. "Guerrillas, not gorillas, Boss," Abel corrected, overemphasizing the pronunciation. "And given that guerrillas are members of a small, independent fighting force that typically use hit-and-run tactics to take on a larger standing army, I'd wager we may come across a few more, but I don't think that's what the bulk of the inhabitants here will behave like. If anything, I suspect these guerrillas might be a xenophobic lot at odds with their fellow sky people for being so welcoming to Blue Sea people such as ourselves." That tended to happen in most islands, though to a much smaller degree. Even back home, there had been people who liked having tourist because it boosted trade versus others who were more isolationists.

"If we do, this time we'll be ready for them," Sanji growled, eager to make up for his past failure.

Leaving the boys to simmer, Abel decided to make herself useful until they reached their destination and headed for the storeroom. "Where are you going, Abel?" Luffy asked.

Swinging the door open, Abel eyed the ruined room with dismay. "To try and fix this catastrophe," she replied before figuratively rolling and up her sleeves and ducking into the mess.

Cleaning up would've been a lot easier if Abel could bring herself to just dump everything into any container that had space, but she just couldn't. Although not to the point of calling herself anal, Abel liked to at least have organized chaos. Besides, saving a little time now would just make it harder to find things later. So she set her mind to cleaning up the broken supplies while reorganizing what was left. They really should've strapped things down better.

"What!?" Nami shrill cry interrupted Abel's cleaning mentality. Pausing to listen for trouble, Abel heard Nami yell at someone, "I'm a feeble little girl! So I should have the whistle!"

What...? Abel thought, frowning as she realized she was missing context for this declaration.

Listening further, she heard Usopp chime in, "Luffy, you just want to blow it for fun! You can't have it!"

"I want to call for that mister! Right now!"

Ah... they're arguing over who should carry the whistle, Abel realized with more than a little amusement. Amusement which increased tenfold when Nami, Usopp and Chopper launched into an argument about who was the weakest and therefore most at right to carry the whistle. Abel glanced at Dogmeat, who looked up at her with a weary stare. "Don't look at me like that," she chided. "You're the one who came back to the dead for this."

The argument was so amusing Abel just had to watch it for herself. Sadly, by the time Abel stuck her head out, the trio had come to an arrangement. "How's this?" Nami was asking, standing next to the mast. "We'll just hang it here. Anyone who's in trouble take it and blow it! Now it's fair." Abel could see because Nami was blocking the way, but she assumed they'd hung the whistle on the mast in easy access for anyone who needed it.

With the other two in agreement, Nami pointed a finger at Luffy, Zoro, Sanji and Robin before swiveling around to point at Abel as well. "Also, you guys have no right to blow it!" she declared, eyeing the five sternly. "Anyone who does, I'll kick you to the edge of the sky!"

"I'm flattered you have faith in us to handle any and every possible emergency that might arise without assistance, Red," Abel cattily commented.

Nami likely would've retorted back just as cattily, but luckily for Abel the sound of rushing water distracted her. Distracted everyone, in fact. Focusing forward, the crew found that they'd reached the strange cloud-fall. Abel glanced... skyward? Up but couldn't see the mouth of the cloud-fall. Perhaps this bit of cloud originated in the White-White Sea Gan Fall had mentioned. The next level up, and hopefully the last. Abel didn't want to travel so far up they fell out of the cloud. However, more clouds seemed to be blocking their way. The clouds before them appeared to float atop the White Sea, like cloud-bergs, rather than being part of the sea proper. "Looks like the way's blocked," Robin murmured.

"What do we do?" Chopper queried.

"They're floating in the sky ocean," Sanji mused, "So they can't be ocean, too." Surely they were solid.

"Then what kind of clouds are they?" Usopp questioned. Everything was cloud here, but acted weird. How could they assume anything?

"If it's normal cloud, we can just sail straight through it," Nami pointed out.

Quickly coming to a solution, Luffy began winding his arm up. "We'll know if we touch it, right!?" Stretching out his arm, Luffy's fist struck the cloud. But rather than passing through it, as expected, the cloud gave a little before springing back, bouncing Luffy's hand back. "It bounced off!" Luffy exclaimed. He giggled excitedly, and before they could remind him of Usopp's mishap, launched himself from the figurehead onto the cloud.

Fortunately, unlike with Usopp, this strange cloud appeared fairly solid, allowing Luffy to easily run all the way to the top, laughing gleefully all the way. "Look! I'm not sinking!" he called to the crew, who watched in awe. Testing his luck, Luffy started bouncing around using the cloud like a trampoline. As near they could tell, the cloud appeared to have a marshmallow-like consistency, soft and pliable, but not so much that it didn't retain its shape. "It's so soft! Like cotton!" Luffy rolled around on the cloud, enjoying the way it cushioned his body while still retaining support. This stuff would make for a perfect futon.

As Chopper and Usopp rushed to join Luffy in his fun, the other members of the crew could on speculate at this bizarre turn. "Now how does this work?" Nami wondered. So there were regular clouds, sea clouds and now land clouds?

"Unbelievable," Robin agreed.

Tapping her chin, Abel concluded, "They've become non-Newtonian fluids."

"Eh?"

Undaunted by the others' confused expressions, Abel explained, "Newtonian fluids are fluids that behave in predictable ways, such as water or alcohol. It responds the same every time you pour it, hit it or freeze it. Non-Newtonian fluids are simply regular fluids with added substances that change the fluid's composition so that it behaves in unpredictable ways. The classic textbook example is mixing water and corn starch, creating an odd gel slash pudding substance that will pour like water, but if you apply sudden force will actually retain its shape, to the point a full-grown human can run or jump on it without sinking."

Before she lost everyone, Abel returned to the matter at hand. "Clouds are essentially just water, correct? So these must've absorbed some other chemical substance. Perhaps the difference between the fluid versus solid clouds is simply a matter how much of this substance the water vapors absorbed." Things were slowly starting to make more rational sense in Abel's mind, and that excited her. She loved finding out why something that shouldn't exist actually existed through the laws they already knew.

Staring up at the trio basking on the cloud in bliss, Sanji questioned, "What kind of chemical could cause all this?" If what Abel said was true, which Sanji had no reason to doubt, it must've been a huge amount of chemicals.

Cheekily, Abel replied, "Perhaps an ancient corn starch factory exploded." She chuckled when the rest groaned or look at her oddly.

Still, regardless of the mechanism behind it, Nami realized they were in a bit of a fix. "Well we obviously can't sail through this place," she said, trying to think of a solution. "Hey!" she called up suddenly. "Try to find a path for the ship to pass!" The clouds had to end eventually, right?"

"Okay!" Luffy called back.

But before he could, Usopp announced, "Hey, Luffy! Come check this out!" while pointing on the far side of the cloud.

Luffy ran up the cloud to join Usopp, staring off at something the rest couldn't see. But they got their answer soon enough, when Luffy exclaimed, "A door!"

"A door?" Nami repeated, frowning.

"Yeah!" Usopp agreed, happy he hadn't just been hallucinating. "Under that waterfall-looking cloud, there's a huge door." Glancing around, Usopp added, "There's a path through the clouds right to it!"

Nami knew she should be questioning more of this, but couldn't put in the effort. "Okay! Just tell us where we need to go!" Abel thought they should have been more wary of letting Luffy give them directions, but hopefully Usopp wasn't as useless. After a moment to memorize the path, the trio boarded the ship again and they were off.

Amazingly, they didn't get lost, although there had been some shouting between Usopp and Nami, as Usopp had accidentally written the directions in reverse. Apparently he hadn't realized that from his vantage point, his right and left would be the ship's opposite. Fortunately, Abel observed that it would've been hard for them to actually get lost, as most of the wrong paths appeared to just be dead-ends. And while it would be frustrating to keep turning around, it was hardly a crisis.

Thankfully for the crew's hearing, the Going Merry easily navigated through the narrow... canyon? Nami let out a sigh of relief as they rounded the last bit of solid cloud. "Good! We seem to have passed through," she announced as the area opened up.

A wide open expanse of sea cloud stretched before them, as well as the cloud-fall. But that wasn't what caught Abel's attention. At least not entirely, because that alone would've been enough to make for a strange dream. No, her attention focused primarily on the door sitting before them, unbelievably just as Usopp and Luffy had said. Well, not exactly. It was actually a gate and canal floating in the clouds. That made slightly more sense than just a random door. This wasn't Laboon's stomach, after all. Glancing along the sides, Abel noted that the more solid clouds created a wall, meaning entrance to where this canal led was controlled.

But what really struck Abel was the sign above the impressive sunburst gate. "Heaven's Gate," it read. I thought it was supposed to be pearly gates, Abel mused, perhaps a bit too calmly for the situation.

Next to her, Abel heard Usopp's knees shaking. "Bad omen," he whimpered, shivering all over. "It sounds like we're on our way to die!"

"Yeah, it's totally unexpected," Zoro laughed, teasing the boy. "Maybe we're dead already?" Abel refrained from laughing as Usopp choked.

Whether believing the credence of Zoro's hypothesis or just wanting to further torment Usopp, Sanji added, "Really? If that's so, that would explain this weird world."

"WE'RE ALREADY DEAD!?" Chopper shrieked.

"I'm not naming any names," Abel interrupted. "But if we truly were deceased, I'm fairly certain some people on this ship would've been going in the opposite direction."

"Heaven!" Luffy laughed, having the time of his life (or perhaps death). "So funny! This is gonna be great! I finally get to go there!" Did he mean finally get to see Heaven or the sky?

As Merry drifted closer to the tunnel, Usopp noticed a door along the side suddenly open. "Look, somebody's coming out!"

A short-statured old woman emerged from the door, dressed simply in a pinkish tunic. "Are you here for sightseeing or here to fight?" she asked blandly, as if having done this a thousand times.

Abel was temporarily distracted by the flashing light from the box-like object the woman held in front of her face. She was... taking pictures of them? Is that a camera? Abel wondered, eyeing the handheld device. It was a lot smaller than the last camera she'd seen. Living in the East Blue, Abel had only rarely glimpsed a proper camera. She'd seen both the box camera and bellows camera, but both variations were cumbersome and required the subject to stay as still as possible to make a legible photo. Hence why Abel never invested in one, although it might aid her in her quest to catalogue monsters - aside from the whole trying not to get eaten thing making flash photography rather difficult. She knew better technology existed, as the Marines had little trouble sneaking photos of active criminals, but it seemed such a rare and expensive thing that Abel hadn't bothered looking into it. But this device looked far more practical. It was small, easily small enough to fit in a hand, and skinny enough to fit in a pocket. Perhaps Abel could purchase one here? It might be fun to try it out.

When the old woman lowered the camera, Abel gave a little jolt at her old, wrinkled face. It looked like her eyes were about to melt off her face. And were those wings? Yep, a pair of tiny white wings stuck out from behind her shoulders. However, Abel got the sense that they were more aesthetic than practical. They were too small, stiff and frankly positioned too high on her back to actually fly. They almost appeared to be glued to the back of the woman's robe.

"Actually, it doesn't matter why you're here," the old woman said. "If you want to go up, pay the entrance fee of one-billion extol per person. That's the law."

"Angel!" Luffy gasped, surprised. "So that's how angels look like...! She looks like dried sour fruit candy." Abel hid her laugh at the accurate description.

"One-billion extol?" Usopp questioned. "How much is that when converted to berries?"

"Whatever it is, one-billion sounds really expensive!" Chopper pointed out. One billion anything was a lot.

"A billion per person..." Robin mused. "Eight-billion for eight people- or nine if we're including the dog."

Nervously, Nami asked, "If we... um... don't have money..."

"You can still go up."

"Really!?" Usopp squealed. Why even set up a toll or entrance fee or whatever if they weren't going to enforce it?

Undaunted, the woman continued, "Or you don't have to pass. I am neither gatekeeper nor a guard. I simply ask your intentions."

Then she's like a sentry? Abel pondered. Just there to warn whatever passed for government in this place if there were some violent travelers coming up?

"Then we'll go," Luffy declared, as if it were every really a question. "We want to go to sky island!'

"We don't have the money so we can't pay you!" Usopp added brazenly.

"I see," the old woman asked. "The nine of you, then?" Abel's eyes narrowed. Why did it matter how many there were if they weren't going to keep record of them not paying the toll?

Before Abel could question it further, Dogmeat growled beside her. And before she could question that, two large claws sprouted from the clouds, clamping onto the broken wings. The crew screamed in surprise, and Abel's hands immediately went to her crossbows. However, the crab, or whatever the claws belonged to, didn't make any further threatening moves, and in truth held the ship very delicately. "The White Sea's famous Express Lobster," the old woman informed them. And without further explanation as to why the lobster had ahold of their ship, the lobster shot through the clouds with enough speed to send everyone staggering.

"We're moving!" Usopp screamed uselessly, hanging on to the figurehead precariously.

Hooking an arm around the railing to hold herself steady, Abel asked, "Does it plan to take us up the fall?"

It quickly became apparent that the answer was both yes and no. Yes, in that they were going to head up to where Abel assumed the White-White Sea was. No in that they weren't going up the cloud-fall itself. As if the situation couldn't become any more surreal, the cloud-fall morphed partway up into what Abel could only describe as a looping strip of cloud-water that spiraled up a long tunnel in the surrounding clouds. It honestly resembled a ribbon hanging down from the hole in the sky. Strangely, the water-clouds didn't flow over their artificial bounds. It was like a waterslide, except there was nothing visible holding the clouds in place. They were just suspended in midair.

Abel snagged Dogmeat's scruff as the ship gave a sharp turn, beginning its ascent up the spiral clouds. Off to the side, she heard Sanji question, "What the heck...?

"It's a cloud road that looks like a belt," Zoro said in shock, leaning back against the upper deck's railing so he didn't fall off.

"Is this part of that non-Newtonian thing you were talking about, Abel!?" Nami yelled over the wind.

"No," Abel replied back. "This is obviously a man-made structure." Even with all the craziness they'd experienced, Abel couldn't believe that any of this had formed naturally. Why would there naturally be a perfectly cylindrical hole in the clouds with a perfectly positioned strip of traversable water to reach the next level? "It's likely whoever resides here created this with their knowledge of the unique cloud phenomena."

Up and around the ship went, Abel's stomach twisting with each turn. Thankfully she'd never been prone to motion-sickness or she'd be puking her guts out right about now. "Look!" Chopper cried, pointing ahead. "There's something written on top!"

As everyone directed their gaze up, they saw that they were near the hole's opening. "It's the exit!" Luffy yelled excitedly.

Abel couldn't say how she felt about the sign's message. Godland, Skypiea. Weren't they taking this Heaven thing a little too far? What, were they about to exit into Olympus, or Valhalla?

To Be Continued...