Chapter 18

The End of a Nightmare

Enel stood sighing on the top of the Maxim, "My, what an impatient bunch... Can they not even wait for my Raigou to be complete?" He had dealt with more than enough defiance today. More today than he had in the 6 years Enel has ruled over this island. Yet these fools constantly seem to come forward. Coming straight for their death.

The lightning-man then powered up, "Oh well... To prevent their approach, I suppose I'll destroy the Upper Yard a little bit," and the skies lit up to he will, "MAMARAGAN!"

Lightning fell in troves onto the vearth below. Fires and explosions surged forth as Enel sought to thwart that cursed rubber-man. He could feel their confusion, "YAHAHAHA! HOW DARE YOU LOWLY HUMANS TRY TO REACH ME! YOUR BLASPHEMOUS INSOLENCE KNOWS NO BOUNDS!"

Nami still kept on course up Giant Jack, "He's trying to destroy the whole ground below the stalk! And if the ground beneath the stalk is destroyed, we won't be able to come up this high ever again! Reaching Enel will be impossible then!" Luffy deflected a thunderbolt as Nami kept driving.

"YAHAHAHA! Even if you can resist my lightning, it's meaningless if you can't come up here! Fall back down and wait for Raigou's completion, rubber-man!"

Nami smirked as the waver still sped at full-throttle. They were getting close to the edge of their falling ramp, "It seems Enel's set on avoiding direst contact with you!"

"As if I'd let him!" Luffy was determined to beat this guy's ass. Even if he was lugging a six foot sphere of gold.

Enel put a hand up to his ear. He was listening with his Mantra, "...Oh? Such nonsense I hear from those fools below. Yahahaha..." Useless? Don't have the power? Enel chuckled. Did they truly believe he couldn't destroy this island?

...Even if the island won't sink. This game was over!

Luffy and Nami flew off the beanstalk at Enel's flying ship, "HERE I COME! ENEL!"

"...So stubbornly persistent..." "HAND OVER THE GOLDEN BELL!"

Enel ignored the belfry back on the cloud he docked at, "Enough is enough! This should be more than big enough to deal with you all for good! DISAPPEAR WITH THE WHOLE COUNTRY! RAIGOU!" He instead started lowering the mountain sized sphere of thundercloud above them.

"Thanks Nami!" Luffy's navigator looked back at him in confusion, "I definitely won't let your help go to waste!"

"Wait—What!?" Luffy jumped on their midair vehicle making the two go in opposite directions, "Luffy, wait! The ship is that way!" Nami and the waver landed on a small piece of island cloud floating in the sky.

Luffy was jumping towards the Raigou! "NO, LUFFY! Inside that spherical mass is a maelstrom of dense air currents and electricity! Even with your rubber body, there's no telling what'll happen!

Enel simply laughed, "WHAT CAN YOU POSSIBLY DO BEFORE SUCH SHEER POWER, RUBBER-MAN!"

"RAAAAAGGGGGHHHHH!" Luffy let out a war cry as he disappeared into the Raigou.

It was a chaotic mess in that thundercloud. Luffy could feel the air twist and turn as he ascended further into the cloud. It was hot and cold, dark and bright, as lighting sparked within the black confines.

Luffy didn't care, "RAAAAAGGGGGHHHHH!" He just started spinning his gold burdened arm, "Gomu-Gomu no... Fireworks: GOLDEN PEONY!" All the speed he had in his punches, he flung the gold weight around intent on destroying this thing! "After finally reaching Sky Island, you just had to mess up the whole weather wth your lightning, you electro-retard!"

*RUMBLE!*

Nami had to cover her eyes, "What's with this huge electrical discharge...!?"

Enel could barely believe what he was seeing. The Raigou was becoming unstable! Enel then realized, that rubber-man still had that giant ball of gold on his right arm! And it was conductive!

Enel then scowled, "Even so... It'll be fine as long as he falls back down before he can dissipate all the electricity! BEGONE WITH THE ISLAND!"

Instead, even Enel had to flinch when the thundercloud exploded. Not with electricity, but the cloud itself burst apart, releasing a giant gust of pressure!

"CLEAR UP THE SKIES!" Luffy called out from the centre of the dispersion. The Raigou had disappeared, and with it, blew all the other thunderclouds covering the island.

Enel grit his teeth, that rubber-bastard had made a fool of him once again!

Luffy twisted his gold ball arm into a coil and smirked, "Alright then! It's time to ring it up along with you!"

"How... dare... you... ruin my Raigou...! YOU IMPUDENT MONKEY FROM THE BLUE SEAS!" Lightning burst forth from Enel, and his form began to grow and glow and electric blue, "200 MILLION VOLTS! AMARU!" He looked like an elemental version of Raijin.

"W-hat the heck it's that!"

"YOU'LL RING THE GOLDEN BELL!?" Enel's logia transformation raged at Luffy, "DON'T TELL ME YOUR CLINGING ONTO THAT STUPID LEGEND, 'THAT WHEN THE BELL RINGS AGAIN, IT'LL SOUND THE END OF THE WAR!?'"

Enell punched a crackling lance of electricity at Luffy, "I AM A GOD! YOU'RE JUST A MEASLY PARAMECIA USER! WITH MY LOGIA POWERS, THE STRONGEST CLASS OF DEVIL FRUITS, THERE IS NO WAY I COULD EVER LOSE TO YOU!"

Luffy growled in the current of electricity, "I told you before, that won't work!" He then jumped and started running along Enel's giant arm, "God this, God that, GOD, you're annoying! What kind of god..." Luffy jumped off the bicep and kicked Enel in the face, "WON'T SAVE ONE THING!?"

Enel had blood coming from his mouth, but he still had one trick. He had a satisfied scowl as Luffy grunted in pain, "Oh... Nicely stopped... You managed to avoid being skewered..." His golden rod, which he could shift into a golden trident, was still in his hand. Though with Enel's transformation it looked more like a fork in his fist.

Luffy was pierced by the central point of the trident. The only reason it didn't go all the way though was Luffy holding on to another prong. Though all the electricity running through it made the gold hot as hell.

"LUFFY!" Nami cried out for her captain on her cloud.

"YAHAHAHA! WHAT WILL YOU DO NOW RUBBER-MAN!? THERE'S NO PLACE TO RUN! YOUR OUTSTRETCHED ARM IS ONLY DRIVING THE TRIDENT DEEPER INTO YOUR BODY! BUT IF YOU TRY TO RUN, THEN YOU'LL ONLY FALL TO YOUR DOOM!"

"YOU'VE DONE WELL IN COMING ALL THE WAY UP HERE... BUT IT'S THE END FOR YOU! AS WELL AS THIS COUNTRY! I CAN ALWAYS MAKE ANOTHER RAIGOU!"

Luffy thought about all the people he met here. Conis's despairing guilt for splitting up his crew. Aisa's sadness at the thought of this place being destroyed! He pulled himself off the trident and fell with the giant ball of gold on his arm, "Ah, so you chose to fall did you!? YAHAHAHA!"

Nami went over to the edge of her cloud as Luffy fell, "LUFFY!"

"NAMI! Get away from edge!"

He had caught onto the edge of that cloud with his arms stretched.

"WHAT!?" "DON'T GET COCKY, EARLOBES! GOMU-GOMU NO ROCKET!"

Luffy used his natural elasticity to launch himself back at the Maxim. Or at least high enough to get a good look at Enel, "GOMU GOMU NO—"

"YOU STILL WON'T GIVE UP!?" Enel looked at him, outraged.

"NOT UNTIL I RING THAT BELL!"

Enel's laugh became hysterical, and melded his staff into two tridents, "YAHAHHA! FINE, I'LL TAKE YOU ON AS MANY TIMES AS IT TAKES! I'LL SKWEAR YOU FOR GOOD THIS TIME—"

"GOLDEN RIFLE!"

Luffy's corkscrew of an arm spun as he punched the golden sphere of metal at Enel. It turned like a lustrous drill and Enel only realized too late that it was going to fast. All he saw was a single fist, on a field of gold, before Enel had his lights knocked out.

The punch didn't stop there though. It may have knocked Enel into a normal state but punch carried on with it's spin. Reaching all the way to the golden belfry, "LET IT RING ALL THE WAY DOWN!"

And for the first time in 400 years, the Flame of Shandora rung it's toll.

*GONG~~~~~!*

"ALL THE WAY DOWN BELOW!"

*GONG~~~~~!*

"CAN YOU HEAR IT!? MISTER DIAMOND HEAD!? MONKEYS!?"

*GONG~~~~~!*

"THE CITY OF GOLD! WAS UP HERE!"

O O O

*GONG~~~~~!*

All the crew smiled as they looked up at where the battle was taking place. Even Sanji, Chopper, and Pierre were awake.

Usopp had tears of joy in his eyes, "HE DID IT! THAT SON OF A GUN DID IT!"

"What a lovely sound..." "Wow, it's sounds so nice! What is it!?" Robin and Chopper looked up in amazement at the ancient song.

"I always believed that this day would come... One day..." Gan Fall also had tears in his eyes. The Skypieans had a legend of when Upper Yard first arrived in the White White Seas. With the arrival of the Vearth there was the heavenly toll of a bell, ringing throughout the sky. The island was a gift from Heaven, or so they thought. The bell was instead a warning bell, a declaration of war. Thus, the Skypieans and the Shandians fought for ownership of this land. But it was said, that when that heavenly bell rung again, so to would it be the end of war.

To Gan Fall, it was finally over.

"So this is the bell that Nolan's heard..." Sanji smiled as he let out a puff of smoke.

*GONG~~~~~!*

Down below them, Maxwell tilted his head up as he sat against a ruined wall. Wyper stood not to far from him listening to the sound.

"By the Maker... That made everything worthwhile, didn't it?" Mordred spoke from his skull. He and the other anchors landed not to far away from Maxwell after that giant Inferno spell.

"Mordred," Maxwell smiled as he leaned his head back on the wall, "...Shut up."

*GONG~~~~~!*

Wyper held his head low at the sound of the bell, "Sorry to have kept you waiting." He was sending a prayer to Monteblanc Noland, "I only hope it reaches your descendant's ears."

Zoro wisely chose to keep quiet, letting Maxwell and Wyper listen to that beautiful sound..

O O O

*GONG~~~~~!*

"Boss..." "Isn't this..." The Saruyama brothers looked up with their crews as they listened to the ring of a distant bell.

"Yeah... There's no doubt about it..." Monteblanc cricket crossed his arms as he looked skywards, "Isn't that romantic?"

*GONG~~~~~!*

"It's coming from the sky..." "My heart's in a jitter..."

"There's only one bell that can be heard from so far away... You know, there was a theory about 'monsters' that appear with the emperornimbus cloud... If humans lived in the sky, then when the sun's strong rays shone upon them, their shadows would be cast onto the thick fogs of the far away skies down below, making them appear like giant monsters..."

Masira looked to his boss, "...Then the identity of those monsters are just humans living in the sky...!?"

Cricket nodded his head, "Seems so... And right now, there's a bell ringing up in the sky."

*GONG~~~~~!*

"We can all hear it... The sound of the golden bell... Then the City of Gold... Is also up in the sky. It really does exist... My ancestor Noland... WAS NO LIAR!" Cricket smiled as he looked up as the emperor nimbus in the distance, "That's what you wanted to tell me from up there, right...?"

There was a giant salute of Luffy jumping in the clouds, "So kid... The City of Gold was up there all along, was it...?" The Saruyama Alliance all smiled at the cloud, "Thank you...!"

*GONG~~~~~!*

"Uu...!" The brothers both startled when Cricket suddenly hung his head.

"Boss...!?" "What's wrong!? Are you alright!?"

Cricket had tears in his eyes and trembled, "I'm so glad... That they're safe...! I was so worried..."

Masira and Shoujou both smiled at each other. They knew their boss, the Strawhats were only piece of emotions he was feeling.

O O O

Luffy and Nami sat on the little cloud up in the sky. Nami sat down with a smile, while Luffy laid on his back.

"I rang it..."

"Mmhmm."

"...I wonder if diamond-head mister and the monkeys heard it..."

"Yeah... I'm sure they did."

For now, they would enjoy the sun.

...

...

...

O O O

Sometime later, Robin, Chopper, Usopp, and Sanji had climbed down into the ruins of Shandora. All the lightning that struck the island had destroyed the island cloud layer above. Thus revealing the ancient city for the first time in 400 years.

Chopper was hovering over Zoro and Maxwell seeing the extent of their injuries and afflictions. Zoro wasn't having it though, "You can treat me later."

"No! You need immediate treatment for your wounds!" Zoro was suffering a combination of stab wounds, burns, and slashes from today's Battle Royale. He'd been struck with lightning at least twice and had fallen onto solid stone in theses ruins before.

Still, he shook his head, "More importantly... You should do something about him him first." He gestured over to Wyper who had fallen a little ways from their group. He tried to walk after standing proudly to watch the battle in the sky, and fell unconscious after a couple steps, "He looks like he'll die any minute now."

Chopper hesitantly looked over before Maxwell spoke up, "Treat him first. I owe him my life right now..." Maxwell, while somewhat singed from his earlier encounters, was suffering from exhaustion the most. The disappearing lines on his skin were a good sign. He wasn't going to suffer from a mana imbalance for more than a few hours. The most he was going to suffer were some limp sore muscles and a pulsing migraine. A small price for victory. Though that victory might have turned pyrrhic had Wyper not tackled him out of the way of the falling beanstalk.

The little doctor nodded and ran over to Wyper for a diagnostic, "...Ah! Even his bones are a mess! This is terrible!" Maxwell eyed them from his wall. He wondered what the warrior had done today to look like beef jerky.

Sanji tilted his chin towards the native, "Hey, isn't that one of the guerillas? We're not obligated to treat him ya know."

"Let it be Sanji," Maxwell looked up at him from the corner of his eye, "We can wait a few hours..." Zoro nodded alongside him. He had put up a good stand during the battle.

Chopper looked up as he met Aisa, who had walked up to him, "...Can you heal him, tanuki?"

"I'M A REINDEER! LOOK I GOT ANTLERS!" Maxwell tilted his head, was still wasn't clear on what a tanuki was, "Don't worry though! I can save him!"

Usopp spoke from his spot, sitting on a block of rubble, "I wonder if Nami's alright... Well, since Luffy's with her, I'm sure she's fine."

"I'm worried about Conis too... Where could she be...?" Sanji didn't get the chance to see her today. Though he knew she was on the Merry earlier, "So what happened? Did the golden bell—"

"I think it fell into the sea," Usopp responded. He swore he saw a shimmer of gold falling in the sky. And that was before the falling of the Maxim. Still he laughed, "It's a shame what happened to Enel's solid gold-played ark... The 'City of Gold' is now only god in name only."

Zoro had a good chuckle at that, "Guess we'll continue to being broke-ass pirates."

Usopp smiled, "I personally was those dials more than gold. You can't get anything like that down in the blue seas?"

Maxwell raised an eyebrow, "...You know, we still have one of those iron harpoons below deck. Back when we were fleeing Alabasta..." Maxwell looked over at the sniper, "If we get the dials, think you can make a staff out of it?"

"Promise you won't break it?" "I'll even help in your sales pitch if I have too." "Deal!"

"HEY~!"

All the crew looked over to see who had called out to them.

"AAAHHH!" Sanji had hearts in his eyes again, "NAMI~! AND CONIS~!"

"LUFFY!" Both Usopp and Maxwell smiled to see their captain. Somehow though, Luffy had found meat, and they were all dragging a giant sack behind them.

Conis burst into tears upon seeing them all, "THANK GOD... YOU'RE ALL SAFE~! I was so worried... But I couldn't do a thing about it..."

Sanji wiggled like a wet noodle, "Conis~! You were worried so deeply over me!?"

"That's not what she meant," Usopp deadpanned at the perverted cook.

Aisa waved at her toe heroes, "Luffy! Nami!"

"What is all that you're carrying?" Zoro noticed the skewered fishing in Luffy's hand, "Food? From where?"

"We found it in the priest's storehouse out in the forest," Nami explained.

"There's still more in there!" Luffy also waved at Aisa.

Usopp put his hand on his hips, "Speaking of which, how'd you two get down safely from all the way up there?"

Luffy gave him the 'peace' sign, "Gomu-Gomu Balloon!"

If Luffy had literally fallen onto the priests' storehouse, sore or not, he was going to facepalm.

Zoro noticed something however, "That reminds me... What happened to your dad?" Pagaya didn't arrive with Conis and the others.

"Ah..." Conis looked down with a forlorn face, "He... Umm... He tried to protect me..." Her voice started to tremble, "But then Enel..."

...

...

...

"Oh no..." "Maker... Conis..." "Conis..." "Conis..." "Conis..."

The whole group looked at the girl in sorrow. Even Pagaya—

Wait a moment...

"WE'RE TALKING ABOUT YOU!"

Pagaya flinched as all the guys pointed at him, "I'm sorry for being alive!" Somehow he'd snuck into their little group.

Conis was just happy to see her father, and cried into his chest.

Maxwell craned his neck to look at Pagaya, "Wait, if Enel got you, how did you—?"

"I fell into the White Sea."

"Huh?" Usopp looked at the engineer, "You mean the White Sea below?" The White-White Sea was above the White Sea.

"Yes, sorry about that. When I came to, I realized I had fallen one level below. Actually, right now, people who had escaped down to the White Sea via Cloud End, made a new route back to the White White Sea using a milky dial. They're returning up here now, one by one... But with Angel Island entirely destroyed, they're all coming up to Upper Yard."

Pagaya then nudged Conis, "And speaking of apologies..." Father and daughter then looked at each other before bowing to Maxwell, "We are sorry, for how we reacted to your powers. You control lightning, but you are not Enel. You were a guest and we scorned you for it. We are so deeply sorry..."

Maxwell blinked. He wasn't expecting an apology after all that happened, "...Apology accepted. Thank you..."

"Well, that's great! But for now..." Luffy opened the sack making Maxwell realize how much was actually in there, "LET'S EAT!"

O O O

The Strawhats enjoyed their celebratory feast with all the gusto they could muster. Best part was the food was all pre cooked and preserved with dials somehow. Fish, beef, chicken, pork, fruit, vegetables, the sky version of it all was right in there. And apparently there was more of this stuff.

The full moon had risen while they'd been eating. They had been so busy eating and sharing what had happened today, they totally forgot the time. Pagaya and Conis had taken Wyper and Aisa so the crew could have some time to theirselves.

"Whoo..." Usopp let out a burp as he sat back and relaxed, "Boy did I ever eat."

"It's already night..." muttered Zoro. Both he and Maxwell had their injuries treated by Chopper as they were eating.

"What do we do now? Go back to the ship?"

Luffy scoffed at the suggestion, "Nami, what kind of crazy talk is that!?"

"What do you mean?" She looked at her captain confused.

"She still doesn't realize it, Usopp." "Yeah, she's a failure as a human being alright." "WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN!?"

O O O

The Maxim rose in the night sky, flying towards it's destination.

"I will return... To the place where God belongs..." Enel panted as he sat upon the deck of his ark.

"I can't let those who blocked my vision come to this heaven... You were all only a nuisance..." He had awoken from his injuries after his battle with the rubber-man. Both he and his ark had originally landed somewhere on the Blue Seas, but nothing had been broken. He could still fly, but Enel was done dealing with those pesky mortals, "Yahahahaha... I will not share it with anyone else... It is a place only fit for God! An endless land like out of a dream!"

Enel looked up, reverent, for all his ego, "Let us ascend, Maxim. To God's Land which shines a above at night..."

He was on a direct flight to the moon, "TO FAIRY VEARTH!"

"Hm, hmhmhmhmph..."

A deep dark chuckle sounded in the night.

"To think, someone who inspired such fear would run away like a cad after taking a measly punch."

"What!? What was that!?" Enel shot up and looked around. What dared interfere with him this time!?

"You model yourself a god. But I am something far... More... Viscous...!"

*CRACKLE... SNAP!*

A spectral green tear appeared in the sky. Right in front of the moon.

Enel stared at the glowing portal in awe. He'd never seen sun a glorious green hue before. However, awe turned to terror as he saw a multitude of soulless eyes on a pale carapace.

"I... See... YOU...!"

The Maxim jostled as strings of webbing attached to the Maxim. They had shot out from the green tear in the world. And IT was pulling them in.

"...No... No...! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

*SNAP! WHOOMPH!*

O O O

Wyper woke with a start, "Where am I...?" He swear he was in the middle of a dream but he couldn't remember what it was about. However, that could wait. What really caught attention was that he was looking up at a cloud ceiling.

"In the ruins of Shandora."

Wyper looked to his left on his bed, "Gan Fall... How dare a Sky People step—"

A worried Conis knelt down and put a hand on his chest, "Ah! Please refrain from moving!"

"...Wah—!?"

"Stay still," a wise familiar voice said to him, "There is no discrimination when it comes to treating the victims of war."

It was the Shandia Chief. Both God and the Shandia Chief stood in the same space and weren't arguing with each other. In fact, the space they were in was sandwiched between two layers of island cloud. Moss and vine, encroached, pillars stuck between them like toothpicks, and Wiper could see more people, Shandian and Skypiean alike, in the hall.

"Chief...! Where's the golden bell...!? We still have a duty to protect—"

"Do not rush Wyper..." the tribal leader interrupted, "Let us wait and see how the situation unfolds... No matter how fierce a war was in the past... For those of us who live now, this sky is our home..."

"Chief—Ugh!" Wyper flinched as pain ripped through his body. He had tried to get up.

"Listen closely Wyper..." The chief had walked toward the curtained exit of the hall, "Even at the very least... Vearth does not reject anyone."

"Yes..." Gan Fall agreed, "And at the very least, right now, not a single person—" Wyper was able to sit up and look outside, "—wishes to fight any longer."

"PARTY!"

Wyper looked at the scene in surprise. Everyone, Shandian, Skypiean, and foreigner alike was singing and dancing around a ginormous bonfire. People of both tribes danced with one another, dancing along to the sound of drums and holler. Wyper could even see little Aisa having fun I the crowd.

Luffy hopped around in the circle, "LET'S PARTY!"

A Skypiean and a Shandian cheered arm over shoulder, both having a drink in hand. Usopp was flailing around with a funny face, dancing. Barrels were being used as drums. Raki, a close friend and fellow warrior, was laughing at Sgt. McKinley, who was making a fool of himself. Sanji was dancing with a Skypiean named Marilyn. Chopper laughed as he danced around. Wyper could even see one of his warriors dragging inn a Skypiean to dance.

Zoro was drinking with Braham and Genbo. Kamikiri laugh as the sky wolves howled in celebration. Nami danced with old Amazon. Even the King of the Forest was drunk off his scaly-snake butt. There was particularly funny performance featuring Pagaya having a drawn cloud of his face, on his belly.

The leaders laughed at the merriment and Wyper put a hand to his forehead in amusement. This really was a party.

Wyper looked beside him when he felt an arm help him up. It was Maxwell, "Come on! I owe you a drink!"

Wyper chuckled, beside himself. It was over. Peace had finally come to this great land of theirs.