Wishfull-star: °˖✧◝(⁰▿⁰)◜✧˖°

To be honest, Sky Island was a chore to write. Probably the arc I had the least fun writing besides the Baratie. But this arc does matter to the rest of the story, unlike canon where it just fades away and is not mentioned much. But it's different than canon in a few ways. Anyways, enjoy~

They were entering the black, thick cloud, finally. When they got out of it, the ship was floating on a sea of fluffy white. A sea of clouds. But everyone was having trouble breathing so high up so suddenly. But they were fine, if not uncomfortable. But that was in the past when everyone realized they were truly on top of a cloud.

"But the log pose is still pointing up!" Nami said in worry. Robin suggested this could be the middle of the cloud. Maybe there was further to go. "But how?" she asked. Everyone gave a collective shrug, before Usopp took off his overalls, and went for a swim, jumping into the clouds.

Luffy looked over the side, pouting that he couldn't swim. But he wasn't coming out after a while, too long, so they got worried before Robin mentioned there might be no bottom. It was a cloud sea after all!

"Did that idiot fall off the cloud?! I told him not to mess around!" Sanji raged. Robin shouted at Luffy to shoot his arm down as far as he could, and she'd do the rest. So he did, and Robin bloomed eyes on his arm before she saw Usopp, and extended many arms like a chain or rope to catch the sniper.

But it was hard to move his arm at all. It was still in water, it was still a sea. He struggled to pull him up, but it didn't take too long for his arm and Usopp to return to them. But… "Ahh! Something followed him out!" It was a huge octopus... thing! They screamed, the thing being huge.

Luffy counted on it to run away from them, but instead, seeing him, it stilled, no longer looking hostile. It nodded its head. "What's it doing?" Sanji wondered.

Robin said, "It looks like it's showing us respect. Interesting." And she did sound very interested. It left, though, peacefully. "That was odd." Usopp then screamed about a weird fish having been in his pants. "What a tough day for him."

Chopper then alerted them to another issue, which Luffy heard and smelled, too. Somebody skating on the clouds with a mask hurrying towards them. They couldn't really go anywhere at the moment, and weren't in the best shape to fight, still having a bit trouble getting in deep breaths. The man, clearly a human, used weird weapons and beat up the three strongest easily.

"Sky Island is so scary!" Usopp and Nami cried. Luffy stood up furiously, but could tell something flying was coming towards them.

"There's someone else!" Luffy shouted, pointing.

"Now what?!" Nami cried. The man on the flying thing hit the clear enemy with a jousting lance, and the guy left. Their savior landed on the ship and introduced himself as the knight of the sky. "Who are you? Who was he? And you three are pathetic! Three on one and you still lost!" Nami shouted.

Luffy said he had trouble moving his body. So did Zoro and Sanji. "That's because oxygen here is scarce. That's why we all feel out of breath."

Luffy was laying on his back still. "It can't be helped. Most Blue Sea people can't stand being up so high. The White Sea, where you most likely want to be, is 10,000 meters up," the mystery man said. The fighters sat up, insisting they were fine now. Chopper wondered who the guy walking on the sea had been before.

"They sounded so weird! Like a 'zoom' sound. But he smelled like dirt. We're in the sky! What the heck?" Luffy asked, and then the knight of the sky looked down at him in shock. "What?" Then he suddenly got on one knee in front of the still sitting Luffy, his lips in a tight line. "What are you doing?"

"I was about to tell you I charge helping you, but I assumed wrong." He didn't answer why he was acting like this.

"Perhaps there are others like Luffy here, and they're respected or worshipped in a way," Robin said with a smile. The others were surprised at this. Nami asked if that was true. The old man nodded. Luffy beamed. Not because he was treated like this, but there were others like him! "Well, for now, can you help us get higher? This isn't a place we want to be trapped in."

They nodded, and Zoro sat next to Luffy, taking his hand, rubbing his knuckle with his thumb affectionately. Luffy was still smiling, so excited to meet others like him! How many? Why were they here? Were there more animals with it?

The guy just told them to call the whistle any time for free, due to Luffy's "status" there. He also called them brave for using the knock-up-stream instead of going the other ways, though they probably wouldn't have all made it this way. Then he added, as he got on his weird pegasus, that Luffy showing his marks would be the easiest way to get onto the island safely.

"Thanks mister!"

"Though he didn't give us much helpful information about getting up higher." Luffy was so happy. He wondered if there were answers here. They looked around, not really knowing what to do now, before Robin spotted what looked like a waterfall made of clouds. That being the only thing around, they paddled there. When they were in front of it, none really knew what it was. A cloud or mist? But Luffy punched it to see, only for his fist to bounce off. He and the other two youngest jumped on it, bouncing around before melting like butter on the warm, squishy and soft surface.

Zoro told him to be careful, but he didn't really listen. But with it being solid, they couldn't pass through. So what should they do next? Was there a purpose to this bouncy thing? "Hey, try to find a path for the ship to go through!" Nami called up the them. It wasn't hard to spot a large door past this thing. They were in a sort of path tunnel that they sailed through carefully, making sure not to bump into the walls.

If ships had emotions, the Merry must be really tired. They found the huge door, titled "Heaven's Gate".

"Remember what the guy said? Luffy showing his marks should get us through if they really do worship those like you." Zoro said it sounded reckless. What if it was the opposite? "Well, we'll see once it happens," Nami reasoned. They sailed forward and came across a shriveled old lady taking a photo of each of them.

They were to pay to enter. A lot. A million somethings each. Nobody knew what that equated to berries, but Luffy took off his hat and lifted his shirt. "Free, safe entry. Bless you," she said. Something came out of the water and took them up a spiral ramp.

"This is really convenient!" Nami cheered. "We got in for free!"

"No fair, why does Luffy get to be treated like a god? Women better not be into you!" Sanji complained childishly. Usopp looked at him like he was crazy.

"You know he's gay, right? It's not like he'll take anyone you want," Usopp said. Luffy walked to Zoro and took his hand.

"Zoro's all I want, and need," Luffy said with an adoring look. Nami cooed and Zoro blushed red. They were all standing surprisingly steady despite how fast they were going and how windy the cloud road was. It didn't look natural at all, but man made. How would you make a cloud ramp? Luffy couldn't wait to see, and they were coming upon the exit, a hole in the cloud at the end of the road they were speeding along. A bright light was coming out of it.

A title, like the one about the other door had been, said "Godland Skypiea". "It's not an exit, it's an entrance!" Nami said, no fear in her voice. Everyone was in awe and wonder by now. Well, besides Zoro, who looked cranky. Maybe worried about what was awaiting them or Luffy in particular.

When they were thrown through the entrance, they saw the island. The island in the sky that Luffy knew was real! "I knew it! We made it to Sky Island!" Luffy cheered, the others cheering as well. Sanji said it sure was a tourist spot so far.

"What about the bad guy? The one who attacked us? The sky night just said they were dangerous, nothing else! And now we have a whistle to blow? How would he even find us?" Chopper suggested it could be something special here. Noland's log talked of strange objects he'd never seen before. "Good point…"

They docked near the beach of the white cloud sea, and the ground was made of the thick and spongy clouds. They ran around barefoot. "Hey, what about the anchor?! There is probably no bottom to this sea, right?" he called.

"That doesn't matter, come play!" Luffy shouted, doing cartwheels on the spongy floor, only to fall on his face. But it felt nice, and the rest of his body flopped down onto the wonderful surface. Like a cool marshmallow. Zoro lowered the anchor regardless. "Hey, Usopp. Do you think you can eat the ground?"

"Why would you do that?" Chopper wondered.

"Well, it feels like a marshmallow!" and he took a big bite of the cloud. Only to hack it up. It tasted horrible! "Gross! But this place stinks of adventure!" Usopp said maybe "smell". "Stink" makes it seem bad. "It smells of adventure!"

They all played in the cloud water and bouncy shore like children. Well, not Zoro and Robin, who stayed on the ship and watched. Luffy found a tree with fruits on the end, and climbed it. "Ooh! Mystery fruits!" he tried biting into one, but it was so hard that it made a cracking noise. But his jaw was strong, and he bit through it to drink the juice inside. "YUMMM!"

"Luffy, don't eat strange things!" Usopp said, Luffy telling him to try and throw the heavy fruit onto his head, laughing as his face was slammed into the cloudy ground. "You asshole!"

"Sorry, sorry!" He looked up when Zoro and Robin finally came onto the shore. He jumped Zoro's back. "Look, it's so soft! Like jelly between the toes." Zoro smiled, though said he'd say more like foam, not jelly. It didn't stick to their feet. "Mmm, yeah! This is gonna be so fun. And I wonder how many more like me there are. I wonder if I'll finally find out."

Robin looked excited, too. Happier than she had seemed so far. The face she showed clearly wasn't one of regret joining them. Luffy dropped off and ran to be on the cloud chairs with Chopper. He flopped down and Chopper bounced up from it. So they started taking turns bouncing, Chopper going into his heavy point to make Luffy jump higher.

Luffy heard people and music, and looked to the source. A woman with wings was playing a harp on a cloud hill. Luffy wondered what she said, when she stopped playing and simply said, "Heso." A greeting? A secret codename? Ooh..

"Are you guys from the Blue Seas?" she asked. She called back a little white fox that had approached Zoro.

Nami said, "We flew up here from the bottom. Where do you live?" She sounded curious, but the look on her face had died down a bit. Now it was back to just looking pleasant.

The angel pleasantly said her name was Conis. "If there is any problem, I am willing to help you." Sanji started flirting, of course. Nobody was surprised.

"Hey! What's the people like me here for?" Luffy asked, hurrying over. She knelt. "You don't gotta do that," he said simply, and she raised. "But why are you bowing to me? Or to people like me?"

She said it's just what's always been done. She wasn't sure. "Perhaps my father knows. It's just customary by now, showing respect, giving and not taking." Nami demanded to know if people like Luffy got things for free?! "That is correct. Though many pay regardless." She looked at Luffy with sparkling eyes, and Zoro pulled him away. "He's not a get-stuff-for-free card," he snapped. Luffy laughed.

Her father came into view then, riding something on the waves that made the buzzing noise like the enemy had, only it was shaped a lot differently. Less skates and more like a bike, maybe. But he lost control, and crashed awkwardly on the shore, hitting a tree. "Neh, he seems kind of d-" Zoro put his hand over his mouth. "Zoro!"

"Don't be rude, he might tell you things you want to know," Zoro said patiently. Luffy huffed, but knew that made sense. So he didn't say anything else about it. When Nami asked what it was, they were told it was a waver. Didn't really explain much, or how it worked. But they were intrigued.

Nami turned to Luffy and asked if they'd recovered something like that from the galleon. "Yeah, but you said it was junk."

"Not the armor! The thing that looked like that waver. And then it was mentioned in Noland's journal."

"Oh, that!"

"Then did you recover it?"

"Yeah."

Conis's dad got up and asked if they were friends. "We just met. They came from the Blue Sea."

"Really? They must be really anxious about things here then? This is the White Sea, pardon me. I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Pagaya, pardon me." Then he looked at Luffy, and Nami quickly told him he didn't need to bow. But he did anyway, though it was short.

Luffy bluntly said that was gonna get annoying soon. Nami said she'd love to have people bow down to her. "Still." Nami asked what the waver was, how it worked, while Luffy talked over her, questioning why people bowed to him and those that looked like him. But his answer was the same as hers: It was customary.

"We haven't had a blessed from the Blue Sea in over 20 years. That friendly old man, Roger was his name, if I recall correctly, pardon me." Luffy's eyes widened and everyone was silent. Sanji asked if it was Gold Roger. "That was his name. He landed here much like you, looking for a certain stone."

Luffy was silent in shock. Crocus… had said his captain had been like him. Was he Roger's doctor? Was that why he laughed over Luffy wanting to be the next Pirate King? He was still surprised. Ace's dad was like him? Or he was like Roger. Well, nobody knew. Crocus said he wore contacts and dyed his hair, so nobody knew.

"Luffy?" Sanji asked. He jerked back to attention. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I was just surprised." Robin asked Pagaya about the stone Roger was looking for, voice insistent. What kind of stone he was looking for.

"A large cube that had writing that had been impossible for anyone on this island to read." Nami said it was a poneglyph. They asked if he knew what was on it. "No, I don't, pardon me."

"Onwards, to the poneglyph!" Luffy exclaimed. "If the Pirate King was here and looking for that, we have to, too! Maybe it has real answers!" He was so excited he came here! But he did wonder why Shanks never said anything about Roger. He was his captain after all. He'd ask him when he returned his Straw Hat. Definitely.

"Wait, Luffy, we don't even know where it would be! We can't just rush off or anything," Sanji said. Luffy pouted. "Let's ask Nami's question now." Luffy nodded, and leaned back against Zoro's chest. Pagaya explained about the waver, and it being used with dials. Nami tried it out, shouting in amazement.

She was able to use it out on the waves pretty well, and Luffy wanted to try, too! When it was his turn, he was not as graceful, and fell in, flipping off. The clouds were still a sea, and he didn't float. So, he was dragged out by Usopp, and the waver was recollected from Nami swimming out to get it.

Pagaya and Conis were shocked at how well Nami had used it when it was supposed to take years of practice to get the hang of. Luffy was distracted by then by the sounds he heard on this island. Not many animals, and not much wind. The waves were soft and slushy. Not raging or noisy. He couldn't hear any of the sounds from where they came from.

He sat down, and looked out at the White Sea. Zoro sat next to him, both barefoot. "It sure is a weird coincidence, huh?" Zoro asked as the others had dials explained to them. Usually Luffy would want to know, but he was really distracted. He nodded. "Are you upset?"

"No. I'm just really shocked! But it's so cool! I'm like him, at least in one way. I can't wait to find the poneglyph, though." Zoro chuckled, saying he never expected Luffy to be interested in archeology. "Shishishi, I'm not. All the other stones sound kinda boring! I don't like reading anyways. Boring."

"I don't think anyone expected you to like to read." Luffy laughed. "But we sure learned something useful already. And by accident, too. Though we still don't know the relationships between the people like you. I felt maybe you were some special being, you know, like something weird? I don't know how to explain it without it sounding bad. But then we saw an animal with the same looking traits. It threw everything I thought out the window."

Luffy nodded. "I thought that, too. I'm so curious! It's such a mystery. Shishishi, but we'll figure it out!"

"Damn straight."

"Oi, we're leaving you behind if you don't come, too!" Usopp called as they started to walk up the beach. Luffy got his flip flops and Zoro shoved his boots back on, hurrying after the group following the two winged residents. Luffy made sure to put his hat on so the brim covered his eyes. He didn't feel like being bowed to everyone they passed. But he kept his eyes out for anyone like him. He found nobody, and no one being bowed down to. Hmph.

While they walked up the long white staircase, they passed a cloud cutting factory, what the road they went on was made of. They got to Conis and Pagaya's home. It was nice and had a great view. They could see the ship from there. Luffy and Zoro were holding hands the whole way.

He was distracted completely when they were actually explaining what the dials were. They looked like sea shells with buttons on the top. They did all sorts of cool things. One recorded Luffy calling Usopp stupid, a tone dial. Luffy was interested, and started making love confessions on it just to embarrass Zoro, whose face was red and Sanji was laughing at him. Nami and Robin were talking about perhaps going shopping to see what sky people clothes were like.

The dial for the waver was called a wind dial. Putting it in front of wind for a long amount of time stored it and you could push it back out to power the craft. Nami and Robin were now listening, paying more attention now that the boys weren't just joking around anymore. Chopper was happily eating cloud cotton candy that Pagaya had.

Conis explained that the sky people lived wirth dials in their daily lives. Used to heat things up, take images, record people talking and music. There were lamp dials that stored light. Also smell dials. "Hey, can you store farts in the smell dial?" Luffy asked innocently. Nami hit his head, telling him not to be disgusting, Luffy just laughing.

Sanji made them a meal for them with all Sky Island ingredients. They looked weird but Luffy ate them regardless. During the meal, Nami went off to play with the waver again. Luffy could hear her whooping and screaming out there since the window was wide open. He bit into his fish, and noticed Conis look momentarily worried.

Nobody else noticed. "Neh, Conis? Ace people scared of the ones like me?" he asked, walking over the other noises. She looked confused and said they were just worried about being a donor. "What, they don't have blood bags?"

"They drink from random people?"

"Well, sometimes loved ones. But there are those that force it on people. Not all, but it's still a bit worrying." Luffy said he thought that they were gods or something! "Oh, so you don't? That's good to know."

"Well… I mean, I have, but only in emergencies. And… usually it's blood bags or Zoro cause he's fine with it." But now he felt bad.

Sanji said it was only two people. Two enemies. "Not others, right?"

"Well… I've done it a couple times…" Luffy mumbled. He looked up, but none of his crew were bothered. They were unafraid.

"Luffy's purposely gone out of his way to not drink from people he cares about and has gotten sick from it," Usopp said firmly. The two sky people insisted they hadn't meant to make him feel bad or like he was wrong or anything. "He didn't say he was wrong."

"Oh, dear. This conversation is not going as I think Conis and I meant to explain, pardon me." Luffy then heard Nami's screams and whoops were gone, and looked out the window to see she wasn't there anymore.

He felt bad. Just because he didn't do it to people he thought was good he thought it was fine. And he really had only done it a handful of times, before he ever had Zoro. But he'd done it to Coby, and he had been a friend. He wouldn't tell anybody that. "Hey, where'd Nami go?" he said, glad to change the subject.

"Oh no. I hope she didn't go too far!" Sanji asked what was wrong. "There's a place in Skypiea where nobody should enter. That place is very close to the island, and easy to find on a waver. Where God lives. Upper Yard, part of the holy land."

"What?! God lives there? Nobody should go?! Hey, Zoro. Did you hear?" Luffy asked.

"Yes, no one should go there! It's ruled by the mighty god, Enel!" Conis insisted.

"Heh…? A place no one should enter… hmm. Well, we gotta go anyway to get Nami!" he said with a grin. "And Robin, the poneglyph, we should go too, right?"

"There's no guarantee a poneglyph is there. We don't know anything about it," Robin said calmly, taking a sip of her tea.

Luffy took another bite. "Well, if we do go, won't god forgive us if we say sorry? Isn't he super understanding? Even though it's forbidden, saying sorry is good for him, right?" Luffy wondered. Usopp said saying sorry wasn't a cure to everything, but did think that god was supposedly forgiving, too.

"Well, breaking a rule of god is disrespectful to god."

"That's why you say sorry, right?" Luffy insisted. "Well, it doesn't matter much, right?" He really wanted to go to a place nobody has ever been to! "Alright, let's go get Nami!" Conis insisted that they not go there, they didn't even know if Nami had gone to Upper Yard. They shouldn't act recklessly. Luffy giggled. "But that's fun, right? At least sometimes?"

"Sometimes, but not when god will be angry!" Chopper said loudly.

"Angering Enel is very problematic." Luffy asked if he was scared of him. Maybe he could scare him off! Sanji said he got over being scared really fast. Zoro hissed at him to shut up, and Sanji seemed to know he crossed the line, Luffy looking out the window.

"...Well, if people are scared of me here, why not use it?" he asked in a flat voice. "I bit a logia before. And my blood, too!"

"Luffy, it's god! You can't attack him! You shouldn't even try to make him an enemy." Luffy crossed his arms with a huff. Pagaya offered fixing the waver for them, so one could go look for her.

"Well, with god Enel, he and your kind don't mix well. They leave one another alone. God Enel is unable to attack them, so they don't sin and things are fine that way. I don't know what would happen if you went up against him," Conis said. "We should stop speaking of this," she insisted.

"Wait. What… What can people like me do here?" Luffy wondered. Would god be afraid of Luffy for his abilities? "Are they strong?"

Pagaya said they were the strongest there. "In brute strength alone, nothing on Sky Island is stronger. Also speed is a factor." Luffy asked if he could talk to any. "Well, there are some in Upper Yard, but they're completely hostile. And plus, you shouldn't go there anyways."

Usopp made a grunt in irritation. "Why'd you tell him that?"

"NOW WE'RE DEFINITELY GOING THERE!" Luffy declared.

They went to fix up the waver and find Nami (then go to Upper Yard and have her lead them there) and Luffy was sitting at the shore, feet in the waves. He was sitting alone. He was a wanted pirate. He wanted people to respect him. But not be terrified. Well, he didn't live here anyways. They clearly weren't common in the Blue Sea.

To be honest, Luffy also wanted to go someplace the sky people weren't at so nobody would be afraid of him. And that there were others like him in Upper Yard. He wanted to be strong and fast like they were. While the others were working on the waver, Luffy went back to the ship. He managed to shoot himself out with a gomu gomu rocket.

When he landed on deck, he headed inside, and saw everything was a mess, but the chest wasn't destroyed. He got out a blood bag and drank it. He didn't need it or anything, but he wanted it to make him feel even a bit better.

He sat on the deck, looking at the blue sky above. They were in the sky, but there was still so much more! He was like Gold Roger was. And people didn't call him a monster because of what he was - he kept that a secret. It was just that he was a strong pirate. Crocus said he'd grown stronger on his own. Maybe it didn't have anything to do with what he was, still with no name.

This place was confusing. They respected Luffy's kind, but were also afraid of him? Why did the sky night bow instead of bail when he could? And the one who let them in free? Was she scared of him, too? It was so weird. Well, he wasn't staying here indefinitely. He would go back home to the Blue Sea and continue to be unknown. Whatever they were called here, it wasn't him. He didn't use fear to quell people.

No… he did. He scared off Kuro's men that way. Was he just as bad as the ones here, who scared everyone? He was a pirate, they were citizens. But that didn't make him taking from random people okay. While he was sitting, Nami came back, voice tight. "Luffy? What are you doing over here alone?" She looked freaked out, maybe having gone to Upper Yard?

"Thinking."

"You, thinking?" she joked. "What's wrong, really?"

"The people here only respected me because they're scared," he said honestly. "And I thought about when I drank from people without permission. Isn't that bad?" he wondered. "I mean, I will do it if there's no other choice, but still."

Nami got on the ship and said, "Well, you're surviving, right? Lots of people have done lots of bad things to survive. When you were looking for Crocodile the third time, you were out of blood, right? Then Tashigi was there, but you didn't drink from her even as you were really sick."

"I don't know why. I woulda' done it to another marine. Another enemy."

"I don't know what to say other than live. Even if it upsets others, live. We're pirates, we scare people all the time. Besides, I don't remember you drinking from an innocent person a single time."

"I did it to Coby. My first friend who brought me to Zoro. Only a little, but I still betrayed him. He didn't even know because I did it when he was asleep. I was out of blood completely. Before I told Zoro and he offered to be a donor." Nami didn't know this, but wasn't afraid.

She said, "Well, you can't really take those things back, right? I would say don't drink from good people. Don't give a shit about scaring enemies or bad guys. You shouldn't either. Besides, it's not like you'll ever see them again or anything."

Luffy knew she was right. He wasn't going to let himself die or be vulnerable because he cared more about an enemy's feelings. He didn't attack Tashigi for an unknown reason. But that didn't really matter anymore. He wished he could apologize to Coby someday, but would probably never see him again, and wasn't going to tell him. The truth would be too hard to handle for him, he thought.

"Why don't we go back?" Luffy nodded, and they went onto the waver and returned to the shore. Nami said she had been to Upper Yard. It was just a huge forest, with scary people inside.

"But that's where we're going! That could be where the poneglyph is and the strong people I want to learn from!" Luffy insisted. "Besides, it's a place we're not supposed to go, right?" Zoro was ready to get back to the ship, with Usopp and Chopper being the ones that didn't want to go to Upper Yard.

Conis and pagaya were vehemently against it. "Don't worry, we always end up okay," Luffy said, patting Conis on the shoulder roughly. To her credit she didn't flinch. They got back on the ship, thanking them for their hospitality. Nami started to lead them to Upper Yard before something grabbed the ship below, and dragged them through the sea and into where they were going, only to be tossed onto a big stone block in water teeming with big scary sharks.

"Huh?" they collectively asked.

"We can't get down from the ship like this! And look how damaged she is!" Usopp freaked, looking at the damages from the rough handling of the thing that took them there. Planks were torn up, there were holes in the hull. The keel was pretty bad. Luffy said Usopp could just fix her. "I mean, I can try. But we don't have the supplies to heal her completely."

Sanji said they needed a shipwright soon. "How are you all so calm?! We're on a sacrificial altar!" Chopper shouted. Nami fearfully pointed out there were sharks below. Luffy, Sanji and Zoro already had exploring gear on. Luffy thought Zoro's goggles were nice. Robin had her own bag.

"We're going looking for people and the poneglyph!" Luffy said simply. Sanji gave them each a premade lunch box. Nami said she was going with them. "You sure?"

"Y-yeah. Usopp, Chopper, keep watch of the ship," Nami said. Usopp nodded, and Chopper promised to help fix the ship, too. "Be careful," Nami said to them, and they returned the sentiment. He put his hat on a string to show his hair in case someone like him saw them.

"I wanna meet this god. He lives here, it's his yard isn't it? I wonder how strong he was," Zoro said with a grin. Nami asked why he'd want to meet someone that scary. "Cause it's fun. Besides, I don't believe in god. Never have," he threw back. Luffy had his backpack on, and looked for a way down.

"Hey, sharks! Give us a ride!" Sanji told him he could just swing with his fruit to the other side. "Shishishi, where's the fun with that?" he walked down the stairs, but a shark tried to eat him. "Oh. I guess they aren't scared of me. But the villagers are. Humph."

Sanji said, "It had been a bad plan anyways." Luffy thought this way was boring, but shot out a hand and grabbed onto a far tree branch. He swung across the water, making a calling noise. Robin used a rope of her arms to get past the water. Luffy pulled down a vine for the other three to come next.

"Now, let's find the poneglyph! And other people!" Luffy said, picking up a stick and thrusting it into the air. "Hey, this is a nice stick," he commented. "C'mon, Robin!" Luffy cheered, and wandered off. "Be careful everyone!"

"WAIT! I wanna go with Robin, not these idiots!"

Zoro asked why she thought he and Sanji would be going anywhere together. "This is my mission. I'm gonna find tough people to fight. I'm not interested in looking for small timers or a big rock." Luffy simply told him to not get lost. "Right! You, too."

Nami ended up going with them, Sanji coming along, too. He didn't want to go anywhere without one or both of the girls. They walked through the huge trees, larger than the trees at his own home. "Hey, these are bigger than the trees at my home island!" Luffy said. "There are people deeper in the forest. Let's go there," Luffy said. "We can find the poneglyph on our way." Robin commented it might not be so easy to find the poneglyph. They're not always made in the same types of metal or rock.

"For all we know, it could be carved in different smelling stones, even a jewel or metal," she mused. Luffy said they'd figure it out. She just smiled. Nami told Luffy to tell her if anything was coming near. "'Kay."

"So, what was all the talk about god? I missed a lot, didn't I?" Sanji explained the god that was unforgiving and scary. "And we're still here?"

Robin said, "I thought you wanted to explore this place, too."

"Voluntarily! Not brought to some sacrificial altar surrounded by sharks!" Luffy exclaimed that was the fun part. Now they were in a forest with unknown creatures and people. He could hear animals all around. And they weren't avoiding them or Luffy.

They explored, not talking much as Luffy found the first person smell that he could trace. They went on one of the treebranhces to use the binoculars. Nami looked around and saw the coast while Luffy smelled the air deeply, listening close. The zooming noise of the feet wavers were around, to the east. So, those guys were here.

Best to keep away from those ones. They were hostile before, though he was curious about them and that cool mask the guy had when he attacked them. "Hey, we need to go that way! I can't believe what I just saw…" Robin took the binoculars, too.

"My, my," she said simply. Sanji took a look, wondering what it was.

"Wait, that looks like the one from Jaya! Half of Cricket's house!" Luffy didn't want to look, he wanted to go see it in person. He told them not to spoil it, he wanted to see in person. He jumped down from the tall tree branch, only to hear and smell something huge come at him, and swallow him whole.