Izuku leaned over the railing to gaze warily at the unusual oceanic phenomenon, and Shanks hurriedly pulled him back.

"No falling overboard right now. You'd be better off drowning than letting the Marines fish you out."

Izuku was about to say he was fine as he was and definitely wasn't about to fall off when the Oro Jackson shot straight up in the sky. As the Marine ships grew to specks beneath them, Izuku reflected that he definitely would've tumbled overboard had he still been looking over the side.

"Hold her steady!" Roger shouted. "We're almost there!"

Izuku looked up, wondering exactly where Roger expected them to go. All he saw were clouds overhead. The top mast touched the cloud, and like a balloon, the pillowy white mass bent inward. Shoved upwards by the column of water beneath it, the Oro Jackson pushed itself inside the abnormally thick cloud, taking the crew with it. Izuku felt half-suffocated as the cloud closed around him. Each breath felt too viscous, like he was breathing in cotton balls instead of actual air, and the whole world turned white around him.

As panic gripped Izuku, the cloud parted. The Oro Jackson leapt into the air before bouncing lightly on the cloudy surface beneath them. On shaky legs, Izuku peered over the side and gazed in wonder at the sight below them.

"Jumping in?" Buggy asked. "You do realize that you could fall right through, right?"

"The ship isn't," Shanks pointed out. "Probably safe to swim in it."

While they were debating the fluid dynamics of the cloud ocean, Luffy had already jumped in. He scooped a big wad of cloud into his mouth and spat it out. "Bleah! This cotton candy tastes gross!"

"That's not cotton candy, you moron!" Buggy shouted back.

"Hey Buggy?" Izuku asked.

"What?"

"Are we in a whirlpool?"

"Did Garp hit you in the head too? No, we're not in a whirlpool!"

"Oh. Then why is the ship spinning?"

Before Buggy could answer, Izuku leaned over the railing, pitched forward, and landed on a bed of clouds. The bed he woke up on felt considerably stiffer. Every muscle in his body ached as he leaned up.

"What happened?" Izuku asked, blinking sleep out of his eyes.

"What happened is that you were a goddamn idiot, that's what!" Crocus snapped at him. He plonked a metal tray in front of him with five dented bullets. "You're lucky none of these dug in deep enough to hit something important. A little deeper, and I'd have been digging one of these out of your liver. Otherwise, you came out of that fine. Just passed out from cloud sickness."

"Cloud sickness?" Izuku asked.

"Dizziness and nausea from the increased elevation. It'll pass on its own, but be careful of more dizzy spells. Last thing we need is you falling overboard again."

The door to Crocus' room swung open. Shanks looked grim as he peered inside. "Izuku's up?"

"He needs a few minutes," Crocus said defensively. "Just woke up, and his body still needs to adjust."

"Roger said to get him now."

Crocus sighed and stretched his back. "If I find out all that work I put into digging out those bullets goes to waste, I'll ram them down his throat."

"The captain's eaten stranger things." Shanks lent Izuku a shoulder and helped him stumble out of the room.

"As far as I'm concerned, we're even," Shanks said. "I don't know what you did or why you did it, but you took bullets for me, and I won't forget that."

"Did what?" Izuku asked, confused. "What did I do wrong?"

Shanks gave him a puzzled look. "Do they not have Marines where you come from?"

"We have Heroes," Izuku said, "But I'm not sure they're the same anymore."

"What are they like?"

Izuku was halfway through recounting All Might's first appearance when they arrived at Roger's study at the bow of the ship. Shanks held the door open for Izuku and closed it the moment he went through. Izuku gave a hesitant look back at the closed door, with Shanks still behind it, before turning back to the room.

Maps littered the walls, studded with metal pins that charted a winding voyage across scattered islands. More books and bundles of parchment were jammed into weathered bookshelves. One wall held a rack of swords, each sharpened and polished until they cut the light that glinted off of them.

Roger sat behind a massive wooden desk, grumbling as he wrote with a feather quill. Rayleigh leaned over his shoulder, pointed at something he wrote, and said, "You forgot to carry the five."

Roger swore under his breath and grumpily scribbled out his work. Then he sighed and set it aside.

"Why are you making me do these, Rayleigh? You know I'm terrible with numbers."

"And I'm terrible with getting shot up into the sky without any warning, but we all can't have what we're good with, can we?"

"If you can't handle a rough patch of seas, then maybe I need a new first mate."

Rayleigh snorted. "If you can find someone who can handle you, they're welcome to it. Until then, you're stuck with me."

Roger flicked the discarded parchment onto the floor and brought his gaze up to Izuku. His whole body froze up from the intensity of that gaze.

"So…" Roger let his voice trail off, letting the moment stretch out. Izuku felt himself twitch in the growing silence.

"So…?" Izuku echoed back.

Roger rolled his eyes. "Why did you tell Garp where we were docked?"

Izuku felt his stomach plummet back to the watery sea and sink to the bottom. "He said you guys were dangerous. That you were going to destroy the World Government."

Rayleigh gave Roger a pointed look. Roger sighed and asked, "Do you know what the World Government does, boy?"

Izuku grimaced. "I don't."

Roger told him. Izuku felt ready to throw up after hearing about the slaves the Tenryubito kept, and Roger was just getting warmed up. Buster Calls, the Cipher Pols and their missions, Enies Lobby and their warped 'justice', Impel Down, the twisted entertainment of the Sadaody Archipelago, Roger wove a tapestry of the World Government's misdeeds that left Izuku pale and trembling at the mention of them.

"I didn't know," Izuku said breathlessly. "I… how can… why hasn't anyone done anything?"

"The ones that try tend to wind up in Impel Down," Roger said mirthlessly. "As for myself, I could bring everything down, but what would be built back in its place? No, it can't be brought down by one person. Everyone needs to unite against it, and the time isn't right for that just yet."

Izuku sat in disturbed silence until he remembered why he was brought into Roger's study in the first place. Keeping his eyes downcast, he said, "I'm sorry, for telling them. I didn't know."

"I'm glad you did."

Izuku's eyes shot up. "What? Why?"

"I haven't laughed that hard in years! Luffy is Garp's grandson? And he's spouting off about becoming King of the Pirates? Hah! I wish I could be there to rub it in his face."

"So… you're not mad?"

Roger mulled it over. "Well, you were never part of the crew, so you didn't exactly betray us, and you helped Shanks and Buggy escape, so as far as I'm concerned, you did good. Maybe let me know ahead of time when you send Garp after us so I can sharpen my swords first, alright?"

With a soft chuckle, Roger rose from his chair, patted Izuku's shoulder, and strode out of his study. Izuku let out a relieved sigh, and froze when Rayleigh's shadow fell over him.

"Roger might be nice enough to brush this off, but my kindness has limits." Rayleigh's voice cut as sharp as his sword. "Do it again, and you're off this ship. Got it?"

Izuku shivered. Rayleigh never specified if they'd make port first or not. "I won't," he said, voice firm.

Rayleigh looked him over. "Good." Rayleigh started for the door, but stopped and looked back. "Is it really different where you're from?"

"It is. Everyone is free."

"And what does being free mean, exactly? You can't have a government without laws, after all." Rayleigh's question hung in the air, and Izuku couldn't find an answer.

Shanks had left when Izuku made his way out of the room, but he barely made it up to the deck when Shanks wrapped an arm around him. "Still alive, Midoriya?" Shanks asked. "Thought Rayleigh would chew you up and spit out chunks of broccoli."

"Ew," Buggy said. "You need to work on your jokes."

Luffy scratched his head. "Midoriya's made out of broccoli? Bleah. No wonder why he keeps trying to get in the water."

Izuku felt his brain hurting trying to follow Luffy's logic. Smiling to himself, he looked at each of them in turn. They were all pirates. They had wanted posters. In his world, they'd have been called villains. Something still recoiled in his gut at the thought of their presence, at the pressure on his shoulders where Shanks squeezed him and the sight of Buggy's knives glinting in the sunlight. But, for all the months he had spent on the Oro Jackson, they might have put him through hell, sent him out to fight other pirates or run through a booby-trapped, Garp-bear infested jungle, but they never tried to hurt him or Mei.

"Y'know," Izuku said, "That's kinda offensive to people who are actually made out of broccoli."

Buggy's jaw fell. "People like that exist?"

Izuku was halfway through the finer points of comparing emitter and mutation Quirks when he ran across Mei struggling to carry a stack of boxes. As she toppled sideways, Izuku sprinted over to her and caught everything.

"Are you alright?"

Mei gasped for breath as she sat down on the deck. Her shirt was soaked through with sweat, and her hair clung limply to her head. She looked shakily up at him and asked, "How do you do it?"

"Do what?"

"Get stronger."

Izuku knelt next to her, shifting the boxes onto one arm. "What do you mean? Is there something you're trying to make that needs some upper body strength? I could handle it for you."

Mei shook her head and gave a pointed look at the ease with which Izuku carried her load. "You almost died because of me."

Izuku set the boxes down. "What are you talking about?"

"Those bullets. What if one hit you in the head? Or went through your neck?" Tears ran down Mei's face. "What if you died because I was too weak to protect myself?"

"I'll get strong enough to protect both of us," Izuku said. "Once I can do Armament Haki, bullets won't even scratch me."

"And what if we get split up again, like at Jaya?" Mei asked. "What if those Marines show up, and you're not there? I can't make babies if I'm full of bullet holes."

Izuku said, "Then we won't get split up. I'll be right beside you."

Mei shook her head. "Everyone here is stronger than us, Izuku. How can you fight with everything you have if you're too busy protecting me? Do you think you can take Garp on with six bullets in your chest? Or fight a hundred pirates? If I'm strong enough to keep myself safe, then you can focus on beating up the bad guys. Besides," she added forlornly, "I can't do anything else right now."

"That's not true, you can-"

"I can what, make a crossbow? Why would you even need that when you can run faster than an arrow? Gauntlets? You can already punch through trees. Why would you need hover boots when you can literally jump on air?"

Izuku stalled out, trying to think of an answer. His thoughts were interrupted by a rubbery fist to his head.

"Ow, what was that for?"

"You're being stupid," Luffy said gruffly.

The irony of being called stupid by Luffy was not lost on Izuku. "Stupid how?"

"She wants to get stronger. Great! Then she won't be weak anymore. Why try to stop her?"

Izuku hesitated. Taking a deep breath, he said, "I don't want her to get hurt."

"And keeping her weak will stop her from getting hurt?" Luffy asked, scratching his head. "That doesn't make any sense. Weak people get hurt more. Strong people get hurt less. That's how it works."

As simple as Luffy's logic was, Izuku could find no fault in it. With a shaky sigh, Izuku took the boxes and said, "We're going to need more weight than this."

Mei's relief quickly turned to horror as Izuku loaded twice as many boxes onto her arms. Wheezing out each word, Mei asked, "Isn't this too much?"

"You won't get stronger if you don't push your limits. Every time your body wants to stop, take one more step."

Mei's foot rose into the air. It wobbled, then slammed straight down. The tower of boxes in Mei's arms wobbled, then one box slid over and the whole stack tipped over. Mei collapsed as the boxes fell around her.

"I don't understand," Mei panted. "Why can't I do it?"

"You just need to push a little harder," Izuku said. "Give it everything, don't stop, just keep going and-"

Izuku stopped as a hand fell on his shoulder. Rayleigh gave him a pat and said, "Not everyone has the drive to do it like you did," Rayleigh said. "Most people need to take it slow and steady." Rayleigh took two boxes and said, "Why don't you carry these around for a while? You won't get strong overnight, but you'll get there if you work at it."

Mei nodded gratefully and stumbled off with her lighter load. Rayleigh gave a scornful look at the rest of the scattered crates and told Izuku, "Why don't you put these all back? I'm sure you could handle all these with one arm."

Izuku shrugged and hefted them all. When he set them down in the storeroom, he caught a whiff of dirt. Curious, Izuku pried open a crate and found a mass of loamy soil inside.

"Dirt?" Izuku asked. "Why are we shipping dirt?"

Shaking his head at the cargo, Izuku returned to the top deck. Mei ran sprints from port to starboard, and Luffy ran the same with barrels strapped to his back. As he reached the bow, he got treated to a glorious vista of clouds shaped into buildings, arranged in the shape of a humble village turned gold from sunlight.

"People live up here?" Izuku asked.

"Sure do!" Roger stood behind him, looking at the sky island with a wide grin. "What kind of food do you think they got up here?"

Before Izuku could answer, the ship lurched to a stop, beaching itself against the denser cloud that formed its shoreline. Izuku pinwheeled his arms, nearly pitching forward, before Luffy's arm reached over and caught him.

"Quit falling off the-"

That was as far as Luffy got before his stretchy arm yanked Izuku backwards, slinging him across the deck and off the stern. Izuku kicked back to the surface and sent Luffy a stern glare.

"I wasn't going to fall off!"

Luffy scratched his head. "But you did."

"Because you - ugh, nevermind."

By the time Izuku swam to shore, a small crowd surrounded the vessel. The islanders sported feathery wings sprouting out of their backs, and their bodies, lean and light, swayed with the wind. Their curiosity turned to excitement the moment Roger cracked open one of their crates. They raced back to their homes and returned with baskets stuffed with exotic produce and seashells. When one of said seashells produced a plume of flame, Mei instantly sprinted over there.

"What kind of flame is that? And where did you store the fuel? How did you get such a controlled stream of fire from a large aperture?

"Fuel?" the Shannaran asked. "This is a Flame Dial. It absorbs heat and can re-release it as a burst of fire."

Sensing an interested customer, another Shannaran came forward, holding a large bundle. "I have quite the collection here. Why, this one's a Tone Dial, it can record sounds and play them back later."

"Eh, boring. What else you got?"

"Well… this here is an Impact Dial. It absorbs force, and releases it all at once!"

The Shannaran pointed it at a cloud. With the press of a button, white foam blasted apart, leaving a crater in the floating ground. "I'd be happy to part with my finest Dials in exchange for an equitable weight of Vearth."

"Do you have anything stronger?" Mei asked, eyes alight.

"Well…" the Shannaran hesitated, then dug out another Dial. "These are Reject Dials. They're much stronger, but they-"

"I'll take them!"

"W-well wait, they-"

"How much? One crate, two crates? Hey Izuku, can you go back down and get some more dirt? Do you think we can bring an entire island up here?"

Every head swiveled towards them. Izuku chuckled nervously and said, "Mei, I know I'm getting stronger, but I definitely can't carry an entire island."

"Bummer. Could you maybe manage half an island?"

"Miss!" the Shannaran cut in. "Impact dials would break your arm! They are very dangerous!"

"Break my arm how? Does it emit a subsonic pulse that resonates with the skeletal structure of an arm? Warp space around it? Grow arms and snap anything touching it in two?"

"Uh… no. Impact Dials release many times more force than they absorb, but the knockback from them-"

"Oh, that's easy. Gimme."

Before the Shannaran could protest, Mei swiped two of his Dials and ran back to the ship. While Izuku apologized and asked Roger if he'd be willing to pay for a few dials, Mei returned wearing a glove. Metal rods were jammed through it, and the impact dial poked out one end.

Mei held out her hand. "Izuku, charge it up."

"You sure about this?"

"Absolutely."

Izuku threw a punch. He expected it to hurt, like punching a brick wall, but instead, it felt as though he pushed against an intangible blob, forcing his arm to stop without offering any resistance. The gauntlet clicked, and Mei turned towards Luffy.

"Hey! Want to test my new baby?"

Luffy scratched his head. "Babies? Gramps told me I shouldn't make those until I'm older. A lot older."

"I'll give you meat."

"Deal!"

Mei pressed the button. The Shannaran went pale and said, "Wait, your arm, it'll-"

A violent, concussive blast of wind burst from the gauntlet. Luffy went flying with a loud yell that dopplered off in the distance. As the boom from the gauntlet faded to an echo, silence fell over the gathered group.

"Your arm…" the Shannaran shakily said. "Is it…?"

The gauntlet clicked and whirred. The reject dial turned around. Mei pressed another button, and the gauntlet clicked a second time."

"And now it's recharged!" Mei said brightly. "Anyone else want to test it?"

The Shannaran spluttered. "How did you do that?"

Mei peeled back the leather gauntlet, revealing an Impact Dial underneath. "This one absorbs force too, so I put it under the Reject Dial. Then, after the Reject Dial's empty and this one is full, I can turn around the Reject Dial and recharge it with the Impact Dial."

Izuku scratched his head. "Doesn't that violate the law of conservation of energy?"

"Absolutely! And you know what? We're pirates! The laws can go fuck themselves!"

Izuku facepalmed, while Mei's words drew worried mutters from the Shannarans. While she haggled for more Dials, Luffy came crashing into the crater the Impact Dial had made.

"Meat! Where is it?"

"At dinner."

Grumbling angrily to himself, Luffy wandered off in search of meat. As the Roger Pirates browsed the wares the Shannarans brought out, Izuku joined them. The produce looked alien to him, some fruits ballooned out to ludicrous proportions, others had a wispy, ephemeral appearance that made them look as though they would float away with the slightest breeze.

What caught his eye, though, was a sleek vehicle floating in the cloud sea. Resembling a lovechild between a jetski and a scooter, the craft had Dials welded to the back and sides. A connoisseur of homebrew engineering, Izuku appreciated the simpler design and wondered how Mei would make a similar craft.

"The Waver catch your fancy, lad?" A tall, shirtless Shannaran gave the Waver an affectionate pat. "She might have trouble on your ocean down below, but a bit of fine-tuning with the Dials should fix that, if you're interested."

"How does it work?"

The Shannaran grinned. "Want to give it a test run? Just remember, you break it, you buy it."

Suddenly paranoid of breaking the machine, as he was all too used to breaking Mei's prototypes, Izuku backed away from the vehicle and said, "That's okay. I don't have anything to trade anyways. Roger, however, gave him an encouraging pat from behind and said, "Bah, live a little, Midoriya. I brought up plenty of dirt."

Feeling no less wary of the spindly vehicle, Izuku clambered aboard. The craft sank into the cloud sea as he settled his weight. The mechanic reached over and put Izuku's hands on the two handlebars on either side.

"Each throttle controls the dials on the left and right."

"How do I stop this thing?" Izuku asked, not seeing another button or lever anywhere.

The man simply laughed at him and walked off. Unnerved, Izuku decided to get off, only for Buggy's hands to float over and squeeze down. Over his own screaming, Izuku heard Buggy's laughter recede behind him as the waver shot forward like an arrow. Clouds churned up in wavy columns on either side of him, and the craft hovered smoothly despite plowing through cottony waves.

Once Izuku pried Buggy's hands off the bars, he saw the edge of the cloud sea drop before him. Heart hammering in his chest, Izuku squeezed the left trigger. The end of the waver swung clockwise, but he still shot towards the edge. Once he faced away from certain death, Izuku gunned both throttles. The rear of the waver dipped over the edge before the twin Dials pushed him back into safety.

Izuku felt himself relax as he let the waver coast through the clouds. He gave the throttles gentle nudges, trying to find a more sedate speed, but the Dials gave all or nothing. Even a flick of the throttle sent the waver flying.

Thoroughly done with his high-octane trip through the clouds, Izuku raced back to the coast. As the crowd of onlookers rapidly grew closer, Izuku belatedly realized that he didn't have any brakes. He swung the rear end around, but this time, he didn't have enough space. The side of the waver plowed into the beach, and the denser clouds forming the shoreline served as the perfect ramp to catapult Izuku even higher into the sky.

Izuku had about two seconds to wonder if he could survive colliding with the cloud, wonder if he could break through the cloud, wonder if he would survive the impact with the ocean below, and have half a flashback of the time Bakugo gave him a swirlie before Roger snatched the waver out of the air with one arm.

"Great! Looks like you got the hang of it, but maybe work on your landing next time, eh?"

"Next time?" Izuku asked. "I'm not getting back on that thing even if it kills me."

Roger simply grinned at him. "I'll be taking the ship over to the next cloud island. There's something I need to pick up here. You stay here with Shanks and Buggy, go sightseeing, have fun or whatever you kids do these days. Try not to let too much of the island burn down while I'm gone, alright?"

Izuku, still half-numb from his waver ride, nodded and watched Roger leap aboard the Oro Jackson. It was only when the ship had nearly sailed out of sight that Izuku realized that the DeLorean was still in their cargo hold.


A/N: Roger conveniently dips, leaving Izuku stranded with the other cabin boys on top of a Sky Island? Oh my, I hope nothing bad happens!

I'm making bread today. Bread frustrates me, because I have a very hard time figuring out if I need to add more or less flour to fix a bread dough. Too sticky? Add flour and whoops, gets even stickier. Add some water, and oh my, it's eVeN sTiCkIeR! GAH! I need a bread recipe that uses mass instead of volume like my pizza dough. Takes all the guesswork out of making it. That's because flour doesn't all have the same density, and you need to be precise with the hydration ratio to get the correct consistency.