Chapter 23: Battle at Upper yard

The boat was getting further and further away from them. Shayla didn't really have the time to care about that right now because the round man with wing was irritating her with his weird dance. She kept observing him as he was jumping from one ball to another as if he'd already won.

Luffy and Sanji tried to attack him, yet he dodged without a problem and attacked them with a weird force in his hand. Shayla charged at him faster than he could react and punched him in the face. He flew back and the girl went after him to kick him in the jaw this time. She used her other foot to kick him in the stomach and he crashed into a tree.

She looked back for a moment only to see Usopp swinging himself over to the boat with a belt and a rope. Weirdly enough it worked until he couldn't detach the two things and he ended up swinging back and then forth. Luffy, who wasn't taking the situation seriously, swung around his friend.

Sanji looked pissed and gave the two a good beating. Shayla smiled a little and focused on the round man instead. He smirked and pulled out a cane that was controlling, "Surprise ball chain. Ball dragon. If you touch one of them it'll start a chain reaction and they all explode."

Luffy was about to punch it when his long-nosed friend pushed him aside and warned him not to touch it. The two choose to run away and jumped onto one of the balls to dodge it but it exploded with them on it.

Shayla blinked at the idiots before sighing. She had to stop the enemy before he does some real damage.

The two friends split up and the ball man went after Luffy. He was chased into a tree before jumping over the thing only to grab the string he used to control it.

The young captain realized that too and thought of ripping it in two. The ball man tried to pull it towards himself but only pulled Luffy along and boom it exploded. Shayla was about to jump into the fire to find her sunshine, but Sanji held her back, "Let go of me" she hissed.

"Don't worry he's alright, Shayla-san" the cook calmly said. She used her wing to clear the smoke and saw the enemy was okay. She smiled a little when she saw Luffy was on his back alright too.

"Don't let go, Luffy" Sanji started, "Dango man. You keep going on the ordeal this and ordeal that. But the truth is that I don't remember anything about it. Now you are going to experience the great shitty flying ordeal. I've got two delicate ladies awaiting my rescue. In short, you could say, 'This is the ordeal of love."

Shayla sweatdropped, "What are you talking about?" she questioned, "I'm sorry, Shayla-san, but would you allow me to handle Dango-man here?" he asked coolly, "Only if you treat me for something delicious later" she smirked. "Only the best for you," he responded, "Give him hell then".

Dango-man, huh? Nice name. He tried to get Luffy off of him, but it only made the rubber man clinch on to him even more as the fighting cook jumped up and, on his way, down he was spinning around before kicking the man's head in, "Concasser"

The man's glass' broke along with some of his teeth. He passed out and landed on the ground, "Guys, I found the boat. Hurry it's about to leave the forest" Usopp yelled from afar. They ran over to him as he attached the rope in his beat again.

Sanji and Luffy grabbed on to him, but Shayla refused and jumped directly onto the ship using her powers. The guys hit many trees on their way up and were beaten, yet the girl landed gracefully next to them.

They kept following the river, "That was some awesome kicking, Sanji. Where did you learn that?" Shay asked curiously, "It's nothing Shayla-san. Just my shitty old man used to beat how to cook into me. Throughout the years I picked up some of his tricks".

"That explains your great cooking skills," she smiled, "Your words are warming my heart" he smiled weirdly while she steered the ship. It was getting quite peaceful until a group of people looking like Guerrilla.

They all jumped over their boat but one of them aimed his bazooka at them. Luffy deflected it with his rubber powers, "Hey, you! What's the big deal? You don't want to mess with us!" the young captain yelled.

"So, you are the blue sea people who are shaking things up in Skypiea" it wasn't a question, "If you value your life, go back to the blue sea. If you insist on interfering on this island… we'll erase you along with Eneru" he warned as he was about to leave.

"Is that a threat? Bring it on Baldy!" Luffy screamed after him and Usopp tried to stop him, "Assuming you're strong enough to get off this island-" but before he could finish his sentence. Shayla shot a lightning bolt and hit the tree right next to his face.

"Do you still this we aren't strong enough? Because that wasn't even close to my full power, Guerrilla" she smirked at him. He looked ready to fight but some of his friends pulled him back, "Don't let that woman provoke you, Wiper".

"You lucky I don't have time to fight you. If meet again I won't hesitate to end you, girl" he said angrily. "Whatever you say, wild man. Don't call me girl I'm obviously older than you." She said in disinterest. He tsked before turned around and left.

"Who was that guy anyway?" Luffy asked, "Who cares?" Shayla said as she sat down and leaned back to relax.

They continued following the road and it was starting to feel like it was never going to end. The road was going close to the ground, around the trees, and even over them. Shayla laid down and put her feet at the end of the boat to make a small wind that made this slowpoke go faster.

Soon they reunited with their crewmates, "Hey Nami-san! Robin-chan! I passed the ordeal of love" Sanji screamed as soon as he saw them, "Was that it? That was the big challenge?" Luffy asked disappointed. "Were you guys scared? Don't fear captain Usopp is here?".

'What does he mean by captain Usopp?' Shayla thought as they got closer.

They boarded the ship, and the entire mast was gone. There were different kinds of damage all around and some of them went inside to see the sky knight, "You guys need a new ship" Shayla said, and everybody else's eyes were on her and then Usopp, "What?" she asked. "No, we won't! I can fix it out myself," he said.

"With this kind of repair? It won't last for very long. I even doubt it'll hold for more than a few weeks without a real shipwright." She stated the obvious. "Then we'll get it fixed on the next island," he said stubbornly.

"Assuming it'll even hold till we get down to the blue sea. Never mind the next island" she said calmly. "What do you know about Merry. You're not even part of the crew" Usopp started, "Damn it Usopp. Don't talk to a lady like that" Sanji interfered.

"I have sailed these seas years before you were even born, and experience countless ships sink. I know when they don't have much longer to sail and when that happens what will you do? Are you willing to risk the lives of your crewmates for this piece of junk?" she spat harshly. "Shay, Usopp - enough" Luffy finally can back.

It got really quiet all of a sudden, "Usopp, don't talk to her like that. I know, Merry is our precious Nakama and we won't lose her so easily. We'll fight and do whatever we can to fix her". The long-nose boy got tears of admiration in his eyes, "Luffy…".

Shayla rolled her eyes at this silly affection for a broken ship. Was his reaction going to be like this because the person who gave it to them was important to him? She knew a time would come and they could no longer fix it; would he fight his crew when they decide to get a new one?

Sanji lighted the mood by suggesting going into the forest to camp and everyone was ready for it. They started exchanging information and it surprised Shay that this island was a part of Jaya and that the city of gold most like was close.

"What's this mantra thing all about" Zoro suddenly asked, "I'm not sure, but I think they use it to predict our moves," the cook said. "It's called Haki" Shayla started, "What do you mean, Shay?" Chopper asked.

"This Mantra thing is called Observation Haki or Color of Observation. It's like a sixth sense that allows the user to feel the presence of others, strength and like he did predict moves." She elaborated. "That's awesome!" Luffy said, "How do you know that?" Nami asked, "I have it, too," she said casually.

"Is that how you could fight him? Show us!" Luffy and Chopper screamed the last part, "I can't really show you unless you throw things at me" she said and the two quickly gathered stones to throw at her. "Is this enough, Shay?" the young captain asked before showing their arms full of them.

"I guess" she sweatdropped and went away from the others before getting started, "When I close my eyes start throwing them as fast as you can" she informed and closed her eyes.

Soon she felt a lot of stones coming flying and at the beginning, she just caught them like they were small balls. They looked amazed by her performance, and she punched and kicked the stones away this time.

The small crew cheered as she dodged every single piece thrown at her and trust me, they were quite fast. Shayla got closer and closer toward them and in the end, not too hard she kicked them both away.

"Oh, sorry. I got carried away for a moment" she apologized, "You're full of surprises, Hell-bender-san." Robin laughed, "Thanks" she smiled.

After the demonstration, Luffy went over to the fire Sanji used to cook their food and watched it like a hawk. A while later he rolled away from it, "This is so boring" he exclaimed and the cook said that he only had to pour the distilled water into the bottles for their trip tomorrow.

Zoro and Chopper had been gathering supplies for whatever Sanji was making and it was starting to smell great. "I found walnuts, aloe, banana, and garlic" the reindeer cutely said. He reminded her of Rain a little bit and she was starting to see how weird it felt without her.

"Rats and frogs too" the swordsman continued, "Yosh, chop them up and throw them inside the pot" he casually answered, "Wait! There is some weird thing in their" Nami complained, "Oh, no garlic, right?" he said

"She meant the frog and rat part," Shayla said beside them. Zoro was told to use his swords to hold the hot stones. Although he complained he did it nonetheless and soon they added the stones into the stew.

Soon it was done.

"This is delicious" Luffy scream, "I'll say, but I think Thatch's cooking might be a tiny bit better" she smiled, "Who's Thatch?" he asked. But before she could answer someone else did, "He is the fourth division commander of the Whitebeard pirates" Robin said

"Yeah, he was. Until he was killed by someone he trusted" she laid the bowl next to her and put her head on her knees. "Was it the man we meet at Jaya?" Nami asked, "Yeah, his name is Teach, or Blackbeard as he called himself, he killed one of the best people on board our ship for a devil fruit.

I know that if he'd asked, Thatch would probably have given it to him. But instead, he stabbed his friend in the back and left him there to die!" the memories she tried so hard to suppress all this time were starting to come out.

"That's awful," Chopper said in tears, "That's why we were after him. I let him go after getting so close" she slammed her fist into the ground. "Shay-" the reindeer started but she interrupted him, "I'm sorry to ruin the mood, guys. Continue, Nami" The navigator wanted to say something, but Shay gave her a reassuring look.

She started talking about how some traveler named Noland discovered the city of gold 400 years ago. Several years later he returned to the same island but there was no gold, and it was during that time half of Jaya wounded up in the sky. The only possible way for that to happen was with the knock-up stream.

Robin explained that the trees and South birds were much bigger here might be because of Skypiea's different environment. "Why did they save you guys," Sanji asked Chopper, "I don't know. Maybe it's related to everyone calling the sky knight – god"

"He's god? So, we just need to beat that old man" Luffy scream. Nami went back to Noland's story, and he wrote that he saw gold in the skull's right eye. Nami then showed them the map of Jaya and an old map of Skypiea before putting them together and the two maps formed a skull.

"Amazing" everyone cheered, "Noland was talking about the shape of the island. But since there's only half left, no one could solve the mystery" Nami said. 'Yup, I was right. She really is amazing' Shayla thought.

They agreed on splitting into two groups since they couldn't leave the ship at the sacrifice alter. And tomorrow they would look for the gold at the skull's right eye.

"It's late. We should put out any unnecessary fire or the enemies will know our location" Robin started, "That's ridiculous. Did you hear that Usopp? Put out the fire, she says" Luffy looked smug, "Give her a break, Luffy. Robin's lived a dark life. She wouldn't know" Usopp defended.

The older woman still looked confused as to what they were talking about. The captain and sniper fell down and slammed their fist into the ground, "When you go camping. It's natural to have a campfire" Luffy started, "To camp at night even if your life is about to end, your got to have a campfire. That's just the way it is".

The navigator scolded them for being idiots, and the vassals could find them along with Guerrilla. Until "Luffy" Zoro yelled before showing him the woods they gathered, "Is this enough?" he asked. Sanji held fire when he told Nami not to worry but she saw eyes glaring at them in the forest.

The sun soon set, and the campfire was on and soon a pack of wolves appeared. One thing led to another, and they were now partying together. Shayla was in the middle dancing with them.

-x-

She woke up on one of the roots the next morning and everyone saw that the ship had been repaired. "Look at this, Shay. Merry is something else, isn't she" Luffy laughed. "Right…" she said hesitantly.

Nami showed them the map once again to find the gold, and told them that it was pretty easy if they went south, "Wait a second. You're always going on about the gold, but you're not coming, Nami?" the captain asked, "Of course not. I'm scared".

Instead, she would be on board the Merry and take the ship to the other side of the island. It would be just as dangerous to go to their place of promise before leaving Skypiea. They started to talk about how to get the ship down from there.

The whitebeard pirate sighed before bending the alter itself to make the way down more smoothly without damaging the ship more.

Shayla went along to find the gold with, Luffy, Zoro, Robin, and Chopper. While the rest being, Nami, Sanji, Usopp, Sky knight, and his weird bird would meet them at the eastern seashore.

Not too long after, "Hey, where you going, Zoro? That's the opposite direction. West is this way. You have no sense of direction at all" Luffy yelled before walking east himself. "Hey, Luffy. Don't you ever listen to what people say? It's the right eye of the skull, and the right is this way. This way, you idiot" Zoro said and pointed in the opposite direction.

Shayla stood there amused. She never thought that there would be someone that reminded her so much of Luffy yet different. If she'd have to guess she would say that Zoro was first mate material, but this trip made it seem like he had no clue what he was doing.

"Can you go and tell them that we should be going south and it's this way?" Robin said Chopper. But before he could do anything, "Oi, dumb-dumbs. It's the wrong way", Shayla yelled. The two guys looked at each other, "Zoro, she's talking to you" Luffy laughed.

"I'm talking about both of you. We have to go south, idiots and it's this way" she sighed, "Oh, why didn't you say so sooner?" he smiled while dragging a stick through the tree roots. The little reindeer started admiring the piece of wood.

Shayla suddenly stopped when she felt something, "What's wrong?" Zoro asked. "Don't you guys feel something big approaching?" she answered, "What is it?" Chopper asked as she took off her shoes and trapped the ground, "I didn't think they could get that big" she smirked.

"What is it, Shay?" Luffy asked eager, "It's a giant-" but before she could continue the animal appeared hissing, "Snake" she finished.

"Run! It's a giant snake" Luffy said excitedly, "Look at its size. It must have been affected by the sky island's environment" the archaeologist smiled. "Like the catfish, I'll chop it up" Zoro replied as he grabbed his swords, Chopper screamed in fear and Shayla put her shoes back on before getting herself ready for an attack.

The snake charged at them, and everyone ran in different directions except Shayla. She slid under it and kicked it in the jaw. Wait, do snakes even have a jaw? To her, it didn't feel like it but at least she made it bit its tongue.

But that didn't stop it and the snake came back but she dodged it this time. the giant creature bites the tree behind her, and it melted away. "Poison" Chopper screamed, "I think it's time for a strategic retreat" the swordsman panicked, "Agree," the two women said together. "Scary" Luffy screamed with a smile.

The snake was after Robin this time and she was sitting in one of the trees using her powers. As the thing charged at her she sprouted a lot of arms to swing herself away from it.

Shayla wasn't sure how it happened, but she was now alone in the middle of nowhere, "Oh, well" she said before continuing in her way.

Soon she saw one of the former blue sea people just being hit by lightning and a tall pale man standing over his burn body, "The electricity has reached the milky road. What a pity. The discharge silenced 20 people. Those fools" he said before looking at Shayla.

"Did you come here to challenge me girl?" he asked, "Nope, I ended up here by accident" she calmly replied. He was about to leave when "You have an interesting way of using lighting" Shayla praised.

"When you have the power of a god there are no limits to your ability" Eneru answered, "Here's the thing. I don't believe you're a god at all" she casually said. Suddenly he was right in front of her and his hand up in her face, "El Thor" and a flash of lightning was about to hit her when she dodged it.

"You won't survive this. 2 million volts" The shockwave hit her head-on. Shayla stood there and a bit hurt, "Wow that was very unpleasant" she said. She looked around in search of him, but he was gone, "That bastard. He assumed that he already finished me off and left" she dusting herself off.

"I just have to make him pay for that!" she punched her palm. She climbed up to the top of trees and saw a long plant was tangled together. It was probably there the kami was. People with titles have a habit of living above everyone else and she always hated the idea of someone being born into power they might not deserve.

Shay jumped from treetop to treetop and at some point, she saw goat people attacking her. She didn't even need to use that much power into her kicks, and it was quickly over. The young woman stood in front of the thing and made fire come out of her feet and fired herself up there.

It was a long way up and she was about to hit the cloud above. Shayla clapped her hands together before stretching them over her head and she flew to it.

On the other side, she swung herself into the air and dramatically landed next to a metal cage. She was about to touch but then decided against it. Instead, she used her power to force them apart. She made a big hole before entering it and saw Zoro stood there with blood all over.

"How do we get out once we beat them?" the swordsman asked, "Don't worry. I already took care of that" she smiled at her brother's Nakama. "Shay, how did you get in here?" he asked, "Did you already forget that I control the elements" she stated the obvious and he just nodded.

"Now, do you need help beating him?" she asked. "No, but Nami, the weird knight, his bird, and a little girl was all eaten by the giant snake. Can you take care of that?" Zoro asked and pointed to the giant thing. She blinked a couple of times before smirking, "You bet".

Shayla charged at the thing before jumping up, "Oi, what are you doing" he screamed, "There's only one way to save them and that is to get inside that thing as well" she answered before entering into the snake's mouth.