Chapter 10
Angel Beach
"Wait, stop, stop!" Nami called out.
A blue glow surrounded the Going Merry as the ship slowed down. The sail slacked and the oars deployed, to row backwards, until they came to a stop.
"Something wrong Nami?" asked Maxwell.
"...There's a huge cloud in our way," Nami pointed out the obvious. Everyone could see the cloud, it was the size of a hill. It was actually the first cloud that rose above the sea level. Well, technically the cloud sea level. The Grand Line was still about 5000 miles below.
Maxwell rolled his eyes, "I get that. But why stop?"
"It's floating on top of the sky sea, so it's probably not a part of it," said Sanji.
Usopp looked at the fluffy looking cloud, "...Then what kind of cloud is it? If it's a normal cloud, we can just sail straight through it."
"Well..." Nami looked at the cloud nervously.
"We'll know if we touch it, right!?" Luffy spun his arm rearing up to launch his fist, "Gomu-Gomu no Pistol!"
*BOING.*
"Wah! It bounced off!" Luffy retracted his arm. There was a brief indentation but it quickly shifted back into it's previous form and didn't move. Choppers eyes lit in delight as he realizing it was solid.
Luffy had caught on too, jumping onto the cloud, "Look! I'm bouncing! No sinking!" He was playing around like a kid in a bouncy house, "It's fluffy too! Like cotton! What is this, what is this!? It's so much fun~!"
"AMAZING!" "UOOH! I'M GOING TOO!" Both Usopp and Chopper jumped overboard and joined Luffy on the cloud.
"...What phenomenon is this?" Nami looked at the solid weather mass.
"Perhaps it really is a volcanic compound," Salem voiced from his book, "I doubt water alone would allow such an occurrence. Let alone what the ship is sailing on."
"Well if it's like that, then the ship can't get past this..." Nami then gets an idea and calls out to the Kiddy Trio, "Hey! While you're up there, try to find a route for the ship to pass!"
"Ooh! Okay!" Luffy waved back at them.
"Hey, Luffy! There's something over there," Usopp had moved further up the cloud.
"What? What is it?" Luffy ran over to the sniper.
"Hey!" Nami yelled, not wanting to be ignored.
Maxwell chuckled, "Let them have their fun. They'll be back soon enough." And like he said, the three cloud adventurers came back.
Usopp dropped down onto the deck, "Hey Nami, we saw this weird looking gate."
"A gate?"
Luffy nods, "Yeah! Under that waterfall looking cloud, there's a huge gate."
"Were you able to see a route we could sail through?" asked Maxwell. Usopp nods at the mages question and, with Chopper help, directed him through the maze of solid clouds.
"Turn left next." "No, right." "It was definitely left!" "No, it was right!" "Will you two make up your minds already!?" "Let's just call that armoured—YEOWCH! Oh come on, Merry!" "Phew..."
Once they were through the cloud maze, they could see the gate Usopp and the others were talking about. It was about the size of a dam, in a starburst shape. It was white and bronze, or perhaps gold, something you'd see at a cathedral. It had a dome shaped tunnel running beneath it. Marble pillars melded into the sides and they sat upon solid marble platforms. The tunnel was large enough for their ship to go through, and led directly too the waterfall cloud.
"'Heaven's Gate,'" Maxwell read the plaque above the tunnel, "Well that seems ominous..."
"Ominous, right. Gotta be a bad omen. It's like we're going to die..." Usopp became increasingly nervous looking at the gate.
"Yeah... But maybe we're actually dead already?" Zoro chuckled.
"Really? If that's so, then that would explain this strange world..." Sanji supplemented.
"We're already dead!?" Chopper panicked.
"If either of you see a black or gold city, let me know," said Max.
"Heaven! Looks fun! We're finally gonna get there!" Luffy added onto the joke, while Usopp looked at all them unamused.
"Oh ha ha, very funny... Hm? Hey look! Somebody's coming out!" As they neared the arch, Usopp pointed towards a door right near the closest pillar. An old lady had came out. Amazon held... well, Maxwell wasn't sure what it was. It looked like a box and made weird clicking noises.
"Are you here for sightseeing or for fighting?" She brought down the camera from her eye, "Actually, it doesn't matter why your here. If you want to go up, each person must pay a 1 billion extol entrance fee. That's the law."
"An angel!" Luffy looked at her amazed, she actually did have some small wings, "So that's how angels look...! She looks like a pickled plum!"
"1 billion extol, how much is that when converted to beli?" wondered Usopp. Gran Fall hadn't explained that either.
"Uh... Excuse me!" Nami called out to the old watcher, "If we... um... don't have any money—?"
"You can still go up," Amazon answered her question.
"Really!?" Both Max and Usopp looked at the old lady strangely. An optional entrance fee didn't make sense.
"Also, if you don't want to go up... It's okay too," Amazon suggested. The whole looked at the old lady confused, "I am not a guard, nor am I a soldier, I just want to know your intentions."
This seemed fishy to Max. But before he could get a word out, Luffy beat him to it, "Then we're going. We want to go to the sky island! Even though we don't have any money, we're going, granny!"
"Really?" Amazon mused, "Eight people, right?"
"...Right..." Luffy looks at the old angel confused, "But how do we get up?"
Then, all of a sudden, two massive claws grab onto their broken wings, "What the hell!?"
Maxwell could briefly hear Amazon say, "That's a White Sea special, the Speedy Shrimp."
"What is it doing then o—? WAH!" Maxwell lost his footing as the ship suddenly surged forward. Something large enough to hold their ship should not be able to go this fast! He quickly righted himself to see where it was taking them, and it was climbing the waterfall. The mage quickly looked up and noticed that the waterfall was actually a spiral, climbing up into the clouds. Not having much choice, Maxwell just held onto the ship as the crustacean carried them upward.
"What's going on...!?" yelled Usopp. He had just about had it with life threatening surprises today.
"The cloud is in the shape of a belt, just like a river...!" Nami made her own observations, "I doubt this is something that naturally formed!"
"There is no way this is natural!" yelled Zoro.
Before Sanji could yell at Zoro, the cook instead called out, "Wait! There's something at the top!"
"It's the exit!" cheered Luffy. There was a hole in the cloud structure and the cloudy road seemed to bend right over it's lip. The light was bright, but Luffy then saw something, "There's something written at the top!"
It was another plaque, "'God Land... Skypiea!?'" Wait, wasn't that—?
"It's not an exit! It's an entrance!" The ship was suddenly thrown out as the monstrous shrimp let them go. But they were here.
"IT'S SKY ISLAND!"
O O O
Maxwell looked around as they made landfall. It was literal kingdom in the sky. The entire shore and the mainland was made of those solid clouds. Domed buildings could be seen further up the city. Each district rose higher and higher, being on a cloud at another elevation. The highest cloud held a castle, and two major canals rose and bended skyward as they went elsewhere.
Not to mention, the shore had a tree line, full of palms trees.
"UHOO! THE SURFACE OF THIS ISLAND IS THE FLUFFY CLOUDS!" "YEAH~! SKY ISLAND!"
Usopp, Luffy, and Chopper had already ran onto the beach.
Zoro shook his head and turned to the eldest of the crew, "Hey Max, do you think we should weigh anchor here? There's no bottom, right?"
"Hm..." Maxwell scratched his beard. Zoro's question took away his gaze from the island, "I'd say just drop it. If it's shallow enough to walk, then there shouldn't be any fear of sinking."
"Alright," Zoro than dropped the anchor, where it landed with a definite thud and a splash. Zoro then wiped his hands on each other, "Still... This scenery really is amazing... It's like a dream..."
Maxwell nodded, agreeing with the swordsman. He never thought he'd see anything like this outside of the Fade.
"Yup," Sanji also agreed and pulled up his pant sleeves, "Also seeing their happy faces... Haha, you just can't help it. YAHOO~!" The cook then did a tumble jumping into the white ocean, and swimming to shore.
"You're the same as them!" Zoro pointed out. Sanji had joined Chopper, Usopp, and Luffy to play on the beach.
*JO~ JO JO~* "Ouch! Ouch! Sorry, sorry!"
Max and Zoro both looked down to see Nami being pecked at by the southbird.
*JO~!* It was off it's chain and flew away.
"...Jeez," moaned Nami, "Forgot to let him go earlier..." She had gone inside to change and Maxwell had to look away not to blush. She had traded in her shirt for a bikini top.
Zoro didn't seem to concerned about letting the bird go, "There seems to be people here. It can probably survive."
"And the anchor?"
"Already taken care of, Nami," Maxwell responded in Zoro's stead.
Robin then looked to their navigator, "...Hey, isn't Skypiea—?"
"Yup," Nami took out the old parchment, "It's the same as the name of the map Luffy found! That 200 year old galleon that fell on us really did come here." She folded it back up, "At the time, I didn't think a world in the sky really existed, but..." Nami jumped into the cloud water and laughed, "Look! After experiencing it first hand, there's no more doubt about it's existence!" She then ran to join everyone else on the shore.
"...And what about you two?" Robin then asked Maxwell and Zoro. These three handed yet jumped ship for the beach, and she hadn't changed outfits, "You going to join them?"
Maxwell got his expression under control, "...Yeah, we'll probably join in. I can't say it isn't appealing."
"What he said," Zoro parroted.
Robin then adopted this melancholy look, "I never thought... that navigating and landing could be adventurous too." The mage didn't comment.
Maxwell left his armor and boots behind so he could join everyone on the beach. There's a lot to be said about their journey, that Max hadn't had a relaxing place to unwind for a while. Sailing is amazing but nothing beats a genuine beach front. The waves dancing at your ankles, the cotton spun texture beneath your toes, and the sun beating down, hot enough to make you enjoy the clouds. Maxwell didn't care there was no water or sand, this the most amazing beach he's ever been too. There was even a gazebo! With cloud-made chairs!
Everyone was relaxing in their own way. Luffy was trying to sample one of the fruits up in a palm tree. Usopp was trying to build a sand castle. Chopper hung out with Nami once he was done rolling around. And Sanji had found some new kind of flower, trying to give the each of the ladies one.
Then Max heard the oddest thing. The strumming of a harp.
"Hey, there's someone over there!" Up on a giant mound of those clouds.
"Is it... another guerrilla!?" "Whistle! Where's the whistle...!?" "Wait, that's not it! ...It's an angel!"
"Angel!?" Indeed, it was another winged person. But this woman looked young, and was the one playing the harp.
The young lady then spotted them, "Heso! Are you guys from the Blue Sea? Suu, come here!" Maxwell flinched as he saw a snow-white fox run past his legs.
"...We flew up from the bottom. Do you live here?" asked Luffy.
"Yes, I live here. This is Skypiea's Angel Beach," the woman then giggled noticing the fruit Luffy was holding, "That's a konasshu. Do you want to drink it?"
"Huh?" Luffy blinked as she took one of the pumpkin like fruits.
She took out a knife, "The top in like steel, so biting won't do anything. You have to go from the bottom," the angel carved a small hole at the bottom, cutting out the button. She then put in a straw and handed it back to Luffy, "Alright, enjoy!"
"Ah, thank you," Luffy then drinks out of the straw, "OH~! SO YUMMY~! It tastes so good!"
"What!? Is it that good!?" asked Usopp.
"I'm Conis," the Skypiean introduced herself, "If you have any problems, please let me help you."
"Then... Can you open this one too, please!" Chopper held up the other konasshu. He wanted to try it as well, and Conis was more than happy to help.
"Actually I do have a problem," said Sanji, "Your gaze burns a hole in my heart—"
Nami pulls him out of the way by his ear, "Go away," and turns to Conis, "There are so many things we want to know. To start with, everything here is so strange to us..."
"Yes, please ask me anything!" the angel smiled.
"Hey, something's coming from the sea!" called Zoro. There was a small figure out on the "water."
"It's a slug!" Luffy yelled.
"Ah, it's my dad," Conis corrected him.
"Conis! Heso!" the male angel called out.
"Yes! Heso, Father!" Conis called back.
"Er, what are you guys saying!?" Luffy looked at the woman strangely.
"What is he riding on!?" Nami noticed the boat Conis's father was driving.
Luffy looked excited at the man's ride, "It looks really cool!"
"Ah... You mean the Waver?"
"I'm sorry, I am going to stop now," the riding angel instead sped onto the beach and into a palm tree, throwing him off. He thankfully recovers, "Is anybody hurt?"
"Ask yourself that first!" yelled Zoro.
"Here. Let me help you up," Maxwell lent a hand, inspecting for any injuries. The mage also took this time to observe the waver, as Conis called it. The boat actually remind Max of Fire Fist Ace's surfboard boat. Only this thing was styled after a fish and there was no sail. The back end was the part that looked like a fish fin and held the motor, while the front half was a typical boat. The only other difference was the handlebar steering at the bow.
"Hey Luffy, didn't you recover something like that from under the sea?" Nami looked back at Luffy, who was taking another drink of konasshu.
"Yeah, I did."
"So that's a waver...! In Noland's diary, a ship that will sail without wind...!"
"Ah, thank you, thank you," the man thanked Maxwell. He then turned to his daughter, "Are they your friends, Conis?"
"Yes, I just met them, Father. They're from the Blue Sea."
"Really? They must be really confused about things here then. This is the White-White Sea. I'm sorry."
"Oh no, no! We're not confused about that part..." Maxwell waved him off.
"Ah! I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Pagaya. I'm sorry."
"Eh... hehe..." Maxwell wasn't really sure why he was apologizing.
"Good timing too," Pagaya took out a lobster from his basket, which wasn't even damaged, "I just finished fishing. I caught the most delicious food in the white-white sea. These are called sky lobsters. Please come to my home. I'll treat you to some of the sky's happiness."
"Really!?" Luffy then cheered, "Let's go! Let's go!"
"You're going to make sky cuisine? Please let me help!" Sanji offered his services.
Nami knelt in front of the waver, "Before we go, may I ask a question first? How does this work? There's no sail... or paddles. How can it sail on the sea?"
"...Ah, you don't know what a dial is?" Conis tilted her head.
"Dial?" Maxwell was pretty sure Conis wasn't talking about a lock on Nami's safe.
Anyways, the question was ignored as Luffy wanted to try out the waver. Luffy and Pagaya already had the waver by the tide, "Accelerator? This? Just step on this, right?"
Luffy did just that and the waver sprung into life, "WAAAAAHHHHH!" and he had to hold on for dear life.
"Wow! He did it!" Chopper looked amazed, but Luffy didn't have any control over it. Luffy instead went flying off.
"It flipped." "Pretty big flips, too."
Maxwell facepalmed.
"Oh no! Is he hurt!?" Conis looked out at the cloud ocean in concern.
"Oh no... I'm so sorry," Pagaya apologized, "It's my fault for letting him borrow my waver."
Sanji and Zoro only looked out in mild interest, "I wonder what'll happen to those with devil fruit abilities in the sea of clouds..."
"Well, this place is different from normal seas, right? He may actually float," Zoro suggested.
...
...
...
"He sank."
"No good, huh?"
"WILL YOU TWO STOP BEGING IDIOTS AND JUMP IN ALREADY!?" Maxwell yelled at his two crewmates. Even Chopper had jumped in after him, and he couldn't even swim, "No wait—CHOPPER!" Maxwell himself then jumped in.
O O O
Maxwell, Zoro, and Sanji all came out of the surf dragging Luffy and Chopper out of the sea. Zoro and Sanji had Luffy, while Maxwell carried Chopper. Sanji and Zoro, as usual, were arguing.
"That was too close! He almost sunk all the way to the bottom!" "It's all because of your stupid babbling!" "My feet... One of them passed through the cloud..."
"No, it's my fault for lending my waver to a beginner. I'm very sorry," Pagaya and Conis both approached the arguing duo, fretting over Luffy.
"You alright, Chop?" Maxwell laid the little doctor on the beach.
"...Sky island, so scary... Sky island, so scary..." Oh dear, he was turning into Usopp.
"In order to fully utilize the power, the hulls of the wavers are made very light. So even the smallest wave can cause it to turn. Thus, one must understand the sea very well and be able to predict the waves. I'm sorry!" Pagaya tried to explain.
Maxwell blinked, and then looked around for Nami. That device sounded like her to a "T."
Chopper snapped out of his crazed state, "Is it really that hard!? I wanted to try it..."
Conis nodded, leaning down towards Chopper, "I've been practicing since I was a child, and I only recently succeeded."
"With training, it takes about 10 years to learn," Pagaya explained.
"That's a long time! You'd need a lot of patience!" Usopp also sounded disappointed.
"Hey~!"
Ah, there's their navigator.
"SHE'S RIDING IT!" Usopp exclaimed.
"This is awesome!" Nami cheered from the Waver.
Pagaya was certainly surprised, "What...! Unbelievable...!"
"Nami~! You're the best~!" Sanji yelled from the shore.
Luffy just looked at her shocked... and possibly jealous, "Why!? How is she able to do it!?"
Nami passed them by, "Controlling this really requires a certain level of skill. It's to delicate for someone like you, Luffy!"
Maxwell tried not to laugh. Luffy? Delicate? Nope. Not happening.
Since Luffy couldn't swim, the rubber-man settled for yelling, "Hey Nami! We're going to the mister's house! Come back now! Stupid~! Hurry up and come back, stupid~!"
Sanji stamped a heel on Luffy's straw hatted head, "Why you..."
"You guys go ahead!" Nami called back, "Mister, can I play with this a little longer!?"
"Yes! But please be careful!" Pagaya called out to Nami. The male angel then turns to the rest of the crew, smiling. Though you couldn't quite see it under his beard, "Follow me then!"