Descendant of the Infamous Liar, Cricket

Disclaimer: Don't own One Piece.

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"Hey, Bellamy!"

The large pirate looked over his shoulder to see a few of his crew walking into the bar, smiles on their faces. He turned around and leaned against the bar, "Eddy, Huett, Mani...where you three been?"

Eddy, the bespectacled navigator of the Bellamy Pirates grinned, "We heard some stuff about that kid that sliced and diced Sarquiss-,"

"SHUT THE HELL UP, EDDY!"

The navigator ducked the oncoming beer and continued, handing Bellamy a WANTED poster, "This kid's called the Demon, and he's got a bounty bigger than Sarquiss,"

"Only by 2,000,000 beli!"

Again, Eddy dodged a flying beer.

Bellamy looked at the poster, "40,000,000 huh? Not bad...," he eyed Sarquiss, "Still, would've expected you to actually put up a fight, Sarquiss," he let out a loud laugh and looked back at the poster, "Where is this kid? I'd like to send an invitation,"

Huett, the tall cook of his crew, scratched his head, "Before, you wanted Sarquiss to kill this asshole and win back some of our dignity, now you want him to join? I don't get it, Bellamy,"

The blonde pirate laughed, "It's simple, moron. We invite a guy like that to join, and if he says no, then we kill him," he looked at Mani, a dark skinned woman on his crew, "Where is he and is he alone?"

"He's not alone, but you're not gonna believe it, Bellamy," Mani smirked, "They're making a side-trip to the other end of Jaya,"

Bellamy frowned, "The hell are they going there for? There's nothing there except...," he became quiet for a few moments immediately broke out into cruel laughter, "Those fools! They're heading to old man Cricket's place?!"

Mani nodded, "From what I've heard around Mock Town, they left with a group of kids like an hour ago,"

"What do you say, Bellamy?" Eddy asked, taking a nearby beer and bringing it to his lips, "We going back?"

Bellamy's wide grin stayed on his face, "Revenge and another shot to get Cricket's gold back...I like it!"

"Hey, Bellamy," a tall man in a white hat propped his feet up, "You sure we should bother with this kid? Maybe he's one of those fakers. You did say that some weaklings make big posters of themselves,"

"He said that about Straw Hat and look at what happened, Rivers!" Lily scolded him and turned to her captain, "I say we go and kick their asses again, Boss, we did that before, we can do it again! No way they could've healed all the way by now. It'll be even easier this time!"

The Bellamy Pirates looked at their captain, whose shoulders were shaking as that grin of his kept growing wider and wider. Soon, the bar was filled with the sound of his twisted laughter.

-----

"Okay, even I can't find anything to say about that boat,"

"I can,"

"Oh?"

"Yeah,"

"What is it?"

"Frickin' weird man...," Azu muttered as he and Axe stood at the railing of the ship, looking ahead at the strange looking ship that was leading them to the place where the man called Cricket was living. It wasn't too big of a ship, and it looked normal enough...except for the fact that a large windmill sat in the middle of it, the fans spinning as the ship sailed.

Axe shook his head, "I gotta tell ya, I've never seen a ship like that before and I've been around for a while,"

"Ever seen anything like that, then?" Azu asked, pointing to something in front of the ship.

The treasure hunter turned and his eyes widened at what he saw. He wasn't the only ones on the deck that saw what was ahead though...

"Dude!" Dusty pointed ahead, "A friggin' castle!" her excited look soon faded, "Waaaait a minute...this doesn't look right,"

Indeed, it didn't. While it did look like there was a beautiful, brightly colored castle resting on the edge of the coast. However, as the ship came closer to land, everyone that saw it realized that it wasn't a real castle. From past experience with performances of all kinds, Dusty recognized it as a giant wooden board, cut and painted to look like a castle.

"Okay...," Devon folded his arms and stared at the board as the ship docked nearby, "What is this guy, an actor dork like Shifter and Dusty?"

Dusty whapped him over the head, "SHADDUP, BAKA DEMON!"

After disembarking, the crew made their way towards the fake castle, and as they got closer, the realized the painted board was propped up against a small, circular stone building that rested just on the edge of the short. Evidently, this was Cricket's house...if one could even call it a house. His yard, if one could call it that, had a large, lonely tree stump a few yards away from the house.

"What a dump," Devon shook his head, "YO! CRICKET, YOU HERE?!" he shouted.

"Yeah, scream like a madman, Devon, that'll bring the guy out," Niri muttered, picking her ear, "Damn man...,"

Chizuru turned to the four teens that led them here, "So, what're your stories?" she questioned, "Why'd you go out of the way and bring us here?"

The boy with dark eyes jerked a thumb to his group, "My mates and I had heard about this dude Cricket from our island and we decided we'd come check him out, see if he's real,"

"Feh," the man with the inverted cross and mis-matched eyes rubbed the back of his head, "Rubbish if you ask me...'Hey, I got a great idea, guys, let's leave home and go find Montblanc Cricket, see if we can work with him in his work!'...," he shook his head and smacked the dark-eyed boy upside the head, "Dumbass, right here!"

"Ow!" the boy held his head, "Murdoc, cut it out...,"

"Or what, Dee?" the dark teen challenged, "Afraid I'll make you look like a wuss in front of these girls? Too late for that, mate, because you're already a wuss,"

"Excuse me...," Kirsty walked up to them, "Did you say the man's name wasMontblanc Cricket? Montblanc as in Norland the Liar, Montblanc?" she asked.

The tall, dark-skinned man with large arms nodded, "Yeah...Cricket's a direct descendant of Norland. We heard he came here to Jaya to see what he could dig up,"

Kirsty held her chin in thought, "But why here?"

"Because," Murdoc hit the soil with his boot, "Jaya's the place that Norland visited in the fairy-tale,"

"No...way!"

"Way, love, way," Murdoc nodded.

"So, lemme get this straight...,"

The group turned to see Axe sitting on the tree stump, looking at them, "You kids," he pointed to the four, "...came to Jaya just to work with Cricket?"

The four teens nodded.

"Who the hell would come all the way to this place just to help out a descendant of a liar?"

"Hey!"

"Watch your mouth, kid! What're you all doing here, anyway?!"

DJ's jaw dropped and he pointed at two large forms walking their way, "HOLY SHIT! GIANT MONKEY PEOPLE!"

The two figures stopped and glared at DJ, "WE'RE HUMAN, YOU IDIOT!"

"Seriously?" DJ looked at the two large people glaring at him. One was dressed in green, had a large round body, wore a green coat and had a very long head of blondish hair. The other one wore overalls, a pair of red headphones of his head, and besides the monkey-like features on his face, this one actually had a furry tail coming out of the seat of his overalls. Both of them were wearing bandages, as if they had been hurt in a fight recently.

"Who are you guys?" Devon asked, hands going for his swords.

The green one smirked, "What, you've never heard of us? We're pretty famous around here,"

"That's right," the one in overalls cracked his knuckles, "The seas around Jaya is our turf, so either pay up for coming here or get lost,"

Chizuru smiled and walked up to them, "I know of you two. I've heard alot about you in Mock Town," she pointed to the one in green, "You are 'Sonar King Shojo', a man with a bounty of 36,000,000 and you," she pointed to the other one, "...are 'Salvage King Masira who has a bounty of 23,000,000 beli," she put her hands behind her back and smiled, "It's an honor to meet such renowned members of the Saruyama Alliance,"

While the two monkey-like men were taken back, Axe turned to Niri, an annoyed look on his face.

"She should really tell us everything about this area...everything she knows so we don't look like idiots," he hissed.

Niri nodded in silent agreement.

Chizuru continued her kind greeting, "Forgive us, we didn't know there was a toll. We'll be happy to pay it, but before we do, we need a favor. We are looking for Montblanc Cricket, do you know where he is?"

Masira and Shojo exchanged glances, "He's not inside?!"

"I'm here, I'm here...was trying to get a nap in, but it seems that's all for naught, now,"

Everyone turned to the stone building to see a rather tall man with a fit body walk out of the building, yawning as he did so. Axe and Dusty couldn't help but stare at the large acorn on the top of his head. Dusty pointed at the strange hairstyle he had, "Dude...talk about a nutjob!"

The area became very quiet very fast.

"Not so good?"

"Sorry, kit, but no...,"

"Aw...man!"

Cricket lit a cigarette and walked up to the group. He looked at the Axe-Heads, then at the four teens who came to work with him, then back at the Axe-Heads.

"What the hell do you kids want, come to make fun at an old man and his dreams?"

"Actually, we'd like to talk to you about this," Chizuru walked over to him and held up her Log Pose, "Mean anything?"

Cricket glanced at the Pose, then turned away, smiling, "What're the odds...first that damn assassin, then Straw Hat, now you guys?"

"Whoa, hold on!" Axe and Devon said together, "Shidyk D. Shade was here?!"

"And Straw Hat Luffy?!"

"Yeah...no matter how many times I meet that asshole, I don't trust him," Cricket took a drag of his cigarette, "Even if he does say I'm not on his list of targets,"

"Did he have a little girl with him?" Devon asked anxiously, "A little girl with wings on her back?"

Cricket eyed Devon and nodded slowly, "Yeah...yeah, he did. He said he was trying to her back to her home island,"

"What was that island called?"

Again, Cricket took a drag and exhaled, "Skypeia...,"

"Where is that?"

The old man smiled and raised a finger, pointing straight up, "Up there!"

Everyone tilted their heads back and stared up at the clear blue sky above their heads. Axe lowered his head and looked right at Cricket, "You actually believe there's an island in the sky?" he asked slowly.

Cricket's smile stayed and looked at Axe, "Kid, there is an island in the sky. Believe me, and these guys," he jerked a thumb to Masira and Shojo, "We know,"

"Really?" Axe put his hands on his hips, "Prove it to us...,"

Devon glanced at him,What's it gonna take for this guy to even think of the possibility of an island up there?

-A short time later-

"HOLY SHIT!"

"GEEZ, ARE THOSE REAL?!"

Niri's and Axe's jaws hit the floor at the sight of three golden, bell-shaped ingots and a large, golden statue of a strange looking bird with a slightly curved beak. Niri immediately started hugging the golden objects while Axe picked up his jaw and turned to Cricket.

"Is this your proof, old man?"

Cricket smiled, "A part of it...," he lit a new cigarette, "I think you kids need to be told a story,"

"Hey, we're not little kids!"

"Shut the hell up, kit," Devon muttered, taking a seat on the floor, "Go on, old man. Tell us everything you know about this Sky Island...,"

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Kilnorc: Okay, I think I'll end this here. For some reason, I never was one for lengthy bits about the Knock-Up Stream and the certain cloud, so I'll skip that explanation, but show bits of that conversation next chapter -nods- sounds like a plan.

On the next chapter of Homeland...

Devon: So, we just have to find this damn Southbird, huh?

Chizuru: This forest is very interesting...lotsa of bugs and spiders.

Devon: SPIDERS!!!

Dusty: Why bring your rifle, we need to catch it, not kill it and stuff it!

Hunt for the Southbird!

Devon: I HATE THIS DAMNED FOREST!!! I WILL KILL CRIC...SPIDER!!!