Skypiea and a weird stranger

by Erzats

After defeating Crocodile and leaving Alabasta with Nico Robin joining them, the Strawhat Pirates now sailed to Jaya, trying to reached the legendary Sky Islands. But what happen when a strange guy wearing a scarf join the trip without them knowing ? OC. Same as canon with a few twist. Shitty sumary and title, sorry

8. Chapter 8 : Shandora's flame

Hello ! We began this new week with victory in the air. WE ARE WORLD CHAMPION ! (I'm French, that's why). Either way, no matter where you're from, if your country played in this world cup, I would like to congratulate them all, with a special mention to Croatia for their amazing first final ever. But we aren't here to talk about football, but to tell the new episode of the adventures of our favorite pirates on the sky islands. So let's go !

I don't own One Piece.

Chapter 8: Shandora's flame

- " AAAAAHHHHH! NOOO ! I DON'T WANT TO DIE ! AAAAAAHHHHH ! "

Ussop's cries echoed during his fall, all the way to Ash's ears, who was a good dozen of meters above him, the 2 characters free-falling after they jumped off the Maxim ark, Ussop having jumped at the same moment as Nami and Ash having taken a little more time just to pick Sanji up, the cook having been struck once again by Ener by wanting to protect his friends (or just Nami, it depends on who you are asking to).

When Ussop's cries stopped abruptly, Ash understood that his fall was coming to an end and indeed, a few seconds later, he reached the cloudy ground, not without placing himself to protect Sanji from the impact which remained rather violent, the cook unable to protect himself from his own fall. When he got up after shaking off the impact, he saw Nami running towards them, pulling her Waver next to her and Ussop, head stuck inside the ground up to his shoulders, some kind of spring on his shoes.

- " USSOP ! SANJI ! " Shouted the navigator by approaching the 3 other survivors, Ash suddenly pulling a face.

- "This voice… Nami ! I'm glad that you are all right." Answered Ussop, still half-buried in the clouds.

- " Could you at least pretend that I exist ? "

But once again, the red-hair ignored the white (A.N: he has white hair, remember) and fell on her knees next to the blond.

- " Sanji, are you alright ? "

- "Really ? You're asking him if he's alright ? But as you can see, he is in top shape, with his body burned out like an overcooked steak." joked Ash, trying to get Ussop out of the cloud he was stuck in, getting a reaction out of Nami, more exactly a dark look. "But I have to admit that I rarely saw something more badass than what he did up there."

- "Yeah ! Sanji, what a man. You better not die here, you hear me ?!"

- "Anyway, we better get out of here." Commanded Nami. "We should go find the others and leave those island as soon as possible." She ended getting on her Waver. "On this sky island, there is no longer a place that is safe."

- "Yeah, you're right. We better leave and quick. Let's go." Chained Ussop, lifting Sanji on his back, but Ash cut them.

- "Except that your plan is not going to work as expected."

Ussop and Nami turned their head to Ash, who was tilted on an enormous telescope, looking at the ark which floated near the Giant Jack.

- "Seriously, where are you hiding those things ?" Asked Nami gesturing toward the telescope. "And what do you mean by that ?"

- " I mean that Jet Dials are covering the whole hull of the ark to keep it flying and Ener is probably going to repair his machine faster than we planned. "

- " We don't care ! Since we are going out of this place, none of that really matters. " Tried Ussop, not really wanting to stay here any longer.

- " I didn't know that there were such coward in this crew. You really plan to leave and let Ener destroy this place ? "

Ash words made the pirates think. They thought about Conis, her father, and all these people who didn't asked anything and who are going to lose everything because of this guy and his god-complex. But at the same time, they didn't see what they could do to prevent him from doing whatever he wanted to do.

- " Furthermore, your captain will not leave. I have this feeling that there's something he have to do here and he won't leave without succeeding. I imagine that he is of the stubborn kind on this kind of thing, no ? "

Ussop and Nami sighed, realizing that indeed, if Luffy decided to stay, they'll had to stay too. Nami shook her head to clear her mind and resumed talking.

- " Anyway, no matter what happen, we have to get the others in the ruins before doing anything else. Let's go ! "

Nami, Ussop and Sanji, still carried by the sniper, got on the Waver and left, heading to the Giant Jack, followed by Ash who used his shock waves to follow them, without falling behind. When they finally arrived at the base of the huge bean, they realized that they wouldn't have to go down in the ruin to vetch the others.

- " Robin ! Aisa ! You're alright ! " Asked the navigator when she saw the archaeologist, the young girl and also Pierre, the three of them standing in front of the Giant Jack, seemingly in good shape.

- " Ah! Miss navigator, Mr. long nose and Mr. cook. "

- " I think it's now official, I am definitely invisible. " complained the scarf wearer while the group finally stopped in front of the bean, Ussop seeing for the first time Ener's other victims.

- " Zoro ! Chopper ! The old man ! That raider, too ! Damn, everyone is down… ?! If only I've been there … "

- " … Nothing would have changed. "

- " DO NOT RUIN MY MOMENTS ! " Roared Ussop by turning to Ash, who looked at Aisa curiously.

- " Wait. If Aisa is there, where is Luffy ? "

- " He went up the vine, to rescue you ! " Answered Aisa

- " So we missed him. It doesn't matter, I'm going to take the Waver and go up there to look for him). The rest of you go back to our ship ! "

/- Meanwhile, aboard the ark -/

- " These small insects of the Blue Sea have more caused more problem than I thought they could, but they can do nothing against God. It is now time to level this place and begin the journey towards Fairy Vearth. "

The sky was now completely covered with thunder clouds, darkening the whole sky islands whereas lightning crossing the clouds were growing in number and violence.

DEATHPIEA : MAMARAGAN !

/- At the base of the Giant Jack -/

An gigantic lightning bolt struck the ruins not far away from the group gathered at the foot of the huge bean in an powerful explosion who blew the rubbles and some of the survivor away. But the group notices that this strike was not the only one : a multitude of bolts identical to this one were showering on all the sky island, from Upper Yard to Angel Beach, destroying everything on their wake, enhancing the panic of the inhabitants who already felt like it was the end of the world. Nami however stuck to the plan and went back up on her Waver, determined to go and bring Luffy back with her. She sped up all at once and went up the bean whereas thunder destroyed more and more of the celestial islands, like the Shandias village or Lovely Street, God's altar, but also the boats which had already left the pier and run away from on the White-White Sea and even the city of Shandora, almost killing at the same time those who had stayed below. Nami from her part began to panic.

- "He is too fast, I can't close the gap between us."

- "It's maybe a weight problem."

Nami froze and without slowing down, turned her head to look above her shoulder, seeing Ash, his chains attached to the Waver, being pulled out by the vehicle as if he was water-skiing. Nami said nothing, just removing the chains without a word, letting Ash fall into the void crying all the while but strangely, it seemed like even after many seconds, the cry had the same intensity as the beginning. When Nami turned her head once again, this time looking at her right side, she once again end up face to face with Ash, still yelling, but using a strange technique to literally run in the air by her side.

- "YOU ARE AN ANNOYING FUCKING ASSHOLE !" Roared Nami, shark-teethed, not able to keep up with his shit anymore, and coming from someone who spend her life dealing with Luffy and his whole collection of annoying quirks, it meant a lot.

- "Why, thank you. I came because I thought that Luffy might need some help."

- " Help for nothing ! I will make him come down from this bean. I'll drag him by his ass if I have too !"

- "Well, he is a rubber man. You could pull him by his ass all you want, you'll end up dragging an ass and the rest of the body is not going to move. And I have this feeling that even if you could indeed pull him to the bottom of the bean, if he decided to stay, he will stay and you'll be forced to follow him, but not only because he is the captain. Am I right ?"

Nami didn't know what to say against that. She just turned her head to look in front of her, without contradicting Ash. He was right on this point : no matter what, Luffy always did what he wanted to do and always managed to make his crew follow him and it always seemed to bring them in impossible situation. But most of the time, his decisions always turned out to be giving them thing they need, like opponent to grow in term of strength. They continued their way up to the ruins where the Trial of Iron took place and when they finally pierced the cloud layer, the first thing they saw was the tip of the Giant Jack falling down, the vegetable struck by lightning which split the huge vegetable, sending a fragment of a dozens of meters long up to the ground, almost crushing the people massed at the foot of the bean. Popping up from the cloud like 2 rockets, they settled on the ground, brutally for Nami whereas Ash had reached the ground without any kind of incident, but nevertheless, Nami's Waver got the chance to land on some kind of airbag. A groaning one.

- " Luffy ! " Exclaimed the navigator by realizing that she had landed on her captain, the golden ball still stuck on his arm.

- " Eh ? Nami ! How did you get here ? Are you okay ? " answered Luffy, still stuck under the Waver, surprised that Nami was here, believing she was still on the Maxim ark.

- " I'm alright, don't worry." She answered, kinda happy that he thought about her wellbeing despite the situation. "Sanji and Ussop saved me. I am here picked you up and go down. "

- " I see. That's great ! But right now, I need to… " Luffy began, getting out from under the wooden vehicle, before being stopped by Ash's intervention.

- " Wait ! What is that !? "

Nami and Luffy turned their head to Ash to see him point to something behind them. Shooting their head in the same direction than the one he was pointing at, they saw that the clouds had split up. More exactly, many clouds gathered to form one huge cloud who little by little end up taking the shape of a gigantic crackling ball of electricity slowly but surely coming down, heading for the city where the sky folk lived.

- " Oh no ! That ball of cloud look a lot more condensed with electrical energy than normal !" Explained the navigator, her knowledge in meteorology letting her guess that this sphere was nothing more than a bad omen.

- " There's no need to have a doctorate in meteorology to understand that this thing is one hell of a bad news, Nami ! But thank you anyway ! " Teased Ash, getting almost no reaction on behalf of none of the two pirate, the two too focused on this sphere to care about the taunt.

/- On the ark -/

- " YAHAHAHA! " Ener, standing on the railing of his ark exulted. " I am absolute in the sky ! I surprise even myself with my power ! With Maxim, all kinds of miracle are possible ! YAHAHAHAHA ! "

RAIGO !

/- Back to Luffy and his group -/

The 3 citizens from the Blue Sea, just like all the other persons on the sky island, could do nothing but be witness of the horror show that was displayed in front of them. When that huge ball of thunder clouds touched the cloudy ground of the city, it exploded, unleashing the power of the lightning that was gathered inside in an explosion of light and lightning bolt which blinded everyone on the island. When the light had finally faded away, the show was still striking but not for the same, nor the good, reasons. Where Conis home town once stood had now became a gaping hole, the city totally vaporized with the exception of some part of the cloudy road which connected the city with Upper Yard. Everybody was in shock, including our 3 friends, Nami getting back on the Waver to leave but Luffy didn't seemed ready to move.

- "Luffy ! Get on the Waver ! We're leaving ! The others are probably already back on the ship by now ! We have to go, too !"

- "FALSE !" Interrupted Ash, another telescope taken out from nowhere by his side, aimed at the foot of the bean. "They are all at the bottom of the bean, they didn't moved. I have the feeling that they are waiting for their captain."

- "What ? But I told them to leave !" Nami said unhappy, not understanding why they had not listened to her.

- "Except that you are not the captain. It's his orders before yours. Can't do nothing against that." Explained Ash by pointing to Luffy, the latter still looking at the huge hole in the middle of the White-White Sea.

- "I'm sorry, Nami but I'm not coming down now ! I still have something to take care off ! The golden bell is here !" Those last words Luffy said made the redhead navigator lost her temper.

- " Gold ? Gold isn't important right now ?"

- " ' Gold isn't important '? Who are you and what have you done to Nami ?"Asked for Ash, dressed like Sherlock Holmes, a pipe in his mouth and examining Nami through a magnifying glass.

- "SHUT UP, YOU DUMBASS ! Luffy, look around you ! Even if you are immune to lightning, he can still destroy the entire island and you with it ! And you already have that huge chunk of gold on your hand ! So let's go, or you'll die for sure ! YOUR LIFE IS MUCH MORE IMPORTANT THAN A BELL, LUFFY !

- "YOU SAW IT DOWN THERE, RIGHT ?" Countered Luffy, whose conviction didn't falter.

- "SAW WHAT ?

- "The golden city ! The golden city does exist !"

Nami stopped dead in her track, not understanding where Luffy wanted say anymore, while Ash realized what Luffy wanted to say.

- "The lie of Montblanc Norland !"

- "It wasn't a lie. The diamond head mister's ancestor wasn't lying. I have to tell him that Norland wasn't lying and that the golden city is here in the sky !" Explained Luffy, Nami finally realizing what Luffy wanted to do.

- "By ringing the bell, seeing its size, I'm sure he'll hear it even on Jaya. At least, he'll know that his ancestor was right. Besides, by ringing the bell, one would relight the flame of Shandora, allowing the 400-year-old promise made between Calgara and Norland to finally come true !"

- "This is why I can't let that bastard have this bell. I have to ring that bell so loud that everyone in Grand Line will hear it ! THIS IS WHY I AM GOING TO STAY HERE AND RING THIS BELL NO MATTER WHAT !"

- "Luffy …"

Luffy's conviction made tears appears in Nami's eyes, who felt bad to have doubted the pure heart of her captain, the same heart which made her change what she thought about pirates. But she was not the only one.

- "HAHAHAHAHA !"

Luffy and Nami turned to Ash who laughed like a madman, without none of the two knowing what to do against that until he finally stopped laughing and turns towards them, a satisfied smile on his lips.

- "Aaaah, it is too good. I felt that you weren't like the other pirates, but to risk your life just to settle a 400-year-old injustice and promise, I have to say that I'm surprised. I am going to give you a hand, Luffy. I think I have finally found the perfect team for my project." He mumble the last part, keeping it to himself, but Nami felt uneasy, without knowing why, but brushed it aside for now, knowing they will need all the help they could gather.

- " Thank you, Ash, but I'm going to go there alone, there's no need for you to put yourself in harm way for nothing. Stay there and protect Nami, okay ? " And with this, he stretched his arm to catch the ark, leaving behind him a Nami and Ash surprised by those words, but he didn't left them alone for long since Ener was waiting for him and the lightning-man kicked Luffy's hand, sending him back to the others.

- " I don't recall ever inviting you to be on the ship. " Said Ener from his ark. " Did you like the view when the entire island vanished ? Girl, if you are thinking of rejoining me…It's too late for you. "

- " I never would've joined you anyways ! " Answered Nami before Luffy stood between her and the 'God'.

- " Leave her out of this and come down here to fight, you asshole ! " The threat had no effect since Ener kept on and ignored the rubber man.

- " Hah ! As soon as I find what I want… I will summon another Raigo and eradicate Skypiea completely ! You and the others below you can do nothing but stare helplessly as I destroy this human country unfitting for the sky… AND RETURN EVERYTHING TO HOW IT IS SUPPOSED TO BE ! "

- " A god born in the sky which considers people who live there as ' unnatural '? Is that irony I smell ? " Threw Ash by sniffing the air around him, letting Luffy dash once again to reach the arc by running on the Giant Jack, but he couldn't do anything because he was moved out by a lightning bolt which struck the tip of the bean and sent him back once again to his partners.

- " YAHAHA … Goodbye, rubber man… We shall not meet again ! Just stay there and quietly wait for your doom ! No one can stop it from happening ! " Exulted Ener by going away from the Giant Jack, getting closer and closer to the legendary flame of Shandora. But Luffy refused to give up, this time trying to use Nami's Waver to reach Ener, but he was thrown away once again by thunderbolt.

- " AAHHH FUCK THAT ! " He roared, losing it. " I have to go up there. I have to let them know ! I have to ring this bell ! "

Luffy's frustration also touched Nami and Ash, who wanted to do something but without knowing what, until Ash suddenly got an idea.

- " Ener and his ark, they are still reachable. But for that, we have to bring down the Giant Jack ! "

- " Wait, what ? How is that going to help us ? " Wondered Nami, ready to hear that firebrand suggestion if it could help them to succeed.

- " If we make this bean tip over, we can use it as a launchpad to reach the ark with the Waver. We have to pass the message to the others. "

- " Are you sure of that ? Nami, what do you think ? " Wondered Luffy, turning to Nami to see what she thought of this plan.

- " It can work ! We are going to do it ! But I need something to write and a support. "

Ash did not lose anymore time. He fetched one of the enormous leaves growing on the Giant Jack and brought it to Nami who hurried to leave a message, as short and clear as she could to save time, before throwing the leaf off the cloud they were on.

- " Now we just have to wait for them to get the message and do as they are told. Be ready to go ! It could go down at any time !"

Ash and Luffy ran, the elastic man taking place behind Nami on the Waver, Ash standing next to them, ready to use his powers to follow them when the bean will start his fall. Regrettably, while they waited for their friends to succeed, they attended the birth of the second Raigo which, as Ener promised, was big enough to engulf all of Skypiea and reduce to ashes everything on kilometers around. The others had to hurry to bring down the Giant Jack, or everything was lost.

- " Nami, are you sure to want to do it ? I would understand if you wanted to go back with the others. I can take care of this guy by myself. " suggested Luffy, not feeling well about letting his navigator come with them this time.

- " Of course, you need somebody to drive the Waver. And furthermore, I can't really consider as a pirate if I constantly have to depend on the others when it comes to fighting. " She ended with a derisive smile towards Ash, the latter smiling, understanding that she was talking about the remarks which he had made when they were on the Maxim ark.

- " And you, are you also staying ? " Luffy now asking the question to Ash, turning to him, the latter looking at the arc.

- " Long ago, I swore to do everything I could to make sure I never let people be led by somebody who does not deserve it. And this guy is one of those guy I can't let do as they want. Then I won't leave as long as this dude will be a threat for the sky islands. Is that a good enough motive for you ? "

- " OK. I trust you, then. Shishishi ! "

Luffy punctuated his answer with his usual big smile whereas Nami could not refrain from feeling that there was something off with him, but at the moment, she was going to let it slide. And if Luffy trusted him, it wasn't for nothing, or at least she hoped it was not for nothing.

And finally, the signal they were waiting for came. The huge bean began to tip over towards the Maxim ark, giving the signal for Nami and Ash to start, going back up the falling vegetable, a second Mamaragan making thunderbolts shower down on everything around them in a rather vain attempt to push them away. Arriving at the top of the Giant Jack, the Waver took off, going straight ahead to the ark and Ener, the latter being more dulled than anything else when he saw them.

- " Will this never end ? You're too late, trash. This should be big enough already so… IT IS NOW TIME FOR YOU AND SKYPIEA TO VANISH INTO THIN AIR ! "

RAIGO !

That's when the three partner finally noticed the XXL thunderclouds sphere they had managed, without knowing how, to forget. The gigantic mass of crackling electricity that was Raigo was just over them, coming down slowly, getting closer and closer to them, and consequently closer to the sky islands. And this is when Luffy took a rather bold decision. He jumped off the Waver, taking the time to make sure that Nami and the Waver had landed on a small cloud situated just below him, whereas the rubber man went straight to the Raigo.

- " LUFFY ! Don't be stupid ! This thing is a real bomb of concentrated electricity ! Even your rubber body is not going to survive that ! "

But this warning didn't do anything to stop Luffy, the pirate disappearing in the huge mass of clouds whereas the Giant Jack just finished its falling, crashing on the ground. But inside the cloud, Luffy had just begun to rock his golden ball in everything directions which, from the outside, made the sphere go more and more unstable with each passing second, the conductive metal disrupting the electric currents, threatening to cancel the Raigo, something Ener couldn't let happen.

- " Shit. I have to get rid of him before he depletes all the electricity ! "

On these words, the sphere continued its descent, Ener hoping to reduce the sky islands to ashes before Luffy end up draining all the electricity from the Raigo. But it was already too late, the mass of thunderclouds dissipating all at once, revealing Luffy, up in a now sunny sky, not a single clouds around him anymore, his anger toward 'God' still raging. For Luffy, it was time to finish this here and now, so he stretched his gold wearing arm back, twisting it around.

- " Hehe, hi again ! This time, it's my turn to knock you off ! "taunted Luffy, satisfied, whereas Ener was now really angry.

- " How dare you destroy the Raigo... You cursed monkey of the Blue Sea ! Now you have truly angered God !"

200 MILLIONS VOLT : AMARU !

Ener then unleashed his full power, which made him took the shape of a gigantic version of himself in a more godlike form, completely made of crackling electricity.

- " What is that ?! " Luffy in front of such an appearance exclaimed.

- " Want to ring the golden bell, do you ? Is it because of the legend of its sound signifying the end of the war ? You are pathetic to believe in such nonsense ! I am the almighty God ! You are just a super-human type devil fruit user ! You are no match for me, God of the element !"

Then he threw a lightning punch at Luffy, who naturally, felt nothing and came out unscathed.

- " God this, god that, blah, blah, blah ! A stupid shitty god like you is better off gone ! "

The pirate sent Ener back away with a big kick to his face. But Ener had more or less planned that, a trident appearing behind Luffy, ready to skewer him. Ener threw the golden trident towards Luffy, but the elastic man felt almost nothing, strangely. Looking behind him since he was feeling something hard against his back and the only thing he saw was a red scarf waving like a flag.

- " ASH !? " Nami and Luffy exclaimed, surprised that he was up there, hands and foot on the trident, trying to prevent Luffy from impaling on the golden spikes, fighting against Luffy's body who was pressing on him, pulled back by the golden ball still stretched out, the heated metal burning his hand in the process. " But what are you doing here ? You're going to be killed ! "

- " Tch, sorry to disappoint you, Luffy, but it's going to take a lot more than that to put me in a coffin. Also, seeing that I want to see this guy get beaten up and that I can't do it myself, I'd better give you an hand ! But that shit is kinda too much for me, right now !"

But regrettably, the weight began to really be too much for him and Ash let go, falling down with the rubber man under Ener satisfied look and Nami horrified one.

- " Luffy ! Ash ! "

Having said that, none of the two fighters wanted to give up. Luffy managed to grab the cloud where Nami was currently standing on, his body stretched to the max, whereas Ash seemed to skip on the spot in the middle of the sky, eyes aimed at Luffy.

- " NAMI ! GET OUT OF THERE ! "

- " Eh ? "

GOMU GOMU NO ROCKET !

The navigator didn't move, not understanding what Luffy was going to do, forcing Ash to throw himself on her to push her farther on the cloud just as Luffy trotted with the golden ball like an arrow fired by a crossbow until he find himself back at the same level as the ark, aligned with the golden bell, his arm taking back the same position as before, stretched towards the back and twisted up on itself.

GOMU GOMU NO …

- " You are trying to use the same trick once again ? " Questioned God, amused by seeing so much stubbornness despite it being so vain.

- "I will make the bell ring again no matter what ! "

- " Yahahaha, Dream on, scum ! I'll be sure to pierce through your heart this time ! "

Indeed, Ener held in each of his hands a golden trident, both humongous in size, sertainly big enough to stop Luffy's move. But for those trident to do the job, they would have to stay in position in front of him. Which was not the case.

SHOCK SPLIT KICK !

Ash had suddenly appears between the tridents, upside down, doing the split, a leg stretched forwards, the other to the back, striking both tridents with shock waves near the hands, which dislodged the tridents and sent them far away from their owner, who looked down and saw, behind the stretched legs, Ash's face, giving him the finger with both his hands.

- " Impertinent scum ! "

Ener slapped Ash, who was struck by 200 million volts of electricity, putting his lights out and he fell into the void, Ener satisfies but remembering that he had forgotten a more important threat. And when he lifted back his head, it was already too late.

… GOLDEN RIFLE !

Luffy's spinning arm shot out like a missile, the golden ball suddenly acting like a huge cannonball which Ener was unable to dodge, colliding hard with the metallic mass, his body made of electricity not helping to protect himself. If the impact was already violent and enough to put him out of the fight, it did not stop there, the rubber arm keeping on stretching, taking Ener with him, tearing away a big part of the roof of the ark and sending him straight ahead towards the golden bell which stood behind the ark. And the inevitable happened.

- " RIIIIIIIIIING ! "

Luffy's shout echoed just as the golden mass collided with the bell, the time seemingly slowing down at the same time, Ener getting sandwiched between both metallic surface, the strength of the impact being enough to make the golden sphere shatter as if it was made of glass, finally freeing Luffy's arm, whereas the bell rocked for the first time in almost 400 years, getting ready to make its melody echoed through the sky and to relight a flame that should have never been put out.

- " Hey, Diamond-head mister ! Do you hear it ? The golden city is here ! For the whole 400 years… The golden city has always been here …. IN THE SKY !"

*DOOONNNG*

And here we are, the end of this fight. I hope that you liked it. I still have 1 or 2 chapter left before finishing this fic. I have already planned to do Enies Lobby, for the other, we shall see, but I have some ideas. Bye !

Next time: the end of the nightmare echoes through the skies ! Epilogue of a useless war. The poneglyphs of the sky islands.