"Let's go." Zoro started to walk back to the ship. Kimi nodded, "Yea, come on Luffy." But the straw hat boy just stood there ignoring his crewmates and staring at the man. The giant man then stood up, "Oh it looks like I kept you waiting. I see you're in a hurry. I hope you make it there, to Sky Island!" And with that final statement he turned his back on the crew and walked away into the crowed street.
Luffy turned around facing Kimi following his first-mate. "Hey wait; he might have known something about Sky Island…Who was that guy?" Kimi looked back as he disappeared in the crowd. She feared Nami's wrath when they came back to the ship with no clues.
The three walked in complete silence on their walk back to the Merry. Kimi looked down thinking about what to tell Nami about why the boys were bleeding half to death. She looked over to her left at the two. They had serious faces even as the blood from their cuts ran down their faces. She felt so bad that she couldn't help her new friends. But then again, Luffy even told her not to fight and she didn't want to disobey her captain. She sighed and looked back down at her feet.
"Luffy! Zoro! What the hell happened to you guys!" Ussopp yelled from the ship. "Kimi-san! Are you hurt!" Sanji yelled out worried. "D-D-Doctor!" Chopper cried out. "That's you!" Ussopp laughed at the reindeer. "Oh yea."
As the three climbed up the rope ladder, Chopper ran to the two with his kit and quickly cleaned up the blood from their cuts and bandaged them up. "Kimi! I told you to keep watch on them!" Nami fumed at the girl. "I know, but these guys wanted to beat them up and Luffy told us not to fight."
"What the hell? You men are supposed to take on whoever wants to fight and beat them up! No! This whole town should be razed to the ground for pissing me off!" Nami started to yell at the boys. Her mood swings kicking in. Kimi gracefully sneaked off and walked towards the Women's Quarters hoping to clear her mind from the situation. She was embarrassed, tired, and hungry. Not a good combination for a girl or let alone any human being.
The door opened and Robin walked in the room. She wore a new matching outfit complete with a matching purple cowgirl hat. "Oh hello Miss Scientist. How was your information gathering?" She smiled. Kimi sat on her bed and sighed. "Not good. I was laughed at and then Luffy and Zoro got beat up." She looked back at Robin. "I'm not a good pirate am I?"
Robin unloaded all of the clothes from her bags and put them in various places in her drawers. "You are doing quite well actually. Many people by now are usually dead or have limbs missing." She smiled sweetly. Kimi giggled, "Yea I guess…I just feel like I can't do this. I want to. But it's scary."
Robin finished and looked back at the girl, "I can see that you are a strong girl. After all, you have dealt with the marines all of your life. This should be similar." Robin walked over to the door. "We are heading to the out skirts of Jaya. A man named Montblanc Cricket may have the answers for Sky Island. Are you coming?" She opened the door. Kimi took a deep breath and stood up following the woman out of the room.
However, the girls felt the ship rattling and covered their ears as a horrible sound filled the air around them. "What the heck is that noise?" Kimi tried to yell over the noise. "I'm not sure." Robin replied hoping the noise would go away. They felt the ship rocking back and forth and the wind blowing through their hair. Luckily, someone was trying to steer the crew out of the noisy sound waves and eventually the noise stopped.
Eventually the ship made it to the X on the map. "Woah it's a palace!" Luffy yelled out, on the edge of the island stood a huge decorated white palace. Kimi shook her head. "That's really pathetic. Take a closer look, Luffy. It's fake."
Ignoring Kimi's remark, Luffy jumped off the ship and onto the island. "Whatttttt! It's fake! It's a board!" He cried.
"What kind of dreams was he talking about that got him kicked out of town?" Nami asked Robin. "I don't know the details but apparently, he claimed that a mountain of gold resides somewhere on Jaya Island."
"You mean like some pirate's treasure or something?" Nami smiled evilly. "DIG CHOPPER!" She pushed the reindeer off the boat and to the island. The rest of the crew jumped off as well and explored the island. Luffy knocked on the door of the half house. "Hello is anyone here?" He walked into the house. Kimi walked by a tree stump and looked at a picture book that rested on top of the stump. "A picture book? 'Liar Norland?'" she read the title of the book looking at the front cover.
"Oi, I know that story. It's just a fairy tale for kids now, but I heard this guy Norland was a real person." Sanji walked behind Kimi looking at the book. Kimi looked through the pictures of the story and read aloud the book to the crew. As she finished the story her attention turned to Luffy and Ussopp on the edge of the island. Luffy had been pulled into the water and a big muscular man stood in an attack position looking at the crew.
"You've got guts, relaxing in another man's home! This stretch of sea is MY territory. You are after the gold, aren't you?" The man yelled out at the crew. Sanji ran towards him, "Ussopp go get Luffy, I take this fool." The two fought hand and feet and then out of nowhere the man pulled out a gun and shot at the cook.
"Sanji-kun!" Nami yelled distressed. But Sanji missed it just by a hair. The man continued to shoot at Sanji and missed with each shot. "Idiot, that's what you get for underestimation him." Zoro mocked and pulled out his white sword and ran towards the man. But suddenly the man fell to the ground gasping in pain. Luffy and Ussopp then appeared from out of the water. "And then he pulled me into the water- oi ossan! Are you okay?" Luffy ran over to the man and flipped him over. Chopper ran to him and took his pulse. "I need to treat him. Can someone-" Chopper was about to ask if someone could help the man but Kimi stood in.
"Clone clone ally!" She cloned Zoro and ten Zoro's picked up the man and brought him into the house. Kimi looked back at Zoro who looked completely confused. She giggled, "Sorry, it would take about thirty clones of me to pick him up, so you were the better option." Zoro just smiled.
Chopper examined the man and taught a little lesson to Kimi as he did so. "Decompression sickness?" Kimi questioned Chopper reason for the man being sick. "Yes it's an ailment that sometimes affects divers. It's not a permanent condition, but the drop in pressure during the ascent from the ocean floor to the surface causes the nitrogen in the body to fall out of solution and form bubbles. The bubbles strain the blood vessels and the surrounding tissue, impeding blood flow, muscles, and joints." Kimi nodded understanding everything Chopper spoke of.
"Ah yes, a mystery!" Luffy nodded completely off the topic. "Depending on the condition, Decompression sickness can lead to death…"
Just then two voices screamed into the doorway of the room. "OYASSAN, ARE YOU ALRIGHT?" Kimi noticed one of the faces, the monkey man from the salvage just only from this afternoon. "AHHHHH THEY'VE COME TO KILL US!" Chopper and Ussopp screamed running around the house.
"What did you do to our Oyassan!" They yelled out. "We're taking care of the Ossan. Get lost." The two started to cry. "You guys are so kind!"
Eventually the two monkey men explained that Cricket had taken in the two and they were very loyal to him. They heard gunfire and rushed to make sure he was okay.
"Luffy! The man woke up!" Chopper ran out from the room. Kimi sat by his side and watched Cricket look around. "Are you okay?" She asked sweetly. He looked over at his desk and grabbed a cigarette and a lighter from it. "Diamond-head Ossan, we've got something to ask you!" Luffy smiled walking into the room. "Sorry for the trouble. I thought you were after my gold like the other idiots." He puffed the smoke out of his mouth. Kimi stood up and looked down at the man.
"You have gold-?" Nami smiled but Ussopp quickly stopped her. "Ossan, we want to go to Sky Island! Tell us how to get there!" Luffy ran next to Kimi. The man started to laugh, "You guys believe in Sky Island? I know one guy who said it existed, but he's famous for being a great liar. And his family has been a laughing stock ever since."
"Liar Norland." Kimi spoke. "What?" The man looked up at her. "You're a descended of him, aren't you?" She looked blankly at the man.
"Oh yea, now that you mention it, I remember his full name was Montblanc Norland." Sanji backed up Kimi's response. "He's my grandfather's grandfather's grandfather or something. A very distant relative, but his story has given me a lot of problems. At the time, the Montblanc family was exiled from the country and forced to live in shame. The abuse we got from the public still continues today. But no one in our family hates him." Cricket explained.
Kimi smiled understanding the story, "He was honest wasn't he?" The rest of the crew's mouths dropped, "But the book, Kimi?"
"In the picture book, Norland's last words are: 'That's it! The mountain of gold must have sunk into the ocean!' They drew him with an idiot smile in the book, but he died in regret, with tears flowing down his face. The island they had landed on was Jaya, the same island where Norland first discovered the City of Gold. Norland asserted that changes in the Earth's crust must have sent the city to the bottom of the ocean. But to everyone else, he was just a sore loser trying to justify himself. Norland was executed before a huge crowd of onlookers, laughing and hooting. Only the name 'Liar' remained."
"So you've been searching the ocean floor for the City of Gold to exonerate the Montblanc family name then." Ussopp put the piece of the puzzle together but apparently Cricket did not appreciate Ussopp's conclusion as he shot at the long nosed boy missing him by a hair.
"Whether or not my distant ancestor was an honest man, has nothing to do with me! Do you know what it's like for a kid to be jeered at by everyone just because he had the blood of an idiot in his veins?" Cricket yelled and Kimi frowned knowing the same pain as a child.
Kimi walked through the hallway of her school on the first day of 1st grade. She smiled from ear to ear excited to learn and to get away from her sister at home. She then noticed something odd. All of the school children were pointing at her and whispering. Kimi looked around holding her books tightly to her chest. "What? What did I do?" She asked a boy who threw a paper ball at her.
"We all know you're a mom killer and you have special powers from the devil himself!" He yelled pointing at the 6-year-old girl. "Stay away from us!" Another girl pointed at the blue-haired girl in the middle of the big hallway. Even the teachers looked down on the girl.
Kimi wiped away her tears and rushed to the classroom holding onto her science book. 'I didn't do it on purpose.' She thought as she ran down the hallway and into the class room, room 207. The female teacher stood from her desk. "You are Tomoko Kimiko, correct?" Kimi nodded. "You sit in the back of the classroom. Do not talk to the other students." She sat back down and ignored the girl. Kimi walked to her desk and organized her supplies. 'I am here to learn not to make friends.' She thought as the bell rung. She opened her science book and smiled looking at all the pictures. 'I can't wait to learn.'
"…I had to grow up with that!" Cricket yelled. Kimi opened her mouth to say something, but then closed it as Cricket continued his story. "Countless members of our family have come to this ocean trying to restore our honor and we lost them all. I became ashamed of my family. So I ran away from home and became a pirate. Before long, I'd built up my own pirate crew. After I entered the Grand Line, my life was full of adventures. 10 years ago, my ship landed on this island by what seemed like coincidence, but how ironic that the one man who hates Norland and the Montblanc family the most, would end up here. There was nowhere else to run after that. This is a battle with the man who ruined my life. I just want to settle things with him before I die."
"Well then what about the other two?" Luffy questioned about the monkey men. "It happened about five or six years ago. They heard about me and came to me and said, 'We think Norland's gold really exists!' Day after day I would dive down and search, all alone and then they barged into my life. They really saved me, you know?"
Kimi sighed, the memory of her past kept her from concentrating on Cricket's story any longer. She bowed at Cricket, "Excuse me please." and walked towards the door. She looked down still upset at her memory but looked up at Zoro who stood cross armed next to the door. She gave him a distressed look but continued on her way to the fresh air. She took a deep breath and sat on the stump with the Liar Norland book.
'Why is the past so terrible?' she wondered resting on her elbows on her thighs. 'I know his pain, I was tormented as a kid as well. But I actually did kill my mother…but it's not like I had meant too-' She thought trying to stop her tears. She looked up and watched the two monkey men fight each other, why they were fighting, she didn't know but they seemed to be really into it. She then looked over at the Merry. It was so patched up; it almost looked as fake as the palace on the half of the house did. She sat up and calculated some things in her head on how to patch the Merry correctly. Why this finally struck her mind at a time like this, she really couldn't understand.
She then noticed Cricket stopping their fight, "So it looks like they really want to go to Sky Island." "Sky Island? Well, if they're going there's only one way to get there, but that'd be instant death for them."Masira commented. "That's why I asked you guys, what do you say to giving them a hand?" Cricket smiled and looked over at Kimi.
She noticed the three looking over at her and she stood. "Please help us." She smiled.
Cricket explained to the crew that the Knock-up stream was the only way to get to Sky Island. But with the Merry in such terrible shape the monkey brothers would have to re-build the ship. Kimi insisted that she should help them as well just to make sure that everything was correct and to also use her mathematical brain to fix up the patches properly. Sanji made food and as the sun settled the crew, Cricket and the Monkey men all had a very fun and delicious dinner. Robin sat in a corner reading Norland's log book when all of a sudden Cricket spoke, "'The skull's right eye is where I saw the gold.' That same day Norland was executed. Even after coming here to Jaya, I still don't understand what he meant by that. The blank pages that follow tell us nothing."
After the dinner and drinking finished, Cricket told another story about Norland and a golden bell. Cricket then brought out three small golden bells that he had found on the ocean floor while he was diving. Nami, of course, groped one of the bells with Berri symbols in her eyes. Then he brought out a piece of solid gold in the shape of a strange bird. He explained that it was in the shape of a southbird and then started to freak out.
"You all have got to go in the forest and find one of these birds!"
"Huh? Why would we need a bird?" Sanji questioned Cricket.
"Listen, tomorrow you are going to sail for the Knock-Up Stream! It is going to be directly south of here, and how are you going to get there? The moment you stray from your course, you'll have no idea which direction is which!" Cricket explained.
"I see, since we're going to be sailing towards an area of water instead of an island, then we won't have anything to tell us if we are going the right way. Then how do we tell?" Nami concluded.
"Certain species of animals have an accurate internal sense of direction. The southbird is the most extreme example of this. Its body will always point to one direction and without that bird; you'll never be able to set out from here and ultimately not reach Sky Island!"
"WHY ARE YOU TELLING US THIS NOW!" Luffy and Ussopp ran out the door. "It's the middle of the night and you want us to go tramping around in the woods!" Ussopp yelled back at Cricket. Kimi walked outside and looked out into the forest. Thank goodness she was staying back and helping Cricket and the other's with the ship. Cricket threw three nets out to the crew, "You forgot these, we are gonna get to work on your beat-up ship. You have until morning to catch a southbird and bring it back here!"
Kimi waved to the other's and walked over to the Merry. "Hey Cricket what type of supplies do you need?" She cloned herself and they walked into Ussopp's tool room to find supplies. "Oi, just the usual, wood, nails, a hammer." Cricket smiled. The clones brought out the supplies and then disappeared. Kimi continued to examine the patch work Ussopp put on the Merry.
"How did I not catch this sooner?" Kimi thought picking at one of the boards. "He loves this ship." Cricket stood next to the girl. "Yea but it's terrible. Mathematically, none of this is balanced making the ship slower than it should be." She frowned, "I should have noticed this before…I feel terrible." She took a step back and looked at the head of the Merry. It even had patch work on the neck that Kimi somehow mysteriously did not see before.
"You should be glad that we are going to fix it." Masira smiled at the girl and picked up a piece of wood. She cloned herself and the clone ran into her room to bring back her lab coat with her glasses in it. The clone threw the jacket at Kimi and she put in on over her black short-sleeved turtle neck shirt.
"Just so you know," Kimi walked over to the wood speaking to Cricket, "I do know what it is like to be taunted for something you didn't do. Or rather something you didn't mean to happen." He looked over at the girl and titled his head, "Oh really?"
Kimi looked back with her glasses on, "Yes. It is an awful feeling. Isn't it?"
The wind picked up and the four looked over on the other side of the Merry. Another ship had already docked and the crew started to jump off of the extravagant boat. Kimi looked up at the pirate flag and recognized the face. It was the same thing that was painted on the blue-haired guy in Bellamy's crew.
"Oh no, Cricket! This guy is trouble! We met him before, he's absolutely crazy!" She warned the three. Just as she said that the two Monkey men stood in front of her and Cricket stood in front of the two making a diamond shape but hiding the young girl from the view.
"Hey Nii-chan, Nii-cha, don't make us angry." Shojo yelled out. "You come in the middle of the night and expect us to give you some gold huh? We won't so leave cuz we've got work to do." The Monkey's yelled at Bellamy and his crew, Kimi stood completely still hoping they would leave peacefully.
"I heard the little bleeding-heart story of the Montblanc family at the bar. It moved me to tearssssss." Kimi heard Bellamy's voice, "I find the fruits of another man's labor have an exceptional taste." The wind picked up and Kimi closed her eyes tightly so that the dust would not damage them.
"Since you're looking for a fight, we'll give you one!"
"Don't underestimate us!"
"Kill them!"
Kimi could hear footsteps running towards the group and suddenly Mirasa shoved Kimi behind Shojo. Luckily, Shojo was a bit bigger than Mirasa and therefore Kimi could be hidden easier. She peaked and watched Cricket beat the blue-haired man from before without hesitation. "It is not safe for young kids to be swinging that around." He kicked the sword out of his hands. While the monkey men stood still beating up the crewmates while hiding Kimi.
"Well, it's about time I gave my performance for the evening." Kimi heard Bellamy laugh. "SPRING SNIPE!" He yelled and Kimi watched Mirasa fly behind her. She took a step to the side as Bellamy sprung and hit Shojo forwards. Now out in the open, Kimi gasped and watched as Bellamy pushed off the side of the Merry and attacked Cricket. With the force of Bellamy's spring devil fruit pushing off the Merry, it broke in half.
"Stop this!" She yelled as Bellamy landed next to Cricket on the ground. Everyone's eyes looked at the girl. "So, how do you like the Captain's Bane bane abilities?" The blue-haired man stepped on Cricket's back. "Speachless huh?" He laughed putting all of his weight on the man.
Bellamy walked over to Kimi with the crazy look in his face, "So did your crew leave you all alone?" He laughed. "No, I'm trying to fix my ship! And you broke it even more!" She yelled now completely pissed off. "You are going to pay for that." She held her hands out, "Clone clone, 100!" She yelled out and 100 clones surrounded Bellamy.
"Fine then, now you wanna fight little girl? SPRING SNIPE!" He yelled again and started to spring back and forth beating the clones into thin air, after about the 30th clone, he hit the real Kimi and she flew back ten feet into the ground. She spat out some blood that filled her mouth and stood up to see Bellamy face-to-face, not a clone in sight.
She growled and tried to punch him in the face but he stopped her fist and squeezed it. "You are too weak. I'm not even going to offer to buy you this time!" He laughed and punched her with his other hand. Her glasses flew off her face in the middle of the field.
Bellamy still continued to hold onto her wrist even as she squirmed in pain on the ground. "Hey we found it Bellamy! This has to be the gold!" One of the men yelled from inside Cricket's house. Kimi tried to push herself up, but like Cricket, Bellamy put a foot on her back digging her into the ground. "Open it!" Bellamy yelled out and the crewmate opened the bag in front of Kimi's face.
It was the gold statue of the Southbird, "Wow, this is amazing!" Bellamy smiled and the crew ran over to his position. "And there's more too!" The blonde girl with the red bandana opened and took out one of the small golden bells.
"Stop!" Kimi tried to stand up again but the foot on her back said otherwise. "You have no right to touch that!" She gritted her teeth. She wanted to make a clone, but with Bellamy holding her arm in the air, she couldn't.
"I've had enough of you!" Bellamy threw her arm to the ground and then quickly lifted her body off the ground from the collar of her jacket. He then threw her to the side of him and she tumbled out of her coat and to the ground this time knocking her out cold.
Cricket lifted himself up. "Leave her alone and give me back my gold you punks!" But the blue-haired man ran towards him with his sword. "I'll save you!" Masira stood in front of Cricket and the sword went through his back instead of through Cricket.
"You…you idiot…why?" Cricket looked at his friend. "Oyssan! Watch out! Havoc Sonar!" Shojo yelled and then screamed.
"Don't worry. I can finish him." Bellamy threw Kimi's jacket to the side and used his spring fruit to hit Shojo in the stomach and stop him. "Shojo! Why?" Cricket stood up horrified at the defeat of his friends.
"Let's get going. Bag the gold, oh and grab that girl. She's ours now." Bellamy laughed and the crew walked by the defeated three. "Old man, you should grow up! The city of Gold was just something that Liar Norland made up. If you want to be a pirate in the new Era, you gotta realize that dreams never come true!" The crew laughed.
"Hold it kid," Cricket stood and took a cigarette out and lit it. "A little boy, who doesn't have the guts to fight against something he's never seen, shouldn't be telling me about pirates."
Bellamy looked back, angry as all get out. "What was that?" The last thing Cricket saw was the angry face of Bellamy.
"Ossan! We got the bird- Diamond-head Ossan! Masira! Shojo!" Luffy and the other made their way back to the group.
"What the hell happened!" Sanji yelled and ran over to Shojo floating in the water. "Shit, who did this?"
"Look! The Merry!" Ussopp cried and ran over to the now broken Merry. "Who did this to her, Damn it!"
"Hey, um, guys…" Nami looked petrified as she held a piece of white cloth in her hands, "Wh-where's Kimi?"
Zoro looked over his shoulder and recognized the material in Nami's hands, it was Kimi's lab jacket and by the looks of it, she was also in the middle of the fight. Her once white coat was now brown, red and green. Zoro only saw red, how dare someone hurt her and then take her away, but his thought ended when he heard a strange crunch underneath his foot.
He crouched down to examine the object and then frowned when he picked it up. "Kimi's glasses." He stood and whispered to himself. Not wanting to make the crew even more on edge, he quickly put her glasses in his pocket and examined the rest of the wreck.
"So…rry…" Cricket coughed. "Ossan!" Luffy looked down at Cricket. "I'm really sorry…we were here but we couldn't do anything…But, still… there is still time." He coughed again and tried to stand up.
"KIMIKO! Chopper called out looking around for his friend. "Guys, I can't find her…" he frowned.
"Hold on, Ossan! What happened to Kimi?" Luffy stopped the man from standing.
"I'm- I'm sorry. They took the gold…and they…they took your friend." He cried and sank his face into the palm of his hand.
"They took her! You mean someone took your gold and Kimi and did this to the Merry?" Ussopp yelled.
"Who did this?" Luffy asked with no emotion. "Oi Luffy!" Zoro walked over to the back of the fake palace still with the southbird in his hands and pointed to the clue of who took their friend. It was the Bellamy symbol that they had on when Luffy, Zoro and Kimi had met them earlier that afternoon.
Luffy stood up without a word. "Need a hand?" Zoro hid his anger from the crew. He couldn't believe Bellamy had taken her even after she had yelled at him for wanting to buy her at the bar. Then again, a sick man like Bellamy may have wanted her even more that she had denied him.
"Nope I'll be fine." He readjusted his hat. "Luffy, don't do anything stupid! We have three hours until the stream occurs. So hurry up!"
"If I follow the coast will I reach that town from this afternoon?" Luffy asked Robin. "Yes, you will reach it." She replied.
"Hey kid, you can't! You won't make it in time!" Cricket yelled out but a sword stopped him in his tracks. "If you want to stop him," Zoro offered his white sword to the man, "You'll have to use this."
"I made a promise I would protect Kimi, and you worked all that time to find that gold. I'll be back before dawn!"
Kimi sat at the bar from earlier this afternoon. The only difference was this time her feet and arms were tied down, she had bruises and blood everywhere and she was being forced to drink. Kimi sniffed her tears away while looking at her reflection in the mug of ale. She didn't like whatever the hell this drink was and she wished that the bartender would just stop refilling her drink.
"Man, we had a good laugh at those big monkeys!" One of the men laughed and mock Cricket and the monkey's.
Bellamy sat next to Kimi and took a sip of his drink. "You need to drink!" He smirked and shoved the rest of her drink down her throat. The crew laughed at his action while Kimi sat still drenched in head to toe of alcohol. "Please stop…" She whispered.
Just then a man ran into the bar, "We got trouble! Those guys who were at this bar…oh Bellamy! You should get out of this bar right away! Those guys they- oh, that girl! Did you kidnap that girl from them!" Kimi looked back at the man. "You, you are in danger Bellamy!" He yelled out and then showed the bar Luffy and Zoro's wanted posters.
Kimi smirked through the pain and turned back around. "Those guys from this afternoon both have higher bounties than yours, Bellamy! You gotta get outta here!" He cried out.
Bellamy turned back around and hunched over, laughing hysterically. Kimi stared down the man, what was so funny she thought to his weird nature. "Oi oi oi oi! You morons! Getting scared over two pieces of paper." He pulled Kimi to sit on his lap.
"Let me-" She squirmed but he covered her mouth, "Haven't you heard of pirate who do this? Some pathetic guys make their own wanted posters and gain fame by bluffing. You saw him with your own eyes, there's no way he has done something that horrible to gain that amount of a bounty." He cupped Kimi's chin, "You're stupid captain thought he had us tricked huh? He's pathetic and so are you!" He then threw Kimi off of him and down to the floor.
She moaned in agony but kept her best to keep the pain hidden. "You all are the idiots. Haven't you ever heard don't judge a book by its cover?" She laughed. Bellamy walked over and picked her up by the rope that bound her arms behind her back. "Oh really?" He smirked evilly.
"BELLAMY! WHERE ARE YOU!" Kimi smiled, she knew that voice and laughed, "You're done now."
Bellamy and the other's got quiet and even some hid under the tables. Bellamy picked up Kimi and dragged her out of the bar.
"Oi!" Luffy's voice came from above and both Bellamy and Kimi looked up and saw Luffy on the clock tower in the center of the town. "We were just talking about you." Bellamy laughed and cupped Kimi's chin, "You want something?"
"Yeah! Release Kimi and give me back Diamond-head Ossan's gold." Luffy stared down the man. Kimi felt her body against the ground and screamed in pain. This was the last hit she could take before her body gave out on her completely. Bellamy had used his power to jump next to Luffy.
"I stole them, as a real pirate should and being a pirate yourself, you shouldn't have any objections to that." Bellamy laughed claiming Kimi as property.
"But I do, so I'm stealing the treasure and my friend back."
Kimi couldn't hear the two other than Bellamy's annoying laugh, but the blue-haired man lifted Kimi off the floor and sat her down on the steps of the bar. "Don't say anything girl." He snapped. "Oi, I was right. That is him." the man from before cried at Luffy's wanted poster.
"You still got that stupid thing? Rip it up already, it's fake."
"Bu-but what if this wanted poster is real! If he really is worth 100,000,000 Berri then there is no way Bellamy would be able to-"
"Just look at that kid, that's no vicious killer, no matter which way you look at him. I'm starting to doubt that 30,000,000 poster now too!"
Kimi shook her head in disgust. She knew for a fact that Luffy wouldn't have gone through so much trouble to create a fake wanted poster. He couldn't even figure out how to fish properly, let alone do something that tedious. Zoro wouldn't either. She knew that Chopper had told her on the ship earlier that day that both of them and Robin were wanted by the marines but she didn't know for sure how much they were wanted for.
Kimi noticed that Bellamy jumped with his spring fruit and knocked down the tower just as he had with the Merry and threw Luffy to the ground.
"You've finished him already? What a shame!"
"There's no way that brat could be a match for Bellamy!"
Luffy stood up after the dust cleared and said nothing. "You are finished now! SPRING HOPPER!" Bellamy yelled and then franticly jumped all over the town. Kimi couldn't even keep up with where he was, he was nothing but a blur.
"Those idiots are your friends? Oh I see, that old man and his monkeys are the same species as you! A pack of idiots who believe in the lies of some 400-year-old ancestor! What city of Gold? What Sky Island? THE ERA OF DREAMS IS OVER! YOU'RE A DISGRACE OF A PIRATE!"
Luffy snarled and raised his fist. "Do I know how to throw a punch?" Luffy asked rhetorically cracking his knuckles. Kimi nodded, "Do it Luffy…" She whispered.
"NOW YOU DIE STRAWHAT!" Bellamy charged for Luffy, but it didn't matter. Bellamy didn't even have a chance against an angry captain, Luffy punched Bellamy right in his tracks and the force of the punch threw Bellamy through the wood of the streets. Blood covered Luffy's single fist, but it was none of his, only Bellamy's.
The entire town became very silent as they stood in horror at Bellamy's lifeless body in the floor. Kimi smiled and tried to free herself from the ropes but it was no use. "Oi, quit with the jokes, Bellamy. Come on, your just playing around right? SAY SOMETHING!"
"S-see, I told you!" The man with the bounties yelled out.
"The gold, give it back. And untie my crewmate." Luffy commanded.
One of the goon's cut the ropes tying Kimi's hands together and then ran off to fetch the gold for Luffy. Kimi rubbed her wrists and then untied her legs quickly so she could feel her feet again. "Luffy, are you okay?" She stood up and pushed passed the remaining pals of Bellamy. Luffy ran over and hugged his scientist crewmate. "Oi, did they hurt you?" Luffy looked at some of Kimi's bruises and scratches on her exposed arms and face. "I'm fine captain." She smiled her usual sweet and innocent smile.
The man returned handing Luffy all of the gold in a sack. "Okay that was easy. Here Kimi need a lift?" Luffy offered his back for her to ride on. "I hate to say yes," a wave of complete exhaustion overcame her tired body. "But yes. I'm so tired." Luffy smiled and nodded, "We have to hurry, the Knock-Up stream is going to happen soon." Kimi climbed on his back and he held her up by holding on the back of her legs and held onto the gold in the back with both hands.
"Yosh! Let's go!" Luffy started to run ignoring the worthless threats coming from Bellamy's upset crewmates. "Oi, Kimi. I'm sorry that this happened to you." Luffy whispered as Kimi closed her eyes.
"Luffy, its fine. I'm just glad I got to see you shut up that Bellamy guy once and for all. Dreams will never not exist. If there is a will, there is a way." She yawned, "And a dream to follow along the way…" She then dozed off into much needed sleep.
"OIIIIIIIIIIII!"
Luffy's voice ran through Kimi's head. She slowly opened her eyes and saw the Merry and the crew on the edge of the island. "Moring already?" Kimi yawned as Luffy laugh at her, "Yea you were out cold the whole time. Did you sleep okay?" He smiled.
"Luffy hurry, we are past due to set sail!" Sanji yelled out. Luffy ran over to the group and cheered when he saw the new look of the Merry. "Woah! Merry looks so cool!" Luffy laughed. "Going Merry, Flying Model!" Ussopp pointed to the new features. It looked more like a chicken to Kimi.
"Oi Kimi, you okay to stand up?" Luffy nudged her tired eyes back open. She nodded yawning and grounded her feet firmly on the ground before Luffy let her go completely.
"Thanks again." She smiled at Luffy as he walked and placed the sack of gold on the big tree stub in front of cricket. "Get on your ship, you don't have time. Don't lose your only chance to get to Sky Island." Cricket simply responded. "Right, thanks for the ship!"
Kimi made her way to the rest of the crew. "Kimi! Are you hurt? What did they do to you?" Chopper ran over to the girl. She stopped and patted his head, "I'm fine Chopper." She picked him up and walked to the rest of the crew. "What did I miss?" She smiled.
"Oi, Kimi we made sure all the calculations to the ship were correct like how you talked about! Doesn't the Merry look great? Maybe once we get to sky Island you could look at Merry a little bit better." Ussopp smiled from ear to ear pointing out all the new features of the ship. Kimi just laughed and followed the rest of the crew on the ship.
"Alright guys! Let's set sail!" Nami yelled out once Luffy arrived on the ship. "Oh Kimi, here we found this." Nami handed Kimi her very dirty coat. Chopper hopped out of Kimi's arms and she took back her coat. "Thank you, Nami. I guess this thing has pretty much bit the dust huh?" Kimi unfolded it. "Yea it looks pretty ugly. You need to wear cuter things, Kimi. I'll take you shopping once we get back from Sky Island." Nami smiled and walked off.
She refolded her coat and headed to her quarters. "Oi, you may need these." Kimi turned around to Zoro. In his hand he held out her small black framed glasses. "Oh thank you, Zoro-san."
"I'm surprised they didn't break." He commented as she wiped the frames off with the inside of her shirt. Kimi just smiled, "They have a good frame so it would take a lot of pressure for them to break. The same goes for the lenses." She placed them on her smiling face.
The two felt the ship setting sail and Kimi leaned over on the rail on the side to wave good-bye to Cricket who stayed behind. "So what happened?" Kimi felt Zoro leaning over the railing next to her. "Bellamy wanted gold that's all." She sighed and started to walk away. "I'm sorry." Zoro spoke behind her.
Kimi stopped and turned around. "Why? You didn't do anything…" She smiled.
"Exactly." Zoro had his arms crossed and nodded. Then turned his back and walked away. All Kimi could do was watch the green-haired man walk away, "Why would he be sorry?" She thought and then shook the thought away.
Kimi and Sanji worked in the kitchen but ran outside when they heard commotion from the crew. "Nami-san what is wrong?" Sanji asked with a frying pan in his hand. Kimi could see that darkness was just to the southwest of them, "That's weird, it's only 10, didn't they say it would happen at 11?" She asked aloud. "The Cumuloregalis cloud showed up earlier than they expected and we still don't know where the current is going to be!" Nami answered.
Just then a diver popped out from the water. "Echo confirmed! Strong ocean current at 12 o'clock! Large creature detected at 9 o'clock! It might be a Sea King!"
The ship headed for the area while the waves tossed and turned the crew. "The explosion's about to happen! Stay alert!" Masira yelled from the left of the Merry.
"Miss Navigator? What does the log pose say?" Robin yelled out. Nami examined her wrist, "It's pointing straight at that cloud!" She replied confirming that they were just under Sky Island. Kimi looked over the railing at the biggest whirlpool she'd ever seen or could imagine!
"WE HAVE TO GO IN THERE!" Ussopp cried out. "We will take to you it!" Masira and his crew attached a rope to the dock of the Merry. Just then a Sea King monster jumped from out of the water knocking the Merry a little bit off course and then sank underneath the water into the current of the large whirlpool.
"Is this real?" Kimi held onto the railing tight as the Merry sailed into the current of the whirlpool. "This is where you guys continue on!" Masira and his crew waved. "Enjoy Sky Island!" Shojo and his crew waved too.
Nami, Chopper, and Ussopp tried their best to convince Luffy to change his mind, but it was too late. Luffy was dead set on getting to the sky, even if that meant getting crushed by the enormous whirlpool. "Stop whining and hold onto something," Zoro pointed out, "we've entered the pool."
The Merry started to fall into the depths of the pool but within a split second, they were back on the normal sea. "What?" Kimi rubbed her eyes, "What the heck happened? I thought we were supposed to be shot up?"
"Oh no, it's happening already. The whirlpool was stopped by the bottom of the ocean floor." Nami screamed. But the crew's attention drew to another ship approaching the Merry. It looked like four giant tree logs tied together and the ship had three black sails guiding it to the Merry.
"Hold it!" A faintly familiar voiced yelled from it. "We've caught up to you, Straw Hat Luffy!" It finally hit Kimi, "Luffy, that's the man from the bar in Mock town!" She pointed.
"I've come for you 100,000,000 Berri head! Now come quietly!" He laughed.
"My head? What do you mean 100,000,000 Berri?" Luffy replied back to the man.
He raised up the two bounty posters of Luffy and Zoro, "Monkey D. Luffy, you are worth 100,000,000 Berri and Pirate Hunter Zoro, you're worth 60,000,000 Berri!"
Ussopp confirmed the papers, "Oi its true they are new wanted posters." Kimi had already known that they were wanted, but she had no idea that they didn't know they were wanted. She giggled at their absent-mindedness.
Luffy and Zoro didn't seem to mind though, they started to cheer over their price, "I guess they got upset over what we did in Alabasta." Nami quivered, "Hey this is no time to celebrate!" She hit them on the heads.
But the moment ended once they felt the Merry rising up from the water. "THE SEA IS GONNA EXPLODE! EVERYONE HOLD ON TIGHT!"
Kimi held back onto the railing and before she could even think to herself, the wind shot in her face and the Going Merry flew into the clouds.