While Luffy and the other's battled Satori in the ordeal of balls, Kimi laid silently knocked-out on the moving crow. The three boys needed to save and protect Kimi from falling off the boat and to protect their boat from getting too far away.
Sanji had even introduced an ordeal of love that he and the others used in order to save Kimi and the Crow. They used their full talents together instead of separate and defeated Satori. In order to get back onto the Crow, Ussopp used a new invention of his that had a string attached with an iron grip to the head of the crow from a belt around his waist. "Even you have some good ideas every once in a while! Hold on Kimi-san! We are going to save you dear princess! Just think, poor Kimi-san is just lying there like sleeping beauty!" Sanji imagined in his head Kimi in a princess dress lying down on a bed. "I must be her prince charming to wake the princess up! Hold on Kimi-san!"
"I don't think she'll appreciate it…" Ussopp sweat dropped.
All the commotion started to wake up the girl on the ship. She moaned and held her aching head in her right hand. "What the hell happened?" She opened her eyes and saw that she was the only one of the boat, but yet she could hear her friends talking. She sat up and looked around.
"Oi Kimi! You aren't dead!" Luffy waved to her. The three of them clung to Ussopp and it was then that she noticed that Ussopp had attached themselves via rope to the crew. But the crow seemed to go further and further away resulting in the rope from Ussopp's belt lunging the trio into all sorts of trees. "Oh no!" Kimi cloned herself and helped the three get back on the boat. Once they all made it, she noticed just how bad they looked.
"Did you all defeat that ball guy?" She wondered and noticed she had a bit of dried blood coming from her nose. She reached over and wetted her fingertips to wash off the blood. "Yea we beat him! It was really fun! I can't wait for the next Ordeal!" Luffy smiled.
"Oi Kimi-san! I used my ordeal of love to rescue you! I think the prince deserves a kiss from the princess!" Sanji wrapped his arms around Kimi's waist. "Um, thank you Sanji-san, you are very brave, but no." She pushed him off and then sat down next to Luffy while a very depressed Sanji took the wheel.
They talked about beating the ball guy and about what was next to come. Kimi stated she hoped the others were okay as well to Sanji as Luffy and Ussopp goofed off in the back of the boat. "Yosh! Watch this! Ussopp tell me to wake up!" Luffy got all excited and then crossed his arms and put his head down as if he was pretending to sleep.
"Hey! Wake up, you dimwit!" Ussopp laughed. Luffy lifted his head up and pushed the piece of hair from his forehead to resemble Zoro's hair. "What? Morning already?" Luffy imitated Zoro's deep voice and then pretended to go back to sleep just as Zoro would do. Ussopp and Kimi both started to laugh, Ussopp a bit more than she. "That's great! It's just like Zoro!" He yelled holding his stomach from the pain of laughing so hard.
"Would you cut it out Luffy! We don't know what's happened to Nami-san or Robin-chan-"
"Zoro is with them!" Luffy reminded the cook but he pretended not to hear. "There's still three priests out there, they may be enduring one of their Ordeals right now."
Luffy got excited again but this time he pushed his hair over his left eye and imitated lighting a cigarette. "This is the ordeal of love!" Both Ussopp and Kimi laughed at their captain. Sanji stood up and in the blink of an eye beat up the two boys. He sat back in the chair and lit a new cigarette, "For now, we have to keep heading towards the Sacrificial Alter. Agreed?"
"Bes…Be're sowwry…." The two apologized. Kimi finished her laugh, "I'm sorry Sanji, you're right we need to focus on trying to find the others." She nodded.
The Crow drove throughout the cloud river for a good hour or so. The four almost thought they were going to have to face another ordeal as they passed a grassy field with skulls on wooden posts. Luckily nothing happened. Kimi realized that they were going to need to find the others soon. It was beginning to turn into night fall as the sky turned from sky blue to a deep orange and pink. "I didn't even know there could be a sun-set in the sky." Kimi smiled looking out.
"Oi, look! We have to go over top of that huge tree?" Ussopp started to shake as the Milky Road started to get very steep. "Come on Ussopp! This'll be fun!" Luffy held onto his hat and the mast of the small ship.
The crow went to the top of the arch of the cloud and then fell down it extremely fast. Kimi held onto the edge and onto her bag Conis gave to her. "Hey what's that down there?" Luffy pointed to a lake below them.
"Oh no! It's the priests!" Ussopp cried. "No, they are Skysharks." Kimi examined the creatures more. "What do we do?" She asked the men.
But Luffy was already on top of the job. "GUM GUM, GATLING GUN!" He knocked out all of the hungry Skysharks wanting to eat them. They crashed down on the cloud-like water and soaked the four even more on the small ship. "Ahhh! We are soaking wet, Luffy!" Ussopp shivered.
"Hey look!" Kimi pointed ahead at a very welcoming sight.
"We found 'em! The Going Merry, and that must be the alter!" Luffy cheered. Kimi examined the area they had landed in. In the center of the lake, there was a giant alter platform with the Merry on the top of it. She hoped the others were okay because from the looks of it, the ship was not.
Sanji started to wine like a dog, "Robin-chwan, Nami-swan! Did you miss me?" He had a heart in his visible eye; Luffy and Ussopp waved as well while Kimi stood up and looked to the edge of the land. There stood Nami, Robin and Zoro on the land of the forbidden ground. 'Where's Chopper?' She thought thinking of her favorite little reindeer.
They picked up the others and then parked the Crow next to the steps of the alter. Ussopp, Nami, Sanji and Luffy all ran out and up the stairs. Robin walked gracefully out of the ship and Zoro hoped out of it. Kimi gathered Ussopp and Luffy's bags along with hers as well. She jumped out and looked over at the Skysharks. Some had still been floating on top of the water, others become conscious and were now swimming in the cloud water.
"Need some help?"
Kimi looked above her at Zoro. She nodded, "Just take Luffy's bag. I guess the two forgot about them." She giggled throwing the bag to him and then looked back at the water. She gasped as she watched one of the Skysharks attack and eat an unconscious shark.
"Come on genius before it decides to eat you too." Zoro grabbed her wrist pulling her away from the last step. Kimi blushed and pulled her hand away. "This place just keeps getting better and better." She mumbled. She looked up at the swordsman and noticed his change of outfit. Instead of wearing his white shirt and green belt thing (She didn't know what it was called) he wore a dark blue tank top that showed off the muscle definition in his arms.
She looked down at her feet, feeling awkward admiring him and climbed up the stairs in silence. The two hopped onto the Merry and joined the others. The ship's mast had been ripped off and most of the deck looked like it had been burned and attacked. "What happened?" Kimi placed the bags on the ground.
Robin looked over at the two. "Mr. Doctor had an encounter with one of the priests. Luckily, Gan Fall had saved him, or else we would not have the ship or Mr. Doctor." She crossed her arms and sat down on the steps of the deck.
"Poor Chopper…" Kimi examined the broken mast. 'At least he is alive…' She thanked her lucky stars. Ussopp walked over, "Kimiko, do you think we can fix it?" He questioned. She took off her glasses, cleaning them and then put them in her pocket. "Anything can be fixed if you work hard enough on it." She smiled.
The door to the kitchen then opened. "For the time being, let's go into the forest and set up camp near the shore." Sanji and the other's walked out. "Why?" Luffy jumped off and to the deck.
"If a fight broke out here, we'd end up damaging the ship even more." Ussopp explained. Luffy and Chopper started to jump up and down, "Whoo hooo! Camping! Party!" Kimi crossed her arms and shook her head smiling at how enthusiastic the two acted.
"Hey Sanji, do you think we could barbeque one of those sharks?" Luffy looked over. "Yea, why not?"
"Come on everyone. Grab what you need for the night and let's go to the shore." Zoro declared and everyone scattered. Kimi was about to head out for the women's quarters but then she remembered her notebook. She walked over to the steps where she had last placed it and luckily it was still in one piece. She picked up the book and sighed in relief. 'Thank goodness it is okay!' She continued onto her quarters and gathered some belongings.
The crew set up camp and gathered around the fire roasting a Skyshark while each member talked to one another. "Alright everyone, give your reports of what happened while we were separated." Ussopp declared.
Sanji started first, "We went to the Lost Forest, where we met a Priest named Satori who used these Surprise Balls. But what got us the most was this Mantra technique he used to predict our movements."
Chopper was next, "A Priest name Shura appeared out of nowhere, using a lance that burned everything. He could predict my movements too."
Nami sighed, "You guys sure had a rough time. But we discovered that this island is actually a piece of Jaya. The City of Gold didn't sink into the ocean; it was shot into the sky!" Luffy finished the roasted skyshark and gasped at Nami's statement, "GOLD!" His eyes got bigger.
"So, what's that Mantra thing?" Zoro asked Sanji. "No idea, maybe it's something like an instinct or something."
Luffy stood up, "I've been waiting for an adventure like this!" Nami smirked, "That's the spirit! Then everything's settled!" Robin giggled, "Sound's very interesting."
"Well, pirates can't pass up a chance to steal some treasure." Sanji took a puff of his cigarette. Zoro rested his head behind his arms leaning against one of the tree roots. "There are lots of enemies out there. This is gonna be about survival. Sounds like fun!"
Kimi smiled after jotting down all of the things everyone mentioned, "I'm up for it." She looked at the crew. Luffy stood and raised his fists to the sky, "Yosh! Gold, here we come!" He laughed.
The crew decided to split up to gather supplies and to get ready for the night. Nami and Robin worked on figuring out where the City of Gold could be. Sanji and Luffy worked on getting dinner ready, Zoro and Chopper went into the forest to gather food for dinner, and Ussopp pulled Kimi to the side to work on the Merry.
"Ussopp-san? Do you think it is a good idea to work on the ship now?" Kimi sat down on a large tree root and sketched out a picture of the ship and what should be done to fix it. "Yea why not?" Ussopp took off his shoes and examined the materials to fix it.
She heard footsteps coming towards the two but she continued to draw on the pages. "What're you up to, Ussopp? Kimi? Dinner is almost ready." Zoro had his hands in his pockets and walked passed Kimi to Ussopp.
"I was just going to bring these supplies to the ship so we can repair it tomorrow." He smiled at the swordsman. Zoro placed his right wrist on the top of his swords, "You were planning to swim across right?"
"Huh? Uh, yeah." Ussopp blinked.
"So you're not worried about the giant man-eating Skysharks?" Zoro asked again. Kimi looked up from her notebook and giggled as one of the sharks jumped from the water.
"Repairs can wait 'till morning! Let's go eat dinner, Kimi!" Ussopp ran off. Kimi wiped a tear from her cheek. "Don't worry, I was going to warn him just before he jumped in." She stood up and faced the green-haired man.
"What are you writing this time?" Zoro asked pointing to her book. Kimi looked down in her arms and smiled, "Oh I just drew a picture of the Merry and some formulas to fix the mast and the siding." She flipped the pages and showed him the picture.
Zoro nodded with his blank stare and then bent down to pick up Ussopp's shoes. "You sure you're a scientist or an artist?" He slung the shoes over his shoulder. Kimi smiled and closed the book holding it to her chest. "Both." She giggled and walked back to camp.
"Do you think this God is as scary as everyone makes him seem?" Kimi looked to her right focusing on Zoro's face. He smirked and looked down at her. Even though she was a year older than he, she was about three inches smaller, "Nah, I don't believe in him. In any case, he's gonna bow to me when I'm finished with him." She looked ahead and smiled closing her eyes. "I just want to learn about this place. It is so interesting." She opened her eyes as her nose twitched at the heavenly smell.
"I'll pass out the plates, so eat up before it gets cold!" Sanji yelled out. Kimi and Zoro continued to walk side by side as they entered the camp area. "Okay, guys! I'm gonna explain how we should plan to move tomorrow!" Nami yelled out.
"Yosh! Kimiko! Where have you been? Robin and I could have used some of your notes to further explain our conclusions." Nami placed her hands on her hips at the swordsman and scientist approached from the trees."Oh, sorry Nami-san!" Kimi smiled and then sat down next to Robin.
"Anyways, Norland first discovered the City of Gold about 400 years ago but when he went to visit it a while later it was gone." Chopper walked over to Kimi and handed her a bowl of stew. "Thank you, Chopper-san!" She smiled. "So in that short amount of time, Jaya broke apart and this part of the island was shot into the sky."
Zoro got a bowl from the cook and then sat near Kimi on a branch he focused on the conversation and then noted, "From the looks of it, this forest is completely different from the one we went to on Jaya though."
"That's probably due to the composition of the Sea Cloud and Island Cloud here." Kimi went from looking to her left at Zoro and then to her right at Robin's reply, "Right, the environment seems to abnormally affect the rate and degree of growth of the plants and animals." Kimi nodded and agreed with the raven-haired woman.
"If that's the case, it would explain how the forest had overtaken that civilization." Robin smiled to Kimi. Kimi smiled back and then took a bite of the stew. "That would make sense since the southbird that saved me was huge!" Chopper added across from the others.
"What I want to know is, why would the southbird save you?" Sanji sat next to Zoro. "I'm not sure, but all of the Southbirds were calling the Knight of the Sky, 'God'."
Everyone gasped and looked at the unconscious sick man. "Then I should kick this Ossan's ass?" Luffy yelled with a mouthful. Kimi laughed, "No Luffy!" She smiled.
"Yosh! Enough, does anyone remember what else Norland wrote about the City of Gold?" Nami asked. "I do! It's a city of gold!" Luffy raised his hand.
"You are such a dumbass sometimes! Do you ever think before you talk?" Ussopp yelled. "If I remember correctly, there was something about a huge bell made of gold." Sanji answered Nami. "But there was a rather peculiar statement on the last page of the book. The final words spoken by Norland, 'The skull's right eye is where I saw the gold.'" Robin also answered.
"Exactly! Look at these everyone." Nami waved for everyone to circle around her. "It's a little rough, but if you bring the coasts of the two maps we have together, this is the topography of Jaya, 400 years ago!" Nami made a skull from the lands on the two maps. Everyone smiled realizing they had figured out where the city of gold was! "Tomorrow we'll split up into two teams! There's no doubt about it, there's gold out there waiting for us!"
Everyone cheered and then started to get ready for bed. "Since it is getting late there's no need for the fire, so we should put it out." Kimi stated to Luffy and Ussopp dancing around it. They started to laugh. "What?" She crossed her arms, confused by their laughing. Robin walked over, "We wouldn't want to give our location away to the enemies." She agreed with Kimi.
"Did you hear what they just said? What a stupid idea, huh Ussopp?" Luffy chuckled. "Don't be too hard on them. They haven't been exposed to this type of thing before." Ussopp pointed at them. "What do you mean?" Robin asked completely puzzled.
Luffy and Ussopp burst into laughter. "You're supposed to have a campfire, that's the point of camping!" Nami started to yell at Luffy agreeing with the other girls that a fire would be a bad idea, but in the middle of her yelling, Zoro and Sanji appeared with even more fire wood. "Oi, don't worry Nami-san. Animals are afraid of fire." Sanji laughed.
Kimi smiled and then walked over to Gan Fall. "Hey there Pierre." She sat down next to the pink and polka dotted bird. "Did you get enough to eat?" She asked hugging her knees. It cawed and then looked down at the old man. She leaned over and examined all of the supplies Chopper had around him. "Thanks for saving Chopper." She whispered and then her attention turned towards a bunch of wolves dancing around with the crew. She giggled, "They are all too funny." She smiled and pulled back one of her strands of hair out of her eyes and walked over to Robin.
The two of them laughed as the crew danced and drank with the wolves. After a while or so their attention turned to an old voice congratulating them on taming the Sky wolves. "Oh, you're awake!" Kimi stood and looked over to the Sky Knight. "Are you sure you should be moving already?" She asked.
"I have been such a bother to you all instead of helping you." Gan Fall looked down at the fire. "What, you have done plenty." Zoro walked over to the group and sat down next to Kimi. "Thanks for saving Chopper and our ship." He took a sip of his ale. "There is some stew left. Would you like some?" Robin offered.
"No, no. I appreciate it, but I think that I had best not." He sat down with the others.
"Oh the Ossan is awake! Come on and dance with us!" Luffy yelled at the old man. "Oi Ossan! How is Conis-chan? Is she safe?" Sanji yelled out. "Yes, she and her father are at my house. You need not worry." Gan Fall replied.
The other's continued to dance and throw Chopper into the air while the four of them watched in silence. "Excuse me for asking, but I believe I heard you say that this island used to be called Jaya and was a part of the blue sea?" The old man asked continuing to look ahead.
Robin nodded, "That's correct."
"Well, you have not yet heard why this is considered holly ground. For you Blue Sea dweller, the earth here must seem natural." He started to dig his fingers into the ground. "Correct it is." Kimi nodded at the old man.
"You are lucky, this is something that does not naturally exist in the sky. We call this Vearth." He picked up some dirt and played with it in his hands. "This is what everyone is fighting about." Kimi and the others continued to watch the rest of the crew dance and drink with the partying wolves and eventually everything started to calm down.
Nami handed Kimi a tent from her bag and Kimi used her clones to build the tent quickly. "Kimi, you're powers are so useful! We don't have to do work, you're clones do it for us!" Nami smiled and got situated in the tent. Kimi just smiled but didn't know what to take of her statement, "Uh, thanks I think." She started to walk away from the others.
"Where are you going, Miss Scientist?" Robin asked her. "Oh, just going over to the lake to wash off a little bit. Be right back!" She walked back to the edge of the lake with Ussopp's materials. She reached her gloved hands into the water and splashed her face. She did it again and rubbed her tired eyes.
'I hope all goes well tomorrow.' She thought about their plan and hoped they could reach gold before they were caught by God. She looked around making sure the area was secure and once she decided it was she quickly took off her right glove and washed her hand in the water. She dried it off with her shirt and then did the same to the other hand.
"What are you doing?" Zoro asked walking over to the girl. She quickly threw on her left glove. "Oh just cleaning up a bit. What are you doing?" She looked back at him but he traveled behind a tree. "Taking a piss." He calmly stated.
Kimi giggled and then turned back around. She let her blue hair down from her usual bun and combed through her hair with her fingers. Zoro stopped and walked backed over to her kneeling down to wash his hands. She dumped her hands back into the water and combed her wet fingers attempting to wash her blue hair.
The two kept quiet as they continued working on their jobs and finally Zoro stood. He looked down at the girl and noticed how good her long blue hair looked. Of course, he'd never admit it. "Good night." He muttered and walked away from the girl. "Night Zoro-san!" She shook her head and stood up.
He looked back and smirked. "You can just call me Zoro." Kimi blinked a few times confused by her courtesy and then blushed. "Oh okay. Good night Zoro." She restated as he walked off. She looked back at the Merry and then back at the forest. Sighing, she walked through the trees and into the campfire area.
"Oh, Kimi! You're hair looks really pretty down!" Chopper smiled from the ground. Kimi smiled and continued to walk. "Thank you Chopper-san, good night everyone!" She climbed into the tent and into her sleeping bag.
She closed her eyes and thought about the green-haired swordsman. He was a very handsome, but a very mysterious guy. She smiled as she thought of his comment before she went to bed but sleep overcame the tired girl's body and she soon found a peaceful sleep.
Kimi heard some ruffling from next to her but she tried to ignore it as best as she could. "Ugh, get her up, Robin!" She heard Nami groan. Kimi then felt three hands start to tickle her stomach. She laughed and twisted in her bag, "Okay, okay I'm up!" She sat up holding her stomach.
"Come on, Kimi! Let's go!" Nami picked up her bag and walked out of the tent. Kimi sighed and pulled her hair back in her bun. "Is she always this friendly in the morning?" she laughed. Robin smiled and picked up her bag too. "Some days."
Eventually everyone got together and went over to the Merry with the Crow. But to their surprise the Merry's damages had been fixed. "How-how did this happen?" Ussopp gasped. Kimi ran over to the mast. "Even this has been repaired!" She admired the patch work. "It won't last too long. But it will work for our mission." She noted to everyone.
"I'm telling you! I saw a ghost last night! Tell them, Zoro! I saw a ghost or someone, or something at least!" Ussopp ran around. "And what puzzles me the most is how did the person who did this know what the Merry was supposed to look like!" he scratched his head.
"It doesn't matter! Are you going to go out of your way to find him?" Nami put her hands on her hips. "We still have a lot to do! Come on you guys!"
The boys figured out a way to get the Merry off the Alter and into the water. Once they did Nami gathered the group and told them the entire plan. "All right, look at the map and pay attention! The route the exploration team will be taking is directly south. Here to the right there should be some ruins. Beware of all the enemies along the way and bring back the gold."
"You make it sound so easy!" Zoro muttered. "If it involves ruins, you can count me in!" Robin declared. "You want the gold, but you don't want to travel and get it?" Luffy asked. "Of course not! It's scary there!" She yelled back. "Meanwhile we will take the Merry through the Merry. It'll be dangerous for us too. We'll be heading towards the coast as fast as we can so we can escape from Sky Island!" Nami drew their plan on the old map of Skypiea.
"Well let's get going then! Luffy, Zoro, Robin and Kimi will head towards the City of Gold while Sanji, Ussopp, Chopper and I sail on the Merry!" Nami rolled up the map and gave the teams thumbs up. "Good luck guys!" She winked and the crew parted ways.
As the four of the Strawhats headed out, Luffy yelled over at Zoro. "Oi! You are going the wrong way Zoro! We have to go east!" Luffy pointed and headed to the direction he thought was east. "Um, Luffy, that is west." Kimi sweat dropped at her captain.
"Didn't you hear Nami? We have to go to the Skulls right eye. So we should go right." Zoro reasoned his tact tics. Robin crossed her arms. "We are supposed to go south." She looked over at Kimi. Kimi nodded back, "That's what I thought. Hey you guys, we are supposed to go south!" She called out to the captain and first-mate.
Robin started to lead the way while the other three suddenly became distracted. Luffy had picked up a stick and started to sing. Zoro and Kimi walked side by side as Kimi wrote and sketched in her notebook. "This is lame. Yesterday we walked around this whole forest and didn't see a single thing. We didn't even meet a Priest!"
Robin looked back, "Are you so eager to meet such danger?" Robin looked behind her and smiled. Kimi stopped and noted in her book how giant a normal plant had grown from the presence of being in the clouds. "Oi, Kimi!" Luffy yelled above her, "You're gonna get left behind!" He laughed. Kimi closed her book and stood up, "Coming!" She went to take a step and then noticed a weird striped tree root in the distance. She tilted her head but ran over to the group so make sure she didn't separate from them.
She still saw the root and opened her notebook to sketch it. "Oi, Kimi! What are you writing in that book?" Zoro looked behind and stopped waiting for her. Kimi looked over and pointed. "Look, isn't that weird?" She then ran over to him.
Zoro looked at the 'root' and nodded, "That is interesting." Just then Robin stopped and a giant snake face stared at the four of them. It opened its mouth and hissed. "Run!" Luffy yelled and everyone followed. "I wonder if this is another result of Sky Island's environment? What do you think, Robin?" Kimi asked smiling. "Yes, probably."
"Oi! Would you two quit it already!" Zoro yelled, "Enough of this." He stopped and attempted to attack the snake. Everyone else tried to hide away from it or avoid it. Just then the snake bit one of the bases of the trees and with its strong venom it burned away the outside of the giant tree.
"Everyone! Be careful! It has very poisonous venom!" Kimi called out to them from the tops of the trees. The group fought against the beast but in the heat of battle, everyone somehow separated.
Kimi looked around the giant forest. "Hmm. Where did they go?" She looked around. "Robin! Luffy! Zoro!" She called out, but no one answered. She opened her notebook and wrote a note in it just in case she died someone could identify the owner of the notebook. She laughed and closed the book tucking it in her left arm. "Well, I guess I should head towards the south." She looked around and could not figure out which way was south. "I need a compass." She declared but without one she picked a path and started to walk in the direction.