Narrative

The silence in the room as Fox took another sip of her drink felt heavy with recrimination to Ace.

"You could have killed him then and there?" he murmured, his voice sounding small and lost even to his own ears. "But you held back? Because I made you promise?"

"Yes," Fox said simply.

"I wish I hadn't," Ace admitted quietly, staring down at his hands. He couldn't begin to imagine how differently things would have gone if Fox had quietly ended Blackbeard with a Sea Stone knife in the back all those months ago but he knew for sure that, no matter how angry he might have been at the time, he would have accepted it and things would have changed for the better. For one, his Pops would still be around. For another, he wouldn't have hurt his little brother so. And Thatch's grave would have a nice skull ornament decorating it.

"What's done is done," Fox said sadly, "and cannot be changed. Now since I didn't believe I could avoid killing the bastard if I actually saw him I remained behind on the ship and slept…"

I awoke when my captain and those of the crew who had disembarked returned, though my awakening was more due to the navigator's disgruntlement at having been mocked for asking after the Sky Islands than anything else. I took the time to confirm the existence of such islands and then the archaeologist returned with news of a man who could help our captain sail the ship up into the clouds. However as we sailed there we were attacked and Merry took more damage, damage that exhausted me greatly to mend. I therefore slept until late in the afternoon, waking to three men who were reinforcing the ship and modifying it so it could sail up into the clouds. I offered my assistance and listened eagerly to the tales the leader of the three told me of his ancestor's adventures and discoveries. When night fell my exhaustion caught up with me again and I headed back to bed, this time accompanied by a bird who had decided to adopt me.

I was woken in the night by pirates attacking, and not being in the mood to play I dispatched them with haki and injured their captain before driving them all off. I then went back to sleep and so missed the return of the rest of the crew, who had spent most of the time I lay sleeping searching for a bird of the very kind that had decided to keep me company. Then dawn came and we set out for the special current that we needed to ascend into the clouds: it was called the Knock-Up Stream, a sea current a little like a geyser that formed from a whirlpool and flowed upwards rather than forwards and could carry us up into the cloud our Log Pose pointed to.

We found the whirlpool and were sailing into it when the wicked man who had slain his brother appeared, chasing us. He wished to capture our captain for his bounty, which had risen after his actions in the desert kingdom, but before he could enter striking range the whirlpool became a geyser and we were thrown upward to sail vertically into the sky. I must admit that sailing upwards was a truly exciting experience, once I have never had before and likely never will again. The sheer wonder of seeing the sea behind rather than all around, with clouds ahead and the ship beneath my feet literally flying as the up-draught catches the sails and carries us above the surface of the current… there is nothing like it on earth.

However the environment in the millennium cumulonimbus, as such clouds are called, was quite unlike that on ground level and the creatures that live in it are similarly unlike. The abrupt change made me quite dizzy for some time, so my asura had to carry me into my cabin and put me to bed. Being more than a little drunk from altitude sickness, I let my growing attraction show and asked him to kiss me. He blushed very fetchingly, but agreed to do so as long as let him go back on deck afterwards. I agreed, and so I received my first kiss from the man who would later become my lover and give me the child I now carry. It wasn't more than a touch of lips, but it told me that he desired me with the same single-minded ferocity that he pursued his ambition with, which was dizzying in and of itself. It is a heady thing, to be wanted so completely.

As we sailed through the sea in the sky towards the island there I sensed a malevolent presence ahead of us: a haki user with a Devil Fruit Ability who was also quite mad with power. I hid myself from his sight and did my best to adapt quickly to the change in my surroundings, but I did not manage to do so fully until the ship arrived at a beach and the rest of the crew disembarked. I did not as I was not dressed for the climate, so I took the time to change. While in the Sky Islands I wore the clothes given to me by my people here on Mystoria, as from what I had learnt of the place from my Ability and my haki they were the most appropriate for the situation: the ruler of the Sky Island we had arrived at called himself a god and he was not a merciful or generous one. In fact he was tyrannical, cruel and utterly selfish.

I had just finished dressing when my asura came to check up on me. He admired my outfit–

"I just bet he did."

"Kajin."

"Sorry for interrupting."

–and suggested that, since the locals seemed to be rather hostile yet were not aware of my presence, I should stay hidden. I agreed, but took the time to tell him that I would not refuse him if he wished to kiss me again. It flustered him, which I found rather adorable; he is younger than I after all. The ship was then seized and carried off by a giant shrimp with myself, my asura, the reindeer doctor, the navigator and the archaeologist on board. Our crew had been threatened with 'Heaven's Judgement' for failing to pay a fee on arriving at the island and this was the beginning of it: we on board were being held hostage against our captain, the chef and the sniper, who had been left behind.

So as my captain and two of his nakama hurried to save those of us who had been taken away, we also did our best to escape. Well, the others did; our abduction damaged Merry rather badly and I had to take another nap in order to help her mend herself. I had spent so much energy putting her back together by this point that she was fully aware of everything going on around her, though I was the only person on board she could communicate with. However after so many repairs there was only so much I could do and after that I too left, the doctor remaining behind to guard the ship.

Unlike my asura, the archaeologist and the navigator however, I had a different purpose in mind to simply exploring or trying to find the rest of the crew. I was going to kill the god of the island, who had already proved to me that he was not worthy of such a title.

As I waited for the right moment to take action, I watched the rest of my crew reunite near the Merry after my captain defeated one of the god's priests. Then they all set out again the next morning for the 'city of gold' they had heard about from the man who had modified the ship for us. Unfortunately however they were separated, and some of the locals who were fighting against the god and his priests attacked the part of the island they were in. For the part of the Sky Island the god claimed as his own had once been part of the island down below on the Grand Line that we had stopped at before sailing into the sky. Rather than an island of soft cloud it was made of earth and stone with immense trees and gigantic wildlife. It was the island visited by the ancestor of the man who had worked on the Merry with me, an island with a city of gold and a great bell. But the Knock-Up Stream had blasted that part of the island into the sky, so now it sat in the clouds. The locals who were fighting against the god were descended from the ones who had been on the island when it was launched upwards and had been driven out of their homeland. Now, as my captain and his crew fought their way forwards, they too took the opportunity to attack. However they did not distinguish between the priests of their god and the crew my captain had gathered around him, seeing them all as intruders to be defeated. So battle after battle raged in the forest and the victors of each skirmish drew ever closer to the lost city in their search for the god of the island. My asura was injured, my captain was eaten alive by a giant snake, the cook and the sniper were struck down by the lightning that was the element the god could command and the doctor defeated a priest before being defeated in turn. Then when only five were left standing the god brought down the cloud they were battling upon to fall into the ruins hidden beneath, revealing that he had plundered the golden city for his own ends and intended to send the island tumbling back down into the sea below.

And I did not strike him down, for his time had not yet come.

The god then struck down all save the navigator, who feared him enough to pretend to go along with his plans, and took her with him to the ship he had built from the gold he had plundered. An airship to sail through the sky and powered by his Ability. Then the captain escaped from the stomach of the snake and chased after them to take back his navigator. The god tried to strike him down, but failed: my captain's body was rubber, making him immune to lightning. However the god did not rely on his power alone and defeated my captain. As he fell the chef and the sniper, who had recovered a little, boarded the ship in their own attempts to stage a rescue. They succeeded and the chef also managed to sabotage the vessel's inner workings, though both men were injured further. Then my captain attacked the god again, even as the lightning user's madness led him to utterly destroy the peninsula our ship had initially landed by, vaporising an entire town that had fortunately been evacuated as well as the clouds it had been built on.

My captain was defeated again, but he didn't let it stop him and attacked for a third time just as the god was trying to leave with the great golden bell. The bell had featured prominently in the stories the man who helped us had told, and my captain had decided to ring the bell so as to prove they had found the golden city. So this time rather than attack the god, my captain threw himself at the bell and knocked it flying.

As the bell flew, it rang and the moment came: I slew the god and knocked him down to the stones of the city he had despoiled, taking off his head so it tumbled in the dust. Then I set about healing those injured during the fighting and saving what lives I could, for though bringing death is the skill I am most proficient at, I much prefer restoring life to snuffing it out. Any fool can kill, but healing of any kind is a great challenge.

Once news got out that the god was dead a celebration began, with many of my patients joining in as soon as I had finished with them. Once I had tended to all those with severe injuries I too joined in the festivities, which went on for three whole days. All celebrated together and the rift between the Sky Islanders and those who were descended from the people of the golden city was closed. My asura also confessed his feelings for me and we began courting. Then the time came for us to leave and we sailed back down to the Grand Line, using a gigantic octopus as a balloon to slow our descent.

My captain and the rest of the crew celebrated our successful return to sea level, but my heart was heavy and I wept bitterly, for I knew something they did not: our ship was dying. It grieved me terribly to keep it secret but Merry did not want her crew to worry about her and she was as dear to me as a child by that point so I could not refuse her. I told my asura, but he agreed to keep the secret until we could find a shipwright.

We landed near Long Ring Long Land, and soon found ourselves embroiled in a game of Davy Back.

This is taking a while to tell and I've now written over 200,000 words of this story! Can't believe it! I've only been writing Unintended Consequences for about two months!