So...200,000 words? Wow. I did not, in my wildest dreams, think the story would get this far. Thank you to everyone who has been following this story! I hope you are all enjoying it as much as I am. And thank you very much to all my reviewers up to this point. You guys make my day! Thank you! :)
I woke up coughing and choking, flipping over onto my stomach as I tried to get my wits back about me. I heard everyone else cough as they laid all over the deck, still trying to gather their wits as well.
"Damn… What happened?" Zoro coughed as he sat up. "Is everyone alright?"
"Hey!" Luffy called out in excitement as he sprang up. "Look you guys! Outside the ship! What is this place? It's sooo white!"
Everyone slowly managed to drag themselves up off the ground before all looking around at the sea of white clouds that the boat was floating on. I carefully jumped up onto the railing, my head tilting back so that my nose was raised in the air. I twitched my nose as al the scents of the area reached me. It smelt moist yet the air was thin. I couldn't really smell much vegetation or everything where I was. Was this all Sky Island was?
"Clouds?" Chopper gapped, hanging onto the railing near me.
"We're on top of the clouds…" Nami mumbled. "How are we sailing on clouds?"
"Of course we can sail on top of it!" Luffy sighed. "They're just clouds."
"No, that's not possible." Sanji, Zoro, and Chopper all deadpanned at the same time.
'Well… He's sorta right you know. We are floating after all, unless our eyes are not working,' I chuckled softly.
"This is bad!" Chopper yelled all of the sudden as he kneeled next to Usopp. "Usopp isn't breathing!"
'WHAT!' I screamed, throwing myself off the railing and trying to run towards them in mid-air. I ended up stumbling over my feet a bit before I managed to scramble over there, mentally freaking out. 'He's not breathing!'
"DO CPR OR SOMETHING!" Luffy yelled at Chopper.
"Okay, I'll do CPR on Nami!" Sanji announced in the background.
'Oh, for fuck's sake,' I swore bluntly when I saw them all being idiots and not actually doing anything about it. 'I've watched YouTube videos about stuff like this, so I should be able to do this… I hope.'
I jumped up slightly, lifting my front two feet off the ground before slamming them back down right in the centre of Usopp's chest. Usopp made a choking sound, coughing for a second as I jumped back from him in shock.
'It actually worked!' I gaped, honestly quite surprised.
"Ehh! You didn't think that'd work!" Chopper exclaimed as Usopp slowly sat up, looking around in confusion.
'I had my doubts,' I laughed mentally, much to Chopper's horror. 'Perhaps I'll just leave it for you to do next time, doctor.'
"In other words, this is the sea of the sky," Nami explained to Chopper, Robin, and I as we sat on the railing. "But look, the log pose is still pointing up."
"Maybe this is only the middle part of the Millennium Cumulonimbus," Robin theorized.
"We need to go higher… How?" Chopper asked.
"I have no idea," She admitted.
"For my first big course, Captain Usopp will swim!" Usopp called out as he posed on the railing. Chopper quickly scurried over there to join Luffy as they egged him on.
"Oh! Go, go!" Luffy and Chopper cheered.
"Hey, hey, hey!" Sanji objected quickly. "Don't fool around, we still don't know anything about this sea!"
'I agree with San-' I started to mutter but Usopp had other ideas.
"A sea is a sea!" He laughed before jumping off the side of the boat and into the clouds.
'Fool!' I snapped as I jumped up and ran along the railing until I reached the spot he had jumped in. I leant over the railing, staring into the white while I waited nervously for him to come back up.
"He's still not back…" Chopper mumbled after about a minute of waiting.
"Just a thought," Robin decided to add. "Is there really a sea floor?"
"You mean!" The others yelped.
"That idiot fell off the cloud!" Zoro finished as Luffy jumped up in the air, throwing his arm into the clouds as it stretched.
'That fucking dumb ass!' I swore as I began to pace back and forth on the railing, the tip of my tail swishing irritably.
"Usopp!" Luffy yelled out.
"I told that idiot not to fool around!" Sanji gritted out.
"Extend your arm as far as you can!" Robin ordered him.
"But I can't see if I only rely on my touch!" Luffy pointed out.
"Don't worry, I'll handle it!" Robin told him as she crossed her arms over her chest. "Ojos Fleur.*"
We all waited silently for a few seconds, the air around us rather tense.
"There he is!" Robin exclaimed after a short while.
"Eh!" Luffy yelped. "Where!"
"Seis Fleur!*" Robin called out before opening her eyes again. "Okay, pull him up."
"Arrrgh," Luffy grunted as he began to pull Usopp up through the cloud.
"Luffy! You can do it!" Chopper cheered.
'Come on Luffy!' I urged.
"Oooh!" Luffy gasped as Usopp broke out the surface of the cloud, much to my relief.
"You did it! You pulled-" Nami started to say but cut herself off as more than one other thing broke the surface of the clouds. "SOMETHING FOLLOWED HIM!"
"Yaaaah!" Chopper screamed as everyone gaped at the huge monsters that had followed Usopp. One looked to be a giant eel crossed with a shark and the other was about 7 times bigger and resembled and octopus. "They want to eat Usopp!"
'You can't have him!' I snarled at the monsters.
"Nothing to be scared about!" Zoro pointed out as he jumped off the side of the boat, slashing at one of the octopuses tentacles. The other eel lunged at the boat but Sanji roundhouse kicked it, stoping it dead in its tracks.
POP
The explosion of air rang in my ears as the tentacle exploded much like a popped balloon would when poked like ballon.
"HUH!"
While everyone else was busying dealing with the weird monsters and discussing how weird they were, I had jumped off the railing and trotted up to Usopp, sniffing him over to make sure he was okay. My nose twitched as I catch a weird and alien scent on him.
'What the…?' I mumbled, following my nose to the source. I paused when I got close to the source, not game enough to go any closers. 'Dear God! What the hell is in his PANTS!'
"GYYYAAAAAA!" He screamed suddenly as whatever it was started to kick around in his pants.
I jumped back in shock, staring with wide eyes as I tried to figure out how to help. It's not like I was about to go into his pants to get whatever the hell it was… God, this was awkward.
"So noisy!" Sanji snapped at him. "What is it this time Usopp!"
"My pants…" He sobbed as he pulled a weird looking fish out of his pants. "This was in my pants!"
"Usopp!" Chopper yelped as he scurried over to us just in time for Usopp to throw the fish away and flop to the deck.
Unluckily I seemed to be in the way and I got smacked in the face with a flying fish as thanks for my worry. I stumbled back, landing on my hinds as the fish slid off my face and landed on the deck. I glared at it just as Robin walked up next to me and picked it up.
"Then… This would be a Sky Fish? It's the strange creature described in Noland's diary," Robin said as she observed it. "I think because there is no sea floor in the sky ocean, they must have evolved into various forms in order to survive."
"So some became flat and some became like balloons?" Zoro asked her, ignoring Luffy as he got ahold of the fish and ran off.
"Yes, all to make themselves lighter because the buoyant force here is much weaker than sea water," Robin confirmed.
"Their scaled look like feathers but the carnivorous mouth is weird," Nami mumbled.
"THIS IS YUMMY!" Luffy yelled in the background, stuffing him mouth with the fish we had been looking at second before.
"WE WEREN'T DONE WITH IT YET!" Nami snapped at him.
'Damn… Poor bastard,' I mumbled, feeling sorry for the fish. 'Luffy does know that the fish has been down Usopp's pants, right?'
"Ah! It tastes really nice!" Nami exclaimed as she tried a bit of it as well. "I've never experienced this flavour!"
"That's it!" Luffy gasped. "Cook that big guy too!"
"Hey! Everyone!" Chopper called as he tried to get our attention while looking through so binoculars. "There is a ship and… A person? EH! WHAT!"
"Hey, what is it Chopper?" Luffy asked as we all made our way over to him.
"WAH!" He cried as he threw the binoculars on the ground. I quickly jumped up on the railing next to him, looking around in worry. What had him so upset? Was that…Smoke I smelt?
"Chopper, a ship? A ship is over there?" Someone asked in the background as I tried to sort out all the smells. I found it a lot easier to smell things here without all the other scents around messing with me. At the moment it was like trying to find a needle on a cement floor rather than a needle in a haystack.
"No… Um, there was a ship but the ship isn't there anymore!" Chopper panicked as he tried to explain.
"What do you mean?" Zoro asked.
"There's a bull running on a rectangular cloud! It's charging from other there! THIS IS BAD!" Chopper blabbed as he freaked out.
"I don't get it. Calm down," Zoro snapped.
"What's he trying to say?" Sanji mumbled.
'That smell… The ship must have caught alight!' I gasped. 'And the… Flying bull did it? What?'
"A HUMAN!" Sanji exclaimed when something came into site, charging towards the boat at full speed. It looked like some tribal man with a huge ass mask using roller skates to fly over the clouds. "SOMEONE IS COMING! IT'S RUNNING ON THE CLOUD!"
'Chopper! Get back!' I order quickly, wanting to get him out of the way. I quickly jumped forward, grabbing Chopper by the scruff with my teeth as I ignored his squeal of protest. I then jumped off the railing, launching myself into the air with Chopper. For some reason it almost felt like I was jumping into wind, there was some invisible forcing slowing me down.
I landed by the other guys, dropping Chopper roughly on the deck before spinning back around to as the weird guy jumped up into the air, heading towards the boat at full speed.
"Hey, stop! What's your problem!" Sanji yelled at him.
"Eliminate…" Was the only thing he said which has shivers running down my spine. Thank God I got Chopper out of the way in time so this freak couldn't get him. I stepped up next to Zoro, getting ready to defend as flashed my teeth at the weirdo in warning.
"He wants to fight!" Sanji gritted out as he got in an attack position.
"He's got guts," Zoro agreed, pulling out his katana.
"Huh? What?" Luffy asked as he put his fist up.
It all happened in less than a few seconds. The weird tribal man jumped at Sanji first, kicking him under the chin and sending him flying back. Then he whizzed to the side, delivering a kick to Zoro's chin as well which had him hitting the deck.
With a howl of rage I threw myself at the stranger, jaws open as I attempted to latch onto something in order to injure him. Again, when I tried to move fast it was like trying to run against wind, something was pushing against me and it slowed me down again.
In a flash I was rewarded with a whole hell of a lot of pain spreading under my jaw and I found myself flying back, smacking roughly into the deck.
I heard Luffy get smacked down as well as I tried to get control of my limbs to drag myself back to my feet. That guy moved insanely fast and for some reason we were extremely slow with our reactions.
"Eh? Wait!" Nami yelled in the background. "What's wrong with you four!"
"GYA!" Chopper screamed in the background as finally got back up. I turned around, looking around for the weird tribal man but I couldn't see him on the boat which confused me for a second.
My eyes widened as I looked up in the air and saw him in the air, getting ready to aim a huge ass cannon at us. That must have been what caught the other ship on fire!
"THAT'S ENOUGH!" A new voice yelled out as from nowhere came a man dressed in a suit of armor, riding an odd looking spotted bird.
The knight launched himself off the bird, holding a lance in front of him as he aimed at the weird guy on skates. The said weird guy quickly raised a shield in front of himself, just managing to block the blow.
The force of the blow sent Mr. Skates flying into the cloud below, the Knight flipping back and landing on the railing off our ship as his bird flew down and landed next to him.
"WHAT! WHO IS IT THIS TIME!" Nami cried out.
"Oh, I am the Knight of the Sky!" He called out, posing for us.
"PI!" His bird chanted next to him.
"What's going on! Who was that guy?" Nami gasped as Mr. Knight stepped down onto the boat before turning her head around to snap at us. The other three were still sitting on the decking, looking confused. I was the only one whom had dragged herself to her feet. "Also! You four are so useless! Four on one and you still lost!"
'Don't push it,' I silently warned her, my ego already greatly wounded from the loss.
"Thank you for saving us," Chopper said to Mr. Knight as he bowed.
"Don't mention it," He replied. "It couldn't be helped. This is a service."
"Tsk," Sanji hissed him his place sitting on the deck, blood running down his chin. "This is so frustrating. Mamori, my princess, are you okay? How dare that brute hit a woman."
'You sound like a nut case,' I silently pointed to him before letting out a soft bark to let him know I was fine. My pride had a pretty big dent, but that was about it.
"It's like my body won't move as I command!" Luffy complained as he laid on the deck. Zoro was just sitting there in silence, staring into nothingness. All of them must have wounded egos as well.
"That's because the oxygen is scarce here," Robin explained to them.
'Son of a donkey!' I swore when I realized how stupid I had been. How could I have not figured that out before?
"To be saying those words…" Mr. Knight murmured. "Are you citizens of the Blue Sea?"
"What's that?" Nami questioned him. "By the way, who are you?"
"I would be the Knight of the Sky," He replied. "All living under the clouds are citizens of the Blue Sea. In other words, did you come up from the Blue sea?"
"Um… Yes," Luffy replied, still not bothering to get up.
"It can't be helped then. This place is 7,000 meters above the Blue Sea, called the White Sea. Above this place is the White-White Sea, 10,000 meters," He informed us with a serious face. "Average citizens of the Blue Sea won't be able to stand it."
"Okay! I'm slowly getting used to it!" Luffy called, sitting up and he slapped his chest.
"Yep, it feels much better now," Zoro agreed.
'Aren't you boys a bit slow?' I snickered even if they couldn't hear me. 'I got over it while ago. It only bothers me if I try to move too fast.'
"Lies," Mr. Knight accused, waving his hand as he sweat-dropped. "You're just faking it. It's not possible."
"But, that guy from before, how come he can walk on the sea?" Chopper asked.
"This level… Wait a minute, you probably have a lot of questions right?" Mr. Knight figured out as he jumped up to sit on the railing near his bird…His spotted bird. Why don't I get spots? "First thing first, I need to talk business with you. I am a freelance mercenary. This is a very dangerous part of the sea. Those who do not know about aero-battles will be attacked by the guy like before and will become food for the sky-fishes. Each whistle will cost you 50 million in Extol, then I will save you!"
There was silence around the deck as we all stared at the Knight like he was a crazy person. None of what he had just said made much sense.
"What are you talking about mister?" Luffy finally broke the silence.
"Quit acting like a fool… The price is very cheap already!" Mr. Knight argued. "If I keep lowering, I won't be able to earn even one Extol! I need living expenses too!"
"That's why I'm asking you what Extol is and what is the whistle thing?" Luffy questioned yet again.
"No way…" He mumbled in shock, his eyes going wide. "You guys…Didn't come here through the top of the high top? Then you must have been to one or two islands, right!"
"I told you I don't know what you are talking about mister!" Luffy protested yet again.
"WAIT!" Nami objected. "There are other ways to get to this sky ocean! Also you said 'one or two islands', isn't there only one Sky Island?"
"WHAT!" Mr. Knight yelped. "So you guys actually came via that monstrous stream! I never thought there would still be people this brave…"
"So it wasn't the normal way…" Nami sobbed, covering her mouth.
"We're here anyway, right?" Luffy asked before Nami spun around and grabbed Luffy, pulling him off the ground as she shook him back and forth.
"We almost died! If we patiently collected more information, we could have used a safer method!" She screamed at him.
"Did you lose one or two of your crew?" Mr. Knight asked Luffy.
"Nope, we're all here," Luffy said.
'And thank the Gods for that,' I sighed. 'It was a damn scary ride, but we still made it all in one piece.'
"Other routes are not like that," Mr. Knight explained. "If 100 people want to go to Sky Island through the other routes, it would be a gamble with no way to predict how many will leave and reach the destination. However, the Knock Up Stream is more like everyone either lives or everyone dies together. Either 0 or 100. Not many dare to take this gamble, especially people these years. Those who dare, I see them as great sailors who have both courage and real strength."
"Yeah, but it's all because of me," Usopp said suddenly, striking a pose. "When these guys were crying and giving up, I said, 'I will show you the way with my navigation skill!'."
"One whistle," Mr. Knight said as he threw a small whistle onto the deck in front of us. "Blow this once and I will come down from the sky to save you! Using the currency of the sky, each whistle will cost will 50 million Extol, but your first whistle will be free as my gift for you. Use that whistle any time."
With that said the Knight stood up, turning away from us as he got ready to depart as suddenly as he came.
"Wait!" Nami objected. "We don't even know your name!"
"I would be Gan Fall, the Knight of the Sky!" He called out as the bird next to him started transforming into another shape. "This is my partner, Pierre! I forgot to introduce him. Even though he's a bird, he has the power of the Horse Horse Fruit which means he can become a winged horse! In other words…"
"No way!" Nami gasped. "So beautiful! It's a Pegasus!"
"That's right! A Pegasus!" He confirmed as he jumped onto the back of his now odd looking horse crossed with a bird. Nami looked to be regretting saying that it was beautiful now that it had finished transforming. "I wish you luck heroes!"
"It turned onto a strange animal…" Sanji pointed out the obvious as we watched him fly away on his steed.
"In the end, he didn't really tell us anything useful," Robin pointed out.
"Yeah…" Usopp agreed with a blank look. "Really nothing at all…So now we are back to the starting point."
"Then how do we get higher?" Nami asked.
"Okay, let's call mister and ask him!" Luffy called out picking up the whistle.
"WAIT, WAIT, WAIT!" Nami screamed as Usopp and her jump on Luffy, stopping him from blowing the whistle. "Wait a minute Luffy! This is only for emergencies!"
"If that weird mask guy comes again, what will we do without the whistle!" Usopp agreed, pulling Luffy's face.
'I think he gets the point,' I sweat dropped as I watched them abuse Luffy.
"Anyway, let's just get the ship moving," Zoro interrupted them.
"Everyone! Look over there!" Chopper called out, hanging off the railing.
"That looks like a waterfall," Robin noted as she joined Chopper.
"That cloud is weird looking, right?" Chopper agreed.
"Okay! It's decided!" Luffy called out. "Let's go check it out!"
"There is a huge cloud in the way… What do we do?"
I stared at the huge mound of cloud around the base of what looked like a waterfall of clouds. The ship couldn't get past it, so we were all left staring at it as we tried to figure out what to do now.
"It's floating on sky ocean, so it's probably another kind of sky ocean," Sanji pointed out.
"Then what kind of cloud?" Usopp asked in confusion, crossing his arms over his chest.
"If it's a normal cloud, we could just sail straight through it," Nami said.
"We'll know if we touch it right!" Luffy called out, swinging his fist around as he got ready to let it fly. He punched out with his fist, extending his rubbery arm as it flew towards the large clump of cloud. My eyebrows rose a bit when Luffy's fist just bounced off of the cloud looking matter. "WAH! IT BOUNCED OFF!"
"WOW!" Chopper called out, sparkles gathering around his face as he gaped at the clouds.
"LOOK!" Luffy could out as he bounced around on the clouds like a trampoline. When the hell did he get the time to get out there so fast? Damn, he can move when he wants to. "I can sit! No sinking! It's soft too! Like cotton! What's this thing! It's so funny!"
"AMAZING!" Chopper cried out in awe, more sparkles growing around his face.
'That looks sorta fun…' I admitted, debating whether or not to go out there with Luffy or not.
"What phenomenon is this?" Nami blinked.
"Unbelievable," Robin stated.
"Oh! I WILL GO TOO!" Usopp yelled, jumping off the side of the ship to join Luffy.
'Shall we Chopper?' I asked the little reindeer who look like a little kid in a candy shop.
"YEAH!" He called out as we both jumped over the railing.
'Whoa! What the hell is this stuff!' I called out when my feet bounced straight back off of it, sending me flying into the air. I flipped over in the air before landing and bouncing straight up again. 'This is freaking AWESOME!'
"Hey! Try and find a path for the ship to pass!" Nami called up to us as I flipped happily in the air again before landing near Luffy and Chopper.
"OKAY!" Luffy called back happily.
"Hey! Luffy! There is something there!" Usopp called out from in front of us.
"What did you say!" Luffy yelled, ignoring Nami and running after Usopp.
'Oi!' I protested, bouncing along after him.
"A door?" Nami asked as we reported out findings to her.
"Yeah! Under that waterfall looking cloud, there is a huge door!" Usopp confirmed as we said through some gaps in the solid clouds so that we could get to the door. I was perched on the railing next to Chopper as we tried to relay the exact directions.
"If we go through there, we can see it," Usopp said. "Turn left next… No, that's right!"
"So this is not left!" Nami snapped back.
"Let's just call that armored mister!" Luffy nagged.
"STOP!" Nami yelled as she stopped Luffy from blowing the whistle.
I smirked as I watched them be idiots again; they were acting very carefree considering where we were. Mind you, this is how they always act.
"Good," Nami grinned as he finally made our way through the pass after a few minutes or arguing. "We seem to have passed through. Ah! It's really there! Plus, look! That waterfall looking cloud is really a waterfall! It has clouds of different properties falling down!"
"Heaven's Gate," Someone read the title of the gate out loud.
"Bad omen…It's like we're going to die…" Usopp mumbled, going pale again.
'It's a gate Usopp, it probably just has that name for dramatic effects,' I deadpanned at his attitude. Giant whirlpools I was not fond of, but I could deal with weird names of things.
"Yeah, it's totally unexpected. Maybe we're actually dead already?" Zoro taunted Usopp.
'Oi! Zoro, you idiot! Don't tease him; he's about ready to piss his pants!' I hissed, glaring at the said swordsman.
"Really?" Sanji asked. "If that's so, then this world can be explained…"
"WE'RE ALREADY DEAD!" Chopper screamed out in panic.
'Oh for the gods sake!' I complained. 'Chopper, don't listen to them. I'm sure we would have notice if we had died.'
"Heaven is so finally!" Luffy laughed. "We can finally get there through here!"
"Look! Someone is coming out!" Usopp exclaimed as he pointed to a small door on the side of the gates platform that had opened.
"Are you here for sightseeing or here to fight?" An old granny asked as she put a camera up to eyes and took a few pictures of us. The oddest thing about the old granny was that she actually had wings on her back. "Actually, it doesn't matter why you are here. If you want to go up, each person must pay 1 billion extol entrance fee. That's the law."
'Wings…' I gaped. 'Oh dear, please DON'T tell me we really are in heaven after all?'
"ANGEL!" Luffy gasped. "That's how angels really look! She looks like dried sour fruit candy!"
"1 billion extol, how much is that when converted?" Usopp asked.
"Um…" Nami stuttered nervously. "What if we… Don't have money?"
"You can still go up," She answered calmly.
"REALLY!" Usopp exclaimed in shock.
"Also, if you don't want to go up, it's okay too," The old granny continued. "I'm not a guard, nor am I a soldier. I just want to know your intention."
"Then we will go. We want to go to Sky Island! Even though we don't have money, we will go granny!" Luffy called out to her.
"Really? Eight people right?" Granny replied.
"Um, how do we get up there?" Luffy questioned her.
"EH!" Several of the crew members screamed as two large claws popped out of the cloud either side of the boat, reaching up to latch onto the wings of the ship. "WHAT! SOMETHING APPEARED!"
"That's the white sea's special speed shrimp," Granny said in a weird voice.
"WAAH! IT STARTED MOVING!" Nami screamed as the ship lurched forward before speeding through the gate. The force of the jerk knocked me off the railing and I was smashed into the deck again for about the fifth time in one week. I was becoming good friends with the deck seeing as I seemed to crashing into it so much.
"IT'S EXTENDING ENDLESSLY UPWARD!" Luffy yelled over the wind as he clutched the figure head of the ship.
I hesitated in looking up, not really sure I really wanted to know what Luffy was talking about. Eventually curiosity got the better of me and I glanced up, seeing a long spiral road of cloud that lead straight up into the sky. It appeared as if that was where we were going.
"WAAAAAH!"
"YAHOOO!"
"HOW IS THIS HAPPENING!" Nami screamed over the wind as we sped up the spiral. "THE CLOUD IS SHAPED LIKE A LONG STRIPE, ALMOST LIKE A RIVER! IT REALLY LOOKS LIKE SOMETHING NOT NATURALLY FORMED! THIS THING WAS PROBABLY ARTIFICIALLY MADE!"
"IT'S THE EXIT!" Luffy called out. "THERE'S SOMETHING WRITTEN ON IT!"
"Godland? Skypiea? THIS IS NOT AN EXIT! IT'S AN ENTRANCE!"
Happy, shocked and exited looks crossed everyone's face as we whizzed straight through the entrance, the shrimp letting us go as the ship went flying up into the air. Before us laid a huge island floating on a tone of clouds, houses and vegetation dotting the land.
"IT'S SKY ISLAND! YEAH!"
A soon as we got the ship to the beach, Luffy, Usopp, and Chopper all jumped over the side and ran onto the shore of clouds.
"YIIIHA!" Usopp called out. "The surface of this island is soft cloud!"
"YAY" Luffy cheered. "SKY ISLAND!"
"Hey!" Zoro called out from the ship. "What about the anchor? There is probably no bottom in this sea, right?"
"That kind of thing doesn't matter!" Luffy answered, bouncing around of the shore. "Hurry up! Look, this is so soft!"
"Doesn't matter?" Zoro muttered. "You…"
'Well, Luffy certainly has a one track mind,' I sighed as I jumped up onto the railing next to Zoro, eyeing the shore as I debated if I should get off or not.
"Anyways," Zoro continued as he picked up the anchor and chucked it overboard. "This scenery is really amazing. It's like in a dream."
"Yup," Sanji agreed as he rolled up his pants legs. "Seeing their happy faces… Haha, can't really help it."
'Sanji has a point there,' I admitted, smiling as I looked back over to the other three.
"YIIYEEHO!" Sanji called out as he flipped off the railing and into the sea of clouds bellow.
"You're the same as them!" Zoro sweat-dropped.
"CHOH! CHOH! CHOH!" An angry bird cried out from the lower deck.
"Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! Sorry! Sorry!" Nami cried out as she ran up the stairs, trying to get rid of the bird. When had she gotten changed into a swimsuit?
"CHOH!" The bird called one last time and I got the feeling that it was swearing. It then flew off towards the land as fast as it could.
"Forgot to let him go earlier…" Nami panted.
"There seems to be people living here, it can probably survive," Zoro shrugged.
'Since when did you care about the bird?' I blinked, tilting me head to the side. 'You know… I am getting REALLY sick of not being able to talk to you so you can hear me.'
"The anchor?" Nami asked him.
"I put it down," He replied. "That soft cloud on the back seems to be the structural basis of this island."
"Hey, isn't Skypiea," Robin started to say as she made her way up to us.
"Yep, it's the same as the name on the map that Luffy found!" Nami answered her before she could finish talking. "That 200 year old galleon really went here before. I never would have thought that a world in the sky like this could exist."
Nami then jumped over the side of the boat, slipping into the clouds. I carefully watched her until she made it to shore before turning my attention back to Zoro who had sat down next to me. Robin stood in front of us now, smiling.
"What about you and the dog?" Robin asked Zoro.
"Ah, I'll go too," He replied casually before turning to face me.
I looked between Zoro and Robin as they watched me. It's not like I could talk, and it's not like a I had plan as to what I wanted to do now that we were here. I was nervous about getting off at such a strange place, but the others looked to be having so much fun. I ended up just shrugging my shoulders, sending them both a doggish smirk.
"I never thought that sailing and landing can be adventurous too," Robin said, a proper smile slipping onto her face. I blinked as I stared at her, shocked by her sudden smile that looked real for once. It wasn't a forced one.
Robin then walked to the side of the boat, jumping smoothly off and into the clouds below. I shared a confused look with Zoro who was confused with Robin's sudden behaviour as I was.
"Come on, let's go," Zoro said after a few minutes as he got ready to jump down into the clouds. I waited till he has actually landed in the clouds before I decided to follow him.
The feel of the clouds stunned me for a few seconds when it reminded me of water. I expected it to feel more like fog or something, but it was more of a liquid then a gas.
'Odd,' I noted as I stuck my tongue out and licked the watery cloud. I then tilted my head to the side at the taste. It tasted like water almost, but it was almost more pure. 'Definitely odd.'
"Is this really cloud?" Zoro grumbled as he began to trudge towards the shore.
Just as we got to shore a heard the sound of a musical instrument being played as the notes floated over the wind. My ears twitched back and force as my eyes flicked around for the source of it.
'Hello, hello!' A small voice called out to me while I was distracted and I looked down only to come face to face with what looked like a small fox.
"What's this? A fox?" Zoro questioned as he both stared at it.
'Oh, hello there,' I replied to it as its nosed twitched at me.
"Hey, there's someone there!" Sanji called out, pointing to a figure on a cloudy hill in the distance.
"Is it another radar!" Usopp panicked. "Whistle! Where's the whistle!"
"Wait!" Sanji objected. "That's not it! It's an angel!"
"ANGEL!"
'Is that your… Friend?' I asked the small animal.
'Yep, yep!' It replied happily much like a little child.
"Heso," The said angel greeted us when she finally noticed us and put away her harp. She then started to walk towards us. "Are you guys from the Blue Sea? Sue, come here!"
The little fox quickly trotted back over to the angel as I lifted my head back up again.
"We flew up here from the bottom," Luffy answered. "Do you live here?"
"Yes, I live here," She replied as she finally reached our group. "This is the angel beach of Skypiea. Hihihi, that's gaunasu, you want to drink it?"
I tilted my head to the side in confusion until Luffy handed her to large pumpkin looking fruit that he had been holding onto. I figured that must have been what she was talking about.
"The exterior is like steel," She explained as she pulled a knife out and began to cut a small circle in the bottom of the fruit. "Biting won't do anything. You must go from the bottom. Alright, enjoy!"
'Where did she get a knife from…' I wondered in confusion. She didn't look like the type to carry a knife on her.
She put a straw through the hole before handing it back over to Luffy. Luffy stared at it for a few second before taking a sip, it's not like Luffy could ever pass up free food or drink.
"YUUUUMMMM!" Luffy yelled out. "IT TASTE SO GREAT!"
"WHAT!" Usopp yelled back, sparkles gathering around his face. "IS IT THAT GOOD?"
"If there is any problem, I am willing to help you," The angel offered kindly.
"Then please open this one too!" Chopper requested, holding up another fruit.
"I'm Conis," She introduced herself as she picked up her pet fox.
"Yes, I have a problem. Your gaze burns a hole in my hear-" Sanji started to say but Nami quickly grabbed his ears to stop him.
"Go away," Nami hissed before shooing him away. A few of the others had gotten bored by now and had wandered off a short distance as she continued her conversation. "There are so many things we want to know. To start with, everything here is unbelievable."
"Yes, don't hold back. Ask anything!" Conis replied happily.
"Hey!" Zoro called out. "There is something coming from the sea."
"Ah, it's my dad," Conis informed us calmly as the person coming closer to us waved.
"Conis! My daughter, heso!" He called out.
"Oh, heso father!" She replied.
"Er… What are you saying?" Luffy questioned, looking at Conis like she was crazy.
"What is he riding on!" Usopp questioned as he came closer.
"Look carefully! It's really cool!" Luffy added.
"Ah… You mean the waver?" Conis questioned.
"Excuse me. I am going to stop now!" Conis' father called out as he got closer to the shore. But for some reason she didn't actually stop the weird boat cross scooter that he was riding, instead he went shooting out of the water and flew across the ground right in front of Zoro and I.
I shrunk back a bit to make sure I didn't get hurt and I flinched when I heard a crashing sound as the old man impacted on a tree.
"Ah!" Luffy yelped.
"Ah…" Zoro sweat-dropped.
'Umm…' I mumbled, eyeing the man as he lifted his head up.
"Is anybody hurt?" He questioned us as she pushed himself back up to his feet.
"ASK YOURSELF THAT!" Zoro snapped back at him.
"Luffy, didn't you recover something like that from under the sea?" Nami asked Luffy suddenly.
"Yeah, I did," Luffy confirmed as he continued to sip away at his drink.
"So that's a waver! In Noland's diary, the ship that sails without wind!" Nami concluded.
"Are they your friends Conis, my daughter?" The old man asked as he righted him waver.
"Yes," She replied. "I just met them, father. "They're from the Blue Sea."
"Really?" He questioned. "They must be really anxious about things here then? This is White Sea."
"Eh! No, it's not like that!" Usopp tried to explain, waving his hands in front of him.
"Pardon me," The old man said. "I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Pajaya."
"Please," Nami waving him off. "We are the ones who need to be excused."
"Good timing," The old man said as he pulled a lobster out of a basket on his back. "I had only just finished fishing. I caught the most delicious food in the White Sea. They are sky lobsters. Please come to my home. I'll treat you with the sky's special cuisine."
"Really!" Luffy called out in excitement at the mention of food. "Let's go! Let's go!"
"You're going to make Sky Island cooking? Please let me help!" Sanji replied.
"Before we go," Nami interrupted as she knelt down by the waver. "May I ask you a question? How does this work? There's no sails or paddles. How come it can still sail on the sea?"
"Don't you know what a dial is?" Conis asked.
"Dial?"
"Accelerator? This?" Luffy questioned as he stood in the waver, trying to get it too move. "Just step on this, right"
'Please let this end well,' I muttered, watching Luffy nervously. It probably wasn't the wisest choice to entrust him with the waver.
"WAAAAAAAAAAH!" He screamed as the waver shot forward at an insane speed. "IT'S MOVING!"
"WOW! HE DID IT!" Chopper cheered.
"GAH!" Luffy yelped as the waver started to swerved back and forth. "Why is it shaking so much! I can't stop!"
'Hold the steering straight and lean against the way the waver is going!' I panicked as the waver started to spin out of control. I had ridden a motorbike before, it didn't look that different.
"EEEEK!" He cried out as the waver suddenly went flying into the air, flipping over as it sent Luffy flying.
"The ship flipped," Usopp pointed out.
"The most amazing kind of flipping too," Zoro agreed.
"Oh no! Did he get hurt!" Conis gasped.
"This can't be…Pardon me. It's my fault for letting him borrow me waver," The old man apologized.
"Hm, what will happen to people cursed by the Devil Fruit in this sea of cloud…" Sanji mumbled as he watched.
'Uh… Should I go get him?' I asked, looking back and forth between the sea of clouds and my friends.
"Oh? This place is sort of different from normal seas. He may actually float," Zoro agreed.
I watched in a panic as Luffy disappeared beneath the surface and didn't pop back up again.
"He sank," Sanji noted.
Ojos Fleur – Eyes flower.
Seis Fluer – Six flowers.
Beta read by praeses