Coral: Here's the next chapter, the arrival of Sky Island. Or at least the sky in general. And there are also some surprises in here, if you readers can catch them that is~
Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or Kingdom Hearts. I do not own Guthrie and, soon to join, Allen. Well, actually I kind of do own him.
*OPENING*
Let's fly to the sky
(The sun rises as Merry sails across the ocean)
There's not a single cloud in the sky
(All the current Straw Hats watched the sun rises, Luffy on the figurehead)
Let's fly to the sky. (It's time to fly around) Catch the perfect breeze for you
(The camera faces the sky as the title appears on the screen)
Paint the sky with (Let's go to the wonder world) imagination that no one's ever seen
(Camera faces back to the Going Merry as everyone went on with their peaceful business)
OH! OH! Even if it's too dazzling (Come on)
(Xion looked up and saw Marines ahead of them and warned everyone)
OH! OH! under the sun
(They all prepared themselves for battle. Marines fired cannon balls at them)
OH! OH! If it's you, you can make it! Throw away your pride and FLY!
(Luffy, Zoro and Sanji sent the cannons back at them. Usopp fired a cannon of their own with Xion, in her Wisdom Form, unleashed Triple Firaga at them, followed by a Thundaga, clearing their path)
Everyday is plain!
Real talent makes the world go round
(Going Merry sailed through the smoke. Everyone looked content as they enjoyed the sea breeze)
Deceit won't work anymore.
(Scene changed to Jaya in Mock Town, as camera faced each of the Blackbeard Pirates.)
Mayday, the red light is stopping you too
(Scene changed to Cricket's home, showing Cricket with Masira and Shojo side by side.)
Lend me an ear! And I'm gonna stick on my RAP! Wussup!
(Guthrie fights against some pirates and Heartless. One tried to sneak up on him and Chirithy knocked it away.)
"From tomorrow on I'll get serious!"- seriously cut it out with excuses like that
(Allen danced as he dodged the attacks of the pirates and attacked them at the same time)
Increase your money with your dream! Time is money like NASDAQ!
(The Straw Hats looked at Cricket's gold and searched for the South Bird)
When will you do it boy? It's now or never man! This is the moment, right?
(The crew then arrived at the Knock Up Stream and went to the skies.)
Everybody put ya hands in the air and clap ya hands like this like that
Clap ya hands everybody! Everybody just clap ya hands!
(Scenes quickly changed to different scenes. Xion and Guthrie crossed blades, Luffy's one-hit KO on Bellamy, the group trying to catch the South Bird, then finally their first encounter with the Shandia Warriors)
Let's fly to the sky (It's time to fly around) Catch the perfect breeze for you
(The Straw Hat Pirates arrived on Skypiea and were approached by the White Berets and fought them)
Paint the sky with (Let's go to the wonder world) imagination that no one's ever seen
(Scene changed to the group in the Upper Yard fighting against Heartless, Shandians and Priests)
OH! OH! Even if it's too dazzling (Come on)
(Scene changed to Xion fighting against a blonde Organization XIII member with knives and lightning magic)
OH! OH! under the sun
(Changed to Guthrie and Allen teaming up against the Nobodies)
OH! OH! If it's you, you can make it! Throw away your pride and FLY!
(Changed to Luffy battling Enel. In a flash of light, opening ends with all of Straw Hats on Merry, facing the camera)
Last time:
"WE'RE FLYING!" Luffy shouted in pure joy. "AWESOME! THE SHIP'S FLYING IN THE AIR!"
"I can't believe we're actually flying," Guthrie said, wide-eyed in shock.
"NAMI-SAN, YOU'RE BEAUTIFUL! AND I LOVE YOU~!" Sanji shouted.
"Why are you confessing your feelings?!" Chirithy asked, eyes bulging out in shock.
"Don't take him seriously," Xion told him.
Nami ignored Sanji's shout as she said, "If we sail along the current using the wind, we can go as high as we want!"
"Oi, Nami! Are we gonna make it to the Sky Island?!" Luffy asked.
"If it really exists, it's just beyond that cloud!"
Luffy looked on ahead, with an excited look on his face. "WE'RE ENTERING THE CUMULOREGALIS CLOUD!"
The Going Merry was soaring higher in the sky. In fact, the ship soared so high, it went pass the clouds. Eventually Merry popped out of the clouds and, somehow, landed on them. Everyone took the chance to catch their breath and cough out whatever water went in their mouth from the cloud.
"Is everyone still here?" Zoro asked.
The whole crew was too busy panting to answer.
"Oi! Everyone take a look! Look around the ship!" Luffy called.
Recovering from the trip up, everyone looked and were speechless at the sight before them.
"What is this place?!" Sanji asked.
"IT'S SOOO WHITE!"
"Clouds?" Chopper questioned.
"We're on top of the clouds?" Nami also questioned.
"How are we floating above them?" Guthrie asked, not expecting to actually be above clouds.
"Sure we can float on them. They're clouds," Luffy replied, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"No we can't!" Zoro, Sanji and Chopper deadpanned.
"Logic will never work in the Grand Line," Xion said.
"Ahhhhh! Usopp's not breathing!" Chirithy shouted.
"What?!" Chopper and Luffy gasped.
"Hey! Do something! Like a CPR!" the latter of the two shouted.
"Okay~! I'll give Nami-san a CPR~!" Sanji swooned.
"No one said anything about Nami!" Guthrie shouted.
After a few pumps to Usopp's chest, the sniper woke up. As one would expect from him, the first thing he does is panic at his surroundings.
"Nami. What does the Log Pose say now?" Xion asked.
The navigator looked at the pose and saw that it was still pointing up. "The Log Pose is still pointing up."
"We seem to be in the middle layer of the Cumuloregalis Cloud," Robin guessed.
"Then how do we go higher?" Chopper asked.
"That I don't know."
"You think someone's around here?" Chirithy asked.
"That's a possibility, but we don't know where to go from here," Guthrie pointed out.
"For his first course, Captain Usopp is going for a swim!" they all heard. Turning to the source, they saw a shirtless Usopp posing on the railing. Both Luffy and Chopper cheered for the long-nose pirate.
"Oi, oi, oi! Don't do anything stupid!" Sanji warned. "We still don't know the nature of this sea!"
"A sea is a sea~!" With his goggles on, Usopp jumped into the clouds. Seeing this amazed his fellow simple-minded pirates, as well as made them feel a bit jealous, as they were Devil Fruit users.
The reliable Keyblade wielders sighed and just let them have their fun.
"But still... how are we going to advance further up?" Guthrie asked. "It's going to take a miracle for us to find anything besides clouds up here."
"Yeah..." Xion nodded. Immediately she flinched as she realized something very important. So important, she screamed at the top of her lungs, causing the ship to jump. "That idiot!" The next thing anyone knew, Xion jumped off the ship after Usopp.
No one knew why she had panicked, until Guthrie and Robin realized what was wrong.
"Just a thought," the latter spoke. "Is there a bottom to this sea?"
At her question, everyone else caught on to the panic.
"That idiot! Did he fall out of the cloud?!" Zoro asked.
In the cloud, Xion was searching for Usopp. Fang was holding onto her so she wouldn't fall out of the cloud and down to the blue sea below.
"Damn it! Don't tell me he's already out of the clouds," she cursed. An idea came to her. "Oh yeah! It's time to try the new addition!" She took out another card. "Summon: Peepsta Hoo!"
Appearing out of the card was a purple owl-like Dream Eater with blue and yellow ears and a purple horn on its head. Its face is gray and it has colorful feathers under its chin. On its wings and tail were yellow, orange and burgundy feathers. The body is light green and yellow and the feet are grey with purple claws. On its chest was the Dream Eater sigil.
"Gunma! Help me find Usopp!" Xion requested.
Gunma nodded and took a good look around the area, eyes glowing via its Scan ability. It found the falling sniper and flew to him, Xion and Fang following close behind. The three were out of the clouds and found the dumbfounded pirate of their's.
"There! Catch him!" At Xion's order, the Peepsta Hoo went and caught the sniper. "Good. Now let's go back up." The two Dream Eaters nodded and flew the two humans back above the clouds. As they did so, Xion couldn't help but hear something chasing them.
'What am I saying? There's no way there can be anything in the clouds,' she thought.
The two pirates emerged from the white sea, much to their friends' reliefs.
"There they are!" Nami said.
Not long after, a large octopus popped out of the cloud, much to their shock, followed by a sea serpent.
"Something else came up with them!" Luffy exclaimed.
"They want to eat Usopp and Xion!" Guthrie informed, as the sea serpent opened its mouth wide for both the sniper and the Peepsta Hoo.
Nami, Chopper and Chirithy screamed at the sight of them.
"You don't have to be scared of them!" Zoro said, cutting one of the octopus' tentacles. Instead of it being cut with blood spilling out, the organ popped like a balloon, much to their surprise.
As the serpent went after Sanji, the chef gave it a good kick to the head, knocking it out.
After that short little episode, everything was calm on the Merry, Xion and the still unconscious Usopp back on deck with the former's Dream Eaters back in their cards.
"But man. This place sure knows takes the breath out of you," Zoro stated, trying to catch his breath.
"Now this is a weird looking animal," Sanji said, observing the serpent he knocked out. "I can't even tell if it's a fish."
"That octopus was almost like a balloon."
"But they were definitely animals. We saw them moving, didn't we?" Xion pointed out.
"Animals in the sky?" Nami questioned.
"So we really should think of this as more of an ocean than a cloud," Robin stated.
"What is this flat fish?" Chopper asked.
"It's a flatfish. Because it's flat," Luffy identified.
"I don't think that's what it's called," Chirithy said with a slight sweat drop.
Usopp, still pale from his experience, regained his senses and let out a scream.
"What's wrong, Usopp?" Guthrie asked.
"My overalls... Something is in them," he answered, taking out what seemed like a blue fish and flinging it away from him, continuing his breakdown. This worried Chopper as he went to check up on him. Robin couldn't help but feel pity for him.
The archeologist looked down at the flopping fish he flung and picked it up. "Would you say this is a Skyfish?" she asked.
"You mean the fish written in Noland's book?" Guthrie asked. Before meeting the crew, he read some of the journal.
Robin nodded at his question. "Since there's no botton to this sea, they must've evolved various adaptations to survive."
"Like being a balloon and flattening out their bodies?" Zoro asked.
"Most likely to reduce their density," Xion replied.
"Demon-san's right. This sea's buoyancy is significantly lower than that of the sea below us," Robin explained.
"Its scales looks like feathers. And it's unusual for it to be a carnivore," Nami listed.
Guthrie noticed something smelled good and turned to see the fish they were observing had already been cooked.
"I sauteed it," Sanji bluntly said.
Luffy took a bite out of it. "This is good!"
"WE DIDN'T FINISH LOOKING AT IT!" Guthrie shouted.
"What do you guys think you're doing?!" Nami demanded. She then took a bite and instantly changed her demeanor. "Oh, you're right. It's delicious!"
"That's fast!" the male Keyblade wielder and his Dream Eater spoke in shock.
Xion looked to the side and saw her 'brother' looking around their surroundings with a pair of binoculars. "Do you see anything?" she asked.
"Not yet," he answered. "Huh?"
"What's wrong?"
"I think I see a ship. And is that... a person?" Before Xion could ask him what he meant, Chopper let out a loud shriek.
"Chopper-kun?" Xion called. The reindeer handed his sister the binoculars. She peered through them and saw why he was distressed. There was a ship a good distance away from them, but it was destroyed. Not only that but there was a person skating through the clouds, heading their way.
"Everyone prepare yourselves! We got company!" she warned.
Just then, everyone else noticed something off in the distance, coming towards them. As Chopper and Xion saw, they could clearly see a man racing towards them, dashing on top of the clouds without even moving his feet. He wore a horned mask, wore a brown grass skirt, had wings, and carried a shield and a bazooka in his hands.
"There's a guy running around out there," Sanji noticed.
"He's not running, but he's skating closer to us!" Guthrie corrected.
Xion watched the man come closer, leaping into the air towards them. She felt a sense of deja vu at this point. Why did she feel she had seen this before?
"Oi, hold it!" Sanji called out. "What do you want?"
"To destroy you!" the mysterious attacker responded bluntly.
"So a fight?" Sanji asked sarcastically.
"Fine by me," Zoro growled, ready to draw his sword, while a certain straw hat captain was confused.
"Careful!" Xion cried out. "This guy is dangerous!"
Everyone was distracted by her words, giving the man a chance to kick Sanji hard in the face, sending him flying to the cabin. Zoro tried stopping the guy, but he felt his body slow down, and got hit by the guy, keeling backwards. The guy didn't stop as he spun in the air and axe-kicked Luffy to the floor.
"Hey, don't let that guy walk all over you! Get him!" Nami barked at the guys.
"Then help them out, will you?!" Guthrie barked back, watching the man leap away from the ship, aiming his bazooka at them. Chopper and Chirithy were panicking at this, while Ussop was still out of it.
"I got him!" Xion barked, leaping off the ship towards the man in the tiki mask.
She was about to draw her Keyblade out when she observed the man closely. Just then, she had a flashback of a similar person in the same exact position, aiming his bazooka at her, though his face was shadowed, and she didn't recognize him. Xion was too startled at this to realize the man drew his shield, resulting in her slamming headlong into it. As she reeled back from the attack, defenseless, the man pulled a spin kick that sent her flying back to the ship.
"Xion!" Chopper cried as Guthrie raced in, catching her in his arms before she hit the ship.
"Why the hell did you space out?!" Nami barked at her.
The man looked down at the ship, hearing her name from the human reindeer and faltered slightly. Did he just hear what he thought he heard? Was this girl really named Xion? Her cloak did seem familiar.
"That's enough!" roared a voice from above. The man looked up in time to raise his shield to protect himself from the spear of what obviously looked like an old man in knight's armor, with a black and yellow cape draped behind. He had just leapt off a pink and black polka-dotted bird of some kind.
He shoved the masked man into the clouds, causing them to rise and cover him like sea water. The knight landed on the edge of the ship.
"What?! Now who's this guy?!" a tearful Nami exclaimed.
The knight rose and turned to the group, walking onto the deck. "You may call me the Sky Knight." The bird landed behind him, crying out something that sounded like, 'pierre'.
Guthrie placed Xion onto her feet as they looked to the sky knight, who turned to the area the masked man fell to. There were no signs of him at all, nor any signs of movement in the clouds. However, the female Keyblade wielder looked to the old man and had another sense of deja vu. Her head throbbed a bit and she placed a hand to it.
"Are you okay?" Guthrie asked. "You really conked yourself on that guys' shield."
"Yeah, I think so," she moaned. "I don't really know what happened just then. It's like I saw someone else, but I didn't know who it was."
"What's going on? Who was that guy?" Nami asked. She then glared to the group of fighters as she added, "And you! Can you be any more worthless? That was pathetic! All four of you couldn't handle him! Even you, Xion! Why the hell didn't you even attack?!"
"It's not like you were any better," Guthrie retorted, looking at the trio of guys, who were all having a hard time breathing. "All you did was complain and bark orders without even putting in an effort. If you're part of this crew, then surely, you know how to fight."
"Shut up! It's not like you fought, either!"
"You saved us! Thanks a lot!" Chopper bowed to the sky knight.
"No need for thanks," he answered, turning to the crew. "This is a service."
"Dammit... I'm disappointed," Sanji moaned.
"Somehow... my body... won't move that well..." Luffy spoke.
"It must be because of the thin air," Robin assumed.
"Yeah. We are at a higher elevation," Guthrie pointed out, turning to Xion. "Though you seem to be fine, apart form your head throbbing."
"Guess my body's use to this," she answered. "Why aren't you affected?"
"I like going up to high places to think, so I'm use to altitude changes," the male Keyblade wielder answered.
"You must be Blue Sea Dwellers," the sky knight assumed, walking up the steps to the front of the ship.
"Blue Sea Dwellers? What is that? And who are you?" Nami asked.
"As I said, I am the Sky Knight. And 'Blue Sea Dwellers' are what we call people who live beneath the clouds. I'm assuming you arrived here from the blue sea?"
"Yeah, that's right," Luffy answered.
"Then that explains it." The sky knight sat on the railing over them. "You have reached the White Sea, which is 7,000 meters above your Blue Sea. The White White Sea, which I assume you are heading to, is higher up, about 10,000 meters. Ordinary Blue Sea Dwellers can't possibly endure it here."
"We're not exactly normal," Xion pointed out as Luffy, Zoro and Sanji were starting to get use to the air and were relaxing a bit.
The Sky Knight was startled at this, then looked to Xion. "Oh, are you...?" Xion looked at him in confusion as he observed her. "Never mind. I thought you were someone else. My apologies."
Xion was definitely confused at this. What did he mean? Did he know her or someone like her? She did feel like she knew him, but she couldn't put her finger on it.
"So Mr. Knight, why was that guy running around in the clouds attacking people?" Chopper asked, redirecting the conversation.
"Yeah, and how was he able to move about there without moving his feet?" Guthrie asked.
"Now, now, now. I am certain you have many questions to ask me, but first we have matters of business to discuss," the Sky knight told them.
"Business?" Chirithy asked.
"I am a free mercenary, and this is a sea of many dangers. Since you know not of the battle of the sky, you will be easy targets for the Guerrillas or the Skyfish. One whistle and I will rescue you for a price of five million extols."
Everyone looked pretty darn confused at this, wondering what the hell an 'extol' was.
"What're you talking about, old man?" Luffy asked, he, Sanji and Zoro tilting their heads.
"It must be a currency we don't know about," Guthrie assumed.
"You fool! It is a small price to pay!" the sky knight exclaimed. "I will not take one extol less! I have to make a living, you know!"
"We understand that, but we don't know what an extol is." Xion pointed out.
"And what do you mean by a whistle?" Sanji added.
The sky knight suddenly became startled at this and asked, "You mean you did not come by way of the High West? But you must have at least stopped by one or two islands!"
"What the heck are you talking about, ossan?!" Luffy grumbled.
"Hold on! You mean there are other ways to get to the sky sea?" Nami questioned in surprise. "And one or two islands? You mean there's more than one Sky Island?"
The sky knight was now starting to realize they had not taken the path he thought and that the only other way they could've gotten here. "My goodness! You mean that you-"
"We rode up the Knock-Up Stream," Robin answered his unfinished question.
"Riding that monstrous current? To think there are still souls brave enough to dare to do that..."
As Nami wept in realization, Xion did a face palm. Why, oh why, did she not even think about there being another route than the one they took? And a safer one at that? Maybe they were just that desperate to come here? Or they hadn't had the thought of getting info before finding a route? Nami yelled stuff similar to this to the captain as she shook him vigorously, while Ussop was still on his back, still muttering how scary the Sky Islands were.
"Have you lost any of your crew?" the sky knight asked.
"Nope, we all made it!" Luffy answered, recovering the shaking fit instantly.
"The other routes would not have been so merciful. If you had brought 100 people, it would be a gamble was to how many would survive. But by using the Knock-Up Stream, either you all die or you all survive. There are few left willing to risk an all or nothing gamble, especially in recent years. I have great respect for your brave and trustworthy navigators."
"So, in a way, we took a better route than the one we could've taken," Guthrie stated, pulling Nami away from Luffy. "So instead of complaining about it, we should be grateful we all survived the trip up here, thanks to you, Nami."
"Well, it was the path I chose!" Ussop lied, getting glares from Xion and Nami. "At the time, these guys were crying and had given up on their lives, but I told them-" Nami grabbed the side of his mouth while Xion pointed the tip of her Keyblade at his face. Nami grabbing his face wasn't much of a threat, Xion pointing her Keyblade at him on the other hand... "Nothing at all!"
"Thought so," Nami growled.
The Sky Knight looked to the Keyblade in complete surprise. Again, he was reminded of someone who wielded a similar blade, and wore a coat like Xion's. However, the girl he knew wouldn't have come here on such a dangerous path, but would take a portal up to here instead. Plus, he felt she was different, in regards to personality. He assumed this girl was just someone else with similar traits, but was not the same one he met before.
He dug into his pocket and pulled out a whistle. He tossed it to the crew and explained, "One whistle means blowing sharply into this. I will descend from Heaven itself to lend you aid. I normally ask five million extols for future visits, but I shall give you one whistle as a present."
Chirithy picked up the whistle from the ground, holding it in his hands, while Nami called out, "Wait! We don't even know your name!"
"I am the Sky Knight, Gan Fall!" he introduced himself. "And this is my partner, Pierre!" The bird he rode on before cried out to them. Suddenly, the bird was transforming before the crew. "I should have mentioned that my partner, Pierre is a bird who has eaten and gained the ability of the Horse-Horse fruit. Meaning, he can become a winged horse!"
"You mean, he can become..." Xion started.
"How wonderful! A Pegasus?!" Nami asked in amazement.
"Yes! A Pegasus!" Gan Fall answered, saddling himself on top of the transformed bird, who looked like the most ridiculous-looking Pegasus anyone could've imagined, still having wings on its back, tail feathers, and an ugly horse face to boot.
"That's... questionable," most of the crew muttered, feeling letdown.
"Brave souls, may luck be with you!" Gan Fall called out, as Pierre galloped away to the sky, flapping his wings as he did. Everyone watched him leave with confused looks, wondering what the heck was the point of even transforming.
Guthrie looked to Robin, and could've sworn she saw blush marks on her face. "Why are you blushing?" he asked.
Robin realized this and tried hard to stop as she responded, "N-Nothing."
Although, in her mind she thought, 'It's so sad-looking, it's cute.'
"But in any case, he really didn't tell us much," Chirithy said.
"Yeah! Not a thing!" Usopp nodded.
"We can blow this and he'll come back," Sanji recalled.
"How are we going to get higher?" Zoro asked.
"Yosh! I'll call that Ossan and ask him!" Luffy snatched the whistle from Chirithy's hand and made a motion to blow into it, when Nami and Usopp stopped him.
"W-W-W-W-Whoa! Hold it, Luffy!" the navigator shouted. "That's only to ask for help in an emergency!"
"What if that weirdo in the mask shows up again?!" Usopp asked.
"Anyway, we should get sailing," Guthrie said.
"Oi! Look over there!" Chopper called.
Robin looked where he was looking and saw something quite peculiar. "I wonder what's over there."
"Weird, right?"
"It looks like a waterfall."
"Sounds like a good start to me," Xion said. "Let's go over there."
With that, the crew continued their trip to go higher up in the sky, starting with the cloud waterfall. As they sailed, Xion went to train in her dive, something that confuses Guthrie as he saw Chopper preparing medicine by her meditating sister's side.
"What'cha doing?" he asked.
"Xion-nee is doing some training. I have to prepare some medicine and bandages in case if she over does her body," the man-reindeer answered.
"All she's doing is meditating, isn't she?" Chirithy asked, just as confused as his master.
"Wrong," Zoro answered. "Guthrie, we told you back in the woods, remember? About her dive into her heart training."
The male Keyblade wielder thought back to the moment the three-sword-style swordsman spoke of. "Her meditating is that dive thing? Looks like normal meditating if you ask me." The moment he said that, Xion was suddenly hit by the side by some 'unknown' force, slamming her down to the floor, much to his, Chirithy, and Robin's shock.
"Aaahhhhh! Xion-nee!" Chopper immediately got to work with patching up her wound.
"What just happened?!" Chirithy asked.
"Apparently whatever damage Xion takes when she's in her Dive to the Heart, it also affects her body," Nami explained.
"You guys seem awfully calm about this! Besides Chopper that is!" Guthrie said.
"Xion can take care of herself. What we need to worry about while she's away is her body. If anything happens to it, Xion could be in that dive forever. Or worse, dead!" Usopp added.
"Either way she would die!" Guthrie and Chirithy shouted.
"Is there any way to get her out if we're in danger?!" the former questioned.
"That you have to ask her master," Zoro replied.
Nami realized something when he mentioned that. "Now that you mentioned it... Hey! You're here, aren't you?! How about you give them a proper explanation about Xion's Dive to the Heart?! They're our nakama and Xion's! The least you can do is introduce yourself!" To those who have yet to know Voice, they assume she was shouting at Xion, who was busy training.
After a few seconds, they finally got a response from the Keyblade wielder, just not in the way they imagined. "I suppose if I must," came a deep, male voice from her mouth. She opened her eyes and the group realized how dull they seemed. "Greetings, new members."
*XION'S DIVE TO THE HEART*
Standing before Xion was a group consisting of a couple Cloud Sunrises, Air Soldiers, Red Nocturnes, Blue Rhapsodies, Yellow Operas, Green Requiems, Air Pirates, Aerial Vikings, and a Tailbunker, the last Heartless being the leader.
"Sometimes I wonder if Voice hates me for some reason," she muttered. For this training, Xion was to defeat the Heartless, completing the training with a Limit Break, in other words her Wingblade Command Style and Ragnarok Shotlock, which would be easier said than done if she wasn't struggling staying alive or taking a critical amount of damage. She already took a damage from an Aerial Viking's surprise attack. If she takes a damage from the Tailbunker, she had a feeling that would be it for her.
"Have to be lighter on my feet." She charged at the group of Heartless, avoiding the attacks from the long-range mage-like Emblem Heartless. "Strike Raid!" She tossed her Keyblade at the elemental Heartless, knocking them down to the ground, but not enough to take them out. "Blitz!" As the Air Pirates charged down at her, Xion performed three jumping attacks, each one hitting their mark and knocking them down. Like the elemental group of Heartless, however, none of them were taken out yet. "Binding Strike!" She then performed a spinning attack at the oncoming Air Soldiers, knocking them into the first group of Heartless she took down, obliterating them. While she was airborne, an Aerial Viking came and gave her a hard punch to the gut, knocking her to the ground.
"Okay. That really hurt," she said, getting back up on her feet and rubbing her stomach. She looked up and saw a Cloud Sunrise making a jump on her. She quickly dodge-rolled away from it and fired a fireball at it. Apparently, it proved to be a distraction, for Xion was whacked into the air by a Tailbunker. As she was in the air, she saw some of the Heartless flying up to her. "No you don't! Thundaga!" Xion called upon a strong set of lightning, stopping the Heartless in their tracks and destroying them, leaving her with the uninjured Tailbunker and the remaining Cloud Sunrises.
"Now sounds like a good time." Xion concentrated all her power into her Keyblade, causing it to glow a familiar light. "Wingblade!" Hey Keyblades multiplied and transformed into her light sabers, all floating behind her. She grabbed two of the swords and charged forward, first taking down the Cloud Sunrises. After they were taken care of and the first pair of blades disappeared, Xion grabbed the second pair and charged at the Tailbunker. As expected, the last Heartless proved to be quite challenging to her. Xion could only land in a couple of hits before the big guy decided to go ahead and attack her with its wings. That didn't stop her from continuing on her combo, stabbing the dragon-like Heartless, weakening it even further. Her opponent didn't seem fazed by her efforts and slammed its tail into her, in which she blocked last minute. She then called upon six spears of light, telepathically tossed them all at the Heartless. Unlike the last time she used it, this time, a magic emblem made of light appeared, shocking the Heartless.
'Whoa. That's new,' she thought. 'In any case, it's time to finish this.' Xion grabbed her Keyblade and leapt into the air. Once she had locked on to her opponent, she unleashed the true finisher. "Ragnarok!" A salvo of light projectiles were fired from her Keyblade all hitting her target. She charged and shot out more of it at the Tailbunker, eventually ending the Heartless.
Xion sighed in relief, now that the training was over. "That wasn't as hard as I thought. Kind of," she said, healing herself with her Cure spell.
"Now that's a lie," she heard Voice said.
"You know, I really do wonder if you have something against me, sometimes."
"What do I have against you? Besides, it wouldn't be training if it was easy."
"Yeah, I guess that's true." Xion stretched out her muscles. "Are we anywhere near our destination yet?"
"From what I've seen and spoken with your navigator, I would say so."
"I see. Then I should get some fresh, calm air."
"Very well. You are free to leave."
Xion nodded and left her dive.
"A gate to heaven?" was the first thing Xion heard when she got back. "Oi! Is this a joke?! It's like we're going to die!" Looking up, ahead of the ship, she saw what seemed like a gate with a sign that said 'Heaven's Gate' at the top.
"Or what if we're dead already?" Zoro casually asked.
"Oh. That would certainly account for all this weird stuff," Sanji agreed.
"Huh?! We're dead?!" Chopper questioned in a panicked tone.
Luffy simply laughed with a happy-go-lucky face. "Heaven, eh? Sounds like fun! Finally going there!"
"How can you say that so happily?!" Chirithy asked, hitting Luffy as hard as he can, only to get little to no results.
"We're not going to die!" Nami denied, hitting Luffy in the Dream Eater's place and Zoro and Sanji.
Xion lightly sweat dropped, wondering what happened while she was away.
"Do I want to know?" she asked out loud.
"Oh. You're back," Robin said.
"Oi! Look over there! Someone's coming out!" Usopp called.
As he said, an elderly woman wearing a pink tunic came out, taking some pictures. The most unusual thing about her is the pair of wings on her back.
"Look! On her back! They're wings!" Chopper shouted.
"An angel! So that's a real angel?! She looks like a prune!" Luffy carelessly stated.
"Have you not heard of 'respect your elders'?!" Guthrie asked, not believing how rude his captain is.
"I am the appointed lookout of Heaven's Gate, Amazon," the elderly angel introduced, unfazed by Luffy's insult. "Sightseeing? Or fighting?"
"S-Sightseeing would be closer, I guess," Nami replied.
"We want to get to the Sky Island!" Luffy told her. "Sky Island's on the other side of this gate, right?"
"What do you mean 'fighting'?" Zoro asked, a bit suspicious of the angel's question.
"It doesn't matter which," Amazon answered/avoided. "Just pay the immigration fee one billion extol per person and be on your way. That's the law."
Despite the fact that the currency isn't the same, just hearing the amount made some of the crew jump.
"O-One billion?!" Usopp gasped.
"There's that extol thing again," Sanji said.
"How much is one billion extol in Belli?"
"By the price, I can only hope that Belli is more expensive than Extol," Guthrie said.
"No matter what it is, one billion's gotta be a lot!" Chopper said.
"One billion per person... For ten people it's ten billion," Robin calculated.
"I can always be summoned though. So I don't have to be counted," Chirithy pointed out.
"Excuse me. We don't have extol," Xion told her.
"You can still pass," Amazon said.
"We can?!" Usopp air slapped.
'I didn't even finish my question,' the female Keyblade wielder spoke.
"Or you can not pass," the angel continued, confusing the crew. "I an neither a guardian or a warrior. I only listen to your will."
"Something's fishy here," Guthrie whispered to his Vice Captain.
"You think so too, huh," Xion agreed.
"Then let's go! Let's go to the Sky Island!" Luffy said.
"We don't have any money, but we're going through, Granny!" Usopp told her.
"I see. So ten of you, yes?"
"No. Nine of us actually," Guthrie corrected, confusing most of the people around him.
"What are you saying, Guppy? There are ten of us here," Luffy told him.
"It's Guthrie. How can you forget my name?" The male Keyblade wielder held back the urge to hit the boy. "Anyway, Just to be on the safe side, Chirithy will just poof away."
"'Poof'?" the non-Keyblade wielders repeated questionably. To answer their unasked question, Chirithy just poofed himself away, much to their shock.
"Huh?! Where'd Chirithy go?!" Chopper asked.
"Like I said, he can just appear whenever he wants. Though so far he only comes out when I call for him," Guthrie muttered the last part. Turning to Amazon, he then said, "Anyway, nine people. Are you sure it's okay for us to go on?"
"Yes. Of course," she answered.
"But how do we get to the Sky Island?" Luffy asked.
"Wait Luffy, we need to know more about the currency-" Before Xion could finish her sentence, a pair of giant red claws came out of the cloud and grabbed onto the Merry by what was left of the makeshift wings.
"Inhabitant of the White Sea, the Speedy Shrimp." With that, the group suddenly zoomed higher up the cloud from the shrimp's back. Everyone was hanging on to something to prevent themselves from falling off the ship. But hey, nothing's going to go wrong. Right?
... Who are we kidding? Of course something's going to go wrong.