A/N: YAHOO! This story's hit 3,000 reviews! I'm happy! Just wanted to say that.
The Going Merry followed Shojo's ship as they circled around to the other side of the island, with Nami holding the map of Jaya up and making sure that they matched up. When they got there, Usopp and Chopper screamed out in amazement at what they saw. Right on the edge of the cliff was an enormous and elaborate castle. Shojo began to laugh as he told them to take a closer look while Luffy jumped onto land and looked with a smile, which was soon followed by other members of the crew.
"IT'S NOTHING BUT A BOARD!" Usopp yelled.
"REALLY?!" Chopper yelled in shock.
"This is your base?" Sanji asked Shojo.
"That's right." Shojo said from his ship. "This is the base of the Saruyama Alliance!"
"Not impressed." Gin said.
"So, this Cricket guy lives in there?" Alvida asked.
"Precisely." Shojo said as his ship began to sail away. "I'm gonna go look for my brother Masira. If the old man's not in, then he's diving right now. Stick around and he'll appear soon."
"Thanks!" Grace yelled as a few of them waved him goodbye.
"So, what kind of dreams did this Cricket guy talk about that got him banished from town?" Nami asked.
"I don't know the details," Robin said. "But he spoke of a mountain of gold right here on Jaya Island."
"Gold?" Usopp asked.
"Like a mountain of pirate treasure?!" Nami asked.
"Who knows." Robin said before Nami started ordering the men to did up the island.
"Why'd you have to say that Robin?" Nojiko groaned as everyone began looking around. Luffy walked over and sat on the ledge of the cliff where Cricket would appear again while the others found an old story called Norland the Liar.
"What are you doing?" Luffy turned to see Valerie walking towards him.
"Hey Valerie." Luffy greeted as Valerie sat down next to him.
"What are you doing over here?" she asked.
"Cricket's gonna pop up out of the water right in front of us in a while." Luffy answered.
"How do you...right. Time travel and all that." she said.
"Hey, can I ask you something?" Luffy said. "About your outfit?" Valerie looked at him with a slight grin at his words.
'So he finally noticed, huh?' she thought. "You like it? I wore it just for you." she said as she stretched her arms up and her chest out. "You like?"
"Yeah." Luffy said with a faint blush. "But I was curious about the lemon." Valerie blinked before she looked down at the lemon design on her top. "I keep seeing a lemon on your clothes, or your earrings. Do you like lemons?" Valerie was stunned silent at Luffy's question before she stood up.
"Yeah." she said as she walked away. "I like lemons." She walked on while staring down at her top while gently running her fingers over the lemon print on it. "My outfit hardly covers anything, yet he asks about the lemon design." she said, a sad smile tracing her lips. "You really are different from the others, Luffy."
"Something wrong Valerie?" Valerie looked up to see Grace looking at her with a canvas in her hands.
"It's nothing." Valerie said. "You finished your painting?"
"Yep!" Grace said with a smile as she showed Valerie. "It's the Rainbow Mist. What do you think?"
"Wow!" she said. "It's like I'm staring at the real thing! Nice job!" The smile on Grace's face was like a kid at Christmas.
"Heads up!" Luffy shouted as he backed away from the water as a muscular blonde man wearing only pants jumped out of the water.
"WHO THE HECK ARE YOU?!" he shouted before shifting into a fighting stance. "You punks have some nerve acting like you own this place. This part of the sea is MY turf!"
"Is that Cricket?" Gin asked before Cricket started to attack Luffy.
"Whoa! Hold it!" Luffy shouted as he dodged and blocked the man's fists and kicks before Cricket pulled out a gun and shoot at Luffy, who dodged. Cricket only glared at Luffy as he kept on shooting, with Luffy dodging each shot without any problems.
"Why's he shooting?!" Usopp yelled before Cricket dropped his gun and collapsed in pain. After the initial shock, Chopper examined him before ordering everyone to help bring Cricket inside the house. He told them that Cricket was sick with Decompression Sickness, which was usually caused in divers who constantly dove under the water for days without rest and that death could come from severe cases. He had just finished explaining that Cricket would live when Masira and Shojo stuck their heads through the door and began yelling.
"HEY, YOU OKAY OLD TIMER?!" they yelled, which startled a few of the Straw Hats.
"Shh!" Vivi said with a finger to her lips. "Mr. Cricket is sick and needs rest!" Both of the monkey men looked at Cricket as he laid there in bed with cool cloths on him before crying.
"You people are so kind!" they said.
-Some time later-
Cricket had woken up and was told that Luffy and his crew wished to go to Sky Island, which made him laugh that they would want to go to a place that most said didn't exist.
"Don't! He's sick!" Usopp yelled as he, Johnny, and Yosaku restrained her so she didn't hit him.
"Well, about Sky Island," Cricket said as he took a puff from his cigarette. "I only know of one man says it existes, but he's famous for being a liar. And his family's been a laughing stock ever since."
"Don't look at me!" Usopp yelled as a few of them looked at him.
"It's an old tale from North Blue called Norland the Liar." Cricket explained.
"MY NAME IS NOT NORLAND!" Usopp yelled as they looked at him again. Cricket then told them all that he was Norland's descendant, despite the fact that there wasn't any of Norland's blood in his veins, and that Jaya was the place where the City of Gold was supposed to be. He then told them that the Montblanc family was exiled from the country and lived in shame, yet none of them hated Norland because he was indeed an honest man. When the Straw Hats mentioned the picture book, Cricket told them that he was crying at his death and not smiling like an idiot as depicted in the book. "So you're here to find the City of Gold and bring honor to your family name!" Usopp shouted.
"DON'T FUCK WITH ME!" Cricket yelled as he shot his pistol above Usopp's head, startling the Straw Hats that were listening. "I DON'T CARE IF HE WAS A LIAR, OR IF HE WAS TELLING THE TRUTH! I DON'T CARE IF HE WAS A GREAT EXPLORER EITHER! NONE OF THAT HAS ANYTHING TO DO WITH ME! DO ANY OF YOU HAVE THE FAINTEST IDEA WHAT IT'S LIKE TO BE A KID OF THE MONTBLANC FAMILY?! TO BE LAUGHED AT BY EVERYONE AROUND BECAUSE THEY HAVE THE BLOOD OF AN IDIOT RUNNING THROUGH THEIR VEINS?! IT'S NOT A LIFE ONE WANTS WHILE GROWING UP!" All of them looked at Cricket as he calmed down and explained that his family line spent their lives searching for the City of Gold, but none of them even found this island. He told them about how he ran away and became a pirate to escape his family's name and had many adventures, but ended up on this very island 10 years ago. He then decided that him landing there was fate, and decided to search for the City of Gold while his pirate crew abandoned him. "If it exists, that's fine. If it doesn't exist, that's fine too. I'm not doing this to prove his innocence. This is a battle with the man who ruined my life. I want to settle things with him, before I die." Many of the Straw Hats were struck by his words, including the two swordsmand and sharpshooter who were crying their eyes out.
"Y-You're a true man." Usopp said through his tears.
"And the big apes?" Grace asked.
"I bet there's a grand story behind that as well." Johnny said as he wiped his eyes.
"One of hardships and such that only true men could face." Yosaku cried out.
"They're fans of the book." Cricket said.
"FANS?!" the trio yelled, their tears dried instantly. Cricket explained that 5 or 6 years ago, the two of them barged onto his land after hearing rumors about him, saying that they believe that Norland was telling the truth about the gold. He told them that before they arrived, the isolation he suffered from diving into the cold, dark depths of the sea had become unbearable, and that they saved his life by proclaiming themselves as his followers and rampaging around.
"My life was saved by those two simple-hearted idiots." Cricket said, earning more tears from the trio earlier. Luffy smiled at his story, having also once suffered that lonely feeling and glad that his friends drove it away.
"So, can you help us get to Sky Island?" Luffy asked, earning a chuckle from Cricket as he pulled out Norland's Log book and had Nami read a few lines. Nami began to read the entry that Cricket pointed out, which talked about wavers and skyfish. Practically all of the crew were enthralled wtih the idea of going to Sky Island as Cricket stepped outside and walked towards Masira and Shojo, who were fighting for some weird reason. He asked if they liked them and that they were set on going to Sky Island. The both of them were stretching as he asked if they wanted to help them get there. Cricket then called the crew out to explain earlier all that he knew about Sky Island. About a cloud called Cumuloregalis that didn't have air current, no produced rain that floated in the sky for thousands of years, like a fossilized cloud. How it didn't let any sunlight through, causing day to turn to night, and that Sky Island was probably on that cloud. He told them about the Knock-Up Stream and how it could connect the sea and sky for a full minute. The crew began to have second thoughts about it, thinking that the random Knock-Up Stream and the cloud wouldn't align before their Log Pose reset. Cricket then explained that the Knock-Up Stream would happen tomorrow in the south, and that the cloud would be in that area as well, shocking the crew. Usopp was about to run his mouth off at all these coincidences, but stopped when he heard Luffy mutter next to him that he couldn't wait to go back, causing Usopp to instead ask how Cricket knew all this would happen when Masira, Shojo, and Sanji began calling everyone inside for food. Cricket explained that Masira recorded that whenever night suddenly fell in his territory, he always sees a Cumuloregalis cloud in the sky to the south. He also said that based on the cycle of five times a month, the Knock-Up Stream will most likely occur tomorrow in the south as well.
"I'm not 100% on it, but there's a chance that both events will coincide." Cricket said. "I'm happy to have met a bunch of dream chasing idiots like you. Now, let's go inside and eat, my friends." A lot of them ran inside to eat while Usopp looked to Luffy.
"Hey, Luffy." Usopp muttered, gaining his attention before he ran inside. "Just for the sake of calming my fears, are we gonna make it?" Luffy's only answer was a grin that nearly covered his whole face, which served to ease Usopp's nerves.
"Now come on! FOOD!" Luffy yelled as he and the rest of them joined the others inside the small house.
-Much later-
Cricket's house was noisy that night with the party going on. The Straw Hats and Saruyama Alliance were eating, drinking, laughing, and falling over themselves. The Saruyama alliance was stunned to hear that Vivi was a princess after she removed her mask due to Luffy saying they could be trusted. As they partied, Cricket told them all about Norland's final entry in his Logbook, stating that he saw the gold in the Skull's Right Eye. He knew not what it meant after all the years he had been on Jaya, but it didn't bother him at all and that he would dive because he had a dream before taking another drink. Everyone laughed and partied as Cricket told them of another Log entry about a strange bird and a the sound of a huge, golden bell. Shortly after, he showed everyone three small bell shaped ingots made of gold, and a statue of gold in the shape of a Southbird.
"People back then used to bring Southbirds along on their ships to-" Masira began before he, Shojo, and Cricket all seemed to realize something.
"OH SHIT!" they yelled.
"What? What's wrong?" Usopp asked.
"Listen here you guys. You gotta get to the forest to the south and find a Southbird." Cricket yelled. He explained that since this was the Grand Line, regular compasses wouldn't work, and that the area they were going was out at sea, rendering the Log Pose useless. He told them that the Southbird's always point towards the south no matter what, and that if they didn't get one then they'd have to forget about going to Sky Island.
"AND YOU'RE TELLING US NOW?!" most of them shouted before they ran out of the house.
"It's the middle of the night, and you want us to go trudging around in the forest?" Usopp yelled.
"Here, you forgot these!" Cricket yelled as he threw three nets towards them. "You guys have until dawn to catch a Southbird and bring it back here. We'll enhance your ship to withstand the journey while you're gone. In hindsight, it probably wasn't the best idea to have a party."
"Now you tell us?!" Ussop yelled as they started for the forest.
"Hey, Luffy!" Zoro yelled. Everyone looked to see that Luffy was facing out towards the sea. "The forest is this way."
"I'm amazed you could tell, Moss Head." Sanji said as he lit a cigarette. Zoro glared at him as Valerie walked towards Luffy.
"Something wrong Luffy?" she asked.
"There's a ship coming this way." Luffy said.
"A ship?" Vivi asked.
"He's right." Usopp said as he looked out towards the sea with his goggles down. "It's a pirate ship!"
"Tch. Probably some punks wanting my gold." Cricket said. "We'll handle them."
"It's Bellamy." Luffy said.
"Bellamy?!" most of them said.
"That asshole that thrashed you guys at the bar earlier?" Valerie asked.
"You mean the crew that likes to buy women?" Sanji asked with a dark glare.
"Hope you don't mind, but a few of us will stay and help just in case." Zoro said.
"I said we'd handle it." Cricket said. "You guys need to find that bird."
"Our Captain has other ideas." Gin said as Luffy crossed his arms as he stood out near the ledge next to the water.
"Fine. But if he's here to fight us, stay out of it." Cricket said. In the end, Luffy, Zoro, Gin, Valerie, Johnny, and Yosaku stayed behind while everyone else decided to hunt for the bird.
"Knock em dead guys!" Nami yelled as they ran into the forest.
"If they so much as hurt one hair on Valerie-swan's head, you shitheads are gonna answer to me!" Sanji yelled.
"Go get that bird!" Masira yelled.
"You'll need it to get to Sky Island." Shojo yelled. The group then disappeared into the woods while the others stayed to fight Bellamy.
-On Bellamy's ship-
"Hey Bellamy." said their navigator. "Look who's there to greet us."
"Huh?" Bellamy asked as he was given the binoculars. He looked before he started busting up laughing. "It's that Straw Hat punk and his crew of dreamers!"
"No surprise that he's here! That Cricket guy and his monkeys are a bunch of dumb dreamers too!" Sarquiss said before the whole crew began to laugh.
"Let's show those dreamers the cruelty of reality." Bellamy said with a grin.