A/N: Sorry for the long wait. Hope you enjoy the end of the Skypiea Arc.
The party ground was mostly quiet, the only sound being heard was the sound of snoring from all the passed out people. Skypieans, Shandorians, animals from Upper Yard, and Blue Sea pirates were all resting comfortably after all the insanity that had taken place.
The silence was broken by the sound of sandaled feet gently moving through the area, it's owner quietly moving through the crowd in search of his friends.
"They there are, just like last time." Luffy whispered with a smile as he approached his slumbering crew. He crouched down and gently shook Nami while calling her name until her eyes fluttered open.
"Good, you're up. Wake the-grhk!"
Luffy's words and smile died when Nami's hand clamped his voice shut, her bloodshot eyes boring holes into his skull.
"This had better be important!" she growled. "I haven't had much sleep, the sun's not up yet, and I'm sore from last night." She released his throat before swiftly bringing his face inches from hers. "So unless this is something truly important, then so help me I'll-"
"Want to help us get some more gold?"
The anger, pain, and sleep all vanished the instant Luffy uttered the magic four letter word. She nearly yelped her joy at the the thought of adding more gold to their already impressive treasure hoard, but was silenced by Luffy placing his finger against her lips.
"Shhh! You'll wake everyone up!" he warned, his smile still in place. Nami nodded before she and Luffy began to quietly wake the rest of the crew up. A mixture of groans and moans, and one Sanji quelling when he saw Luffy from the females, arose before they were told the purpose of waking them up at such an early hour. Needless to say, everyone was onboard with the idea. Most of the crew would be helping Nami with gathering the gold, leaving a few to go out and make final preparations before their departure from the sky.
"Let's leave without any regrets!" Usopp announced, earning a round of nods from the others before they split up.
-Time passes-
Zoro was effortlessly blocking slashes from Johnny and Yosaku in a spacious area of the ruins while awaiting for Luffy and most of the crew to return from their little adventure inside Nola's stomach to retrieve as much treasure as they could get. The two tried for a simultaneous strike, only for Zoro to send them flying with a simple swipe of the blade.
"I can tell that you've gotten a little better." Zoro said as he sheathed Kitetsu III. "But only barely. You two are gonna need to step it up if you want to make any progress."
"Yes, Big Bro!" the two swordsman agreed as they stood up off the ground. The three turned towards a singing Usopp who was dancing his way towards them with a sack full of dials hanging from his back.
"Lucky~ Lucky~ I'm so very lucky~ Lots of dials for rubber bands!" Usopp yelled in joy as he danced.
"Negotiations go well?" Zoro asked.
"It went great! With these many dials, the Usopp factory will be producing so many new useful items for everyone for practically everything! I could even update Nami's Clima-tact!" Usopp boasted as he held a dial in each hand.
"Just make sure you be careful, Usopp." Johnny warned.
"Yeah. Those dials are still dangerous." Yosaku said, remembering their little fight with Hotori and Kotori.
"Don't worry. I know what each one does." Usopp said with a confident smile. "I won't do anything stupid." With that said, the sniper looked around as he asked, "Where is everyone else?"
"Most of them are still inside the snake." Zoro answered, his thumb pointed over his shoulder at the slumbering snake. "Robin, Grace, and Nojiko went off somewhere else, and Luffy took off 10 minutes ago for some reason."
-Robin and Grace-
The two females had arrived at the Golden Belfry, which was being cleaned by the residents of the sky. Robin wanted to view it once more because of the Poneglyph. And Grace...?
The young artist's eyes lit up at the sight of the Golden Bell it all it's glory. Even still covered in moss and vines, nothing could hide it's beauty.
"...Thanks for brining me along." Grace whispered in awe before she set up her easel and began to mix her paints.
"You're quite welcome, Miss Artist." Robin answered with a smile before turning back to the Poneglpyh. Specifically, the engraving on the side.
'To have made it into the sky as well.' Robin thought in wonder as she reread the words.
I'VE MADE IT HERE. I WILL GUIDE THIS TEXT TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH!
GOL D. ROGER
'Like you, I too will guide this text to the end.' Robin thought with finality.
"I hope we have enough time before we cast off." Grace mumbled as she slowly began to paint the bell, the Skypieans cleaing the bell doing nothing to impede her creativity. "I'll never get another chance to paint this."
"We did agree to not leave any regrets, so I'm so everyone's taking their time." Robin reminded her. "And there's also the fact that Nola is quite large, so she must have a bit of treasure inside her."
"Hope the Merry doesn't sink." Grace chuckled before noticing the Chief of the Shandorians approach them.
"Pardon me, but may I have a word with you two?" he asked.
"Is something wrong?" Robin asked.
"No. I simply wanted to know if you'd accept a token of our gratitude for saving us all from Enel's tyranny." he explained before raising his cane. Both females turned to see something huge being brought towards them. When they caught sight of it, they froze as what it was registered in their minds. Grace couldn't even focus on the bell anymore, nor at the fact that her pallet had slipped out of her hand.
"This broke off when we were retrieving it from atop the cloud the bell was resting on." the chief explained as he looked at the massive pillar of gold. "We heard that gold is more valuable than Vearth down on the Blue Seas. With that being said, we'd like to offer this to you and your friends. Would you accept?"
Robin and Grace stared for a moment longer before turning back to each other.
"Nami is gonna flip." was all Grace could manage to say.
-Nojiko-
Nojiko could only gape in awe as she gazed at the massive structure before her.
"This...is what Enel made you guys work on for six years?" she asked in a barely audible whisper.
"That's right." said one of the former God Gan Fall's followers as he looked up at the massive ship in disgust. "For six horrible years, Enel forced us to work on this day in and day out."
"And not just this." another spat. "But he also made us scavenge and transport all of that metal substance called gold her to be used to build it as well."
"What was he planning to do with it?" Nojiko asked.
"We don't know." shrugged the follower from before. "All we did know was that it all ran solely on Enel's powers. Without him, there's nothing to get it flying."
"Yeah. That sounds like such a waste." Nojiko said as she gazed up at the ship. "...flying..." The moment that clicked, she turned to them with wide eyes. "WAIT! THIS THING'S MEANT TO FLY?!"
"You mean you couldn't tell? I thought the propellor gave it away." another follower blinked.
"I thought it was for show! And the oars are bigger and there a bunch of them!" she yelled before turning back up at the ship in a new light. "A ship that can fly...now I've seen everything."
"Yeah. Well I hope you brought a vision dial, because we're gonna start tearing this abomination apart!" said another follower, following by a rallying shout from the rest of followers.
"Wait, what?!" Nojiko said in shock as she watched them approach the ship with anything they could get their hands on to begin destroying the bane of the last six years of their lives.
"W-Wait! WAIT!" Nojiko yelled, catching their attention. "This ship...you said it was powered by Enel's power?"
"Yes. The same power he used to rain terror down on anyone who defied him." one of them answered. "Why?"
Nojiko said nothing after that. All she could do was stare at her hand, her mind abuzz with so many thoughts in that one moment. Her brows furrowed along with her clenching fist before shooting a look up at them, startling them with her suddenly shift in mood.
"Leave this ship be." she said in a tone that brooked no arguement.
"What? Why?" one of them asked.
"Don't tell anyone else outside this place, but...when Enel was killed, his power transferred to another fruit. A tangerine." she explained.
"How do you know that? And what's a tangerine?"
"It's a fruit from the Blue Sea." she began before dropping the bombshell on them. "And we have a few tangerine trees on our ship."
All of them had their eyes practically pop out in shock after her revelation before she turned and began walking away.
"We'll come back one day." she said. "And when we do, that ship will help out on our journey." She stopped before throwing them all a beautific smile, a finger to her lips. "And remember. Keep this a secret, 'kay? Bye."
With that, she left with a wave, leaving them all staring after her until she was gone, then back up at the ship.
"Should we trust her?" one of them asked.
"If that power is in their hands, I'm honestly willing to leave it be." said another. And so, the Ark Maxim remained untouched by any of them, waiting for the day that it's new owners would return.
-Luffy-
The rubber-man was quiet as he stood in front of Conis, with Su resting in her arms. He had sought her out for her answer to his invitation to the crew, and this was the last chance for her to decide. After a night of contemplation, she had given her answer.
"So, you won't be coming along?" Luffy asked, a neutral look on his face.
"I'm sorry." she said with a sad smile. "I actually want to. The adventures you've told me about are enticing."
[Among other things.] Su snickered in her tongue.
"But...well..." she trailed off while hugging Su a little tighter, earning a concerned glance from the cloud fox.
"Nojiko scares you." Luffy spoke up in a knowing tone.
"It's not her. It's what she's capable of now." Conis explained, her arms trembling slightly. "After six years of living under constant fear of Enel's power, of that power, for so long, the thought of travelling with someone with that power...it's too terrifying."
Luffy looked at the trembling angel with a blank look before releasing a sigh, a smile on his lips as he clapped a hand on her shoulder.
"Alright." he said. "I won't force you to come along."
"But!" she suddenly spoke up, her eyes hardening at Luffy. "But that doesn't mean I won't try and get over it!" She took a deep breath to calm herself before she continued. "I'm going to try and work on getting over that fear. And if you come back some day, if the offer still stands, then maybe I could join then?"
"Shishishishi! Of course!" Luffy nodded, earning a smile from Conis.
"Suuu~" Su agreed, her tail swishing happily.
"Alright then! When we come back one day, I'll ask again!" said Luffy before he turned to start walking away, but not without gesturing for her to follow. "Come on! We'll tell the others before we go."
With a nod, the two ran off to join them for Conis to say her farewells.
-Back with Nola-
Standing outside the snake was everyone on the crew besides Luffy, Robin, and Grace, most of them having a sack of treasure on their backs. The increased manpower allowed for even more gold to be taken, to Nami's joy. Nojiko had arrived 15 minutes ago and was now waiting alongside everyone else.
"What's taking them so long?!" Nami asked irritably. "The longer we wait, the bigger chance that the Skypieans will discover that we're stealing the gold."
"Why are we even running anyway? Gold isn't worth much up here, so they don't have a reason to be angry." said Vivi from atop Carue, who was now carrying a larger sack of gold on his back.
"WHOA! LOOK AT ALL THAT GOLD!"
Everyone jumped at the sound of Luffy's voice coming from behind them all, causing them to send acrid glares his way.
"Could you not scare us?!" Usopp yelled. "Where'd you even go?!"
"To get an answer. It was no for now, but yes later." Luffy answered while Conis calmly walked over to join them.
"Conis!" Sanji sang at the sight of her before twirling over and taking her hand as he knelt before her. "It pains me that I must part with an angel such as yourself! But know that one day, your prince shall return!"
"Good. He can protect her from you." Zoro said in a bored tone.
While they were off getting into another fight, the rest of the crew were saying their farewells to her and Su.
"It was nice to meet you, Conis." Vivi said with a happy smile, with Carue quacking out a goodbye to Su.
"See ya, Big Sis!" Johnny and Yosaku said in unison.
"Thanks for the Conash seeds." said Gin as he held up a small pouch of the seeds before mumbling under his breath. "Hope I can find a way to plant them."
"It was nice to meet all of you two. I hope we can all meet again someday!" Conis beamed happily. "And thank you all again for stopping Enel and his army."
Most of the Straw Hats smiled and spoke out various "It was nothing." and "You're welcome." and other such words while a few of them simply smiled.
"Hey, Nojiko?" Conis suddenly spoke up, getting the woman in question's attention. The angel gently placed Su on the ground before approaching her, a neutral look on her face.
"Yes?" Nojiko asked in confusion. Conis said nothing for a moment before smiling.
"If it's someone like you, I know you'll use it for good." she said.
Most of the crew were confused at her words. They were even more confused when Nojiko grabbed Conis in a hug, which he returned after a moment of shock.
"Thanks. I really needed that." she said before they broke apart.
"Well, are we all ready? No regrets?" Alvida asked as she slung her mace over her shoulder.
"Robin and Grace aren't back yet." Valerie informed them.
"They're coming, and they're not alone." Luffy spoke up as he looked off into one direction.
"Who's with...them?!" Chopper trailed off in horror at the sight of all the Skypieans and Shandorans approaching, a massive object wrapped in cloth being carried.
"AAAH! A CANNON!" Usopped screamed in terror, setting a few of the others off as well.
"That's not a cannon!" Vivi rejected before looking over at Luffy. "Is it?"
"Maybe they found out about us taking the gold after all!" Zoro growled as he grab one of his blades, his fight with Sanji forgotten.
"Wait! Robin and Grace are with them!" Nojiko spoke up.
"Wait here." Luffy said before instantly Shaving over to Robin and Grace, shocking the Sky Islanders. "What's this?"
"A present from all of them." Grace answered.
Luffy looked at the Skypieans, the smiles on their faces and lack of anger or killing intent confirming that it was a gift. He then walked over to the giant pillar and moved the cloth a little to look inside.
"I must admit." Robin began with a smile. "I was surprised when they offered to give us-"
"RUN! IT IS A CANNON!" Luffy suddenly shouted, cutting Robin off.
"What?" Robin and Grace blinked.
"WHAT?!" the Sky Islanders asked in shock.
"WHAAAAT?!" the crew shouted, most in terror.
Luffy spared a quick smile at the Skypieans, ushered a quick, "Sorry." before bolting towards his crew. "HEAD FOR THE SHIP!"
Robin and Grace simply stood there as they watched their crewmates run, sacks of gold on their backs, before one of the Skypieans got their attention.
"Why'd he call it a cannon?" they asked.
"I don't know." Grace shrugged.
"I guess this is his way of saying 'No thank you' to your gift." Robin said with a smile before they ran, leaving the crowd to try and lift their jaws off the ground. It took them a moment to catch up with the rest of the crew before Robin ran alongside Luffy.
"Would you mind if I ask why you lied, Captain?" Robin asked Luffy away from the others.
"If I said that was gold, Nami wouldn't allow us to leave until we found a way to take it all." Luffy answered with a grin. "Besides, we can get it next time we come back. Plus, we've got a ton of gold here and back on the Merry."
"All very valid points. Thank you, Captain." Robin nodded.
-At the ship-
After boarding the ship and securing the gold, which was quite difficult with all the treasure already on board, the crew had set sail towards Cloud End, with Conis, Pagaya, and Su leading them.
"I can't wait to come back to this place one day." Alvida said with a wistful sigh as she leaned on the railing.
"So many amazing sights." Grace grinned as she thought of all the paintings she made now safely tucked away in the ship. "I wish we had more time. I could fill an entire museum with paintings just from this island alone."
"Maybe one day. After all, there's no way we're not coming back." Sanji said with a smile, which she returned.
"ALRIGHT, LET'S GO!" Luffy roared from atop Merry's head as the ship sailed on. They soon approached the gate and sailed on while Conis, Pagaya, and Su disembarked the Little Crow and ran alongside the ship.
"Sorry, but this is as far as we can take you!" Pagaya called up to them.
"Everyone! Thank you all so much for everything!" Conis yelled while waving her arms, with Su calling out her thanks as well. Most of the crew waved back with varying degrees of energy.
"It was scary at times, but this was so much fun!" Chopper laughed.
"ALRIGHT GUYS, HANG ON TO SOMETHING!" Luffy called back to them as he wrapped his arms around Merry's neck.
"What? Why?" Zoro asked.
"EVERYONE! GET READY FOR THE FALL!" they heard Conis yell at them.
"...the fall?" they asked moments before the Merry shot out into the air. Luffy grinned before he saw two orbs seem to fly out of the Merry, followed by practically everyone on the crew's eyes falling out as well before gravity hit, sending them plummeting towards the Blue Sea.
The only thing they could hear over their own screams of terror were Conis' shouting out "HESO!" The screaming continued before they noticed something come out of the cloud fall next to them. Some prepared to attack before the sudden stop sent them all smashing into the deck of the Merry, stunning them and leaving them in a daze.
"Whuh...whuh happen?" Usopp gurgled out, a mixture of fear, surprise, and confusion leaving him a semi-foaming mess on the deck.
"Is that...an octopus?!" Gin asked when he finally got his wits about him. Some of the crew rubbed their eyes at the sight before they pieced together it's presence along with their not-so-rapid descent.
"IT'S A FREAKING BALLOON!" Nojiko yelped as they all stared up at the octo-balloon keeping them from falling down and smashing into the Blue Sea.
Luffy only smiled up at the balloon as they gently began their descent, the sound of the golden bell's hypnotic ring sounding out throughout the whole sky, as if to say 'Thank You' to them as well. Luffy simply placed his hands behind his head and closed his eyes, allowing the sound to penetrate his ears.
...For all of eight seconds.
His eyes widened and his smiled vanished as he suddenly felt a few menacing auras appear out of nowhere.
"Wha-WHOA!" he yelped in surprise when he was suddenly yanked off of his special seat. "What's going...on?" he finished in a meek voice as he stared up at the many surrounding faces of death.
What looked to be many silhouettes of his crew standing over him, gleaming stars appearing where their eyes should be. The poor rubber-man began to sweat bullets as the stares tried to bore holes into him.
"You knew about the fall, didn't you?" one of the shadows growled.
"...maybe?" Luffy whistled whle averting his eyes.
Robin could only chuckle as she silently listened to the sound of the bell ring, it's majestic tone being unimpeded by Luffy's screams of pain.
-Time passes-
Valerie was silent as she walked towards the men's quarters, a plate stacked high with food in each hand. With a bump of her hip, she opened the door and slid in with a smile.
"Luffy. Dinner." she announced.
"Mmmph!" muffled the bound and gagged rubber-man in joy as he watched her approach him.
"How you feeling?" she asked as she removed the gag from his mouth.
"I'm good." he said before smiling sheepishly. "Sorry about not warning you guys."
"We know. You apologized over and over earlier." she sighed as she raised the food towards him. Without any trouble, he practically inhaled the food quicker than she could blink. "Still, just because you knew we'd live doesn't mean we wouldn't have appreciated a heads up."
"Yeah. My bad." he laughed, earning a bop on the head from the chocolatier.
"STOP LAUGHING! GRACE IS STILL UNCONSCIOUS BECAUSE OF THAT!" she comically yelled. She took a calming breath before looking him right in the eye, a feat accomplished by her squeezing his cheeks in her hand and keeping his gaze on her. "Is there anything else we should know before we find out the hard way? And I don't care if it causes you a headache. Think!"
She released his head and took a step back, allowing him some room to think. His eyes scrunched up a little as he tried to remember what happened last time. The more they scrunched up, the redder his face got. Valerie would've been sympathetic, but the near collective heart attack the crew suffered stole any sympathy she may have had. Finally, after a moment of steam coming out of Luffy's ears, his eyes shot open.
"I remember!" he announced. "The octo-balloon is running out of air! We need to keep it filled!"
"Thanks for that!" she yelled as she ran out of the room to inform the crew.
"HEY! CAN I BE UNTIED NOW?!"
"NO!"
-Later-
The crew were outside the ship as it gently began to approach the sea thanks to the use of Breath and Flame Dials keeping the octo-balloon full. The moment they landed, they stopped the air flow, allowing the octopus to shrink to a size no bigger than Chopper in his Brain Point.
"Thanks for the help." Luffy said, his body no longer bound inside the men's quarters.
"Safe landing." Vivi sighed in relief as she hugged Carue.
"...uh oh." Luffy suddenly spoke up, his eyes darting around.
"Uh oh? What uh oh?!" Usopp yelped.
"We gotta run!" Luffy ordered.
"Why?" Nami asked.
Without warning, multiple spotlights shone down on the Going Merry, followed by a siren going off.
"That's why."
A/N: Happy Anniversary, LRA! Sorry if it's not what everyone was hoping for. It's been a little hard to keep this fic going. I know that many wanted Conis to join, but all the ideas sent were from other fics. I decided to decide about it later. And there will be a later. Hope you all enjoyed.