A.N I own Nothing.
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A young girl ran across a stretch of sloid Island cloud, there was no reason for a child like her to be out alone as there was nothing in sight for miles in any direction.
She was a small girl wearing a wears a fur dress a white cap with cloth hanging down the sides and back covering her short brown hair and like everyone else a pair of wings on her back.
The girl eventually stopped and looked around searching for unseen pursuers, finding none she jumped three times and on the third she fell through the clouds.
She landed on a soft pile of clouds not far from a village, once she got off the pile se ran towards the village. The village was a simple yet welcoming sight; there were no houses or roads, just a path made up of wood and teepe tents.
"Aisa…where are you off to in such a hurry?" a man asked.
"Something's happened on Upper yard, I need to tell Wiper," the girl called Aisa answered.
"I wouldn't, he's in a meeting at the moment…and a very foul mood," the warrior claimed.
Aisa paled at that, she was terrified of Wiper and for good reason. He was so violent and scary, every time something did not go his way he would lash out at those around him and he was always angry at something.
Despite this Aisa still headed to Wipers tent, she hesitated for a second before bursting gaining the attention of everyone in the tent.
Five warriors looked at her Aisa felt very insecure and nervous under their gazes.
The first was a fat, bald Shandian with a hat that resembles a chef's hat, but with dark yellow and white stripes on it. He wore a grass skirt, a large belt with a big buckle hanging from over his left shoulder. His arms were covered by some sort of spotted, fur-lined gloves reaching up to his neck, covering even the shoulders and pair of wings on his back.
The second man was a muscular man with the upper-half of his face always hidden by his hat. He wore a grass skirt, with a decorated, long light-red sash around his waist and a light-blue veil appearing from under the skirt and reaching down to his feet, a fur-lined, dark-green jacket, and dark gloves on his hands and pair of wings on his back.
The third man was a muscular, dark-skinned man with a Mohawk hairstyle and a pair of big, round sunglasses with red lenses and white frame. He wore a grass skirt with a red and green elaborate belt around the waist, a light red fur vest and a necklace that seems to be made of some animal's claws or teeth and pair of wings on his back..
The forth was a the only woman in the tent she was a tall, black-haired woman, with two large bangs parted to either side of her face on the front, and a long and elaborate ponytail on the back. She wore a light purple revealing tunic with a darker pattern that exposes her stomach, and light-red pants that were open on the inside of her legs and pair of wings on her back.
The final man was sitting in a chair while the others were on the ground, he had an air of authority about him and respect, it was clear that he was the leader.
The leader was a tall, muscular man covered by various tribal tattoos across his left shoulder and the left side of his face. He had very long dark brown hair is arranged in a Mohawk that follows into a segmented braid that goes slightly past his waist. He was shirtless but wore grass skirt, with a rope belt decorated by three small ornaments that look like fangs or claws around his waist and pair of wings on his back. There was a bazooka next to him and he looked very angry.
"Genbo, Bhrem, Kimikri, Laki….Wiper," Aisa greeted saying each warriors name, though she paused before Wiper's name.
"What do you want?" the one on the throne growled.
Aisa trembled under his gaze fearing he would direct his anger towards her.
"I…I…" Aisa studded.
"Spit it out," the leader shouted.
"Wiper, clam down," the woman scolded.
She then looked at Aisa.
"What is it?" she asked kindly.
"G…G…GAN FALLS BEEN FIGHTING ON UPPER YARD!" Aisa yelled out.
"What?" Wiper asked interested "Who was he fighting?"
"A priest…It was Shura…he lost," Aisa claimed.
"So…Gan Fall has fallen?" Kimikri asked.
Aisa nodded.
A grin appeared on Wipers face.
"This is good news indeed," he said pleased.
"There's more…Satori has also fallen…I can no longer hear him," Aisa claimed.
The tent went silent and the occupants stared at the girl in shock.
"Who took Satori out?" Laki asked.
"I…It was those people who arrived in the white sea earlier today," Aisa claimed "five of them went to the Alter and the other three were in Satori's area,"
"The Blue Sea Dwellers took out Satori?" Wiper asked in surprise.
Aisa nodded.
"They went into Satori's area and now I can't hear him anymore but…all three left the area," Aisa claimed.
"Where are they now?"
"Still on the Milky road," Aisa answered.
"They're probably heading to the Alter," Laki mused.
"Either way Gan Fall has fallen and Enel is down one priest…we will not let this chance slip by," Wiper said.
"Gather the warriors and prepare for battle, we leave at dawn. Either we all die or Enel dose," Wiper declared.
In the forest, Zoro's group
After having discovered Upper Yards true origin Nami, Robin and Zoro decided to head bac to the Merry as it was getting late and none of them wanted to be caught in this forest after Dark.
During the trek back Nami and Robin discussed where the gold could be hidden but Robin was more interested in finding the lost city then the actual gold as she was eager to learn the lost history of the Island. Zoro tuned the girls out as he just wanted to fight Enel.
When they got back to the lake they stopped and stared in shock and horror at the poor condition the Merry was in. The mast was missing, several arears looked burned like a fire had been lit and with other signs of damage across the Merry's hull. It was clear to the three pirates that a battle had taken place.
"Oh no," Zoro gasped.
"Chopper! Connor! Are you there?" Nami called out desperately from the shore towards the ship, but she received no answer.
"The ship's bordering in destroyed, Chopper and Connor are nowhere to be seen…perhaps they fell in the lake and were torn limb from limb," Robin summarized with a straight face.
"DON'T SAY SUCH MORBID THINGS!" Nami yelled.
"We shouldn't have left them by themselves," Zoro hissed.
"OI CHOPPER, KID IF YOUR THERE COME OUT WHERE WE CAN SEE YOU!" Zoro shouted.
They waited a few minutes and then the door to the cabin opened; Chopper came out and timidly moved into view,
"Hi…guys…"he greeted softly but the others couldn't hear him.
The group breathed a collective sigh of relief, but simultaneously noted that Chopper was wearing a fair number of bandages and looked badly burned. They also noticed that Connor had not come out when called.
"Chopper! You're okay!" Nami cheered.
"That's not the way I would describe him," Robin observed "He is heavily injured,"
"But….where's the kid? He usually comes when he's called," Zoro said.
"We won't know until we get over there," Robin said.
"But how are we going to get back over….we can't swing over, the Alters too high," Nami pointed out.
Suddenly they heard large screams coming from across the lake; they looked in the direction of the noise and saw a tiny boat coming down a cloud road. The sharks also seemed to have heard the screams as they started jumping out of the water and swimming near the surface; eager to get eat the source of the noise.
"Gomu -Gomu no Gatling!" Luffy yelled.
The shout was immediately followed by several familiar sounding anguished roars coinciding with the sound of several harsh punches landing on flesh and all the sharks floated to the surface of the water.
"Took them long enough," Zoro huffed, he was glad to see that the others were here.
"They look injured though," Robin pointed out.
"Nami-chan, Robin-swan…Did you miss me? I overcame the ordeal of love!" Sajni shouted while waving his arm so the girls could see him.
"Yeah there fine," Nami sighed.
The Waver came over to them and Luffy was happy to see that the missing half of his crew had not gone on an adventure without him. Nami had Sanji drive them all back to the Alter and once they were back on the ship did they see how badly damaged the Merry was.
"Damn Chopper, we were only gone for a short time. What kind of remodelling were you doing?" Zoro joked.
Though Chopper did not find it funny, in fact it made him start to cry. Nami hit Zoro for that comment.
"Where's the mast?!" Usopp asked, he was shocked that the Merry was in such poor condition.
"W…W…We were attacked by this priest guy…we tried to stop him but he just kept burning everything." The reindeer said with tears fOhming in his eyes.
Usopp looked at the tiny doctor and he could tell chopper was very upset that he had failed to protect the Merry.
"Are you hurt?" Usopp's question stopped Chopper cold before he continued,
"It's just as well he set the mast on fire and not you right?" Usopp continued with a half-hearted smile, he was truly glad that Chopper was safe.
Chopper burst into tears at Usopps concern.
"I'M SORRY! I'LL BE MORE DEPENDABLE FROM NOW ON…I PROMISE!" Chopper wailed.
"So what happened here?" Sanji asked, once Chopper had calmed down and stopped crying.
Chopper explained that when the priest attacked he had used the safety whistle that had been given to them to summon Gan Fall and that he had prevented Chopper and Connor from being being killed but had been injured in the process.
"So Gan Fall saved you…where is he?" Nami asked.
"In the cabin with Pierre and Connor," Chopper answered.
The entire moved inside the Cabin to see the Sky Knight was resting on the floor in a spare bed while Connor was tucked into Nami's bed. The bird Pierre was sitting nearby, it looked at the pirates as they entered, like Chopper the bird was bandaged up.
"It's crazy; he gave us that whistle for free, and was still willing to risk his life." Luffy stated sombrely.
"Is he going to live?" Usopp asked.
"Yes but it'll be a while before he wakes up," Chopper claimed.
The crew nodded and stared at the Knight in silence, Luffy walked over to Connor and noticed that he too was unconises but unlike the Gan Fall showed very little sign that he was alive.
"Hey…what happened to Connor?" Luffy asked.
"I…I don't know, he was like that when I woke up," Chopper said.
"Woke up…what happened?" Zoro asked.
"After the priest defeated Gan Fall…the Knight fell into the lake along with Pierre…I jumped into save him," Chopper said.
"You jumped into the lake…Chopper you're a Devil fruit user you can't swim," Sanji scolded.
"I know but…I wasn't thinking at the time…and I blacked out after hitting the water" Chopper claimed "When I woke up Me, Gan Fall and Pierre were all back on the stone steps and Connor was like that…only worse off,"
"How worse?" Luffy asked.
"He was unconcise and in a lot of pain," Chopper said "when I brought him back on the ship he seemed to relax a bit but he's been like that ever since,"
"But I though he healed really fast; shouldn't he be up and about by now?" Zoro asked.
"Well whatever's wrong with him I'm sure it will pass," Sanji said.
"How can you be sure?" Robin asked.
"He's recovered from worse injuries," Sanji answered "Anyway with night approaching I think we should camp out in the forest,"
"Why?" Luffy asked.
"You idiot, the ship is badly damaged. If we fought here then we'd never get back to Angel Island," Usopp claimed.
"Oh…okay," Luffy said understanding.
The Straw Hats used the Little Crow to cross back and forth over the lake, first Sanji, Zoro and Luffy went across to establish a safe place to camp. Sanji drove the boat back to get Robin, Usopp and Nami and then once more for Chopper with the still unconscious Gan Fall, his injured bird Pierre and Connor.
However when Sanji took the sleeping boy off the Merry Connor instantly started moaning and struggling in the cooks arms, his face scrunched up and it was clear he was in pain but did not wake up.
"What the hell?" Sanji asked.
Chopper came over to see what was wrong.
"Get him back on board…quick," Chopper said urgently.
Sanji quickly obeyed and the second he stepped back on the ship Connor relaxed and quieted down.
"Oi what the hell just happened?" Sanji asked.
"That happened earlier, he was writhing in pain but it seemed to go away once I brought him on the ship," Chopper claimed.
"So what do we do? We can't leave him here by himself," Sanji said.
"But taking him off causes him pain…and the Knight of the sky needs me more than Connor dose," Chopper said.
"But what if we get attacked?" Sanji asked.
"there more likely to attack us because we'll be a group and if Connor doesn't wake up no one will know he's on the ship," Chopper reasoned.
Sanji sighed he could not argue with that logic and he didn't want to cause Connor any more pain. So he took Connor back into the Cabin and tucked him into bed; Sanji then helped Chopper carry Gan Fall to the small boat.
They managed to get Gan Fall and his bed on the waver boat and headed back to the lakes edge to meet up with the others.
"Where's Connor?" Usopp asked.
Sanji explained to Usopp and the others that Connor would be staying on the ship and how leaving the Merry caused the boy great pain. The rest of the crew were just as surprised as Sanji to hear this as Connor never had any issues leaving the ship before.
Once they were all at the camp site Zoro and chopper went into the forest to look for ingredants for dinner while Sanji started to cook the Sky-Sharks and make a stew. Usopp gathered some wood and was planning on going back to the Merry to start fixing the ship but when he saw that Luffy had not gotten all the sharks he changed his mind.
"I guess the repairs can wait till tomorrow," Usopp stated and headed back to the camp.
Once everyone was back at the camp the crew discussed what they had learned and the main topic was the priest's unusual ability to predict moves using Mantra.
"So Satori knew what you were going to do before you did it?" Robin asked.
Usopp nodded.
"Yeah and he could tell exactly what was going to be inside those surprise balls as well," Usopp claimed.
"The priest Connor and I fought was able to predict our moves too," Chopper said.
"So how did you beat him?" Zoro asked.
"Luffy used his rubber limbs to tie Satori up and hold him in place while I kicked his face in," Sanji answered.
"Yep, I was able to catch him off guard due a big explosion," Luffy smiled.
"YOU NEARLY GOT US KILLED WITH THAT STUNT!" Sanji yelled.
"Wait how do you catch someone who can predict moves off guard?" Chopper asked.
"Don't know, it sounds like this Satori wasn't using this Mantra properly…or he wasn't as proficient in it as the one Chopper and Connor fought," Zoro claimed.
"Moving on from the priests. Robin Zoro and I discovered that Upper Yard is actually part of Jaya," Nami said.
"What…seriously?" Sanji and Luffy and Usopp gasped.
"Yeah, we found the other half of Crickets house," Zoro confirmed.
Nami and Robin nodded.
"Does anyone remember what Noland said in his logbook about the city of gold?" Nami asked.
"I do!" Luffy yelled, raising a hand. "He said that it's a city made out of gold!"
"IF YOUR ONLY GOING TO STATE THE OBVIOSES THEN SHUT UP!" Usopp yelled.
"He talked about strange looking fish," Zoro stated.
"He also mentioned riding a Waver," Usopp remembered.
"He said that the city of gold is in the skull's right eye, but not sure what he meant though," Robin answered.
"Correct!" said Nami, "and with some luck involved, we can be the ones to find it, come look at this."
On her command the crew came over and watched as she produced both a map of Skypiea and a map of modern Jaya, she then lined up the northern side of the Jaya map with the southern side of the map of Skypiea, overlapping the two to produce what was supposedly the original shape of Jaya before it split.
The crew gasped upon seeing what the two maps formed an island in the shape of a skull.
"Hey it's a skull," Luffy pointed out.
"Wait so does that mean when Noland said the gold is in the skulls left eye…he was talking about the shape of the Island?" Usopp asked.
"Remember there was a couple of years gap between when Noland found the city of gold and when he came back. At some point in those couple of years the top half of Jaya got shot up into the sky," Robin explained.
"So if that's the case then our Log Pose was locking onto Jaya the whole time," Sanji said.
"Yes I think because this Island is the bigger land mass the Log locked due to the stronger magnetic field and the eternal pose Robin took is locked onto the weaker pull of the bottom half of Jaya," Nami explained.
"So you have two islands with the same magnetic pull, one stronger then the other but both within the same climate Zone," Usopp summarised.
"That's about it," Nami agreed.
"So if this is the part of the Island where the City of gold is supposed to be…where is it?" Luffy asked.
"Well from the skull perspective the right eye would be this point to the west, where as we are currently just camped off the left eye. In other words, we head a few miles or so west and we will find the city of gold," Nami finished, with a gleam in her eyes.
"Sounds fun!" Luffy cheered.
"But how do we know the gold will still be there?" Usopp asked "It has been over 400 years,"
"Well this place is considered holy and forbidden land right? Maybe it's been left untouched just waiting for someone to find it," Robin theorised "Even if it has been found discovering a lost city is a reward in itself,"
"So here's what we'll do, tomorrow we're going to need to split into two groups." Nami continued "The first group will take the Merry back along the river, to get both Gan Fall and Connor out safely and then to circumnavigate the island. The second group will go to the city of gold and steal everything they can get their hands on then meet up with the second group up on the west coast, where we'll leave sky Island with a boat filled with gold,"
"So…who's going with which group?" Nami asked.
After a lengthy discussion the groups ended up being: Nami, Usopp, Sanji, Connor, Gan Fall and Pierre on the Merry. While Luffy, Zoro, Robin and Chopper heading out to search for the city of gold.
Nami asked Chopper if it was okay to leave Connor and Gan Fall but Chopper assured her that he had done all he could and would leave medicine out for the two, as long as they both rested they would be fine.
"Right! Enough planning! Let's Party!" Luffy cheered before charging off into the forest, eventually returning with an insane amount of lumber for a bonfire.
Despite Namis and Robins protests the night eventually turned into a full-blown party, one large enough to even get the local wildlife involved, Gan Fall woke up not long after the party had started and was curious as to how the normal hostile animals that lived on Upper Yard joined in. The animals danced with the pirates and even got into a few drinking contests.
"Such odd people…" Gan Fall stated as he watched the party.
The Party went on well into the night and even with all the loud noises the pirates were not attacked by the priests or the Shandorn warriors. After every one had there fun and were tired from eating and drinking all night everyone went to sleep.
A few hours later Usopp woke up, he wandered over to the lake to relive himself and he was surprised to see the Altar was surrounded in dense fog. Usopp didn't pay much attention to the fog until he heard the sound of a hammer banging against wood.
Usopp looked towards the ship and he could just make out a small figure dressed in a raincoat hitting the hull with a hammer.
"Is that Connor? What's he doing up?" Usopp wondered.
However the figure stopped what it was doing and turned to look directly at Usopp. Usopp could see very clearly that it was not Connor and that whoever it was did not have a face only a big creepy smile.
"GGGGHHHHHOOOOOSSSSSSTTTTTTTT!" Usopp screamed and promptly fainted.
The figure stared at Usopp's now still fOhm for a few seconds and then turned back and started banging his hammer on the Merry's hull again.
"Just a bit longer…Just a bit more…" the figure said as it continued to hit its hammer against the Merry.
Gods Shrine
Three men stood outside the entrance to Gods shrine, they were awaiting permission to enter. Shura looked at the two men next to him…he did not like ether of them.
The first was a tall, dark-skinned man. He had an unusual hairstyle, with a row of upward-pointing tufts or rasta-styled dreadlocks from ear to ear and a pair of wings on his back.
He wore a matching purple jacket and pants, black gloves and shoes, a pink shirt, and a blue tie-like scarf around his neck. He sports a large, white tissue belt around his waist with a red circle in his centre, resembling the Japanese flag.
The second was a tall, bald, muscular, and bearded man. He's always seen wearing a pair of sunglasses with point-like extensions on both sides. He wore a dark-green A-shirt, loose grey pants with many pockets and what look like zips under his knees, a long and flowing white sash around his waist and dark leather boots with bandages around the soles.
His right arm is covered with tattoos He carried a massive white sword with an extra-large hilt and pair of small wings sprouting from his back.
An attendant eventually came out and led the men in, they followed the attendant to the throne room, once there the men approached the throne and got on their knees, bowing to god.
God was a tall, muscular man with light hair covered by a simple white bandana; He has extremely long earlobes weighted down by diamond-shaped gold earrings that stretch all the way to his chest. He wore loose, orange pants with a black pattern on them, and around his waist there is a blue, flowing sash, holding up a light-blue veil.
He also wore gold bracelets on both his arms and legs, and two little gold rings around his bigger toes. Enel prefers to go barefoot. He always carries a gold staff with him which he sometimes uses in battle. He had four large Tomoe drums attached via a large ring to his back, instead of the regular Skypiean wings.
"Ah…you've come, Ohm, Shura and Gedatsu ," God said with a smile.
"Lord Enel, it is an honour for us to serve you," The bald man said.
"Cut the crap Ohm," Shura snapped he turned to Enel "Why did you call us?"
Enel smiled.
"I'm setting up a game and I want you all to play," Enel grinned.
"A…A game?" the one with the odd hairstyle asked.
"Yes Gedatsu, the Shandians are going to unleash a full assault on the Island tomorrow," Enel claimed.
"So they attack every other week," Shura scoffed "they show up, we kick there buts and then they scurry back to their hidden village like the rats they are. Only to repeat the cycle the next week,"
"As much as I hate to agree with the bird brain," Ohm started.
"Hey watch it," Shun growled.
"He's right; the Shandians are just minor entertainment for us…target practice. Why would you want to make a game out of it now?" Ohm asked.
"This time's different, this time they are going to fight to the last man standing," Enel grinned.
"So they finally decided to give up…suicide is a cowards way out," Shura claimed.
"It's not suicide if you die in battle," Gedatsu pointed out.
"If it's against us it is," Shura said.
"What are the rules of this game?" Ohm asked.
"It's very simple really, the last man standing wins," Enel said.
"That's it?" Shura asked "seems unfair to the Shandians,"
"Well there are a few minor details I could add…how about this then. You three can have free reign over the Island, you will not be restricted to your areas and can set up your ordeals where ever you want," Enel said.
"Still seems unfair," Shura said.
"However you will not be allowed to enter the game until…say two hours in, until then your restricted to your areas," Enel said.
"If we're restricted to our area then who is going to fight the Shandians?" Ohm asked.
"I'll send my guards in, that should keep them busy for a while," Enel shrugged.
"What if the Shandians enter our Ordeal areas before we join in the game?" Gedatsu asked.
"Then they are yours to do with however you see fit, its business as normal until you can enter the game," Enel claimed.
"What of the Blue Sea dwellers? Are they part of this game too?" Shura asked.
"Ah..them…"Enel said and stared off into space for a moment.
"Well they did make it to the Alter before I came up with this game…I suppose they can go," Enel supposed "However if they are still on the Island tomorrow when the game starts…consider them contestants,"
"Actually consider anyone who on the Island a contestant…but those in gods shine are safe, I don't want you destroying my house," Enel said.
"When dose this survival game start?" Ohm asked.
"Survival Game…yes I suppose it is a Survival Game. It starts when the first Shandia warrior steps on this island. Once they do I'll unleash my guards and two hours after that you tree may enter," Enel said.
"So we keep killing until the last Shandians on the Island is dead," Shura grinned.
"Well we want a few alive…someone to tell the story and all. Lest say…six, the game ends when all but six participants are dead," Enel said.
The priests all grinned; Enel dismissed them and they all left to rest up for the game tomorrow. They all knew that tomorrow was going to be a good day.