The crew started to relax, and Oriana used the chance to use her new Den-Den Mushi. She went over to the head figure to get a bit of quiet, "Oi, Oria, you can't sit there" Usopp said, "What, why not?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.
"It's Luffy's special spot. He doesn't want anyone to sit there" he explained, "I don't see him complain. Luffy, can I sit there?" she pointed at the head figure when he turned to her, "Sure!" he said before going back to being silly.
"See? No problem" she smiled at the long nose, "How? Luffy never allow us to ever sit there" he said. "I guess I'm more special to him," she blinked at him smirking as she leaned against the lamb's horns. Oriana dialed the number- Gotha, "Hello. Stat your name," a familiar friend answered, "Hi, Haruta! It's me!" she smiled.
"Oria! The crew hasn't heard from you or Ace for months now. We were starting to get worried about you guys!" his eyes or the snail's eyes brightened. "Aw, thank you. I've missed you too!" her smile softened.
"How is Thatch?" she asked, "Nothing's changed," Haruta explain with pain in his voice.
"How are you two doing?" he asked wanting to change the topic, "I'm good, and I think Ace is too…" she said carefully, "What do you mean you think?" that was a valid question, "Are you with dad? I need to tell him the situation," she took a deep breath preparing to tell them what happened.
She was a bit nervous to tell them, especially after making such a big deal about going with him. Then leaving him to hunt Teach alone was going to sound really bad. "Pops, Oriana is on the other line!" she heard Haruta yell.
"Oi, Oria, who are you talking to?" Luffy yelled from a distance, "Shut up, she's talking with her father, Whitebeard!" the long-nosed guy shushed him and at that moment the snail's face changed, "Treasure, it's good to hear from you!" Whitebeard smiled, "Dad, it's been a few months!"
Oriana felt herself calming down, the captain had always been there for her, and his very presence would always comfort her. She was very aware that people viewed him as a monster but none of that mattered to her cause he was and would always be her safe space.
"The ship is missing something without you, Oria, when are you going to come back? Oh right, and Ace" Vista said, "You guys are the best!" she chuckled, "And about Ace… we kind of... you know... went our separate ways," Oriana was playing with a strand of her hair.
"You did what?" this time it was Marco but before she could answer Luffy came and sat next to her, "Don't be mad. She promised me years ago that she would join my crew!" he said without hesitation, "WHAAAT? ARE YOU LEAVING OUR CREW, ORIA?" her crewmates yelled.
His crewmates were staring at them in disbelief, still having a hard time believing the great pirate crew was on the other line.
"Yeah, she-" Oriana smacked him over the head, "You idiot! I'm not joining your crew!" which calmed her people down, "Gees, are you still saying that? What a troublesome big sister," he said in a disapproving manner. Oriana hit him over the head again, "Shut up!"
"Oi, brat" her father suddenly spoke, and it got everyone's attention.
"I won't allow a member of my family to be taken by another crew, especially not Oriana." Whitebeard said in a threatening way and Oriana felt incredibly happy to know that her father would fight for her, "I guess you won't keep quiet and let your daughter be taken, huh?"
"No, I won't, brat" Whitebeard answered. "That's what I like to hear, old man. I'm happy to know that Oria is in good hands, or I would just have to steal her from you!" Luffy laughed, "Gurarara, you're just as cheeky as Oriana said," her father laughed.
"Really, dad just like that?" she playfully shook her head, "Gurarara, don't cause too much trouble, treasure," Whitebeard replied, "You know I can't promise you that, captain!" she said smirking, "I guess it's too much to ask from you," he was smiling through the snail.
"Treasure," his voice suddenly got serious, "I know, dad, I'm not taking a break from my mission. It's just a way for Ace and I can cover more islands." she understood his sudden seriousness. "I'll accept that just be careful." he sighed.
"Oi, Straw-hat, you better not stand in her way," Whitebeard said, "I won't old man!" Luffy assured, "Good." She heard Whitebeard drinking something. It started to get very noisy from the other side, "It's good to hear from you, treasure."
Suddenly something started to fall from the sky, "Dad, I have to go, but I'll call you soon" she said, "Alright, treasure. Take care, I love you" he said before hanging up. Oriana looked at the Den-Den Mushi for a few seconds before she felt her heart skip a beat.
She didn't remember her father ever telling her that, but it was not like he needed to. His action was more than enough to prove his love for her, and Oriana had never said that to him either not that there was a need, "I love you, too." she whispered fondly before she jumped down to help prevent the ship from sinking.
A big galleon was falling from the sky and almost hit them. Oriana pushed the ship away from the even bigger ship with her wind power to make sure the two didn't collide. Once the other ship hit the ocean it created a huge wave.
There was still some woods falling from the sky but they had mostly gotten control over everything. Usopp was meditating in the middle of the deck but got scared a moment later when he opened his eyes to see a skeleton falling, he screamed, and Oriana chuckled.
The small crew started asking how or why a ship was coming from the sky. Their attention got on Nami when she told them that the log pose was pointing upward, "Oh, it's broken" she said disappointed, "I don't think so, Nami" Oriana looked at the thing.
"She's right, navigator-san, it's locked onto an island's strong magnetic field. It means the log had been caught by the sky island" Robin explained. The idea of an island in the sky scared some, but most of them were excited especially Oriana.
Whitebeard had told her stories about sky island, but she had some doubts rather they were real or not. Now, that the log pose was pointing up, there had to be something up there. The thought alone gave her a sense of excitement.
"Is it a floating island?" Luffy asked, he may be more excited than her. "But there's nothing in the sky that looks like an island," Zoro said hesitantly, "I wouldn't say that. To be more precise, what's floating up there's a sea" the older woman elaborated.
"So, there's an ocean in the Sky with an island. Yosh let's go!" The young captain smiled while pointing up. "Okay, men. Steer the helm up" the long-nosed friend continued.
Oriana sighed along with Robin; the idiots would surely get it soon, right?
Well, they did when Sanji explain it to them and Nami started saying it was broken again. Robin told her that no matter what happened on their journey, she should never doubt the log pose. That's the iron rule and if there's something she should doubt, it should be common sense.
"Wherever the needle points, you'll find an island," she said firmly.
Luffy and Usopp jumped onto the galleon to search for something. Robin was collecting bones and telling them that the person died of an illness two hundred years ago and was from South Blue. Oriana smiled impressed that she could tell all of that by looking at a skeleton.
It wasn't long till someone screamed which ended up being Luffy because the ship was sinking along with him drowning. Usopp jumped down to help him and soon they came back to their ship. The young captain had a huge smile on his face when he gave Nami a piece of paper.
The paper ended up being a map of a sky island called Skypiea. The silly trio danced around happy until Nami told them that the map must be fake. They looked at her gloomily, "I'm sorry, it exists" she quickly said but then turned to something else, "I don't know how to get up there!" Nami slammed her fist into the mast, "You're the navigator figure it out!" Luffy yelled back.
Usopp was mumbling something about not damaging the ship while Sanji thought Nami looked cute even when she was angry. Oriana watched the two interact, she understood that Luffy has high expectations of Nami. That kind of trust normally didn't come easily.
They agreed that they should go back to the sunken galleon to look for clues about how to get to sky island. Oriana volunteered along with Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji to go down there but unlike the small crew she didn't need the barrels, "They'll get in the way".
Oriana told them to take them off but still hold onto tubes in order to communicate with the others. She stepped onto the rail to open up a small path down, "Alright, jump down guys!" they did and she jumped down right after them.
The three were amazed as they got deeper Oriana expanded their breathing space with them. She was holding on to Zoro's tube above him, "There's a lot of monsters down here!" Luffy commented with a smile on his face.
The sunken ship was already at the bottom of the sea and thanks to Oriana's ability they could walk over to it, "This is incredible, Oria. I've never touched the sea floor before. The sand is completely dry," Luffy kick some away with his feet, "Amazing! How does it work, Oria-sama?" Sanji asked.
Oriana scratched her head, "It's hard to explain, but I think it's that I can control the water particles?"
"I thought it was because you're from a mystery race," Luffy suddenly joined the conversation and confused the others, "I am, but I am also human so that's how I can change and control the element in both forms," Oriana explained. "So, it's a mystery power?" Luffy said, "Yeah, exactly like that!" she smiled at him.
Sanji was looking at her with hearty eyes for some reason she hardly understood.
Luffy was running around the ship excited which was totally fine as long as he doesn't go too far away from her. Oriana was looking around for any clues too since she wanted to see the island in the sky as well.
She came to a mirror which she quickly looked at before continuing. The four found a treasure chest but it was empty. Their faces showed a clear disappointment when suddenly big hooks were attached to the ship and started lifting it up.
There was a low sound coming from the hooks, "Someone is trying to blow air into the ship," she had her hand over the hooks. "But there's already air in here" Luffy informed, "They clearly don't know that," Sanji said.
"True, I don't think anyone expects a ship at the bottom of the sea to have breathing space" Oriana replied, "Who the hell is trying to lift this thing," Zoro asked, "Nothing better have happened to Nami-san and Robin-chan" the blond warned.
A moment later someone punched the wall next to them, "Who the hell are you . Who is trying to muscle my turf" a big monkey asked angrily. "Oh, a monkey," Luffy said calmly, "Do I really look that monkeyed to you" he blushed with a huge smile, "Yeah, just like a monkey" the pirate captain replied.
"What is this?" a sweat drop appeared on her head, Luffy quickly befriended the monkey and they started introducing themselves to each other, "Oh, you guys are from East Blue?" the monkey known as Mashira smiled, "That's right. But man, you really do look like a monkey" Luffy said. "Oh, you just saying that" The monkey saw that as a compliment.
"What kind of conversation is this?" the green-haired swordsman asked.
Oriana could only stare at their strange encounter but then changed her attention to the things over at the corner. Zoro and Sanji followed her and started putting the things into a bag, but as soon as they touched it the monkey started rampaging like a wild animal.
She was ready to fight the beast, but her attention quickly switched to something huge. Mashira charged at them, "Take a deep breath, guys" Oriana used her powers to get water back inside the ship again. The monkey was surprised as his movements suddenly slow down Oriana kicked him out and away from them before grabbing her friends and shooting them out of there.
Once they got to the Merry Oriana felt herself relax.
Nami went over to Luffy, who passed out, and slapped him awake but with little luck. The cook and swordsman told them to set sail and away from that crazy animal.
Usopp started talking about how he was happy they got away from the turtle. They looked confused and explained their entire adventure to the other members.
Like how a monkey attacked them, he must have been some kind of sea monster even though Luffy got along with him rather quickly since they were both monkeys. Just because we touched something, he started attacking them like a gorilla.
But Usopp was still happy they escaped from the weird-acting turtle. But they haven't really noticed it until right then and the three conscious started panicking, "WHAT THE HELL IS THAT THING" they screamed.
Luffy was suddenly awake and started asking why it was dark, but Oriana hasn't really questioned it considering it was the Grand Line. They were getting ready to set sail, but the weird monkey jumped out of the water and onboard their ship.
Some members of the small crew stood there shocked, and it was the same with Mashira's crew. Oriana's eyes followed their gaze and she saw 5 ginormous dark figures, "MONSTERS" Luffy screamed, and they quickly rowed the ship out of there.
The Yonko pirate looked back at the dark figures and thought it was crazy that something that big was still unknown. They must have been 50 times bigger than Oars. There was no way that could have been real.
The pirates didn't stop sailing until it was back to normal weather. They started talking about the insane thing that happened to them today.
Until they noticed that the crazy monkey was still there with them and Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji kicked him out. The guys showed Nami their so-called treasure and to her, it was trash and she started tramping on it.
Luffy appeared in front of her wearing armor and the navigator smashed that too. She went over to Robin and Oriana who were calmly observing them.
The older woman gave Nami an eternal pose to an island called Jaya, which she took from the monkey ship, "You guys are the only ones who are on my side" she smiled with tears in her eyes. The two sympathized with her, "It must be hard" Robin said, "But you're doing a great job, Nami" Oriana smiled.
The straw-hatted captain had a problem deciding where to go now. Nami suggested that they could go to Jaya to get information on how to get to Skypiea. Then Usopp asked if they did that wouldn't the logs reset itself, but Robin told them that the logs wouldn't do that immediately. As long as they were there for a short time it would be okay.
That was how they ended up sailing toward the island now.
Oriana hasn't slept that well ever since leaving Alabasta and it was really starting to get to her. She was yawning and spacing out. Nami offered her bed so she could just relax downstairs which she gracefully accepted.
As soon as her head hit the pillow she was knocked out.
-x-
Oriana was slowly starting to wake up. She rubbed her eyes before opening them. The room was completely dark both inside and outside but worst of all she was still tired. She felt someone approaching the room and a small knock was heard, "Oria-sama, are you awake?"
"Kind of, Sanji" she replied, he came in with a plate, "I was worried. You didn't eat anything before you went to bed, so I decided to bring you something to eat," Sanji smiled, "Thank you, that's so sweet!" Oriana sat up and took the plate from him. "It's no trouble!" he smiled.
When she was done, she noticed something, "Why is it so quiet up there?" Sanji chuckled, "Nami-san, Robin-chan, and the idiots are at a small house close by."
The two went over to the others who were partying with two monkeys and a man with a chestnut. She sat down close to Luffy stealing some of his food from time to time until Sanji came with hers.
"So, what did I miss?" she asked, "Well, this old man and the shitty monkeys are helping us get to Sky Island using something called the knock-up stream that shoots us into the sky" Sanji explained, "That sounds simple enough" Oriana replied and continued eating.
"Come, sit with me miss!" The drunken chestnut man came closer to her, but Oriana kicked him away. He recovered quickly and started telling them about the city of gold and something about the eye of a skull, but she wasn't really listening to the story.
Oriana had just sat the plate down when Luffy suddenly dragged her into the forest, "What are you doing, idiot?" her brother didn't stop and just faced her, "We are going to look for the mystery bird!" he looked so excited.
"I didn't have to go!" she complained, "But it's going to be faster if we all look for it together"
The whole crew was behind them, ready to search for it, too, but they were arguing amongst themselves about how to find it, "You don't know what it looks like?" she asked them, "Old man diamond-head told us it had a weird call that we would know it by".
As soon as he said that a weird sound came behind them and they split up into three groups.
Oriana ended up with Luffy and Chopper.
They were searching around when Luffy went over to a tree root opening and pulled out something, "I got it. See, Chopper, it's an atlas!" he showed the reindeer a huge bug. It's been a long time since she last felt that kind of fear and she slowly stepped away from them.
"Which one is cooler, the One Piece or that?" Chopper asked and Luffy actually had trouble deciding. 'Seriously?' she thought.
"Oria, come and see what Luffy found," he said cutely, "Oh, no, get that thing away from me!" her back hit a tree, "Are you still afraid of bugs," her brother asked in a disappointed way, "Shut up" she responded.
"But Oria, there's one behind you," Chopper said and pointed to the tree, "It's a miyama!" Luffy screamed and tried to catch it. She almost passed out when she discovered those things could fly. Oriana froze at the spot as the two ran after the bug, but they soon came back after getting chased by bees.
She relaxed a bit, at least she wasn't afraid of bees. Oriana laughed when they came back with stings.
Weirdly enough another set of bees chased them again and she looked up to the tree and saw this weird bird. That might be the creature they were looking for.
She jumped up to one of the branches and sneaked closer to it. When it looked her way, she hid behind the bushes and her dark clothing help her blend into the darkness. She was about to jump and catch it when arms grabbed around it and another threw it down, "I had that".
"Sorry, I took your chance, Winter Blaze-san" Robin said, and Oriana sighed, "Well, at least we have it now".
They went back to the house together and found diamond head along with his friends unconscious on the ground and in water. They had clearly been beaten up and Sanji jumped into the sea to help them.
Usopp was ready to cry when he saw the sight of the front part of the ship split in half. The old man got up, apologized, and told them there was still time to fix it. The pirates insisted that he told them what happened, but he dismissed it.
Nami came out of the house, "Luffy, the gold was stolen".
Zoro called the captain too and showed him the mark on the wall, "Bellamy's mark". Oriana was confused, she knew whose mark that was and she hasn't seen the heavenly demon in six years. So, who was this other dude?
She realized that clearly, Doflamingo was a busy man and wouldn't bother with anything on this far side of the Grand Line. So maybe it was his subordinate or something?
Luffy understood and stood up, "Need a hand?" the swordsman asked, "No, I'll be fine," he said.
"There are only three hours left till we set sail," Nami warned, "Don't worry, I'll get us there in time with my powers. Take your time, Luffy, but hurry!" Oriana smiled, "Got it!" he said before he faced Robin, "If I follow the coast; will I reach the town from this afternoon?"
"Yes, you will" she simply answered. The older man tried to stop him, but he refused to stop.
"I'll be back by dawn," Luffy said, and Oriana watched him running in the direction of the so-called town they visited without her knowledge.
Wait, was it during her nap?
"Three hours Luffy. If you delay us more than that it'll be your fault that we lost our chance to sky island" Nami yelled after him.
They spent the rest of the night fixing the ship.