"Oh well. We're used to being hunted," Luffy laughed carefreely before he turned to Oriana and Nami, "By the way, why did you two come back?" he asked them, "Huh?" they said confused, "We were about to go to that place we are absolutely never supposed to go and have a great adventure...- I mean look for you guys!"
"I see right through you. What do you mean a great adventure?" Nami asked before hitting him, "Didn't you hear what I said? There are scary people o that island. If you'd seen what I saw, you wouldn't go there. I don't know if they were gods or whatever, but they were definitely very strong. I'm never going back to that island!" with every sentence she hit him.
Luffy just looked at her blankly, "Then you can stay here while we go", but she wouldn't have it, "No way. They'll come after us. We got to get out of here!" Nami yelled. "You mean leave? Don't talk crazy! What's more important; your life or adventure?" he asked.
"My life and then money," she said without hesitation, "Do I come after that?" Sanji asked like a lovesick fool, "Shut up!" she punched him away. Oriana blinked a couple of times, "Is this normal?" she asked Usopp, "Sadly, yes".
The pirates started to question how they would get down to the blue sea. Conis told them that it was possible, but it was a very dangerous road. They would have to sail to a place called 'clouds end' to get down.
The crew was getting ready to leave but before that, "Oi, Old man, do you still have the food from before?" Luffy asked, "Certainly" he answered. Oriana, who was also hungry, followed them back to the house, along with Sanji and Usopp.
As soon as they were inside the blond pirate rushed to the kitchen and came out with a big plate of different kinds of food for Oriana, "Sanji, I love it. Thank you!" she smiled, and he fell to the floor dramatically with hearty eyes, "Anything you want, Oria-sama!"
She was eating and noticed that they were yelling from the balcony, "What's wrong" she asked, "The ship is sailing away!" Usopp panicked. Oriana ran over to them and look out while trying to wield it back in, but it was too late, the ship sail away.
The old man started to explain that their friends were being sacrificed at the upper yard and to save them they would have to go there and fight the vassals of this Eneru. They would have to take the long way there to avoid the man-eating fish.
If they defeat the vassals, god Eneru was waiting for them above it all.
The four remaining packed their backs and went into town. Everyone was avoiding them, and Oriana didn't mind that at all. It kept them out of their way. They looked at different kinds of stuff and soon arrived at a statue.
"What a funny face. It looks like a seal" Luffy started, "What's the big deal? It's probably some pagan idol" Sanji continued, "Fools, it's a work of art I can tell!" Usopp said. "It's ugly," Oriana responded.
"That's Varse, to the inhabitants of the sky, it's an object of eternal admiration" Conis explained, "Huh? Do you guys worship that thing? It's nuts!" Luffy said, "Hahaha, I suppose blue sea people wouldn't understand," she laughed nervously.
Conis continued guiding them toward the cloud boats. Oriana noticed that the leader that they defeated before was still after them. He was lurking around the city and following them with a smirk. She wanted to do something to scare him off but stopped when, "Ever since we left the house you've been shaking, how come?" Luffy suddenly asked.
She was denying everything, but the pirates kept insisting that she was. That's when she broke down in tears and told them that; she called the lobster express and that it was the duty of the citizens of Skypiea to summon it or else they would be killed.
"Dummy. You have no choice, right?" Luffy said and was waiting for an answer. When she nodded, "Why did you just tell us that?" the pirates yelled. She stood there confused, clearly not expecting them to say that.
"Now, you're in trouble!" as soon as the captain said that. Oriana saw a familiar light covering the sky and was about to hit Luffy and Conis. She jumped up and kicked them out of the way and into Sanji's arms.
Oriana took a deep breath ready to test her limits by taking the full force of this lightning head-on, but it never came. Instead, she was in the sky because the sky knight had saved her, and she rolled her eyes, "What is this, old man?"
"Oria/Oria-sama!" the guys yelled before running over to them, and she jumped down from the bird-horse thing. Luffy grabbed her by the arms, "What was that Oria?" his anger surprised her, "You could have died. I promised Ace to take care of you!"
Oriana smiled lovingly, "It's sweet that you care so much, but you know I won't die from that," she put her arm around his shoulder, "But that was reckless!" he said, "I don't want to hear that from you, idiot," she laughed before she put her head on his shoulder.
"You guys are very similar on some points," Usopp said in the background, but she heard him clearly, "I guess we are," she said before taking Usopp and Sanji's arms to lead them toward the boat they would be using.
The sky knight took Conis and promised to protect her before flying away. The pirates boarded the boat and were ready to sail towards the upper yard. Soon, the entrance to the forest was covered with bones, the statue, and spears by the sides.
It was getting a little creepy. They arrived at a place and saw shipwrecks around them. A bird crowed in the distance when suddenly a huge ax came down swinging at them.
Oriana took control and used her powers to move the boat out of the way, but soon another one came along with another one. She kept avoiding them and it came to an end or that's what she thought when a big eel came out of the clouds, but Sanji kicked it away.
They came to a place with four gates and each one had a title with a challenge. There was the ball, string, iron, and swamp ordeal written on each. She didn't really know which one to choose and let the others decide. They all agreed the ball gate sounded most harmless and entered into a dark tunnel.
Luffy started joking that they might have taken the wrong entrance and that they might fall off sky island. The young woman didn't like the thought of falling ten thousand meters from the sky, but what were the chances of it actually happening.
When the pirates reached the end of the tunnel, there was a free fall that shocked them all. The guys screamed while Oriana looked down and saw they were close to another cloud road. She didn't have time to do anything and just prepared herself for the impact.
"Are you alright, Oria-sama?" Sanji asked and offered her a hand, "Yeah, thanks" she said and took it. They looked out and saw a lot of balls floating around. Usopp and Luffy tried to play with one of them, but a snake suddenly jumped out and Luffy kicked it away.
They expected another snake to pop out of the balls. So, before that could happen Sanji kicked it away, but this time it wasn't a snake but rather an explosion that hit them. "These balls are booby-trapped," Sanji said annoyed.
"We got company guys," Oriana said calmly "Hohoho, you never know what's inside them. They're surprise balls," a ball-man with wings sat on one of the balls. They started arguing with him and she just stood there watching the whole thing.
She wasn't much of talking to the enemy and when Luffy attacked him she was all for it. That's when she saw him dodge every attack the straw hat crew made before throwing them off the boat. He tried to attack her too, but Oriana was different from them.
The ball man stretched his hand at her, but she dodged easily, "You got mantra as well?" he asked her, "Where I'm from it's called Haki," she smirked and grabbed his arm before kicking him in the face and into a tree.
She jumped off the boat and went after him, but he kept dodging back for some reason. "I thought that you were going to be our challenge," she asked, "Hoho without your boat there's no way you can survive out here" he laughed.
Oriana looked back after finally realizing his plan, but that's when he took the chance to hit her with whatever he got inside his gloves. She landed on the hard ground, yet still jumped to her legs. She charged at him, but Luffy stretched his arm to punch him.
The man introduced himself as Satori. He grabbed Luffy's arm and swung him into a tree. The young woman got into a fighting stance, "I'm ready for another round, bally".
The boat was getting further and further away from them. Oriana didn't really have the time to care about that right now because the round man was irritating her with his weird dance. She kept observing him as he was jumping from one ball to another as if he'd already won.
Luffy and Sanji tried to attack him, yet he dodged without a problem and attacked them with a weird force in his hand. Oriana charged at him faster than he could react and punched him in the face. He flew back and she went after him to kick him in the jaw this time. She used her other foot to kick him in the stomach and he crashed into a tree.
She looked back for a moment only to see Usopp swinging himself over to the boat with a belt and a rope. Weirdly enough it worked until he couldn't detach the two things and he ended up swinging back and then forth. Luffy, who wasn't taking the situation seriously, swung around with his friend.
Sanji looked pissed and gave the two a good beating. Oriana smiled a little and focused on the round man instead. He smirked and pulled out a cane that was controlling, "Surprise ball chain. Ball dragon. If you touch one of them, it'll start a chain reaction and they all explode."
Luffy was about to punch it when his long-nosed friend pushed him aside and warned him not to touch it. The two chose to run away and jumped onto one of the balls to dodge it but it exploded with them on it.
Oriana blinked at the idiots before sighing. She had to stop the enemy before he does some real damage.
Two friends split up and the ball man went after Luffy. He was chased into a tree before jumping over the thing only to grab the string he used to control it. The young captain realized that too and thought of ripping it in two.
The ball man tried to pull it towards himself but only pulled Luffy along and boom it exploded. Oriana was about to jump into the fire to find her sunshine, but Sanji told her that he wouldn't go out like that.
"Don't worry he's alright, Oria-sama" the cook calmly said. She used her wind to clear the smoke and saw the enemy was okay. She smiled a little when she saw Luffy was on his back alright too.
"Don't let go, Luffy" Sanji started, "Dango man. You keep going on the ordeal this and ordeal that, but the truth is that I don't remember anything about it. Now you are going to experience the great shitty flying ordeal. I've got two delicate ladies awaiting my rescue. In short, you could say, 'This is the ordeal of love."
Oriana's sweat dropped, "What are you talking about?" she questioned, "I'm sorry, Oria-sama, but would you allow me to handle Dango-man here?" he asked coolly, "Only if you treat me for something delicious later!" she smirked. "Only the best for you," he responded, "Give him hell then".
Dango-man, huh? Nice name. He tried to get Luffy off of him, but it only made the rubber man clinch onto him even more as the fighting cook jumped up and, on his way down he was spinning around before kicking the man's head in, "Concasser"
The man's glass' broke along with some of his teeth. He passed out and landed on the ground, "Guys, I found the boat. Hurry it's about to leave the forest" Usopp yelled from afar. They ran over to him as he attached the rope in his belt again.
Luffy and Sanji grabbed onto him while Oriana jumped directly onto the ship. The guys hit many trees on their way up and were covered in bruises with her landing gracefully next to them all alright.
They kept following the river, "That was some awesome kicking, Sanji. Where did you learn that?" Oriana asked curiously, "It's nothing, Oria-sama, just my shitty old man used to beat how to cook into me. Throughout the years I picked up some of his tricks".
"That explains your great cooking skills," she smiled, "Your words are warming my heart" he smiled weirdly while she steered the ship. It was getting quite peaceful until a group of people like Guerrilla charged toward them.
They all jumped over their boat but one of them aimed his bazooka at them. Luffy deflected it with his rubber powers, "Hey, you! What's the big deal? You don't want to mess with us!" the young captain yelled.
"So, you are the blue sea people who are shaking things up in Skypiea," It wasn't a question, "If you value your life, go back to the blue sea. If you insist on interfering on this island… we'll erase you along with Eneru" he warned as he was about to leave.
"Is that a threat? Bring it on Baldy!" Luffy screamed after him and Usopp tried to stop his captain, "Assuming you're strong enough to get off this island-" but before he could finish his sentence. Oriana shot a wind and hit the tree right next to his face.
"Do you still think we aren't strong enough? Because that wasn't even close to my full power, Guerrilla" she smirked at him. He looked ready to fight but some of his friends pulled him back, "Don't let that woman provoke you, Wiper".
"You lucky I don't have time to fight you. If we meet again I won't hesitate to end you, girl" he said angrily. "Whatever you say, wild man. Don't call me girl I'm obviously older than you." She said in disinterest. He tsked before turning around and leaving.
"Who was that guy anyway?" Luffy asked, "Who cares?" Oriana said as she sat down and leaned back to relax. They continued following the road and it was starting to feel never-ending.
The road was going close to the ground, around the trees, and even over them. Oriana laid down and put her feet at the end of the boat to make a small wind that made this slowpoke go faster.
Soon they reunited with their crewmates, "Oi, Nami-san! Robin-chan! I passed the ordeal of love" Sanji screamed as soon as he saw them, "Was that it? That was the big challenge?" Luffy asked disappointed. "Were you guys scared? Don't fear captain Usopp is here?"
'What does he mean by captain Usopp?' Oriana thought as they got closer.
They boarded the ship, and the entire mast was gone. There were different kinds of damage all around and some of them went inside to see the sky knight, "You guys need a new ship" Oriana said, and everybody else's eyes were on her and then Usopp, "What?" she asked. "No, we won't! I can fix it out myself," he said.
"With this kind of repair? It won't last for very long. I even doubt it'll hold for more than a few weeks without a real shipwright." She stated the obvious. "Then we'll get it fixed on the next island," he said stubbornly.
"Bold to assume it'll even hold till we get down to the blue sea. Never mind the next island," she said calmly. "What do you know about Merry? You're not even part of the crew" Usopp started, "Damn it Usopp. Don't talk to a lady like that" Sanji interfered.
"I have sailed these seas years before you were even born and experienced countless ships sink. I know when they don't have much longer to sail and when that happens what will you do? Are you willing to risk the lives of your crewmates for this piece of junk?" she spat harshly. "Oria, Usopp - enough" Luffy finally can back.
It got really quiet all of a sudden, "Usopp, don't talk to her like that. I know, Merry is our precious Nakama and we won't lose her so easily. We'll fight and do whatever we can to fix her". The long-nose boy got tears of admiration in his eyes, "Luffy…".
Oriana rolled her eyes at this silly affection for a broken ship. Was his reaction going to be like this because the person who gave it to them was important to him? She knew a time would come when they could no longer fix it; would he react like this if they decide to get a new one?
Sanji lighted the mood by suggesting they go into the forest to camp and everyone was ready for it. They started exchanging information and it surprised Oriana that this island was a part of Jaya and that the city of gold most likely was close by.
"What's this mantra thing all about?" Zoro suddenly asked, "I'm not sure, but I think they use it to predict our moves," the cook said. "It's called Haki" Oriana started, "What do you mean, Oria?" Chopper asked.
"This Mantra thing is called Observation Haki or Color of Observation. It's like a sixth sense that allows the user to feel the presence of others, their strength, and like he did predict moves." She elaborated. "That's awesome!" Luffy said, "How do you know that?" Nami asked, "I have it, too," she answered.
"Is that how you could fight him? Show us!" Luffy and Chopper screamed the last part, "I can't really show you unless you throw things at me" she said and the two quickly gathered stones to throw at her. "Is this enough, Oria?" the young captain asked before showing their arms full of them.
"I guess..." she sweat dropped and went away from the others before getting started, "When I close my eyes start throwing them as fast as you can," she informed and closed her eyes. Soon she felt a lot of stones coming flying and at the beginning, she just caught them like they were small balls.
They looked amazed by her performance, and she punched and kicked the stones away this time.
The small crew cheered as she dodged every single piece thrown at her which was quite fast. Oriana got closer and closer toward them and in the end, not too hard she kicked them both away.
"Oh, sorry. I got carried away for a moment" she apologized, "You're full of surprises, Winter Blazer-san." Robin laughed, "Thanks" she smiled.
After the demonstration, Luffy went over to the fire Sanji used to cook their food and watched it like a hawk. A while later he rolled away from it, "This is so boring" he exclaimed, and the cook said that he could pour the distilled water into the bottles for their trip tomorrow.
Zoro and Chopper had been gathering supplies for whatever Sanji was making and it was starting to smell great. "I found walnuts, aloe, banana, and garlic" the reindeer cutely said. "Rats and frogs too" the swordsman continued.
"Yosh, chop them up and throw them inside the pot" he casually answered, "Wait! There is some weird thing in there!" Nami complained, "Oh, no garlic, right?" he said
"She meant the frog and rat part," Oriana said having her limits. Zoro was told to use his swords to hold the hot stones. Although he complained he did it nonetheless and soon they added the stones into the stew.
"This is delicious" Luffy screamed, "I'll say, but I think Thatch's cooking might be a tiny bit better," she smiled, "Who's Thatch?" he asked. But before she could answer someone else did, "He is the fourth division commander of the Whitebeard pirates," Robin said.
"Yeah, he was. Until he was killed by someone he trusted," she laid the bowl next to her and put her head on her knees. "Was it the man we met at Jaya?" Nami asked, "Yeah, his name is Teach… Blackbeard as he called himself, he killed one of the best people on board our ship for a devil fruit.
I know that if he'd asked, Thatch would probably have given it to him. But instead, he stabbed his friend in the back and left him there to die in the middle of the night!" the memories she tried so hard to suppress all this time were starting to come out.
"That's awful," Chopper said in tears, "That's why we were after him. I let him go after getting so close," she slammed her fist into the ground. "Oria-" the reindeer started but she interrupted him, "I'm sorry to ruin the mood, guys. Continue, Nami" The navigator wanted to say something, but Shay gave her a reassuring look.
She started talking about how some traveler named Noland discovered the city of gold 400 years ago. Several years later he returned to the same island but there was no gold, and it was during that time half of Jaya wounded up in the sky. The only possible way for that to happen was with the knock-up stream.
Robin explained that the trees and South birds were much bigger here might be because of Skypiea's different environment. "Why did they save you guys," Sanji asked Chopper, "I don't know. Maybe it's related to everyone calling the sky knight – god"
"He's god? So, we just need to beat that old man!" Luffy screamed. Nami went back to Noland's story, and he wrote that he saw gold in the skull's right eye. Nami then showed them the map of Jaya and an old map of Skypiea before putting them together and the two maps formed a skull.
"Amazing" everyone cheered, "Noland was talking about the shape of the island. But since there's only half left, no one could solve the mystery" Nami said. 'She really is amazing' Oriana thought.
They agreed on splitting into two groups since they couldn't leave the ship at the sacrificel altar. And tomorrow they would look for the gold at the skull's right eye.
"It's late. We should put out any unnecessary fire or the enemies will know our location" Robin started, "That's ridiculous. Did you hear that Usopp? Put out the fire, she says" Luffy looked smug, "Give her a break, Luffy. Robin lived a dark life. She wouldn't know" Usopp defended.
The older woman still looked confused as to what they were talking about. The captain and sniper fell and slammed their fist into the ground, "When you go camping. It's natural to have a campfire" Luffy started, "To camp at night even if your life is about to end, you got to have a campfire. That's just the way it is".
The navigator scolded them for being idiots, and the vassals could find them along with Guerrilla. Until "Luffy" Zoro yelled before showing him the woods they gathered, "Is this enough?" he asked. Sanji held fire when he told Nami not to worry but she saw eyes glaring at them in the forest.
The sun soon set, and the campfire was on and a pack of wolves appeared. One thing led to another, and they were now partying together. Oriana was in the middle dancing with them.