(Sarquiss POV)
Bellamy had been acting odd ever since they reached Jaya. Well, it wasn't as if he hadn't been eccentric before, but that had been more the rambunctious and loud Bellamy, not this contemplative drunk Bellamy.
He should know, seeing as they'd been best buds growing up. They even robbed their first store together. Made him wish sometimes that they were twelve again. Good times.
Anyway, Bellamy had been really quiet for the last week. Less moody, which he occasionally was but more…depressed? Bellamy was never depressed, always looking forward to the next big win, the future glory. And ever since they started flying Doflamingo's flag, (and wasn't that grand?) it had only become more prominent. Bellamy idolized Doflamingo. Not like the respect shown by the rest of the crew but full-blown hero-worship.
Lily had to physically burn Bellamy's pink flamingo coat before the Bellamy Pirates became a laughingstock for the whole world. Not everyone could pull that off without being a fashion disaster and his friend simply didn't have the build for it. Bellamy sulked for two whole weeks afterwards.
…did Lily burn his "secret" coat again?
But then, why would Eddy be acting off as well? All the man cared about were girls, swords and fashion, of which the latter two were just tools to get the first. Not that he ever got any. It took them forever to stop him from turning into a stammering wreck whenever Muret was in the same general vicinity.
Not like him. Sarquiss was the king, the Casanova! The only man on board with a working sense of fashion. And the only man with a girlfriend. He was…
"Sarquiss. Sit. Down." Lily was hard to please sometimes. Eh, she's cute when she's annoyed.
"Sure thing, darling." he answered, smoothly ignoring her growl. She hated that word, so it was all the more reason to use it. It was cute. "Any idea why Bellamy called a meeting?"
"I told you, don't call me darling! I've got a perfectly functional name, dickhead!" she hissed, almost like a cat, which made him want to pet her. So he did.
"Ow ow ow ow, stop pinching me woman!" She didn't stop. "I'm sorry I called you darling, darling. Ow, ok, I'm sorry I'll stop. Lily, stop it, please." Damn, did Lily have strong fingers. How did that work anyway? Didn't big muscles mean stronger muscles? Her fingers were tiny, slender, beautiful…
"Oi, my eyes are up here, dickhead." His jaw was starting to hurt with how hard she's grabbing it but the view is nice. She wasn't wearing her sunglasses for once so you could see her sapphire blue eyes, glittering like jewels in her heart shaped face. Currently they were narrowed and filled with the promise of a lot of pain, but Sarquiss could stare at them all day… "Snap out of it, you dolt! And to answer your question, no I don't have a fucking clue why the captain called a general meeting. He hates those."
Meeting? What meeting? Ah, right, that meeting. Odd, Lily usually knew everything. She's so amazing.
Unfortunately before he can get lost again, the rest of the crew starts trickling in interrupting his alone-time with Lily. Gotta put the game face on. Eventually everybody is seated around the table, glancing around uncertainly. Everyone can feel that something is off, but none of them can put a finger on exactly what that something is. This is made worse by the fact that Bellamy hasn't placed his feet casually on the table. If anything, he looks downright serious.
"Alright, we've got an issue we need to discuss." Bellamy's voice is deeper than usual. Slower too. "Eddy. The floor is yours."
"Thank you, captain." Seriously why does Eddy look so nervous? "So, as you all know, we've been on the Grand Line for a while. And we've seen some odd stuff."
"We know! Get on with it!"
"Yeah, spit it out, Eddy."
"Muret rejecting you isn't odd, it's normal!" Oh, he can see Eddy going red. His temporal veins are throbbing too.
"Shut up, idiots! This is important!" And of course, he sneaks a glance at Muret. Not subtle man. Not subtle at all. "Like I was saying, we've seen some odd stuff ever since we entered the Grand Line. The weather makes no sense, the currents change at will and illusions are common. But through it all, we've learned to rely on one thing and one thing only."
Seriously, what is with all the buildup? And the answer to this unasked question is also obvious. "The log pose. We all know what it is. What about it Eddy?"
"Thing is Sarquiss, if the world tells us one thing and the log pose another, we tell the world to fuck off, right?" There's a murmur of agreement. Nobody survived the Grand Line for long without knowing this. The log pose was absolute. "The log pose always points to the next island and only resets once we have reached that island."
Eddy takes a deep breath. Again, what is up with all this buildup? This is rookie knowledge. Did the log pose not reset yet? It'll eventually, no biggie. And besides, Jaya is nice this time of year.
"The log pose is pointing at the sky." Bellamy say what now?
(Eddy POV)
The room immediately erupts into an uproar not that Eddy had expected anything different. After all, none of them were stupid and they were well able to put two and two together and understand what the captain was implying. But did he have to drop the bomb like this?
"There is no island in the sky!" Hewitt immediately protests.
"Then what's the log pose pointing to, Hewitt?" Ross counters, gesturing to the log pose.
"You tell me Ross, you always seem to have an answer for everything!"
"I don't know what the log pose is pointing to, but I know I'm going to bash your skulls in if you two shitheads don't sit down!" Lily screams at both of them, her chair toppling backwards with a crash. Muret on the other hand outwardly remains completely unflustered.
"Don't make more work for me, Lily. I have too little time for my nails as is."
"Maybe the log pose is broken?" Rivers suggests hopefully, before Mani dashes those hopes to pieces.
"That's ridiculous! The log pose is never broken unless it's physically in pieces."
"I don't have an answer for everything! If I did, I'd know how to shut you up!"
"Wanna have a go? I kicked your butt yesterday. I can do it again."
"But why is the log pose pointing at the sky? It makes no sense."
"So did I! In fact, I'm ahead by 43 to 42!"
"I told you two shitheads to sit down!"
"Darling, you look so cute when you're angry."
"Of course, it makes no sense. But the captain said the log pose is pointing at the sky, so something has to be up there."
"Lily, I think he's turning blue."
"EDDY, WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?" It's surprising how well coordinated the crew can be sometimes. "Gurgle…." Also, that shade of purple can't be healthy. But Muret seems unconcerned so Sarquiss will probably be fine.
"Are you guys finished?" It speaks volumes that everyone stops arguing when the captain speaks. "Lily, please release Sarquiss. I still need him alive."
"Sure thing, captain." Lily says, releasing her grip on Sarquiss' windpipe. She's smiling viciou...widely, though the captain seems unaffected. By contrast, Hewitt and Ross seem to lose all blood, glancing nervously at a coughing Sarquiss.
"If you guys are done, why don't we get back to business?" Bellamy hasn't moved since he sat down, elbows on the table, hands clasped together and slightly hunched over. "The log pose points to an island. The log pose is pointing at the sky. Ergo, there is an island in the sky. Next."
Cue nervous shuffling. Nobody wants to ask what everyone wants to know. Though eventually, Rivers is the first one to crack under the pressure.
"Eddy, the log pose only resets when we reach the next island, right?"
"Yes, it resets after spending some time at the next island."
More nervous shuffling. Rivers starts to sweat. "If we don't reach the next island, the log pose won't reset, will it?"
"No." Eddy curtly answers causing Rivers to start sweating very visibly now.
"Doesn't that mean…it doesn't mean that we're stuck here, right?"
"Of course, we're not stuck here!" Sarquiss interjects. "We can always get another log pose. There are enough weaklings around. Eddy, I'm right, aren't I?"
Clunk clank clunk clunk clunk clank rrrroll
Everyone freezes when Eddy upends a bag of log poses on the table. A dozen log poses, taken from a dozen crews. And all dozen of them pointing the same damn way.
Up.
"But that makes no sense!" Rivers wails, looking like he wants to cry, "Otherwise, no one would have gotten past Jaya so far. No one!"
"This has to be a joke! Haha Eddy, nice one! You got me."
"I wish I were joking, Mani. I really do." And just to drive the point home. "I'm not joking. We're stuck."
Mani is about to say something again, but Muret is faster to the draw. "What's the plan, captain?"
(Bellamy POV)
"What's the plan, captain?"
I actually don't really have one yet. But I can't admit that here, can I? I'm the captain, it's my job to have a plan, even if it's a bad one. To be honest, I'd love to just stay on Jaya and build a small kingdom for myself. It would buy me some time to train up and most of the pirates who come here are small fry.
Eventually, I could get strong enough to be untouchable, hopefully, and live a life of luxury and hedonism. If I stop more crews from moving further down the grandline, the marines may even leave me alone.
But I can't do that, because that would be so out of Bellamy's character that my crew would immediately become suspicious. Muret might even shackle me to a bed until I'm "cured". Which really leaves me with just one choice: convince these guys to ride the knockup stream into the sky.
"We're going to gather information." Not that I can tell them that there is a knockup stream because OG Bellamy has never heard of it. But thankfully, Jaya does have just the man I need. "Someone must know something. Old tales, legends, a friend of a cousin of a wife's husband's colleague who saw something. Ask around. Pay if you need to. And be polite." They aren't happy about that. Not one little bit. "I'd rather the weaklings not lie to us because one of you hurt their feelings. We can always beat them up later."
At least that gets some nods. "What are you guys waiting for? A written invitation?" I snap, sending most of them scrambling for the door.
"Where are you going, captain?"
"I've got someone I need to see."
"Uh…nice house you've got there." Mont Blanc Cricket glares at me, arms crossed in front of him. "It's a nice front façade. Looks mighty impressive."
Don't see the monkeys anywhere. Maybe they're out diving?
"I heard that you've been here a long time, so I was hoping to ask you some questions." The glare persists. If I couldn't see that he was breathing, I'd swear, that man was a statue. Why doesn't he blink?
"I even brought a peace offering. Wasn't sure what to get, but someone recommended the cherry pie." I say, holding up a covered picknick blanket. Not so sure why Blackbeard loved these so much as they are too sweet for my taste, but hey. It's the only thing on Jaya that was recommended by anyone. This place is a dump.
"They're too sweet." The statue speaks!
"I also have a bottle of wine, if you want it." Not bad vintage either. Wonder where they get it.
"What do you want?" He didn't treat Luffy like this in the show and they even fought each other. I came peacefully. This is discrimination, dammit. But regardless, I have to stay polite if I want to pick this guy's brains.
"Like I said, I wanted to ask some questions, is all. Learn from the more experienced and such." Just think of him as your old university professor, guy was a jerk too.
"You. Learn."
That couldn't have come out any flatter if he'd tried. "That actually hurts a bit, you know? I'm very good at learning. Got straight A's and everything."
A small frown, a sign of confusion. Little steps. "Straight haze? What does haze have to do with anything?"
Right, not sure what the grading system is like here. "Sorry, my bad. It's not important. This reminds, I've been horribly rude, haven't I? I haven't even introduced myself properly. I'm Bellamy. Nice to meet you."
Cricket blinks.
"Mont Blanc Cricket." He doesn't grasp my hand, though at least his arms are no longer crossed. I just withdraw my hand, all natural like and transition the movement into scratching my head.
"The pleasure is all mine, I'm sure. From what I heard, you spend most of time diving in search of the lost city. Which means that you know the waters around here like the back of your hand, no? I imagine it's difficult to go diving when the waters are rough."
He looks so confused. Cricket probably never saw a polite pirate before, especially not one who brought a housewarming present.
"You're Bellamy the Hyena." That was more of a question than a statement but either way, I keep going.
"Thing is, my crew and I have encountered an issue. Our log pose is pointing up into the sky. Yes, we know...when the log pose rejects reality, you believe the log pose over reality. But that would mean that there is an island or at least a source for a strong magnetic field somewhere above the clouds. A sky island as it were."
That caught his attention. He's interested, very interested. I can see the glimmer in his eyes.
"You've been here a long time and your ancestor was here too. So I would be very thankful if you had any advice or knowledge you'd be willing to share."
Now his face is just blank. Damn, ok, don't talk about his ancestor. Dangerous territory, gotcha.
"Think of it this way, the sooner you help us reach sky island, the sooner we're out of your hair. It's a win-win situation, no?"
"…"
"…"
"…I'll put on some tea."
Success!