Voyage Of The Cavalier

by Victor Soul

Ever since Gold Roger, King of the Pirates, declared the existence of the ultimate treasure, The One Piece, the world has entered a new golden age of piracy. However, one man strives for something much more precious. He breaks out of his prison, joins the Straw Hats and takes part in a wild adventure in order to get it. The only thing he wants...is to find his home. (OC X Harem)

12. The Land Above The Clouds

Poll on my profile. Check it out!

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Here's the next chapter. I hope you'll enjoy it.

MasterDarkElf - Yeah, I had to recently re-read all of Skypiea so I can remember what the story line is. I have an idea which should work and will allow Cavalier to explore a bit more on his own. Thanks so much for reading.

GreatAsura - You're welcome. Thanks so much for reading. I do have an idea for what his Awakening could be, but I can't reveal it just yet. English slang does kind of suit him. He doesn't swear at all so he has to say something. Thanks again.

djinn - You're right. The worst part is that Cavalier, despite breaking free from his prison, is still being exploited indirectly. He won't be too pleased when he discovers what happened. Thanks so much for reading.

JimmySG0 - Thank you so much, you're too kind. I hope you'll enjoy this chapter just as much.

joeskywalker02 - No problem at all, I'm glad that you enjoyed it.

I really went full out on Doflamingo. As I was planning the Piccolo Island incident, I kept on thinking of more evil things he could do to the island and, honestly, it's rather concerning. Maybe I should make a evil/grey MC next time.

Aha, we'll hear a bit more from Blackbeard in regard to Cavalier's and the rest of the Secret Empire's powers. We will even uncover a few more Devil Fruits that the former Black Feather user will have.

I'm thinking of one particular photo of a shiba inu getting stuck in a bush which reminded me of what you were talking about. And yes, that is the perfect representation of Cavalier as a person.

Types? Hmm, I don't think he really has one. Although, with One Piece, there's genuinely just one type of body type for women (slender with big busts).

Thanks again for reading and I hope you'll enjoy this chapter.

theultimatenight mk 2 - Dilf energy? ...yeah, I can see that. I think he'll make an awesome father.

wellingtonlucas282 - No problem, thanks so much for reading.

thekombatan2002 - Aww, thank you so much. I try to write one chapter per week, but sometimes it takes around two weeks if I'm particularly busy. With six other stories that I'm updating regularly, it takes me quite a while to update more frequently. Thanks for reading.

James D. heavens - Wow! Is it that really that many!? We'll have to see what will happen as the story progresses. Also thanks so much for trying, I'll be sure to add your results to the poll. Thanks for reading.

FanSuperAnime - Wow! That's dedication there. Thanks so much. I hope you'll enjoy this chapter.

Raging Drake - Indeed, he did. Thinking back on it, that's quite a funny thing to take although, at the time, Vivi didn't have anything else worth taking.

Thank you so much, I'm so glad to hear it. I have a lot of fun writing Cavalier and I'm so happy that everybody likes him. Also, I have to ask, do you think there are no depressing backstories in One Piece!? It's like eighty percent sad backstory! I think it fits in quite well. lol. Anyway, thank you so much and I hope you'll enjoy this chapter.

Guestfyre - Great to hear.

That's an interesting head cannon and I totally agree with it. Megalomaniacs do always want to feel like they're in power, but as long as Tauru is in the room, he would always remembered the times where she would hunt him down as a pirate; a time of his life where he was the inferior person.

I did originally think of having Snack be there instead of Cracker, but I thought Cracker would be more recognisable as a character. Another idea was for Smoothie to be there instead, but I didn't want Cavalier to make the connection between her and Piccolo Island. It might sour the mood between them a little.

Ah, I completely forgot about the Rocks pirates. Okay, let's say that it was the worst disaster she had seen in twenty years.

Cavalier will eventually have a collection of seashells from every island they visit. He would have favourite ones that he will gift to his family and friends. I thought it would be sweet for him to have an innocent hobby.

I would have to think about Durandal. The reason why Cavalier has his rapier is because it's less weight for when he's running and that sword it a bit too big. Unlike Zoro, he strikes at certain muscles groups in the body so he can paralyse his opponents. However, I do like your idea so...I'll think of something.

I mean, the only reason I wrote about the age gap rule was so I'm covered in case somebody points out something...problematic. And that's honestly the last thing I want right now. All relationships will be appropriate, but I suppose that some cases can be a bit more lenient depending on who they are and how they interact with each other.

I thought you would find that funny. I like to imagine that name was thought up by a superior ranking officer thinking that they wouldn't notice. However all of them noticed and Hina and Doll beat that officer up for the insult.

Thanks again for reading and I hope you'll enjoy this chapter.

Guest - Tell me about it. I dread even thinking about it. You do not need to worry about drama or anything like that. It will be a perfectly healthy relationship based on mutual and consensual love. Overall, Cavalier just wants a family and a home so you can forgive him for going a little overboard.

Guest - Interesting. Anybody can join Cavalier's family just as long as there's mutual love. I don't envision Cavalier having a problem with either of them, but we'll have to see closer to the time.

Thank you all for reviewing :)

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Chapter 12 - The Land Above The Clouds

Open Sea, A Few Miles Away From The Coast Of Jaya

The sea was calm now.

The whirlpool had disappeared back into the ocean; the Knock Up Stream fell in on itself and collapsed back onto the water and the dark looming clouds of the Imperial Cumulus had drifted away without any ceremony. The tranquil waves that ebb and lap gently had returned to what it was earlier the morning; if one were to observe it, they wouldn't have known that a destructive subaquatic explosion had taken place right under their noses.

Drifting lazily over the blue water, a giant log that used to be part of a much larger ship held five passengers. Teach reclined on his back and stared up at the blue sky while Jesus Burgess hung his legs over the side and clenched his jaw in seething rage.

Another of the occupants of the ship, a tall man with long grey hair and tanned skin, laid on his front and coughed and hacked as if he was on the verge of death. He tired eyes, thick purple lips, and his face was unshaven. He wore a large brown fur coat, a beaten-up black hat and a green turtleneck under his coat. Around his neck he wore a dark white hangman's noose while, slung onto his back, he carried a cylindrical bag with something heavy contained within. He patted the giant grey horse beside him, which too gave a sickly cough, whilst keeping his face pressed against the wooden deck.

"We almost died- Hack! Hack! -Didn't see that one coming," he croaked wearily, "That Knock Up Stream is no joke- Hack! Hack! Cough! -Isn't that right, Stronger?"

"Neigh! Hack! Hack!" Stronger the horse brayed and coughed in agreement.

Another of the rafts occupants held his hand over his small eyes and looked up at the sky where the Imperial Cumulus had been. Like the rest of the crew, he was very tall and stood about the same height as Teach. He was thin as a rail with brown medium-length curly hair and a narrow face that was pulled into a frown. He wore a large bicorn hat, a long black cape that flowed down to his knees, a pale-lavender buttoned up shirt and simple black trousers. Over his inquisitive eyes he wore a pair of spectacles; the left lens was square but the right was large and round and tinted green, resembling a scope from a sniper rifle. Speaking of sniper rifles, he had one slung over his shoulder that was almost as tall as him and had a brown horn on the end of its barrel. The calm man hummed emotionlessly and shifted his rifle slightly on his shoulder.

"They are gone, captain. Nothing we can do," he merely hummed as he turned away.

"Damn it!" Burgess roared as he slammed his massive hand on the giant log they were sitting on, "We should have got here sooner! I wanted to pulverise that silver haired bastard!"

"Heh! Heh! Cough! Cough! What's wrong, Burgess? Still upset that you're no longer the champion?" the sickly man mocked.

"Shut it, Doc! I'm still the champion! That little worm tricked me, that's all!"

"I don't think that's how it works. A loss is a loss, ain't it?"

"Neigh!" Stronger neighed in agreement before it entered another coughing fit.

"You don't know what you're talking about!" Burgess roared.

The tall man with the sniper turned to Teach and raised an eyebrow at him, "Captain? What should we do next?"

Teach grinned a toothless smile and raised his hands up and leaned his head on them, "Ha! Who cares? We'll drift somewhere eventually," he said before he closed his eyes, "More importantly, have you, Van Augur, heard of the Extinct Devil Fruit?"

The sniper, now known as Van Augur, hummed curiously, "I can't say I have."

"Don't blame ya. It ain't something anybody has heard of. Most people say it doesn't exist or just a hoax," Teach said as he scathed his round belly lazily, "In the very first edition of the Devil Fruit Encyclopaedia, people noticed that they were extra Devil Fruit that don't appear in any other edition after the first. You might be thinking one or two fruit, right? But you'll be wrong. There are exactly twenty-two Devil Fruit missing in total."

"Twenty-two?" Van Augur repeated.

"That many?" Doc questioned as he and Burgess took notice of what Teach was saying.

"Yep," Teach laughed, "They all disappeared! Poof! Like that! Not a single trace of them for centuries. Course, not many first editions are around nowadays. The World Government must have wrangled them up and destroyed all of them. Luckily, I was able to get one and investigated myself. Twenty-two Devil Fruits; ten Paramecia, six Zoan and six Logia. All of them gone from the known world. This is why they're known as Extinct Devil Fruits," he crooked grin grew wider, "That is...until I saw that boy's power. Perhaps they're not as extinct as we first thought."

Van Augur looked up at the sky where the Straw Hats disappeared into, "You think he has one of those 'Extinct Devil Fruits'?"

"The Snatch Snatch Fruit," Teach said confidently, "It allows the eater to steal anything as long as they can hold its weight. When I first read about it, I didn't think much about it. The other extinct ones like the Acid Acid Fruit or the Quatzo Quatzo Fruit sounded much more appealing. But still," he said as he opened his eyes and gazed up at the sky, "Makes you wonder where it has been hiding all this time."

Burgess looked up at him hopefully, "Does that mean we're going after him, captain?"

Teach cackled and waved a hand dismissively, "Let's focus on finding an island first. Can't be a pirate crew without a pirate ship, eh?"

---

Somewhere In The Sky

What awoke Cavalier was the warm sunlight on his face.

His purple eyes slowly fluttered open and he stared out into the blue cloudless sky above him. He felt the wooden planks of the Going Merry that he was leaning. His head was spinning to the point that he felt dizzy as memories of them sailing up the Knock Up Streak swam around his brain. He heard the soft sounds of gasping from somewhere around him and quickly assumed that his crew mates were also suffering the after effects as soon as they entered...

'Oh, I think we made it through the clouds,' he thought in realisation, 'And we're not dead. I think. Kind of hard to tell, to be honest,' he managed to waggle his fingers on both his hands, 'Nope, we're alive! Yay!' he thought before he groaned slightly in pain, 'Ow! Ow! My lungs...'

He managed to prop himself up on his shoulders and blinked blearily across the deck. Sprawled out across the wooden boards, his friends had either passed out or on the verge of passing out; only Robin and Zoro still managed to keep their eyes open. They were breathing heavily, the bodies exhausted from the recent vertical ride into the sky.

Cavalier felt the same; he too was tired.

Very tired.

In fact, he could hardly move at all and his lungs burned within his chest.

'Is that normal?' he wondered before he saw the rest of Straw Hats began to stir, 'Oh, they're awake. Yay!' he thought in delight as he opened his mouth...

...however, he found it hard to even speak.

'Oh. That's strange. I guess I have to wave to them.'

Slowly and cautiously, the crew of the Merry began to open their eyes and push themselves off the deck. They took slow, deep breaths and they got used to the new, foreign environment they were in and stared around groggily.

"Did...did we make?" Nami muttered as she rubbed her eyes.

"I think...so," Chopper answered, using his hoof to push his hat back onto his head.

"We're not dead. Go us," Usopp uttered as his eyes swirled around in his head.

Sanji groaned and rubbed the back of his head, "Damn, I feel like crap," he grumbled before he took notice of Cavalier waving at him. He rolled his eyes and waved back, "Yeah, yeah. Hello to you too, Cav."

Luffy managed to stumbled onto his feet and gazed around the area. As soon as he noticed where they were, his eyes lit up in excitement.

Surrounding them, on all sides, was nothing but white, fluffy clouds as far as the eye could see. It stretched out like a white blanket; gently sloping up and down with larger clouds drifting slowly not too far above them. From above, the blue sky peeked through the wispy clouds.

It was beautiful; they had never seen anything like it before. The Merry seemed to be floating on top of the layer of clouds as if it were on the water. It was not, at all, having trouble maintaining its buoyancy. In fact, despite the damaged to the ship's hull and masts from the journey up, they were sure that Going Merry could happily sail on top of clouds.

"Whoa!" Luffy cried out as the others got to their feet, "Check this place out!"

The rest of the Straw Hats looked around their surroundings in sheer awe. They reckoned that nobody on the surface below would even imagine this new world they have entered. A world of clouds and sky, stretching on forever like the sea itself.

"This...this is amazing," Nami uttered, "How are we floating?"

"We're floating on the clouds, duh," Luffy replied.

"That's not how that works!"

Zoro walked up to the side and looked at the clouds below with a hum, "He's right, though. It looks like the Merry is on the clouds," he said as he watched the keel bob up and down on the clouds."

"Ah! Who cares!" Usopp shouted as he leapt into the and pumped his fist, "We made it! We finally made it to the sky island!"

"Woohoo!" Luffy and Chopper cried as the trio did their victory dance, "Sky Island! Sky Island! Sky Island!"

They went around in circles and chanted their little mantra over and over again. Sanji and Nami rolled their eyes playfully while Robin chuckled in slight amusement. Zoro merely glared at them as if they were stupid and continued to look out over cloud blanket. They didn't blame them at all. They were also glad to have lived through that entire ordeal with no casualties.

As they celebrated their survival, Robin stood beside Nami and calmly looked across the sea of clouds, taking everything in with a gentle smile, "Well, would you look at that. It seems some legends can be true."

Nami leaned heavily on the side of the ship and sighed, "I only wish we didn't have to risk our lives in the process."

"It wouldn't be much of a legend if there was no danger."

"Call me a 'little miss cautious', but I would much prefer we didn't go after too many legends."

Robin chuckled warmly, "That's less cautious and more sensible, to be honest."

"Miss Nami, Miss Robin," Sanji said as he zipped over to them with hearts in his eyes, "Perhaps you ladies would like something to eat to celebrate this occasion."

"That would be lovely, thank you," Robin said, causing Sanji to sigh love-sickly.

"Anything for you~" he sighed.

"Hey, curly brows! Get us some drinks as well," Zoro called out from the other side of the ship.

"Get it yourself!"

"Hey Cavvy, whatcha doing?"

They all turned around to see Luffy prodding Cavalier's shoulder with a massive grin on his face. Cavalier had not moved a single muscle ever since they all awoke; he laid on his back with his arms and legs sprawled at his sides; his breathing was hurried and his face was turning slightly blue. He gave a painful cough which was followed by a few wheezing gasps. The crew slowly got closer to him; concern evident on their faces. Luffy, however, didn't notice his condition at all and continued to prod his shoulder.

"Hey! Come on. You're missing out. Look at the clouds."

Cavalier turned his eyes towards Luffy before he forced himself to flip onto his front and shakily get onto his feet. He staggered across the deck before falling onto the side and gazing out over the landscape.

"Wow...looks great," he managed to say before he slumped to the floor once more, "I love...this place."

"Ah! Cav!" they all shouted in panic as the crew immediately got to his side.

Zoro and Sanji turned him onto his back while Robin made two hands sprout of the deck to support his head. Usopp ran down to the cabin in order to fetch some water (just in case he needed it) while Chopper quickly gave him a check up.

"What's wrong with him Chopper?" Nami asked in worry.

Chopper frowned as he pressed his hooves on his chest, "His breathings shallow, he's coughing as if there's something stuck in his throat and his skin is losing its colour," he mumbled to himself before he turned to Cavalier, "Cav, do you have a headache?"

"Yes...yes, I do."

"And your lungs feel like they're on fire?"

"Yes...how did you know that! You're such a great doctor," Cavalier answered cheerily although with a pained smile.

"Are you confused at all? Are you seeing things that are unusual?"

Cavalier frowned slightly, "I could be wrong...but I think I'm seeing a talking reindeer who is also a doctor several miles up in the sky whilst on a pirate ship that looks like a chicken floating on some clouds."

...

...

...

Chopper gave an awkward cough, "No...that's actually happening right now, Cav."

Cavalier raised his eyebrows, "Really? Oh...interesting," he said before he hummed, "I'm also about eighty-five percent sure I'm a carrot."

"Good enough," Chopper said before he turned to the others, "He's suffering from hypoxemia. There's not enough oxygen entering his lungs."

"Of course," Robin realised, "Because we're at such a high altitude, oxygen is scarcer than down below."

"But we're doing alright," Zoro pointed out, "None of us are suffering from it."

"That's because Cav's lungs and respiratory system is much larger than ours. At least four times as larger," Chopper explained, "He needs much more oxygen than we do. We need to pump air into him as quickly as possible or he'll die."

"WHAT!?"

Luffy gritted his teeth and narrowed his eyes in determination, "NO WAY! I WON'T LET THAT HAPPEN!" he roared.

Before anybody could do anything to stop him, Luffy stretched his right arm out and had it wrap around Cavalier's waist. Cavalier looked down at his arm in slight concern before giving his captain a polite, but urgent look.

"Err...Luffy...you don't have to..."

But his pleas were cut off as Luffy ripped him off the deck of the ship and shot him up further into the sky; almost smashing his head on the arm of the mast if Cavalier hadn't moved away in time. When he was forty feet into the air, Luffy stopped and left him to dangle in his stretched out arm and cupped his free hand over his mouth.

"CAVVY! YOU CAN BREATH NOW! DON'T DIE!" Luffy shouted at him.

"R-right...o," Cavalier uttered, looking as if he was going to pass out at any second as he swayed limply in the air.

"Wah! Luffy! What are you doing!?" Chopper yelled fearfully, "You're going to make him worse!"

The captain gave him a strange look, "Huh? I thought he needed more air. There's more up there, right?"

"No! You idiot! He's suffering because we're so high up!"

"You're only killing him faster!"

"What!?" Luffy cried out in shock, his eyes bugging out of his head, "Okay then! Let's do this!"

Cavalier gave a pained groan as he whipped away once more. He was slung over the side of the ship and plunged into the clouds below; sinking like a stone until nobody could see him anymore.

"There! That should be better r- AH!"

Nami punched Luffy on the back of the head, "MORON! STOP DOING THAT! PUT HIM BACK ON THE SHIP!"

"Alright fine!" Luffy moaned as he retracted his arm.

Cavalier was dragged back by Luffy's rubber arm and he burst out of the clouds below. He sailed over the side of the ship where he was suddenly released. As if acting on instinct, Cavalier backward somersaulted and landed on his feet like a cat...before promptly collapsing onto his back again. His condition had become much worse; his eyes were wide, his body was shaking and now his lips and fingertips had become blue. Despite the fact that he look traumatised, he still grinned happily.

"Thanks...chaps..." he uttered shakily, "Please...don't...do...that...again."

Chopper knelt by his side and looked up at them urgently, "We need to pump oxygen into his lungs now!"

"What like CPR?" Nami asked before Sanji got in her way.

"Don't worry Nami-chan. Don't taint your sweet lips because of this," he said in determination, "I'll do it myself."

"Yeah, I wasn't volunteering," Nami pointed out.

'Taint?' Cavalier thought in surprise.

Zoro tsked and rolled his eyes, "Who would want anything from you, curly-brows," he said, "Half of your lungs is practically smoke."

"My lungs are healthy, moss head! As if yours are any better!"

"WHAT DID YOU SAY!?"

"YOU HEARD ME!"

The two suddenly started hurling insults at each other...which then developed into them fighting. The rest of the crew watched on with deadpanned looks, wondering how on earth they ended up in this situation.

Cavalier, while still choking to death, sweat dropped in despair.

'I...I guess I'll save myself then,' he thought before he managed to lift up his arms.

He struggled a little, as he felt himself grow weaker and weaker, but he managed to lift his hands up and placed them over his hands and nose, making sure to cover the both of them up and securely locking them.

Meanwhile, over where the fighting was taking place, Chopper waved his paws in the air and jumped up and down as he tried his best to catch their attention.

"Guys! CPR wouldn't even work! Stop fighting!" he yelled at them before Usopp placed a hand on his shoulder and shook his head.

"There's no point," he gravely said, "Nothing can stop them now."

Zoro roared as he swung his sword at Sanji's head while Sanji cried out as he aimed a kick towards Zoro's head. Just as they looked like they were about to finish each other off with the final blow...both of their attacks were stopped by two elbows.

"Now, now chaps. There's no need for that."

Zoro and Sanji blinked in surprise as Cavalier suddenly appeared in between them. He has his hands over his mouth and nose while using both of his elbows to stop their attacks before they could hit each other. If Cavalier looked like he was in pain from the blunt attacks then he did not show it all. In fact, he looked rather stern...or rather Cavalier's version of being stern.

"Huh. Apparently they can be stopped," Usopp muttered.

"Cav! You're alright!" they shouted in relief as Cavalier smiled happily at them.

"How, though?" Chopper questioned in confusion.

"Oh, it's simple, really," he said, "I'm using my power to steal as much oxygen I can from the area and breathing it in from my hands," he said as he inhaled and exhaled deeply to demonstrated, "It's like I'm my own oxygen tank. Good, right?"

"You can do that! Awesome!" Luffy shouted.

"Oh yes," he said before he frowned softly at them, "I'm not mad or anything, but please be a little more urgent next time. Okay, chaps?"

Robin stepped forwards, "That's his way of saying we all messed up and we all should feel bad," she translated.

The crew slumped forwards as a gloomy, dark cloud drifted over them.

"Sorry Cavalier," they collectively said.

"It's fine," he chirped happily, "Should I have a look around for anything?"

Chopper raised his hoof at him, "Hold on. Take time to recover first-"

"Wow! This place is amazing!"

They looked up and found that Cavalier had disappeared and, a split second later, reappeared on his watchman's spot several meters up; looking around excitedly with his hands still cupped over his face.

"He's fine," they collectively said.

"Hey Cavvy! Do you see anything!?" Luffy called up to him.

Cavalier looked down at him, "I see...a lot of clouds."

"Yeah, we got that much!"

"Well, other than that, there looks to be a path through the clouds on the starboard side," he called down to them, "We could head set course for it."

Nami looked over and saw that he was correct. There was a small, but passable gap through the floating clouds not too far away which she could navigate their way through. She took a look at her Log Post and hummed curiously as she saw it still pointing up.

"That could be something," she said with a shrug, "The Log Post is still pointing up so we're still not where we wanted to be."

"Maybe this is the only the middle part of the Imperial Cumulus," Robin suggested, "We might have to go further up."

"Further up how?" Chopper questioned before Usopp's shouting caught their attention.

"Let's worry about that later!" he declared as he stood on the side of the ship and flexed his skinny arms, "I'm going to be the first person to swim in a sea of clouds!"

"Woo! Go Usopp!" Luffy cheered supportively, "Go! Go! Go!"

"Hey! Hey!" Sanji shouted at them, "Don't go fooling around. We still don't know a thing about this sea."

"Bah! A sea is a sea is a sea," Usopp said as he waved his hand dismissively before he prepared to dive, "What's the worst that can happen?"

Before he could push off from the railing and plunged head first into the clouds, the back of his overalls was snagged by something preventing him from going any further. He looked back and saw, to his surprise, Cavalier had raised his leg up and hooked his foot onto his overalls whilst still keeping his hands over his mouth.

"Just to let you know, but the cloud layer is quite shallow and there's nothing but a four mile drop back to the surface," he informed him, "Maybe you shouldn't do this. Can't have you falling to your death. That wouldn't be fun at all."

Usopp's eyes bulged in their sockets, "What!?"

"Of course," Robin said with a hum, "I suppose there's technically no floor to this sea so you'll probably fall right through," she said before looking towards Cavalier, "I suppose you knew this because of what the captain did to you earlier."

"Yep. It was so fun dangling just under the clouds with nothing but the sea to brake your fall. For a few seconds, I genuinely thought I was going to die," he cheerily said as Usopp nervously got off the side of the ship.

"So, you're saying that what I did was a good thing," Luffy said as he rubbed his chin.

"Don't make it sound like you did something right!"

"Oh, but I did find this chap stuck in my cloak when I was pulled back up," Cavalier said as he used one hand to reach beneath his cloak and pull out something that wiggled and flapped around.

In his hand was a strange looking fish. It was flat, like a turbot, but it had dark blue scales, light blue fins and dorsal fin. It had a wide mouth with two rows of sharp teeth and two beady fish eyes on either side of his head. It's body was very light for a fish its size; in fact it hardly weighed anything at all to Cavalier. It felt like sentient fish-shaped balloon then an actual fish that they were used to.

He passed it over to Robin who inspected it keenly.

"This is a Sky Fish," she finally said as she handed it back to Cavalier, "It's the strange creature Noland described in his logbook. I theorise that, because there's no sea floor, that these fish have evolved to survive in this environment. It's flatter and is filled mostly with air which will make it far lighter and buoyant. It's perfectly adapted to swimming in the sea clouds."

"The scales also look like feathers," Nami remarked, "That's really cool."

"And I bet it tastes delicious!" Luffy shouted as he pumped his fist in the air, "Let's eat it!"

Before he could, however, Cavalier gently tossed the Sky Fish back into the sea from the side of the ship.

"There you go," he warmly said, "You're back home now."

"Hey! I was going to eat that!" Luffy angrily yelled at him.

Cavalier, however, didn't hear what he said as he spotted something through the thick clouds. He narrowed his eyes at it and saw that it was another ship; about three miles away. It looked like any regular ship they would come across in the Grand Line, but, judging by the torn sails and the mouldy wooden hull, it had long been abandoned. Cavalier was about to point it out to the others when suddenly, to his shock, the ship exploded, sending wooden splinters and broken metal into the air. The entire hull cracked and split open like an egg before it slowly began to sink into the clouds.

"Huh? How did that happen?" he hummed.

"How did what happen?" Nami asked as she walked up beside him.

He pointed out towards where the ship had been, which was now only a burning wreck, "There was a ship out there, but it blew up," he told her before he looked out again, "Oh, hold on let me ask this chap coming towards us."

"Huh!?" they all shouted as they joined him on the side of the ship.

Zooming across the clouds, as quick as a whip, was a human figure. He was skinny and short but, judging by the speed he was going, was still very much athletic. He wore a skirt made of brown leafs and his black hair was long and tied up in a long braid. His face was covered by a tribal mask depicting an animal with white circular eyes and large tusks and, curiously enough, had a pair of white wings on his back. In his right hand he carried a rectangular shield while in his left was a large bazooka that he had over his shoulder; it was still smoking from the last time it had been fired. His legs weren't moving like they were running, but he was still going at a fast pace. His feet were hidden in the clouds below, but to them, he looked like he was skiing or ice skating towards them.

While the others took caution of the man speeding towards them, Cavalier offered him a friendly wave.

"Hello," he greeted as the masked man jumped onto the side of their ship and loomed down at them, "My name is Cavalier. It's a pleasure to meet you. I like your mask and those shoes," he said pointing at the bladed boots on the man's feet, "What's your name?"

The man in the mask glared at each one of them as if he was trying to remember their faces. Eventually, he hissed one word that made them all tense up.

"Eliminate," he spat angrily.

...

...

...

"Well, it's wonderful to meet you, Eliminate," Cavalier greeted warmly, "Would you like some tea?"

"He's not greeting us," Sanji growled as he raised his leg to prepare to fight, "He wants to kill us!"

Zoro reached for his swords, Luffy cracked his knuckles and clenched his teeth and both Usopp and Chopper dived behind a nearby barrel. The masked man leapt off the side of the ship and flew towards his closest opponent which happened to be Sanji. The man swung his leg at his head and the chef was about to defend himself...when he suddenly felt the air leave his lungs suddenly.

He couldn't react in time and was smacked in the face by the man's boot and sent flying. Without missing a beat, the man leapt back and slammed his shield against Zoro's jaw and then zipped over towards Luffy and kicked him right on the top of his cranium. Both of the fighters had suffered the same thing Sanji had and were both unable to fight back.

The masked figure zipped over towards Cavalier. He could see the man's eyes narrow through the eyeholes of his mask; hatred and distrust was evident in his eye.

Before he could defend himself, Cavalier noticed something else that he hadn't earlier. Instead of fighting, Cavalier raised one arm and used his power at the masked man. Suddenly, much to warrior's confusion, he was suddenly thrown off course and headed away from Cavalier and off the ship. He spun around in the air uncontrollably; twisting and turning randomly as if an invisible force was whipping him around. He lost his hold on his shield and bazooka, which fell into the clouds and disappeared in a second, before he landed on the clouds as well. After a few seconds, he emerged from the clouds, but, this time, he was standing on one leg while the other hovered in the air beside him.

He gave the ship a dirty look and hissed angrily before something in the distance caught his eye. The masked figure growled something at them in another language (although it was clear by his tone that it was some sort of swear word) before twisting around and around zooming away in the distance. He was gone in a single second.

"What the hell was that!" Nami yelled, recovering him the shock of the attack, "Who was he!?"

"A native of this land?" Robin suggested, "We may have accidentally sailed into their territory," she looked over her shoulder towards the barrel, "You two, it's safe to come out now."

Usopp and Chopper poked their heads out and gulped nervously.

"What...really?" Usopp said before he looked over to the three passed out members of their crew, "Damn, what happened to you three?"

"Being useless, obviously!" Nami shouted at them, "What's with you, guys!?"

"So cruel," Luffy uttered breathlessly.

"You didn't treat Cav like that when he was down," Zoro pointed out through deep breaths.

Suddenly, they heard a loud noise like the flapping of wings over their heads, alerting them all. They looked up and stared up at a giant bird with pink and purple spotted feathers. It had a brown tail feathers and plumage, a round head with a tanned face and sharp eyes. It had a long yellow beak and feet that ended with large talons. The large bird creature made a strange noise that sounded like something between an eagle's cry and a screaming human which was a little unnerving to hear.

"Oh no, what now!?" Nami yelled as she backed away from the large bird.

However, instead of attacking, like they thought it would, the bird landed on the ship's deck and lowered itself down. That was when they noticed that there was man dressed from head to toe in shining silver armour riding on top of the bird. The man leapt off its might back and stood to attention before them.

"Ah, your crew is suffering from Blue Sea Sickness. How unfortunate to hear," the knight said in a noble voice.

He was a tall man with fair skin and a long white beard that covered his entire lower face and ended at his chest. His arms and legs were skinny and his sharp eyes were sunken slightly from his old age, but they could somehow tell that he was far from merely a weak old man. In one gauntlet, he carried a large silver lance that was long enough to pierce enemies at quite a range. Beneath his large visor, the knight's eyes inspected each and every one of them, although his eyes seemed to focus on Cavalier was a little longer than the others.

"Your friends will be fine in a few hours," he boldly told them, "Blue Sea dwellers need to get used to the lack of oxygen at this height."

Cavalier smiled under his cupped hand, "Hello, my name is Cavalier. It's a pleasure to meet you. I like your lance. What's your name?"

The knight raised an eyebrow at his curious behaviour before he bowed his head in greeting, "Heso, my name is Gan Fall, the Knight of the Sky, and this is my steed, Pierre," he said gesturing to the large bird who squawked in greeting, "I was flying by when I spotted your ship being attacked. I flew down in order to assist, but it seems you had settled everything before I arrive. I did wonder why he left so quickly and with only one Shooter.

"Oh right, this!" Cavalier chirped as he lifted up what was in his hand to everyone.

In his gloved hand was a boot that resembled ice skating boot. It was made of leather-like material and had a long lunar-shaped blade across the bottom. At the back of it was a red seashell that was strapped to the back of it.

"I noticed that chap using it to get around," Cavalier explained, "It seemed a more effective way of defending against him. Would you be able to give this back to him and tell him I'm sorry?"

Gan Fall sweat dropped at that, "I'm afraid that I'm no position to do that."

"Oh, that's a shame. I guess I'll hang onto it," Cavalier said as he placed it under his cloak and into his pouch for safe keeping.

Chopper stepped over to him and tilted his head curiously, "So, who was that guy anyway?"

However, instead of answering his question, Gan Fall wave his hand at him, "Now, I know you all have probably a lot of questions. But, first things first, I need to talk business with you," he said, much to their confusion, "I am a freelance mercenary. This is a very dangerous part of the sea. Those who do not know about aero-battles will be attacked by those guys like before and become fish food for the Sky Fish."

"What's he talking about?" Sanji grumbled.

"Fish food?" Usopp whispered in worry.

Cavalier raised his hand as if asking a question, "Freelance? Where are the other two that you have?"

Gan Fall gave him a strange look, but decided to let it slide, "Considering that this is a consultancy fee and not the full service, I shall charge you 25,000 Extol. But every whistle after that will 50,000 Extol."

...

...

...

...

"What the hell are you talking about, mister?" Luffy questioned.

Gan Fall flinched at his tone. He seemed rather flustered by his question. He coughed into his gauntlet and straightened himself up.

"N-now, now. I can't go any lower than that. I'm already not charging for the full service so you have to meet me half way. I have to earn a living as well, you know," Gan Fall hurriedly said.

"That's why I'm asking what an Extol is and what that whistling thing is?" Luffy said again.

Gan Falls eyes widened in shock, "You mean to say, you didn't come here through the top of High Waist?"

"High where?"

"You must have been to at least one or two islands, right?"

"One or two islands?" Nami questioned, "Wait, are you saying that there are other ways to get to this Sky Island. Not only that, but there's more than one?"

Gan Fall and Pierre's mouths (and beak, respectively) dropped in sheer disbelief.

"Don't tell me you actually came via that Knock Up Stream. I never thought that they would still be people brave enough to do that."

"THAT WASN'T THE NORMAL WAY!?" Nami, Usopp and Chopper shouted in shock.

"It was certainly the fun way, though," Cavalier laughed.

"WE COULD HAVE DIED!"

Gan Fall hummed curiously and stroked his white beard, "Did you loose any crew members?"

"No, we're all here," Zoro answered him.

"I see," the Knight said with a nod, "How fortunate of all of you. It's curious. Those who try to venture up the Knock Up Stream either all perish or all survive. Not many dare to take this gamble, especially people nowadays. Those who dare, I see them as great sailors who have both courage and real strength."

"Yep! Nami's the best!" Cavalier happily cheered, "She's super duper smart!"

"And beautiful!" Sanji chimed in.

"Yeah! And beautiful!" Cavalier agreed.

"Shut up!" Nami shouted at them, her face turning slightly red in embarrassment.

Gan Fall chuckled and reached into a pocket he had underneath his armour. He proceeded to pull out a silver whistle from it and tossed it over to Luffy who caught it instantly.

"One whistle," Gan Fall said, "Blow this whistle and I shall assist you if danger comes afoot. Usually, it will cost you 50,000,000 Extol per whistle, but, since you are new here, I will give your first whistle for free as a gift. Use the whistle at any time and I will hear it."

"Wow! Really?" Chopper gasped as he and Luffy admired the whistle, "That's kind of you."

"Well then," Gan Fall coughed as he turned around and head back to Pierre, "I must take my leave. I hope you all will have a safe journey."

"Oh, do you have to?" Cavalier questioned, "I was just about to make you and Pierre some tea."

Gan Fall looked over his shoulder at him and raised an eyebrow, "I am not aware of this...tea... you speak of, but I will have to turn down your offer. The White Sea is vast and full of dangers. I am very short of time," he turned around and mounted the giant bird as his cape fluttered in the air, "Did I tell you about my noble steed, Pierre? He is, of course, no ordinary bird. In his past, he had eaten the Horse Horse Fruit. Which means he can become a winged horse!"

Before their eyes, Pierre began to change form, much to their surprise.. His avian form suddenly grew longer, his neck extended and his beak grew thicker into a snout. From his body, two more legs sprouted out and ended in sharp hooves while his tail feathers began to grow and swish around like long hair. His wings moved so it grew out of his back and rose high above them elegantly.

"No way!" Nami gasped in joy, "It's a Pegasus!?"

"That's right!" Gan Fall declared as his horse majestically stood on its hind legs, "A Pegasus!"

"KIYYYAAAAHHHHH!" Pierre half squawked and half neighed.

The Straw Hats crew sweat dropped. Pierre the Pegasus was a little...off in his appearance. He still had his pink and purple poke dot colour and his face was ugly and misshapen. Visually and audibly, he was far from the elegant Pegasus they had hoped he would be.

'What a weird animal?' they thought as they stared at it.

"Aww, what a cute bird horse animal thing," Cavalier happily said.

"We are looking at the same purple polka-dotted Pegasus, right?" Usopp asked him.

Pierre turned and half trotted and half flew away with Gan Fall on his back.

"Farewell adventures!" Gan Fall cried before they both disappeared into the wispy clouds.

They stood in silence for a few seconds as they tried to comprehend what they had just encountered. Not only was there wildlife living in the clouds, but there were people as well. One of them wanted to attack them while the other wanted to protect them, albeit for a small and reasonable priced fee. The whole realisation shocked them to the core.

"I don't believe it," Cavalier uttered in shock; breaking the silence between them.

"You're telling me," Usopp muttered as he rubbed the back of his head, "This is all hard to take in."

"He had never heard of tea," Cavalier added with a small frown, "How awful."

The whole crew gave him a deadpanned look which he didn't notice. Instead, he clicked his fingers and grinned in determination.

"I guess I'll just have to introduce it to them. How brilliant would that be? I'm sure they'll be chuffed to bits."

"You really are the avatar of positivity," Usopp grumbled.

"Anyway," Robin said, catching their attention, "As interesting as that was, he didn't tell us a lot. We have yet to find a way to go further up."

"You're right. What are we going to do?"

...

...

...

"I'm going to blow the whistle now and bring him back."

"LUFFY NO!"

---

White Sea

Sailing across the fluffy White Sea felt like a dream to the crew.

The ship's hull cut through the clouds as easily as water and the whips of clouds swirled around them in a dazzlingly display. The sunlight made the area sparkle and twinkle and added to its wonder.

Of course, it wasn't smooth sailing. Their path was often blocked by large clouds in their way and, after some tests involving Luffy punching the clouds, they were too dense and soft to pass through. This surprised them; why were these clouds different from all the other ones they had encountered? They, however, didn't ponder too long on it as these clouds did make excellent trampolines.

It was a little less than an hour later when Cavalier finally spotted something (whilst doing a tumble turn on one of the clouds). In the distance, rising from the sea of clouds to the cloud cover above, was a large waterfall a hundred meters wide and at least a mile long made entirely of (you guessed it) more clouds. Clouds of all kinds, shapes and sizes; cascading down it before splashing at the foot of it and sinking into one big mass as the bottom. The top was too covered up for them to see where it was coming from, but they did find an arch gate situated at the foot of the cloud-fall.

The gate was wide and large with the entrance resembling that of a rising sun on the horizon with its six points and shimmering pain. A row of columns held the arch up from the inside which were then situated on a stone platform on either side of the arch. Above the entrance of the gate were the words, in big and bold letter, 'Heaven's Gate'.

"This seems like the place," Cavalier said with his hands still covering his mouth, "I wonder how that stone is staying up on all those clouds."

Usopp shivered at the sight of it, "This is a bad omen. It's like we're going to die."

"Yeah, that's unexpected. Maybe we're actually dead," Zoro joked.

"Might explain this whole place, huh?" Sanji added.

Usopp glared back at them, "Stop saying that! We're not dead!"

"Heaven! That's funny!" Luffy snorted, "Guess we can get in after all!"

Cavalier looked at him puzzlingly, "Oh? Why's that? What's this heaven you guys are referring to?"

"We literally have no time to explain to you the concept of heaven right now," Nami sighed before she spotted something on the stone platforms beneath the arch gate, "Look somebody's there."

Beneath the stone archways on the platform was possibly the oldest woman they had ever seen in their lives. She was short and plump with greyish purple hair that was tied up into two buns. Her skin was wrinkled and her black eyes were sunken into her skull; her lips were so small that it looked like didn't have any. She wore a light pink dress that went down to her knees and had a pair of white wings on her back. The old woman hobbled towards the edge of the platform and raised a strange looking camera to her face and snapped a few photographs at them as soon as they were close enough, much to their confusion.

"Are you here for sight-seeing?" she asked as she snapped a few more photos, "or...here to fight?"

"Who is she?" Usopp questioned as he scratched his head.

"Don't know," Luffy shrugged, "Negotiator, I choose you!"

Hearing this, Cavalier pumped his fists in the air, "Woohoo! Meeting new people!" he cheered as he skipped over to the side of the ship and called out to the old woman, "Hello, my name is Cavalier! It's a pleasure to meet you! Love the camera, I have a friend that has one almost like that," he called out, "We just come up here from...well, down below and to answer your question...I say sight-seeing."

The old woman lowered the camera and stared at the ship with her sleepy eyes, "Sight-seeing, eh? Hmm, I suppose it doesn't matter overall. If you want to go up, each person must pay one billion Extol entrance fee. That's the law."

Cavalier turned back around to his crew, "She says we have to pay eight billion Extol."

"We still have no idea what Extol is," Nami sighed, "We don't even know what is that in Berry. Cav, be a dear, and try and get her to lower the price of the entrance fee, would you."

"Right o!"

Zoro gave her a look, "You really think he can do that. Didn't she just say it was the law?"

Cavalier looked back at the elderly woman, "Is it alright if we can lower the fee a tiny bit?" he asked politely, "We're a little short on Extol at the moment."

The woman stayed silent for a few seconds before she gave a lazy shrug, "Sure. You can still go up without paying."

"Seriously!?" Usopp yelled in shock.

"I thought you said it was the law!? That was far too easy!" Zoro yelled at her.

Nami, however, whooped for joy, "Well done, negotiator. Another negotiation well negotiated! And we don't have to pay a single thing."

Cavalier hummed and tilted his head to the side, "I feel bad for not paying. Are you sure we can't give you anything instead. I've got seashells and-"

"Cav! Stop!" Nami and Usopp shouted at him before it was too late.

"Oh, right o."

The elderly woman shrugged again, "You don't have to go up at all if you don't want to," she said, catching their attention, "I'm not a guard. Nor am I soldier. I just want to know your...intentions."

There was something slightly off in her tone. It was as if she was hiding something in her words, but what it was or what she had meant was not apparent to them and so they decided to ignore it for now.

"Oh, well if you insist," Cavalier said unsurely as he straightened his large hat on top of his head, "So...how do we get up this here cloud-fall."

As if by magic, two large things burst out of the clouds beneath their ship and clamp themselves onto its sides. They spun around in surprise and found that they had been trapped by two very large red claws that were the same size of the Merry. At first they thought it was some sort of attack and immediately went on the defensive. However, the old woman merely nodded and gave a small hum.

"It's only the White Sea's special Speedy Shrimp," she explained, "It will take you up the Milky Road up to the White White Sea."

"The what seaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh!" Usopp screamed as the Speedy Shrimp lifted the Merry into the air and zipped forwards towards the cloud-fall.

They clung onto the anything they could get their hands on as the Speedy Shrimp began to swim up it; even as their path began to go vertically up and then spiral around and around, the Speedy Shrimp didn't stop for a single second.

Cavalier laughed as he held onto the ship's railing with one hand while the other still covered his mouth. However, as they were continuing upwards, he couldn't help but look back down where the old woman had been. He frowned slightly as he watched her pull another seashell from her pocket and talk into it, but they had already entered the clouds ahead for him to see anything else, He sensed something strange going on with that woman, but there was little to nothing he could do now.

Instead he was completely focused on what was up ahead. Especially, as they were continuing up the Milky Road, they happened to pass a sign. Written clearly in big red letters on a white background were the words:

'Godland Skypiea'

---

Skypiea

FWOOOSSSSHHHH SPLASH!

The Milky Road ended abruptly and they were tossed unceremoniously through a hole in the clouds by the Speedy Shrimp. The Merry flew for a few seconds before it splashed down on more sea clouds, much to their relief.

However, there was something different about this sea. It was much calmer; more smoother than the cloud sea below. They also noticed how much cooler it was up. Down below, the sun beat down at them without any hindrance, but now they felt a gentle breeze roll over them and now they were comfortably warm.

Cavalier was the first to jump up onto his feet and look around. He starred straight ahead towards the figurehead and gasped in absolute wonder...before remembering that he couldn't breath and immediately placed his hands over his mouth before he could pass.

"Chaps!" He happily cried, "It's absolutely bloomin' marvellous!"

And he was not exaggerating. The Sky Island was spectacular; it was as if it came straight out of a fairy tale. A mountain of large fluffy white clouds stuck out from the cloud sea, stacking up as tall as mountain. Green vegetation of large palm trees, spiky bushes and twisting vines wound their way across the island's outskirts and in the gardens of the large buildings. An entire town rested on the large mountainous clouds and hopefully filled with people like Gan Fall or the old woman at Heaven's Gate; they might be able to get some more information about the Sky Island there. The buildings, of all shapes and sizes, seemed to look like they were made of stone, but they were not too sure at this distance. Nonetheless, after much preparation and difficulties, they had finally proven the legends are true.

Sky Islands do exist.

They wasted no time and docked at the closest beach to them. Jumping on the shore of the Sky Island, they soon realised how different it was to an island from where they are from. The sand (if you could call it that) was soft and springy which made it fun to jump and skip on it which was exactly what Luffy, Usopp and Chopper were doing.

"Woohoo! This is fun!"

"It's so soft!"

"Sky Islands are the best!"

Cavalier leapt off the side of the ship and landed on the beach as well. Using one hand, he prodded the white sand in awe before looking up and down the shore.

"This is amazing. I have never seen anything like this before," he remarked.

"I don't think anybody has," came the cool voice of Robin as she and Nami approached after disembarking as well, "This is quite a sight."

"You're telling me," Nami sighed, "This is like paradise. It's been ages since I've been to a proper beach."

Cavalier turned around and smiled at them warmly. In the few minutes that they had docked, they had changed out of the clothes that had been wearing and into something more casual. Robin now wore a yellow vest top which showed off her shoulder, dark purple trousers and black heeled shoes. Nami, meanwhile, wore a blue and white cloud-patterned bikini top and a pair of brown shorts that went down past her knees while her Lop Post was still on her wrist. Cavalier felt a jolt of happiness run down his spine as soon as he saw them; of course, he didn't know what it meant and so he interpreted it that he was really happy to see them in new clothes.

"Wow! You got changed," he said as smiled brightly beneath his hands, "You both look gorgeous."

Nami rolled her eyes at his antics, although her cheeks did turn a little red. Robin, on the other hand, gave a small mature chuckle.

"Why, thank you. We thought it was appropriate because of the weather."

"Aren't you hot in that, Cav?" Nami asked curiously eyeing his cloak, "Maybe you should change as well."

"What? No way!" he cried, "What if my family sees me without it on and don't recognise me from my wanted poster! They won't know it's me!"

"Yeah, but Cav..." Nami was about to say before she sighed, "Okay, fine. But if you get too hot then I'm taking it away from you."

"Okay," he chirped, "Anyway, I wanted to ask you about the sign as we were coming up," he said with a small frown, "What did it say?"

"I was just about to raise that topic myself," Robin said, "Skypiea. The same name that was on the map we found on the wreck."

"Then that confirms it," Nami happily said, "That galleon did go up to the Sky Island two hundred years ago and now so have we," she knelt down and scooped some of the sand and allowed it to flow through her fingers, "This place is beautiful. I know I was giving everybody grief...but I'm glad we're up here now," she softly said before a competitive grin spread across her face, "HA! In your face, losers in the bar! The Sky Island is real!"

"That's the spirit," Cavalier laughed before he looked around the area, 'Strange...the map depicted Skypiea as a bit more...forest-y. Are we sure this is the right place?' he thought curiously.

He turned back to Nami and Robin, hoping to talk more about it, when he noticed something about them. He hummed and cocked his head to the side in intrigue as he gazed towards them and then down at himself before back at their chest area.

"You know, I just noticed how very different men and women are," he pointed out without a single hint of hesitation.

Nami stiffened at what he said. She looked down at her where he was looking before turning beet red.

"W-what do you mean?" she stammered while Robin leaned close to her ear.

"It would seem he's learning from you," she told her in a slight mischievous tone.

"What!?" Nami yelled in shock before she snapped her head back to Cavalier and covered her chest with her arms, "Cav, I know you're new to this, but it's really rude to stare."

"Oh, is it?" he questioned innocently, "But I just wanted to say..."

"Cav no!"

"...that women..."

"Don't say boo-"

"...don't have the weird lumps in their throats like men do," he finished, making Nami face fault.

Robin chuckled in slight amusement, "Very good. They're called laryngeal prominence or an Adam's apple, Cavalier."

"Oh really? How interesting!" he chirped before he began to skip away, "Anyway, I'm going to explore and then make a sandcastle. Bye!"

As Cavalier merrily went away, Nami felt to her hands and knees and gave a deep sigh, "Robin," she said seriously, "I'm genuinely worried about him being let loose in the wild. You know, amongst other human beings."

The older woman merely patted her shoulder reassuringly, "Don't worry. I guess we need to teach him as much as possible on how to be normal."

"Sounds exhausting."

"Nami-swan! Robin-swan!" Sanji yelled as he skipped happily over towards them with love hearts in his eyes, "You both look beauti-"

THWACK!

"NOT IN THE MOOD!" Nami roared as she slammed her fist into Sanji's head.

For the next few minutes, the Straw Hats explored the beach. Luffy and Usopp were inspecting some strange green pumpkins they had found in a tree, Nami and Chopper had found some loungers made of clouds underneath a gazebo and were resting on them, Sanji was off exploring for wild flowers in the grove that lined the beach while Zoro and Robin were calmly standing around and taking the scenery in.

Cavalier was deep in the bushes, busy exploring for more seashells to add to his collection. For some reason, he couldn't find any on the shore. Usually, he could pick up at least a dozen of really pretty ones, but there didn't seem to be any. So, instead, he decided to look in the grove behind the beach.

"Let's see," he mumbled to himself, "If I was a seashell, where would I be?"

"Suu- Suu-"

"Hmm, that's a good point," he said in response before he remembered that he should be alone right now.

He looked around and saw, to his absolute joy, a fluffy animal staring curiously up at him. It resembled a fox with its bushy tail and its pointed ears. However, it had a narrow snout that was almost pointed, narrow eyes and snow white fur all over its body. The animal cocked his head up at him and he did the same. The fox, deciding eventually that he wasn't a threat, nuzzled his legs in greeting.

"Aww! You're so cute!" he squealed as he stroked its fluffy head with one hand, "Hello, my name is Cavalier. It's a pleasure to meet you. I like your fur and how adorable you are," he greeted happily, "Do you mind if I introduce you to my friends? They'll just love you."

"Suu- Suu-" the fox creature is squeaked before he leapt into Cavalier's arm and allowed itself to be carried away.

Cavalier immediately made a bee-line towards Nami who, along with Chopper, were still relaxing on the cloud sun loungers. He zipped up next to Nami and held up the fox creature for her to see.

"Nami, can we keep this chap?" he asked, "It's adorable and I love it."

The navigator opened one eye and took into the creature who was happily sitting in his hand. She had to admit, it was adorable, but there was no way they were going to keep it.

"Sorry Cav," she sighed, "raising an animal on a ship takes a lot of work. Besides, we already have a pet."

"Please, I promise I look after them," he pleaded.

"Suu- Suu-"

"Wait!" Chopper suddenly yelled as he gave Nami a glare, "Who the hell are you calling a pet!"

Before any more words could be exchanged, their attention was suddenly caught by the sound of soft music. The sweet melody made them stop and listen carefully to the angelic tune; each note seemed to fill them with a gentle calmness. They looked around and saw a beautiful young woman standing on a cloud further down the beach, playing her harp expertly as if she had played her entire life.

She was a slim and dainty person with long blond hair that was both tied down in two long pig-braids while two strands stood straight up into what looked like antennae. She looked to be in her late teens with fair skin, an oval shaped face with soft facial features which made her look angelic. She wore thigh-length pink dress with a black floral print on the front as well as purple and pink striped sandals. Like the old lady and the warrior they encountered,she also had a pair of white wings on her back to which Cavalier wondered if they were real.

She slowed her tune to a stop and opened her dark green eyes down towards them. She smiled softly and warmly in greeting.

"Heso," she said as she climbed down from the cloud and onto the beach, "Are you all from the Blue Sea, per chance?"

"Whoa!" Luffy cried out in astonishment, "There are people living up here!"

"Of course, there are. Didn't you see the buildings?" Usopp pointed out.

"No way," Sanji gasped as he stood beside Cavalier, "It's a real life angel. They do exist," he sighed as his eyes, once again, turned into her hearts.

"Oh, she's an angel?" Cavalier said before he zipped towards the newcomer and offered her a friendly look "Hello Miss Angel. My name is Cavalier. It's a pleasure to meet you. I love your wings. Are they real?"

The young woman giggled at that, "Angel? Oh my, I wouldn't say that."

"Damn it! Cav! That was my line!" Sanji furiously yelled.

She then looked down at his arms and smiled when she saw the fox creature still resting there, "Oh, you made a new friend, Su," she said as the animal, now known as Su, leapt into her open arms and nuzzled her cheek, "She usually doesn't let strangers pick her up. She must think you're really special, Cavalier."

Sanji gritted his teeth in anger, "If only I found Su first. Damn it!" he cried before a sharp look from Nami shut him up.

"Do you live here?" Luffy asked as the others gathered around.

"Yes, I do," she answered, "This place is called Angel Beach. I've lived here my whole life," she said before she noticed the pumpkin in his arms, "Oh, do you want to drink it? Allow me," she said as she put Su down and took the pumpkin. She then produced a knife from her pocket and began to cleave a hole right at the base of it, "The exterior is as hard as steel, but if you go from the bottom," the flicked the knife and a piece of the pumpkin flew out and landed somewhere nearby, "Here you go. Enjoy."

Luffy took back the pumpkin and quickly began to drink its juice from the hole, "DELICIOUS!" he yelled as his eyes lit up in joy before he began to guzzle more of the juice.

The young woman smiled softly before she picked Su back up, "My name is Conis. Welcome to Skypiea, Blue Sea dwellers."

"We have so many questions to ask you," Nami said as she stepped closer, "This place is just so...wonderful."

"Well, I'll try my best to answer..." she trailed off when they heard a loud rumbling noise like that from a motor and instantly turned to the sea, "Oh, my father is back."

They looked around as well and saw a figure riding on top of the sea clouds rapidly. He seemed to be man of average height with no hair on his head, expect for the two strands that stuck straight up like antennae, and looked to be in his mid-fifties. He had dark, shrewd eyes and a large puffy beard that covered up the lower half of his face. He wore a mustard yellow tunic with a wavy dark green pattern trailing up it and, like his daughter and apparently everybody from Skypiea, a pair of white wings on his back.

He skimmed and zoomed across the cloud sea on a device that looked like a small wooden boat with a large keel that cut through the clouds easily. But it also had a single steering handle at the front and a large engine at the back which was giving the device its speed. The man rode on the device towards them with a large fishing basket on his back, filled with today's sky fish catch.

"Conis!" the man called as he zoomed closer towards them, "Heso! I am back!"

"Heso, father!" Conis called back with a friendly wave.

"Ooo, what's heso?" Cavalier asked her.

"It our way of greeting people," she answered politely.

"A new way of greeting people! Brilliant!" he said excitedly before waving towards the man, "Heso, Conis' dad!"

The man looked over and noticed the others and, unwisely, let one hand go off the steering handle to wave back, "Heso, new people-woah!" he suddenly shouted as the vehicle he was on veered out of control.

He rode onto the beach, flew over the sand and then crashed painfully into the tree groves behind them. He was thrown off the device and slammed into a nearby tree before falling onto the sand with a pained grunt. They watched him for a few seconds as he tried his best to get up, his arms shaking beneath him as he raised himself up.

"Is anybody hurt?" he asked meekly.

"Ask yourself that first!"

Judging by the lack of reaction from Conis, they could tell that this was a rather frequent occurrence and perhaps it wasn't necessary to worry too much.

However, Nami was more focused on the device he was riding. She gave it a curious look before turning to Luffy who was still gulping down the pumpkin juice.

"Hey, isn't that like that thing you recovered from the wreckage? The bicycle-looking thing?"

"Oh yeah," Luffy said as he tilted his head, "It kinda does."

"This is a waver," Conis explained, "It's one of the many forms of transportation we use in Skypiea," she said before looking towards her father, "Are you alright? Any injuries this time?"

"Not this time, I'm afraid," the man said as he got to his feet, "Just a couple of bruises. Are they your friends, Conis?"

"Yes, I just met them. They come all the way from the Blue Sea."

"The Blue Sea, hmm. It's been a long time since the last Blue Sea dweller appeared," he mused, "Heso, my name is Pagaya. You've come just in time. I just finished fishing. I've caught the most delicious food in the White White Sea. Please come to our home and I'll treat you to some Sky Island cuisine."

"Food!?" Luffy shouted in excitement, "No way! Thanks!"

"You're going to make Sky Island cooking? Please let me help," Sanji said, equally as excited by for a slightly different reason.

"Before we go," Nami said as she pointed towards the device, now known as a waver, "Can I ask you a few questions about how this thing works? There's no sail...or paddles."

Conis blinked in surprise, "Oh, don't you know what a dial is?"

"A dial?"

"It is what powers the ever," Pagaya said, pointing towards the engine at the back, "If you like, you can have a go on it."

---

Two Minutes Later

---

One quick lesson later and Nami had taken to the sea aboard the waver. She laughed joyfully as she zoomed and skipped over the waves of clouds with expert precision, darting left and right and in circles as if she had been riding it her whole life. Other than when she's making her maps or tending to her tangerine trees, Cavalier had never seen her this happy before; she was simply a natural at riding on the waver. Pagaya and Conis were in awe while the rest of the crew was encouraging her on...well, all except one.

"Hey Nami! It's my turn! Let me have a go!" Luffy yelled angrily as he shook his fists at her, "Stop being so greedy!"

Nami smirked towards him as she skidded across the clouds, "Ha! No way! This is so awesome! Controlling it takes skill. Skills that you don't have," she said as she stuck her tongue at him.

Luffy turned to Cavalier and pointed towards her demandingly, "Negotiator, tell her to come back."

"No can do, captain," he replied much to his disbelief, "Let her have some fun. Besides, us Devil Fruit users run the risk of falling in and drowning. Maybe it's best to stay away."

"I'm not going to fall in!"

"Well, that is rather exceptional," Pagaya said as he rubbed the back of his head, "In order to utilise the power, the hulls of the wavers are made very light. So even the smallest wave will cause it to turn. Thus one must understand the sea very well or at least able to predict it. Please pardon me."

"I only just managed it myself and I started learning when I was a little girl."

"That long!" Chopper gasped in surprise.

"I guess that means our navigator is one of a kind," Robin stated calmly.

"She's the best!" Sanji sighed in a love sick manner.

Nami skidded to a stop near the shore and wave towards them, "You guys go on ahead and start lunch. Can I play a little longer on this, mister?"

"Of course, but be careful," Pagaya replied before he gestured towards the hills behind them, "Please follow us. Our house is not too far away."

Conis and Pagaya began to lead them all across the beach towards a set of stairs cut into the cloud hill that will lead them to their sea-view house further up. However, Luffy stayed behind and put his thumbs down at Nami as she zipped away across the cloud sea.

"Boo! Sink already!" Luffy shouted at her.

"Are you a kid!" Sanji shouted at him.

---

Pagaya's and Conis' Abode

With Nami still out somewhere on the waver, the father and daughter brought the crew up to their house further up the cloud hill. It was a lovely house with large rooms, a nice kitchen that Sanji thought was decent enough and a living room with a balcony that overlooked Angel Beach below. While Sanji and Cavalier were busy in the kitchen, Conis was showing the others a strange purple shell as they all sat on the cloud sofas.

The captain looked over it with a scrutinising look, wondering what on earth could be so special about this particular shell, when Conis urged him to speak into it. He shrugged and raised the shell to his mouth.

"Usopp is stupid!" he decalred.

"Why me!?" Usopp yelled at him disbelief.

Conis giggled in amusment, "Okay, now pressed the apex on the shell."

"The what?"

"It's the pointy end."

"Oh," Luffy uttered before he pressed down on the shell's apex which sunk slightly into the shell.

To their surpirse, the shell spoked back to them.

'Usopp is stupid! Why Me!'

"Whoa!" Luffy yelled in shock, "this shell just insulted Usopp!"

"You're the one who insulted me!" Usopp yelled crossly at him.

"It's called a dial," Conis explained as Luffy played it again and again to his enjoyment and Usopp's annoyance, "That one in particular is called a tone dial. It can record sound and broadcast it later. It's a special shell that is only found in the White White Sea."

Zoro leaned back in his chair and raised an eyebrow at her, "There's no bottom in that sea. How do those things even survive?"

"We usually get them washed ashore on the beach."

"If this is what a dial is..." Robin spoke up from her seat, "...I don't understand how it can power the waver."

"Oh no, it's not quite like that," Conis said calmly, "The waver's power source is the breath dial. If you put it facing the wind for half an hour, it will be able to release half an hour worth of wind. The size of the storage is dependent on the size of the dial, but by placing it at the end of the ship, it can easily power the ship. Of course, it doesn't have to be a waver. There are many different models like ships, jet boards..."

Cavalier poked his head out of the kitchen, "Oh, like the skate shoes things."

Conis blinked at him, "Skate shoes?" she murmured, "Oh, you mean shooters. Yes, those as well. But we don't usually use those around here."

"Shooters, huh? Okay great," he happily said.

"Um, my boy," Pagaya spoke up, "I'm sorry to ask you this, but why do you have your mouth covered with your hand?"

"Oh this," Cavalier said he gestured to his hand, "It's so I don't die."

"Huh?"

"Cav has much larger lungs than us so he's suffering from the lack of oxygen up here," Chopper explained, "He has the power to steal things around him and so his stealing the air into his hand and inhaling it from there."

"Oh dear," Pagaya uttered as he scratched his head, "That won't do."

He proceeded to pick up a brown dial, about the size of his hand, from the coffee table and held it up towards Cavalier.

"You can use this breath dial as an inhaler, if you prefer. It would help you recover from your Blue Sea Sickness," he told him as Cavalier took the breath dial, "Oh, I must warn you, the breath dial is quite strong so don't-"

Before he could finish his sentence, Cavalier had already raised the dial to his mouth and pressed the apex, letting loose a gale wind for him into inhale. He intook all of it until his lungs were at full capacity and let loose a small sigh.

"Phew, thank you! Now I can use both hands now," he chirped before he went back into the kitchen.

"...Quite a strange one, isn't he?" Pagaya said.

"Father," Conis gebtly scolded.

"Oh no, it's fine," Usopp told them, "We too think he's strange...but strange in a good way," he told them as the other pirates nodded in agreement, "You know, all this talk about dials reminds of the waver we found. It's totally wrecked, but is there a chance it can be fixed."

"Yeah! Then I can have a go on it!" Luffy cried out enthusiastically.

"Of course. The dial itself is a corpse so as long as the shell isn't broken it should still run," Conis said.

"Woohoo!"

"But you still not good enough to ride it, Luffy. Even if it is working."

"Aww."

Conis smiled gently at their interest, "There are other dials as well. Lamp dials store and emit light, flavour dials can store smells and aromas and vision dials can record images. Though not a direct form of resource, Sky Island culture is powered by dial power. Without it, we won't be able to light our homes or cook are food or even cross the White White Sea."

"How fascinating," Robin calmly said, "I would love to investigate more of your culture. Perhaps you can show us around."

For some reason, Conis and Paguya shared a slightly concerned look form across the living room as if deciding if what she was suggesting was a good idea. After a split second of silent conversation, Conis gave an uneasy smile in reply.

"Well...I suppose we can-"

At that moment, however, Cavalier waltzed into the living room whilst carrying a tray of nine cups of tea and one cup of coffee. He placed the tray down on the small table in the middle of the room and smiled happily.

"Tea chaps?" he asked between using the time to use his new wind dial inhaler, "Sanji said that it was alright to have a small appetiser before he serves lunch."

Pagaya and Conis looked down at the cups curiously.

"Um...tea?" Conis questioned, "Is this a Blue Sea beverage."

"Yep," he chirped, "Heard you chaps didn't have any so I brought some up from down below. After all, what better way to make friends than over tea."

Zoro stared down at the cups with a frown before giving Cavalier a small glare, "Hey, Cav...we travelled up all the way from the surface, risking our lives in the process, and you bringing tea was your top priority."

"No," he simply said, "Not just tea. I brought coffee up for Robin so she doesn't feel left out."

"Thank you, Cavalier," Robin kindly said.

The Watchman smiled happily at that but then his eyes fell on the last cup on the tray before turning towards the balcony and the White White Sea beyond"

"I was rather hoping Nami would be back by now," he said, "Do you think she's alright?"

"She's fine. She's still on the sea ain't she?" Luffy questioned.

Cavalier walked over to the balcony and searched the entire sea stretched out before them, "I can't see her. I think Nami has sailed too far."

"So what. She's just a little far out. She's fine," Zoro shrugged

Most of the crew seemed calm about this, but Conis and Pagaya actually looked concerned. A bead of sweat appeared on the man's bald head while Conis' gentle smile left her lips for the first time they had met her.

"Father...will it be alright?" she asked in worry.

"Ooh Conis, I have a bad feeling about this," he mumbled as he scratched the back of his head.

Luffy looked up at them and raised an eyebrow, "Huh? What's wrong?"

"W-well," Conis stammered nervously, her hands starting to ball into tight fists, "In Skypiea, there is one place...where no one should enter. That place is very close to this island. By waver, one can reach there very fast."

"And what place would that be?" Robin asked after a sip of her coffee.

Conis gulped, "It's the Holy Land...Upper Yard," she told them, "It's forbidden for anybody to go there."

"Upper Yard?" Luffy muttered, "You think that's where Nami is?"

"I hope not," Pagaya said, "Perhaps we should send somebody out to find her."

"But Nami took our only waver," Conis said.

To their surprise, Cavalier appeared in front of them suddenly and held out the skate, now known as a shooter, out to them.

"If you have another one of these I can nip out for a bit," he said with a polite smile, "Would that be alright?"

---

White White Sea

Cavalier skipped and flew across the cloud sea on his new shooters. He laughed joyfully as the wind rushed through his long silvery hair and watched the tufts of fluffy clouds fly up from behind him and float up into the blue sky above. He couldn't help but do a few sautés, leaps and backflips on the way there; every single one of them was executed perfectly as if he was a professional ice skater.

He was having so much fun.

"This is amazing!" he yelled as he performed an axel jump and land perfectly on the sea clouds, "I love this so much! It's a shame Luffy can't experience this."

---

Angel Beach

Meanwhile...

"It's not faaaaaaaiiiiiiirrrrrrr!" Luffy wailed childishly as he pounded his fist on the sand.

Usopp rolled his eyes, "Just get over it, would you."

---

White White Sea

Cavalier continued to whoop for joy and dance on the clouds before he remembered the reason why he was out here in the first place.

"No, focus Cavalier. I have to find Nami and tell her that lunch is ready," he scolded himself before he scanned the horizon of the cloud sea, "But I don't see her at all. This is slightly worrying," he hummed with a small frown, "All I can see is that forest over there and nothing else."

...

...

...

"...wait. Forest?"

He turned around again and spotted it again. Dotted on the horizon was what seemed to be a green forest sticking out of the sea clouds like an island. He hummed curiously and approached it to get a better look.

He must have been at least hundreds meters away before he finally registered what it was. It was defiantly a forest; a giant one filled with huge trees that stretched up the sky and thick vines that wove its way through them. Amongst the tree trunks as large as buildings there were thick bushes of vegetation. Everything from ferns, grass, bushes and palm trees filled the area, making it difficult to navigate through.

What was curious about it, however, was that it wasn't situated on a cloud, but on land. Land with rich, black soil and hard rock embedded in it. This was not something you would expect several miles up from the actual ground down below, so why was it all the way up here?

Cavalier studied the dark shade that large leaves casted keenly and stared right into the thick forest as far as he could. There was something rather foreboding about this forest; as if something wasn't quite right about it. It emitted a dangerous aura that would make the bravest of people cautious.

Something was in that forest. Something that wasn't supposed to be there.

Cavalier, however, didn't not mind the aura and focused on the forest itself with curiosity.

"Strange," he muttered as he tilted his head to the side, "This forest seems...familiar. Have I met it before?" he wondered out loud.

Suddenly, he heard shouts of panic and whipped his head around. Further along the coast of the strange forest, he spotted Nami on her waver staring up at something in the forest. He gasped and made his way towards her, happy to finally have seen her.

"Nami! There you are! We were worrying about-"

"PLEASE HELP ME! LET ME ON YOUR WAVER!"

His shouts were cut off by the sound of someone bellowing in fear at Nami. He slowed the shooters down and stopped a few meters behind her as finally saw what she was staring at.

On the edge of the forest was a bloodied and bruised man crawling his way towards her. He looked exhausted and in pain as if he had just escaped from a vicious battle. He reached out to Nami pleadingly, his eyes filled with absolute terror.

"YOU HAVE TO LET ME ON! TAKE ME AWAY! I DON'T WANT THE GOLD ANYMORE! I JUST WANT TO GO HOME!"

Nami hesitated for a few seconds and gulped nervously, "I'm sorry. I don't think it can fit more than one person!" she shouted back, clearly not knowing what to do.

"JUST LET ME ON! BEFORE HE KILLS ME!"

Cavalier zoomed up next to Nami, surprising her in the process. She was so distracted by the man that she didn't even notice he was there.

"Everything alright?" he asked, "Who's your friend?"

The man looked towards him and then down at his shooters, "What!? Shooters!? Are you a Shandorian?" he asked in confusion.

However, his question was not answered as a loud noise caught their attention. It sounded like the buzzing of electricity, but a thousand times louder. There was a sharp, acidic ozone smell in the air; the same thing you would smell before a thunder storm; and the air seemed fizzle and crackle around them. The man looked up in fear while Cavalier and Nami looked up in confusion to what it was. Above them was a bright bolt of pure light several hundreds of meters wide and long, looming over them. It was bright white in colour and it shone so brightly that it was hard for them to keep their eyes open. However, if they looked closely, they could see that was made of hundreds upon thousands of sparking, fizzing, crackling, exploding burning electricity.

It was one gigantic lighting bolt...and it was hovering right above their heads.

"Enel's judgement," the man whimpered as the lighting shone so brightly that he could barely see, "Forgive me, God! I'm sorry! I will never do it again! Forgive me! HAVE MERCY!" he screamed.

And then, like the axe of an executioner...

...the giant bolt of lightning fell down on them.

---

That's it for now. Thanks so much for reading.

Not much to say other than the fact that we've officially started the Sypiea arc. Please tell me if I'm wrong, but I'm fairly sure they didn't have tea in Skypiea, so I thought I would have Cavalier to be the one to introduce it.

Fun fact about Cavalier; he makes the best tea and coffee. Not because he had practiced a lot, but because he puts a lot of love into brewing them for his friends. Using the same process, he also makes great buttered toast, chicken soup and any sort of comfort food.

This chapter took me a while to plan, but I hope you guys enjoyed all the same. Anyway, thanks again and I'll see you next time with...

Chapter 13: God's Realm

---

Omake - The Birds and The Bees...and Cavalier

Cabin, Going Merry

One peaceful day, Nami and Robin were sat at the table in the Merry's cabin.

The navigator was going over the crew's finances (since nobody else was willing to do it) while the archaeologist was, like always, reading a book. Nami had asked what she was reading a while ago, but the subject went over her head when Robin explained it to her; she decided to not ask any more questions after that and both engaged in idle chatter ever once while while they sipped their drinks.

Suddenly, the door to the cabin opened and they looked up in time to see Cavalier skip happily inside and sit himself at their table.

"Hello chaps. How are you doing?"

Robin smiled as she placed her cup of coffee down, "We're fine, Cavalier. How are you?"

"Happy."

"Should have predicted that," Nami good naturally sighed, not looking up from her calculations.

"Are you looking for more reading lessons?" Robin asked him, "I'll be happy to teach you in a few minutes."

"That's kind of you, but I actually wanted to ask you two about something."

Nami raised a curious eyebrow at him and sipped the glass of tangerine juice in her hand, "What is it?"

"Where do babies come from?"

Nami spat out her drink onto the floor while Robin's eyes widened in surprise. The two women stared at his innocent face before they shared a look as if they were silently asking each other if they heard correctly. Eventually, Robin cleared her throat daintily before turning to Cavalier with a small frown.

"Are you saying you don't know?"

"Well, I have some idea," Cavalier admitted, "I think I remembered something about it the other night and I just wanted to confirm it just to be sure. It could be a memory to my past."

Nami gulped, "R-right," she stammered, "Cav, do you mind plugging your ears with your fingers."

"No problem," he chirped as he did just that.

While he wasn't listening, Nami turned to Robin in slight panic, "What do we do!?"

"I think it's for the best if you explain it to him," Robin said as she closed her book, "It's better to get these things out of the way."

"Yeah, I guess you're rig- HEY! Why am I the one who has to do it!?"

Robin raised an inquisitive eyebrow at her, "Oh, don't you know either?"

"Of course, I do!"

"Then I suppose there's no reason why you can't explain it."

"I'm not going to explain to a twenty-year old where..." she trailed off and sighed wearily. Clearly, there was no way of getting out of this, "Okay, fine," she grumble reluctantly before turning to Cav, "Okay, Cav, listen up."

...

...

...

She rolled her eyes and signalled at him to take his fingers out of his ears.

"Hi, I'm back," he greeted.

"Yeah, great. Listen Cav," she told him seriously, "What ever you think it is, that's not where babies come from, okay? So, forget about it..."

"Right o."

"...now...I'm going to explain to you where babies really come from. And this is an adult conversation. We're going to take this seriously. And when I mean seriously...I mean seriously."

"You certainly sound serious," Robin remarked with a small amused smile.

Nami gave her a dry look before turning back to Cavalier with fiery determination in her eyes.

'Quick and painless. You've got this Nami,' she told herself before she took a deep breath, "You see, when a man and woman love each other very much..."

---

Twenty minutes later

---

"...and then the stork comes and delivers the baby into the crib and...that's...that's where babies come from," Nami finished lamely as she stared at her feet with her face bright red in embarrassment.

It was neither quick nor painless. Nami failed miserably.

Cavalier stared down at her in mixture of confusion and fascination and tilted his head to the side.

"So...babies come from...a factory run and organised by storks?" he questioned.

"Yes...apparently," Nami sighed as she pressed her hands over her face.

"And this factory is too far away to travel, but somehow not too far away for the storks to fly to?"

"...yeah."

"And this was established because of the baby shortage several decades ago caused by a war?"

Nami went off on a bit of a tangent halfway through.

She only gave a groan in reply.

Cavalier blinked at her before he shrugged and smiled, "Well, okay then. I have to admit that was surprising."

"I think it was surprising to all us," Robin remarked as she hid her amused smirk behind her coffee cup, "I particularly liked the part about the peace treaty between the Wold Government and the storks."

Nami looked up and gave her an annoyed scowl, "You could have stepped in at any time, you know?"

Robin gave a small chuckle, "I know."

"So, is this all true?" Cavalier asked, "Storks and everything?"

"Yes..." Nami sighed, "But if anybody asks, don't ever mentioned that story again," she half-pleaded, making Cavalier nod in understanding.

"Well, that's certainly interesting. What I originally thought wasn't even close to that," he admitted before he closed and grinned at them, "I thought it involved the infusing of a female ovum with a male sperm cell during sexual intercourse to create a zygote. The zygote then undergoes mitosis so more cells are formed; over time these cells will eventually form into either an embryo and the placenta. The mother's hormone levels and the placenta will help the embryo develop and grow inside the womb until, around thirty-nine weeks or nine months later, the baby will be fully formed and ready to be birthed through the mother's cervix. After the baby is born, it will be loved and cared for by their parents and they can be one happy family," he said without a single hesitation.

...

...

...

...

Nami's jaw dropped as she stared at him in disbelief.

"But now I know that's silly," Cavalier laughed and rubbed the back of his head, not noticing the look she was giving him, "There wasn't a single stork mentioned in that process. Gosh, do I fell stupid."

...

...

...

...

Nami accidentally let the glass of tangerine juice slip out of her hands and fall to the floor. Luckily, Cavalier caught it without spilling a single drop and placed it down on the table.

"Whoa, there. That was close," he said as got up from his chair, "Anyway. I must get going. I promised Chopper that I was going to play a board game with him. Laters!" he called out as he walked by then and out of the cabin.

The two left behind remained silently in shock. Neither of them knowing what to see or how to even react. Eventually, after picking her jaw up, Nami turned to Robin and fixed her an inquisitive, but confused look.

"Did you teach him-"

Robin shook her head.

"Then how did he-"

"I don't know."

Nami groaned and put her heads in her hands, her face was bright red in embarrassment, "I have to unexplain everything I told him someday."

"Do you want another drink?" Robin simply asked

"Do we have anything stronger?"

"You can get Sanji to make you a cocktail."

"That sounds nice," Nami hummed, her voice slightly muffled by her hands.