One Piece belongs to Eiichiro Oda
Kingdom Hearts characters belong to Square Enix and Disney
OCs belong to me.
-Chapter One Hundred and Nine-
"Okay, I think I've gotten used to it" Luffy said, quickly sitting back up to his full height as he hit his chest as if to prove that he was just fine.
"Yeah, I actually feel much better already" Zoro agreed as I couldn't help but chuckle at the sight of him and the rubber man acting as if they had already adjusted to the altitude like it meant absolutely nothing to them.
"I think they're trying to show off" I whispered to Nami who only hummed in agreement, a slight look of annoyance on her face as she stared the two men down.
"No, no, no—that's not possible" Sky Knight frowned with the shake of his head, clearly not buying into what Luffy and Zoro were telling him.
"So, Mr. Sky Knight, why was that guy running around in the clouds and attacking people?" Chopper curiously asked.
"Now, now, not so fast" Sky Knight said, quick to try and curve us all from asking any more questions. "No doubt you have many questions, but first, we have manners of business to discuss" he said.
"Business?" Nami echoed.
"What kind of business?" I asked, curiously tilting my head.
"You see, I am a soldier for hire—the White Sea can be dangerous" Sky Knight explained. "There are Guerrillas lurking about, like the one you just saw, who would like nothing more than to turn you into fish food for the Sky Fish" he continued. "But if you purchase a 50,000,000 extol One Whistle, I'll protect you" he offered.
"Huh? What are you talking about?" Luffy frowned as he, Sanji, and Zoro tilted their heads in confusion.
"Now listen, that price is quite reasonable, I can't afford to lower it a single extol more—I have to earn a living too" Sky Knight defended, already quick to deny any sort of haggling despite the fact that none of us were really asking him to lower the price at all.
"Yeah, but what the heck is an extol? And what's with this whistle thing or whatever?" Sanji asked.
"You don't know?" Sky Knight owlishly blinked. "I don't understand, you came here from the Summit of High West, didn't you?" he asked. "Surely you must have passed an island or two."
"I still don't know what you're talking about" Luffy admitted with a shrug.
"Sounds to me like you're telling us that there was another way up here" I frowned, crossing my arms.
"Wait, let me get this straight" Nami spoke up, her eyes narrowing after a second of thinking over what the man had said. "So you're saying there's another way we could have gone up here where we would have passed an island or two?" she questioned. "As in, there's more than one Sky Island?" she reiterated.
"What? Don't tell me you traveled by way of…" the old man trailed off in a sputter, a baffled look on his face.
"We rode up the Knock Up Stream" Robin answered.
"Yeah, and by the looks of it, we didn't have to" I said, examining the bewildered look the old man was giving us all.
"My word, that monstrous current? So there are still souls in the world brave enough to make the attempt?" Sky Knight muttered in disbelief.
"I knew it! So we risked our lives for nothing..." Nami heavily sighed, her shoulders slumping downwards as she started to silently cry. "Are you happy? We all could have been killed—if we had just asked around a little more we could have found a safer way to get here!" she angrily snapped, harshly shaking our captain back and forth as she chewed his head off.
"All that matters is the fact that we did make it in the end, so I guess that's something" I sighed as my shoulders slumped downward. "Though I agree with Nami, I would have rather taken the safer route than what we did..." I grumbled.
"Sky Island, scary..." Usopp shivered as tears now raced down his cheeks.
"Did you lose any of your crew?" Sky Knight worriedly asked.
"No, we all made it" Luffy shook his head.
"Then you should consider yourself fortunate, had you taken a different route, one or two of you would have survived the journey" Sky Knight admitted. "But the rest of you would have perished, that's the gamble" he casually shrugged. "By the way of the Knock Up Stream, either everyone dies or everyone survives—those are the only two possible outcomes. Not many are willing to accept that all-or-nothing risk...especially these days...if nothing else, I see now you are navigators of acceptable bravery and skill" he praised.
"Yeah, well I hate to take all the credit" Usopp grinned. "But, you see, when things got scary and these guys were all screaming and crying for their mommies..." Usopp began to boast which in return caused a growl to emit from the back of Nami's throat.
"Usopp, I think you should kindly shut your mouth" I said, slashing my hand across my throat and silently motioning for him to stop talking before he made things worse for himself. Instead of listening, I found myself ignored as he puffed out his chest and continued to babble.
"I was the one who stood up and said—nothing at all..." he was quick to grow quiet the minute Nami grabbed hold of his cheek and harshly began to yank on it.
"Thought so" she irritably huffed.
"Told you..." I muttered, rolling my eyes.
"This is the One Whistle" Sky Knight said, suddenly tossing a seemingly normal-looking whistle toward Nami's feet. "It is yours to use as you see fit—should you find yourselves in danger, you have but to blow it and I will come to your aid. As I said, normally I would charge you 50,000,000 extols—but for today, please accept this as my gift to you" he said.
"It just looks like a normal whistle" I remarked, bending down and picking up the whistle so that I could get a better look at it. Its metal surface felt cool to the touch as I curiously turned it around, examining it as if wanting to see if it was any different from the whistles down below.
"But wait, we still don't know your name" Nami frowned when she saw that the man was already getting ready to leave.
"I am Gan Fall and this is my partner, Pierre" Gan Fall said as he finally, and properly, introduced himself while also motioning towards the strange-looking bird at his side. "Despite his appearance, Pierre is no ordinary bird—long ago he ate of a Horse Horse Fruit and gained its power" he explained just as the bird's body started to grow and shift.
"What…what powers?" Sanji hesitantly asked.
"He is able to transform into a horse with wings, namely a—"
"Wow, a Pegasus!" Nami cut the old man off as she looked in awe at the prospect of seeing a real-life pegasus. I raised an eyebrow, quick to take my attention off of the whistle so that I could stare at the creature before us.
"Yes, a Pegasus" Gan Fall nodded.
"Wow...that's something..." everyone sweat dropped as I snorted at the sight of the weird-looking bird/horse hybrid that was before us. From its bright and colorful appearance to its abnormal-looking face, the animal just looked like a jumbled mess—it just looked like two separate species had been forced together without any considerations on whether they would work together or not.
"May luck be with you, brave warriors!" the old man called out to us as he hopped onto the back of his pegasus and took flight.
"Am I the only one who finds that bizarre?" Sanji questioned.
"I don't get it, was there even a reason for it to transform?" Nami asked.
"Good question" we responded.
"In the end, he didn't really tell us anything, did he?" Robin asked.
"No, nothing actually" Usopp answered.
"All he really gave us was the whistle, and from what I can tell—it's just a plain old whistle" I said while holding said object up for everyone to see.
"Well, back to square one I guess" Sanji sighed.
"Yeah, where are we even supposed to go from here?" Zoro asked.
"I know! Let's call the old man back and ask him!" Luffy happily shouted as he was quick to snatch the whistle from my hand.
"Hey!" I frowned, not pleased with suddenly having the thing rudely ripped from my grasp.
"Don't even think about it, Luffy!" Nami frowned as both she and Usopp grabbed at the rubber man to keep him from putting the whistle anywhere near his mouth. "You don't blow that whistle to ask for directions—it's supposed to be for emergencies only!"
"Yeah, what if that Guerrilla guy who attacked us comes back? You want to get blown up?!" Usopp shouted.
"I'll tell you what, for now, let's just keep moving" Zoro suggested.
"Yeah, that seems like the best option" I agreed, rubbing the back of my head.
"Hey, look over there, you guys!" Chopper suddenly pointed as he leaned over the ship's railing.
"What is that?" Robin asked, looking in the same direction the reindeer was pointing in.
"Some kind of cloud?" Chopper guessed, not sounding completely sure of himself.
"It looks like a waterfall" Robin said after taking a second to assess what exactly she and the reindeer were looking at.
"Okay, that settles it—we go that way" Zoro said.
"You sure it's a good idea that we go the way you choose? We might get lost" I teased, cheekily smiling at the glare he shot my way.
"Yes!" he snapped and with that, we set our course toward the cloudy waterfall.
"Hey, hold up! Stop the boat here!" Nami shouted when we suddenly ran upon a thick wall of clouds that seemed to just block our way.
"Looks like the ways blocked" Robin remarked.
"What do we do?" Chopper curiously asked.
"Those big clouds look like they're floating on top of the ocean, sort of like icebergs" Sanji noted.
"So what? They're cloudbergs?" Usopp questioned.
"Well, there's obviously something different about them" Nami said.
"No kidding, they look as if they're solid" I said.
"Maybe I can grab a piece?" Luffy suggested, already stretching his arm out toward the cloud, only to watch as his hand bounced off and snapped back into place. "It bounced off!" he gasped, before bursting out into excited laughter as he quickly hopped himself up onto the cloud. He wasted no time jumping around on it like it was nothing more than a trampoline. "Hey, look—I'm not sinking!" he grinned. "It's all fluffy and bouncy, it's great! You guys got to try this—come on, it's fun!" he laughed.
"How does this work?" Nami asked.
"It's a mystery" Robin shrugged, not really having a definite answer that she could give to the navigator.
A/N: Enjoy
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