"Well, it was Luffy who convinced me to live even when I wanted to die, but it is still partially your fault, Lucas."
How am I still at fault!?
Lucas can only swear in his mind.
"I have nowhere else to go. So let me stay on this ship."
"Oh, it's like that, there's nothing I can do. It's okay."
""LUFFY!?""
"Shishishi! Don't worry! She's not as bad as you all think!"
Luffy's word ended the conversation. It was clear that he won't care for any objections.
Everyone else looked at each other before sighing and simply accepted their captain's decision.
While Luffy and Chopper played with the hand that sprouted on the deck, Usopp wasn't convinced and interviewed Robin.
"I began as an archaeologist at the age of 8."
"Archaeologist?"
"It's my family's tradition. Then I had a bounty put on my head. So for the next 20 years I was chased by the government. Being just a child, I couldn't survive out on the sea alone...that's why I've been with various 'villains' protecting myself. That's why I'm good at certain operations."
"Hmm, you seem pretty confident. What kind of operations?"
"Assassination ♡."
Robin smiled sweetly as if the word she said was similar to saying 'I love you'.
Usopp's face went pale and teary eyed.
"Luffy! According to my investigation, I came to the conclusion this woman is too dangerous!"
Though Usopp yelled, Luffy didn't bother listening at all and was busy playing and laughing at the hands on the deck.
"Are you guys listening!?"
"Really, they are useless."
At the top of the stairs, Nami spoke with a cautious tone.
"I still remember you used to be the vice president of an evil organization. You were Crocodile's partner! You can fool Luffy, or that Lucas, but you won't fool me. If I see anything suspicious, I'll get rid of you!"
"Hehe, okay I'll remember that."
Robin acted as if she didn't care and simply giggled.
Suddenly, she brought out a small bag that jingled as it landed on the table.
"In that case I'll keep these jewels for myself."
"Waaaa! I really like you miss!"
"Hey!"
The sudden 180 degree turn of Nami caused Usopp and Zoro to be dumbfounded.
Lucas' face twitched when he saw this as well.
Then, Sanji appeared from the kitchen. His whole body swayed as he twisted and twirled on the deck while holding onto a large tray of food.
"Ah, it's love! Flowing love, I am nothing but a blackened log, drifting on the current of the river. Struck by lightning commanded by you, which sent me into a river, ever flowing down a waterfall. Here is a snack."
"Oh, thank you."
…Once again, the three watching were dumbfounded.
"It seems we are the castle."
"Those guys really need someone to take care of them!"
Usopp had just said a manly thing when Luffy called him.
When he turned, he saw Luffy with two hands sprouting from his head.
"Chopper."
"Pft-!!!"
Soon, he was laughing and playing along with Luffy and Chopper.
Zoro's face blackened at that.
"This is not that bad. Are they always this cheerful?"
"Yeah, they're always like that."
"Really?"
Robin let out a genuine smile. One she had thought to have forgotten to make since a long time ago.
Still, Zoro didn't let his guard down at all.
Lucas smiled wryly and patted on Zoro.
"Just let it be. In any case, having an archaeologist on board is necessary. Plus, she can fight well so it would be a nice addition to the team. It's enough to keep a close eye on her if needed."
Zoro shrugged and went back to train.
"Right, Zoro, are you interested in getting even stronger?"
"Hm?"
"Y'see, I was reading something interesting back in the royal castle a while ago…"
Just as Lucas was about to explain, suddenly, the sky felt a bit dark.
"Hm? Is it raining?"
"It's not rain…"
"Is it hail?"
"No, something is falling from...huh!?"
They say that everything that humans can imagine...is a possibility in reality. This was said by Physicist Willy Karen.
But as they look at the scene in front of them, many cannot believe their own eyes.
Even Lucas who had transported to this One Piece world and knew this would happen still can't quite believe it when he saw it with his own eyes.
Above them, a huge galleon which was tenfold the size of Going Merry...was falling from the sky upside down!
*BOOM*
The impact and waves it brought to the sea caused their little ship to rock violently.
"Waaaaa!"
"Everyone grab hold of the ship!"
"What!? What's going on!?
"It's a dream! It must be a nightmare!"
"Nightmare!? What a relief."
"There's still more falling! Be on guard everyone!"
Sanji shouted with a pale face.
"Turn around! Turn around!"
"How can we do that with these waves!?"
Lucas felt his power and tried to calm the surging waves.
"I'll calm the sea as much as possible! Zoro! Stir the ship! Sanji! Luffy! Kick those debris that are still falling from the sky!"
Sanji and Luffy desperately kicked off the debris falling from the sky while Zoro attempted to stir the ship away.
After some lively shouts and desperate moves, the sea finally returned to it original calm state.
Everyone sighed in relief seeing as there's no more pieces falling from the sky.
"Why did a ship fall from the sky!?"
"Too weird…"
"There's nothing up there."
Luffy and rest let out a cold sweat as they looked up in the sky in wonder.
"Wha-!?"
Nami shouted.
"What's wrong, Nami!?"
"What do we do now!? The log pose…! It's broken! It's pointing up and not even moving around!"
Hearing this, Robin was surprised.
"That's not right. There's another magnetic field."
"How!?"
"It's changing the direction of the post. If it's pointing up, it means...it must've locked onto…"
"A sky island!"
Lucas finished her words and looked up in amazement as well.
Finally, I get to see a real floating island!
He thought as he looked forward to seeing an island in the sky!
Meanwhile, everyone else was shocked by what they heard.
"Sky Island!? What is that!?"
"Can an island really float!?"
"But there's nothing that looks like an island!"
They all looked up and only saw the clear blue sky.
"Well, I've only read about them in the royal castle before. I didn't know the specifics. Regarding this, maybe Robin knows more."
"Hmm, rather than an island...it's more like a floating sea."
"Sea!?"
"That's even more confusing!"
Nami and Sanji were confused but Luffy and Usopp had sparkling eyes instead.
"Is there really an island floating on top of a floating sea!? Alright, let's go! Everyone, upward we go!"
"Full speed ahead!"
Robin covered his mouth since he was getting too loud and was spouting nonsense.
"It's impossible for a ship to go up captain."
"To tell the truth, I've never seen a sky island. I don't know much about them."
"That's right! It's impossible! Floating islands and floating seas. The log pose is just broken, that's it!"
Nami panicked.
As the navigator, if the log pose is broken, they won't be able to move forward!
Lucas shook his head.
"Nami, what you should worry about now is not the log pose, but how to get up there."
Robin nodded as well.
"No matter how many times this ship is in a strange situation, whatever danger we find along the way, the one thing that we can count on is the log pose. It's a rule in this sea."
"No matter where the log pose points to...there will be an island there."
Lucas concluded.
Everyone looked at each other and had no choice but to accept it.
At this time, Luffy spoke.
"Why is a floating island and a floating sea so hard to believe? Even Lucas is from another world! That's a whole different world! With different meats!"
He has a point...also, does he really need to stress out that meat part at the end?
Zoro's eyes widened as well.
"You're right! They have different alcohols there as well!"
That's what you find surprising oi!?
Robin was the only one who heard this for the first time and was visible shocked!
"Another world? What is this about?"
"Ah, you're right! Come to think of it, there's been a lot going on with Vivi, Crocodile, and Alabasta that this whole other world thing just went over our heads!"
Nami sighed and pressed her palm on her forehead.
Usopp's eyes started shining!
"Hey! Hey! Lucas! In your world, is there like a robot!?"
"Robot!? Lucas! You have a robot!?"
"Robot!!!"
Luffy, Usopp, and Chopper's eyes started to shine! It's as if they all had completely forgotten about the huge ship falling from the sky!
Lucas' sighed and thought it may be fine to let them relax for now. Soon, they will be facing Enel too…
He thought for a while then took out his phone.
"I don't have a robot but I do have this gundam back at home, let me just find the picture...oh, here it is."
When Lucas showed the picture to Luffy and them, their eyes seemed to turn into stars and raised the phone up high as if to worship it!
"Gundam!"
"Robot!"
"It has wings!!!"
Seeing the trio act like that, everyone else could only smile wryly.
Curious, Robin took the phone and asked.
"What is this...black box?"
"Ah, that's a smartphone. In my world, everyone has it. We usually use it to contact each other, take pictures, videos, or play games."
"I see...So it's like a den den mushi then?"
Ded ded mushi then...Lucas thought this phrase sounded funny and couldn't help but repeat it in his head.
Aware that his thoughts are getting sidetracked, he cleared his throat and nodded.
"Yeah, basically."
"Interesting...These...pictures too. They are of your world?"
"Yes."
"...It's true, I don't recognize all these...architectural structures and techniques. Either you came from an extremely secluded island detached from the rest of the world...or you really did come from another world."
Hearing her say that, everyone looked at Lucas curiously.
In truth, the idea of there being another world is still completely foreign to them and they didn't know what to think of it.
Still, Lucas is here, that phone thing is here too. They have no choice but to believe in such a thing.
"Well, just as Luffy said. I can exist here, means that something like a Sky Island...must be possible as well."
Lucas only smiled and looked up, seemingly looking for the island in the sky.
Nami was silent as she had another question in her mind.
"...Don't you want to go back? To your home world?"
"...I do...but I don't know how. That's why I'm here. Figured I might as well search for the way back while accompanying you. Who knows, maybe the way back is in the final island where One Piece is. Or maybe it's written in one of those Poneglyphs…"
I truly do want to go back. I still have my family there after all. But I also wanted to see this story end...no matter what.
Luffy laughed as he declared.
"Shishishishi! Don't worry! I'll get you to the final island! After all, I'm gonna be the Pirate King!"
"Heh, I will take you up on your words, Pirate King."
Lucas grinned and bumped fists with Luffy.
After some time, Robin had Sanji bring together the pieces of debris that fell on the ship and a coffin with a skeleton inside as well in hopes of figuring out the history behind the ship and why it fell.
It may also lead to a way to go to the sky island.
While Robin does her thing, Zoro came to Lucas.
"Hey, earlier, before that thing fell...you were saying something about getting stronger?"
"Hm? Ah, that's right."
Lucas looked at Robin and the rest and figured they would take some time.
The two moved to another corner in the ship as he began to explain.
"The library in the royal castle back in Alabasta is really something, I managed to obtain information that is not known to a majority of the people. I know that history and stuff bores you so I'll quickly get to the chase."
The truth is, Lucas never went to the library before but figured it would be a good excuse to the knowledge that he knows.
After all, Alabasta is still part of the world government and houses information regarding Pluto, they are bound to have this information as well so it wouldn't be too suspicious.
"You are aware that there are two parts of the Grand Line, correct?"
"Un, they are divided by this thing called Red Line in the middle. Back then, we had to go through the reverse mountain to start our voyage in the Grand Line."
"That's right. Right now, we are in the first half of the Grand Line. In the second half, people call it the New World. Because the level of power in that half is largely different from the first half."
"Hm? Is it so different?"
Lucas nodded.
"In the New World, there seems to be a unique power called Haki. One can say that you can only be considered strong if you have this power."
"Haki?"
Zoro was confused, it was the first time he heard of this.
"There are two types of Haki. Armament Haki, and Observation Haki."
Lucas proceeded with the explanation.
"Everyone has Haki in them, they just don't know how to use it. Simply put, Armament Haki covers your body or weapon with an invisible armor, causing it to power up significantly! However, the most important aspect of this type of haki is that it can also hurt specific devil fruit users!"
"!? You mean…"
"Right. Just like how you can't punch Luffy since he's made of rubber. If you coat your arm with Armament Haki, it will still hurt him! The same for Logia users like Crocodile who can turn into sand. In fact, he probably knows this which was why he is terrorizing the first half instead of going to the New World."
Zoro nodded and pondered on this power.
Truthfully, he never felt so powerless whenever he's facing those special devil fruit users.
He always thought that no matter how hard he trains in his sword, he will never be able to cut down people like Crocodile.
Now, it seems there is this power that he can use!
If he can use it...he will definitely be many folds stronger than before!
"You mentioned another type of Haki?"
"The Observation Haki. This is sort of like the 6th sense. Simply put, it allows you to 'see' even with your eyes closed. They say that high level of attainment in this power allows you to even see a few seconds into the future!"
"...I see. That is certainly troublesome."
"Un, I figured telling everyone else as well but…"
Lucas looked at the side and saw that they were still busy with investigating. Even Luffy and Usopp were exploring the fallen ship.
"Well, I don't think they'll listen for now. To these guys, especially to Luffy, it's best if they see it for themselves first before believing it."
"...You're right."
"I told you since I wanted you to keep an eye out for these strange powers as well. They only say that most people in the New World knows this power but never said that no one in this half will have it. Anyway, truth be told, I still have no idea how to train these two powers. Though I have a bit of an idea in the Observation Haki, can you help me out?"
Zoro nodded.
Just then, Luffy boarded the ship again and showed a piece of paper to everyone.
"Hey everyone! Look what I got! I found something really cool!"
"!?"
The paper looked old and tattered but you can still make out the letters written on it.
[SKYPIEA]
"A map of...Sky Island!?"
"Skypiea...does this mean there really is an island up there?"
Seeing as they were about to get all riled up again, Lucas gave a wry smile and turned back to Zoro.
"Guess we'll continue this some other time."
After some discussion, it seems Nami decided to salvage the sunk ship to get more clues on the sky island.
Usopp had made an impromptu diving suit with barrels and a tube at the top connecting to the surface.
"...Are you sure this is going to work?"
"..."
"Nami! I will find the thing that will bring us up to the sky!"
Lucas looked at Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji wearing the barrels with worry.
Honestly, it feels like it will break apart easily.
"...How about I head down with them instead? I'll just create an air bubble or something."
"It's fine, leave them be. More importantly, if they all die, at least there's someone strong enough left to defend us! Alright, sink 'em Chopper!"
"..."