"I Found nothing but sea cloud creatures," I said as soon as everyone came back. "Did you guys have any luck?" I asked.
"I found a slightly protruding small piece of cloud, and it's solid enough to land on, but that's all," Bob was the first to answer, shaking his head.
"I didn't find anything, but I came across a weird species that looked like worms with circular mouths that live inside the sea clouds," Elly said while shaking her head, her expression turning disgusted as she mentioned the worm creatures.
"I didn't find anything that would allow people to live on too, but I came across a pirate ship with people in it," Wilson said while shrugging his shoulders.
"Hmm? Did you come in contact with the pirate ship?" I asked as I turned to look at Wilson. "No, it was time for me to come back when I saw it, so I didn't bother," he replied while shaking his head.
"Well, no matter," I said with a smile. "What about you, Laffite?" I asked as I turned to look at my navigator.
"I'm not sure if it's what we're looking for or not...," Laffite replied, trailing off at the end of his sentence. "But I did find something," he added, causing to gesture for him to elaborate.
"I came across a high wall made of clouds, and there seemed to be a gate of some sort at the center of it with a sigh that said Skygaurd," he concluded.
"If there's any sky island nearby, then that should be it," I said with a nod. "Take us there, and we'll see if it's an island or not," I instructed, watching as Laffite nodded and went to the black pearl wheel, steering us towards his find.
It took us roughly twenty minutes to reach the gate Laffite spoke about, and sure enough, it was there with a large white sign that had the word Skygaurd written on it in blue.
"Skygaurd? Isn't it spelled Skyguard?" Wilson asked with a curious expression that all of us shared.
Skyguard, I think I might have read something about an area defense system for airports with that name in my past life, but that's pretty much all I can remember. It's not related to one piece as far as I could remember, so I had no idea why this sky island's residents named it as such.
"It should be a wordplay of some sort," I remarked while shrugging my shoulders. "What it means, though? I haven't got the faintest idea," I added.
"Might as well make our way inside," I said with a thoughtful expression. "Keep your eyes and ears open, everyone," I instructed, resting my hand on Triton's hilt.
"We don't know what's in there, nor how it will react to us," I concluded with a severe expression and nodded as everyone seemed prepared without needing me to say anything.
"Let's go," I exclaimed, and everyone moved to their stations as we began approaching the gate.
"This doesn't look like a normal gate," I remarked as we finally reached the gate with a raised eyebrow. "It looks more like an entrance to tunnel from the inside," Elly said while eyeing the interior.
"Albeit a cloud tunnel," she added with an amused expression as we came across a reception booth that was similar to the one the straw hats encountered when going into Skypiea.
"It looks like a reception area," Law observed from the side. "But it's empty, strange," he added with a thoughtful expression.
"This at least confirms that there is a human presence here," Byron said while pointing at the booth. "It looks clean, and there is no dust, so there should be someone taking care of it," he added.
"Not necessarily," I said with a sigh. "We're in the sky, and there is no soil here, only different types of cloud," I explained while shaking my head.
"So the lack of dust doesn't really prove anything since dust shouldn't exist here in the first place," I concluded. "Makes sense," Byron replied while sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck.
"No matter, let's keep going and see what is waiting for us on the other side," I remarked with a sigh, vigilantly eyeing the surroundings.
"Something is happening," I exclaimed as my enhanced hearing picked up on some strange noises from the cloud walls surrounding the black pearls, causing everyone to tense up.
"Hang on to something," I exclaimed again as the cloud walls closed behind us, and liquid cloud began gushing from below the black pearl, pushing us forward at a higher speed.
"Something is coming," Elly shouted, promptly spinning in her place and launching a Rankyaku slash at a part of the cloud wall as it morphed into a spike, heading straight for the ship.
Elly's Rankyaku slash managed to disperse the cloud spike, but it wasn't the end as more cloud lances began forming on the walls surrounding us and shooting straight towards the black pearl.
"Defend the ship," I instructed, drawing my sword and jumping into the air, dispersing cloud spikes left and right as I did. "If there's a scratch on the ship then, I'll toss whoever let the attack pass back into the land from here," I added jokingly, as I continued to defend the ship in the air.
"It's a pretty long way down," Byron replied with a smile as fiery chain came out of his sleeves, attaching themselves to his axes.
"And I don't want to turn into a pancake," he added as he began swinging his fiery weapons that had better range, thanks to chains in all directions.
"You do realize that you can turn into a bird and fly back, don't you?" Elly asked in an amused tone, raising her eyebrow as she retrieved her rifle and began firing rapidly.
"I'll just pluck his feathers before tossing him to land in that case," I remarked from the side, causing Elly to laugh while byron began swinging his axes even more rapidly.
"Still, trouble seems to find us everywhere we go," Wilson said as he turned into his hybrid form, shooting compressed air bullets the dispersed all cloud lances in their way.
"It's more interesting this way, so no complaints from me," Wilson added as he flew into the sky, punching and sending out massive fists of compressed air, which demolished everything in their way.
"How troublesome," Law commented, activating room, and slashing everywhere, causing everything in the path of his swings to be cut in half.
"All this excitement is bad for my heart," Doc Q said while watching everyone get to work from the back of his horse, Stronger, as he occasionally swung his scythe.
Although the sickly doctor didn't perform many attacks, his attacks were both very flashy and destructive. Each and every slash he created with his scythe would cut all cloud lances in their way and continue to clear gashes in the cloud walls surrounding us.
"Are you ok, old man?" Kozue said with a concerned tone while looking at Doc Q, wheezing and gasping for breath every time he swung his scythe.
"Maybe you should take a break?" she asked while shooting her arrows at the approaching cloud spikes. "I'll have you know that I'm only 26, alright?" Doc Q snapped at her with an irritated expression, not even gasping for breath once as he did.
"I only look like this because I'm sick," he added as he sat straight on stronger's back, releasing a giant scythe slash that put his former ones to shame.
"I think I might have overdone it," Doc Q said in a depressed tone after he performed his attack, promptly coughing a mouthful of blood and collapsing on Stronger's back, which also collapsed, mimicking its owner.
"How noisy," Bob commented as he lazily sat on a barrel. "Can't you punks keep it down a little?" he added, flipping the page of the book he was reading while moving his head to the side to dodge a bullet shot by yours sincerely.
"Get off your fat ass and help," I exclaimed, with a vein bulging on my forehead. "Fine," Bob replied with a sigh as he got up and pointed his hand towards the incoming cloud spikes.
Many small metal tubes appeared from secret chambers on the metal braces he wore, rotating and rapidly shooting bullets.
"This much should be enough," he said, his eyes not leaving the book he held in his other hand for a second as he moved his shooting arm without even bothering to look up.
"You guys take care of the spikes and leave the steering to me," Laffite said with a smile.