here's a new chapter, enjoy:)
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Luffy cracked open his eyes, expecting the pain to hit him as soon as he did, surely falling from that height should have done some damage.
Instead he felt fine, maybe a bit sore, but fine nevertheless. His vision adjusted and white fluffy clouds greeted him, floating lazily through a sinfully clear blue sky.
"So this is what heaven is like?" Luffy mused, watching the clouds drifting by.
He chuckled before feeling something shifting its weight on top of him. Fearing the worst, he glanced down to see Robin clinging on top of him, her head resting on his chest.
Confused, he finally glanced at his surroundings, finding himself on the deck of Merry and his crew all around him in various states of unconsciousness.
He carefully lifted the unconscious woman and placed her gently on the deck beside him, mindful not to wake her. Luffy then proceeded to inspect his crew who were sprawled on the deck in various positions, dutifully ignoring Usopp who was face planted with his ass high in the air on the deck.
The Rear Admiral squatted in front of his navigator who was lying on her back and began prodding at her face with a finger.
Nami groaned as she opened her eyes to see Luffy with a stupid grin on his face.
"Good morning Nami," Luffy smiled as though nothing was out of the ordinary.
"Good morning Luffy," Nami smiled back, drawn into believing it was just another usual day on the ship by his smile.
It took a few seconds before the navigator's eyes opened wide and sat bolt upright.
"NO! What happened?! You idiot! How can you do something so reckless?!" Nami screamed, grabbing the collar of her Rear Admiral.
"I had to save Usopp! And I'm fine aren't I?" Luffy protested while being shaken back and forth by his navigator.
"That's no excuse! We came to this place because of you! At least take responsibility of bringing us back down! What's the meaning if you aren't here at all?!"
By now the rest of the crew were starting to wake from her shouts, each of them getting up to survey their surroundings.
"Ugh… Did we make it?" Sanji groaned, massaging his head.
"Either that or we're all dead," Zoro nodded as he stared at the clouds.
"Scary, scary… The sky is scary…" Chopper cried in a corner.
"I'm fine right? I'm fine? Yeah, I'm fine," Usopp patted himself down with sweat pouring down his face.
Robin stayed silent and stared at Luffy still enduring the shaking from Nami.
"I would still like to know what happened to me though? I thought I fell off the ship?" Luffy asked when Nami finally got tired of shaking him.
"Robin saved you," Nami crossed her arms, seemingly still unappeased.
The archaeologist simply shrugged when Luffy gave her an inquisitive gaze.
"You're much more useful to me alive than dead," Robin smiled.
Flashback
"NO! LUFFY!" Usopp yelled from the back of the ship, watching the figure of his Rear Admiral shrinking further and further away. His arm was stretched out towards the figure as though he could just reach out and pull him back to safety.
But of course, something like that couldn't happen since his arm could not stretch. He cursed his powerlessness in his mind as Luffy continued falling further and further away from him.
As though something had answered his call, Usopp watched in amazement as he saw his arm stretch towards Luffy. Did he consume a Devil Fruit by accident? One that allowed him to stretch? Or maybe it was a power that had laid dormant in his body all this time that finally took shape now?
"Don't move your arm!" A voice yelled behind him.
Usopp jumped at the unexpected voice from over his shoulder, taking a quick glance back to see Nico Robin with both her arms crossed in front of her chest.
Usopp turned back to realise that what he thought was his arm stretching was actually multiple arms joined together from elbow to palm materialised from his palm.
Usopp did his best to fight back the scream that threatened to spill out from his throat.
Robin paid no heed to the sniper as she doubled her efforts in materialising her arms to catch the free falling Luffy, the spray that continuously soaked their figures from the knockout stream was not helping either.
Robin gritted her teeth as an arm finally reached him and grabbed on to Luffy's leg, halting his descent.
Usopp looked on with awe as the arms began to retract into his palm and pulled the Rear Admiral along with it.
But before they could relax, their navigator yelled a warning, "we're reaching the clouds! He has to come back before that!"
If they lose sight of Luffy within the clouds, he would be as good as gone.
With an uncharacteristic yell, Robin flipped the remaining arms upwards, tossing Luffy towards the ship.
Usopp yelled out in alarm as he watched Luffy ragdoll towards them. He reached out both his arms to catch him but was a second too late as Luffy crashed head first into him, sending him sprawling on the deck.
Robin cursed inwardly as she watched the Marine spiral towards her direction, reaching out to catch him while sprouting another pair of arms to hold down the already unconscious Usopp.
Twisting her body to absorb the impact, she slammed Luffy unceremoniously on the floor just as the ship burst into the clouds.
'Ugh… No air…'
Robin thought as she leaned her bodyweight on the damned Marine to hold him down in place, marvelling for a moment the fact that it was her turn to save him before blacking out along with the rest of the crew.
"Oh, thanks Robin!" Luffy grinned sheepishly while scratching his head.
"With that said, I still can't believe we actually made it," Robin tucked her hair behind her ear, admiring the tranquil landscape before the ship.
The crew followed her lead in surveying their surroundings, marvelling at the milky whiteness of the sea and clouds.
"If someone told me this was heaven, I might believe him," Zoro grinned.
"All I need now are angels to come receive me to heaven!" Sanji spreaded his arms out wide while looking up into the sky.
Zoro snorted, "You? The only people who would welcome you are the devils in hell waiting to feast on you."
"At least they find me delectable enough, the devils would only find amusement in dumping you with the trash!"
"You damn dartbrow!"
"You wanna go you little marimo?!"
"Shut up or I'll send you both to hell myself!" Nami yelled, punching them both into the deck.
"On another note, do you guys think it's a little bit more difficult to breathe now?" Usopp huffed, taking in lungfuls of air.
Everyone looked at each other as they took notice of their own breathing.
Robin frowned, "Indeed, it must be due to the different levels of oxygen at different altitudes. We are not natives here after all."
"Huu… It's a little difficult for me too, even though I'm used to staying at altitudes…" Chopper breathed.
"Eh? Really? I don't feel that different though?" Luffy tilted his head.
'Nobody asked you, you damn monster!' Everyone glared at him with the same thought.
"Putting that aside, you guys think angels ride on birds and carry lances to welcome the dead?" Usopp pointed towards the sky.
Everyone looked up to see an armored knight with a lance in his hand flying towards their ship on a giant bird. The bird let out a screech as it flared its wings, slowing down its descent to hover in front of their ship.
The knight hefted his lance on his shoulder, eyeing each of the Straw Hats individually before speaking, "Seeing your confused faces, are you guys lost?"
The Straw Hats looked at one another.
"Well, we technically are since we don't know where this place is exactly, we came up here without a concrete plan after all," Nami pointedly glared at Luffy who was whistling away without a care.
"Came up here? Are you all citizens of the blue sea by chance?"
"Blue sea? If you're asking if we came from below the clouds then yes, we did," Sanji supplemented.
The knight raised his eyebrows in interest, "Ho? I see, I see. Still the others are quite irresponsible for letting blue sea dwellers like you guys venture out here, did none of the other islanders give you a map?"
"Islanders? We saw no one ever since we came here…" Nami frowned.
"What? To not see anyone coming up here… Did you guys come by that monstrous stream?!"
"YOU MEAN THERE'S OTHER WAYS OF GETTING HERE?!" Nami screamed.
"Well… we're here anyway right?" Luffy scratched his ear absentmindedly.
Nami screamed as she strangled him, "YOU ALMOST DIED REMEMBER?! YOU'RE NOT IN ANY POSITION TO SAY THAT!"
Nami finally collapsed in a corner and started drawing circles on the ground, "If we had just spent more time getting information, we could have found a safer method to get up here…"
"Hmmm… I admire your crew's courage to use this method to get up here," the knight grinned, reaching his free hand to dig through his pockets.
"I am known as Gan Fall, the Knight of The Sky, I work as a freelance mercenary and usually I'll charge five million extols for my services, but…"
He tossed out a whistle that landed on the deck with a soft clang.
"As a gift of welcome to Sky Island, the first time you call me for help shall be free, but I'll still charge you for subsequent calls."
"What's an extol?" Robin asked while picking up the whistle.
"Ah right, I believe you people use the Berry currency right? One berry is equivalent to ten thousand extols. If you're looking to go further upwards to the white white sea, you should head in that direction, it'll be the closest city to you guys now."
Gan Fall pointed in the direction of a cloud that looked liked a waterfall.
"I bid you travellers good luck, and may we meet again!" Gan Fall gave a salute with his lance before flying off on his bird.
The crew watched his silhouette disappear before simultaneously turning their eyes to the whistle that Robin held in her hand.
"Well, we'll hold on to that for now in case we do need his help. Since we have nowhere else to go, I suppose we're heading towards this 'white white sea' he mentioned?" Nami glanced at Luffy.
"Alright! Let's head to the white white sea!"
"If you want to go up, it's one billion extol per person…" an old lady with small angel wings on her back spoke monotonously while taking pictures of the crew.
The Straw Hats had navigated their ship through the narrow cloud channel to reach the bottom of the cloud waterfall that had a giant "Heaven's Gate" sign on it. All the while, the crew had to keep Luffy's hands off the whistle when he wanted to blow it just to see what it sounded like. When they had reached the gate, the old lady had appeared from a side door and demanded the fee from them.
"One billion extols… That's one hundred thousand berries per person right?" Usopp looked at Nami with uncertainty.
"Umm… What if we don't pay?" Nami tried asking.
"You still can go up."
"THEN WHAT'S THE POINT?!" The crew deadpanned.
"Then we'll just go right ahead then!" Usopp grinned, already steering the ship towards the end of the tunnel.
"Absolutely not! We are Marines! And as upholders of Justice, we can't neglect the laws of other lands as well!" Luffy protested.
"But… Luffy… We're paying seven hundred thousand berries just to enter this place that we don't even know of… For all we know it might be a scam!" Nami tried protesting.
"It's not like we don't have enough money to pay for it right?" Luffy tilted his head.
"True… but…" Nami glared at the old lady who was smirking in their direction for some unknown reason.
"Come on, it'll be a bad example for us to not follow another country's laws and still call ourselves upholders of justice at the same time, right?" Luffy grinned.
"Oh fine! I'll go get it!" Nami groaned, trudging downstairs to prepare the money.
Robin noticed the old lady's smile turned into a frown almost instantly but said nothing.
Nami tossed the bag of berries towards the old lady with a sour look, "there! Now let us through!"
The old lady hmphed as the bag landed in front of her, making no move to touch it. The water below Merry suddenly exploded upwards and two claws gripped the sides of the ship.
Before the crew could decide if they should subdue the sudden threat, the old lady spoke with a little irritation in her voice, "that's white sea's Speedy Shrimp, it'll send you up the waterfall."
Just as the words left her mouth, the ship accelerated forwards while in the claws of the shrimp, ascending the waterfall in record time.
"This is so cool!" Luffy yelled, his eyes sparkling as he watched the gate disappear behind the ship.
"These clouds do not seem to be formed naturally," Robin pointed out.
"There's another gate up ahead!" Usopp pointed.
"Godland Skypeia! It's the same name as the map!" Chopper yelled excitedly.
"It feels like we're really ascending to heaven," Sanji grinned.
"Maybe we're already dead huh," Zoro smirked.
"The money…" Nami cried while staring wistfully at the gate.
The shrimp catapulted the ship out into the opening, landing the ship safely on the other side of the tunnel in a shower of spray. Right in front of them, a huge city within the clouds laid shining in the light,.
"There's an island! It's an island in the sky!" Chopper yelled excitedly.
"Land the ship! We're going ashore!" Luffy pumped his fists into the air.
Within moments of landing, the crew were already disembarking the ship and running around the beach of the island in glee.
"Ahhh… It's been so long since I've been on a beach! Maybe that money was worth it after all!" Nami stretched contentedly.
Robin had a slight smile as she walked along the beach, marvelling the architecture of the buildings around.
"Waaa! This beach is so soft!" Chopper exclaimed, rolling around on the ground.
"This is not sand… Is this a cloud?" Zoro pondered as he stepped onto the beach.
"Why is this fruit so hard!?" Usopp complained as he tried to pry open the coconut-like fruit he had found.
"Nami-swaan! Robin-chwaan! I found flowers for you!" Sanji leaped around with hearts for eyes.
"This is so fun!" Luffy laughed while hanging off a tree.
"Suu! Suu!"
Luffy heard a slight mewling sound and glanced downwards, finding a small fox like creature staring back at him, tilting its head at him slightly.
At that time, the melodious and soothing music of a harp reached the ears of the Straw Hats. Their sights instantly turned towards a small outcropping at the edge of the beach, finding a young girl with twin braided hair and angelic wings on her back strumming slowly on her hand harp.
"Heso!" The girl greeted with a charming smile.
"It's an angel! A real angel!" Sanji cried, collapsing on his knees with adoration in his eyes.
The fox scampered to the feet of the girl who bent down to pick it up before smiling at the Straw Hats.
"Are you perhaps visitors from the blue sea?"
"Yes, we just came from the White Sea, are you perhaps a local here?" Nami asked.
The girl's smile grew wider at Nami's words, "Yes, I live here. My name is Conis, it's very nice to meet you."
Conis noticed the fruit that Usopp was carrying in his arms, "ah that's a Gaunasu, do you want to drink it?"
She gently placed the fox on the ground and received the fruit from Usopp, fishing out a small carving knife from her pocket before easily stabbing it into the bottom of the fruit.
"The exterior of the fruit is like steel but a small area at the bottom can be easily cut out."
Conis carefully carved out a small hole at the bottom before inserting a straw in and passing it back to Usopp.
"IT TASTES GREEEAAAAATTT!" Usopp yelled out in admiration as soon as he took a sip.
"Please open this one too!" Chopper presented his fruit to Conis.
"I want to try too!" Luffy held the fruit with one hand and raised a finger in preparation to stab it.
Conis noticed he was holding the fruit the wrong way up, "Ah, wait! That's the top of the-"
"Shigan!"
Luffy stabbed his finger into the fruit before pulling out to reveal the perfectly circular hole his finger produced, grinning at his handiwork. Whilst Conis was still trying to comprehend what had just transpired, Luffy had already tossed his head back and dumped the contents of the fruit into his mouth.
"Oh, you don't need to mind him, he's abnormal." Nami sighed. "Rather than that, there's still some things I'd like to ask you about."
"Oh," Conis recovered from her shock quickly upon hearing Nami's words. "Of course! I'd be happy to answer anything you don't understand."
At that point of time, Zoro perked up as he head a slight swooshing sound from the sea. He turned his sights to see a small figure riding on something resembling a small boat with handlebars attached to its prow.
"Heads up, something's coming this way," Zoro warned while unclasping his blade.
"Oh that's my father, heso father!" Conis waved towards the approaching figure.
"Heso Conis, my darling Daughter!" The figure shouted back while still expertly manipulating the vehicle towards the beach. "Excuse me, I'm going to stop now."
Contrary to his words, the vehicle increased its speed instead, hurtling towards the beach and out of the water, crashing into the trees behind and sending the man flying into the bushes.
"Is anyone hurt?" The man stood up on shaky legs while pushing his way out of the bushes.
"Ask yourself that first!" Zoro yelled at him.
Nami eyed the aquatic vehicle that laid on the ground, "What kind of boat is that?"
"Oh, that's a waver, it's one of the things we use as transports here." Conis explained with a smile.
"Hello there, are these your friends, Conis?" the man asked while lifting the waver from the ground to set it upright.
"Yes, I just met them father, they're from the Blue sea."
"Oh! Nice to meet all of you! Pardon me, I forgot to introduce myself, I am Pagaya, welcome to the White White Sea. If it pleases you, we can be your hosts during your stay here, I just happened to have caught a few Sky Lobsters from my fishing trip."
"Alright! We'll be troubling you then!" Usopp cheered.
Sanji rolled up his sleeves, "If you're making sky island cuisine, please allow me to help!"
Nami inspected the waver before addressing Pagaya, "Ummm… Before that, may I know how this waver works? I do not see any sails or paddles of any kind on it, how is it able to move on the sea?"
"Ah, that's right, you do not know what a 'dial' is right? There is a shell shaped device strapped at the back of the waver, that's what powers it." Conis explained.
Nami spots the shell shaped device just as described, but she still couldn't see how it would allow the boat to move. "But how does it work?"
"The shell attached to the back of the waver is called a 'wind dial', after being exposed to half an hour of wind, it can be used to release half an hour of wind too." Pagaya explained.
Usopp scratched his chin, "so, it's like a container of some sort?"
"That is correct, other than the wind dial, there is also the heat dial, scent dial and light dial just to name a few of them. Sky Island's culture revolves around the usage of these dials."
Conis presented a shell towards Zoro, "this is a tone dial, you can say anything you want into it and press the button on top of the shell to play it back"
"Dartbrow is an ero-cook" Zoro said without hesitation.
"Why you damn marimo!" Sanji rolled up his sleeves.
Ignoring the cook, Zoro pressed the button on the shell.
"Dartbrow is an ero-cook. Why you damn marimo!"
"Wow the shell talked!" Luffy peered over Zoro's shoulder to look at the shell with interest.
"Sky Island is so interesting!" Chopper exclaimed with sparkles in his eyes.
"For an entire culture to revolve around this, I wonder how it was first found and used…" Robin pondered with a distant look in her eyes.
"Hey, I want to ride the waver thing! Can I mister?" Luffy yelled enthusiastically.
"Of course, here, I'll show you how to control it," Pagaya led the excited Rear Admiral towards the waver.
"If the sea here has no bottom, where do these shells come from?" Zoro asked, still holding on to the shell.
"We get them from the edges of the beach," Conis gestured to the length of the beach they were standing on.
There was a loud whoosh sound from behind them as Luffy sped off into the sea on the waver.
"Wow he did it!" Chopper exclaimed.
Just as the words left his mouth, the waver hit a wave and catapulted into the air, spinning wildly out of control as Luffy was flung into the air along with it.
Luffy gritted his teeth as he held on tightly to the waver, kicking the air beneath his feet to control his spinning, eventually stopping himself in midair. He realised that the waver was harder to control than it looked, even the tiniest of waves could send the waver flying out of control. A person like him who could not even navigate a ship properly could never ride the waver on his first try. Dejected, he returned to the beach while carrying the waver on his back.
The two Skypieans stood unmoving with their eyes wide and mouth open at the sight of the Marine flying towards them with the waver in his hands, as if they were witnessing the descent of God right in front of them.
The rest of the Straw Hats immediately ran up to him as he landed.
"What happened? Why did you suddenly lose control like that?" Sanji asked perplexed.
"Ah… This thing is harder to control than it looks…" Luffy scratched his head sheepishly. "I think only Nami can drive this properly."
Nami tilted her head, "Eh? Me? Why?"
"You need to take the movements of the sea into account while driving it, to be competent at it, it might take a long time for a person to learn…"
The crew turned their heads to look at the two Skypeians.
Conis was the first to recover her wits, "ah… That's right, I've been practicing since I was little and I only managed to succeed recently."
"It's that hard? I wanted to try it…" Chopper frowned.
Usopp caught Nami eyeing the waver, "Nami, why don't you give it a try?"
"Can I?" She looked uncertainly in Conis and Pagaya's direction.
Before either of them could answer, Luffy gave a slight push on her back, giving a slight nod when she turned to look at him.
With just that nod, she got on the waver with Luffy's guidance before accelerating out into the sea. Upon hitting the first wave, she felt the waver's handle jerk violently and she almost lost her grip on it. Immediately, her navigator instincts took over and she begun expertly navigating through the waves as her eyes read the currents and patterns before her.
She gave an involuntary yelp of glee as she sped through the waves smoothly, weaving in and out of the waves.
"She did it!" Chopper yelled enthusiastically.
"Nami-swan is as awesome as always!" Sanji cheered with hearts in his eyes.
The shouts finally shook Pagaya out of his stupor to see the navigator easily mastering the waver moments after using it for the first time., shocking him into another instance of silence.
"I see why Luffy thinks I can handle it now," Nami grinned. The precision needed was one thing but her ability to read the patterns of the sea as easily as an open book helped her immensely with controlling the waver.
Swerving through the waves with ease, she showed no signs that it was her first time riding a waver.
"Mister! Can I play a little longer?" Nami yelled as she rode past the beach.
"Of… Of course, just be careful please," Pagaya finally recovered enough to answer back.
"In the meantime, why don't the rest of you come to our house?" Conis suggested.
The Straw Hats readily agreed and the two Skypieans led the way out of the beach towards their home.
While ascending a set of stairs, Luffy joined Conis's side while ignoring Sanji who was still spouting love poems for her.
"Miss Conis, how is the state of order here? Are there a lot of troublemakers?"
"Oh, no Mr Luffy, the White Berets ensure law and order around here. There are hardly, if any, crime to begin with." Conis answered with her usual smile.
"The White Berets?"
"Yes, they are our law enforcers and have always taken the safety of the people very seriously."
"Wow! I'd like to meet them if I have the chance," Luffy said wistfully.
Conis giggled, "Well, they are within the city, so if you decide to visit it you would definitely bump into one."
"Ah, then we'll definitely have to visit the city later!"
Arriving at the top of the stairs, a white, two-story bungalow came into view at the edge of a cloud.
Pagaya gestured to the building with an open palm, "Welcome to my home, I hope you will find your stay here enjoyable."
The Straw Hats immediately made themselves at home. Zoro was already napping on the couch, Sanji was helping out in the kitchen, Chopper and Usopp rolling around on the soft cloud carpet in the living room, Robin sitting by the balcony and staring at the sea with a wistful look and the Rear Admiral poking at everything he saw.
"What's this? What's this?" Luffy poked at a brightly lit shell on the table.
"That's a lamp dial," Conis explained cheerfully.
"And this?"
"That's another wind dial."
"Wheeeeeee~~" Luffy yelled out in delight as wind blew out from the shell after he pressed the button.
"Sky Island is so interesting!" Chopper exclaimed, still rolling around on the carpet.
"Lunch is ready!" Sanji threw open the door to the kitchen, immediately filling the living room with the aromatic scent of freshly made Sky Island delicacies.
Balancing two trays of food on his hands, he served the dining table that the crew had already settled themselves into with a proud smile. His Rear Admiral was already reaching out for the first plate of food on the table while fighting off their sniper and doctor at the same time.
Nami also came into the house with a refreshed look on her face at that time.
"Seems like I'm just on time," Nami grinned, accepting a towel from Conis to wipe off the sweat on her forehead.
"If you guys would like to, we can visit the city after this for a tour around?" Conis giggled, leading the navigator to their dining table.
Nami nodded excitedly, "that would be lovely."
"I would very much like to visit your city's library too," Robin commented while taking a sip of her coffee.
"Nami-swaaan~~ Your food is readyyy~~" Sanji sang as he danced around her with a tray of food in his hand.
"Where's my food you shitty cook!?" Zoro waved his fist furiously at the love-struck cook, gesturing to the distinctly empty space in front of him.
"Well, you can go make your own, you ungrateful marimo!" Sanji shouted back.
"This tastes so good!" Usopp, Chopper and Luffy exclaimed together with tears in their eyes.
Both Pagaya and Conis could only smile at how lively their house had become.
Right after having a fulfilling lunch, the two Skypieans led the Straw Hats to the city for their much anticipated city trip. Currently, they were gathered in the city square where a large fountain was built and crystal clear water sprouted out from its many nozzles.
"May I suggest that we meet back here in about two hours time?" Pagaya suggested.
The Straw Hats cheered in agreement. Deciding to split up to explore the city on their own, Sanji dragged a begrudged Zoro to look for the city's local produce, all the while ignoring the swordsman's complaints on the city's lack of a sword store.
Conis had took it upon herself to guide the crew's doctor and archaeologist to the city's library, the former seeking out the local medical knowledge while the latter aiming to understand the city's history.
Usopp had managed to implore Pagaya to impart his knowledge of Sky Island's dials to him, thus the dial mechanic had agreed to introduce him to the various dial mechanics in the city.
Before Luffy could escape, Nami had already roped him in as her personal baggage boy on her shopping trip around the city, only managing to shut him up after promising to let him ride on the waver with her afterwards.
Entering one of the many clothing stores, the female store clerk greeted them with a friendly smile.
"The locals here are surprisingly friendly to foreigners," Nami remarked casually while rifling through the clothing racks of the store.
Luffy shrugged, "perhaps they're all nice people."
Nami rolled her eyes at his answer as she picked another set of clothes from the rack to dump it within the growing pile on Luffy's arms.
"I would at least be a bit suspicious of them… Don't you think everything that has been going on so far feels out of place?"
Luffy tilted his head, "What do you mean?"
Nami held one of the shirts up to her chest in front of the mirror, "Well, Conis and Pagaya immediately volunteered to be hosts to a group of strangers, the locals here treat us like VIPs and no one ever questioned who we actually are."
She turned on her heels towards Luffy and gestured to the shirt, "what do you think?"
"Colours seem a bit too dull," Luffy said seriously.
Nami nodded in agreement before placing it back on the rack, seemingly not surprised by how different he was acting.
"Anyway, they might really just be very friendly. The control of weapons seem to be very strict here,"
Nami shrugged, dumping another shirt into Luffy's arms before pushing Luffy in the direction of the changing rooms, giving the store clerk a slight smile and nod.
"Sit here," Nami commanded, pointing to the stool in front one of the changing cubicles before relieving Luffy of the clothes and entering the cubicle.
"In all seriousness, I doubt the lack of weapons is attributed to their friendly nature," Nami called out among the rustling of clothing.
Luffy checked over his shoulders to make sure the store clerk was not within earshot, "unless the law here forbids the carrying of weapons?"
"That would land our dear Zoro in a bit of a predicament wouldn't it? But judging from both Conis and Pagaya's inaction, I don't think that's the case."
The curtain to the cubicle was thrown open, revealing Nami in a revealing pair of shorts that only covered the barest of thighs and a shirt that was cut above her belly.
"Too small, maybe add a cardigan or something…" Luffy mumbled.
Nami grinned before closing the curtain again, secretly glad that the dozens of shopping trips she had forced Luffy to accompany her had paid off.
"If it isn't because of an arbitrary rule, why do you think they are so welcoming to us then?"
Luffy scratched his head, "You don't suppose it's going to be like those Baroque Works agents? I heard they use welcoming attitudes to lower their victims' guards before attacking them."
"I suppose it makes sense if we have bounties on us, but not here. From what my instincts tell me, their attitude seems quite genuine."
"Then we can say that they are actually nice people then?"
Nami didn't answer but pulled open the curtain after a few moments. This time she wore a tight fitting pair of blue jeans and a red buttoned shirt that she tied a knot at her midriff thrown over a white diaphanous blouse that accentuated her chest.
"Enticing enough."
Winking at her Rear Admiral, Nami closed the curtain back again.
"Would you be a dear and call the store clerk for me please?"
Luffy stuck his tongue out before waving the store clerk over, just as Nami exited the cubicle with a large pile of clothes in her arms.
"I'll take these, will you wrap them for me?"
"Certainly, please wait a moment," the clerk flashed her a smile.
When the clerk was out of sight, Luffy felt a hand grab his arm and pull him into the cubicle.
"Nami… Doing it here is a bit…" Luffy protested.
"Shush," Nami silenced him with a finger. The cubicle itself was big enough to fit two people so they did not have to squeeze together, but Nami still stuck closely to him to keep her voice down.
"There's a reason why I think this place is not what it seems to be, I saw something I wasn't supposed to see when I was riding the waver," Nami breathed into his ear.
Flashback
"This is… land?" Nami gasped.
In front of her was a large stretch of land that had giant trees among the clouds. It was the first time that she had seen actual land instead of clouds on Skypiea.
Nami frowned, "I have a bad feeling about this place…"
Just as she was deciding if it would be wise to turn back, a projectile flew past her side and sped within the forest, exploding and throwing up a cloud of smoke.
Nami looked over her shoulders to see a man with an exposed muscular chest and a mask on his face standing impassively behind her, a smoking rocket launcher rested on his shoulders.
Nami's hand immediately went to her climatact, unsure if the newcomer meant her harm.
"Hey! Please help me!" A voice shouted from the forest.
Nami's head whipped back to see a rugged man full of injuries crawling towards her from within the smoke.
"Please, you got to help me! Get me out of here!"
Nami's hand tightened on her climatact but did not respond to the man's pleas.
The man then noticed the person standing behind Nami, "Eh, raider?"
A pillar of light engulfed the rugged man. Without time for the man to scream, the light gave way to a huge lightning column, disintegrating the man and the area around him.
"Enel! How dare you do that to VEarth!" The raider behind Nami cursed.
"Get a water dial!"
"Hurry! Put the fire out!"
Several voices drifted from within the smoke. The raider cursed under his breath before speeding away.
"Tch, I was so close too…" a man wearing an aviator cap with goggles attached spat.
"Wasn't that guy talking to someone just now?" A man with spiky hair questioned.
"It's probably the raider that got away just now." Another with a distinctly round body snorted.
"Why did Lord Enel take action personally though?" A bald man questioned.
"We probably took too long," the spiky haired man sighed.
The round man shrugged, "Well, that means we're all out of toys to play with."
"Weren't there seven new visitors recently?"
"They paid the entrance fee, so we can't touch them."
"Does that even matter? Just get the locals to arrange an accident or something, then incriminate them with it."
"Just get their 'hosts' to do it. They won't suspect a thing, just like the rest that came before them."
"Hehehe! Let's do that then!"
The men left the area laughing among themselves.
Nami gulped nervously, finally peeking out from the tree root she was hiding behind.
"Luffy, you better get us out of this mess…" Nami cursed silently before spending away on the waver.
"I… I see…" Luffy scratched his chin thoughtfully.
"We need to get out of here, now."
Luffy nodded lightly, "We'll meet up with the rest, I still want to see those White Berets that Conis talked about, maybe I can get more information from them before we leave."
"What other information do we even need? We just need to get out of here!"
Luffy snickered, "How? Don't suppose you want me to carry the ship on my back and jump off the cloud? I can try if you want me to."
Nami bit her lip in frustration, finally realising the glaring problem that they were currently thousands of meters in the air away from solid ground.
"You can tell the rest about our plan to escape, I'll get as much information I can and get back to you guys."
"Alright then, I'll push us out to sea by the end of today, in the meantime, we'll need to be wary of everyone around us."
Luffy nodded, opening the curtain to step out into the shop.
The store clerk was waiting at the counter with a bright red face and the clothes packed and ready.
"Ummm… Your… Your package is ready!" She blurted out while blushing.
Luffy and Nami glanced at each other, realising the misunderstanding the store clerk had of what they were doing in the cubicle. Nami giggled lightly, deciding to use her misunderstanding to their advantage.
"Darling, help me hold on to those won't you," Nami laughed while latching on to Luffy's arm.
Luffy grinned widely at the clerk, picking up the bags and giving her a wink before leading his navigator out the store towards the meeting place, ignoring the "kyaa" sounds echoing behind.
"What kind of city doesn't have a sword shop of any kind? Really?" Zoro grumbled, his hands full of bags containing various different kinds of ingredients.
The chef trailed behind him with hearts for eyes, his arms similarly burdened with food, "this city is simply heaven! So many angels all around! Maybe I should ask the cake shop's Gina-chan out tonight? Or the grocer Madonna-chan? Or maybe even the florist Vita-chan? Ah this place is just too perfect!"
Zoro dumped the bags in front of Luffy who only grinned at him silently, swinging his legs while sitting on the fountain ledge.
"Please don't put me with him ever again."
"No promises," Luffy laughed.
"The medical knowledge of this place is truly wondrous! I never thought hypothyroidism could be treated that way!" Chopper exclaimed.
"With their ancestors expanding into the lower clouds, much more unique resources became available for them to use for all kinds of purposes. I guess that's also when their culture changed the most." Robin remarked.
Conis giggled, "I'm glad our library has been of help to both of you."
"Their library was really big Luffy! We should go there together next time!" Chopper tugged at Luffy's cloak excitedly.
"They had some collection of maps too," Robin added.
"They do? Perhaps next time then," Nami smiled sadly.
Robin raised an eyebrow at her reaction but did not comment.
"There's so many things dials can do! I'm already itching to try out some of my ideas!" Usopp gazed at the dials he held in his hands while walking towards the fountain in a daze.
"Hoho, I look forward to see the things you will make, Mr. Usopp." Pagaya laughed.
"Hey guys! Look! I managed to get quite a number of dials! You won't believe what some of these dials can actually do!" Usopp waved towards them enthusiastically.
"Mr. Luffy, I believe you had mentioned you wanted to meet the White Berets before?" Pagaya strolled up to them, a gentle smile on his face.
"Ah, that's right! Can you bring me to meet them?" Luffy dismounted the fountain excitedly.
"Of course, Conis my dear, could you bring our guests back home while I bring Mr. Luffy to meet the White Berets?"
"Of course, Father, this way please" Conis gestured the rest of the Straw Hats to follow her.
"Don't be late for dinner, or I can't guarantee there'll be food left for you!" Sanji warned before joining the rest, each of them sharing their experiences in the city.
Luffy smiled wryly, if things went as planned, they won't even be having dinner at all.
"Please follow me, mr. Luffy," Pagaya beckoned.
Luffy waved his crew onwards before turning to follow Pagaya.
"What are the White Berets like?" Luffy inquired, catching up to Pagaya.
"They are quite nice people actually, they keep our people safe from outsiders especially." Pagaya explained.
"You mean there are other people like us who visit Sky Island?"
Pagaya nodded with a smile, "There are others, but not that many of course. Sometimes they are mean people and the White Berets deal with them. If their offence is serious enough, the White Berets will hand them to the Priests to be judged."
"Priests? Is there a temple here?"
Pagaya scratched his chin, "to put it simply, God lives on this island and the Priests below him are his enforcers."
"Woooah! There's a God here?"
"That's right… Ah, here we are," Pagaya gestured to the building in front.
The building was made out of clouds just like the others around it, consisting of three floors with a double door entrance. Two skypieans stood guard at the entrance, both of them wearing striking white berets on their heads.
One of the guards saluted, "Heso, citizen! How may we help you today?"
"Heso, my friend here would like to meet with Captain McKinley, would now be a convenient time?"
The guard flashed a smile and nodded, "Of course, this way please sir."
Luffy followed Pagaya through the double doors in front of the guards, not seeing the two guards sharing a look and nodding to each other behind his back.
The Straw Hats were huddled close together in a room of their hosts' house. They had borrowed the room from Conis with the reason of sharing what they have learnt during their trip. Of course the real reason was for Nami to share what she had told Luffy to the rest of the crew and their course of action.
Zoro had a hand on his sword, "We can start cutting some people, maybe that can make them more honest."
Usopp quickly raised his hands to placate the swordsman, "Let's… Let's not be too hasty here… I don't think Luffy want us to do that either…"
"No! Conis-chain is too nice! She must have been forced by these bad people! There's no way she will do this to us!" Sanji protested.
"Were they lying to us all this while?" Chopper sniffed, tears already spilling from his eyes.
Robin only stared into the distance with a melancholic look in her eyes, saying nothing.
Nami rolled her eyes, exasperated, "We just need to give them an excuse, then slip out back to our ship and wait for Luffy there. He'll come back with a way off this place for us and we'll be gone before they know it."
"Huh, but what can we tell them without arousing suspicions?" Zoro scoffed.
Everyone turned to look at Usopp.
"Wh… What? Is there something on my face?"
"Come on, you're the liar here, come up with something," Zoro nudged with a grin.
"I'm… I'm not a liar!" Usopp protested.
Nami waved her hand in front of her, "Doesn't matter, just think of something to tell Conis later. In the meantime, we'll start preparing to leave and-"
"Trouble!" A loud voice resounded outside their room, followed by the bang of a door being hastily opened.
Pagaya spots the Straw Hats huddled in a corner and immediately approached them with shaky steps.
The dial mechanic takes a few moments to calm himself before addressing the Straw Hats, grief and panic clear in his eyes.
"Mr. Luffy… Mr. Luffy has been arrested!"
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And cut. so that is it for this chapter hope you guys enjoyed and see you in the next chapter. bye.
chapter 25: Impending Storm