"One Billion Extols for every head, not one less," said Amazon, the grumpy short old woman wearing a purple dress that matched the colour of her short hair. She stood on a platform inside the giant tunnel supported by several pillars.
"Old hag," Hancock said, her eyes narrowed, questioning. "How much are Extols exchanged for berries?"
"1 Extol for 10,000 Berries," the old woman said, her eyes fixed on the camera she held in her hands, preparing in case of pirates doing their usual pirate activities, such as not paying.
Hancock did the math in her head. Thinking about the numbers of her crew, she glanced back. Aside from Alexander and the rest, the Kuja alone were more than twenty. Which meant the old woman was robbing them in broad daylight.
She wore a semi-black and white long-sleeved dress with golden shoulder pads. She swept her hair back and looked contemptuously at the Heaven's Gate gatekeeper.
"You expect me to pay, 100,000 Berries for one person?"
"That's what the Laws say, not me. If you have something to say, bring it up to Kami," Amazon lazily replied without glancing at the pirate empress. If they wanted to be smitten to ashes, she wouldn't stop them and would probably forget about the whole matter a day later. Such was life on Skypiea.
"And if we don't pay?" Hancock asked. She wasn't crazy as to pay close to three million Berries just to enter this forgotten place.
"You can enter of course," the old woman's response surprised Hancock.
"What?" she asked.
"I said you can enter, but you'll have to bear the consequences of your action," Amazon replied, then watched as Hancock talked with the group behind her. Inwardly, she swore that when she was younger she looked more beautiful than this land dweller.
'Well, I might be overreaching here...' She stifled a grimace and picked up the camera, taking a clear picture of the entire group.
"What did you do?" The shutter snap alerted Hancock to turn around, looking at the woman suspiciously.
"A picture. In case you start causing trouble, we'll know who to search for," Amazon gave a crooked smile.
"And by the way, young one, the Lobster Express won't be able to lift your ship along the Milky Road. Where you're now is the white sea which is on a lower cloud than Skypiea."
"Why are you telling us this just now, you old hag!" Hancock felt her temper slipping at how this senile old woman wasted their time.
"It's none of my concern now... you're the ones who had to come with a big ship," Amazon didn't care. She slowly moved her tiny legs and entered the door on the tunnel walls.
"Stop right there!" Hancock shouted, putting a leg on the deck railing. She was about to beat this old woman until she showed them how to find the proper way up.
However, Alexander put a hand on Hancock's shoulder, stopping her before she jumped the ship.
"It doesn't matter."
"But, Dear..." she said, the anger in her eyes instantly melted after hearing his voice.
"We'll find a way," he said while stroking her hair, which set her cheeks aflame.
"Sail!"
He yelled, and within seconds the Yudas pushed the ship rapidly, twice or thrice their usual speed. This drew out loud hisses from them, as they seemed to be enjoying themselves, flapping their tails loudly against the fluffy clouds and dropping poisonous saliva.
"Arsen did say that these sky island people have wings," Hancock said beside Alexander as they passed the tunnel's length.
"Yeah, although they look tiny and comical, to be honest," he chuckled.
"I can't deny that I expected something more majestic instead of those cute little wings," she pouted while leaning her head on his shoulder.
"A pie in the sky," he chuckled.
"Are you making fun of me?" She drew closer, whispering in his ear, which instantly made Alexander's blood boil.
"Let's see what's outside," Alexander changed the subject. He swore inside that the innocent woman he married changed into something he was barely able to resist.
Alexander squinted his eyes due to the light coming from the tunnel's exit. A few hundred meters on the opposite side was a long serpentine cloud road ascending to the upper clouds.
"That must be the Milky Road."
"What direction should we take?" Hancock said while hugging his arm. Now that she saw how steep and curved the road was, she knew that the Yudas wouldn't be able to ascend easily or be able to maneuver correctly.
"I don't know. I think we might have to rely on Kuma this time," Alexander turned to the gentle giant who had heard what he said and shook his head in response.
"I'm afraid this will be dangerous, Alexander," Kuma moved beside them and looked upward. "We might hit something extremely solid and lurch to a stop while midair."
"We can use that opening as a guide. As for what comes after, I'm sure you can handle it," Alexander replied without any concern, pointing at the wide gap the Milky Road climbed into.
"I'll try," Kuma said, resigning himself to what was about to happen. He took off his gloves and requested from one of the Kujas to watch over Bonney inside the palace.
A minute passed, and after noticing that everyone was prepared, he conjured a giant ethereal paw that soon encompassed the whole ship, then he pushed, touching the giant mast. However, unlike the last time, he used much more power.
WHOOSH! Instantly, the ship disappeared. It seemed like teleportation, but that wasn't true. Kuma's powers worked by repelling anything he touched, including pain, memories, and sickness.
The ship instantly soared, whistling against the wind that found no refuge inside the space protected by the ethereal paw. It passed through the topmost opening of the Milky Road, and within seconds it was high above Skypiea.
Far above, the whole country was visible, Angel City to their left with its hanging clouds and the giant veins that climbed into them, yet within seconds they left it behind. The upper yard was visible, dwarfing Angel City with its gigantic size and enormous tall trees.
Alexander spread his Observation Haki as best as he could, trying to sense a safe place where they could land. A variety of lives seemed to dwell within this cloud sea as they flashed through his mind.
The ship's speed made it harder for him to search carefully; however, he spotted a strange place where he sensed a human disappear. He followed it with his Haki but he was bewildered when he couldn't penetrate the cloud layer.
"That place!" Alexander shouted to Kuma, pointing to a place approximately close to where he felt the human disappear, way to the south of the upper yard.
Kuma nodded and once again touched the mast, causing the ship to vanish and land lightly like a feather at the aforementioned place.
"That was easy!" Alexander said, feeling happy with the addition of Kuma to the crew.
"The Yudas, on the other hand, don't look that good," Sabine said, noticing how frightened they looked.
"They'll be alright," Alexander said, jumping on the snake figurehead, patting the two giant snakes and whispering something to their ears.
A full minute passed before they were comforted and started pulling again in the direction of where the man had disappeared.
The ship vanished in the middle of swirling clouds like a gateway to another world. White wisps danced around the ships like little fairies fond of mischief, tugging at the loose strands of Hancock's hair, and in particular, Sabine seemed to love the sensation.
She had a weird feeling as she trailed the movement of the misty clouds with her fingertips. The navigator felt like an extension of her was within those clouds, a will of her that no matter how much she called for it wouldn't budge. But it gave her an inspiration, a ridiculous thought, she corrected herself and chuckled lightly.
"What made you laugh, Sabine?" Hancock inquired. She had a fondness for this young woman as she was calm and collected with a talent for navigation that surpassed generations of trained Kuja pirates.
"I just had a silly thought," she replied, smiling lightly.
"Out with it then, don't hold it back. What's life without a little whimsy?" said Alexander, head resting on Hancock's shoulder and hands wrapped around her waist.
"What if one day, I'd be able to create Sky Islands just like this one?" She replied while conjuring two clouds, dense and similar to the ones forming Skypiea, a new ability she developed after losing against Vice Admiral Doberman.
Alexander lifted an eyebrow, surprise and realization were apparent on his face as he looked at Hancock's side profile who also shared the same sentiment.
"I had never thought of this before," he said with a pondering expression. "It certainly is feasible; however, you need to experiment with it and see how much you can do."
"And if she succeeds, she'll prove to be invaluable to any force in the world," murmured Kuma, who didn't wear his usual bear hat, letting his hair flow down freely.
"What do you think, Alarin?" Sabine turned to the green-haired man, who was sitting on a stool oiling his cutlass with care, one slow wipe after another. The man's hand motion paused for a moment before he spoke.
"First, you need to learn how to protect yourself, girl, or else the root of all evil will come after you," his hand trembled slightly as he continued with his work.
"He's right!" Alexander said, coming from behind Hancock and putting a hand on the navigator's shoulder. "However, Alarin often forgets that everyone on this ship has your back."
"So fret not, try to pursue this, maybe it's your calling... creating land high up in the sky. Far away from the meddling of the World Government..." The more Alexander thought about it, the more excited he became.
His words rang true within her mind; she could see the expectations in his eyes. Sabine felt like his words were true, maybe it was her calling, a strange sensation overwhelmed her as she saw herself creating a refuge for the needy and the ones like her when she had to escape the Marines' pursuit.
"I'll try!" She simply replied; she didn't want to give false promises. But she was determined to follow this through if only to help Alexander should Skypiea's venture turn out to be fruitless.
Alexander nodded, there was no rush, only time would show the results. He turned back facing the front of the deck. Minutes slipped by as they traversed this misty world, each one occupied either conversing or doing their own stuff.
And he was lost in his thoughts as well, thinking about how to deal with that man. Although he told Alarin he'd ask for help, Alexander knew that the matter would be resolved only by spilling blood.
Which he wasn't averse to when he heard about what happened to Birka, the homeland of Heradas, one of Damo and Arsen's colleagues. The once prosperous Sky Island disappeared overnight, leaving nothing but scorched rubble. And it was done by none other than the one he was after.
Alexander sighed and lowered his head, looking at the basket filled with apples and pears he had asked Hancock to prepare, a method his father taught him about when he asked for his opinion regarding how to deal with this matter.
"Alexander!" Hancock's voice and his crew's exclamation broke him off his reverie. He lifted his head to find that the world around him had changed.
The world was still pure white with clouds rising in the distance like an enclosure around what he presumed was a primitive tribe.
The white ground was solid enough to support footing and buildings. Dozens and dozens of conical leather tents appeared before them, colored with red, green, and blue circles. Stretching between the tents connecting one to the other were wooden boardwalks.
Between each of the tents, there were colored wooden totem pillars with flames burning at the eagle-like sculpture head; the pillars were inscribed with glyphs and pictographs that spoke about their lineage and history for those who could read them.
"They look quite shocked," Hancock said.
"And angry," Alexander remarked, looking at a barefooted crowd wearing short skirts and clothing mostly made of grass and straws. Their bodies, some were covered and the others were naked, fully exposing their toned bodies and the tribal tattoos.
They appeared to be shocked with apprehension in their eyes as they looked at the gigantic ship and the Yudas. A moment passed before the ship halted against the solid cloud.
From the other side, a man with a brown tomahawk hairstyle wearing nothing but a grass skirt moved. He crouched; his shoes looked like a strange crescent device propelled him forward and extremely fast.
He jumped, leaving a trail of cloud smoke behind; within a moment he was upon Alexander as he landed on the ship rail, Bazooka pointing toward Alexander's face who regarded everything that happened with amusement.
"Move and you'll die!" Wyper's hair stood on its end as he was stopped in place. From the front, a cutlass rested on his neck effectively halting his advance; from the right, an axe hung above his head about to split his head in two; and from the left, long sharp nails slightly penetrated his temple drawing blood.
"How did you blue sea people enter our land?" Wyper spat, his voice venomous, laden with hate and murderous intentions.
Alexander was perplexed; he could feel the man's emotions and how furious he felt, which made him curious about why this aggression was directed at them. Sure, maybe they intruded on their land but this shouldn't have led to this reaction.
"Let him go," he ordered. Alarin and the rest slowly lowered their weapons while giving the man a threatening look as they moved behind Alexander.
"Why attack us when we did nothing to you?" he asked, yet the man didn't respond, still in an aggressive stance.
Wyper had no words to share with these blue sea people; years of conflict with the Skypieans who took their rightful land, followed by the arrival of the Kami who toyed with them like ants, made talking meaningless to him. It was either kill or be killed.
And now, they even managed to discover their haven; did they really wish to exterminate his people to the last? He thought, blinded by rage as he tapped the wooden floor. The dial on his metallic shoe emitted a whistling sound launching him like an arrow as he arrived before Alexander, right hand outstretched toward his head.
Alexander's eyes narrowed dangerously as a future sight flashed through his mind where an explosion would set off should the man's palm land. Sighing at his foolishness, he stretched his arm and caught his hand.
BOOM!
"WYPER!"
"Agh!"
Wyper groaned in pain as a wave of pain flooded his senses from his arm. He didn't expect him to block this way, which was a big mistake, yet he felt no joy when he felt the same unwavering hold tightly clenching around his fingers. He lifted his head and looked once the clouds settled, and to his horror, the man was still standing, unmoving, looking at him with an indifferent expression.
"You shouldn't have done that..." He heard him speak, then before he could say anything, a big fist loomed before his eyes, and as quickly as it came, it landed on his face. Blood splattered as he flew back. Blackness rapidly took hold of his mind, and he swore he heard people frantically shouting his name. At that moment, he realized he messed up big.
"WYPER!!"
Alexander looked as the man landed among his people. He didn't waste time and jumped from the ship, and his crew followed from behind. Once they landed, they were surrounded.
Tens of men struck the ground with the strange device on their feet, launching like berserkers toward Alexander who calmly looked at everything as if time had slowed down for him.
His eyes flashed eerily with golden color, and a Conqueror's Haki wave expanded rapidly covering the whole village. The clouds shook from beneath and above as if they were about to be torn by giant invisible hands.
The Shandia felt a heavy pressure pile up on their back that sent them tumbling on the ground from their earlier acceleration. With hands and knees on the floor, they were barely able to breathe; they lifted their heads looking at the women and children, who although looked scared were fortunate to not experience what they felt.
Tap, tap, with each step the man took the pressure increased manyfold. They felt horrified at what was happening. Never had they felt powerless like this. Alexander stood before the kneeling men; he didn't wish to do this but it had to be done, otherwise he'd break their bodies to pieces.
"We need to talk, and I need you to calm down!" he said, his eyes sweeping past everyone, until they landed on the Shandian chief.
"What do you say?" he asked again, and lifted a part of his haki.
The old man trembled; he didn't know what was happening to others but he was sure that if he didn't give in to the man's demands, something bad would happen.
"W-We'll talk..." He said while shaking. He'd agree to his demand, as long as this scary silence and the painful groans of his tribesmen stopped.
"Good!" The pressure vanished and a slight smile sprang up on Alexander's face.
"Why don't we begin by introducing ourselves like civilized people."
"I'm Alexander, who are you lot?" he asked with a bright smile, ignoring the fact that he had terrified them earlier.
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