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CHAPTER 44
Their first meal on Sky Island had been brief, almost inhaled before the crew moved to set sail and search for Nami. Afraid that their navigator was at risk of incurring god's ire. At least that was the excuse, despite the implausibility of it all, though it was enough to spook the locals, and who knew what could happen in the sky? Robin had joked it might be because they were closer to heaven than they thought.
And their captain, who had been oh so eager to embark on this adventure-no, rescue operation, was sidetracked. His gold fish's attention span took him back to the broken waver they had found during the ship's fall.
Pagaya was happy to look over the waver for them, trying to see if the water-damaged wood and rickety handle could still steer on the waves. And after a thorough examination, he was certain that it could be repaired.
However, it wouldn't be done at this very minute; Pagaya knew that, Usopp knew that, Sanji knew that, everyone knew that, but Luffy not so much.
Sakura's foot tapped heavily on the clouds, "Come on, Luffy, we have to go!"
"In a minute!" He whined, playing with the handle of the waver.
"Everyone is already on board!" She pointed to the Going Merry, where she could see her friend's figures moving along the deck, getting ready to set sail and find their navigator. "Let's just leave the waver here."
"NO," Luffy all but stamped his foot.
"You can't even ride it!" She pointed out, but that only made him double down. Determined to take the waver with them. Sakura would've been on the ship herself if she wasn't worried her captain might decide to hop on that broken waver and attempt to ride again, and she knew how that was going to land. In the water, drowning.
"I can fix it," Pagaya assured him. Explaining that he was a dial engineer, and his line of work gave him the tools and skills for the job.
"Great, do it now!"
Sakura slapped Luffy and reminded him to be polite when someone is doing them a favor.
"Luffy enough, he doesn't have to fix it. We need to go now!"
"I wanna take it with us!"
"For the hundredth time, you don't know how to ride it!" Sakura was grinding her teeth and digging her fingers into her palms. Then her head snapped in the other direction, as she sensed something coming their way, a sensation of new presence. There in the foam of clouds, low to the ground, several figures were coming towards them.
"What is that?"
There were men, all in the same form of dress, with purple shirts and blue and white pants like camouflage, who shuffled on their bellies towards them.
"Who're they?" asked Luffy.
"And why are they crawling towards us?" Sakura put her hands on her hips. They weren't exactly incognito either, but they were at least committed. When they were in front of Cronus and Pagaya, they stood up, putting their fingers on their heads. And greeted them with a 'Heso!' which was kindly reciprocated by the father and daughter.
But then their eyes turned to Luffy and Sakura, and she sensed a shift in things, as if they were looking at something that didn't belong, which was a fair observation.
"So you're the eight illegal immigrants from the blue sea?"
'That doesn't sound good,'
Sakura decided to step forward before anyone else could, "Illegal? I'm sorry, sir, but I don't understand. We came through the gate, and I don't believe we've done anything."
The man didn't seem flattered by her polite take. "Don't try to talk your way out of it. Amazon, the inspector at Heaven's Gate sent us this picture."
They had seen the woman holding something in her hand, and it was snapping at them like a camera. The man held up the photograph of them.
"And that means we're illegal immigrants?" Sakura asked, trying to keep her tone from seeping any animosity that was brewing inside of her. "But we weren't informed of anything of the sort."
Pagaya attempted to mediate, then, "Captain Mcinely, there must be a misunderstanding. These people hardly seem like criminals."
Okay, Sakura had to bite her lip at the last part. No need to dig a deeper hole for themselves. But she did take the time to consider the real reason.
"What's these guys' problem?" Luffy asked, crossing his arms and glaring at the men in the barrets. "Should I beat 'em up?"
"No!" She grabbed Luffy's ear to hiss in it. "Don't do anything. Let me just figure out-oh," It finally hit her what this might be. "Is this because of the entrance fee?"
Luffy's face scrunched, "Entrance fee?"
"Remember! That lady said we had to pay 1 billion extols each?"
"Huh, that's a lot!"
"You were there! How can you not-
"No excuses!" McKinley's voice carried over the beach. "There's no need to panic yet. According to Heaven's punishment statuettes, trespassing is only a Class 11 offense. If you pay the fine, you can become legal tourists."
"And that is?" Sakura asked skeptically.
"It's simple, just pay ten times the entrance fee."
A sharp exhale left her; at least her intuition was still a blade. The only problem is she wished it didn't cut this finely because if it was right, then things were only going to get worse from here.
"WHAT?" The rest of the crew's voices could be heard, Usopp yelling out, since the ship was close enough for them to hear what was going on. That's why Sanji and Zoro jumped off the ship and moved back to the beach.
"That will be 10 billion Extols for each of you. Pay right now, and your record will be wiped clean," McKinley spoke as if it were a simple request.
"How much is that in berries?" Usopp asked loud enough that it sounded directed to everyone instead of himself.
According to the leader of the group, 1 extol was 100000 berries. Which meant they were going to have to pay 8 million berries to waive their illegal status. But the captain McKinely made it sound as if that was nothing more than a mere slap on the wrist.
"Thats a fortune!"
"It's your own fault. You should've just paid the initial fee!"
'And there's no way we have that much,' Nami managed the money, and she was meticulous, always pointing out how much they didn't have. Their recent adventures hadn't exactly taken them to any.
hidden treasures. Despite it taking them into two palaces without any coppers to sneak
The way she saw it, their path to a civil but bank breaking resolve was blocked to insufficient funds. Which left the gates to their second option wide open. Brute force.
"Let's just go," Sanji took a puff of his cigarette between his fingers. While Zoro leaned his hands over the hilt of his sword. A habit, not one of hostile intent, but always taken in that context by any stranger. "We need to find Nami."
As if the situation couldn't get heavier, McKinley spotted the broken waver lying on the beach, and inquired about it, while Pagaya attempted to explain that it was Luffy's group who brought it, he accused them of destroying Sky Island property, which was another offense, class ten.
"Blue Sea people don't have wavers. Did they perhaps steal it?"
Luffy held up a ready fist, "Shut up, or I'll plaster you,"
"No!" Sakura grabbed Luffy, hooking her arm around his neck and holding his wrist. A similar form she used against Naruto when he acted out or made an attempt. She still wanted to solve this diplomatically. They still needed to get Nami, and they also had no idea how to return safely from the sky island. A fact that had gone over all of their heads while they were breathing in the thin air.
"HEY YOU GUYS!"
Nami emerged on the waves, gliding towards them. Aside from her frazzled expression, she was perfectly intact. Certainly not like someone who had incurred the gods' wrath. Sanji was cheering for her as she approached the beach.
"Luffy, don't cause any trouble!" was the first greeting she gave to them.
Usopp ran to the edge of the cloudy sea, rounding his hands over his mouth, "Nami! We need to pay 8 million berries!"
"8 million?" Nami's eyes turned dark. "THAT'S TOO EXPENSIVE!"
Sakura wanted to bang her head on a rock after watching as Nami soared through the sea and rammed the waver straight into McKinley. They watched him bounce across the beach like a battered ball ready to have its stitches fall apart.
"We're getting the executioner's blade," Sakura sighed, but Usopp did not take her comment lightly, his mouth hung wide with tears threatening to fall.
"This isn't funny!"
"Should we leave now?" Sakura asked. Nami was back, but they were incurring the locals' disdain, and at this point, Sakura couldn't say confidently that it wouldn't come back to bite them.
"I guess we don't have a choice."
White Berets scrambled to their feet, their leader, Captain McKinley, swaying slightly as he brushed cloud-dust from his uniform. His face was now a mask of bruised pride and a swollen eye. Nami attempted futility (and rather halfheartedly) to placate them, hands raised innocently in the air as if she hadn't had them wrapped around the waver that deliberately swerved into the Berets Captain.
McKinley drew himself up to his full height, "ENOUGH!" he roared, jabbing a finger at the Straw Hats. "Your endless stream of crimes, illegal entry, property damage, and assault has reached its pinnacle! That attack was a clear case of obstructing a government official from performing his duties! A Class 5 criminal offense! And thus, by the divine authority best of Kami Eneru himself... I declare you exiled to the clouds!"
While the Strawhats were none the wiser of the implications of this so-called declaration, Conis and her father had taken on a rather hollow appearance at the mention. As if they were the ones condemned to this fate.
"Exiled to the clouds? Sounds kinda nice," Luffy said, picking at his face. When Sakura looked at him, she wondered if ignorance was truly such bliss that one could become an expert at it when it suited their needs and desires. If not just for the sake of delaying inevitable suffering.
"It is NOT nice!" Conis cried out, her usual composure shattering. "You'll be dropped, ship and all, onto a remote island cloud with no way to escape! You'll stay there until you're nothing but bones! It's a death sentence!"
"Oh, I get it, that's what that ship must've been a crew of…sinners, oh boy," Sakura exhaled.
Perilous the situation, it had given them an answer to how the galleon ship had ended up falling from the sky. It must have been a relic of that punishment. There was little chance to exchange discussions on this discovery, as the Berets had taken an offensive position, lining up with bows already drawn after their captain ordered to proceed with the pirates' arrest. At least they hadn't appeared bitter about being ignored.
Despite Conis warning for them not to go against the White Berets, Zoro had already had his hand on his sword's hilt, Sanji had shifted his legs, and Luffy had shoved Nami behind him so she could make a run for the ship and distance herself from the battle.
"ARREST THEM!"
The arrows that were fired turned out not to be arrows with tips of steel, but seashells, or rather look-alike. In unison, the White Berets released them. The projectiles shot forward, leaving behind a concentrated trail of clouds. It was easy enough to dodge; however, they soon realized that it wasn't intended for the offensive attack they were expecting.
Each soldier then stepped onto the trail of clouds left behind by the arrows, and without warning, started gliding along the paths they had created.
"Running on clouds?"
"Just like that gorilla!" Zoro gritted, his eyes glinting in the reflection of his blade.
They tried to come at Luffy from both sides, trapping him between the two lanes, but the rubber boy showed them he lived up to his name by flexibly avoiding their swords. His arm extended to reach a tree and was able to pull some distance between them. However, Luffy wasn't one for running away and was quick to come back with a creative counter, rotating his body like a spinning ball and using his arms and rubber powers to throw some long punches.
"He's power suits his outlandish thinking, doesn't he?" Sakura ducked, avoiding a sword to her neck, from one of the berets, before decking him hard enough to land him on the other side of the beach.
Zoro and Sanji made quick work of the rest of them, and soon they were lying scattered around the beach at their feet.
Sakura let out a loud groan, and Zoro frowned, "What's wrong with you now?"
Her eyebrow twitched, "What do you mean? Isn't it obvious?" she shot back, her patience thinning. "We have to leave. Now."
"Why?"
"Because if we don't, we're going to drag Conis and her father down with us. We've overstayed our welcome."
"We were gonna do that anyway. You don't have to act like it's the end of the world."
When her cheeks puffed, that's when Zoro felt he had done something wrong. Again. "Why are you doing that? You look like a chipmunk."
"You know what I've-
From the ground, Captain McKinley pushed himself up, practically dragging himself to his feet. Half his face was swollen, and a trickle of blood ran from his lip, but that didn't deter him as his words poured out.
"Fools... You should've surrendered quietly. We're the friendly law officers you find in Godland. The ones you'll find in the Upper Yard, the Kami's vassals. They won't be so gentle. You're Class 2 criminals now." He spat a glob of blood onto the cloud beneath him. "Make all the fuss you want. They will deal with you. Heso."
He delivered the declaration with no malice behind it, despite his appearance. But one thing was clear: their troubles were only beginning at this point.
Knowing they weren't going to be able to stand against them, they let the White Berets limp away, picking up shattered pieces of their pride. Yet, strangely, they didn't seem defeated. One even gave a half-hearted "Heso…" as he dragged his comrade by the ankle through the mist.
Nami crossed her arms, her expression stern. "Just great. This couldn't get any worse."
Zoro shrugged,"What's the big deal? We're used to being pursued."
"That doesn't mean I have to like it!" Nami shot back. "Either way, we can't stay here where they can easily find us again."
Usopp wrung his hands nervously. "But we didn't exactly think about how we were going to get back down." He turned to Conis and Pagaya, his eyes pleading. "Is there a safe way back?"
Conis looked down, her fingers twisting together. "There is a way… though at this point, I can no longer say it's safe. You must go to Cloud's End, the farthest edge of the clouds. From there, you need to descend through the White Sea."
"Great! Then we can go home!" Usopp said, already mentally packing.
Despite their consensus, Luffy wasn't willing to give up his adventure. He pouted, "I don't wanna go back! Dammit, Nami, why'd you have to come back here? We were going to go on an adventure-I mean, we were gonna come rescue you!"
"This is no time for adventures!" Nami insisted, her voice firm. "We have to get out of here before those guys come back with reinforcements. I promise you can have your big adventure another time. Right now, we need to go."
Sakura studied Nami's pale face. "What did you see up there, at Upper Yard?"
Nami shivered, wrapping her arms around herself. "I'll explain once we're sailing away from here."
"Too bad, though," Sakura admitted, glancing back at the serene, cloud-built world. "It was fun while it lasted."
As the others began moving toward the ship, Luffy suddenly turned and marched back to Conis and Pagaya. "Can we take the leftover food with us?"
Nami facepalmed. "Luffy, we don't have time-
"Of course!" Pagaya said warmly.
Luffy's face lit up. "Come on, Sanji! Make us lunch!"
Sanji took a breath of his cigarette; regardless of their captain's priorities, he would never allow his crew to go hungry. Not when he was there. "On it,"
"Fine, we'll get the ship ready," Nami grumbled, stomping her way back with Robin, Zoro, and Chopper. While Luffy, Sanji, Usopp, and Sakura went in the other direction.
..
..
..
Usopp was stuffing his bag full of dials that Pagaya was generous enough to permanently loan, while Sanji was working in the kitchen, managing a huge boxed lunch for all of his friends, while Sakura was doing her best to keep Luffy under control with the same harsh tactics she used when Naruto got rowdy. Since he kept trying to sneak a bite out of the prepped food before they were even in the containers. She dragged him out of the kitchen by his ear, stretching at an arms length as she pulled him back into the sitting room.
"You can run around all you want when we're back on the ship," Sakura said, before harshly yanking him down onto the sofa.
'He's like a hyperactive child.'
"Then let's go to Upper Yard," Luffy exclaimed as if he hadn't told Sanji to prepare their lunch and Pagaya to fix the waver for them.
Sakura grabbed his cheeks and started stretching, like he was a stress toy. Watching his cheeks move like putty.
"Have some patience! And we're not going to Upper Yard."
"Yes, we are! I want adventure!" Luffy argued through pursed lips. Though she wouldn't admit it, lest she add fuel to Luffy's pyre. Sakura was curious about this place. She wasn't just a stranger in these Sky Islands; she was a stranger in a whole new world. Even back in her own, she had that same cat-like curiosity, but due to Naruto's own preference for leaping without thought and Sasuke's admiring expressions towards them, she had to hold herself back in these cases.
Even now, she was trying to play the voice of reason. Even when her own little voice in the back of her head was saying otherwise.
"Remember Conis's warning? And what Nami said about God's wrath?"
Luffy stopped squirming in her grip and just watched. "Huh? Who cares about that?"
Sakura's chest deflated, "Okay, I don't really believe that it's god, but there might be something else up here, something we don't understand."
"But that's what makes it an adventure!" Luffy said, "We came all this way, so we should see as much as we want! There's nothing more exciting than an adventure with mysteries like this!"
When he spoke, Sakura saw the way Luffy's eyes sparkled. He really was just someone looking for all the adventure in the world, as if every day on the seas wasn't exciting enough already. His opposition was almost contagious.
Throwing his arms around her, Luffy started shaking Sakura. "Come on, Sakura! Don't you like adventures?"
Sakura paused, actually considering the question. She enjoyed excitement, but while her life consisted of 'adventures' technically, they were all wrapped in obligation, the obligation she had as a kunoichi. Every danger she faced was in line with her duty, not for the sake of her own amusement.
"I-
In a blur, Luffy was no longer hanging onto Sakura, his face kissing the wall, as she followed a long leg to Sanji, who was holding the finished containers.
"Hands off, Sakura-chan!"
"Sanji, why'd you kick me?" Quick to recover, Luffy's head bounced back into place before his eyes landed on the food and the aroma. Sure enough, the previous conversation had been forgotten in favor of his stomach, with Luffy's hands wandering towards the containers while Sanji had to keep swatting at them.
Meanwhile, Usopp had gone to Pagaya and got him to open his toolbox for materials to repair the Going Merry. Their ship already looked battered from their journey up to the sky, and he was afraid that she wouldn't be able to handle the descent back to the blue sea.
Sakura moved to the balcony, leaning on the railing to look out at the white sea and their ship sticking out like a thumb with a splinter. She could barely see her friend moving about, getting ready. But then the sea suddenly split beneath them. The ship began sailing with half its crew missing, but this was against the wind and moving backwards.
"What is that?" The alarm in her voice called over Luffy, Sanji, and Usopp, who rushed over to see their ship speeding through the clouds.
"Why are they leaving without us!?" Luffy exclaimed.
"I don't think that's it!" Usopp lowered his goggles over his eyes and began adjusting the frames to zoom in on the ship that was getting further away. Then he could see it, large claws attached to both sides, gliding the ship along against its will, against the crew that was still on it. Trapped. The creature also had something written on his forehead. 'God'
"Somethings taking the Merry away! It looks like a crab or something again!"
"But where?" Sakura clutched the railing so hard it cracked under her fingers.
"That's the white sea express, Lobster!" Pagaya exclaimed after seeing the commotion.
"Where is it taking them?" asked Sanji.
"The super Express Lobster is a messenger of god Eneru; he must be taking your friends to the sacrificial altar."
"Where is that exactly?"
Pagaya looked down, "Upper Yard."
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EARLY CHAPTERS FOR MEMBERS NOW: BUYMEACOFFEE
-Kunoichi amongst Heroes chapter (100, 101, 102, 103)
-Kunoichi amongst Pirates chapter (45, 46, 47)
-Crossroads of Fate chapter (36, 37, 38, 39)
-Through the Looking Glass chapter (48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53)
- (Bleach crossover) Kunoichi amongst Reapers: 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
-Commission: Demon slayer x My hero academia (PART 1 & 2)
- Kunoichi amongst Benders (Avatar x Naruto crossover) (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
-Kunoichi amongst Heroes WHAT IF SPIN OFF: Dorms and Exams
-SPECIAL HALLOWEEN CHAPTER: Shinigami amongst Shinobi
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