CRAAAAASH!
One moment, I'd been holding onto the mast, enjoying the single greatest achievement in the history of questionable scientific experiments. The next, the Vesper hit the White Sea hard enough to throw me clean across the deck and through a collection of crates whose lashings had snapped. Wood exploded around my shoulders, something heavy struck my head, and something considerably lighter shattered against my forehead, covering me in what smelled suspiciously like olive oil.
Wonderful.
The ship bounced once, tilted violently to starboard, then slammed back down with another enormous crash. A line snapped overhead and whipped across the deck, and I caught the railing before I could slide any farther. Then came a deeply concerning crack from our mast.
Oh, you motherfucker.
I pushed myself upright and found Robin hanging several feet above the deck, suspended by four arms she'd sprouted along the damaged mast. More hands gripped the railing and our remaining loose supplies, while Murdoch was tucked firmly against her chest. She appeared remarkably composed for someone who'd just survived being launched several thousand metres into the atmosphere.
"ROBIN!" I shouted over the creaking timber. "YOU ALRIGHT!?"
She glanced down at me, then at the wreckage surrounding my feet. Her hair was a complete mess, her coat had torn along one shoulder, and she had a small cut beneath her cheekbone.
"I believe so," she replied, lowering herself carefully. "Although I suspect we're going to need another chair."
I glanced through the open hatch at the broken chair below. Ah. Apparently throwing it down there hadn't helped. "Sorry about that." I kicked aside a broken crate panel and glanced toward the mast. "How's the ship?"
Robin followed my gaze, and together we listened to a long, unpleasant groan travel through the wood.
"Still floating," she eventually answered.
"Fucking beautiful!" I threw both arms into the air, nearly smacking Murdoch as he emerged from beneath her coat. "WE DID IT! KAH-RA-RA-RA-RA!"
God, that felt good! We'd actually fucking done it! I had personally descended into an underwater volcanic system, pumped an obscene quantity of seawater into its geological plumbing and forced an eruption powerful enough to throw an entire ship thousands of metres into the sky. And we'd survived! Take that, conventional science!
Somewhere on Earth, a geology professor was probably experiencing an unexplained migraine, and I sincerely hoped it was because of me.
Robin brushed splinters from her sleeves while I continued celebrating the greatest accomplishment of my extraordinarily distinguished scientific career.
"You're very pleased with yourself," she observed.
"Robin, my dear, I've just revolutionised transportation. Do you understand what this means?"
"That we should probably inspect the hull before celebrating?"
"That humanity no longer needs to wait for naturally occurring Knock Up Streams!" I gestured proudly toward the clouds surrounding us. "With the correct conditions, sufficient water pressure and a beautiful mind such as my own, any sufficiently irresponsible individual can reach the heavens!"
"Provided they survive the journey," Robin noted.
"Details."
"And provided they have someone to identify the volcanic formations, perform the geological research, calculate the approach and help keep the ship intact."
"Naturally. An important contribution."
"Someone who also warned you repeatedly that we might die." Robin folded her arms.
"An invaluable service, truly." She kept looking at me, so I sighed with exaggerated generosity. "Fine. When I publish my findings, I'll make sure you're properly credited as my research assistant."
Her smile remained perfectly pleasant. "How kind. Perhaps I should test whether your new gills function in these clouds."
"Such hostility toward scientific achievement!"
"I was thinking of contributing to your next experiment."
Before I could explain why attempted murder was an inappropriate response to professional recognition, a furious screech came from her arms. Ah, Murdoch. I'd forgotten about him. The little bastard had spent the past several minutes trembling against Robin's chest, his feathers sticking out in every direction. Now that the ship had stopped behaving like a particularly aggressive cannonball, he'd apparently rediscovered his courage. Unfortunately, he was looking directly at me.
"Murdoch, buddy..."
He launched himself at my face, claws catching my hair while his wings battered my forehead.
"AH! YOU LITTLE SHIT!" I stumbled back and tried to grab him, but he moved around my head with the determination of an animal who'd recently discovered the concept of revenge. "ROBIN! CONTROL YOUR FUCKING BIRD!"
"Mine?" she asked, watching with obvious amusement.
"HE'S ATTACKING ME!"
"Perhaps he's upset about the journey."
"HE'S A BIRD! HE SHOULD BE USED TO FLYING!"
Murdoch screeched louder, apparently disagreeing with the distinction between flying under one's own power and being fired into the upper atmosphere by an artificially induced volcanic eruption. Fair enough, actually. Eventually, Robin took pity on me and offered him her arm. The traitorous little bastard immediately abandoned his assault, hopped onto her wrist and began straightening his feathers as though nothing had happened.
"You're paying for my medical expenses," I told him. He squawked. "Don't you fucking talk back to me."
Robin laughed quietly and carried him toward the cabin while I turned my attention to the ship, which had suffered somewhat more than my dignity. The mast was still standing, a minor miracle considering the noises it had made during our ascent, but the split I'd been holding together had widened considerably. Several lines had snapped, one of the red sails hung at an unpleasant angle, and the starboard railing had lost enough timber that leaning against it would probably qualify as a suicide attempt.
Cracks ran through several deck planks near the bow, one of the fittings securing the mast had partially torn free, and a section of the hull had begun separating along an older seam. Nothing seemed immediately fatal, but the Vesper definitely needed some attention. I was crouched beside the damaged fitting, examining the bent metal, when Robin returned with our repair tools.
"How bad?"
"She'll live."
"An encouraging assessment."
"Honestly, considering what we just put her through, I'm impressed." I pressed one hand against the timber, testing its movement. "The old girl's tougher than she looks."
"Perhaps she's adapting to your treatment." ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
I paused; did she just make a pun?
We spent the next hour conducting temporary repairs. I forced the loosened fittings back into position, tightened the existing mast supports and reinforced them with spare timber from Jaya. Robin used her ability to reach places neither of us particularly wanted me climbing onto while we replaced the snapped lines, then helped me brace and patch the separating hull seam. The repairs weren't pretty, but they'd hold until we found somewhere more suitable to work.
Belowdecks, our precautions had kept Robin's books secure inside their padded cases, although my clothes were scattered across the cabin and the second chair hadn't survived either. I retrieved the shirt, boots and Log Pose I'd left there before the dive and got dressed. Somehow, Murdoch's collection of stolen shiny objects had survived completely untouched.
Naturally.
By the time we finished, the Vesper was floating steadily across the strange white surface, carried by a gentle current, and I finally had an opportunity to appreciate where we'd arrived.
Holy shit, it was beautiful.
The White Sea stretched in every direction, an endless expanse of brilliant white clouds rolling beneath the sunlight. Broad swells lifted our ship gently before lowering it again, while immense formations rose around us, some resembling mountains, others spreading into banks of mist that disappeared into the horizon.
Above us, the sky seemed impossibly vast. No land was in sight, no ordinary ocean, and nothing suggested that several thousand metres beneath our feet lay the same world we'd left earlier.
I leaned against the intact port railing and stared. I'd seen this place on a screen, obviously, from the comfort of a chair, probably while eating something unhealthy and wondering when the next episode would get to the good part. Actually standing here was something else entirely. A civilisation above the clouds; an actual fucking ocean in the sky. Man, I loved One Piece!
Robin joined me, carrying her notebook, though she seemed far more interested in what lay beneath us.
"Remarkable," she murmured. "They support the ship much like ordinary seawater." She leaned over the railing as another pale swell passed beneath us. "Do you suppose they're simply denser than ordinary clouds?"
"Sorta. They're called Sea Clouds. There's another type called Island Clouds, which are the ones people actually build on."
Robin turned toward me. "Once again, you knew that and didn't think to mention it earlier?"
"We were a little busy getting launched into the stratosphere, Robin", I countered.
She considered that, then returned her attention to the clouds. A pair of hands appeared beneath the railing and lowered a bucket attached to a rope. It disappeared into the white surface with a faint splash, then returned with a mass of pale, almost foamy material that shifted under its own weight. Robin touched it with one finger, then pressed harder, watching it compress before slowly returning to its original shape.
"Interesting," she murmured.
I leaned over her shoulder. "Looks like shaving cream."
"Shaving cream generally doesn't support an entire ship."
"I don't know; it depends on how much you've got."
She ignored that and began examining the sample more carefully, occasionally making notes. "What holds it together?"
"Something to do with volcanic minerals, I think. They get carried into the atmosphere and interact with the moisture up here."
"What minerals? And what causes the difference between Sea Clouds and Island Clouds?"
"Ah. Well..."
"I wonder whether the material retains these properties at lower altitudes."
I scratched my cheek. "Robin, I'm gonna be real with you. My knowledge of cloud chemistry is somewhat limited."
She slowly turned her head toward me. "Despite knowing their names and apparently understanding their formation?"
"Look, I know what they do! That doesn't mean I've memorised their entire molecular structure!"
"Of course." She smiled and returned to her notebook. "I'll investigate it myself."
"Excellent initiative, my dear research assistant."
She raised the bucket slightly, and I backed away. A wise decision, I think.
...
There was still the small matter of actually reaching Skypiea, because, unfortunately, we weren't there yet.
"See, we're currently in the White Sea," I explained, spreading our surviving chart across the cabin table. "Roughly seven thousand metres above the Blue Sea. The actual islands are farther up, around ten thousand metres."
Robin examined the chart, which naturally depicted absolutely none of the geography I was describing. "And how do we reach them?"
"There's a route somewhere around here that leads upward through the clouds."
"Could you be more specific than 'somewhere around here'?"
"Eventually, probably." She closed her eyes briefly, which I felt was unnecessary. "Look, I remember there's an entrance. Big gate, strange transportation system, the whole thing. We just need to find it."
"And you know this because...?"
"I know things."
Robin stared at me until it became clear that all she was getting was a smile, then sighed and gathered her notes. Ah, beautiful. She'd finally reached the stage of our relationship where she'd realised interrogating me about my impossible knowledge usually resulted in an extremely vague explanation, a completely ridiculous explanation, or me admitting I'd forgotten something important. Personal growth, for both of us, really.
But for my own sake, I need to come up with some kinda explanation, perhaps devil fruit related?
We followed the gentler current through the White Sea, navigating around enormous banks of cloud. Robin had begun taking deeper breaths during our repairs and mentioned a slight headache, although neither had stopped her from filling several pages with observations.
I, meanwhile, felt fantastic. My body had already dealt with considerable changes in pressure, temperature and oxygen availability over the years, and whatever adjustments remained seemed too minor to cause much discomfort. The air was cooler, but I was breathing comfortably. I'd rather enjoyed the whole breathing thing since discovering how unpleasant being deprived of it could be.
"How are you feeling?" Robin asked as she joined me near the wheel.
"Magnificent."
"Naturally."
"Seriously though, I'm fine. My body's already dealt with worse conditions than this. You alright?"
"A little light-headed earlier, but it's improving." She rested a hand against the railing. "I'd imagine most visitors from the Blue Sea need some time to adjust."
"Probably. Good thing we're built different."
She smiled faintly. "I'm not sure I would include myself in that assessment."
"You're travelling with me. That automatically qualifies you."
"How fortunate," she breathed through her nose.
We continued for another hour, during which the sky demonstrated that apparently everything in this world had decided normal biology was optional. The first fish appeared alongside the ship, inflated itself into a nearly spherical shape and launched several feet above the cloud surface. I stared as the ridiculous creature floated briefly through the air before dropping back beneath the white.
"Robin, did you see that?"
She was already moving toward the railing, notebook in hand. Another fish appeared, this one long and strangely flat, with enormous fins extending from either side. It skimmed along the surface before disappearing beneath our bow, and several more followed. Skyfish. Holy shit, they were ugly. Beautifully, magnificently ugly.
"Look at that little bastard!" I pointed toward a creature whose entire body appeared to consist of a mouth and an inflated stomach. "How the does that thing work?"
Robin leaned over the railing. "Their bodies appear unusually light. Perhaps they've adapted to the properties of these clouds."
Adapted, huh? .______.
Now that was interesting. I watched another fish disappear beneath the surface and considered the clouds' unusual density, how much weight they could hold, the way they moved and separated. What would happen if I compressed them, or combined them with the water-storage abilities I'd recently developed? Could I create my own little cloud structures? My hand slowly moved toward the railing.
"Kai."
I stopped. Robin hadn't even turned around. "Yes, my dear~?"
"Whatever you're thinking, please remember that our ship has already survived one of your experiments today."
"You're making assumptions."
"The last time you became this interested in something, you forced an underwater volcano to explode."
"A successful underwater volcanic eruption."
"Call it what you want, it damaged our mast, cracked the hull and destroyed two perfectly good chairs."
I started explaining why cloud manipulation could revolutionise the world, but something shifted inside my right hand before I got very far. A familiar pressure spread beneath the skin, followed by a faint movement across my knuckles. I stopped talking and turned my hand over, watching the dark lines of the wheel shift slightly. It wasn't a full rotation, or even a recognisable stage of adaptation, as far as I could tell, but something had definitely moved.
I flexed my fingers and examined the mark. The sensation remained, faint but unmistakable; I'd experienced it enough times to recognise when my Devil Fruit was beginning to respond to something. Usually, the cause was fairly obvious: heat, pressure, injury, some new bastard attempting to introduce my internal organs to the outside world. This time we were sailing peacefully across the White Sea, the sun was shining, and the only immediate threat was Murdoch attempting to steal something shiny from Robin's bag.
I looked around, then up at the perfectly clear sky. "...What the fuck?"
Robin noticed me staring at my hand. "Something wrong?"
"Not sure. Think my fruit's reacting to something." I brought the mark closer to my face as another faint pulse passed beneath my skin.
She closed her notebook and came over to examine it. "Another adaptation?"
"Looks like the beginning of one. I'm just trying to figure out to what."
Atmospheric pressure was a possibility, although I'd dealt with enormous pressure changes in that underwater trench. Whether that helped with the opposite problem, I couldn't say, but I wasn't struggling to breathe or feeling the cold. I hadn't exactly been rolling around in the cloud material either. Maybe there was something strange about the particles in the air.
Robin took my wrist and turned it slightly. "Has it moved?"
"A little. Nothing else feels unusual, though. I'm just having that familiar sensation when something starts adapting."
She released my hand and considered the clouds. "Perhaps there's something in the atmosphere your body hasn't encountered before, or something associated with the altitude itself. These clouds certainly have properties unlike anything in the Blue Sea."
"Could be." I glanced upward again, considering another, rather unpleasant possibility: Enel.
The bastard possessed Mantra, the sky people's term for what I knew as Observation Haki. More importantly, his Devil Fruit allowed him to extend that awareness across an absolutely ridiculous area. If he was already ruling Skypiea, which he should've been by this point, there was a decent chance he could detect people arriving from below, including us.
That still didn't explain why my adaptation would respond. Mantra was a form of perception, as far as I understood it. Nobody had punched me, poisoned me or introduced something dangerous into my bloodstream. Could my fruit respond to somebody perceiving me? I'd never seriously considered the possibility, but then I'd never considered growing functioning gills until I started drowning myself repeatedly.
Perhaps my imagination was simply inadequate.
"Anything?" Robin asked as I rubbed my thumb across the mark.
"Nothing useful. Could be something in the air."
"Would you like to stop and investigate?"
Before I could decide, the pressure beneath my skin began to fade, and the wheel settled. I waited for another pulse, but apparently whatever had set it off had stopped.
"Nah," I eventually answered. "Seems to have gone away."
Robin examined my hand once more. "It begins without an identifiable cause, then stops without any obvious change. Perhaps we should record when it happens again."
"Good idea. Pretty annoying, though."
She opened her notebook as I turned my attention back to the sea. My body had spent years doing things I hadn't anticipated, and most of those surprises had turned out extremely useful, but adapting to something I couldn't identify was new. I glanced at the wheel before closing my fist. Whatever it was, I'd figure it out eventually, preferably before it tried killing me.
...
We discovered the entrance to Skypiea somewhat later, or, more accurately, Robin discovered it while I was attempting to repair a fishing line.
"There's something ahead," she called from the bow.
I glanced up at a massive formation of clouds rising from the White Sea until it disappeared into a higher layer of mist. A great white current climbed through its centre, resembling an enormous waterfall running in completely the wrong direction, and a huge archway stood at its base. Even from this distance, I recognised it.
"There it is! Heaven's Gate!"
Robin raised the telescope. "Heaven's Gate?"
"Very subtle naming conventions up here."
As we approached, I could make out decorative pillars on either side of the passage, apparently constructed from some combination of ordinary material and dense cloud. Above them, large letters announced HEAVEN'S GATE, just in case we'd missed the point.
"Welcome to the start of paradise, Robin."
"How reassuring. Although I would've expected heaven to have a less dangerous approach."
"Ah, don't worry. The dangerous part's behind us." She lowered the telescope and stared at me. I considered the damaged mast. "...Mostly."
We slowed as a small building came into view beside the gate. Outside stood an elderly woman with small wings extending from her back and an expression that suggested she'd been profoundly disappointed by every visitor she'd encountered during her extremely long life. She held something resembling a camera, and I recognised her immediately: Amazon, the immigration officer of heaven. Naturally, the afterlife had bureaucracy.
"Visitors from the Blue Sea?" she asked.
"That's us!" I called cheerfully. "Two extremely respectable tourists and one emotionally unstable bird!" Murdoch squawked from the railing. "See?"
Entirely unimpressed, Amazon raised the object in her hands. A brief click followed.
"Was that a camera?" Robin asked.
"Something like that. It's called a Dial. Local technology; very interesting stuff, actually."
Robin's attention shifted toward the device, but Amazon lowered it and addressed us. "To enter God's Land, Skypiea, you must pay the entrance fee."
Ah, here we go. Robin stepped forward. "Of course. How much?"
"One billion Extols per person."
Neither of us answered immediately. Even Murdoch stopped making noises for a moment, although that was probably unrelated.
"One billion?" Robin repeated.
"Extols," Amazon clarified.
I folded my arms. "Lady, respectfully, what the fuck?"
"That is the required entrance fee."
"A BILLION!?"
"Per person."
"YOU'RE CHARGING PEOPLE TO ENTER HEAVEN!?"
"Those are the laws of God's Land."
"THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT'S WRONG WITH RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS!" I threw both hands into the air while Robin covered her mouth. "Where's the welcoming committee? The complimentary drinks? The customer service? You're telling me I travelled ten thousand bloody kilometres, survived an underwater volcanic eruption, nearly destroyed my ship, and now I've gotta pay admission!?"
"Approximately seven thousand metres," Robin corrected quietly.
"NOT THE POINT!"
Amazon watched my performance with the detached patience of someone whose job description apparently included tolerating lunatics. Robin, meanwhile, returned to something much more productive.
"Extols are your local currency? How do they compare with berries?"
"Ten thousand Extols are equivalent to one berry."
"Then the entrance fee would be one hundred thousand berries per person."
I stopped. Oh, right. I'd forgotten the exchange rate. Still expensive, obviously, but considerably less offensive than a billion actual berries. Not that I was admitting that.
"Two hundred thousand berries for both of us," Robin continued, glancing toward Murdoch. "Unless animals are also charged?"
Amazon looked at the bird. "No."
"Excellent. The bird's broke anyway." Murdoch chirped, and I pointed at him. "Don't pretend you have money. You steal everything."
Robin checked the funds we'd brought aboard. We had enough, although handing over that much money for permission to visit a place I fully intended to cause trouble in felt morally questionable. On the other hand, I remembered what happened to people who refused: they were allowed through anyway, classified as illegal entrants, then fined considerably more. A beautiful little arrangement, really. Government-sanctioned extortion with a religious aesthetic; I wonder what this is reminding me of…mhhhhh
"So," I asked Amazon, "what happens if we don't pay?"
"You may still enter."
Robin paused over the money. "Without paying?"
"Yes."
Ah, there it was. "And there wouldn't happen to be some ridiculous punishment for entering without paying, would there?"
Amazon remained perfectly expressionless. "I am merely the inspector. Whether you pay is your decision."
"Uh-huh." I turned toward Robin. "We're paying."
She raised an eyebrow. "That was a surprisingly quick decision."
"Trust me. I know a scam when I see one."
"From experience?"
"Professionally."
Robin made a small amused noise and counted out the berries. Amazon accepted the equivalent payment, recorded our arrival and returned to her peculiar camera. While she finished, I leaned toward Robin.
"See? Responsible decision-making. I've grown."
"You've just paid an entrance fee."
"Personal development comes in many forms."
"Then perhaps we should celebrate by avoiding any further international incidents."
"No promises."
"Of course," Robin smirked.
Amazon gestured toward the passage ahead. "You may proceed."
"Lovely!" I took the wheel again. "Thank you for your service to the heavenly economy!" She didn't respond. Rude.
As the Vesper passed beneath the arch, Robin stayed near the railing, watching Amazon return to her little building. "Those wings resemble the figures from the sanctuary beneath Lulusia."
Ah, now we were getting somewhere. She opened her notebook and found the drawings she'd made of the ancient relief. The small structures extending from the carved figures' backs had been too worn for us to identify with certainty at the time, but beside Amazon, the resemblance was much harder to dismiss.
"The positioning is almost identical," Robin murmured.
"Most of the inhabitants up here have wings. Different groups, different appearances, but I don't remember all the details."
She glanced back toward the gate. "And the people from the sanctuary supposedly descended from the heavens. This may prove considerably more useful than I expected."
"Told you."
"You also told me we would probably survive the Knock Up Stream."
"And we did."
"After nearly losing our mast."
I shrugged. "Still counts."
Before she could dispute my impeccable reasoning, two massive claws broke through the clouds ahead of us, followed by a shell and the rest of an entire fucking crustacean. Robin stopped speaking as it rose in front of the Vesper, cloud foam spilling from its body, and reached toward our bow.
"OH! IT'S THE EXPRESS!"
"The what?"
"The transport!"
Robin turned toward me. "The transport is a lobster?"
"Yep!"
"Of course it is."
The creature seized our ship and jolted us sideways. Robin grabbed the railing, I caught the wheel, and then the Vesper shot forward into the narrow current. The lobster was fast. Very fucking fast. Our damaged mast creaked as it dragged us toward the ascending passage.
"KAIIII!"
"IT'S FINE!"
"YOU COULD'VE WARNED ME!" Robin exclaimed
"I THOUGHT YOU'D FIND IT INTERESTING!"
"THAT ISN'T THE SAME THING!"
The cloud river curved upward between towering white walls, and Heaven's Gate disappeared beneath us. I stared over the railing at the enormous white expanse falling away below. We were climbing another three thousand metres toward a place I'd wanted to visit since I was a kid watching One Piece on a screen, and we were getting there on a fucking lobster. God, I loved this series.
Robin had moved beside the mast, keeping several arms around the damaged supports as the clouds rushed past. "This transportation system is remarkable!" she called.
"RIGHT!?"
"Although I would've preferred something less violent!"
"YOU'RE TALKING TO THE WRONG MAN!"
She laughed and shook her head as the Vesper continued its ridiculous ascent. Fortunately, this journey was considerably shorter than our earlier experiment. The lobster hauled us around sharp bends that sent us grabbing for anything secure, then the cloud walls finally opened, sunlight poured through the gap ahead, and the current levelled out into the White-White Sea.
...
I'd considered myself reasonably prepared for Skypiea. I'd watched the anime, read the manga, remembered most of the important characters and had a fairly decent idea of the shit we were going to encounter. None of that properly prepared me for seeing Angel Island.
Everything was so unbelievably white, a Republican's dream.
Clouds formed broad, solid stretches of land, rising into gentle hills and supporting clusters of houses that looked as though they'd been built from impossibly soft stone. Strange trees spread enormous leaves between the buildings, and pathways curved past rounded walls, domed roofs and homes made with shells and pale timber.
Some looked too delicate to survive an ordinary storm, yet people walked between them as casually as they would in any town in the Blue Sea. Actual people, with wings. A pair of children chased each other toward a small bridge while several inhabitants worked beside peculiar boats along the shore. One suddenly accelerated across the surface with a sharp burst of air, and Robin followed it with her eyes.
"What propelled that?"
"Dial technology. They use these little shell things to store all sorts of stuff. Air, heat, sound, probably other things I'm forgetting."
"Shells that can store energy." She watched the boat pull away. "I think I'd like to spend some time studying them."
"Join the club."
A few minutes later, the great lobster released our ship into calmer waters near Angel Beach. I stood at the bow with both hands against the railing, taking in the broad white shoreline, the strange plants and the little boats moored beside docks made from the island's compact cloud material. Farther inland, rounded rooftops rose above the winding streets of what was probably Lovely Street. Holy fucking shit, we were actually here.
"Welcome to Skypiea, Robin."
She stood beside me, her notebook forgotten for once. "It's beautiful."
"Yeah," I agreed, and for a while neither of us said anything.
We'd spent the past several weeks chasing obscure inscriptions, breaking into archives, stealing historical records and conducting geological experiments that absolutely would've violated several maritime regulations.
Now we were looking at an actual island in the sky, with people living on clouds. Sometimes I forgot how fucking incredible this world could be, and it felt nice to stand there and appreciate it with her.
"The structures supporting those buildings appear considerably denser than the Sea Clouds," Robin said. "I wonder whether their formation requires different atmospheric conditions."
I turned toward her as she reached for her notebook. "Robin, we've been here for approximately thirty seconds."
"And?"
"Can we appreciate the view before you start nerding out?" I joked.
She smiled. "I thought that was why we came."
...
We secured the Vesper at a small dock along the edge of the settlement. Its mooring posts were firmly anchored in the island material, which I found fascinating considering the whole thing was technically a cloud. The ship needed proper repairs before we'd be taking her anywhere, but the worst of the damage seemed manageable.
After securing the final rope, I stepped onto the dock. The surface compressed slightly beneath my boots, supporting my weight with a strange springiness. I bent my knees and bounced once, then again, slightly harder. Interesting.
Robin stepped off the Vesper behind me. "Please don't damage the island."
I grinned and took another experimental step. Actual fucking cloud land. This was absurd. Murdoch landed on the railing nearby, looking significantly happier now that we were no longer moving vertically at several hundred kilometres per hour. After examining our surroundings, he flew toward a nearby tree.
"Don't steal anything!" I called after him. He ignored me, as usual.
Robin carried a small satchel containing her notes and several books from the cabin. I offered to take it, but she declined, apparently believing I might become distracted and abandon it somewhere. Hurtful. Accurate, perhaps, but hurtful.
We headed toward the settlement, passing locals who regarded us with varying degrees of curiosity. To be fair, a ridiculously tall, white-haired man whose trousers had recently survived an explosion probably made an unusual sight, especially accompanied by a woman carrying enough research material to establish a small university and, somewhere behind us, a bird with a criminal record. A lovely little travelling party.
The locals' wings varied slightly in shape and size, and their clothes were made from lighter fabrics with unfamiliar decorative patterns. Robin studied them carefully, glancing between the inhabitants and her drawings from Lulusia.
"There's definitely a resemblance," she murmured. "Although the carvings are too damaged to establish whether the same people made them."
"Well, we've got plenty of time to investigate."
She closed her notebook. "Where would you like to begin? With the accounts of Makora?"
"Yep. Somewhere in Skypiea, there might be records about those people who descended to the Blue Sea. Maybe stories about Makora, maybe something older. The inscription on Lulusia didn't tell us exactly where they came from, just that they brought the legend with them."
"And if their ancestors lived here, their descendants might have preserved additional accounts."
"Exactly. Might even be some old ruins or historical sites worth checking."
"There almost certainly are. A civilisation capable of constructing settlements in these conditions must have a fascinating history."
"And you're gonna help us find it."
She smiled. "I was planning to."
Beautiful. Now for the other reason we'd come. I cracked my knuckles. "Then there's Enel."
"Enel?"
"Current ruler of Skypiea, I believe. Calls himself God."
"An unusual title."
"Not particularly subtle, is he?"
"And you want to meet him?"
"Oh, absolutely."
Robin stopped walking. I took another step before noticing and turned back to find her watching me with her arms folded. Ah, here we go.
"Please don't tell me you've brought us to another island specifically to assault its ruler."
"That's an extremely unfair interpretation." Her eyebrow rose, and I sighed. "Okay, it's one of the reasons. Research first! Punching second, I promise."
"And why, exactly, do you want to fight him?"
For those who've forgotten, Enel was a Logia user, one of the most powerful in the series. The Goro Goro no Mi let him become, generate and manipulate lightning, an element with practically limitless possibilities for adaptation. Crocodile's sand became fairly straightforward once I understood how to interact with it, so electricity shouldn't be any different. Then there was Mantra, fucking Observation Haki, and an ego large enough to declare himself God. I was practically salivating at the possibilities.
"He's got a Devil Fruit. A powerful one. Logia."
"What kind?"
I grinned. "Lightning."
Robin watched me for several seconds before sighing. "You want to challenge a man who can transform into lightning?"
"Well, when you put it like that, it sounds even better."
She closed her eyes. "Of course it does."
"Come on! Think about it! We're going to be investigating a civilisation ruled by a man calling himself God. You really think we're gonna spend our entire time here avoiding him?"
"We could try."
"That sounds boring."
"It sounds peaceful."
"Peace is overrated." Robin gave me a pointed look, and I reconsidered. "Well, not for everyone. But you get what I mean."
She shook her head, although the corner of her mouth twitched. "I suppose asking you not to fight him would be rather pointless. At least allow us to investigate the historical sites before you begin another incident."
Research first, fight later. Reasonable enough. "Deal."
Robin regarded me suspiciously. "That was surprisingly easy."
"I'm a reasonable man."
"Of course."
"And besides," I continued, looking toward the distant hills, "if there's genuinely some connection between Makora and this place, I wanna know what it is."
My gaze dropped to the wheel on my right hand. It had stayed quiet since that first movement on the White Sea, and I still had absolutely no idea what had caused it. That annoyed me, just a little. I'd spent years learning how this ability worked, and while plenty remained mysterious, I'd become reasonably good at recognising what my body was responding to. This was something I couldn't see, touch or even properly sense.
I flexed my fingers, and the same faint pressure returned beneath my skin. The wheel barely shifted, but it was enough to stop me from walking.
"Again?" Robin asked.
"Yep. Still no fucking clue why."
She stepped closer to examine my hand while I looked around. A pair of children ran past us, arguing about something I couldn't make out, and an older man carried a basket toward a nearby house. Everything appeared perfectly ordinary, by Skypiea standards, anyway. The sensation persisted for another moment, faintly pressing against something inside me before subsiding. What the fuck was that?
Robin watched me a little longer, then made another entry in her notebook. "Perhaps we'll find something during our investigation."
"Maybe." I lowered my hand. Whatever was causing the reaction clearly wasn't finished with me. If it happened again, I intended to pay considerably more attention.
For now, though, an entirely new civilisation waited in the streets ahead, where winged inhabitants moved between cloud houses and unfamiliar machines hummed along the pathways. Ancient history, a possible connection to my Devil Fruit, and somewhere on this ridiculous island, a self-proclaimed god who could turn himself into lightning. My grin returned. Oh, this was going to be fun.
"Alright, Robin! First things first. We find somewhere to stay, get the ship repaired, buy some supplies and then start looking for anything connected to Makora."
She closed her notebook. "A remarkably sensible plan. Although I'd prefer to inspect the local archives before you become distracted by another opportunity for experimentation."
I faked tears "Absolutely no faith in me."
"Quite the contrary," she replied, smiling. "I have every confidence you'll find something dangerous to do."
I laughed and continued toward the settlement with her beside me. Behind us, the Vesper rested against the dock, its damaged red sails shifting in the afternoon breeze. Above, the enormous sky stretched over Angel Island, and somewhere beyond the clouds lay the ancient ruins we'd travelled so far to investigate.
I gave my right hand one final glance. The wheel was still for now, and whatever had started happening to my Devil Fruit remained a mystery, but I wasn't particularly worried. I'd figure it out eventually.
I always did, and if whatever was causing it wanted to try again, they could taste these hands.
…
End of Chapter!
Word Count - 6101
a/n -
HELLO AGAIN, MY BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE!
6,101 WORDS. SIX THOUSAND.
Yeah, so remember last chapter when I announced I was getting rid of the word limit? Apparently, I took that as a personal challenge because I am genuinely starting to lose track of time whenever I sit down to write these chapters.
At one point, this chapter was over 8,000 fucking words.
EIGHT THOUSAND.
AND I WASN'T EVEN DONE.
I originally intended to include more exploration and other developments, but after rereading everything, I realised the chapter was getting ridiculously long. So, I decided to trim it down, move some of those scenes into Chapter 41 and give them the attention they deserve.
Look at me, making responsible editorial decisions. Character development, ladies and gentlemen.
Anyway, onto the actual chapter!
God, I've been looking forward to this. Skypiea has always been one of my favourite locations in One Piece, simply because of how fucking ridiculous the entire concept is. An ocean made of clouds, floating islands, technology powered by magical shells and a giant lobster operating what is essentially a public transportation service.
Oda was genuinely cooking.
I wanted this chapter to capture some of that excitement, particularly through Kai. I think it's easy to forget that, despite his increasingly absurd strength and criminal record, this is still a guy who used to watch One Piece like the rest of us. He knows these places exist, but actually experiencing them is something else entirely.
And I think that's worth giving some attention to. Not every chapter needs someone getting punched through a building, although knowing Kai, I'm sure we'll return to our regularly scheduled violence soon enough.
Now, Robin!
I'm really enjoying writing these two together, and I hope that comes across. One thing I've been deliberately trying to establish is that Robin isn't just there to react to Kai's bullshit. She's genuinely intelligent, curious and has her own reasons for wanting to explore this world.
Kai might know what a Sea Cloud is, but ask him to explain the actual science behind it and suddenly he's developed a speech impediment.
Robin, meanwhile, is already halfway through writing a research paper.
Their dynamic has been particularly fun because she's slowly becoming more comfortable with him. She's making jokes, teasing him, and occasionally contributing to the stupidity herself. Remember, this woman willingly helped him manufacture a volcanic eruption.
SHE IS NOT INNOCENT.
And poor Murdoch. The bird has survived more near-death experiences than most Grand Line pirates, and his only crime was choosing the wrong owner.
Actually, that's a lie. He's a thieving little bastard.
NOW, ABOUT THAT WHEEL...
I'm sure some of you noticed something rather interesting happening during their journey.
Kai's adaptation has started responding to something he can't identify, which is quite unusual considering how familiar he's become with his abilities.
I'm not going to explain too much here because I want you guys to figure things out alongside him. However, I'll say that this development is intentional, and it'll become rather important as we progress through Skypiea.
And speaking of important...
ENEL!
Our favourite self-proclaimed God has officially entered the conversation, and Kai, being the perfectly reasonable individual he is, has decided that fighting a man made of lightning sounds like an excellent recreational activity.
Robin deserves a fucking raise.
I have some VERY interesting ideas for how this encounter will play out, especially regarding Kai's Devil Fruit and the possibilities offered by Enel's abilities. I've been looking forward to exploring this particular matchup for a while now.
There's also the entire Makora mystery to consider. Remember, we're here in the first place because of what Robin discovered beneath Lulusia. Those carvings, the ancient legend, and the people supposedly descending from the heavens are all things I intend to explore further.
And believe me, I've got plans for that.
Anyway, before I accidentally turn these author's notes into another chapter, I'll leave it there!
As always, I'd love to hear your thoughts. How are you finding the longer chapters? Is the pacing better, or are there still areas you think I could improve? I'm also curious about your theories concerning the wheel's strange behaviour, the Makora mythology and what might happen when Kai finally encounters Enel.
And, most importantly, are you enjoying Kai and Robin's dynamic so far? I've been putting quite a bit of effort into developing their relationship naturally, so I'd love to know what you think.
Thank you all again for reading, commenting and supporting this ridiculous story. I genuinely appreciate it, especially those of you who've stuck around through my increasingly questionable upload schedule.
Chapter 41 should be quite interesting, considering I've already stolen a good chunk of it from this chapter.
Efficiency, people. I'm learning.
UNTIL NEXT TIME!
Bye bye (￣▽￣)ノ