Monsters Appear:

-x-

Inside the mouth of an enormous island-sized sea turtle, Luffy, Y/N, Zoro, Sanji, and Masira the Salvage King stood in the remains of the St. Briss.

"Who turned out the lights?" Luffy wondered.

"My guess is that the entire wreck just became a snack for a huge sea monster," Sanji stated.

AAAA-CHOOO! Everyone jumped when Y/N suddenly let out a loud sneeze.

"ARE YOU TRYING TO GIVE ME A HEART ATTACK?" Masira demanded.

"Sorry," Y/N apologized as he rubbed his nose, "I just got the sudden feeling that..." Y/N trailed off and looked thoughtful. "Hey Zoro, would you fancy exploring the stomach of a giant sea monster?"

"Not really," Zoro admitted, "especially after what happened with that whale."

"It's just that I've got the strangest feeling that this isn't the first ship that this monster's swallowed," Y/N explained, "You could almost say I can sense it."

"OOOH!" Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji chorused as they caught on.

"You mean your Treasure..." Luffy started to blurt out. WHAP! He was cut off when Sanji clamped his hand over his mouth. He cast a wary glance at Masira, not wanting the Salvage King to get worked up over the potential of finding treasure in the monster's belly.

"I guess it wouldn't hurt to take a look," Zoro reasoned.

"OOO!" Luffy gushed, "If you're going on an adventure I wanna come too! I wanna find some tre—" WHAP! Again Sanji clamped his hand over the Captain's loud mouth.

"You know what, maybe I should just take Luffy," Y/N resolved.

"HEY! HOLD ON!" Masira protested. "This might just be because I'm super observant but I get the feeling that you guys are up to something."

"We're trapped in the mouth of a monster," Y/N pointed out, "I thought that we could take a chance to explore while we're in here. If you'd like to risk being digested, you're welcome to come along."

Masira flinched. "I'm not about to go diving into the belly of a monster!" the monkey man exclaimed, "That'd make it way too easy for the beast to actually eat me!"

"Then in that case, you stay here with these two and try to find a way out," Y/N suggested. "Luffy, you come with me. I've got a feeling that this'll be a very interesting adventure."

"YEAAAHH!" Luffy cheered, "After going in that whale, sailing through that goldfish, and escaping in that big banana, this'll be great! I bet we'll find loads of..." WHAP! This time, Y/N clamped his hand over Luffy's mouth.

"You guys grab anything you think is valuable and head out," Y/N instructed, "Poor Nami, Usopp, and Chopper are probably terrified. Tell them to set sail and we'll use this thing to catch up to you." With that, Y/N dragged Luffy out of the remains of the St. Briss, into the monster's mouth and down its throat.

"HOLD ON!" Masira shouted. "What did he mean 'grab anything you think is valuable'? YOU GUYS ARE TRYING TO STEAL MY TREASURE!"

"Looks like the jig is up," Zoro realized.

"It's not yours if it's sunken," Sanji growled.

"THIS IS MY TERRITORY!" Masira roared. "ANY SUNKEN SHIPS IN THIS AREA ARE MY PROPERTY! I'M THE SALVAGE KING! I'LL TEACH YOU!" Masira swung his arm around and lashed out at Sanji. "MONKEY PUNCH!"

SWISH! Sanji leaned to the side and avoided the attack then spun around and hooked his leg around Masira's face, "FLANCHET... SHOOT!" THWHAM! Sanji's kick sent Masira flying across the room and into the wall. KRASH! THUMP! Masira hit the deck and didn't move.

"Hmph," Sanji grunted. "Let's grab what we can and get out of here."

"Should we cut our way out?" Zoro suggested.

"Don't be stupid Moss Ball," Sanji snapped, "That'd take too long. We'll light a fire and the smoke'll cause the monster to sneeze us out."

"You're the stupid one, Pervy-Cook!" Zoro retorted, "This sunken ship is soaking wet! There's nothing that'll burn well enough to create that much smoke!"

"AT LEAST MY PLAN WAS PRACTICAL, YOU DUMB BRUTE!" Sanji shouted.

"YOUR PLAN WAS DUMB, THAT MAKES YOU THE DUMB ONE!" Zoro yelled back.

The bickering swordsman and cook stormed out of the Captain's quarters and left Masira lying on the floor as they went to gather up any valuables that remained on the sunken ship.

-x-

Meanwhile, the remaining Straw Hats and the Masira Pirates all stared in shock at the monstrous island-sized turtle that had just swallowed the sunken St. Briss and their crewmates along with it.

"CAPTAIN! CAPTAIN!" one of the Masira Pirates screamed in horror.

"One tooth is the size of our boat..." Nami whimpered. "That's it! We're dead!"

"There's no monster!" Usopp insisted as he clamped his hands over his eyes. "This is all just one big stupid dream that we're all having together for some reason!"

"A dream, right," Chopper was all too happy to go along with the delusion.

"Aaaahh," Usopp, Chopper, and Nami all sighed in relief having managed to convince themselves that this wasn't real. They closed their eyes and faced away from the monster, out of sight, out of mind. "It was just a dream."

"You know," Robin spoke up, "Our boys just got eaten." Nami, Usopp, and Chopper all flinched while Robin calmly eyed the bits of broken wood that were sticking out of the turtle's huge mouth. "So did that ship we were trying to salvage."

"DON'T SAY IT!" Usopp shrieked.

"Yup, it was definitely eaten," Robin confirmed, "I can see the air hoses hanging from its jaws."

"STOP SAYING THAT!" Usopp hollered.

"WAAAAHHHH!" Chopper cried as he ran in circles around the deck. "A SEA MONSTER ATE MY FRIENDS! WHAT AM I GONNA DO?"

"This is all your fault!" Usopp snapped at Nami. "You're the one that said it'd be safe at the bottom of the Grand Line! I don't know what qualifies as safe in your book but in mine IT DOESN'T INVOLVE GIANT MAN-EATING TURTLES!"

"You're right..." Nami reluctantly agreed as she dropped to her knees, "But they can't be... gone... those four can handle anything... that's why we sent them..."

WHOOM! A slight tug from the turtle caused the Going Merry to violently lurch to the side. Nami, Usopp, and Chopper went sliding across the deck into the railing.

"If we don't cut the air hoses that beast will drag us down to the bottom of the ocean," Robin pointed out.

"GAAAAHHH!" Usopp screamed. "I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU DO! JUST DO SOMETHING! YOU'RE THE TOUGH AND SMART LADY!"

"Give minute, let me see what I can come up with," Robin replied.

"OKAY BOYS!" one of the Masira pirates shouted to the others. "TIME TO SAVE OUR NOBLE CAPTAIN! OUR PRIDE HONOR AND LIVES ARE AT STAKE! OUR CAPTAIN IS ALIVE AND WE WILL FIND HIM! MARK MY WORDS!"

"They're right," Usopp realized, "It's these challenging times that prove the strength by which we are made!"

"USOPP!" Nami called out.

"YEAH!" Usopp answered, eager to show what he was made of.

"CUT THE AIR HOSES AND GET US OUT OF HERE!" Nami ordered.

"THAT'S WHAT WE'RE MADE OF?" Usopp demanded.

"COWARD!" Chopper chimed in.

"DON'T GIMME THAT!" Nami snapped. "If the ship gets pulled under, we're done for! But if we keep the Merry safe then we'll at least have a ship for the others to come back to if they manage to escape!"

THOOM! Suddenly it got dark. The four Straw Hats looked up at the suddenly black sky.

"What is that?" Usopp whimpered, "It's like everything got dark."

"Scary..." Chopper squeaked.

"There's no way!" Nami gasped. "Why is it so dark? It's not that late!"

Even the turtle looked scared by the sudden darkness. Its eyes bugged out and it gaped in shock.

"IT'S TIME TO LEAVE GUYS!" Usopp hollered at the turtle in the vain hope that their Nakama could hear them inside. "NOW! LUFFY! Y/N! ZORO! SANJI!"

"Huh?" Robin blinked, the suddenly dark sky had only made her curious but a commotion on the Masira Pirates' ship caught her attention.

"This is a bad omen!" one of the pirates warned the others. "We all know that sudden darkness is the harbinger of the monsters appearing in suddenly dark skies."

"We've gotta save our Captain and get out of here!" another one called out.

SPLA-SPOOOSH! Two large sacks came flying out of the water and latched onto the dangling air hoses. It took the Straw Hats up on the Merry a couple seconds to realize that the sacks were being carried by two familiar pirates.

"ZORO! SANJI!" Usopp cheered as the swordsman and cook climbed up the air hoses and onto the deck.

"Set sail now," Zoro instructed.

"Yeah, we've gotta get outta here," Sanji added.

"ARE YOU GUYS OKAY?" Chopper asked.

"NEVER MIND THAT!" Nami interrupted. "TELL ME WHAT HAPPENED? WHERE ARE Y/N AND LUFFY?"

"Sorry. Miss. Nami," Sanji apologized, "but we've gotta leave. That guy's crazy."

"But what about Luffy and Y/N?" Chopper asked.

"Leave?" Usopp repeated. "You mean we finally get to get away from this stinking turtle?"

"No, it wasn't a turtle, it was a monkey," Zoro corrected him.

"Yeah, a bona fide sea-monkey," Sanji added.

"Can't say I'm too surprised that he and Luffy got along as well as they did," Zoro admitted.

"Well, they're both monkeys," Sanji reasoned.

"But when we tried to take some stuff from the ship he flipped out," Zoro continued.

"I've never seen a primate act like that before!" Sanji exclaimed.

"That was Masira the Salvage King," Usopp told them.

"Never mind him!" Nami cut in, "How'd you guys get out of that sea turtle? And why didn't Y/N and Luffy come with you?"

"Ugh," Zoro groaned in annoyance, "Why do you keep talking about a turtle?"

"Hm, that's weird," Usopp noted as he glanced over at the monster turtle, "Now he's just floating there like a statue with his mouth gaping opened! Oh, I get it! Of course! That's how you guys escaped!"

"WE WERE IN THAT THING'S MOUTH?" Zoro and Sanji shouted in surprise as they turned and saw the huge turtle for the first time.

"Nothing gets passed you guys does it," Usopp muttered, "THAT'S THE TURTLE THAT ATE THE SHIP THAT YOU GUYS WERE INSIDE!"

"Hey, what's with the sky?" Sanji wondered, "It was light out when we went in there. And we couldn't have been inside for that long.

"Forget about that!" Zoro scolded him, "We've gotta get out of here now!"

"RAAAAAHHHHH!" SHOOO! Masira suddenly came flying out of the turtle's opened mouth and landed on the railing of the Going Merry. "NOT SO FAST! HAND OVER THE TREASURE THAT YOU STOLE!"

"Treasure?" Nami repeated. "Is he right? You guys found some treasure?"

"Y/N told us to grab whatever we thought was valuable," Sanji said as motioned to the two sacks he and Zoro had brought with them.

"But he sensed a lot more treasure in the monster's stomach so he brought Luffy down there with him to find it," Zoro continued. "There was so much that it made him sneeze."

KA-CHING! The berri signs in Nami's eyes glowed so brightly that Zoro and Sanji had to quickly look away. "Y/N... I think I love him..." Nami sighed with a delirious smile plastered across her face.

"Hey!" Sanji protested. "Miss. Nami! I brought back all this treasure for you!"

"But he went to find more..." Nami sighed with the same delirious smile.

"That's twice you've said that," Zoro muttered, "both times when he wasn't around, and both times when he was off getting a bunch of treasure. Is that all you care about? Shallow bitch."

"WATCH IT MOSS BALL!" Sanji snarled. "DON'T TALK TO MISS. NAMI LIKE THAT!"

"What do you care?" Zoro retorted, "She basically admitted that she doesn't care about you!"

"HEEEEEEEEYYYYYYYY!" Masira used his impressive lung capacity to gain the attention of the Straw Hats. "STOP IGNORING ME! HAND OVER THE TREASURE OR I'LL TEAR THIS SHIP APART UNTIL THERE'S NOTHING LEFT BUT SPLINTERS!"

"This isn't good," Zoro thought to himself as he gripped the handle of Wado Ichimonji. "If he starts rampaging the ship, we all go down."

The Straw Hats and Masira stared down until the tense silence was broken by the whimpering of Masira's crew.

"CAPTAIN! BEHIND YOU!" one of Masira's men shouted.

"Hm?" Masira questioned as he and the Straw Hats turned to look in the direction indicated.

There in a distance stand out against the sky was an enormous silhouette. It appeared to be a man with small wings poking out from behind his shoulders. The man was gigantic, way bigger than the two giants that the Straw Hats had met. The silhouette was so unbelievably huge in the dark sky that it made the Going Merry look like a grain of sand, Masira's monkey themed salvage ship look like a pebble, and the huge island-sized turtle look like a marble.

And the man wasn't alone. Two unbelievably huge men were standing beside him on each side. Each of the five massive men had wings and was wielding a proportional spear. The silhouettes were so incomprehensibly huge that the Straw Hats, Masira, Masira's crew, and even the enormous turtle could only stare up at them in shock and horror. Even Robin looked stunned and that was saying something.

"SEEEEEEAAAAA MOOOOONSTEEEEEEER!" Chopper and Masira screamed in horror.

"RUUUUUUN AAAAAWAAAAAAYYYYYYY!" Usopp hollered. The Straw Hats sprang into action and pulled out the oars. Zoro, Sanji, Chopper, and even frantically pumped the oars as fast as the possibly could in a desperate attempt to escape the monster silhouettes that had appeared in the dark sky out of nowhere.

"What about Mr. Straw Hat and Mr. One Eye?" Robin asked, her normally calm voice was laced with a trace of panic.

"THOSE TWO'LL BE SAFE INSIDE THE TURTLE!" Nami screamed, "BUT THEY'LL ONLY BE ABLE TO CATCH UP TO US IF WE'RE STILL ALIVE!"

And so the Going Merry shot off leaving its Captain and First Mate behind in the belly of a monstrous turtle in the wake of the even more monstrous men in the sky.

-x-

Zoro, Usopp, Sanji, and Chopper paddled to the point of exhaustion until finally the silhouettes in the sky disappeared and the dark sky was replaced with the blue partially cloudy sky that had been there before.

The Straw Hats sat around on the deck of the Merry trying to wrap their minds around what they had just witnessed.

"That couldn't have been real," Zoro the ship skeptic insisted.

"Those things were taller than the sky!" Usopp gasped, for once he wasn't exaggerating.

Sanji lit up a cigarette and took a calming drag, "The Grand Line is an endless parade of mysteries and annoyances," he muttered. "I mean, look at the nightmare of just making it through today."

"First there was the huge galleon that fell out of the sky right on top of us," Zoro recounted.

"Then the Log Pose's needle started pointing to the sky," Nami continued.

"A psycho make-up-wearing monkey shows up and blocks our way," Usopp added.

"And then a sea turtle came and ate our salvage ship," Chopper chimed in.

"Then darkness fell and the sky turned black," Robin said.

"Because the biggest monsters I've ever seen came and blocked out the sun!" Masira blurted out.

The Straw Hats blinked and finally realized that Masira the Salvage King was still on their ship.

THWAK! "BEAT IT!" Zoro and Sanji shouted as they sprang up off of the deck and kicked Masira up into the air and sent him up into the air and off the ship.

"AAAAAAAHHHH!" Masira screamed as he went flying off and disappeared in a distance.

-x-

Treasure Hunt:

-x-

"ACHOOO!" Y/N rubbed his nose, "Here we are..."

Oblivious to everything that had just happened to their Nakama, Luffy and Y/N had finally reached the opening at the end of the giant sea turtle's throat that let out into its stomach.

"WHOOOOOAAAA!" Luffy gasped as the two of them stared down at the turtle's stomach. It was filled with partially digested wooden ships and one mostly preserved steel Marine battleship. Even with his limited depth perception, Y/N managed to count six plus the marine ship that made seven. The state of the wooden ships seemed to reflect how long they'd been in the turtle's stomach. One had been dissolved to the point where it looked like a ship's skeleton while another just looked worn as if it had been swallowed just yesterday, which for all they knew could've been the case.

One thing that all the ships had in common however was that they'd all been sunk at some point. Some of the ships had cannonball holes in their hull, others looked like they had a bad encounter with a nasty storm. Clearly this monster had a thing for swallowing any sunken ships it could find whole.

Y/N held his hand over his nose, the feeling from all the treasure on the ships below them was almost overwhelming. "You've gotta love pirates in the Grand Line. Any of these ships would make the treasure on Don Krieg's galleon look like pocket change. We could buy a fleet of ships with all of the treasure in here and we'd still have some left!"

"Why would we do that?" Luffy wondered, "There's a fleet of ships right there! This monster's belly looks like a ship graveyard! Maybe it likes eating ships as much as I like eating meat!"

"No one in this world could enjoy eating anything as much as you like meat," Y/N retorted.

"Then maybe as much as Grandpa likes doughnuts," Luffy suggested. "Or Zoro likes booze... Or you like treasure... NO! Or NAMI likes treasure!"

"Well now you're just talking crazy," Y/N told him, "Let's start with that big pirate ship over there... it feels like it's got twenty-times as much treasure as Don Krieg's galleon did. We'll gather up whatever treasure we can find on it and bring it to that big marine ship since it doesn't look like the monster can digest the steel that it's made of."

"Okay, I'll stretch us over," Luffy agreed, Whup-whup! Luffy wrapped one arm twice around Y/N's waist then shot his other arm down to the big pirate ship that Y/N had indicated and grabbed onto the railing. Whap! "GUM... GUM... ROCKET!" SHOOOOM! Luffy and Y/N went flying out of the turtle's throat across the stomach and landed on the deck of the pirate ship. TMP! TMP!

Luffy's arms both retracted while Y/N walked towards a door that led inside the large ship, "It feels like the treasure hold's this way," Y/N stated, Luffy nodded and followed after him. "Nami's gonna freak out when she sees all this..." And with that the two got to work.

-x-

The Going Merry sailed onward without its Captain and First Mate and the other Straw Hats finally managed to recover from their latest shocking experience.

"Those monsters were too big for any of us to take them," Usopp remarked.

"Yeah," Chopper agreed, "if I never see them again it would be a blessing."

Usopp glanced at the reindeer that was staring off the ship beside him, "Don't sweat it," he attempted to reassure him, "if I really cut loose I could've shown those guys a thing or two."

"REALLY?" Chopper questioned.

"Sure, I fought ten of those guys a while back," Usopp replied.

"YOU FOUGHT TEN OF 'EM?" Chopper exclaimed.

Meanwhile, Nami was examining the 'loot' that Zoro and Sanji had brought back from the St. Briss. There was a collection of old vases, a suit of armor, a broken scooter-like contraption, a collections of worn and old weapons, a crutch, and Zoro's octopus. "Come on you guys!" she complained, "Couldn't you have at least brought back something that we can actually use? All you brought back was a bunch of scattered junk! We don't have a single clue here about how to find Sky Island!"

"There wasn't anything there, believe me," Zoro told her. "We looked."

"Yup, if there was something else down there we would've found it," Sanji added. He and Zoro thought back to what had happened on the St. Briss and how the ship had been a total wreck filled with skeletons that had harpoons driven through their skulls. "The ship was in terrible shape, like it had been jacked up and raided. Or perhaps a mutiny broke out and they killed each other in a violent struggle for power and survival."

"THIS IS EXACTLY WHY WE NEED INFORMATION!" Nami snapped. "It could mean the difference between life and death for this whole crew! If we're going to sail to Sky Island then we need more information to stay alive or whatever happened to that ship could happen to us too! WE DIDN'T BRAVE GIANT MONSTERS SO YOU COULD BRING BACK ACREEPY OCTOPUS, SOME RUSTY SWORDS, AND A BROKEN DISH! THIS IS ALL JUNK! AND YOU GUYS ARE IDIOTS! DAMN IT!" Nami held her hand to her head and attempted to calm herself, "Did Y/N find anything?"

"He found a journal but the water had already gotten to it and we couldn't read anything," Sanji recalled. "It was the same case for all the others books down there."

"The only lead we had was that monkey," Zoro stated, "Y/N managed to get him to admit that a friend of his back home knew about the Sky Island."

Nami closed her eyes and gritted her teeth, "You mean the same monkey that you guys just kicked off of the boat?"

"Uh... yeah..." Zoro and Sanji admitted.

"YOU MORONS!" Nami screamed. WHOMP! A hard hit sent the swordsman and the cook crashing down to the mat. "NOT ONLY DO YOU BRING BACK NOTHING BUT JUNK BUT YOU KICK OUR ONLY LEAD OFF OF THE SHIP! YOU'RE BOTH USELESS!"

Nami continued grumbling to herself as she stomped away. Usopp slipped over to them, "If you guys know what's good for you, you'll stay down," he advised.

"Bad day, huh?" Robin inquired as she eyed Nami while sitting casually on the railing.

"It's only gonna get worse working with these guys," Nami muttered, "We're never gonna figure out how that ship made it to Sky Island at this rate. I miss Y/N..."

"All's not lost," Robin replied, "maybe this'll help..." Robin proceeded to pull an Eternal Pose out of her pocket.

"An Eternal Pose?" Nami questioned as she took the Pose from Robin. "But how?"

"Oh, I took it off of that salvager's ship earlier," Robin told her, "Just in case."

To Robin's surprise, Nami burst into tears. But upon a closer look, she was smiling. "Now that Y/N's gone you're the only one I can depend on," she gushed. She took a second to examine the Eternal Pose and saw the word 'Jaya' written on the top. "'Jaya' this must've been their home port. And if what Y/N got that monkey to admit to is true then that means that friend of his lives there. So now we just have to go there and find him and maybe he can help us get to the Sky Island! ROBIN WE DID IT!"

Nami turned and addressed the others, "LISTEN UP GUYS! WE'RE HEADING FOR JAYA!"

"Who put you in charge?" Zoro grumbled.

"Luffy and Y/N aren't here and I'm the Navigator so I'm navigating our course," she replied, "besides, you couldn't navigate your way out of a paper bag without getting hopelessly lost."

"But Nami, how're we gonna go to this Jaya place without the Log Pose resetting?" Usopp inquired. "If the needle moves we might not be able to find the Sky Island."

Nami's eyes widened as she seemed to just realize that herself.

"Don't worry Miss. Navigator," Robin reassured her, "We'll just stay there for a short amount of time so the Log Pose won't have a chance to log the new magnetic field."

WHUP! Robin was caught off guard and went stiff as a board when Nami threw herself at her and tightly hugged the older woman. "Oh Big Sis, you're the only one I can really count on!"

At that point, none of the Straw Hats were looking over the side of the ship so none of them saw the enormous dark shape that was floating underneath the Going Merry. And so they were caught completely off guard when the ship started shaking.

Rumble... rumble... Then the shaking turned to full on rocking. Krek... krek...

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?" Sanji shouted out in alarm.

"WAAAAAHHH!" Chopper screamed as he ran around the deck in a panic, "NOT ANOTHER MONSTER! HAVEN'T WE BEEN THROUGH ENOUGH FOR ONE DAY?"

"HOLD ONTO SOMETHING!" Zoro warned the others.

"Gah!" Robin gasped as Nami tightened her hold on her to the point that it made it hard to breathe for the older woman. She strained to grow and extra two pairs of arms out of her back so she could anchor herself onto the railing.

SHOOM! The rocking ship shot up into the air as an enormous round mountain started coming out of the water right underneath them.

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHH!" Usopp shrieked as he wrapped both his arms and his legs around the Merry's main mast. "THIS IS THE WORST DAY OF MY LIFE!"

"I don't wanna die today..." Nami whimpered into Robin's chest, "Not today..."

THOOM! The ship finally stopped rising and the Straw Hats found their ship hundreds of feet above sea level on the top of a gigantic island-sized mountain.

"First a ship nearly falls on top of us," Zoro muttered, "Now a mountain shoots up from right under us! What next?"

"HEEEEYYYYY GUUUUUYYYYS!" a loud, familiar voice called out.

"LUFFY!" Zoro, Nami, Usopp, Sanji, and Chopper chorused as they all turned in the direction of the extremely welcome voice.

"HEEEEEEEYYYYYYY!" Luffy smiled and waved as he and Y/N came racing up the mountain towards the ship. SKISH! TMP! TMP! Together they leapt up onto the Going Merry's railing and dropped down onto the deck.

"Sorry to keep you waiting," Y/N apologized.

"YYYYY/NNNN!" Nami, Usopp, and Chopper shouted. Robin suddenly found herself able to breathe again as Nami raced across the deck, streaked passed Chopper, and threw herself into Y/N's arms. Y/N staggered backwards a couple steps but smiled as he hugged her back.

"DON'T YOU EVER LEAVE ME AGAIN!" Nami shouted at him.

"I think you'll reconsider that when I tell you what we found," Y/N replied.

"That turtle monster loves eating sunken ships!" Luffy blurted out.

"There were seven ships in there," Y/N added, "Two of them had treasure holds that rivaled Arlong's! All together I couldn't even count it all!"

"Couldn't... count... it..." Nami repeated before her eyes rolled back and she fainted, fortunately Y/N was still holding onto her and held her up.

"Anyway," Y/N continued, "There was so much treasure down there that we decided it'd be easier to just tame the monster rather than deal with all the trips it would take to bring it all back. There wouldn't be enough room on our ship for it."

"YOU TAMED THAT HUGE TURTLE?" Usopp exclaimed.

"Yup," Luffy giddily answered, "It wasn't even that hard. When he climbed up into its ear it was just floating there with its mouth opened. It looked scared to death so it went along with what Y/N told it real easy."

"Maybe we should tell you what happened while you guys were in there," Sanji reasoned.

"We're still coming to terms with it ourselves," Zoro admitted.

One explanation later. The Straw Hats were sitting around on the deck. Nami had since woken up but was still glued to Y/N's side.

"WHOOOOAAA!" Luffy exclaimed, "So they were just standing there in the sky?"

"Yeah, they were huge!" Usopp told him, "They made Masters Broggy and Dorry look small! THEY WERE TALLER THAN THE SKY!"

"Didn't you tell me that the reason that the Bonsatsu Island temple was made was so they could be closer to the winged figures they saw in the sky?" Y/N asked Robin.

"That's right," Robin realized, "but it was so surprising actually seeing it. None of the writings in the temple mentioned that they were so big."

"So do you think it could be possible that those figures you saw were people on the Sky Island?" Y/N suggested.

"If they were... I don't think I want to go there anymore," Chopper whimpered. "Not when the people are that huge."

"I'm pretty sure what you guys saw were just shadows," Y/N stated, "and since they're supposedly on an ocean that's running up above us, they'd be closer to the sun which would make their shadows look a lot bigger when we actually manage to see it so far below them."

"So they're not monsters?" Chopper questioned.

"Well some of the remains we found on the St. Briss showed signs of an attack," Y/N recalled, "If the ship fell from the Sky Island then it stands to reason that they were attacked by someone up there. Some of the skeletons had spears going through their skulls and those spears were normal-sized. That leads me to believe that the people up there are normal-sized and that they just have still wings coming out of their backs."

Nami took that moment to hug Y/N again, "Oh God I missed you," she gushed, "Not back for five minutes and you've already managed to rationalize a potentially traumatic experience."

Y/N shrugged, "I do what I can," he said. "So where are we heading now? You kicked the monkey off of the boat so I guess we can't make a deal to bring him home and find that mysterious friend of his."

Nami pulled out the Eternal Pose to Jaya and showed it to Y/N, "Robin managed to steal this from their ship," she explained, "I'm guessing Jaya is their home port so the monkey's friend might be there. With both you and Robin on the crew we might actually survive this voyage."

"Hey, do you think he'll be another monkey?" Luffy wondered.

"Who knows," Sanji replied.

"I've actually been to Jaya once before," Y/N admitted. "Back when Ace and I first made it to the Grand Line as the Spade Pirates I found a huge buried treasure somewhere near here. The island I found it on was just one island hop away from Jaya."

"What's Jaya like?" Nami asked, "Did you hear anything about any weird monkeys while you were there?"

"It was unpleasant," Y/N recounted, "the people there are really closed minded. We just quickly bought some supplies and then waited on the ship for the Log Pose to reset, we tried to keep our contact with the people there as minimal as possible."

"Well this time we're actually looking for something there," Luffy stated, "ON TO JAYA! LET'S GO BLASTOISE! TAKE US TO JAYA!"

"What the hell's a 'Blastoise'?" Zoro asked.

"I named the turtle," Luffy answered.

"You don't get to name it!" Y/N complained, "It was my idea to tame it!"

"Yeah, but I helped!" Luffy protested. "BLASTOISE!"

"It's a turtle so we're calling it Turner," Y/N insisted.

"That's stupid!" Luffy complained, "BLASTOISE!"

"That's even worse!" Y/N argued.

"Actually Y/N... it's a sea turtle," Nami pointed out. "Your name doesn't work."

"Fine, then Seymour," Y/N decided.

"NO BLASTOISE!" Luffy insisted.

"That's terrible!" Nami exclaimed. "Call it 'Sheldon'!"

"Oh yeah, it's got a big shell so let's call it 'Sheldon'," Y/N muttered sarcastically. "That's real creative Nami."

"And like your name is?" Nami countered, "Big surprise, a generic guy name that starts with the same letter. You're so predictable."

"BLASTOISE!" Luffy shouted.

"WE'RE NOT NAMING IT BLASTOISE!" Y/N snapped.

"Then Sheldon it is then," Nami resolved.

"FINE!" Y/N said before he realized it, "Wait... hold on..."

"TOO LATE!" Nami interrupted. "YOU AGREED TO IT!"

"NOOO! BLAAASTOOOIIISEEE!" Luffy wailed in defeat.

"What... just happened?" Usopp asked as he and the others stared at the three in shock.

"I believe Ms. Navigator just named Mr. One Eye and Mr. Straw Hat's turtle," Robin stated.

"We're screwed," Zoro muttered, "If she's already naming his weird animals then she'll have him wrapped around her finger in no time."

"I could just... ask the turtle its name..." Chopper offered.

"Don't bother," Sanji instructed. "Let Miss. Nami have her moment Chopper."

So with their ship perched on the shell of 'Sheldon the Sea Turtle' the Straw Hats sailed off for Jaya in search of a way to get to Sky Island.

-x-

Across the sea from the Going Merry was the bobbing form of Masira who had landed in the middle of nowhere.

"Who do they think they are leaving me out here?" Masira grumbled. "Like they don't have enough room on their ship or something. Please!"

Going passed Masira and over countless miles of empty was an island. Its main feature was a mountain that was shaped like a skull. Inside the skull, three sets of footsteps were heard as three men made their way deeper inside the skull.

"Captain! Captain?" one of the men called out.

"What?" a familiar voice responded.

"Is... is this really the place?" the first man asked. "The legendary cave where Captain John hid his treasure? The treasure he killed so many innocents to get?"

"Yes," replied none other than Buggy the Clown. "That's right." Buggy grinned as he addressed Mohji and Cabaji who had ventured into the cave with him. "Now look alive boys. The treasure is near but so is unspeakable danger. If you let your guard down, even for a second, then death will creep up on you! There's no telling what kind of monsters will appear or what vicious booby-traps await to kill us all!"

Buggy and his men started in surprise when the previously unnoticed lamps that were secured to the cave walls lit up flooding the dark tunnel with light.

Buggy whirled around in time to see a man wearing a hardhat and work boots making his way towards them with a pickaxe thrown over his shoulder. Four other men were following behind him.

"COME ON MEN!" the lead man addressed the others. "Another fine day of carving at tunnels awaits us!"

"RIGHT BOSS!" the others chorused.

The men stopped when they caught sight of Buggy, Mohji and Cabaji.

"Oh, you must be the new guys they sent down," the boss realized.

"Hm?" Buggy questioned.

A moment later Buggy was using a pickaxe of his own to dig through the rock alongside the Boss and his men.

"BWAHAHA!" Buggy laughed. He'd taken off his Captain's coat and was digging in just his red and white striped t-shirt and clown pants. "There's nothing like working up a sweat, right Boss? All a man really needs is a pickaxe in his hand and a tunnel to dig!"

"You can say that again!" the Boss heartily agreed as he dug alongside Buggy. "A hard day's work is a wonderful thing! And because of our good old fashioned elbow grease everyone who comes to this tunnel will smile!"

BWAHAHAHA!" Buggy cackled, "IT'S LIBERATING! You know after all this hard labor we ought to head over to the old bilge barge..." Buggy trailed off when he finally realized what he was doing. "HOW DARE YOU MAKE ME WORK LIKE ONE OF YOUR LACKIES!"

KA-BOOOOOM!

-x-

A little big later, Buggy triumphantly returned to his carnival themed pirate ship the Big Top with the treasure chest he'd managed to find buried in the cave.

"HERE IT IS CREW!" Buggy announced as he stood in front of everyone with his foot planted on top of the chest. "Once again your Captain has come through and now we've got Captain John's legendary treasure!"

"YEAH CAPTAIN BUGGY!"

KLANK! Buggy used the pickaxe that he was still holding to smash the lock off of the chest then lifted the lid. KREEEEK! But upon seeing the contents of the treasure chest Buggy's clown-like grin quickly transformed into a skull.

IT WAS EMPTY!

"Grrr... whose the wise guy who thinks he can steal a treasure from me?" Buggy growled to himself as he fished into the chest and pulled out the scrap of paper that was inside. There was a note on it which he proceeded to read aloud to his crew. "'This treasure has been found... By Y/N Treasure Hunter Extraordinaire..." Buggy stared wide-eyed at the note that Y/N had 'graciously' left behind after finding the treasure before he let out a loud scream that almost reached the Going Merry. "DAAAAAAAAMMNNN YOOOOOOOUUUUUUU OOOOOOOOONNNEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEYYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEE!"

All around him, Buggy's crew started booing at both the fact that their Captain had failed to secure the treasure and that one of their known enemies had gotten to it before them.

"After all that there wasn't a single piece of treasure on that whole rotten island!" Mohji complained as he stood on the deck in between Cabaji and Richie.

"Shhhhh!" Cabaji hissed at him. "You know you should really watch what you say Mohji! If there's one thing that Captain hates its being wrong. Can't you see how red he's gotten from all the embarrassment?"

"WHOSE NOSE IS A BIG RED EMBARRASSMENT?" Buggy hollered having 'overheard' Cabaji's comment. "RAAAAHHH!" WHOMP! A hard shot sent his Second Mate crashing to the ground.

"I hate to interrupt," Mohji eventually chimed in after taking a moment to enjoy the irony of Cabaji getting pummeled while he had been the one to say the insulting comment. "But we do not have time for this. What are we going to do about those damn Straw Hats? Straw Hat Luffy is already a pain in the ass. And this recent failure proves that One Eye is just as bad. They are quickly becoming the new favorite pirates in the Grand Line."

"I have a plan of course, you moron," Buggy scolded him, "We let 'em go on their merry way."

"WHAT?" Mohji asked incredulously. "WHY?"

"Well you see," Buggy began to explain, "before an evil witch feasts on the flesh of children the first thing she does is make sure to fatten them up. Understand me?" Mohji and Cabaji who was now sporting a large lump on his head looked confused. "Idiots. You see, this is why I'm Captain. The bigger the bounty gets on those Straw Hats..."

"I SEE!" Cabaji shouted as he and Mohji finally caught on.

"YOU'RE A GENIUS CAPTAIN!" Mohji exclaimed. "That way when you take them down the bounty on your head will get even higher!"

"YEEEAAAAHHHHH!" Buggy's crew cheered.

"BWAHAHAHAHAHA!" Buggy laughed. "YES EXACTLY!"

"You're amazing Captain!" Moe cheered, "Shall we throw a party in honor of your brilliance?"

"Oh why not," Buggy agreed, "BWAHAHAHAHA!"

And so the Buggy Pirates rolled out the food and booze and started celebrating their Captain's brilliance instead of wallowing in their defeat at being beaten to Captain John's treasure.

The only one who seemed to disapprove of the party was Alvida who was sitting on deck in a fancy arm chair with a large assortment of fruit in front of her.

"Is this really the time to throw a party?" Alvida inquired as Buggy and his circus themed crew practically put on a floor show while they celebrated. "After all, how can you plan on beating Luffy and the Straw Hats when you haven't the faintest idea of where they are?"

"Don't be such a party pooper, Alvida," Buggy chastised her as he enjoyed a large mug of grog. "We'll find Luffy when we find him, okay?"

"If you're looking for Luffy, I can tell you where he is," a shirtless man with an orange hat offered as he sat near Buggy enjoying some of the party food.

"HA! You see?" Buggy chortled as he pointed at the shirtless man, "This guy over here's going to tell us where he is, problem solved."

Snort! It was then that Buggy realized that he was pointing at a complete stranger. "HEY HOLD ON! WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?"

"Sorry to crash your party," Ace apologized as he stood up and turned to face Buggy. "But I simply couldn't resist the delicious aromas of your feast. My name is Portgas D. Ace. But you can call me Ace." Ace took a moment to formally bow to Buggy.

"Oh, no need to be so formal," Buggy reassured him, "Nice to meet you two! Bwahaha!"

CHOMP! Ace took a big bite from the leg of meat he had been holding and Buggy's brain finally caught up with his mouth.

"I MEAN WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE YOU IDIOT!" Buggy screamed. "I COULDN'T CARE LESS WHAT YOUR NAME IS MR. PORTGAS] D. ACE!"

"Uh Captain... Captain..." Cabaji called out as he stared at the large tattoo on Ace's back. "This guy is... he's 'the Fire Fist'! 'Fire Fist' Ace the Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates' Second Division!"

"THE WHITEBEARD?" Buggy's crew chorused.

"Oh so you know the old man," Ace realized as he went back to eating, "What a nice—ZZZZ..." Ace cut off mid-sentence when his narcolepsy kicked in and he fell asleep.

"HE FELL ASLEEP!" Buggy's crew shouted.

"This man is obviously a fool if he just fell asleep on an enemy ship," Shogi remarked as he stepped forward. "Captain, let's kill him while he's sleeping!"

"DON'T YOU DARE SHOGI!" Buggy commanded, "This is why we keep you guarding the treasure hold."

"Why not?" Shogi persisted, "This could be our only chance! If we take the head of 'Fire Fist' Ace of the Whitebeard Pirates there won't be soul alive that wouldn't know your name!"

"I SAID NO!" Buggy yelled. "Remember this men and remember it good. This is the most important lesson you'll ever learn! DON'T MESS WITH THE WHITEBEARD PIRATES! EVER! Whitebeard is a killer, born and bred! The only man who could go toe-to-toe with Gold Roger the King of the Pirates! He is without a doubt the Strongest Pirate Alive and the person closest to obtaining the greatest treasure of all: the One Piece! In other words: DON'T CROSS HIM! Even if we were able to kill 'Fire Fist' Ace while he sleeps, Whitebeard would avenge the murder of one of his own with the fury of a thunderstorm!"

"How is it that you know so much?" Alvida inquired. "Pray tell?"

"Well if you insist," Buggy replied, "it was on the Grand Line... years ago. I met that man face-to-face and I've never been the same since!"

Snort! "Oh, sorry about that!" Ace called out as he woke up, "I must've dozed off..."

"WHAT THE? HE'S AWAKE!" the pirates standing around Ace all yelled.

Ace glanced around at Buggy's crew who for a chance all looked either serious or timid from the previous two conversations, he stood up and did a silly jig. "HEEY! Why the long faces everyone?" Ace asked. "I thought this was a party? Am I right?"

"Yeah, you're right," Buggy agreed, "MEN! COMMENCE HAVING FUN AGAIN!"

"YEEEAAAAHHHH!" Buggy's crew cheered as the party restarted this time with Ace as an active participant.

"BWAHAHAHAHAHA!" Buggy laughed, "ACE, YOU SURE KNOW HOW TO HAVE A GOOD TIME!"

"WHOA!" Ace exclaimed. "YOU GUYS HAVE LION! Here kitty, jump through this flaming hoop on two legs!"

"RAWR?" Richie squeaked looking terrified of the flaming hoop coming out of Ace's arm.

"COME ON RICH!" Mohji encouraged his lion. "SHOW HIM YOUR STUFF!"

-x-

Back across the ocean, Masira was still floating alone in the middle of nowhere.

The monkey man suddenly perked up when he heard a commotion nearby. He looked over his shoulder and saw his ship... SAILING AWAY FROM HIM!

"I'M OVER HERE!" Masira shouted to his crew. "COME ON! PICK ME UP!"

"We're never gonna find him!" one of Masira's men complained into a loud speaker, "We'd better try looking somewhere else!"

"OPEN YOUR EYES BOY!" Masira yelled only to gape in shock when his ship took off like a shot and sailed away from him. "GET BACK HERE YOU IDIOTS! DON'T LEAVE!" SPLOOSH! And so Masira began frantically swimming after his crew in the hopes of catching up with it.

-x-

Back with the Straw Hats, the Going Merry was sailing towards Jaya on top of a giant turtle shell. And while Sheldon wasn't overly fast, his immense size would make the trip to Jaya considerably shorter.

"Y/N said that Jaya was unpleasant and filled with closed-minded people," Chopper recalled as he, Usopp, and Luffy stood on the deck each eating an octopus box lunches. "Do you think it's still like that?"

"I've heard that its called 'the Land of Meat'," Luffy said.

"You don't know that Luffy," Usopp scolded him, "You just wish it were true because we've been eating the same old junk for days!"

SWIPE! SWIPE! SWIPE! Sanji swooped in and snatched all three box lunches away from them. "If you don't like it then don't eat it," the cook reprimanded them, "this was for Miss. Nami and Miss. Robin anyway."

"HEEY!" Luffy, Usopp, and Chopper shouted as they started chasing Sanji in circles around the main mast.

"GIVE THAT BACK I WAS GONNA EAT IT!"

"Nope, don't think so," Sanji taunted.

"JERK! GIMME THAT!" Chopper yelled.

"Uh-uh," Sanji refused.

Zoro half-heartedly watched the chase as he leaned against the railing outside the galley. He shook his head and glanced up at the sky where an entire ocean was rumored to be.

"I can't even imagine it," Zoro said to himself, "Could there really be an island in the sky?"

Robin came down the steps from the rear deck and smiled at him, "We've experienced enough to know the answer by now," she told him, "See, no matter how stranger or illogical something may seem to us... out here the sea's logic can make anything possible."

Y/N and Nami stood on the front deck with the latter checking the Eternal Pose to ensure that Sheldon was swimming in the right direction. "The key to find the Sky Island... is on Jaya."

-x-

Hope you enjoyed the chapter!!!