The White Sea:

-x-

"Gaaah!" Luffy gasped as the Going Merry sailed up the Knock-Up Stream and surged through the Cumuloregalus Cloud at the top of it. The rubber pirate spat out bits of cloud that ended up in his gaping mouth. SHOOM! The Going Merry flew out of the cloud and into the opened sky up above it. The chicken wings and chicken tail that had been added to the sheep-themed ship broke off before the Going Merry came crashing down in an ocean of white. SPLOOSH!

-x-

Miles below them, Montblank Cricket sat outside his house on Jaya and stared out at the Knock-Up Stream with a fond smile. He didn't have to see it know that the Straw Hats had made it.

-x-

Marshall D. Teach, Jesus Burgess, Van Auger, Doc Q and his horse Stronger sat on the one giant log that remained of their raft-themed ship and stared up into the sky after the Straw Hats.

"ZEHAHAHAHA!" Teach laughed, he seemed to find the whole situation hilarious. "Oh well! They got away!"

"Hee hee!" Doc Q chuckled, "That guy's lucky."

"SO WHAT?" Burgess snapped, "We're just gonna sit here and let him escape? WE JUST LOST A TWO HUNDRED FORTY MILLION BERRI BOUNTY! And you're laughing about it? Come on! We've gotta do something!"

"Zehahahaha! Easy Burgess!" Teach reprimanded his Helmsman. "They haven't left this world. They'll be back. We'll meet them soon enough as long as we're on the Grand Line."

"This is true," Van Auger agreed, "We are but cogs in the gears of Fate. And though they've managed to escape today, they can't run from destiny."

"Zehahaha!" Blackbeard chortled, "Y'see Burgess?"

"Ah, whatever," Burgess muttered.

"KOFF! KOFF!" Doc Q wheezed as the log that remained of their ship bobbed up and down on the waves while Blackbeard's laughter was carried over the roar of the waves as held a weird small brown bag in his hands.

-x-

The Straw Hats laid scattered and panting on the deck of the Going Merry.

"What the... What just happened to us?" Zoro asked as he sat against the ship's railing, "Everyone alright?"

"Koff! Koff! All present and accounted for," Y/N reported.

"Hey! Look guys!" Luffy called out, "Out there! What is that?"

The Straw Hats glanced off of the ship in the directions their Captain had indicated and all they saw was white. Up above them were white clouds and down below them were white clouds.

"What in the world?" Sanji questioned.

"IT'S SO WHITE!" Luffy exclaimed.

"THEY'RE CLOUDS!" Chopper realized.

"But how?" Nami wondered. The Straw Hat's weather expert was completely perplexed by the presence of clouds that were solid enough to support their ship. "Why aren't we falling?"

"Do you want to fall?" Y/N inquired.

"NO!" Nami quickly answered, "But... this shouldn't be possible!"

"Clouds float, boats float, it's the same thing," Luffy 'reasoned'.

"No its not!" Zoro, Sanji and Chopper scolded him.

"AH! OH NO!" Chopper shouted when he spotted Usopp still lying prone on the deck. "USOPP'S NOT BREATHING!"

"HE'S NOT?" Luffy questioned. "SOMEONE DO SOMETHING! MOUTH-TO-MOUTH!"

"Right!" Sanji agreed, "I'll do mouth-to-mouth on Nami!"

"Moron," Zoro muttered.

"USOPP! COME ON!" Chopper urged the sniper, "SPEAK TO ME!"

Usopp's eyes finally popped opened and he took a breath.

"HE'S ALIVE!" Luffy and Chopper cheered.

"I am?" Usopp questioned. He sat up and saw nothing but white. "WHERE ARE WE? WHAT'S WITH ALL THESE CLOUDS? THEY'RE EVERYWHERE!"

"Basically it's an ocean in the sky," Nami explained even though she didn't completely understand it herself.

"No way!" Usopp exclaimed, "Seriously?"

"But look, the Log Pose is still pointing up," Nami pointed out as she motioned to the glass ball on her wrist.

"So we must still be somewhere in the middle of the cumuloregalus cloud," Robin reasoned as she and Chopper sat together on the railing.

"You mean we have to travel even higher?" Chopper asked.

"That's what the Log Pose says at least," Robin pointed out.

"Did I hear you call me a moron?" Sanji growled at Zoro.

"I don't know, did ya?" Zoro challenged him.

"Don't dive in!" Y/N scolded Luffy as he struggled to hold his brother back. "You can't swim and since these clouds are acting like water we can't risk you jumping in and drowning in them."

"An ocean!" Usopp gasped as he stared down at the white clouds their ship was resting on. "AHAHAHAHA! HERE I GO!" The sniper slipped down the top of his overalls and posed on the railing. "CLOUD OCEAN SWIMMING CHAMP USOPP!"

Luffy and Chopper cheered at Usopp's proclamation, even if they couldn't swim, they were excited to see their friend try it.

"Hey, you can't swim here!" Sanji protested. "We still don't know anything about this place!"

"You're right," Y/N agreed as he pulled off his shirt, "Which is why we should take this opportunity to explore it." There was an almost foreign look of excitement on the usually calm treasure hunter's face. "I've only ever been able to stare at clouds from a distance but now that I've actually got a chance to swim in them, I'm taking it." Y/N slipped off his boots and jumped up onto the railing next to Usopp. "Come on, Cloud Ocean Swimming Champ Usopp, time for you to earn that title!"

"Alright, I will!" Usopp retorted as he pulled his goggles down, "Watch me! Ahahahahahaha!" The two of them dove off the side of the ship and disappeared into the white ocean below them. SPLA-SPLASH!

"THEY DID IT!" Luffy exclaimed.

"THEY'RE SO BRAVE!" Chopper cheered.

Y/N grinned and glanced to his left at Usopp as they swam side-by-side in the White Sea. Usopp smirked and put on an additional burst of speed and swam out ahead of Y/N who seemed more intent on taking a casual swim in the clouds.

"This is incredible," Y/N thought to himself.

"It's hard to see anything," Usopp admitted, "but I'm really moving! There's so little resistance! Wow! I'm just going deeper and deeper! It's so easy!"

-x-

Back on the surface, Luffy and Chopper stared over the side of the ship at the clouds below them and looked depressed as they tried to spot Y/N and Usopp.

"Aw man! It's no fair!" Luffy complained, "I wish I could swim like that."

"I bet it's the funnest thing ever," Chopper lamented.

But as more time passed, Y/N and Usopp still weren't resurfacing.

"Hey uh... they're not... coming back up," Zoro pointed out.

"You know it's possible..." Robin started to suggest as she, Nami, and Sanji joined Luffy and Chopper in staring off the side of the ship, "...this ocean may not have an actual bottom."

"Say what?" Sanji questioned while Luffy and Chopper jolted in alarm.

"But this is Y/N we're talking about," Nami pointed out, "he wouldn't be stupid enough to keep swimming until he fell through... would he?"

"Who knows," Robin replied, "Mr. One Eye admitted that he's never swam in clouds before. How would he know how deep they go or if they have a bottom or not?"

"THOSE IDIOTS!" Zoro yelled while the other started to panic.

"Y/N! USOPP!" Luffy shouted in alarm before he pulled back his arm and shot it down into the sea of clouds. SHOOM! Luffy's arm stretched downward as he tried to make a blind grab for Y/N and Usopp.

"I warned them not to go in there," Sanji grumbled.

"Mr. Captain, stretch out as far as you can," Robin instructed Luffy.

"I am but I can't see where they are!" Luffy confessed.

"Leave that part to me," she reassured him, "Ojos Fleur!" Deep inside the sea of clouds a familiar dark blue eye with a lighter blue ring appeared on Luffy's stretched palm while a few other eyes sprouted on his extended arm.

Robin closed her original two eyes and concentrated on seeing through her other eyes in the hope of spotting Y/N and Usopp in the middle of the sea of thick clouds.

"There they are!" Robin called out when suddenly spotting Y/N swimming frantically towards the arm with Usopp thrown over his shoulder. WHAP! Y/N surged forward and grabbed hold of Luffy's extended hand. Robin turned to Luffy, "Okay, now pull them up."

SHOOOOOM! Luffy tugged on his upper-arm causing his extended arm to retract and he began reeling Y/N upward through the clouds. WOOOSH! Y/N and Usopp came flying out of the clouds and Luffy dropped them on the deck.

"THEY'RE BACK!" Nami and Chopper cheered.

"Don't start celebrating just yet," Y/N warned them, "I think we brought back some company."

DOOOM! As if on cue, a giant squid-like monster popped up through the clouds. It easily dwarfed the Going Merry and boasted a number to large tentacles that were each about ten times the size of the caravel.

"ROOOAARR!" Another monster shot out of the clouds, this one had a long purple serpent-body, a crocodile-like mouth filled with sharp teeth, and a shark-like dorsal fin on its back. It was about a third of the size of one of the squid's tentacles but it looked a lot more ferocious.

"AAAAAAAHHH!" Nami and Chopper screamed in terror at the sight of the two sky monsters but Zoro and Sanji wasted no time in springing into action.

SKISH! Zoro leapt up off of the ship and drew his swords as he flew at one of the sky-squid's huge tentacles, "You hungry?" he growled, "EAT THIS!" PLOOOP! Zoro slashed the tentacle with is three swords and the tentacle burst opened and seemed to pop as it was instantly reduced to nothing with one attack.

Sanji looked surprised at the popping tentacle but quickly forgot about it as the purple serpent-crocodile-shark monster lunged at the ship. SKISH! Sanji surged up into the air and flew up over the monster's head then brought his foot down on it, THWHAM! Even in the sky, a pair of monsters were nothing compared to two members of the Straw Hats' Monster Trio.

Huff! Huff! Despite the minimal effort he'd exerted dealing with the squid, Zoro was panting after the short battle. "What's with this air?" Zoro wondered. "It's so thin. It's hard to breathe."

"What do you make of this?" Sanji questioned as he eyed his unconscious monster as it hung on the side of the Going Merry by its large mouth. "It's the strangest creature I've ever seen. I'm not even sure it's a fish."

"And that octopus-thing was more like a big balloon," Luffy remarked.

"Sorry for the trouble guys," Y/N apologized as he sat on the deck with Usopp. "The clouds were so thin it was really easy to swim through them. It was actually a challenge to keep ourselves from falling through the bottom. Once I'd reeledUsopp back in those monsters attacked us. Those clouds are like a big ocean filled with creatures living in it and everything."

"What's this big snake thing?" Chopper asked as he stared at the limp purple monster hanging off of their ship.

"I dunno," Luffy admitted, "A flat-fish?"

"It wasn't flat until Sanji kicked it!" Chopper reminded him.

"GAAAAAAH!" Usopp finally sat up and started screaming and wiggling.

"Gimme a break Usopp," Sanji muttered, "What's wrong now?"

"There's something... in my pants!" Usopp exclaimed as he reached into his overalls and pulled out a weird-looking blue fish that had gotten caught in there. The fish was pale-blue and had a flat body and a wide mouth with short fins and was covered in soft feather-like scales

"Usopp!" Chopper cried out as he ran over to Usopp to check on him.

"Not his day," Robin commented. The fish flopping around inside his pants must have been uncomfortable. Robin smiled as she picked up the pale blue fish and examined it "Hold on... do you know what this is? I think it's one of the sky-fish that Noland described in his Log Book. It sounded pretty fantastic at the time but now that I see it... it looks like these creatures have somehow evolved to survive up here in the clouds."

"They evolved?" Zoro questioned, "You mean they turned all flat and balloony and stuff."

"Makes sense to me," Y/N said with a shrug as he stood with Zoro and Nami and eyed the odd sky-fish that had been in Usopp's pants.

"Shishishi!" Luffy laughed as he ran over and snatched the fish from Robin then ran off to Sanji.

"They did it to make themselves even lighter," Robin reasoned, "The buoyancy up here must be several times weaker than the ocean's down below."

"Then they grew scales like feathers," Nami added, "And those weird carnivore-like mouths."

Chomp! "DELICIOUS!" Luffy exclaimed as he ate a piece off of a plate of cooked sky-fish.

"I tried sautéing it," Sanji told him as he casually stood next to him smoking a cigarette.

"HEY! WE WERE STILL EXAMINING THAT!" Nami scolded them. "WHAT WERE YOU GUYS THINKING?" A second later... "Oh! This is good! I've never tasted anything like it!"

"Wahahaha!" Sanji laughed happily, "Well you know me, I aim to please."

"Y/N try this!" Nami offered.

"I'm not eating anything that was in Usopp's pants," Y/N stated firmly.

"Then let's eat this big one too!" Luffy suggested.

"Forget it," Sanji said, "I don't aim to please that much."

While the others dealt with the fish, Chopper had relocated to a broken beam hanging off the side of the ship front deck that the Going Merry's wings had previously been attached to before they snapped off. The reindeer was happily staring through a pair of binoculars.

"So where is this Sky Island?" he wondered as he stared out at the seemingly endless white clouds in a distance. But then he spotted something, "Huh, what's that? A ship?" Off in a distance was a large pirate ship with two masts and twin sails on the front and a single red and white striped sail in the back. "HEY GUYS! THERE'S A—WAAAAH!" Chopper yelped in alarm as the distant ship suddenly exploded and broke apart before it began sinking down into the white clouds under it.

"What wrong Chopper?" Y/N asked, startling Chopper enough that he dropped the binoculars "See anything?"

"YEAH!" Chopper answered, he sprang off his seat and hopped back onto the railing looking alarmed. "A ship! It was there and then it split!"

"Say what?" Zoro questioned as he and Sanji came over.

"WAAAH!" Chopper screamed going into hysterics. "AND THERE'S A BULL WITH WINGS! AND HE'S RUNNING AROUND ON THE CLOUDS! AND HE'S HEADING STRAIGHT FOR US!""

"Whoa, calm down," Y/N attempted to console him.

"What's gotten into him?" Sanji wondered.

SHWOOSHH! But Chopper was right. A strange man was seemingly running on the clouds straight towards the Going Merry. He had dark skin, tribal tattoos on his upper arms and small wings growing out of his back. He wore a brown grass skirt as well as a large wooden mask which had a mostly green face with red designs around the eye holes and orange tribal markings on the cheeks. The mask's mouth was filled with teeth including two huge fangs that pointed upward and there were a pair of bull horns on the top. Finally the man was wielding a long metal bazooka-like weapon and had a wooden shield strapped to his other arm.

"Check it out, he's right," Sanji realized when he spotted the strange man approaching the front of the ship. "There's a guy running around out there."

SKISH! The bull-masked man leapt off of the clouds revealing the strange metal shoes on his feet and flew at the Merry looking to land on it.

"Hey stop!" Sanji called out to the man, "What do you want?"

"TO DESTROY YOU!" the man shouted.

"Oh, is that all?' Sanji questioned.

"He's mine," Zoro quickly called out.

"Who is?" Luffy asked. "What's going on?"

THWAK! Before anyone could react the man flew over the railing and sent Sanji crashing into the side of the galley with a surprisingly powerful kick.

The man landed and Zoro rushed at him. SWISH! Zoro swung at the man with his swords but the masked man ducked under Zoro's attack and swung his foot around into the back of the swordsman's head. WHAM! The impact from the attack ended up being a lot stronger than it looked and Zoro was driven down into the deck.

SKISH! The man sprang off of the deck and lunged at Y/N, SWISH! Y/N dropped down and slid under him and managed to avoid getting hit. Tmp! The stranger touched down on the deck and launched himself up into the air with a series of flips. The man flipped downward and drove his foot down into the top of a still confused Luffy's head. THOOM! The surprisingly powerful kick sent Luffy crashing down into the deck.

"HEY DON'T LET THAT GUY WALK ALL OVER YOU!" Nami shouted. This strange man had taken down all three members of the Monster Trio before they even knew what was happening. "Y/N! GET HIM!"

The masked man landed on the railing and launched himself up into the air. SHOOM! The man grabbed hold of his bazooka and aimed it at the ship below him.

"WAAAAH!" Chopper screamed in terror. "HE'S GONNA BLOW US UP!"

"Sky Island is scary..." Usopp whimpered, he still hadn't moved from where he'd been lying when he pulled the sky fish out of his pants.

"Robin! Gimme a boost!" Y/N quickly requested.

"Seis Fleur...BRANCH!" SHOOM! Six arms shot out of the deck and launched Y/N up into the air overhead.

Y/N quickly drew his red sword as he flew up to meet the masked man causing the attacker aim his bazooka at Y/N instead of the Going Merry.

"This was a bad idea..." Y/N thought to himself as he stared down the masked man as they both started a slow decent downwards, "I can barely breathe up here."

"THAT'S ENOUGH, VILLAIN!" Y/N and the masked man both stared up in surprise as a man in knight's armor wielding a long metal lance flew down out of the clouds on a large bird.

The armored man's cape fluttered behind him as he leapt off of his bird and lashed out at the masked man with his lance. KLANG! The masked man managed to block the attack with his shield but the impact sent him flying downwards and he disappeared into the clouds. PLOOSH!

Meanwhile,the bird swooped around and caught Y/N on its back. SWOOSH!

TMP! The armored man landed on the railing of the Going Merry.

"Oh great," Nami grumbled, the guy had helped them out but considering how he was dressed she was waiting to present judgment if he turned out to be a weirdo. "Now who's this guy?"

The armored man hopped off of the railing and turned to face Nami and Robin who were standing together on the deck. The man was skinny and had a short white beard and mustache which showed his old age. He wore a helmet with a pointed spear on the top and a visor that was raised so they could see his kindly face. He had a cape that was black in the back and yellow in front, chest armor went down to mid-chest and showed the dark red shirt he wore underneath. He also wore metal gauntlets and boots as well as a metal skirt that almost went down to his knees and showed his brown pants.

"Miss, you may call me, the Sky Knight," the man replied.

SWOOSH! "PIEEE!" the Sky Knight's bird crowed as it swooped down and landed beside him, allowing Y/N to quickly slip off. The bird had mostly pink feathers on its body with some dark spots, a dark tail, and dark feathers which came up into two points and outlined its white face and a long and pointed yellow beak.

-x-

Heaven's Gate:

-x-

"He's gone," the Sky Knight observed as he stared off the side of the Going Merry. The masked man hadn't reappeared after disappearing below the clouds.

"What's going on here?" Nami asked, "Who the heck was that guy. And you..." Nami turned and scowled at Luffy, Zoro and Sanji who were sitting on the deck looking dejected. "Could you be any more worthless? That was pathetic! You had him outnumbered three-to-one!"

"Nami, calm down," Y/N tried to reassure her, "He just caught them off guard. He was on the ship for all of thirty seconds. If he had stuck around those three would've maimed him."

"You saved us!" Chopper exclaimed as he bowed to the Sky Knight, "Thanks a lot!"

"Just doing my duty," the Sky Knight assured him, "This one's on the house."

"What gives?" Sanji wondered as he took sharp gasps of the thin air. "I feel... so weak!"

"Yeah..." Luffy gasped, "I can... barely move..."

"It must be because of the thin air," Robin suggested.

"Oh yeah," Zoro said, "I almost forgot about that."

"You must be Blue Sea People," the Sky Knight reasoned.

"'Blue Sea People' what's that?" Nami questioned. "And who're you?"

"As I said, I am the Sky Knight," the Sky Knight stated. "And 'Blue Sea People' is what we call those who live beneath the clouds."

"The Sky Knight..." Chopper whispered in awe.

"I'm assuming that you traveled here from the Blue Sea," the Sky Knight told them as he walked up the steps and took a seat on the railing in front of the galley door.

"Yeah, that's right," Luffy confirmed.

"Then that explains it," the Sky Knight replied, "You have reached the White Sea, seven thousand meters in the air. The White White Sea where I assume you're heading is still further up at about ten thousand meters. Ordinary Blue Sea People can't possibly endure it here."

"Okay... I think I'm used to it," Luffy announced as he sat up.

"Yeah, me to," Zoro agreed.

"No-no, that's just not possible," the Sky Knight insisted with a dismissive wave of his hand.

"We're not like most Blue Sea People," Y/N informed him, "Those three can endure anything."

"Mr. Knight, why was that guy running around on the clouds attacking people?" Chopper asked.

"Now, not so fast," the Sky Knight told him, "I have no doubt you have many questions but we first have matters of business to discuss."

"Business?" Nami repeated.

"You see, I am a soldier for hire," the Sky Knight explained, "the White Seas can by quite dangerous. They are filled with guerrillas lurking about like the one you just faced who would like nothing more than to turn you into food for the Sky Fish. But if you purchase a five million extol One Whistle, I'll protect you."

Luffy, Zoro, Sanji tilted their heads in confusion, "What're you talking about?" Luffy asked.

"Now listen!" the Sky Knight said, sounding frazzled, "That price is quite reasonable! I can't afford to lower it a single extol more! I have to earn a living too!"

Nami shoved Y/N forward, "Um... hi, I'm Y/N, First Mate and Crew Financial Manager," he introduced himself, "What exactly is an 'extol'? I'm assuming it's a form of currency, right?"

"You don't know?" the Sky Knight questioned, "I don't understand. You came here from the summit of High West, didn't you? You must have passed an island or two."

"I still don't know what you're talking about," Luffy dead-panned.

"Wait," Nami cut in, "Are you saying there's another way we would've gotten up here and we would've passed an island or two along the way? As in there's more than one Sky Island?"

"We took the Knock-Up Stream up here," Y/N informed the Sky Knight. "You and the crazy guy in the mask are the first people we've come across."

"My word!" the Sky Knight exclaimed, "That monstrous current? So there are still souls in the world brave enough to make the attempt."

Nami looked on the verge of tears, "That means we risked our lives for nothing!" Then the tears were gone and she became enraged and grabbed Luffy and started strangling him, "ARE YOU HAPPY? WE COULD'VE BEEN KILLED! IF WE HAVE JUST ASKED AROUND A LITTLE MORE WE COULD'VE FOUND A SAFER WAY TO GET HERE!"

"I should probably put a stop to this," Y/N decided, he reached down and hooked his arms around Nami's waist and managed to drag the enraged navigator off of his brother. Of course, the hot-headed navigator didn't go without a fight.

"LEMME GO!" Nami yelled as she struggled against him and looked about ready to spit fire, "HE DESERVES IT! HE COULD'VE KILLED US ALL!"

"How is that different than any other day?" Y/N asked her. "Instead of dwelling on all the times that we could've died why don't you focus on the fact that we didn't. Once again our little crew managed to survive and do the seemingly impossible."

"STILL!" Nami insisted, "He can't just get away with nearly getting us all killed again!"

"Yeah, well you were strangling him and I was getting jealous," Y/N dead-panned. "Now calm down so I can question this Sky Knight guy and do my duty of keeping us all alive."

"He handles her well," Robin remarked to Zoro.

"I suppose," Zoro admitted, "but I'm still worried about her handling him."

"Sky Island scary... Sky Island scary..." Usopp mumbled as he laid on the deck in the same spot. The Sky Island was too terrifying for him to even risk moving again.

"Ah, so you didn't lose any of your crew then?" the Sky Knight questioned.

"Nope!" Luffy happily informed him, "We all made it!"

"Then you can consider yourselves fortunate," the Sky Knight replied, "The other routes all have their own perils. But with the way of the Knock-Up Stream either everyone dies or everyone survives. That's the gamble and not many are willing to accept that kind of all-or-nothing risk, especially these days."

"See?" Y/N asked Nami, "All the ways here are potentially fatal. Asking around would've been a waste of time. We asked the right people and we all got here safely."

"If nothing else, I see now that you are navigators of exceptional bravery and skill," the Sky Knight observed.

"Yeah," Usopp was quick to agreed, "Weeelll, I don't wanna take all the credit. But see, when things got scary and these guys were all screaming and crying for their mommies, I stood up and said..." Squish! An irritated Nami reached out and pinched the side of Usopp's face causing the liar to quickly change his tune, "...nothing at all!"

"Thought so," Nami said.

The Sky Knight pulled out a simple silver whistle and showed it to the Straw Hats. "This is the One Whistle," he explained as he tossed the whistle down on the deck. "Should you find yourselves in danger, you have but to blow it and I will come to your aid! As I said, normally I would charge you five million extol but for today please accept this as my gift to you."

"Wait-wait-wait!" Y/N quickly cut in. "You still never explained what extol were. I get that they're a form of currency here on the Sky Island but is there some place that I can go to exchange some gold or treasure for extol?"

"I believe if you continue onward you'll eventually come across Heaven's Gate," the Sky Knight told him as he got off of the railing and headed over to his bird that was waiting for him on the side of the Going Merry. "There is a toll in place that you'll have to pay to continue onward. Perhaps the gate inspector that's stationed there can help you."

"Right, I suppose that'll work," Y/N said.

"Hold on, we still don't know your name!" Nami reminded him.

"I am Gan Fall," the Sky Knight introduced himself as he stood on the railing then he motioned the bird standing next to him. "And this is my partner, Pierre."

"PIIIIEEE!" Pierre crowed.

"Despite appearances, Pierre is no ordinary bird," Gan Fall told them, the Straw Hats watched in different degrees of surprise as the bird began to transform. "Long ago he ate the Horse Horse Fruit and gained its powers."

Pierre's two yellow bird legs turned pink with dark dots like the rest of his body and the clawed talons became hooves. Two more identical hooved legs grew out of his front.

"Wait, what powers?" Sanji questioned.

"He is able to transform into a horse with wings," Gan Fall revealed as Pierre's bird wings grew longer and sturdier but remained feathered.

"Oh wow!" Nami exclaimed with stars in her eyes. "A Pegasus!"

"Yes! A Pegasus!" Gan Fall confirmed as he sat on the back of Pierre the Pegasus.

"PIIIEEEEE!" the dark-spotted pink horse crowed.

The Straw Hat's enthusiasm quickly faded as they wondered what the point was of having a flying bird able to transform into a flying horse.

"Wow that's... something..." the Straw Hat's chorused with noticeable lack of excitement.

"MAY LUCK BE WITH YOU, BRAVE WARRIORS!" Gan Fall the Sky Knight called out as Pierre the Pegasus flew off in a distance.

"Am I the only one who finds that bizarre?" Sanji asked the others.

"I don't get it," Nami said, "Was there even a reason for it to transform?"

"Good question," Luffy, Zoro, Usopp, Sanji, and Chopper replied.

"But in the end he really didn't tell us anything, did he?" Robin pointed out.

"I guess he pointed us in the right direction though," Y/N reasoned.

"How're we supposed to get to that Heaven's Gate place?" Sanji wondered.

"I KNOW!" Luffy exclaimed as he picked up the One Whistle that Gan Fall had left behind, "We can just call the old man back and we can ask him!"

WHAP! Nami and Usopp raced over and practically tore the One Whistle away from him.

"DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT, LUFFY!" Nami yelled. "You don't blow that whistle to ask for directions! It's supposed to be for emergencies only!"

"Yeah!" Usopp agreed, "Like if that guy who attacked us comes back again! You wanna get blown up?"

"I'll tell you what," Zoro decided, "For now let's just keep moving."

"Given your sense of direction, I'm reluctant to just sail onward at your say-so," Y/N replied, "I'd prefer if we had something to sail towards. The Sky Knight didn't exactly tell us where this 'Heaven's Gate' place was."

"HEY! LOOK OVER THERE GUYS!" Chopper called out as he hung on the railing so he could look off of the side of the ship.

"What is it?" Robin asked as she came up behind him.

"Some kind of cloud," Chopper answered.

"You'll have to be more specific," Y/N stated, "There are clouds everywhere."

"It looks like a waterfall," Robin noted as she and Chopper stared at a towering cloud shaped like a waterfall that was off in a distance.

"Then let's just go that way," Zoro suggested.

"I suppose we have nowhere better to go," Y/N reasoned.

And with that decided, the Straw Hats sailed onward towards the waterfall they'd spotted off ahead of them.

Nami glanced down at the Log Pose on her wrist for the first time since they'd reached the White Sea. The needle was no longer pointing straight upward but instead at an upward angle that left it vaguely pointing at the top of the cloud waterfall.

"Hey, hold up, stop the boat here!" Nami instructed.

The Going Merry slowed to a stop as they found themselves faced with a number of white puffy clouds that were seemingly floating on the sea of clouds that they were sailing on.

"It looks like the way is blocked," Robin pointed out as she eyed the puffy clouds.

"Those clouds look like they're floating on top of the ocean," Sanji calmly observed, "Sort of like icebergs."

"So they're cloud-bergs?" Usopp questioned.

"There's clearly something different about them," Nami commented.

"Maybe I can grab a piece," Luffy suggested, he pulled his arm back and swung it around then shot his rubber arm out at the cloud. WHOOOM! But when his rubber fist reached the puffy white cloud it bounced right off. BOING! "IT BOUNCED OFF! SHISHISHI! WOOOW!" SKISH! And without another word, Luffy jumped from the ship and landed on the puffy cloud.

BOING! Luffy landed on the cloud and bounced off then flopped down and was launched back up. BOING! The cloud was acting like a trampoline and Luffy was bouncing around like Bellamy at his best. BOING! BOING!

"HEY LOOK!" Luffy called out to his crew. BOING! "I'M NOT SINKING!" BOING! "ITS ALL FLUFFY AND BOUNCY!" BOING! "IT'S GREAT!" BOING!" SHISHI! YOU GUYS HAVE GOTTA TRY THIS!" BOING! "COME ON ITS FUN!" BOING! "SHISHISHI!"

"How does this work?" Nami wondered as she stood beside Robin and watched Luffy bounced around on the cloud.

"It's a mystery," Robin admitted.

"WAAAHOOO! HERE I COME!" Usopp cheered before he leapt off of the ship. SKISH!

"ME TOO!" Chopper shouted as he jumped after him. SKISH!

"Aaaahh..." Luffy sighed as he laid face-down on the bouncy cloud, "So soft! It's like a gigantic marshmallow pillow! Maybe I'll just take a little nap..."

BA-BOING! Luffy's nap was interrupted before it could begin when Usopp and Chopper landed on the cloud and started bouncing around with him. BOING! BOING! BOING!

"That's it, I'm going too," Y/N decided as he climbed up onto the railing and launched himself off the ship.

"I thought he was more mature than this!" Nami complained, "RI—"

"Shhhh... don't try to stop him," Robin interrupted, "He hasn't put his shirt back on yet."

Nami quickly directed her attention back to the cloud in time to see Y/N sink down onto the cloud and then launch himself up into a backflip which was quickly followed by an even higher front-flip. Luffy, Usopp, and Chopper all flopped around on the bouncy cloud but Nami's attention was solely on Y/N causing her face to turn pink as she watched his muscles tense, flex, and stretch as he chained together an impressive series of flips. She was so caught up in her ogling that she didn't hear Sanji calling her.

"Miss. Nami... Miss. Nami... MISS. NAMI!"

"WHAT?" Nami yelped suddenly drawn from her staring. "I was... sight-seeing."

"I'll say," Robin agreed.

"How are we going to get through the clouds?" Sanji inquired.

"Uhhh..." Nami stalled for a second as she attempted to kick-start her brain then called out to the four pirates bouncing on the cloud. "HEY GUYS! SEE IF YOU CAN FIND A PATH THE SHIP CAN TAKE!"

Luffy and Usopp quickly darted off ahead while Y/N grabbed Chopper. "I've got an idea," he said as he launched them up into the air then threw his little brother down at the cloud. "See if you can get a better vantage point!" BOING! Chopper bounced off of the cloud and with the added force of Y/N's throw he rocketed up over his head with a bounce that rivaled one of his Jump Point leaps.

"HEY! I SEE SOMETHING!" Chopper called down to Y/N as he started dropping, "IT LOOKS LIKE SOME KIND OF GATE!"

"I SEE IT TOO!" Usopp shouted from a few clouds over with Luffy.

"What the heck is it?" Luffy wondered.

"It's gotta be the gate that Gan Fall told us about," Usopp realized.

Luffy, Y/N, Usopp, and Chopper quickly scrambled back onto the Going Merry and they began sailing their way around the bouncy clouds towards the gate Usopp and Chopper spotted.

"So there's actually a man-made structure out there in all those clouds?" Sanji questioned.

"At this point, I'm not sure anything we find up here would surprise me," Robin said.

"Well, we'll see soon enough," Luffy resolved as he White Sea became a White Stream which the Going Merry followed through the fluffy iceberg clouds and slowly approached the waterfall that was up ahead.

"Take a left next!" Chopper called out.

"No, go right!" Usopp argued.

"But it's to the left!" Chopper insisted.

"It's on the right!" Usopp snapped.

"I'LL CALL THE OLD KNIGHT GUY!" Luffy offered.

The three of them quickly broke down in a squabble over the One Whistle.

But Nami eventually interrupted them, "Hey! We're here!"

It wasn't even a gate. More like a tunnel. But it was decorated with six yellow points that went around the structure making it look like the top half of a twelve-pointed star. Up above the opening they were approaching was red sign with white letters that read 'Heaven's Gate'.

"That's a gate alright," Sanji noted.

"And look!" Nami pointed out, "That weird cloud we saw really is some kind of waterfall! It's coming down on top of those cloud-bergs." On the other side of the gate white water-like clouds actually fell down the waterfall and flowed out into the cloud sea below.

"I don't know about this name..." Usopp said, "Heaven's Gate sounds like some place you go when you die."

"But now that you mention it, maybe we are dead," Zoro casually suggested. "You ever think about that?"

"You know that would actually go a long way towards explaining this weird place," Sanji admitted with a similar casual air.

"I always figured I'd go to the other place if I was dead," Y/N confessed as he calmly slipped his hands into his pockets.

"I DON'T WANNA BE DEAD!" Chopper shrieked, startled by how calmly the other three had accepted the possibility of being dead.

"SHISHISHI!" Luffy laughed at the thought of death, "WHO CARES! WE'RE HERE! Where ever this gate goes! I'm going!"

"WILL YOU GET SERIOUS!" Nami yelled. BONK! BONK! BONK! BONK! BONK!

"WHAT WAS THAT FOR?" Zoro snapped as the five of them rubbed the lumps on their head.

"I guess she doesn't wanna be dead either," Y/N stated.

"If you're making a joke, it's not funny!" Nami scolded them.

"So... why'd you hit me too?" Chopper whimpered.

"WAIT! LOOK OVER THERE!" Usopp called out as he pointed off to the side of the tunnel-like gate, "There's somebody coming out!"

There were paths lining the sides of the tunnel and there were two doors built into the tunnel walls. One of the doors opened and a tiny gray-haired woman with wrinkles all over her face and tiny white wings coming out of her back on her shoulders. She wore a pink dress and was currently taking pictures of the Straw Hats and their ship with some kind of camera.

"LOOK! SHE'S GOT WINGS!" Chopper exclaimed.

"The guy in the mask had wings too," Y/N reminded him.

"Whoa!" Luffy gasped, "That's what sky-people look like? She's so wrinkly."

"Um... hello?" Nami awkwardly called out to the woman.

"I am Amazon, the Heaven's Gate Inspector," the old woman stated. "State your business: Sight-seeing, war mongering, other..."

"Sight-seeing," Y/N quickly answered, "We're tourists."

"Yeah," Luffy said, "And we wanna go to the Sky Islands! They're past this gate, right?"

"Can we say all of the above?" Zoro asked.

"Don't say stupid things like that," Y/N scolded him, "We're in a whole different world up here so as long as we don't cause trouble we won't be treated like outlaws and can be tourists."

"It makes little difference anyway," Amazon announced. "But if you wish to proceed you must first pay the entrance fee of one billion extol per person. That is the law."

"WHAT? ONE BILLION?" Usopp shrieked in alarm.

"They're really big on these extol things around here," Sanji remarked.

"A billion anything sounds like a lot," Chopper noted.

"And a billion per person means eight billion total," Robin added.

"The Sky Knight did warn us about having to pay the toll," Y/N recalled.

"But I didn't expect it to be that much," Nami hissed. "Are you actually thinking about paying eight billion extol?"

"She said it's the law," Y/N pointed out, "I thought you'd want to avoid becoming an outlaw in a strange new place. It may seem like a lot but we've got a whole lot more hidden in a turtle back down below."

Y/N stepped up to the railing to address the gate inspector, "There's a slight problem with that... we're Blue Sea People and we don't have any extol. Is there a way to exchange some of our money for extol? Or could I pay you in gold?"

"I'm just a gate inspector, not a foreign currency converter," Amazon answered, "The only places to exchange money are beyond the gate or back the way you came."

Y/N's eye narrowed in irritation, "Then how the heck am I supposed to pay the toll?"

"You can pass anyway," Amazon replied.

"WE CAAN?" Usopp shouted.

"The choice is yours," Amazon said.

"Hold on, what's the catch?" Y/N inquired.

"Either you pay or you don't," Amazon told him, "My job description does not actually require me to guard the gate. I'm merely here to ask your intentions."

Y/N glared at the woman, "Yeah, she's a real go-getter. She won't even convert money so we can pay her ridiculously expensive toll."

"So that settles it!" Luffy decided, "WE WANNA GO TO THE SKY ISLANDS!"

"But we don't have any extol so we can't pay you!" Usopp added.

"Very well," Amazon said, "The eight of you then?"

"Yeah," Luffy confirmed, "Except... we still need you to tell us how to get there."

FWOOOSH! Two giant red claws shot out of the clouds below them and clamped onto the stubs that remained of the Going Merry's wings. KRUNCH!

"AAAAAHHH!" Usopp screamed.

"WHAT THE HECK IS THAT?" Luffy yelled in alarm.

"The White Sea's famous Express Lobster," Amazon seemingly answered.

The huge express lobster that was about the size of the Going Merry surged out of the water then surged backwards through the tunnel towards the waterfall. SHWOOOOOOO!

"WAAAAAH!" Chopper screamed, "IT'S A GIANT LOBSTER!"

"It's taking us up the waterfall!" Zoro realized.

"The Sky Knight mentioned that there was a White White Sea up above the White Sea down here," Y/N recalled, "I guess we just found out how they move people between the two."

The speedy lobster shot backwards through the clouds and began carrying the Going Merry up the cloud waterfall.

"EVERYBODY HANG ON TIGHT!" Nami hollered. The Straw Hats clutched at the railings as the lobster carried the Going Merry straight up the waterfall.

"IT'S SO FAST!" Sanji exclaimed while Usopp screamed in terror. They were already at the top of the cloud waterfall but it turned out their trip was far from over. Up ahead was a spiral path made out of the same clouds they were sailing on. The lobster surged onward and began carrying them up the spiral path of clouds.

Far below, and far behind them back at Heaven's Gate, Amazon watched the Going Merry while she spoke into a speaker. "This is Heaven's Gate Inspector Amazon reporting to the all-mighty God above and His holy priests! Eight illegal entrants have passed into Godland Skypeia! BESTOW UPON THEM HEAVEN'S JUDGMENT!"

Amazon smirked as the Going Merry continued its ascent up the spiral of clouds towards the White White Sea. The Straw Hats had no idea what kind of trouble would be waiting them.

-x-

Angel Beach:

-x-

SHWOOOOOO! The Express Lobster raced backwards up the spiral of clouds like it was a long winding milky white road and carried the Going Merry along with it. Wind rushed past the ship as the lobster carried the Straw Hats thousands of meters up into the air in mere minutes.

"My money says that we live through this," Sanji said to Zoro as he held onto the back of the front deck's rear railing for support.

"On a cloud that goes straight up?" Zoro questioned as he leaned back into the railing Sanji was holding onto. "You might want to reconsider that bet."

"I can't believe this is a natural formation of the clouds!" Nami exclaimed as she stared past Y/N while keeping her arms firmly wrapped around his waist while he kept a firm hold on front railing and took the brunt of the rushing wind for her.

"THIS IS HARDLY NATURAL AT ALL!" Sanji shouted.

"Maybe not to us on the ocean below," Y/N reasoned, "Who knows how things work up here. Speaking of which, I think maybe we should've gone back and found some extol to pay that lazy gate inspector with."

"Oh yeah, wandering aimlessly along a strange sea," Nami growled with sarcasm clear on her voice, "Great idea! Do you have any clue what the odds are of us actually stumbling across an island somewhere down there? We'd be lost in no time and then we'd just be sitting ducks if that freak in the mask decided he wanted to attack us again!"

"Hey, don't knock wandering aimlessly," Y/N scolded her, "That's how we found Chopper." They glanced over and saw that a pair of arms had sprouted out of one of the side railings and were holding onto the tiny reindeer so he didn't go flying overboard.

"TOO LATE!" Luffy hollered as he clung to the figurehead, "WE CAN'T GO BACK NOW! WE'RE ALMOST AT THE TOP!"

"LOOK THE EXIT!" Chopper called out, "THEY PUT UP A BIG SIGN!"

Those with depth perception (everyone but Y/N) stared ahead and read the sign that said 'Godland Skypeia'.

"Godland?" Robin repeated in confusion. "What is 'Godland Skypeia'?"

"The 'Skypeia' part sounds familiar," Y/N recalled.

"THIS ISN'T THE EXIT!" Luffy suddenly realized, "ITS THE ENTRANCE!"

The lobster shot past the sign and barreled towards a hole going through the dark clouds that were up ahead of/above them.

The Straw Hats gasped in marvel as the Going Merry shot through the hole and flew out into the opened sky on the other side. The lobster dropped down and disappeared into the hole they'd come through while the Going Merry splashed down into a clear calm sea of clouds. SPLOSH!

The Straw Hats had reached the White White Sea and were now ten thousand meters above the Grand Line and Blue Sea where they'd come from.

Luffy's eyes were the first to adjust to the bright light and he gasped at what he saw. "WHOOOA! THERE IT IS! THE SKY ISLAND!"

The Straw Hats all stared in shock. Up ahead of them was an island made out of clouds. In short, it was beautiful. First there was the white beach made completely out of white clouds but with tropical palm trees growing out of it. Long white staircases that were seemingly made of cloud climbed the cloud and connected beautifully crafted buildings that had been built on the cloud as if it was a large fluffy white mountain. There were even some smaller clouds with single buildings on them that floated above the large cloud and were connected by larger staircases.

"Wait... didn't the sign we passed say 'Skypeia'," Robin recalled.

"Yeah!" Nami replied, "It's the same name scribbled on the map that Y/N found!"

"This is it!" Y/N exclaimed as a wide grin lit up his face. "We found it! This is Skypeia!"

The Going Merry cut a large wake through the calm sea of clouds and brought the Straw Hats in for a closer look at the island they'd found in the sky.

"WHOOOAAA!" Usopp and Chopper gasped.

"So that galleon that almost fell on us did come here," Nami reasoned, "And the last time they set eyes on this was two hundred years ago! I'm amazed that this place had stayed beautiful for so long!"

"It's hard to believe that a place like this has been here all along," Y/N remarked, "To think of all the people that lived their whole lives without even knowing that a place like this even existed! If that galleon hadn't fallen on us we would've sailed right on without ever knowing it was here."

The Going Merry sailed onward until its bottom rested on the solid cloud that was below the watery cloud they'd been sailing on.

SNIIIIIFF! Luffy took in a long deep breath the let it out. "Aaah! You can smell the adventure! Potent as the seaweed in summer!" Without another word, Luffy leapt off the ship and ran for the cloudy shore. SKISH!

"WAIT FOR ME! I LIKE ADVENTURE!" Usopp called out as he dove head-first off the ship after Luffy. SKISH!

"Kind of shallow!" Luffy warned the sniper... KRASH! ...just as he slammed down into the cloud-bed that the ship was resting on.

"Usopp, did you hurt yourself?" Luffy called down to Usopp's nose as it stuck out of the shallow milk-like water. SPLASH! Usopp quickly sat up. Even though the cloud under him was solid it was still a cloud which meant it was still soft.

Usopp turned to Luffy, "Hey, is it just me or is this whole place made of clouds?"

"Big fluffy ones!" Luffy confirmed.

"I love this stuff!" Usopp gushed. "Ahahahaha!"

"Shishishishi!" Luffy laughed along with him then ran for the shore. "COME ON! LET'S GO ASHORE!" Usopp sprang to his feet and ran laughing after Luffy.

"HEY! I'M COMING WITH YOU GUYS!" Chopper shouted after them from where he was perched on the railing. SKISH! Chopper quickly jumped off and chased after the other two.

"Me too," Nami said, "but I've gotta change first."

Y/N caught Robin's eye and the two of them quickly disappeared below deck along with Nami.

"LUFFY! We may have a problem with dropping anchor here!" Zoro tried to warn the Captain. "There's no sea-bed at the bottom of this cloud!"

"You know, I thought about that," Luffy replied from the shore, "AND WHO CARES!"

"AHAHA!" Usopp laughed as he playfully shoved Luffy, "I love the way you think!"

"Thanks!" Luffy replied as he shoved Usopp back which led to a good-natured shoving match.

"ME TOO!" Chopper cried as he reached the shore, "I WANNA PLAY!" He lunged to the side but found that his shorter stature kept him from being able to shove anyone but the empty air.

"Who cares about the anchor?" Zoro muttered to himself as he grabbed the anchor and dropped it off the side of the ship. SPLOOSH! The anchor sank through the milky cloud but landed on the solid one under it. "Well... regardless of how the ground may feel, it sure is an amazing sight. Better than I imagined."

"It's a piece of work for sure," Sanji agreed, "but I think our Nakama are overreacting. It bugs me when they get all worked up." Sanji slipped off his shoes then let out a loud cheer as he jumped off the side of the ship, "WAAA-HAAAA-HAAA!"

"When they get all worked up?" Zoro repeated as he stared after the high-spirited cook.

KONK! KONK! KONK! "GAAH! Get off, Stupid!" Y/N burst out from the flap in the deck sporting a large lump on his head and dove to the side allowing two angry South Birds to fly up out from the men's quarters. "JOOOH! JOOOH! JOOOH!" The two South Birds flew off the ship into the sky and quickly disappeared.

"Man, I hate birds," Y/N complained as he rubbed the lump on his head. "I guess we forgot about them in all the excitement. I feel kinda bad that we took 'em away from their home but we never would've found this place if we hadn't. And at least they have each other."

"Birds adapt to their environments quickly," Zoro reassured him, "They'll be fine."

"At this point, I don't really care," Y/N admitted as he stood back up.

"What're you wearing?" Zoro questioned as he eyed Y/N's new outfit. It consisted of simple sandals and a pair of black shorts with two large pockets, an opened white short sleeved shirt and his sunglasses. His signature sword and boots were nowhere in sight.

"We left our bounties behind on the Blue Sea," Y/N pointed out, "I figure we can afford to let our guard down a little so now we're just tourists on vacation."

"My thoughts exactly," Y/N and Zoro turned in time to see Nami and Robin come out of the storage room.

"Whoa..." Y/N gasped and despite his considerable strength of mind and self-control his jaw dropped at the sight. Nami was barefoot wearing a pair of maroon pants and a blue, light-blue, and white cloud-print bikini top. Beside her, Robin was also barefoot but wore purple pants that reached her calves, a simple belt, a white armband around her left upper arm and a snug sleeveless yellow top that bared her midriff, shoulders, and a considerable amount of cleavage.

Nami smirked as she sauntered over to Y/N and made a point of closing his mouth for him.

"Hey, what happened with the anchor?" she asked Zoro.

"It's all taken care of," Zoro reported, "It hit the heavier cloud down below which is what I think this place floats on."

"That means that the sky island floats on a sea of cloud cover," Robin reasoned. "I wonder if it's stationary in the sky or if it moves with the tide."

"We could stay on deck all day and pick this thing apart," Nami told them, "But come on, what fun would that be? The fact is, most of this makes zero sense so let's make the best of it and enjoy ourselves while we're here." Nami grabbed Y/N's hand and tugged on it, jerking him back to reality. "Let's go, Y/N!"

"Right," Y/N agreed, he used Nami's hold on his hand to swing her around and scooped her up into his arms then and jumped off the ship. SKISH!

"WOOHOO!" Nami cheered as they dropped down into the milky clouds below. Y/N put Nami down and the two of them ran hand-in-hand toward the shore.

"Shall we, Mr. Swordsman?" Robin offered.

"I'm not carrying you off the ship," Zoro refused.

"I meant, shall we go after them," Robin corrected him, "It would seem like a waste to come all this way and just stay on the ship." She walked to the railing and stared off at the sky island in front of her. "The Captain smells adventure... huh, I never stopped to think of any of this as adventurous. Maybe I should reconsider my stance." SKISH! Robin smiled as she jumped off the ship and followed after Y/N and Nami towards the shore.

"Aaahh..." Chopper sighed as he laid face-down on a mound puffy white clouds he'd found on the shore. "Something about the squishiness of this island makes me wanna sleep all day..." Chopper closed his eyes and settled himself in for a nice nap on the pillow-like cloud. But what the clumsy reindeer failed to notice was the fact that he was rolling down the side of the cloud mound and was now tumbling across the soft cloudy beach.

"AHOY!" Luffy shouted as he hung upside down from one of the tropical trees with one of this rubber legs wrapped around one of the branches. "THIS IS YOUR CAPTAIN SPEAKING! I must inform you that this place is too much fun for me to make any more Captain decisions!"

"Aye-aye Captain!" Usopp replied from the ground as he made a cloud-castle out of the soft sand-like cloud that make up the island. "Whaddaya say we just sit around and do nothing?"

"Nothing sounds like a plan to me!" Luffy agreed as he hung in the tree like a monkey. "PROPOSAL REJECTED!" Neither of them paid attention as Chopper rolled under Luffy's tree and started tumbling across the open beach.

"'REJECTED'? YOU MEAN 'ACCEPTED'!" Usopp snapped at him.

"Such mysterious looking flowers," Sanji remarked as he crouched down in front of a batch of short purple flowers that were growing out of the cloud at the base of one of the trees. "I've never seen anything like them." The cook was focused on his flowers and didn't notice when the doctor roll by behind him. Chopper rolled up the side of another cloud mound... then rolled back down and started rolling the other way. "I wonder if they're balloon-ish like that sea monster and if they'll pop when I pick one." Sanji reached out and picked one of the purple flowers and took a casual sniff.

"Aaaah!" Nami sighed as she stood beside Y/N and stretched her arms overhead. "This is great! Like you said, the Marines can't follow us up here so now we can all cut loose. After everything we've been through I think we could use a nice vacation."

"Yeah," Y/N agreed as peeked out of the corner of his eye at Nami while she was stretching. Her bikini top was wonderfully revealing. Thankfully his sunglasses kept his eye hidden.

Little did he know, Nami had purposely stood on his left side while stretching knowing that was the side he'd be able to peak from with his limited frame of vision

Y/N casually moved his foot out in front of him causing Chopper to roll into it and finally stop. "Enjoying yourself, little brother?" he asked the reindeer at his feet.

Chopper finally opened his eyes but then immediately blinked in surprise, "How'd I get here?"

"You were sleep-rolling," Y/N informed him.

"Hey Y/N, Chopper, what do you think that is over there?" Nami asked as she pointed to a wooden awning that was coming out of a flat surface of stone-like clouds.

Y/N quickly picked Chopper up off of the ground, "Let's go check it out," he decided.

"Alright Mr. Giant Fruit... you're all mine!" Luffy said as he hugged the green pumpkin-like fruit he'd gotten out of the tree he was hanging from to his chest. CHOMP! He bit down on the fruit only end up hurting his teeth when he realized he'd seemingly found the one hard thing on this entire island made of cloud. "OWW! THAT HURT!" KONK! Luffy banged on the fruit's hard shell. "Why's this thing so hard? HEY USOPP?"

"Yeah?" Usopp replied, not looking up from his cloud-castle.

"Got some fruit for ya!" WHOMP! The thrown fruit crashed down on Usopp's head causing him to smash face-first onto the mound of could he'd been sculpting.

"YOU PRACTICALLY CRAMMED MY BRAIN INTO MY CHEST!" Usopp screamed at Luffy once he'd recovered, "WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU?"

"MISS. ROBIN MY LOVE!" Sanji cried out as he ran along the beach towards Robin. The archeologist stopped as Sanji ran up to her and showed her the two purple flowers he'd picked. "I've got a present for you! An island flower!" Sanji reached out and slipped one of the flowers into Robin's hair then he glanced over his shoulder, "And one for... MISS. NAAMII!" The cook ran off in search of the navigator.

As soon as he was gone Robin silently plucked the flower from her hair and watched as the love-struck cook ran off. "MISS. NAMI! I HAVE A GIFT FOR YOU!"

"They're chairs... made of clouds..." Y/N realized as he, Nami, and Chopper stood together under the wooden awning and found themselves on an outdoor porch. They eyed the two cloud chairs they'd found there. Unlike the clouds that made up the beach that were puffy and white, these chairs were sleek and smooth and had a grayish tint to them. FWUMP! Y/N flopped down on one of the chairs and allowed his body to go limp.

Chopper climbed up onto the other chair and laid across the seat, "This cloud is different from the stuff on the beach," Chopper remarked, "It's a lot spongier."

WHUP! Nami plopped down beside Y/N on his chair and cuddled into his side. "Wooow," she moaned in contentment, "You know... Vivi showed me her bedroom while we were staying in the palace. And I used to think her bed was as soft as a cloud. But now I'm actually sitting on a chair made of real cloud and it's even softer!"

"Sure beats my hammock," Y/N stated.

"I wonder if they have a factory that makes all this stuff," Nami said as she marveled at the unbelievably soft chair.

"Nami! Miss. Nami!" Sanji called out as he ran by behind their outdoor porch. "I have a gift for you! A pretty flower for a pretty lady!"

"I didn't figure on getting wet walking through clouds," Zoro commented to himself as he finally walked onto the shore. "Huh... what's that?" Up ahead of him he spotted something that was a slightly darker white than the cloud beach but in addition to fluffy also seemed to be furry. Zoro reached down and tugged at a fluffy white tail that was capped with a bright white tip.

"Suuu!" something cried as Zoro tugged on its tail. "Suuu!"

Zoro picked the creature up by its long fluffy tail and realized that he was holding a cloud-white fox. It had a pointed snout, pointed ears, and squinted eyes. Its body was covered in white fur that was about two shades darker than the tip of its tail that match the solid white cloud they were standing on.

"It's some kind of... fox..." Zoro realized as he stared at the cloud white fox in surprise, "HEY Y/N! Is this guy a friend of yours?"

With a commendable amount of effort, Y/N, Nami and Chopper managed to remove themselves from their cloud chairs and approached Zoro and the fox he was holding.

"I don't think we've met," Y/N admitted.

"Suuu suuuuuu!" the fox complained as it wiggled in Zoro grip.

"Aaaw! It's so cute!" Nami cooed when they approached Zoro, she reached out to pet the fox only for it to flip free from Zoro's grasp. But instead off falling to the ground the white fox lunged across the space between them and landed on top of Chopper's hat. Whup! Then promptly sprang up onto Y/N's shoulder.

"You sure it's not a friend of yours?" Zoro asked as he eyed the fox-like pirate and the cloud-white fox perched on his shoulder. The fox's tail was wrapped around the back of Y/N's neck so the tip of it was resting on his opposite shoulder.

Y/N glanced at the fox on his shoulder and reached his opposite hand up to it, "Y/N," he introduced himself to the fox who surprisingly held out its paw and allow Y/N to shake it.

"Suu," the fox replied.

Y/N looked back at Zoro, "I guess we're friends now at least." Y/N reached up and gently rubbed the fox's side, "You're a clever girl aren't you?"

"Suuu suuu suuuuu!" the fox purred.

"Considering how tame it is," Nami noted, "I'm guess that its..."

"Someone's pet," Y/N finished for her.

"Suuu suuuuu..."

"She says her owner is..." Chopper started to translate.

"Right over there," Y/N finished as he motioned further down the beach with his free arm.

"Can you... understand it?" Zoro asked.

Y/N shrugged slowly so he didn't jostle the fox on his shoulders.

"Must be a fox thing," Nami reasoned.

With that decided, they looked in the direction Y/N had indicated and it was only then that they heard the faint music that was drifting towards them.

Truummm... tring tring... truuummmm...

The music was coming from a large cloud mound further down the beach from them. And there was a person standing on it.

"Look, there's someone over there!" Zoro pointed out drawing the attention of the others.

"Izzat music?" Luffy wondered as he again failed to eat one of the rock hard green fruit.

"Oh great it's another monster..." Usopp growled as he quickly ducked down and hid in a bush.

"Where's the whistle? Where's the whistle?" Chopper panicked, "We can ask the Sky Knight to save us!"

"No we can't," Sanji told him, "That's not who you think it is... that right there... is an angel."

Thhruumm... thrink thrink...

"An angel?" Usopp repeated.

Standing on top of the cloud mound was a beautiful young woman. She had pale skin and pale blonde hair that went downward in two braids but also form two round antennas on the top of her head. She had small white wings growing out of the back of her shoulders and wore a short pink dress that went down to her mid-thigh and had a black floral design that went down from her left shoulder to her left thigh. The beautiful woman looked serene and at peace as she skillfully plucked the strings of a golden harp and played a gentle melody.

Thhhruuummm... thrink trink...

The young woman stopped strumming her harp when she realized that all of the Straw Hats were silently staring at her.

She smiled at them and said, "Heso!"

-x-

Dials:

-x-

Sanji had hearts in his eyes at the sight of the beautiful girl while Luffy stood beside him and looked confused.

"Heso?" the both repeated.

"You think she's trying to say 'hello'?" Usopp questioned.

"What does 'heso' mean?" Chopper wondered.

"I kinda sounds like 'hello'," Zoro stated.

"It's probably a traditional Sky Island greeting," Y/N guessed.

"Did you come from the blue sea world?" girl asked as she made her way over to them.

"If that's what you call it," Luffy answered, "We sailed up a river of clouds to get here. Speaking of here, is this your home?"

"Yes," the girl replied, "It sure is. And I'd like to welcome you to Skypeia's Angel Beach." The girl looked down and spotted the hard green pumpkin-like fruit that Luffy had tucked under his arm and giggled, "Heehee, I bet you'd like to drink that."

"Uh-huh," Luffy confirmed as he handed it over to her.

"The top of a conash is as hard as steel, it's impossible to crack," the girl informed him as she turned it over, "So you have to cut through the underside like this..." The girl pulled out a small cooking knife and easily cut into the bottom of the fruit. She stuck a straw into the hole she'd made and gave it back to Luffy. "Here you go."

SLUUURRRP! SLUUURRRRP! "AAAAAAAAAAHHHH!" Luffy let out a loud groan of amazement at the taste of the conash's juice.

"If it's that good I gotta try some!" Usopp exclaimed, "Come on! Give it to me!" Slluuuurrp! "Aaaaaaaaaahhhh..." Usopp let out a content sigh at the pleasant taste.

"My name is Conis," the girl introduced herself, "And I see you've already met Suu." Conis smiled at Y/N and the fox that was now sleeping on his shoulder. "She's a cloud fox and seems to like you. If you need anything at all, please let me be of service."

"Yeah about that," Sanji said, "Your eyes are setting my heart on fiYAAAAAA!" His flirting was rudely interrupted when Nami yanked on his ear.

"Lay off," Nami scolded him before turning back to Conis, "Actually, we've got tons of questions. I hate to bother you but we've never been any place like this before."

"Sure," Conis replied, "Ask me anything you want to know."

"Guys looks," Zoro interrupted before Nami could ask anything. He was staring at a small figure approaching the shore "Something's coming..."

"Oh, that's my father," Conis told him.

"HESO CONIS!" the figure happily greeted his daughter.

"HESO FATHER!" Conis called back to him.

"Can't you say 'hello' like normal people," Luffy complained.

"Conis, what's that thing he's riding on?" Nami questioned as she spotted the strange contraption Conis' father was riding across the white sea clouds towards the shore. It had the metal handle bars of a motorcycle but the body and rear motor of a motorboat.

"That's my father's Waver," Conis informed her.

"WHOA! THAT'S AWESOME!" Luffy exclaimed.

"A Waver?" Nami repeated.

Conis' father had now gotten close enough for the Straw Hats to get a proper look at him. He was a normal-sized kindly-looking man with small white wings on his back. He sported a bushy brown beard the concealed his mouth and the top of his head was bald with the exception of two brown antenna that matched the blonde ones that Conis had. He wore goggles and a light brown robe that matched the pink one that Conis wore and even had the same black symbols going down the side as well as gloves and sandals that were a darker brown than his robe and had a basket strapped to his back on top of his wings. Oddly, the man's eyes were closed while he was racing towards them on the waver but he could still somehow see well enough to call out a warning.

"GANGWAY! STOPPING THIS THING IS A BIT OF A TRICK!" SHOOOM! The waver sped off of the sea clouds, onto the shore, and straight into a tree... KRASH!

The Straw Hats stared in alarm as he the man rolled off of his crashed waver and was seemingly unharmed as he glanced over at them through his closed eyes.

"My goodness... is everyone alright?" he asked.

"YOU'RE THE ONE WHO CRASHED!" Zoro yelled.

"Hey Sanji," Nami addressed the cook, "Didn't you and Zoro bring back something like that waver from that sunken ship?"

"Now that you mention it I believe we did," Sanji recalled.

"Then that must be the boat we read about in that Noland the Liar book," Nami realized, "A boat that can sail without wind!" Nami turned to face Y/N and flashed him her cutest smile, "Y/N... could you go find the Waver that Zoro and Sanji brought back from the sunken ship?"

"Uhh... fine," Y/N agreed, he scooped Suu off of his shoulder and handed her over to Conis then headed off sure towards the Going Merry.

"Did you make some new friends Conis, my dear?" Conis' father questioned once he'd finally gotten to his feet and propped up his Waver.

"Yes," Conis answered, "They arrived only a few minutes ago from the blue sea world."

"Oh, still adjusting," Conis' father realized, "There must be a great many things that puzzle you about the White White Sea. I'm sorry."

"There's no need to apologize," Usopp reassured him.

"Forgive me for not introducing myself sooner," the man said, "My name is Pagaya."

"Nice to meet you," Usopp replied.

"So father, how was the fishing today?" Conis inquired.

"Quite a successful venture," Pagaya answered, "I have an idea, you should all come over for dinner. We'll fill your bellies with the taste of the island."

"I'M ALL FOR THAT!" Luffy exclaimed, "I'm starving!"

"Sky Island cuisine?" Sanji questioned, "You mind if I help you prepare it?"

"Before we go, I have a question," Nami cut in from where she was crouched down and studying Pagaya's Waver with interest, "This boat... it doesn't have any sails and you weren't rowing it either. So... how is it propelled through the water?"

"Oh of course," Conis realized, "Your people aren't familiar with dials are they."

"What's a dial?" Luffy questioned.

Instead of an explanation, Luffy found himself on Pagaya's Waver and pressed his foot down on the accelerator pedal that was on the floor of the Waver's motorboat like body next to the motorcycle-like handlebars. VWOOOOOM! The Waver roared to life and took off like a shot causing Luffy to go racing off the shore and onto the sea. ZOOOOOOOOM!

"YEEEAAAAH!" Luffy cheered. "ITS GOING!"

"HE DID IT!" Chopper exclaimed.

"WAAAAAAAHH!" Luffy's cheer quickly turned to a scream as he found himself struggling to steer the shaking Waver over the clouds. "W-WHY IS IT SH-SHAKING SO M-MUCH? IIT WOON'T STOOOP!"

FWUMP! Luffy lost control and the Waver flipped and sent him splashing down into the clouds. SPLOOSH!

"Oh no!" Conis cried in alarm, "I hope he's alright!"

"It's all my fault!" Pagaya exclaimed, "I shouldn't have let a rookie use the waver!"

The Straw Hats on the other hand were completely calm at seeing their Captain nose-dive into the clouds. The only one panicking was Chopper.

"Since Luffy can't swim I hope this sea is more buoyant than ours," Sanji stated.

"Maybe," Zoro calmly replied while Chopper looked from Zoro to Sanji in alarm. "If he can float on air then you're probably right. He can handle it."

"GRGLE!" Luffy blurted out before he sank below the clouds.

"Oh, he sank," Sanji casually noted.

"It's not the first time I've been wrong," Zoro casually admitted.

"AAAAAH! I'LL SAVE YOU!" Chopper screamed as he ran forward and dove into the water momentarily forgetting that he couldn't swim either. "GRGLE!"

"HEY Y/N!" Sanji called out when he spotted Y/N heading back for the shore while dragging the old rusted Waver they'd found alongside him. It was missing the boat-shaped body that Pagaya's had and looked like a very old motor-scooter. "COULD YOU BRING LUFFY BACK WITH YOU?"

"Yeah, fine," Y/N answered, "Apparently I'm everybody's errand boy today." Y/N eventually dragged Luff and the two Wavers back onto the shore.

"Was it really necessary for you to jump in too?" Usopp scolded Chopper as he dragged the reindeer back onto the shore.

"Sky Island scary... sky island scary..." Chopper whimpered much like Usopp had before.

"I apologize for letting him take the Waver out," Pagaya addressed the Straw Hats. "With its light body, even a small wave can shake the rudder. Unless you know the White White Sea like the back of your hand, the waver is almost impossible to ride. Again I am sorry."

"Is it really that difficult?" Chopper questioned. "I wanted to try it too."

"It's only recently that I became good enough to ride it," Conis confided in him.

"It usually takes ten years of training to drive it," Pagaya added.

"Any chance you could fix ours?" Y/N inquired as he looked off the shore with fond smile and watched Nami ride by on the Waver like she'd been riding one her whole life.

"WHOA! LOOK AT HER GO!" Usopp cheered.

"THIS IS WONDERFUL!" Nami shouted back at them.

"MISS. NAMI'S A VISION RIDING THAT WAVER!" Sanji swooned.

"This is unbelievable," Pagaya remarked, "It's her first time?"

"HOW COME SHE CAN DO IT AND I CAN'T?" Luffy complained.

"This one looks like its seen better days," Pagaya admitted as she bent down and investigated the Straw Hats' Waver. "But the dial seems to be in working condition so I should be able to fix it."

"Incredible," Y/N whispered, he tore his eye off of Nami and glanced over at Pagaya, "What was that?"

"I said I should be able to repair yours," Pagaya told him.

"Great," Y/N said, "Cause if you couldn't fix ours I wouldn't hear the end of it until I agreed to buy her a new one."

"Wow!" Nami exclaimed as she masterfully steered the waver over the clouds. "This really requires skill! NO WONDER YOU HAD A HARD TIME LUFFY! HEHEHEHE!"

Luffy growled and looked envious of Nami's ability to ride the waver, "NAMI WE'RE INVITED TO DINNER SO GET OFF THAT THING AND STOP BEING SO RUUUUDEE!"

THWAK! Sanji slammed his bare foot down on the top of Luffy's head, "Talk about rude."

"STUPID WAVER HOG!" Luffy yelled.

Nami ignored Luffy's jealous insults and called back to the shore, "GO ON AHEAD! If it's okay with Pagaya I'd like to stay out here and ride!"

"That's fine," Pagaya replied, "Just be careful."

"Not to sound rude," Y/N said, "But I think I'll stay out here and keep my eye on her."

"How can you keep an eye on her when you barely have depth perception?" Usopp questioned.

A tick mark appeared on Y/N's forehead, "I can still hear," Y/N growled, "I've got a few things on my mind and now I can finally take some time to sort through them. Nami and I can catch up with you guys later."

"But Y/N, there's FOOOD!" Luffy reminded him.

"But unlike you, I don't need to eat every five minutes," Y/N countered, "So if you'll excuse me, that cloud chair back there has my name on it."

So while Nami continued to ride the Waver Y/N headed back to the porch to reclaim his chair while the rest of the Straw Hats followed Pagaya and Conis up the first flight of cloud stairs to their house.

-x-

"Riding this freely on the open ocean without worrying about the wind is like a dream!" Nami remarked as she continued to steer the Waver with the same skill that made her an expert navigator. For someone who could read the weather and the waves as well as she could, driving a waver was a breeze. "I wonder if we can use these on our ocean back home."

-x-

"WHOOAA!" Usopp gasped as she stared off the side of the stairs they were heading up. "Is that some kind of factory?"

"Indeed it is," Pagaya answered, "That is our cloud quarry site. Its where our clouds are manufactured and cut to meet all types of needs."

The Straw Hats watched as some winged men loaded a cube of cloud onto a conveyer belt and added it to a wall they were making as if it was a brick.

"I didn't know you could cut a cloud," Zoro admitted.

"You did take the Milky Road to get to the White White Sea, correct?" Pagaya questioned.

"Milky Road?" Zoro repeated, "Is that the name of that messed-up current we took up here?"

"Yes," Pagaya repeated, "It's a canal constructed by our engineers and made using the natural clouds we quarry. There are actually two types of natural clouds on our island. Your ship traveled on top of what we call Sea Clouds. And the ones that float on their own that we can stand on and build on are called Island Clouds."

"They're not the normal clouds that we're used to, are they?" Zoro remarked as he and Robin followed Pagaya up the steps while Sanji trailed behind and walked side-by-side with Conis. Luffy, Usopp, and Chopper were frolicking and bouncing on the puffy cloud that ran alongside the stairs they were going up.

"No, their condensation nucleus is different from what you usually see," Pagaya explained, "It has to do with a mineral found in your Blue Sea World called Sea Stone."

"Sea Stone?" Robin repeated, speaking for the first time since setting foot on the Sky Island. "What effect does that have on the clouds?"

"It's like this," Pagaya said, "Inside the Sea Stone are keratin particles called Pyrobloin. During volcanic eruptions these particles gain moisture and ascend into the sky. Our clouds are formed based on the density of the moisture."

"Oh, yeah, I heard about those things," Luffy said in his attempt at sarcasm.

"Suuure," Usopp agreed, "I remember that from when I was a kid! We used to always play with keratin particles in the yard!"

"Enough sarcasm!" Sanji scolded them.

"In all actuality there are three types of clouds that we use in our day-to-day," Pagaya continued, "The Sea and Island types are natural while the man-made ones come from Island Clouds. Now if you'll follow me please..."

They'd reached the top of the staircase and Pagaya began leading the Straw Hats to his house.

"LOOK!" Chopper exclaimed, "If you can squint you can see Nami riding the Waver!"

Luffy turned around and stared down the long staircase they'd come up at Nami as she rode around in the White White Sea. "How come she's so good with that thing?" he complained, "FALL OFF!"

WONK! "Cut it out!" Sanji snapped after kicking Luffy over the head. He grabbed the Captain and proceeded to drag him along the rest of the way to Pagaya's house.

-x-

"GAAAHH! KOFF! KOFF!" Sanji gagged and retched like he'd just tasted something horrible. And he had.

"What happened to you?" Pagaya asked as he looked up from some of the food Sanji was helping him prepare.

"Ugh..." Sanji groaned as he turned around and showed Pagaya a jar with something purple in it. "Well, I saw this stuff sitting in your fridge and I uh... I'd never seen anything like it so I tried it and... it tastes like death. Now I'm all dizzy and my tongue feels swollen, how's it look?"

"Like you drank some spoiled sauce," Pagaya answered as he hung his head.

"THEN WHY DID YOU LEAVE SOMETHING LIKE THIS SITTING AROUND?" Sanji berated him, "IF SOMETHING'S OLD YOU THROW IT OUT!"

-x-

In the sitting room, the other Straw Hats and Conis could hear the commotion Sanji was making in the kitchen.

"It sure sounds like they're having fun in the kitchen," Luffy remarked.

"I'd bet Sanji's just excited about Sky Island food being such a new thing," Usopp suggested.

"So I was wondering," Robin spoke up as she, Zoro, and Chopper sat comfortably on cloud couches around a small table. "Could you explain some more to us about those dials you mentioned earlier?"

"Sure," Conis agreed, "but its complex. I don't exactly know where to start."

"Aaah..." Chopper sighed, "I'd never been this relaxed."

"Hm... this doesn't look like a dial," Luffy said as he held a spiral shell, "It's just a seashell."

"Yes, at first glance," Conis told him, "but why don't you put it to your mouth and talk..."

"Like this?" Luffy asked as he held up the shell so the hole at the bottom of the spiral was towards his mouth then he spoke in to the shell. "USOPP STINKS!"

"Why do you always pick on me?" Usopp whined.

"Hee hee," Conis giggled, "Now just press down on the apex of the shell."

"Wanna tell me what an 'apex' is?" Luffy asked.

"It means vertex or highest point," Usopp told him. Usopp reached down and pushed down on the top of the spiral shell. Click!

"USOPP STINKS!" Luffy and Usopp bugged out when they heard Luffy's voice coming out of the shell. "Why do you always pick on me? Hee hee, now just press down on the..."

"AAAAH! THE SEASHELL'S MAKING FUN OF USOPP TOO!" Luffy exclaimed.

"What did I ever do to you seashell?" Usopp complained.

"Hey, that's a neat trick," Zoro commented, "So it can store any sound and play it back?"

"Then that shell is one of the dials," Robin realized.

"Yes," Conis confirmed. "We call this one a Tone Dials. It's a shell from the White White Sea that records and replays whatever it hears."

"Hey, hold on," Zoro cut in, "I didn't think there was a bottom to your sea. Where do these things live anyway?"

"They live in the shallows in the cloud reefs," Conis explained.

"I still don't see how that little thing could move your father's Waver," Robin said.

"Well, that's because this is the kind that powers the Waver," Conis told her as she picked up a flatter spiral shell off of a counter. "This one's smaller but it does demonstrate the same process. Here, let me show you..." Conis crossed the room and held the shell up to a paper charm that was hanging above the doorway that let out to the balcony which overlooked the sea and pushed down on the apex/button on the flat shell. Click! Fwwwooooo! A gentle breeze blew out of the hole at the bottom of the shell and caused the paper charm to wave back and forth.

"Oh, so this one blows wind out of its backside!" Usopp realized.

"Lemme see!" Luffy eagerly requested as Conis handed the dial over to him.

"This one is called a Breath Dial," Conis explained, "It gives you the ability to store the wind and expel it as you desire."

WHING! WHING! WHING! Behind Conis, Luffy swung the shell around in the air before he pointed the hole at his face and pushed the button. FWWOOOOO! "Gaaah!" The stronger breeze caught Luffy off guard and nearly blew his hat off.

"The wind capacity varies depending upon the size of the shell," Conis continued, "If you attach the right size to the stern of a ship you can move along swiftly."

"I've never heard of anything like that," Robin admitted.

"I get it now!" Usopp realized as he and Luffy stared off the balcony at the sea, "The Waver moved by blowing a stream of wind through the water."

"Hey, where'd Nami and the Waver go?" Luffy wondered.

"Fufufu," Robin laughed lightly, "The only thing I can think of that could get Miss. Navigator off of that Waver is currently sitting in a chair on that beach."

"Oh, I see her now!" Usopp called out, "She's bugging Y/N!"

-x-

"Are you really just going to sit there all day?" Nami as she left the Waver propped up by the Sea Clouds and approached Y/N while he was sitting on the porch.

"A lot happened on our way here," Y/N told her. "I'm still trying to come to terms with it."

"Oh, I didn't realize me kissing you affected you that much," Nami teased him.

"This isn't about you kissing me," Y/N retorted, "This is about what happened before that. You know, seeing the guy who cut out my eye and ruined my life in person again and finding out he was not only on the same island as us but is now hunting down Luffy for the price on his head. Don't be fooled just because he acts like one, he's depraved and there's nothing he wouldn't do to get something that be believes is his Fate. Now the guy not only has a terrifying new Devil Fruit Power but he's gotten himself a crew of Fate fanatics and he's gotten it in his head that he wants my brother's bounty. Do you realize how much trouble we're in now that we've got someone like him after us? If I didn't know any better, I'd say he was going after Luffy's bounty just to spite me because of what I said to him before he clawed my eye out."

Nami smirked, "Feel better now that you've got that off your chest?" she asked, "I'd know better than anyone how therapeutic venting your frustrations can be."

Y/N sent her a small glare, "Just leave me alone."

Fwump! Nami plopped down across his lap. "No," she refused. "I'm not gonna let you just sit here and brood all by yourself. The rest of us are all having the time of our lives here. Not only did we leave the Marines behind down on the Blue Sea but we also left behind all our other problems. We're away from all that up here on this incredible island ten thousand meters above the Grand Line. The others are all up at the house so now it's just you... and me..." Nami pursed her lips and leaned in, Y/N closed his eye as she brought her lips to his... only to jerk back at the last second and add, "Oh, and Robin's ear."

They both craned their necks upward and glared at the ear that was growing out of the roof. The ear promptly disappeared in a puff of flower petals.

"I'm still not used to her doing that," Y/N admitted.

Nami slipped off of his lap and tugged on his arm, "Come on," she urged him, "You've wasted enough time sitting here brooding. Come with me and I'll give you a ride on the Waver." Nami knew full well that she would never be able to physically pull him out of the chair so she quickly added, "If you don't get up right now, you can forget about ever kissing me again."

And just like that he was out of the chair and she was tugging him towards the Waver.

"By the way," Y/N said, "The old man said he'd be able to fix our Waver and considering how good you are with one of these, it'd be silly not to let you have it."

Nami beamed and spun around and kissed him. "Good thing you got out of that chair," she remarked. "Come on..." She quickly stepped onto the Waver and grabbed the handlebars, "Get behind me and hold onto my waist." Y/N stepped onto the Waver and straddled the seat that Nami was pointedly ignoring and placed his hands on her hips.

Nami glanced down at his hands, "No, that won't do..." she said then she reached down and rearranged his arms so they were wrapped around her and he was basically hugging her from behind. "That's better. Hold on tight, I'm gonna give you the ride of your life!"

VWHOOOOOOM! The dial-powered Waver roared to life and they shot off of shore, raced past the Going Merry, and sped away from Angel Beach. ZZOOOOOOOM!

-x-

"There they go!" Usopp called out from up on the balcony.

"That Waver is fun," Luffy stated.

"And dials don't just power Wavers," Conis continued her explanation, "There's also the skating kind and the board kind but I don't go for those! The Waver is about as crazy as I get."

"I wish I was out there on that thing instead of those guys!" Luffy complained, "And I could be if I could just fix the one we have."

"How did you ever find a Waver in your world?" Conis inquired.

"It was on a sunken ship that I bravely investigated using the diving gear that I made!" Usopp boasted, "But that thing's so old, it's hard to tell if it even is a Waver. I doubt we could ever get that hunk of junk working again."

"You'd be surprised," Conis told him, "Dials are made from the remains of dead shellfish. They can last indefinitely. And my father said the dial that powers your Waver is still in working condition so he should be able to fix it for you."

"REALLY?" Luffy gushed, he turned and shouted off the railing, "WATCH OUT YOU GUYS! SOON I'LL HAVE A WAVER TOO!"

"I'd venture a guess that there are many types of dials," Robin commented. She pointed to a shell on the table in between the couches that she, Chopper, and the now sleeping Zoro were sitting on. "Is this one here?"

"Yes," Conis confirmed, "That's a Lamp Dial."

Click! Robin pushed down on the top causing the large dial on the table to glow brightly.

"NEAT!" Chopper exclaimed, "IT LIT UP FROM INSIDE!"

"There are also Heat Dials that store heat and fire," Conis continued, "Flavor Dials that store various tastes and aromas and Vision Dials that store everything the user sees which you can watch again and again!"

"I wanna live in the clouds for the rest of my life!" Chopper gushed, instantly forgetting all the scary things he'd come across in the face of the incredibly useful dials.

"To be honest," Conis confessed. "We couldn't really sustain life here in the clouds without these dials. Our culture has evolved with the dials, I suppose in the same way that they have evolved along with the White White Sea."

"Zzzzzz..." Zoro let out a snore as he continued to nap while sitting up on the couch.

-x-

SHHOOOOOOMM! Nami and Y/N sped along the clouds on the Waver.

"ISN'T THIS AMAZING?" Nami exclaimed.

"I'm enjoying myself," Y/N replied as Nami grinded against him when they banked to the side.

"Hey look!" Nami called out as she spotted some trees in a distance, "There's another island!"

-x-

"Dinner is served!" Sanji announced as he and Pagaya laid out a delicious-looking spread of Sky Island delicacies for the Straw Hats to enjoy. "We have for you sky lobster with special sauce and a side of island fruits that I can't pronounce!"

"THAT LOOKS SO GOOD!" Luffy gasped.

"LET'S DIG IN!" Chopper exclaimed.

As the Straw Hats began their very first Sky Island meal, Sanji wandered away from the table and stepped out onto the balcony to enjoy a cigarette. He stared off the balcony and frowned.

"Hey guys," he called back to the others, "Any of you know where Miss. Nami is?"

"She and Y/N went off on the Waver," Luffy answered.

"Oh, they did, did they?" Sanji growled as he glared out at the sea, "I don't see her."

"Maybe they went out too far," Usopp suggested, "Considering how much Nami enjoyed that Waver and now that she's got Y/N on it with her, she might not come back at all! Who cares! You should have some of this!"

Conis put down her fork and cast a worried glanced at her father. Pagaya's eyes were still closed but he looked worried too.

"I'm worried," Conis confided in her father, "Do you think they're okay?"

"I have my concerns," Pagaya admitted, "but I can't say one way or the other."

"What're you talking about?" Luffy asked with lobster dangling out of his mouth.

"In the clouds there's a place called the Upper Yard that no one is ever allowed to set foot on," Conis explained, "It's not too far away. It would only be a short trip by Waver from here. I'm afraid your friends might have set ashore there out of curiosity."

-x-

Y/N and Nami floated on the clouds and stared up at some of the largest trees they'd ever seen.

"They're huge!" Nami remarked.

"They're even bigger than the ones on Little Garden," Y/N stated, "I can't even see the top of these trees."

"What is this?" Nami wondered as they marveled at the island they'd found.

"Wait... do you see what I see?" Nami asked, "What're the trees growing out of?"

"Dirt obviously," Y/N answered, "What else do trees grow out of?"

Nami looked back at him, "And how much dirt have we seen in the sky so far?"

"Oh," Y/N said, his eye widened as he caught on. "Then what's an island made of dirt doing up here in the clouds?"

-x-

"What's so bad about this island that no one can go on it?" Usopp asked, "Is it filled with monsters?"

"It's sacred ground," Conis answered, "and so much more than just that... it's the island... where God lives."

-x-

Y/N and Nami marveled at the giant trees and dirt of the massive island that made them and the Waver look like mere specks. They were both completely oblivious to the fact that they were staring at God's domain.

-x-

Hope you enjoyed the chapter!!!