The Logia Brothers Chapter 48 (Patreon)

Hey friends and fans! Kairomaru is bringing you another chapter of The Logia Brothers! With the powerful force of nature that is the Knock Up Stream, the Straw Hats have been launched into the sky! Will they be able to survive the trip and actually make it to the Sky Island? They will if Nami has anything to say about it! But once they get there, what of the locals? Are they friendly or hostile?

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So, without further delay, please enjoy.

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Chapter 48 – The White Sea and the Locals

WOOOOOOMMM

The near deafening roar of the Knock Up Stream nearly drowned out all other sounds as it continued to connect ocean and sky together. The Straw Hats had to yell at the top of their lungs just to be able to hear one another as they rode the titanic current higher and higher into the sky.

“WAAAAHHH!!!” Usopp cried out as he was pressed harder and harder against the mast that he’d tied himself to. The sheer pressure that was caused by the speed they were moving was insane!

“Hey! What’s happening?!” Mikita questioned as the Going Merry kept ascending at speed.

“The ship is sailing vertically up the water current!” Vivi sounded like she almost didn’t believe what she was saying, even as the crew all experienced it.

“Yeah! This is fun!” Luffy cheered as he held on to Merry’s figurehead.

“But how do you explain this?!” Usopp demanded, looking completely baffled.

A powerful blast of wind from behind the ship caught Nami’s attention. “The wind…?” The navigator looked back and noticed the strong tailwind that was being created by the rising Knock Up Stream.

“Alright! We can go to the sky with this!” Luffy threw his fist forward with a loud cheer. “Go, Merry go!”

“Wait a minute, I think we’re forgetting something!” Sanji called out as he looked up at the approaching Emperor Cloud.

“What’s wrong?” Usopp questioned from against the mast.

“Did we forget something?” Luffy asked as he turned to look over his shoulder.

“The ship is beginning to float!” Sanji warned as the Merry slowly but surely started to come back under gravity’s sway. “If we tilt back, it’s over! We’ll fall!”

“What?! That can’t happen!” Luffy shouted, his eyes wide as the Going Merry continued to pull away from the Knock Up Stream.

“What can we do?! It’s all we can do to hold on!” Mikita shouted over the roaring of the current they were riding.

“Huh?! What’s that?!” Chopper pointed out as large debris made of broken ships began to rain down from the top of the Knock Up Stream.

“It’s the remains of ships that were on the sea floor before the Knock Up Stream happened.” Vivi realized fairly quickly. “They got blasted up here just like us and now they’re falling back down!”

“It’s only a matter of time before we end up like that too!” Sanji grimaced, his teeth nearly biting through his cigarette.

“It’s a little late to think of that! We’re still being propelled upwards by the force of the explosion! There’s nothing that we can do now!” Zoro pointed out that they didn’t really have any control at the moment.

“Why did we ever decide to do this?!” Chopper cried out.

“All kinds of things are falling down around us!” Sanji kicked a piece of debris away as best he could in the current situation. “They’re all victims of the Knock Up Stream!”

“It’s all over for us!” Usopp had crocodile tears pouring from his eyes. “We’re going to crash into the sea and die!”

“Hoist the sail! Now!” Nami barked out loudly.

“Huh?” The crew all turned to look at the orangette.

“This isn’t just a wall of water! It’s the ocean!” Nami declared as her gaze sharpened. “We can sail on it the way we would any current!” She gave her crew a look of absolute certainty. “The heat from the steam and explosion has created a blast of warm air! If we’re just going up against the sea and wind, we can navigate it! And who is this ship’s navigator?!” Nami smiled at her nakama, her eyes bright and reassuring.

“You are, Nami!” The crew spoke as one.

“All right, guys! Do what Nami says!” Luffy had a wide smile on his face as he gave command of the Going Merry to Nami.

“Right!” They all confirmed instantly.

“We’ll catch the wind at starboard and then sail to port!” Nami began relaying orders as the crew moved to fulfill them. “Then we’ll let the ship follow the current!”

“Aye aye!”

“Hurry!” Nami urged, knowing that every second counted to pull this off successfully.

“Ah! This is bad! The ship is leaving the water!” Chopper called out as the prow of the Going Merry rose higher and higher.

“We’re falling! We’re falling, Nami! Do something!” Usopp begged as the Going Merry came off the water entirely.

“No! We’re going to make it!” Nami thundered, her hands gripping the railing of the ship so hard her knuckles turned white.

A sharp snap was heard as the main sail caught the rising air current and filled completely. The Going Merry was pushed along without even touching the water of the Knock Up Stream at all. The ship was freely riding the wind now, or in other words….

“We’re flying!!!” Half the crew exclaimed in amazement.

“It’s incredible! The ship is flying through the air!” Luffy cheered with both fists raised high above his head.

“You’re kidding!” Usopp’s eye nearly bugged out as he realized the Going Merry really was flying.

“Amazing…” Vivi muttered, her long blue hair flying wildly behind her.

“WOW!!!” Chopper exclaimed with excitement as they literally flew towards the clouds.

“We did it…” Mikita realized that nothing stood between them and the sky now.

“Well, what do you know?” Zoro smirked as he watched the rapidly approaching clouds.

“Nami, you’re amazing!” Sanji had heart-shaped eyes as he praised the navigator.

“With this wind and current, we can make it all the way to the top!” Nami declared confidently.

“Nami, are we there yet?!” Luffy questioned as they passed through some cumulus clouds. “Is this the sky island?”

“If there is such a place, then it’ll be beyond those clouds!” Nami pointed at the Emperor Cloud directly ahead of them.

“I wonder what’s up there?” Luffy’s smile couldn’t be any wider as the Going Merry flew higher and higher. “Let’s head straight for the Emperor Cloud!”

“Yeah!” The crew cheered.

Seconds later and none of them could breathe as they entered the Emperor Cloud.

Passing through the strange cloud was like moving through water. But it had far less resistance. Air slowly became an issue as they rocketed through the clouds. Usopp lost his breath first, choking on the water-like cloud. Chopper was second, bubbles escaping his mouth as he tried to breathe. Vivi realized quickly that she was soaked and her Logia intangibility was gone, not to mention the weariness of being submerged as a Devil Fruit user. Mikita and Robin both felt the same weakness as they collapsed on the deck of the speeding ship.

‘I can’t…breathe.’ Luffy was grinding his teeth as his lungs started to burn from the lack of air. Even his immense strength was sapped away if he was fully submerged in water.

Light was suddenly reintroduced to the crew’s eyes as they rocketed through the surface of the clouds. The wings that had been added to the Going Merry by the Saruyama Alliance finally couldn’t take it anymore and broke off from the force. The main sail tore slightly, and two of the rigging lines snapped from where they were tied. The caravel slammed back down onto the brilliantly white clouds and floated on them as if it was a tranquil sea.

Hacking and coughing from most of the crew followed. Trying to get their breath back was proving difficult after how long they’d been submerged. As deep, gasping breaths were taken, awareness returned to the crew, one by one.

“Damn.” Zoro inhaled and exhaled heavily. “Did we lose anyone?” He looked around, seeing most of the crew sprawled out on the deck.

“…” Robin was still getting her breath back, but she shook her head to answer the swordsman’s question.

“Hey!” Luffy, ever the fastest to recover, called out to his nakama. “Hey, you guys, look! Look where we are!” His excitement was through the roof.

“What is this place?!” Sanji questioned, blinking at the sight before him.

“It’s pure white!” Mikita was also staring in shock.

“Clouds?!” Chopper gaped at all of the clouds around them.

“Nami stood up and walked over to the railing of the Going Merry shakily. “We’re above the clouds. We’re sailing on the clouds!”

“Of course! We’re sailing on clouds.” Luffy nodded like it made all the sense in the world.

“You can’t sail on clouds!” Zoro, Sanji, and Chopper waved their hands in front of them, looking at their captain like he was crazy.

“So, where are we?” Usopp finally sat up, looking around at the clouds surrounding them in all directions.

“This must be, the sky ocean.” Nami informed the crew after a moment to take in everything. “But look.” She held up the Log Pose strapped to her wrist. “The Log Pose is still pointing upwards.”

“This must be the middle level of the Emperor Cloud.” Robin surmised as she looked at the Log Pose.

“We still have to go higher?” Mikita raised an eyebrow.

“How?” Vivi questioned, looking around and not seeing anything but the cloud sea.

“I don’t know.” Nami shook her head, just as perplexed.

“What’re you doing, Usopp?” Chopper questioned the long-nose.

“Captain Usopp is going for a swim to check out this new sea!” Usopp declared with a boisterous laugh. He tightened the knot of the rope he had around the Merry’s railing. “I’m just taking precautions first.” He tied the rope around his waist next.

“Yeah! Do it!” Luffy and Chopper cheered Usopp on with a smile. Usopp ate up the cheering from both of them before climbing on top of the railing.

“Hey, be careful!” Sanji warned the gunman. “We don’t know anything about this ocean!”

“I’m a master swimmer! All oceans are the same to me!” Usopp dived into the clouds and swam downwards, the spool of rope attaching him to the ship slowly unwinding as he swam deeper.

“Is he going to be okay?” Vivi worried for the safety of her nakama.

“At least he tied himself to the ship, so we can pull him up if necessary.” Zoro shrugged as the rope continued to follow Usopp overboard and into the sea of clouds.

‘Wow! There’s hardly any resistance!’ Usopp thought to himself as he swam further down. ‘The visibility is terrible though. I can hardly see anything.’ He swam deeper, still not finding anything among the clouds. ‘Is there nothing down here? I just keep going deeper and deeper.’

Almost a minute later and the rest of the crew on the Merry were starting to get concerned. “He’s not coming back up…” Chopper voiced everyone’s thoughts.

“I was just thinking, does this ocean even have a bottom?” Robin queried as she watched the slowly moving ‘waves’ against the side of the ship.

As if in response to Robin’s realization, the spool of rope suddenly sped up and whipped around as it was dragged over the railing at speed. Much to the wide-eyed shock of the crew.

“Did he fall through the clouds?!” Zoro rushed towards the rapidly depleting rope.

“Usopp!” Luffy was a blur as he raced over to the line and grabbed it with both hands, stopping it from going any further.

“I warned him!” Sanji yelled as he, Zoro, and Chopper (In Heavy Point) all grabbed onto the line and quickly started reeling Usopp back up towards the Going Merry.

“Heave! Heave! Heave!” Luffy chanted as the men quickly pulled Usopp up from the ocean of clouds.

“Usopp!” Chopper cheered as the gunman’s limp form breached the surface and he was pulled back onto the ship.

Only, he wasn’t alone, the sea clouds erupted as two massive beasts breached the surface, clearly chasing after Usopp. One was a massive octopus, its eight limbs flailing and reaching for the nearly unconscious long-nose. The other was a large sea serpent creature with jaws filled with fangs, looking to snap up their nakama.

“What the hell?!” Nami and Mikita exclaimed at the sudden appearance of the monsters.

“That’s not scary.” Zoro glared at the reaching tentacle of the giant octopus. He leapt up to meet it and swiftly drew Wado Ichimonji. A quick slash opened up the grasping tentacle, but no one was expecting it to pop like a balloon!

“Huh?!” Vivi was gaping as the tentacle deflated and the giant octopus quickly retreated into the clouds.

“Weird things!” Sanji and Luffy each landed a devastating blow against the sea serpent, finding that its body had little resistance as it warped under the force of their strikes. The sea serpent had no chance, going still as its head was flattened from the force. Luffy grabbed it and place its top jaw just over the railing of the Merry to make sure it wouldn’t sink back into the sea of clouds.

“Is this thing even a fish?” Sanji cocked an eyebrow at the odd sea serpent.

“That octopus was like a balloon.” Vivi was still stunned by what they’d just seen.

“But it was moving around like a regular octopus.” Zoro reminded, having seen it up close and watched it retreat.

“So, creatures do live among these clouds.” Robin noted, making a mental comparison between what she’d read from both the Log Book of the St. Briss and Noland’s Log at Cricket’s home.

“What’s up with this weird sea serpent?” Luffy questioned Sanji, seeing the chef looking over their catch.

“It’s kind of like a flounder, it’s body is mostly flat.” Sanji pointed out from what he could see of the beast.

“GAAAHHH!!!” Usopp cried out, throwing something onto the deck.

“Shut up, Usopp!” Sanji barked at him, irritated at the trouble he’d caused inadvertently. “What’s wrong now?!”

“That weird thing was latched on to me!” Usopp pointed at the strange fish that was flopping around on the deck.

“This must be a sky fish.” Robin calmly picked up the fish and examined it. “Noland wrote about them in his Log Book.” Nami observed the strange fish as well, noticing its odd features. “In order to survive in this bottomless sky ocean, they’ve evolved differently than their aquatic cousins.” She handed the fish off to a curious Luffy.

“So, they became balloon-like or flat?” Zoro compared the octopus and the sky fish.

“Their bodies are airfoils. These clouds are far less buoyant than water.” Robin nodded to the green-haired swordsman.

“Their scales are more like feathers, and they all have teeth like carnivores.” Nami mentioned what she’d noticed of the sky fish and the sea serpent. A pleasant scent filled the air and everyone looked over to the source, seeing Luffy eating something off a plate that Sanji handed him.

“I tried sautéing it.” Sanji mentioned, flicking his lighter and lighting up a new cigarette.

“This is great!” Luffy exclaimed after his first mouthful of sky fish.

“We weren’t done looking at it yet!” Nami yelled at the pair with sharp teeth.

“Here.” Luffy grinned and placed a forkful of the cooked sky fish gently into Nami’s mouth.

“Mmm! It is good!” Nami covered her mouth as she chewed and then swallowed the sky fish. “I’ve never tasted anything like it before.”

“I wanna try.” Mikita, also a cook, was instantly curious and sidled up beside Nami.

“Try some.” Nami took the plate from Luffy and offered some of the fish to Mikita.

“Oh…that is good!” Mikita beamed at the taste. Sanji was twirling around with hearts for eyes at the praise.

“Let’s try eating the big one!” Luffy headed over to the sea serpent with a little drool coming from his mouth.

“I still don’t see any island.” Chopper spoke, looking through binoculars. He stopped his scanning of the horizon, or what he could see of it through the clouds at least, when he spotted a ship that was larger than the Going Merry among the sea of clouds. “A ship?” Trying to see more clearly, the doctor noticed what appeared to be a man standing on the clouds in front of the old-looking ship. “A man?” The old ship suddenly exploding freaked Chopper out. The man standing on the clouds had just blown up the other ship!

“What’s wrong, Chopper?” Usopp questioned, seeing the trembling reindeer.

“It…” Chopper dropped the binoculars to the deck. “It was a ship.”

“Was?” Usopp blinked at the past tense.

“Th-there was a ship! But…it’s gone now!” Chopper tried to explain while also keeping an eye out for the strange man that had destroyed it.

“Gone? Where’d it go?” Usopp looked out into the cloud sea, vaguely seeing what appeared to be darker smoke a long way off.

“There’s a bull running over the clouds headed straight for us!” Chopper exclaimed loudly to the entire crew. “We’re in trouble!”

“Calm down. You’re not making sense.” Zoro looked at Chopper like he was crazy.

“What’s gotten into you?” Sanji questioned the doctor.

“Something’s coming!” Vivi called out. “I think it’s a person!”

“He’s running on the clouds!” Luffy was amazed at what he was seeing.

“Stop! What do you want?!” Sanji stepped forward just as the masked man leapt off the clouds, revealing a strange pair of skates on his feet.

“I’m going to get rid of you.” The masked man declared.

“Tch! He means business!” Sanji adopted his fighting stance.

“Fine by me.” Zoro drew Sandai Kitetsu to fight the man.

“Bring it on!” Luffy raised his fist.

The masked man blurred forward, dodged Sanji’s kick, and kicked the chef across the face with his skates. Sanji flew backwards from the force of the blow, but the attacker kept moving. Zoro swung his Kitetsu, only to notice that he couldn’t get his usual speed or finesse with his blade. He took a kick to the chest and was sent to the deck with a hacking cough.

“The heck is wrong with my body?” Luffy swayed around the roundhouse kick that would’ve slammed into the side of his head. “I can’t move like normal?” He threw a punch, but their assailant was able to avoid it.

“You jerk!” Usopp had his slingshot out and fired three of his iron pellets at the masked attacker. The man leapt backwards to dodge, landed on one of the broken wing extensions on the edge of the Going Merry, and then blasted himself high into the air away from the ship with his odd skates.

“He’s going to fire that bazooka at us!” Mikita warned as the man brought the weapon to bear.

“I’ll block it!” Vivi had dried off enough by now that her arms quickly turned into sand.

“Enough!” What appeared to be a knight of all things demanded. The armored person rode on the back of a large bird and clashed with their attacker. The knight’s lance was blocked by the bazooka wielder’s shield, but he was still thrown backwards from the force. He hit the cloud sea with a splash before jetting away on his skates. He was gone just as the knight landed on the edge of the Going Merry.

“Who the hell are you?” Mikita demanded, already prepared to fight the newcomer as well. A two-ton punch to the chest would cave in that armor like it was tinfoil.

“Ahem…I am the Sky Knight.” The knight turned around, revealing himself to be an old man with a long white beard and mustache.

“Piee!” His odd bird steed cawed. It was a very weird looking bird, being pink and polka-dotted.

“He’s gone.” The Sky Knight commented, looking in the direction that the masked attacker had disappeared in.

“Yeah, he’s not stopping.” Luffy confirmed as the bazooka wielder was fast crossing the range of his normal Observation.

“What the hell?” Nami shook her head. “Who was that guy?”

“Are you two alright?” Vivi asked Zoro and Sanji, both of whom were now sitting up on the deck.

“I couldn’t move normally.” Sanji looked himself over.

“Something is off, I feel kind of heavy.” Zoro confirmed as well.

“That’s probably because the air is so thin.” Robin informed them as she kept her eyes on the so-called Sky Knight.

“Huh…now that you mention it…” Luffy took a deep breath, but realized that he wasn’t getting as much ‘air’ from it as he normally would. The rest of the crew were quick to check their own breathing, hoping to be able to acclimate before anything else happened.

“Are you, blue sea people?” The Sky Knight questioned the pirates.

“What’s that?” Nami tilted her head slightly. “And who’re you again?” If his answer wasn’t satisfactory, she’d have her Climatact assembled instantly. Usopp already had his slingshot at the ready, and Mikita was still tensed and ready to launch herself at the old man.

“I am the Sky Knight.” The old man repeated as he easily leapt up to the railing of the upper deck and sat on it. “Blue sea people live below the clouds on the great blue sea.” He rested his lance against his shoulder. “Where you are now is the White Sea, which floats seven-thousand meters above the blue sea. And higher still is the White-White Sea, the upper stratum, which is ten-thousand meters above the blue sea. Most of the people from the blue sea cannot handle these altitudes.”

“Okay! I think I’m starting to get used to it.” Luffy patted his chest.

“Yeah, it’s not as hard to breathe anymore.” Zoro nodded as he controlled his breathing.

“What? No. Please don’t strain yourselves.” The Sky Knight cautioned them both.

“Who was that guy that just attacked us?” Chopper questioned the armored old man.

“One moment.” The Sky Knight held up his hand. “No doubt that you have a great many questions. But let’s talk business first.”

“Business?” Vivi cocked an eyebrow at the change of topic.

“I am a soldier of fortune. This sea holds many dangers. Those not used to sky fighting are targeted by the Shandians and end up as food for the sky fish.” The old man explained to the pirates. “But I can save you from them. One whistle for five million Extols.”

“…” The Straw Hats stared blankly at the self-proclaimed knight.

“What’re you talking about, old man?” Luffy had never heard of an Extol before.

“Huh?!” The old man jolted at the question. “Don’t be stingy! That’s an incredible bargain! I won’t go one Extol lower! I have to make a living!”

“What the hell is an ‘Extol’? And what’s this about a whistle?” Sanji asked the questions on the crews’ minds.

“Eh?” The old man’s eyes widened. “Didn’t you people come by way of the peak of High West? Then you must have got here by island hopping.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about, old man.” Luffy shook his head at the terms the old man had just used.

“Hold it!” Nami interjected, raising her hand to halt the current conversation. “Are you saying there’s another way to get up here?! And island hopping. There’s more than one island in the sky?”

“What?!” The Sky Knight nearly gaped at the Straw Hats. “Don’t tell me you actually rode that beastly sea current to get here!” He shook his head. “So, people with such courage still exist, eh?”

“We…we didn’t have to use the Knock Up Stream?” Nami had crocodile tears running down her cheeks as she covered her mouth with her hands.

“What’s the big deal? We made it.” Luffy didn’t look concerned.

“We would’ve been killed if anything had gone wrong!” Nami grabbed his red vest and shook her lover back and forth repeatedly. “We should’ve looked for more information!”

“Did you lose any crew members?” The old man questioned.

“No, we all made it.” Vivi spoke with the Sky Knight, her polite tone and decorum would be helpful in this situation.

“The other routes are different, but they all have their perils.” The armored man informed the group. “The Knock Up Stream is one of those gambles where either everyone makes it or no one does.” He looked over the crew for a long moment, as if assessing them all. “There aren’t many who would take that risk. Especially these days. You have to have both courage and skill. You are worthy sea-farers.” He tossed a whistle onto the deck in front of Vivi.

“What’s this?” Vivi picked the whistle up and looked back at the old man.

“That’s one whistle.” The Sky Knight nodded. “Blow it once and I shall come down from the heavens to save you!” Chopper and Usopp both looked interested, and the reindeer even had sparkles in his eyes. “By rights, you should pay me five million Extols for that. But you may have that one for free in honor of your courage. You may use it to summon me any time.” He stood up and turned as if to leave.

“Wait! You didn’t even tell us your name yet!” Nami reminded the old man.

“I am Gan Fall, the Sky Knight!” The now named Gan Fall declared. “And this is my partner, Pierre!” He motioned to the pink bird. “Pierre is a bird with the power of the Uma Uma no Mi!” Gan Fall informed as the polka-dotted bird began to transform.

“Hey…that bird…” Sanji muttered as the transformation completed.

“He can transform into a winged horse!” Gan Fall leapt onto Pierre’s back. “Just like…”

“Oh! How beautiful! He’s like a Pegasus!” Nami exclaimed brightly.

“Yes! A Pegasus!” Gan Fall confirmed.

“Piee!” The transformed Pierre let out what sounded like a weird cross between a caw and a neigh.

‘That…seems off…’ The Straw Hats all thought simultaneously.

“Good luck, brave ones!” Gan Fall bid them farewell as Pierre flew off and the duo disappeared into the clouds.

“We didn’t really learn much from him, did we?” Robin mentioned a few moments later.

“No…not really.” Usopp shook his head. A lack of information was dangerous, as he’d experienced firsthand.

“We’re right back where we started.” Mikita sighed with her hand on her forehead.

“So, how do you think we go higher up?” Vivi looked at her friends curiously.

“Let’s call the old man and ask him.” Luffy reached for the whistle, only for Vivi to move it out of his reach.

“Luffy, no!” Nami grabbed his wrist and put her other hand on his chest. “We should save that in case we really need his help!”

“Yeah!” Usopp had Luffy in a chokehold from behind. “What if that masked guy comes back? Or worse, what if he comes back with a bunch of his friends?!”

“Let’s just find something different from the rest of the clouds and sail towards it.” Zoro suggested what he thought would be the easiest solution.

“Something like that?” Chopper pointed to something off in the distance.

“What is it?” Robin stood beside Chopper and tried to make out what the reindeer had seen. “It looks like a waterfall.”

“Is it some kind of cloud?” Chopper wondered of the strange phenomenon.

“Let’s sail to it and find out!” Luffy declared, abandoning the idea to use the whistle. Vivi smiled as she carefully placed it in her pocket for safekeeping.

A short time later and the Straw Hats were nearing the cloud waterfall. The only issue was that there was a massive cloudbank in their path. Having seen that things up here in the sky weren’t anything like they’d imagined, the crew were talking about how to handle it.

“It’s rising above the sky ocean, so it must not be a part of it.” Sanji surmised, seeing the sea clouds lapping against the large cloudbank like the tide on a beach.

“Then what kind of cloud is it?” Mikita wondered, already able to tell it wasn’t normal.

“If it was a normal cloud then we’d be able to sail right through it.” Nami sighed at their lack of information.

“I’ll touch it and see!” Luffy leapt from the ship and landed on the cloud, only to bounce back upwards from the soft, springy form.

“WOW!” Chopper had sparkles in his eyes as Luffy began to bounce around on the cloudbank.

“Look at this!” Luffy bounced onto his back and then back to his feet. “It’s so soft! You don’t fall through at all! It’s like cotton!”

“Me too! Me too! I wanna try!” Usopp declared as he and Chopper leapt from the Going Merry and onto the bouncy cloud. The trio were quickly laughing and bouncing around with each other.

“Kyahahaha! They’re like little kids!” Mikita laughed brightly at the trio.

“What sort of phenomenon makes a cloud like that?” Nami wondered curiously.

“It’s very strange.” Robin agreed, watching the three males bounce on the cloudbank.

“But if it’s solid like that, it means the ship has to go around it somehow.” Vivi tapped her chin with her index finger, thinking of how to sail beyond this point.

“Hey! Go to the top and see if there’s a way around this thing!” Nami called out to the trio on the cloud.

“Sure thing!” Luffy laughed as Chopper and Usopp began bouncing their way towards the top.

“Hey, Luffy, something is over there!” Usopp called out, pointing to something out of sight.

“What is it?” Luffy bounded up the cloud to take a look so they could report back what they saw.

“A gate?” Nami questioned Chopper, Luffy, and Usopp once they returned to the ship.

“Yeah, it’s sitting at the base of the waterfall cloud, thing.” Chopper nodded to the navigator.

“Yeah, you’ll see it when we get there!” Luffy grinned brightly. “It’s the next left.”

“It’s right.” Usopp corrected him, having memorized the sailable path towards the gate from when they’d spotted it.

“Alright…then we should be seeing it in just a moment.” Nami adjusted their course and the Going merry sailed around a last bank of solid clouds.

“There it is!” Vivi pointed out the large gate that the others had seen.

“It says ‘Heaven’s Gate’…” Robin read off the large gate with a raised eyebrow.

“Hey, it really is a waterfall.” Mikita pointed out, seeing the ‘sea clouds’ pouring down a huge cliff of the solid clouds that Luffy, Usopp, and Chopper had walked on earlier.

“Th-This feels like…a terrible omen.” Usopp shivered as he saw the ‘Heaven’s Gate’ and made connections. “Will we die if we go in there?”

“Did you ever think that maybe we’re already dead?” Zoro grinned from where he was sitting on the railing of the upper deck.

“Yeah. That’s more likely.” Sanji held his chin and nodded.

“WE’RE ALL DEAD?!” Chopper cried out in panic.

“I don’t feel dead.” Luffy blinked, looking himself over. “Do you think that’s normal?”

“I’m pretty sure that it’s just a name…probably.” Nami eyed the huge gate warily.

“Fufufu…let’s hope so.” Robin giggle lightly as they sailed closer to the gate.

None of them knew what lay beyond ‘Heaven’s Gate’, but they’d already come this far, so there wasn’t much point in trying to turn back. They’d face whatever came at them. The sky ocean had already revealed itself to be an entirely different world than what they were used to. Perhaps they’d find other unknown things beyond this gate and on the island itself?

“This is so cool.” Luffy grinned brightly as the got closer and closer to the gate.

-End Chapter-

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The Straw Hats have made it to the White Sea! Woohoo!

It’s an entirely different world up in the sky, with creatures and people like they haven’t seen before.

What is sky fighting?

Can they really rely on this Gan Fall person?

Why name the entrance ‘Heaven’s Gate’? Are they trying to make blue sea people misunderstand?

And is anyone going to tell them what the hell an ‘Extol’ is?!

So many things to learn, so little time!

What’s next for our favorite pirate crew?

Keep reading to find out!

Until I get your reviews, later!