For Whom The Golden Bell Tolls 3...

Chapter 26.75 - For Whom the Golden Bell Tolls 3...

"It's… it's gone…" Brook croaked out, falling to his knees. "Angel Island is gone!"

"He blew it all away!" Usopp whimpered, "This is worse than the first time!"

"Wait!" Franky gasped out, his eyes twitching a little as he asked, "Didn't you say that girl Conis warned the people?"

"Most of the citizens were able to escape…" Robin said softly, "But I don't know if everyone managed it."

"Evil doesn't even begin to describe this guy," Zoro hisses as he looked up to the sky to see the ark still there. How could someone do all this and actually believe that this was their right? God or no god, that guy was insane.

Finally having enough of this, memory Nami was screaming at Luffy to hurry and get on the waver so that they could get back to the Merry and escape. But Luffy had his back turned to them all as she continued to plead.

Without looking at her, he merely said two words, "I can't…"

"What's he going on about now?" Franky asked at once, "I think now is a good time to make like a banana and split!"

"He can't," Zoro said firmly, "Even though Nami's safe… he won't stop."

"But…?" Brook whispered before he realized what he was talking about. Meanwhile, memory Nami was demanding to know why he couldn't leave when there was nothing stopping them.

"I don't have to save you anymore," he said, sounding just like what Zoro had just said. "But… I still have some unfinished business."

"Unfinished business? What's left to do here?!" she screamed at him. "Are you trying to get back at Eneru?"

"That Golden Bell is somewhere up there in the sky!" he yelled back as he glared above them once again.

"You mean…?" Franky said, his jaw falling open as memory Nami stared at him.

"You're after the bell?" she asked before she got angry, and then she began to yell at him, "Luffy! Your life is more important than gold!"

Though no one said anything to Nami about that, but that really proved how much she cared about her crewmates. She'd take them over any amount of treasure any day.

"What?" she asked as they looked at them when she noticed that they were looking at her.

"Nothing at all," Robin answered with a smile.

But memory Nami went on loudly, "Look at that! Even if the lightning doesn't hurt you, he can still destroy you a thousand other ways! If it's gold you want you've got a load of it on your arm! So give up the bell Luffy for your own sake!"

"I won't die," he said firmly and she was now looking frustrated, looking ready to argue but he shouted over her, "You saw it right?!"

"Saw what?" Sanji asked, he'd never understand that rubber-brained captain even if he sailed with him for another hundred years.

Nami looked startled as she asked what he was talking about. He finally turned to look at her and asked, "The City of Gold. You know for a fact that it exists right?" she looked at him as he went on loudly, "Then it wasn't a lie! Old timer's ancestor! He wasn't a liar! I have to let old timer and the others down below know that the City of Gold… is up in the sky!"

"He's gonna make sure that bell rings," Zoro nodded, "And he's not going to leave until he does."

"I can't wait to hear it again," Usopp said, just thinking about that wonderful sound sent chills up his spine.

Memory Nami stared at him as he explained, "If I ring that bell, then they should be able to hear it! Otherwise, old timer and his monkey pals will keep searching the ocean floor until the day they die!"

Franky's lip quivered at that, tears were forming fast as he thought about it. "He's doing all this for that old guy and the monkeys? Ah man… Luffy! Just when I thought you couldn't get any cooler!"

"Ring that bell!" Chopper cheered on.

"Luffy…" memory Nami said softly, but there was understanding in her voice. She fully understood why Luffy was doing what he was doing, and there was now no point in trying to stop him now.

"Eneru won't take the golden bell!" Luffy declared. "The sound from a bell that huge will be heard far and wide by people everywhere! So I'm not stopping until I heard the sounds of the golden bell!"

The memory faded and they were all left in stunned amazement. It was one thing to sit below and watch him beat Eneru, but to hear from his own mouth why he was doing what he was doing… why he refused to stop… it truly put it all into a new light. Despite seeing how far Eneru was willing to go, he was going to stay and see thing whole madness through until the end. All to clear the name of a man he never met.

The next memory reappeared and Luffy was gasping for air, glaring up at the beanstalk with the waver right next to him as memory Nami was leaning dangerously over the side of the clouds to look below them.

Robin glanced up to see that the ark had stopped by a cloud to the west and her eyes narrowed. "Eneru's ship isn't moving from that cloud. Which can only mean one thing."

"He found the bell!" Brook said angrily, "But how are you going to get up there?"

"With a little luck," Nami said with a smirk as her past self ran over to the leaf the size of a rowboat that Luffy broke off before. She heaved it up a little ways and grabbed a piece of charred wood from one of the destroyed buildings and quickly wrote something on it.

'Cut down this beanstalk and make sure it falls' and after that she drew a compass rose and circled the w for the west before she pushed it over the edge.

"What are you doing?" Brook asked her.

"Sending everyone below us a message," she said with a nod. "Because there was only one way to get to Eneru's ship and we needed help. They had to cut down Giant Jack!"

"Cut down the beanstalk?!" Franky repeated, sounding lost. "What's the point in doing that?!" But as she began to answer, another Raigo had started to form above them, and this one was even bigger than the last.

"THAT THING IS BACK!" Brook screamed as Chopper cried in terror.

"Damn you Eneru," Sanji snarled.

"It's even bigger than his last one!" Luffy yelled up furiously, "That bastard!"

"Now that he's got his grubby hands on the golden bell he has no more use for Skypiea!" memory Nami declared.

"And I thought that you still had some time!" Chopper yelled out fearfully as Nami's past self said angrily, "That creep's pretty easy to figure out." She then looked to Luffy and yelled at him, as if it was his fault that he wasn't taking care of Eneru already, "Well, don't just stand there Luffy! We can't let him get away with this!"

Luffy looked to her in surprise and asked her what happened to her plan on escaping. She looked away as she said, "Yeah well… I can't leave now with what's at stake. Besides, you wanna ring that golden bell right?"

"I gotta! For old timer!" Luffy decided.

"I knew that I had to do something to help him out," current Nami told them. "Otherwise we were all going to be killed before he got up there. He might have been able to survive that Raigo, but we wouldn't be so lucky."

"Hard to believe that anyone can survive that thing!" Zoro said, looking up at the sky at the ever growing black sphere.

Memory Nami knelt at the waver, quickly checking it before she told him that he can't drive the waver with his arm like that. But she could drive it and she'd get them up there. But as she stood back up, she gave him a deadly serious look before she said, "Listen… you gotta promise me you'll get us outta this mess in one piece ok?"

"Yeah, you got it… and thanks," Luffy said firmly as they both looked up at the beanstalk. Neither one said anything as they stood there, simply waiting. Everyone was growing impatient, all of them dying to see what was to happen next. All of them wondering what was going to happen from this moment on.

"Let me see if I got this straight," Franky asked them once Nami quickly informed them of her plan. "You mean that your plan was to ride up the side of the falling beanstalk and jump to the ark?!"

"Pretty much," Nami shrugged. "It didn't go exactly as planned, but it worked out in the end."

"Well, I always knew that you were crazy," Franky sighed, "But I can't wait to see this."

"That maniac was about to wipe this land away and they were the only people who could reach him in time to stop him before he set that thing off," Zoro reminded him, "Besides, I was so sick of this guy."

"We all were," Robin nodded.

They waited for another agonizing wait… every once in a while they would feel the vine tremble, and they knew that they were trying to take down the stalk. Even though they knew that this plan worked, they couldn't help but wonder what was taking so long. The stalk would quiver and sometimes shake… once they could feel it sliding off and they thought for sure that it was falling, but then it stopped.

"I forgot how tough that thing was," Usopp grumbled. "It was a plant but it was harder than stone! It took a whole team to bring it down!"

"But you got it down in the end," Robin smiled as, finally, the stalk was falling once more and they knew that it wasn't going to stop falling this time. Memory Nami revved the waver up. "THIS IS IT!" she cried, "GET ON LUFFY!"

He got on behind her, gripping her by the waist, which Sanji whimpered in jealously, as he directed, "Gun it! Go!"

Past Nami smirked at the order, "I should mention… I've never revved this wavers Jet Dial up to maximum power before. I was a little scared to see how fast it would go. I guess we're about to find out if it'll be too strong for me to control huh?"

"No better way to find out," Zoro shrugged.

"What would you have done if it was too strong?" Robin asked her curiously.

"Die probably," she shrugged. "Thankfully, I was able to control it…" though barely. It took everything she had to hang on and keep it from going out of control. One little slip-up and it would've been over.

"Go for it Nami!" Luffy said, a trace of a grin on his own face as she revved it up. And like a shot they were off. Memory Nami screamed at him to hang on tight as they hit the beanstalk and soon they were watching them ride up the side of the plant as it began to fall. Eneru noticed them and began to shoot more shots of energy at him, but Luffy taunted him, "THAT SHOT WAS PATHETIC!"

"Now is not the time to taunt the guy Luffy!" Usopp yelled fearfully. For once, Sanji was on his side—knowing that his sweet Nami could've been seriously hurt here if one of those stupid attacks hit.

But memory Nami figured out what Eneru was trying to do as the lightning continued to fall. "That creep! He's trying to destroy the base of the beanstalk!" Luffy screamed at her to do something, but there was nothing they could do at this point—it was taking all they had to just keep going. They were too high up and going too fast… if the foundation was destroyed the stalk would crash before they could reach the ship.

Some of the Straw Hats were now screaming out encouragements so loud that they were hurting their own ears. But even as the shots that were aimed at them, Luffy was able to deflect the stray with his own body. They were in real trouble, but they kept going up with the stalk never slowing down as it began to topple.

"YOU KNOW?" memory Nami cried as they tried to avoid the bolts, "I THINK HE'S TRYING TO MAKE SURE YOU DON'T GET NEAR HIM AGAIN!"

"That just proves that he's afraid," Zoro said firmly as Luffy declared that it was too bad and that he was going to take him out. The lightning around them were continuing to destroy the base of the stalk, and Robin looked down sadly at the ruins that were being destroyed. But she kept her attention on what was happening in front of her. Just then, they watched as the waver finally reached the top and were launched right off into the air.

"HERE I COME, ENERU!" Luffy shouted out as they flew.

"YEAH!" Franky yelled as Chopper jumped up and down with amazement. "TAKE THAT BASTARD OUT!"

"And hurry up already!" Sanji added.

"Give back the Golden Bell!" Luffy yelled as they went soaring up, "RIGHT NOW!"

"That's enough!" Eneru shouted over noise from his precious Raigo was making. "It's ready!" He raised his arms to his sphere of death. "Now disappear along with this land!"

"He's gonna throw it down on us!" Chopper yelled, his eyes wide and terrified as he clung tightly onto Usopp, who hugged him back as Luffy growled angrily. But as the black sphere started to slowly fall as well, Luffy said something to Nami. "Thanks… for your help."

She turned to stare at him as he cried out, jumping off the waver, and throwing her right off balance so that she was sent falling onto a cloud. "It won't be… for nothing!"

"I thought for sure that he was a goner here," Nami sighed as her past self screamed to him to wait as she landed on the cushioned fall. "I really wish that he warned me before he did things like this."

"But what can he do about it now?!" Brook yelled, "He's not going for the ark! He's going to…!" but he stopped, his voice fading away as he realized where he was going.

"NO! DON'T DO IT PLEASE!" memory Nami screamed out as her eyes widen in horror. "THE AIR CURRENTS AND LIGHTNING DISCHARGES IN THERE COULD KILL EVEN YOU!"

"REALLY?!" Franky screamed as Eneru continued to laugh and mock Luffy.

"What can you do against this kind of power, Man of Rubber!?" he demanded as he roared with even more laughter. With a battle cry, Luffy flew straight towards the Raigo and went right through it.

"HE'S INSIDE THAT THING?!" Sanji yelled out, the grass falling from his mouth.

"BUT WHAT CAN HE DO FROM INSIDE THAT?!" Chopper screamed out.

"That's where the golden ball comes in handy," Nami told them as they heard a familiar voice screaming from inside the sphere.

"Gum Gum…. Fireworks… GOLDEN BATON!"

And that's when the sphere started going off… hundreds of bolts were flashing and exploding in all directions. It was as if the power inside that ball was blasting and that power was being released. They could see that the lightning was becoming volatile and unstable…

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON IN THERE?!" Sanji screamed out as it began to get worse.

"I see," Robin said, her eyes widening a little. "That gold ball on his arm is a natural conductor. He's using it to discharge the Raigo before Eneru drops it."

"Can he really do all that?!" Brook cried out.

"Seeing how it worked, yes," she answered.

"Damn… how'd he know that would work though?!" Sanji yelled out.

But then Luffy's voice was coming through, calling above the noise of the thunder and chaos. "YOU WITH YOUR THUNDER AND LIGHTNING!" his voice echoed throughout the sphere, "WE MADE IT ALL THE WAY TO SKY ISLAND AND YOU HAD TO COME ALONG AND RUIN THE WEATHER, YOU ELECTRICAL FREAK!"

"THAT'S WHAT HE'S UPSET ABOUT?!" Usopp yelled out. But then he stopped as he saw it… the Raigo sphere was cracking apart. Like how an egg would before the chick popped out… and with every second the cracks grew larger and larger…

"GO FOR IT LUFFY!" Chopper screamed out.

"SHATTER IT!" Zoro yelled. And as if he heard the command, they heard Luffy's voice.

"CLEAR THE SKYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!" they heard him screaming out and like that, the Raigo seemed to crack directly down the middle before it exploded, within itself and blew out to reveal the bright sunshine. They all stared up at it, almost becoming blind from the bright light that engulfed the land. Most of the Straw Hats were stunned by what they saw, even though most of them had seen this before.

"He… he broke it!" Chopper gasped out, the sky suddenly returning to a clear and beautiful day—never guessing that there was ever anything there.

"THAT IS SO BADASS!" Franky screamed out excitedly.

"I can't believe that worked," Sanji muttered, fighting his own awe.

"Did you all know that he could do that?" Nami asked them, hoping it wasn't just her that had been stunned that day. Even now, it sent chills up her spine.

"No," Robin beamed. "I think he likes surprising people." Luffy may not always be the smartest person, but his instincts and behavior are similar to a wild animal's. She doubted that Luffy knew what he was doing, but simply relied on his instincts and counterattacks to take over.

"BUT WHERE IS HE?!" Brook cried out just as they could hear a familiar voice yelling from above them, which could only mean one thing.

"LUFFY!" Chopper screamed joyfully as they saw him falling from the sky, heaving his right arm back and it twisted around tightly.

"DO IT! DO IT! TAKE HIM OUT!" Usopp cheered on, punching the air as Eneru's face was contorted with rage.

"You destroyed… my Raigo! You insolent Blue Sea ape!" Eneru yelled in outrage.

But Luffy was far from done. "You're next!" he yelled, traces of a smirk back on his face, "I'll ring you along with the bell!"

"Oh, he did," Nami said, her eyes wide as she continued to watch in amazement.

"Impudent fool!" Eneru shouted and lightning burst out of his body, growing bigger and bigger until a giant of a creature was there—one that looked like how you would expect a thunder god to look. One made out of lightning and forging not one, but two, golden tridents which he crossed over in front of him as they burned with electricity.

"HOLY HELL!" Franky screamed out in shock.

"WHAT IS HE?!" Usopp yelled in panic.

"Now that is something you don't see everyday," Sanji whispered, hoping that he didn't sound impressed.

"Ring the bell!?" Eneru yelled at him as he held up his massive arm. "Is that what you said? You must be one of those fools who believes in the old legend. When the bell rings, it will mean the end of the war between Skypiea and Shandora! I am God!"

Luffy seemed to finally have enough of him as well. But Eneru sent a blast of lightning so strong that it lit up the sky and shook everything around them. The attack hit Luffy head on and Eneru was now ranting on, almost as if trying to convince himself more than Luffy, "I don't care how strong you are, you're still just a Paramecia type! You could never match the might of my Logia power no matter how hard you might try! No matter what you might do!"

"Like that matters here," Zoro said in annoyance. "Did he already forget that kind of beatdown that Luffy was giving him before?"

Robin said, "But it's true… no matter what kind of Devil Fruit power you have, they all have their weaknesses."

"That won't work on me!" Luffy declared and they all smiled as he burst through Eneru's lightning and was running along Eneru's supercharged arm. "And quit calling yourself god!" Luffy suddenly went on, his face full of anger. "What kind of god destroys everything and saves nothing?! FAKE!"

And with those words, Luffy made it to Eneru's head and actually kicked him so hard that blood burst from his mouth.

"Now that was satisfying…" Sanji said shaking his head.

"Tell me about it," Zoro agreed, "About time someone hit him. I'm just sorry it wasn't me and my blades." He was also impressed with what Luffy had said there. He noticed that Luffy sometimes had a habit of saying things with a lot more weight and, occasionally, wisdom than even he realizes without thinking or meaning to.

But as they watched on, they saw that one of Eneru's tridents had come swinging up to try and spear Luffy. But as the weapon came up, Luffy was forced to grab hold of the blade to stop it from killing him from the back. However, they all saw that he was still in a lot of trouble here, for the arm that still had the golden ball was now stretching even farther away from him, thus forcing him backwards and leaning heavily on the trident.

"Oh no!" Brook gasped, now biting on his fingers anxiously. The hand that Luffy held onto the trident was burning, steam actually boiling up beneath his fingers as he screamed in pain.

"No! Luffy!" Usopp and Chopper cried out fearfully.

But Eneru was laughing once again. "Well done Rubberman, that was very agile of you! You grabbed it before you could be impaled!"

They could hear memory Nami screaming out in worry below them, but they only focused on the fight as Eneru laughed triumphantly. "But what will you do now?" he sneered, "You have nowhere to run! The pull of the golden ball will pull you deeper and deeper onto my trident! And if you were to let go, you would fall to your death below!"

"Hell! He's caught between a rock and a hard place!" Usopp cringed, wondering just what choice Luffy was going to do now. Though he had a very good idea to what he was about to do…

Luffy was fighting to get away, but the weight was too much for him and Eneru noticed this as well. "I admit, I'm impressed you made it this far," he grinned insanely. "But this is the end for you boy, and this land, everything! I can easily create another Raigo!"

Steam was coming from Luffy's clenched teeth from the heated trident when his eyes suddenly snapped open as if he was remembering something and then he let go of the trident and allowed himself to fall.

"WHAT'S HE DOING NOW?!" Franky cried out desperately.

"So, you prefer to fall do you?!" Eneru laughed in victory.

"Luffy, NO!" memory Nami screamed as Luffy fell past her. But just as they were all thinking that he was going to continue to fall, Luffy suddenly stretched up and grabbed hold of Nami's cloud, dangling there like a worm on a hook, he ordered Nami to get out of the way.

"What's this!?" Eneru exclaimed in shock, finally noticing something was wrong.

"YOU SHOULD NEVER MESS WITH ME, EARLOBES!" Luffy yelled and they all sneered at the name as Luffy then cried out, "Now Gum Gum… ROCKET!"

And he launched himself up, the golden ball was continuing to twist around and as they hovered in the air, they knew that this was going to be the finishing move. They all held their breath, knowing that this was going to be the moment they had been waiting for since they heard about Eneru. Eneru mocked Luffy about trying the same old attack again, but Luffy's eyes were filled with determination.

"I'LL KEEP TRYING TILL THE BELL RINGS!" he declared.

"You tell him!" Sanji yelled.

Eneru was now holding up his tridents and proclaimed that he was going to skewer him. But Luffy had already won in their books.

"Gum Gum… GOLDEN RIFLE!" he screamed as he heaved the golden ball in front of him and threw his punch so strongly that it was like the blast from a cannon. One so fast that Eneru could've avoid it and his eyes widened in shock—unable to avoid it. Their hearts all beat a little faster as Luffy's attack smashed right into 'god' with such force that it tore up the top of the ark and was sent flying back.

Eneru could no longer hold onto that form and changed back as Luffy's attack broke right through it all and he was sent flying back to where they finally spotted it floating on a cloud. The Golden Bell… which was as beautiful as the City of Shandora… and it was this that Eneru had crashed into.

"LET IT RINNNNNGGGGGGGGGG!" Luffy screamed as Eneru slammed into the bell. The impact was so great that parts of the bell broke and the ball on Luffy's broke part as more blood poured from Eneru's mouth.

"HEY POPS! CAN YOU HEAR IT?!" Luffy screamed out at the top of his lungs, "THE CITY OF GOLD IS HERE! FOR FOUR HUNDRED YEARS… THE CITY OF GOLD… HAS BEEN IN THE SKYYYYYYYY!"

And then they heard it… a loud ringing echoed across the blue sky. A ringing that seemed to strike something within each and every one of them. It was astoundingly beautiful… like some kind of voice from the past telling them of a great civilization that was still there.

"Amazing…" Brook whispered in awe. The bell was knocked from the cloud, as well as Eneru and the ark, Luffy's slightly singed arm retracted as they were falling with him. He beamed as he punched the air in triumph.

"ARE YOU LISTENING POPS? SARUYAMA BROTHERS!?" Luffy screamed once again as he fell back, "I DID IT! THE CITY OF GOLD! IT WAS RIGHT HHHHHHHHEEEEEERRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEE!"

And the bell continued to ring loudly even as the broken ship fell with Eneru into the White Sea and Luffy landed next to memory Nami on the clouds. They could all hear the bell ringing several more times as it fell… each ring seemed to be filled with faith and hope that resounded across the sky.

"Beautiful as the last time…" Robin smiled as they stood there and listened.

"So that's what happened," Zoro smirked. "Not bad captain."

"It rang," Luffy said softly, as past Nami merely smiled. "Hey… I wonder if… if pops heard it," he added as she smiled at him.

"Yeah, I'm sure he did," she said firmly as the memory faded.

"That was so great!" Chopper cried out as Franky sniffled at the sound.

"He really did it didn't he?" he asked, "Man… I really hope the old timer heard it as well. I hope that they know that all their years of searching have paid off after all!"

"What happened after all that?" Brook asked eagerly, not wanting to wait for the memories.

"Luffy got us off that cloud with his Gum Gum Balloon," Nami answered with a smile, "And we ended up making it back to the ship so that I could change and let Conis know that we were alright. The Skypieans and the Shandorians then all met on the Upper Yard in the ruins."

"And we must've partied there for like four days," Sanji laughed.

"And they were all getting along?" Franky asked in concern.

"At that moment no one cared," Robin answered them. "With so much lost… everyone was able to understand each other. The war truly did end and they realized just how foolish it had been all these years."

"Everyone celebrated their lives, the end of the war, and of course Eneru getting his ass kicked," Zoro nodded. "That was all that mattered."

"It is a sad way for it to end," Brook said softly as he looked up at the dark sky that was still scattered with stars, as if hoping that he could see the island itself there. "But… at least they were all alive. And that is all that matters."

In the next memory, they were back in the forest and the sun was bright and behind them they could see Robin and the boys all running towards them. Usopp had a sack of Dials on his back, while Zoro, Sanji, and Luffy each carried sacks of gold with Chopper and Robin bringing up the rear.

"Where'd you get the gold?" Franky asked in surprise as they caught up with them and began to run as well.

"It was the gold inside the snake remember?" Nami asked, "When it fell asleep after all that dancing, Luffy took us inside and we took all the gold we could find there."

"Wow," Brook said, "If I didn't see it all first-hand, I never would've believed such a story, Yohohoho!"

"I know what you mean," Sanji laughed as his past self turned and began running backwards as he kept his eyes behind him. "I mean… I was here, and I don't believe it either."

"Looks like they gave up!" memory Sanji called, "I don't see anyone!"

"Who?" Franky asked them curiously.

"Well, they sure wouldn't be happy with us taking all that gold," Usopp said as his past self muttered something about a cannon the warriors were carrying and memory Robin blinked in surprise. "Their cannon?" she repeated, sounding lost.

"That are you talking about?" Nami asked in annoyance.

"They were carrying a big cannon towards us!" Usopp yelled out. "There's gratitude for you!"

"Yeah! You know! That big thing the warriors were carrying towards us?" memory Usopp demanded at Robin. "Didn't you see it?!"

"Oh, you mean that thing," past Robin smiled as if she knew something that they didn't.

"Just asking, that thing was wrapped up, what makes you think that it was a cannon?" current Robin asked in amusement.

"What else could it have been?" Chopper asked as memory Usopp was telling Robin off, saying that it wasn't funny, which past Chopper was jumping up and down in agreement as they ran.

"We made it!" Luffy yelled from the front, "There's Nami and Conis!"

And when they looked forward, they could see the battered shape of the Merry right in front of them.

"Where?!" memory Sanji cried out, spinning around, calling out the girl's names before he ran right into a tree branch.

"Funny that you didn't run into anything with your back turned," Chopper laughed a little.

"Dumbass," Zoro muttered.

"You shut up you shitty swordsman!" Sanji snapped and now they were almost nose-to-nose as they glared at each other.

"Alright," Nami sighed as she pushed them apart, "Break it up! Can't you two just grow up for five minutes?!"

Memory Robin had finally called back to Sanji, after they left him behind for a while, "Are you ok?"

But then he jumped up and caught up with them as if nothing had happened. "OH YEAH!" he cried happily and they understood that here they were finally leaving Sky Island behind. It was a sad thing to see, but also a great relief…

"You all left without saying goodbye?" Brook asked them in surprise.

"Well, after taking what was left of the gold, we didn't think they'd be happy to see us off," Sanji shrugged.

"We did end up saying goodbye to Aisa though," Nami added as she smiled at the memory. By the time they left, Aisa seemed to hero worship Luffy as a role model.

They watched as they climbed onboard the Merry with Conis, Pagaya, and Su on another bright purple waver that was blowing a loud, annoying horn. But no one minded as they put all their loot in the cabin and pushed off from shore. It was a fun thing to watch, sailing along smoothly across the White Sea, and laughing about everything that's happened. Along the wally, they all ended up changing their burnt and torn clothes into fresh ones, and they knew that they were all truly ready to leave this place and go on to their next adventures…

After a short time, Conis called from next to them, "Ok! We're almost there! Everyone! See that up ahead?! That's Cloud End!"

Everyone ran to the front of the ship to see the beautiful gate, looking different from Heaven's Gate, with twin fountains and even a bright rainbow right over the entrance. "So that's where we go back down from?" Luffy asked her.

Franky whistled as he looked at it. "These guys sure don't skip out on details right?"

"Almost like they're happy to say goodbye to any visitors," Robin joked lightly.

"We got here sooner than I thought!" memory Usopp laughed before the excitement seemed to fade from Luffy's face.

"Awww… do we really have to go back already?" he whined.

"You mean he wanted to stay?" Brook asked.

"It's not every day that you get to visit a place like this," Nami laughed, fully understanding what Luffy meant. "And after everything that we went through up here, it's been like we'd been here for years."

The others seemed to agree with that.

"You know," memory Sanji said, "As crazy as it sounds I'm actually gonna miss this place."

"And I was right," current Sanji said, "It does sound crazy. You think I'd be happy to see the back of this island."

"I think it's about time we say goodbye to the White Sea," memory Zoro said as Chopper swung his feet happily from the railing.

"Sky Island sure is fun… but scary too," he said happily.

"I couldn't see anything fun about it," Franky laughed a little as Usopp told them apparently there was going to be a Milky Road to take them back to the Blue Sea. And they were all wondering just when, or if, they'd ever see this place again.

"Well, you never know," past Usopp said. Conis and the others sped on ahead a little so that they could get off and run alongside the ship on a platform attached to the gate; calling to them that this was as far as they could go with them.

"It's too bad that Conis couldn't come with us," Chopper sighed.

"I think it's for the best," Zoro said firmly. "They need people like her and her old man up here."

"Fair point," Nami chuckled as Conis was now waving to them. "Take care of yourselves!" she called to them and they were all calling goodbyes to her and the others. Sitting on the Merry's head, Luffy said, "It was nice meeting you guys. Thanks for everything."

But Conis was shaking her head, looking a little teary-eyed as she said, "No! You got it wrong! We're the ones who should be thanking you! We'll never forget you! Thanks to you all!"

"Boy, I can't tell if you guys have terrible timing, or the best timing in the world," Franky said shaking his head.

"I often wonder that to," Nami nodded.

"Goodbye Conis, old guy, furball! Take care now!" Luffy called and their final goodbyes were said.

Pagaya then yelled, "Now take care of yourselves and hold on tight! You're in for a bumpy ride!"

"Bumpy nothing," Usopp hissed, "We all nearly had heart attacks thanks to that stupid road!"

"Why? What happened?" Brook asked at once.

"Just prepare yourself," Zoro said in his usual bad mood. The memory Straw Hats all knew each other so well by now, that they knew just what it was to do as they ran around the deck and prepared the ship to sail once again. But then a small South Bird came out of nowhere, crashed into Luffy and fell to the deck.

"Where'd he come from?" Franky muttered as memory Chopper quickly translated that the bird didn't want them to leave without him.

"Oh, that's the South Bird we brought up here with us," past Nami said as they neared ever closer to the gate.

"Poor little guy, this was probably not a vacation he wanted to take," Brook said sympathetically.

"I hate South Birds anyway," Zoro muttered darkly. Memory Nami then called to Luffy that the Log Pose was ready and they were off to the next island.

"Great!" Luffy beamed as they went through the gate, "Let's go! Once we get to the bottom we'll start a brand new adventure! Guys, get ready! BLUE SEA HERE WE COME!"

And they all cheered behind him as the Milky Road curled into a gentle curve for a moment. They held on and enjoyed the ride as they waved back to Conis one last time.

"EVERYONE!" she called, "GRAB AHOLD OF SOMETHING! THE FREE-FALL'S ABOUT TO START!"

"Did she just say a free-fall?" Franky asked nervously.

"Ah huh," they all said before they looked down in time to see that the ship was hovering in the air after it had gone flying off the edge. The memory Straw Hats all practically had their eyes popping out of their heads as they looked up in time to see Conis and the others one last time. Her hands were in the air as she called out one word… "Heso!"

And then they fell… but as they screamed in terror, something burst out of the clouds besides them as they fell and they stopped falling. Brook and Franky screamed this time as they saw that it was the tentacles of a giant octopus wrapping around the Merry. And suddenly everything stopped. The Straw Hats fell to the deck, each of them looking stunned to what had just happened.

"Now I thought I'd seen it all," Franky croaked out as he stared at the underside of the octopus. Memory Usopp and Chopper screamed worse than ever at the sight of it, and memory Zoro looked ready to try and kill it. But thankfully the sudden stop threw them all off balance and they were on the deck, holding on tightly.

"I say that was a good thing," Robin told him. "After all… if you had killed it, we'd all be dead."

Brook just realized what she meant as he gasped out, "It's a balloon!"

"An octopus balloon?" Franky asked as Luffy was putting it out to them all as well.

Memory Usopp was looking much like how he looked when they first arrived and the current Usopp sighed, "One last scare… before we left this city in the sky."

Once the Straw Hats realized that they were safe, they slowly began to laugh at that. Just then they heard the sounds of the bell ringing once again… the people of the sky's way of saying goodbye. They all smiled as they listened to the beautiful sound…

Both past and present Straw Hats closed their eyes as their ears were filled with the sounds of the bell ringing in their ears. The sound… it was almost as if they were saying… 'Thank you.'

And the memory faded with one last ring of the Golden Bell… the very heart of the City of Gold.