The City Of Gold On The Island In The Sky 3...

Chapter 25.75 - The City Of Gold On The Island In The Sky 3...

"Thank you… he couldn't have shut up any sooner," Zoro sighed. "I can't think of anything more humiliating than being beaten by a guy who looks like that."

"But I still don't get how he was able to do that," Chopper said, looking back up to Zoro. "Just what is Haki? And how can these guys use it? Can anyone learn it?"

Zoro sighed, "It's kinda hard to explain… but to this kind of Haki, it's known as the ability to hear…"

"To hear?" Brook repeated, sounding lost.

"Not just anyone can master it," Sanji admitted, "It took me months to even start to get the hang of it. And out of the three forms of Haki, it's probably the most common. But what Moss Head means is that it's the ability to sense the presence of others, even if they're far away or concealed. See, everyone has a kind of 'voice' and as long as you're alive, you're body emits this 'voice'. And if you practice long enough you can learn to hear this voice and foresee their moves."

"And how does that work?" Nami asked them in confusion, sitting on a falling tree trunk as she listened.

"Basically this prediction appears image or brief 'premonition' of what your opponent will do in your mind's eye," Zoro answered, "And you can actually foresee the kind of damage you'd take if that attack hit you. What I do know is that the more killing intent your opponent has, the easier it is to see. But once you fully master it, you can see it with everyone."

"But most people use it to just sense where someone is," Sanji finished.

"But how come Satori wasn't able to predict what Luffy pulled with the spheres?" Franky asked in confusion.

"Because Haki can't predict random attacks," Zoro answered. "Haki is linked with your opponent's own awareness of themselves and their surroundings. If you rely only on impulse or by surprise like Luffy did when he still held onto the string of clouds, you could lose your concentration."

"I see," Chopper said in amazement. So that must have been what happened when he defeated Gedatsu… he lost his own concentration…

"And the other Haki forms?" Nami asked.

"Later," Zoro stated as he pointed forward to see the next memory came up and they were continuing on once they found the boat. They had left the forest and had entered a rich grassy field, much like the one they had found Ace's and Whitebeard's graves in. Only there was something wrong here… there were skulls set up on stakes, scattered everywhere.

"This is horrible!" Chopper screamed in horror at all the skulls.

"SKULLS?!" Brook cried out and Usopp hit him over the head.

"You're hardly different from them don't ya think?!" he yelled at him.

"What… is this?!" Luffy gasped, shielding his eyes from the sun as he looked ahead.

"My money is… this is where we're supposed to find the ordeal which means another priest," memory Sanji said, "So you two stay awake."

"We didn't want to have another incident like with those clouds do we?" Nami asked Usopp who looked down, once again kicking himself for how stupid he was here.

"Oh no…" memory Usopp moaned out, "I think one ordeal is enough of a nightmare today. Which one seems like it can be out here? String? Iron? Swamp? I'm so nervous!"

"Relax, it's just a grassy field!" Luffy told him.

"Open your eyes!" Usopp cried out with a strangled scream, "It's not just a field! It's a field with a thousand impaled skulls set up like trophies to scare us! And it's working!"

"This place sure isn't do your nerves any good is it bro?" Franky asked with a little laugh.

"No, it didn't," Usopp said seriously. "This place was giving me grave hairs by the time we left!"

Luffy looked over the edge and saw that he was right as they passed the skulls. "Yeah, you're right… I wonder who did this?"

"It had to be a priest of course!" Franky yelled out. But Robin was frowning a little as she passed them all.

"I don't think so," she disagreed with softly, "Eneru's men had only been here for about six years. Even if they had killed a person every single day here, I don't think that this would be enough… they're all much older than six years as well."

"Wait, what are you saying?" Nami asked, not getting what she was saying.

"If I has to guess, these had to be parts of the outcome of the war up here," she said.

"War? What war?" Brook asked startled.

"It's kinda a long story," Nami said as memory Usopp than began to cry again, gasping out that it had to be another one of those priest behind this and he was going to tear their bodies in half.

"Another priest with another ordeal? Sounds like fun!" Luffy said.

"You think he would've learned his lesson after that first priest," Nami said exasperatedly.

"He doesn't learn unless you beat it into him," Sanji said knowingly.

"Are you out of your mind?!" memory Usopp demanded, now sounding hysterical. "Those are heads on sticks back there! ON STICKS! That's gonna be us!"

"Oh don't worry so much Usopp, we'll beat 'em," Luffy said when they suddenly heard a blast a little ways of them. Looking up, several figures came bursting out and flying at them on those strange skates one again. One of them was carrying a large bazooka and noticed them as well when they flew overhead; he then flipped upside down and sent a cannonball at them, which Luffy reflected and redirected.

"What's his problem?" Zoro asked angrily. There were about four men in all, and when they saw Luffy inflate himself, they landed in the treetops, looking stunned as they stared at them.

"He looks familiar…" Brook said, noticing one of the men, the one with the bazooka. "More of his priests?"

"Not quite," Sanji muttered.

"WE'RE READY!" Luffy screamed at him angrily, now revved up for some action, "COME ON DOWN! WE'LL CREAM YOU! MAKE YOUR MOVE BIG GUY!"

That remark seemed to tick the man off, even at this distance. He then stood up and shouted back, "You sound and stink of Blue Sea People! Which means you're the ones causing all the chaos in Skypiea!"

"Guilty as charged," Zoro said proudly.

"It's what we do best," Sanji agreed. Memory Sanji then said quickly to Luffy that he was the one who attacked them when they first arrived, which only infuriated Luffy all the more.

"I thought he seemed familiar," Brook said, now recognizing the tattoos on the man's shoulder. Now that he could see his face, half of it was also covered with similar tribal marks that his arm had. He was also smoking a cigarillo when he glared down at them with cold eyes.

Memory Usopp screamed in fear, cowering in his seat as he cried out to just hurry up and blow them up to get it over with.

"Facing death with grace and dignity as always," Sanji teased.

"If you don't want to die, then go back to your Blue Sea immediately!" the man yelled, "Because I promise if you do anything stupid on this island… we'll execute you with Eneru!"

They were all startled to hear that he wanted to kill this so-called god. Sanji stated that these guys weren't like the Skypieans who didn't seem to have the nerve to stand up to him… but Usopp was now begging Luffy that if they weren't Eneru's priest there was no reason to fight them and that they should just sail on. But Luffy was too angry to listen—clearly wanting to go over there to fight him, but Usopp had to jump on him, keeping him down. But then the four of them disappeared, no longer interested in staying.

Memory Usopp laid back as Luffy stared after them. "I wonder why they're up here…" he said softly.

"I'm not sure," past Sanji said seriously, "Must be pretty serious. But they seem to be enemies of Eneru as well as us."

"You know…" Usopp whimpered softly, "I really do hate this place."

"Why did they want to kill Eneru?" Brook asked in confusion with the images fading around them. "And a war? There's been a war going on here?"

Deciding that now as probably as good a time as any, Nami explained that the Upper Yard was once the missing part of Jaya that was sent up in the sky four hundred years ago by the Knock-Up Stream. Its former habitants, the ancient Shandorians, were driven out by the Skypieans, whose greed caused them to successfully claim the land as their own. And because of that, for the last four hundred years, the Skypieans and Shandorians were at each other's throats to claim the Upper Yard.

"Fighting over this hunk of land for four centuries?!" Brook gasped out. "Couldn't they have solved this peacefully?"

"No," Zoro said, "Apparently neither side was willing to let go of the Upper Yard."

"But, Gan Fall, the Sky Knight had been the leader of the Skypieans before Eneru arrived had been trying to work out a peace treaty with the Shandorians," Nami added, "But before everyone could come to an agreement…?"

"I see," Brook said softly. It must've been hard for Gan Fall to see all this happening and be unable to do anything to have prevent it.

"That's why he decided to become the Sky Knight," Nami finished up, "So that he could at least do something to protect the people up here. Because after Eneru invaded Skypiea and took over, things just got so much worse here."

"Wait!" Franky gasped out. "If this land was once part of Jaya, does that mean… does that mean that this part of Jaya is the City of Gold that Noland talked about?"

"That's right," Robin nodded, "The City of Gold didn't sink into the sea like he thought, but rather it had been up here in the sky all this time."

"This is all incredible!" Brook said in awe. "To think…?"

"Yeah," Sanji sighed as the next memory appeared before them, "But this place had a hell of a lot of problems despite the fact that we're so close to heaven. This place was as far away from 'Godland' as you can imagine."

"But the war's over now isn't it?" Franky asked at once. "Right?"

Robin only smiled and put her finger to her lips, silently telling him that they'll know soon enough. The next memory was of them continuing to ride the Crow along the Milky Roads, only now the sun was going down. The sky was a mixture of red and gold's… and they knew that it wasn't going to be much longer before the sun set.

"I'm surprised that they have sunsets up here," Franky said, looking at the slowly sinking sun.

"I think we all were, but I suppose it has to get dark up here while the sun is on the other side of the world," Nami offered. They were now following the Crow as it took a road that was climbing over the largest tree that any of them had ever seen. Luffy's eyes were wide like a child's as memory Usopp began muttering that he had a bad feeling that something bad was waiting for them over that treetop, he was sure of it.

It turned out to be a right guess when they got to the top, it led to an incredibly unsafe drop. And like they were on a rollercoaster, they went into almost a free fall, sliding down at a break-neck speed. Memory Sanji suddenly called over the rush of the wind, "Do you see them down there?!"

"Not another priest!" Brook called in worry.

"Are those the priests?!" memory Usopp cried fearfully.

"No, just Sky Sharks," past Sanji said and Usopp sighed in relief, "Oh thank goodness… I thought for sure that we were goners—WHOA, WHOA, WHOA! WHAT DO YOU MEAN SKY SHARKS?!"

"Sharks that live in the sky I suppose," Robin laughed a little as they spotted them. Franky gave a sharp intact of breath and Brook screamed. Sharks, the size of whales, bright blue with stripes were there at the bottom of their descent, their mouths filled with razor sharp teeth, and large enough to swallow them whole, were wide open. Memory Usopp started panicking, but Luffy took care of them all by jumping to the Crow's head and used a Gatling Gun and punching each one of them out cold. Once the danger was out of the way, they ended up skidding to a rough stop in what looked like a lake of clouds—and splashed water everywhere.

"Boy! This place really is trying to kill you!" Franky yelled, looking at all the sharks that were floating everywhere behind them.

"Yeah, but we finally came across a break here," Sanji smiled triumphantly as he pointed to the front. Luffy also noticed it as he gasped and yelled to the other two once they got their bearings, "Check it out! We found it! There's the altar with the Going Merry sitting right on top!" He was right, on the top of a pyramid-shaped structure was the ship, and over on the shore were Nami, Robin, and Zoro… all of them alive and unscathed.

"ALRIGHT!" Franky cheered as he punched the air. "YA DID IT! AND EVERYONE'S ALRIGHT TOO!"

"But what happened to the Merry-chan?" Brook asked anxiously. Even from this far away, they could see that the ship was a mess. She was burnt in several places and the mast was lying at the foot of the stairs that led up to it. But none of them seemed to have noticed it at first… Luffy and the others were all so glad to see them, to meet familiar faces that weren't trying to kill them, they started to cheer and celebrate. It was a touching scene. They went over to the shore to pick up the three there before they headed to the foot of the stairs and raced up to be greeted by a big hug from Chopper…

But Chopper was in just as rough shape as the boat… his fur was scorched, and there still bleeding cuts—he had covered his chest with bandages as he had treated his own injuries.

"What happened to you, Chopper-san?!" Brook cried out.

Chopper sighed unhappily as his past self told them that soon after Zoro, Nami and Robin headed off in to the woods, a priest called Shura appeared at the Sacrificial Altar to take care of the 'offering'. He was burning everything around him with his lance and bird that breathed fire—and managed to destroy parts of the Merry before he finally got bored and tried to kill Chopper.

"So he must've been the one with the Ordeal of Swamp or String…" Zoro said with a frown, wishing that he had stuck around at the altar himself to fight this guy.

"It must've been String," Chopper said, suddenly remembering when Gan Fall and his bird couldn't move, just stuck in midair… that must've been string that was holding him trapped there… invisible string or something like that?

After hugs all around, asking each other if they were alright—with Sanji particularly asking the women, who informed him that they were just fine—memory Usopp finally noticed what was left of the mast and asked what happened. Past Chopper tried to apologize… letting him know that he tried everything he could to protect the ship, but that priest kept burning everything.

"We all know that you must've done your best, Chopper," Nami told him gently as she crouched down to meet him at eye level.

Chopper shifted uncomfortably, still wishing that he had been strong enough to fight that guy off and protect the memory. If he hadn't called Gan Fall there, then he wouldn't have been so seriously hurt. He sighed, before he looked up, trying to remind himself that he wasn't that same person anymore. He was a monster who could protect Luffy and his friends. Nodding firmly to that, he watched as memory Usopp nodded slowly, telling Chopper not to worry about the ship, that they'll figure it out later and was just glad that he was alright.

At his words, memory Chopper looked ready to cry as he ran to the edge of the ship, climbed up it and began to declare to the rest of the world, "I PROMISE TO BECOME A MORE RELIABLE MAN STARTING RIGHT NOW!"

"And you have become one," Sanji laughed a little.

"It's all a matter of confidence," Robin added and Chopper told them both to be quiet, that he didn't want to hear anymore compliments from them even if they did make him happy… which he said that they didn't.

Luffy told him to stop yelling at the altar and asked how he was able to get rid of that priest. Memory Chopper looked back and explained that he used the whistle to call Gan Fall. In the nick of time, the Sky Knight appeared and the two fought a battle in the sky. After an even match, Shura used his ordeal to trap Gan Fall and pierce him with his lance. Chopper then took them all inside the cabin to where he had been tending to his wounds, promising that though he was badly injured, he had a good chance of recovering if he rested.

"Wow… what a guy…" Franky sniffled, tears falling and his lip trembling as he realized this. "He risked his life so much to do what he thought was right… what a guy…"

"We owe him three times now," Zoro said as Luffy crouched down at Gan Fall's bedside and said softly, "He was willing to sacrifice this much for us… even though he gave us that whistle for free."

"That only makes it all the more heroic!" Franky sobbed out dramatically.

"If it wasn't for the Sky Knight, you guys probably wouldn't have a ship and I'd for sure be dead," Chopper said softly.

"I've got a bunch of questions for him," memory Sanji stated, but his serious tone had respect and gratitude it in. "But I guess I'll wait until he wakes up," he finished before he glanced to Pierre and added a thanks to him as well. They soon decided to move to land and make camp there for the night; with Usopp explaining to Luffy in annoyance that if they were attacked, their ship would be the first to take a beating and they couldn't risk her suffering any more damage than she had so far.

After they watch them take the Crow over to shore, they got their camp set up. It was strange how causal everyone was acting after everything that had happened today… Luffy complained about being hungry and hauled one of the Sky Sharks out of the water so that Sanji could roast it over the fire for him. They set up the tents and Chopper made some medicine for Luffy, Sanji, Usopp and Gan Fall—before passing some medicinal herbs to Robin and Sanji, asking them to grind it up for him for the old man.

None of them said much as memory Usopp set up a chalkboard and turned to the others, getting their attention. "Quiet down now!" he called, "It's time to hear everyone's field reports!"

Sanji, still grinding up the medicine, spoke first, "We ran into this priest named Satori who uses spheres with different kinds of threats inside each one. Explosives, dragons, the usual… but what really hung us out to dry in the fight was that this guy kept predicting our moves with a power called Mantra or something."

"If he didn't have that ability he would've been easy to take care of," Sanji said darkly.

"Excuses," Zoro stated softly.

"The priest who attacked me was named Shura and he used a spear that set fire to anything!" memory Chopper then spoke up, "He seemed like he could predict my moves just like that Satori guy and I tried and tried to attack him but he…" he trailed off, sounding ashamed, "He… he dodged me every single time. Then the bird he was riding burnt down the mast and the Sky Knight was defeated."

Nami patted Chopper's shoulder in a consoling way as he sighed.

"Sounds like you all had a rough time," memory Nami say sympathetically. "Well, what we found is that this island we're on is actually the missing part of Jaya! You see the City of Gold didn't sink into the ocean… but it was shot into the sky like us."

"How did you figure that out?" Brook suddenly asked her.

"When we went looking around the island, we found the other half to Cricket's house here," Nami answered.

"Wait! The other half?!" Franky yelled in shock.

"It's not important," Zoro said as their past selves were letting the news sink in them all.

Memory Usopp called victoriously after he finished writing it all down on the board. "Excellent work!" he cried to them all, "Now… based on your reports… we learned that the priests can predict our movements with a power they like to call Mantra! And the bird blows flames and the spear burns you! But most importantly we learned this!" he jabbed at the board with a stick at the notes, "The City of Gold is not a thousand leagues under the sea like we thought! But is hidden somewhere on this very island!"

"Wow, after all the trouble we went through to get here, who would've imagined that it'd be the City of Gold?" Nami whispered to herself.

"Did you guys find a lot of gold?!" Brook asked excitedly.

"Yeah, we found tons of it!" Chopper said eagerly. "But we actually found it in…"

But before he could finish, Luffy was yelling out in shock at what Usopp said, "NO WAY!"

"That was the first thing I told you!" memory Nami yelled at him in frustration. But Zoro and Sanji both began a conversation, sounding civil with each other for once, about what Mantra was all about. Sanji offered that perhaps it was some kind of sixth sense that you could only learn up here, which Zoro looked highly doubtful here.

But it was clear that there was only one thing on Luffy's mind as he stood up, his eyes shining as he whispered in wonder, "This is it! An adventure with gold at the end! I can't wait!"

"Now that was an adventure that I had no problems getting behind," current Nami smiled.

"You glad that you went back to this place?" Franky asked teasingly as she laughed a little.

"While I can't say that going through everything we had to go through to find the city was something I had wanted to do, at least it worked out in the end," she said with a shrug.

Her past self was smiling at Luffy, and even gave him a wink as she said, "Glad to see someone on my side. I'm ready!"

"Luffy no," past Usopp said, turning pale again as the excitement quickly drained out of his face. "Did you forget what the scary Guerrilla guy said about execution?"

"Why should we have worried about that guy anyway?" current Zoro asked him in a bored tone.

"God will be… really mad," Chopper said nervously.

"Good," present-day Sanji nodded smugly. Anything that made that wanna-be god miserable was good in his book.

Past Robin giggled to herself. "Sounds like fun," she said, sounding excited for the chance to look at this ancient city with her own eyes.

"What is wrong with you people?" current Usopp whispered. How could anyone think that going through all this be fun?!

"Well, we wouldn't be very good pirates if we turned our backs on gold," past Sanji reasoned with a smirk, "So let's not."

"You would have been a disgrace to all pirates if you did that," Franky nodded with a laugh. "I mean… who in their right mind would think of walking out on a chance to see a city made of gold?"

"Won't be easy," past Zoro added with an evil grin, "You know everyone up here already hates us. Which means I'm in."

"Yeah, and this way, when we did get our hands on it, it's not like we'd have a guilty conscience would we?" current Zoro added, nodding with what his past self said.

"Come on," memory Usopp said tearfully, "Aren't you even a little frightened by the wrath of god? I mean… I wanna live don't you!?"

But they were all smiling, each one of them had clearly made up their minds about what they were going to do, and Luffy only confirmed it as he stood up tall, laughing his head off as he declared, "GOLD! AND IT'S ALL WAITING FOR US!"

The memory then faded as the present-day Straw Hats all looked among themselves.

"Truly something worth seeing!" Brook said in wonder. "A City of Gold! I cannot wait! This just gets more and more exciting with every memory!"

"It really was a sight to see," Robin agreed. Even without the gold, it was still a gorgeous place to see… a city worthy of being called the Golden City.

In the next memory, all the Straw Hats were gathered around the fire, enjoying some stew from a large cooking pot that Sanji obviously prepared for them all, and memory Nami had her glasses on as she was speaking to them all, "Anyway, let's review Noland's Logbook. He discovered the City of Gold four hundred years ago. However after leaving the island and returning with his king, he discovered that the gold ruins had vanished. Luckily we now know what happened to these ruins."

"And Noland was telling the truth all that time!" Franky said firmly. "I knew it! You guys gotta tell that Cricket this!"

"Don't worry, I think he got the message," Nami told him with a little smile.

However, before past Nami went on, there was a loud clanging noise. Apparently Sanji had hit Luffy over the head with the pot's lid for something again. Getting ticked off, past Nami was telling him off before he retorted something about Luffy's manners. Looking annoyed at the boys, past Nami turned back to the others and started to talk about how it had to have been the Knock-Up Stream that brought this place to the sky.

"That I can believe," Franky said, thinking of that giant pillar of water they rode on the way up here. He really couldn't see any other way they could've gotten here. Not without some kind of miracle anyway…

"Do you really think a whole island could've done that?" memory Chopper asked her as he passed several bowls to the others.

"Well, it's the only thing that makes sense," past Nami answered, "Remember, Cricket said whenever this phenomenon occurs it's in a different location."

"Yeah, and if a particularly powerful Knock-Up Stream had burst right beneath Jaya, I suppose that it wouldn't be hard to imagine it…" Robin agreed as she nodded in thought. Memory Usopp agreed with them all, stating how enormous the explosion was and he wasn't surprised that it lifted up part of an island.

Memory Zoro looked up at the trees, muttering that he found it hard to believe that this giant forest was the same one they saw back on Jaya. Past Robin agreed, but also stated that there must've been something special about the environment here in the clouds that dramatically increased growth rate—just looking at the trees and animals they had seen. Memory Chopper added that it had been a large flock of South Birds who saved him and Gan Fall; and they were at least ten times bigger than the ones they saw on Jaya. At those words, Sanji then asked Chopper why those birds saved them, and the little reindeer confessed that he wasn't sure about that, but he did say that when he woke up and saw them there, they referred to the Sky Knight as god.

They stared at him. "HE'S GOD?!" Luffy screamed out, food actually falling from his mouth as he pointed wildly over his shoulder at the sleeping knight, "SO IF WE BEAT THE CRUD OUTTA THIS GUY THEN OUR JOB HERE IS DONE?!"

"Where'd he come up with that?" Nami demanded.

"Well, all we heard was that 'god' was the one behind all the suffering here," Zoro offered as memory Usopp began yelling at Luffy, before Nami brought them back to the matter at hand, asking if any of them remembered what Noland wrote about in his log about the City of Gold.

"The last thing he wrote in his log before he died is something odd," memory Robin answered, "It's something I still can't figure out, even after seeing this island. It said that the City of Gold was in the skull's right eye."

"That's it!" past Nami declared before she went to the two maps with her.

"But what does that mean?" Franky asked in bewilderment.

But memory Nami was pulling out two maps and was spreading them out in front of her. "I matched up Robin's map of Jaya… along with the old Skypiea map that we found in the shipwreck," she said, carefully folding one of the maps and putting them together like a puzzle. As everyone got up and went over to see what she was talking about she added, "Of course, this isn't exact and there may be some incorrect overlap… but if you match up the location of Cricket house with the broken one we found up here… this is what Jaya looked like four hundred years ago!"

And as Franky and Brook towered over the memory selves to get a good look at the map, they realized what it was that she was talking about.

"Neat!" Luffy said beaming, "It's a skull!"

"It is a skull!" memory Chopper chirped.

"OW! Way ta go sis!" Franky yelled, giving her the thumbs up.

She laughed proudly, her hand behind her head as she said, "Well, it was just a hunch… and I remembered seeing the two halves of Cricket's house and I decided to give it a chance. And boy did it pay off."

"And according to this we aren't that far away from there the City is supposed to be!" Brook added happily.

"Yes, only a few miles," Robin agreed. The memory Straw Hats had a bright shine in their eyes and they were already starting to celebrate until Usopp asked exactly where in the Skull's Right eye they were supposed to look. Memory Nami figured that out as well as she pointed to a small monument in the center of the eye. "It's the one structure that's actually inside the eye," she explained. "And no one's found it yet because of all the people who've tried, we're the ones with both maps!"

They were all getting excited, some of them looked like they were ready to go off into the forest now for it. But Nami came up with the game plan. Since they couldn't leave the ship unguarded, it was decided that in morning they would break the crew into two groups. And hopefully by this time tomorrow they would have more gold than they ever dreamed as well as finally leave this island behind.

The present-day Straw Hats watched them finish their meal and talk excitedly about their plans, each sounding as crazy as the next… but past Nami was promising them that they would think of something after they fixed the ship and got her off the altar. It was funny to watch as some of the boys were starting to get into an argument with Nami about having a big bonfire or to put it out. The boys were all for the idea, but Nami was getting angry, reminding them of the danger that they were all in and that the forest didn't need any help in killing them. But as they argued, they had some more unexpected visitors… a large pack of Cloud Wolves appeared.

After a few harsh words exchanged, and Nami ended up clobbering the leader of the pack, they seemed to have developed a grudging respect. And no one was able to see how it happened, but to their amazement, it ended up becoming a party—the Straw Hats and the Cloud Wolves were all dancing, singing and laughing around the fire—the festival of the Eve of the Gold Hunt…

And they were all laughing at the scene, Franky, Brook, Usopp, and Chopper had joined the dance around the fire with the past versions of them all—and were really disappointed when the memory faded around them.

"It's over?" Franky asked in huge disappointment. "Damn! And that was the best part!"

"That was a great night," Nami laughed a little nostalgically.

"I think we party enough don't you?" Usopp asked him.

"Nonsense! You can never party too much!" Franky laughed as the next memory was of a hazy morning and they were standing at the foot of the stair of the altar. Memory Usopp was pointing wildly to the ship, yelling to the others and practically crying, "It's true! I wasn't dreaming! Someone was here last night!"

They glanced up in time to see that the Merry had been repaired. They climbed the stairs to see that the ship was now full of miss-matched patches. But the mast was put back where it was before and the sides were fixed with extra boards—even the flying gear had also been taken off her so she looked as she always been. Frowning a little, Franky went over to the front of the ship so that he could get a good look at her, having a bad feeling about this.

"I knew it!" memory Usopp yelled out, "See guys, I told you I wasn't insane!" He was then crying as if he was relieved to know that as well just as Nami put her hand on the mast, looking pleased, and unable to believe it. "Hey, now that's service!"

"I'll say," Robin chuckled a little. "Can you imagine… what a chore it would've been just to stay something this heavy upright?"

"Wait, you mean that none of you repaired the ship?" Brook asked in surprise. Usopp lowered his head, unable to look at him as Chopper said, "No… it was like this when we woke up."

"But who repaired it for you?" Brook asked, now completely baffled as memory Sanji said, "I hate to say it. But they did a lousy job."

"You ingrate!" current Usopp yelled at their own cook. "After all that, you go and complain?!"

"Just making a statement," he answered softly as Luffy laughed happily that whoever did sure was nice. Memory Usopp was now pacing the deck, saying that he knew that he saw someone here last night.

"Who?" Brook asked, not understanding.

"Well, for a long time I didn't know," Usopp admitted, "It was really foggy… but…" but for some reason he couldn't go on. Just thinking about the Merry, and how she had actually gained a life of its own, giving up everything for them, was more painful than anything else he could think of.

Thankfully, memory Zoro was speaking again, asking how he couldn't see how anyone would want to help them. As far as he knew, the only other people up here with them were their enemies so why would any of them want to risk crossing a river of Sky Sharks to fix their ship? As memory Chopper swung happily from rope called to Usopp, asking who he thought he saw, though Usopp couldn't think of an answer to that.

But for Nami, the curiosity had worn off and she told them that it didn't matter anymore and that they still had a lot of work to do. As they started to get to work they heard memory Usopp whisper to the ship, "How could he have possibly known? Come on Merry… just tell me who I saw."

"It was certainly kind whoever it was to fix up the Merry-chan," Brook said kindly.

"Doesn't matter," Franky said, and for the first time, he sounded surprisingly bitter. They all looked at him in surprise as memory Usopp and Chopper headed back down the stairs to the Crow to try and figure out a way to get the ship off the altar.

"Look," Franky said sourly from the front. They joined him and he pointed gloomily to the hull of the boat.

"See this?" he asked, "I didn't really pay much attention to it at first, but this is the damage that Bellamy loser dealt it when he broke her in half like that. The keel's completely split down the middle. To be honest, I'm impressed that you were able to get her up the Knock-Up Stream with her in this condition."

"Wait!" Chopper gasped out, "You mean the Merry's already unrepairable?!"

Franky sighed grimly and that was all the answer that they need. Usopp stared wide-eye at the beloved ship and friend. So even from this moment she was already doomed? He supposed he always knew, but to hear it firsthand…? It felt as if someone had squeezed his heart.

"Just another reason to hate that Bellamy bastard," Sanji snarled, punching his fists together, "If I ever see him again, I'm breaking that face of his!"

"M-Merry!" Chopper cried out miserably. But as he rubbed the tears from his eyes, memory Usopp and Chopper were in the Crow and now making their way around the altar—in the end, Usopp came up with an idea. Using his Usopp AAaaaAAAaaaAA, he was able to hook it around the Merry's bow and tried to pull it off themselves. However, the Crow just didn't have enough strength for something like this. But Usopp soon came up with another way…

"Are you using Chopper as bait?" Franky asked with a deadpanned expression as Usopp hung Chopper to a large pole like a fishing line and tried to tempt a Sky Shark to eat him.

"I FORGOT ABOUT THAT!" Chopper screamed furiously, his sadness over the Merry forgotten for the moment. "YOU ALMOST GOT ME EATEN!"

"It was the only way to get the ship off there!" Usopp said loudly, "I'd never really let them eat you!"

It was proven so since memory Usopp was able to hook the rope onto the sharp and used its strength to heave the ship off the altar, down the stairs, and back into the water. After they took the time to untie Chopper, calm him down, and convince him that they were his friends, memory Nami pulled out the map and came up with the plan.

"That was still cold bro," Franky muttered as Usopp muttered an apology to Chopper who turned his back on him, looking angry.

Since Luffy and Robin insisted on going to the City of Gold, and Nami had to stay on the Merry to guide it out of the Upper Yard and to the meeting place, she came up with the two teams. "Ok, let's look at the map," she said, pulling out her pencil and began drawing arrows on it. "The exploration team will be taking this route… moving south," she said, drawing an arrow directly to the right eye. "There should be some old ruins near the skull's right eye. Keep an eye out for enemies and bring back that gold!" she told them.

"Huh… you make it sound so easy," memory Zoro said.

"Yeah, it was anything but easy," current Zoro muttered darkly, thinking of those Shandorians who attacked him, getting carried off by that giant South Bird, almost eaten by a giant snake, and crashing right into the middle of a battle. What a horrible day…

"I'm looking forward to investigating those old ruins," past Robin said smiling widely.

"Hold on," Luffy said, looking to Nami, "You're the one who keeps talking about gold and more gold but you're not coming?"

"Well, of course not," she said, "It's way too scary."

"Oh, and that makes it all better?" current Zoro asked in aggravation.

"Shut up Moss Head!" Sanji snapped at him, "Nami-swan has every reason to be afraid!"

Memory Nami seemed to notice the look on Chopper's face and gave him a dark look, asking if he said anything and he shook his head hurriedly as she went back to the map. "We'll be in danger too you know," she added, "We'll be taking the Merry downriver through the island. Then, we head for the beach near the ruins as fast as possible." She drew the arrows so that even a child could understand them. "We'll met up here," she finished, pointing to a spot near the right eye, "And then we can escape this stupid Sky Island." She sighed happily as she thought about it, muttering dreamily, "At long last we'll be a rich and powerful pirate crew! Able to buy anything!"

"Yeah! What are we waiting for?! Let's get this party started!" Franky yelled happily.

The groups were divided with Luffy, Zoro, Chopper, and Robin in the group going to get the gold—while Nami, Usopp and Sanji were to stay on the Merry with Gan Fall and Pierre and hopefully meet up with them.

"Ok," past Zoro said agreeably as they all picked up their bags after Sanji packed them all box lunches, "We'll all meet safely on the east coast!"

Nami sighed as she watched them attach the Crow to the back of the Merry so that they would be able to travel along the Milky Road. Why couldn't anything they do be as simple as it sounds and go as planned? But she put it out of her mind, knowing that there was no sense in worrying about it now. The Merry stopped by the south shore, were the four of them jumped to land. They hung around long enough to wave the Merry off before they turned and went their separate ways for the day.