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

Chapter 25 - The City of Gold in the Island in the Sky...

"So we finally get to see it?!" Brook called excitedly, waiting impatiently for the images to come back so that he could see everything. "The Sky Island?!"

"Not right away," Sanji answered, and when they looked at him in surprise he added, "We ended up running into a little bit of trouble before we got there."

"Isn't that always the case with us?" Usopp sighed as the memory finally reappeared around them and they were standing on the Merry's deck once again. Their past selves were spread out everywhere, dripping wet and panting for air as if they had all just run a marathon. The air seemed to be so thin that it was difficult for them to draw breath… there was bright sunlight all around and it took them all several minutes for their eyes to make anything out.

The first thing they noticed through the light was that the ride had taken it's toll… both of the Merry's wings on her sides had been broken clean off and the sails had been torn to shreds… they could hear their past selves all gasping and coughing, and then memory Zoro's voice croaked out, "What the… what just happened to us? Everyone alright?"

No one answered him, too exhausted to speak. But as their eyes cleared even more, Brook and Franky gasped.

"CLOUDS?!" Brook screamed in shock.

"No freaking way!" Franky wheezed, running to the side of the ship so that he could get a closer look. "We're really floating on clouds?!"

"That's how we felt," Nami said knowingly as Luffy finally got back up and was looking around excitedly. "Hey guys! Look out there! What is that?!"

The others were slowly getting to their feet, and their jaws all hit the deck when they saw. They were sitting afloat on a sea of white, fluffy clouds alright. Franky just stared in amazement as Brook was screaming in wonder, as loud as his fans had been when he was on stage.

"I forgot about how amazing this place was," Usopp whispered as Chopper nodded, his eyes as bright as his past self's.

"What in the world?!" memory Sanji gasped, truly not believing what he was seeing.

"It's solid white!" Luffy cried out joyfully.

"THEY'RE CLOUDS!" memory Chopper yelled, his eyes were practically glowing, looking like he wanted to jump into the clouds and see for himself.

"Yohohoho, truly spectacular!" Brook gasped out once he had screamed himself hoarse. "I wouldn't believe this if I wasn't seeing it with my own eyes! Well, I've got no eyes… Yohohoho!"

"Yeah, and if they're freaking out now, wait till we get to the island," Nami whispered to the others, knowing that these two going to lose their minds when they say it. Her past self was gapping at it all, wanting to know how it was possible—and what was keeping them from falling?

Luffy tried to reason that since both clouds and boats float it was the same thing. Rolling their eyes, they tried to explain it to him that it was completely different until Chopper realized that memory Usopp had stopped breathing—apparently the shock of breaking through the clouds was too much for him to take. After a little panicking and CPR, Chopper was able to get him breathing again, but it looked like he was going to pass out again when he got a good look at his surroundings; as if truly not believing that he was alive. He screamed in panic, crying out to know where exactly they were.

"Basically…" memory Nami whispered, "It's an ocean in the sky!"

Franky was straining his eyes to try and make out the shape of anything that might be an island, before he asked them, "Where's this floating island though? I don't see anything?"

"You'll see," Robin said in amusement.

"No way!" past Usopp said to what Nami stated, running to the side of the Merry to look down at the clouds. "Seriously?"

"I know it's hard to believe," current Sanji laughed, "I mean… I thought that I died here for a moment." Memory Nami was then staring down at the Log Pose and gave a sharp intake of breath when she noticed the needle. She looked up to Robin and told her that the needle was still pointing straight up.

"Wait, it's still pointing up?" Brook asked in surprise, unable to believe that.

"We were more than halfway there," Robin answered as her past self spoke up to Nami and answered reasonably, "So we must still be somewhere in the middle of the Cumuloregalis cloud."

"Wait!" memory Chopper asked, sitting next to her, "You mean we have to travel even higher?!"

"That's what the Log Pose says at least," she answered.

"I don't get how we could go any higher," Franky said in surprise, looking up above them to see the bright slight and even more clouds. "You're saying that the island's right above us?"

"That's right," Nami answered him, folding her arms, her heart beating faster at the thought of seeing such a beautiful place once again.

"How do you get there?" Brook asked, "Because I don't see an elevator…?"

"We sailed up a river of clouds," Zoro answered, "And let me tell you, that's a ride I'm not looking forward to taking again." The two looked baffled at that explaination until they heard memory Usopp laughing triumphantly, and when they looked back, he had taken the top of his overalls off and he posed on the side of the Merry.

"I can't believe how skinny you look here," Franky poked fun at their Usopp, who laughed back a little before he glanced fondly at his own muscles that he had worked so hard for… hard to believe that he had been this same kid here.

"Here I go!" past Usopp cried out, "Cloud swimming champ, USOPP!"

"You weren't…?" Brook asked as the other Straw Hats shook their heads at him.

"Just what were you thinking here?" Sanji asked as Usopp laughed a little awkwardly before he looked down in shame.

"I wasn't…" he admitted with a mutter.

"Yeah, that much was obvious," Sanji stated. But memory Chopper and Luffy both whistled and cried out, happily rooting Usopp on. Memory Sanji tried to warn Usopp not to do anything since they still didn't know much about this place. But, naturally, Usopp didn't listen as he did a perfect dive right into the sea.

"How was it? Was it like swimming in the sea?" Brook asked, wondering if it was possible that even someone like him could've done something like that.

"Not at all," Usopp said, thinking back to that terrifying moment with a shudder. "I was really moving… there was so little resistance."

"Of course, this sea has to be several times less dense than the Blue Sea," Nami sighed as Luffy and past Chopper were pouting as they looked down where Usopp had disappeared. Both of them were wishing that they could swim like that as they frowned down at the sea… but as they waited, they slowly began to realize that he wasn't coming back up.

"What's… taking you so long?" Franky asked jerkily. As the others joined Luffy and Chopper at the side, memory Robin spoke up, "You know… it's possible that this ocean may not have an actual bottom."

"Say what?!" past Sanji cried out.

"You mean you fell through?!" Brook cried in shock.

"That must've been a real nasty shock," Zoro stated and Usopp was shaking his head at his own stupidity. He remembered just going down and down through the clouds, marveling at how easy it was for him—but soon realized that he wasn't swimming anymore and he was falling. He froze up, his life starting to flash before his eyes… that was when he felt something go swimming up his pants and that was enough for him to have a panic attack… just freaked out until he was brought back up to deck.

Once Robin's words had sunk in, they all realized what she was talking about and looked ready to panic themselves as they stared in horror at the sea before them.

"IDIOT!" memory Zoro cried out, sweat falling from his face, "DID THAT FOOL JUST FALL THROUGH THE CLOUDS?!"

Eyes wide, Luffy cried out Usopp name before he stretched his arm out in a desperate attempt to save his friend with Sanji yelling out that he just told him not to do something so stupid.

"How are you going to pull him out of that?!" Franky yelled at them.

"With a little teamwork," Sanji informed him. This proved to be true when memory Robin called for Luffy to stretch out as far as he could go.

"I am, but I can't see where he is!" Luffy cried out, tears welling up in his eyes, but she told him to just leave it to her. She crossed her arms in front of her and shut her eyes, seemingly concentrating.

"What were you doing anyway?" Chopper asked her as he watched, their past selves all looking extremely tense, and sweat was falling from their faces now.

"I was using my powers and Luffy's outstretched arm to try and see him," she answered, and it was a very tense thirty seconds… but then her past self called that she found him.

"Oh, thank goodness," Brook sighed, his hand over his chest. "A real heart-stopper there… but I don't have a heart to stop anyway though, Yohohoho!"

"What?!" Luffy cried out at once, "WHERE?!"

But she didn't answer as she said her technique, and they guessed that she was helping Luffy to find Usopp and suddenly Luffy gave a sharp intact of breath. Giving a smile of relief, memory Robin opened her eyes and told him that he could haul him up. Luffy beamed back at her and began to pull hard on his own arm; but then they noticed that he was taking an unusually long time for him to bring him up—and Chopper was asking if he was heavy.

"You're kidding right?" Franky asked, eyebrows raised, "You saw for himself, he was nothing but skin and bones."

"SHUT UP!" Usopp yelled at him.

"He shouldn't be that heavy," past Robin answered as Chopper and Nami were telling him to pull harder. With a great tug, Usopp came bursting through the clouds; and he was apparently out cold.

"Yes!" past Nami cried happily, "He's back!"

"That is a relief to know that you weren't hurt, Usopp-san," Brook said gladly.

"Yeah, but he sure doesn't look alright to me," current Zoro stated, looking at Usopp's eyes, that were rolled into the back of his head. But just then something beneath them began to rise up and Luffy cried out, "But he's not alone!"

Brook yelled in shock for a giant octopus and with a long, colorful snake-like fish burst through the clouds underneath them—both of them treating Usopp like he was a worm on a hook as they went to try and eat him.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE THOSE THINGS?!" Franky screamed out.

"SKY FISH!" Nami yelled over the noise. Thankfully, memory Zoro and Sanji took care of both of them. As Luffy pulled Usopp safely onboard, Zoro slashed at the octopus and Sanji kicked the fish—but then, the strange thing was that when they did attack, it was like they were fighting giant balloons… they both seemed to pop and the air went out of them.

"What the hell…?" Franky stated, not getting what he was seeing here.

"Believe me, we were just as surprised," Zoro said, remembering how cutting that octopus was probably one of the thinnest things he ever cut.

"I forgot how big things were here!" Chopper stated with wide eyes and a gulp. The 'Monster Trio' were ally gasping for air, already looking tired after even something as simple as that.

"What's wrong?" Franky asked, not understanding why they were suddenly acting like pussies.

"I'd love to see you fight in a place like this!" Zoro snapped in annoyance. His past self was suddenly struggling for breath as he croaked out, "This air… it's so thin… it's hard to breathe."

"Thin air?" Brook asked in confusion.

"It's caused by the high altitude," Robin explained to him. "As altitude increases, air pressure decreases. In order to fill your lungs with air, the air pressure in your lungs has to be less than the pressure of the air outside."

Brook looked to her as he exclaimed, "I see! So you can't get enough air! That's why you're getting tired so quickly!"

"What do you make of this?" memory Sanji asked, looking over the dead fish, that was now flat as a pancake, "I've never seen anything like it before, I'm not even sure if it's even a fish!"

"That octopus thing was more like a big balloon," Luffy pointed to the remains of the creature.

"How is that possible?" Brook asked in fascination—truly some strange creatures in the world.

"Yeah," memory Zoro agreed darkly, "'Cept balloons don't have teeth!"

"How can there be fish up here in the clouds?" past Nami asked them all, clearly not understanding any of this as much as the rest of them.

"You said it best yourself," memory Robin answered her softly, "Basically it's an ocean in the sky."

"I never would've believed it if I haven't seen it myself," Brook said, now practically jumping up and down at the thought of seeing the island itself.

As they examined the dead fish, Usopp, who had been laying frozen on the deck suddenly came back to life, now thrashing around. Past Sanji looked to him in annoyance, asking what the problem was now and Usopp cried out as he reached his hand into his pants, "There's… SOMETHING IN MY PANTS!" and suddenly he pulled out a blue fish before he fainted.

"I don't think I've seen you faint so many times in one day," Franky said, watching him twitching on the deck.

"Like you would've been in any better shape!" Usopp snapped, really getting sick of being picked on here. Oh, why can't they hurry and get Luffy back so that they could tease him instead?

Memory Chopper cried out in worry as he ran over to see if he was alright, but memory Usopp just laid there in a fetal position muttering, "Sky Island's scary… Sky Island's scary…"

"Not his day," past Robin said before she noticed the strange fish on the floor.

"You got that right, Robin," Zoro commented as past Robin picked up the fish in curiosity.

"This whole trip was just one big, bad day," Usopp whispered, remembering fighting priests, being hunted by god and struck by lightning… what a nightmare that was.

As Robin examined the fish with Nami, they came to the suggestion that these creatures seemed to have evolved to become flat or balloon-like to make themselves even lighter. But when their backs were turned, they saw that Sanji had already cooked it up and Luffy was gasping out how good it was.

"You just got here but you were already cooking the first thing you find?" Franky asked with a snort of laughter.

"To be fair, those Sky Fish were something I never cooked before and were delicious by the time I got through with them," Sanji said proudly.

"Please, by the time you were done with it, it was barely edible," Zoro stated.

"DO YOU WANNA DIE?!" Sanji screamed at him, aiming a kick for his ribs.

Memory Nami however spotted them eating the fish and began yelling at them, "HEY! WE WERE STILL EXAMING THAT!" She began shouting at them until she tried it and suddenly her anger disappeared, her taste buds melting as she took several more pieces and Luffy was telling Sanji they should cook the bigger fish. Meanwhile, Chopper was on one of the Merry's broken wings and was looking through the binoculars, trying to find any signs of an island. "Hey guys!" he suddenly called excitedly, "There's a…"

But his voice died in his throat so quickly that it was as if he hadn't said anything at all… he just continued to stare, turning bone white.

"What's wrong with you?" Franky asked, as past Chopper began shaking like a leaf.

"It wasn't good…" Chopper gulped to him.

"Hey, what's wrong, Chopper?" memory Sanji asked when he noticed that he had frozen up. But then memory Chopper dropped the binoculars and fell back, looking like he was about to faint. "What's the deal? You see something out there?" Sanji went on. But now Chopper was freaking out as he began to scream out that he saw a ship out there that had just been destroyed, and a guy running around the clouds with wings. Now he was heading straight towards them so they had to get out of there.

"Wings?" Brook repeated in surprise.

"You hit your head or something?" Franky asked curiously.

"Wait for it…" Zoro said, vaguely remembering the jerk who attacked them here. The memory Straw Hats were all looking skeptical as Franky, but when they looked up and saw that he was right. A man, tall and muscular, sporting a pair of tiny wings on his back, and various tribal tattoos across his left shoulder was heading straight towards them. They couldn't see his face however because he was wearing a large horned mask and was moving along the clouds as if he had little rockets attached to his feet.

"Who is that?" Franky asked startled.

"I think his name was Wiper, or something," Usopp stated, trying to think back.

"Yeah, I remember," Robin nodded. He was the warrior that ended up risking so much to help them take out Eneru… even willing to destroy his body if that was what it took.

"Check it out, he's right," past Sanji said in mild surprise as he glanced out at the figure speeding towards them, as if this happened every day, "There's a guy running around out there." He then called out to him, "Hey stop! What do you want?!"

"To destroy you!" he yelled back with a deadly voice.

"For what?!" Brook cried. They weren't doing anything so why did this guy want them dead?!

"We barely got here and they were already trying to kill us," Zoro shrugged unconcerned. "Nothing new."

"You're taking the fact that people want us dead a little too calmly!" Nami yelled at him.

"Oh, is that all?!" memory Sanji asked, sounding ready for a fight as he moved into a fighting stance, with memory Zoro stepping up as well, snarling that he'd deal with him. Luffy came running up behind them, asking what was going on—but the guy with the mask was already there.

The battle after that was short—even though they had him outnumbered, this guy was able to fight all three of them off. Their movements were slow and sluggish, and so it was easy for he was able to kick all three of them down before he pointed his bazooka down at them, getting ready to fire. Memory Chopper was screaming, sure that he was going to blow up their ship… but then something else came.

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" yelled an aged voice and they looked up to see two figures coming right at them.

"It's that weird old guy!" Nami cried out, recognizing him.

"Weird old guy?" Franky repeated, now completely lost to what was going on. "What is happening here? None of this is making sense!"

"How is that different than from any of our other adventures?!" Sanji called back. They turned back to the battle to see that it was old man with a long white mustache and beard, dressed in armor made of solid metal who had come to their rescue on the back of a large pink bird with red polka dots all over his body and horn-like ears. But the two obviously knew each other so well, they had no problems working together; and though he was old, he was light and nimble… he jumped from the bird's back and clashed his lance against the attacker's shield, sending the attacker back through the clouds.

"GET HIM GAN FALL!" Chopper cheered happily; he'll never forget how this guy risked so much to save him from that priest. He hoped that he fully recovered from that injury and was doing alright.

Gracefully, the old man landed on the side of the ship; with memory Nami now looking terrified, "Oh, great! Now who's this guy?!"

The old man turned and stepped onto deck. "Miss…" he said politely, "You may call me… the Sky Knight."

"Knight huh?" Franky said impressed. "You don't expect such an old geezer to be able to fight like that."

"Now you know things are bad if you had to be rescued by an old man," Sanji sighed, shaking his head in disgrace.

"I still can't believe how easy this guy beat you guys," Usopp whispered in disappointment. "That's pathetic."

"Oh please, like you're one to talk," Sanji retorted, pointing to Usopp's past self, who was still laying catatonic on the floor.

The Sky Knight was looking around them, as if still expecting trouble, but soon sighed as he muttered in grim satisfaction, "He's gone…"

"But what just happened?" Brook asked them, "I don't get it?"

"He thought we were someone else apparently," Sanji muttered, remembering the long talk that he, Usopp, and his sweet Nami had with Gan Fall when they were travelling through the Upper Yard.

"What's going on here?" memory Nami demanded, looking at Gan Fall. "Who was that guy?" But rather than wait for an answer, she glared back at all three men who were lying there having a hard time breathing, "And you… could you be anymore useless? You've had him outnumbered three to one!"

"Why didn't you fight him if it was so easy?" current Zoro demanded, his temper shorter than ever.

"Because you guys are monsters!" she replied angrily. "You should've been able to beat him with one arm behind your back!"

"Oh, shut up," Zoro snapped and Sanji burned at that, getting ready to kick his brains in for yelling at her. But he turned back and proclaimed to her as she rolled her eyes at him, "I promise I won't let it happen again, Nami-swan!"

Meanwhile, memory Chopper was thanking the old man for saving them, who replied that he was just doing his duty and this was on the house.

"Well, that was kind of him," Brook said gratefully. "So is he another one of your friends?"

"He may be old and weird, but he did help us out more than once since we got stuck up here" Nami said and Chopper nodded firmly by her side.

"What gives?" memory Sanji gasped, and seemed unable to sit up, "I feel so weak."

"Yeah…" Luffy wheezed, "I… could barely… move."

Past Robin reminded them that it had to do with the thin air as the old man walked up the stairs, asking if they were Blue Sea People.

"If you were what?" Franky asked, sounding lost.

"Blue Sea People?" memory Nami asked in equal confusion, "What's that? And who are you?"

"As I said I am the Sky Knight," he answered calmly, "And Blue Sea People are what we call those who live below the clouds. I'm assuming you traveled here from the Blue Sea?"

"Oh, that makes sense," Brook said thinking it over.

"Yeah, that's right," Luffy said, looking up at him.

"Then that explains it," Gan Fall answered in understanding as he sat on the railing, observing them all with interest, "You have reached the White Sea, seven thousand meters in the air."

"Seven thousand…?" Franky repeated in shock.

"The Great White Sea, where I assume you're heading, is still further up," Gan Fall went on, "about ten thousand meters. Ordinary Blue Sea People can't possibly endure it here."

"Well, lucky you guys are far from ordinary," Franky said, still shaking his head at hearing how high up they were.

"You have no idea," Nami chuckled, shaking her head. Thank goodness for that… that's the only thing that's kept them all alive up till now.

"Ten thousand?!" Brook said this time, sounding shocked as well. "That's like when we went to Fishman Island only instead of going to the bottom of the sea, it's the other way around! Yohohoho"

Luffy was sitting up, giving his chest a little punch before he began to say that he thought he got used to it which the others agreed.

"No, no, no, that's just not possible," the old man said, clearly sounding like he didn't believe them. Past Chopper then tried to ask him who it was who attacked them and why. But the old man stated that they had other business to talk about. He told them that he was a solider for hire… that the Great White Sea was dangerous since that these 'Guerrilla' like the one who attacked them, wouldn't hesitate to kill them, but if they bought a One Whistle for five million extols, he would protect them.

"Extols?" Brook asked and you could almost see the question marks above his head.

"There's nothing about this place that's making any sense," Franky whispered, wondering just what an extol was.

"And it only gets more confusing, believe me," Nami sighed. Their past selves seemed to be just as lost as Brook was, clearly not having any idea to what he was talking about. The old man was looking put out, saying that it was a reasonable price and that he couldn't afford to lower it any more than that. But when memory Sanji asked what he was talking about, saying that they didn't know anything about extols or this whistle, it was the old man who looked lost this time.

"You don't know?" he asked in puzzlement, "I don't understand. You came here from the Summit of High West didn't you? Surely you must've passed an island or two?"

"Summit of High West?" Franky repeated, looking to the girls, hoping that they could tell them what he was talking about.

"There are other Sky Islands?" Brook said, before he remembered, "Oh, right! You said that you were learning on another Sky Island for these two years didn't you Nami-san?"

"Yes, and apparently there's supposed to be some kind of road that we could have used to get here," Nami explained with a shrug, "But I never did find out any real information about it. So don't ask…"

"I still don't know what you're talking about," Luffy said to Gan Fall.

"Wait! Let me get this straight!" memory Nami yelled up at him, now sounding truly ticked off this time, "You're saying that there was another way we could've gotten up here, where we would've passed an island or two? As in there's more than one Sky Island?"

"What?" Gan Fall said, realization coming over his face, "Don't tell me you travelled by way of…" but it was Robin who interrupted him, "We rode up here on the Knock-Up Stream."

"My word," he said in amazement, staring at them all with a great deal more interest, "That monstrous current? So there are still souls in the world brave enough to make the attempt?"

"Well, it was a monster alright," Sanji said.

"A ride that I don't ever wanna take again," Usopp said firmly.

"I don't know," Zoro smirked, "I thought it was an interesting ride up."

"Well, you would!" Nami sighed.

Her past self however was now crying. "I knew it…" she whispered, "Then we risked our lives for nothing!" To vent some of her anger, she grabbed hold of Luffy, shaking him violently as she began to scream at him at how she was going to kill him for almost getting them killed and how if they had asked around a little more, they could've found another way up here.

"I personally doubt that," present-day Robin chuckled. "If that was possible, you wouldn't have been laughed out of Mock Town. No one else seemed to have heard about it and we could've been looking for months but never get any closer to this place. Really, I think that this was our only option."

Franky laughed. "Besides, I'd like a chance to ride that thing someday!"

"SHUT UP!" Usopp and Chopper yelled at him as Gan Fall asked them if they lost any of their crewmates.

"No! We all made it!" Luffy yelled up at him.

"Then you can consider yourselves fortunate," he answered him, "If you had taken another route, one or two of you would have survived, but the rest of you would have perished. That's the gamble."

"So it looks like our gamble paid off," Robin stated to Nami, who nodded dully.

"But still… there had to be a better way!" she moaned out.

"Now, now, now… if it was that easy then everyone would have heard of Skypiea now wouldn't they?" Robin asked in amusement.

"By way of the Knock-Up Stream either everyone dies, or everyone survives," Gan Fall stated, "Those are the only two possible outcomes."

"Well, that makes me feel better," Usopp whispered sarcastically.

"But you have to admit, by our usual standards, that's actually pretty good odds," Zoro shrugged agreeably.

"Not many are willing to accept such an all or nothing risk," Gan Fall explained, "Especially these days, if nothing else, I see that you are navigators of exceptional bravery and skill."

"Thank you," present-day Nami smiled at the compliment. While memory Usopp smirked, trying to take the credit for that before he changed his mind as past Nami grabbed his face threateningly.

"Please, your sense of direction is hardly better than Luffy's or Zoro's," current Nami hissed to him who blushed at how he was acting here.

But Gan Fall was now looking deeply impressed; and it was a surprise to see him pull out a whistle and toss it down to them. "Should you find yourselves in danger, you have but to blow it and I will come to your aid!" he called as he turned around dramatically, "As I said, normally I would charge five million extols, but for today please consider this as my gift to you."

"It was nice to know that not everyone up here hated us," Nami told them as her past self quickly asked his name.

The old man turned back to her, "I am… Gan Fall! And this is my partner, Pierre…" he gestured to the bird next to him.

"Weirdest bird I've ever seen," Franky muttered. And the bird only got weirder… for as the Sky Knight jumped onto his back and bade them a farewell, the bird transformed. A horse with wings that maintained the pink body and red polka dots but with white feathers. It turned out that he had eaten the Horse Horse Fruit… Pegasus model. It was a bit of a letdown for them all as they watched him fly off—having expected to see it look cooler.

"Is there even a reason for it to transform?" current Sanji asked them and they all shrugged.

"But he's different," Brook offered happily, "And being different is good!"

"In the end…" memory Robin stated, once the duo were both gone, "He really didn't tell us anything did he?"

They all agreed as they looked to the little whistle on the deck. As they began to look around for a way to go, Luffy stated that they should call the knight back and ask him. Memory Nami, Chopper, and Usopp all jumped forward and began to fight over it, struggling over which one of them should have it. It was really quite funny… to hear them fighting over which one of them was the weakest and why they should be the one to carry it… with Luffy, naturally, just wanting to be the one to blow it.

"You know… you guys are probably the only people who would be arguing over which one of you wants to be known as the most pathetic," Franky muttered with a dead-panned expression.

Nami laughed and ran her hand through her long hair. "Looking back, I guess it is stupid."

"Why would you be the weakest though, Chopper?" Zoro asked him, "You're a transforming reindeer aren't you? So…?"

"Maybe, but I wasn't much of a fighter in these days," Chopper admitted, looking down in embarrassment.

"You don't give yourself enough credit," Robin said to him kindly. "Remember how amazing you were when you stood up to Wapol and his henchmen?"

Chopper blushed at that, trying to fight the urge to dance as he thought it all over. This was a big turning point for him… especially since he fought that guy in the Ordeal of Swamp… he really began to stand on his own feet and fight—finally feeling like one of the pirates too instead of hiding behind one of his friends. He was only sorry that they wouldn't get to see how he won that fight.

In the end, since none of their memory selves could agree on anything, past Nami fixed the whistle to the mast, saying that if anyone got into trouble, all they had to do was run over here and blow it—now it was fair to them all… which Usopp and Chopper agreed.

Memory Nami then turned her wrath onto Robin and the boys, telling them that they were not to blow the whistle under any circumstance. Luffy groaned out that he wanted to blow it just once, with Nami threatening that if he so much as touched the whistle, he'd be swimming with the Sky Fish. And they all promised they wouldn't touch it.

"Why not?" Brook asked.

"Like they need someone to protect them," Nami sighed. "They can take care of themselves. They didn't need the whistle."

Once that was settled, they noticed what appeared to be a waterfall in the distance and decided to head for that. They sailed easily through the clouds, much smoother than on water; but as they went further on, they soon found their path blocked by clouds so thick that they couldn't move.

"Those big clouds seem to be floating on top of the ocean, sorta like icebergs," memory Sanji said pointed out as they tried to figure out what the problem was.

"So what, they're cloud-bergs?" past Usopp asked skeptically.

"Well, there's obviously something different about them," memory Nami said as Luffy offered to stretch out and grab a piece, but when he did, it ended up bouncing back like a ball.

"I never thought it was possible to walk on a cloud," Franky said, sounding close to laughter. Seeing Luffy's fist bounce back was all it took and soon he jumped right onto them, bouncing around on it like it was a giant marshmallow. Usopp and Chopper quickly joined him and they were all bouncing around, loving everything here. Getting frustrated with them, memory Nami was telling them to quit playing around and that they should be looking for a way to get around them. But Usopp solved that problem… he was standing near the top of the cloud and was looking off into the distance when he obviously spotted something.

"Hey!" Usopp yelled as he and Luffy both came running back down to them, "There's a gate up there!"

"A gate?" memory Nami repeated, sounding skeptic.

"Gate?" Franky stated in surprise. "And how could you make a gate up here in the sky?"

"Yeah!" Luffy yelled joyfully as he jumped down onto the deck with them all, "A big one! It's up ahead underneath that waterfall thingy!"

"Oh! That sounds amazing!" Brook said in wonder, like a little kid who was promised a real treat. Memory Chopper also jumped down from the marshmallow cloud, crashing into Usopp's head, but he was having so much fun that he didn't seem to notice it all even as Usopp yelled in pain.

"I can see that you were having a good time," current Robin commented to Chopper who blushed a little more.

"I'd never been anywhere like this before, and I just couldn't help it," he offered as they set off from the cloud-bergs.

"So there's a man-made structure in the middle of the clouds?" memory Sanji asked as they continued sailing on.

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

"And I have to agree," Zoro yawned, "This was by far one of the strangest islands we've been to."

"Sky Island sure was fun… but scary too!" Chopper added happily. After a little arguing, their past selves soon reached the waterfall on top of the cloud-bergs. And just at the base was a large, and elaborate gold and white gate there, the name "Heaven's Gate" carved right above it.

"It's huge!" Brook called, his eyes were wide, if he still had eyes.

"Yep, that's a gate alright," past Sanji stated, in a little impressed tone.

"Hold on," memory Usopp said nervously once he read the name, "Am I reading this right? Heaven's Gate? What's that about? Sounds like a place you go when you die!"

"Yeah?" memory Zoro asked to Usopp's worry, an evil smirk on his face. "Well, now that you mention it, maybe we are dead, you ever think about that?"

"Huh…" Sanji stated, thinking that over, "You know that would go a long way to explaining this weird place…"

"BUT I DON'T WANNA BE DEAD!" memory Chopper screamed out.

"You look really scared here, Chopper," Robin said to their Chopper, "You didn't really think that we were all dead were you?"

"No," Chopper said a little too quickly, though he knew that he wasn't fooling anyone.

Luffy just laughed, "Who cares? We're here aren't we? Wherever this gate goes, I'm going!"

"Of course he would say that," Nami sighed but her mouth was fighting the smile the whole time. Her past self was getting really angry at the boys for trying to scare them and hit them over the heads to tell them to start acting serious. But as they neared the gate, a very old woman came outside, something in her hand—some kind of camera—and began to take pictures.

They were all startled by her as she called to them all that she was Amazon, the Heaven's Gate Inspector, and she wanted to know what their business was. Sight-seeing, Warmongering, other…?

"Well that depends, because you can't promise her anything," Franky chirped up. "No matter where you go, there's bound to be some kind of party going on."

"Yeah, and more often than not, they're parties that I wished we missed," Usopp whispered sarcastically.

"I… I guess it's kinda like sight-seeing!" memory Nami called.

"We wanna go to the Sky Island!" Luffy added, looking unsure as to what to say, "It's passed this gate right?"

"Can we say all the above?" past Zoro offered.

"I guess that's the best answer we could've given," Robin laughed a little.

"That's just what happened," Nami agreed, not sure if she was looking forward to these future memories of what they had to go through while they were up here.

"Dude, just what did you guys do up here?" Franky asked, not sure if he wanted to hear the answer. But instead of answering him, the old woman said that it didn't make much difference to her, but that they were to pay seven billion extol for the entrance fee if they wanted to go any further.

"Whoa! Wait a moment! Seven billion extols?!" Brook called in shock. "How much of that would be in beri's?"

"That would be about seven hundred thousand," Robin answered. "Apparently it is ten thousand extols per beli."

"But that's stupid!" Franky yelled out. "Who has that kind of money?! Who pays seven hundred thousand just to go through a stupid gate?!"

"Let's just say that the guy in charge of this place was a first-class asshole," Sanji whispered. "Hey, does anyone have any more cigarettes? I'm almost out."

"It would be good for you to cut down a little, Sanji," Chopper said firmly.

"You're kidding right?" Sanji asked his swirly eyebrow raised. With their past selves quietly talking amongst themselves that they had no idea what an extol was, and even if they did, they doubted that they had enough for that. Usopp hissed to the others that this had to be some kind of scam, but Nami covered his mouth to shut him up and instead asked Amazon what would happen if they didn't pay.

"You may still pass," Amazon stated.

"That's it?!" Franky yelled in frustration as memory Usopp almost choked on that answer.

"The choice is yours," she answered, "I certainly won't try to stop you!" when they looked startled she added, "My job description doesn't require me to actually guard the gate. I'm merely here to ask you intentions."

Nami rolled her eyes. Sure she didn't try to stop them or anything, but she got them into a world of trouble.

"Well that settles it!" Luffy called agreeably, "We wanna go to the Sky Islands!"

"But we don't have the money so we can't pay you!" memory Usopp added.

"Very well," she said, "The seven of you then?"

"Looks like it was a scam after all," Franky said.

"Not quite," Nami hissed in annoyance. "She told us that she didn't care what we did, but she didn't warn us that if we passed without paying, we'd be marked as criminals!"

"What?!" Brook gasped out.

"Wait, you mean to tell me that you guys were outlaws before you even saw the island?" Franky asked bitterly.

"We're pirates," Zoro reminded her. "Doesn't matter where we go, we're always outlaws."

"True," Robin nodded.

But Luffy, still looking surprised at how easily she was letting them go, answered yes, but they still needed her to tell them how to get there. Rather than tell them two giant pinchers came out of nowhere and grabbed down on their broken wings. As they screamed what it was, she answered that it was the Great White Sea's Express Lobster. Just then they shot forward, the creature was taking them up the waterfall at breakneck speeds. When they looked they could see the road, spiraling up to the heavens in front of them and they began to ride it—the Milky Roads.

"This is so sweet!" Franky laughed out, eyes wide—unable to believe that they were actually traveling along a road of clouds.

"They aren't all fun!" Usopp yelled over the wind, remembering their miserable time going through the Upper Yard and that corkscrew drop. Their past selves were all hanging on desperately to whatever they could find to keep themselves from going overboard, they felt like riding a roller-coaster the whole way up. But somewhere along the way, Brook spotted something.

"What's that?!" he called, and when they looked to see where he was pointing, they saw the sign that read: Godland Skypiea.

"Godland?!" Franky yelled as they zoomed passed it. "What the hell does that mean?!"

"Let's just say it's not good!" Zoro called. But then they saw a bright light from above them and memory Chopper cried out, pointing at the exit. But Luffy was grinning as he screamed out excitedly, "This isn't the exit, it's the entrance!"

"OH YEAH!" Franky screamed out, beaming like he never beamed before. But it wasn't just him or Brook, everyone felt their hearts beating fast, their anxiety grow to see this all again. Up and up they rode… and when they burst through the clouds and were in the bright sunlight. Blinking through the blindness of it all, there it was… as breathtaking as they remembered… like they were dreaming.

In the bright sunshine there was an island made up of clouds, filled with sparkling buildings and roads made up of what looked like cotton candy. There were several smaller clouds that held shops and trees, and there were several large roads made up of clouds and embedded with what looked like twisted up vines crossed to the smaller islands… it was gorgeous.

Brook and Franky were too stunned to speak—just like the past Straw Hats. And though they had seen this all before, the other six smiled once again—having forgotten just how beautiful this place was.

"Truly unbelievable…" Brook croaked out. "My heart feels as if it'll burst out of my chest if I had a heart or a chest!"

"SUPER doesn't even begin to describe it!" Franky called, like a little kid at Christmas. "And you're telling me that you actually came here?!"

"You got it," Sanji laughed, "I know what you mean… I thought that I was hallucinating or something here."

The Merry came to the cloudy beach with a little bump and they heard Luffy took a deep breath. "I can smell the adventure!" he gasped out, his eyes wide. "Potent as the seaweed in summer!"

And he then jumped, with Usopp right behind him running ashore on the soft clouds. And that's how it was… they were like a bunch of little kids during a Snow Day. They were running around the marshmallow-like beach, with Chopper rolled around, looking like he was drifting off as Usopp began building a cloud castle. Luffy was hanging from the tree, laughing as he pulled some strange fruit off the tree and almost ended up breaking his teeth on how hard they were.

"This is why we came here," Nami laughed as Sanji ran around with flowers for the girls. Even Franky and Brook were running around, trying to look at everything before they heard the sound of gentle music being played.

Brook was the first to stop and looked up in great surprise. "That's a harp," he said at once.

"Which can only mean one thing!" Sanji gasped, his eyes wide as he stared around wildly, trying to find her… and they all looked up to see her. A very pale girl with long, blonde hair tied in two braided pig-tails, she also had what looked like antenna sticking out at the top of her head and miniature wings on her back. They all stared at her, with memory Sanji naturally claiming that she was an angel. She played her harp for a few more minutes before she looked to them.

"It's Conis!" Chopper called happily.

"The friend you mentioned before?" Brook gasped. "She's so beautiful! Now I want to see her panties!"

"Shut up!" Nami yelled, giving him a hard punch to the head.

Conis, however, slowly turned with a smile at their memory Straw Hats, as if she had been expecting them. "Heso…" she said with a smile in a soft voice.

"Say what?" Franky asked, a little struck by her beauty that he didn't really hear what she was saying. "I'm sorry… what did she say?"

"In this place, Heso means hello," Nami quickly muttered.

The past Straw Hats stared at her in confusion as they tried to figure it out. But then Conis called to a furry creature they didn't noticed before. "Su… come here," she called. A solid white fox with squinted eyes and a mouth that looked a little like a snout happily went over to, flicking her bushy tail. As Conis walked out to Su as well she addressed the Straw Hats, "Did you come from the Blue Sea World?"

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

"Oh, my dear Conis…" current Sanji sniffled, "It's been too long since I've seen your beautiful face! Truly an angel! There is no doubt in my mind!"

"I wonder how she's been doing all this time," Nami sighed in wonder, hoping that Conis and her dad had really pulled the people of the sky together and made a new life for themselves in these last two years. She'll never forget their hospitality… the world really needed more people like them around.

"Yes, it sure is," Conis said, putting the harp on her back, "And I'd like to welcome you to Skypiea's Angel Beach." She noticed the large fruit in Luffy's hand and she laughed a little sweetly as she offered to help him open it. She showed them that you had to cut through the underside to get to the sweet stuff inside.

"Yohohoho, she's so helpful!" Brook said happily.

"My name is Conis," she told them as she picked up the fox and added, "And this little one's name is Su, she's a Cloud Fox. If you need anything at all, please, let me be of service."

"She's like a hostess or something," Franky said with a good-natured laugh. "But thank god, I was starting to think there was nothing but old people up here."

Memory Sanji, naturally, tried to start giving her romantic words, until Nami pulled his ear and threw him down to get him to behave himself. But she beamed at Conis as she walked over to her, and started to ask questions. But they didn't get too far with that as Conis's father showed up on a waver on the sea, and almost crashed into them as he tried to stop. He was almost bald, but had those strange antennae sticking out his head, with a round beard around his mouth. However he was just as, if not even more, hospitable as his daughter and he even invited them to their house for lunch. The memory faded as Nami stared in amazement at the waver and asking Conis's dad, Pagaya, all about it.

"What a kind-hearted family," Brook said fondly.

"Yeah, they really did a lot for us," Usopp said smiling. "They were great…"

"Yohohoho, I truly hope that we can all come here one day," Brook sighed, "I wish to meet all of your friends! Yohohoho!"

Nami grinned, "And I speak for all of us when I say that we all like that idea."

The whole crew laughed at that as the memory came back. They were in a bright, wide-open house that overlooked the sea of clouds… it was very strange for them all to see the ocean a calming white instead of blue… but at the same time, this place was so welcoming, that it was almost like home. Most of the crew was in this room with Conis, and they could hear the sounds of Sanji and Pagaya in the kitchen making lunch.

Franky looked around before he realized that someone was missing. "Oi! Nami, where were you?"

"Oh, I went for a quick ride on Pagaya's waver," she laughed, "That thing handled like a dream!" She suddenly had the urge to get their own waver back out and take that thing for a quick spin.

They all sat down to watch the scene. Conis was explaining the working of Dials… how they were strange devices made from the remains of particular shellfish, which have the ability to store energy and matter. The shellfish remains are gathered from the shallows near the shore of the White-White Sea and how there were many different types of Dials that store various things depending on their type. And how the content can be released by pressing the apex on the other side of the Dial. As long as they are not used or damaged, Dials seem to be capable of storing their contents indefinitely.

"Useful devices indeed," Brook said softly, his hand going to his skull that held the precious Tone Dial that carried his old crew's final song. 'Laboon…' he thought, 'I hope you're doing well…'

Memory Sanji then came in with Pagaya, carrying trays of food that they hadn't seen before and they began to enjoy their meal—marveling at the exotic tastes.

"I'm dying here," Usopp groaned, his hand over his stomach.

"I hear ya," Zoro nodded, now hungry enough for even the crap-cook's food. Memory Sanji went to the window, staring out at the sea and asked them where Nami was.

"I think she's riding the waver," Luffy said through a mouthful of food.

"I don't see her," memory Sanji spoke up, now sounding worried and Usopp told him to relax, that she probably just went too far out for them to see her. At his words, the present-day Straw Hats noticed the anxious and tense looks on Conis and Pagaya's faces.

"What's wrong with them?" Franky asked.

"I'm worried," Conis said nervously to her father, "Do you think she's ok?"

"I have my concerns," he answered back, sounding apprehensive, "But I can't say one way or another."

Brook looked to them both before he asked, "Is that a problem? That Nami-san went out too far on the waver?"

"Yeah… sorta…" Nami answered, wishing that she stuck closer to land.

"It wasn't your fault," Usopp reminded her, "We had no idea what was going on up here in the sky after all. How could we know about Eneru?"

"Who's Eneru?" Franky and Brook asked in confusion.

"I wish I could forget him," Nami shivered, remembering how she had to go with him to stay alive. The idea of going off to some strange land with him was just too horrible…

Luffy noticed the uneasy looks as well and asked what he problem was. Conis looked to them and answered, "In the clouds, there's a place called the Upper Yard that no one is ever allowed to set foot on. It's not too far away… it would only be a short trip by waver from here. I'm afraid your friend Nami may have set ashore there out of curiosity."

"I was there," Nami sighed, "But I never went ashore… I was just looking around."

"Why isn't anyone allowed to go there?" Brook asked in confusion. And what did this Eneru fellow have to do with it?

"What's so bad about this place that no one's ever allowed to go there?" past Usopp asked after a large swallow of food, "Is it full of monsters?"

"It's sacred ground," Conis answered him.

"Sacred? What does she mean by sacred?" Franky asked, wondering how ground could be considered holy.

"Sacred, my butt," Zoro muttered as memory Robin was looking at Conis in real surprise.

"But it's so much more than that," Conis said, her face darkening slightly, "It's the island… where god lives."

"GOD?!" Brook and Franky cried out in shock together.

"Please," Zoro said, "He was no god… just some wannabe jackass who ate an extra powerful Devil Fruit and then proclaimed himself to be a deity. That weird old guy once called him the Devil himself once…"

"The Devil? That's a bit extreme isn't it?" Brook asked.

"Not at all," Nami said angrily, "You have no idea the kind of damage that he'd done! How many lives he ruined. He showed up to Skypiea about six years before this memory right here. And ever since he'd been ruling over all the people here like they were his play things."

Brook gulped as Franky said, "I'm really not looking forward to seeing what you mean to that, sis."

"And I really hope that you don't," Sanji muttered, fighting the urge to smoke one of his last two cigarettes.

"There's actually a god?!" Luffy exclaimed loudly, "And he lives on an island up here that no one's allowed to walk on?!"

"This sounds so pathetic now that we know the whole story," Sanji sighed.

"Now that you know the whole story," Franky muttered bitterly.

"You mean the god?" memory Chopper asked startled, "The same one from the all the old stories? And he actually lives on the island next door to you?"

"He does," Conis said almost regretfully. "I'm sure that everybody noticed the big sign that said Godland Skypiea. That means that this land is ruled by the almighty god Eneru."

"Wait? This Eneru is the god?" Franky asked as memory Sanji looked like he couldn't believe that god would have such a stupid name.

"Again, just some power-hungry monster with a powerful ability," Zoro said with a shrug. "Without it, he wouldn't had been able to do anything."

"He knows and sees everything," Conis went on, "He's truly omniscient. He keeps his all-seeing eyes on everyone… always."

"Yes, his Haki was truly powerful," Robin agreed, thinking back. "He used that to keep a close watch over everyone in Skypiea. Anyone who did anything that seemed like a betrayal or even disrespect, he would kill."

"KILL?!" Brook screamed in horror.

"Ok, this guy really is a jackass then," Franky agreed, deciding that he hated everything about this guy. The past selves were all staring at her, wondering if what she was saying was true. But past Zoro merely leaned back skeptically. "God huh?" he asked.

"Wait, you mean you don't believe in god?" memory Chopper asked, "But why?"

The current Zoro shrugged as his past self explained, "Well for me, it's not a matter of belief. I don't see proof of it one way or the other. And to be honest, I don't really care to. But if you want to, go right ahead. It's not up to me to deny anyone their little beliefs."

"To each his own," he added, nodding sagely to his past self. Memory Sanji then looked back to Conis and asked that if this 'god' lived so close to them, then she must've seen him before. Her eyes widen at once, trying to say absolutely not, that she knew that the Upper Yard was a place where only god could live. But the way she spoke made it sound as though she was reciting something that she had memorized countless times before.

"I see…" Luffy said, and a dangerous sparkle was in his eyes. "A place we're not allowed to go to no matter what."

"He's going to get himself killed one of these days," Usopp whispered as his memory self noticed the danger signs as well. He screamed in terror before he grabbed hold of his captain's vest and began to shake him hard, "I've seen that look in your eyes before Luffy! And it always gets us into trouble! When the lady tells us not to go because it's sacred or whatever then that's exactly what she means! We cannot go there! I am not letting you drag me down with you this time!"

"Right… what was I thinking?" current Usopp sighed sadly, wishing that he could warn his past self that it was already far too late. That they were already in this mess the moment that they went through that stupid gate.

"Hey…" Luffy said in a falsely innocent voice that none of them believed, "I know that we're not supposed to go there. Come on… you really think I'm the kind of guy who would do that?"

"Who does he think he's kidding?" Franky asked as the past Straw Hats all said, "Yes… absolutely," with Robin giggling at it all.

"He knows… he just doesn't care," Nami muttered under her breath.

But then Luffy asked Conis that if this really was god, shouldn't he forgive them no matter what, and that walking around on the Upper Yard didn't seem too serious to him. Conis tried to tell him that any law set by Eneru was always met with punishment. Memory Robin then asked her what these 'punishments' were and Pagaya told them that they believed that anyone who set foot in the Upper Yard never returns.

"Now… that would get your attention," Sanji said, looking lovingly at Nami, truly just glad that she was alright.

"EVERYONE WHO GOES THERE DIES?!" memory Usopp yelled out as the cigarette fell from past Sanji's mouth when he finally understood why they were so worried about Nami going out to far.

"I must admit," Pagaya said softly, "I'm as worried about Nami as all of you are. I hope she hasn't sailed too close to the Upper Yard."

Past Sanji spun around and began screaming Nami's name out the window, as if hoping she could hear him; and Luffy was already saying that they should go out and look for her.

"You don't care about saving Nami!" memory Usopp yelled shaking him one again, "You just want to satisfy your twisted desired to do the exact opposite of what you've been told!"

"Well, I'm sure that he does care, but I can't completely disagree with what you said there, Usopp," Zoro sighed at that as the memory disappeared and Robin looked to Nami, asking what happened to her while she was gone.

"Like I said, I did see the Upper Yard, but I didn't set foot there," she said, "Not technically." She then quickly explained that while she was there, she saw a group of men who called themselves Eneru's priests, and they had been chasing a man who was searching for treasure on the island. However, before the priests could finish him off, Eneru decided to act on his own and in a show of power, a massive beam of energy had fired from the sky and disintegrates the treasure hunter.

"DISINTEGRATED HIM?!" Brook screamed out and she nodded unhappily.

"It's not exactly something I like to remember," she sighed. "I guess I should count myself lucky that they didn't notice me. But I did overhear them say that they heard of another group of 'criminals' had appeared and I realized that they were talking about us. Once they were gone, I headed straight back to Angel Island to warn everyone."

"A little late for that," Usopp sighed.

"Why? What happened next?" Franky asked at once. But then the next memory popped up, and they were all suddenly back on Angel Island's beach, the Straw Hats, Conis, and Pagaya were all standing in front of them were a large group of men with uniforms consisted of light-purple T-shirts, blue with white cloud-shaped spots wide trousers.

"Well look at what we have here!" the man in the front, wearing a long cape, obviously their leader, as they looked at the six present Straw Hats. "You must be the Blue Sea Dwellers who have illegally entered the land of Skypiea! Prepare to have the full weight of Heaven's Judgment brought down upon you!"

"Who are these guys?" Franky asked, eyebrows raised.

"They served as Skypiea's lowest lever of law enforcement," Robin answered, "The White Berets I think they're called."

"What's this about illegal entry?" Brook asked quietly. "You mean when you didn't pay that old lady?"

"Exactly," Usopp sighed, "And these guys gave us a hard time about it."

"Hard time… I was ready to gut them all," Zoro snarled, his hand still on his blades.

"You're calling them criminals?" Pagaya asked in astonishment as Conis looked fearfully at them all. Luffy asked the two of them what they meant by illegal entry and Pagaya responded that it just wasn't a good thing.

"Why should you have had to pay to enter in the first place?" Franky asked exasperatedly. "I mean… come on…"

"Eneru made it a law that any outsiders are immediately criminals," Nami informed him as the captain pulled out a stack of photos from his coat and stated that Amazon took those photos and there was no point in denying anything. As Pagaya tried to explain to the White Berets that they weren't the criminals they thought they were, memory Sanji quickly got annoyed and asked for what felt the hundredth time, just what this whole thing was about.

"Does this have to do with that ridiculous one billion extol entrance fee?" memory Robin asked, "Because we didn't pay her a thing."

"But didn't that old lady say that we didn't have to pay for it?" past Usopp asked, "It's not like she tried to stop us."

"Yeah, that's true," both Brook and memory Chopper said together before Brook added, "She just let you go…"

"That was the trap," Zoro muttered darkly.

"Enough!" the captain, whose name they learned was McKinley, said loudly, "There's no sense in denying it, now fess up!" when no one spoke, he went on, "Don't worry, you need not become panicked just yet. According to Heaven's Judgment, illegal entry is only an eleventh degree crime. Once you accept your punishment, which will be minimal, you become legal tourists on the spot and may go about your business!"

"Oh… really? That sounds reasonable… I think…" Brook said, hoping that this could be solved civilly.

"Reasonable?!" Nami screamed at him. "There was nothing reasonable about it!"

"Well, you should've told us that sooner," past Sanji said, but he sounded highly suspicious about the whole thing before he demanded to know what they had planned for them as far as punishment before they accepted anything.

"A mere slap on the wrist!" McKinley answered, "All you need to do is pay ten times the entry fee! Of course if you pay immediately we'll forget this little episode never happened. So ten billion per person, times seven people… makes your total seventy billion extols. Cast only."

"SAY WHAT?!" Franky yelled in outrage. "WHO CARRIES AROUND THAT KIND OF MONEY WITH THEM ALL THE TIME?! SLAP ON THE WRIST MY ASS!"

"This was a trap from beginning to end," Robin answered, as memory Usopp was calling out to know just how much that was in beris, "By not telling us that we would've become criminals by not paying them in the first place, they made it so that we would end up in this situation…"

"And we had no way of knowing beforehand what would've happened," Zoro added as McKinley told them that the payment would've been seven million beri's and memory Sanji dropped his cigarette once again as he yelled out, "Get real! Do you realize how expensive that is?! After risking our lives coming to this place, why should we have to pay a stupid fee just to enter your precious city?! We can't agree to that!"

"For once, I agreed with you there," Zoro told him as they watched McKinley's indifferent expression.

"You brought this upon yourself!" McKinley yelled, still in that annoyingly loud voice. "If you had just paid the seven hundred thousand beri's in the first place, we wouldn't be having this talk!"

"What sense does that make?!" Nami called angrily, furious at the thought of giving up seven million beri's like that.

"That's still way too much money!" memory Sanji yelled and the others all nodded at that.

But the White Berets were clearly not interested in listening anymore. "This is your first warning!" McKinley yelled threateningly, "The White Berets serve under the vessels of almighty Eneru. Arguing with us will only raise the number of your crime!"

"Why should you guys care?" Franky asked, "It's not like pirates need to follow the rules?"

"Yeah, but in this place, their so-called 'god' can back up his threats," Nami told him darkly.

The memory Straw Hats all chose to ignore what McKinley was saying, talking among themselves about what it was they should do. With the White Berets watching them, memory Usopp managed to buy them time by convincing Luffy that they should wait for Nami where they were in case she came back for them. But as they watched these memories, every minor thing they did seemed to raise their crime level. Such as the broken waver they brought with them, which they were accused of destroying before stealing.

"This waver looks downright abused!" McKinley yelled as Luffy told Pagayu that he hoped that he could fix it, "If I find out you're responsible for this damage, you're looking at a tenth degree crime! Destruction of Sky Island property by a Blue Sea Dweller!"

"It's none of your business what we do with our things now is it?" current Sanji snarled, remembering that this guy ticked him off.

Pagayu tried to explain that he was the one who broke it as Luffy added that this one belonged to them anyway. McKinley looked skeptical as he went to it and went on, "Is that right? Sounds suspicious to me. I was under the impression that wavers didn't exist in the Blue Sea World. If this one was stolen from Skypiea, the decree of your crime will increase!"

"Does it look like it's even from this century?" Zoro growled as he watched. "Who cares if it was stolen or not? It's been a mess like this for two hundred years!"

"It's not stolen!" Luffy snarled, "Wanna fight about it?!"

"Go for it, Luffy," Zoro nodded. And it went downhill from there. Usopp was running around, trying desperately to keep the fragile peace between them and the White Berets, hoping that Nami would be able to bail them out when she got back. But when he tried a simple distraction, fishing, they ended up catching a rare Sky Fish that tried to eat Conis, until Zoro attacked it. The White Berets declared that this fish was so rare that it was illegal to catch it and their crime level was now to the ninth decree.

"YOU ALL GOT INTO TROUBLE BY SAVING CONIS-SAN?!" Brook screamed in outrage. He wasn't the only one…

"WHY IS THAT A CRIME?!" memory Chopper screamed out just as angrily, "THAT THING WAS GONNA EAT CONIS! ZORO SAVED HER LIFE!"

But the White Berets just seemed to be glad for any excuse to declare that they were in trouble.

Even when it turned out that Zoro didn't kill the stupid fish, Luffy still tried to eat it, which went to their eight decree crime. After they sent it off on its way Luffy, Zoro, and even Chopper were all growing more and more irritated with the White Berets, and even when they tried to take a nap and started to snore, their crime only increased.

"You mean you couldn't even snore without being declared as criminals?" Franky asked with a large sweat-drop over his head, "How does anything get done up here?"

"I wondered that," Robin answered, "Eneru's Observation Haki was so strong that he always knew everything that was going on here… doing nothing really was the only thing that kept them safe."

"That must've been a hard for them here," Chopper said nervously. But the memory Straw Hats had just about reached their limit. Luffy was all for beating them up and memory Zoro was already getting his swords out at that order.

"Just take him out already," Franky said at once. Memory Usopp was doing his best to try and prevent a fight breaking out, but they all knew that these guys weren't going to take it for much longer. But just when things were getting serious, Nami finally returned, calling out to them from the waver. "LUFFY! PROMISE YOU WON'T START ANY TROUBLE OK?!"

"DON'T KNOW IF I CAN KEEP THAT PROMISE!" he yelled back.

"I should've known better," Nami sighed as she shook her head. It was already too late for that…

"Funny, you were the one who really caused the problems," Zoro pointed out to her.

"What are you…?" Brook began, really getting sick of having all these questions.

"HEY NAMI!" memory Usopp screamed out desperately, "WE NEED YOU TO FORK UP SEVEN MILLION BERI'S FROM YOUR STASH TO PAY FOR ALL THE FINDS WE GOT!"

"What made you think I had that much?" Nami demanded hotly.

"You were our best bet and you know it!" Usopp retorted.

"OH GOOD! SO WE PAY THE FINE AND WE'RE CLEAR!" she called before she seemed to realize what he said and a very dangerous smile came over her look. She suddenly sped up and rammed the waver right into McKinley's face, screaming out, "YOU'RE RIPPING US OFF!"

"WOW! What a hit!" Franky cheered, punching the air.

"About time someone hit him, I just wished it had been me," Zoro stated, watching as the scene seemed to freeze for a moment before McKinley was sent flying off, crashing through the ground and lay there with blood dripping down his face.

"Nami… what were you thinking? Just out of curiosity?" Robin asked her as the navigator blushed.

"I wasn't… I was so mad that I… just wanted to hurt him," she mumbled as she played with her fingers for a moment.

Some others gulped as the glanced nervously at her, as if expecting her to start attacking them as well. But they didn't say anything as they all looked quickly back to the scene, as memory Nami brought the waver back to its owners before she turned to the crew and said that it was time to make themselves scarce, telling them that Eneru wasn't someone they wanted to mess with. As they all looked over to McKinley laying there, Zoro asked Pagaya, sounding like he already knew the answer, "I assume that's another crime on our records?"

"Oh yes," Pagaya said fearfully, "Quite… knocking out an official is a crime of the fifth degree!"

"Fifth huh?" Usopp asked, not looking too worried, "Could be worse."

"You guys were sure racking up a record here," Franky said impressed. "And you were only here a few hours… if that!"

"That's not good at all!" Conis said, shaking a little. "Once you're found guilty of committing a fifth decree crime, almighty Eneru will banish you to the Land of the Drifting Clouds."

"Land of the Drifting Clouds?" Brook repeated. "That doesn't sound so bad…?"

"Wait for it…" Robin stated as memory Usopp asked what was so bad about it and Luffy commented that it sounded like fun to him.

"It's a death sentence!" she cried out, "You die!"

"Ok… that is bad," Franky muttered.

"WE… WE DIE?!" Chopper, Usopp, and Nami cried out in horror—looking close to running to the Merry and getting the hell out of here.

"You got him good Nami," past Zoro stated as he pointed to McKinley, who was still out, and the other White Berets who were examining him worriedly. "But come on… a death sentence in god's land? That's quite the contradiction."

"Yeah… I mean… the real god can't be all about plagues, fire and brimstone right?" Brook asked anxiously.

"Don't know… never met the guy," Zoro shrugged unconcerned.

"But it's the truth!" Conis cried out, sounding close to screaming, "This is very serious! They'll put you and your ship on a small cloud and set you adrift in the sea with no hope of rescue or escape! You'll eventually die a very slow and painful death! It's terrible!"

Sanji shivered at the thought, knowing how painful that would be… and she would be right, there wouldn't be any hope of escape in this situation… after all, who would think to look for you on a cloud?

Memory Robin thought that over before mentioning that was probably what happened to that ship that fell on top of them. When they looked to her, she reminded them of the St. Briss, the incident that started them on their quest to find Skypiea, and for all they knew that crew could've been punished just like that over two hundred years ago.

"So if you had been sent to that place, you'd probably still be up there today…?" Brook asked. "Except you'd be all bones like me! Yohohoho!"

"It's not funny, Brook!" Usopp yelled, a horrible flashback of seeing those falling skeletons fall around them coming back to him.

At those words, memory Nami went deathly pale and went to the other White Berets and tried to trick them into believing that she hit their captain by accident when she lost control of the waver. Luffy started to say that it looked like she knew what she was doing to him, with Usopp having to drag him away, hissing at him to keep his mouth shut.

"He's got such a big mouth…" Nami whispered, shaking her head, "I swear… one of these days…"

"He never thinks, that's his problem," Sanji sighed as they watched Pagaya step in and suggested that they should carried McKinley up to his house to treat him. Once understanding their priorities, the White Berets—for some reason—crawled away before warning the Straw Hats not to go anywhere.

"Ah… I know that we're just locals from the Blue Sea… but ah… why are they crawling? Why don't they just walk?" Franky asked with more sweat-drop.

"Usopp said that they had issues," Chopper said and they all nodded in agreement to that. Once they were gone, Conis told the memory Straw Hats that she truly didn't believe that they were as bad as they were made out to be. But she screamed at them that they should take this chance to leave before it was too late.

"Yeah, but then who knows what'll happen to Conis-san?" Brook said anxiously. "Would she be alright?"

"Who knows?" Usopp stated, but feeling a lot of guilt that she and Pagaya did end up getting into a lot of trouble trying to help them. But he supposed that beating Eneru and saving them from being killed by him sorta makes up for that.

As Conis went running off, memory Nami quickly explained to the others that they were going to do what she suggested. That she saw the island and it was full of monsters. Luffy was looking excited at the very thought, but Nami snapped at him that they were leaving now, and if they hurried they shouldn't cause Conis or Pagaya any trouble. Since they were with the White Berets, they shouldn't be suspected of helping them. The past versions of Robin, Usopp, and Chopper were all climbing onboard, with Sanji and Zoro halfway out as well. But Luffy hadn't moved, staring at Angel Beach with Nami asking what the problem was.

"Why are we running away?" Luffy asked her, his voice oddly emotionless.

"Because we're in trouble!" she said loudly as if it was obvious.

"So what? We're always in trouble," he said, in that same calm tone.

"That's true… it's not like we're new to trouble," current Sanji nodded in agreement.

"Yes, but I wasn't just thinking about us," Nami told him angrily as her past self agreed with that, saying that if they didn't leave then Conis and Pagaya could get arrested to.

"But they haven't done anything!" Luffy stated coldly. "Whoever arrests them is an idiot!"

"That's true… but it wouldn't be the first time that innocent parties were arrested," Franky growled, closing his eyes for a moment as his words came back to him as if from a lifetime ago… 'BRING TOM BACK!'

He sighed miserably as he opened them once again, his heart suddenly feeling heavy. Memory Nami was staring at Luffy, muttering that she already knew that but… however past Usopp interrupted her, yelling that they could argue on the boat, and they were getting ready to leave.

"He can be so stubborn," Nami sighed watching them.

"But now that it think about it, how did you intend to get back to the Blue Sea?" Brook suddenly asked in surprise. "I mean…?"

"Yeah… we weren't thinking about that while we were looking for the way up here," Sanji admitted as memory Nami nodded at Usopp's words and understood that they were out of time. Glaring back at Luffy she yelled loudly and slowly so that he couldn't hope to mishear, "How many times do I have to tell you?! Staying here means more trouble for everybody!"

But Luffy was still calm, in fact he was starting to creep some of them out by how calm he was here, before he answered, "We're in trouble no matter what."

"What does he mean by that?" Chopper asked, forgetting what happened next. But he got his answer quickly enough. Memory Nami was looking at him in surprise, probably just as confused by his sudden tone as they were, but then they heard Conis's voice call out behind them, "SAVE YOURSELVES! PLEASE GO!"

All of them spun around to see that the White Berets were back. McKinley was on his feet, his face heavily bruised and showed signs of former bleeding, but he was smirking at them triumphantly—as if they had just caught a bunch of kids breaking the rules—which in a way they did. But he warned Conis that if she said anything else, he'll label them as accomplishes, so they had no choice but to keep their mouths shut.

"I really hope that she does," Brook said worriedly, "As touched as I am that she's concerned for all of you, I don't want to see her punished for it."

"I'll kill anyone who tries to harm such a beautiful angel," Sanji threatened angrily.

"Yeah! They didn't do anything!" Chopper called loudly, "They should leave them alone."

But then the White Berets began their attack on them. Luffy told Nami to head back to the ship, which she did without complaint as the White Berets created long, purple clouds for them to ride on with skates that were powered by Jet Dials.

The fight was fun to watch to say the least… if very short. Luffy was able to stretch out of harm's way, and was able to take them out by using a new attack… Gum Gum FIREWORKS. He jumped into the air and spun around rapidly before he stretched and wrapped himself in his own arms and legs like a rubber ball. And when he let his limbs go free, the ball unwrapped itself and he unleashed a flurry of punches and kicks of increased speed that went every direction due to his fists and feet bouncing back and forth.

"YEAH! HE TOOK THEM ALL OUT IN ONE MOVE!" Franky laughed, "GO FOR IT LUFFY!"

"As expected," Sanji laughed, before he noticed the tip of an arrow aimed for the rubber idiot, sticking through the purple clouds.

"That's dirty, attacking when your back's turned," Zoro said as his past self and Sanji took out the men with the arrows easily.

"Wow! I didn't even see them!" Brook gasped as the cloud started disappearing.

"Like we were going to let them kill Luffy with a cheap shot," Sanji laughed. The 'Monster Trio' were now turned back to look at the Merry, asking how their money situation was and they learned that they were practically broke. Only enough to last them one more day at most.

"I forgot about how poor we were here," Usopp stated.

"We still have the two hundred million from Thriller Bark don't we?" Robin asked them.

"We used up some of it when we got back to Sabaody and did some shopping," Nami confessed, "But yes, we still have most of that. Which I will be keeping a very close watch on…" she added darkly, giving the boys a deadly look—and they nodded hurriedly as Robin giggled at that.

McKinley was on his feet again, though barely as he smirked evilly at them all.

"Wow, he's tough," Franky said impressed.

"Sorry criminals but you have no chance of escape!" he declared and the Straw Hats all looked back at him, "You should've behaved and done what I told you to do!"

"Well… we were behaving," Sanji stated, "And to be honest, I'm impressed that we behaved ourselves for as long as we did."

"And they were the ones who kept going on about every little thing we did," Usopp sighed, "And after all that work to try and keep them calm."

"Valiant effort, Usopp," Robin chuckled a little, patting him on the back.

"Of all the upholders of law here in Skypiea, we White Berets are the most lenient!" McKinley went on. "However, they are not nearly as forgiving!" He laughed cruelly as he declared, "Congratulations! You are now considered second decree criminals! You can try to cry for mercy, but you will all be judged!" He pointed a finger dramatically at them, "BY THE PRIESTS OF UPPER YARD! HESO!"

"Those laws were stupid anyway," Zoro stated as the memory faded around them.

"These priests again?" Brook repeated softly, "You said they lived on the Upper Yard, Nami-san?"

"They were the four men who served under Eneru," Zoro stated, thinking of the fool Ohm… "And probably his strongest followers."

"Yeah," Chopper said, thinking of the three priests that he had to face. An experience he rather forget…

"Were they really that dangerous?" Brook asked tensely.

"Not really," Sanji sighed, "But the problem was that they knew Haki too. They kept predicting our moves and that was hell to fight."

"I bet we could take them on easy now," Zoro said, holding up his blade and hoping that they would get to face Eneru again someday. He knew for sure that he could take him on this time around… and if they ever did see him again, he would be ready.