The Sea of Clouds

The others waited with varying level of concerns as the hours pass into morning since Morgan had left; Nami along with Chopper and Usopp were concerned that Morgan had gone on a violent rampage, Sanji was busy trying to placate Nami and Robin with food so he could make sure they weren't worried while waiting.

The only people who were't AS worried were Zoro and Robin however they were for two different reasons. "You know that we could go after him and help stop him if he does go out of control." Robin pointed out as she flicked through the pages of her book while casually reading both it and the room.

"True, but you're giving Morgan too little credit…When he's pissed, he gets focused on the sole thing he's after. You make it sound like he's a rabid monster." Zoro retorted with a soft growl; Much like with Nami, The First Mate wasn't best pleased about the fact that she partially derailed Morgan's ambitions with what she did. "Besides, if he DOES go a little nuts then wouldn't that make it partially your fault?" He askd with a raised eyebrow.

"Perhaps, but you also have to consider that if I hadn't…your captain would've most likel-"

Nami would get up when she saw Morgan rushing towards them with a sack on his back and barely a scratch on him; "He's made it back!"

The others moved to the side so they could get the recovering Cricket; "Brat…I thought I told you to leave it be!" He grumbled as he took the bag with a heavy KLANK!

"To hell with that! You fought tooth and nail just to get that gold in your hands…You're telling me that you'd have given it up to some bottom feeders?" Morgan asked as he crossed his arms, watching as Cricket then showed the others to the now fully upgraded Merry and climbed aboard with them.

"You've done a lot for the monkey brats so it's only fair that I have them return the favour, you take this ship out to the south and then wait. Once the Knock-Up Stream takes it's course, hold on for dear life and hope that you can make it to the top." Cricket mentioned before he doused his cigarette while watching them from land; "And…Thank you….You've helped me get back what was mine and I don't think I can ever ask you for anything else, so prove those jerks wrong and show them that the Sky Islands do exist!"

The others cheered as they set sail and felt the rumbling of the Stream starting to commence; "I think this is it…."

The seas churned and sank as a whirlpool formed under them, the clouds darkened into a night like sky and with a drastic yell from Morgan to warn them on what they could feel was about to happen. "EVERYONE! GET INSIDE OR HOLD ON!"

With a deafening crash of the quickly rising water, the Going Merry shot up into the sky like a rocket as the Knock-Up Stream launched them all up in the air, blasting away any ships that happened to be tailing the Straw Hats in the process.

Morgan was using a pair of arms to hold on to the mast while the other two pairs held on to the other two Devil Fruit users since the three of them were most at risk if they fell off. "I can see it! We're near the top of the clouds!"

The sun practically blinded them as the water gave way under them and they landed on what felt like water; floating in the breeze with nothing around them except the sky and the clouds; "We…We actually did it….This is the White Sea!" Nami cheered as she peered over the side to see the rippling clouds washing against the side of the ship.

Morgan let the two down as the group steadied themselves; "You two okay?" He asked Robin and Chopper with concern, though Chopper let themself down fairly easy, Robin seemed to hold on to his waist.

"My dear captain, I knew that you couldn't completely hate me~" She chuckled and then snuck a quick kiss on his cheek before untangling herself and strutted off while humming in satisfaction at the fact that she got a little closer.

Morgan was about to reprimand her for teasing him but his anger was snubbed when he heard the sound of a camera going off and an old woman watching them as they went past; "Who are you?"

The fossil of a woman grumbled about unexpected guests as she wandered towards the ship; "I'm Amazon, I monitor the visitors going in and out of Skypeia…I also make sure that you pay the toll when you come in and at around 7 people on your ship, that's gonna be to the tune of 7 Billion Extols."

"We don't even know what Extols are! Besides, we don't even have that much anyway." Nami chimed in since this was regarding their coin purse too.

Amazon waved it off; "If you don't have the money then go on ahead, I don't exactly care enough to stop you."

On hearing that they weren't going to be pushed on the matter encouraged them to go on ahead, though it seemed that Morgan was more than a little suspicious of the fact and even Nami was a little apprehensive about waiving that kind of penalty fee.

"You think she's on to us about the whole thing?" Nami asked Morgan as she walked over to join him; "I'm pretty generous with you guys and your spending but that's a whole new level." She would admit causing Morgan to sweatdrop.

"Generous for a loan shark maybe…" Morgan thought to himself; "But still, at least we're making good progress…" He mentioned optimistically as he began to feel his breath thin and everyone else did too as they entered onto the Sky Canal that lead them further in.

"Wh-What is this?"

"Air….Can't breathe…."

"Just keep calm and focus your breathing….The air is thin up here so you guys need to be careful." Morgan mentioned as he took a meditative stance while standing with his fists knocked together. "Wait, how can you be okay with all this?" Chopper asked as they seemed to fare a little better than the others but not as much as Morgan. "I grew up on the mountains so I'm used to this but you are barely fazed."

"I'm used to focusing myself to adapt, but on top of that I think the Fruit is making it a little easier to handle." Morgan admitted to the others as they found themselves approaching a nearby beach with the name "Angel Island" plastered on it.

"That does make sense, being something of a godly figure; that might alter how you handle things better like heat, cold or even low or high altitudes." Robin added as she watched Usopp and Sanji trying out the White sea.

"I'm just gonna stop that divine boat where it is." Morgan mentioned seriously; "No matter what happens or what Fruit Powers are sitting in my gut, I am not…Nor will I ever call myself a God."

"Yet you want to be King of Pirates, right?" Robin retorted with a soft chuckle; "Trading in one sense of Ego for another."

"Becoming King is a lot more understandable and attainable than Morgan going and bossing people around because he has powers of an Asura." Nami defended him; "Morgan might be stubborn…And hardheaded…And competitive and sometimes a little too snarky…But he is not that conceited."

"Why don't we just…Go see what this beach is like?" Chopper offered as everyone else disembarked before another argument started.

"Heso! Are you all sightseers?" A blonde girl carrying a purple fox would welcome them as they made their way on to the beach. "I'm Conis and it's really nice to meet new faces out here."

The others would introduce themselves and to her father Pagaya while they introduced the Strawhats to the different types of Dials that they used on the Sky Islands.

Nami and Morgan however seemed to be enjoying the Wavers that were lent to them; with Nami riding the bike version and Morgan using the Board version since he kept falling off the bike.

"Man…They really make it look easy." Chopper remarked as they watched the two from the beachside.

"Morgan I can understand picking up something like this easy…But Dear Nami being able to wield it so skilfully is a no surprise to me at all!" Sanji mentioned with a joyous lilt as he was looking over ingredients and recipes from Sky Island in the hopes of recreating it. Unaware that in the distance was a group of military men marching on Conis's house.

—Meanwhile—

"Hey Morgan, Betcha that I can get to that Island before you~!" Nami called out to him and pointed to a dense jungle in the distance; "If I win then I think you can buy me one of these later~!"

"You're the one with the bags of money! Besides in that case if I win then I get the board!" Morgan yelled back as he sped up to race her to the next island.

But by the time that they got to the next Jungle island was where a "Hunt" was being undertaken; Nami had been investigating a broken down boat while Morgan was peering into the treeline and saw what looked like a heavily injured man.

"Y-You! Please help me! They're after me….God's going to-" The man screamed out to Morgan before everything faded to white; the forest was awash in a bright flash of light followed by the unmistakeable rumble of thunder as the concussive force sent Morgan and Nami who was a few yards away flying from the area.

Morgan blinked a few times to readjust and saw in horror what had just happened; The entire area where that man once was had been vaporised into burnt wood, singed earth and the smell of rain. "What…was that?" Morgan thought as he tried looking for the source of that light and ducked down when he heard talking from the forest echoing.

"Foolish intruder thinks he could beg for mercy and escape from God's Divine Will?"

"Ho Ho Ho~ None can stand to his Might and none will ever hope to stand as his equal…."

"From one blaspheming intruder to the next, the old bat from the entrance desk has informed us of seven new intruders that have illegally made their way to these Holy Lands…The White Berets can catch them but rest assured…We will ultimately be the ones to cast judgment as the priests!"

"Judgement….Divine Will? We need to get the others and go!" Morgan thought to himself as this was far beyond what he had seen before and rode over to Nami and helped her up; "We have to go! Now!" He warned Nami as he activated the Dials on the board.

"Morgan! What's going on, what was that light?!" Nami tried to process what had happened but listened intently as Morgan explained to her what he had seen and heard earlier.

—Back at the Angel Island—

"YOU ARE ALL UNDER ARREST!" The head Military man barked at them as he leered among the group; "So far since we've arrived; Your crimes against Skypeia have been plentiful and nothing short of egregious!" Captain Mckinley snarled as he read off the list; "First is all of your illegal entries into these lands, the excessive noise, your threats of extortion and even worse is your blatant disregard for the highest authority there is!"

"You can't complain to us about that! Most of those crimes are you twisting what we do into something worse!" Usopp protested as he had been trying his hardest to stop Chopper from spilling the beans about Morgan and Nami but also with preventing Zoro from knocking the captain's lights out.

"I am simply acting under God's orders…Now I'm sure you are a reasonable group so we can humbly forgive these grievous sins against you if you pay us the fine for your illegal entry." Mckinley sneered; "For the pictures of seven people, you would need to pay a total of 70 Billion Extols!"

"Guys! Serious trouble!" Morgan yelled as he jumped off of the board and ran towards them with Nami following suit. "Who's this shovel-headed jerkoff?"

The White Berets grit their teeth as they looked to the newcomers; "Verbally assaulting the Captain of the White Berets is a capital offense….You are slowly making this worse for yourselves…But since you are land people, I'll spell it out for you…Your total fee in this case is 7 million Berri…BWUH!" He said but got knocked out by Nami as she heard the cost.

"TOO MUCH Mon…ey?" Nami trailed off as she saw the combined shock of Conis and the Berets plus the surprise from everyone except Morgan and Zoro.

"You…You filthy Land People! You'll pay for assaulting our chief officer!" One Beret yelled at them as they drew weapons. "You will be executed on the spot for your lawbreaking, vicious mockery and the vile woman who laid a hand on me….She will be taken directly to God as a sacrifice!"

Morgan felt his anger snap when he heard this and stepped forward; "I don't like the law, both down there or up here but I still try to act decently…I'd have played along if you had been considerate but since you've started spewing bile, I've got some things to say about your group…Constructive things." Morgan growled as he cracked his knuckles with a glare that rivaled Nami's.

"W-We should get the others inside now!" Usopp urged as everyone rushed into the house to avoid getting caught in the crossfire.

"GET HIM! GET THE RIOTING UPSTART!" Mckinley roared as the group tried to rush him with weapons drawn and Skates ready.

Taking the chance to focus his Haki, he managed to get his points to fight back by ducking and evading each soldier before countering harshly with a swift kick or a punch to flatten most of the footsoldiers.

"I see…You're not just a typical heathen throwing your weight around, your skill with Mantra is quite impressive…Dare I say you might even be able to become a Priest if you hadn't conducted yourself so crudely." McKinley sneered as he pulled out a trident, each one tipped with what looked like red conical shells. "Fine! My trusty Smite Stick shall put you back in your place!"

"And here I thought you were going to be a fighter with the other soldiers, not jump in after ordering them on me." Morgan rolled his eyes and resumed his stance.

"Take this! HEATHEN SMITING BURN JAB!" Mckinley yelled out as he thrust the trident multiple times at Morgan but each jab and thrust was evaded like it was nothing.

"You know, I'm not sure what Mantra is but if this is all you're good at then I'm done." Morgan then vaulted over the next thrust and swung a leg down to try kicking McKinley in the head.

"Too bad you got sloppy, DIRTY HEATHEN SURPRISE SLASH!" McKinley yelled out as he drew a sword out and swung downward to cut Morgan in two.

However Morgan figured that someone as stubborn as this would have a secret trick and out of reflex; clapped his hands to stop the blade from hitting him…with all six hands.

"W-What in the…"

"Get…LOST!" Morgan yelled as he pushed off and started to lose his temper; "I've already dealt with enough today so just leave us alone!"

"You…This is a Class 1 OFFENSE! Not only do you commit your vile acts and your blasphemies with such blase attitudes, but you have the GALL to raise your hand at me by using the techniques of heretics!" McKinley yelled out as he himself got furious at the sight of the six armed Morgan; "I will inform the Priests of you…In fact, I will report you directly to GOD! Vile false deities who encroach on the land of our divine God will be struck down with such ferocity, we had done it to Urouge and we will make sure that you do it to you too!" McKinley yelled out as he grabbed his unconscious men and retreated away from the house.

"M-Morgan!" Nami rushed out with a sigh of relief that he was okay, considering that the last thing that they saw relating to enforcement here was the bright light that vaporised a part of the jungle, she had assumed the worst.

"You two, what was all of that?" Conis asked as she looked rather shaken; Though whether it was because of the sudden outburst of the White Berets or because of Morgan having six arms in his fight against them.

"Well…I fought back, that's about it." Morgan mentioned in a rather matter of fact tone before retracting the six arms, he then noticed the pale look on Conis's face and the dumbfounded expression on Pagaya's.

"Th-Those arms...Asura….No…This is just a Devil Fruit…Only a Devil Fruit." Pagaya muttered and tried to collect himself as he rushed over to Morgan with a fervent look; "You seem to have made a grave mistake in coming to Skypeia…Those powers of your's are dangerous and they'll place an even larger risk against you and your group now that the Law has seen them…Along with what'll become of you with God Eneru's judgement."

"Wait, Six-Arms….God Eneru? What are you talking about?!" Morgan asked, starting to get annoyed with getting this talk snubbed; especially since it concerned his crew.

Conis looked bemused but decided to explain; "When God existed here in Skypeia and started to monitor us all with his benevolence, He took it upon himself to expedite the great evils of the Sky Islands including the malicious God Of Destruction and Wrath Asura." he detailed with most of the crew (Mainly Usopp and Chopper) turning to look at Morgan with suspicion; "Asura rallied up every non-Believer of Eneru's faith and sought to take control of Skypeia and thus was banished from this land…."

"Okay, hold it right there!" Morgan interrupted with his hands raised up; "I don't know what exactly it is that you think I'm here to do but I can assure you that I am NOT a God….Nor am I here to start fights against would be gods! The only reason I fought now was because I'd have been cut up otherwise…"

"Well…The only reason we get into fights is that 90% of the time; other people picked a fight with us." Zoro pointed out and then looked to Morgan; "Besides, most "Gods" tend to have a divine and flawless form…Morgan here empties out a fridge and exercises monstrously just to look the way he does….Well, except for the weird markings on his body."

Morgan realised that in a window's reflection; his body was marked with odd tattoo looking markings and his arms were still metallised, he shut his eyes to try calming himself further and both effects slowly went away with each new exhale, "There, all good now." He thought to himself though he did seem to notice that Conis had gone back inside as he opened his eyes.

"Well, we discovered that the Sky Islands exist so we can just go ahead and leave now!" Usopp quickly proclaimed as he now despeately wanted off this ride since Morgan was a red alert target, however his collar got yanked by NAmi who still had Berri signs in her eyes.

"No you don't, if the Sky Islands are real…Then I am not leaving until we find that City of Gold!" Nami stubbornly admitted; "Though it is true that we have to leave, it's too dangerous to stay here with Conis and Pagaya." She said as her, Robin, Chopper and Zoro jumped onto the ship to get ready.

"If…If you want to leave, I can tell you which ways to go." Conis offered as she climbed aboard to give her the information of White End; a Current that could take them back down to the Blue Sea.

Inside the house however, Morgan was chowing down on food to replenish the stamina that he lost during the fight and partly to quell his feelings about relying on his Fruit powers still along with the stress of fact that because of it, everyone's in danger.

Sanji was gathering up recipes while Usopp took the chance to learn more about Skypeian tech so he could incorporate it into his inventions. "So this is all okay for us to take with us? I wouldn't want to impose…" Sanji asked Pagaya who was happy to help.

"Nonsense, I'm happy that you kids are willing to learn this much about us." The bearded man joyfully remarked though his gaze was broken when he saw the waves break and The Going Merry was lifted up out of the water by a giant lobster; "God's Messenger?"

"NAMI! ROBIN!" Sanji yelled out as he ran outside with Morgan in tow to see the ship vanish along the canal and towards the place that they were told was the forbidden zone.

"Where'd they go?!" Morgan asked Pagaya with more concern in his voice than he had liked, if they were heading into the jungle with the Light that cast concern on him then it couldn't have been good.

"They were taken...Your friends appear to have been found by God and as a result of your crimes as a Class 1 Fugitive along with their Class 2 crimes, for such a high severity and affront to his authority; that means your friends on that ship will be subject to Sacrifice..." Pagaya grimly explained and went into detail about the Priests there and what he knew about the sacred Land.

"Tell us where we have to go..." Morgan said with a voice that promised that he would do anything and everything to get them back.

"God's Land...Upper Yard…"