The Unbendable Will

"Okay, that should be the last of the repairs." Usopp sighed out a breath of relief; the attacks from the salvagers managed to rip up the already damaged Merry even after the brief fixes made after Hina's assault. "Though I keep telling you I'm not a shipwright so we need someone to repair it."

"Then why not get a new ship? We're barely holding on as it is…" Sanji suggested as he brought out food for everyone. While Nami and the others were away, Sanji and the others managed to head back and find out that a descendant of Montblanc Noland named Cricket lived on the borders of the island to hunt for gold. It took some fighting and Chopper to look over his Diver's syndrome to convince the man that they weren't there to steal.

"Hey, don't count out Merry just yet!" Morgan chided Sanji as he was getting patched up by Chopper before getting lightly slapped on the forehead.

"Hey! No sudden movements until I get these wounds cleaned up." Chopper reprimanded him; They had been worried sick when Zoro and Morgan both came back beaten and bloody along with Nami looking more frustrated than anything.

"Why didn't you fight back when they started beating you guys up?! They laughed us all out of that bar simply because of your old bounties." Nami snapped at Morgan and Zoro but merely got a "Really?" look from the two of them.

"You were the one who told us not to pick fights to begin with!" Zoro barked back at her; "Besides…I would've if it wasn't Captain's orders."

Morgan grimaced as the sting of medical alcohol hit on a sore spot but then looked to Nami; "We could've easily beaten them up but it's like that guy said, sometimes there are fights that just aren't worth the trouble." He pointed out as he rolled his arm with the sound of some soft cracks.

"If we picked a fight with every pirate that called us losers, we'd still be back in Orange Town." Zoro added as he noticed Chopper looking rather spooked; "Chopper? What's wrong?"

Chopper was silent for a brief moment; Ever since the news came out that Morgan had eaten a Devil Fruit, their captain was oddly different: Both his smell and the feel of his body had something that felt like he was still normal yet had a faint tinge that something was off. "N-Nothing…It's nothing…"

"Those rotten bastards…How dare they proposition and throw booze at my dear Nami!" Sanji growled as the only thing stopping him from rushing off after Bellamy was Morgan practically ordering him to stay.

"The feeling is mutual…But we're still nowhere near any closer to finding out about this Sky Island." Morgan grimaced as he unfurled the map to the fabled island in the clouds. They had managed to get acquainted with Cricket and his story when they got back to Merry "Cricket said that getting there was no easy way and if it DOES exist then we need to travel into the sky…"

"The sky? We can do a lot of things, Morgan but I don't think that getting all of us AND the ship to fly is one of them." Usopp mentioned, quick to point out the physics and especially since it meant going up and putting themselves in such critical danger that not even the splash of the sea could cushion their fall.

"Then we use the Knock-Up Stream." Robin said as she climbed aboard; "Nice to see you exercise restraint during that scuffle in the bar, Mr. Captain~"

"You just wandered off while we finished up, where exactly did you go off to?" Morgan asked with some vaguely masked annoyance that she was so willing to talk down to him like this.

"I put my skills to use and gathered information in a less conspicuous way…Supposedly you can see a phenomena on this part of the sea called the Knock-Up Stream caused by hidden cavities at the bottom of the ocean, if the ship rides it upward then it can breach the clouds." Robin explained and gestured to the wide expanse of blue.

"Cricket mentioned something about that…He said he'd hear us out since we helped him recover." Chopper mentioned as they climbed off and headed down to the island.

By the time that Morgan and the others got back, it was evening going into night and the perfect opportunity to go see Cricket at his house. With a surprise visit from the Salvagers Masira and Shojo who explained that they were fans of Noland the Liar and offered to help Cricket with searching for the supposedly sunken gold.

"Well…If you wanna make it to the Stream in time then you're going to need a South Bird…" Cricket remarked as they dished out food; "Wait…SHIT! You need to catch one before tomorrow afternoon!"

"You're telling us this now?! It's already night and nearly every animal's gone to their hovel." Usopp pointed out before he was handed a net like everyone else was.

"You'll be able to tell which bird it is due to the call it makes, plus it should be roaming still…Bring it back here while me and these two get your ship ready." Cricket assured them as the monkey brothers gave a thumbs up when the Straw Hats left for the forest.

"Not point complaining…Though couldn't we have done this before our big party?" Morgan openly asked as the group entered the forest to start their search for the South Bird.

"We'll cover more ground if we split up….So everyone group up and lets start looking." Nami mentioned as Usopp went with Sanji, Chopper went with Zoro and Robin.

"So just us to go together then?" Morgan chuckled as he saw how she planned it out before venturing into the forest.

"What? I can't help it if a Navigator wants to make sure her captain stays on track." Nami teased him as she followed; "Besides, I still prefer to tag along with you since Usopp would run off scared, Sanji would be all over me like a rash and keeping an eye on you is a lot easier than with Zoro."

Morgan chuckled; "That and you seem pretty intent on keeping me close by." he added to tease her further especially since he caught her glaring at Robin.

"Well, I could always leave you with your new best friend and let you two fight it out…or in her case, you'll probably end up getting fu-"

"Well, you seem to have a new best friend as well." Morgan mentioned as he glanced down to Nami's lower half.

"Heh, you can't charm me that easily, we have a bird to find remem…ber?" Nami smugly pointed out but then froze in horror when she saw Morgan leaning down to delicately scoop a tarantula that was the size of his palm off of her lower back and started watching it crawl around.

"Hey, lil guy…You've got some good taste if you're hanging around a girl like that." Morgan chuckled as he used a finger to lightly rub the tarantula's head….Though he flinched when he heard Nami's horrified scream at the fact that a pretty big spider had crawled on her.

"GETITAWAY!GETITAWAY!GETITAWAY!GETITAWAY!GETITAWAY!" Nami shrieked at him as she frantically pat herself down and tried to wipe away any phantom crawlers on her; "You're scared of the ocean but you're fine with eight legged monsters that can poison you?!"


Morgan watched the tarantula crawl along his arm and smiled; "Me and my brothers used to catch bugs back when were were little." He explained as he carefully set it on a tree trunk. "Besides, unless you do something to make it…Tarantulas ain't gonna bite ya." He added with the accent that came from growing up in the country.

"I swear, you draw a fine line between hot and weird…." Nami grumbled as she breathed a sigh of relief that the creepy crawly was no longer around them.

"Jyoooooh, Jyoooooh!"

Morgan turned and saw a large multicoloured bird crowing at them; "Look sharp, Nami…We got our bird." He remarked as he then gripped his net.

——Later——

"You are a pain in the ass, you know that?!" A very badly stung Morgan yelled at the bird that he had held in a tight grip under his arm. Him and Nami chased down the bird after it kept taunting them, hitting him with all kinds of bugs and making Nami scream in horror as moths and centipedes came crawling out of the woodwork.

"Jyoooh Jyoh-Jyoh!"

"He says that your face bugged him and he just wanted to humble you." Chopper translated for the bird as they walked back, the others managed to rendezvous with the pair after hearing the sounds of a tree falling down followed by Morgan's angry yelling and Nami's hysteria.

"Damn that bird…Making Nami frightened to such a degree…." Sanji growled as he was covered in mud from getting caught in a bog.

"Still, at least we caught the South Bi-MERRY!" Usopp yelled out as he rushed over to the vandalised ship and then paused as they saw the true scope of what had happened when they left.

Cricket's house was smashed up and defaced along with not just the man himself but Shojo and Masira having been beaten into the dirt.

"What happened?!" Chopper cried as they started treating Cricket who was still somehow conscious.

"A buncha bums…rushed us after you left, demanding us to hand over what gold we had." Cricket winced as he sat up; "He laughed at us once he recognised me and gave us this whole spiel about stupid dreams."

The others tried to help clean up as they looked around for a clue but Zoro was the one to see what they were visited by; "Hey, Morgan…You might wanna see this."

Once the others came over, it became evident for the three that stayed in town recognised what the calling card was; a Jolly Roger of a grinning face with a line through it. "Bellamy…That's his name, wasn't it?" Nami asked as she grimaced after remembering the guy from the restaurant.

"Don't…We managed to get your ship ready and the Knock-Up Stream will be coming soon." Cricket wheezed while Chopper healed him.

"But…What about that gold? You spent all that time trying to get it and wrecking your body in the process…" Nami asked him as even though she would've wanted the gold herself, something that precious was too much to take.

"Heh, some dreams have to die, I guess…But at least now I can focus on other things…" Cricket would chuckle hoarsely; "I've spent my whole time here…As a Pirate and as Noland's Descendant trying to make a name for myself to escape the shame, I guess this is the most I can expect to come about for dreaming too much."

"Hey…Where'd Morgan go?" Sanji asked as he noticed that out of everyone present; he'd be the one to talk about how he can turn it around.

It took all of three seconds for the mood to drop into something a little more tense. "We should probably find the Captain before something bad happens." Robin mentioned as she glanced back to the town.

"Bad? Like what exactly?" Usopp asked as he along with the others were unaware of the true gravity of the situation.

"The Asura Fruit is dangerous, with what I DO know about it; it is based on a War God." Robin explained as she looked to them; "A being of pure wrath and anger, capable of increasing his own strength and power with the more he gets angry….If that works in tandem with his already incredible way of fighting…."

"A War God? That explains why he smelled different while I was tending to his wounds…but then again, you said he was in a worse shape when you guys left the bar but he was all but healed up except a few minor cuts when I looked him over." Chopper mentioned since this was out in the open now.

"If he's gone after that gold…The gold that Bellamy stole and with all that preaching and abuse he dished out on the three of us…" Zoro mentioned as he then felt an almost unfamiliar shiver up his spine. "I almost feel bad for the guy."

——At Mocktown——

"BELLAMY! WHERE'S BELLAMY?!" A drunk would be yelling into the bar as he staggered in, looking like a mix of out of his mind and scared beyond belief.

"You don't have to yell out, we're all right here." Sarquiss would mentioned as he grabbed another drink; "What's got your bottle in a pinch, anyway?"

"I…I found the new batch of wanted posters that were being thrown around….It has those two guys that you threw around!" The drunk slurred as he held up two posters, one of Morgan and one of Zoro before placing them on the table so that everyone could see.

At first there was silence as the name was muttered but the sound of a glass crashing to the floor and the sounds of several puckered anuses could be heard once the number was read out.

"That's.."

"That's a lot of zeroes…"

"There's no way this can be real…right? We saw that guy earlier!"

Bellamy was getting annoyed by the cringing that the other pirates were doing and turned to face them; "Shut up! How can you be that frightened over a passive little runt like that?!" He snapped and swigged down his drink; "You saw him earlier, there's no way that he could have a bounty that scares you when he could barely throw a punch properly…Plus pirates bullshit their wanted posters all the time…Use your common sense!"

Once Bellamy snapped the group of their worry, they began to calm down and even laughed it off.

"B-But what if it isn't a fake? Bellamy, This kid supposedly has a 120 million Berri bounty on his head! If he's legit then that means that he's more dangerous than you are!" The Drunk would insist as Sarquiss took some guys and headed outside.

"We'll keep a watch, if he does try to come crawling back to get gold…he'll be leaving here with broken teeth!" Sarquiss promised as he grabbed his knife.

Morgan however was walking into town when Sarquiss and his group exited; "Just the man I was looking for…You're with Bellamy's crew, right?" He asked with a no nonsense attitude. The straw hat wearing man seemed to be different considering what he was there for as he now had some peculiar red markings along his face and neck that made his skin look plated.

"Yeah, last I remembered; you were getting the shit kicked out of you along with that green haired ape and your uptight prude." Sarquiss snarked as he saw the other 6 guys with him start to laugh.

"I was keeping up a promise to not start conflict….No matter how much you pushed us." Morgan remarked as he then looked to the watchful minions around him; "But my problem is with Bellamy, not you…So get lost or I'll make you into my next statement." He growled and then cracked his knuckles as a warning.

"You're kidding right? I watched you getting knocked around by Bellamy and he was just playing around…these guys are more then good enough for you…So, go get him!" Sarquiss snipped at them as they charged at Morgan with guns, swords and clubs in hand.

"I said…." Morgan snarled before his glare sharpened; "BEAT IT!" He yelled at the group who suddenly froze in place as his roar echoed throughout the square.

Sarquiss raised an eyebrow; The sudden yell made him wince but he figured that was because of Morgan's rather quick outburst, though he wasn't expecting the men that were stationed with him to start passing out and dropping to the ground like flies; "That's….Different…"

"Last warning, smug shit….Where's Bellamy?" Morgan grit his teeth as he felt his body fortify itself.

——Inside the bar——

"It's gotten quiet….You think that Sarquiss tracked him down?" one patron asked as they figured that someone like Giant Knife could dispatch what they were still believing was a low ranking pirate.

"If you're gonna keep doubting my boys, then you can pay for your own me-"

CRASH!

The doors practically blasted open in a spray of wood as Sarquiss rocketed through into the diner and crashed into the bar. The long haired man was wholly knocked out with his body brutally beaten up and his nose was bloody.

"That….Fine, if this little snot wants to deal with me, he can drop dead!" Bellamy growled as he headed outside and saw Morgan with silver coating his arms up to the elbow; "You got some brass balls to show up here again, Straw Hat…"

"Give back the gold….Now…" Morgan spat out at him as he clenched his fist; "I either leave with the gold or you choking on your ego!"

Bellamy sneered as he threw his jacket onto the ground; "You have no clue who it is you're messing with…I'm the Hyena…" He grinned and crouched down to make coils around his calves; "And I have the powers of the Bane-Bane no mi…So get ready to be smashed!"

Morgan narrowed his eyes as he watched Bellamy spring forward at a blinding speed and then threw a jab but missed as he jumped into the air.

"You can't catch me with slow moves like that! I could beat up you easily in the bar and that chestnut headed ass couldn't even hit me!" Bellamy taunted as he bounced off of the wall to hit Morgan in the side; "Spring Snipe!"

Morgan let it hit as he shrugged him off; "Hyena by name, Hyena by nature…The only way you can fight is pot shots?"

"Oh, you haven't seen anything yet…." Bellamy then dashed forward and coiled his arm into a spring to deliver a reinforced punch into Morgan's chest to send him backwards into an open square.

Morgan climbed back up to his feet and then rolled his shoulder; "Then quit your grandstanding and show me your best…Because I'm not gonna play around."

"Cocky little…Fine, you wanna die that bad?!" Bellamy sneered as he coiled his legs again and started to bounce all over the floor, the walls and off of the buildings; "SPRING HOPPER!" He yelled out as he got faster and faster.

"That's the killer move!"

"That's the rookie crusher!"

"You talk all about how dreams are important and how cruel I am to say they deserve to die….But this world won't allow for dreams, it won't for that gold hoarding bum and it won't for you either!" Bellamy taunted him as he kept bouncing to intimidate him and ready for the final shot.

Morgan had enough, he was beyond angry and too focused on beating the living crap out of him to listen. "You asked me if I knew how to throw a punch?" He muttered before he hopped into the air, his arms now multiplying into six and each one was similarly covered in metal.

"He's airborne….That's like a suicide move when against Bellamy!"

"Too bad, he was actually kinda funny to watch be a punching bag."

"You've lost your mind, Straw Hat…Because in the air….I'M THE KING!" Bellamy then yelled as he bounced into the air, aiming to strike Morgan from below though he was taken aback by the six-armed Morgan now looking down at him with clenched fists at the ready.

"GO!" Morgan yelled out as he rallied blow after blow on Bellamy, picking up speed as each punch landed with the momentum that the springy pirate had come at him with. "TO!"

Bellamy barely had enough time to hop away or defend himself as each time one fist pulled away, another one landed on another part of his body. "How? This kid barely even fought back before…"

"HELL!" Morgan yelled out as he threw a powerful punch down and sent Bellamy crashing into the floor below. The formerly conscious man looked like a tire ran over him, closer inspection showed that he was now covered head to toe in fist imprints along with the usual injuries that came from a fight.

The ceremonious crash brought the onlookers and the remainder of Bellamy's followers into a stunned silence as Morgan landed on the ground with an aura of menace that made people think that he was a literal demon.

"He…"

"Get the gold, bring him the gold….Just get the gold right now!"

"So…Anyone else want some?" Morgan asked as he cracked his many knuckles, daring the people around him to try it.

"H-Here!" One particularly scared follower of Bellamy thrust the bag of gold into his hands and breathed a sigh of relief as Morgan turned to leave.

Morgan sighed softly as the arms disappeared and with a heave of the gold over his shoulder, he started making his exit.

"You…You bastard…Where the hell do you think you're going?!" Sarquiss yelled as he struggled to get to his feet.

"I'm off to the Sky Islands...So I'll be seeing you guys around." Morgan remarked casually as he left the Pirates and Mocktown in a state of shock as the single thing that plagued everyone's minds was shared.

"That guy's a monster…."