Chapter 49

"You sure you guys don't want to come?" Ace asked the Royal Aces who were aboard the Ashen Dragon.

"Yeah, we'll stay. Ashen needs us to keep her safe," Vash answered.

Ace only had Terzo, Augur, and Soma with him aboard Striker. Surprisingly, they fit. Although, it was a little cramped.

Soma was already done with mapping the island. It was now a few hours until sunset. The sky was still bright and Ace wanted to go to the sky island while they still had daylight.

"Why do I have to go?" Augur looked unwilling to be in Striker.

"You always stay behind, Augur!" Ace said. "Seems unfair if you don't go out of the ship from time to time."

"I suppose there's logic in that." Augur sighed.

"Don't worry, Mr. Killer Priest. It'll be fun!" Terzo said, playfully patting Augur on the back.

'Mr. Killer Priest' has been Terzo's nickname for Augur since the crew discovered that Augur was actually a priest before becoming a bounty hunter, then a pirate.

Unlike Augur, there was someone who really wanted to go.

"Why can't I be in the first batch?" Eri was complaining to Mihar.

"Mreow!" Kotatsu looked like he felt the same way Eri did.

"Because Eri, Ace still isn't sure his plan will work," Mihar said. "Captain has ordered you to remain here and be safe."

"Don't worry, Eri! I'll come back as soon as possible for you, Kotatsu, and Mihar!" Ace said.

"...okay! I'll wait here, Captain!" Eri declared.

Ace stood up on Striker. His black captain coat fluttered in the wind. The salty sea air brushed against his face and it filled him with excitement for the coming adventure.

"Ready?" Ace asked Terzo, Augur, and Soma.

"As we'll ever be," Soma answered.

"Ahh, I can't wait!" Terzo was shivering in excitement.

"Ready when you are, Captain." Augur was holding on to the edge of Striker.

"HAHAHAHA! Let's go!"

Ace's legs turned into fire. He was at the farthest he could be in the seating area of Striker so that he wouldn't accidentally burn those who were with him.

Striker sailed forward and rode the wave of the river leading up inside the Giant Jack. Ace wanted to have more fun so he did tricks and twirls with Striker, much to the dismay of Soma and Augur.

"Stop that, Ace!"

"Are these movements even necessary?"

"WHAHAHAHAHA!" Terzo was just having fun.

The river going up inside Giant Jack was adjacent to two towns on the island. Inevitably, they caught the attention of the locals.

"Oi, what are you doing there?"

"Stop it!"

"That's dangerous!"

"Don't go up Giant Jack!"

"There's nothing there!"

Ace just shut off the voices of the locals. He was confident that he could get his crew out of trouble if it ever arises. He didn't believe that there was nothing up there…

"Is that where we'll enter?" Augur spotted something in the distance. The water went down.

"Yup!" Terzo confirmed.

"Down and up!" Ace added what he heard from the locals yesterday. "That's the way up Giant Jack!"

"I hope you're right!" Soma looked nervous. The current was strong. He wasn't sure the Striker could fight against it.

"We'll be fine!" Ace reassured his crew. Then, they descended.

The sight that greeted them was one that they probably won't forget. Under the Giant Jack was some kind of lake surrounded by waterfalls. It seems there were other paths to get to where they were now.

In the middle of the lake were numerous streams of water going upwards like snakes rearing their heads. They looked up to see the streams of seawater twist and turn the more it went up.

Some streams ended up going through the stem of the Giant Jack like blood in a person's bloodstream. Ace assumed those were the streams they shouldn't ride.

"Let's get on that one!" Ace didn't think too hard about it and chose a random stream of water to ride on.

"How'd you choose a path so fast?" Augur assumed Ace made an informed decision.

"I didn't!" Ace said with a grin, much to the horror of Soma and Augur.

"Ahhhh!"

Soma and Augur felt their world spin when Ace rode the current he chose. The Striker twisted and turned with the stream, sending the little boat forward in different directions.

"HAHAHAHAHA! This is making me dizzy as hell!" Terzo wasn't nervous at all and enjoyed the ride.

Ace wished he could be as carefree as Terzo, but he was the one guiding Striker. He had to focus somewhat. Still, he found delight in feeling the rough waves drag their boat upwards.

"Dead end!" Soma shouted.

"Hold on!"

Ace handled Striker like a surfboard. Whenever the upward stream they were on would face a dead end, Ace used his Devil Fruit power to propel Striker in another direction and land on a different stream.

Ten minutes later, they saw a light shine brightly above them. It came through an opening that would barely fit Striker.

"This is it! We're here!" Ace was confident that they had arrived at the end.

A moment later, they bursted out from the top of Giant Jack. They landed on a giant leaf and slid downwards.

"We're gonna fall!"

Terzo panicked for the first time. Augur and Soma only paled. Augur was already holding on to the ship, ready to warp all of them back to where they bursted out from.

However, Ace wasn't worried. If his hunch was correct, they were absolutely safe…

Ace was proven correct. They didn't sink through the clouds. Striker floated above white clouds that were like water.

"We're… floating? On clouds?" Terzo took a moment to regain his calm. Then, he took out his journal with much excitement. "This is great! How is this possible? WHAHAHAHA!"

"Captain! I see… an island?" Augur seemed unsure.

The Royal Aces turned to where Augur was pointing at. There they saw what looked like… an island made of a solid looking white cloud. There was only one building on it. It was made from the same materials as the houses on Jackstalk Island.

"Cool! People live here!" Ace was delighted. From what he could feel with his Observation Haki, there wasn't anyone that could pose a threat to them there. But, there was one strong presence…

"Augur, can you warp Terzo and Soma there? I'll go back for the others."

"Sure thing, Captain."

…

"Yo!"

Ace was beside the Ashen Dragon on Striker. The rest of his crew lined up along the railing, looking down to speak to him.

"Captain! You're back!" Eri greeted Ace.

"I'm guessing your hunch was right?" Hepha asked.

"Yup! Totally needs a small boat to pass through," Ace said. "Sorry, Second! Don't bother making the ship bigger. We can't brute force our way through the Giant Jack."

"I wasn't," Second said. "I was trying to make it smaller and faster!"

"...oh."

"...you thought I was rebuilding the ship to be even bigger?"

Ace laughed. There was a miscommunication, and he was thankful that it had been corrected.

"ZEHAHAHA! What a stupidly brave man you are!"

"It's a good thing we clarified ourselves!" Ace said. "Sorry, Second! But could you not change the size of our ship? Just replace her hull and keel, if that's possible."

"No, replacing the keel is impossible. But, I can still coat it with my Ashen Wood formula to make it stronger."

"You do that, then."

"Sure thing, Captain!"

Ace turned his head to look at the Ashen Dragon's figurehead.

"Sorry, Ashen. I don't think you can soar the skies yet. But I feel like you soon will…"

"Captain! Let's go!" Eri was impatient.

"Alright, alright! Hop on!"

…

"Waaah! We're in the clouds!"

"Mreow! Reow!"

"This is just… unbelievable!"

Mihar, Eri, and Kotatsu were riding on Striker with Ace as they looked around the new environment that was simply more than they ever imagined.

Eri and Kotatsu were clearly very excited. Mihar was brimming with childlike excitement and wonder as well. Ace grinned at them.

"Aren't you glad you decided to come? HAHAHAHA!"

After finding out which water stream led to the top, Ace didn't have a difficult time when it was the second batch's turn to go up the Giant Jack. The journey of the second batch was much safer than the first's.

Ace spotted Terzo, Soma, and Augur on the beach of the island they saw earlier. The three of them were waiting for them. The moment they saw each other, the three waiting on the beach waved their hands to beckon Ace over.

With his legs on fire, Ace led the Striker to where the first batch was. There wasn't any trouble. They landed on the beach safely.

The first one to get out was Eri. She was followed by Kotatsu. They then began running around on the strange beach made of clouds. Mihar followed them from a short distance to make sure they didn't run off to who knows where.

"Did you guys check out that building yet?" Ace jutted his chin at the only building on the island.

"We didn't," Terzo answered. "Figured it'd be best if we wait."

"Let's go then!" Ace said. "Eri! Kotatsu! Follow us!"

"Yes, Captain!"

The seven Royal Aces went to the building with Ace in the lead. The building wasn't that big. It had five floors. There were no walls surrounding it. No security measurements were also taken.

'Man, the people inside must be used to having no visitors at all… or maybe they never expected to have visitors with ill intent?' Ace thought.

It made sense. The people on Jackstalk must be on friendly terms with the people up on this lonely sky island. They were protecting information about this place, after all.

Ace knocked on the door. No response came. Ace knocked again. He could tell there were people inside the building using his Observation Haki.

A minute later, the door opened slightly. An old man wearing what looked like wizard clothes peeked out from behind the door.

"...hello?" The old man seemed confused at seeing a bunch of unfamiliar faces.

"Hello! May we come in?" Ace asked.

"...excuse me, but who are you?"

"We're pirates!"

The door slammed in front of Ace's face. He blinked for a few moments before laughing.

"That went well!"

"Maybe next time, let's not introduce ourselves as pirates?" Augur suggested.

"Nonsense! No need to lie. We don't look anything other than pirates," Ace said. It was true. His black captain coat that was draped over his shoulders were telltale signs of a pirate.

Then, the door opened once again. It was the same old man that greeted them earlier, but now he had a rifle in his hands. He was pointing it at Ace's face.

"I'm w-warning you! Leave, pirates!" The old man threatened Ace. It was rather ineffective, seeing how he was much shorter than Ace and his legs were quivering.

"Woah woah, no need for that!" Ace raised his hands slightly to show that he doesn't mean harm. "We're not here to plunder you at all!"

"Lies! You're a pirate! What pirate doesn't plunder?" The old man pointed the end of his rifle closer to Ace.

"Uhhhh… no one?" Ace chuckled. "Don't worry, old man! My usual targets are marine bases and other places that smell like authority."

Ace then reached for his weapons. Seeing what Ace was about to do, the old man attacked. But, he didn't fire his rifle. He used it more like a club to bash Ace's face in.

At least, he tried to. Ace's head turned into fire the moment the rifle hit him. The old man retreated.

"D-Devil Fruit?"

Ace took his Evolver and cutlass in his hands. The old man froze. Then, Ace reached out his hands as if he was giving the old man his weapons.

"What are you-?"

"I told you. We're not here to plunder or hurt you," Ace said. "If it makes you feel better, take our weapons."

The old man and Ace stared at each other, neither of them backing down. It was like a silent conversation. Eventually, the old man sighed.

"Fine. Leave your weapons on the table over there," the old man said as he stepped aside to let the crew enter.

The Royal Aces looked around at their surroundings. The walls were lined with shelves of thick books and strange instruments. The building smelled of old paper and coffee.

No matter how Ace looked at it, the place was like a personal library that was five floors high. A staircase leading up the building was in front of them.

The old man gestured to an empty table near the door. The table was in a lounge area, seeing how couches were around it.

The Royal Aces left their weapons on that table. The old man seemed harmless to them despite him still clutching a rifle in his hands.

"What strange pirates you are," the old man said. "To think you'd actually let go of your weapons?"

The old man only lowered his rifle after seeing that a kid was with them. Eri was looking around in slight panic. She was riding Kotatsu like a horse. The big feline was just sniffing the air.

"Nice to meet you! My name is Ace, and this is my crew!" Ace said.

"...a well mannered pirate?" The old man blinked at Ace. "Dear me. The world must be wider than I thought."

"I assure you, it most likely is." Ace chuckled.

"Very well, then. Welcome to Birka Library! My name is Haredan. Pleased to meet you as well!"