9 Merry

The ship shot through a sea of clouds and floated on top of it. Thirteen looked around and wondered if there was a bottom, Usopp said "I wonder what it feels like to swim in clouds!" Thirteen said "Looks like my question's going to be answered." Usopp jumped in and Robin said "What question?" Thirteen said "If there's a bottom or not." the crew paled and Luffy stretched out his hand through the clouds, pulling Usopp back to the ship.

Usopp flopped on the ship, white as a ghost, and said "Cloud sea scary..." Thirteen said "I guess there isn't." Robin rolled her eyes and said "I think that was obvious." Chopper said "Hey guys! There's a man coming towards us!" the man flew through the air and landed on the deck, Thirteen looked at the man and said "You have wings?" the man said "You have a tail?" they said at the same time "Yeah." the rest sweat dropped.

The man said "Blue sea people don't belong here. Leave or die!" as he readied his bazooka and pointed at them, Zoro and Sanji attacked him. The man dodged and kicked but was blocked by another man, who said "Wyper! Enough!" Wyper clicked his tongue and flew away.

The man landed on the deck and said "Hello my name is Gan fall! I'm a soldier for hire." he threw a whistle at Nami and said "Just blow that and for 5 billion exol, I'll come save you!" Nami was confused and said "Exol?" Gan fall said "Did you not stop at any islands before reaching here?" The crew shook their heads and Luffy said "We took the knock up stream." Gan Fall's eyes popped out of their sockets as he said "You rode that thing?! I didn't know there were people brave enough to do that these days!"

Nami froze and snapped "There was another way to get here?!" Gan Fall nodded and said "Yes, but it's much more dangerous. If you take the knock up stream, you either lose the whole crew or none of the crew. If you go the other way you will only lose a few." Nami sighed and Thirteen said "What's exol." Gan Fall said "It's the currency on Sky Island, I think the exchange is 10,000 exol per 1 beri?" Thirteen nodded and walked away.

Gan Fall said "Anyways, I must go now. Feel free to use the whistle, the first time is free for your bravery! Farewell!" he hopped on a bird-horse and flew away. The crew watched him go before sailing towards a giant cloud wall, Luffy jumped on the cloud wall and bounced as he said "Woah! It's super bouncy!" he bounced higher and higher before saying "There's a gate behind this!" he landed back on the deck and the ship sailed around the wall before coming across a huge gate that said 'Heaven's Gate'.

Thirteen opened his mouth and closed it before walking away, deciding not to speak about it after all. Robin watched him and giggled as an old woman walked out and said "I'm Amazon. State your purpose." Nami said "Just visiting." Amazon nodded and said "8 people at 1 Billion exol per person. 8 billion exol." Nami said "There's a fee?!" Amazon said "Yeah, but I won't stop you anyways." she whistled and a lobster grabbed the ship and sped away.

The crew anchored at a beach and got off the ship. Luffy said "The ground is so soft!" Thirteen walked around on the beach and noticed it felt like clouds, he liked it, he walked towards some chairs and saw a little fluffball. He picked it up and it opened revealing a little fox, he stared at the fox for a moment before putting it on his head and sitting down in a chair, the fox plopped on his head and fell asleep. Robin sat next to him and shook her head saying "What's your facination with putting animals on your head?"

Thirteen said "It's funny." as he pointed to the rest of the crew, who were laughing at the fox on Thirteen's head, Robin sighed and said "It's not that funny." Thirteen shrugged and said "Are you still teaching me?" Robin nodded and began explaining emotions again as Thirteen listened.

While Robin was talking an angel came over playing a harp and said "Heso! Are you from the blue sea?" Nami said "Yeah. I'm Nami." the angel said "I'm Conis! Nice to meet you!" Sanji swooned and said "Oh my beloved Conis! You were sent down from heaven to me?" as he held her hand, Conis was flustered and said "No I wasn't..." Sanji sighed and Nami kicked him away as the rest of the crew introduced themselves.

Conis said "Suu! That's where you were!" The little fox jumped off Thirteen's head and landed on Conis' head as Conis said "Thanks your taking care of Suu!" she got closer to Thirteen and said "You have a tail?" Thirteen's tail popped out from the cloud and waved, Conis was amazed and said "Can I touch it?" he moved his tail towards her face and Conis touched it before exclaiming "It's so soft!" as he played with his tail and rubbed it on her face.

Nami looked out to the sea and saw someone shooting towards them, she pointed and said "Someone is coming over!" Conis looked over and said "That's my father Pagaya." she stood up and said "Heso father!" Pagaya said "Heso Conis! Let me stop, hold on." he flew by and slammed into a tree. He stood up and said "Everyone okay?" Zoro snapped "You're the one who crashed!" Nami said "Can I try that thing?" Pagaya said "Sure it's called a waver. It uses dials so it's a bit hard to control." as he handed the waver to Nami.

Nami shot off and used the waver like a pro, Pagaya said "Wow even I can't do that." he turned to the crew and said "Come over to my house for dinner." Usopp said "Can you explain more about dials?" Pagaya said "Sure!" and the crew followed him and Conis to their house while Nami flew off with the waver.

The crew was in the house and Conis was explaining dials to them, Thirteen tuned out and looked outside, he saw that Nami was just gone, he said "Nami's gone." Robin said "Maybe she got eaten by a sea monster." Thirteen nodded and said "Maybe." Usopp snapped "WHY ARE YOU TWO SO NONCHALANT!" Luffy chuckled and said "She's fine." Conis said "I hope she didn't go to the Upper yard.." Robin said "Upper Yard?" Conis nodded and said "That's where god lives. It's forbidden to go there!" Thirteen said "That's where she went." Robin raised a brow and said "How do you know?" Thirteen pointed at Luffy, who said "Let's go to the Upper Yard!"

Robin rubbed her forehead and said "How do you keep doing that?" Thirteen said "He likes to go places he's not supposed to go." Robin sighed and Conis said "You can't! God will punish you!" Thirteen said "Punish?" Conis nodded and said "Yes. If you go to the Upper Yard, God Enel sends divine punishment on you. You get taken and never seen again." Thirteen said "Sounds like a nice guy." Robin giggled and said "Is that supposed to be a joke?" Thirteen said "It is." she shook her head.

Conis said "He can hear everything on the island too." Thirteen rubbed his chin and walked outside saying "God doesn't exist." Conis paled as thunder rumbled in the air. Thirteen looked up and said "Thunder? Never been electrocuted before." as thunder struck down and hit him, the crew paled and said "Thirteen!"

The thunder disappeared and revealed Thirteen, who brushed his shoulders and said "That wasn't too bad. Stung a bit though." everyone was stunned and Usopp said "You just got hit by lightning and you're completely fine?!" Thirteen nodded and Robin giggled. Conis was shocked and said "You survived?!" Thirteen said "It wasn't that bad." as he walked towards the ship, thunder striking him every so often. The crew chuckled and followed after him.

Thirteen went back to the beach and saw a bunch of people crawling towards him, he stared at them and was confused, did they think he couldn't see them? The rest of the crew, Conis and Pagaya showed up and Luffy said "Who are those guys?" Conis said "They're the White Berets." Robin said "Why are they crawling?" Conis said "I don't know."

The man in front stood up and coughed before saying "I'm Captain McKinley of the White Berets! Heso!" Thirteen said "What do you want." McKinley said "You have illegally entered Skypeia therefore are class 11 criminals." Thirteen said "The woman didn't make us pay." McKinley said "You were supposed to." Robin said "She just sent us away before we even took out any money."

McKinley said "Doesn't matter. You have to pay 10x the entrance fee, so 80 billion exol." Thirteen nodded and ignored him saying "This place sucks." McKinley said "Insulting Skypeian culture is a class 10 crime." Thirteen sat down and said "God doesn't exist." McKinley said "Blasphemy is a class 7 crime." Thirteen closed his eyes and said "I'm going to kill you." McKinley said "Threatening a white beret is a class 5 crime."

Robin sighed and sat down as the rest of the crew went fishing, completely ignoring McKinley. Thirteen said "What's the worst crime I can commit?" McKinley said "Killing a person is a class 1 crime." Thirteen nodded and said "That's great." Mckinley said "Enthusiasm is a class 17 crime." Robin said "Can you please shut up?" McKinley said "Telling a White Beret to shut up is a class 8 crime." Conis said "Please stop talking, you're going to get every class of crime in the book!" Thirteen said "There's a book?" McKinley said "Questioning is the rule book exists is a class 24 crime."

Thirteen said "That's annoying. Where's this book?" Conis gave him a book and he opened it. He read the contents and said "Who wrote this? Why are there so many crimes?" McKinley said "Questioning the book itself is a class 46 crime." Thirteen sighed and kept silent before closing his eyes and falling asleep, McKinley poked him and said "Falling asleep on the beach is a class 33 crime." Thirteen kept his eyes closed and said "Touching someone without consent is considered assault, which is a class 4 crime." McKinley was stunned and said "I didn't!" Thirteen said "Shut up." before going back to sleep.

A while later

Nami showed up and said "Hey guys we need to leave!" Usopp said "These guys want to make us pay 8 million beri." Nami crashed the waver into McKinley and said "That's way too much!" McKinley said "Assaulting a White Beret! I sentence you to cloud drifting!" Thirteen swung his chain around his neck and said "I thought I said shut up." McKinley gulped and said "I'm sorry." Thirteen threw him away and stood up saying "Can we go do something now?" Luffy said "Let's go to the Upper Yard!" Conis and Pagaya were already far away from them and Luffy, Usopp, and Sanji went back to the house to grab a few things, while the rest of the crew got back on the Merry.

Suddenly

A giant lobster clamped onto the boat and sped off, leaving Luffy, Usopp, and Sanji behind. Thirteen said "To the Upper Yard we go." Robin sighed and said "What's your problem today?" Thirteen said "This is a bad place for my last adventure.." as he gripped the railings tightly, Robin rubbed his back and said "You don't know that it will be..." Thirteen was silent as the Merry got pulled through a forest and landed on an altar, he hopped on the railing and sat down, staring at the sea water surrounding them. Robin sighed and said "I'm going exploring. Stay here." he waved and she left with Zoro and Nami.

Chopper walked over and sat down next to him saying "What's wrong Thirteen?" Thirteen said "I don't know if I should stay with the crew anymore." Chopper paled and said "Why not?!" Thirteen said "Because so many people are going to come after me now. I'll put you guys in danger." Chopper said "We're always in danger even without you. Where would you even go?" Thirteen said "I don't know." Chopper said "Just stay with us!" Thirteen sighed and said "You realize that you could all die if I stay right?" Chopper smiled and said "I think everyone will agree that we want you to stay! Even though we know it's dangerous." Thirteen was silent and a man with a bird appeared.

The man said "I'm Shura! One of Enel-sama's priests! Prepare to die!" Thirteen looked up and said "Can you fly?" Shura was confused and said "No." Thirteen nodded and jumped into the air extremely fast and wrapped his chains around the bird's neck before dragging it down to the ground and ripping it's head right off. Thirteen threw the corpse on the deck and said "Chopper I got dinner." Shura was stunned and said "Damn you! Fuza!" as he charged towards Thirteen, who dodged and wrapped his chains around Shura's neck, strangling him.

Thirteen pulled Shura towards himself and grabbed his spear before thrusting it inside Shura's stomach and throwing him in the sea clouds. Thirteen hopped back on the deck and said "I wonder if this bird tastes good.." Chopper was stunned and said "So much for the priest I guess.." Thirteen ripped out a chunk of meat and ate it before saying "Kinda chewy.." Chopper said "Maybe we should cook it?" Thirteen said "I guess.."

Gan Fall landed on the deck with his bird-horse and said "Where's Shura?" Thirteen said "Dead. You want some food? It's kinda chewy though." Gan Fall said incredulously "You killed Shura?!" Thirteen nodded and pointed to the red spot in the sea clouds, Gan Fall said "Wow. You must be strong then." Thirteen said "He wasn't really that strong.." Chopper said "What are you doing here Gan Fall?" Gan Fall said "I felt Shura's presence with my mantra and thought you were in trouble so I rushed over."

Thirteen said "Mantra? What's that?" Gan Fall said "I think you blue sea people call it Haki?" Thirteen said "You have Haki here too?" Gan Fall nodded and said "We call it Mantra. It allows you to feel an opponents movements and helps you predict them." Thirteen said "Do you know how to get it?" Gan Fall shook his head and said "We just get it here. Some are even born with it." Thirteen sighed and Gan Fall said "Though I suppose you could try training it.." Thirteen said "Do you know how to train it?" Gan Fall said "I tied up a few bags to the ceiling and moved them all in random directions and dodged them blindfolded."

Thirteen rubbed his chin and said "That could work.." as he walked away, Chopper said "Why don't you stay to eat Gan Fall?" Gan Fall said "I suppose I could.." as he sat down with Pierre. Thirteen set up a ton of bags filled with heavy stuff in an empty room, he blindfolded himself and moved all the bags in random directions as he tried to feel when the bags would hit him. He took deep breaths and focused on feeling, he felt a bag coming and was about to move when he heard the voice say 'What are you training for? You can't protect them from yourself.' he got distracted and the bag hit him. He sighed and focused again but he kept getting distracted by the voice telling him he was weak and that he should just give in, he grit his teeth and ignored the voice, but that only made it louder.

A while later

The rest of the crew was on the ship with Gan Fall and Luffy said "Where's Thirteen?" Chopper said "Somewhere on the ship." Gan Fall said "He's in the third room under the deck on the right." Luffy nodded and went to get him, he wasn't going to have a campfire without him. Luffy opened the door and saw Thirteen trying to dodge bags that were swinging around him, Luffy said "What are you doing?" Thirteen lifted his blindfold and said "Training." Luffy nodded and said "Alright well we're have a campfire. Come join us!" Thirteen waved his tail and said "Campfire? What's that?"

Luffy smiled widely "It's really fun! Come on!" he wrapped his arm around Thirteen's shoulders and started talking about campfire activities, Thirteen was excited as he followed Luffy to the deck. The duo arrived on the deck and went to get campfire supplies with the rest of the crew.

A while later

The crew was partying with wolves and getting food cooked from the campfire, Thirteen was watching everyone do their thing alone, he sighed and sadly watched them, he didn't want to leave his friends but he didn't want to put them in danger too, he was torn. He rubbed his temples and walked towards the Merry, he didn't want to think about it anymore, he needed to be alone.

He got on the Merry and sat on the railing staring at the sea, he passed right by the ghost that was fixing the ship. The ghost turned around and said "Thirteen?" Thirteen said "Hey." the ghost walked over and said "What's wrong?" Thirteen said "Who are you?" the ghost said "Merry." Thirteen nodded and said "You're the ship?" Merry nodded and Thirteen sighed "I've been with the crew for a long time, but I think I have to leave when he get back to the blue sea."

Merry sat on the railing and said "Because of your bounty?" Thirteen nodded and said "I don't want to put them in danger because of me." Merry was quiet before saying "You know, we're kind of in the same situation. I don't have much in me either.." Thirteen turned to Merry and said "You're dying?" Merry nodded and said "I might be able to get us to the next island with a shipwright but that's it." she teared up and said "I wanted to sail with you all forever.." Thirteen patted her head and said "Don't worry. You've done a great job already. Everyone loves you. You might be a ship but you're still part of the crew too."

Merry hugged him and cried as she said "But I wasn't good enough! I couldn't keep going!" Thirteen froze a bit before rubbing her back and saying "You went way farther than you were supposed to. Which other ship you know has sailed from the east blue, over reverse mountain, through storms and tons of battles, and flew into the sky to sail on clouds? I bet you haven't seen any other ship do that." Merry smiled and said "I haven't." Thirteen said "AND you've beaten so many marine ships before." Merry giggled and said "You guys did all the work."

Thirteen shook his head and said "No. Without you, where would we go? Me, Luffy, and Robin would drown." Merry giggled and said "You have the others silly!" Thirteen opened his mouth and said "What? They can't carry me, only you can." as he poked her nose, Merry laughed and sat in his lap as she looked at the sky. Thirteen smiled a bit and said "What's your favorite animal?" Merry said "Goats!" Thirteen said "Goat-rabbits?" Merry giggled and said "Those don't exist!"

Thirteen smiled and drew a goat in the stars, he made the goat jump around and dance then he drew a rabbit and a monkey. The three animals danced around and played with each other, Merry laughed and said "Cool! Can you do a giraffe?" Thirteen drew a giraffe, a tiger, and a bird, as Merry clapped and laughed, he felt happy, he liked this feeling.

The animals did tricks and stacked on top of each other in the sky, the show was visible to everyone on Skypeia. The crew looked up and saw the animals dancing around and chasing after each other as they ran across the sky, Luffy said "Woah! That's so cool!" Robin looked around and saw that Thirteen was gone, she sighed and watched the animals, Zoro frowned when he didn't see Thirteen either and looked towards Robin, who pointed to the Merry and then to the sky. Zoro nodded and started walking to the Merry, Robin followed him and the duo disappeared.

They arrived at the Merry and sat Thirteen sitting on the railing with a white figure sitting in his lap and pointing at the sky. Merry said "OH CAN YOU DO A BIG DRAGON?!" Thirteen said "I should be able to." he drew a dragon in the air and it appeared in the sky, it flew around the other animals before flying into the sky and spreading it's wings, the other animals chased after it. Merry laughed and clapped, Zoro and Robin walked up and said "Having a good time?" Thirteen said "Distracting myself." Robin sighed and Zoro frowned "From what?"

Thirteen said "My bounty is really high now. I might have to leave." Zoro frowned and said "Why would you have to leave?" Thirteen said "More and more people are going to come after us, I don't want any of you to get hurt because of me." Merry said "I don't think Luffy's going to let you go like that." Thirteen said "Luffy won't let me go no matter what." Zoro said "Who's this?" Thirteen said "Merry." Merry waved and said "Hey Zoro and Robin."

The duo were shocked and Zoro said "The ship?" Merry nodded and Robin said "How are you.." Merry said "It's my spirit." Thirteen waved his hand and cleared the animals before he drew the Merry, it appeared in the air and sailed across the stars. He smiled and said "Look at that you even sailed across the stars. I don't think any ship has ever done that." Merry stared at the sky in a daze as tears fell from her eyes, he drew the rest of the crew and they chased after the Merry. The crew and Merry looked up at the sky and the drawings jumped on the Merry before sailing off into the stars and disappearing. Merry hugged him and said "Thank you..." Thirteen patted her back as he stared at the sky.

(Author's Note)

Hey guys! I'm kinda trying to go through Skypeia as fast as possible, while also stuffing a little character development in there for good measure. Also Merry. She's pretty cute isn't she?

DISCORD LINK: https://discord.gg/asSe3q8 (IT NEVER EXPIRES)