Chapter 49: Arrival at Jaya

I almost hate myself... So, in explanation: I write all this stuff on my tablet, then transfer it to my laptop where I edit, then finally move it to Fanfiction for final edits the week I post each couple of chapters. This chapter I ended up accidentally deleting half of as I tried to transfer it from one to another, thereby forcing me to re-write the first half of the chapter from what I could remember. After having spent three hours straight writing it out a month prior. Now, this chapter is much shorter that it had been originally, much to my dismay. So if this chapter seems to disconnect at some point, then you've probably found where I accidentally hit "cut" rather than "copy".

On another note, I've hit a snag. Writer's Block has struck again, this time trying to stop me from writing out the fight scenes for Thriller Bark. I have maybe three or four chapter of that arc left until it's done, but this one I'm working on eludes me. I'm not sure why I'm telling you all this; I'm sure you don't really care, but it felt right.

Anyway, this A/N is too long already. On to the chapter!

Chapter 49:

Arrival at Jaya

"That was fun, wasn't it?" Luffy questioned from his seat on the figurehead. The crew was spread out behind him, enjoying the nice weather.

"I'm not sure I would call that fun," Usopp responded. "Dangerous and terrifying come to mind, though."

"I certainly don't want to live there," Coby added, "but would be nice to go back and say hello some time." Feeling something land on him, the boy looked up to check the sky, but he saw nothing save for what seemed to be a dark cloud. Apparently, Grace felt it, too.

"Rain?" the artist asked. In response, the girl's sister opened her parasol.

"No," Nami frowned. "It's… wood?" She looked up and noticed that the "cloud" Coby had seen was not a cloud at all. "Holy shit! Turn the ship! Turn the ship now! There's a ship falling from the sky!" Reacting to their navigator's sudden demand, the crew scurried about to do as she ordered.

"This is just a dream," Usopp whispered to himself from where he had curled up against the mast. "Just a dream. If I count to three and open my eyes, I'll wake up. One, two, three!" But he didn't wake up. Instead, the sniper found a skeleton falling toward him. With a scream, the teen scrambled away as the remains' skull shattered on the deck.

The Going Merry only had a minute, just barely enough time for the little caravel to get out from under the looming shadow of the galleon above her. The massive, ancient ship, colored a faded red and with a tiki-mask-like figurehead, crashed into the sea off the starboard bow, kicking up giant waves that threatened to capsize the ship of the Straw Hat Pirates.

"Wow!" Luffy marveled as the ocean settled. "Come on, Usopp! Let's go exploring!"

"No!" the terrified sniper tried to protest. The captain would have none of it, however, and grabbed him before jumping to the sinking ship. Robin, meanwhile, knelt down to the deck.

"What are you doing?" Coby asked, glancing over the woman's shoulder.

"I'm reconstructing the skull, of course," Robin responded, placing the last piece of bone in said skull, save for a small, uniform hole in the back of the cranium.

"That was fast," Amy blinked.

"Who cares about some old bones?" Zoro yawned.

"You can learn a lot from old bones," the woman argued. "For instance, I'd say this person died about 200 years ago."

"How can you tell?" Nami asked.

"This hole, here, is from a process known as craterization. The practice died out about that time. Am I correct, Doctor?"

"Yeah," Chopper nodded from where he was 'hiding' behind the mast. "Craterization was a procedure where part of the skull was removed to take out tumors in the brain. It stopped being practiced because the holes left behind were more susceptible to infection."

"Uh, guys," Coby muttered. "We may have a problem."

"What now?" Nami demanded. The boy only pointed toward where the ship should have been, only for bubbles and two flailing pirates to be there. With a sigh, Sanji removed his jacket and jumped in.

After returning, the chef dropped the sniper and the Devil Fruit user on the deck, the captain with something clutched in his hand. Several seconds later, said captain jumped up and began talking about how cool the stuff on the ship was.

"...And there was this thing with a handle! I don't know what it was, but I want it. And I found this!" With a flourish, Luffy revealed that the thing in his hand was a map. It was old and yellowed, but the pirates could still make out the picture of the almost-skull-like island and the name "Skypia" written in fancy writing in the bottom right-hand corner.

"Ms. Navigator," Robin commented, reminded of something my seeing the map. "When did you last check the Log Pose?"

"I haven't checked it since I woke up this morning. I- Ahh!" Nami screamed after glancing at the pose. "The Log Pose is broken!"

"What?!" the rest of the crew cried.

"It's pointing straight up!"

"It's not broken," Robin waved off. "It has just registered Sky Island."

"That sounds fun!" Luffy yelled. "Let's go there!"

"Impossible!" Nami denied. "This may be the Grand Line, but there's no way there are islands in the sky."

"There must be," Robin countered. "When on the sea, the only thing you can trust in is the Log Pose."

"Even if it does exist," Nami argued, "how are we supposed to get there?"

"I don't know," Robin conceded. "Maybe we can learn something from that ship."

"Yeah!" Luffy agreed. "Salvage that ship!"

"This is Zoro," the swordsman's voice said from the tubes.

"This is Sanji, checking in."

"This is Luffy. There are a lot of monsters down here." The Monster Trio had descended into the water with the use of some barrel suits Luffy had Usopp rig up, Luffy's covering his whole body to protect him from the sea. Each of them were connected to the ship by a breathing tube which doubled as a communication method. The three continued to descend, nearing the sunken ship.

"Salvage~!" several off-key voices sang, accompanied by drums and cymbals. "Salvage the sea~!" A boat appeared on the horizon, the lower deck a literal jungle. Standing on the bow, over the decorative full-body monkey figurehead with cymbals, was a man that looked like a monkey. He was dressed in burnt-orange overalls with MASIRA written in a yellow box on his chest.

"Halt!" he ordered, the ship slowing immediately after. "Is this where that ship sank?"

"Yes, sir!" the men answered.

"Then get the first dive team down there right away!" The monkey-man turned, finally noticing the much smaller ship bobbing in the water. "Who are you? Are you trying to steal my salvage?"

"U-Us?" Nami stuttered. "We're nobodies! And we aren't trying to steal anything! That ship that fell almost crushed us! We were curious is all."

"So you're not here to salvage that ship?"

"No, sir!" the woman lied. "But who are you?"

"You don't know who I am?" Monkey-Man gasped. "I'm Masira, the Salvage King! Every ship that goes down in this area belongs to me!"

"Hey, Nami!" Luffy's voice called through the speakers. "We've got everything and are ready to come up!" The navigator quickly muffled it, hoping that the other captain hadn't heard.

"Now that I think about it, why are you guys still here?" Masira questioned

"We just want to see how the professionals salvage a ship!" The orange-haired girl kept her hand over the speaker as she sent a glance at the rest of the crew. Coby and Robin picked up on her silent plea and took it upon themselves to distract Masira by getting him to boast of his own accomplishments.

"Luffy," she whispered into the horn, hoping he could hear her. "You gotta be quiet. We've got company up here."

"Oh," the rubber-man whispered back. "Are those the guys we just beat up?"

"Sir!" one of Masira's men reported. "The men we sent down have returned heavily wounded and unconscious!"

"What happened to them?" Masira demanded, his attention being torn away from the Going Merry and her crew.

"We aren't sure," the crewman answered. "But we did find evidence of a nest of sea-snakes below us."

"Damn. Get the cleaning team down there and wipe them out!"

"Yes, Sir!" A few minutes later, a group of men jumped into the water from the salvaging ship, this time armed with weapons for hunting.

"Hey, Nami," Luffy whispered through the speaker. "We found a little bit more. We're coming back up."

"Not so fast," she warned. "There are some guys clearing out those snakes you mentioned earlier."

"Ugh. Fine." Several more minutes passed, those above the water making idle chit-chat to pass the time. Finally, the squad Masira had sent down returned, carrying the bodies of a multitude of giant sea-snakes. Usopp gave the Monster Trio the go-ahead to surface and they returned while the other crew was hoisting their catch into their boat. They'd each come up with a large bag, but there was nothing of value in any of it. The only interesting things were a broken wooden thing with a handle and some empty chests for organizing the treasure in their hold. The ape-man didn't even notice their return; he was too focused on trying to show off.

Masira's salvage when off without a hitch, minus the fact that a giant turtle ate the ship as they were hoisting it to the surface. There was nothing worth salvaging in it, but Masira didn't know that. Either way, he and Luffy became fast friends and he invited the Straw Hats to follow him to the next island: Jaya.

But, just as it seemed things were looking up, all the light in the surrounding area vanished. Clouds covered the sky, leaving nothing but a dark afterthought of the what the day had been. The turtle with the ship in its maw beat a hasty retreat. The crews of the two ships could only stare in horror as silhouettes fading into view from the edges of their vision.

Everyone screamed. There, on the bleak horizon, were what seemed to be five gigantic humanoids with small wings, each wielding a spear. As they watched, the figure in the middle raised its weapon, preparing to stab them. Every man grabbed an oar and paddled as if their lives depended on it, rocketing the Merry toward the only bit of light in the distance.

Jaya was an island of pirates. Much like Hannibal, where the Dead End Pirate Race was held every few years, Mock Town was almost completely inhabited by pirates. Finding the island had been relatively easy since Robin had used her powers to steal an eternal pose to Jaya from Masira's ship in case the "King of Salvage" noticed that they had looted the ship before him and attacked. Leaving the ship were Luffy, Nami, Gin, Coby, and Amy. Everyone else, minus Zoro and Robin, were staying behind while the archeologist was going out to learn the history of the island and the swordsman had been ordered to be her bodyguard.

The group of five wandered through the town, careful as to not cause trouble lest Nami tear them a new one. She'd even gone so far as to make Luffy and the others promise not to fight anyone. Eventually, they made their way to a hotel that looked like it belonged in a capital city rather than the pirate-infested Mock Town.

"This place is really fancy," Coby awed.

"I wouldn't mind staying here for a couple of days," Gin agreed. Around a corner came a very shaky man who wobbled over to them.

"I-I-I'm sor-ry," the man stuttered through his shaking, "b-but I'm g-g-going t-to have t-to ask y-you to l-l-leave."

"Why?" Nami demanded.

"Th-this ent-tire hotel w-was ren-rented b-by Bel-Bel-Bellamy the Hy-Hyena f-for hims-self a-and his c-crew. I-if he s-saw you h-here, he-he'd s-s-separate my h-head fro-from my b-body. So p-please leave, f-for my s-sake."

Well, that explained the shaking.

"What is going on here?" a new voice asked. The pirates and proprietor turned to the entrance to see a silver-haired man with a purple visor stroll in with his arm around a dirty-blonde. The newcomer wore a pair of dark pants and a fur-lined coat which he left open to show off his muscular torso and the tattoo thereupon, a smiley face with a diagonal slash.

"M-M-M-Mr. Sarkies, Sir," the hotel owner sputtered. "I t-told them to g-get out, b-but they w-wouldn't listen."

"Here," the man smiled, tossing a handful of Beris to the ground in front of Luffy. "Leave and get yourself something better than those rags you're wearing. I can't stand the sight of them."

"Oh, Dear," the woman on his arm sighed. "You're wasting your money on rabble like this."

"They're rabble; they need all the charity they can get!" Sarkies responded, him and the woman laughing at his words.

"No worries," Gin stated, only his crewmates hearing the anger in his tone. This man reminded him of Krieg in the way he spoke. "We were just leaving."

"Pahahaha!" they heard the man, Sarkies, laugh as they left. "What a bunch of weaklings!"

"What an ass," Coby muttered, the other silently agreeing. Annoyed, the band of pirates stepped back into Mock Town.

End of Chapter 49

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-SwordOfTheGods