Enter The Devil's Child: Nico Robin 3...

Chapter 24.75 - Enter The Devil's Child: Nico Robin 3...

"You see?" Cricket finished explaining, "If you don't get going to that forest and catch one of those birds right now, you'll have to kiss your only chance of going to Sky Island goodbye!"

"AND YOU'RE JUST TELLING US THIS NOW?!" they yelled at him, looking panic-stricken as they all jumped up and ran to the door, bursting outside and headed for the trees as Cricket threw them several nets, letting them know that they would get started on the repairs to their ship in the meantime before he reminded them that they had until morning to find one of those birds or to forget about the whole thing.

"That wasn't a fun time," Zoro growled.

"Come on, how hard was it to catch a bird?" Franky asked with a chuckle.

"Harder than you think," five of them stated as Robin laughed a little. They followed the group into the forest, quickly looking around and trying to get their eyes used to the darkness. It was a creepy place as they all walked on, searching for the bird. Usopp was sticking a little too close to Sanji for comfort as Chopper looked ready to fall where he stood, his stomach still full from the party as Zoro complained about wanting a drink.

"Would someone remind me how we ended up in this mess?" Nami asked nervously, hugging herself as Sanji pushed Usopp off him.

"That's how it always happens with us," current Nami explained for her past self. "No matter where we go…"

After some grumbling and complaining, they suddenly heard the sound in the distance…

"Jyooooooh…"

"What the hell was that?" Franky asked.

"HEY!" the Straw Hat men all cried out, "THAT SOUNDED PECULIAR!"

"Oh you think?" memory Nami asked in annoyance as they all split up into groups. Sanji took Usopp and Nami in one way, Robin and Zoro went in another, as they followed Luffy and past Chopper in another direction. Naturally, they were forced to follow after Luffy and Chopper, and Luffy really did look hard for the bird, at first. But soon was completely distracted when he spotted something in a tree trunk and pulled out an Atlas beetle.

"He hasn't changed a bit since he was a little kid," Usopp sighed.

"I find it kinda cute," Robin laughed a little as Luffy held the bug up to show Chopper, who looked fascinated at it, and Luffy began to talk all about it.

"It's amazing, he almost sounds like he knows what he's talking about," Nami laughed, "I guess there are some things that little boys never grow out of."

Then memory Chopper then pointed out a Stag Beetle and Luffy lost all attention for the South Bird once again. "Hey there it is!" Sanji called, pointing to a tree just in front of them as the two gave chase. Even the ones who had seen it, couldn't ever remember seeing such an unusual bird. It was a large, rather chubby looking bird with a body of purple and bright green feathers. It had a large toucan-like beak that was an assortment of colors, while its head looked a bit like a fish.

"What's that it has?" Usopp asked before it dropped a beehive near Luffy and Chopper's feet.

"I knew that he was the one who dropped it!" current Chopper cried out as the two were forced to run for their lives. They watched as they were able to escape from the onslaught of bees, after getting stung to within an inch of their lives, another South Bird dropped another hive.

"Ok, I'm starting to see your point," Franky muttered in a deadpanned voice.

"And I thought we had it bad with all those spiders," Usopp said.

"Of course we had it bad you idiot!" Nami yelled at him. Memory Chopper then pointed out the South Bird to Luffy, telling him that he was the one who dropped it before they heard the bird calling out in that strange sound again. Luffy hurried asked Chopper what he said this time, and when he answered, he sounded freaked out, "HE SAID 'I'LL KILL ANYONE WHO DISTURBS THIS FOREST'!"

"I hate these things," Zoro hissed, also thinking of when that stupid bird wouldn't leave him alone as he tried to eat his lunch, and dropped him right into the middle of a fight. God, this memory reminded him why he hated them so much.

The next few memories of them being chased around by praying mantis… ones bigger than Chopper, and were able to hack through thick trees like they were butter. It was almost funny to them all to see them running for their lives from the bugs and memory Chopper screamed that he noticed that it was South Bird's fault—that he was the one controlling the things in this forest.

"How does he do that?" Usopp asked.

"So they were the ones responsible for that nightmare!" Nami said in annoyance. "Do they realize what they put us all through here?"

"Oh, they knew alright," Sanji growled, "That was the point."

"If I ever see one again, I'm roasting it," Zoro decided as the others nodded darkly. Those South Birds set everything on the Straw Hats. Spiders, bees, Lady Bugs the size of small boulders, giant slugs, crickets, cockroaches, even pigs… it was a nightmare. The whole time they were continuing their call, sounding like ghosts of the past calling from beyond the grave.

"You guys could take on anyone they threw at you at Enies Lobby, but you can't deal with a single bird here?" Franky asked incredulously.

"Why don't you try it and see how easy it is!" Usopp snarled at him. Finally, after several hours of running around in the forest they were able to find each other and they gathered around each other as they tried to catch their breath.

"It's like trying to find a needle in a haystack," memory Zoro hissed in deep annoyance. "We didn't even see one!"

"Well, we did," Luffy admitted Chopper panted next to him, his tongue rolling out of his head. "But we could never get close enough to grab it thanks to all those stupid bugs!"

"All we did was run!" Chopper agreed tiredly, looking close to passing out here.

"So seven people couldn't catch one bird! That's pathetic!" memory Usopp said, "Come on, would you get it together guys?"

"I didn't see you coming back with a bird," Sanji snapped at their Usopp as his past self hissed the same thing to memory Usopp. Nami fell to her knees in exhausting, confessing that she didn't think that she could run anymore. However, their luck turned around when a South Bird showed up, laughing and taunting them. What it didn't know was Robin's powers, and that she used to grab hold of it and throw it at their feet. It was so sudden, everyone seemed a little taken aback by it.

There was silence around them.

"Ok…?" Franky asked. "That was it?"

"Looks like we can always count on you, sis!" present-day Nami said to Robin as she laughed a little at the looks on their faces.

"I can grab it when I can see it," her past self explained as Zoro picked it up by its feet, as it still let out it's weird sound, only now sounding angry.

"Can you hear what it's saying?" Usopp asked Chopper as they followed the troop through the forest.

"Mostly saying that he hopes that we all die painful deaths someday," Chopper answered as some of their past selves were poking at the bird, trying to get some payback for the hell it put them through. But what finally got the bird to shut up was Luffy asking if they could eat it when they were done with it.

"Well, that sure freaked him out," Usopp said with some satisfaction.

"I doubt it would've tasted good anyway," Sanji stated darkly.

They continued on their long walk back to Cricket's house, thinking that they were finally going to be able to relax, confident that they had the ship already done…

But to their horror, when they got back, the whole place was a mess. Cricket's house and the ground around them was torn up, the house itself had two giant holes as if someone had shot a cannonball through them… but the three were in worse shape. Masira was lying on his face with a deep bleeding gash down his back, Shoujou was floating unconscious in the sea… and Cricket was dripping blood all over as he lay there.

"What happened here?!" Brook cried out horrified as they ran ahead to see for themselves if they were alright.

"While we were gone, they had some unexpected guest stop by," present-day Sanji hissed, still angry at whoever did this. The past Straw Hats all went around to the three laying there, with Nami asking what happened. Sanji, who had dragged Shoujou back to shore stated, "I've got a better question. Who did this?"

As he and Chopper pulled the ape out of the water, Usopp gasped when he saw the Merry, the front half almost broken in half, now lying sadly on the ground and the mast snapped off like a twig.

"Whoever did this is dead meat when I get my hands on them!" Franky threatened, punching his fists together.

"Yeah, I wonder if we had stayed a little longer for the party, or if we caught the stupid bird a little sooner, we could've prevented this whole mess," Chopper told him sadly.

"It wasn't our fault," Zoro reminded him and Chopper glanced up at him. "And I'm sure that Luffy taught the ones who did this a lesson they weren't going to forget for a long time."

"I sure hope so," Nami hissed, already remembering who the rotten snakes were who did it.

Luffy was looking over Cricket, who had woken up. "Sorry kid…" he gasped, when he saw him.

"Why is he apologizing to you?! They're the ones who are the mess!" Franky called in shock.

"For what happened to the Merry," Usopp sniffled a little.

"You're alive!" Luffy said in surprise, trying to help him, "Don't try to move around…"

The whole time, Cricket was mumbling an apology about letting this happen even as he tried to push himself up. "Gotta get moving though," he gasped out, "The ship's not gonna fix itself up."

But Luffy was demanding that he tell them who did this to them, Cricket trying to say that it didn't matter anymore. That it wasn't important now and seemed pleased to see that they caught the South Bird. But why they attacked them was soon clear as Nami came running out of the remains of the house, calling to Luffy, "CRICKET'S GOLD! IT'S ALL GONE!"

"Those bastards…" Usopp hissed, a part of him wishing that he could've done something about what they did here, but like Zoro said, he was sure that Luffy handled it all on his own. What surprised their past selves was when Cricked waved his arm nonchalantly, as if it wasn't important, "That stuff?" Cricket asked, waving his arm around as they all looked to her. "It's just junk. Just forget it, it doesn't matter. Your dream is more important, we gotta get you to the Knock…"

"Junk?!" Brook repeated in shock. "They spent years looking for it all! And to just let it go?!"

"I think he's a little ashamed that they let this happen," Robin answered sadly, "That they weren't able to protect what was rightfully theirs."

Past Usopp seemed to agree with Brook as he put his foot down there. "Forget it?" he repeated angrily, "How can you say that? Think about all it took to get that gold?! Ten years of diving to the bottom of the ocean, subjecting your body to all the pressures of the deep?! Come on… you can't just…"

"Shut up!" Cricket snapped, silencing Usopp, "I'm serious. That gold and what happens to it is our problem! Got it?" he then looked back to the Merry and went on, "Your ships in no shape to make it to the Knock-Up Stream." He told them that if they gathered everyone in the Saruyama Alliance here, they could work through the rest of the night and have the ship ready for tomorrow. They should still be able to make it to their deadline.

"That's the least of their worries!" Chopper answered, pointing to those cuts as memory Chopper began treating the deep wound on Masira's back.

"But they were tough," Zoro reminded them all. "Even after the beating that they took, they still helped us to get our ship ready for the flight… even escorted us all the way out there."

"So they were alright?!" Brook asked with a sigh. "Oh, I'm so thankful!"

"They're built out of tougher stuff than we thought," Sanji chuckled a little as Cricket said in a determined voice that he was going to everything he could to make sure that they made it to the sky. But Luffy just stared at him with that unreadable expression…

Though they knew him well enough by now to tell that he was deeply angry by all this.

However, before he could say anything, Zoro called him over from the destroyed house… where he pointed out a pirate mark on the wall… a very familiar mark that they saw on a certain pirate just hours before.

"You've got to be kidding me," Franky muttered angrily. "That loser did all this?!"

"Now I really wish that you beat him up before," Usopp said darkly as Nami gasped out that it was Bellamy's mark. They glanced at Luffy's frozen face, all of them knowing what he was going to do. Now that they knew who it was who did it, Luffy was going to hunt him down and get back what they took.

Zoro looked at him calmly, already knowing what he was going to do and asked, in a tone that clearly said that he already knew the answer to, "You want any help?"

"I'll handle this one alone," he said firmly, moving his hat back to hide his eyes. This was answered by the others with mixed expressions. Most of the crew didn't say anything, already knowing what he was doing as well and fully supported his decision on it. Memory Nami was telling him that they only had three hours left before they had to set sail. But he didn't answer her, merely turning to Robin and asking if he followed the coast, would that take him back to Mock Town.

"Yes," she answered softly, "I believe it will."

"That's a serious tone I hadn't heard from you since you were telling Luffy to leave you in that tomb," Zoro said to their Robin.

"I agreed with what he was doing," she answered. She knew from the moment that they saw the destroyed house and heard that the gold was gone, what he was going to do about it. Trying to stop Luffy was like trying to stop the tides… you shouldn't even try. "I knew that he'd make it back in time. And I wanted to make the ones who did all this to pay."

"Here, here," Usopp said as Chopper nodded firmly by his side.

Cricket, on the other hand, was staring at him, slowly understanding what they were talking about. "Hey," he said angrily as he walked by. "Where are you going? Don't be an idiot, you can't possibly take on this Bellamy guy all on your own!"

"Please, he was nothing," Zoro answered as his past self flipped the handle of his sword over to Cricket, who stared up at him.

"If you wanna stop him," he said, "Use this."

"Why did you do that?" Chopper asked in confusion.

"If he really wanted to stop him so badly, he would have to use force," he answered with a shrug. "He wasn't going to listen any other way. Otherwise, he should have just shut up and let Luffy do what he wanted."

"He did make it back in time," Nami sighed, "But boy did he make us wait for him…"

"I don't think that he could've lived with himself if he stood back and not dead anything at all," Usopp pointed out as Cricket looked back to Luffy, warning him not to do it.

"Nope," Zoro agreed with a smirk. He may not always agree with Luffy's crazy whims, but he'll say this much of Luffy… he takes care of his friends no matter what. Possibly something that he always admired about him.

Luffy ignored what Cricket was saying as he cracked his knuckles. "I'll be back by morning guys," he declared firmly, no trace of happy-go-lucky captain here.

Knowing that the battle was lost, memory Nami sighed as she walked up to him. "Three hours Luffy," she said firmly, letting him know that she wasn't kidding around here. "That's all you got! If you take any longer we're gonna lose our chance to go to Sky Island. And it's gonna be all your fault!"

Luffy only nodded in understanding before he turned and began running off, heading to Mock Town. The memories vanished once again.

"You know something? I almost feel bad for Bellamy," Usopp muttered bitterly.

"I don't care," Nami hissed, "I hope that he pummels his face into the ground!"

"Harsh girl," Franky whispered back, though fully agreeing with her on this.

"Like he doesn't deserve it?" Nami hissed and the next memory appeared.

"Oh, this guy is going to pay for that," Zoro said firmly. "But it was really to make him pay for what he did to his friends… it's not the gold that Luffy cares around."

They were in Mock Town once again. Unlike earlier that morning, the streets were almost empty and everything was covered in the unearthly glow of the moon above them. They were standing on one of the roof tops with Luffy, who was glaring around him.

"BELLAMY!" he shouted, "WHERE ARE YOU?!"

"I'm looking forward to this," Sanji hissed as they could hear the sounds of shouts and cries from inside the bar. They didn't have to wait long—for Bellamy soon came stomping out of the bar as if he owned it. He was grinning cockily up at him when he spotted him up there.

"Well, speak of the devil!" Bellamy called, sounding just as conceited as he did from before, "We were just talking about you! You've got something to say to me kid?"

"Oh, he's got a lot to say to you!" Usopp yelled loudly, knowing that this wasn't going to last long.

"I do!" Luffy yelled back. "Gives back pops' gold! Every bit of it, right now!"

"You heard him!" Franky yelled, punching the air, "Otherwise you'll have to deal with me!"

"What gold?" Bellamy asked, though he clearly knew what he was talking about before he burst out laughing. "You mean the junk we got from old man Cricket?" Rather than answer, he hunched over, crouching low before he was able to jump, almost fly, though the air before he was able to spin around and landed gracefully behind Luffy.

"How'd he do that?!" Usopp cried in shock, staring at Bellamy's legs, that had become all twisted around.

"Springs?" Nami cried in shock.

"I've heard of this fruit," Robin answered, "The Spring Spring Fruit I think it's called. Apparently it's able to give the user the ability to turn parts of their body into springs."

"You think that Luffy's in trouble?" Chopper asked worriedly.

"It all depends on how well Bellamy uses it," Robin answered. "Any fruit can be deadly in the right hands."

"Maybe, but Bellamy's not gonna be taking him seriously because of what happened before," Zoro added, "He'll think that Luffy's a push over."

"Maybe it's news to you, but that's what pirates do. Ever heard of looting?" Bellamy taunted him. "But what am I saying? You're just a pathetic dreamer who can't open his eyes long enough to get a good look at the real world."

"Oh shut up!" Sanji called in deep annoyance. But Luffy glared at him, speaking in such a way that Bellamy looked taken aback by his tone, "Well, then. If stealing is what we pirates do, I guess I should just steal the gold back then."

"Get him Luffy!" Usopp cheered. "No one messes with one of our friends and gets away with it!"

"Clobber him!" Franky yelled encouragingly as Bellamy roared with laughter at what Luffy said.

"That's cute, but be serious!" he yelled, "Can you really fight? I mean, do you even know how to throw a punch?"

"Oh, he's in for a nasty surprise," Franky whispered and they all nodded darkly at that, thinking of all the battles that he fought up till now. Each of them wishing that Luffy would hurry up and take him out.

"I saw you're fighting skills earlier," Bellamy sneered at him when Luffy didn't say anything, "You're very good at just standing there."

Luffy's eyes narrowed dangerous as Bellamy mocked him, telling him that standing still wasn't going to get the gold back. "What, you're freezing up like this afternoon? Admit it, you're too scared to fight me!"

"You wish!" Chopper yelled.

"This afternoon was different. I'm not scared," Luffy said neutrally, the moon at his back making him look like some kind of demon of the night. But Bellamy just laughed, saying that was a good bluff, but he was now sick of listening to him, and decided to shut him up for good.

"You're the one with the big mouth!" Sanji yelled.

"He really is no different from that bandit who tried to kill Luffy when he was a little kid!" Usopp yelled, pointing a hand at him. "The one who was eaten by that Sea King?"

"Yeah, that's what I thought of," Zoro admitted. Both Bellamy and that bandit were arrogant who were used to getting their way. They both walked about as though they owned the world and was prepared to kill if needed. And if anyone resisted them, all they did was threaten them with their status as killers and wanted men.

They watched as Bellamy's spring-like legs kicked off, destroying the roof right under their feet as he shrieked out with laughter, "Don't worry, this won't take long!" and when he landed on the wall of another building he finished his attack, "Spring SNIPER!"

He shot towards Luffy like a torpedo, who didn't look impressed as Bellamy came flying at him. At the last second he jumped off the destroyed roof, soaring through the sky just as gracefully as Bellamy had, and they could hear some of the people on the ground talking about it—some impressed—others not so much.

Luffy landed awkwardly on another roof before he got back up and glared around at Bellamy, who was still undergoing his relentless attack. Once, he almost ended up falling right over the edge to the street below, and was forced to grab onto the side to keep himself from dropping.

"What's wrong?" Nami demanded, "Why isn't he taking him out here?" Was this jerk right? Was a part of Luffy actually afraid of him?

"Nah," Zoro said knowingly, "The truth is, he's just trying to see if Bellamy is as good as he brags about himself. All he's done is jump around, and that's easily dealt with if you know how."

The whole time Bellamy bragged and laughed at Luffy, taunting him at how weak he was and that he was never going to get the gold back. "Again, all he's doing is jumping around—he's all bark and no bite," Zoro said dully, feeling that it just might be worth another nap if this kept going.

Nami was frowning slightly, but in a different way from before. She knew that this guy truly was no match for Luffy—maybe it was because she never learned this so called 'Warrior's Code' but she was now starting to feel a little embarrassed for doubting Luffy like she had.

The fight went on, Bellamy making them all angry as he kept yelling things out like he was pathetic for believing in dreams or that he was a disgrace to 'real' pirates. Finally, Luffy was knocked off the roofs and landed on the ground, and they jumped down to join him as Bellamy continued to jump around him, laughing insanely that he couldn't beat him no matter what thanks to his Devil Fruit.

"Funny, because you're not that awesome!" Sanji called.

"It's not just Logia's," Robin answered calmly, "But anyone who's eaten a Devil Fruit and thinks they're invincible often die young."

"And we know why," Franky muttered as 'Big Knife' Sarquiss laughed, egging his captain on as the other crew members mocked Luffy as well.

"And when Luffy's done with him, I hope he beats them all as well," Nami whispered.

"It's not worth it all," Zoro reminded her. "Besides, we were on a short schedule… Luffy wasted enough time on this loser as it is."

Luffy stood up from where he fell to the ground, completely unharmed, his expression cold as the rest of Bellamy's crew seemed shocked that he was getting up. But Bellamy's face was smiling at the thought of crushing Luffy as he then launched himself at the nearest building. Using the buildings in the square, he bounced from one spot to the next, increasing in speed with each successive spring.

"Clever…" Robin admitted, "Not only is every spring making him faster, it can disorientate opponents as well."

"It looks like he's disappearing," Nami said, trying to keep him in her sights, but every time she got him in her sights he jumped somewhere else.

"Maybe, but that's all he's got going for him," Zoro said, still not impressed. "It's weak…"

Apparently Luffy felt the same way as he just stared ahead of him as Bellamy continued to rant on. "So, you want the gold back, huh!?" he yelled, his voice seemed to come from all around them. "Because Old Man Cricket is you're friend!? Wake up! He's nothing but a decrepit fool who spends all his time chasing after a four-hundred year old lie!"

"Watch your mouth!" Franky yelled.

"He's a good man!" Chopper added furiously.

"But that's probably what you like about him, right!?" Bellamy went on as Luffy's eyes turned into slits, filled with anger and his face darkened even more so that he looked like some kind of beast ready to kill. "You like to call yourselves pirates, but you know nothing! There's no City of Gold! No island in the sky! Just oceans and ships and the men who sail them!"

"You're the one here who doesn't know anything!" Brook hollered, wishing he could give this guy a piece of his mind. Meanwhile, Luffy's anger had grown to such a point that they could almost feel it radiating in the air around them.

It reminded them greatly of the look of rage on their captain's face when Hordy claimed that he would be the next Pirate King… here, they all knew that Luffy wasn't going to show him any mercy… Zoro was right, this had nothing to do with the gold, but merely for the fact that Cricket was his friend—even if they hardly knew each other.

"Show him, Luffy," Nami whispered firmly as he held his fist up, they could hear the cracking of his knuckles even through the noise that Bellamy was making. "You asked if I know how to throw a punch," he called out even as Sarquiss laughed, asking that he hurry up and beat him so that he could drink.

"This is it…" Usopp said darkly as Bellamy was finally tired of playing around, screaming out, "So long, Straw-Hat!"

It all happened so quickly that most of them missed it. With a single punch, Luffy slammed Bellamy right into the ground, his head breaking through the wooden walkway, leaving a large crater all around them. Bellamy's eyes rolled into the back of his head, blood spurting from his mouth and the imprint of Luffy's fist embedded into his face.

Chopper yelled out in shock as Bellamy was out cold before his head cracked the wood beneath him.

"Now that… had to hurt," Franky said softly. All of them were a little taken aback by that… even more so when they saw that Luffy's knuckles were covered in blood. He didn't respond at all however as he slowly put his hat back on his head, his eyes still darkened so that they couldn't see anything.

"One hit… that was all it took," Brook said, feeling a little cold at how harsh that had been. But he fully backed his captain up on this. Bellamy was the one who started this fight and now it was, hopefully, over for good. No one said anything as they heard Bellamy croak a little from where he lay, showing that he was still alive, but the crowd around them were suddenly as silent as the grave.

Sarquiss stepped forward, stuttering out in a shocked tone, but sure that this had to be some kind of bad joke, "Hey… quit messing around, Bellamy and get up, the jokes over. We know that runt couldn't beat you. Come on, get up!"

"It's not a joke," Nami said darkly, her anger also disappearing as well. Seeing how badly beaten that these guy were seemed to suck all the hatred out of her. Most of them looked ready to turn tail and run when Bellamy just continued to lay there.

"If he knew what was good for him, he'd learn from this and leave before they did something that made them look more pathetic," Sanji muttered. "And to hopefully teach them to be more careful who they try to bully in the future."

Sarquiss seemed to grow angrier with ever second that his captain remained on the ground and soon he was shouting, "This really isn't funny anymore, now snap out of it! You have to get up and show that kid who you are! You're a real pirate, not like him!"

"Right… he's nothing like him at all," Brook said proudly as Sarquiss continued to scream out that his bounty was up to fifty-five million and that he couldn't lose. Just then, a few scraps of paper flew out of one guy's hand and hit his face. When he pulled it away he turned blue as he stared at the paper, dropping it as if it was something dangerous.

Looking a little closer, Robin saw that it was Luffy's bounty, showing that one hundred-million bounty. "Now that they know that his bounty was almost twice as much, they aren't so tough are they?" Nami asked.

"Sad," Franky muttered as Luffy turned towards Bellamy's crew and gave them a cold glare. "And now, Cricket's gold. Give it back!" he demanded, in a tone that showed that he wasn't kidding around here anymore. Almost everyone turned and ran away, scattering around them into the alleyways and houses as if hoping that they would protect them from Luffy's wrath. But Luffy no longer had any reason to go after them as he stood there, waiting for an answer.

The main part of Bellamy's crew, the ones who had been there that afternoon, were so startled, that some of them pointed fearfully to the bar behind them and Luffy marched over. As he went inside, they went over to Bellamy, trying to get him up and on his feet again.

"Is it bad?" Zoro asked Chopper, not caring if it was or not.

"Bad enough," Chopper said, his voice cold. "He needs a doctor alright, but I don't think that it's anything life-threatening."

"Could've fooled me," Usopp muttered, waiting outside for Luffy to find the gold so that they could get back to the others.

"Luffy's not a killer," Robin answered, "And this was a hard lesson that someone had to teach Bellamy one day. Better now with Luffy, than someone in the future who isn't as merciful."

"He should be grateful that he's still alive," Sanji agreed.

"Either way, I don't think that we need to worry about anyone else going after Cricket or the monkey brothers again," Zoro stated as Luffy came back out, with a large sack on his back, smiling as he calmly exited the bar as if he had just done some grocery shopping. He was even chuckling a little to himself as he headed off down the boardwalk. "That wasn't too hard to find," he said as the remaining Bellamy Pirates were with Bellamy, who only continued to lay there helpless. Sarquiss was on his knees, shaking as he looked after him. Suddenly he got to his feet and began to yell, "HEY YOU COME BACK HERE! YOU HEAR ME? YOU STUPID RUNT? I'M TALKING TO YOU! I'LL GET HIM! WE WON'T BE BEATEN BY SOME PRETEND PIRATE!"

"He's kidding right?" Usopp asked. "Didn't he see what just happened?"

"I guess he does care somewhat for his captain?" Franky asked.

"More like he had so much faith in Bellamy's skills that he couldn't believe that he would ever lose," Robin answered, recognizing that look in Sarquiss's eyes as his other crewmates tried to hold him back.

"Too bad he picked a weakling to follow," Zoro stated, "But that's his fault."

"I'LL SHOW YOU A REAL PUNCH!" Sarquiss continued to yell after Luffy, "WHERE ARE YOU GOING?!"

When Luffy did stop, his words died on his tongue and they froze, looking ready to run back if they had to. Luffy merely held up the bloody fist as he asked, "Where am I going?"

Sarquiss fell back, looking ready to wet his pants. Luffy didn't threaten him, or say anything else to show that he won, it was as if the fight never happened… but instead, he slowly looked back before he held up his finger to the sky. "Up there!"

And that was when it faded once again.

"Boy, that was tough to watch," Usopp whispered as he sat down on the grass, Chopper collapsing with him. "I forget how scary Luffy is when he wants to be."

"It's easy to forget that," Robin answered, "I'm glad that he's on our side… that look alone is enough to scare me."

They stayed quiet, soon the next memory popped up. The sun was already high in the sky, Luffy was there with the rest of the crew and staring at the Merry—though the ship looked to have proper patches and work done to her, she still looked a bit worse for the wear. But also, she was now looking more like a rooster than a sheep.

"What happened to her?" Brook asked startled. The Merry was now sporting wings attached to her sides, and a curved tail at the back, as well as even sporting a wattle and a comb.

"She looks like… a chicken?" Franky said, feeling sweat-drop around his head again. "Why?"

Luffy however was looking at it with glowing eyes as memory Usopp walked proudly over to it. "Introducing the Going Merry, Flying addition!" he cried out.

"It can fly?!" he cried out.

"But… chickens can't fly…" Franky pointed out as memory Usopp pointed happily to the Saruyama Alliance and told him that they built it just for them and past Nami was whispering that she had a bad feeling about it. Zoro seemed to be thinking along the same thing as Franky as he agreed, stating that chickens couldn't fly and that a pigeon would've been a better choice.

"Well, that wasn't what I meant…" Franky stated, now completely lost here.

"What's that got to do with anything? You dope?!" memory Nami snapped at him.

"It's time to set sail!" past Usopp cried out, "Come on, if you're with me let me hear it!"

They all cheered and were all quickly getting on their ships and raising anchor. But they all stayed on land a little longer as they watched Luffy putting the sack of gold on the stump in front of Cricket. Though heavily bandaged and bruised, he looked a hundred times better than the last time they saw him. Cricket didn't say anything, didn't say thank you or asked if he was alright, he didn't even acknowledge what he did. But Luffy didn't seem to have been looking for a thank you.

After breathing out the smoke from his cigarette, Cricket said, "Well? What are you waiting for? Get on board. Unless you wanna miss your chance at the sky? Like a fool."

"We almost did thanks to him looking for that stupid bug," Nami whispered softly. They were lucky that they made it on time.

Luffy just smiled. That was probably the closest he was going to get to a thank you from the old man. "Thanks for the ship," he said gratefully. Cricket just put out his cigarette and jerked his thumb at the Saruyama Alliance, telling him that he should be thanking them for doing all the work. Luffy did just that, and even gave them his Hercules beetle as a way to say thanks.

Shoujou looked thrilled at the gift and ordered his crew to get a cage for their new pet.

"What's this about a bug?" Franky asked them curiously.

"He wasted a lot of time looking for that stupid beetle after he got the gold back," Usopp whispered in annoyance.

"But they all seem really happy about it," Chopper laughed happily.

Shoujou and Masira were both calling out that they would lead the way to where the Knock-Up Stream was going to erupt. And as they followed Luffy, they heard Cricket's voice calling out behind them, calling to the Saruyama crews.

When they all glanced back at him, he was standing tall as he gave them his orders. "I'm counting on you men!" he called. "I don't care what happens! You give our friends everything you've got!"

They all cheered on in agreement, soon pushing off from the shore and giving Cricket their goodbyes. With both ships on either side of the Merry like guards, taking them out to sea, Cricket appeared at the shoreline, calling to the Straw Hats, "Well, kid… looks like this is where we part ways!" Luffy looked over the tail end as he went on, "There's only one thing you gotta remember, above everything else!"

"What's that?" Brook asked, already missing this man and decided to take anything he had to say to heart—even if he didn't have one.

"Not one person, in history, has ever disproved the existence of Sky Island!" Cricket answered with a smile and they all nodded in understanding. "People may say I'm crazy and even laugh at me, but I don't care!" Cricket declared to them all, "I'm a romantic! Like you!"

"I guess that's why he took such a liking to us," Robin smiled as they headed off, the memory fading around them, but not before they heard Cricket's voice calling out, "Oh yeah… thanks for the gold! And hey, don't be falling from the sky you hear?!"

"That was so touching!" Brook said happily. "Truly inspiring! I wish I could've met him!"

"I'm sure that we'll run into him and the others again someday," Nami laughed a little. "And I really can't wait to tell him everything."

"Me too!" Chopper yelled. "Who knows? Maybe they went to Sky Island as well! To see the City for themselves!"

"I doubt it, but hey, you never know," Sanji chuckled. Next up, they were still on the Merry, however they could see dark clouds in the distance and memory Nami was calling for everyone to come out at once.

"Now what?" Franky asked.

"Trouble, that's what," Nami sighed as her past self screamed to the others, "The Cumuloregalis cloud appeared a lot sooner than expected and now everyone's scrambling to find a current!" Shoujou let out another loud wailing with his voice to use for sonar and after a few minutes, the divers came up, finding the place where the whirlpool was sure to form. Masira then called that they were to head right for that spot. The waves around them were growing higher and more violent as they struggled to get through.

"This is looking really dangerous!" Brook said nervously.

"Believe me, this is smooth sailing compared to what we're about to see next!" Sanji called as memory Robin called to Nami as to where the Log Pose was pointing.

Past Nami did a quick check and answered, "It's pointing right at those clouds!" she was staring above them at it as Usopp gasped, "The Sky Island is right above that?!"

"So it really is up there!" Franky said, his own eyes wide at the thought of seeing a floating island. This was going to be freaking sweet.

"This is scaring me already!" Chopper said, though he already rode this thing once, the idea of riding it once again was a ghastly thought. Just then, Masira's ship threw a few hooks behind them and hooked onto the Merry as they began towing it.

"What's this?!" Luffy asked.

"We'll lead you to the inner edge!" he answered as Nami asked what they were supposed to do once they got there. "Position yourself on the flow and head to the center! Then you'll be fine!"

But that was when they spotted the whirlpool, and Franky and Brook screamed at that. To say it was huge would be the usual understatement. It looked like a large, dark drain… one large enough to have easily swallowed a fleet of Marine ships.

"YOU MEAN YOU'RE GOING INTO THAT THING?!" Brook screamed out.

"YOU'LL BE KILLED!" Franky yelled in shock, his eyes almost budging from his head.

"HE WANTS US TO GO TO THE CENTER?!" memory Nami screamed as they headed straight for it, the ships sticking just on the outer rim, just far enough away to avoid the current and getting sucked into the dark pit.

"But I don't want to get sucked in!" memory Usopp screamed in fear, all of them clinging to the ship as the ropes connecting them to Masira's ship let go and they were set adrift.

"I don't remember signing up for all this!" memory Nami screamed out, looking like she was about to have a heart attack.

"Nami-swan! Don't worry! I'm always here for you!" current Sanji yelled as his past self proclaimed that he'll make sure nothing happened to her.

"A fat lot of good that does if you get pulled into that!" Franky yelled.

"Just be glad that it turned out in the end," Zoro told him.

Their past selves were all staring at the whirlpool, and even Robin sounded uneasy as she commented on how she had never seen a whirlpool as big as this one before. Memory Chopper however had his face shining with excitement at the thought of flying while Usopp screamed, tears falling from his eyes, that he changed his mind and wanted to go back.

"Sorry, Usopp, too late for that," memory Zoro told him in his usual bored tones as he jerked his thumb to Luffy, who was already looking like he was about to fall over from happiness. "You know who is already excited."

"It was already far too late to turn around by this point," present-day Zoro shrugged.

"No! There was still time!" Usopp yelled.

"What are you complaining about? We lived didn't we?" Sanji asked in annoyance.

"I still find it hard to believe," Brook said, staring at the whirlpool as Luffy screamed out that they were going to the sky. But just then, something burst out through the water in front of them. It was a Sea King, a large and bright yellow one that looked like a giant, fat salamander. It apparently got to close to the whirlpool's edge and was now being pulled in, down into the darkness until it disappeared.

The past Straw Hats all froze at that, staring at it with a mixture of expressions from calm all the way to freaking out.

"Now… is this really such a good idea?" Usopp whispered. "I still don't get what we were thinking."

"And it's hard to beat Sea Kings since that have all that brute strength and size," Robin answered. "To think that could've been us?"

"WHY ARE YOU ALWAYS TALKING SO CALM LIKE THAT?!" Usopp screamed at her as the Merry was now drifting on the current, slowly being pulled to the center. "It's time for us to go!" Masira called to them. "The rest is up to you now! Good luck!"

"Bye guys!" Luffy called, waving happily, "And thanks a lot for everything!"

But not everyone agreed with that. Three members broke down completely and began to scream at them. Usopp especially freaked out. "Don't go! Don't go I don't wanna die! Please take me with you! Give me a break I'm scared! Oh, please don't make me…" and he ended by breaking down with Chopper wailing by his side.

Memory Nami was just as freaked out as she finished for Usopp, "No one said anything about diving head first into a giant whirlpool!"

"Plus it's getting dark…" Usopp said tearfully.

"Oh, cry us a river," Zoro yawned out. "Just hang on and hope for the best."

"WELL EXCUSE US FOR BEING SCARED!" the 'Weakling Trio screamed at him as memory Chopper screamed that they were being sucked in.

"Don't be so unreasonable, Luffy! Let's go back while we still have time!" past Usopp hollered at him, now looking close to passing out. "Don't you understand that this Sky Island stuff is just a bunch of make believe? It's not worth getting us killed!"

"You sure seemed to believe it before," Robin pointed out with a knowing smile.

"At this point I didn't care!" he cried back, "I just wanted to live!"

"It's all make-believe? Is that what you think?" Luffy asked him, his voice almost annoyed, and he didn't bother looking at him. But Nami was on Usopp's side, also crying and looked ready to start begging if she had to as she cried out, "Usopp's right! I think this is a really bad idea!"

"It may be a stupid dream, but I have to try," Luffy said, still staring ahead before he looked back at them all with his eyes glowing with excitement. "It could be our greatest adventure."

"Well, it was one heck of a journey I'm never gonna forget," present-day Usopp stated and the other five nodded with him.

"Yohohoho, I can't wait to see it!" Brook cried out. "Though I haven't gone on the same adventure with all of you, it's going to be wondrous to see!"

Memory Chopper seemed to have been put at ease at his words, but Usopp and Nami were both still crying as they realized that it was too late. Meanwhile, the Merry was continuing to get pulled closer to the center, something that memory Zoro seemed to have noticed as well. "Instead of wasting your time bickering, you all may want to take a look," he said, not even looking at Usopp, who was asking what he was talking about.

"What did you think he meant?" Franky asked as Zoro merely pointed and told them that they were now being sucked in. That was all it took for them all to start screaming as the Merry suddenly took off and fell towards the darkness below them, it seemed to fly for just a moment above the hole and began to fall.

Straw Hats from both time periods screamed out in shock just as the Merry fell, but as quickly as the whirlpool appeared… it was gone.

"What… what's going on?!" Brook cried out, now sure that he was seeing things. "There was a whirlpool here for a moment right?! Right?!"

He was right… however, at the moment, where the whirlpool had been, it was now calm and smooth as glass. They were directly underneath the Cumuloregalis cloud… waiting…

"Didn't see that coming…" Franky muttered anxiously, wondering just what was going to happen now. "Just what's going on here?"

He wasn't the only one asking that question. All the memory Straw Hats were staring around them, just as lost as Franky was. But then, deep below the surface of the water, they could feel it…

Memory Nami gasped as she cried out that it was starting. When they looked to her she cried out in fear that the Whirlpool had sunk beneath the surface.

"Oh, this is gonna be good," Franky grinned, rubbing his metal hands together, looking forward to seeing how this turned out. But then…

"Hold it right there!"

All the Straw Hats turned to look behind them at once to see, what could be described more as a giant raft than an actual ship, coming towards them. It looked as if someone had just stuck several large tree trunks together with some rope—the only signs of it being a pirate ship was the black sail which bore three sinister looking skulls on it.

"What a pathetic ship," Franky whispered.

"It's Blackbeard again!" Usopp cried, pointing wildly. And he was right, but besides Blackbeard… there were others with him. The old man and his horse with the exploding apples, the large man who wanted to be the fighting champion from earlier, and another man who they hadn't seen before. A rather tall, and thin guy with a very sad/calm expression. He wore glasses, but one of the lenses looked to be some kind of cross hair. Over his shoulder, he was carrying a large rifle, and he seemed to be sighing forlornly, as if thinking of something sad.

"I'm guessing that these guys are the Blackbeard Pirates?" Franky asked, not sounding impressed here.

"I guess," Zoro said, frowning at each of them. He wasn't sure why, but once again he was growing angry with each second. Blackbeard was laughing, looking at Luffy with a great deal more interest than he had when they first met him. "Well, well, well, if it isn't Straw-Hat Luffy."

Memory Nami recognized him at once, telling the others that it was that 'Mock Town' guy from before. As Sanji asked what she was talking about, Blackbeard declared that he had come all this way to collect Luffy's one-hundred million bounty.

"Wait, why did he want Luffy's bounty?" Chopper asked.

"You were there, so you would know," Franky pointed out.

"But I mean, why? Isn't he a pirate? Not a bounty hunter?" Chopper pointed out.

"Don't know, don't care… we got away didn't we?" Sanji shrugged. But Robin was frowning very slightly at that… suddenly having a bad feeling about this whole thing.

"Hundred million!?" Luffy shouted back in confusion. "What are you talking about!?"

"Right… we still didn't know about the bounty increase," Nami sighed as Blackbeard laughed again.

"Don't play dumb with me, kid!" he called as he held up two bounty posters. Luffy's bounty had gone up more than three times… now up to the one-hundred million that Blackbeard had said. He also held up another poster that showed Zoro with his starting bounty of sixty-million.

"Once again, amazing!" Brook called truly impressed. "Sixty-million for your first bounty?"

"Yeah, and it doubled since then," Zoro smirked, unable to stop himself from suffering the sin of pride.

"It's true!" memory Usopp called, looking at the posters through binoculars at them. "He's got a different poster for each of you! Hey, Zoro congratulations on your new bounty!"

"Good times," Zoro laughed darkly, giving Sanji a smug look, whose eye seemed to twitch horribly, as if imagining doing something horrible to him. It was only made worse with past Sanji went running over to Usopp and asked if he could see one for him as well, which Usopp denied.

Memory Luffy and Zoro however were celebrating the news of their bounties. "This is great!" Luffy yelled out practically jumping for joy, "Hear that?! My bounty went up big time!"

"Sixty million's not too bad either!" memory Zoro laughed proudly.

"It's not a good thing!" past Nami snapped at them.

"I still don't get why you guys are so happy for that!" Nami told them darkly.

"Because the greater the bigger the bounty, the more of a threat the world sees you as," Zoro answered. "High bounties mean that the World Government and the Marines see you as a threat."

"And that's good because…?" she responded angrily just as there were shouts around them. It was here that they all finally noticed that the water around them was slowly bubbling and rising up. The Merry was sitting right on top as the water was continuing to go up like how a cake would start to rise…

"This doesn't look safe!" Brook called as memory Usopp screamed out, "OH NO! THE SHIP! IT'S BEING LIFTED UP!"

"Everyone better think of the last words you wanna say to each other!" Franky called. The memory seemed to freeze in time for just a brief moment… and then… with an almighty explosion beneath them… with the force of an exploding volcano, they were sent flying as a great canal of water suddenly rose up into the air. It was a giant pillar of water that shook them all, almost shattering the ship on impact as they were sent flying up, sailing right up its side…

"THIS IS TERRIFYING!" Brook screamed as they were now standing on the wall of the cabin as the memory Straw Hats hung on for dear life as they were shot up.

"That's what was going through my head!" Nami cried out as memory Chopper was crying as he hung to the mast.

"I can't believe that we're riding this beast!" Franky yelled as they went were now completely vertical.

"A beast is right!" Sanji called with a strangled laugh.

Luffy was ecstatic as he hung onto the Merry's new comb, screaming out to make his voice heard over the noise, "ALRIGHT! I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS IS ACTUALLY HAPPENING! LET'S GO TO SKYPIEA!"

"Why do I get the feeling it's not that easy?!" Franky called to them all, knowing that things were never that easy for them.

"Because we ran into a hitch before we got to the sky!" Zoro called as memory Sanji pointed it out. The hull was starting to float, in other words, it was slowly tipping back away from the stream of water. And unless they did something about it, they were going to fall back to the ocean below them.

"WELL WHAT DO YOU EXPECT US TO DO ABOUT IT?!" Usopp screamed, hanging on to the railing like a flag flapping in the wind, "WE'RE HAVING A HARD ENOUGH TIME HOLDING ON AS IT IS! OR HAVEN'T YOU NOTICED?!"

"This isn't good!" Brook called, "How could you all do anything like this?!"

"Very difficultly," Nami admitted with a smile, "But don't worry! We've got a secret weapon to get us through all this!"

"What weapon?!" Franky asked as bits of old ships and even the Sea King from before fell from the sky and past them all—the crew yelling in shock at what they were seeing.

"SEE?" memory Sanji screamed as they watched the monster fall to the ocean below them, "IT'S ONLY A MATTER OF TIME UNTIL THE SAME THING HAPPENS TO THE MERRY!"

"I KNOW! BUT WHAT CAN WE DO?!" past Zoro called. He and Robin were standing quite calmly on the wall of the cabin with them, "WE DON'T HAVE A LOT OF OPTIONS WHEN IT COMES TO MOTHER NATURE! WE'RE AT HER MERCY!"

"There's not much else you all can do here!" Brook called as more ship parts fell around, causing Chopper to scream out in shock.

Memory Usopp lost it completely and began to yell, "WE'RE GONNA TAKE A NOSE DIVE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE OCEAN ALL BECAUSE LUFFY HAD TO FOLLOW SOME STUPID DREAM!"

"Never heard you say that before," current Sanji laughed a little. "If I didn't know you better, I would say you were scared."

"Weren't you?!" Usopp hollered. "This had to be one of the most intense things I had to go through here!"

But memory Nami seemed to pull herself together, suddenly yelling at them to spread the sail. When they looked to her, she called what they had to do. Though a pillar of water, it was still part of the sea, and they could ride it. Since the wind from below was created from geothermal heat… though packaged differently it was still wind and water.

Everyone suddenly broke into smiles—knowing that their navigator had never led them astray before when it came to where to go.

"ALRIGHT GANG! NAMI'S LEADING THE WAY!" memory Sanji called and they were able to spread the sail and thanks to Nami's orders, they were able to align the ship with its current. The haul continued to rise higher and higher… and finally, the back end lifted up… that was when something miraculous happened…

They were flying…

"WE'RE FLYING!" Luffy screamed joyfully, punching the air, "YEAH! WE'RE HEADING TO THE SKY!"

"We made it," memory Usopp croaked out, his eyes almost bulging out of his head.

"THIS IS AWESOME!" Franky cried out, his own eyes wide, "THIS SHIP TRULY IS INCREDIBLE!"

"What did you expect?!" current Usopp laughed out proudly, like how a parent would when their child had done something unbelievable. Everyone was cheering, they had actually conquered the Knock-Up Stream and the terror around them had turned into excitement, everyone from the past and present was laughing and enjoying the ride—as if they had left behind all their fear.

"IF THIS KEEPS UP WE CAN SAIL AS HIGH AS WE WANT!" memory Nami called over the noise.

"Hey Nami, are we almost to Skypiea!?" Luffy yelled back, and they shared a grin as she pointed up to the black clouds above them.

"If it exists, it's past those clouds!" she called as Luffy turned his full attention back above them.

"Past those clouds!" he repeated in joy. "I can't wait to find out what's up in the sky! Let's punch through them and find out!"

The memory then faded around them as they went bursting through the cloud coverage and they had wandered back to the edge of the forest. All the Straw Hats were still as amazed as they had been the day that they had experienced all that chaos. They were all thrilled at the idea of seeing more that they were already heading off, impatient for the next memory to show up.

But as the next memory showed up, Zoro was looking behind him for one last glimpse of the graves that he could just make out in the distance. His one eye couldn't help but go to the crate that was sitting in front of it… he didn't know if he was thinking about it too much, but his eye just couldn't help but notice all three cups glinting in the feeble moonlight.