179. Village Hidden in The Clouds

The Shandians are surprised to hear Noland's name.

"How do you know that name?" asks the Shandian group leader.

"My name is Montblanc Cricket, I'm sure you know what that means," says Cricket.

The leader gets even more surprised and says, "Y-You, a-are you?"

"I am Noland's descendant," says Cricket.

"Ryder, don't believe him immediately. This is too much of a coincidence," says a Shandian.

"Well, he is correct, it will be hard to believe. So why don't we talk and make everything clear?" asks Buggy.

The leader thinks about it for a while before asking, "What do you know about Noland and our tribe?"

Cricket grins and then starts to tell everything he knows. He tells them everything that Noland wrote in his journal about Shandians. Now the Shandians can't deny that Cricket is Noland's descendant, but they are still wary of him.

"I will believe that you are Noland's descendant for now. But I won't trust you just yet. Come with me to meet my tribe chief, but it's just you, don't bring anyone else," says Ryder.

"That won't do, at least let my Captain go with me," says Cricket.

"Fine, but we'll need to restrain you," says Ryder.

"No problem," says Buggy.

The Shandians then get on the ship and tie Buggy & Cricket's hands. Buggy orders his crew to wait on the ship and not make any trouble. Then both he & Cricket are taken to Shandian's hidden village.

They dived into the cloud and go around for some time. Buggy smirks because he knows they want to hide their village's location from him & Cricket. But he has felt many people's presence from the start, so he knows where the village is located.

'Well, it's not like I care about their village's location because I won't attack them. There's no benefit in doing that. The City of Gold is more interesting to us than this village. But this reminds me of Kumogakure in Naruto,' thinks Buggy.

After going around for some time, they finally enter the village. The Shandian warriors are surrounding Buggy & Cricket while they walk to make sure they don't try anything funny. The villagers are looking at them curiously because they never have outsiders in their village.

"I thought you'll build your houses from clouds too, like the people in Angel Island," says Cricket while looking at the Shandians' houses that look more like tents than houses.

"We don't do that here. These kinds of houses were the ones that our ancestors used. So this is our tradition and we need to preserve it," says Ryder.

"Hmm, but where did you get the materials to build these houses?" asks Buggy.

"From Blue Sea people that came here. We usually attack them and take what we need," says Ryder.

"Oh, but you didn't attack us when we came yesterday," says Buggy.

"We were just attacking God's army yesterday, so we didn't have time for that. Enough, we have arrived," says Ryder.

They arrived in front of the biggest house or tent here. It is the Chief's house and many people are here now. The people there are surprised to see Buggy & Cricket, and they immediately point their weapons at the 2 of them.

"RYDER, WHAT'S THE MEANING OF THIS? WHT ARE YOU BRINGING BLUE SEA PEOPLE HERE?" shouts a man angrily.

"I have my reason, Taki, and it is important. The Chief needs to know this," says Ryder.

"You want the Chief to meet these 2? Are you crazy? Even if you are the Great Hero Kalgara's descendant, I won't let you endanger the Chief's life," says Taki angrily.

Suddenly, a voice is heard from inside, "Enough, Taki. Let them in."

"Chief! But-," says Taki.

"Ryder won't do this without good reason. If you're that worried, then just get in too," says the Chief.

Taki finally lets them in even though he doesn't really want to. Then he & some more warriors also enter the tent to guard the Chief. Inside, there are some people that seem to be the village's elders and in the middle is the Chief.

'Is he the same chief that the Straw Hats meet I wonder?' thinks Buggy.

Buggy then sees a little kid with a mohawk cut who clings onto Ryder after he entered the tent. The little kid reminds Buggy of someone.

'Is he Wyper? He must be Ryder's son because that Taki guy said Ryder is Kalgara's descendant. He is still a little kid. Damn, it makes me feel really old now,' thinks Buggy.

"Ryder, I hope you have a good explanation for this," says the Chief.

"Yes, this man here said that his name is Montblanc Cricket," says Ryder.

"WHAT?!" says everyone in surprise.

"I know you guys don't believe it because I was the same. So I interrogated him about many things and he explained the story about Noland & our tribe really well. That's why I took him here to meet with you, Chief," says Ryder.

Everyone is still in shock and they murmur before the Chief says, "I'm sorry to ask this, but can you repeat the story so we all can hear it?"

"Sigh, do I really need to repeat that long story?" asks Cricket tiredly.

"Why don't you just give them that?" asks Buggy.

"Ah, I left it in my room," says Cricket.

"Then you need to repeat the story. You want to know the truth, so you need to work on it," says Buggy.

"Damn, that will be tiring," grumbles Cricket before he starts to tell them the story again.

As Cricket narrates the story, the Shandians are getting more surprised. Cricket can narrate the story really well and it matches the story that gets passed down in their tribe. Now they really believe that Cricket is Noland's descendant and they start to cry.

"I can't believe that Noland's descendant will find us here," says the Chief while crying happily.

"Oi, don't get the wrong idea about this. I search for the City of Gold not to fulfill Noland's promise or anything. I just want to find out if he is a liar like what people said or not. This is just a fight between me and the man who has ruined my life," says Cricket.

"That's also fine. No matter what your reason is, you are still here to meet us, that is the fact. As for the City of Gold, it also exists. But it is in Upper Yard and currently, we are not having control over it, I'm sorry," says the Chief.

"Don't worry, we've gone there just now," says Buggy.

The Shandians get very surprised and the Chief asks, "Y-You've gone there? You found Shandora?"

"Yeah, it is right on the bottom of Giant Jack, covered by cloud. But we didn't find the Golden Bell there," says Cricket.

"What?! The Golden Bell isn't there?" asks the Chief.

"Damn, God's army must've taken it," says Rider.

"Don't worry, it's not them," says Buggy.

"Hmm? How could you know?" asks the Chief.

"Because I've seen it, 5 years ago," says Buggy.

"What?! Where is it?" asks Ryder.

"I will tell you about it later, but for now, I have another thing to discuss. Do you want to stop this war?" asks Buggy.

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You can read up to 35+ chapters ahead of this fanfic novel & the other one on my Pa_treon page if you are interested.

Clicking that power stone/like also seem to be a good choice, hehe.

I've uploaded:

1. Chapter 203 of Fairy Tail: Sun Eater

2. Chapter 214 of Transcended as Lord Buggy

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