135. Dials

Leo was surprised when he saw Skypeans accompanying Mace. He walked out of his cabin.

Mace came to a stop before him and said, "Captain, these people want to express their gratitude for killing God."

The Skypeans nodded unanimously and one of them said, "Thank you for what you did."

All of them placed their right hand to their left chest and saluted.

Leo shook his head and said, "There is no need for this. That man tried to kill me and my wife. He blatantly attacked where people gathered, ignoring the casualties he may cause. I only retaliated."

The Skypeans still expressed their thanks and said, "It doesn't matter why you did it, sir. You have helped us greatly, if there is anything you want, please don't hesitate to ask."

Well...

Leo pondered for a second and said, "We came here to experience Sky Island, can you take us around?"

The Skypeans agreed immediately. They happily brought them to a dwelling and showed them interesting items solely belonging to Sky Island.

One of them was very interesting. It was called Dials.

Seashells found in White Sea is used to make Dials. There are different types of Dials, like Recording Dial, Impact Dial, Heat Dial, Wind Dial...

Recording Dial is used to record voice. Impact Dial stores impact or force falling on it and at a later time this force can be used.

Leo fumbled with all kinds of Dials. He was intrigued by the novelty of such a thing.

Apart from that he also learnt about different types of clouds. Sky Island floats on Island clouds.

There is another type which is Sea cloud, which is the one they rode to get to Skypiea.

There was lots to see, different kinds of food, many types of drinks.

Leo and Shinobu were fully occupied by what they saw. This lasted for about three days.

On this day Leo got a call.

"Where the hell are you!?"

Sengoku roared from the other end of the den-den mushi.

Leo held the receiver far and only brought it close when Sengoku calmed down.

"I am at Sky Island."

The other end went silent for a while.

"How did you get there?"

Leo said as a matter of fact, "I rode the Knock Up stream."

Sengoku who was in Marineford slapped his forehead, "You fool. You rode that monstrous wave!? One mistake and all of you could have died!"

Leo could hear the concern in his voice, he smiled and said, "I am alive and well, aren't I?"

Sengoku sighed and asked, "When are you coming back?"

Leo thought for a second, "Well, I saw everything there is to see, so I will be returning in a day or two."

"Alright. Be safe."

Sengoku cut the call and leaned on his chair.

This darn kid went to Sky Island. He is more of a pirate than a marine.

Sengoku valued Leo. He was a strong addition to their force, his growth in the last few months can be summed up to one word, astonishing.

However he was also worried about Leo's character. He was adventurous and abhorred evil. He didn't know why but Leo hated evil.

This was a good thing and a bad thing.

It's only a matter of time before he meets them. I hope he would consider the bigger picture.

...

One day later.

The crew was preparing for their descend. They filled the ship with food, water and some items from Sky Island.

Skypeans came out to wave them off.

Soon the ship set sail.

The way to get down was much easier. They just had to free fall.

The departure point was called Cloud End. It was a waterfall made of clouds.

Leo's ship slowly entered Cloud End and reached a slope. The ship slid down a cloud path and reached a breaking point before falling down.

The crew went pale when the ship suddenly fell. Leo was calm as he knew what would happen next.

As he expected a huge shadow shot out from the cloud sea and grabbed their ship.

It was a humongous octopus. The crew nearly wept when they saw this. They thought they were going to be eaten.

However they realised that they slowed down. Looking up they saw the octopus's head swell up like a balloon.

Mace had a pale face, he wiped the cold sweat on his forehead and mumbled, "The entering and exiting methods are crazy."

The ship slowly descended. However, after they travelled a quarter of the distance the ship started to pick up speed.

Leo looked up and frowned. The octopus was shrinking.

He looked at Mace and asked, "Will the ship break from this height?"

Mace nodded his head like a woodpecker, "It definitely will! Unless we can slow it down for half the remaining distance it will definitely break."

Leo nodded and jumped off the ship. He used Geppo and got beneath the hull.

He placed his hands on the hull. The entire weight of the ship fell on his arms. 'Breath' rolled inside him like a tide, his hands turned into a shade of black and blue.

He used Geppo to stay in air as he offset the descent. Veins bulged on his arms.

After a while the ship slowed down. With the reduction in speed the pressure on Leo was eased.

The ship slowly descended. When it got to a point Mace yelled from the deck.

"Captain! This is enough!"

Leo let go of the ship and pushed himself out of its path. The ship suddenly accelerated, causing a few of the crew to lose footing.

"Brace for impact!"

The ship picked up speed and fell down like a meteor.

The blue sea got closer and closer.

Crash!

They crashed into the sea causing mighty waves. Sea water flooded inside the ship causing a few to drink saltwater.

Soon the ship stabilised and they were able to breath out a sigh of relief.

Mace thanked the gods for saving him from this ordeal. His legs were still shaky as he tried to stand up.

However when he checked out where they were his shaky legs gave out and he fell down.

Right beside their ship was an even larger ship. It had the shape of a whale, the jolly roger it flew was a pirate skull with a beard.

Mace's voice was shaking, "Whi-White Beard!"