Chapter 327

327

"That was downright FUN!" Bartolomeo said, punching his arms up in the air. "We made it to the Sky Islands! Woo-hoo!"

"For an island up in the sky… isn't this too white? I barely see any ground up here." Kuina said.

Around them, other than the White Sea, the Shandoran village was covered in white fog. So the crew was a bit underwhelmed by the sight.

When Luffy had jumped out of the Going Merry to catch the ship and bring it to the shore, most of the crew members were still hanging on to the ship for dear life. So, they didn't see the Shandoran village or its villagers.

By then the fog had also covered up the village.

"We could be dead?" Robin merrily suggested.

"Don't say that!" Usopp called out. Along with him, Chopper, Beppo, Penguin, Shachi, Masira, and Shoujou nodded. It seemed not all of them shared the enthusiasm.

"Pussies," Gin snorted, not minding the complaints of his crewmates. "Huh, the air feels fresh around here."

"Not only that… it's also very thin." Coby said.

"So you figured that out," Zoro said, "Good for you. I'm going back to sleep for now."

"All you do is sleep." Kuina pointed out.

"Shut up, woman!"

"…"

"Agh… why did you freeze my clothes? Now they're all wet."

Kuina didn't look at him, just minding her own business. The rest of the crew was also getting used to the change of air pressure. But due to all the training, it didn't take them even a minute to adjust. Though the newer members of the crew did take a bit longer.

Beppo, Shachi, and Penguin were on the floor. Along with them were the monkey brothers Mashira and Shoujou. They couldn't handle the sudden change. Though Law and Cricket were doing better than them.

Shachi and Penguin were also a bit overwhelmed with what was happening. After waking up, not only did they find that most of their crewmates were dead, they also found that they were members of the newest Warlord's crew.

They didn't mind the change, especially when Law mentioned how they helped with dealing with people that had attacked their crew. Still, seeing so much happening rapidly made them aware of how weak they were. Especially considering the others in the Straw Hat crew being monsters.

In the meantime, Luffy came back to the Going Merry, to see over his crew.

"You know I could have just slowed down the ship…" Sparky said. "You just wanted to show off didn't you?"

"I don't know what you mean?" Luffy shrugged with a knowing smile.

Sparky just rolled his eyes, before jumping up Luffy's shoulder. "You know, never mind."

"Hoh! The island is made up of clouds!" Nami said in glee as she walked out of the navigation room with her own log book. "I can't wait to document the weather phenomenons here."

"If you don't mind, I would like a copy of that too…" Sabo politely said. "This information could help us in the Revolutionary army."

"Sure thing, piper." Nami said, sticking out her tongue, "But it will cost a pretty penny."

"The last thing we will have to worry about is Money, if we are right about the City of Gold," Luffy said, musing at his wife's antics.

"Hm… I wonder if we will find a poneglyph here in Skypiea…" Robin said, humming a tune.

Luffy glanced at her, "Who knows… an ancient city like that should have something related to the ancient times at least." He said, shrugging, "But I have a hunch that we might find something there…"

Hearing that Robin smiled, a genuine one. "Let's hope we do, then."

"Is this… is this Skypiea?" Cricket asked, looking around, and checking the old map they found from the broken ship. "I thought it would be a lot bigger. Though, it's really hard to see with all of this cloud-like fog around here…"

"Yeah!" Masira said, showing the log pose, "It's still pointing to the east…"

Nami blinked and looked at her wrist, where there was a log pose, "How did I miss that…" she then scratched her head. Hearing the commotion, everyone in the ship was looking at her, "Guys, I think we didn't make it to Skypiea, yet."

"I thought something similar." Luffy said, "Though, I did see people here… I think Cricket should ask them about Skypiea. Who knows, they might know something about this place."

"This isn't Skypiea, silly." A small voice called out. Bringing everyone's attention to the small figure. "Well, this is part of Skypiea… but it's not the main island. The main island is near Upper Yard, and Angel Island… is a bit further to the east."

"Is that…"

"A small angel?"

"Is she lost?"

"How did you get on the ship?"

"Do you want Candy?"

"Guys, shut up." Nami said, shutting everyone up, as she walked up to the small child and kneeled down, "Well, aren't you just adorable? What's your name?"

"Aisa." She said, "What's yours?"

"Nami…" the navigator said, softly smiling and giving the girl candies made out of hard maple.

The small girl took it in her hand before she started enjoying the treat. "That's sweet!" she cheered.

Nami smiled, patting her on the head, "Hey, Aisa you seem to be from this place. Can you tell us what this place is…? And why is there so much fog around? It's hard to see here."

"Oh, that… well, the clouds around here are a bit hazy. It's a good place where we built our village to hide from the others… though, now it's pretty much destroyed." She said with a somber tone.

Seeing this Nami felt sorry for her. In some ways, she could see herself in her sorrow. It was as if she was seeing herself going through Arlong's torture all over again. She couldn't help herself as she wrapped the smaller girl in a hug, "It's going to be okay, all right?"

Aisa didn't know what to say, she just sniffed crying on her shoulder. The others in the ship didn't know what to say, though all of them felt sorry for the poor girl. It seemed even up here, conflict was a common thing.

After a while Nami separated from the girl, giving her a smile. "I don't know what happened. But I'm sure we can help you… though, can you help us in return? We don't know a lot. And me and my friends are looking for something…"

Aisa looked at her for a bit, before she nodded, "I can… but can you really help us?"

"Anything for you dear!" Nami said sweetly.

"Really…? Then you have to help us kill someone," Aisa said quickly. Not wanting to beat around the bush.