444 Chapter 444 | Together
444 | Together
Luffy and his group had no reason to stay in Marineford anymore. Jinbe had left right after the meeting. The Fishman didn't even need a ship, he just jumped into the ocean to get on with his work.
Which involved convincing King Neptune to send some soldiers (Fishman) for the upcoming war against the Beast pirates. And even though Jinbe hadn't said much, Luffy knew that the Fishman fully didn't trust him yet. So he was most likely to call Whitebeard to discuss the proposal first.
Luffy was okay with that. Jinbe didn't know Luffy well enough, and even though Arlong was a scum he was a friend. And Luffy did technically kill him, so his hesitance to trust wasn't unwanted. Hmm… he really should have brought Hatchan with him, at least that would have sorted a few things out.
But eh… he'll deal with it later. At least now he had Jinbe's den den mushi number, he could use it after going back to Skypiea.
Speaking of which, Luffy boarded the sea train along with his crew, as they didn't have a ship. The journey back to Skypiea would take a while. They would need to make a few detours rather than going directly to Jaya.
So with the sea train, they would go to Water Seven first, before using Geppo for travel. I mean skywalking from one island to another could be considered training, and they were quite lacking in that regards due to Marineford.
This way they would be able to save up on time. And the Marines will have a less likely chance of knowing where his whole crew was. Of course, this would be a bit risky, mainly for devil fruit users like Coby, who was a bit behind. But it should work out, it was kind of like this world's version of a marathon, if you think about it. A sky-running marathon.
It might be hard, but eh… hard stuff builds character. Luffy was sure that all of them would be able to make it. And besides all of them would to together, so it shouldn't be that tough.
.
It took one day for them to reach Water Seven, they stay there one more day due to exploring and other stuff. That place was crawling with marines and world government agents due to the supposed murder of Spandam and the assassination attempt of Iceburg.
And like in canon, it seemed the Franky family and Galley-la were working together to rebuild what destruction was caused by the Kid pirates. Luffy really was curious to know what happened there, he had some guesses, but it was better to take it from the horse's mouth.
Honestly, Zoro, Coby, Kuina, Sparky and even Sanji were more than happy to be anywhere around marines. Even though Water seven was filled with white collars, it wasn't that bad.
Even though no one attacked them in marineford, the crew was always vigilant to not drop their guards around the enemy. And it kind of made all of them a bit paranoid. That included even Luffy. Sure he was strong, but Luffy knew there were people in marineford who could not only give him a challenge, but also even put him down with their powers. That's why they relaxed a bit after coming to Water Seven.
Luffy was also expecting Sabo to come by, but sadly he didn't. Hopefully, he wasn't captured, but there was a good chance that he had gone back to the Revolutionary Army. He did plan on parting ways after water seven, so something might have came up. Who knows.
After staying there for one day, exploring the island, they all started their journey towards Skypiea. And thus began the great sky marathon.
And after two days of almost no break, —well, they did take a short break in Jaya to pick someone up— they finally made it to Skypiea. Luffy landed on the Skypiea. His grin widened as he gazed out at the endless emerald fields and lush forests spanning the horizon. Having spent weeks in Marineford, with its semi-hostile environment, the vibrant greens and blues of Skypiea were a wondrous sight.
His senses flooded with the sweet floral scents and warmth of the sun beaming brightly in the clear azure sky.
In the distance, a gleaming city with towers of wooden structure, caught his sight. Luffy could make out lively crowds bustling along streets lined with exotic trees and flowers. It seemed the new city of Skypiea was growing at rapid rate.
"Shishishi… it's good to be back," he said, after taking a breath full of air. Not only did he look a bit rugged, he was also a lot sweaty. He took out the last bottle of water, drinking it one gulp.
The most challenging thing about the whole journey through the sky was keeping yourself hydrated. Good thing Kuina was with them, she was able to help in that regard.
Speaking of which, Luffy looked back and squinted his eyes, nodding when he saw his crewmates catching up him. Like him, they were worse from wear.
Right as he was thinking Sanji zoomed above him, with love in his eyes. Yeah, maybe not everyone. Really for a guy like him, anything was possible when it came to women. But then again, he was the 'king' of Skypiea after all, so maybe he was excited to see the development of his nation? Nah… that would be weird.
"Wo-hoo! We reached Skypiea!" Said a certain princess excitedly as she rode a white winged snake towards the city of new Skypiea.
Oh, did he forget to mention that, Luffy picked up Vivi and White Fury from Jaya. Yeah, they really wanted to see Skypiea, so why not?
Also, giving Vivi the teleportation fruit really was a boon in some regard. His lovely wife had figured out one of the main functions of her fruit. And that was long-distance teleportation.
It took a lot out of her, and she was only able to do it once or twice a day, depending on the distance, without limiting if she had anyone with her or not.
That was quite a lot as this would enable her to not only explore her powers more, but also enable her to journey with the straw hats.
Soon enough the other straw hats landed before all of them went towards the new Skypiea city. Even from a vast distance, one could see many people working hard at the port, building a new ship. And sure enough, that's where most of the remaining Straw Hat crew was.
The crew was elated to have them back, celebrating their arrival. And of course, a party was given. The crew was back together after all.
-----
Shameless Pa-atreon plug. I've got one, goes by the username (FallenCrown) on there.
Support me if you want, but don't feel pressured, I'll be uploading my stuff outside it regardless and not keeping it all behind a paywall or anything like that.
Read my other fics if you have the time. If you want to have a chat with me, hit me up on discord.
discord.gg/Gnxnuw56ks
Gnxnuw56ks
