The Land of God

"Who are you?"

"I'm the Knight of the Sky!" The old man answered with a surprised look. He hadn't expected the newcomers to be able to take down a Shandai and the leader on top of that. The old man saw the look everyone was giving him; all of them were obviously wary of him, especially the one with the straw hat. he looked ready to attack at any moment, and the knight's eyes briefly went to his injured arm, completely bandaged.

"I'm not here to fight, I wanted to help you fight the Shandai, but it seems you already have this covered," The old man said with a friendly smile, his hands up in the air to show that he wasn't here to harm anyone.

"Shandai, what does that mean?" Usopp questioned while rubbing the top of his head with the tip of one of his revolvers.

"We call them that, he and his people are enemies of the God," The old knight said; his choice of words caused a sense of unease in the air, except for Luffy, who quickly stepped forward, almost like a shield to his crew.

"God! What God you're talking about?" Luffy questioned with narrowed eyes as Chopper started checking on the unconscious man who attacked them; he removed the helmet, revealing the face underneath. Zoro arched an eyebrow; he had expected another old man, but this one was middle-aged.

"Wait! This dude has wings!!" Usopp exclaimed, pointing at the wings on the man's back. Usopp leaned closer and tried to see if they were fake, but he saw that wings were indeed part of his body and not fake in any way.

"Huh, well, this is new!" Robin commented with a look of amusement on her face. She had seen many things, but a man with wings was something new even for her.

"Are you Blue Sea people?" The Sky Knight questions as he walks up the stairs.

"Blue Sea people? What's that? Oh, yeah! Who are you?!" Nami asks him with a puzzled look, while Luffy orders for the attacker to be tied up and for someone to watch over him until he wakes up.

"I am the Sky Knight," He repeats with a bow of his head. "Blue Sea People" is the term for those who live beneath the clouds." He explained the three monkey brothers were listening to his every word.

"The Sky Knight..." Chopper marvels with stars in his eyes.

"In other words, did you come up here from the blue seas?" The old man asks, looking at the pirate crew.

"Yeah. We did!" Luffy answered, still keeping his guard up around the old man; Luffy had noticed how the old man had dodged the question about this God.

"Then that explains it. This is the White Sea, 7,000 metres in the air. The White-White-Sea even further above reaches 10,000 metres high. Ordinary Blue Sea people can't possibly endure it here." The Sky Knight explains, but he could see many of them had already gotten used to it, except Usopp and Chopper, who still found it a little difficult to breathe.

"Well, me and my crew are already used to it," Luffy said casually, with Zoro nodding along.

"No, no, no! That is not possible!" The Sky Knight declared with a shocked look, but he could see they weren't lying to him.

"Anyway, why was that guy speeding on top of the clouds?!" Chopper questions after checking on the wounds of their attacker. The wounds visible with his eyes weren't much, but Chopper was concerned that his captain's fist had done more than just knock him unconscious.

"Now, now. Hold on. I'm sure you have many questions, but let's talk business first." The Sky Knight says with a sudden look of greed in his eyes, something that caught the crew off guard.

"Business?" Nami questions right away as she steps forward, looking at the old man suspiciously.

"I am a freelance soldier-for-hire. These seas are fraught with danger. If you don't know how to fight in the sky, guerrillas like that one will come after you and turn you into food for the skyfish. For a 5,000,000 Extol One Whistle, I will help you." The old man explains, looking at them, but all he saw was confusion on the faces of everyone in the Pirate Crew, Luffy cocked an eyebrow in confusion.

"What're you talking about, old man?" Luffy questioned as he walked beside Nami. he knew he wasn't the best at handling money, but he couldn't recognize the value the old man was talking about.

"What?! That is quite cheap! I won't lower it a single Extol more!" The Sky Knight exclaims. "I need to earn a living, too, you know!"

"What in the world is "Extol"? And what's this "whistle" or whatever?" Sanji questions with a groan, letting out a puff of smoke from his mouth.

"You came here via the summit of High-West, did you not? Then you must've passed an island or two," The Knight asks them, looking mainly at Luffy since the old man could tell that Luffy was perhaps the leader of this pirate crew.

"Wait, so there are more Sky Islands out there?" Luffy questioned, sounding a little intrigued.

"Don't tell me you came here via the...." The Sky Knight stops in shock, his mouth hanging open in shock.

"We rode the Knock-Up Stream," Robin answers right away.

"My word! That monstrous current?! So there still are people gutsy enough for that...." He remarks with a tilt of his head.

"So there were other routes out there, Luffy we could have chosen other routes," Nami points out with a small pout.

"If we had chosen another route, we would be dead right now." Luffy quickly reminded her with a grave look, his eyes looking at her with barely any emotions. Nami quickly looked at Luffy apologetically, but Luffy simply looked away from her, his attention focused on the old man.

"Did you lose any of your crew?" The Sky Knight asked right away, noticing the sudden tension in the air, and he figured it had something to do with the wounds some from the crew had.

"No, we're all here," Luffy answers dismissively.

"That wouldn't have been the case with any other route. One hundred people head into the sky, a few arrive, and someone survives. That is the gamble," The Knight warns them. "But with the Knock-Up Stream, everyone dies, or everyone arrives. That's it. Not many can make that all-or-nothing bet, especially these days. I now see that you are capable navigators with courage and skill." The old man said with a genuine impression on his words. As he threw the whistle at Luffy's hand, he simply handed it to Chopper.

"One blow of this One Whistle...." The Sky Knight started explaining. "...and I shall come to your aid! Normally, I would charge you five million Extol, but I will give you the One Whistle as a present!" He finished, looking mainly at Luffy.

"You might need it more than me," Luffy said, with Chopper nodding in understanding, he quickly put the whistle in a small pocket.

"Wait! We still don't know your name!" Nami exclaims.

"I am Gall Fall, the Sky Knight! And this is my partner, Pierre!" He introduces himself. "I forgot to mention it, but my partner Pierre...." The strange-looking bird begins to transform, the bones cracking. "...is a bird that ate a Horse-Horse Fruit and gained its powers."

"A bird?!" Sanji questions, finding the Sky Island very strange.

"In short, he becomes a horse with wings! Namely..."

"No way! Wow! A Pegasus?!" Nami marvels, with a look of awe on her face.

"Yes! A Pegasus!" He replies, riding his bird horse that looks completely strange and disappointing.

"How...unexciting," They all grumble.

"May luck be with you, warriors!" He says goodbye and flies away.

"That was a weird thing it turned into...." Sanji comments as he rubs the part under his chin with his index finger.

"Was there even a reason for it to transform?" Nami questions with a tilt of her head.

"Good question..." They agreed.

"In the end, he didn't tell us anything," Robin says.

"Yeh, I was hoping he would bring up something about Jaya," Cricket grumbled while wondering if this journey would be fruitful.

"You're right! Nothing at all!" Usopp agrees.

"Now we're back to square one," Sanji adds.

"How do we get up there?!" Zoro questions.

"Hey, look over there!" Chopper suggests.

"What could that be?" Robin asks, looking over.

"Isn't that a weird cloud?" He asks.

"It also looks like a waterfall...." She adds.

"Alright! It's decided! Let's check it out!" Zoro declares, and they begin moving towards the cloud waterfall.

"Wait! Stop! Stop!" Nami orders with a shout.

"There are huge clouds in the way...." Robin announces.

"What do we do?" Chopper asks, looking around.

"They're floating in the sky ocean, so they can't be ocean, too...." Sanji surmises.

"Then what kind of clouds are they?" Usopp questions.

"If they were ordinary clouds, they'd keep moving forward...." Nami pondered to herself before shouting. "Hey! Find a route that the ship can take!"

"Right! Okay!"

"Hey, Luffy! There's something over here!" Usopp announces, and Luffy rushes over to him.

"What is it?!" He asks as he runs over to Usopp.

"Hey! Where are you going?! Quit playing around!" Nami shouts at them with anger and shark teeth in her mouth.

"A gate?"

"Yeah! There's a big gate under that waterfall thingy!" Luffy tells her as he slides back onto the ship, and Chopper tumbles down onto Usopp's head.

"There are man made objects in a place like this?" Sanji questions, finding this place more and more confusing.

"There could be anything in this ocean and it wouldn't be surprising...." Robin tells him as they sail down a path around the waterfall toward the gate.

"We'll find out what it is after we get through here!" Luffy exclaims.

"Left next!" Chopper says.

"No, right!" Usopp corrects him.

"It's to our left!" Chopper snaps.

"No, our right!" The Sniper argues back.

"Alright! Looks like we're through!" Nami declares, and the clouds part ways to reveal a golden star-shaped archway where the waterfall ends with the words "Heaven's Gate" on the top.

"And look, that waterfall-like cloud really was a waterfall!" She beams. "It's flowing over those different clouds from earlier!"

"What's this now? "Heaven's Gate"...?!" Usopp questions. "That's unlucky! It sounds like we're on our way to die!"

"Y'know, maybe we already are dead," Zoro muses jokingly.

"Ah! That would explain this weird world...." Sanji joins in, scaring the Sniper.

"Eep! We're dead?!" Chopper exclaims in fright.

"Get real!" Nami snaps at them, hitting them over the head.

"What was that for?!" Usopp asks while rubbing his head in pain.

"Your jokes aren't funny!" She snaps at them with bright golden eyes.

"Why did I get hit, too...?" Chopper cries, clinging to Chopper's leg.

"Look! Over there! Someone's coming out!" Usopp exclaims, pointing at a small elderly woman with tiny wings pointing out the side of her back, holding something that keeps flashing towards them.

"Look! She has wings on her back!" The little Doctor exclaims.

"It's an angel! Is that what angels are like?!" Zoro said with a raised eyebrow. "She's like a pickled plum!"

"U-Umm..." Nami begins.

"I am Amazon, the Heaven's Gate inspector," The elderly woman introduces herself. "Sightseeing?" Or perhaps war?"

"I-I guess it's kind of like sightseeing...." Nami replies, feeling a little weird that the strange woman mentioned War so casually.

"We wanna go to the sky island! They're past this gate, right?" Luffy asks with authority in his voice.

"It doesn't matter either way. If you're going to the upper area, pay the entrance fee of one billion Extol per person. That is the law," Amazon informs them with a bright smile on her face.

"O-One billion?!" Usopp exclaims, stepping back in shock.

"There's that "Extol" stuff again...." Sanji comments with a groan.

"How much is one billion Extol in Berries?" The Sniper tries to work out, looking at his hand.

"Whatever it is, one billion sounds really expensive!" Chopper exclaims, looking at Nami, wondering if she has any money lying around.

"One billion per person... Twelve billion for twelve people..." Robin says with a small whistle.

"It's just to enter the country! Do countries usually charge that much just to enter?! This old lady's trying to scam-." Usopp grumbles, and Nami slaps her hand over his mouth.

"U-Umm, about the money... What if we kinda don't have it...?" Nami asked with an innocent look on her face. Zoro rolled his eyes at the witch; everyone knew she hid all the money in the safe of the Ship.

"You can pass," Amazon answers right away.

"Are you serious?!" Usopp exclaims in shock, same for Chopper. Luffy didn't really share their enthusiasm. Instead, he focused his Haki on something.

There's someone strong nearby; I wonder if that's the reason she's so casual about War, Luffy wondered, as he kept his guard up all the time. With the tip of his finger, he used his ability to send a small bolt of lightning even higher. They were here to rest for a few days, explore the place, and go back down, but Luffy knew this wouldn't end so swiftly.

"You don't have to pass," She adds. "I am neither a gatekeeper nor a guard. I simply ask your intentions."

"We don't have money, but we're going through, old lady!" Usopp shouts at the lady, who doesn't seem bothered at all.

"I see. The twelve of you, then?" She asks them with the same casual smile that was a little creepy.

"Yeah. But how do we get to the sky island-." Luffy's question was interrupted when large claws came out from the clouds below them, grabbing the ends of the broken wings of their ship and making the others scream in fright.

"What the...?! Something's here!" The boys shout.

"The White Sea's famous Express Lobster...." Amazon announces, and it speeds up the waterfall.

"It's moving!" Usopp cries, clinging to the ship.

"It's a huge lobster!" Chopper exclaims.

"Is it planning to go up the waterfall?!" Zoro shouts.

"Hold on tight!" Nami exclaims.

"What speed!" Sanji comments as they pick up more speed, and they can see a road to the top.

"What the heck...?!" Zoro ponders. "It's a cloud road that looks like a bell...."

Nami slipped and fell straight into Luffy's arm; the latter quickly used his ability around the ship, ensuring no one would fall off.

"It doesn't look like it was created spontaneously," Nami comments.

"There's no way this is spontaneous!" Usopp cries as Zoro leans his foot on his head as the Sniper bumps into him. But they keep going and get closer as light shines from the end of the cloud-made road.

"That's the exit! There's something written!" Chopper exclaims and points to a golden sign that reads "Godland Skypiea." "Godland..."

"God's Land, Skypiea?!" Robin gasps with wide eyes.

"It's not an exit... It's an entrance!" Luffy claimed, standing in front of the ship with Nami; right now, Luffy could feel the presence even more.

Whoever they are, they will not harm my crew, Luffy thought, his left hand turning into a fist.

!?!?

"Huhh! Strange?" He murmured as he closed his eyes, focusing on what he was feeling; little by little, it became more clear to him, from what he felt, there were twelve of them, none of them seemed that much strong, except one in particular.

"Interesting!"

"What is it our God?" Satori questioned who was standing nearby, noticing Enel's sudden change in demeanor. Enel didn't respond; instead, he stood up, stretching his arms and legs, before grinning widely.

"It seems we have visitors, Satori, check on something for me, one of them might cause trouble," Enel ordered as red lightning danced around his fingertips.