-Chapter One Hundred and Nineteen-
"I think we better take her advice" Nami firmly nodded, quick to agree with the advice the blonde angel had given us. "When I was on the waver, I saw it for myself—an island filled with monsters" she confessed with a shiver.
"Great, you did exactly what everyone was hoping you wouldn't do" Zoro frowned.
"Well, she didn't know that that place was forbidden, so you can't get mad at her" I said in Nami's defense, not feeling it right to get mad with someone who was unaware and didn't have all the information presented to them in advance. "Besides, you know that's a lie—there's one person who we all know was hoping she went there" I corrected as our gazes drifted towards the captain.
"You mean the place we were told not to ever set foot on?" Luffy eagerly asked, now shining brighter than the sun. "There are monsters?" he grinned, already starting to bounce in place with barely contained excitement.
"Whoa! Don't give him any ideas!" Usopp cried out as he and Chopper tackled the captain to the ground and covered his ears as if that would do anything.
"It's nothing to get excited about, Luffy—the last thing we need is to get involved in this!" Nami scolded. "Regardless, we're leaving now—let's go!" she firmly ordered, leaving no real room for argument.
"Oh, it will break my heart to be away from Conis!" Sanji dramatically proclaimed. "But if that's what Nami wants, so be it!" he swooned.
"Yeah, you looked really heartbroken there..." I sweat dropped upon seeing how quickly his mood changed as he switched from being heartbroken to fawning over the ginger once more in mere seconds.
"If we stick around any longer, Conis and Pagaya might get in trouble because of us!" Nami huffed as she tried to reason with us...well mainly she tried to reason with Luffy as he was the only one that clearly disagreed with the idea of just leaving.
"That's true, those White Berets will charge them as our accomplices—if we can escape now on our own then it couldn't cause them any trouble, right?" Usopp asked. "After all, how can they be helping us when they're with that captain? Okay, that's the plan—let's go!" he nodded, already sounding as if he was trying to hype himself up after convincing himself that the two would be just fine if we all left here and now.
"Yeah, it probably would be better for everyone if we left now" I agreed.
"Luffy, what are you doing?" Nami frowned as she quickly turned around and looked back at the captain who made no attempts to follow the rest of us back to the ship.
"Something a matter?" I inquired with a raised eyebrow.
"Why are we running away?" he suddenly asked.
"Because we're in trouble" Nami calmly answered.
"So what? We're always in trouble" he shot back with a casual shrug, not seeing how this time around was any different compared to the previous times we've been in trouble with a higher authority.
"It's not just us anymore—if we don't leave, Conis and Pagaya could get arrested too!" Nami argued.
"But they haven't done anything, whoever arrests them is an idiot" Luffy frowned.
"I know that, but..." Nami trailed off with a frown as she didn't really know how to explain all of this to Luffy in a way that would help him understand better why she was wanting us to all leave.
"Can't you two argue on the boat? Come on!" Usopp impatiently called down to them from the ship.
"How many times do I have to tell you? Staying here equals more trouble for everybody!" Nami scowled, clearly growing more and more irritated with the captain the longer he stood there unmoving.
"We're in trouble no matter what!" Luffy firmly stated, taking the navigator aback with surprise.
"Save yourselves, please go!" Conis' voice suddenly cried out as she, her father, and the White Berets returned.
"Just great..." the navigator grumbled, huffing at the realization that we had missed our opportunity to leave without any trouble.
"Be careful, miss—if you say anything to defend these criminals, I will consider you and your father accomplices" Mckinley warned. "These people must be punished to the full extent of the law—for all the abuse of language and deplorable violence, I find them guilty of fifth-degree crimes!" he firmly proclaimed. "In the name of almighty Eneru, you are banished to drift the clouds for all eternity!"
"I told you it was an accident! Oh, forget it!" Nami snapped as she harshly grabbed Luffy's arm and started to rush toward the ship with him. It didn't take long for her to come to a stop once she realized that the rubber man wasn't going to move at all and that pulling on his arm was a waste of time and energy.
"Arrest them!" McKinley ordered as his men now took aim with their arrows.
"Just run! You can't win!" Conis pleaded when she saw that Luffy was staying put.
"Fire the Milky Arrows!" McKinley shouted as his men fired.
"Go! Nami, run!" Luffy ordered.
"You think?!" Nami snapped, already running as the fired arrows rained down toward Luffy, leaving behind them a purple-colored cloud trail. With ease, the captain dodged every single arrow before eventually, he came to a stop on top of one of the cloud trails that had been left behind.
"What the heck? Clouds?" he blinked, confused by the cloud he was currently standing on as if it was solid ground.
"White Berets! Attack!" McKinley ordered as his men set out—each of them jumping up and riding on top of the purple clouds as they started to attack the captain who once again dodged their every attempt.
"Cool trick, mind if I try it?" Luffy grinned as he got up in the face of one of the men.
"Attack!" the man grunted as he and the rest of his comrades produced knives.
"These clouds are too fluffy—I can barely run on them!" Luffy complained as he ran away from the men, still dodging each of their attacks without really fighting back.
"Watch out!" Conis worriedly cried when one of the men snuck up behind Luffy and lunged toward him with the intent of taking him down.
"Careful!" I called out to our captain as he just barely dodged the attack.
"Those fools! They think they can get away from us?!" McKinley scowled as his soldiers stopped, their eyes trained on Luffy who now hung upside down from one of the cloud trails.
"Awesome! Are those Cloud Skates?" Luffy excitedly asked as he hopped down onto the cloud trail underneath him. "Nice! I got to get a pair of those!" he grinned as he stretched his arms out and grabbed ahold of a nearby palm tree before finally, he shot himself away from the men that charged at him.
"Whoa!" one of them awed.
"You see his arms?" another asked.
"Look! He's all stretchy!" Conis gasped as she covered her mouth in shock.
"I hope he's okay" Pagaya worriedly said.
"Gum Gum..." Luffy started to spin upwards as he tangled his limbs together in preparation for an attack.
"No way—Devil Fruit!" McKinley clenched his jaw, both shocked and somewhat enraged by this sudden revelation that the teen was actually a Devil Fruit user.
"...Firework!" untangling himself, Luffy shot his limbs out in a mess of appendages that struck each of the White Beret soldiers that were within his reach. For a minute, it almost appeared as if he had gotten them all saved for one who was able to keep himself out of harm's way as he now took aim with his arrow gun and pointed it right at the rubber man's back. Before he could pull the trigger though, Zoro and Sanji knocked him out after having snuck off the ship without anyone really noticing.
"Piece of cake" Zoro grinned. "Nami, how's the money situation looking?" he asked as he called back toward the ship.
"50,000 belis left" she responded.
"50,000? We're that broke?" Zoro questioned.
"Normally that'd last about a day or two at most" Nami said.
"Yeah, but with Luffy, that'd probably only last us half a day seeing how his stomach is a bottomless pit that constantly needs feeding" I pointed out.
"Don't remind me..." she grumbled in irritation.
"What's the deal? Why are we so poor?" Luffy frowned. "Listen up, everybody, your captain has something to say—everyone on my ship needs to be better with money from now on!" he huffed, causing Sanji to snap at him.
"In any case, the Fighting Formation B I got them to use was successful, there's that!" Usopp proudly boasted.
"Really?" Chopper asked.
"Yeah, so happy you could help" I sweat dropped.
"They defeated the White Berets!" Pagaya gaped.
"Unbelievable..." Conis mumbled in surprise. "At this altitude, the athletic ability of Blue Sea dwellers usually decreases" she noted, surprised that Luffy had been able to do what he had done without once losing his breath.
"Sorry, criminals, you have no chance at escape!" McKinley suddenly shouted. "You should have behaved and done what I told you to do, of all the upholders of law Skypiea, we White Berets are the most lenient—however, they are not nearly as forgiving!" he grinned. "Congratulation, you are now considered second-degree criminals! You can try to cry for mercy, but you will all be judged by the Priest of Upper Yard, heso!" he laughed.
"What's wrong with those guys?" Luffy huffed as the men finally left.
"Forget them, that old lady ratted us out" Nami frowned. "She lied to us—she said it was okay for us to pass through, but when we did, they accused us of illegal entry! That's flat-out fraud!" she snarled in frustration.
"They did a lot of things that could be considered fraud" I scoffed as I crossed my arms.
"Exactly" Usopp nodded in agreement. "But then, even if we were told we couldn't pass, we would have just forced our way through" he suddenly pointed out. "I mean, how is that little old lady going to stop us?" he asked.
"Shut up!" the navigator growled, not wanting to hear how we probably would have still gotten into the mess even if the old woman had been strict on enforcing that law about the entrance fee.
"In any case, you're in for a great deal of trouble" Pagaya called out to us. "You're now second-degree criminals, and as such, I'm afraid that Conis and I are unable to assist you any longer" he admitted.
"Why are you talking to us from all the way over there?" Nami asked, noting how the two were now a good distance away from us all as if they didn't want to be anywhere near us.