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A cloud may look like a fluffy pillow that a person can just sail right through, but they are a lot thicker considering all they are made up of is water. It isn't like when I was trapped in wax and couldn't breathe at all, but there is a moment of panic. A brief moment where memories from Foosha flash before my eyes.
And then it is all over as we burst out of the cloud into the fresh air. Every single one of us dripping from the water stored in the cloud as we gasp for air.
"It was like being under water," I keep taking deep breaths to fill my lungs.
"What the hell happened?" Zoro huffs, placing his feet on the deck. "We lose anyone?"
"Hey!" Luffy smiles; his hat secure around his neck by the string. "Guys, look! Look where we are!" He hops off the figurehead, settling right by my side.
I look forward, only seeing the white fluff that is the cloud we are sailing on top of. "It's pure white," I fling water off my face.
"Clouds!?" Chopper shouts as he rushes at the railing.
"We are above the clouds!" Nami exclaims, slapping her hands on the railing. "We are sailing on the clouds!"
"Of course we are sailing on the clouds!" Luffy chuckles.
"You can't sail on clouds!" Sanji, Zoro, and Chopper shout, waving their hands in front of their mouths.
I giggle, "You only say that because it has never been done, but we are clearly sailing on the clouds right now."
"Thanks, Akari," Luffy snakes his arm around my waist, pressing a kiss to my temple.
"Hey! Usopp isn't breathing!" Chopper exclaims as he stands by a passed out Usopp.
"What!?" Luffy drags us over to look at Usopp. "Do something then! Mouth-to-mouth or whatever!"
"I'll take it to Nami!" Sanji gushes about something as he skips to the girl.
"Idiot," Zoro grumbles.
"This must be the sky ocean," Nami happily sighs.
Usopp coughs up some water, slowly waking up.
"That must mean the log pose is back to normal, right?" I look back at Nami.
Nami raises the log pose up to her face, "No, it is still pointing up."
"This must be the middle level of the Emperor Cloud then," Robin says, taking a seat on the railing.
"Did you call me an idiot?" Sanji clenches his jaw as he glares at Zoro.
"I forget," Zoro shrugs, looking away from the cook.
"How are we going to get higher?" Chopper asks, walking over to the girls.
Usopp jumps up onto the railing, tossing his shirt off and flexing his bicep that doesn't have much muscle, "First things first, Captain Usopp will go for a swim in the clouds!"
"Yeah! Do it!" Luffy dances as Chopper rushes back to join.
"You're not captain, but I do want to see you swim in the clouds," I say.
"Hey!" Sanji snaps. "Don't do anything stupid! We don't know a single thing about this ocean!"
"All oceans are the same!" Usopp laughs, diving into the sea of clouds.
"How long do you think he'll stay down there?" I ask, leaning over the railing to reach out to the clouds.
"Don't you fall over now," Zoro teases.
"Yeah, yeah," I pull my hand back.
"Do you think he's found the bottom yet?" Luffy asks.
"He's taking a long time," Chopper grimaces.
"I just had this thought, but does this ocean even have a bottom?" Robin speaks up.
"Oh no!" Chopper, Nami, and Sanji blurt out.
"Do you think he fell through the clouds!?" Zoro shouts.
"Don't worry Usopp!" Luffy jumps up and shoots his arm right into the clouds.
"I warned you dumbasses!" Sanji grits his teeth.
"Stretch your arm as far as it can go!" Robin orders.
"But I can't see through the clouds!" Luffy slams into the railing. "How will I know if I can get him?"
"Leave that to me," crosses her arms and closes her eyes. "Ojos Fleur."
"Can you hold on without help?" I step up to Luffy, not wanting to grab onto him if he doesn't want my help.
"I'm good," he grunts, flashing me a smile.
"There he is!" Robin blurts out.
"What? Where?"
"Seis Fleurs!" She softly smiles and opens her eyes. "Pull him up!"
Luffy jumps up onto the railing, making all kinds of noises as he retracts his arm to get Usopp back up to us.
"Pull harder, Luffy!" Chopper shouts.
"I'm trying!" Luffy huffs out.
"He can only pull his arm back so fast," I defend.
In the next moment, Luffy's arm flings out of the cloud, and Usopp is held in Robin's extra limps coming off Luffy. Except, it also looks like there might be a few visitors coming up with him.
"You did it!" Nami cheers. "Here comes Usopp!"
"That is not Usopp!" I scream, pointing at the sea serpent and giant octopus bursting out of the clouds.
"NOOO!" Chopper starts running in circles.
"It thinks Usopp is lunch!" Luffy shouts.
Nami and Chopper explode into fearful screams.
"That's not so scary," Zoro rushes forward, getting a jump off the railing.
"He's right," I grin, pulling out as many shurikens as I at once, leaping into the air to send them flying at the tentacle that Zoro is not targeting.
Both of the tentacles explode as if all they are filled with his arm. Though Zoro's does explode with more force than mine. Regardless, it doesn't continue to attack us. The sea serpent is also taken care of by Sanji before it can bite through the Going Merry.
"What a strange beast," Sanji huffs, looking down at the serpent he has a foot on. "I'm not sure I can even call it a fish."
"That octopus exploded like a balloon," I say, returning my weapons to my pouch.
"It moved around, so it had to be a living thing," Zoro adds.
"Creatures are living among these clouds," Luffy places his clenched fists by his side. His breathing still labored from pulling Usopp to safety.
"It is better to thing of this place as a sea," Sanji says.
"What's that flat snake?" Chopper asks.
"It seems to be a flounder."
"Not a serpent?" I question.
"So that is a flounder," Chopper slowly nods.
"Aaahhhh!" Usopp screams, rolling around on the deck where Luffy placed him.
"Shut up, Usopp!" Sanji screams at him.
"Hey," I step in front of Sanji to block the anger. "What is wrong, Usopp?"
"There's something...in my pants," Usopp pulls out a flat fish before he crumbles into a ball.
"Usopp!" Chopper rushes over to tend to the boy chanting how the sky island is scary.
"Not a lucky day for him," Robin grimaces, picking up the small fish-like creature to examine it.
"It doesn't look like normal fish scales," I state, stepping up and running my finger along the bottom. "Whoa, they are kind of like bird feathers."
"This must be a sky fish that Noland describes in his diary. Kind of cute in a weird way, don't you think?"
"Hm, a little, yeah."
"In order for these kinds of creatures to survive a bottomless sky ocean, they have evolved differently than those of their aquatic cousins."
"So, they became like balloons?" Zoro asks as Luffy snatches the fish and rushes off.
"Their bodies are airfoils. The clouds are less buoyant than the sea below."
"Scales like feathers, which means they are kind of like birds," I add.
"Teeth like carnivores, too," Nami says.
"I sautéed it," Sanji states.
"It's delicious!" Luffy shouts through his mouth full of sky fish.
"We weren't done examining it!" Nami screams.
"I want to try!" I pout, rushing over to Luffy before he can shove the whole thing in his mouth.
"It is amazing!" Luffy smiles, plopping a piece of the fish into my mouth. "I've never tasted anything like this!"
I excitedly hum, letting the meat melt in my mouth. "Damn, I didn't think it would taste this good."
"We can try eating the big one!" Nami blurts out. No longer angry that the fish has been eaten.
"Where is the sky island?" Chopper asks, pulling out binoculars as he climbs onto the broken wing.
"You can have the last bite," Luffy offers the piece to me.
"You're the best," I sing, pressing a kiss to his check before biting the piece of meat out of his fingers.
"He must share with you because he loves you," Zoro says.
"That's right," Luffy nods a few times. "Akari is the only one I have ever shared my food with."
"I noticed that when we first landed at Usopp's village," Nami says. "It was clear Luffy was serious when it came to food, but you could take it without even thinking. That was like Luffy's special way of telling you that he loved you without words."
I feel my cheeks heating up as I smile. "Yeah, I guess that was."
"I also like to know that Akari is eating," Luffy says. "Plus, I can always share a little with my girlfriend."
"Hey guys!" Chopper calls out. "There's a ship, and, um, a person?" His next sentence catches in his throat.
"What's wrong, Chopper?" I look over at the reindeer boy. "What about the ship?"
"It...Wah!" he cries, dropping the binoculars and jumping up to look over at us.
"What's going on, Chopper?" Sanji asks.
"The...there was a ship, but...it is gone now!" He's in full panic mode as he uses his hands to motion all over the place. His eyes wide with terror. "There is a bull running over the clouds! It is headed straight for us! We are in a whole lot of trouble!"
"Calm down, you aren't making a single lick of sense," Zoro says.
"What has gotten into you?" Sanji shakes his head, but his eyes widen in shock when he looks over at where Chopper was looking.
"Holy shit, something is coming!" I point, causing everyone to look and see what appears to be a man with a bull mask running across the clouds. "It looks to be human, but I can't tell. He's running on the clouds!"
The bull jumps into the air right as it reaches our ship. A gun in one hand while a shield in in the other.
"Stop! What do you want!?" Sanji asks.
"To get rid of you," the bull says.
"He means business," Sanji narrows his eyes at the creature.
"Fine by me," Zoro's face scrunches in disgust.
"Let's fight then," I smirk.
"What? What?" Luffy clenches and unclenches his fists as he gets fighting serious.
It all happens in a blur as Sanji is kicked across the face before he can get his own kick. Then Zoro is knocked down with the butt of the gun, and I am sent flying with a punch to the gut. Luffy is shot with something that isn't a bullet and crashes into the deck.
"Shit," I groan, clutching my stomach as the pain explodes through.
"You wimps!" Nami shouts. "There are four of you and one of him! How did you all get hit!"
All four of us groan as we do our best to push onto our knees or into sitting positions. That guy moves too fast, and he has a weapon that doesn't seem like anything we have back down on the ground.
"Enough!" an older man's voice rings out through the air.
I have enough strength to look up and see a knight on a strange, winged horse take out the bull-masked man with a lance. Not a single other soul helps him.
"Who is that guy!?" Nami asks as the knight and his horse lands on the upper deck railing.
He clears his throat, holding his lance in front of him. "I am the Sky Knight!"
I struggle to sit up, feeling the pain exploding in my abdomen with every move I make, but I have to see the man who saved us clearly.
The Sky Knight is an older man who seems tall from my angle with long white hair, mustache, and beard. He's wearing metal armor with a dark red shirt and brown pants, as well as a yellow cloak that is dark blue where it connects to his shoulders. The visor of his helmet is pulled up as he looks down at us. He doesn't look too threatening.
"He's gone," the knight nods.
I suck in breath after breath, never feeling like my lungs are full. "Are you boys okay?"
"You don't seem okay," Luffy reaches out to grab my hand, but that action seems like all he can handle right now.
"What the hell!?" Nami blurts out. "Who was that guy you fought? And you guys are pathetic!" Her head whips around to glare at us. "He clobbered all four of you!!" Her face softens for a moment, "Akari, he didn't get you where you were shot, did he?"
"That is fully healed, so it doesn't hurt anymore," I huff out.
"Then you have no excuse!"
I grin, "Maybe you're right, but that guy had something."
"Thank you for saving us," Chopper bows towards the knight as he comes down to the lower deck.
"Um, yes, well, I had to. It was my duty."
"How could I lose like that?" Sanji grumbles.
"I can barely move," Luffy sighs.
I give his hand a squeeze, "The pain is lasting for a lot longer than I would like."
"That probably has to do with the thin air here," Robin says.
"Now that you mention it, the air is thinner up here," Nami nods.
"Are you Blue Sea people?" the knight asks.
"What's that? Wait, who are you again?"
"I am the Sky Knight. Blue Sea people live on the Great Blue Sea that is below the clouds."
"I get it," Luffy says.
"This is the White Sea. It floats twenty-three thousand feet above the Blue Sea. Even higher is the White-White Sea, the Upper Stratum, at thirty-three thousand feet. Most Blue Sea people can't tolerate these high altitudes."
Luffy sits up, thumping his fist against his chest. "I'm starting to get used to it now!"
Zoro nods, "I'm feeling a whole lot better too."
"I'm not, but I bet it can't take that much longer," I lean into Luffy.
"What? No, that's impossible," the knight shakes his head.
"Who was the man that attacked us, mister!?" Chopper blurts out.
The knight leaps up to take a seat on the upper deck railing. His horse looks a lot like a bird now, but I can't tell from the angle of where I'm sitting. "I'm sure you have a great many questions, but please hold on so we can talk business. I am a Solider of Fortune. This sea is home to many dangers, and those unfamiliar with the fighting style of the sky are targeted by guerrillas to become food for the sky fish. But I can save you from them. One whistle is five million extols."
"Do you think he's crazy?" I whisper to Luffy.
"Hey old man!" Luffy calls out. "What are you talking about!?"
"Oh, don't be stingy! I am giving you an incredible bargain! I won't go a single extol lower. I have to make a living too."
"What the hell is an extol?" Sanji asks. "What the hell kind of whistle are you talking about?"
His eyes widen as he stares down at us. "Did you people not come by the Peak of High West? If not, you must have got here by island hopping."
"I have no idea what you are talking about, old man," Luffy says.
"There's another way up here!?" I blurt out.
"Did you say island hopping?" Nami asks. "Are you telling me that there is more than one island up here in the sky?"
"What?" the knight exclaims. "Don't tell me that you rode up that beast of a sea current. Geez, people with courage like that still do exist, huh?"
"We didn't have to ride the Knock-Up Stream," Nami cries.
"What's the big deal?" Luffy shrugs. "We made it, didn't we?"
"We were almost killed!" Nami screams, rushing over and grabbing the front of Luffy's vest to shake him. "We should have gathered more information before charging ahead!"
"Nami, please, there's nothing we can do now," I slowly stand up, the pain finally a dull hum in my abdomen.
"Did you lose any crew?" the knight asks.
"No," Luffy shakes his head, stepping away from Nami who has let go of him. "We're all here."
"The other routes are different, but they all have some set of perils. The Knock-Up Stream is a gamble. Either everyone makes it or not a single soul does. There aren't many who are willing to take that risk these days. You have both courage and skill, which makes you worthy sea dogs."
"It was all thanks to me," Usopp stands up, still in his freaked-out trance. "Everyone was in tears and had given up, but I was determined to get everyone's hopes back up and get us here."
"What did you just say?" Nami and I snap, each grabbing one of his cheeks to pinch.
"Here is one whistle," the knight tosses one down on the deck as he stands up. "Blow it once, and I will come down from my place in the heavens to save you! You should be paying me five million extols for that, but you can have this one for free because of your courage. You may use it to summon me at any time," he turns and his cap flaps in the wind.
"He's quite badass for an old man," I release Usopp's cheek, stepping back up to Luffy's side.
"Wait! You didn't say what your name is!" Nami shouts, waving at the man.
He turns back to face us, "I am Gan Fall, the Sky Knight! And this is my partner, Pierre!"
"Piee!" Pierre, now clearly a bird, calls out.
"Pierre is a bird with the Horse-Horse Fruit. He can transform into a winged horse!" Gan Fall announces as Pierre demonstrates his power for us. "Just like..."
"He's like a beautiful Pegasus!" Nami happily cries.
"Yes! A Pegasus!" Gan Fall jumps onto the back of his partner.
"Something is not quite right," I grimace at the strange creature that is pink with purple polka-dots all over his body and the edges of his wings. "The face," I mumble.
"Good luck to you, brave ones!" Gan Fall waves before Pierre is flying the two of them away.
"What a strange creature," Sanji says. "Both of them."
"We didn't really learn anything from him that can help us," Robin says.
"He must think that we can figure out what to do next, or that we already know what to do next," I shrug.
"We're right back where we started," Nami sighs.
"How do you think we go higher?" Usopp asks.
"We can just call the old man and ask him," Luffy shrugs, picking up the whistle.
"NO!" Nami screams, rushing at Luffy to keep the whistle out of his mouth.
I jump out of the way, ending up by Zoro's side.
"We need to save that for an emergency! When we really need his help!"
"What if that masked weirdo attacks again!?" Usopp screams, pulling Luffy's face back.
"Our best plan is to just set sail somewhere," Zoro shakes his head at the chaos.
"Hey, look!" Chopper points at something in the distance has he hangs onto the side of the ship.
"Hm?" I turn to look out at the vastness of white clouds.
"It looks like a waterfall," Robin says, having turned to spot the giant pillar of cloud in the distance.
"It's decided then," Nami calmly says. "We will sail towards that."
"That means there is time to waste until we get there," I smile, turning around and leaning back against the ship. "Luffy!"
"Yeah?" Luffy looks over at me, a soft smile on his face.
"You're it!" I giggle before pushing off the side of the ship and rushing right by the shocked boy.
About a half-hour passes as Luffy, Usopp, Chopper, and I play a crazy game of tag. Sometimes Robin joins in when we tag her, but she just uses her Devil Fruit powers to tag someone else. It is clear some rules will have to be put in place if she wants to play next time. Regardless, it feels good to be using our lungs and muscles in this new environment. It is the perfect way to adapt and have fun at the same time.
"I've got you, dumpling," Luffy chuckles as he wraps his arms around my stomach. "You're smile is one of my favorite things about you."
I giggle, "Did you just decide that, or have you always known that?"
"I'm sure that I've told you that I love to see you smile before."
"Probably, but saying that it is your favorite thing is a bit different. Your smile and laugh might be my favorite things about you. Plus, how strong you are," I giggle.
"I also love your freckles. That is also one of my favorite things about you. I mean, I love all of you, but certain things make me a little bit happier to see."
"Gah, Luff," I mumble, feeling my cheeks slightly heat up.
"What are we going to do about a giant cloudbank in our way?" Nami asks.
Luffy's arms retract from around me, and one of his hands grabs mind to pull me up to the upper deck at the front of the ship. "What's going on?"
"Take a look for yourself," Nami motions to the big fluffy clouds blocking our way to the waterfall of clouds.
"They are rising above the sky ocean, so they aren't a part of it," Sanji says, shoving his hands into his pockets.
"What kind of clouds are they then?" Usopp crosses his arms as he takes a seat on the railing.
"It is just a regular cloud, so we should be able to sail right through it," Nami shrugs.
"I'll touch it and see," Luffy grins, letting go of my hand so he can wind up his arm before sending a punch right at the cloud. Instead of sailing right through it, his fist bounces right off. "What? My fist bounced off!"
"Throw me onto it!" I excitedly jump around.
"I'll get us both over there!" he wraps an arm around my waist, sending us sailing into the air in the next moment. Then we are softly landing in the cotton ball cloud.
"This is amazing!" I bounce around as Luffy flops like a fish. "We don't fall through! And it is super soft!"
"Like cotton! Whatever this is, it is amazing!"
"Wow!" Chopper happily cries out.
"I want to try too!" Usopp shouts.
Luffy flops face first into the cloud, a relax smile on his face. "It feels so good."
I land on my back, closing my eyes to soak it all in. "It is all warm. It would be so easy to fall asleep right here."
"This is better than a futon that was hung out and left in the sun all day."
"You're a dork," I chuckle.
"Don't sleep now!" Usopp's voice causes my eyes to shoot open as he and Chopper land on the cloud.
Luffy is on his feet in a split second, and then we are all jumping around. It doesn't take long for Chopper to pull me down and start trying to make cloud angels. There's no way to describe how a cloud like this feels.
"Hey!" Nami yells at us. "Go to the top and see if you can find a path the ship can take to get to the waterfall!"
"Okay!" Luffy nods a few times.
"Does this remind you of snow, Chopper?" I turn onto my side to face the little reindeer boy.
"A little bit," Chopper goofily smiles. "It is too hot for it to be exactly like snow."
I giggle, "I wonder when we'll see snow next. I kind of miss it."
"Look! There's something over that way!" Usopp calls out as he rushes off.
"What?" Luffy jogs to catch up.
"Let's go!" I grab Chopper's arm, pulling up and dragging him with me towards the boys.
"HEY!" Nami screams. "Focus! Do you see anything!?"
I stop at the top of the cloud, looking out at the waterfall of clouds where a gate sits at the bottom. "There's a gate!" I reply. "At the bottom is a huge gate!"
"A gate!?"
"You'll see when you get there!" Luffy shouts.
"We'll guide you there!" Usopp adds.
"Akari, make sure they don't get us lost!" Nami pleads.
"I will get you all there, I promise!" I chuckle. "There's an opening you should see nearby, so head into that!"
For the next hour or so, the four of us on the cloud lead those still on the Going Merry through the sea of fluffy clouds towards the waterfall gate. There are times when they get the direction wrong, but I am right there to correct them and make sure that the ship is going in the right direction. Eventually, the clouds part to reveal an open area, and the four of us head back to the ship as it approaches the gate. Heaven's Gate to be precise.
"Heaven's Gate?" I shake as a chill runs down my spine.
"That cloud really does look like a waterfall," Robin says. "It is cascading down like the ones you were bouncing on."
"This is terrible," Usopp whines. "We are going to die!"
"Have you ever stopped to think that maybe we are already dead?" Zoro grins, taking a seat on the railing while keeping one foot on the deck.
"That is fairly likely," Sanji nods a few times.
"We're dead!" Chopper exclaims.
Luffy bursts into laughter, "Heaven? I can't wait to get to heaven!"
"We are not dead!" I snap. "Stop freaking out like that!"
"Damn," Zoro chuckles.
The Going Merry calmly sails through the gate, and a small old woman with tiny angel wings pops with a camera.
"Look, someone's coming out," Usopp points over to the old lady.
"Are you tourists or looking to make war?" she asks, taking our pictures. "It doesn't matter either way, as if you want to go up to the Upper Stratum, you have to pay the entrance fee of one billion extols. Per person. That is the law."
"An angel!" Luffy blurts out. "That's what an angel looks like, right? She's kind of a little prune angel."
"Luffy," I hiss, jabbing his side.
"How much is one billion extols?" Usopp stammers. "Well, actually, how much is eight billion?"
"What is we don't have any money?" Nami asks.
"You may pass," the old lady nods.
"We can!?" Usopp exclaims.
"But that is a choice entirely your own. I'm neither a gatekeeper nor a guardian. All I am asking is what you wish to do."
"We are passing then!" Luffy waves, climbing halfway up the figurehead. "We are going to Sky Island! We don't have money, but we are going Granny!"
"I see, eight of you, correct?"
"Yes! But, um, how do we get up?"
In that moment, two large lobster clays clamp down on the sides of the Going Merry.
"What is that!?" Usopp and Chopper scream. "It just popped up out of the clouds!"
"Nothing is normal," I shake my head, placing my hands firmly on the railing.
"That is the famous Lobster Express of the White Sea," the old lady says.
In the next second, we are being rushed towards the waterfall. The lobster below us going to take us all the way up to the next level. A path of clouds winding up towards our destination.
"What's going on!?" Luffy shouts.
"The cloud is turning into a belt like a river!" Sanji declares as he steps up to the railing near Nami.
"This is a hard natural phenomenon!" Zoro smirks as he steps up next to me.
"There's no way this is natural!" I chuckle.
"There's some writing up there!" Usopp points in front of us.
"That's the exit!" Chopper shouts.
"Godland Skypiea," Robin reads.
"That's not an exit!" Nami widely smiles. "That's the entrance!"
We burst through the hole, being tossed by the lobster onto the cloud sea on the highest level of the Emperor Cloud. In front of us an island with what looks to be a village. The confirmation that we need to know that we've made it to the place we have been looking for.
"It's Skypiea!"
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Hope you enjoyed reading! I am so excited to finally be on the Skypiea Arc! I honestly can't believe I've made it, and I am so glad that I have. Okay, as always, I would love to know what you thought. :D