That night they had a small party in Crickets home, Luffy, Usopp and Chopper were goofing around like always, Sanji was spoiling the girls but mainly Nami with his cooking, Lia and Zoro were sharing Sake bottles and Robin was reading Noland's log book, she reached the last written log when Cricket appeared in front of her.
"The skull's right eye, that's were I saw the gold." He said.
"Gold?"
Everyone froze and stared at Cricket.
"That tear-soaked sentence was the last thing Noland wrote. The skull's right eye, that's were I saw the gold. Noland was executed that same day. Even after coming to Jaya, I still don't know what he meant by that. The skull's right eye... Is it referring to the name of a city or an old landmark on the island? Was it just a poetic allusion to his own impending death? The blank pages that follow gives us no clue... That's why we keep dividing to the bottom of the sea! We have a dream! On the sea floor!"
"Hooray for us!" Masira said.
Lia looks for the bottle of Sake, she looks beside her and glares at Zoro, who was drinking all the Sake. Zoro smirks and gives her the bottle.
She grabs it and puts her focus to Cricket,
"The day I arrived on Jaya. Entry for May 21, 1122. Upon landing on the island, we heard strange birdcalls and the sound of a very large bell coming from the forest. The sound from that huge gold bell resonated far and wide, almost as if showing off the prosperity of a city long past! We thought we knew everything after living for a few decades... but experiencing the transience of this civilization that flourished for a long time on the wide open sea left us speechless!" Cricket said as he stands up "The sound of the bell has us stopped in our tracks!"
"Wow! A giant gold bell!" Nami said
"Wait a minute, old guy! You like Noland after all!" Usopp said
Then Cricket showed them a small bell "Look at this!"
"Wow! Gold bells!"
"So, how exactly are those 'giant'?" Usopp asks.
"These aren't that bell. They're bell-shaped ingots. We found these three on the sea floor." Cricket explained.
"Oh! So there really is a city of gold!" Luffy said.
"They don't prove that. You could find that much gold in any old ruins." Shoujou said.
"But it does prove that there was a civilization in this area." Robin said "Ingots are made to have standardized weights. Which means they were used for trade."
"Yes. And the strange bird calls mentioned before that..." Cricket said and looks at Masira "Show it to them!"
Masira reveals a golden-shaped bird. Everyone stared at it.
"Whoa! There's more?" Usopp asked
"This one's huge!" Zoro said.
Lia's eyes sparkled "So shiny!"
"That's all of 'em." Cricket said.
"Wow! It's so pretty!" Nami said.
"Gold bells and a bird... Do you suppose they were symbols of old Jaya?" Sanji asks.
"Dunno, but I think they were part of some sort of model. This here's called a south bird, and they still exist on this island!" Cricket said.
"Oh! Do they have peculiar calls?" Luffy asks.
Cricket nods "Yep. Just like the logbook says!"
Sailors have long used south birds to..." Masira said, then him and his brother started to panic.
Cricket started to panic too.
"Oh, crap!"
"What's wrong!" The whole crew asked.
"This is bad! You guys go into the forest! The southern forest!" Cricket said.
"Huh? What are you talking about? Are you crazy, old man?" Luffy said.
"The only one crazy it's you, Luffy." Lia smirks.
"You can say that again!" The crew said.
Luffy glares at me and pouts "I'm not crazy!"
Cricket clears his throat "Anyway, I need you guys to go and catch this bird! Right now!"
"Why? What for?" Usopp asks
"Why do we need the bird?" Sanji asks.
"Listen closely! They knock Up Stream you're heading for tomorrow is located directly south of this cape. How are going to get there?" Cricket said.
"Just sail straight there, right?" Luffy said.
"This is the Grand Line, you know! Once you're on the open sea, there's no way to get your bearings!" Cricket said.
"That's right! We're heading for ocean, not an island, so we have no guide to rely on! Then how de we go straight south?" Nami asked.
"You use that bird's behavior! Some types of animals have accurate internal magnets as if they were born with a natural compass." Cricket said.
Luffy laughs "That makes Zoro dumber than an animal."
"Like you're one to talk!" Zoro yells at him.
"Zoro's right. You do remember what happened with our lunchboxes, right Luffy?" Lia chuckles.
"The south bird is a perfect example of this kind of creature. In the middle of a vast barren plain of a trackless ocean, their bodies will always point in the same direction. Anyway, without one of those birds, you're going nowhere! You'll have to kiss your only chance to go to the sky island goodbye!" Cricket explained.
Usopp, Luffy and Chooper panicked "Why are you telling us this now?!
"Quit your whining! There's no time for that now! Hurry! Move it or lose it!" Cricket said as the rest of the crew ran outside.
"You want us to go into the forest in the middle of the night?" Usopp asks.
"You forgot these!" Cricket tossed them 3 catching nets "The three of us are going to get started on your beat-up ship! Now that I think about it, there was no time for partying!"
"Sure, now you tell us!" Usopp yells while being dragged by Zoro and Sanji.
"The clock's ticking. You have until dawn to catch one or you can forget about the whole thing."
━━━━━━༺༻ ━━━━━━
"It's pitch dark!" Luffy said.
"Let go of me, you idiot." Sanji said at Usopp, whose hands are clinging on to Sanji's suit.
"It's not my fault! My hands are moving on their own!"
"My stomach's so stuffed from that dinner... I couldn't catch a bird if I saw one." Chopper said.
Lia bends down, to his level "Do you want me to carry you, Cho?"
Chopper's eyes gleam and nodded "Thanks, Lee."
Lia smiles "Get on my back!"
Chopper hopes on her back and puts his tiny arms around her neck. She continues walking beside Robin and Nami.
"Where are these weird birds?" Luffy asks.
"Let's just catch one so we can get back to drinking!" Zoro said.
"How did we end up in this mess?" Nami asks.
"You're in the way!" Sanji said to Usopp.
"Couldn't he have told us during the day?" Usopp said while biting his nails.
"Even in bright daylight, you'll still be scared." Lia said.
"Me? Scared? What are you talking about, Lia?"
"Hey, where are the birds?" Luffy asks.
"If we knew where they were, we wouldn't be out looking for them!" Zoro said, clearly looking annoyed.
"Our only clue is that they have a peculiar call..." Luffy said.
"And they look just like that gold statue he showed us." Sanji said.
"It's hard for me to believe any bird could look that dumb in real life." Zoro said.
"A peculiar call, isn't it way too vogue? How are we supposed to identify it?" Usopp questioned.
"He didn't seem to think we'd have any trouble finding one." Sanji said.
Then a strange sound was heard.
"That sounded peculiar!" All the boys exclaimed.
"Oh, you think?" Nami said.
"Yeah." Luffy said.
"Well, we're here, let's do it and get it over with." Zoro said.
"We have three nets." Sanji said, taking to Luffy and Zoro "let's split into teams and bag that bird!"
Luffy went with Chooper "Let's go! Let's beat up those weird birds!"
"We're trying to catch it!" Usopp yells while Zoro, Robin and Lia walk away together.
"Don't worry, Nami-san baby! Whatever we run into I'll protect you!" Sanji said.
"Sanji! What about me?" Usopp questioned.
"Hell if I care! Quit being such a wuss!"
"In any case, let's catch a bird so we can get out of this forest!" Nami said.
"Let's start by listening closely for that bird we heard earlier."
"Chia!"
"There it is!" Nami said, They look behind them, just to see Usopp calling the bird.
"Chia! Come on out! Chia!"
"Moron!"
———///
To be continued...