Chapter 45: Of Crickets and Birds

And as of last chapter, this story now has over 300 Follows and, if I'm correct, this chapter should bring it up to 300 Reviews as well! What a milestone! I want to thank every one of you delightful readers for sticking it out this far.

300 before actually reaching Skypia... I don't know if that's above, below, or at average for stories that make it this far, but while I'm thinking about it, I feel that a few reminders are in order.

1) I do not own One Piece and I never will, no matter how many times I put it on my wish list.

2) I had past Enies Lobby written before posting the first chapter, so updates will not slow down or stop within Skypia like many other stories do.

3) I am almost done with Thriller Bark and making decent progress. Still, any suggestions for Omakes you would like to see are both welcome and encouraged.

Chapter 51:

Of Crickets and Birds

Montblonc Cricket was a tall man with a very muscular form. Blond sideburns poked out on either side of his head and the rest of his hair was fashioned into the shape of a chestnut. His muscular torso was bare to the world and long maroon pants were held around his waist by a red belt. Currently, he was unconscious, Chopper treating him for a medical condition.

When the Straw Hat Pirates had arrived to his home, they'd thought that he lived in a castle, but it turned out to be a painted cardboard cutout fastened to half a house on the very edge of the island. Cricket was nowhere to be found, but Amy discovered an old children's picture book sitting on a stump near the man's home. Its title read "Noland the Liar". Nami sat down on the stump with Luffy at her side and read the book aloud to whoever wanted to listen.

The story told of a man from the North Blue by the name of Montblanc Noland who explored the world before returning to tell his home kingdom of his many adventures. One day, after returning from another trip, Noland went to the king and told him of a city of gold that he'd found and the king set out to retrieve it, but when Noland, the king, and the 100 soldiers that survived reached the island, they found nothing. Angered by this, the king sentenced Noland to death. The final page, which had a painted picture of Noland with a dopey grin on his face, said "and Noland's final words were 'I can only assume that the city of gold sank into the sea'. Thus, Noland's death sentence was carried out and he died in shame and ridicule."

"...Well that was depressing," Coby finally got out.

"I knew I'd heard that story somewhere," Sanji said. "I heard it all the time when I was a kid. I was born in the North Blue, after all."

"Really?" Chopper asked.

"Well, yeah. Didn't I mention that at some point?"

"No, you didn't," Usopp answered. "I always assumed you were born in the East."

"Nope. I was just raised there."

"What are you people doing in my yard?" an angry voice questioned. The group turned to see the man known as Cricket, dripping with seawater and holding a gun. Robin stepped forward.

"Are you Montblanc Cricket?" she asked.

"So what if I am?"

"Hey!" Luffy yelled, running toward the man who shot at him. The bullets did nothing, stretching his skin before being redirected outward.

"What are you?" Cricket demanded, dropping his gun after realizing that it wouldn't help him. Luffy stopped just short of Cricket's range.

"Can you tell us how to get to Sky Island?"

"...What?" The look of surprise on Cricket's face was enough to tell the pirates that the man had been expecting something completely different.

"I saaaaaaid," Luffy stretched out, "can you tell us how to get to Sky Island?" Cricket was quiet for several moments, wondering if he had heard wrong twice in a row. Finally, he laughed, a rich, hearty sound escaping his mouth for a while. Unfortunately, his laughter ended in a coughing fit that left the muscular man on the ground and the pirates in a state of panic.

Cricket was moved into his house and Chopper set to work. It turned out that the man had what was commonly known to divers as The Bends, a condition caused by rising from deep water too fast. The sudden change in pressure and heat causes the nitrogen bubbles in the blood to expand, cutting off blood flow to the point where severe cases could be fatal (this is true). Luckily, Cricket had one of the best pirate doctors to help him.

Before Cricket could wake up, however, the door to his home was all but broken down by the entrance of two brothers. One, the younger, was Masira while the other was his older brother, Shoujou. Shoujou was a man who just outclassed Masira in height and far outclassed him in weight. He had hair the same shade as Zoro's, but where the swordsman kept his cut, the orangutan-like human had never cut his own, leaving it to brush against the floor. A green captain's hat sat on his head and he wore a red captain's coat, the sleeves being used for once in the universe.

"What are you doing to the Old Man?!" they demanded in unison.

"AH! Monsters!" Usopp and Chopper screamed.

"He's got a mystery disease," Luffy answered. "We're helping. Now go bug someone else."

"Don't antagonize them, Luffy!" Usopp fretted.

"Thank you, guys," the brothers cried, surprising the pirates.

As it turned out, Masira, Shoujou, and Cricket were in what the brothers called the Saruyama Alliance of Jaya. They and Luffy talked to each other for a long time, waiting for Montblanc Cricket to wake up. Finally, after what felt like forever to the young pirate captain, Coby was sent out by Chopper to tell the trio that the man was awake. Luffy and the monkey-like brothers rushed into the half-house where they found Cricket sitting up in his bed.

"Hey, Chestnut-Guy," Luffy smiled. "You're not dead."

"That I'm not," Cricket affirmed. "And it's all thanks to your doctor, here."

"You saying that doesn't make me happy, you jerk~!" Chopper sang.

"So, Chestnut-Guy," Luffy continued. "What do you know about getting to Sky Island?"

"You're trying to get to Sky Island?" Shoujou questioned. No one answered; all eyes were on Cricket as he thought.

"There's only one man who I believe could have gone to Sky Island," he finally answered, "but most people believe him to be nothing but a liar." Luffy's jaw dropped as he turned to stare at Usopp.

"What are you looking at?" the sniper demanded.

"I think he meant Montblanc Noland, Captain Luffy," Coby suggested.

"Now that I think about it," Nami wondered aloud, "both Noland and you have the same family name. Are you two related?"

"We are," Cricket answered with a voice full of contempt. "He was my grandfather's grandfather's grandfather, but we're so far related that I doubt I have even a drop of his blood in my veins."

"It must be cool to be related to such a famous figure," Usopp thought aloud before Cricket shot at him. The bullet punched a hole in the cardboard over the frozen sniper's head. Cricket gave no heed to the gun pointed at him from Gin's steady hand in response.

"You don't know what it was like, growing up with the Montblanc name," Cricket growled, dropping his gun. "The Montblanc family was banished from the North Blue with laughter and scorn and we've tried to fly under the radar ever since. Dozens of my relatives have set out to prove Noland correct, but all of them vanished."

"Is that what you're doing?" Amy questioned. "Are you trying to prove your ancestor wasn't a liar."

"Not at all," Cricket denied. "The actions of my ancestor have nothing to do with me. Years ago I wanted nothing to do with the Montblanc name or the scorn that came with it. I set out on my own adventure to escape Noland's shadow. I even assembled my own pirate crew. And then, one day, we came across Jaya. It was purely by accident, but for some reason, it felt like fate."

"Hold on," Nami ordered. "Are you saying that Jaya and the island from the story..."

"Are one and the same, yes. My crew... they left me behind. Fate had placed me on this island and I could not resist. I stayed for reasons that are purely my own."

"Are you done yet?" Luffy asked, balling his fist into the hem of his shirt to resist picking his nose. It was a bad habit, or so he'd been told. "I really don't care about your life story. I just want to know if you can help us get to Sky Island."

"Here," Cricket answered, handing an old book to Nami. It was Noland's logbook, the thing well over 200 years old. Why Cricket had it if he claimed to not wish to be connected with his ancestor was a mystery, but rather than question it, Nami opened to the page Cricket told her to and read. The book told of a meeting with some merchants who claimed to have gone to the Sky Island and the description of a wooden contraption that generated its own wind. The words all but confirmed the existence of Sky Island.

"But wait," Usopp said. "None of that explains the monkey-men here who are helping you."

"Oh, them?" Cricket blinked. "They're just fans of the story is all."

"What?!"

The Straw Hats spent the rest of the day listening to Cricket as he told them everything he knew about the knockup stream. Apparently, it was a natural occurrence that happens when, theoretically, steam is built up in underwater air pockets until the pressure causes an explosion powerful enough to "connect the sea and the sky" for a whole minute. And, coincidentally, the knockup stream and the cloud Sky Island was said to dwell on, the Cumuloregalis cloud, were going to line up the next day at noon.

That night, the Straw Hats and the Saruyama Alliance partied. Booze was passed around, nearly everyone getting at least a little tipsy. Nami ended up dragging Luffy into a corner and started making out with him in front of everyone, causing Sanji to wail at how unfair life was. Grace, as it turned out, was a lightweight, the one big mug she downed behind her sister's back being enough to send her into a fit of giggles. She spent most of the night falling on Coby, trying to get his attention, while the pink-haired pirate didn't seem to understand why he was the only one that ended up on the floor with a giggling Grace on top.

Amy noticed none of this. She was a flirty drunk and enjoyed leading the single men on, flirting with each until crushing any hopes they may have had. Sanji was her favorite target, but Gin seemed to take it as a challenge and started trying to out-flirt her, dodging Sanji's kicks the whole time.

Finally, Cricket decided to show off the gold he and the Monkey Brothers had found while on a dive several months ago, three small golden bells and a golden bird. The bird, he explained, was called a Southbird and that, no matter what, their beaks always pointed south. Then he came to the realization that the Straw Hats would need a Southbird to direct them to where the knock-up stream would be as the log pose couldn't help. Grace, Amy, Nami, and Usopp chose to stay behind while everyone else went into the forest at midnight only to be harassed by the bird they were looking for. Meanwhile Cricket, Masira, Shoujou, the sisters, and Usopp got to work patching up the Going Merry and getting her ready for flight and Nami began her weather calculations, breaking down how the knockup stream worked like she had for Reverse Mountain.

The group in the woods splintered into three, them only having three nets. Zoro and Coby followed Robin, Sanji and Gin backtracked, and Luffy and Chopper forged ahead. Unfortunately for them, the Southbirds were determined to protect the forest from the human race and attacked them with nature, most of the attacks being aimed at the captain and the doctor.

On the shore, just as the people there were preparing to get to work, a new ship sailed around the coast and pulled up by the house. Bellamy and his crew jumped down, greedy smirks plastered on their faces. Their spirits had rebounded from the bar fight earlier in the day and they were ready to plunder once more.

"I am Bellamy the Hyena!" the captain declared with a small bandage on his cheek, throwing his coat away. "You're Montblac Cricket, correct?"

"What's it to you?" Cricket questioned. He, Masira, and Shoujou were the only ones outside. Usopp had gone into the house where Nami was to look for some tools he didn't have and the sisters were on the Merry.

"I heard that you found some gold. I'm here to take it!" He turned to scan the surroundings, glancing at Cricket's home and the Straw Hats' ship. "And while we're at it, I think we'll take everything of value on that ship, too!" Without any more ado, Bellamy's subordinates attacked, a dozen or so heading toward the Going Merry. The Saruyama Alliance held them off well enough, but it went downhill for them when the Hyena got involved. He used his Spring-Spring Fruit powers to jump around, knocking out both of the Monkey Brothers, the older being sent through Cricket's house and into the sea.

"What the Hell was that?" Usopp gasped as Shoujou crashed through the house, just missing him before smashing through the fake side and into the sea.

"Usopp," Amy hissed, appearing in the hole Shoujou had left via her Devil Fruit powers. "Nami. We've got a problem."

"What is it?" Nami questioned.

"That asshole from the bar is back. Some of his men tried to raid the Merry, but Grace was more than enough for them. Anyway, I need your help. It's time to teach this spring-headed dickweasel that you don't mess with the Straw Hat Pirates." By the time Bellamy's treasurer entered Cricket's house to steal his gold, the only sign of Usopp and Nami having been there was their shoes hidden in the corner.

Amy's plan was stupid and risky, but that just about summed up every plan of Luffy's crew. Rising just a little further into the air and glad that her targets didn't think to look up, Amy took a deep breath and closed her parasol. She increased her mass.

The only warning the Bellamy Pirates had to the attack on their ship was the sound of Amy impacting with more force than any ship was made to bear. Her 10,000-Kilogram body ripped a large hole through every layer of the ship and busted the keel on the bottom in two. She sunk into the water underneath the ship, only conscious enough to see that Nami and Usopp had come to her rescue like she'd asked them to.

From his place on the ground, Cricket smiled. And from the trees came the rest of the young pirate crew.

(Earlier)

Coby had gotten separated from Zoro in a hostile forest. Again. Although this time it was of no fault to either of them; the Southbirds were directing the creatures of the forest in a deadly melody of attacks. The one that had separated Coby from Zoro and Robin was a crumbling cliff caused by what appeared to be giant worms with mouths. The dirt had shifted under the younger swordsman, taking him into the heavy foliage at an angle too steep to climb up or slide down in a controlled manner.

"Hey, Shrimp!" he heard his teacher call. "You ok?"

"I'm fine, Zoro-sensei!" Coby responded. "Don't worry about me! I'll look around down here!"

"If you say so!" Coby turned away from the incline and peered into the forest, his ears straining for the unique call of the Southbird. There was nothing, the area was eerily silent.

"Hello?" Coby called. "Are there any Southbirds out there? I just want to talk to you." Now, to most people, the idea of talking to wild animals was preposterous, but then again, so was being (roughly) half triceratops and trusting your health to a reindeer while sailing under the command of a man made of rubber. Maybe, just maybe, the Southbirds were smart enough to understand English, even if they couldn't speak it.

"GYOOOO!"

Coby jerked, his body spinning around and his hands coming up to rest on the hilts of his swords. The Southbird behind him jolted as well, jumping up in a cloud of feathers to sit on a branch outside of the range of the boy's weapon. The bird's plumage was mostly a light violet, its underside covered in overlapping green feathers. Its head, which had two yellow projections coming up, a fish-tail-like back, and an overly-large, mostly-yellow beak, was cocked at an angle pointing off past Coby's right, leading the Zoan to believe he was facing Northeast at that moment.

"I'm sorry," Coby apologized respectively as his hands dropped. "You startled me. And most things that startle me try to kill me."

"GYOOOO!"

"Can you understand me?"

"GYOOOO!"

"I'll take that as a yes," Coby commented. "Listen. I don't know why you and your friends are attacking us, but we don't mean you any harm. We, as in my crew, are getting ready to try to sail to an island in the sky, but the only way there is directly south of here and we'll get lost if we don't have any way of finding our direction. Does that make sense?"

"GYOOOO!"

"Is that a yes or a no?"

"GYOOOO!" This time, the bird nodded.

"It would be really helpful if one of you could help us at least get there," Coby continued. "You don't have to come with us all the way up, if you don't want to. What I can promise you, though, is whichever one of you does come with us, I can have our cook make whatever snacks they want until they leave." Coby finished his sales pitch, hoping the food bribe would get at least one of the birds to join them.

The Southbird he was talking to didn't even confer with the rest of its kind before making a decision. The ever-southward-facing animal flew down to the boy and came to rest on his shoulder. Then, it let out one loud, long call. Coby hoped that was an order to stop attacking his crewmates.

Lifting his wrist, Coby opened the shell there, awakening his baby den-den.

"Hello?" the other groups and Grace answered in a garbled myriad of the same word.

"I've got one, guys," Coby told the snail. "Let's meet back at Cricket's house."

"We're going to Sky Island~!" Luffy sang before everyone hung up. Carefully, so as not to anger the bird on his shoulder, Coby climbed a tree in need of a visual of his destination. Spotting the right direction, Coby took off.

End of Chapter 51

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-SwordOfTheGods