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CHAPTER 45:
Any other time, this would've been an emergency operation if it had been taken care of by ninjas who had their comrades, but this was different. Luffy was practically bouncing off the walls despite the warnings they received about going to the upper yard and how they would experience things beyond their imagination, something divine and not in a good way, but that just made Luffy more giddy that Sakura had to remind him the reason they were even going there int eh first place 'the problem was getting to upper yard. There were also man-eating fish in those canals, which didn't go over well for Usopp, but he was still going to get dragged along if he wanted any hope of returning to the blue sea.
According to their new local friends, they were going to need a boat to sail on the milky sea and take the cloud canals to get to the altar where the rest of their crew would be.
Conis agreed to take them into town to find a vessel for their voyage.
"How does everything manage to go so bad so fast for us?" Sakura spoke mostly to herself, but her voice carried as they were making their way down the stairs from the house near Angel Beach.
Usopp shook his head, "I'm right there with ya. It's the rest of these loons that don't notice a thing."
"Who are you calling a loon!?" Sanji took a puff of his cigarette.
"Adventure here we come!" Oblivious to the severity of the group, Luffy exclaimed, throwing his hands up.
Pagaya had given them a map, so they could find their way around the area once they arrived, another generous gift amongst the many others he had offered the interlopers. It was their one grace since arriving in this place.
The city of clouds was just as described. A city built with materials and fabrics that defied logic in Sakuras' world, and even the one it came from. It was striking, and if they weren't in a rush to save their friends, she might have entertained the notion of touring the place. But along with their current mission, there was something ominous occurring before them.
While the pirates weren't certain that their faces were plastered on new wanted posters up here in the sky islands, the residents were acting peculiar. As if they were animals that left their natural habitat to roam around the city. As they made their way through the city of cloud, Sakura could feel the hostility radiating over all of them, and it made her skin prickle with discomfort.
"Sakura dear, what's the matter?" Sanji asked in a bit of a sing-song tone that jerked her concentration.
"It's nothing, Sanji, just…" Sakura glanced around, and she watched the cook's face shift as well. Hands in his pocket, his eyes taking on a sharp edge.
"Ah, I see what you mean. Don't worry, my dear, I'll protect you."
"That's not an issue," Sakura didn't think she had a grim expression, but it seemed Sanji was so finely turned when it came to noticing the moods of the women around him, so that he could respond swiftly.
They had made their way through Lovely Street (yes, that was actually the name of it. A place that appeared to live up to its name, and here there were more localslike Conis, except for the wary expressions and stiff movements they made as the crew passed by. Behaving as if their shadows that touched the walls were a bad omen.
Sakura could feel the eyes wandering like they were unwelcomed guests, which wasn't entirely inaccurate.
The architecture was something to be admired, though. The buildings stood on top of each other on hills of clouds, with stairways leading around, like something you'd find in a storybook. A vibrant and colorful place that seemed to host a gloomy exertion of the residents. But Sakura chalked it up to them being here, nothing more. And that was something she had missed.
"Are they trying to avoid us?" asked Usopp.
"Yeah, they probably know we're criminals," Sanji said, taking another puff and blowing the smoke downwind.
"Let's just focus on getting the ship and getting out of here," Sakura noticed that Conis had gone really quiet since they arrived in the city. Her entire demeanor shifted, like an animal raising its ears at the sound of a twig before it tried to look for the cause of that. Trying to see if a predator was hiding in the foliage or beneath the grass. The composed girl they had seen on the hill had vanished under the stares.
"Conis, is something wrong?"
It took her asking twice before the winged girl looked back at the kunoichi. And that's when Sakura took the chance to study her face, the way her face curled involuntarily into an expression she desperately wanted to keep off her face, but just couldn't force for a second.
"Oh, no, nothing. Everything is fine." She turned away from Sakura a little too fast, but while she could sense the hesitance in her tone, she chose not to push her. Perhaps from a sense of guilt for getting her involved with them in the first place.
Luffy had gone looking around again, intrigued by all of the new sky island trinkets and scenes, and he pulled a veil over his eyes when it came to the stares they received. For a pirate, it was nothing out of the ordinary. Despite how unusual this particular situation was.
"These shops are selling a lot of weird things. It's so nice, if only I had some money."
Luffy went to look at a vegetable store, at least Sakura thought it was. The fauna here was almost too different to either confirm or deny. Then she wondered how they even grew their fruits and other plants when there weren't any signs of any soil.
'That's kind of interesting,' She thought about asking Conis, but the girl still looked like she was walking in a daze, and had a sense she wasn't willing to throw in the same enthusiasm as before.
But was it just because their friends were taken to the altar, or was it those barrets who threatened them? Or perhaps something else?
"Luffy, this is no time to be fooling around. Nami-san, Robin-chan, and the others have been taken as sacrifices, or did you forget!?" Sanji called, dragging him back by his collar before he could go wandering into one of the buildings.
"But Zoro's with them, so it's fine," Luffy said nonchalantly with a smile that made Sanji nearly spit out his cigarette.
"We can't rely on Moss Head for something like that! Hell, he'd get lost on the ship!"
Luffy chuckled, completely glossing over Sanji's warning, "That's true! Zoro would get lost!"
Sakura felt her fingernails dig into her arm, thinking about Zoro, and how their recent encounters made her throat close in. He had been acting unusually towards her, as if she were the outsider in the equation that had been their crew, and the worst part was that this seemed to have come out of nowhere, just when she had been accepted. But perhaps that was just her way of thinking. And that way of thinking might have been the cause of her odd, unreasonable thoughts.
That if she hadn't been so upset with Zoro and had chosen to avoid him, she would've been on the ship with them, and perhaps they would've had a chance to escape.
"Hey, look at this."
Luffy was standing in front of a glass case with a statue of a humanoid figure with its arms crossed, patterns marked into it. But it was the material that stood out. It seemed a bit crumbly at the edges and had a distinct appearance of clay.
"That's verth," Conis said, coming to stare at the statue. "It's the idol representing the eternal yearnings of the citizens who live in the sky."
Luffy pulled his mouth, "You guys wear that long? Is there something wrong with you?"
"It's probably hard for the people of the blue sea to understand." Conis gave a light smile at Luffy's expression.
Despite the obvious tails of the white berets, Sakura kept her eyes straight ahead. She had noticed them from the beginning, but they had been keeping a distance since they arrived. While she half expected them to try something when they finally reached the harbour, they still made no move. Perhaps because they knew of their intentions, and if they were already heading to the altar where their friends were meant to receive punishment, why would they need to intervene?
The only issue was whether this would come back on Conis and her father.
Conis had chosen a boat for them, which was to Luffy's disappointment. As he had set his eyes on a large gondola, and had been driven to take it. But Conis explained, as politely as she could, that it wasn't possible for them to rent this kind of luxury ship out. Sakura had to give Luffy another good smack before he stopped whining like a child who was denied candy in the store.
Luffy rushed forward, but was sorely disappointed when he saw the ship. It was barely more than a rowboat with an engine.
"It's called a Karasumaru," said Conis. "I used it until I was able to control the waver,"
Luffy shook his head, "No, the other one was better!"
Sakura and Sanji moved ot bash in their captain's head, "Stop acting like a child!"
"We're not here for a joyride, we're going to a forbidden land to rescue our friends who were sentenced by god-I can't believe I'm even saying this," Usopp gripped the side of his face. If it wasn't for his friends being there, he could've come down with something and stayed behind. But their ship and half their crew were waiting for them.
"I'm sorry, Luffy, those boats are for rent, and I don't have the money to-.
Sanji kicked Luffy repeatedly, the sole of his shoe squashing his face repeatedly like he was parrying punches. "Apologies!"
"I'm sorry."
Settling down, Conis began to map out their journey for them. But now it was impossible to ignore how she trembled, as she told them about which exit gate to take and how to get to the Upper Yard through the Milky Roads. She was trying to keep her composure, but there were too many cracks to see through the curtain. The trembles in her voice, finger tips, stiff shoulders, and eyes that couldn't even meet theirs.
"Hey Conis," Luffy called, getting her attention. He asked his question with a straight face, as if he expected nothing in the reply to hurt him. "How come you've been shaking ever since we left your house?"
They watched as her body went rigid, and sweat dripped from her forehead. "I... does it look that way?"
"Yeah, like you're afraid of something. Your face looks kinda pale," Luffy continued, his tone sincere but blunt. "You should've told us you were that scared. We could've come here ourselves."
Conis flinched. "It's strange, right? Carefully explaining the route... and then leading you here myself. It's like I'm guiding you to your doom."
"Conis." Sakura stepped forward, her voice firm but gentle. She grabbed the sky girl's wrist, stopping her spiral. Conis looked up, startled, but was met with a reassuring smile. "It's alright. Nothing that happened is your fault."
The dam broke. Conis sank to her knees, sobs wracking her small frame. Around them, the gathered citizens, who had been watching in silence, erupted.
"I'm sorry!" Conis cried out, her voice barely a whisper. "I'm the one who called for the Super Express Lobster! After discovering a criminal, if we don't take them to the Judgement Ground... we will be killed!"
"You called for it?!"
"Stop that girl!"
"That's blasphemy!"
"This is a civic responsibility!"
"Why did you tell us instead of just abandoning us?" Sakura asked.
"Yeah, now you're going to be targeted too!" exclaimed Luffy.
But unknown to them, it was too late. It happened almost too fast to be considered a storm, but the sky started to growl and turn color before a flash of white filled everyone's vision. Sakura knew that familiar rumble in her chest; she had felt it many times. She heard a chidori and looked up. Breaking through the clouds, lightning shot down. It went straight through the other end of the sky island, wrecking the buildings and leaving behind a gaping hole just inches away from where the pirates had managed to escape.
"Are you alright, Sakura?" Sanji asked, pulling the kunoichi to her feet, and subsequently leaving Usopp to pick himself up. Which would take a while, given he couldn't feel his legs.
"How the heck?" Sakura exhaled. Feeling that maybe Nami's concern for them hadn't been unwarranted. She had seen worse in the war, but was starting to believe that some kind of intervention was happening here.
"Where are Conis and Luffy?"
Their worry settled in their stomachs before they heard the familiar sound of wings hitting the air. They found the Sky Knight and his 'peagusus' a little above their heads, and roughly on the back, was none other than Luffy and Conis.
"Oh, they're alive!" Usopp exhaled.
Luffy jumped off the back, landing near his friends. "Thanks for the help, old man,"
"I will take care of the girl and ensure she is safe. Now you know the true feelings behind this country, as well as the power of god. Will you continue to move forward?"
"Like we have a choice," Usopp muttered in a shaking voice. This country's business had nothing to do with them, but they still had their crew stuck on Upper Yard.
"Let's go!"
..
..
..
Sakura's mind was full as they watched the town vanish over the white horizon, the little boat sailing along the odd milky road, leading them further away. Leaning against the side, she commented, "So much for this being a dreamlike place."
"More like a living nightmare," Usopp added, steering them.
She thought about the power of this so-called power of god, that ripped a hole into the sky, and somehow that wasn't even her biggest concern about the situation.
Sanji noticed she seemed distraught and rushed to comfort, "Sakura, don't worry, I promise to keep you safe."
"What's wrong, Sakura?" Luffy asked, hands behind his head as casually as he threw the question. "You've been looking kinda dumb since we set sail,"
"Hey!" Sanji hit Luffy. But Sakura didn't let her temperament overtake her this time, and she answered.
"It's just that, you saw it too, right? The second Conis broke the law, the lightning strike came down."
"Yeah, so?"
Now she frowned, "Don't you get it?"
"No?" The three tilted their head, and Sakura exhaled, trying to blow out her frustrations. She knew this could be nothing more than speculation, but if there was even a sliver of chance it was correct, she'd rather not keep it from her friends.
"How did this 'god' know what happened in that second? Was there surveillance he was accessing somehow? Because that attack literally came out of nowhere. Something just doesn't feel right about it."
"Nothing we can do about it, right?"
"Yeah…"
"I don't like this," Usopp swallowed hard, "Are you saying we might actually be facing off against a real god?"
"I'm saying, I don't know what we can rule out."
..
..
..
Luffy slumped forward. He was already bored, looking over at the endless vast of nothing along the Milky Road. The boat took them at a slow pace, despite his whining to speed it up; they just argued back that it wasn't possible. Now he really wanted to ride a waiver.
They finally reached the entrance: a wide path that opened into a gargantuan forest. Flaming torches jutted from the ground, casting an ominous light over rows of horned skulls mounted on pikes. On both sides, towering stone statues loomed with faces identical to the one they'd seen in town, as if standing in judgment over all who entered.
The skeletal remains of ships littered the cloudy bank and were tangled in the massive, vine-choked trees. As if to show that while so few ever reached this sky, even fewer would return safely to the world below.
"This is creepy," Usopp whimpered.
"Something's wrong," Sakura said, her eyes narrowing as she studied the wrecks more closely.
"Don't do that! This is terrifying enough as it is!"
"But look," she insisted, pointing. "Look at how that ship is sheared. The cut is too clean, too perfect. It's as if something sliced right through it."
A metallic sound cut through the air before they could process her words. Then came the sound of grinding cogs, tightening springs. From the shadows of the trees, several enormous axes, each bearing a grotesque carved face, swung down in the path of the four pirates.
"PADDLE AS FAST AS YOU CAN!"
They zigzagged desperately, as the blades whistled past, slicing the air where they had been a second before. Perhaps it was luck, or their sheer panicked rush, but they were able to escape.
"We triggered a booby trap," Sanji said.
"Ya think?!" Usopp screeched.
"There will be more to come," Sakura said, straightening up and trying to smooth her hair back. She ran her hand along her neck, a subconscious check to confirm it was still attached. "Everyone, stay alert."
"Looks like God's judgment has already started,"
The problem was, when did it end?
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EARLY CHAPTERS FOR MEMBERS NOW: BUYMEACOFFEE
-Kunoichi amongst Heroes chapter (101, 102, 103, 104, 105)
-Kunoichi amongst Pirates chapter (46, 47, 48)
-Crossroads of Fate chapter (37, 38, 39, 40)
-Through the Looking Glass chapter (50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55)
- (Bleach crossover) Kunoichi amongst Reapers: (4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
-Commission: Demon slayer x My hero academia (PART 1 & 2)
- Kunoichi amongst Benders (Avatar x Naruto crossover) (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
-Kunoichi amongst Heroes WHAT IF SPIN OFF: Dorms and Exams
-SPECIAL HALLOWEEN CHAPTER: Shinigami amongst Shinobi