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"Amazing!" Coby said, looking down at the endless sea. From up above everything just looked different.
"It is…" Gin nodded, a carefree grin on his face.
Yosaku and Johnny were also appreciating the view, when Luffy came out of the captain's cabin with a bag. "Yo, Johnny, you ready?"
Johnny looked at his captain and nodded, "Of course, captain!" he said, puffing up his chest.
Luffy grinned, while the others looked at him.
"Oi, be careful though," Yosaku said, "Your abilities are amazing, but it will be a long journey…"
Luffy came forward and gave Johnny two bags. The bigger one he quickly tied to his back, while the small one he tied to his waist.
"The small one has a couple of nutrition bars inside… so if you feel depleted, chow on them. They should give you energy and recover some of your stamina." Luffy said, holding out a log pose watch, which Johnny quickly strapped to his wrist. "This is an eternal pose to Alabasta, just to be safe I have added another one inside the smaller bag, along with a permanent log pose for Skypiea… it shouldn't take too long for you to go there and return. But take your time and also…" Luffy held his shoulder, looking him in the eye, "Be careful."
Johnny nodded a smile on his face, "Sure thing captain! I will get back to Skypiea before any one of you can make it back. Yahihihi!" With that Yosaku grew in size turning from man to a griffon-hybrid with his devil fruit powers.
He looked at his crewmates one last time as they gave their goodbyes, before doing a fist-bump with Yosaku before jumping down from the ship. He fell for a few seconds before opening up his wings, letting his instincts guide him as he flapped his wings going towards the opposite direction to Going Merry, following the eternal pose for Alabasta.
Luffy looked on as the flying zoan user of the crew moved at fast speed, faster than the speed of sound as he broke the sound barriers multiple times, clouds parting his way as he went.
"Tch, show off," Yosaku said with a grin on his face. He would be lying if he said he wouldn't miss him. Johnny was practically his brother while growing up, and they barely separated from each other. So he was a bit worried about him.
Yosaku had always been the stronger one, until most recently so seeing Johnny go such a long distance was a bit worrying. But he trusted Johnny, and so did the captain. Or else Luffy wouldn't have given that task to him.
Luffy and the crew watched as Yosaku left, before the captain of the ship looked at the navigator. "How long do you think he will take to reach Alabasta?"
"With that speed, maybe six hours, but he's bound to slow down, so eight or nine give or take." Nami said, it took them two days to get from Alabasta to Jaya so even though Johnny was moving faster than the Going Merry, he would still need to spend a good amount of time flying.
Luffy nodded, even though he was worried, he trusted Johnny's ability, "And how much time will we take to reach Water 7?"
Nami hummed, "Hard to tell, but it shouldn't take more than four days." She said, "We are skipping an island so… yeah, it would take some time."
"You call four days long?" Cricket asked a bit flabbergasted, "With our ships it would almost take half a month to go from Jaya to Water seven.'
The monkey brothers who were on the ship nodded.
"Well, our ship is just built different," Usopp said with pride patting the Going Merry.
Luffy just smiled, "That it was…" he said fondly. Even though he had to leave for Marineford, Luffy gave out an exact plan to what to do in Water seven.
Their main priority was getting the ship in tip-top condition. Of course, they were going to build a new ship, but who said that a pirate crew only needed one ship.
The original straw hats followed their log pose from going from Skypiea to Long Ring Long Land. But Luffy's crew already had an eternal log pose for Water 7.
Cricket and the monkey brothers had an eternal log pose for Water 7. As Cricket's crew were mostly made for exploring the deep sea, they needed to visit Water 7 at least a few times a year to get their ships checked.
Also, Masira and Shoujou, the monkey brothers were originally from Water 7. They might not be professional shipwrights but they knew their way around the ship.
It was a good thing that Cricket joined the crew. Unlike others it wasn't that dramatic. When Luffy called in for a meeting and said that they would leave Skypiea.
Cricket requested a one-on-one talk with him. There Cricket requested Luffy to join his crew. Not as a member but more so as a crew under him.
Unlike Law he wouldn't be a member of the crew. But a captain that was under him. Similar to the straw hat grand fleet. This was good in a way, as with this Cricket would have his own freedom and his own crew.
Which was okay with him. Even though Luffy preferred quality over quantity, having more men under him was also something that shouldn't be looked down upon.
And Cricket's crew were mostly explorers anyways. And now that the past of Noland wasn't holding him back, Cricket had a dream to visit every island under the sun and explore the deepest parts of the ocean.
Luffy would have preferred a guy like Cricket to join the crew as a core member. As Cricket might be weak, but even with the small training he had participated in Skypiea, he had shown quite a bit of potential.
Especially with his swordsmanship. His use of cutlass blades was something that was truly noteworthy. But it didn't matter.
Luffy had agreed to take Cricket under his banner, if he worked with the main crew for a year. That would be enough time for him to get strong and also plant some loyalty in him.
Cricket viewed Luffy in a great light, mainly because like Cricket, Luffy was a dreamer. While everyone always laughed at him for believing in the old legend of Nolad, Luffy didn't. And not only that he had proved it right by finding Skypiea.
Also, the crew was filled with dreams like him, so Cricket had to join them. In just a week he had visited a sky island, found the city of gold and a dungeon. A freaking dungeon!
This crew was different. And Luffy was a man of his word. A man that dreamed of becoming the pirate king and being the strongest man. Cricket could follow a person like him.