The morning sun over the eastern coast of Jaya was humid and heavy, cutting through the jungle canopy in thick beams of gold. The sea was calm, lapping gently against the hull of the Going Merry.
Ben stood on the sandy beach, finishing his coffee. He looked at the ship, then at the spot of cleared land further up the beach where he had set up his temporary workshop.
"Alright," Ben cracked his neck. "Let's move her to the garage."
Cricket, who was smoking a cigarette nearby, looked confused. "Move her? You mean drag her? We'll need the giants and the salvage king's pulleys for that. The keel will drag in the sand."
"No need for pulleys," Ben said calmly. "I prefer a more direct approach."
Ben extended his right hand toward the ship. His eyes glowed with a faint, regal purple light. He didn't chant a spell; he simply exerted his will upon the world.
[Ruler's Authority]
The air around the Going Merry warped. The water beneath the hull was pressed down by an invisible force. Then, with a groan of timber settling into a new equilibrium, the entire caravel—weighing tons—lifted out of the water.
Cricket's cigarette fell out of his mouth. "What in the blue hell..."
The ship floated through the air, water dripping from its underside like rain. It moved smoothly, controlled by Ben's telekinetic grip, and drifted over the beach. Gently, with the precision of a feather landing on a pillow, Ben lowered the Merry onto the wooden scaffolding he had prepared.
THUD.
"Alright," Ben clapped his hands, turning to a petrified Cricket. "Let's get to work. I need to install the repulsor spines along the keel and mount the thrusters. Mind handing me that wrench?"
Cricket blinked, shook his head to clear the shock, and picked up the tool. 'Devil Fruit user,' Cricket thought, exhaling smoke. 'Has to be. Some kind of Float-Float fruit? Doesn't matter. If this kid says he can make a ship fly, I'm starting to believe him.'
---
While Ben and Cricket began the surgical operation on the ship's hull, the rest of the alliance was engaging in their usual chaotic routine.
On the beach, a strange game of "Tag" was taking place. The participants were: a rubber man, a reindeer, a long-nosed sniper, a super-spot-billed duck, two giants from Elbaf, and two monkey-men salvagers.
"I'm gonna get you!" Luffy roared, his arms stretching fifty feet to snatch Masira.
"EEEEEK! THE RUBBER MONKEY IS FAST!" Masira shrieked, diving into the sand.
"Gebababababa!" Brogy laughed, the sound shaking the trees. He was sitting down, letting Chopper use his helmet as a jungle gym. "Little one, you have the spirit of a warrior!"
"I'm a doctor, not a warrior!" Chopper yelled, looking delighted as he transformed into Heavy Point to wrestle with Carue.
Carue, seeing the chaos, quacked a battle cry and charged at Usopp, who was trying to explain the concept of a "Usopp Hammer" to Shoujou.
"You see," Usopp lectured, holding a squeaky toy hammer. "It's all about the psychological impact. You have to believe it weighs five tons."
"Fascinating!" Shoujou nodded, his long green hair dragging in the sand. "Does it work on Sea Kings?"
"Uh... absolutely!" Usopp lied through his teeth.
Meanwhile, inside the Merry's galley (which was currently tilted slightly due to the work outside), a culinary lesson was in progress.
"Sanji-san," Vivi asked, holding a kitchen knife with intense concentration. "Is the onion supposed to be diced this fine?"
Sanji was vibrating. He was floating a few inches off the floor, hearts replacing his eyes. "Oh, Vivi-chwan! The way you hold that knife! It is poetry! It is art! You could stab me right now and I would thank you!"
Vivi giggled, used to his antics by now. "Sanji-san, the onions."
"Ah, yes! The onions!" Sanji spun around, landing gracefully. "Treat the onion like a delicate flower! You must slice it with love, not aggression. Like this!"
He demonstrated a flurry of cuts, so fast the blade was invisible. "See? This helps release the flavor without bruising the layers. This is essential for the soup we are making for the banquet."
"I see," Vivi nodded, mimicking the motion. "Like this?"
"PERFECT!" Sanji swooned, grabbing the counter to steady himself. "You are a natural! A goddess of the kitchen!"
In the ship's library, the atmosphere was far more serious. The room was filled with the smell of old paper.
"This logbook," Nami murmured, tracing a line of faded text. "It confirms the vertical current. The 'Knock Up Stream'. But the timing..."
"The timing is cyclical," Robin noted, cross-referencing with a star chart. "The St. Briss encountered it during a cumulus accumulation. Look here." She pointed to a sketch in the 200-year-old book. "They mention the 'Cloud Ocean'. The density of the clouds above Jaya is unique. It contains 'Island Cloud' particles—pyrobloin ejected from volcanoes."
"Pyrobloin," Nami tested the word. "That's what creates the solid clouds?"
"Correct," Robin smiled. "It seems Skypiea isn't just floating on air. It's floating on a sea of hardened volcanic ash. Navigating it will require more than just wind. It will require understanding a three-dimensional ocean."
Nami sighed, rubbing her temples. "And Ben is strapping rockets to our ship. I guess traditional navigation is going out the window anyway."
---
Outside, the work was nearing completion.
Ben held the "Valkyrie Thrusters"—the four massive, turbine-like devices he had enlarged with his magic.
"Cricket, secure the bolts on the port side!" Ben shouted, sliding under the hull.
"Got it!" Cricket grunted, wrenching the bolts tight. "These alloys... they're lighter than wood. Where did you get this metal?"
"Trade secret," Ben called back, welding the connection with a spark of mana.
They attached the thrusters to the underside of the Merry, hidden behind retractable wooden panels so the ship would look normal when sailing on water.
By the time the sun reached its zenith, the Going Merry had evolved. It looked the same on the surface, but underneath, it was a machine capable of defying gravity.
"System Check," Ben commanded, tapping the hull.
A low hum, barely audible, vibrated through the ship. The repulsor nodes glowed soft blue for a second before fading.
"Everything is working perfectly, Ben," Merry chimed.
"It's done," Ben wiped grease from his cheek.
---
Lunch was a feast, thanks to Sanji and his new apprentice, Vivi. The crew ate on the beach, surrounding a massive bonfire.
"It's time," Luffy announced, swallowing a chunk of meat whole. He stood up, looking at the Merry. "We're going to the sky!"
The crew began to pack up. Dory and Brogy carried the heavy supplies on board. But as they prepared to leave, Mont Blanc Cricket, Masira, and Shoujou stood by the tree line, arms crossed.
"Well," Cricket said, lighting a fresh cigarette. "Looks like you're all set. The sky is waiting."
"Get on," Luffy said.
Cricket blinked. "Huh?"
"Get on the ship," Luffy repeated, pointing at the gangplank. "You, the Monkey guys, and the Bird."
"Kid," Cricket shook his head, a sad smile on his face. "I told you. I'm staying here. My fight is with the ocean floor. I've spent ten years diving for evidence of Noland's city. I can't just leave my post."
"Why not?" Usopp asked. "Don't you want to know if it's up there?"
"Of course I do!" Cricket snapped. "But... what if it's not? As long as I'm here looking, the dream is alive. If I go up there and find nothing... then Noland really was just a liar. And I..."
"You're scared," Ben's voice cut through the air.
Cricket stiffened.
Ben walked down the gangplank, standing in front of the older man. "You're scared that the answer isn't what you want. You're scared that you wasted your life. So you'd rather keep looking in the mud than look at the stars."
"Watch your mouth, brat," Masira growled.
"Come with us," Ben said, his voice softening. "The ship has plenty of room. We added quarters in the expansion. And listen to me, Cricket."
Ben leaned in. "This ship moves fast. Faster than anything in this world. If we go up there, and we find the city, you see it with your own eyes. You ring the bell. And then? I can fly you back down to this exact spot in an instant. It won't hinder our journey. We can drop you off on our way to the next island."
Cricket's eyes widened. "You... you'd bring me back?"
"I promise," Ben nodded. "You aren't abandoning your post. You're just taking a field trip to the attic."
Cricket looked at the ground. He looked at his hands, scarred from nitrogen bubbles and deep diving. He looked at the Golden City he had failed to find underwater.
"Ossan!" Luffy shouted from the deck. "Let's go! It's an adventure! Noland wants you to see it!"
Cricket's lip trembled. He looked at Masira and Shoujou.
"Boss..." Masira sniffled. "Let's Go! We want to see the sky too!"
"Yeah!" Shoujou cried. "We want to see the City of Gold!"
Cricket took a deep breath. He dropped his cigarette and stomped it out.
"Alright," Cricket grinned, a wild, adventurous look returning to his eyes. "If you insist, I guess I have to supervise you lot. Don't blame me if we fall to our deaths!"
"YAHOOO!" Luffy cheered.
The Saruyama Alliance boarded the Going Merry.
"Wait!" Cricket suddenly realized something as he stepped on deck. "We need a South Bird! The magnetic fields in the sky are chaotic! Without a South Bird to orient us, we'll get lost in the clouds!"
"No need," Ben said, walking to the helm.
"What?" Cricket panicked. "You don't understand! In the cloud ocean, there are no landmarks! We need a magnetic constant!"
"We have a compass," Ben tapped the side of his head. "And not a magnetic one. It doesn't care about magnetic interference. It knows where 'Down' is, and it knows where 'North' is, based on the rotation of the planet."
Cricket stared at Ben. "What language are you speaking?"
"The language of 'We aren't getting lost'," Ben smiled. "Trust me."
---
The gangplank was retracted. The crew—now expanded by three weirdos took their stations.
"Everyone, hold onto something!" Ben commanded from the helm. He wasn't using the wooden wheel; he was typing on a holographic keyboard that hovered above it.
"Engaging Valkyrie Thrusters. Anti-Gravity Output: 40%."
VRMMMMMMMMMMMM...
A sound like a deep, vibrating hum resonated through the ship. The sand around the Merry began to dance. The palm trees on the shore bent away as if a giant wind was pushing them.
"We're moving!" Chopper squealed, hugging the mast.
Slowly, smoothly, the Going Merry rose straight up. No run-up, no ramp, no geyser. It simply rejected gravity.
Ten meters. Fifty meters. One hundred meters.
The jungle of Jaya shrank beneath them. The ocean became a vast, glittering tapestry.
"Incredible..." Cricket whispered, looking over the side. "We're flying... we're actually flying."
"Higher!" Luffy shouted. "Go to the clouds!"
"Increasing thrust," Ben said. "Locking vector to the Log Pose altitude."
The ship accelerated, pushing them slightly into the deck. The wind rushed past, but Ben raised a hand.
"Shield: Dome."
A translucent, shimmering barrier appeared over the deck of the Merry, blocking the wind. The roar of the air became a whisper.
"It's so quiet," Vivi marveled. "I can see everything."
---
As the Merry ascended past the tree line and began to drift out over the bay, a shadow emerged from the dense jungle below.
A group of men walked onto the beach where the Merry had just been. Leading them was a massive man with a thick black beard, missing teeth, and a presence that felt like a void.
Marshall D. Teach. Blackbeard.
"ZEHAHAHAHAHA!"
His laughter boomed, surprisingly loud even from this distance.
Luffy looked down. "Oh. It's the cherry pie guy."
"Cherry pie guy?" Vivi asked, looking over the railing. "Who is he?"
"Just some weirdo we met in Mock Town," Luffy picked his nose. "He talks a lot about dreams. But he has bad taste in food."
Blackbeard looked up at the floating ship, his eyes narrowing. He held a wanted poster in his hand—Luffy's poster.
"Straw Hat Luffy!" Blackbeard shouted, his voice amplified by raw lung power. "Don't think you can run! Your head is worth 30 million! That's my ticket to the Warlord position!"
"He's a pirate hunter?" Usopp shrieked. "And he wants Luffy?!"
"Zehahaha! A flying ship? Interesting!" Blackbeard grinned, darkness swirling around his hand. "But gravity pulls everything down eventually! Black Vortex!"
He raised his hand. A swirling vortex of darkness formed, trying to suck the ship back down. The Merry shuddered slightly.
"Ben!" Nami yelled. "He's doing something!"
"Gravity manipulation," Ben noted, unimpressed. "Cute. But we have our own gravity."
Ben ramped up the thrusters. The Merry surged upward, fighting the pull of the darkness.
"Captain," a calm, chilling voice spoke from beside Blackbeard.
It was Van Augur, the Supersonic Sniper. He raised his long rifle, Senriku.
"Fate has determined their course," Van Augur said softly. "Let us see if they are lucky."
BANG.
He fired.
The bullet moved faster than sound. It was aimed perfectly at Luffy's head. At this range, normal observation Haki might have missed it until it was too late.
But the Merry was no longer just a ship. It was a fortress.
PING.
A ripple of blue light flared on the underside of the ship, just below the figurehead. The bullet, capable of piercing steel at three miles, stopped dead in the air, flattened against the invisible force field Ben had erected.
"What?!" Van Augur lowered his rifle, his monocle glinting. "It hit... a barrier?"
"A force field," Ben said, glancing at the readout. "Kinetic dampening engaged."
On the ground, Blackbeard's eyes widened. "Oho! They have some toys! Zehahahaha! Run, Straw Hat! Run to the sky! But remember this!"
Blackbeard pointed a finger at the retreating speck of the ship.
"A MAN'S DREAM... WILL NEVER DIE!"
"LET THEM GO TO THE SKY! IF THEY SURVIVE, I'LL BE WAITING RIGHT HERE TO DRAG THEM DOWN TO HELL!"
His laughter echoed across the bay, a chilling promise of future conflict.
High above, the Going Merry broke through the cloud layer.
The darkness of Blackbeard was left far below, replaced by a blinding, brilliant white.
"We're safe," Ben announced, stabilizing the ship.