Cursed Seas and Slashing Tides

The Merry sailed toward the opposite side of Jaya Island, where a dreamer awaited.

"This is the place on the map." Robin said, eyes scanning the shore.

"And we'll find…" Ryomen trailed off.

"Mont Blanc Cricket. Were you not paying attention?" Robin asked, her lips quirking in amusement.

"I...no, not really." Ryomen admitted, distracted. His unusual behavior didn't go unnoticed by the others.

Luffy, oblivious as ever, pointed ahead excitedly. "Wow! That's his house!? He must be loaded!"

They all turned to see a grand 'castle' perched on the shoreline.

"Look closer, idiot." Zoro shook his head.

"A man of big dreams, huh? Well, he sure likes creating illusions." Sanji remarked, his eyebrow raised.

As the Merry docked, Luffy wasted no time sprinting toward the so-called 'castle.' Moments later, his voice echoed back. "Hey, it's only made of cardboard!"

"What!?" Chopper yelped in disbelief.

"There's just half a house." Zoro muttered, eyeing the modest building behind the fake façade.

"Talk about a cheapskate." Sanji added.

"What kind of dreams did he have for being exiled?" Nami asked Robin, curiosity evident in her voice.

"I'm not entirely sure of the details…but he believes there's a massive hoard of gold somewhere on Jaya." Robin replied, sparking excitement in Usopp and Nami.

"Gold!?" Usopp nearly shouted.

"Is it some kind of lost pirate treasure!?" Nami asked eagerly. "Chopper, start digging! Find that gold!"

"Huh!? Why do I have to dig!?" Chopper responded, flustered.

Before anyone could answer, Luffy burst into the house, shouting, "Hello!? Anyone home!?"

"What are you doing, Luffy!?" Usopp yelled, his panic growing.

While Luffy explored the house, Nami found an old, weathered storybook outside. She glanced at the title and murmured, "Noland the Liar, huh?"

"That's a catchy title! I like it!" Usopp chimed in with enthusiasm.

"Of course you would." Ryomen muttered, rolling his eyes.

Sanji, walking by, looked at the book and smiled faintly. "That brings back memories. I read it when I was a kid."

Nami raised an eyebrow. "But it was published in the North Blue."

"Yeah, I was born there." Sanji replied casually. "The story's pretty old, but Noland was a real person once, a long time ago."

The story recounted the life of Mont Blanc Noland, an explorer whose incredible tales were so unbelievable that no one trusted him. One day, Noland claimed to have found an island brimming with gold, so the king gathered two thousand soldiers and set sail with him.

The journey was brutal—tempests battered their ship, and sea monsters attacked relentlessly. By the time they arrived at the island, only a hundred soldiers were left. But instead of gold, they found only a dense jungle.

Accused of lying, Noland was sentenced to death. His last words were "I know! The mountain of gold must have sunk into the ocean!" His dying claim left the king and his people in shock. No one believed Noland, but he stuck to his story until the bitter end.

"Sadly…the liar died without ever becoming a brave warrior of the sea." Nami finished with a pointed look at Usopp.

"Why are you looking at me when you say that!? And stop adding your own version to the story!" Usopp retorted angrily.

As Nami read the story, Luffy curiously leaned over the edge of the water, watching as bubbles surfaced. Ryomen stood beside him, knowing full well that the chances of Luffy falling in were high.

Suddenly, a man shot up from the water and attempted to drag Luffy down. Without missing a beat, Ryomen knocked him out with a quick strike.

"Uhh…" The man groaned, collapsing onto the ground in pain.

Luffy blinked, wide-eyed. "Huh? It's a guy!? I thought it was a chestnut!"

…

The crew now gathered inside the house, the unconscious man laid out on a table.

"You hit him pretty hard, huh?" Zoro remarked with a smirk.

Ryomen scratched the back of his head. "I was pretty gentle…"

"He's not unconscious because you hit him." Nami cut in, drawing the crew's attention. "It's from ascending too quickly from a deep dive. It's called decompression sickness."

"He's been diving deep day after day without giving his body enough time to adjust." She explained.

"But why?" Usopp asked, puzzled.

"I don't know." Nami replied, her expression growing serious. "But sometimes it can be fatal."

Just then, two familiar figures burst through the door. "Boss! Are you alright!?" They exclaimed in worry.

The crew, along with an orangutan and monkey man, stood frozen, staring at one another in silence.

"Aaahh! They've come to kill us!!" Usopp screamed, backing away dramatically.

"What are you doing here!?" Shoujo demanded.

"What have you done to the boss!?" Masira followed with his own question.

"We're treating him, so go away." Luffy replied, waving them off casually.

"Luffy, they won't listen to reason! They're savage beasts!" Usopp shrieked, his knees knocking together.

"That's…so nice of you!!" The two men said in unison, beaming at Luffy.

"They listened to reason?!" Usopp mumbled in disbelief, eyes wide with shock.

Soon after, the man on the bed stirred, slowly waking up. His eyes narrowed as he came to, assessing the room.

"Sorry I attacked you guys. Thought you were after my gold." He muttered, his rough voice carrying a note of apology, while a lit cigar dangled from his lips.

"You have gold!?" Nami asked, her eyes practically sparkling.

"Don't even think about it." Usopp quickly warned, cutting off Nami's daydream before it could take flight.

The man took a long drag from his cigar and exhaled a cloud of smoke. "What is it you wanna ask me?"

"We wanna know how to get to Sky Island!" Luffy said, leaning forward eagerly.

"Har Har Har! You believe in that!?" The man laughed, shaking his head at the absurdity.

"Are you saying it doesn't exist!?" Luffy asked, his smile fading slightly.

"Well…there was one man who did. But he was ridiculed for it and called a liar." The man explained, his voice taking on a somber tone.

Luffy shot a suspicious look at Usopp.

"It's not me!" Usopp snapped, reading Luffy's mind.

"Noland the Liar…It's an ancient tale." The man continued, puffing on his cigar.

Luffy glanced back at Usopp with the same skeptical look.

"It's not me! Our names are different!" Usopp defended himself, crossing his arms in frustration.

"Your name's Mont Blanc, right? Are you–" Before Ryomen could finish, the man interrupted.

"Yeah. He's my great-great-great-great… anyway, it's a silly story. I probably only have a drop of his blood in me." He paused, tapping the ash from his cigar. "Our family was forced to live in shame. Even to this day we're ridiculed. But no one held it against him."

"Why not?" Usopp asked curiously.

"Because we know that Noland…was not a liar." The man said, his expression growing serious.

He then explained that Noland theorized the city's ruins had sunk into the sea due to shifting earth.

"So, to clear your name, you've been diving down to find it!?" Usopp asked, excited.

"Don't be ridiculous!" Cricket snapped, pulling out a gun and pointing it at Usopp. But before he could react, his weapon was destroyed in a blur—sliced cleanly in two without him even seeing who did it.

Cricket blinked at his ruined weapon, completely bewildered. "Huh?"

Ryomen lowered his arm, his eyes cold. "Please don't do that again."

Cricket clicked his tongue in frustration, glancing at the destroyed gun. "Tsk. You owe me a new one." He grumbled, then looked toward Usopp. "Because of that fool, I was made fun of all throughout my childhood. I'm ashamed to be related to him. So I left home and became a pirate."

"Hm? So where's your crew?" Luffy asked, ignoring the tension.

Cricket's face darkened. He told them that fate had brought him here, but his crew hadn't wanted to get involved with his mission. They left him.

"I don't care about finding the gold or clearing his name. This is my battle…With the man who ruined my life. But before I die…I intend to set the record straight."

"What a man!" Usopp's eyes welled up with tears, touched by the declaration.

"What about those monkeys?" Luffy asked, barely fazed.

"There must be a moving tale about men who risk their lives in the ocean's depths behind it." Usopp exclaimed, wiping his eyes.

"They're just fans of the story." Cricket replied, his tone casual, which shocked them. "Five or six years ago, they heard about me and came here uninvited, convinced that Noland's gold was here."

"Diving deep, day after day, makes loneliness intense. Then those two came, appointing themselves as my henchmen. To be honest…those two saved me."

"I don't wanna listen to monkey stories." Luffy declared, sounding bored.

"Then don't listen! Or grit your teeth and bear it!" Usopp snapped, shoving him aside.

Luffy pushed him back out of the way. "Like I said, mister! I wanna get to Sky Island!"

"What an impatient lad." Cricket muttered under his breath, then handed them Noland's logbook. "If you wanna believe his lies, then look here."

Nami began reading aloud about a one-man boat called a 'Waver' and how Noland had seen a living sky fish, creatures that could only be found on Sky Island.

"I can't believe it…A sea in the sky!" Nami exclaimed, eyes wide in wonder.

"Just like Robin said!" Luffy added, grinning ear to ear.

"And it seems like people didn't doubt its existence four hundred years ago!" Usopp mumbled, astonished.

The Straw Hats erupted into cheers, celebrating the confirmation of Sky Island's existence.

Outside, Cricket and his two henchmen stood, listening to the ruckus coming from inside the house.

"These pirates are determined…To go to Sky Island." Cricket murmured, his voice heavy with admiration.

"Sky Island…but there's only one way to get there." Shoujo said quietly.

"They'll be killed instantly, boss!" Masira warned.

"That's why it's up to us…to help them." Cricket replied, his eyes glinting with resolve.

…

Meanwhile, back in Mock Town, the tension in the air was palpable as a familiar figure stood tall. He was glaring at a muscular man, dressed like a wrestler.

"Burgess, where are Doc Q and Augur?" Teach asked calmly, though the edge in his voice betrayed his patience wearing thin.

"Dunno, Captain Teach. Mr. Fancy Pants suddenly said he had to investigate somethin' first, then left." Burgess answered, his tone casual, unaware of the storm brewing in Teach's head.

Teach narrowed his eyes. Something wasn't right. His senses were on high alert. Suddenly, a man dressed in 19th-century European garb appeared beside them, teleporting in with practiced ease.

"Captain, we've got a problem." Augur said calmly, but there was an unusual urgency in his tone, something that rarely surfaced.

"Hm? What is it, Augur?" Teach asked, already suspecting bad news.

"Before regrouping, I spotted Stronger running off into the distance. At first, I didn't think much of it—after all, that stupid horse has its moments. But then I noticed something strange. It's sickness was gone." Augur said, his voice grave.

"You mean…" Teach trailed off, his anger bubbling just below the surface.

Augur nodded. "I tried to investigate, and it didn't take long until I found Doc Q's body…sliced in two."

"Huh? The doc died!?" Burgess exclaimed in disbelief. "Well, ain't that ironic." He muttered under his breath.

"Who did it?" Teach asked, his teeth grinding together in fury, his composure barely holding back the wave of violence threatening to burst out.

"Witnesses mentioned a swordsman, a kid with a straw hat, and another with strange markings under his eyes." Augur said, then pulled out three bounty posters. "I managed to find these. They're fresh off the press."

Teach's eyes gleamed as he looked at the posters. His fury turned into a feral grin. "Oh, how fate works. Well…it's time to hunt for a hundred-million pirate." He tossed the bounties to the ground and stormed out of the building, his subordinates following closely behind.

The bounties lay in the dust, revealing three familiar faces.

Roronoa Zoro—Sixty million.

'The Cursed Being' Ryomen—Eighty million.

'Straw Hat' Luffy—A hundred million.