The Mad Doctor of One Piece - Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Peter laughed as he danced merrily with Vivienne, the pair bouncing around so much that her long blue hair was flying everywhere. Nearby most of the other crew either danced in celebration, or drank heavily from wooden tankards filled with booze. All except Ai, who was standing near the bow strumming away on her guitar as she sang a power ballad based on a Journey song Peter had half remembered.

Today they were celebrating the fruits of Merlin's labor. She'd completed one of the very few tasks Peter had asked her to complete. She'd created a spell for Time Magic! It was still crude and cost a ton of mana for her to implement. It also wasn't time travel of any sort, but rather time dilation. It was also extremely limited in what it could do due to its inefficiency, even with Merlin's massive reserves.

The spell could speed up, or slow down, time within a specific area. First, increasing the size of the area effected had a multiplicative effect on the cost. Just creating an area a few feet in diameter was beyond Merlin's ability, even with potion support from Peter. Second, there was the multiplicative cost of increasing the effect of the dilation. The spell had a hard limit of either increasing or decreasing the time that passed within the spell by one thousand times. Third, there was the duration of the effect, the longer it was meant to last, the greater the cost.

Combining all three factors meant Merlin could hardly cast the spell at all and even when successful she could only effect a small area no bigger than a foot in diameter for no more than a few seconds with a dilation of no more than a couple of times. As a spell all on its own, it was not something that Merlin could easily implement into her arsenal.

However! That was without taking into account not just Peter's potion support, but Merlin's own completely broken innate ability, Infinity. Infinity allowed Merlin to essentially 'freeze' a spell in its current state. For example, if she made a magical wall to block an attack and used Infinity on it, the wall would, essentially, be impregnable for all time. Even after Merlin died.

With complete support from Peter's potions and Merlin's own impressive skill and broken ability, she had managed to cast the spell on an area just two feet in diameter with a dilation ratio of one to one thousand. As in for every one minute that passed in reality, one thousand minutes would pass within the spell. Without Infinity, the spell would have only lasted for a single second. Even so, that would have translated into a little over sixteen and a half minutes within the spell.

The first thing Peter had insisted they use Merlin's shiny new spell for? Making booze! Naturally. That was two days ago and they were now drinking the results of Peter's first batch of Alchemically brewed mead. Within the last forty hours, he'd been able to brew and then age the Mead for four and a half YEARS! Mead, unlike most alcoholic beverages, continued to get better with time, even after being bottled. The recipe he'd used required a minimum of two years to reach maturity and only became better after that. With an extra two and a half years of just sitting and maturing further the mead had a deep and rich flavor that hardly anyone would be able to resist.

Given the limited size of the spells area, anyone that didn't know Peter and his cheating cheater ways, would assume the small barrel he'd placed within the time field would hold a couple of gallons at most. No. That wasn't good enough for him and his crew! He'd cheated and expanded the small barrel's interior until it could hold as much as a modern day barrel, fifty five gallons! That should be enough to last the two days it would take to brew more, right?

Regardless of potential future drunken shenanigans, tonight they were all singing and dancing to celebrate the first successful batch of booze! Ai had decided to serenade the entire town of Jaya by cranking her amp up to maximum and adding her shiny new microphone to the mix. He doubted there was anyone who couldn't hear her singing on the entire island.

As the ballad came to an end, the tune of Ai's playing changed to something more jaunty. As soon as she belted out the first burst of lyrics to the shanty she'd made up, he began laughing his ass off. She'd clearly gotten some mead into her as she belted out the bawdy lyrics.

“Roll me over in the clover,
Roll me over nice and slow,
Roll me over, play me rover,
Raise the sails and let’s all go!

I met a lass in Liverpool,
With eyes as bright as brass,
She said, “Come 'board, ye salty fool,
And I’ll teach ye ‘bout me mast!”

Everyone laughed and cheered as Ai continued, the lyrics getting raunchier as she went.

“Roll me over in the clover,
Roll me over, to and fro,
Hoist me colors, ride me thunder,
Blow me down and let winds blow!

She took me to her cabin bed,
And locked the door with glee,
She said, 'A sailor needs good head—
To navigate the sea!'

Roll me over in the clover,
Roll me over, nice and slow,
Tug me riggin’, pump me bilges,
To Davy’s depths we go!

Her parrot squawked, 'Heave ho, lads!'
As she climbed atop me chest,
She rode me like a stormy gale,
And never let me rest!

Roll me over in the clover,
Roll me over, don't be shy,
Clap me stern and stoke me fire,
Till the stars fall from the sky!

Now every port, from east to west,
I seek a maiden bold,
For tales of lust and seaman's jest
Are better when retold!

Roll me over in the clover,
Roll me over, one more round!
Give me rum and give me lover,
Till I’m six feet underground!”

As the last lyric faded it wasn't just the cheers of the crew that greeted Ai, but also cheering from the people on Jaya. Ai laughed happily at the cheering from the gathering crowd and immediately jumped into another shanty, this one even more fitting for their current audience. The energy of the tune easily lifting the spirits of the people on shore and causing an impromptu party to break out as food and booze flowed.

“To the ends of the Grand Line, bold we sail,
With a laugh and a curse and a wind-torn sail!
Let the Navy chase, let the world beware—
For a pirate’s heart knows no despair!

We set out young with stars in our eyes,
A scrap of a map and a sea full of lies.
The compass spins mad, but we never turn,
For the fire inside us will always burn!

To the ends of the Grand Line, wild and wide,
Where the islands dance and the monsters hide!
Through storm and shadow, blood and bone—
We claim the sea, we make it home!

The Log Pose pulls like a siren’s song,
To lands where right and wrong are gone.
With bounties high and morals low,
We drink with ghosts and sink our foe!

Some seek gold, and some seek fame,
Some chase vengeance, some a name.
But every pirate worth his salt
Has dreams too big to ever halt!

To the ends of the Grand Line, sharp and wild,
Where the seas are fierce and fate beguiled!
We raise our flag with steel and grin—
For freedom’s prize, we’ll always sin!”

Her voice went low, becoming dark and eerie.

“Oh the seas will steal, and the seas will break,
And the calmest tide can still forsake...
But the brave don’t beg and the bold don’t drown—
We go down laughing, never bow down!”

Ai's voice jumped back up to a much more peppy tune and she belted out the final chorus.

“To the ends of the Grand Line, loud and free,
No gods, no kings, no destiny!
We write our tale with fire and wine—
And die as legends known for all time!”

The second shanty got an even bigger roar of approval as well as shouts for an encore. Apparently they loved it very much, something Ai was inclined to oblige them with. She went into the shanty a second time and the entire island seemed to be singing along.

Singing, dancing, and revelry were everywhere as everyone got in on the fun. Well, almost everyone. Deep in the back of the crowd a single group of pirates sat within a pub with scowls on their faces. The shanty thrumming through the air went against everything they believed about the coming 'New Age' of piracy. The Bellamy Pirates were not thrilled with this turn of events. The angriest among them grit his teeth and bounced his leg under the table as rage filled him.

Bellamy the Hyena was not the least bit happy with what he was seeing and hearing.

The only thing that stopped him from going out there and beating the hell out of the self-proclaimed Stormborn Pirates was the fact that of all the people on the ship with bounties, only one of them was lower than his. Even that lowest one was only five million less than his own. While the price on a pirate's head didn't necessarily dictate their power, it was a decent indication of the threat the World Government believed the pirate posed.

However, there was one among them, ironically the one with the highest bounty, that he felt was a weakling who didn't deserve his bounty. Their captain, Dragon D. Peter. He'd come out of nowhere with a bounty of one hundred and fifty million. It didn't make sense. No one's first bounty should surpass one hundred million. It was suspicious and Bellamy felt something was going on behind the scenes.

He knew from Doflamingo that a bounty could inflate based on a persons knowledge, if such knowledge either threatened or was coveted by the Marines. Given the 'Alive Only' tag on the bounty poster for Peter, Bellamy was willing to bet it was coveted information. Bellamy's grin grew at that thought. If he kicked the shit out of Peter while everyone else watched, they would see his strength and the power of the New Era. Bellamy chuckled to himself a little as he pictured the reaction of the island residents when he beat the shit out of someone with such a high bounty.

As the second round of that ridiculous shanty finished, Bellamy climbed to his feet and threw his coat over his shoulders, a homage to his hero, “Get up. Let's show these idiots the truth of the New Era!”

That got a round of cheers out of his crew, especially his First Mate and best friend Sarquiss. Stepping out of the empty pub and into the streets brought a sneer to Bellamy's face. Seeing all of the people laughing, dancing, and celebrating after that sickening song just pissed him off. It pissed him off even more when he realized the streets were so crowded he couldn't actually walk to the docks. His scowl deepened while his anger grew as the disrespect he was getting. It was like the whole island had forgotten just who was in charge!

That had to change, now. Seeing no other option he reached over and grabbed Sarquiss by his jacket, “Let's go.”

Sarquiss had barely enough time to brace himself when Bellamy's legs turned into thick metal springs. The man crouched down building up power in his legs before he leaped off of the ground with a tremendous amount of force. The two men flew through the air for a few moments until Bellamy landed on a roof. Using the momentum from his landing to compress his leg springs further, he leaped once again gaining even more height.

He bounced from roof to roof gaining height and speed as he rapidly approached The Coming Storm. He thought the name was far too pretentious for a bunch of newbies. His face split into a grin as he reached the apex of the leap that would see him landing in the middle of the deck where the pathetic wannabe's were dancing merrily. He couldn't have that!

Laughing like his namesake, Bellamy the Hyena slammed into the deck of the ship with enough force to crack the wooden planking and leave imprints of his shoes. He set the unruffled Sarquiss down next to him then crossed his arms over his chest. Giving his best impression of Doflamingo's most condescending smile he tilted his head to literally look down on the shorter Peter. Bellamy was nearly eight feet tall so it wasn't a difficult feat to achieve against Peter's more reasonable five foot eleven.

Bellamy's voice dripped with derision as he loudly asked, “What the hell do you think you're doing on my island you loser?”

Bellamy's voice echoed through the crowd, caught up by Ai's microphone and being broadcast to the crowd. Ai, sensing impending drama, eagerly stopped strumming her guitar and aimed the mic directly toward the idiot and her Captain.

Peter, stopped in his wonderful dance with Mera, after she'd swapped with Vivienne, turned to stare blandly at Bellamy. Peter recognized the idiot but decided the man needed to be taken down a few pegs. He spoke faster than a disclaimer at the end of an ad as he said, “Simplemindedlosersays what?”

“What?”

Peter's entire crew broke down into laughter at the confused look on Bellamy's face until the man managed to parse what Peter had said. Bellamy's face turned red with rage until he managed to put it down and affect a condescending look once more. Peter's cheap shot only confirmed to Bellamy that the man was a weakling who used words and not fists to fight. This would be even easier than he'd thought!

Bellamy uncrossed his arms and held up his clenched fist while his arm turned into one large thick spring, “I'm going to enjoy pounding you into the ground.”

He reveled in the way the rest of the man's crew bristled at his remark. He could see it from their actions. They knew their captain was weaker than them! They couldn't do anything though, not with him having challenged Peter so publicly. If they stepped in it would be the same as calling their captain weak! After all, it was an unspoken rule that only captains should fight captains since they were supposed to be the strongest of their crews.

Peter stared blandly at Bellamy. To be honest, he didn't remember all that much about the man. The biggest impression he had of him was the scene in which Luffy utterly destroyed him with a single punch. The most interesting thing about the man was his Devil Fruit, the Bane Bane no mi that let him turn his body into springs.

Sadly, Bellamy was an idiot who barely comprehended how to use his power beyond the very basics. Springs didn't have to be just simple spiral compression springs. There were bar springs, wind up springs, and extension springs, just to name a few. Hell, with just a basic use of compression and extension springs, Peter could think of a few basic, yet likely powerful, attacks. He would turn his arms into a extension spring causing it to automatically compress then quickly shift it to a compression spring causing all of that potential energy to be released as the compression spring rapidly expanded. He wouldn't even have to move to replicate something like Luffy's Gatling attack.

All he could recall Bellamy ever using were basic compression springs exactly like the one his arm had just been turned into. With a weary sigh he stepped away from a pissed off looking Mera and stood facing Bellamy, “Are you sure you want to do this? I'm telling you now, you stand absolutely no chance at all of beating me.”

Bellamy threw his head back and laughed like a hyena. When he finished he gave Peter a cocky look, “If you want me to stop you'll have to get on your knees and beg!”

Even as he spoke, Bellamy turned his legs into springs and crouched down low. Clearly he had no intention of listening to it even if Peter had been a craven coward that would beg. Peter snorted and lazily shrugged his shoulders, “Your funeral.”

Bellamy laughed as he shouted, “Big talk from a big weakling!”

No further words were said as Bellamy's springs sprang. The man took off like a shot flying toward Peter yet deliberately missing him. With an ease that spoke of a lot of practice and effort, Bellamy flipped in mid air and landed on the mizzenmast's central pole where he pushed off again. He shot through the air gaining speed and hit the mainmast next. Bellamy did the same thing to Peter that he would have done to Luffy, bouncing from surface to surface to gain more speed and momentum to increase the power of his attack.

Peter didn't do anything but stand still. Much like Luffy, he didn't consider Bellamy even a remote threat. Unlike Luffy, Bellamy could do absolutely nothing to hurt Peter, even if he used weapons. This meant Peter had even less to fear from Bellamy than Luffy. It was almost sad, honestly. Add in Peter's Spider Sense and improving Observation Haki and Bellamy stood zero chance of even touching Peter without Peter himself allowing it.

Bellamy's laughter echoed over the microphone as he shouted while bouncing faster and faster, “What's the matter?! Can't keep up?! Welcome to the New Era WEAKLING!”

With the final word shouted louder than any other, Bellamy shot directly toward Peter's back, his arm cocked and turned into a spring to deal the greatest amount of damage possible. It comes as no surprise to Peter's crew when he just tilts his head to the side to casually dodge the powerful blow. Bellamy wasn't completely talentless. Hell, he even learned how to use Observation and Armament Haki during the two year time skip just the same as Luffy did. Maybe not to the same extent, but it was still impressive.

However, this was not that Bellamy, who had also become a better man in the ensuing time. No, this Bellamy was a piece of shit and Peter intended to show him the error of his ways.

Scowling at the near miss and dismissing it as luck, Bellamy hits the deck of the ship and springs right back off of it coming at Peter from the front this time. Peter waits until the very last moment before he ducks under Bellamy's heavily broadcast blow and retaliates. Peter's fist, and only his fist, turns pitch black just before he buries it deep into Bellamy's gut.

The decking beneath Peter's feet cracks ominously as he absorbs a lot of force from Bellamy's speed and momentum through his body. It's even worse for Bellamy as he comes to a sudden and complete stop by slamming stomach first into an immovable object. His body completely folds in half around Peters arm when Peter completely refuses to move from the impact. There's a moment of completely silence as Bellamy's body seems to hang in the air folded in half before his whole body collapses. He fails to fall to the ground with his torso held up by Peter's arm.

Silence reins for another few seconds until the thud of Bellamy's shoes hitting the deck echoes through the microphone for all to hear. There's another beat of silence before cheers and laughter fill the air of Jaya. Bellamy had made no friends among the populace and seeing him taken down so brutally in public had the crowd almost as excited as Ai's singing had gotten them.

Ai, doing her part, cheers into her microphone and shouts out to the crowd, “And that's how it is folks! Captain Dragon one! Bellamy Pirates, ZERO!”

Louder cheers greeted her while she laughed. Then she spun around, her skirt flaring out temptingly, “It's still party time! Let's gooooooo~!”

The whole crowd sang along with Ai when she started a repeat of her Grand Line shanty. The whole island seemed enamored with it and sang at the top of their lungs. While Ai entertained the crowd, Peter calmly walked toward Sarquiss, Bellamy still slumped on his arm. Once standing in front of the shell-shocked man, Peter casually jerked his arm and dropped Bellamy's unconscious body at Sarquiss' feet, “Get off my ship and take your trash with you.”

Sarquiss stared down at Bellamy. His whole demeanor horrified at the sight of Bellamy's completely white eyes and mouth hanging open as if silently screaming in agony. There, on his stomach, is a deep imprint of a fist in Bellamy's abdominal muscles. A sign of just how powerful the blow had been. Though most of the credit for the strength of the blow went to Bellamy as he put at least ninety percent of the effort into it.

Tobirama and Alex quickly got tired of waiting for Sarquiss to come out of his stupor. They took matters into their own hands by grabbing one man each and carrying them off of the ship and tossing the pair into the water without a care. Either Sarquiss would save Bellamy or he would let Bellamy drown, they did not care which.

From that point on the party went to all new heights. Ai expertly kept the crowd entertained and riled up with her songs and shanties. She often switched genres as she went along but kept her selection of songs to high energy ones. The current crowd and mood was definitely not the place for something slower and softer!

The night wore on as almost everyone on the Stormbringer crew drank and danced.

-----Line Break-----

Peter groaned as the curtains to his cabin window were violently thrown open allowing the morning sunlight into his room where it went straight for his eyes, even if they were closed. He let out an annoyed grunt while his head throbbed with pain. He'd drank far too much last night and was now paying for it. Even having a powerful healing factor was no mach for a magical booze hangover.

He heard a groan coming from next to him in the bed and cracked an eye to see who it was. His memory of the night after pounding Bellamy were a little fuzzy. The first thing he noticed was the blinding pain of sunlight hitting his eye directly. The second thing he noticed was the short dark blue hair and pale skin of a naked woman's shoulder.

Merlin.

If he had to guess, from the way he was feeling, they'd continued the party in private after things wound down. He didn't have much longer to ponder it before the sound of another woman clearing her throat cut through his brain like a knife. He slowly turned his head to see Sakuya staring down at him with an unimpressed look and her arms crossed under her breasts.

She stared blandly at him for a good few seconds before she spoke in a flat tone that did not bode well, “Good morning, master. Or perhaps I should say, good afternoon. You need to get up, get cleaned off, and get dressed.”

All Peter could do in response was close his eyes against the light and groan in pain. Even so, he began untangling himself from his bed, not caring about his nudity around Sakuya in the least. It wasn't anything she hadn't already seen, after all. He threw on a robe, and went to get some clothing before noticing Sakuya had already selected some for him. With clothing in hand, he made his way below deck to the custom made bathroom they'd recently updated.

While making the expanded interior for his mead barrel, Peter had realised how much he'd been neglecting the Alchemy portion of his abilities. Oh, he used to to enhance, purify, or otherwise modify potions and ingredients, but that wasn't the limit of what it could do. As part of an Essence, his Alchemy took on ALL forms of alchemy. He'd not thought deeply enough on it and the Essence didn't give him all knowledge of what he could do. It only gave him what he asked for.

Once he'd realized that, he'd realized he had access to things like the Alchemy from Fullmetal Alchemist. He could even do the hand-clap transmutation, though it followed the same rules of equivalent exchange. Thankfully, the Essence allowed him to use any energy source he had within himself, mana, chi, ki, chakra, or even just his stamina. The energy worked to make the changes and he'd begun practicing using permanent circles to do various things.

Case in point, he stepped into the shower and turned the knob to get the water flowing. Built into the shower were transmutation circles that did simple but highly useful things. One sucked up water through the pipe that went through the hull into the ocean. Another purified the water by removing all the salt and other garbage. The last regulated temperature allowing the user to have it as hot as they wanted. Unlike a normal faucet the one he'd designed could continuously turn making the water hotter the further it was turned, even going completely around several times. Though, eventually, the water would simply become steam.

After a wonderful shower that helped immensely with his hangover, he was provided a towel by Sakuya, who'd not left the entire time. He dried off, got dressed, and made his way to the galley to get some lunch. As he ate, Sakuya decided to fill him in, “The Strawhats arrived half an hour ago.”

Peter nodded at the information and calmly issued orders, “Pull anchor and head around the island. When you spot a huge looking castle, pull up and drop anchor. The guy who owns the place will be able to help all of us get to Skypeia.”

Sakuya nodded and continued, “Momo has completed your order.”

Peter grinned broadly and rubbed his hands together, “Excellent. With all that Naquadah I can really get the ship reinforced.”

It was a small upgrade he planned to make to the ship to ensure they survived the knock up stream that would literally blast them into Skypeia. He had Momo produce ingots of the metal so he could use transmutation to coat the keel and hull in a thin layer of it to reinforce the wood and prevent any damage. While he was doing that, Vivienne and Momo were working with their partners to create folding wings that could be attached to anchor points he'd be making, at their request.

Having finished his lunch, he stood and made his way to the center of the lowest deck where a nice pile of shimmering metal ingots awaited him. He clapped his hands together causing sparks of electricity to spring to life when he tapped into his Alchemy abilities. He crouched down on one knee and placed his hands on the keel beam, a section of flooring having been removed so he could do so. The electricity-like energy writhed around touching both the wood and the ingots that were his target. The ingots seemed to melt into a liquid and flowed into the hole and along the keel. Once the keel was coated, the metal began flowing along the ribs reinforcing the internal structure of the entire ship.

Naquadah wasn't the strongest metal that they knew of, thanks to Anise. However, the exact ratio of the Asarding mixture of Naquadah, Trinium, and Carbon was unknown so they were experimenting. It said something when a race as ancient and adept as the Asgard claimed the alloy was the strongest thing they'd ever seen.

Naturally, they wanted the alloy for their own use.

Peter hummed happily as he finished his work, the ship now heavily reinforced and capable of taking significantly more robust actions, like getting blown up and flying into the sky or being dropped from said sky. He looked at the left over Naquadah and hummed in thought. It was tempting to make something out of the metal. Unfortunately, the metal, on its own, was far too heavy to make something personal out of. Otherwise he'd be tempted to make a weapon or armor out of it. For that, though, there was the option of a Naquadah and Trinium alloy that was much lighter and much stronger than either element alone.

He'd have to ask about getting some so he could make stuff out of it for fun. He was no blacksmith, but it didn't mean he couldn't transmute the material into sword shapes them enhance them with Alchemy. That was something else he needed to get some practice on. He'd thought of how Alchemy was what allowed the creation of Excalibur and the other Holy Swords within the world of High School DxD. Between his alchemy and Vivienne's enchanting they should be able to make something amazing.

That was all for later though. He had something else to do as the ship came to a halt and a female voice shouted that they had arrived. It was hard to tell who through all the intervening wood. He quickly climbed the stairs and arrived on deck to see the fake facade of Mont Blanc Cricket's home.

Peter hopped off of the deck of his ship and onto the island. He hadn't actually left the ship since they had arrived at Jaya, he didn't know if Blackbeard was on the island or not, but he didn't want to risk drawing the man's attention to himself, if at all possible. Now that they were away from Mock Town, there was little chance Blackbeard would notice him.

Though he did wonder if his actions against Bellamy would change how things played out for Luffy. Not that it would matter all that much. He did wonder if the War would still happen or not though. He hoped it did, it would present him with an amazing opportunity to get his hands on quite a few impressive Devil Fruits. Though, he supposed, he could get the majority of them by playing both sides. He did have his appointment with Whitebeard and he was still playing the game to become a Shichibukai. Something he expected would pay off soon now that Crocodile was down and he'd extracted Hina's Devil Fruit spirit.

Just those thoughts brought a smile to his face as he made himself comfortable to wait for Cricket to show up. Thankfully, he didn't have to wait long for the man to come splashing out of the ocean. Cricket was a very tall man, just under eight feet, and packed with muscle on his torso. Though his legs looked stick-like in comparison which gave him a rather comical appearance.

The instant Cricket saw Peter casually sitting at his outdoor table, which just consisted of a large stump for the table and thick logs for the chairs, he whipped out a flintlock pistol and instantly fired it. Peter hummed in mild annoyance as the bullet passed cleanly right through his forehead. He calmly reached up and rubbed his forehead where the bullet had hit as he commented, “That was a damned fine shot, though a tad rude to start shooting before introductions are even made.”

Cricket gestured toward Peter's ship with the obviously useless flintlock and a deep scowl, “That was more than enough reason to shoot you.”

Peter glanced at his ship where the Jolly Roger was flying high and proud, “Fair. Very fair. Still, I'm not here to hurt you, rob you, or anything like that. I'm here because of this.”

So saying, Peter threw one of the half dozen Log Poses they owned toward Cricket. The man deftly snatched it out of the air and gave it a quick look. He studies the needle pointing toward the sky before tossing the Log Pose back to Peter, “Looks like you've got a broken Log Pose there.”

Peter laughs heartily, “Never doubt your Log Pose. That is the unbreakable iron rule of the Grand Line. No. There's an island in the sky.” His grin grew practically feral, “I'm going to get up there and see it for myself!”

Cricket chuckled, “You're an idiot then?”

Peter continued to smile, “Maybe, but I doubt it. Besides, are you one to be throwing stones about being an idiot?”

Cricket stared at Peter, “And what is that supposed to mean?”

“You're looking for it, aren't you?”

Cricket started looking angry though Peter continued, “The golden city of your ancestor?”

Cricket scowled, “So you know the story. So what?”

Peter chuckled, “What you're looking for isn't down there.” He pointed to the ocean, “It's up there.” He pointed straight up to the sky.

Cricket stared blankly at Peter for a long time before he couldn't take it anymore and laughed. Peter let the man laugh at his expense because of course what he said sounded extremely stupid. Finally, Cricket calmed down and shook his head in bemusement, “I've heard a lot of things, but that has to be the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard.”

Peter nodded in understanding, “I get that. But...” He pulled out a map that Merlin had bought and spread it out over the stump-table, “Take a look.”

Curious, Cricket walked over and looked down at the map. It was a standard map of Jaya that showed the jagged split island in all its known glory. However, this one had been modified. Carefully added to the map was the upper half of a skull turning the jagged islands into a representation of teeth. Put together, the original map and the new drawing turned Jaya into a skull shaped island.

Peter tapped the top half that had been drawn in to finish the image of a skull, “I believe that centuries ago, after your ancestor visited the island, a tragedy occurred. An unprecedented knock-up stream blasted half of the island into the sky where it resides to this day.” He then pointed to the Log Pose Cricket was still holding, “That proves there's something up there and I intend to find out what.”

Cricket looks between the Log Pose and the map then finally focuses on Peter, “You're serious.”

Peter nodded, “Dead serious.”

Cricket shook his head, “That's impossible! For something like that to happen the knock-up stream would have to be... I don't even know!”

Peter nodded in understanding, “It would have to be apocalyptic in power. Yet you know there's something up there. I've heard the tails of ships falling from the sky. Some ancient. The missing portion of Jaya is up there just waiting for someone to realize it.”

Cricket frowned and looked at the drawing while putting together everything he'd learned and discovered over his life. Finally, he focused on Peter once more, “Fine, say it's possible. What do you want from me?”

Peter grinned and spread his arms wide, “I want your help proving it. No one knows the waters around Jaya like you do. I want you to find a knock-up stream that will blast me and my crew into the sky island!”

Cricket looked at Peter with a bit of awe, “You're insane!”

Peter laughed, “Maybe! But I have absolute faith that it can be done successfully!”

Cricket studied the serious look Peter was giving him for a few moments before he let out a sigh and nodded his head, “I'll help you out. If for no other reason than to get you to leave me alone!”

Peter scoffed, “You say that, but I'm sure you're as excited as I am deep down inside.”

Cricket returned Peter's scoff with one of his own and stomped off to enter his home. Peter didn't follow him, giving the man some space to digest the information he'd dropped on him. He had no doubt Cricket would realize the truth of his words after taking some time to think about it. It also helped that Peter knew he was one hundred percent right so everything he said to Cricket had the ring of truth and sounded genuine.

With their impromptu meeting adjured, Peter left the table and made his way back to the ship where he spoke to the crew and let them know what was happening. He didn't think it would be more than a day or two until they were sailing in the clouds. He felt excited by the very prospect of it! It would be the first truly magical adventure they'd have had!

-----Line Break-----

Just a few hours later, Peter was pulled out of his work by a lot of commotion and loud voices coming from outside. He grinned broadly and finished what he was doing before leaving the workshop and making his way up to the deck. As he'd expected, he found a familiar looking ship and crew sailing rather close to his own.

With the ships side by side he could see the difference in their size with the Coming Storm being significantly larger than the Going Merry. Not to mention more heavily armed. More importantly, he could see a cadre of familiar faces all looking at him and his ship. A few of them, namely Nami, Chopper, and Usopp, looked at him and the other members of his crew with some trepidation. Meanwhile, the trio of 'monsters', namely Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji looked on with some curiosity. Robin was the outlier as she showed no hint of what she was thinking.

Peter grinned broadly and gave them an enthusiastic wave, “Ho there! What brings you all to this side of Jaya?”

Robin, ever the calm one, is the one to speak up first, “We're looking for Mont Blanc Cricket. I don't suppose that's you?”

At that point others from Peter's crew had joined him at the railing prompting an expected reaction from Sanji. Seeing a literal bevvy of beauties was too much for the man. As he charged toward the railing of the Going Merry, Nami noticed the oncoming problem and acted decisively and with zeal. Her Clima Tact was instantly assembled before she brought one end down on the top of Sanji's head with extreme force. The blow sent the man crashing into the deck face first where he continued to dizzily mumble in what sounded like French phrases.

Nodding in satisfaction as the visible lump on Sanji's head, Nami faced the women of Peter's crew with a bright smile, “Don't mind him! He's harmless, if a little too enthusiastic.”

That got her a few giggles from his crew and a smile from Peter, “It's no problem.” He gestured to the girls, “All of them can more than handle a single man on their own.” He shuddered theatrically, “Believe me.”

That got a giggle out of Nami and a small smirk from Robin. He smiled at that and returned to looking at Robin, “To address your question, no, I am not Cricket. He's in the house. Do you mind if I ask what you want to talk to him about?”

Robin shook her head, “We just wanted to ask him a few questions.”

Peter nodded in understanding, their business was theirs and not his, “Well, I won't stop you from talking to him!”

Not that it mattered. As they'd been talking the more excitable people had already gotten off of the ship and onto the island. Luffy brazenly made his way over to the door of the house and threw it open, “Hey! Anyone home?” A second later he shouted, “Chopper!”

Peter tilted his head in confusion when Luffy called for the ship's doctor. Curious, he easily hopped off of his ship and made his way over to the door where he saw Chopper checking Cricket over. Peter hummed as he immediately recognized the issue, now that he was looking. Cricket had spent too much time diving too deeply without taking proper precautions. In short, he had the bends. Nitrogen bubbles within his blood that could cause some serious issues if not dealt with properly.

Peter vanished from where he was standing causing three sets of eyes to move to the location he'd previously inhabited. All three sets looking serious at the display of pure speed. Unaware of the interest he'd drawn, Peter blitzed his way to the workshop and got to work on a simple cure for Cricket's condition. What was the point of being the greatest doctor in the world if he didn't use it sometimes?

The cure only took him about ten minutes to brew, the condition wasn't all that complex and didn't need an extremely complex potion to cure. With the cure in hand, Peter blitzed back to Cricket's house, though he stopped a good dozen feet away to not surprise the combat oriented people on the Strawhat crew. The last thing he needed was for Zoro to overreact and accidentally try to take off his head.

Peter calmly walked into the house, noting when Zoro, Luffy, and Robin each gave him a curious look. He walked up to Chopper, who was currently dabbing at Cricket's head with a cool towel, and spoke softly while holding up the potion, “I saw what happened and went ahead to brew some medicine for Cricket.”

Chopper, usually one who overreacted in amusing ways, stayed in his serious doctor mode as he examined the small vial Peter was holding between two fingers, “A medicine to cure Dysbarism?” His eyes moved from the vial to Peter's eyes, “You're a doctor?”

Peter nodded, “I am. Not to toot my own horn, but probably one of the best in the world, if not the actual best.”

Yes, he was flexing, but it was something he was proud of! Even if his skill and knowledge was a complete and utter cheat that he didn't actually earn. Unlike Chopper who studied hard to earn every scrap of knowledge he had.

Chopper eyed him skeptically, as did the more intelligent people in the room, “Before I'll even consider using an unknown medicine on my patient, answer this...”

Chopper then proceeded to question Peter on multiple medical topics. The questions soon turned into a discussion on how to treat a little known disease that was believed incurable. Which, Peter soon explained a cure for using ingredients and methods that would be available to Chopper. It would be a lengthy process with multiple points of failure, but it would work. If he made the cure it would be significantly easier using ingredients from other worlds.

As they talked, Peter administered the potion to Cricket, with Chopper's blessing, and by the time their discussion on the incurable disease was coming to an end, Cricket let out a long and ungodly loud belch that shook the rafters.

…

At that very moment the door to his home slammed open and two men that looked more like primates stuck their upper bodies through it and shouted. From there things went insane as people were shouting, talking, and explaining. Peter had trouble following everything that was going on as everyone seemed to be talking at the same time. Even Cricket was being berated by Chopper after he woke up at some point in the ensuing chaos.

Peter found all the chaos to be rather disturbing and uncomfortable. His heart was hammering and his breathing was becoming rapid as he felt himself beginning to panic. He quickly made his exit and moved far from the house to get some space and some air. He placed a hand over his chest where he could feel his heart hammering away while he tried to relax and slow it down.

It didn't take him long to realize that he did not like crowds, or feeling crowded. It made sense, honestly. He'd spent the majority of his life homeless and alone. Living on the streets meant that anyone he didn't know was a potential enemy that would try to rob him of what little he ever managed to gather. Even the people that gave him work so he could feed himself were rarely kind about it. He couldn't count the number of times he'd worked himself to the bone only to be stiffed, or worse. There had been several occasions where he'd been beaten for his hard work and left on the street as a bleeding and bruised mess.

It taught him that people simply could not be trusted and that being around a lot of people was just a recipe for disaster. Ever since he'd turned seventeen he hadn't really had to worry about that. Even with all the people on his crew it never felt dangerous because he knew they were one hundred percent loyal to him. They would literally die for him without a second thought. They posed less than no threat to him.

While he knew the Strawhats were good people who wouldn't attack him for no reason, he still felt uncomfortable being around so many people he had no control over. It only really got worse once the primate brothers joined in and things got loud. He'd felt trapped, claustrophobic even. Now that he was outside and away from the noise he felt significantly better.

He was pulled out of his thoughts by a feminine voice commenting, “They can be a bit much, but I don't think I've ever seen anyone about to have a panic attack from being around them before.”

Peter looked toward the voice and saw Nico Robin standing not too far away, her arms crossed beneath her chest and one delicate eyebrow arched in question over her bright blue eyes. He knew she was asking without actually asking and chose not to answer. Rather, he changed the subject, “You seem different from the rest of them.”

Robin, taking the hint, shrugged her shoulders, which did interesting things to her chest, before she answered, “I haven't been with them for very long yet. We're still getting to know each other.” She smirked as she looked at him, “What about your crew? It's rather unusual to see so many women, especially attractive ones, on a single ship like that. With the exception of Boa Hancock, of course.”

Peter shrugged his shoulders, “I'm just lucky like that. We all have our own dreams and are pursuing them together until the end. We protect each other and work together rather nicely.”

“It's also a bit odd that the youngest one on the crew seems to be the one in charge.”

At her comment, Peter just blandly stared at her for a moment to make sure she was paying attention when his eyes moved to stare at the house where Luffy still was. Then his eyes moved back to her as he arched an eyebrow. Not missing a beat of his silent rebuttal, Robin let out a sigh and nodded, “Point made. So, what brings you and your crew here anyway?”

Peter chuckled, “Likely the same that brings yours.” He pointed his finger up toward the sky, “The island in the sky our Log Poses are pointing to.”

Robin hummed, “So yours is pointing up as well?”

Peter nodded, “Two of them are, anyway.”

“Two?”

“We have six, just in case something happens and one breaks or is somehow lost.”

“Smart. But that should mean you have four pointing to other islands. Why not follow one of those?”

Peter laughed, “And miss out on such an amazing adventure as sailing in the very clouds themselves?! Never! With Mont Blanc Cricket's help we'll soar into the sky and find out what's up there. We'll explore it all and see it with our own eyes! Can you imagine what could be learned up there? The history and intrigue? I want to see it with my own eyes and explore it with my own feet.”

Robin hummed in appreciation and commented, “You're a lot like my Captain.”

Peter shrugged, “Maybe a little, but not that much I suspect.”

He knew for a fact he was only a little like Luffy in that Peter wanted adventure as well. But their dreams were drastically different. Luffy wanted to be the most free man in the world and thus the Pirate King. Peter wanted to crush the world nobles and destroy the current incarnation of the marines. Luffy would let even his worst enemies live, if he could. Peter would gladly send his enemies to their graves. They had little in common, but that was alright because Peter would never be an enemy of Luffy and his crew.

-----Line Break-----

Two days later both ships were ready for their flight on the knock up stream. The Coming Storm had large metallic wings to help it catch lift and push up the stream. They were locked solid onto the supports Peter had made and then were fused into place making it impossible to remove them by anything less than the most extreme efforts or damage.

Peter had even done the Strawhats a solid and used his Alchemist ability to repair their ship to pristine condition. He fused the mast back into one solid piece so it no longer had to be held together with an iron plate. He repaired the guard rails all around the deck that had taken serious damage from several confrontations. He'd even repairs several holes in the hull that were caused by Hina's iron rods. Hearing that she'd still had two ships and managed to tag them a few times surprised him quite a bit. He'd also checked on the keel but found only superficial damage to it. That meant the Going Merry was still likely to end up broken in the future. That upset him but there was nothing he could do about it.

Seeing his ability in action had shocked the entire crew and led to lots of questions. He'd answered a few but let many unanswered. He liked feeling a little mysterious to them. His efforts made the work on the Going Merry easier and she was now in her Chicken Mode and ready for her flight as well.

Cricket had been paying close attention to the local waters and predicted where their stream would appear. South birds were easily gathered by Peter's crew and the two ships set sail with the Saruyama Alliance. Soon they approached the area where the stream was expected. Tension filled the air as everyone wondered if they would make it out alive. Well, everyone on the Going Merry anyway. Everyone on the Coming Storm could fly so even if the ship failed to make the journey, they could all work together to catch and carry it into the clouds.

Hell, the only reason they were using the stream was because Peter insisted on it! He wanted to ride it because it looked like one hell of a fun journey and he was NOT going to miss out on something so bat shit crazy and fully awesome.

Peter took one last look around and made a note of the missing Blackbeard. Not entirely surprising given the lack of Luffy needing to head back to Mock Town in order to recover Cricket's stolen goods. In fact, Luffy hadn't even met Bellamy, the man was still recovering from the blow Peter had given him. So, Luffy and the others had basically not drawn any attention to themselves at all. It was mildly interesting but he wasn't sure how it would change future events. Hell, he didn't even know what would happen to Ace after the removal of his weaknesses.

Oh, he knew Ace would still lose to Blackbeard when they met. Removing his weakness to water and seastone didn't remove the power the Yami Yami no Mi would have over Ace. So the loss seemed inevitable. It was the subsequent capture that would be problematic for everyone involved. Maybe they would capture someone else from Whitebeard's crew? They were fixated on him due to his age and sickness so it would make sense that they'd target someone else on his crew if Ace got away.

Oh well, it wasn't his problem and he planned to really fuck the marines over by fixing Whitebeard. Things would get very interesting!

He was pulled out of his thoughts by a loud monkey call from one of the Saru brothers, “We're here! Get ready!”

As they approached divers from the monkey brothers ship went into the water to search for where the stream would come from. At the same time thick dark clouds called 'Millennium Cumulonimbus' appeared. One of the brother let out a loud screech that was used as sonar to locate the stream. As he got reports from his divers one reported a whirlpool. Soon both the Going Merry and Coming Storm were heading for the whirlpool.

Peter grinned from ear to ear as he stood at the bow of his ship looking at the massive whirlpool they were heading directly toward. In any other circumstances a whirlpool would be a death sentence to their ship. Yet, they dove right into it while he and Luffy laughed like mad men and Luffy's less sturdy members screamed and complained in fear of their impending doom.

Both of their ships drove head first into the whirlpool and just as they were about to be swallowed into it, it suddenly stopped and silence fell. No one realized just how loud it had been until there was only silence. It was so quiet that Peter could clearly hear the questions being asked about the unfolding events from the Going Merry.

“You guys!! Stay focused! It's coming!” Was shouted from one of the Saruyama ships.

Just as he finished shouting, the water beneath their ships began to lift like a giant bubble. As if something ungodly large and powerful was pushing up from the depths. Peter, along with Sanji, shouted to their respective crews, “Hold onto something!”

The mound of water kept rising until something seemed to snap. The entire world seemed to explode into water while a deafening sound ripped through the air. The power of the knock up stream was intense enough to blast a massive pillar of water into the sky continuously. Everyone was thrown back by the force of the eruption while it carried them into the sky. They were literally sailing vertically into the air on a rising current.

On the Going Merry, Nami was issuing orders to drop the sails. As the coming Storm had never lifted her sails they didn't have to do anything as they rode the updraft. Their three masts catching more wind than the single mast of the Merry. Nami looked on, flabbergasted, as the Coming Storm passed the Going Merry. Peter laughed loudly and shouted over toward the Merry, “RACE YOU TO THE TOP!”

Luffy's response was the laugh and give the Merry a couple of pats, “Coem on Merry! You can beat 'em!”

Things changed as the ships continued their ascent. Both of them with their wings and sails full of wind, pulled completely off of the stream and began to fly through the air. Cheer's echoed from both ships, though some screams of fear did come from the Merry as well.

As their altitude increased, Peter could feel the air thinning as it grew harder to breath. He was tempted to use the wind portion of his power to make it easier for himself, but he wanted his body to adapt to the lack of air and grow stronger as a result. As his vision began to swim a little, they burst through the bottom of the 'Millennium Cumulonimbus' and into the open air.

The sky above was clear and so perfectly blue while the sun shown down brightly on the now drenched crews. The ships seemed to hover in the air for a brief moment before they both came crashing down onto the White-White Sea. All of the Strawhats had collapsed and were having trouble breathing the much thinner air. Though Peter was having some trouble with his body feeling weaker and his vision being a little fuzzy, he was otherwise alright.

Looking around, he could see the rest of the crew was doing about the same as himself. He expected it was because of the various enhancements they'd all been through thanks to his potions. He moved his gaze away from his crew and back to their location. They'd done it, they'd made it to Skypeia!

Peter threw his head back and laughed in sheer joy!

-----Line Break-----

We're back with chapter 10, sitting at about 9.5k words.

I had a lot of fun with this one, especially the sea shanties. I asked ChatGPT for some help with those, so I don't have a clue where proper credit should go. I expect the second one is original and I definitely made some changes to it to make it better. It's definitely my favorite.

Anyway, that's all for now. Let me know what you think and rejoice! We're at Skypeia and things are about to go further off the rails!

I can't wait.