We made it safely to Angel Island—the cloud island in God's Country, Skypiea.
There, we met a local girl named Conis. She taught us all kinds of things about Sky Islands and Dials, treated us to "sky bounty" her father, Pagaya-san, had brought back, and even let us ride a windless craft called a Waver. It was… genuinely fun.
In the original story, I'm pretty sure this is where the White Berets showed up, spotted Luffy's crew as "illegal immigrants," and things spiraled into the usual mess—chased, cornered, forced to run.
On top of that, Nami went to God's Island—Upper Yard—ran into guerrillas and priests, witnessed God Enel's "Judgment" with her own eyes, and came back so terrified she practically needed a new soul.
But this time, we'd paid the entrance fee properly. So there shouldn't have been any reason for the White Berets to come after us as criminals…
And sure enough, half a day passed after our arrival, and nothing happened.
Still, this country's system is rotten at the root. Even after paying, there was always the possibility they'd pull something like:
"We didn't receive anything."
Or—
"You paid in berries instead of extol, so after fees you're short. Therefore it's unpaid."
The odds weren't high, but they weren't zero either.
So I'd prepared a precaution anyway.
When we paid at the Gate of Heaven, I had Lupus carry a Tone Dial and secretly record the entire exchange with the gatekeeper.
Proof like: "Yes, there's exactly 1.3 million berries." "No additional fees." "As long as the amount is right, it's fine."
If anyone tried to slap us with "illegal entry" later, I planned to play the recording and watch them choke on it.
Turns out, I didn't need to.
Which is… nice, for once.
Though of course, Nami still went to God's Island on a Waver anyway—just like the original.
At least she made it back in one piece, but it sounded like she'd still seen the same sort of things. She was shaking when she returned—real, deep fear, the kind that doesn't fade in an hour.
After Conis and Pagaya-san explained that the place Nami went to was absolutely forbidden, and after she saw Luffy looking like he was about to sprint there with stars in his eyes, she practically grabbed him by the face and snarled, "DON'T GO!"
…Not that Luffy seemed to absorb a single syllable.
He was doing that "adventure" face. The one that says, I'm going no matter what you do, and I'm going to enjoy it, and you can either come or scream into a pillow.
I don't know what the Straw Hats will ultimately decide.
But at least for the moment, we really were in the perfect position: legal tourists, free to enjoy Skypiea without being hunted.
So I decided to use that window properly.
Because we didn't come here just to sightsee.
We came here to stock up on Dials.
"Huh, so that means you guys have been to a Sky Island before," Nami said, watching me and Lupus with new eyes.
"No wonder you knew the currency and the Dial stuff," Usopp added. "So you came here for business, then?"
Right now, Lupus and I were shopping along Angel Island's main street.
Dials were sold openly at stalls and shops, and Blue Sea people could buy them just fine. We'd already exchanged money into extol, so there was no barrier there. We were ready.
Usopp and Nami came too. Both of them were clearly hunting for sky-only items and ingredients.
…Though, they'd said their remaining funds were fifty thousand berries.
Was their budget really okay?
Conis was also with us, continuing as our guide.
"It's my first time in Skypiea," I told them. "But I've been to other Sky Islands."
"I see," Conis said. "So that's why you already knew about Dials."
"Yeah, the Sky Knight said it too," Usopp chimed in. "That there are other Sky Islands and different routes up here."
"High West… was it?" Nami asked. "Did you come up from there?"
"No," I said. "I can fly on my own. Devil Fruit. You saw it when we met—I was flying."
"…Right," Usopp said, and then immediately looked like he remembered something painful. "And that's why Luffy… yeah. About that, seriously—sorry again."
"Hahaha. I told you, it's fine."
We chatted lightly while browsing the stalls.
But…
Nothing.
This stall had the same lineup I'd seen before.
That stall too.
Flame Dial. Water Dial. Wind Dial. Heat Dial. Cloud Dial. A familiar parade of useful things… and nothing I was truly hunting.
I still bought a few for comparison—just to confirm there weren't subtle differences from the ones I already had. But the Dial I wanted most, the kind I'd never seen before?
Still not here.
"Conis," I asked, "are the Dials sold publicly always the same selection? We're looking for something rarer. Something that doesn't show up in normal shops."
Conis hesitated, choosing her words carefully.
"That might be difficult… I'm not an expert, but I've heard there are Dials that don't circulate publicly. Those are usually handled by specialized craftsmen, or by people with special permission… like the White Berets. Sometimes, dealing in them can violate the law, so… I'd advise against it."
Lupus sighed beside me.
"So that's how it is… damn. Sorry, Miss."
"For us, even this is basically a treasure mountain," Usopp said, eyes glittering as he stared at the display. "'Flame,' 'Water,' 'Wind'… wait, you can even make 'cloud'?!"
"It's unbelievable," Nami murmured, turning one Dial over and over in her hands. "Tools like this exist… Hey, Usopp. Do you think you could incorporate these into my Clima-Tact? Modify it?"
Usopp's inventor-brain visibly switched on.
"Yeah, actually. Wind, water, heat… Your weapon is 'weather,' so there's a lot you could do if we get the right materials. I can probably make something work."
Then he glanced at her.
"…But what's the budget?"
Nami froze like she'd been stabbed.
Yep.
Fifty thousand berries was already choking her.
They still had basic necessities to cover, too. They couldn't just burn money on experiments, no matter how tempting the sky-tech was.
I saw her eyes flick toward Usopp's pocket like a starving cat.
Usopp, for his part, pretended he'd gone suddenly blind. He had his own shopping list, and his expression was oddly serious. He wasn't going to sacrifice his precious personal funds to Nami's weapon project.
If this were Sanji, he'd probably say yes instantly and hand over everything with hearts in his eyes.
Speaking of which, Sanji was currently at Conis's house, talking Pagaya-san's ear off about sky bounty and sky-specific seasonings.
The man was a chef to the bone. The barbecue earlier had only stoked the fire. He wanted everything: ingredients, methods, flavor profiles, the whole culinary map of the sky.
Nami's timing really couldn't have been worse.
While watching the two of them silently battle over money, I leaned closer to Lupus and whispered.
"So? Conis says there might be rarer Dials if we go off the 'official route.'"
Lupus's eyes gleamed.
"There's definitely something out there, Miss. What do we do?"
"For now… we watch," I murmured. "I don't want to stir up trouble for no reason and get labeled criminals. If there's a legal way, we take it first."
We paid a fortune to enter legally.
I wasn't about to throw that away immediately if I didn't have to.
I wanted to stay clean, stay safe, and spend time here as a legitimate tourist while we handled shopping and errands.
That said—
I wasn't giving up on the goal.
Rare Dials were why we came. Once I exhausted the lawful options, I'd think of something else.
And if necessary…
I'd consider options that weren't exactly lawful.
Papa would probably say, "Stop overthinking. Investigate, take what you need, and leave."
But I wasn't planning to "pirate" that loudly. Not unless I had to.
Besides… I wanted to enjoy Skypiea. Properly.
If I just bought what I needed and left, it would be such a waste.
We were standing on a fantasy world made of clouds. There had to be more here than food and Dials—sky-only crafts, sky-only tools, sky-only culture.
The air was comfortable. The mood was light.
Staying a few days like a vacation sounded… genuinely appealing.
Rest. Eat. Shop. Wander. Recharge.
And even though I'd visited other Sky Islands before, this was the first one that truly felt like a "heavenly realm." The aesthetic, the atmosphere… it scratched something deep in my curiosity.
I wanted to see everything.
Not just what the original story showed—everything the original story didn't.
Every alley. Every market. Every café. Every little oddity that would never make it into someone else's narrative.
My "reporter" instincts were already sharpening.
Yes.
I'd stay a while.
I'd take my time and "research" properly.
When I went back… I could practically feel a good story forming from the experience.
…Later, I heard that during this moment, I was wearing the exact kind of smile that made people feel like I was plotting something.
Lupus—used to me—apparently thought, Ah. She's lit up again, and just gave me a wry little grin.
But Usopp and Nami saw it for the first time, and both of them apparently flinched—just slightly—without even realizing it.
Because, they said, I had the same "aura" Luffy gets when he's about to charge headfirst into trouble with joy in his eyes.
…Hm.
Should I be honored to be compared to the protagonist?
Or offended that they saw me as that reckless?
Well… whatever.
I'm painfully aware that when "research" is involved, I become a bit of a problem child.
And the worst part is—
I don't really plan to fix it.
Anyway.
We had a few days, right?
So I'd do everything I could during our stay—and enjoy Angel Island to the fullest while I was at it.
That was the plan.
…There was, in fact, a time when I truly believed that.
A few dozen minutes later—
I wandered into a café because I got hungry.
And that's when I encountered a cake so melt-in-your-mouth delicious that I nearly lost my morals.
I took a bite, then another, then sat there with a stupidly blissful expression.
"Haaah… this is bad. This is way too good…"
"Is it to your liking?" the staff replied politely. "That would be our cheesecake made with cloud cheese."
"Wow… you look so happy…"
"Yeah, no—this place is insane," Usopp said, eyes wide as he ate. "Thanks, Conis. How do you even find a café this good?"
"It's one of my favorites," Conis said, smiling shyly. "I'm glad you like it."
"If you'd like, we also offer takeout."
"I'll take whole cakes," I declared immediately. "Four. No—five."
"W-whole cakes?!" The staff blinked. "Th-thank you very much… but I should warn you, it doesn't keep long. Even stored cool and dark, the expiration is tomorrow or the day after."
"It's fine," I said, waving a fork like a sword. "I can preserve it. Also—where can I buy the cloud cheese you use?"
"Cloud cheese is one of Angel Island's specialties," the staff said. "It's sold normally in shops. There isn't a special supplier, but…"
"I can take you there afterward," Conis offered quickly.
"Thank you, Conis!" I beamed. "I'm buying it as souvenirs. I'm making Sanji cook with it!"
"…Sue," Usopp said slowly, "you're really going full speed. You like it that much?"
"Our Miss loves cheese," Lupus said with a long-suffering tone that implied she'd survived multiple cheese-related disasters. "Whenever we find a cheese she likes, she buys a ridiculous amount to bring home. Last time she bought it by the box, and—"
"By the box?" Nami repeated, horrified. "Like bulk? Kilograms at once?"
"Not boxes," Lupus corrected. "A shipping container. The whole thing. About two tons."
Usopp nearly fell off his chair.
"That's too much! That's not 'I like cheese,' that's 'I'm declaring war on digestion'! Even Luffy doesn't buy meat like that—!"
"Can you even finish it?" Nami demanded. "Even if you eat it every day, it'll rot before you use it up. They literally just told you the cakes don't keep. Even one whole cake a day would be impossible!"
"I said it's fine," I replied, very calmly. "I can preserve it. With my ability."
"Ability…?" Usopp blinked. "Right, you did say you were a Devil Fruit user. What power is it, anyway?"
"It's—"
And that was the moment my Observation Haki caught something.
A frantic presence. Racing toward us.
I turned.
A deer—no, a reindeer—
Chopper. In beast form, sprinting like his life depended on it.
He looked panicked.
I immediately got a bad feeling.
"Nami! Usopp! It's bad!!" Chopper yelled as he barreled in. "Ah—Sue and everyone's here too!"
"Chopper?" Nami snapped upright. "What happened?"
"Why do you look like you're about to explode?" Usopp asked. "What's going on?"
"It's… it's really bad!" Chopper gulped. "A-actually—!"
So we listened.
And the moment Chopper explained—
(Aaah… so that's how they did it.)
☆☆☆
We rushed back to Angel Beach.
The moment we arrived, it was obvious something had gone down. The air, the marks, the posture of the people there—this wasn't "misunderstanding." This was "a fight happened here."
"We're so sorry, Sister!" Ruby and the other two bowed deeply, panicking. "We were careless, and we caused all of this…"
"No, no, no," Chopper said fast, waving his hooves. "This isn't your fault!"
"Yeah," Sanji added, voice sharp with irritation. "Those guys were looking for a reason. They were going to force you into being criminals one way or another."
Zoro snorted.
"Sooner or later," he said, dry and disgusted. "Felt like watching a farce where the ending was already decided."
Sanji and Zoro both had that "we just finished a job" look.
So did Luffy.
Luffy was off to the side right now, being interrogated by Nami and Usopp, flailing his arms as he tried to explain. He clearly wasn't getting anywhere, because eventually Robin stepped in and started calmly translating the chaos into coherent information.
Nearby, Pagaya-san stood slumped, looking miserable, while Conis tried to comfort him.
So.
What happened?
In short—
Just like the original story, Luffy's crew became "criminals."
And naturally, we got dragged right in with them.
If anything, it sounded like this time, the spark came from our side.
The starting point was simple.
The three fishman girls went diving to collect more sky bounty—sky fish, sky lobsters, things like that.
Lunch was delicious. They wanted more.
And it wasn't just them. Luffy wanted it. Chopper wanted it.
I wanted it too.
Sanji, of course, was itching to cook more things with sky ingredients.
But we couldn't keep asking Pagaya-san to provide everything.
Even if we paid him, there was a limit to how much one man could catch.
So they asked him for a good fishing spot and decided to gather ingredients themselves.
For fishmen, the sea is home—even if that "sea" is a sea of clouds.
They caught a huge haul, returned in high spirits…
And ran straight into the White Berets—Skypiea's police force—waiting at the beach.
The White Berets declared that what Ruby and the others had done was "poaching."
Fishing without a permit was a crime. They'd be taken in.
Ruby and the others argued. Sanji argued too.
The White Berets didn't listen.
Pagaya-san stepped in and said it was his fault for telling them the spot. He tried to protect them.
So the White Berets tried to take him too.
When they grabbed Pagaya-san and seized Ruby and the others like it was a done deal—
Luffy and Sanji snapped.
Hands and feet moved.
And the moment they did, the White Berets shouted "obstruction of official duties."
From there, it was basically original-story logic: defend yourself, and the system upgrades your crime.
The Straw Hats beat back the White Berets who tried to take them by force, and in response they were labeled "Second-Class Criminals."
The White Beret captain retreated while shouting something to the effect of:
"You will be judged by the priests of God's Island—Upper Yard!"
Nami went white when she heard that. She'd been there just hours ago. She'd seen enough to understand exactly how bad that threat was.
But after hearing the full details from Robin and the others, she didn't really blame Luffy or Ruby's group.
Because even from the start, the White Berets sounded like they came looking for trouble.
They'd supposedly arrived to "patrol because suspicious Blue Sea people are staying here."
Which, depending on how you interpret it, is basically: we're here to treat you like criminals until you give us a reason.
And the reasons they tried to invent were… impressive in the worst way.
The broken Waver the Straw Hats had brought—one they'd picked up after it fell from the Blue Sea—became:
"If you broke it, property damage."
When Pagaya-san said it originally belonged to them:
"Wavers don't exist in the Blue Sea. That means you stole it. Theft."
Honey sunbathing in a swimsuit while Sanji applied sunscreen (happily, of course) became:
"Violation of public morals."
A sky fish happened to attack during the conversation, and they defended themselves?
"Violation of protection laws."
They tried to avoid trouble by doing nothing and napping?
"Environmental destruction," because their snoring was too loud in a public space.
They protested that this was insane?
"Extortion."
At that point, it wasn't "law enforcement."
It was a checklist of excuses.
And then Ruby and the others arrived at the worst possible time, with a huge catch—an easy hook for the White Berets to hang a "poaching" charge on.
Which led directly to the clash.
(And even then… how much of that "poaching" claim was real? Pagaya-san could've genuinely been careless, sure. Maybe there really are rules about permits. But even if that's true, like Zoro said, it still feels like a farce with the ending already decided.)
Either way—
We were criminals now.
By Skypiea's "law," we'd been neatly stamped and filed.
Which meant the original-story trouble train was still coming, just with a slightly different ticket.
And if that was how they wanted to play—
Then fine.
I smiled without thinking.
A quiet, pleased little grin.
Honey noticed. Lupus noticed.
Honey looked openly exasperated, like she'd just realized she'd brought a child into a fireworks store.
Lupus looked delighted, like she'd just been promised a show.
Because really?
We paid 1.3 million berries, and they still turned around and tried to brand us criminals within half a day.
At that point, any urge I had to "play nice" died a clean death.
Alright.
If you're coming at pirates like this—
Then don't expect mercy.
I don't remember every detail of the original arc, but I do remember the direction the story flows.
Upper Yard.
God's Island.
Fine.
Let's go.
Pick a fight with pirates…
And think you'll walk away untouched?
No.
I'm not Luffy.
I'm not a soft-hearted hero who smiles and forgives and calls it an adventure.
If I decide to move, I move.
And if I'm going to be treated like a criminal anyway—
Then I'll take what I came for.
I'll take what I'm owed.
And for once…
Maybe it's time to show them a little of the "pirate" method Papa taught me.
To be continued...