Race to the Sky:
-x-
Luffy, Y/N, Zoro, Nami, Usopp, and Chopper were sitting around the stump out behind Cricket's house while the descendant of the infamous Noland the Liar addressed them following his decision to use the Saruyama Alliance's resources to help get them to the Sky Island.
"What did you wanna tell us, Old Timer?" Usopp asked. He, Luffy, and Nami were all sitting on log-stools around the stump while Y/N and Chopper sitting on the ground and leaning against it and Zoro was sitting off behind them. There was an ear growing out of Y/N's shoulder which told them that Robin was listening from the ship.
"Listen up, and listen good," Cricket instructed as he took a short drag from the cigarette he was smoking. "I've decided to tell you guys everything I know about the Sky Island. Most of this is rumor and here-say so you'll have to make up your own minds whether you believe it or not."
"Mmm, I believe it," Luffy replied even though Cricket hadn't said anything yet.
"Quiet!" Usopp scolded him.
"There's something very strange that happens in this part of the ocean," Cricket explained as he turned and pointed at the ocean on the east side of the island. "Everything will suddenly turn black as night, right in the middle of the brightest day."
"The same thing happened to us," Chopper recalled, remembering their encounter with Masira and Sheldon and how the sky turned black and the winged monsters that had come along with it.
"Yeah," Usopp agreed as he thought back to yesterday's incredible events, "It was like the sun vanished! And then these enormous monsters showed up!"
"You saw the giants," Cricket realized. "There's a tale about where they come from but forget about 'em for now. We can go into it later. Now about this strange nightfall... its caused by the shadow of an extremely dense cloud."
"Cumulonimbus clouds?" Nami, the weather expert, questioned. "But it was too dark for clouds. It was like the sun went out."
"It was more of an eclipse," Usopp insisted, "clouds on a cloudy day are just sort of... cloudy."
"Yeah, cloudy!" Chopper chimed in.
"SHUT YOUR GOBS AND LISTEN!" Cricket snapped, "This cloud is called a cumuloregalus, it forms high in the sky, it has no internal air-currants, and never turns to rain, no light can reach the ground and a sunny afternoon turns black as pitch. It's like some giant hand reached up and snuffed out the sun like it was a candle. Some say cumuloregalus clouds are floating fossils, petrified clouds that hand in the sky unchanged for thousands of years."
"You've gotta be kidding us!" Nami said, "A petrified cloud that drifts around for centuries?"
"Hey, I'm just telling you what people have told me," Cricket defended himself. "Whether you believe it or not is entirely up to you."
"Nami remember, this is the Grand Line," Y/N reminded her. "Strangeness in the weather is what you should've come to expect on this ocean."
"So... it's a Mystery Cloud," Luffy decided.
"Yeah, I guess that sums it up about as well as anything else," Cricket reasoned.
"This is so awesome!" Chopper exclaimed as he jumped up onto the stump.
"You see, there's only one place the Sky Island can be if its real," Cricket concluded, "And that's on top of one of those clouds."
"Okay, let's go!" Luffy decided. "WE'RE ON OUR WAY UP TO THE CLOUDS!"
"WOO-HOO!" Usopp cheered as he and Luffy jumped up and started dancing around.
"Come on Zoro, wake up!" Luffy called out to the swordsman who had dozed off at some point during Cricket's explanation.
