Book One: Treasure of the Heart (Zoro X OC)

Chapter Sixty ~ South Bird

~Third~

"What did you wanna tell us old timer?"Usopp asked after Cricket gathered the Strawhats outside "Listen up and listen good i decided to tell you everything i know about the sky island" the old man said, Nicole noticed Zoro was sleeping and jabbed him on the side with her elbow waking him up, he gave her a glare but she ignored him.

"Most of this is rumor and hear say so you have to make you your own mind whether you believe it or not, there's something very strange that happens in this part of the ocean everything will suddenly turn black as night right in the middle of the brightest day"Cricket said.

"Hey yeah the same thing happened to us, right?"Luffy asked "Yeah it was like the sun vanished and these enormous monster showed up"Usopp said "You saw the giants? There's a tale about where they come from but forget about them for now we can go into it later now about this strange night fall, it's caused by the shadow of an extremely dense cloud"Cricket said.

"Thought so"Nicole muttered "But it was too dark for a cloud it was like the sun went out"Nami still not believing it "Yeah it was more of an eclipse clouds on a cloudy day are just sort of cloudy"Luffy said "Yeah just sorta cloudy"Usopp said "Yeah cloudy!"Chopper said.

"Shut your gobs and listen!"Cricket yelled at them "This cloud is called a cumilo origalis it forms high in the sky, it has no internal air currents and it 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 that cumilo origalis clouds are floating fossils petrified clouds that hang in the sky for thousands of years"Cricket said.

"You've gotta be kidding us? A petrified cloud that drifts around for centuries?"Nami asked "Hey i'm just telling you what people have told me whether you believe it or not is entirely up to you"Cricket said "So it's a mystery cloud"Luffy said "Yeah i guess that sums it up as well as anything else"Cricket said "This is so awesome!"Chopper said.

"You see there's only one place the sky island could be if it's real and that's on top of one of those clouds"Cricket said "Alright let's go we're on our way up to the clouds!"Luffy said as he and Usopp started celebrating "I told you idiots before we don't know how to get there!"Nami yelled and beat them up.

"Yeah that's gonna be the hard part cause you'll be risking your lives every minute"Cricket said "You mean like now?"Luffy and Usopp asked "There's only one way to get there the knock up stream it shoots straight up into the air so it could theoretically take you up to the sky if you're lucky"Cricket said "Wait a minute are you saying this current can send ships flying?"Nami asked.

"Great then it'll be a snap all we have to do is hitch a ride up"Luffy said "On an ocean current?" Usopp asked "Except wouldn't we fall back down and get smashed into pieces?"Nami asked "Probably, unless sky island happens to be above us"Nicole said "Yeah but timing is key, it's one thing to sit here all comfy and talk about riding the knock up stream but if you think this trip is gonna be some pleasure cruise you're in for a very rude awakening"Cricket said.

"The knock up stream is as dangerous as any hurricane it should be avoided at all cost"Cricket said "But how can a current of water rise up in the air in the first place? Come on we've never heard of anything like that before right guys?"Nami asked "I can't imagine it being any different from a geyser"Nicole said.

"There are some similarities with the explanation that someone once told me that made the most sense, though so far no one has been stupid enough to confirm it, it's like this deep below the ocean floor there are large cavities filled with air cool water seeps into it and geothermal energy heats it until it becomes steam over time the pressure builds and when it becomes too great it becomes a tremendous explosion this explosion hurls the water in to the air creating a current to the sky"Cricket explained.