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chapter twelve
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ii. sky island arc

The sky was clear when they first reached the way to the more sturdy and firm clouds that allowed them to flow by smoothly. It was odd to see another set of sky-- while you're on the skies itself-- riding clouds.

"Hey, is this what they call the gates to heaven?"

Upon hearing those simple words, Usopp flinched and jumped up high, his skin visibly trembling upon the thought of going straight to heaven without actually dying. Plus, the idea of meeting God was frightening as it already is.

"They're gold. Solid. And is very hard." Shoto spoke, touching the gates as he tried swinging it a couple of times. It didn't budge though, something that made the boy think that there must be something that functions these gates.

Out of the blue, the gates started opening as soon as Shoto had let go his hold on them, bringing their ship closer and closer in what appears to be a ticket booth of some sort.

Shoto only knew how to describe it because this was very familiar in the actual world he originates from.

"Are we supposed to go on front?" Nami tilted her head, quite disappointed that the golden gates were now beyond her sight. Did they go that far already? She was sure that they didn't override the clouds.

"It's a booth. You're supposed to go in front naturally." Shoto explained, seeing his crewmates nod in understanding.

"There's no one on the booth to talk to anyways. Maybe there is no people up here." Chopper mumbled, sitting by the back beside Usopp who was still trembling while biting his nails.

"That's nonsense. We saw 2 people before we got up here. And there was even a way called islands in order to reach here, so there must be really someone who runs this place."

"We can't be sure if the people we saw previously are humans. They had wings." Shoto emphasized. "Naturally born wings that actually allows them to fly." He stated.

"We have a rubber man as Captain, we consider him human. Just because these people have wings, it doesn't mean they're not mortal like us." Robin corrected, making Shoto look away.

Originally, he didn't like this place at all. Entering heaven's gates? Having a ticket booth before entering the place fully? Are you sure they didn't die on the way up here and here they were meeting their heaven?

He didn't care though. This place was shady and skeptical. No way was he gonna feel in ease.

"Hey, look!"

They all turned their heads to the booth place where an old woman is suddenly placed in. She looked mostly calm and incredibly old. On second note, they really must be dead.

"Done arguing?" Hearing silence as a reply, she continued. "Good. Now line up, you have to pay extra fees."

As soon as she heard that, Nami's whole idea of getting rich immediately deflated as she loss her energy to stand. Were they seriously demanding money in this time of place?

"What's your money system?" Shoto asked the lady.

"Young man," The booth lady acknowledged, seeing his soul colored differently from the others of his crew. "You would have to specify your question more before asking trivial questions."

"Oh." Shoto was taken aback, nonetheless, he regained himself. "We have the money currency called beri's, and I'm almost positively sure that Skypiea has a very different way of money."

The crew looked at the boy impressed. How did he know so much? Common sense obviously.

"You're correct." The lady replied. "We have Extol as our money currency. 1 beri to us is equal to 10,000 extol."

Everyone looked surprised at their economy. Was it that big? Or where they underestimating the situation? Stepping up, Nami stood in front, closing her eyes in attempt to cool down her tick mark.

Luffy and the rest of the crew were bugging her to pay the fees. She had no choice, didn't she?

"How much is it?"

An eruption of cheers broke out from the crew. All of them proud of her for stepping up on her money. It was a miracle.

"7,000,000,000 extol per person."

All of them were shocked beyond their wits. Even if the extol currency was so low, 7 billion would pay off the small economy. Shoto leaned on the railings.

"That makes 700,000 beri per person." He stated, shaking his head.

If only he has brought money with him then maybe they would have afforded the fees. His father had too much money lying around not put into good use, and Shoto was almost positive that is higher than beri's.

"Yeah. . . We don't have enough." Nami showed case 500,000 beri. And the amount she was originally planning to use was 1/4 of it.

"So we can't pass?" Usopp asked. "Are we going to hell?"

Everyone exchanged looks. No way could they fight their way out of this one. Silence enveloped them before the lady spoke up.

"You can pass."

"Wait, really?" Usopp peered, utterly relieved. So they weren't going to drop down in hell? Thank goodness-

"No catch or anything?" Shoto calmly asked, arching a brow as the woman once again stared him down. What was his problem? Why is he reading into her so much?

She didn't reply.

"Shoto," Usopp hissed as he pulled back the older boy by the shoulder. "What are you doing?"

Releasing himself from Usopp's hold, he dusted himself before presenting once more. "If we don't read in the situation, it might be a trap. We might be caught by their officers once we enter with no way out, or worse, we fall off the sky." He grimly stated.

They all paled. Falling off the sky? No such person would handle such damage. It would be like committing suicide with actually no choice other than dying.

Shoto did have a point, but they didn't want to believe it.

"Is your inability to trust others worsening? Even if you're right, we don't have much a choice." Robin stated, firmly into the thought that they were going to overcome any problem anyway.

Shoto begrudgingly agreed. They really did not have much of a choice.

As soon as they passed through the booth. Little did they know that not paying taxes was something that they're gonna regret later on.

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