Summary: Arrival at Skypiea! Dials and angel girls, first floor! Angry a-holes with god complexes upstairs!

  Warning! Chapters 44-47 were all posted back-to-back! Make sure you don't miss any!

  Chapter 45: Skypiea

  That stupid shrimp should be very gd Luffy was too disoriented by the sudden breach into the White White Sea to zap it before it fled, since it had damaged a few of the wooden panels that hid the ship's armor. Even so, the incredible view before them was enough that even damage to his precious ship couldn't quite get more than a grumble out of him as they all saw Skypiea for the first time. It was…incredible. If anything, the animators in his old life had undersold just how gorgeous the architecture they could see in the near-distance was. From their pce out on the sea the entire city sitting atop the clouds looked to be made of shining white stone. Though Luffy suspected that it was actually isnd cloud that had been treated somehow to catch the light's radiance.

  "Well? Don't just stand there gawking everyone! We have an isnd in the sky to explore!"

  The good humor in Luffy's voice drew enthusiastic shouts from the rest of the crew, and Nami quickly barked orders. They'd come out close enough to the shore that she didn't bother having them set the sail, instead bringing said sails in fully and having Luffy momentarily power the engines so they could glide gently onto the local equivalent of a beach. The nding was…soft, in a word. The draft of the Discovery was so shallow compared to regur mono hulls that they were easily able to partially beach the ship on the soft isnd cloud, something they quickly reasoned was a better option than trying to y anchor without a proper seafloor to anchor too.

  With that done, Usopp and Chopper were the first two over the sides, gleefully pying in the soft clouds that made up the beach.

  "Guys, guys! This whole isnd is made of clouds! This is awesome."

  Kaya giggled at Usopp's childish reaction…but also quickly jumped down to join him in pying on the beach. Hina and Robin were, surprisingly, the next two down. Though in their case it appeared it was more runaway curiosity that had gotten to them, as they immediately began to poke and prod at everything while chatting about their discoveries. Odd that those two were already getting along so well, but Luffy wasn't about to compin, given that their opposing pasts could have made taking both of them on a source of conflict.

  Luffy himself waited for Nami, with Zoro doing to same for Kuina even as Vivi, Sanji, and Nojiko joined the fun on the beach. Both of them gave each other manly nods of understanding. Their respective girlfriends had announced a change of clothes…and on a beach that could only mean something that was worth waiting for. A thought that proved entirely true as both returned wearing bikini tops and short sarongs that showed off long, perfectly-toned legs. Kuina rolled her eyes and Nami giggled when Luffy and Zoro blindly-but-perfectly fist bumped on seeing them.

  "Come on, Captain~! It's time to explore this ridiculous pce! And maybe find out about those Dials you mentioned to us! They sounded super useful!"

  Luffy ughed as Nami btantly wrapped her breasts around one arm…then scooped her up and lept off the ship with her in a princess carry. She gasped at the sudden movement, then ughed and spped him on the chest. She didn't exactly protest the ride as he let her off, though. Instead, she went up on her tiptoes and drug him down just a bit to peck him on the lips, then turned and sauntered off to check out the rest of the beach herself.

  Even as curious as he was about the isnd itself, it was hard to tear his eyes away from those swaying hips. He did manage it though, with Nami only ughing and waved him off as he headed off to join Hina and Robin as they investigated everything with a more clinical interest than those pying on the beach. The two had moved on from a brief look at the nearby pnts, to a small pavilion with…cloud loungers? Both women were exciming over them, though they only made a passing mention of their softness. Instead, Luffy caught a different sort of interest from Hina as she spoke while poking at them.

  "Hina thinks this shows signs of proper manufacturing. These aren't just rough cut, but professionally neat and even. Uniform even. The locals must have some way of working the cloud material. Though I wonder if it would survive at sea level? Hina would love to have a bed made of clouds, but imagines they might simply burst with the higher pressure at low altitudes."

  Robin nodded, seeming to have followed the thought.

  "That would match with the few fish we've seen. All of them have adapted to the high altitude by thinning out or gaining a gas bdder of some sort. Even the fruit seems oddly oversize, while retaining a simir weight to more familiar fruit. Lower density per square inch to compensate? Quite fascinating that life was able to adapt to such unusual conditions."

  Luffy took that as a chance to interject, pointing out something that Robin in particur may not have quite processed yet.

  "They've also been cut off up here. There's only extremely limited trade between the Sky Isnds and the Grand Line. Better yet, they aren't part of the WG at all. Which means you might just want to see if you can find any histories up here, Robin. It's a long shot, given that they likely didn't have much knowledge of the world back then, either. But this is one of the few pces in the world that might retain some unedited information about the True History of the world."

  Robin straightened, eyes wide, and even Hina looked startled at the idea. Before either of them could say anything, however, both they and the rest of the crew making merry on the beach were distracted by the crisp notes of a harp flowing out from farther down the beach. Luffy, pleased that this particur meeting seemed not to have been butterflied away, grinned at the two women.

  "And that sounds like it might be a local. Shall we go find out more about this pce?"

  Luffy was unsurprised that Robin acted quicker than either he or Hina, darting off in complete contradiction to her usual carefully measured pace. Grinning, Luffy followed her, Hina huffing a ugh as she followed in both of their wakes. They had moved fast enough that they were the first to reach the local, a beautiful blonde woman with angel wings sprouting out of her back and a white fox resting beside her. Sanji, always quick to spot a beautiful woman, was right behind them…though Nojiko already had him by the colr. So at least they could make a good impression before he ruined it.

  "Heso! My name is Conis! Are you Blue Sea Worlders?"

  To her credit, Robin barely blinked at the strange greeting before nodding.

  "If that is what you call those who live below the clouds, then yes."

  Conis didn't seem at all bothered by the dry delivery of the comment, smiling in delight.

  "It is! I thought you must be such, with how odd your ship looks. I've only rarely met Blue Sea Worlders! Oh, and I bet you have a lot of questions!"

  That was…understating things a bit. Poor Conis was immediately bombarded on all sides by questions from the crew, all of whom had wandered over when they realized there was a local present. Despite appearing slightly flustered, Conis did her best to answer questions from all sides calmly and completely. Questions about her wings from a curious Nami and Nojiko, questions about the history of Skypiea which she deferred to her father who she was apparently waiting for. Questions from Hina about the types of isnd clouds which Conis did happily answer, confirming the presence of a factory facility that turned raw isnd and sea clouds into various usable forms. Luffy let the rest of his crew get it out of their system, knowing that what he himself most wanted to know about was going to be an involved subject.

  Thankfully, before the woman could get overwhelmed entirely, the sound of a ship moving at high-speed through the water and a call of warning rang out over the beach. Most of the crew had already turned instinctively in that direction, having felt through their Observation Haki the sort of high-speed movement that normally only came during combat. It was thus that they saw a man who could only be Conis's father hit a wave wrong and come flying violently toward shore, completely airborne.

  Rather than letting him crash, Luffy and Kuina moved, combining Soru and Geppo to fsh into position over the beach. Luffy, still the physically stronger and more durable of the two, caught the small vessel which he assumed was a waver. He spun with it to bleed energy, less to protect himself than to prevent damage to it. Kuina, meanwhile, intercepted the older man, easily catching him and bouncing off the air to return him to his very-bewildered feet next to his daughter.

  "U-um…thank you, miss? Sorry for the trouble!"

  When Luffy walked over a moment ter with the vessel, the man excimed more energetically.

  "Oh! Thanks to you as well, young man! I won't even have to repair the waver this time!"

  Luffy took the opening, unable to wait any longer for the one thing he'd been most eager for about Skypiea.

  "Is this ship Dial powered? I had heard a very few rumors down on the Blue Sea about Dials, but there wasn't much more than tidbits of second or third hand knowledge."

  The older man blinked, looking surprised he even knew that much.

  "Why, yes! This is a waver, and it is powered by Breath Dials mounted on the back. Extremely tricky to use! Oh, and where are my manners, I'm quite sorry! My name is Pagaya, and I am a Dial Engineer!"

  Perfect! Absolutely perfect! Assuming, at least, that Enel didn't get in the way for a few days. Luffy was fairly sure the madman wouldn't set off his 'survival game' without the right set of participants. With any luck, his dropping Ass Wiper into the sea would at least dey the Shandians from their fool charge into Upper Yard. Which would mean Luffy could take a few days to pick Pagaya's brain about Dials…and buy as many of them as possible.

  "As thanks for saving me, perhaps you would care to join my daughter and I for a meal? I would love to hear more about the Blue Sea…as well as ask about that ship of yours. I've never seen anything quite like it!"

  Luffy grinned proudly.

  "Of course you haven't! I'm an engineer and shipwright myself, and the Discovery is my own completely original design! I'd love to talk with you about how Dials might be integrated into the ship to improve her even farther."

  Pagaya's eyes practically sparkled with the same sort of knowledge-lust that Robin often exhibited, and he cheerfully led the entire crew toward his home, calling out bits of knowledge about the isnd as they went…

  ... ...

  Luffy was incredibly relieved when the White Berets didn't appear to attempt to pin petty crimes on them that evening. With Sanji's able and interested efforts, an incredible meal of Skypiean cuisine was prepared for everyone. All the while, Conis and her father gave everyone a basic primer on both Dials, which were everywhere in the house, and the isnd in general. After dinner, as Conis entertained most of the crew, Luffy had broken out a high-quality bottle of wine from his inventory, stored perfectly chilled. He, Pagaya, and Robin spent several hours more discussing first what Pagaya knew about the isnd's history, and then about what sorts of Dials might be useful for the Discovery.

  Robin had been repced by Hina for the second half of that discussion, with Robin off in her own little world after Pagaya had supplied her with a few books. Most were of Skypiean origin, but one was a copy of an old journal from the Blue Sea that made some mentions of a Great War during the period of the Void Century. Pagaya had apologized that it wasn't much, but Robin had been delighted for any new information at all. Let along new information that had actually named a few of the countries involved. While she dove into the journal hungrily, Hina joined in on the conversation about tactical uses for Dials. As a former captain in her own right, and one who had been known for modifying her ships for specialist maneuvers, her interest was both obvious and insightful.

  While Hina and Luffy were extremely interested in the possible applications of Breath, Jet, Fme and Impact Dials in particur, Pagaya was equally interested in some of Luffy's own knowledge. Metals were too rare on Sky Isnds to see much use, but Luffy hadn't used solely metal in the Discovery's construction. Wood was possible to get here, with permission and proper tribute to 'god Enel,' and there was also some discussion if some of the ship's more interesting features could be converted over to use Dials instead of his Fruit for power. In both directions, actually. Using Dials on the ship would be less obvious in some ways, and some of Luffy's innovations would ease the need to use some of the rarer types of Dials if more common ones could be used to gain the same effect with a couple of extra steps. Skypiea could easily benefit from the concept of a Stirling engine, for example, which Luffy was easily able to expin to a fascinated Pagaya.

  The conversation was both easy and enlightening, but made it a bit of a wrench to break it off as night fell. Still, with the local bully boys not showing up to charge them with nonsense crimes, they would hopefully have plenty of time to talk. Pagaya had, in fact, promised to introduce them to the best pces to get high quality Dials the next day…

  ... ... ... ...

  A/N: Ugh. This was...wwwwaaaayyy more awkward than I expected to write. I watched the episodes where they interacted with Conis and her father and it was...like watching a children's educational show. That was the level of expnations. Which, granted, needed to happen when the show ran, as no one knew about dials. But coming in a decade ter when everyone already knows, and the whole thing is just...bnd as an artist drawing a por bear in a snowstorm. If it felt like I skipped a bunch of the detail here, that would be why. Most of it was super boring if you already know anything about One Piece.