Jaya 6

                                    

                                          

After Cricket had come to wake up, everyone had returned to being inside the house where Cricket was sitting on his bed. "Diamond-head Ossan! We got something to ask you!" Had been the first thing Luffy had come to say upon entering.
"Sorry for the trouble." The old man had come to say while pulling the cigarette from his lips. "I thought you were after my gold like the other idiots." This had been the reason they had been attacked. 
"Eh?! You've got gold?!"
"Though, there appears to be someone that wants it." Liàn was saying while looking over at Nami who had spoke just before her, eyes in the shape of beli signs.
"Stop it. Stop it now." Usopp came to tell her, since he was afraid something worse might happen. 
"So what'd you wanna ask me?" The question had been asked to Luffy.
"Ossan, we want to go to Sky Island! Tell us how to get there!" Which had been shouted by the young captain.
"Sky Island?" It had been repeated before Cricket bursted into laugher. "You guys believe in Sky Island?!" This appeared to have set someone off, as she was stomping over to the old man ready to beat the crap out of him. 
"Don't! He's sick!" However, Usopp had come to grab ahold of her, to stop that from happening. 
"You men there's no Sky Island, Ossan?!" Luffy was in complete and utter shock upon asking this. 
"Well, now... I know one guy who said it existed, but... He's famous for being a great liar. And his family has been a laughing stock ever since." That had been spoken Luffy turned his sight upon Usopp.
"NOT ME!" Which gad him shout in response and shock
"Why is he looking at Usausa-chan?" Liàn looked to Jiàn upon asking this, since it was strange to her.
"Mostly likely because he lies a lot." Had been the answer he came up with. 
"It's an old story that everyone in North Blue has heard. 'Liar Norland'." Cricket came to continued, but once again Luffy was looking to Usopp.
"I told you its not me!" Once again had been shouted. "The name's different, you know?!"
"Oh yeah, now that you mention it, I remember his full name was Montblanc Norland...are you related to Norland...?" Sanji came to remember this and came to ask, since Montblanc wasn't a common name. 
"That guy had a chest nut on his head too." Liàn pointed out, as Norland in the picture book had similar head to Cricket. 
"That's true." Jiàn had come to agree with her on that point. 
"You're his descendant?!" Nami appeared shocked upon this. "And this place is the setting for that story?"
"He's my grandfather's grandfather's.... grandfather or something. A very distant ancestor." The man seemed annoyed as he came to admit this. "His story gives me a lot of problems. Not even a mosquito could find a drop of his blood in me." Yep, really really annoyed. "At the time, the Montblanc family was exiled form the county and forced to live in shame. The abuse we got from the public still continues today. But, no one in our family hates him." Not many people would feel the sae way though. 
"Why?" Which had been why Chopper came to ask this. 
"Because Norland was the rarest of things - an honest man." But the others seemed surprised upon what he was saying. 
"But, the picture book..."
"In the picture book, Norland's last words are: 'That's it! The mountain of gold must have sunk into the ocean!' They draw him with the grin of an idiot in the picture, but he died in regret, with tears flowing down his face. The island they had landed on was indeed Jaya, the same island where Norland first discovered the City of Gold. I can't accept the idea that is was all an illusion." Cricket had stated at the end of explaining the truth behind the book. "Norland asserted that changes in the Earth's crust must have sent the city to the bottom of the ocean. But to everyone else, he was just a sore loser trying to justify himself. Norland was executed before a huge crowd of onlookers, laughing and hooting. Only the name 'Liar' remained."
"I see! So you're searching the ocean floor for the City of Gold to exonerate the Montblanc family name!" Seemed to be the conclusion that Usopp came to after hearing all that. 
"DON'T GIVE ME THAT CRAP!" However, this caused the old man to fire a gun right above the boy's head.
"USOPP!"
"Oh shit." Tears were streaming down his face from fear and shock. 
"That seemed a bit excessive." Jiàn had said like this was completely normal, while everyone else, excluding his sister, seemed to be stunned. 
"Whether or not my distant ancestor was an honest man... Whether or not he was a great explorer... It's got nothing to do with me!" Cricket was completely pissed off as he shouted that. "Do you know what it's like for a kid... to be jeered at by everyone just because he has the blood of an idiot in his veins!? I had to grow up with that!" It made sense if he for him to say that. "But... Yeah. These past 400 years, Countless members of our family have come to the sea trying to restore our honour. And we lost them all." Cricket had calmed down as he turned to look outside the window. "I became ashamed of my family. So I run away from home and become a pirates."
"So you're a pirate, Ossan?" Luffy came to ask, delighted. 
"It's no like I wanted to be one. I just wanted to be free of Noland's curse. Before long, I'd built up my own pirate crew. After I enter the Grand Line, my life was full of adventures. But 10 years ago, my ship landed on this island by what seems like coincidence. How ironic that the one man who hated Nolan in the Mont blanc family the most would end up here. And as I stood on the cape of this island that lacked a golden city, just as the story book, I thought: 'this is fate.'" And many people would think such a thing. "There was nowhere left to run." He had decided to stay on the island to settle things with Norland, which had caused his crew to abandon him. "If it does exist, that's fine. But if it doesn't exist, that's fine too. This isn't about proving his innocence. This is a battle with the man who ruined my life. I just want to settle things with him, before i die." Everyone were looking at them man, come in shock, others didn't change...
"Y-You're a true man." And for some reason, Usopp was in tears. 
"Then, what about those two?Why are the monkeys here?" Luffy came to ask about Masira and Shoujo. 
"It must have been another incredible drama of men... struggling against the ocean's depth, told through the fists!" the long nose was still crying as he said this. 
"They're fans of the book." However, it didn't appear to be the case.
"FANS?!"
"Didn't seem all that dramatic." Both of the twins had come to say to the snipper that was in shock.
"That's quite a simple relationship you have..." Was all Nami could come up with to explain it. 
"It was five or six years ago. They came here and barged onto my land after hearing rumours about me. "They said, 'We think Norland's gold really exists!'" Cricket had moved onto explaining how they met and the monkeys joining him, while it appeared that they were fighting outside with one another. "The ocean around here is deep. This solitary feeling that haunts me gets even worse down there in the dark and cold of the sea. Day after day, I would dive down and search, all alone. And they simply barged into my life, proclaimed themselves my followers, and started rampaging around. Watching such simple-hearted idiots...Honestly, they saved my life." The old man appeared to be pleased with their sudden arrival all those years ago. "You know what I mean?"
"I understand. So that's how it is." Usopp had been in tears once again. "It means so much to a guy to have true friends like that."
"You sure cry a lot." Jiàn stated while looking down at the blooding teen. 
"Well, enough about the monkeys." Although, it appeared that someone could care lesser then him. 
"THEN DON'T ASK ABOUT THEM! YOU BROUGHT IT UP!" Which only had him be snapped and punched at, since it had been Luffy who asked about them.
"Like I said!" However, it had been then when Usopp had been thrown across the room. "We want to go to Sky Island, Ossan!" The captain was shouting as this was the only thing he wanted. 
"You;re a pretty impatient guy." And it only had Cricket chuckling in amusement. "Didn't you hear me before? The only testimony about Sky Island is from Liar Norland." This had been reinstated once again. "You mess with him, and you;lol become a laughing stock like he was." Cricket had said all this as he pulled a book from the shelf beside his bed. 
"Huh? So he went to Sky Island too?" Luffy came to ask, watching the old man flicking through the book he had in hand. 
"Unfortunately, he never wrote anything about going there..." This came to be said,
"A ship's log?" Nami came to question upon looking at the cover over the book, 'Log book' written on it. "It that Norland's?"
"Yeah." That was then when the book had been thrown to her. "Read that part." He came to instruct her. 
"Wow. A logbook written over 400 years ago..." She appeared to be excited upon this before she began reading. "'Year of the Sea 1120, June 21, clear weather. We've departed the cheerful town of Villa. Following the Log Pose, we left port and headed northeast. We got a very curious artefact from a passing merchant this afternoon. It's called a 'Waver' - a small one-seated ship that looks like a ski.'" Hearing this, a large grin appeared across Luffy's face as he, Usopp and Chopper had all began gathering around her. "'It is powered by its own wind, even if there is none upon the sea. I could not control it well, as it requires a remarkable amount of skill. It's become the crew's favourite recreational activity.' No way! I want one of those!" Nami appeared to be excited about such a thing. 
"NEVERMIND! JUST KEEP READING!" Although, she had been snapped at by the other three who were excited.
"'I was told that the only place that has this kind of engine is Sky Island. Apparently there are many strange things like this up there. Speaking of Sky Island, one of my fellow explorers once showed me a living Skyfish. I can't tel you how surposed I was to see such a fish.'"
"Skyfish?" Sanji appeared to be intrigued upon hearing this. 
"'It's a place our ship has never explored, but as a sailor, i would someday like to visit this sea in the sky. - Montblanc Norland.'" The entry had come to an end. "A sea in the sky!"
"Jus like Robin said!" Luffy was shouting looking beyond shock and excited.
"And he was talking about it like everyone knew about Sky Island back then!" This had been stated by Usopp who was the same.
"So it really does exist!" Chopper stood up shouting, after falling from Usopp's shoulders onto the ground. They were all screaming with joy. However, as they were all excited about Sky Island, none of them appeared to have noticed Liàn that came to turn her back to everyone and began to cough. 
"Liàn?" However, her brother noticed and came to look to her as she lowed her hand that appeared to have red liquid on it. In other words, blood. It was then when Jiàn's blank expression turned dark. And this appeared to have caught the eyes of two.