Out for Karma: One Piece

Chapter 35: Reaching the sky

“How could a galleon fall from the sky?” asked Sanji.

They were lucky, the huge ship missed them by a hair.

Despite the huge wave that resulted from the fall, each member of the crew had grabbed a part of the Merry and were fine.

All except one.

Rick being in a wheelchair couldn’t secure himself and was sprawled on the floor. He got a few bruises but nothing serious, his condition didn’t worsen.

“It probably came from a sky island.” he said.

They turned to Rick, and looked at him like he lost his marbles.

When they saw him lying face down on the deck, Chopper rushed to examine him.

Robin was the closest to him when the ship was hit by the wave, picked up the wheelchair, and put him back on it once Chopper was done.

“ An island in the sky?” Luffy had star shaped eyes.

“ That’s impossible!” said Nami.

They all looked up at the sky.

“I don’t see anything resembling an island though” noted Ussop.

“It’s more accurate to talk about a “sea” floating in the sky than an island.” said Robin.

““AWESOME!”” yelled Luffy and Ussop in excitement.

“I want to explore that sea! Set full sail ahead!” ordered the captain.

“That’s absurd!” exclaimed Nami

“Nami, if a log pose is round it’s not because of an aesthetic design. Islands at the bottom of the sea or high up in the sky exist. Honestly I would be surprised if ours isn’t pointing toward the sky right now.” said Rick.

She took a look at the log pose on her wrist. Indeed the needle was pointing up.

“It must be broken!”

“There is one and only one ironclad rule on the sea, always follow the direction your log pose is pointing” said Robin to Nami.

“You should be less focused on ”fixing” the log pose and more focus on how to bring us to the sky island .” added Rick.

Ussop and luffy boarded the wreckage of the galleon, curious. They brought back an occupied coffin and a journal.

Robin got her tools and started to study the skeleton in the casket.

Meanwhile Rick began to read the journal.

“Chopper, if I’m correct, this man here had a trepanation surgery done on him.” said Robin to Chopper.

She handed him the skull she was holding.

Chopper took a good look and saw the man made drills into the skulls.

“Yes, those holes are a result of such surgery. It was used to treat intracranial diseases, but that kind of treatment has not been done in a very long time.”

“I’d say around 200 years ago.” added Robin.

“To be more specific 208 years ago” said Rick holding the journal up.

“It’s said here, that the galleon’s name is St. Briss from the Briss kingdom of….” he was showing to the crew a picture of the ship in the journal

“South Blue.” Robin interrupted him.

“You heard of it?” asked the vice-captain.

“No, but the skull still has all his teeth after 200 years. It means that something was used to stick them to it, probably with tar. That’s a custom that originated from  South Blue” finished Robin.

“That must have been an exploration ship.” said Sanji.

 Robin and Rick nodded.

“There is probably a mountain of information on that ship.” noted Rick

“Logs, documents, samples.” guessed Robin.

They turned towards the St. Briss, it was sinking.

Before being completely under water Ussop and Luffy that  went back after having brought the casket, returned.

Luffy was smiling ear to ear.

“Check this out! A map of a sky island!”

He was holding in both hands a map of a sky island named Skypeia.

“So the sky islands really do exist!” exclaimed Ussop.

“There are plenty of fake maps in the world you know.” said Nami.

Luffy, Ussop and Chopper looked at her with despair.

“Give it up Nami., we’re going to skypeia” laughed Rick

“And how am I supposed to do that?! I have no clue how to do it!”

“No clue yet, there may be something on the ship.” said Robin.

Luffy asked Rick.

“Can you make the galleon float back to the surface?”

“I’m too weak now to do it.”  he answered, shaking his head.

In the end Ussop worked on something and created three diving suits made out of barrels for Luffy, Zoro and Sanji.

They dive into the sea. Chopper was pumping air to them, while Ussop and Nami were listening to their reports.

Rick and Robin were searching the journal, hoping to maybe find the method used by the crew of the St. Briss to get to Skypeia.

Sadly, only historical and geographical information was recorded.

“You seem very knowledgeable.” shed noted.

“Well, the island where I was hiding for the past ten years had a lot of books. Reading became a hobby of mine.” he smiled.

“What island was…” 

But before she could finish her sentence. A very loud music attracted their attention.

A giant monkey sculpture ornated the bow of the ship the music came from.

“Hey! What are you doing in my territory!” said a giant monkey to the crew on the Merry.

‘Shit, that’s not good. ‘

Rick wheeled himself to where he could talk to the three under the sea.

“Guys, a pirate ship had come. They’re not hostile, yet. Apparently they salvage wreckage that sank. So if you see someone, don’t attack them.”

“Okay!” said luffy

“HEY! I asked you a question!” yelled the monkey.

“Sorry! We were on our way when a huge galleon almost fell on us. It sank, so some of the crew dive to explore it.”

“WHAT! You dare steal my property!”

“No! We’re not interested in any of the treasures!”

“WHAT!” screamed Nami in his ear.

“Not now Nami!” whispered Rick to her.

“Our log pose is pointing to a sky island, so we were hoping that the wreckage held some information on how to get to it! We’re not interested in anything else beyond that.”

“Oh?! Well in that case, I know someone that can help you with that.” said the monkey?

“Really? That’d be nice thank you!I’m gonna tell my friends exploring the ship, to resurface. By the way, can we watch how you work?”

“Sure, I’ve no problem with it.”

Rick wheeled himself to communicate to the guys below the sea.

“Guys, I got good news. The captain of the ship said he knows someone that can help us reach the sky island.”

“Really? That’s neet!” said Luffy

“Yeh but I had to play it nice, and give up on any treasure on the galleon.”

“What?!” the captain wasn’t happy with that news.

“Just grab one or two things that you think are valuable and bring them behind the Merry, I’ll make them float up and they won’t see anything.” Rick said, winking at Nami.

“It’s an exploration ship, they were not after gold, but rather samples of fauna and flora, and after 200 years I doubt there is any of that  still valuable, so we’re not really giving up anything”. He explained himself.

“That’s… actually that’s a fair point.” admitted Nami.

Zoro and Sanji brought a chest, Luffy something even bigger, and Rick made it float without the monkey’s crew knowing anything about it.

The latters salvaged the St. Briss. They secured it with some kind of big metallic claws. Their captain then took a deep breath and blew a huge amount of air into a long tube linked to the galleon.

With less water inside it, they could lift it up to the surface.

“That’s some lungs power that monkey has.” said Rick

He was the only one to speak but the others were dumbfounded.

Rick was readying himself.

‘Normally, now is the time when a giant turtle appears and eats the wreckage’.

To his surprise nothing happened. The monkeys secured the St. Briss without any problems.

‘Now that’s weird. Where is the turtle? Did History change? If so, why?’

“Hey guys! We’re done here with the ship. We’re going back home, follow us, the man that can help you is there!” Said the monkey captain.

“Thanks....” started Rick but stopped, not knowing his name.

“ Masira! I’m the salvage king Masira!”

Suddenly the sky darkened.

‘That still does happen, it seems.’

Day turned to night and a light fog appeared.

Gigantic figures, with small wings and a harpoon in hands could be seen.

““MONSTERS!””  screamed Luffy and Masira.

In a heartbeat both captains ordered to move immediately.

~~~~~~

The day turned to day again and the crew was safe. During their flight they got separated from Masira and his crew.

“Man, those monsters were big” said Luffy

“Yea… Never want to see them again.” said Ussop.

Rick laughed.

“Guys, those were not monsters. They were proof that Sky islands exist.”

“ What do you mean proof?” asked Nami

“Have any of you ever heard of shadow shows?” answered Rick.

“What’s that?” asked Chopper.

Robin spoke up to him.

“Shadow shows are spectacle, where you use a light to cast shadows on a sheet. With your hands you make some shapes. People on the other side of the sheet only see the shadow.”

“And the closer your hands are from the light the bigger the shadows.” added Rick

“So? What’s the link between those monsters” asked Luffy, not seeing the connection.

“They were shadows of people, Luffy. To make shadows so big, you need to be close to the sun or  have a lot of distance between the shape and its shadow.” explained Rick.

“So there are really sky islands. I can’t believe it” mumbled Nami.

“Nami, on grand line logic and common sense have no place. Only believe in your log pose.” said Robin.

Nami’s morale was rock bottom and Rick tried to cheer her up.

“Now why don’t you take a look at the treasure the guys brought back!”

“YES! TREASURES!” her mood did a radical 180°.

She emptied the chest on the floor.

Everyone examined the junk.

Yes, junk because in the end nothing valuable was found.

“There is nothing of worth.” lamented Nami

“Not exactly.” 

Robin presented an eternal pose to her.

“That eternal pose shows the way to an island named Jaya.”

“We really are lucky.” said Rick

“How so? This pose doesn’t help us to go to a sky island.” said Ussop.

“No, but at least we’re not stranded at sea anymore.” Robin answered him.

Confusion was on the face of the crew.

“Since the log pose is pointing towards a sky island, we can’t find our way towards another island. But with this Eternal pose we can reach Jaya. Once there, the log pose will find another island to go.” said Nami.

“No way! We won’t be able to go to the sky island anymore!” yelled Luffy.

“Don’t worry Luffy, it takes days for a log pose to sync with a new island. If we don’t stay too long on Jaya we won’t lose the directections of the sky island.” explained Rick

“Then let’s go to Jaya!”

~~~~~

After a few days of sailing, and training, the crew finally arrived on Jaya.

Rick had healed completely and Chopper gave him the green light to move around and exercise.

“Let’s group into teams and search some clues about how to get onto a sky island.”  said Rick

“MURDER!!!!!” yelled a voice from far away.

Ussop immediately spoke:

“I.. I’ll be on the team that guard the ship!”

“Me too!” announced Chopper.

“I’ll take care of supplies.” said Sanji.

“I’ll go with those two idiots.” said Nami, pointing at Zoro and Luffy.

“I’ll keep them in line.”

She then left with them but not before getting them to promise to not fight or make trouble.

Rick turned to the last member of the crew.

“Want to team up?” he asked Robin.

“Sure. Where should we start?” she answered.

“Why not stay around the port and the market? Maybe some other crews are in the same situation than us and know more.”

“That’s a good idea.” she acknowledged.

They left the Merry and went their way.

They saw many pirate ships docked and that made Rick stop.

“What’s wrong?” asked Robin, seeing him stop walking.

“Most of those pirate ships are either unguarded or with a few members to defend them…” he said to her with a crooked smile.

Robin immediately got what he was implying.

“Fufufu… I like the way you think.”

“I hope that it will cheer Nami up. She’s been down since the log pose got synced to the sky island.”

“You’re surprisingly caring.”

“I’m the oldest on the ship. Got to take care of the others.” he shrugged .

“I’m 28 too you know, so maybe not.” said Robin.

“Really? “ Rick feigned astonishment.

“Yes. Born onFebruary 6th.”

“Damn! I’m your junior.” he thought for a moment then continued.

“That’s fine, I’m the vice-captain and you're the newest recruit, I’ll take care of you too.” he said and winked at her.

Robin just rolled her eyes.

“How are we going to proceed?” she asked him.

“Like that.”

She saw him board the ship and five minutes later came back with a few chests floating behind him.

“What did you do?”

“Well I boarded the ship, told them why I did, asked for their treasures, they refused and I told them who I was. They were so scared, they immediately put everything they had in those chests.” he laughed.

Robin was dumbfounded.

“Sadly they didn’t have any info on the sky island. I guess we need to pay more visits to those pirate ships.”

They “visited” ship after ship. Robin didn’t know if she should laugh or cry at the situation.

‘How can he be so domineering with that smile on his face?’

She couldn’t reconcile his easy going attitude with his dominant side.

On the sixth ship they met some resistance.

The pirates were not intimidated, they had tattoos of a smiling face which was crossed with a line.

Rick flatten them on the deck.

“I'm giving you an offer you can’t refuse. Give me every single treasure you have and I sink your ship.” he declared.

He didn’t have to say it twice. They were the fastest crew to gather all they have.

“By the way, do you know anything about the sky island?”

“Tha… That’s a myth sir!” said one, being overly polite because he was terrified.

“There is this guy on the other side of Jaya, he’s an explorer maybe he knows something?”

With this new information, they disembarked the boat, and started to go back to the Merry.

But not before Rick used his gravity on the ship as he said he would.

“Wait, you did sink it.” Robin asked, astonished.

“Just like I said I would.”

“I thought you misspoke!”

“I didn’t.” was the only words he said and winked at her with an evil smile.

Once on the Merry, Rick put down everything they collected in their stroll.

“What’s all that?” asked Chopper.

“A gift for Namy.” Rick smiled.

“Where did you get all this.” It was Ussop's turn to ask questions.

 Rick looked at Robin then back to Ussop

“Some offerings from some pirates. Apparently being the world’s worst traitor brought me a fan club.” he said with a deadpan face.

Robin let out a little laugh, she was shaking her head.

“I even had to do my signature move for one of the crew!” smiled Rick.

She couldn’t help herself anymore and started to laugh loudly.

Chopper and Ussop looked at Robin like she had gone mad.

“What’s wrong with her?” asked Ussop.

“Who knows? Anyway, we got some info about the sky island so I’m going back to pick up everyone, see you later!”

‘Knowing Luffy and Zoro they must be in the nearest tavern’

He was right and found them there, though something was wrong.

‘Guess Bellamy already entered the scene.’

“Stop dreamin’! Sky islands don’t exist” a voice said.

A round of laughter came from every patron in the place.

“W-What’s the big idea?! Our log pose is pointing straight up at the sky!” said Nami.

That got her a second round of laughter.

They  even mocked her by imitating her.

“B-B-But our llllllllog pooooooose is pointin’ straight up at the skyyyyyyy…!” said one of them in a childish and high pitch voice.

Nami’s face flushed to a deeplys red, deeply embarrassed.

‘Ok, that’s enough.’

“Nami, don’t bother with these bottom of the barrel pirates.They’re not worth it. Robin and I found what we’re looking for, no need for us to stay here anymore.” said Rick in a cold voice and left the tavern.

He could hear Bellamy loudly mocking Luffy, saying the era of pirates with dreams was over.

~~~~~~

The trio he left in the tavern finally came back on the Merry.

“Luffy! Zoro! What’s with those wounds? What happened?” Yelled Ussop, seeing the two of them hurt.

“Some pirates. It’s fine, it’s over and done with.” answered Luffy.

“It may be for you guys! But I’m still mad! Why didn’t you beat them up?” yelled Nami, clearly unhappy.

“You’re the one that said to not fight no matter what.” said Zoro.

“The past is the past ! Don’t bring it out to the present!”

She was having a fit.

“Nami, I brought you something back for the stroll Robin and I took. It’s back inside. Go take a look!” said Rick.

Nami, though still mumbling her mecontentement went inside to see what it was about.

“You think she’ll like it?” he asked Robin.

She nodded.

“KYAAAAAAAA!!” was heard from inside.

“NAMI-SWAN!” yelled Sanji.

He rushed inside the ship. Or, tried, as Nami came out and sent him flying. She ran towards towards Rick and tackle him to the ground, chanting:

“Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! “

“It finally happened, Nami lost her marbles.” said Ussop.

“I DID NOT!” She let Rick go and was looking at Ussop nastily.

“Someone mind doing some explaining?” said Zoro

“Yes, how did you get all those treasures?” Nami asked Rick.

““Treasures?”” Luffy and Zoro were confused.

Before Rick could open his mouth Robin spoke:

“Rick thought that some pirates may have information about sky islands, so we paid them a visit. We stole everything we could on their ship.”

They were all dumbfounded.

“Offerings my ass!” said Ussop.

“ Well I just gave them my name, they recognized me and they offered me everything they had.” smiled Rick.

Robin remembering how it went, controlled herself this time, to not laugh. She was biting her lower lip to succeed though.

“During our…” he turned to Robin

“ Little walk” she completed.

“During our little walk we got the info that some explorer may know about the sky island.” said Rick

“He’s knowledgeable about them no doubt. He lives on the other side of the island. He has been chased out of town  because he was talking of dreams like the sky islands.”

Rick gave her a questioning look.

“I went back to town after you left, for some clothes. I can’t always borrow Nami’s. By the way, I found a map of this island along the way.”

“Then let’s go meet that guy!” said Luffy.

~~~~~~

Along the way, they heard a familiar music getting closer.

“Look, another ship!” said Ussop.

“This music… is it a friend of Masira?” asked Rick.

“Dunno, let’s ask him.” answered him Nami.

“HEY! ARE YOU A FRIEND OF MASIRA?” yelled Ussop when the ships were close enough to each other.

“OH?! You know Masira?” asked a big orangutan.

“We befriended him a few days ago, He was supposed to bring us to a guy that knows about sky islands but we got separated.” said Rick

“I’m the underwater survey king: Shoujou. Any friend of Masira is a friend of mine!” said the orangutan.

“I’m on my way to that man, he lives on this island, I’ll lead you there.” he announced.

“So the man Misara wanted us to meet is the same man that was chased out of town.” said Robin.

They landed on Jaya’s coast, near a castle. To be more accurate half a house, which a veneer panel of a castle had been applied to.

“The boss is out, but will probably be here soon.” said Shoujou.

Knowing they just had to wait, each found his own occupation.

Rick went to explore the forest for two reasons.

One to capture a south bird that they would need to get to Skypiea, and to take a look at the system.

‘I should have looked at it sooner, after leaving Alabasta. I wonder how many points I got.’

He opened the system and looked at his Karma Points.

He had about 312 500 000 points.

‘HOLY FUCKING SHIT!’

That was the most points he ever had. 

‘That’s almost 600 times more than the total I earned when I was in the marines!’

He looked at the log, he wanted to know how he could earn so much with just saving alabasta.

‘Haaaa. So that’s what happened.”

[ For saving 5 millions people from death with help, user won 357 142 858 Karma points.]

‘So saving everyone by sending the bomb away earned me that much points. Wait, when I saved Azalea’s retainers years ago, each gave me 500 points. I should have 2 Billion and a half. Why is the score so low then? Is it because of the help part?’

Rick remembered the number of people involved with the bomb. 

‘Vivi, Pell, Zoro, Sanji,Nami, Ussop,Chopper. So 7 people. 8 with me.’

He quickly did the maths and got 312 500 000 as a result.

‘So the number of points is divided by the number of people helping me. That’s fair I guess. I wonder why I never knew that.’

Rick pondered about this new information on the Karma points.

‘Well, I never paid attention to how the point was calculated back then. I was focused on the numbers.’

He opened the system’s store and began looking for any advancement  on the imperfect bodies.

‘So he failed to create an artificial soul. He did succeed in putting a devil fruit power in weapons though; along the creation of artificial devil fruits, so that’s some progress. I should really pay him a visit.’

Rick then looked at the devil fruits tab. Every devil fruit that could give the crew some problems, was already taken so he could not guy and block them.

He did find one free.

‘The Ara Ara no mi, would be perfect for Nami.’

It made the one who ate it a weather person, giving them the power to control the weather at will.

‘With her genius level talent in reading the weather she would be one of the strongest in the world. Too bad it cost 750 millions.’

Rick bookmarked it. And closed the system.

‘Now time to capture that bird’.

It took him hours to find traces of one and a second to capture it with his Me Me no mi. It worked for Robin in the manga, why not for him?

The bird has been sending animals after animals to messe up with him. The sun had set for a while now and on his way back he met Nami,Sanji and Ussop.

“Hey! Rick! Where were you? '' asked Ussop the forest.

“I was exploring the forest. Any news about the guy who lives here?”

“Yes, he’s been back for a while, he’s a nice guy and agreed to help us reach the sky island.” answered Sanji

“Wow that’s great!” said Rick

“Yes, but we need to find a special bird that points to the south for us to do that. He sent us in this forest to catch one.”added Nami.

“Oh, What does it look like?” Rick asked.

“A big bird with a big head always turned in the same direction.” said Nami

“Well, you’re in luck, here.” The South bird was restrained by a rope and was hanging behind Rick’s back.

“That’s the bird?”

“OH MY GOD! YES!!” yelled Nami.

“This rascal was sending beasts after beasts after me. In the end I got tired of it and caught him.”

“Man, your luck is a cheat.” said Ussop.

They had planned to all gather at a specific location in the forest at a specific time. The group of four went there and waited for the others.

When they came back to the ship they saw a very frantic man.

“Is that him?” asked Rick.

“Yes, his name is Montblanc Cricket. He’s a descendant of Norland the liar.” said Ussop.

“The famous explorer?” said Rick.

 A nodded was all he got.

“Hey. What’s wrong?” asked Luffy

“What’s wrong is that someone stole my gold!” said Cricket.

“What?” asked Nami.

“Yes, the chest where I put the gold we find when we dive was empty! Except for this note.”

The note he showed them had only a jolly roger on it. 

A smiling face which was crossed with a line.

‘I thought that by sinking Bellamy’s ship he would not be able to come here.But somehow he stole the gold way before he was supposed to. Another change in the story…’

“I know that symbol! Zoro, didn’t the guy who made fun of us in the tavern bore it?” said Luffy.

“Yeah that’s the same symbol.” the swordsman answered.

“I’m going to kick his ass and get back your gold!” said Luffy rushing towards the town he met Bellamy.

“Robin, isn’t that the symbol of the last pirate we visited?” asked Rick.

“Yes. You think…” answered Robin.

“Yes….”

He turned to Cricket.

“Earlier in the day, we raided pirate ships. One of them had his symbol, so we may have your gold on our ship. Want to take a look?”

“Sure!”

Indeed Cricket’s gold was on the Merry. He thanked Rick and Robin.

“Thank you really. This gold is so valuable to me. Not because it’s gold but it’s because it’s the proof of our hardworkd to reach our dreams to Masira, Shoujou and me.”

~~~~~~

Luffy got back at dawn.

“I beat the hell out of the thieves but they didn’t have your gold anymore.” said Luffy sadden.

“Oh, that’s okay! Your friend got it back.” said Cricket

“What?” Luffy was surprised.

“Long story short, the gold was on one of the ships we raided, so it was with us all this time.” said Rick.

“Good!” shouted Luffy.

“The modifications on your ship are done, and we got the south-bird. We’re good to go or you will be out of time.”

They departed to their destination.

Along the way Rick finally asked:

“I didn’t ask  anything yesterday because I was beat, but… What are we doing?”

“We’re going back to the zone where we saw the giant shadow. Once there, we’ll have to position the Merry on some kind of huge geyser of water. It’s supposed to send us up the sky island.” answered Nami.

“That’s insane!....But I like it.” Rick said.

The sea started to move violently, and a whirlpool formed.

“That’s where you need to go.” Said Masira.

“WHAT?!” answered the crew.

“The geyser will come from there!” added Shoujou to Marisa’s words.

The ape captains retreated with their ship.

The Merry was attracted by the whirlpool and was quickly going down.

The whirlpool ceased suddenly.

“What happened?” asked Luffy.

“How could such a gigantic whirlpool vanish just like that?” said Ussop.

“No… the whirlpool’s already been negated at the ocean floor!” exclaimed Nami worried.

“HOLD IT RIGHT THERE! ZEHAHAHA!” said a voice.

Turning around Rick saw Blackbeard.

“Who’s that guy? A friend of yours?” he asked.

“A guy we met at the tavern. He’s certainly not a friend.” answered Zoro.

“Yeah. No way I can be friends with someone who has such a bad taste in food.” added Luffy.

“I’VE COME FOR THAT 100 MILLION BELLY HEAD OF YOURS! SAY YOUR…!”

He didn’t get to finish his sentence as Rick sent him, his crew and his ship below the seas with his gravity.

“““““““....”””””””

They all looked at him weirdly.

“What?” Rick asked confused.

““““““““Nothing.”””””””

They all thought the same thing:

‘‘‘‘He’s a devil.’’’’’

The sea started to rise.

“Everyone grab something! The geyser is coming!” Yelled Nami.

They barely had the time to secure themselves that the Merry was shot up toward the sky.

It was riding the upward stream.

A sea king was falling right on them and Rick dispatched him to the side.

“Open the wings now!” Shouted Nami.

Zoro and Sanji cut the ropes that were holding the wings that had been put on the Merry, allowing it to fly.

Luffy yelled.

“Let’s break through the clouds!!!!”