The Great Liar Noland

"What happened?!" Usopp stared in shock at Luffy and Zoro, covered in wounds.

"Doctor!" Chopper cried in a panic.

"Aren't you the doctor?!" Usopp punched Chopper on the head.

"It's so lively here." Robin returned. "I went to buy some clothes and also gathered some information about Sky Island."

"Don't..." Nami wore an utterly lifeless expression.

"Boom!" An explosion suddenly drew everyone's attention.

"That guy came ashore too?" Nami looked at the violent explosion, feeling immensely satisfied.

"He really is quite fiery." Robin said helplessly.

"Li, didn't you say we weren't allowed to fight?" Luffy complained to the smiling Li Ziming as he approached.

"Sorry, but the ones who promised not to fight were you guys. I never said I wouldn't fight." Li Ziming shrugged, then boarded the ship to put away the liquor he had bought on the island.

"Good job!" Nami gave Li Ziming a thumbs-up.

"By the way, I should have some information about Sky Island. Do you want to hear it?" Robin asked with a smile.

"I don't want to hear about Sky Island anymore." Nami said angrily. "I think Sky Island is nothing but a joke! The moment I mentioned it, everyone laughed at me."

"I think we should stay a little farther away from her right now." Usopp said to Robin worriedly.

"It's fine. I heard there's an old man who was driven out on this island. His name is Mont Blanc Cricket." Robin said. "He's obsessed with dreams. Doesn't that sound a lot like you?"

"And as far as I know, that guy seems to be a descendant of the great liar Noland." Li Ziming looked at a ship approaching. "But we'd better leave quickly. A ship is coming."

"Why should we leave just because a ship is coming?" Nami asked in confusion.

"Because the other guy is a monkey too." Li Ziming said helplessly. "I have a feeling all the monkeys we've run into lately have been troublesome."

"Monkey? He couldn't be from the same family as that monkey I kicked away, could he?" Luffy said indifferently.

"Probably not. The sea is so vast, how could it possibly be such a coincidence?" Nami refused to believe her luck could be that terrible.

"You said you kicked my brother away?" The ape-faced man's expression darkened. "How dare you treat my brother like that? An enemy of Masira is my enemy! Activate sound waves, Destructive Roar!"

"Are all these monkeys blessed with such ridiculous lung capacity?" Li Ziming rubbed his head in frustration.

"Let's get out of here! Our ship can't take any more of this!" Usopp said anxiously. The Going Merry had already become battered and damaged.

Still, Usopp was relieved that the ape-faced man did not seem to intend to chase them. However, the Going Merry was now riddled with damage.

"That damn ape!" Usopp gritted his teeth. "After that damn ape messed things up, there are even more places on the ship that need repairs!"

"I don't know when this ship became such a wreck. Why don't we get a new one?" Zoro said casually as he repaired the mast.

"What are you talking about?! You heartless bastard!" Usopp shouted furiously.

"Stop complaining, Usopp. The Going Merry is our partner through thick and thin. No matter what, we have to fix him." Luffy said as he repaired the Going Merry as well.

"Luffy, you really are..." Usopp said emotionally, but in the next second, Luffy smashed the plank beneath his hands. "You damn bastard!"

Amid repairs and bickering, Luffy and the others crossed most of Jaya and arrived at their destination.

"This is that guy's... that guy's home?" Nami asked in surprise.

"Mont Blanc Cricket." Robin's tone held more helplessness than anything else.

"Amazing..." Usopp was utterly stunned.

"So awesome!" Luffy was equally shocked.

"That luxurious mansion is that man's home?" Chopper said in amazement. "He must be incredibly rich!"

"Idiot, open your eyes and take a closer look." Zoro said helplessly.

"What dreamer? I think that guy is just a vain fool." Sanji also had no favorable impression of the Mont Blanc they had yet to meet.

"Open my eyes?" Chopper used his hands to force his eyes wide open.

"That's not what they mean." Li Ziming picked Chopper up with an amused smile. "Look, it's obviously painted on."

"Painted on?" Chopper asked in shock. Then, as the ship moved, a narrow little house appeared before them.

"Could that guy have been driven out because he was too vain?" Nami wondered how someone so vain could possibly know anything about Sky Island.

"I'm not too sure about that." Robin shook her head. "But I heard that Jaya is buried with a huge amount of gold."

"Gold!" Nami immediately perked up.

"But I don't know where it is." Robin shook her head.

"Chopper, start digging!" Nami immediately ordered.

"How could we possibly just dig it up at random?!" Usopp retorted.

"Is anyone here?" Luffy, completely unconcerned with the gold, pushed open the door and walked straight into Mont Blanc's house.

"Don't just barge in like that!" Usopp felt he was beyond complaining now.

"All right, Nami, stop ordering Chopper around." Li Ziming stopped Chopper. "The story of Noland the Liar is quite famous in the North Blue."

"Right, no wonder it sounded so familiar." Sanji seemed delighted to hear something related to his hometown.

"You're from the North Blue?" Usopp had always assumed everyone on the ship was from the East Blue.

"Yeah, I was born in the North Blue. Didn't I tell everyone?" Sanji looked quite excited. "And where I'm from isn't important. Although it's a fairy tale, Noland the Liar really did exist." Then Sanji told the story he had heard as a child.

"Poor Noland..." Everyone seemed immersed in the story.

"Poor? A man who gained the friendship of the Sky Island people and witnessed Sky Island vanish wasn't all that pitiful, was he?" Li Ziming shrugged.

"So that story was real? Or rather, the things Noland experienced were real?" Nami's eyes turned into Beli symbols. "Does that mean the gold was real too?"

"Didn't I tell you? Sky Island has an enormous amount of gold." Li Ziming shrugged helplessly. "Or we could ask that uncle."

At that moment, a man with a chestnut-shaped hairstyle appeared before them. "You've got some nerve, barging into my home so casually! Don't you know these waters are all my territory?!" As he spoke, he assumed a fighting stance.

"This must be Mont Blanc. Hello, we're the Straw Hat Pirates. We hope to go to Sky Island, and we were wondering whether we could have your help." Li Ziming ignored the man's stance and directly asked for his assistance.

"Uncle, do you know about Sky Island?" Luffy eagerly rushed over to Mont Blanc.

"You believe Sky Island really exists?" Having been doubted for so long, Mont Blanc was somewhat unaccustomed to someone choosing to believe him.

"Of course! We're going to Sky Island!" Luffy shouted excitedly.

"I..." Mont Blanc had only just begun to show some happiness when he suddenly collapsed in pain. "Huff... huff..."

"Doctor! Doctor!" Chopper shouted anxiously.

"Aren't you the doctor? Hurry up and treat him." Li Ziming patted Chopper.

"Oh, right!" Chopper quickly said, "Carry this uncle into the house right away!"

Chopper immediately examined Mont Blanc. "This should be diving sickness. Make the towels colder! Open all the windows!"

"Diving sickness?" Luffy asked curiously. "Is that a sickness you get from diving?"

"Very few people get this illness." Chopper said with a frown. "Even fewer develop it into a chronic condition like he has." Then Chopper explained diving sickness.

Li Ziming looked around the area and spotted a photograph of Mont Blanc with the two monkeys.

"Old man, are you all right?"