Voyage

"Now that I think about it, we really went somewhere incredible." Nami looked up at the sky. By now, Sky Island was nowhere to be seen.

"Especially now that we're back down, it all feels even more like a dream," Robin said with a sigh.

"I really want to go back someday." Sanji's eyes were full of longing for the women of Sky Island.

"It's close enough. We can go after we die," Zoro said casually.

"You really think you're going to heaven when you die?" Usopp shot back. "Can't you go while you're alive?"

"It really was like a dream," Chopper said wistfully. "The Sky Lord was a good snake."

"What's with all the wistful faces?" Li Ziming looked at them curiously. "We'll come across all kinds of islands from here on out. If we stop moving, we'll never see even better sights."

"I know that!" Luffy said with a grin. "So let's head for the next island!"

"Don't be stupid!"

"The sea isn't that simple." Nami sounded annoyed, but there wasn't a trace of fear in her eyes. "The waves aren't right. Something's coming!"

The huge wave came without the slightest warning, and a Sea Monkey appeared out on the water.

Luffy and the Sea Monkey stared at each other. Then the Sea Monkey charged at them with a towering wave.

"Run! They're coming!" Luffy shouted.

"We can't! There's no wind. Take in the sail and start rowing!" Nami ordered everyone aboard.

"Report! Urgent report! Ship spotted at twelve o'clock!" Usopp called out, peering through a telescope.

"Ming, can't you use the recoil from an explosion to push us forward?" Nami asked hopefully.

"I can try." Li Ziming shrugged and stopped Sanji, Zoro, and the others from raising the sail.

"Air Detonation!" Li Ziming aimed his hand behind the sail. The air exploded, and the shockwave sent the Going Merry surging forward.

"Yahoo!" Luffy cheered. "Ahahaha, that was fun! Ming, do it again!"

"Give me a break. Exploding the air like that takes too much out of me. Have mercy." Li Ziming rolled his eyes. "By the way, Usopp, where's that ship?"

"I don't know. It's gone. But it really was a strange ship," Usopp said, puzzled. "No flag, no sail. I'm amazed a ship like that could travel at sea."

"That is a strange ship," Luffy said, baffled. "I never thought anyone would set sail without even a pirate flag."

"Maybe it was for some kind of contest," Li Ziming said. "I've heard of one where the winner gets to take something from the loser. It could be a pirate flag, or they could even choose one of the other crew's members to join their own ship."

"A Davy Back Fight?" Robin seemed to have heard of it too. "Then other people around here might be holding one?"

Nami's expression darkened. She had just thought of the most troublesome person on their ship.

"That sounds fun! Let's find someone and have a contest!" Luffy said eagerly. "We still need a shipwright, right? Oh, and if we could find a musician too, that would be perfect!"

"No way, you idiot captain!" Nami brought down Nami's Iron Fist on Luffy. "Someone has to lose a contest! What if we lose? I'm so cute, they're bound to pick me!"

"Come on, have a little faith in us. Besides, we might not even run into a contest like that," Li Ziming said, trying to reassure her.

"But I've got a bad feeling about this!" Nami clutched her head. It seemed trouble never stopped when she was with Luffy. "And we're almost at the next island! What if those people are waiting for us there?"

"We're almost at the next island?" Luffy asked excitedly. "What's it like?"

"How would I know? But the temperature and humidity around here are steady, so we've probably entered the next island's climate zone," Nami explained. "Wait—we can change course right now and go around it!"

"I'm afraid you're a little late," Robin said, looking ahead. "I can already see the island."

"Aaaaaah!" Nami felt like giving up on life.

"But the good news is, there doesn't seem to be anyone on it." Robin shrugged. "So we might not run into anything like that after all."

"That's a relief. I'm staying on the ship, though!" Nami decided it was safer aboard. Going with those guys was far too dangerous.

"I'll stay aboard too. Honestly, this island doesn't interest me much." Li Ziming looked thoroughly unimpressed.

"That's not like you. I thought you'd go ashore with those three." Robin looked at Li Ziming curiously. By "those three," she meant Luffy, Usopp, and Chopper, who had already run onto the island.

"Tch, I think I remember this place." Li Ziming sighed. "It should be called Long Ring Long Land. The islands are all connected, but the paths between them only appear at low tide. If there's no one here, they're probably on one of the other islands."

"So there's nobody on this island." To Zoro, that meant there was no booze. He lost all interest in going ashore.

"No lovely ladies, either. I'm not interested," Sanji said. Natural scenery held little appeal for him.

"Migratory peoples rarely leave much behind in the way of ancient remains, so I don't have much reason to go ashore either," Robin said. She was a scholar, but her field was archaeology, not ecology.

"Thank you!" Nami's eyes filled with tears. She had thought no one would stay with her, but almost everyone she could count on had remained aboard. At once, she felt immeasurably safer.

"But it looks like someone's coming." Everyone noticed two claws suddenly fly through the air and lodge on either side of the Going Merry, blocking its way.