Chapter Text
"[Name], dear, do you have to be so cold towards me? It's rude to disrespect God, after all."
You narrowed your eyes at the man's behavior.
Enel.
"My apologies, Eneru-sama," You bowed your head out of 'respect', even though the act was completely fake. "I don't mean to come off that way..."
The lightning wielder that called himself 'God' tossed an apple into the air, one of his favorite things to do. Every time he spared a glance your way, you could feel yourself shiver from nervousness, always wary if he was going to kill you whenever he so desired.
He was a ruthless man, and spared no sympathy for the ones he calls his followers and people. If they displease him enough, they'll end up rotting in the ground, nothing left of their remnants but bones.
Not that long ago, he took interest in you out of all people on Skypiea.
"I sure hope not," Enel took a bite out of the apple he had, and began chewing with his mouth open while speaking. "After all, I don't want to have to throw you out like nothing but trash, y'know. I don't want to rid of the only person that can fly here."
That was why he practically stole you from your home -- because you had larger wings than the other Skypieans. You could fly unlike the others, a rare phenomenon for your race. There was another reason, too... He just found your character interesting and entertaining. He wanted to ruin you mentally to see how you turned out; like an experiment.
Enel rolled his eyes, his ears basically ringing from how loud the silence was. "There's no need to be so awkward, [Name]. It's not like I'm going to kill you unless necessary." He spoke, and whenever he didn't hear a response from you, and just a fearful nod, he scoffed. "Okay, okay, you can leave now. I'm getting bored."
"...As you wish." You obliged like an obedient dog, and stood up from where you bowed to walk towards the exit of Enel's personal throne room in the clouds.
── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──
You ventured through the island of Upper Yard, trying to think of any ways to calm yourself down. The mere thought of respecting a being like Enel angered you, but it's not like you could do anything about it. He was way stronger than you... So you had to deal with being a simple minion that worked under him until he decided to let you go -- as if that would ever happen, though.
"Who cares if you don't want to live like this? I've already chosen this path for you!"
Damn him.
Using your leg muscles to propel yourself into the air, you steadied your abnormally large wings out, balancing yourself with the wind so you wouldn't fall to the ground. Skypiean wings weren't meant for flight like a bird's wings were, so it wasn't exactly easy to get into the air.
You yawned sleepily while in the air, barely getting a wink of rest last night.
"FULL SPEED AHEAD! ALL AHEAD FULL! PADDLE! PADDLE, HURRY! FORWARD!"
Huh?
Due to the loudness of what sounded like someone's voice, you landed on a nearby branch, trying to be silent so you could hear what was going on in the distance.
It wasn't just one voice, there were about three of them; all screaming in fear.
"What could that be...?" You muttered to yourself, and decided to leap off the branch so you could inch closer to the sources of the voices.
Peering out from the shadows of the forest, you squinted your eyes to get a closer look at the stream of clouds that flew through the center of Upper Yard. There was a moving boat avoiding all the swings from the hand-made traps to prevent people from invading the island.
"A SICKLE MONSTER!"
"DON'T LET YOUR GUARD DOWN! ANOTHER ONE'S COMING!"
A boy with a straw hat, a boy with a long nose, and last but not least -- a man with blonde hair, who looked calmer than the other two.
"PADDLE LIKE CRAZYYY!!"
You sweat-dropped at their nearly pointless attempts at avoiding the swinging axes in the air, the three of them using all their muscles to paddle away from the axes desperately.
"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?!"
"WATCH WHERE YOU'RE GOING! HIT THE BRAKE, LUFFY!"
Luffy, huh? You assumed that was the boy in the straw hat since he was the one controlling the boat.
They continued to make their way down the stream of clouds -- much to your surprise, they weren't dead yet. They were invaders in the Upper Yard, but you didn't consider exposing them yet since they had interested you. Enel probably took notice of them before you, anyway.
Luffy swapped places with his long nosed friend, and stretched his arms out, taking you by complete surprise. He used his arms to propel his boat into the air, successfully sending them flying and away from all the axes.
Unfortunately for them, though, after any intruders got past the axes, they would have to deal with sharp wooden spears being thrown their way. They had to avoid those, too.
The blonde man kicked all the spears away while long-nose took control of the rudder, allowing Luffy to scan the area for any threats.
Eventually, they made it through all the traps.
"How strong..." You silently admired their feats, and made your way through all the vegetation of Upper Yard to follow after their boat in the shadows. Most Blue Sea people died while trying to avoid all those traps, but these ones survived.
It made you quite happy to see they actually stood a chance so far.
Maybe there were more Blue Sea people around? You had to look around for confirmation.
Deciding to let the three men have their privacy, you spread your wings apart and jumped back into the air, beginning to hover before you could splat on the ground. You flew around all the trees and leaves while also managing to stray away from any monster territories.
You had just hoped you wouldn't run into any of Enel's right hand men, though. If they found out you were watching the intruders instead of killing or capturing them... they'd definitely snitch on you to Enel.
"Eh? Did you guys see that shadow flying by in the woods just now?"
"No...? What are you talking about?"
"Uh-- never mind, I'm probably just paranoid..."
── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──
A little reindeer alone on a big ship. You didn't know what to make of it, exactly. Should you find the reindeer extremely cute -- be worried that its all alone in a place this dangerous -- or both?
"ZORO, NAMI, ROBIN!" The reindeer shout out, his voice becoming an echo in the whole area. He kept on looking down at the fins of the skysharks surrounding the altar his ship was resting on. "DON'T LEAVE ME ALL ALONE! PLEASE COME BACK!"
While he was peeking out over the railing of the ship, a giant skyshark leaped out of the water with its mouth wide open, hoping to swallow him whole since he was basically a free meal out here.
He was too cute to get eaten like this.
You pulled out a certain dial that your sister gave you before you were taken by Enel; one that could be used to emit a loud, annoying sound that scared off skysharks specifically.
The moment you pressed down on the top of the dial, a quiet sound that only the skysharks could hear began to play. The sharks all froze for a moment before swimming off and away from the altar, leaving the reindeer confused and shocked.
"W--Wha?" He muttered to himself, and scanned the area around him to look for anything that could be suspicious. The moment his eyes landed on you from afar, you jumped and hid behind the tree hosting the branch you were previously sitting on. "WAH?! WHO'S THERE?!"
You gulped nervously, cursing at yourself internally for standing out in the open. Actually, the area you were in was pretty dark, so most normal people wouldn't even spot you that easily. Well, he was a reindeer, after all.
"When are Luffy and the others gonna get here...?!" The reindeer asked himself before falling to the ground on his tiny knees. The name 'Luffy' caught your attention.
Luffy? The strong stretchy boy from earlier?
So they know each other...
"Maybe I'm just hallucinating... I'm probably not being watched...!" He tried to shrug it off, but it was obvious he was still scared. "O--Oh, I know! I just need to endure this until Luffy and the others get here... Yeah! And I'll fix the ship like Zoro asked in the meantime!"
When you peeked around the tree and saw that the reindeer wasn't looking your way anymore, and had his back turned, you were able to watch again without any risks.
"When Luffy and the others find out I'm handling the ship alone...!" He laughed proudly to himself.
How adorable!
He suddenly screamed in agony after hitting a building hammer against his fingers while fixing the ship. The hammer he held slipped right out of his grasp, and fell down the steps of the altar, landing on the last one closest to the sea of clouds.
One of the skysharks was still stubborn enough for a meal to stay, even after hearing the sound from the dial. Maybe it was a deaf one? Unfortunately, the sound didn't give off vibrations, so sharks without hearing wouldn't be affected at all... That part of the dial needed to be adjusted.
The reindeer was definitely too scared to go down and get it himself because of the shark.
Well, it's just one reindeer... Right? Enel wouldn't kill you because of a... talking animal, would he?
You looked around and made sure nobody was watching, and then quietly jumped into the air before flapping your wings, hovering above the sea of clouds. You flew over and behind the reindeer, who somehow didn't notice you yet.
You cleared your throat, "Hesa!"
After hearing your voice, the reindeer jumped, and the second he turned to face you, he tripped on his own hooves and began falling down the steps of the altar, just where the skyshark wanted him.
"AAH! HELP!"
Your eyes widened as you watched him tumble downwards. You were stuck in your own thoughts before shaking your head, and leaping from where you stood to go get the reindeer before he could fall into the mouth of a shark.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you!" You tried to speak with him, hoping he wasn't still afraid or anything. He seemed to be frozen. "U--Uh... Are you alright?"
He didn't respond.
You huffed before bringing him back up to his ship, and setting him down on the main deck, where he was safe. Doing him a favor, you flew down and grabbed his hammer cautiously, making sure to keep an eye out for any nearby sharks so you wouldn't get randomly jump scared by one of them.
When you safely made your way back up to where the reindeer was sitting, you put his hammer at his side, and smiled softly at him.
"You needed that, right? Ah, I should've intervened earlier, those sharks surely are scary..." You whispered, glancing behind you to see how most of the sharks you scared off with the dial earlier were back, and waiting for the right moment to strike. "I noticed how scared you were at the thought of being alone, so, um... If you want, I'll stay here until your friends arrive, okay?"
His right of mind seemed to return to him, and he jumped up after examining you for a second. "N--No, I don't need protection! I can fend dangers off on my own! I can... uh..."
"Oh, is that so?" You tilted your head to the side, and stopped crouching so you could stand up. "So I was wrong then... Well, I'll leave you to yourself now--"
"NO, WAIT!" He somehow managed to grab your arm with just his hooves, stopping you from jumping into the air and flying away. "Err, I mean... W--Who are you, anyway?!"
"Oh!" Your eyes lit up at the fact that he seemed to be interested in your presence. Somehow something like that made you happy. "I'm [Name]! As you can tell from my wings, I'm native around here in Skypiea!"
"Yeah, but your wings are pretty big for a Skypiean... All the ones I've seen are too small to be able to fly with!" The reindeer prodded at your wings, sweating nervously -- even though he had fur. "Hey, wait... Isn't this place sacred? Only God's priests can roam freely around here... W--Wait, are you a priest?!"
You jumped at this assumption. It wasn't right, but it wasn't exactly wrong. Being a priest for Enel wasn't your duty. However, to him... You were like something he owned and controlled. It couldn't be helped since you couldn't escape his grasp... Even if you tried.
"No," You bluntly answered, just hating the mention of 'priests' when it came to Upper Yard. They weren't exactly nice people, and were ordered to watch over you so you wouldn't run away whenever Enel first took you in. "I don't even want to be associated with them."
"Huh?" The reindeer seemed a bit confused now, and stared blankly at you. "Why are you here, then? You could get killed!"
"I'm not exactly allowed to leave," You responded, your expression darkening a little at the thought. You quickly shook it off, not wanting this to turn into a sad moment. "This isn't about me! I'm curious as to why you're here, actually! You're far more likely to get killed than I am, y'know...! By the way, I still have yet to know your name..."
"Can I trust you with my name?" He questioned, pretty reluctant to trust someone as suspicious as you. "Well, you do seem pretty nice... I'm, uh... Chopper!"
"Chopper, huh? What a cute name!"
"Wha-- I don't feel happy or anything because of that, you idiot~!"
"I heard you say the name Luffy earlier," You started on another topic. "Someone named Luffy was on a boat with two other men, making their way down the Milky Road. A long-nosed one, and a blondie... Say, do you know them?"
"Oh! You saw them?!" Chopper seemed to be pretty relieved that they were nearby, and a large smile made its way onto his face that stretched from ear to ear... Kind of. "Yeah, that was Luffy! So he's with Usopp and Sanji? Thank god! They really are on their way here!"
"Which one's which, Chopper?"
"Usopp is the one with the long nose, and Sanji is the blonde one. Speaking of Sanji, I could really use his cooking right now... I'm hungry!"
"You'd be surprised, but skysharks actually make good meals! Want me to get one? I'm a decent cook!"
"Wha-- NO WAY! THEY'RE SCARY!" Chopper screeched, making you nearly have to cover your ears from how loud he was. He glanced behind you, and blinked multiple times. "Hey, what's that?"
"Hm?" You hummed out of curiosity, and slowly turned around only to see a face that was too familiar. "Crap, you've got to be kidding me...!"
Priest Shura...
"[Name]? Why are you hanging around one of the sacrifices?" Shura asked while sitting on top of his large bird known as Fuza that was hovering above the altar, furrowing his brows from suspicion. "And especially getting along with it... Eneru-sama won't be happy about this."
"Chopper, hide!" You demanded of the reindeer, pulling out the spear you usually used whenever getting into a fight. It was an extendable one that was really effective against enemies. "What do you mean by 'one of the sacrifices'? What are you guys not telling me?"
"Oh, I forgot! Eneru-sama excluded you from some important information, didn't he?" The priest's expression darkened, and he got into a stance like he was ready to fight as well. "You don't even know about the sacrifices, do you? What a clueless girl you are. Well, it's not like you'll hear any of our plans now since I know you're a traitor. I was expecting this to happen eventually---"
Out of nowhere, there was a loud whistling noise that made you actually cover your ears this time. It definitely echoed throughout the entire island -- probably catching the attention of some wanderers. You looked behind you and saw Chopper holding a whistle up to his mouth, blowing harshly into it. What's the point of that whistle, and why did he immediately go for it in a dire situation?
Shura stared for a long moment, before finally opening his mouth to speak again. "Move aside, [Name]. We'll deal with you later. For now, sacrifice, offer your life to God Eneru!" He held up his lance, and began to bring it down towards Chopper.
Before Chopper could get hurt, you got in the way and countered Shura's lance with your spear, struggling to keep him away. You could feel the heat radiating from the lance pushing against your spear, and you didn't want to risk getting burned by it.
"Why do you insist on interfering?!" Shura shouted, moving his lance away so he could back up some with Fuza to create distance. "Are you not grateful for God Eneru's hospitality?"
You stayed quiet. That was all Shura needed to know.
"If that's the case, then I might as well spare him the waste of time and kill you myself!" Shura shouted out, and then suddenly a bunch of fire came spewing out of Fuza's mouth, shooting right in you and Chopper's direction.
"Chopper!" You whipped your head around to the reindeer who was too stunned to move. Out of instinct, you ran towards him and grabbed him before moving out of the way of the fire blast. The fire was so hot that without even touching parts of the ship, it still lit on fire, making you sweat-drop.
"Thanks, [Name]! But the ship!" Chopper exclaimed, and ran away from you while growing in size. He jumped onto the ship and tried to put the fires out by stomping on them with his now humanoid feet. "Darn it! Come on!"
"Hey, hey!" Shura spoke up, getting Chopper's attention. "Why do you care when there won't be anyone to get on board?! You and your friends cannot escape death -- even with the help of the traitor."
"[Name], who the hell is he?!" Chopper asked you before turning back to the priest, gritting his teeth. "Don't harm my friends!"
"That's Priest Shura, he works directly under God Eneru," You explained while getting ready to prepare for another attack from the man. "Just let me handle him!"
"Where'd this confidence come from? Aren't you scared of God Eneru?" Shura tried landing several hits on you with his lance, and even ordered Fuza to shoot fire your way more than a few times, and even though you predicted all these attacks so you could dodge them, they still made an impact on the ship, causing it to light on fire once more. "Once we kill all the sacrifices here, you'll be next! Are you not fearful?!"
Without even bothering to respond, you extended your spear by simply tightening your grip on its handle, causing it to turn into something that looked more like a whip. You spun your spear around and threw it in the direction of Fuza, successfully wrapping the end of it around its mouth so it wouldn't spew anymore flames.
Shura tried to break the spear by stabbing it several times with his lance, but the sharp weapon was ineffective, since it just bounced right off.
"Ugh, your choice of weapon has always been a nuisance," Shura scowled, and jumped off Fuza so he could land on the railing of the currently burning ship. "Why don't you just stop fighting already? It's pointless."
Chopper shouted at the fact that the mast of the ship was on fire, making tears well up in his eyes. He ran towards the mast and grabbed onto it firmly before breaking it off from the rest of the ship, and then throwing it off into the distance and into the sea of clouds so the flames wouldn't spread.
"You bastard! Stop it already!" Chopper shouted up to the rather calm looking priest, not able to stop the overwhelming emotions welling up within him. "I--I'm in charge of this ship! They asked me to look after it...!" His voice cracked several times, indicating his obvious sadness.
It was extremely painful to watch.
Shura unwrapped the spear forcing Fuza's beak shut, and threw it back at you carelessly. "Well, what should we do, Fuza?" He asked the bird, who cawed and breathed out some flames as a response. "He says not to harm his friends. He says not to damage the ship. He says he doesn't want to die. What a dilemma. Such a damned selfish animal! He really irks me! The ship, your friends, and yourself... If you want to live so much, then why are you so weak?! [Name] has been protecting you this whole time!"
"YOU CREEP!" Chopper ran towards Shura and tried swinging a punch his way, but the priest dodged it and jumped onto another part of the ship. "Huh?"
"Are you trying to live... without sacrificing anything?" Shura asked, even though he knew he wouldn't receive an answer. "For someone to live, another must die. That's how life is. Did you know that this is a sacrificial altar? [Name] surely didn't... She doesn't know anything, after all. It's true, the rest of your group is desperately trying to get here. There are four separate areas that we, the priests, govern."
That's right. Swamp, Iron, String, and Ball. There are certain rules to follow when it comes to them...
"[Name], why don't you explain to your new friend over there? Surely you know something as simple as this."
You gulped nervously at his suggestion, and saw how Chopper turned to face you from the corner of your eye. "Y--Yeah... Chopper, your friends are considered 'targets' to the priests, in a way. When there are targets in one of the priest's area, the other priest's aren't allowed to interfere at all."
"Huh...?"
"Correct," Shura nodded in confirmation, and still wore a scowl on his face. "You see, this sacrificial altar isn't in any of those areas, so it's a free area. [Name] doesn't have an area for herself, since she's not a priest like we are, so she's only allowed to hunt down targets in free areas. Make sense? Eliminating targets in a free area should only happen after those who are receiving the ordeal in some area die."
"What?! Then, Luffy and the others' are...?!"
"Don't freak out. Me coming here doesn't mean your friends' death... Unfortunately... I came here for a different reason."
"What?! A different reason...? Ah, but does that mean we can also get out of here if Luffy and the others come to rescue us?!"
"Yeah, that's right... if you can get out of this free area. But, hold that thought. The reason I came here is because, although those are the normal judgement rules, when there's an exceptional situation, the rules change a little. For example, when three of the sacrifices escaped to the forest over there without permission using vines..."
"I see... That's an exceptio--" Chopper abruptly paused, seeming to have remembered something.
"Ah... his friends swung on the vines..." You glanced over at the vines connecting to several branches. Well, it's not exactly their fault... They didn't know the rules -- even though they were stupid rules.
"Someone has to die to atone for the others' crime of escaping," Shura began to explain once again to the reindeer, who couldn't even speak due to shock. "Sacrifice is a fact of life. Especially if they are to come back, in order that they can more deeply realize their own fault when they see their friend's death... offer your life... to God!!" He spun his lance around, and darted towards Chopper, this time too quick for you to intervene.
Chopper tried to throw a punch at Shura, but only got stabbed in the shoulder by the priest's lance hard enough to make him shed tears from pain. Once Shura pulled the lance out of Chopper's shoulder, a flame began to erupt from the wound as Chopper fell back in pain.
Before Shura could make another hit on the reindeer, you were about to attack him yourself, but someone else seemed to beat you to it.
Gan Fall. The former God of Skypiea.
Gan Fall tried to land a hit on Shura with his own lance, but Shura countered it quite quickly. Shura shoved the former god away, forcing him to fly through the air and land swiftly on his bird named Pierre.
Shura ran over to Fuza and jumped on his back to begin chasing after Gan Fall. The former god looked your way and narrowed his eyes, making you stumble back a little due to how intense his stare was.
"[Name]...!" He muttered from under his breath before turning away, and beginning to engage in combat with Shura.
"We don't need two Gods on this island!" Shura exclaimed, his lance clashing with Gan's own one, making a loud sound that echoed through the air.
"GO SKY KNIGHT!!" Chopper cheered for Gan in the background, standing next to you as you both watched the fight go down. When he looked at you, he noticed how stuck you were. "[Name]? Are you okay?"
"Eneru will definitely want to kill me now," You began to explain. "Well, it's too late for me to overthink about the consequences of betraying him out of the blue. Anyway, back to you, Chopper -- why are you and your friends here? Are you guys adventurers?"
"No, we're pirates!"
"What're pirates?"
"...Eh?"