Chapter 101: Welcome to Weatheria
Chapter 101: Welcome to Weatheria
Despite the Grand Line doing its best to throw Random Bullshit at them, including a Flying Shark Tornado and an Undersea Volcano going off, the latter of which they’d only dodge by virtue of the ship being able to fly, they still made it to Weatheria in just over two weeks. Or, at least, to the patch of ocean under the island. They were only just finally taking to the air again and spiraling upward toward the traveling patch of island cloud that held the island. Though, as they climbed high enough to get a good look at it, an oddity with this particular sky island became clear.
“Is that…a bubble?”
Nami’s incredulous question was met by stupefied nods from much of the rest of the crew, all of whom were studying the island through binoculars as the Discovery rose higher. Luffy, just as stunned as the rest of them as he’d known very little about this island, nevertheless managed to answer.
“It…appears to be? A giant soap bubble or something? Holding up the island?”
Robin was the next to recover, lowing her own binoculars as she hummed.
“A Devil Fruit, do you think? Or some type of unique technology. You did say this place housed researchers.”
Luffy shrugged, genuinely ignorant of which is was. For that matter, he supposed it could have something to do with the Bubble Coating that was used to travel to Fishman Island. That stuff was tough enough you might, he supposed, be able to fill it with a lighter than air gas? A minute or so later, the ship had risen high enough they could no longer see the ‘bubble’ and Dis, who was flying herself at the moment, angled them toward the island. Shaking the latest bout of oddness the Grand Line presented them with off, he pointed out the obvious.
“Well, assuming the locals aren’t hostile, we can just ask them in a bit. I admit I’m more than a bit curious about the answer.”
The spell had been broken among the rest of the crew, but they only dispersed a little bit, obviously all curious about what oddities this new island would bring. Which was fair enough, given that the two sky islands they’d visited prior to this had both brought major revelations or discoveries. Given that there wasn’t anything like a dock large enough for the Discovery visible, Nami merely steered the ship to float alongside the island cloud that was supported by that odd bubble. They had very obviously attracted attention, as there were a number of old men, dressed in robes of all things, staring at their ship in a mixture of interest and concern. Not wanting to overwhelm them, Luffy gestured only Robin and Nami to join him as he hopped over to the island, now able to see that there was actual land here, not just island cloud. Though most of it looked like it was being used to grow a strange-looking crop of…where those more miniatures of the bubble they’d seen?
A question for later, certainly. For now, time to address the locals.
“Ahoy the island! We come in peace! One of our number is interested in studying weather phenomena, particularly as it pertains to the New World. We heard that this is the foremost place in the world to do so, and so here we are! We were hoping you might be willing to trade information, perhaps in exchange for supplies and knowledge of our own? It doesn’t appear you are quite self-sufficient up here…”
A tall man with a long white beard and equally white hair, dressed like a stereotypical wizard, had perked up at Luffy’s polite greeting. Unlike the others, who seemed more than a bit wary, he bounced forward cheerily.
“Hey hey hey hey! I heard that, I did! Someone interested in the weather is always welcome here in Weatheria, where we study just that thing! We can always use supplies, too, if you’re willing! We normally trade our services for such, by changing weather in places that need it for a bit! But I don’t see why we should turn down such a trade coming to us for a change!”
Luffy’s lips twitched, amused by the old man’s energy. They’d talked about it already, pooling what very little they knew about this group, and agreed not to mention anything about possibly copying or weaponizing whatever technology they had here. This would just be presented as an…informational trade. If they just so happened to come into the possession of what information they needed while Nami studied here, than that would just be ‘fortuitous,’ now wouldn’t it?
For now, it was time to be charming, and most of his crew were actually quite good at that. Clapping his hands together, he upped his own energy to match the old man’s just a bit.
“Well then! Why don’t we start by bringing you a fantastic meal to discuss things over! I happen to have a truly fantastic chef aboard my ship, and we made sure to come fully stocked to throw a party. Sanji! The food, if you would?”
Sanji, who had in fact begun preparing a proper feast once they knew they were close to the island, threw a very lazy salute and grinned around his cigarette.
“Of course, Captain. It’s all ready. I and the others will bring it down.”
Excellent. First step! Convince the locals they were harmless and they should let Nami study with them. After that, well, it would be up to his girlfriend to get what she could out of this place. Personally, given that his Nami was far less caustic and far more diplomatic than the one he remembered, he figured she’d have all their secrets from them in a month or two of regular visits, at most…
… … …
Nami was doing her best not to show how blown away she was by some of what she’d seen, touring the island with the cheerful old man, who’d introduced himself as Haredas. Their efforts the night previous with the feast and freely offered supplies for access to the library of weather knowledge here had put the locals at ease amazingly quickly. They were, in truth, probably far too trusting, and very lucky they were beyond the reach of most up here in the clouds. She was certain that, if the World Government were aware of even a fraction of what she’d seen, they would have stolen all the research here. Then most likely forced the researchers to work for them, just for good measure.
Thankfully, the WG clearly didn’t know, and Nami now did.
Equally thankfully, all of the scientists had been seriously impressed with how she could manipulate the weather with just her Clima-Tact. That, something she’d demonstrated the night previously while everyone was celebrating with food, had been what caused the scientists here to all take her seriously. Haredas, who seemed the most adventurous of the group, had cheerfully quizzed her about the method and seemed delighted that she’d ‘managed so much, with so little!’
It was also what had caused him to offer her the tour of the island that had just concluded.
A tour which made her very glad Luffy had somehow heard about this island.
Seriously, just the Wind Knots Haredas had shown off at the party were incredible. Add in the Weather Balls, which could be grown and therefore were almost certainly produceable by Dis in the ship’s garden, and Nami was sure she was going to be a lot more capable if she could learn how to use both. Which didn’t even cover that Haredas himself had apparently made the bubble that held up the island, and she’d seen a dozen other uses of the ‘bubble tech,’ including him using one to shield both of them from the radical weather that covered parts of the artificial sky island. Those bubbles almost certainly had uses for her and her crew.
Which didn’t even cover the oodles of raw data that they had on weather phenomena from the New World, either. That, too, was a treasure almost beyond compare. Everything she knew about the New World said that both navigating there and surviving its weather was going to take a whole new level of skill from her as the ship’s navigator. So the data the scientists here had on how that weather worked was priceless to her, even aside from what she stood to gain with the technology and the general understanding of weather that might help her with her Devil Fruit.
Thankfully, they had accepted that she was a ‘fellow researcher,’ which she supposed was even accurate. It not quite the whole truth. They’d been incredibly interested in not just how her Clima-Tact worked, but the Discovery’s Storm Canon, not to mention the story about how she and Luffy had managed to use cloud seeding and electrical charges to create a Grand Line worthy storm over the East Blue…
… … …
Luffy was both impressed by, but also a bit disappointed in, Weatheria. It was a beautiful place, with some truly groundbreaking discoveries, and he could see why it would be so important to Nami’s development. Yet, at the same time, he’d silently been hoping for the sort of multi-faceted kick that Wind’s Home or Skypiea, with their Crystal’s, Dials, and Jotunstone, had provided. He suspected that the ‘Weather Balls’ or the method to make Wind Knots might well do a little in that direction, possibly opening new options for additional ammo for him, Usopp, Nojiko, and the Discovery herself…
Yet, despite that potential, he’d realized quickly that there was going to be nothing of note for the majority of his crew here.
He suspected Spirit Energy shenanigans in those Wind Knots, even if the locals didn’t call it that. Which meant that Kaya and he might learn something, maybe Kuina and Zoro at a stretch. But not enough to dedicate a serious amount of time here. It would, he was annoyed to discover, be much better to simply have Nami and Kaya visit and learn, then pass along whatever was relevant. The fact that the locals were all old men who seemed seriously weak to any positive reinforcement from the female crew was something that only made it more likely the two of them would be the best bet.
Which meant Luffy was going to have to man up and take them onward to Rusukaina soon. That place, at least, would be somewhere that his entire crew should gain from. Not quite dragging his feet about it, pushing past his dread of possibly running into Hancock and her bullshit abilities of extra bullshitiness, Luffy made his way to the communications room. It was time to contact Rayleigh and see how soon he could meet them there. Maybe he’d be too busy and they could redirect to the Torino Kingdom first?
With that idly hopeful thought in mind, but doubting he’d get that lucky, Luffy reached the communications room and connected their White Den Den Mushi to make a secure call via the Mushi network…
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A/N 1: Frustratingly, there is almost nothing about the Bubble Tech of Weatheria. Personally, I'm assuming that the Weather Balls use something very similar to the Bubble Coating, possibly even being a crossbreed of the Mangroves that produce the sap for that. But that's just my own analysis.
A/N 2: If Luffy seems unusually worried about Hancock to you, there's a reason. Specifically, that she's another character he doesn't know if she'll match the over-the-top effects she had in the anime he watched in his old life. If she's only 'regular' beautiful, than the over-the-top reactions of anyone with a sex drive are just that, over-the-top, and he's over reacting. Given that she ate a beauty-related Devil Fruit, though, he's concerned that it has a mental component that causes everyone with a pulse to react the way we see in canon. That is, uncontrollable staring and going along with her, snared by literally just looking at how beautiful she is, rather than being caught in one of her beams. He knows he's not practically asexual like original Luffy, and would be caught if the mental effect is real.
A/N 3: You probably know this bit by now, but I need to say it anyway ;-)! Once per release, I point out that I have a Page with Early Access content. Chapters 102-106 of One Piece: Halfway Broken are already available there, adding roughly 15,500 words which will remain in Early Access until next month. Similarly, there are at least a few Early Access chapters there for ALL of my stories, though NONE of them are ever permanently paywalled. All fanfiction content I make ends up here (or on Fanfiction.net and Questionable Questing) eventually, as new content for each story is released. Typically, there are 75,000+ words of additional early access content for patrons at any one time, all for just a dollar a month! As well as chances to vote in polls that influence which stories are updated, pairings, and other such things.