"So hungry!"
Sharn felt as if the very purpose of life was to eat.
The two bundled-up figures beside him suddenly coughed awake. Kaido's face was flushed from the sun; Moria nearly dehydrated. During their few days flying to the sky-island, there had been no food or water in midair.
"Would everyone like the dishes Moly makes with her fork?"
Molly spun on the deck, smiling as she remembered the carefree days back in the Prison City.
"One day I'll make everyone a New Human!" she chirped happily.
"Lunch — seafood risotto!"
Olivia pushed out a large pot on a serving cart; the other compartments held heaps of seafood, fruit and bread. Not bad, at least while Wolf was absent. There was enough to feed the group.
Sharn felt relieved — finally not Molly's fork-cooked meals. (Her fork was used for everything: starting fires, breaking walls, stirring earth. Her cooking always risked food poisoning!) Of course, poisons didn't affect Sharn — he simply preferred sanitation.
"Food!" Kaido sprang up, tore off his wrappings, and flung the seafood about. Moria ate with tears in his eyes, feeding both himself and his shadow. Sharn's mouth was a bottomless pit; before Molly had finished preparing anything, the provisions were gone.
"Is being a ship's cook mostly about stamina?" Olivia mused, recalling how Sharn once ate the price of several meals in one sitting back in Ohara. Now his appetite seemed even bigger.
"Head chef Olivia, I haven't eaten yet," Molly announced, picking up her fork to make something simple.
"A chef?" Moria realized there was a new member. After drifting in the world so long, he was still a trainee! "Is she from Ohara?" Kaido asked Sharn curiously.
"Yes — she's a cook, part-time sniper, navigator, and scholar!" Sharn replied, sprawled and sunbathing on the deck. The crew revived; only the giant Wolf remained hungry and ignored.
Molly was half-making a dessert: she mashed chocolate into mashed potatoes, slathered mayo and fruit jam on top with her fork — an absurd, monstrous ice-cream dessert was born. "A wild combination, but Wolf will like it," Sharn judged.
The rescued Ohara scholars shared a single thought: relief. "We'll make every crewmember into a monster like Golden Lion!" Sharn declared. "Then each of us can stand against an admiral!" Kaido eagerly agreed. "Not just admirals — I'll be the strongest in the world!"
"Where to next, Captain?" someone asked. "If this is a sky-island in the White Sea, how do we get back down to land?"
Sharn offered three simple options: fly back in dragon form, jump and drop, or have him smack everyone down. Moria shivered. Olivia, practical, would have looked for safer ways. She clutched her rifle instinctively.
"There's good stuff up there!" Sharn grinned, pointing to the vine concealed by clouds. Having reached this sky-island, two prizes awaited: ancient texts and Devil Fruits. The ancient script was within reach; Ohara had only begun to decipher it, but Olivia could handle that. As for Devil Fruits — famed ones like the Rumble or the Time fruit would be priceless. (Enel was still an infant; Urouge was only nine — it was wildly unlikely, but fate was odd.)
"Climb!" Sharn ordered, transforming into a dragon and soaring. Kaido followed, both dragons riding the wind. The others watched, stunned. Molly used her fork to roll cloud into a makeshift ladder; Moria used his shadow to pull himself up. Olivia — ordinary human that she was — climbed with rifle and notebook, thinking, Did I make the right choice? Then she recalled Sharn's ink-black dragon scales and felt oddly reassured.
At the vine's summit, the air thinned. Kaido and Sharn stared at the Golden Bell in awe. "A bell in the sky — why is there a bell in the heavens?" Kaido muttered, suddenly grabbed by Sharn and used as a pillar to strike the bell. Duang! Kaido vowed he wanted to die.
The bell's clear, soothing tone calmed Kaido's injured spirit. Sharn — having long wondered what the Golden Bell sounded like — found it surprisingly bright and lovely. He struck it several times; the sound subtly rippled across the sky and down toward the Grand Line.
When Sharn and Kaido stood beneath the bell, they saw ancient characters carved there. "Do you know this script?" Kaido asked.
"No," Sharn admitted. He didn't recognize the text. Moria and Molly began to arrive, equally amazed. Molly blinked at the script, feeling she'd seen it before but couldn't recall where. "The sea's mysteries are incredible!" Moria said, lounging on the cloud.
Olivia, exhausted from the climb, spoke seriously upon seeing the script: "If the Golden Bell exists, the Norland legends must be true." She studied the inscription and read aloud, syllable by syllable:
"In the presence of gods, I leave this true words — the promise of the Sea King is recorded here. This is indestructible historical testimony…"
Mention of the Sea King stunned Kaido: one of the three ancient weapons, the Sea King-controlling device, actually existed in the old tales. Fish-Man Island might someday have a true Sea King. If I could control such a thing… I could rule the world, Kaido murmured, greed blazing.
Olivia busied herself: "Some of these characters need archaeological and linguistic analysis. I must copy them down!" She was thrilled — this voyage had already paid off.
Moria pointed at a glittering patch below. "Is that— treasure?" he squealed. A fatal comment in Sharn's presence. We struck gold, Sharn raged, and kicked Moria off the ledge.
"Captain! Mercy!" Moria wailed. Molly fashioned a cloud-slide; Olivia slid down, shaken. Sharn leaped easily without dragon form. The Demon Compass spun again — upgraded, faster — and offered a new fateful choice, as if to tempt Sharn once more.
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